How does the exploration of Near Death Experiences create a paradox within religious and scientific perspectives?
Symposium Reflection #1
My topic for Symposium is Near Death Experiences and how religious people view them as compared to how scientists view NDE’s as. My topic throughout Symposium has changed a lot. In the exploration of my topic I learned a lot of new and interesting things such as how scientists ran an experiment on rats where they killed them and analyzed their brain movement in hopes of finding out what causes some of the things that people see when they have a Near Death Experience. After doing that experiment, scientists found that 30 seconds after the rats died their brains were actually more active than when the rat was conscious. I also learned that people conducted another experiment where they gathered 20 people and they told them to fall asleep and they proceeded to wake them up in the middle of the night in hopes of getting a NDE dream. The results of this was extraordinary, out of 20 people that were in the experiment, 18 people reported having a vivid dream. As we explored our topic more we changed our driving question due to the fact that our gate imperative is paradox and it really didn't make sense. In my next steps I hope to be able to interview a priest from my Catholic Church and get his perspective of what Near Death Experiences prove. Ashley and I are working really well and we really find our topic interesting and fun! It took a long time to find a topic that we both agreed on and liked. Finding research for a topic like this is very difficult since more of the research that was done is very old. Also, the articles for the religious side are very bias and most articles aren't scholarly.
Symposium Reflection #2
In researching Near Death Experiences I have found out that many experiments have been conducted to find out whether or not the experiences that people experience are just dreams or is it something caused by the brain. Our driving question has stayed the same since we are focusing on the differences that the religious perspectives and the scientific perspectives in Near Death Experiences. For our student led research plan we are doing an interview for several reason. To begin with an interview is the best option since we want to know what both sides, religious and scientific, believe happens in a Near Death Experience and we want to really find out what their different explanations would be on the things that people witness or see when they are in a Near Death Experience. For the religious side we are going to interview a pastor while for the scientific side we will interview an International Association through email. What has been easy has been the research and finding articles and information that fits into our driving question and our universal theme along with our generalizations. The difficult part would have to be organizing everything and making it perfect on the ISR. Some of the things we need to do is start planning and preparing the board and our interactive artifact. We also need to get our student led research plan approved and our email sent ASAP! Our collaboration is going really well, Ashley and I help each other a lot when either one of us doesn’t understand something or quite get it.
Symposium Reflection #3
Our driving question has stayed the same since we are focusing on the differences that the religious perspectives and the scientific perspectives in Near Death Experiences. Our results of our interviews really showed the differences that both religious and scientific explanations have for near death experiences. For our board background we did two sides, religion and scientific, the religious side was painted an aqua blue and covered with angel wings and the scientific side is black with the heart rate going all along the board to show how people die and come back to life so the heart rate goes flat then starts up again. For our creative piece we will be doing a projector in which you will be able to see both sides side by side in what each side believes. It will show how both ideas and their explanations for near death experiences are very different from each other.
Student Led Interview Results
Science:
Why or Why not are Near Death Experiences proof that there’s an afterlife?
“Neurologists have since recognized that the temporoparietal region of the brain is responsible for maintaining our body schema representation. When external current is applied to this region, it ceases to function normally and our body schema “floats.” Further evidence that this phenomenon is an illusion comes from experiments in which people who’ve had out-of-body experiences when transitioning from sleep to wakefulness were unable to identify objects placed in the room after they’d fallen asleep, strongly suggesting the picture they viewed of themselves sleeping in their beds was reconstructed from memory.” - Alex Lickerman
What new studies have, if any, have been made to prove what happens to the brain during a near death experience?
“I have learned that there's very little research to explain what causes near death experience or what it means. It's difficult to use the scientific process when we cannot know when the next near death experience will happen, where this person will be, and so have procedures ready to study it. What exists are more questions than answers.” - Neuroscientist
What causes scientists to think that these events are illusions?
“in the observation that they’ve also been reported by people just awakening from sleep, recovering from anesthesia, while fainting, during seizures, during migraines, and while at high altitudes (there’s no reason to think the souls of people are leaving their bodies during any of those non-life-threatening situations). But the most fascinating evidence that out-of-body experiences are neurological phenomena comes from studies initially performed in the 1950s by a neurosurgeon named Penfield.” - Alex Lickerman
What are the medical explanations for what happens during near-death experiences?
“During REM intrusion people have found themselves paralyzed (“sleep paralysis”), fully awake but experiencing light, out-of-body sensations, and stunningly vivid narratives. During REM sleep, many of the brain’s pleasure centers are stimulated as well (animals that have had their REM regions injured lose all interest in food and even morphine), which may explain the feelings of peace and unity also reported during NDEs.” - Alex Lickerman Religion:
What are your opinions on near death experiences?
“I have known people who have had near death experiences and I think they are real. These can happen to anybody if God wants it to happen to you.” - Pastor Eduardo Perez
Do you think near death experiences happen because God wants to give people a second chance at life?
“Yes. The main reason why near death experiences happen is because he wants to let us know that that sense of peace and love can be felt if we live our lives the way he wants us to. He wants us to have the best things and those things can only be given to us if we fix our problems on Earth before entering his presence when we die.” - Pastor Eduardo Perez
Why do you think God would show them such a beautiful place and not let them stay there?
“Sometimes when people have these experiences, they don’t deserve to see or feel what is being given to them and this is just a few of the many amazing things they will miss out on if they can’t live their life the right way.” - Pastor Eduardo Perez
Do you believe this will happen to all of us when we die?
“Yes I do. It’s a process we all have to go through when God calls us to it.” - Pastor Eduardo Perez
Patterns
In the exploration of Near Death Experiences and their causes there seems to be a great pattern in the explanations for both religious and scientific perspectives. What is the sequence or order of events? The order of events seems to be based off on the experiments conducted by science. All of the experiments deal with the mind and what happens when a person has a near death experience. The conclusions drawn from the experiments seem to be the same.
According to Alex Lickerman (2011) he claims that, “Nelson found in his research that the functioning of the mechanism that flip-flops people between REM sleep and wakefulness tended to be different in people who reported NDEs. In those people, he found the switch was more likely to “fragment and blend” those two states of consciousness (control of our state of consciousness is found in the brainstem and is tightly regulated), causing such people to simultaneously exhibit features of both. During REM intrusion people have found themselves paralyzed (“sleep paralysis”), fully awake but experiencing light, out-of-body sensations, and stunningly vivid narratives.” The conclusions that can be drawn from Lickerman’s findings is that the experience happens during a stage of the brain that is known as REM sleep which is known to cause out of the body experiences as well.
This shows how exploration requires recognizing purpose and responding to it because so many people have near death experiences throughout the world and all of those experiences have a pattern in which they all relate or are similar to one another. Therefore the purpose in wanting to know what causes near death experiences is to provide an answer for people who have them.
According to an article titles Near Death Experiences are Electrical Surge in Dying Brain, “The fact that they see light perhaps indicates the visual cortex in the brain is highly activated - and we have evidence to suggest this might be the case, because we have seen increased gamma in area of the brain that is right on top of the visual cortex” (2013). The conclusion that is drawn from this experiment is that the reason for which many people report floating towards a bright light is because of high activity in the visual cortex, which is the area in the brain that receives and processes impulses from the optic nerve.
Multiple Perspectives
In talking about near death experiences there are a number of different perspectives as to the reasons behind it are. Two of them would be the religious and the scientific perspectives. When a person has a near death experience, they usually have an event that follows where the person appears to be floating to the end of the tunnel towards a bright light. Religion might see this as a proof of God and heaven where science sees it as a result from the brain or a close encounter of death.
Science:
Scientists believe these events are caused because our brains are reacting to what’s going on around us
Dr Steven Laureys (2013) from a hospital in Belgium thinks that NDEs originate in human physiology. “It is a dysfunctional brain that produces these phenomena.”
“Laureys strongly disagrees. ‘There is no evidence there can be conscious experience without brain activity,’ he said.” (p. 4)
Rats and humans have similar brain activity when near death. According to Stein (2013) “Their brain suddenly seemed to go into overdrive, showing all the hallmarks not only of consciousness but a kind of hyperconsciousness” (p. 2) Based on the results of this experiment, scientists have come to the conclusion that due to the brain being more active after being brain dead for a couple of seconds, this is the cause for why many people seem to have an out of body experience or a dream in which they are floating in a tunnel with a light at the end. Exploration may result in new findings or confirmation of old findings because several experiments seem to have the same idea and conclusion drawn which is all conforming what one experiment found with another.
Dr Steven Laureys (2013) from a hospital in Belgium thinks that NDEs originate in human physiology. “It is a dysfunctional brain that produces these phenomena.” When a person has a Near Death experience their brain typically goes into shock. What Dr. Steven Laureys is claiming is that due to people’s brains not being normal, it causes them to see things and experience things.
Religion:
God shows people the views of the next life after our life here on Earth
It is a way of letting us know that that peacefulness and feeling of safety can be provided to us if we go down the right path
According to the John Ankerberg Show (2013), “(Romans 8:32) Jesus simply said, ‘Great is our reward in heaven,’ and the Apostle Paul, who was surrounded with the worst of sufferings, assured us that ‘the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Romans 8:18).”
Also, in the John Ankerberg Show (2013) it states that, “The typical NDE still does not supply a biblically accurate description of Heaven (or Hell for that matter, which is experiences as temporary and remedial, similar to purgatory but not divinely just and retributive in relationship to eternal punishment of sin and rejection of Jesus Christ).”
Paradox
What is Paradox? Paradox is the contradictory elements in an event or idea. Near death experiences stretch two ways. Science being one way and religion being the other. These two different ideas and the explanations in which both sides provide for Near Death Experiences are completely against each other. This has to do with one’s individual person beliefs. Thus the conclusions from both sides on why people have Near Death Experiences are contradicting each other rather than agreeing with one another. These two separate ideas contradict each other due to the fact that science believes that there is an explanation for everything while religion is about believing even without actually seeing.
Changes Over Time
What are changes over time? Changes over time are how elements are related in terms of the past, present, and future. How and why do things change? What doesn’t change? In researching Near Death Experiences there hasn’t been a change in the explanations for what causes the events that people have. This can be due to the fact that the experiences that people have haven’t change and there hasn’t been much research for it either. When people have near death experiences they usually have an event that follows. Science wants to be able to explain these events and why so many people have the same experience.
In this case, Exploration confronts the unknown over time because as more and more people reported having had the same experience in their Near Death Experience, no one really knew what was the reason behind all of these people, from all kinds of races and religious beliefs, to have the same experience.
An article based off an experiment in which they used rats to try and figure out what occurs to the brain during a close call with death states that, “Borjigin wanted to find out if there was something happening in the brains of these people who had close calls with death that could help explain these experiences” (Stein 2013). The experiences or what a person sees when they have a near death experience has not yet been explained. Many people who have near death experiences appear to have the same dream in which they are walking through a tunnel towards a light, this may or may not be coincidental but many scientists have yet to find out why people from all kinds of religions have the same experience. This leads to several experiments being conducted to try and figure out whether Near Death Experiences are just dreams or illusions.
According to an article titles Near Death Experiences are Electrical Surge in Dying Brain, “One limitation is that we do not know when, in time, the near-death experience really occurs. Perhaps it was before patients had anesthesia, or at some safe point during the operation long before cardiac arrest… we know precious little about brain activity during death, let alone conscious brain activity. These findings open the door to further studies in humans.” There is very little understanding of what occurs to the brain during death or at any active moment. Therefore, it is very difficult to determine what exactly is causing a near death experience even if the patient is not close to death at the moment.
Reference Page
Rob Stein. (2013). Brains of Dying Rats Yield Clue About Near Death Experiences. Southern California, Public Radio.
Nathalie Wolchover. (2012). NDEs are Lucid Dreams Experiment Finds. Live Science.
Rebecca Morelle. (2013). Near Death Experiences are ‘Electrical Surge in Dying Brain.’ Michigan. BBC News.
Marshall Connolly. (2013). Not so Fast: Scientists recreate Near Death Experiences in Rats, Atheists go Wild. California. Catholic Online.
Ben Brumfield. (2013). ‘Afterlife Feels Even more Real than Real,’ Researcher Says. CNN.
Dr. John Ankerberg & John Weldon. (2013). What is the Biblical View of the Afterlife?’. The John Ankerberg Show.
Alex Lickerman (2011) The Neurology of Near-Death Experiences.