Near-Death Experiences as Evidence for the Existence of God and Heaven: A Brief Introduction in Plain Language by J. Steve Miller
Authors: J. Steve Miller
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wrote entire chapters on “What Happens in the
Brain When the Heart Suddenly Stops?” and “What Do We Know About Brain
Function?” (12)
Atypical
cases of consciousness while under anesthesia or during cardiac arrest do exist.
An extremely small percentage of people (.18 percent, or less than two out of
1,000) (13) have reported brief episodes of consciousness under general anesthesia.
For those who do experience consciousness (sometimes due to improper
administering of anesthesia),it’s not pleasant. (14) There have
been cases of people experiencing brief consciousness during CPR (15) ,
before the heart establishes a rhythm of its own. But the reason such cases are
written up in the literature is that they’re so rare.
By
far the typical experience reported by those undergoing anesthesia or experiencing
cardiac arrest is no memory of anything. In such circumstances, the brain is unable
to either maintain consciousness or form memories. (16) Yet, during this
time, NDErs consistently report, not vague, confused consciousness, but vivid, “realer
than real” consciousness. It’s like their brains are on hyper drive, some
reliving their entire lives within a brief span of time. And their memories, as
we have seen, far from being cloudy and fleeting (as we’d expect from a
compromised brain) are retained so efficiently that decades later they report
remembering each detail as if it happened yesterday.
Corroborating
evidence from studies of patients observed in the hospital room during their
out-of-body experiences confirms that many NDE’s couldn’t have been vivid
dreams that occurred immediately prior to unconsciousness or during the early
stages of resuscitation. Other medical data argues against patients piecing
together information they picked up while still conscious. During the brief
moments when the brain is losing or regaining consciousness, due to loss of
blood flow to the brain (e.g., in cardiac arrest) or anesthesia, brain function
is disorganized and confused. Memory is also severely impacted. (17)
Here’s
an example (which we summarized in the preface):
Pamela
Reynolds, a thirty-five-year-old mother, underwent a complex surgery to repair
a giant aneurysm in a cerebral artery. As reported by cardiologist Michael
Sabom and Neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler, in preparation for the surgery they
lowered her body temperature to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and drained all the
blood from her head, so that her brain was had ceased functioning by all three
clinical tests - “her electroencephalogram was silent, her brain-stem response
was absent, and no blood flowed through her brain….” Additionally, her eyes
were taped shut, she was put under deep anesthesia, brain stem activity was
monitored with “100-decible clicks emitted by small molded speakers inserted
into her ears” and her entire body, except for the small area of the head they
were cutting on, was covered completely.
During
this time, Reynolds experienced a vivid NDE where she watched part of the
surgery and reported back to the doctors what she saw - describing in minute
detail the specialized instruments they used for the surgery. For example, she
described the saw as looking “a lot more like a drill than a saw. It even had
little bits that were kept in this case that looked like the case that my
father stored his socket wrenches in when I was a child…. And I distinctly
remember a female voice saying: ‘We have a problem. Her arteries are too
small.’ And then a male voice: ‘Try the other side.’”
The
instruments were covered prior to her surgery, so there’s no way she could have
seen the instruments beforehand. She went on to describe passing through a
tunnel, talking to deceased relatives who looked like they were in the prime of
life, and being sent back to her body to wake up at resuscitation. Note: Reynolds
describes her NDE as a continuous, uninterrupted narrative, from the onset
Brain When the Heart Suddenly Stops?” and “What Do We Know About Brain
Function?” (12)
Atypical
cases of consciousness while under anesthesia or during cardiac arrest do exist.
An extremely small percentage of people (.18 percent, or less than two out of
1,000) (13) have reported brief episodes of consciousness under general anesthesia.
For those who do experience consciousness (sometimes due to improper
administering of anesthesia),it’s not pleasant. (14) There have
been cases of people experiencing brief consciousness during CPR (15) ,
before the heart establishes a rhythm of its own. But the reason such cases are
written up in the literature is that they’re so rare.
By
far the typical experience reported by those undergoing anesthesia or experiencing
cardiac arrest is no memory of anything. In such circumstances, the brain is unable
to either maintain consciousness or form memories. (16) Yet, during this
time, NDErs consistently report, not vague, confused consciousness, but vivid, “realer
than real” consciousness. It’s like their brains are on hyper drive, some
reliving their entire lives within a brief span of time. And their memories, as
we have seen, far from being cloudy and fleeting (as we’d expect from a
compromised brain) are retained so efficiently that decades later they report
remembering each detail as if it happened yesterday.
Corroborating
evidence from studies of patients observed in the hospital room during their
out-of-body experiences confirms that many NDE’s couldn’t have been vivid
dreams that occurred immediately prior to unconsciousness or during the early
stages of resuscitation. Other medical data argues against patients piecing
together information they picked up while still conscious. During the brief
moments when the brain is losing or regaining consciousness, due to loss of
blood flow to the brain (e.g., in cardiac arrest) or anesthesia, brain function
is disorganized and confused. Memory is also severely impacted. (17)
Here’s
an example (which we summarized in the preface):
Pamela
Reynolds, a thirty-five-year-old mother, underwent a complex surgery to repair
a giant aneurysm in a cerebral artery. As reported by cardiologist Michael
Sabom and Neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler, in preparation for the surgery they
lowered her body temperature to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and drained all the
blood from her head, so that her brain was had ceased functioning by all three
clinical tests - “her electroencephalogram was silent, her brain-stem response
was absent, and no blood flowed through her brain….” Additionally, her eyes
were taped shut, she was put under deep anesthesia, brain stem activity was
monitored with “100-decible clicks emitted by small molded speakers inserted
into her ears” and her entire body, except for the small area of the head they
were cutting on, was covered completely.
During
this time, Reynolds experienced a vivid NDE where she watched part of the
surgery and reported back to the doctors what she saw - describing in minute
detail the specialized instruments they used for the surgery. For example, she
described the saw as looking “a lot more like a drill than a saw. It even had
little bits that were kept in this case that looked like the case that my
father stored his socket wrenches in when I was a child…. And I distinctly
remember a female voice saying: ‘We have a problem. Her arteries are too
small.’ And then a male voice: ‘Try the other side.’”
The
instruments were covered prior to her surgery, so there’s no way she could have
seen the instruments beforehand. She went on to describe passing through a
tunnel, talking to deceased relatives who looked like they were in the prime of
life, and being sent back to her body to wake up at resuscitation. Note: Reynolds
describes her NDE as a continuous, uninterrupted narrative, from the onset
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