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Near Death Experience Research

2/16/2015

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if you believe in Near Death Experiences being “real” instead of dreams or hallucinations I suggest you got www.ndref.org  This website claims to do serious research on the matter and concludes that there is a separation of soul and Brain upon death. They rely on anecdotal stories of people who supposedly died (but of course didn’t since they survived) or the ‘testimony” of people who are relating stories that their dying relatives told them. Read the “NDE stories” and judge for yourself. I alsp recommend you read                   http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/scientists-claim-that-quantum-theory-proves-consciousness-moves-to-another-universe-at-death/ . This article claims that quantum mechanics proves that, according to Professor Dr Robert Lanza gave birth to a new theory of biocentrism Quoting the article ”The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist.   It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too.  If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies.  But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle”. Please read it and appreciate the  convoluted, scientific sounding  “conclusions such as “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. 
I prefer to use “Occam’s Razor” The simplest explanation is more likely to be correct and latest neuro science research is strongly pointing in that direction (see my previous blog “ Brain Death, End of Consciousness”) that  “ Near Death” is not “Actual Death”. When the Brain dies,  awareness dies., No eternal consciousness. Simple, understandable, and observable in Altzheimer’s patients.


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The Energy is God

2/14/2015

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John Abbott wrote that the energy of the universe was God and that his search for meaning in life was clearly distinguishable in the Bible, magazines and TV documentaries. Here is my reaction to John

John, let’s agree that the universe before and after the Big Bang is, and always was, “energy” By modern observations and the general level of knowledge we have arrived at so far that is probably a good hypothesis. Energy comes indifferent forms, Mass, Gravity. Dark Matter, are some of those. An extreme density of energy exploded in the Big Bang and formed our observable universe. This Big Bang is observable and thus worth looking into by further scientific investigations. Where you and I part ways is that you have “ deduced that God had to be the living energy in all things and powers all things”. That deduction  is NOT a hypothesis, that is a belief, not based on any scientifically based observations. “Had to be” is an unwarranted conclusion on the same level as ancient Germanic tribes decided that thunder and lighting “had to be” caused by Thor throwing his hammer from his chariot as he rode through he sky.

To propose that nature’s energy is a thinking, creative, and purposeful deity is a leap of faith. It strikes me as telling that the God in the human mind, especially the Christian one, is so similar to the human mind, indicating that humans created God rather than the reverse. You ”wanted to know ”your creator”, who seems to have a personality created in your own mind. Next you assume that ”the answer was clearly distinguishable by the writing in the Bible, magazines and TV documentaries, that God could not be in my image”. The Bible, magazines, TV documentaries gave you the “answer”?  Why not the Koran, other ancient historical texts or articles and TV documentaries flouting the opposite opinions? You will accept only the opinions of the ones that conform to your thinking, those that give you the “Ahah I thought so” moment and will reject those which you don’t agree with. This psychological phenomenon is called Cognitive Dissonance.

At least we agree, with some eminent scientists that the universe before and after the Big Bang was filled with energy. We will probably find out more about that by future observations. That is NOT “your discovery” and the unwarranted “conclusion” that this energy is a thinking, almighty, being, does not make sense in a rational mind.

The “meaning of life” question is an artificial question created by humans who desperately want to be important in this vast universe, just like previous generations who wanted the earth to be the center of the universe, later thought the sun was. Now we know that the earth is an insignificant mote of dust in this enormous gigantic universe. So set the question of the “meaning of life” aside. Why create this enormous universe to give “ meaning” to an insignificant bundle of atoms and molecules formed by the electrical and chemical forces of nature and certainly not permanent? The question is man made and is irrelevant. There is no meaning of life necessary to be happy to have beaten the incredible odds to have formed a bundle of neurons who can observe this fantastic grand universe, if only for a short time. You live only once, make the best of it. That’s what it means.

 

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Why is belief in God so prevalent

2/1/2015

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There must be a reason that belief in god, ghost, conspiracies, aliens, devils and hosts of other supernatural beings are so prevalent. Many researches, who have concluded that the supernatural does not exist are now trying to postulate why these illogical beliefs are so persistent. I have been reading a lot of material about the subject and absorbed many hypotheses which are getting closer and closer to an explanation. The Australian psychologist Gary M Baker summed them up in a recent article (Skeptical Enquirer Jan/Feb.’15) as follows: Fear of death, Desire to control people, Direct religious experience, An evolutionary advantage, The Brain’s God spot, and A need for meaning. None of them are quite convincing. A new theory by Psychologist Deborah Keleman and her colleagues makes a lot more sense: “there is now an overwhelming evidence that children around the world are innately prone to” promiscuous teleological intuitions” preferring teleological, purpose based rather than physical- caused explanations of living and non-living natural objects. This tendency seems to be modifiable only from around 10 years of age, and declines only in the children of non-fundamentalist parents. (Keleman et all 2013)

After digesting all this material let’s do a severe application of Occam’s Razor, in short; the simplest assumptions are likely more correct. A human brain develops slowly from un-awareness to awareness with many intermediate stages in between. The 5 senses develop slowly and not all at the same pace. Hearing starts in the womb and eyesight after birth, A baby starts perceiving moving objects and their associated sounds. At first it cannot determine the difference between live and static objects. It learns that some are more important than others and perceives the major care giver as the greatest force in their environment, totally in charge and omnipotent (God?). Gradually other animate, (people and animals) as well as inanimate  objects, (dolls and toys) become part of their world, and they start dreaming about their experiences. Not making too much sense but having a powerful influence on their brain. Invisible friends become a part of many young children. Since no one has the exact same experiences and since their genetic make up differ, these first impressions about the unknown world are stronger or weaker from child to child.  When growing up this first god-like expression transfers over from parent to a supernatural being when they become more aware. This “transfer” could be weak or strong so that in later life the need for hanging on to the security of their deity persists. We are all familiar with the Christian God but in other cultures the need for a supernatural protector is seen as well. Thus the “need” for belief in some sort of almighty being, who protects you, who must be obeyed, who sets the rules, who punishes bad behavior, and rewards good behavior is similar in many religions. People who are more independent are more likely to be able to face life without the imaginary “parent” looking over their shoulder. I am supposing that the belief in some sort of god, which we find in a great many people, is a left over of the early stages of awareness development in the very young baby when comprehension was still lacking, a simple observation fitting the Occam’s razor principle nicely.

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