---Introduce yourself---

One question I have about NDEs is why some people don't have them? I never understood that. I understand that there are many extraordinary things about NDEs, in which materialism cannot conventionally explain, but why are they so rare? Why do some people report essentially nothing happening during cardiac arrest? I understand that drugs can potentially block memory, but what would be other explanations?

I've been thinking about this as well. My personal feeling is that those who have them (or remembers them, or whatever) are meant to have them.. its part of their life-story, if you will, so not every person is "meant" to walk through life with a knowledge of the other side. As I've come to view things there might be certain ground rules to everyone's path, well obviously there is, since we all originate from somewhere and under a set of unique circumstances.
 
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I've been thinking about this as well. My personal feeling is that those who have them (or remebers them, or whatever) are meant to have them.. its part of their life-story, if you will, so not every person is "meant" to walk through life with a knowledge of the other side. As I've come to view things there might be certain ground rules to everyone's path, well obviously there is, since we all originate from somewhere and under a set of unique circumstances.
The trouble is, if you take that line of reasoning too far, you end up with a philosophy in which our lives are just passive - pre-designed - we don't have any say in them at all, and nothing that happens to us is evidence - it is just what has been laid out for us!

I think it may be relevant that most of us clearly have a powerful forgetting mechanism - which is particularly obvious when we wake up from a vivid dream. It can be forgotten within moments! My partner sometimes has nightmares and wakes up shouting, but within a minute, if I ask her about it, she can't remember!

Somehow I think that mechanism hides a lot of NDE's

David
 
The trouble is, if you take that line of reasoning too far, you end up with a philosophy in which our lives are just passive - pre-designed - we don't have any say in them at all, and nothing that happens to us is evidence - it is just what has been laid out for us!

I think it may be relevant that most of us clearly have a powerful forgetting mechanism - which is particularly obvious when we wake up from a vivid dream. It can be forgotten within moments! My partner sometimes has nightmares and wakes up shouting, but within a minute, if I ask her about it, she can't remember!

Somehow I think that mechanism hides a lot of NDE's

David
The trouble is, if you take that line of reasoning too far, you end up with a philosophy in which our lives are just passive - pre-designed - we don't have any say in them at all, and nothing that happens to us is evidence - it is just what has been laid out for us!

I think it may be relevant that most of us clearly have a powerful forgetting mechanism - which is particularly obvious when we wake up from a vivid dream. It can be forgotten within moments! My partner sometimes has nightmares and wakes up shouting, but within a minute, if I ask her about it, she can't remember!

Somehow I think that mechanism hides a lot of NDE's

David
Yes, I agree. I absolutely believe in choice and free will, 100%... but I still think there might be certain elements that are more fixed than others and imo actually are "predesigned". OC I might be wrong, going on a hunch really (based on my experience but still). And the dream-parallell is great imo.
 
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Welcome Johannes - and thanks for that fascinating short on your background.

I was a member 6 years ago and left for a brief period, in order to conduct some work in West Africa around the Ebola crisis and its aftermath, do a market strategy for an industry trade vertical, and start/expand several of my own businesses. That kept me pretty busy obviously. Somehow during that time, the password I had in my secure password log no longer worked in the forum and I could not get the forum password recovery tool to respond to me. I wrote emails to the admins for help - but got no response. This latest forum engine apparently possessed a functioning password tool (?) - so that allowed me back in.

My interests are in the philosophy of skepticism (as the substrate of science), metaethics, science, and the relationship between social agency and the 'paranormal', as they choose to call it. I have completed my Masters degree with a concentration in ethics and statistics/hypothesis testing theory, but declined to pursue a PhD - as constituting a waste of my time as well as a cap on my career potential. However, I have headed a successful research lab, owned a couple of research and engineering firms, funded and written scientific work, headed an IT firm and have hired and managed (herding cats) hundreds of PhD's and MSE's. I have developed a reputation in the fund investment industry for being able to solve a complex asymmetric problem (markets and/or scientific), and am quietly brought into research organizations or nations which struggle with 'bias' (agency and critical path incompetence). I get to beat the crap out of fake skeptics professionally. :)

Great to be back and engaging with similar minded folks who sincerely are searching the rim of our understanding on behalf of an inexcusably and abjectly suffering mankind.

TES
 
hi Johannes... thx for joining us. wow, interested that you had a NDE at such a young age.
A couple of years ago, I was sitting in a cafe with three friends discussing politics. The subject moved on to death, and all three agreed that death was obviously final, so I very tentatively introduced the idea of NDE's. I was very tentative and vague, so as not to lead them on. This produced an amazing effect. All three had encountered psi phenomena of one sort or another, and one remembered a strange phenomenon when he was about 4. He was in a crowded department store with his grandma, and he suddenly began to feel faint/weird. He then found himself looking down on himself and his grandma from above! This went on for a short time, and then he returned to his body, to find hid grandma desperately trying to wake him up. The two of them then simply continued with their day!

David
 
hi Johannes... thx for joining us. wow, interested that you had a NDE at such a young age.
Yes, one saturday I woke up feeling that my heart had stopped and I couldn't breathe and then my whole inner started to vibrate (as I've heard is common also with people having OBE's) and I swoshed away. The reason I haven't enjoyed talking about it much apart from people not believing it is that it was, at least now in retrospect, quite diffuse (although the actual experience had nothing fuzzy about it, I was back home and it felt 110% real). I don't have perfect clear memory of everything as some people having had NDE's claim. I can't set what happened into a chronological order. But I remember meeting old friends and there were no words spoken, it was feelings and just understanding.. I guess. It felt like being back from a long and tiresome journey, and finally you're home again and everything is allright and I felt so relieved. I also remember setting up what my life should be about, or what some challenging factors would be... or this is how it felt like atleast and I have been thinking about that a lot and how to understand it. When I was back again I was pretty devastated. I went down stairs for breakfast and met my younger brother in the stairs, grabbed him by the shoulders and said something to the effect of "are you alright, is everything ok with you? I'm here to help" and he just looked at me like I was messing with him. Right after the NDE I decided to try to forget the whole thing because nothing about my experience fit with how my life was. School felt like a joke, most things sounded like bullshit to me and I became quite critical and cynical about the world early on.
I've since come to realize that you can still try hard to achieve, but I'm trying hard to not let my ego get carried away but to regard it more as practice and the bettering of myself.. and try to deliver positive messages with what I do (which is art and composing music)
 
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Yes, one saturday I woke up feeling that my heart had stopped and I couldn't breathe and then my hole inner started to vibrate (as I've heard is common also with people having OBE's) and I swoshed away. The reason I haven't enjoyed talking about it much apart from people not believing it is that it was, at least now in retrospect, quite diffuse (although the actual experience had nothing fuzzy about it, I was back home and it felt 110% real). I don't have perfect clear memory of everything as some people having had NDE's claim. I can't set what happened into a chronological order. But I remember meeting old friends and there were no words spoken, it was feelings and just understanding.. I guess. It felt like being back from a long and tiresome journey, and finally you're home again and everything is allright and I felt so relieved. I also remember setting up what my life should be about, or what some challenging factors would be... or this is how it felt like atleast and I have been thinking about that a lot and how to understand it. When I was back again I was pretty devastated. I went down stairs for breakfast and met my younger brother in the stairs, grabbed him by the shoulders and said something to the effect of "are you alright, is everything ok with you? I'm here to help" and he just looked at me like I was messing with him. Its been complicated. I come for a strict upbringing and a pretty dysfunctional and somewhat abusive family (not physical) where education and dedication and being the best at what you do was pretty much the only thing that counted as far as my dad was concerned, and he called the shots. I just realized that all of that from the point of my experience was just completely irrelevant. So we never quite got along after that, although he's a devote christian. (Things are better now though, happy to say) And yet, I've been going through school and pushed hard at whatever I've been up to... but at times it has been feeling pointless. Right after the NDE I decided to try to forget the whole thing because nothing about my experience fit with how my life was. School felt like a joke, most things sounded like bullshit to me and I became quite critical and cynical about the world early on.
I've since come to realize that you can still try hard to achieve, but I'm trying hard to not let my ego get carried away but to regard it more as practice and the bettering of myself.. and try to deliver positive messages with what I do (which is art and composing music)

Didn't want to get too personal about it but I don't think I really explained it that much in depth before so.. what the heck. I'm doing fine anyway, but it really is a weird story.
 
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Yes, one saturday I woke up feeling that my heart had stopped and I couldn't breathe and then my hole inner started to vibrate (as I've heard is common also with people having OBE's) and I swoshed away. The reason I haven't enjoyed talking about it much apart from people not believing it is that it was, at least now in retrospect, quite diffuse (although the actual experience had nothing fuzzy about it, I was back home and it felt 110% real). I don't have perfect clear memory of everything as some people having had NDE's claim. I can't set what happened into a chronological order. But I remember meeting old friends and there were no words spoken, it was feelings and just understanding.. I guess. It felt like being back from a long and tiresome journey, and finally you're home again and everything is allright and I felt so relieved. I also remember setting up what my life should be about, or what some challenging factors would be... or this is how it felt like atleast and I have been thinking about that a lot and how to understand it. When I was back again I was pretty devastated. I went down stairs for breakfast and met my younger brother in the stairs, grabbed him by the shoulders and said something to the effect of "are you alright, is everything ok with you? I'm here to help" and he just looked at me like I was messing with him. Its been complicated. I come for a strict upbringing and a pretty dysfunctional and somewhat abusive family (not physical) where education and dedication and being the best at what you do was pretty much the only thing that counted as far as my dad was concerned, and he called the shots. I just realized that all of that from the point of my experience was just completely irrelevant. So we never quite got along after that, although he's a devote christian. (Things are better now though, happy to say) And yet, I've been going through school and pushed hard at whatever I've been up to... but at times it has been feeling pointless. Right after the NDE I decided to try to forget the whole thing because nothing about my experience fit with how my life was. School felt like a joke, most things sounded like bullshit to me and I became quite critical and cynical about the world early on.
I've since come to realize that you can still try hard to achieve, but I'm trying hard to not let my ego get carried away but to regard it more as practice and the bettering of myself.. and try to deliver positive messages with what I do (which is art and composing music)
Extraordinary. Thank you, Johannes.
 
Didn't want to get too personal about it but I don't think I really explained it that much in depth before so.. what the heck. I'm doing fine anyway, but it really is a weird story.
Don't forget that you have an 'edit' button on your own posts, and if necessary you can even delete them, but posting here anonymously really means it is possible to he honest in safety.

David
 
Hello, all,

I am a proud cat dad, recently exposed to the remarkable research into the "past life memories" of children conducted by Dr. Jim Tucker at UVa (previously, Dr. Ian Stevenson), and since corroborated by Erlander Harroldson and others.

This led me down the rabbit-hole of learning more about NDE's (Dr. Grayson and the longitudinal studies of Dr. Parnia and Dr. Pin van Lommel), which led me down the rabbit-hole of quantum consciousness theories (Orch-OR), which led me down the rabbit-hole of trying to search out the answers from materialists to these theories and phenomena.

I will admit to not "knowing" anything about any of this in an absolutist sense (and to being less educated on the subjects than, say, a classically trained psychologist or a theoretical physicist). That said, the preponderance of the evidence does sway me in the direction of a personal belief, one way or the other.

I found old posts in this forum through my online research and thought this seemed a place where people are engaging in objective and open-minded discussions about the evidence for or against, and not believing by blind faith or dismissing evidence and claims that do not comport with a pseudo-skeptical, strictly materialist paradigm.

Anyway, I look forward to discussing on here with you all, and hopefully can add something of value :-)
 
ProudCatDad,

I am bound to say, those studies are awfully suggestive, and taken together with the masses of NDEs that people experience, and the hypnotic past life regressions (probably the weakest strand of evidence), I feel the evidence is converging on a remarkable concept of a sequence of lifetimes separated by non-material periods.

Note also that I seem to remember there are NDEs in which people remember the process by which they selected the life they are in!

David
 
Hi Everyone,

Nate here - I've been a listener of Skeptiko for the past couple of years and finally after reading the thread on the Kevin Day interview felt compelled to join the forum. There's rarely a topic covered that I'm not interested in. I come from a background of having studied Philosophy and Religious Studies in college. I've been interested in Eastern and Western esotericism, parapolitics, et al topics since I was a teenager. I also find the integrative/holistic health topics addressed in some shows of strong interest, especially after my gut took a turn for the worst last year - the human microbiome has become a new fascination of mine. I'm an "experiencer" of some sort - not UFO or NDE but kundalini arousal and some sort of extradimensional contact. These interests and experiences inform my spiritual practice and creative pursuits. I'm looking forward to reading and participating in the discussions here.
 
I’m NJ. I stumbled across Skeptiko a few years ago in the depths of drug addiction and alcoholism. Searching and searching for something “out there”. I’m 3 years clean and sober now. I live in Alabama. And I’m still searching but not “out there” anymore. Instead I search “in” these days. I find this podcast very fascinating
 
I’m NJ. I stumbled across Skeptiko a few years ago in the depths of drug addiction and alcoholism. Searching and searching for something “out there”. I’m 3 years clean and sober now. I live in Alabama. And I’m still searching but not “out there” anymore. Instead I search “in” these days. I find this podcast very fascinating
Welcome NJ3!
It sounds like you went through a very rough period, and I am glad Skeptiko has helped you!

Do remember however that we discuss some fairly disturbing things sometimes - so do make sure not to get sucked into anything you can't handle.

David
 
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Hi Everyone,

Nate here - I've been a listener of Skeptiko for the past couple of years and finally after reading the thread on the Kevin Day interview felt compelled to join the forum. There's rarely a topic covered that I'm not interested in. I come from a background of having studied Philosophy and Religious Studies in college. I've been interested in Eastern and Western esotericism, parapolitics, et al topics since I was a teenager. I also find the integrative/holistic health topics addressed in some shows of strong interest, especially after my gut took a turn for the worst last year - the human microbiome has become a new fascination of mine. I'm an "experiencer" of some sort - not UFO or NDE but kundalini arousal and some sort of extradimensional contact. These interests and experiences inform my spiritual practice and creative pursuits. I'm looking forward to reading and participating in the discussions here.
how cool, Nate. thx for the intro.
 
I’m NJ. I stumbled across Skeptiko a few years ago in the depths of drug addiction and alcoholism. Searching and searching for something “out there”. I’m 3 years clean and sober now. I live in Alabama. And I’m still searching but not “out there” anymore. Instead I search “in” these days. I find this podcast very fascinating
nice... are things a little bit sweeter when we stumble over/into them :)
 
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