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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Has science explained life after death?

n 1991, Atlanta, Ga. resident Pam Reynolds had a near-death experience (NDE). Reynolds underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm, and the procedure required doctors to drain all the blood from her brain. Reynolds was kept literally brain-dead by the surgical team for a full 45 minutes. Despite being clinically dead, when Reynolds was resuscitated, she described some amazing things. She recounted experiences she had while dead -- like interacting with deceased relatives. Even more amazing is that Reynolds was able to describe aspects of the surgical procedure, down to the bone saw that was used to remove part of her skull [source: Parker].
Near-death experiences
­Courtesy StockXchng­
It is estimated that as many as 18 percent of people who have been resuscitated after cardiac arrest have reported a near-death experience.

What's remarkable (although not unique) about Reynolds' experience is that it is the combination of an NDE and an out-of-body-experience (OBE). HowStuffWorks has braved this territory on the edge of reality, explaining how near-death experiences work and how a person can have an out-of-body experience. Science, too, has made its own headway toward explaining these weird phenomena. Two studies on the separate aspects of Reynolds' experience were conducted in 2007. Each seems to explain how a person can have an OBE or a NDE, but do they hold up in explaining experiences like Reynolds'? ­­

As many as 18 percent of people brought back from death after a heart attack said they'd had a NDE [source: Time]. While many religious adherents might not be surprised by these accounts, the idea that human consciousness and the body exist distinctly from each other flies in the face of science. A brain-dead person should not be able to form new memories -- he shouldn't have any consciousness at all, really. So how can anything but a metaphysical explanation cover NDEs?

A study from the University of Kentucky has quickly gained ground among scientists as possibly the best explanation for NDEs. Researchers there theorize that the mysterious phenomenon is really an instance of the sleep disorder rapid eye movement (REM) intrusion. In this disorder, a person's mind can wake up before his body, and hallucinations and the feeling of being physically detached from his body can occur.

The Kentucky researchers believe that NDEs are actually REM intrusions triggered in the brain by traumatic events like cardiac arrest. If this is true, then this means the experiences of some people following near-death are confusion from suddenly and unexpectedly entering a dream-like state.

This theory helps explain what has always been a tantalizing aspect of the mystery of NDEs: how people can experience sights and sounds after confirmed brain death. The area where REM intrusion is triggered is found in the brain stem -- the region that controls the most basic functions of the body -- and it can operate virtually independent from the higher brain. So even after the higher regions of the brain are dead, the brain stem can conceivably continue to function, and REM intrusion could still occur [source: BBC].


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Saturday, January 3, 2009

A stunning new look at deja vu!!


A blind man suffering déjà vu. It sounds like a contradiction in terms – but the first case study of its kind has turned the whole theory of déjà vu on its head.


Traditionally it was thought images from one eye were delayed, arriving in the brain microseconds after images from the other eye – causing a sensation that something was being seen for the second time.

But University of Leeds researchers report for the first time the case of a blind person experiencing déjà vu through smell, hearing and touch.


The University is a world-leader in déjà vu research. The ground-breaking work of the University’s Institute of Psychological Sciences has been widely published in both the scientific and the news media. Their work is particularly aimed at understanding chronic déjà vu, where patients are constantly plagued by the feeling of having "been here before".

In a new paper published in the journal Brain and Cognition*, researchers Akira O’Connor and Chris Moulin relate how mundane experiences – undoing a jacket zip while hearing a particular piece of music; hearing a snatch of conversation while holding a plate in the school dining hall – were examples of how deja experiences were triggered in the blind subject.

"It is the first time this has been reported in scientific literature," said O’Connor. "It’s useful because it provides a concrete case study which contradicts the theory of optical pathway delay. Eventually we would like to talk to more blind people, though there’s no reason to believe this man’s experiences are abnormal or different to those of others.

"Optical pathway delay is a quite antiquated theory, but still widely believed – and was the basis for the déjà vu sequences in Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22. But this provides strong evidence that optical pathway delay is not the explanation for déjà vu. The findings are so obvious, so intuitive, that it’s remarkable this research has never been done before."

O’Connor admits that to the person experiencing déjà vu, it feels almost inexplicable. "And because it feels so subjective, psychology, in striving for objectivity, has tended to shy away from it. But psychologists have gone some way to illuminating things like the ‘tip of my tongue’ sensation when you can’t think of a particular word. We just wanted to get to the same sort of understanding for déjà vu."

O’Connor’s thesis, due to be completed next year, examines the experimental induction of déjà vu through hypnosis. "We now believe that deja experiences are caused when an area of the brain that deals with familiarity gets disrupted," he said.

In one experiment, students are asked to remember words, then hypnotised to make them forget – and then shown the same word again to induce a feeling that they have seen it before. Around half said this brought on a sensation similar to déjà vu – half of whom said it was definitely déjà vu.

O’Connor would like to take the research further: "It would be really neat to do some neuro-imaging on people during genuine spontaneous déjà vu experiences – but it’s very difficult to get them to have them on demand…"

Source: University of Leeds


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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

JFK and President Lincoln's Reincaration


According to reincarnation beliefs, history tends to repeat itself until those who have participated in it learn their lessons and change for the better. This means that an individual may face identical situations from one life to the next until they are able to conquer whatever "cause and effect" chain-reaction they have caused from a previous life. As an example, a person who "lives by the sword" in one life and dies without having made amends for his mistakes, will in the next life be faced with identical situations which must be overcome. Ultimately, such a person will have to face themselves and have inflicted upon them everything they have inflicted upon others. Divine justice in many religions shows that those who "live by the sword" will "die by the sword", if not in their present life, but likely in a future life. Reincarnation theory states that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The lives of President Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln had so many parallels that it cannot be dismissed as pure coincidence. To many, these parallels are evidence of history repeating itself and evidence of reincarnation. To me, these parallels may be circumstantial evidence that President Kennedy was the reincarnation of President Lincoln. Decide for yourself.

Both were elected to Congress in the 46th year in the 19th and 20th centuries. Both were elected President in the 60th year. Both had the legality of their elections contested. Both were directly involved with black civil rights. Both lost a son while serving as President. Both were assassinated while serving as President. Lincoln's staffer, whose name was Kennedy, advised him not to go to the theatre where he was assassinated. Kennedy's secretary, whose name was Lincoln, advised him not to go to Dallas where he was assiassinated. Abraham Lincoln was fond of Monroe, Maryland. A place he had visited a week before he was shot. Kennedy was fond of Marilyn Monroe.

Both were shot on a Friday. Both were shot in the head from behind. Both were shot in the presence of their wives. Both were shot while sitting with another couple. Both were shot with another member of their entourage being injured, but not fatally. Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre. Kennedy was shot in a Ford Lincoln.

Both assassins were born in the 39th year. Both were Southerners favouring extremist views. Both are known by their first, middle and last names. After assassinating Lincon, John William Booth ran from the theatre and was captured in a warehouse. After assassinating Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald ran from the warehouse and was captured in a theatre. Both were themselves assassinated before their trials.

Both President�s successors were Southern Democrats. Both successors had the last name of Johnson. Both successors were Vice-Presidents. Both successors were born in the 8th year of the century. Both successors were former senators. Both President�s caskets were carried in death on the same caisson.

It appears that history does indeed repeat itself.


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Liberation (moksha) - The Ultimate State


moksha that translates into liberation, is the fourth and final goal of the lives in the purushArtha sequence. What it is and why is this so important a concept ?


Hinduism puts forward the idea that the cycle of birth-death-rebirth again keeps going on, making the soul accumulate and at the same time undergo the fruits of such previously accumulated karma. It is both heaven and hell that come on the way giving the good and bad fruits. They are not permanent. They are only transient spots and the journey of the soul continues beyond.

Along with the karma there are two culprits - ego and illusion - that make the soul do more deeds and accumulate more and more karma. Put together these impurities are referred as pAsha or bondage, as they bind the soul in this never ending vicious circle.

Liberation is when the soul is no longer bound to these impurities and comes out of the cycle and the result is Eternal Bliss. Supreme or parabrahman is the One which stays beyond these cycles and that Supreme is invoked by the soul to come out of the cycle and stay in the Bliss without reincarnating. This is the ultimate state all the bonded souls need to get to !

While the concept of liberation and the soul freed from bondage and staying in Eternal Bliss is the core Hinduism concept shared by all philosophies of it, the philosophies describe the finer details differently like the relation between the soul and the God at the state of liberation etc. Those interested in the analysis of the philosophy and enjoy the wisdom they bring to the seeker can go through in detail about the philosophies like advaita, siddhantha, dvaita etc.

Without getting to the hells, heavens and the worlds, Oh God, you blessed the devotee to get to the Supreme State ! - thiruvAsakam.




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Friday, December 26, 2008

A STORY OF REINCARNATION!!

A husband and wife had a puppy named "Beibei." Beibei was very pretty
and cute, it had white hair all over its body, and the couple always
kept its hair neat and clean. Everyone in the family loved the puppy
and fed it with milk and ham. The couple would buy anything the puppy
liked to eat.



One should say the puppy was very fortunate. However, as a storm may
arise from a clear sky, the puppy Beibei suddenly died of illness. The
whole family wailed over its death. For months the husband and wife was
unable to get over it. Other people found it unbelievable, "Wasn't it
just a dog? Is it necessary to feel bad like this? I didn't even see
you cry much when your mother died!" Although the comments were
caustic, what they said was true. When the husband's mother died, the
whole family didn't really care much.



One night the wife had a dream. In the dream her mother-in-law told
her, "When I was about to die, you and my son were so into your
business that instead of looking after me, the two of you left me
unattended at home. As a result, when I died, nobody was beside me.
After I died, you didn't cry much for me either. That puppy was me. I
reincarnated into it to demand the debt from you. Do some math and see
how long you had raised the dog and how long you had kept me home
unattended before I died. In addition, I'll tell you where Beibei came
from, and you can do some investigation to verify my words. Doudou, the
couple's daughter, got Beibei from her college classmate, and the
classmate got it from her aunt. So Beibei came from the XX City. The
puppy's mom had five puppies at a time, and Beibei was the cutest one
of them. Go investigate." Then the old woman disappeared mistily from
the dream.



The wife woke up felling strange. She could hardly believe it, but
everything was so real and clear in memory. Everything that had
happened before came into view so clearly: how she and her husband had
left the old woman home by herself, how they only cared about making
money and forgot about fulfilling their filial piety as son and
daughter-in-law, and how the old woman had died wretchedly and
miserably.



To verify what was told in the dream, the wife told her daughter Doudou
to ask her classmate about how she had got Beibei. Surprisingly, with
just a telephone, everything Doudou was told exactly matched what the
mother-in-law had said in the dream. The wife couldn't help walking out
of her home and telling everyone about it, and she was surrounded by a
big crowd. Suddenly a voice said, "So one has to pay back what one owes
others. Then is there retribution for wrongdoings? No wonder other
people say ‘the good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil,' and I
even laughed at them for being superstitious. Alas, there was a Falun
Gong practitioner told me not to persecute Falun Dafa, he said that one
would suffer retribution for wrongdoings, and I thought he made it up!
Hearing your story, I now really believe him. Alas..."



That's right. As a human being, if one doesn't owe others or do
unconscionable things, and especially if treats one's aged parents and
grandparents well, one would at least get a sounder sleep. And these
are the basic requirement for conducting oneself!

Translated from:

http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2006/7/24/38679.html

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