The evidence of after-death survival of human consciousness according to the winners of the Bigelow contest: a scientific examination

The aim of this study was to examine the strength of scientific evidence, reproducibility and replicability of the 29 essays of the winners of the Bigelow contest.Six essays (20.5%) were included in the category with the high strength of scientific evidence. Four essays (14%) were included in the category with medium strength of scientific evidence and the remaining 19 essays (65.5%) in the category with low strength of scientific evidence. The overall agreement between our strength of scientific evidence categories and the Bigelow ones, was only 48.8%, sufficient to demonstrate a clear difference between our scientific criteria and those adopted by the judges of the Bigelow contest.The essays that obtained the highest strength of scientific evidence level were related to near-death experiences and mental mediumship.For other phenomena, more studies with refined experimental designs are necessary to increase the evidence of the survival of human consciousness.

Out-of-Body Experience induced by hypnotic suggestion: phenomenology and perceptual characteristics

The aim of this study is the investigation of the perceptual and cognitive characteristics of Out-of- Body Experiences (OBEs) induced by hypnotic induction.Five participants selected for their experience with hypnotic inductions were induced into an OBE and were requested to verbally describe six selected images, either one or two per session, that were located in two different rooms that were hundreds of kilometers from the place where they were under hypnosis.Furthermore, their real-time phenomenological experience was investigated with respect to the minimal phenomenal selfhood (MPS) and the similarities with the characteristics of spatial and temporal perception reported in near death experiences (NDEs).On average, the participants correctly identified 46.7% of the images, whereas two independent judges correctly identified 66.7% of them, compared to a probability of 25% expected due to chance.The phenomenology of their out-of-body perceptual and cognitive experiences revealed a general commonality among all participants. All participants reported a phenomenological experience of a disembodied personal selfhood able to perceive simply by an act of will without the physical limitation of eyesight, to move in the environment instantaneously and exist in a sort of three dimensional world with no awareness of time.The validity of these first person verbal reports was discussed to determine whether they were due to real OBEs or to the participants’ or the hypnotist’s previous knowledge about OBE.

Leven voor de dood. Aanzetten tot een christelijke thanatologie

Popular literature shows the need for a contemporary art of dying. This article argues for a Christian thanatology that engages modern phenomena such as near-death-experiences, end-of-life legislation and an imagination that cannot envisions life beyond death. Reformed sources provide three elements for a Christian thanatology: (a) death as the boundary of human existence; (b) a spiritual attitude toward death; and (c) death and as an eccentric existence. A Christian thanatology moves beyond a systematic-theological exploration of the ‘last things’ to offer a ‘practical eschatology’ able to relate Christian imagination with cultural expressions.

‘Written of by novelists’: scripting and managing emotions in 19th-century medical manuscripts

Literary and medical historical scholars have long explored the work of physician–writers and the cross-pollination of literature and medicine. However, few scholars have considered how these interactions have shaped medical manuscripts and the echoes they contain of the emotional contours of the medical encounter. This essay uses the papers of Southern physician Andrew Bowles Holder (1860–1896) to explore how the emotions of the physician were managed at the bedside and in the aftermath of medical encounters through recourse to literary thinking. Holder, like many 19th-century physicians, was an avid reader with an interest in literary endeavours, and his manuscripts reveal the influences of literature on his work as a physician. This article frames the bedside as a theatre of emotions, in which Holder’s performance and management of his emotions was key to his professional identity. His literary interests thus provided him with two tools: first, literature provided him with models for how to respond to and record different kinds of medical encounters, particularly deaths, near-death experiences and childbirth; second, his mode of keeping these records, which included the production of poetry as well as medical prose, served as a technology of coping, further allowing him to manage his emotions by exorcising them on the page.

Dying

What actually happens when someone dies? Are there signs that death is approaching? Physicians sometimes notice what is called a terminal drop in basic physiological systems that seems to presage death, but those signs do not occur in every case. In the “twilight of death,” not every cell in the body dies at the same rate. However, once death occurs, the signs are more clear and involve a loss of respiration and heartbeat, rigor mortis, and the pooling of blood, among other things. Some people report near-death experiences, and one might wonder if those provide a glimpse of the afterlife. Yet most of the features of near-death experiences can be explained physiologically. Consciousness and its relationship to the physical brain remain to be understood.

Desirability without Desire: Life Extension, Boredom and Spiritual Experience

In response to Bernard Williams’ suspicion that we would inevitably become bored with immortal life, John Martin Fischer has argued that we could continue to enjoy repeatable pleasures such as fine wine, beautiful music, and spiritual experiences. In more recent work on near-death experiences, Fischer has also explored the non-religious meaning of spiritual experiences in more depth. I join this deeper exploration of spiritual experience, and I also join Williams’ critics who question his view that character and desire are needed to explain the desirability of life, while providing additional reason for concern that Williams’ way of valuing life may itself actually be a cause of boredom with life. With an eye to spiritual experience, I indicate how we can distance ourselves even further from Williams’ view, and I suggest how the attitude that life is good but death is not bad emerges from spiritual experience, as expressed in numerous religious and secular spiritual traditions. This lends support to the conclusion that radically extended life is desirable even if not actively desired.

Analyzing the Development and Implementation Posibility of the Robotic Ambulance for COVID Pacients

During Covid pandemic, the automation, robotization and digitization were accelerated, but the results do not meet all expectations. Telecommunications have undeniable successes, but in other sectors the benefits of technological advancement are still missing. The "online school" and the "online procedures" of some institutions have been partially upgraded, but things have been as well in other activities which were less suitable for automation, robotization and digitization. The healthcare sector was highly stressed in the context of COVID-19 crisis, but it has not fully benefited from the advantages of the robotic vehicles. Life and death during COVID-19 crisis has affected most people, either as victims or actors in a reality that took them unprepared. Ambulances have been challenged by events which were not always managed successfully. They must respond promptly to save the lives of those who call for help. Staff in this sector are often overworked and highly stressed. The simultaneous existence of robotic ambulances that can take over some of the victims who need medical services could be both a good idea and a life-saving measure. The paper proposes implementation of existing technology for optimizing ambulance services with robotic tools and suitable for digitization. In this way, complementary solutions can be generated for increasing the quality of life, respectively for mitigating the emotional and physical stress when it comes to near death experiences. When on-site complex resuscitation and first aid maneuvers are not necessary, being required only the lifting and transportation procedures by a medical robot, the ​​use of a robotic vehicle mitigates the ambulance’s personnel from stresses. These solutions are complementary, leading to an improvement in life’s quality.

Losing the Self in Near-Death Experiences: The Experience of Ego-Dissolution

Many people who have had a near-death experience (NDE) describe, as part of it, a disturbed sense of having a “distinct self”. However, no empirical studies have been conducted to explore the frequency or intensity of these effects. We surveyed 100 NDE experiencers (Near-Death-Experience Content [NDE-C] scale total score ≥27/80). Eighty participants had their NDEs in life-threatening situations and 20 had theirs not related to life-threatening situations. Participants completed the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) and the Ego-Inflation Inventory (EII) to assess the experience of ego dissolution and inflation potentially experienced during their NDE, respectively. They also completed the Nature-Relatedness Scale (NR-6) which measures the trait-like construct of one’s self-identification with nature. Based on prior hypotheses, ratings of specific NDE-C items pertaining to out-of-body experiences and a sense of unity were used for correlational analyses. We found higher EDI total scores compared with EII total scores in our sample. Total scores of the NDE-C scale were positively correlated with EDI total scores and, although less strongly, the EII and NR-6 scores. EDI total scores were also positively correlated with the intensity of OBE and a sense of unity. This study suggests that the experience of dissolved ego-boundaries is a common feature of NDEs.

Revelation in Near-Death Experience

Accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) across cultures often include claims of encounters with deities or spirits who impart information to the experiencer. Other accounts involve the experiencer obtaining knowledge by other means, without the assistance of a non-human supernatural being. While some cases involve deceased relatives, the most significant factor in others might be the soul’s perceptions of the body from a vantage point outside it, seeing or travelling to other realms, having a panoramic life review, encountering the soul of a person not previously known to have died, having prophetic visions, or more generalized impressions of universal understanding and/or union. In all these senses, NDEs can be seen as revelatory experiences, with profound information being conveyed to the individual through ostensibly mystical or ‘religious’ experiences.