Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!hplabs!tektronix!orca!tekecs!mikes From: mikes@tekecs.TEK.COM (Michael Sellers) Newsgroups: sci.med Subject: NDEs Message-ID: <7775@tekecs.TEK.COM> Date: Thu, 16-Oct-86 16:38:51 EDT Article-I.D.: tekecs.7775 Posted: Thu Oct 16 16:38:51 1986 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Oct-86 06:14:54 EDT Distribution: na Organization: Tektronix Inc., Wilsonville, OR Lines: 45 Keywords: Near Death Experiences [If the line-eater did not exist, we would be forced to create it] Here is a subject that I don't recall seeing on the net, and that ought to provoke some interesting discussion: Near Death Experiences (NDEs). I have heard about these for the past few years, but had not read any personal accounts before a few days ago. The book I read is called _Return from Tomorrow_, by George G. Ritchie. He's a psychiatrist in Richmond Virginia who had the extraordinary experience of "dieing" for 9 minutes when he was 20 years old in 1943. While he was "dead" (no pulse, respiration, BP), he had a series of supernatural encounters, centering around his meeting Jesus Christ and seeing the fate of others who had died, and travelling great distances out of his body. His case may differ from others (I haven't read any others so I don't know) in that he is intimately aquainted with the vagaries of interal human experience, has an extremely well-documented case (including a notarized affadavit from the attending doctor that his case had to be "explained in terms of other than natural means"), and is able to seriously and soberly tell his tale. His was also the inspiration for Raymond Moody to write his book, _Life After Life_, which tells of the experiences of numerous people who maintain they have had such experiences. I have heard several different theories regarding NDEs, all of which seem at best lame attempts to shoo away that which defies all rational explanation within the world as we know it. The ones I have heard include: hallucination at a time when the body is undergoing extreme stress (wrong on both counts; the experiences have little similarity to hallucinations, and often the body is under little or no stress as it dies); hearkening back to the earliest memory, that of the birth process (people have spoken of the dark tunnel leading to a bright light, which others have maintained is the memory of being born vaginally, even though the baby is in no position to see something like this), and most have at some point grumbled about the truthfulness of those telling of the experience. Dr. Ritchie's tale is quite compelling; while I would like to know more about what others think of these things, I have no question in my mind that he is telling the truth and that the things he says happened actually did happen. For the medical-type people out there, what is the current opinion about NDEs? What are your personal opinions? For the non-religious/non-Christian, you might want to read Dr. Ritchie's book (it could easily be read in a few hours), if for no other reason than to get a very good insight as to why many Christians feel as strongly and certainly as they do about their faith. -- Mike Sellers UUCP: {...your spinal column here...}!tektronix!tekecs!mikes "The goal of AI is not yet insight."