Significance of The Near Death
Experiment
People are certainly entitled to ask "So
what?", when told of the Near Death Experiment.
On one hand, those who are familiar with the NDE,
either through reading, knowing an experiant, or having had an
NDE themselves, might regard the whole exercise as an effort to
prove something that is already as well established as the earth
being round.
On the other hand, those unfamiliar with the NDE
might regard the experiment with a degree of suspicion, thinking
that it is based on New Age quackery, or the overblown exaggerations
of a few crackpots.
Certainly, as the NDExp team have discovered,
for the average person in the street, the whole concept of "exploring
death", is entirely too confronting. Many think that it is
best to "get on with life" and not worry about something
that is going to happen eventually anyway.
Testing the "Spirit"
Hypothesis
The truth, however, is that while the NDE is an
actual common event that occurs to people who are near death,
there is significant debate as to why it occurs and this
is the whole point behind the NDExp. It is primarily designed
to test, in a scientifically rigorous experiment, a single Hypothesis:
That a person does leave their body at death.
If it can be established that a person who was
clinically dead and shielded from both visual and audile stimuli
had knowledge of what transpired around them, then this would
rate as one of the biggest discoveries of science. At the moment,
there is no experiment that is both reproducible anywhere and
can provide unequivocal evidence of "supernatural" phenomena,
let alone something as specific as life during death.
The experiment is designed so that it is fully
reproducible, and it is in this reproducibility that the Near
Death Experiment's strength lies. If the NDExp team produces positive
results, then any other team in the world should be able to repeat
the experiment and achieve the same results.
Implications for Science
The scientific implications would be huge. While,
due to personal religious beliefs, many scientists undoubtedly
already believe in a non-material, conscious and undetectable
entity, or spirit, they aren't required to include its existence
in theories, as it can't be detected and therefore lies outside
the realm of science. A positive result in the NDExp would tip
the applecart and require that Physicists develop theories to
explain the existence of the "spirit", or "soul".
Social Sciences, such as Psychology and Psychiatry
would be hugely impacted and such a result would require a total
rethink by scientists involved in exploring consciousness and
the mind. The current prevailing paradigm of brain and biologically
based behaviour would require a rethink. While the organic brain
clearly delineates and moderates behaviour, the contradiction
between this and a free and independent "soul" could
be greater.
Implications For Religion
Science, by its very nature is open to change,
and if a positive result were produced by the NDExp the scientific
community would (eventually) come to the table and come to terms
with its implications. Religion, on the other hand is an entirely
different matter.
Religion, of any stripe, is very attached to its
dogmas and assertions and would actively resist the implications
of a positive result from the NDExp. As researchers have discovered
experiants tend to be spiritual, not religious, so while it is
unlikely that the religious community would deny the result (a
positive result would prove "something" spiritual occurred),
it is highly likely that they would place an entirely different
interpretation on the event from that of the experiant. Indeed,
this can already be seen in the Fundamentalist Christian literature,
where the NDE is portrayed as demonic, evil and bound to set one
on the road to hell.
Ultimately, however, unless a huge number of people
start having NDEs, it is likely that the nature of religious belief
will remain the same. People will still believe what makes sense
to them emotionally, or logically and they will still be able
to believe 3 contradictory things simultaneously!
Implications For Atheists
For the non-religious, non-spiritual population,
a positive result in the NDExp could be explosive. Atheists and
agnostics would be, for the first time, confronted with direct,
undeniable, reproducible evidence of an alternate, spiritual reality.
While atheism perfectly compatible with the NDE, the knowledge
of the very real possibility of the survival of life after death
would require a paradigm shift of biblical proportions. A Damascus
moment, if you will.
Implications For Society
Irrespective of the potential changes in belief
systems amongst the people of the world, it is likely that the
real impact of a successful positive result from the NDE would
be a more long term shift in societal values. As many researchers
have discovered the values of the NDE experiant are not generally
those of the society as a whole.
Already people are becoming increasingly interested
in applying the moral and ethical lessons that NDErs have related,
in their everyday lives. For example, Kenneth Ring, the "father"
of scientific NDE research has produced a book in conjunction
with Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino, entitled "Lessons from the
Light: What we can learn from the Near Death Experience".
While this trend would undoubtedly continue a positive result
for the NDExp could only accelerate this process, with we believe
positive results for our global village.
A more extreme phenomena could emerge. The NDExp
could potentially open the way for people to flatline specifically
to experience the NDE and its transformative effects. In fact,
given humanity's propensity for seeking altered states of consciousness
and expanded awareness through activities, such as the taking
of drugs, exercise or mediation, this should almost be a given.
This would be the case, even if the experiment fails to generate
positive results, but the participants still experience Near Death
Experiences and are transformed by them. Assuming appropriate
levels of safety, it is likely that this activity could become
common enough to have an impact on society as NDErs become a significant
proportion of the population. With time, it could easily become
the case that an artificially induced NDE becomes a recognized
therapy for persons suffering psych disorders, or disruptively
antisocial behaviour.
Business as Usual
Of course the fact needs to be faced that the
NDExp might not produce a positive result. What then? If this
is the case, then we suspect it will be business as usual for
the world. People will continue to have NDEs and be transformed
by the experience. Skeptics will continue to ignore them, bolstered
by our negative result. Finally, the NDExp team will fade into
obscurity, hopefully regarded as misplaced visionaries, than frootloops
on a Quixotic quest.
