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 consiousness and expanded awareness through activities, such as the taking of drugs, excersise or mediation, this should almost be a given. This would be the case, even if the experiment fails to generate postive 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 recognised therapy for persons suffering psych disorders, or disruptively antisocial behaviour.

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.