The white light

[orbsycli]

Numerous cases of people who die and come back to life on the hospital bed say they saw "the white light" of heaven.
This is simply just the light hanging above them in the hospital.

Now, the rest of the people that say they just saw jesus, and all that, are either exaggerating, or having mild halucinations.
Every day, the concept of the after-life becomes more and more absurd to me.
It's sometimes sad to think that we are only temporary, and our senses will cease and we will rot away, but you know...it's the truth. It reminds us to make the best of our days, the best of our time here alive.
"Celebrate this chance to be here, alive and breathing."-tool

Life must be so easy thinking you will live forever. Thinking not to do anything bad, because if you do, you'll go to hell.
*applause.
Very good, religion. Tou-che.
The concept of hell scares people into being "bad."
Where are all the reports of a firey death pit with demonic minions scurrying around tying you up to chains and stabbing you with a 3 pointed giant red fork after they die and come back to hell?

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

Where are all the reports of a firey death pit with demonic minions scurrying around tying you up to chains and stabbing you with a 3 pointed giant red fork after they die and come back to hell?

Isn't that the Bible? And Sunday sermons?

Not trying to be funny. The white light thing is nothing I believe in myself, but never having had a near death experience I can't say I am not biased.

The purpose of hell is multifacetous: it is both a deterrent and a necessary opposite to heaven. Hell is present in most religions (just look at Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology for examples of non-Christian versions). I believe Hinduism does have a hell too but it is only temporary as opposed to eternal damnation.

[orbsycli]

I meant people who die and come back to life and say they saw hell. Nobody has reported that one yet.

So if hinduism has a temporary hell...what's supposively after that?

[alxian]

the white light, your mind is close to death and all available resources are used up, this appears to be overload and to you a bright light, once its used up you percieve a fade to black at which point your mind begins to shut down. occassionally the body repairs itself in that time and you reawaken or you die.

the white light then is your brain burning itself out like a roman candle. assuming you don't die you'll report the experience as traumatic, while in reality its very traumatic and could lead to brain damage [the overload], curiously though most patients who die and come back later on are perfectly healthy..

i'm starting to wonder if this is really a science forum if all people do is link everything to gods and bibles and such. when you die your legacy is all that remains, you turn to dust and feed the earth [unless your family stuffs you into a lead casket...]. hopefully in life you have kids and properly brainwash them to your point of view so that in death you continue to live vicariously thru your progeny.

[Fishteacher73]

The human mind is quite good at insulating itself from bad events. Death is as about as bad of a day as you can have... Just as psyco-active drugs initiate a chemical cascade in the brain, high stress can intiate similar rections. I think this "light" is a combination of chemistry and psychology. We have this physical phenomenon and it is being interpreted to the minds best "spin." This calming effect would facilitate survival. The body is much more stable when it is relaxed as when it is stuggling (reduced blood loss, slower spread of toxins, etc). Again, I bet you would find various analogs of the "white light" in different cultures, but the reasoning for it would stand.

[orbsycli]

i love being proven wrong
thanks for the interesting replies guys, i learn so much new stuff every day.

[RiverRat]

Read through the massive amount of literature on these two sites.

http://www.near-death.com

http://www.nderf.org
I had a fortunate opportunity to speak directly with an individual that had a NDE. He is a simple man that has become very reflective and at the same time optimistic. He suffered a heat attack, lost consciousness and was fortunately revived by EMT’s via CPR and defibrillation while in route to the ER.

His experience affected him in a most profound way. He broke into tears when he recounted the experience he had 7 years earlier. He said that he rarely speaks about it because he is afraid to be labeled a ‘kook’.

He described the prototypical NDE with a separation from his physical body (he later … freaked out the ambulance driver that was not possibly visible to him by ‘thanking him’ for the quick response), tunneling with vibrant lights, a beautiful vast flower meadow and an encounter with a deceased relative and also a ‘stranger’.

Of course this is easily dismissed as ‘anecdotal’. However … it struck me as odd that some of your atheist brethren actually did an ‘about face’ after such an experience. I suppose that was all the ‘proof’ they needed.

Tormond ... could these posts be moved elsewhere to get more views?

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

I meant people who die and come back to life and say they saw hell. Nobody has reported that one yet.

You mean the people that saw a red light or a fiery light or some such thing?

[RiverRat]

[quote]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

I meant people who die and come back to life and say they saw hell. Nobody has reported that one yet.

There are actually quite a few 'hell' accounts from NDE's. I suspect that there would be even more if people actually relayed their experiences. It is thought that people are less apt to tell about a 'negative' NDE because they wish not to be 'labeled'.

[Aki]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

I meant people who die and come back to life and say they saw hell. Nobody has reported that one yet.

But there are some people who die and come back to life report that they saw ghosts...