[Buddha-l] Heart of the matter?

[curt]

Dan Lusthaus wrote:
> As for the out-of-body experiences, back in the late 70s, a cardiologist
> named Dr. Sabom wrote a book (can't remember the name) that detailed how he
> went from being a materialist skeptic, to a believer in consciousness apart
> from the body. As a cardiologist, he had had many patients with NDRs (near
> death experiences) -- all vital signs for a certain amount of time, and then
> restart, with the patient reporting having had various experiences during
> the interim. He discounted these with the usual "explanations" (oxygen
> deprivation, hallucination, etc.) until the reports gave him details that he
> found to be more "empirical." Patients who were clinically dead (no vital
> functions) were reporting that they felt they were floating in the room;
> they could recount the conversations the Drs. were having, could read the
> numbers, etc. on the medical equipment, and -- most compelling for Sabom -- 
> could leave the room and travel to other parts of the hospital, accurately
> reporting on who was in the waiting room and other such details.
>
>   
More on Doctor Michael Sabom can be found at this webpage:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html

Too bad that the domain "near-death.com" isn't available for the 
Republican Party's 2008 presidential campaign!

Anyway - one problem with the idea of "near death experiences" is they 
are often pretty much the same as garden-variety OBE's. OBE's, in turn, 
can be (but aren't always) induced by "dissociative hallicinogens" - 
which include the active ingredient in Robitussin DM cough syrup. These 
experiences are also very much like "lucid dreams" as well as "shamanic 
journeys".

These kinds of experiences are extremely important - but people are very 
quick to interpret them according to their own agenda. Which is 
something that I would personally *never* do!

Curt Steinmetz