LIFE AFTER DEATH

Research suggests the mind may continue to exist after the brain has ceased to function and the body is clinically dead. ‘In the past it has been assumed that consciousness comes to an end when the brain stops functioning, but there may be some kind of independent existence,’ he said. ‘It would imply that the mind may continue to exist after the death of the body, or an afterlife.’ There have been several recorded medical cases where patients on an operation table have had such out of body experiences. In one such case, during a critical surgical operation, the patient was clinically dead and the heart had stopped functioning. On regaining consciousness, when the patient was asked how he felt during the operation, he said that he had left his body and was floating above the operating table observing the doctors operating on his body. He related factual details about actions and conversations of the attending surgical staff and doctors as if while ‘dead’, he was still able to see and hear what was going on. If a man’s soul was just a function of the body, then how was it possible to have remained alive when separated from the body? A conscious being that remains even after separation from the body is evidence of the fact that man is an eternal creature that continues to exist completely even after separation from the body. In another case, scientists heard one patient recall leaving his body and watch his resuscitation from the corner of the room. The 57 yearold man from Southampton was ‘dead’ for three minutes yet managed to recount detailed actions of the nursing staff and the sound of the machines. Dr. Parnia said: ‘We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating.’ The brain typically shuts down within 20-30 seconds after the heart has stopped. ‘But in this case conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn’t beating.’ ‘Furthermore, the detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with verified events.’ He said the recollections were not like hallucinations because they were ‘highly structured narratives, easily recalled and clear’. He added: ‘During cardiac arrest, brainstem activity is rapidly lost. It should not be possible to sustain such lucid processes or allow the formation of lasting memories.’