Scientists may have just given a scientific explanation to Heaven. We cannot talk to those who are dead who may give us an accurate description of heaven, but we can talk to those who experience near-death experiences (NDEs). It appears that in an NDE, the brain works in odd ways. The brain tends to defend itself against the receptors as it shuts down. Ketamine, a drug used in horse tranquilizers, gives hallucinations and other symptoms that can produce the same effect as an NDE. The hallucination seems to be pretty consistent across the board. It will be up to your interpretation as to whether or not this is because everyone is really on the road to heaven or if ketamine simply effects everyone's brain in a very similar and consistent way.
Sam Kennedy, I'm sure you enjoyed that.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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10 comments:
I really enjoyed reading this article! Although chemicals may create hallucinations in the brain and everything these people see may be all imaginary, they have all felt changed. Since I am Christian and I know what I am saying is biased, I believe that these near death experiences are definitely tied to experiencing heaven or God in some way or another.
-Emily Niemann
I hope scientists will continue to look on this. This is a very interesting topic that you have brought up, Sam. Many people believe and want to go to heaven and scientists should continue their research.
Once again fear makes us look towards hope. That's interesting. I guess its actually normal for people not to look at the reality of the situation sometimes. This reminds me of a book where there is a drug called "soma" that induces the exact same effects on a person. It was utilized to keep people from the truth and pain. ;) Maybe the author did some research.
"In order to guard against damage during trauma, the brain releases protective chemicals that also happen to trigger intense hallucinations."
Btw Colin, Franklin wrote this article. xD
You're right Franklin, I did enjoy that. Again however, my beliefs remain unchanged because I understand Occam's Razor. I'm of the opinion that the simplest solution (the one that makes the fewest assumptions) is not that there is a magical man in the sky doing this to us.
The instant we accept this as scientific proof for God is the instant we stop being scientists. It isn't proof for anything other than Ketamine provides a similar hallucination.
Sam, I believe you may have misread or misinterpreted something. I do not think this is proof that God exists, but rather it is evidence towards why we believe there is a God. People think they experience out of body experiences when in reality, it may just be a chemical trigger from the body. And when not understanding what they saw, they attributed it to the existence of a God. I think you flipped the reasoning.
Emily, I'm not challenging your beliefs, but I do want to point out that the fact that they feel changed may simply be the aftermath of the drug. There may be some chemical alteration of receptors within the brain that may give the sensation of being changed.
Lily, quite possibly so, or it may have been a lucky guess. =]
Hi Franklin!
That part of my response was mainly towards Emily.
Hi Sam!
Oh, that would make sense then. I'm sorry.
Hi Franklin and Sam!
i enjoyed reading this, thanks!
Then what about hell?
Kevin brings up a good point. If people experiencing a NDE see "heaven" how come none of them see "hell". If this is actually evidence for God you'd expect some people to start heading to hell, instead of everyone going to heaven. There are definitely bad people with NDEs.
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