Navigating between life and death is a dangerous thing. Whether it is a heart attack, trauma, shock, etc., the phenomenon of dying and coming back to life is labeled as an out-of-this-world experience, or a near-death experience (NDE).
Most people who have experienced an NDE consider it to have been a positive journey. Of course, there is another short percentage who speak of a negative process. However, for the most part, NDEs are categorized as positive and light-filled events.
Within this variety of experiences, different people talk about having experienced the soul leaving the body. Even a kind of detachment of the mind from the physical presence has been mentioned. Based on this, many believe that NDEs prove the existence of the soul and life after death.
Certainly, this event needs scientific clarity. While the spiritual side recognizes the existence of the inner being, science stops to explore the possibilities to provide a physiological explanation. Researcher Christof Koch decided to tackle this mystery of life and death, for which we are deeply grateful. Whenever science and spirit come together to understand a fact of the body, the result is usually magnificent, and this can be no exception.
What does science say about losing one’s life and coming back from the dead?
According to Koch, NDE episodes maintain a general pattern. People speak of an experience that feels real, allowing them to leave the body and enter a blissful realm unbounded by time and space. In this passage between life and death, many see a tunnel, others float above their body, some meet loved ones, and others claim to see religious characters. Everything indicates that a powerful connection with another reality is activated.
What is most relevant is that, scientifically, NDEs raise the possibility that human consciousness exists independently of the brain. Although this has not been proven with certainty, Koch’s approach proposes that NDEs result from the activity of a dying brain. This means that as oxygen levels drop and carbon dioxide levels rise, the brain’s abilities appear to become imbalanced. For example, an explanation for the idea of the tunnel with the light at the end could be explained as follows.
Once oxygen levels drop, the retina begins to move outward toward the center of the eye. This could explain why a kind of tunnel vision occurs. On the other hand, out-of-body experiences make sense knowing that the brain receives different stimuli at the time of death. But these are only theories. As such, the effect of disembodied or out-of-body consciousness has not been ruled out. In this sense, we would have to consider the mind as an element capable of separating itself from its physical base without major problems.
Imagine being able to disconnect your mind from your brain without complications. Traveling across a room and retaking your body to live in reality. Without a doubt, the human brain is a mystery that may take centuries to understand. Nevertheless, it is wonderful to discover that within us, there are millions of possibilities to exist between life and death.
Text courtesy of Ecoosfera
Images: Pexels: Ryanniel Masucol / Brian Stauffer
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards