"Flight to Heaven" - Jeroen Bosch (Dutch painter) 1450-1516 Maybe one of the Dr. Pim van Lommel                                                                  first artistic imaginations  Cardiologist (Retired)                                                                   of near-death experiences! Division of Cardiology, Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, Netherlands Researcher of Near Death Experiences and Author of “Endless Consciousness: A Scientific Vision on the Near-Death Experience”           (2007,translated in Englisch 2008)   RESEARCH  ( sequel of 17-02-'08)  (The blue segments of this post were taken from Dr. van Lommel's research)           The most remarkable thing, van Lommel says, is that his patients have such consciousness-expanding experiences while their brains register no activity. But that's impossible, according to the current level of medical knowledge. Because most scientists believe that consciousness occurs in the brain, this creates a mystery: How can people experience consciousness while they are unconscious during a cardiac arrest (a clinical death)?       After all those years of intensive study, van Lommel still speaks with reverence about the miracle of the near-death experience. "At that moment these people are not only conscious; their consciousness is even more expansive than ever. They can think extremely clearly, have memories going back to their earliest childhood and experience an intense connection with everything and everyone around them. And yet the brain shows no activity at all! " This has raised a number of large questions for van Lommel: "What is consciousness and where is it located? What is my identity? Who is doing the observing when I see my body down there on the operating table? What is life? What is death?"  The body I observed laying in bed was mine, but I knew it wasn't time to leave. My time on earth wasn't up yet; there was still a purpose.               To convince his colleagues of the validity of these new insights, van Lommel first had to demonstrate that this expansion of the consciousness occurred, in fact, during the period of brain death. It was not difficult to prove. Patients were often able to describe precisely what had happened during their cardiac arrests. They knew, for example, exactly where the nurse put their dentures or what doctors and family members had said. How would someone whose brain wasn't active know these things?         Nevertheless, some scientists continue to assert that these experiences must happen at a time when there is still some brain function going on. Van Lommel is crystal clear in his response: "When the heart stops beating, blood flow stops within a second. Then, 6.5 seconds later, EEG activity starts to change due to the shortage of oxygen. After 15 seconds there is a straight, flat line and the electrical activity in the cerebral cortex has disappeared completely. We cannot measure the brain stem, but testing on animals has demonstrated that activity has ceased there as well. Moreover, you can prove that the brain stem is no longer functioning because it regulates our basic reflexes, such as the pupil response and swallowing reflex, which no longer respond. So you can easily stick a tube down someone's throat. The respiratory centre also shuts down. If the individual is not reanimated within five to 10 minutes, their brain cells are irreversibly damaged."   Van Lommel is aware that his findings on consciousness fly in face of orthodox scientific thinking. His work raises profound questions about what "death" actually means: "Up to now, 'death' simply meant the end of consciousness, of identity, of life," he notes. But his study topples that concept, along with the prevailing medical myths about who has near-death experiences. "In the past, these experiences were attributed to physiological, psychological, pharmacological or religious reasons, to a shortage of oxygen, the release of endorphins, receptor blockages, fear of death, hallucinations, religious expectations or a combination of all these factors. But our research indicates that none of these factors determine whether or not one has a near-death experience." This experience is a blessing for me, for now I know for sure that body and soul are separated, and that there is life after death. It has convinced me that consciousness lives on beyond the grave. Death is not death, but another form of life. (will be continued)