What Near Death Research Reveals About the Purpose of Life
What happens when we die? Does consciousness remain? What is the purpose of life?
New research into near-death experiences leads to some startling conclusions.
“You have got to tell all the old people so that they won’ be afraid to die!” five-year old Chris told his doctor after he had been resuscitated after drowning. His father lost control of his car he was driving at night and plunged into the freezing waters of a river near Seattle. As they sunk into icy waters, his mother managed to pull his older brother to safety, but it took another fifteen minutes to rescue Chris. When he was brought to shore, his breathing had stopped and there was no heart beat.
Miraculously doctors managed to resuscitate(v. 使复活、使复苏) Chris. When he woke up, he told them:
“I went into a huge noodle when I died, well it must have been a tunnel because I don’t think noodles have rainbows in them.”
What Chris experienced was a Near Death Experience, or NDE. This is a pattern of events people can experience when come close to death. These are some of the features:
- feeling comfortable and free of pain
- a sensation of leaving the body, sometimes being able to see the physical body while floating above it
- the mind functioning more clearly and more rapidly than usual
- a sensation of being drawn into a tunnel or darkness
- a brilliant light, sometimes at the end of the tunnel
- a sense of overwhelming peace, or absolute, unconditional love
