Lack of oxygen to the brain is by far the most common cause of NDE’s. Drowning, profuse bleeding, heart stoppage, cessation of breathing, all quickly starve the brain of its needed oxygen.
Medical and test pilot experiments which limit oxygen do bring on early NDE like symptoms, such as tunnel vision, and more if it continues. In real world emergencies of oxygen deprivation, which continues for some time, all of the NDE
elements have been experienced. These are not pseudo NDE’s, but real near death conditions, in which an out of body experience and even the preliminary stages of the afterlife are experienced. Most NDE’s are experienced as the soul loses the services of its body, most commonly due to hypoxia. Hypoxia involvement does not invalidate an NDE, hypoxia explains the chemical reconfiguration of the brain, and the onset of a NDE.
NDE’s according to religion and culture
NDE’s and observation of the afterlife, do vary according to one’s cultural and religious understanding of life and death.
Judaism, Islam and Christianity all deal in human, angelic or demonic beings in the afterlife, and the essence of God may be seen as light, with no theological problems.TTTT Buddhism TTTT Many Muslims are discouraged from having religious “visions”. To do so is to assume the role of prophet or revealer of Heaven, which is already Mohammed. Christian understanding is that insight into God’s ideas are a 123
would see afterlife beings as persons who have died and not yet advanced to Nirvana. Buddhism might even accept a non-personal light as somehow being a manifestation of Nirvana.
Atheists or nihilists either explain away the NDE as a hallucination, or are converted to an understanding that life extends beyond this existence, or even of a divine power.
Members of every religion or no religion have NDE’s and most never even see the light tunnel, a few advance to meeting relatives or light beings, fewer still are able to identify God in some way. Hindu’s who have a near death experience are recorded as seeing semi-human appearing Hindu deities, and we now examine this phenomena of non-Christian afterlife figures using Hinduism as an example.UUUU
It may surprise the reader to know that the Hindu religion is monotheistic at its core. Brahman is the Godhead, the essence of the Supreme Being. The gods are manifestations of the one God. A statue or “murti”, is a symbolic representation of the particular god. For instance a statue of Ganesha has an elephant’s head and trunk, because he is tasked with removing obstacles of all sorts, just like the Indian work elephants do.
This discussion of the appearance of Hindu gods in an NDE, is applicable to other religions having gods, or non-Christian afterlife beings. What does the appearance of a Hindu god in a NDE, mean for that NDE? Is it a trick of the devil, a hallucination or does it have some basis in reality? This book promotes NDE’s as real and meaningful afterlife events, and puts forward the best case for them.
particular charism that is given to every or any member of the body of Christ.
UUUU Hinduism recognizes the Christian God, and being the same person as its own God, Brahman, who revealed himself centuries before.
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A thought scenario would be useful here. At the death of a Hindu for example, Christ (who is God) could say to this man, “I am as noble as a lion” (biblical example), or Christ could say “I am as powerful as an elephant” (Hindu example).
Christ could also communicate this idea by an image of himself as a lion or an elephant. Christ does just this in the book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. Both books have the one God as a living being having four faces: lion, man, ox, eagle. This image and its idea was communicated to the prophet Ezekiel, then later to the apostle John. God is the noblest, wisest, strongest, swiftest being, symbolized by a lion, man, ox and eagle. VVVV
At the core of God’s nobility, wisdom, strength, and speed, are not a lion, man, ox, eagle; at God’s core are these virtues themselves. These creatures are manifestations of God’s attributes, in the realm of creation. God’s attributes are real, and the seraphim themselves are real, but the ox faced seraphim is God’s symbolic communication of strength to the viewer. God could communicate his strength to a Hindu, by appearing as the strongest local animal, an elephant. God is not saying he is an ox or an elephant, God is stating some of his attributes in symbolic imagery.
Likewise when Christ shows himself to a Hindu as the god Krishna (god of love), Christ is symbolically communicating to the VVVV These Heavenly beings are seraphim or cherubim and are in the highest order of God’s Heavenly beings. All in Heaven are now divine members of the divine body of Christ; we are non-divine members of the human body of Christ, but divine membership is our goal. Heavenly beings started out as non-divine, but gained their intended divine communion (CCC 398), when the Trinitarian Christ made communion with them. Some failed and are now the devils. The communion particulars as to each Heavenly order are not fully known, but some of the angels, archangels and virtues did not make the communion. Good messengers became bad tempters, and the operation of the Heavenly order called the virtues now has a parallel operation of vice in our world.
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Hindu man in his own religious language, that God is the God of love. God is telling the Hindu man that he is love. When God appears in a vision, as an ox or an elephant, both the Christian and the Hindu know that this is not who God is, but a symbol of an attribute of God.
We do observe that in the case of Ezekiel and John, God is proactive in assigning symbols to his nobility and wisdom, while in Hinduism, speculation on God assigned the symbol. WWWW
There is the possibility that some non-Christian afterlife beings are real, and not symbolic. Within Catholicism there certainly exists guardian angels of persons, tribes, countries.
There are saints who are assigned patronage over trades, tasks, illnesses and even mad dogs (St. Sithney and St. Hubert). There is no reason that India or ancient tradesmen were not assigned Heavenly angels or protectors thousands of years ago. What if over the years, such a protector was acculturated into Hinduism WWWW From Deuteronomy 5:8, "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” This commandment was given to the first revealed religion, which was Judaism. Religions prior to revealed Judaism were necessarily informed speculation upon God. From the beginning with Adam and Eve, God informed each personal conscience with the core moral commandments of God. Due to the obscurity of God (due to original sin), humanity overlaid God with cultural particulars.
Non-revealed religions developed in parallel with the revealed religions of Judaism and Christianity, and are not fully accountable to the precision of the revealed religions. God calls members of each religion or moral culture to adherence within that religion. Therefore it is no infraction for a Hindu to think “God is as strong as an elephant”, and for God to symbolically confirm this with a vision of an elephant headed afterlife being.
In actuality the first revealed “religion” was the first revelation of God (in any form) to a person (human or angelic person). The first revelation of God to a human person was to Adam and Eve, in their moral consciences. In time God made further revelation to Abraham, Moses, and others.
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and called a god? It is possible that such a “god” could be seen during a NDE.XXXX
Hindus often see a Yamdoot as they are dying, whether they survive or not.YYYY A Yamdoot is an angel of death. In Catholicism it is thought that one’s guardian angel may escort a soul to Heaven, it is even possible that a demon may lay valid claim to a soul, creating a distressing NDE. The Yamdoot’s seen by Hindus may indeed be real afterlife beings.
According to Catholic theology, afterlife beings may be divinized angels or humans, non-divinized souls of Purgatory, or a demon who is condemned and evil. Hinduism has similar categories, but they use the term “god” even to refer to the Devil proper, and demons in general, who are named Kali. Therefore in much of the world a NDE might contain a “god”, with no attempt to equate the god to God.
God has been engaged with all peoples, for all time. It was not until the time of Abraham that God began instruction by direct divine revelation. Before that time, those good people seeking knowledge of God, relied on informed speculation, which was overlaid with local culture, and human imperfections.
All this admits to a certain level of advancement of religious revelation. Should the first religion, Hinduism doubt Judaism? Should Judaism doubt Christianity? No, all should expand upon the prior. None should reject the final revelations XXXX Hindu NDE accounts are a bit scarce, a book which contains dozens is
“At the Hour of Death”, by Osis and Haraldsson; it compares Hindu to western NDE’s
YYYY In all religions and cultures, people who are near death, but conscious sometimes see a Heavenly messenger, a yamadoot, angel or some other nomenclature for such a being. The messenger may appear in more or less friendship. The person seeing the Heavenly messenger may or may not recover to health, but his observation is recorded by those hearing him.
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of God, which are expected to be made during the final days of creation.ZZZZ
Finally we note that anything this side of Heaven is subject to error or falsehood in some way. NDE’s accounts themselves have Heavenly guides reminding the patient that if he steps over the boundary into Heaven, his current life is over.
NDE’s are distinctly this side of Heaven.