Another story about "Near Death Experiences"

I've been intrigued by "near-death experiences" for many years. Over that period the number of people saying they've had this sort of experience has grown from just one or two published cases per year to many thousands per year--based of course on the ability of people to relate their stories via the internet.

And as might be expected, with each new story told, more people become aware of the phenomenon and presumably more comfortable with the notion. That's a pretty interesting thing in its own right.

But I digress. I just read the ten-thousandth account of an NDE--on that loony wingnut site NPR. This one involved a woman who, during an operation that involved stopping her heart, claimed to have found herself hovering over her operating table.

This is actually a very common part of NDE's. She went on to describe which doctors and team members were where, what they were talking about, and a type of specialized operating tool being used by one of them.

NPR, of course, is hard Left, and a rather large number of leftists adamantly refuse to believe God exists. It must therefore follow that there can be no such thing as a soul, or any such thing as life after death. So it was no surprise that the NPR reporter sought out a skeptical neurologist to give the counterargument: It's all hogwash, explainable by the brain being starved for oxygen, he said.

But how to account for the details of her description of the operating theater? Oh, she was obviously experiencing "anesthesia awareness," which is like not being completely 'under.' She could have seen the positions of the team members before things started, and imagined the rest.

Okay.

Except prior to the operation this patient was fitted with earphones that emitted sounds at a volume equal to a jet at takeoff (to help the medical team monitor brain activity). And her eyes were taped shut.

No problem, says the skeptic: The headphones could have been poorly fitted. Same with the tape over her eyes.

And about there it hit me: This guy was determined to debunk the woman's narrative no matter how convoluted or twisted his debunking explanations might eventually be.

A bit of thought shows that this is quite understandable: If one doesn't believe in God, it's nearly impossible to posit the existence of a soul or life after death. While one would think that non-believers would be thrilled to know we're all part of a greater community, in which God does exist and is the Supreme power, it seems equally likely that many unbelievers might fight to discredit any evidence *supporting* any of the three, with a ferocity normally reserved for--well, for life-and-death struggles.

Because for some people the cost of reshaping their belief structure on such a fundamental level would be more frightening than death itself.