Dr Sam Parnia on Near Death Experiences, live from the APRU at Goldsmiths (#goldapru).
This event was broadcast on 23/03/10 from 18:10 to 19:10.
Speaker: Dr Sam Parnia
Title: Near Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest
One of the subjects that has both captivated and eluded humankind throughout time is the mystery of what happens when we die. Although traditionally a subject for philosophical or theological debate, scientific progress has begun to shed light on both the physiological as well as cognitive processes such as near death experiences that take place during clinical death. Dr. Sam Parnia, author of What Happens When We Die, chronicles the history and development of the study of cardiac arrest as well as near death experiences. At the same time, he will introduce the novel method he and his colleagues have devised to study the phenomenon of consciousness and the human mind at the end of life, which they hope will finally enable science to resolve the mystery of near death experiences.
One of the world’s leading experts on the scientific study of death, the state of the human mind-brain, and near-death experiences, Dr. Sam Parnia spends his time between hospitals in the United Kingdom and Cornell University in New York, where he is a Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Founder of the Human Consciousness Project and Horizon Research Foundation, he has published extensively and presented his work at scientific institutions across the country. His groundbreaking research has been featured on the Discovery Channel documentary, The Day I Died.
This talk is part of a regular series, run by Prof. Chris French from the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit (APRU). For details of other talks in the series please see this page.
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March 23, 2010 at 4:00 pm | Events, Videos | 19 Comments »
I did not get a chance to see it… what did he have to say? Any news on the preliminary results?
@ Jack: I'll be posting a video of the talk online fairly soon. It'll form part of the Media Archive at http://skeptic.org.uk/archive but will be announced via the Psychology of the Paranormal Email Network <http://www.gold.ac.uk/apru/email-network/>, as with all APRU events.
The study itself is ongoing and the analysis hasn't been conducted yet but the talk was intriguing nonetheless.
I see, so there was no mention of what kind of results they were finding… Is the AWARE project still on track to be completed or did it get derailed?
@ Jack: Forgive me if if this incorrect – I had to concentrate more on the camera and stream than the talk – but I believe AWARE is still running. If the current phase produces significant, positive results then the plan is to progress to a second, computer assisted phase to tighten the experimental controls. Sam seemed to suggest that results might be available in a couple of years, though I don't know how that fits into the schedule for the project.
http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/Human-Consciousness-Project/the-AWARE-study.html
http://www.wholescience.net/?p=163
Hi Mark,
Myself and few others have been waiting for the video – has it been published yet?
All the best,
Maya
Hi Maya,
It's not online yet but the video is ready. It's just under 400MB so I'm hoping to upload it later this week via a faster connection than the one to which I typically have access. I'll leave a further comment here with the link when it does go online.
Thanks for the interest though!
Cheers,
Mark.
Fantastic. Thank u for organising it ; -)
The video is now online here: http://skeptic.org.uk/archive/580-parnia-apru
I hope it's ok. Enjoy.
Big Thanx!
Mark, join us on the ‘Human Consciousness Project’ blog on Facebook. It would be handy to have u there
Cheers
Done. You've posted some interesting links. Here's the link to the group if anyone else wants to have a look: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82182042432
I had a “code blue! code 99!” incidence in the intemnsive care unit of a very modern hospital where the Emergency Response Team was unable to revive me. Clinically, I was gone for three days and experienced the Divine Encounter. I do not remember a single moment of those three days in this world, but I recall every second of the three days outside of this world. I wrote a book named Code Blue 99 and I’m willing to share every momemt of my experience to anyone who might be interested or might benefit from my encounter.
Thank you.
Sandy Acharjee
Absolutely fantastic.
Any claim to “studying” consciousness” is necessarily bogus. No study or examination of matter will tell us that matter is conscious. And the brain supplies no information about consciousness as it is a hybrid physical/experiential object whose physical limits have been determined through reports of experience.
Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t skeptical enough. If the study of consciousness is a physical study then we ought to see that it is bogus straight away.
Hah ^John Jones has the right idea. Thats kind of how I feel, we will never find shit about consciousness just by physically examining it. Its almost like trying to discovering a god by looking up into the sky.
The problem with this method of testing is that if you don’t tell the patient there’s something to look at, and would he please look if he finds himself out of his body, he probably won’t look. How many normally conscious people would notice the rig attatched to the ceiling, never mind those going through an OOBE?
Absolutely agree. I mean, I’m out of my body, having no idea what the hell is going on. I look down and there’s my body wide open and all these people around trying to bring me back in life. Why in the name of Mike would I look on the ceiling, trying to find some silly pictures! Hey! The spectacle is down on the table, with me on top of it! That’s what would attract my curiocity and attention! But who knows? Maybe someone will find the ceiling more interesting! lol
I had an experience too, and wrote to Dr Parnia in an effort to be part of his study many years ago, but got no reply. I would be very interested to read about your experience and like you, was compelled to wite a book about it, being so profound and life changing.
I do hope the opinons here by others are not being made by scientists or those in the medical profession as that is worrying. I understand how extraordinary it sounds to hear someone suggest they went up a tunnel, saw the light of God, or heard voices, but once you know, you know, and you realise how little we are within the universe, though vitally part of it.
I tried to make a point in my book, that it is the power of thought, depth, and pureness of meaning that I believe transcended me to where I was, and thought is something that can not be measured, so scientifically it doesnt count in most equations, not forming part of any empirical studies as a result.
In my experience, I was aware of two things in particular, vibration and speed, and can only say, I realised there was no such thing as time, which I believe I crossed, and certainly another dimension.
Unable to talk about this for the first three years, I wrote it all down. I have always had difficulty talking about it to anyone as your automatically assumed mad. However, I am not mad, and though it happened 20 years ago, from what i’m reading in comments, things still remain the same.
There is a lot that science needs to redress, and no particular scientific doctrine has all the answers. Maybe they never will, and maybe theyre not supposed to. But there is a higher force, much much greater than us, which is all knowing, and watching.
Thought, is the key IMHO, and as William James (1850) theorized, some people can reach a higher level of consciousness than others, which could explain why some trandscend and others dont.
As John Jones says ” If the study of consciousness is a physical study then we ought to see that it is bogus straight away”.
Of course, from an empirical perspective. But in seeking the answers Dr Parnia wants
he is using trauma patients, as they have brought their experiences to his attention, so he’s looking for the physical connection. I wanted to let him know, it happened to me, and I wasn’t a trauma patient in a medical sense, dieing on a table. But experiencing emotional trauma, and of the belief I might die.
Hence why I know, thought was the trigger, and like Sandy Acharjee, I remember every second.
Being only human myself, I am still also learning.