NDE AND OBE: Are they just hallucinations?

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are profound spiritual or mystical experiences that many people report as they approach or start to cross the threshold of death. The contents and after-effects of NDEs suggest that they are more than just hallucinations. The contents do not appear to be influenced by past religious beliefs, but do have a profound effect on religious or spiritual beliefs after the experience. Near-death experiencers (NDErs) also report a consistent positive change in attitude toward the transition from life to death. There is still no accepted scientific cause for NDEs. Each near-death experience is unique, but as a group NDEs display common features.

 Intense emotions: commonly of profound peace, well-being, love; others marked by fear, horror, loss

A perception of seeing one's body from above (called an out-of-body experience, or OBE), sometimes watching medical resuscitation efforts or moving instantaneously to other places

Rapid movement through darkness, often toward an indescribable light

A sense of being "somewhere else," in a landscape that may seem like a spiritual realm or world

Incredibly rapid, sharp thinking and observations

Encounter with deceased loved ones, possibly sacred figures  or unrecognized beings, with whom communication is mind-to-mind; these figures may seem consoling, loving, or terrifying

A life review, reliving actions and feeling their emotional impact on others

In some cases, a flood of knowledge about life and the nature of the universe.

If one examines the medical literature in the last two decades, the most common theories for the occurrence of NDEs have involved either a hallucination brought about by physiological changes during the dying process, or a psychological stress reaction to the perceived threat of death. For many years these two theories have formed the basis of possible scientific explanations. Many brain mediators have been proposed to account for the experiences, although none has yet been shown to be responsible for the phenomenon. These include release of endorphins; the body's own morphine-like substance, lack of brain oxygen, increased carbon dioxide, various drugs and in particular those that can cause hallucinations such as ketamine and temporal lobe seizures. The argument in favour of a psychological explanation has been based largely on observations made from retrospective cases indicating that near death experiences may sometimes occur in those who were not yet physically close to death at the time of the experience - such as in those occurring just before an accident.

Cardiac arrest patients are a subgroup of people who come closest to death. In such a situation an individual initially develops two out of three criteria (the absence of spontaneous breathing and heartbeat) of clinical death. Shortly afterwards (within seconds) these are followed by the third, which occurs due to the loss of activity of the areas of the brain responsible for sustaining life (brainstem) and thought processes (cerebral cortex). Brain monitoring using EEG in animals and humans has also demonstrated that the brain ceases to function at that time. During a cardiac arrest, the blood pressure drops almost immediately to unrecordable levels and at the same time, due to a lack of blood flow, the brain stops functioning as seen by flat brain waves (isoelectric line) on the monitor within around 10 seconds. This then remains the case throughout the time when the heart is given 'electric shock' therapy or when drugs such as adrenaline are given until the heartbeat is finally restored and the patient is resuscitated. Due to the lack of brain function in these circumstances, therefore, one would not expect there to be any lucid, well-structured thought processes, with reasoning and memory formation, which are characteristic of NDEs. Nevertheless, and contrary to what we would expect scientifically, studies have shown that 'near death experiences' do occur in such situations. This therefore raises a question of how such lucid and well-structured thought processes, together with such clear and vivid memories, occur in individuals who have little or no brain function. In other words, it would appear that the mind is seen to continue in a clinical setting in which there is little or no brain function. In particular, there have been reports of people being able to 'see' details from the events that occurred during their cardiac arrest, such as their dentures being removed.

In a study of 344 patients who survived cardiac arrest , all the reported elements of a Near-Death Experience (NDE) like an out-of-body perception, meeting with deceased relatives or a life review were experienced during a transient functional loss of the cortex and of the brainstem, with a flat line EEG. During their cardiac arrest people can have veridical perceptions from a position outside and above their lifeless body. NDE-ers have the feeling that they have apparently taken off their body like an old coat and to their surprise they appear to have retained their own identity with the possibility of perception, emotions, and a very clear consciousness. This out-of-body experience (OBE) is scientifically important because doctors, nurses, and relatives can verify the reported perceptions, and they can also corroborate the precise moment the NDE with OBE occurred during the period of CPR. This proves that an OBE cannot be a hallucination, because this means experiencing a perception that has no basis in “reality”, like in psychosis, neither it can be a delusion, which is an incorrect assessment of a correct perception, nor an illusion, which means a misleading image. Moreover, one needs a functioning brain for experiencing hallucinations, delusions or illusions. Additionally, even people blind from birth have reported veridical perceptions during NDE and OBE. Based on several NDE-studies it seems inevitable to conclude that veridical perception is possible independently of brain function.

Science, until very recently, has not taken seriously the huge amount of material gathered over the past hundred or so years by institutions devoted to recording non-ordinary experiences (near-death experiences) as well as communications to the living from the 'dead.' Nor has it accepted as worthy of scientific attention the experience of visionaries and mystics of all cultures and time that has testified to the existence of that other dimension of reality and the possibility of a direct relationship with it.

Enigmatic Electrons

The Quantum world is very different from the classical world. We all know that Quantum mechanics works well in practice, providing a highly precise means of interpreting the behaviour of subatomic particles, something that classical physics — the physics deduced by Sir Isaac Newton and others, fails to do so. Initially electrons were believed to be particles. But then there was evidence that they behaved like waves in phenomena such as electron diffraction. And so there was a growing confusion about the nature of subatomic particles. Were they wave like or particle like? And this confusion did not get resolved until the mid '20s when the laws of quantum mechanics were discovered, which actually showed that atomic particles are neither waves nor particles. They behave in their own strange quantum mechanical way.

But the Quantum Physics is really hard to comprehend and it has some of its own mysteries. A good example of this is the behaviour of electrons in the Double-slit Experiment. 

When macroscale objects such as bullets are shot at a barrier with two slits, with a wall behind the slits, the objects travel straight through the slits and hit the wall in one particular area. But when electrons(or light consisting of photons) are fired instead of macroscale objects, they do not hit the wall at one particular area , but hit the wall at a number of different points at the same time with different strength causing an interference pattern of many lines. The really amazing part is that unlike sound waves or water waves, the interference pattern is still produced when electrons are fired one at a time. Because the interference pattern remains even when the electrons are shot one at a time, the experiment seems to suggest that each electron somehow travels through both slits at the same time and interferes with itself. Mind-boggling? Yet true!

The second unusual part of the Double-slit experiment is that the electrons stop creating an interference pattern when scientists set up a detector near one of the slits to determine which slit(s) an electron is passing through. Under these circumstances, the electrons simply create two straight lines, the same as classical particles, as if they know everything that is going around.

Scientists ran the same experiment with polarising filters in front of each of the two slits. Any photon going one way would become "labelled" with left-handed circular polarization, while any photon going through the other slit is labelled with right-handed circular polarization. In this version of the experiment, it is possible in principle to tell which slit any particular photon arriving at the second screen went through. Surprising enough, the interference pattern vanishes -- even though nobody ever actually looks to see which photon went through which slit.

Now came a new trick -- the eraser. A third polarising filter was placed between the two slits and the second screen, to scramble up (or erase) the information about which photon went through which hole. Now, once again, it is impossible to tell which path any particular photon arriving at the second screen took through the experiment. Now, the interference pattern reappears.

The strange thing is that interference depends on "single photons" going through both slits "at once", but undetected. So how does a single photon arriving at the first screen know how it ought to behave in order to match the presence or absence of the erasing filter on the other side of the slits?

So how  does the electron come to know that it is being detected? There was a substantial chance that the electron was detected at this particular point. So now we would say to ourselves, if the electron went through slit 1, how could it possibly matter to it whether slit 2 was open or not? And if it did not matter to it, how could it be that the probability of detection of that electron went down from a substantial value to being very close to zero?

I rummaged the internet about the reason for such behaviour of electrons, I found certain theories explaining this but full of paradox and internal contradictions. In reality it has been baffling physicists and is still inexplicable.

Nobel Prize winner Physicist Richard Feynman also said, "i can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‘But how can it possibly be like that?’ because you will go down the drain into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that." (The Character of Physical Law, BBC Publications, 1965).

“If we want to describe what happens in an atomic event, we have to realize that the word “happens” can only apply to the observation, not to the state of affairs between two observations.”

Heisenberg

TRANSCEND BEYOND YOUR GENDER

 The Present world mostly consists of hedonistic generations grown on the lines of consumerism. The 'Body' has become dominant and people are competing with each other to come closer and closer to the market-induced definition of "Beauty" whose transient nature is often forgotten. Directly or Indirectly, Knowingly or unknowingly, we are spending most time on our Gender identification, neglecting our mental and spiritual capabilities. We flaunt our distinguishing manly or womanly assets and be presentable to the opposite sex and to the world. We accentuate our bodily attributes whichever we feel suffices to be called "beautiful" by the worldly eyes and has potential to gain admiration.

In this berserk race, we have forgotten that we are human beings first, we are a spiritual body foremost and not a physical one. Body is just a temporary physical manifestation and abode of the soul. It is just an outer cover for identification.We all bleed the same.God made us different in terms of colour, height or other physical attribute so that we could be recognised among each other and God imparted Gender Division just for continuation of species and natural division of labour, not to get obsessed with it. There are only certain moments in our life when our gender roles and identification become necessary. You do not have to wear your sex on your sleeves all the time. The small physiological difference was necessary to efficiently run the cycle of life. But we have made this difference so wide, just in our minds. Our cultures have become such that there is excessive polarization of femininity and masculinity both in terms of physical attributes and internal traits. These are promoted as extreme, limited and rigid stereotypes rather than all-encompassing aspects of human potential. If you identify yourself with few distinguishing body parts, you perceive everything that way, you look everything around by that attitude and in turn you get treated that way. In reality, masculinity and femininity are interrelated aspects of one thing in continuum.

Break the shackles of gender-obsession if you want to be 'free'. Your Gender and sexuality is needed only when there are specific natural gender roles. Rest of the time, you are neither a man nor a woman, you are a soul, you are an energy. Physical body is not the ultimate boundary, Death is not the ultimate end. There is something beyond the physiological life process that is keeping you alive. To grow beyond the physical, you first need to grow beyond the gender.

Mathematical Trademark Of Nature

Mathematics is the language with which god has written the universe-GALILEO

Nature and its creator have always amazed us with their absolute perfection. The more we explore the more mysteries we discover, some beyond our level of wisdom or comprehension. Nothing in the meticulous patterns of nature is vague unless deciphered. It is very interesting to know that the peerless beauty of nature involves much mathematics. One of the mathematical pattern that governs a wide range of patterns observed in nature is the Fabonacci series and the Golden Ratio. It is a pattern that exists all around us but we do not notice it.

GOLDEN RATIO:

The golden ratio (symbol is the Greek letter "phi" shown at left) is a special irrational number approximately equal to 1.618.

We find the golden ratio when we divide a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part.A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, approximately 1:1.618.
A golden rectangle with longer side a and shorter side b, when placed adjacent to a square with sides of length a, will produce a similar golden rectangle

FIBONACCI SERIES:

The Fibonacci sequence starts like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on forever. Each number is the sum of the two numbers that precede it.When we takeany two successive (one after the other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio which has the value of 1.618 after being rounded off.

The ubiquity and astounding functionality of the Fibonacci Series and the Golden Ratio  has captivated mathematicians, artists, designers,architecture,photographers and scientists for centuries.

The Golden ratio and Fibonacci series is visually striking in many forms of nature from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple flower petals, seed heads, tree branches, shells, bodies of many creatures, human body, human face, fingers, teeth, and even DNA molecules , hurricanes and Spiral Galaxies.

Watch these videos and you would know why it is no exaggeration to call the Golden Ratio as'Divine Ratio'.

So what is the Golden Ratio Point of our Earth? i rummaged through the internet, verified from multiple sources and the answer awed me. It is the city of Mecca. Watch this

Too sacred to touch ,Too complex to understand

Most of muslims, instead of reciting the QURAN day and night , are yet miles away from it.Do we even realize that?

In Islam, there is no priesthood, and no centralized religious hierarchy. However, as soon as you ask muslims about their religion, they will refer you to the opinions of this or that Imam or a maulana who are often dogmatic religious bigots, sometimes politically motivated and often are the cause of such unabated increase in the divisions of the religion. Some being just rabble-rousers. The common people are always carried away by the rhetoric .Being gullible, never do the common muslims put any effort to at least read the Quran with meaning, consider, weigh and contemplate it. We do not delve into the Quran and remain ignorant and rummage around to find our solutions. We are brought up in an environment where people know numerous hadith stories (which are mostly hearsay) which dictate their action and jurisdiction but they rarely know any Quranic verse on any issue. Normally in a religious gathering one is allowed only to listen and not to question.

What do we do with the Quran?

Muslim households often have several of Quran lying respectfully wrapped in fine cloth in the upper shelves..Ahh.,we are told that they are too sacred to touch without ablution..(wudu)..well..being fussy in matters of faith is yet another problem altogether. Anyways..We recite the Quran daily. The speed with which you recite and the number of pages you cover is the yardstick of how much 'religious' you are. In the month of Ramadhan, i see many people reciting the whole Quran over and over again and proudly saying about the number of times they completed the Quran.What sort of achievement is this when you don't know what you are actually reciting?

Very few of Muslims read the Quran intelligibly, few read with meaning and fewer ponder over its message .And even when you start self-exploring the verses, you are told "Don't delve in too deep, you will be distracted" or" Quran is very complex and no one can translate or derive its meaning exactly" or" first learn Arabic then you can truly learn its message."

Till when shall we experience our faith vicariously by listening to lectures or submitting to fatwas of imams or other authorities?

In Madrasas, we see children sitting on the floor of a room, swaying back and forth, reciting lyrically, words and phrases they do not understand. Will it do any good to them?

Many people see Quranic verses as magical spells and use Quran for exorcism or medical relief and by GOD's mercy chanting of divine verses might have a positive effect  but it really is not the purpose it was sent for and to the height of ignorance many pious believers in their whole lifetime die without being curious or without putting a slight effort as  to discover what  they have been reciting in their prayers throughout their life.Is it blind faith or ignorance or both? 

54:17. And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind?

HYPOCRISY OF BOLLYWOOD

Whenever there’s a abuzz in the country over any incident of rape or crime against women, our Bollywood celebs come out with their online tweets and posts showing sympathy and disappointment at the situation. But behind this façade, the movies they contribute not only clearly show their apathy towards such incidents but in a way is one of the contributor to the problem itself.

  The 70's and 80's were periods when rape scene was a norm in Hindi films. Indian movies have now stooped to redundant sex-scenes and inane Item songs which are often a misfit in the script .But they are intentionally filmed and used as a bait to attract audience because the common masses enjoy such scenes. Now we have a item number in almost any movie coming out : Any actress dancing seductively in skimpy clothes with a bunch of drunk and lewd men ogling and dancing behind her or an actor surrounded by girls getting wild. And now ladies have a new career option in the industry-'Item Girls'.Actresses seem to have no objection in being potrayed in demeaning ways. Stripping your clothes off is a 'bold' scene. Movie posters show actress posing seductively. Is this what you call sexual liberation? Is this how actresses celebrate their womanhood?

Whistling, hooting and leering at a girl has always been a common scene in Indian movies.What Indian movies teach us is that it's normal and funny to whistle and pass sleazy comments on girls.Vulgar lyrics and lewd lines are shown to be worth of entertaining. In a way they encourage the potential rapists. Be it '3 Idiots' making fun of the word 'balatkaar' or a line from a hit-‘Rowdy Rathore’

aurat jab hoti hai satra, to badh jaata hai khatra

aur jab wo hoti hai tees, tab wo hoti hai cheez,

the list is countless.

Raunchy lyrics and suggestive choreography has become a trend these days. Our hypocritical Censor Board has no issues with the lyrics and filming of songs like 'pritam pyare','sheila ki jawani','choli ke peeche' ,'Chikini Chameli','Laila Teri Le Legi' etc.Imagine the mindset of the future generation growing up watching and dancing to such songs.

See our hypocrisy. We are the ones who march and protest against sexual violence. But at the same time we don't forget to ogle any young girl on the street or any actress we see on the screen. We tend to whistle and clap on double entendre and saucy lines and tap our feet to the item numbers. No wonder why such mean movies are a big hit and honey singh is a big star in India. If you enjoy vulgar scenes and sleazy lyrics; sexual objectification is what entertains you, i am sure you would pretty much enjoy a girl being raped or just be a silent bystander.

Bollywood Movies also teach us that if you constantly stare and follow the girl you like, initially she will resist and get infuriated but eventually she would fall in love with you. The hero constantly pesters and follows the heroine even if she says no and this is shown as it’s just a normal and integral part of romance. What message are you sending out? Also see the way kissing scenes or sex scenes are scripted in movies: the actor makes a sexual advance and the actress initially resists, but then finally responds positively. Given the fact that movies have a large influence on social behaviour, just imagine the serious repercussions of such scripts on the society.

How many movies have we made which portrays a woman protagonist with intelligence, skill or leadership qualities? Women are shown just as eye candy without any significant role in the script.A woman is always somebody’s wife or girlfriend; somebody’s daughter; somebody’s mother; somebody’s sister;she is never that’somebody’. Movies rarely portray the actress as an independent individual with her own intellect or ideas. And even when such attempts are made,these rarely fetch money at the box-office perhaps because eye-balls freeze only on watching bare skin or it is still hard for the largely patriarchal and misogynist Indian society to digest a women getting intelligent or her character getting beyond decorative.

Sexual objectification might not be the direct cause of sexual violence but no doubt fuels it. Filmmakers should portray woman as a subject and not an object of male fantasy.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS:Blinders Still Worn

The infamous 'Nirbhaya Rape Case' had sparked tremendous agitation and vehement protests and rallies all around the country. But now it seems that nothing has changed for the good. The reaction had been a sudden furore and people had just gone with the flow. They had marched and had vociferous demands and opinion without any self -introspection at an individual level. The only change that i notice is that girls are now advised more to dress modestly and parents are now more concerned about their daughter's safety than they used to be. The onus of remaining safe seems to have shifted more to women, instead of being shared by society and law-keepers.

Official data in India show that rape cases have jumped almost 875% over the past 40 years -- from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011, given the fact that most cases still are not reported. So in a country where female Gods like Durga, Kali, Shakti are worshipped the condition of the women remains terrible. Also sexual violence against the transgenders don't make it to the headlines. Sexual violence by husbands is ignored.

 Sexual assaults can also be visual or verbal. There are many factors which act backstage and contribute to increase in growing number of sexual assaults, deeply entrenched patriarchy and misogynistic mindset of the male folk is the largest contributor besides other factors like objectification of the women's body in movies, songs, tv shows, racy advertisements in the print and electronic media; the growing culture of provocative clothing and revealing outfits; growing consumption of alcohol and drugs; the wide circulation and easy accessibility of pornographic content; such factors constantly envelops us in an erotic and titillating environment, constantly boosts up the libido and if the temptation overpowers the conscience(which is very likely to be the case)the basic human desire of mating often finds immoral and abnormal channelization in the form of rape, molestation, exhibitionism, frotteurism, voyeurism etc..

Rape is ubiquitous. i think it has very little to do with  the way women dress. Of course, Provocative Clothing could be the cause of sexual arousal but it should not be related to the act of rape which involves cowardly act of violent and non-consensual forceful sex.  Normal sexual urge and rapist mentality are very different. Even child girls are raped. Also the fact that sexual assaults are so common in places where women are covered from head to toe. So i think rape is more related to patriarchy and misogyny and male chauvinism. Patriarchy is rooted in our culture, societal structure and even religions. Boys are brought up to be sexually aggressive, dominant and conquering, as a way of affirming their masculinity. Most men and boys i know consider themselves superior and entitled to dominate their sisters or girlfriends. In many societies, men who do not act in this traditional masculine way are ostracized by their peers and considered effeminate. Even most religious texts support male-domination.

 -The media also objectifies the women folk. it is very clear when you see advertisements or music videos and even video-games meant for children .Nowadays, raunchy lines and double entendre have become so common in movies and almost every movie comes out with an item song in which a girl with skimpy dress would gyrate around lewd men to some vulgar lyrics.Even in Disney Movies, the female character is highly sexualized with large breasts,a thin waist,fluttering eyelashes and coy expressions.Such portrayal deeply influences the mindsets of growing children. 

-The wide and easily availability of porn provides an outlet for sexual impulse but pornography has traditionally been made by and for men, and women are just portrayed as sex-objects, lump of flesh for sexual satisfaction. Pornography has substantial sexual violence involved.

Social-stigma attached to the rape leaves many rape cases unreported and also harasses the girl mentally and emotionally. Our society is largely patriarchal and judgemental and it often reacts as if the victim is also to be blamed for it. Incidents like rape or molestation is thought to besmirch the reputation of the victim and her family.’ ‘Izzat lut gayi’  is how we’ve been reacting to the victims of sexual assaults. A complete nonsense...How can one relate a crime committed against someone to his/her dignity or reputation. Ignominy should be for the perpetrator and not the victim. And see the hypocrisy of the people they advise every girl to dress modestly but don't forget to ogle any girl on the street. So there is a visual rapist behind a facade of decency-driven moral policing.

Dressing modestly, getting back home earlier at night, keeping pepper spray or joining karate classes; fast track courts, castration, death penalties could serve as partial deterrents but could never be any step towards the cure of the menace because we are still hitting the wrong button.

To the females: Respect the sharp line between sexual liberation and immodesty.To the males: Your chivalry won't help unless you truly believe in equality of both the sexes.