Philosophy of Mind Lecturer: Sandy Macalla Id Number: 620013166 Time of Tutorial: Tuesday 5-6 Question 6: Analyze two philosophical

views on near death experience and life after death. Explain which view is more applicable to contemporary society. Give examples.

The act of dying involves a gradual shift of consciousness from the ordinary world of experience to a holographic reality of pure frequencies1. According to the definition, having a near death experience is therefore having a sense of detachment from the physical world due to a loss of consciousness or physiologically dying. During this death, it has been recorded that some persons are aware of their disembodied existence and may experience one or few of the many sensations associated with being dead, such as quietness, a sense of peace, entering darkness or seeing the light, being judged by a supreme being or meeting other spiritual entities. According to Graham after death experiences can be explained as Freudian projections, fuelled by false hope for survival and sparked by traumatic experience (e.g. surgery)2. He later states that after death experiences may also be explained by physical conditions of the traumatized subject: as a form of delirium caused by over-medication or oxygen deprivation.3 However according to Wilson, also stated by Graham, there have been diagnoses of these experiences without receiving any form of medication. Due to these activities, it is wondered by many, how is it possible to know so much about death, if it is not experienced? And if some one should have a near death experience is it real or is it made up? The research seeks to give a clear understanding as well as explanations from different theories as to why these near death experience and life after death experiences activities occur. Both near death experience and life after death experience will be analyzed from a philosophical view point and along with the theories are examples of both near death experience and life after death experiences in order to give a better understanding of these phenomenon.

Quoted in Oswald Hardings Near Death Experience: A Holographic Explanation, (2006) p. A Freudian projection is a personality assessment technique used in psychology On p. 23 Graham shares this and other views as the reason for NDEs

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A near-death experience is a conscious experience in which the individual experiences a sense of being detached from the physical world during the process of physiological dying.1 For centuries, the controversies of a near death experience have brought forward many questions. Plato, in The Republic Book (X) presents the story of a near-death experience of a Greek soldier named Er, a soldier who was killed in battle and his body placed on a funeral pyre along with other soldiers who also died in the battle. Just before was cremated, he awakens and tells a story of leaving his body and traveling with others to a place where they were all to be judged. He described what he had seen as opening or passage ways leading from Earth into the realms of the after life. He recalled other souls being stopped and judged by divine beings who could see all the things the soul had done while on Earth. Instead of being judged, he was then sent back to inform mankind of the other world.2 At the occurrence of a near-death experience, it is said that the individual may experience a sense of being dead, and may be surprise at being dead; however, they will remain peaceful as they later discover that they are no longer experiencing feelings of pain. Following the awareness of being dead, the person with the near death experience may have an out-of-body experience. An out of body experience is when the person who is experiencing a near death experience perceives that he or she is separating from their physical bodies and is moving away from their deceased bodies. Persons with past near death experiences describes it as a sense of moving through a tunnel as they enter into the darkness. As they pass through the tunnel, there is an awareness of a bright light towards the end of the tunnel. When the experiencer becomes aware or conscious of the light, ghostly or other unearthly life forms, recognizable by the experiencer may be seen in the light. The individual may also perceive that he or she is rising towards the light into what they may consider heaven or another
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Dr David Filippo Religious Interpreations of NDEs (2007)

Summary of Platos Republic extracted from Oswald Hardings Near Death Experience: A Holographic Explanation

place of consciousness. During the ascension, the experiencer encounters a Being of Light, considered to be God or another deity, depending on their religion. During the encounter with the Supreme Being, the near-death experiencer may become conscious. As experienced by most near death experiencers, in the latter stages of their experience, they experience a sense of reluctance to return back to life. Near death Experiences are presented into two categories. These categories are death bed visions and life threatening crises1. For death bed visions, the person is usually ill and at the hour of death experiences a vision where he or she is reunited with old friends or families which results in an elated mood. The dying subject then remains in a state of clear wakeful consciousness. Life threatening crises does not necessarily include a sick person but the person is brought to the verge of their physical death. It may be brought forward by a car accident, heart attack, near drowning, cardiac arrest or any other near death experiences. In a summary by Moody (1975), also supported by Ring (1980), Harding states that ineffability, hearing the news, feeling of peace, and quiet, the noise, dark tunnel, out of body, meeting other others, the being, the review, border or limit, coming back, telling others, effect in lives and news of death are some of the elements found in this type of near death experience. 2 Ring, as stated by Harding examines different possible interpretations of near death experiences such as depersonalization3, wishful thinking, psychological explanations, dreams or hallucinations4. In contrast to this, Harding makes mention that near death experiences therefore cannot be accepted as anything more than stories related by persons who had some traumatic experience and almost died5 thus like Graham, he believes that near death experiences may be caused when the brain is starved of oxygen.
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Categories of near death experiences according to Harding 2006 and their descriptions Elements of Near Death Experiences A loss of emotion and detachment from the physical body Near Death Experience: A Holographic Explanation (2006) p6 Near Death Experience: A Holographic Explanation (2006) p24

The after life is simply an extension of the world.1 Is there such a thing as life after death? Can it be proven? Is life after death possible? The terms dying, dead and death are generally intended by us to refer to phenomena that are outside of or beyond our minds2. To have a full understanding of the after life, would we not have to undergo physical death? Human beings, like all other organic creatures, die and their bodies decay. Nevertheless, there is a widespread and long-standing belief that in some way death is survivable, that there is life after death. Sandhu It is believed by many Christians that there is everlasting life after death. According to Hicks, as stated by Filippo a belief in the immortality of the spirit has been present in most religions for centuries.3 Like Christianity, many other religious groups share the view of everlasting life. According Christianity it is believed that individual persons continue to exist subsequent to bodily death; and they persist permanently4. Like the dualism theory, Christians believe that at death Graham person and body can be separated and once separated the person can survive without the body5. At the decay of the physical body, it is further believed that an extremely powerful or omnipotent God exists who ensures that the person does not extinguish after bodily death. While there are many differences and beliefs in many religious groups, they share similarities regarding life after death. One similarity among many religious groups is the belief in life after death following physical death. "The two polar images of life after death - the abode of the righteous, heaven or paradise, and the place for the wicked, or hell".6 Another
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Malpas and Solomon (1998) p. 61 The Psychology of Death by P. Kastenbaum and Ruth Aisenberg (1972) 3 Dr David Filippo Religious interpretations of NDEs (2007)
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George Graham Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction (1993) p.15 Beliefs of Christians as stated by Graham p.15 6 S. Grof and C. Grof Beyond Death (1980) p.13

similarity shared between many different religions. In the Buddhist and Hindu religions, Buddhists believe that upon death, there is rebirth to another life. Death is accepted as inevitable and not feared. The believer's actions, in this life, will determine his or her level of rebirth1. This action which determines the experience in the after life is known as karma. Karma is defined by Filippo as is the force created by the actions of the individual - the effects of actions. In the Hindu religion, death comes as a break in the continued events of life and brings about a change in the form in which the spirit resides. Hindus believe that the afterlife is a passage of time in a heaven or hell, dependent upon the karma built up in life2. For both Buddhist and Hindu religions, the judgment of ones life is based upon their past lives. The rebirth of ones spirit into another life, through transmigration of the soul is determined upon the karma and the last thoughts of the individual in his or her present life. At Buddhist funerals, according to Malpas and Solomon, the Tibetan Book for the Dead is read aloud and it makes reference to a disembodied spirit which persist within hearing distance voices in an after death realm of transition, or bardo3. This is viewed as a transitional realm through which a disembodies spirit passes between reincarnations4. In both religions, death is therefore viewed as an aspect of change and renewal. In analyzing life after death, Ren Descartes in his dualism theory proposes according to Graham that the universe has two kinds of substance, body and mind5. After death, the body ceases to exist and the mind continues to live on. The main idea behind the substance dualism according to Graham is that bodies are materials and disintegrate, but they can be separated from minds which do not. Souls or minds are independent of the physical world and have the
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Dr David Filippo, Religious Interpreations of NDEs, (2007) Meaning of death according to Hindus as stated by Filippo Real of transition after death Jeff Malpas and Robert C. Solmon Death and Philosophy, 1998 p.71 Graham, p19

potential to last favor.6 Descartes later had the view that the essence of a person is the mind, a non physical substance that thinks, imagines, believes and doubts2. He views the human body as jus a vessel, safe guarding the mind from the physical world until the point of death, when the body has disintegrated. According to Harding, he also had the view that if we know our minds then we know ourselves and can identify ourselves without special cues3. According to Descartes as stated by Harding a person, a thinking thing that has reason and reflection can consider itself as itself. A person may have a different body because his physique may have changed, but he is the same person because his memories extended back through changes4. Unlike Descartes, Locke relied on memory as a means of identifying a person. He later made a proposal that a person is the sum total of his or her memories, meaning, the way in which people reflect on our lives is what makes us who we are, if we were good or bad in our past lives. In answering the many questions to life after death, Descartes was also faced with criticisms on his mind body problems. His view, called interactionism made reference to the mind and body being affected by one another through the pineal gland. He was however unable to answer this. Materialism also argued that the immaterial substance known as the mind does not exist thus all mental events are just physical phenomenon, thus the mind is a by-product of the body and like the body, it disintegrates at death. Identity theory then tried to resolve the unanswered questions by describing both the mental and physical events are the same; therefore there is no need for interaction. Plato, according to Harding, states that as a soul, a human being is an embodied spirit, a simple unchanging substance that can be freed upon bodily death, to exist eternally in a realm of
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Graham p.19 Harding p. 29 Harding p. 29 Harding making reference to Descartes view as to why we callont recognise the soul.

non physical and incorruptible ideal form5. Like Descartes, Plato agrees that at the time of death, the soul is released. He later made reference to Quintons article The Soul which seeks to examine the theories of Plato and Descartes where the soul is viewed as ethereal but a physical entity with the capability of independent existence. Both Plato and Descartes views are intertwined, as they are based upon the premise that within each person is a spiritual substance, a subject of his mental state which contains his or her identity. However, if the spiritual substance in each person is distinct from the mental states or bodies, then it should not be called the soul because it would cease to exist without the body2. In contrast to Platos theory, Aristotle claims that without the body, the soul cold neither be nor exercise its function. Unlike Plato who views the body as a prison house of the soul, Aristotle says that the body and soul together form one substance. The bond he created between the body and soul caused him to believe that upon death both the body and soul, along with its organizing principles perishes upon death of the body. In contemporary society, of the theories analyzed, Descartes dualism is more applicable. An example of a near death experience would be someone having a cardiac arrest and going unconscious. During the state of unconsciousness, the person may perceive them self as leaving their body and being in the room witnessing doctors trying to save their lives. While entering heaven, the individual sees a bright light and as the light gets closer he realizes he is with God. After being away for a while the person comes back to consciousness. Another example of this would be in a power outage, applicable by using Filippos qualities and characteristics of the near death experience. His stages are as followed, sense of being dead, a sense of peace and painlessness, sense of separation from the physical body, the sense of passing through a tunnel, a
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Harding p. 28-29 describing the separation of body and soul Anthony Quintons comparison of Plato and Descartes mind body separation

sense of an encounter with recognizable ethereal entities, such as family, friends, angels or religious personages. These spirits may appear to be enveloped in light, a sense of rising rapidly into the heavens, a sense of an encounter with a Being of Light which emanates unconditional love, and an experience of a panoramic, total life review and sense of self-judgment about one's life while bathed in the unconditional love of the Being of Light. In a power outage, you are aware that there is no light, at this point, there is no sense of fear due to the sharpening of the senses, making the individual more aware. Because there is no light, there is a subtle mood, people moving around may be contrast with the Being of Light or meeting other familiar faces (angels) which results in the individual being happy again, and the judgment would be the conversation they will engage in before and after the light will return. An example of life after death would be comparing the mind and body to that of a computer. The screen, the central processing unit, speakers and other components would make up the physical entities, however, without the hard drive, the storage spaces, file compartment, the computer would either not work, or make no sense at all. These experiences of near death are similar to that of the visions into the afterlife as found in the books of the many religions. However, being conscious of our awareness in the physical world also leads us into believing that there is life after death. Bibliography Filippo, David. Religious Interpretations of NDEs. 2007 <http://www.near-death.com/experiences/articles013.html>. Graham, George. Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishers,

1993.

Grof,, Stanislav, and Grof, Christina. Beyond Death: The Gates of Consciousness. London: Thames and Hudson Limited, 1980.

Harding, Oswald. Near Death Experience: An Holographic Explanation. LMH Publishing Limited, 2006.

Harinder, Sandhu. Afterlife. 6.Jul. 2010. 16. Oct. 2011

Malpass, Jeff, and Solomon, Robert. Death and Philosophy. London: Routeledge, 1998.

Stumpf, Enoch Samuel.Philosophy: History and Problems. 2nd ed. Library of Congress, 1977.