Consciousness Without Brain Activity: Near Death Experiences – Dr. Bruce Greyson
The United Nations, New York – September 11, 2008
Beyond the Mind-Body Problem: New Paradigms in the Science of Consciousness
An excerpt of Bruce Greyson, MD, PhD, from the panel discussion “Beyond the Brain: The Experiential Implications of Neurotheology”, speaking about how the brain does not equal the mind, and how near death experiences can contribute to knowledge about the mind-body connection.
For more information about the symposium, visit:
http://www.nourfoundation.com/mind-body-problem
21 Responses to “Consciousness Without Brain Activity: Near Death Experiences – Dr. Bruce Greyson”
think outside of the box to free your consciousness then?
love his speech, congratulations dr
Nice.
The ancient greeks had no word for blue and it is thought that perhaps blue didn’t exist in ancient greece. We invented blue.Like Einstein said “observable facts alone do not create theory.In fact the opposite is true.It is theory that allows us to see the world”.
On another note as an osteopath I notice a similar problem as described by Dr Greyson by patients trying to explain their pain.Words like sharp or aching very often are poor approximations to their experience, which is complex and embodied and therefore not open to wording it.
Great!
@ 12:20 – Duh! See, this is how confirmation bias can REALLY screw up your ability to reason. This guy wants so badly for words NOT to tell the true story, he completely ignores that the words are in fact describing the experience, which does in fact reflect that the person’s expectations from their conscious life, their beliefs and/or life view, shapes their purported near death experience. DUH! They are merely lucid dreaming about things within their cultural experience, even if our technology is not able to detect brain activity. The problem is most likely with our imperfect technology rather than an absolute indicator that the mind is something more than emergent from the physical brain. Confirmation bias = re-shaping data points such that you can say, “AHA! That confirms EXACTLY what I prefer it to be!”
The evidence is overwhelming , but trying to convince anyone that Consciousness and the Mind is only using the the Body and Brain as a Vehicle for the purpose of experiencing Physical life is almost impossible . People love to stick to their beliefs and they have no idea what they are missing out on . You know the Brain is in the skull , you know the heart is in your chest , where is the Mind ?? Believing that the brain produces the Mind and Consciousness is almost laughable , but the Scientists continue to try to prove the impossible . Have a blessed New Year Eddie
I was pronounced dead 3 x’s and was in a coma for a month and a half.
This happened when i was 31 however, i awoke at the age of approximately 9-11 (Only survivor)
unable to walk talk or see for 3 years and no smell, no taste, no smell for years after that and,
short term memory… issues still to this day.
and, “i can’t”
Amnesia
~Heavenkept
Idealism! Pandeism.
I do not believe in the continuation of consciousness after the dead. I am absolutely sure that.
Jesus said as it is written that the (flesh) life must be given up to find eternal life and that is the path to immortality.
If the life is in the flesh which is also the brain and its storage then this must be given up.
If the brain is switched off or its activity diminished then pure consciousness is active.
God can be that consciousness as He makes everything appear in the whole universe at every instant and He is covered in light much like a coat.
Knowing God is a little deeper and just beyond the mind that is usually thought from because life experience in a biology and own mental power is a barrier. We all live and move and have our being in God but are unable to comprehend it.
The television has a light illuminated image with pictures and this is an analogy and God creates everything.
I was in a near death car accident and can remember my mind leaving my body. I believe our bodies are simply vessels we inhabit. They die but consciousness does not.
This is interesting. As a person that is interested with life extension if this is possible which it very well might be then this would make a mind uploading process all the more easier. The thing is that if it is created by signals from the brain the feasible concept would be to gradually replace parts of the brain while keeping a continual signal going amidst artificial neurons. But if it’s not the brain nor is it spawned from the brain like this video implies then you can simply move the immaterial mind over to a new one as easy as one two three. The real challenge would be because the mind according to this theory is immaterial would mean that it would eventually leave to a higher dimension as it would be without a vessel to inhabit meaning another vessel would have to be made for the mind to possess hence a new body for the upload. A wired system though can move the immaterial to another body. Really interesting video.
We need more data and studies on this.
Can Someone Answer This:
Based on the science, how do they determine of someone is having total loss of consciousness?
Because it would seem rationally that if it were the case, how could there be accurate memory recall afterwards?
Or is the memory recall just the brain trying to fill in the gap to give a sense of continuity?
Same question with brain shut down – how do they know when it is totally down – and how can someone have any kind of accurate recall from that period of time – as it is suggested in the case of seeing things in the room, or hearing things, and so on?
Let’s separate out the myth from the science.
Thanks
Ask three questions from yourself after waking from a dream.
1. The observer of my dream was conscious or unconscious?
2. The observer of my dream was in my dream or in the universe?
3. Is the observer of my dream still conscious? If so then where?
Answers of these questions will enable us to understand that Consciousness exists independent of the brain.
I have no idea if this comment will get buried, but I hope to at least catch one eye. Physicist Thomas Campbell has committed 40 years studying consciousness. He scientifically proves that we reside in a virtual reality. It combines all the models together, and they work. Materialism is an illusion.
Edit: I just wanted to add that the reason we see different things when we die, is that there are _entities_ that help us pass comfortably. Whatever experience we need to help our consciousness pass on will be there. There may be family, _Jesus_ or whatever circumstance that ultimately helps us through the transition. It doesn’t mean that that’s exactly who or what those things or people are. It’s all information from a data stream. This is a virtual reality. It doesn’t make this any less real. It’s the same things as it was yesterday or the day before that. It’s a hard concept to accept, but no matter if you accept it or not, it still is.
Buddha has given very good explanation on how consciousness pop in and out in to existence. Scientist also confirms the mind is a stream pop in out and we experience the illusion of ‘self’ because we can’t catch the difference of pop in out, it works like a stream always new awareness but we think it is continuous. Same thing when it comes to Buddha , he clearly told nothing like sole exist.. but he also added the illusion will continue with out a physical body as per the nature of it process that’s what science could not yet reach. And according to his doctoring there is no god does that but you who creates the illusion of self by “with in” continues. That is nicely fit with the Explanation of Dr here and also other scientific findings nothing contradicts.. God has no place when it comes to rationality and science and also buddhism
Consciousness and determinism are correlated.
want a heaven and to go back and experience an eternal amount of view points.
who or what ever created the human race knows.
God is real folks plain and simple but materialistic scientists deny it sad