Facebook friend Ian Kerry points me to this tabloid news item about photos of (gasp!) actual fairies.
To me, they look like bugs.
Somewhere, Arthur Conan Doyle is smiling. Maybe.
Also, Matt Rouge points me to this Cracked essay by someone who had (or may have had) an NDE and didn't think very much of it.
Actually his so-called NDE sounds more like a fairly conventional hallucination. He seems to have been in physical pain even during the experience, which is not at all typical of NDEs. He had no OBE, no life review, no encounters with deceased persons or a Being of Light, etc.
If typical NDEs were this unimpressive, the phenomenon would be of limited interest. Still, his brush with death does seem to have helped him to put the problems of everyday life into perspective, and he says he has no fear of death anymore.
If those are fairies, they don't look very pleasant...
As for the "NDE," some possibilities:
1. He was dreaming. Is it even technically correct to call something a "hallucination" if one is not even conscious? We don't typically call dreams "hallucinations."
Of course, I think our model of dreaming is, well, non-existent (it's this thing that happens to you while you're asleep, man!). Dreaming is actually an Astral experience of some sort (and not all are of the same sort).
Anyhow, I find it interesting that he chose the word "hallucinating" to describe his own experience. He comes off overall as a negative person with an ax to grind, perhaps (likely?) an atheist who is eager to put the experience in a category that matches his worldview.
2. He was starting a negative NDE. Going into ice doesn't sound like a lot of fun. He also said he did not see light on the way in but on the way out. He may be eager to "push away" his experience by denigrating it.
Just some thoughts...
Posted by: Matt Rouge | April 08, 2014 at 11:12 PM
I notice that the date on the 'fairy' article was April 2nd. Assuming article that wasn't submitted with the intention of publication a day earlier, then I think that, in all fairness, we have to assume there's something in it. I can see no reason why anyone would risk their academic reputation on something they didn't believe.
Posted by: Julie Baxter | April 09, 2014 at 09:15 AM
Here's a collection of testimonials of ghost sightings by 5 UK women writers in today's Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2598377/Dont-believe-ghosts-These-chilling-stories-just-change-mind-Five-writers-reveal-spooky-encounters.html
Posted by: Roger Knights | April 09, 2014 at 10:42 AM
To me those "fairies" look like little flowers, probably being gently blown off a nearby tree and floating gently to the ground.
Posted by: Christine Lehman | April 10, 2014 at 09:38 AM
I think when the man says he had a "near death experience" he means to say he almost died. It is a somewhat confusing colloquialism I have encountered before. Like someone has a terrible injury and recovers or something, nearly dying and getting a new outlook on life, but not near death in the parapsychology sense, with all the metaphysical bells and whistles that go along with that.
Posted by: SenorDee | April 11, 2014 at 11:52 PM
It's not possible to judge an NDE like this because we don't know the brain state with any accuracy. Did all breathing and circulation stop ? I doubt it
Better to just stick to the definition ADE, Parnia's new term because then we know that there should be zero experience occurring in the brain.
Any veridical observations during the said period of clinical death then show that the psyche/mind can function when the brain is not working.
ADE Actual death experience
Posted by: Duck soup | April 19, 2014 at 07:44 AM
"Better to just stick to the definition ADE, Parnia's new term because then we know that there should be zero experience occurring in the brain."
Even so, there will still be arguments about whether the brain was really shut down with no residual activity, or if a degree of awareness is possible even when higher-level cerebral function has shut down, etc.
Also, many people will reject Parnia's terminology on the ground that if the person can be revived, he or she was not "actually" dead. It becomes a tautology: anyone who survives to report an experience (NDE or ADE) cannot have really died, by definition.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | April 19, 2014 at 06:31 PM
"Even so, there will still be arguments about whether the brain was really shut down with no residual activity, or if a degree of awareness is possible even when higher-level cerebral function has shut down, etc."
Well, there will still be some people arguing but what they may say is not scientific. Consciousness ceases in an instant after cardiac arrest that is why doctors can put an intubation tube down the throat without the patient gagging etc. It shows that the reflexes in the brain stem are absent.
Residual activity ie a few brain cells still functioning after 10-15 seconds in some deep structure is stretching what is reasonable too far because lower areas of the brain are not responsible for the cognitive thoughts with memory formation reported in NDE's.
As regards the question of defining what is death, it doesn't need to be made complicated.
No heartbeat and respiratory effort with fixed and dilated pupils with no gag reflex is clinical death and the state of consciousness in clinical death is the same as biological death.
If the criteria for pronouncing death was that the patient must stand no chance of being revived, then no pronouncement could ever be made because one can never know for certain whether or not the patient will stay dead.
So the above criteria are still considered to be the legal bare bones so to speak.
Posted by: Duck soup | April 20, 2014 at 02:36 PM
Well said, Duck Soup. Well said! :)
Posted by: Julie Baxter | April 21, 2014 at 07:00 PM
Thank you, Julie.
Posted by: Duck soup | April 22, 2014 at 07:53 AM