I don't really have a point, other than to say death, dying, and funerals suck.
I just finished a book that might be of interest. It’s called “What Happens When We Die” by Sam Parnia MD, PhD. He’s made an indepth study of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) and actually attempted to test them (with interesting results, but of limited utility to the question at hand) and is very much grounded in science. It’s a fascinating read on a topic close to us all. Although I found the topic of NDE's interesting, I actually found his look at the nature of human consciousness even more interesting. A short review:
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE is the title of a book by Dr Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, one of the world's leading scientific and medical researchers into NDEs (Near-Death Experiences).
Dr Parnia is a British-born medical specialist in pulmonary (lung) and critical care medicine. He has also been a world
Dr. Sam Parnialeader into afterlife research, with his outstanding studies that started when he worked at Southampton University and Southampton Hospital in the UK. This has since been followed by further research in the USA where Dr Parnia is today Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the very prestigious Cornell University, as well as working with some of the leading hospitals. Dr Parnia is also the Chairman of the Horizon Research Foundation.
Because he works daily with emergency care patients, many often being in critical as well as near-death situations, Dr Parnia is in a position to be able to deal with death and dying. It is because of being exposed to patients who have had NDEs and/or OBEs that his interest in this area started and has now developed into what it is: world-leading research and also this book. It is something anyone wanting to know more about the medical and scientific aspects of such things should read. It is also well written and very interesting, as well as illuminating and enjoyable.
The foreword is written by eminent medical person, Dr Peter Fenwick, BA, MB, BChir, DPM, FRC Psych, a consultant neuropsychiatrist and neurophysiologist to the Institute of Psychiatry in London, who poses a question that so many are now asking and on which Dr Parnia offers information, if not entire explanations, in his book: "Does the near-death experience occur and consciousness indeed continue when all brain functions are absent - something our current neuroscience regards as impossible - or does the near-death experience occur either before or after the cardiac arrest, although it is interpreted by the experiencer as occurring during unconsciousness?" This, of course, is something touched on in some of the many stories told in either of our own books, Death - The Ultimate Orgasm? and The Dying Experience and Learning How to Live, even if they are only anecdotal and thus not valid scientifically.
Dr Fenwick also expresses the hope that "after reading this story, wonderfully told by Dr Parnia, not only will more people develop an understanding of what happens when we die, but that more scientists, philanthropists and forward-looking scientific bodies will agree to conduct and support the next stage of this research and so help to push forward one of the final frontiers of neuroscience."
