Preparing for the Miraculous

154 eleven talksthe fundamental thing (conscious knowledge) rather than onits derivative (material brain).” 6These questions appear again on the scientific agendabecause of the solid evidence of so many near-death experiences.Cardiologist Pim van Lommel concluded: “This experienceforces us to reconsider the localization of the consciousness.Is it really in our brain? ... All patients mentionedin our paper were clinically dead – one-line EEG, no moreactivity of the cortex, pupils fixed and dilated, no reflexesleft. Still their consciousness remained totally clear and theirsensations defined.” And on the Wikipedia website we findthe following comment: “Many view the NDE as the precursorto an afterlife experience, claiming that the NDE cannotbe adequately explained by physiological or psychologicalcauses, and that the phenomenon conclusively demonstratesthat human consciousness can function independentlyof brain activity. Many NDE-accounts seem to includeelements which, according to several theorists, can only beexplained by an out-of-body consciousness. For example,Michael Sabom states that one of his contacts accurately describeda surgical instrument [used after she was clinicallydead] which she had not seen previously.” In other casespersons and their actions and conversations are accuratelydescribed under the same conditions, and one NDE-experiencereven remembered the number plate of the truck whichhad hit and killed him instantly.Three illustrationsThere is already a wide-ranging literature about thenear-death experience, a topic which, if true, will concernall of us at one moment or other. The following three illustrationsare chosen because they highlight the phenomenonfrom various angles.6 Kitty Ferguson: The Fire in the Equations, p. 182.