Consciousness after death

Fidel wrote:

That's Paul Churchland's philosophical argument. Neuroscientists from Charles Sherrington to James Jeans, Wilder Penfield and John Eccles concluded by the end of their careers that the human mind is not the sum total parts of the physical brain. Penfield could locate regions of the brain responsible for things like memories, sight and various other sensations while his patients were conscious. But the search for part of the brain responsible for who "I am" eluded him. Neuroscience can explain how light shines in through the windows of our eyes through optic nerves to sight regions of the brain, but empiricists can't explain who it is exactly that does the observing. Some say it would be like expecting a computer programmer to be part of the computer itself which makes no sense. Recent research has revealed that about [url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=learning-in-vegetative-... percent of vegetative state diagnoses is incorrect[/url]. That startling statistic reinforced the need for better tools to measure that which often eludes quantification-consciousness.

I am familiar with Penfield's work. While his work suggests that there is a mind that is capable of knowing that teh brain is being fiddled with to cause phantom sensations, that does not disprove my earlier observation concerning brain damage. It is possible that the mind is separate from the brain, but is still obviously affected by the brain, just as the brain is affected by the mind. However, it is also possible that the brain and the mind are simply two aspects of a holistic unity.

"Other signs of the consciousness leaving the body are 1) when all heat has left the area of the heart centre (in the centre of the chest), 2) the body starts to smell or decompose, 3) a subtle awareness that the consciousness has left and the body has become like 'an empty shell', 4) a slumping of the body in a practitioner who has been sitting in meditation after the stopping of the breath. Buddhists generally prefer that the body not be removed for disposal before one or more of these signs occur, because until then the consciousness is still in the body and any violent handling of it may disturb the end processes of death. A Buddhist monk or nun or friend should ideally be called in before the body is moved in order for the appropriate prayers and procedures to be carried out."

From the above link.

I have experienced what people who have died experienced during their lives. As if it was my experience. Just as I have seen things about people I had no way of knowing anything previously about them. One reason I'm willing to say anything about this at all is that it all happened a long time ago and hasnt been an inkling since. When I decided I didn't want it, it stopped- forever, as far as I know. [It wasnt that simple. But it boils down to that.]

So I experienced what people who are now dead experienced. But it was of things when they were alive. And I never had the sense I was communicating with those in an afterlife. [Wouldnt have said I wasnt either.] I was understood by others as more or less a random receiver.

All the particular stories tell me we do far more direct communication of experience than we know about. None of it surprises me. But I've never shared the curiousity either.

As far as I get with it it is that we swim in a sea of conciousness, the experience we all share directly being only a part of that. What the rest of it is, no idea. Let alone how it works.

Im sure I'd be curious if more was 'figured out'. But I dont expect that in my lifetime.

Ennir wrote:

[i]A Buddhist monk or nun or friend should ideally be called in before the body is moved in order for the appropriate prayers and procedures to be carried out."[/i]

As with different cultures around the world there is much that can be learnt from the Tibetans. In a practical and straight forward sense, the Dalai Lama's books are pretty straight forward. I do not see any inclination to this part of this history in his writing(after death consciousness) other then to think about a Meaningful Life and how his words are signs about the travel that we are all going to take. His interest in where science is today.

I am not a Buddhist practitioner other then understanding of the choices we can make do make a difference.

Robert Monroe has some interesting ideas.

Quote:

[i]Robert Allan Monroe (October 30, 1915–March 17, 1995) was an advertising executive from Virginia who became known for his research into altered consciousness. His 1971 book Journeys Out of the Body is credited with popularizing the term "out-of-body experience". In 1978 Monroe founded The Monroe Institute, which carries on his work after his death. [1][2][3][4][5]

[i]

Best,