Since we have been spending so much time recently discussing brain death, I thought this intriguing story–describing a study demonstrating we can remain aware after cessation of brain function during the dying process–worth mentioning. From the Telegraph story:
Scientists at the University of Southampton have spent four years examining more than 2,000 people who suffered cardiac arrests at 15 hospitals in the UK, US and Austria
And they found that nearly 40 per cent of people who survived described some kind of ‘awareness’ during the time when they were clinically dead before their hearts were restarted. One man even recalled leaving his body entirely and watching his resuscitation from the corner of the room…
Although many could not recall specific details, some themes emerged. One in five said they had felt an unusual sense of peacefulness while nearly one third said time had slowed down or speeded up. Some recalled seeing a bright light; a golden flash or the Sun shining. Others recounted feelings of fear or drowning or being dragged through deep water. 13 per cent said they had felt separated from their bodies and the same number said their sensed had been heightened.
If this is true, it seems to me, strict materialism isn’t. And if everything in life results from evolutionary processes what possible natural selection benefit would continued awareness during death convey?