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Media Watch for November 2008 (Issue 84)
First Long Term Study on Near-Death-Experiences (NDE) in the UK: Penny Sartori has worked as a nurse at the Intensive Therapy Unit, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK for the past thirteen years. The deaths of patients she encountered made Dr. Sartori wonder what happened when we die. She had read about NDEs and decided to undertake her own research by conducting a long term prospective study (the UKs first long term study). The supervisors for the research were Dr. Peter Fenwick and Professor Paul Badham. The prospective study formed part of a much bigger research project into NDEs for which Dr. Sartori was awarded a PhD in 2005 at the University of Wales, Lampeter. One of the most interesting findings of this research was that it was found that the closer one comes to death, the more likely it is that a NDE will be reported. The total number of patients who survived, not all of whom came close to death, were compared with cardiac arrest survivors, those who had been clinically dead for a period of time. It was discovered that there was a much higher frequency of NDEs among cardiac arrest survivors. In comparing heart rhythms among cardiac arrest survivors, it was also discovered that the rhythm most prevalent in the NDE group was asystole — a rhythm associated with the highest fatality.
The study also found that unexplained aspects of the NDE, such as meeting deceased relatives who were not known to be dead at the time of the experience and gaining information in ways other than through the senses, could not be explained by physiological or psychological factors. From: Penny Sartori, PhD: Prospective Study, The International Association for Near-Death Studies, www.iands.org/research/important_studies/dr_penny_sartori_phd_prospective_study_6.html
NDEs are Not Caused by Drugs: The above study on Near-Death-Experiences in Wales has also shown that very few NDEs were elicited from the total group sampled, the majority of whom were given painkilling and sedative drugs. If drugs were the cause of the NDE then a larger percentage of NDEs would be expected. There were also cases in which some experiences similar to NDEs became very confused once painkilling drugs had been administered. Similarly, a patient was unable to recall an experience he had previously related to his visitors following a further period of sedation in response to a deterioration of his condition.
All patients (except one patient who was suffering from sleep deprivation) who reported hallucinations had been given a combination of large amounts of sedative and painkilling drugs. Comparison of the NDEs and hallucinations reported has highlighted the differences between the two types of experiences. Whereas the NDEs followed a pattern, the hallucinations were very random, bizarre and related to actual occurrences and the actions of members of staff. On follow-up, those who had reported hallucinations could rationalize that they had been hallucinating, whereas NDErs remained adamant that their experience was real.
Learning to Love: “Those who have been personally closest to death and returned, those blessed with NDEs, frequently mention why they came back instead of going on into the bliss they were experiencing … the most frequent reason given is that they had not yet learned how to love—and learning how to love is the most important lesson we are here to learn.” From: Institute of Noetic Sciences, Shift No 17, “What Death Tells Us About Life,” by Charles T. Tart. Hands Shown to Emit Light: Of course this is nothing new to Spiritualist but research done by Mitsuo Hiramtsu, a scientist at the Central Research Laboratory at Hamamatsu Photonics in Japan found that our hands, forehead and bottoms of our feet emit protons. Hiramatsu says that “Our hands are producing light all of the time.” The light is invisible to the naked eye, so Hiramatsu and his team used a powerful photon counter to “see” it.
Fritz-Albert Popp, a leading world expert on biologically related photons at The International Institute of Biophysics in Germany, agrees with the findings and said, “One may find clear correlations to kind and degree (type and severity) of diseases.” Popp and his team believe the light from the hands and forehead pulses out with the same basic rhythms, but that these pulses become irregular in unhealthy people. From: “Hands shown to emit light,” by Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News, http://dsc.discovery.com/ Healers Affect Limbic System: Studies using fMRI data have shown that healers in an intention-to-heal mindset have affected the limbic system activity in the target healee. From: “Driect Brain to Brain Communication – Further Evidence from EEG and FMRI Studies,” by Robert A. Charman, The Paranormal Review October 2006 Issue 40. Psi, Sigh and Psi Again: In his article with this title, Robert A Charman writes, “…The experiment by Pizzi et al. (2004) in which an isolated, em-shielded, non-stimulated (em is “electromagnetic radiation”), culture of neurons (nerve cells) in a … Petri dish came into frequency resonance with the pulsed-laser-driven frequency of a similarly shielded neuron culture, offers direct evidence that telepathy is a property of neuronal activity. On reviewing the implications of their findings … the authors concluded that, “Our experimental data seem to strongly suggest that biological systems present non-local properties not explainable by classical models. If, in this hypothesis, we assume that individual neural systems, in our case brains, differ in their ability to communicate directly with each other this way, and differ in their individual ability to bring such communication into conscious awareness, then we have an explanation as to why some people, including the writer, have never knowingly had a telepathic experience, while for others it is a frequent occurrence.” From: The Paranormal Review, April 2008 Issue 46
Buddhism is Booming in China, which is quite a paradox given the Communist Party’s official atheism and its troubled relationship with the Dalai Lama. Buddhism’s growing popularity reflects a longing for meaning among China’s yuppies. They are attracted to Buddhism’s rejection of materialism and emphasis on the transitory nature of life. Buddhism’s trendiness has spawned a surge in faith-related business: Flights to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, are booked solid and monasteries are building guesthouses.
Buddhism is resonating with the white-collar class. As China is in it’s fifth year of double-digit growth, working twelve hours a day and on weekends is typical. Li Xinglu once typified the breed: hard-working, successful, unfulfilled. She ran an events-promotion firm and mixed with pop stars, diplomats, and entrepreneurs. But Li says something was missing, “I was smoking, drinking, and spending all night in the clubs … I spent a lot of time chasing happiness.”
A recurring dream about her grandmothe’s death and conversations with a spiritually inclined colleague got her thinking. Li decided to visit the northwestern city of Xining. After taking a plane and then a twenty-one-hour Jeep ride across the Tibetan plateau, she arrived at the Tse-Reh monastery. There Li met her teacher, a ninteen-year-old monk who set her on a new path. Today, Li has put her career on hold and focuses instead on charitable acts, including raising money for an orphanage for Tibetan children. She credits her conversion for halting a downward spiral. “I didn’t understand there was such a thing as a soul or spirit.” From: Business Week, “China’s Spiritual Awakening,” by Dexter Roberts, www.businessweek.com
Fake Exorcisms: Britain’s Daily Telegraph is reporting that a priest is being investigated in Italy who purportedly attracted large crowds to staged events in which individuals would “pretend to be possessed.” It was reported that Father Bazzoffi has made nearly $6 million dollars on these events. According to the Wall Street Journal, exorcism is on the rise and Rome’s chief exorcist, Gabriel Amorth, said last year that the Pope wants an exorcist in every diocese in the world. This resurgence has sparked tensions between priests and psychotherapists. One program in an Australian ministry came under fire for offered Bible study and exorcisms to mentally ill young women. From: The Daily Telegraph, “Priest made £3m from fake exorcisms,” by Malcolm Moore in Milan, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583812/Priest-made-3m-from-fake-exorcisms.html
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