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.4 percent indicated they had Moreconsciousness and alertness than normal 19.9percent experienced Normal consciousness andalertness and only 5.7 percent had Lessconsciousness and alertness than normal.The concept of a higher level of consciousnessand alertness is subjective, so the NDERF survey asksNDErs to explain this sensation in their own words.NDErs were asked, If your highest level ofconsciousness and alertness during the experiencewas different from your normal everydayconsciousness and alertness, please explain.Hundreds of NDErs responded to this question, andhere are some representative responses.A woman who was struck by a car wrote,It was only different in the sense that it was anotherspace and another perception of being&.I believethere was an all-around awareness that didn t requirethought in the way that our minds brains, ratherare programmed and designed to register them.Thisis beyond light speed, if you will.A man whose pulse and breathing stoppedexperienced the following:During the entire incident, I felt as though I had neverbeen more alert.My mind was fast, even thoughphysically I was unconscious.UNLIKE DREAMS OR DEATHResponses like these suggest that consciousnesscontinues after death.To understand how remarkableit is to have a conscious experience at the time ofclinical death, it is helpful to understand what happensat the moment of death.Many NDEs are associatedwith a cardiac arrest, which means the heart stopsbeating.1 Among those having a cardiac arrest, about10 to 20 percent will have a near-death experience.2At the time of a life-threatening event, it cannot bepredicted who will have a near-death experience andwho will not.As discussed in chapter 2, when the heart stopsbeating, blood immediately stops flowing to the brain.Approximately ten to twenty seconds after blood stopsflowing to the brain, the electroencephalogram (EEG),which measures brain electrical activity, goes flat.TheEEG measures electrical activity in the cortex, or outerpart of the brain, which is responsible for consciousthought.Following cardiac arrest a lucid, organized,and conscious experience should be impossible.With a flat EEG, it is still possible for electricalactivity to be present in the lower parts of the brain,such as the brain stem.There is no chance thatelectrical activity in these lower parts of the brain couldaccount for such a highly lucid and ordered experienceas described by NDErs.Lucidity coupled with the predictable order ofelements establishes that NDEs are not dreams orhallucinations, nor are they due to any other causes ofimpaired brain functioning.The first version of the NDERF survey asked, Was the experience dreamlike in any way? andallowed only a narrative answer.The response to thisquestion was generally an adamant no! This indicatesthat NDErs were not having dreams.This finding isespecially significant given that the wording of thequestion encouraged a positive response if any part ofthe NDE was dreamlike.The lucidity of the near-death experiencebecomes apparent when we look at descriptions ofvision during NDEs.In the many hundreds of NDEcase studies I have reviewed, descriptions of visionare often so dramatic that I must remind myself that theNDErs are generally unconscious and often clinicallydead at the time they are experiencing extraordinaryvision.Colors are often described as unworldly in theirvariety and beauty.Once again, I am showing severalrandom examples from the NDERF case studies toillustrate the lucidity of vision in NDEs.A man who experienced three near-deathexperiences wrote,The colors on the other side are the brightest colors;our most fluorescent colors on this earth are muddy[compared] to the brightness and vividness of thecolors that are in Heaven.A woman who suffered a heart attack and strokereported,I wanted to see color again, and when I did it wasfantastic! I saw colors I could never explain.A shadeof red that I will never forget.A woman who was unresponsive after amotorcycle accident said,I was taken to a beautiful meadow with the mostgorgeous plant life and colors so vibrant that I venever seen anywhere; it was amazing!Leading NDE researcher Dr.Greyson is seeingthe same lucidity and higher level of consciousness inthe NDEs he studies as I am seeing in the NDERFstudy.Dr
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