Down below are the doctors working on your body (as in the cartoon on the left). You see a strange sign hanging from the ceiling which says "You are dead." You watch as the doctor puts the electric paddles on your chest. You have a wonderful peaceful feeling which you have never had before. The doctors give your body a shock and you are back in your body sound asleep again. Hours later, you awaken and tell the doctor about your out-of-body experience and the "You are dead" sign. The doctor smiles and tells you, "Your heart stopped during surgery and we had to revive you. You are part of a near-death study and you had a near-death experience. You are the first patient who has ever read that sign. That sign can only be read by someone hanging near the ceiling. But because you were able to read this sign and tell us about it, you have proven scientifically that the mind can function outside of the body. A great scientific discovery has just occurred. Congratulations."
This is probably how researchers are going to prove scientifically that our consciousness can transcend our bodies. Somebody is going to have a near-death experience someday and observe a scientifically controlled test object, such as a sign like "You are dead", that can only be seen if the observer is actually outside of their body. This is only the first step however: (1) Prove that consciousness can transcend the body by perceiving verifiable events while out of the body. The next step is: (2) Same as the first step except it occurs while the body is verifiably "dead" (i.e., clinical and brain death). Once these can be proven, all the skeptics will have to admit that consciousness survives death. It may surprise some people to know that these kind of studies are going on right at this moment.Indeed, it is only a matter of time when someone tells a doctor they saw the "You are dead" sign. For test purposes, however, the sign will probably say something more cryptic to insure the uniqueness of such an event. (Read More ... )
