Interesting

[badstar]

So I saw this news article on needa's journal:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/08/MNGNELI3IO1.DTL

and I read it and found it interesting, basically, some scientists have found a possible scientific explaination for out of body experiences.

I posted it on a couple of pagan forums and I think it's funny that either it's been completely ignored or people will say "I just don't believe that. Who are scientists to say that they've found the reason?" without considering any of the information presented and dismiss it out of hand.


It's an interesting article. They could be right for all I know. Or maybe they've found another cause of such things, aside from whatever causes them in people whose brains aren't being electrically probed. Who knows?

Comments

[needa.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, I wasn't thinking of you when I wondered if some of my friends wouldn't accept this one.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

i didn't think were

[fuego.livejournal.com]

er, didn't think you were

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I've read about those seizure patients before, although not within the context of OBEs. My conclusion is that too many people are all too willing to dismiss the mystical aspects of natural phenomena, which can be expressed as either dismissing any naturally explicible aspect of mystical experiences (the fluffies you mention) or as declaring that naturally explicible phenomena have no mystical aspect (as stated by Peter Brugger in that article). I think that the truth is far more interesting than either of these camps would have you believe.

[resident-geek.livejournal.com]

Your final sentence is such a screaming cliffhanger, though:

I think that the truth is far more interesting than either of these camps would have you believe.

What is the truth?

Tell me already!

I'm dying to know!!!

/only partially tongue-in-cheek

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

When I find it, you'll be the first to know. OK, you'll be the second to know, since obviously I'd be the first, but you get the idea.

Biology has taught me that when there's two competing theories that have been around for a while, especially if they seem to be mutually exclusive, they're almost inevitably both correct (one example is chemical vs. electrical information transmission method for neurons - we now know that both are vital for nerve function and how that is possible). This seems to carry over into complex systems in general, and I'm pretty sure perception, personal experience, and spirituality are complex systems. So I'm sure the truth, whatever it actually is, is going to be more interesting than the theories because it'll likely require going up a step to see how they're both correct.

[dolmena.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me of Scott Peck's statement on psychological causes-- that behavior is overdetermined.

[dolmena.livejournal.com]

In reading the article, I did think that it was an interesting explanation of how one may hallucinate an OBE. But it doesn't follow that all OBEs are hallucinations, because one can cause the illusion of other types of stimulus by stimulating parts of the brain.

Now, I would be interesting to see whether those same areas show excitement when someone deliberately sets up an OBE...

Also, I've always conected OBEs to dissociation; I wonder whether there's an overlap between dissociation and OBE.