Another closed-minded materialist study into OBEs and NDEs

A new article has come out by researchers at the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies (the same institution that has long supported research into reincarnation and NDEs), that takes a surprisingly mainstream materialist neurological position, seemingly perhaps because of pressure from the scientistic science establishment. I hope not, because up to now the paranormal research (funded by a special bequest for that purpose from Chester Carlson, inventor of Xerography) has been some of the best research in this rather sparse area in conflict with the establishment. It would be a very bad thing if Carlson's bequest funding is now being shunted to materialist scientistic research out of pressure from the academic mainstream science community.

The new article describes how out of body experiences seem to promote profound and lasting psychological transformations, and among many other things profoundly affecting the OBEer's perspective on life and instilling a deep sense of empathy and compassion toward others, and tries to come up with strictly neurological and psychological mechanisms which may be causing these experiences. They suggest how perhaps actually promoting these unusual states of consciousness might have therapeutic benefits.

The researchers conspicuously ignore and do not even mention the obvious possibility that the "profound and lasting effects" are that way because they were paranormal NDE experiences of real, actual, separation from the body and brain and experiencing of another realm of existence. Certainly that would be expected to have profound and long lasting effects on the personality of the NDEr, but is a possible explanation totally ignored  by the researchers.

https://thedebrief.org/out-of-body-exper...h-reports/

"Out-of-body experiences are often linked to supernatural, religious, or spiritual phenomena. However, they are also recognized within the scientific community, where cognitive science and psychology view them as dissociative events resulting from various psychological and neurological factors.

In this recent study, Dr. Weiler and a team of researchers from UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies delved into the psychological and neurological mechanisms behind out-of-body experiences and the potential for them to transform people’s emotional landscapes.

According to researchers, the key to understanding the transformational potential of out-of-body experiences lies in the concept of “ego dissolution.” In this state, the sense of self becomes less distinct, allowing individuals to feel a deeper connection to the world around them."

Gotta remember that the Division of Perceptual Studies isn't a conglomerate in ideas. There's many different explanations for things across its large swathe of research and members, i've seen plenty of physicalist explanations for all kinds of psi phenomena get put out there from them.

Also that there is a large swathe of Out of Body type experiences that can be had and some of them are very much exclusively brain generated events with conventional explanations. Certainly shouldn't lump then in together and honestly I find this research very promising. The end all of the research that's done into NDEs, psychic events, whatever has two goals: further human knowledge and improve human wellbeing. I'm not gonna say no to research that finds a way to artifically induce OBEs that can greatly help with a bunch of different psychological problems people can suffer from.

Subtle support for the psychedelics bandwagon, being pushed by 'them'