Non-Cartesian Substance Dualism

[Laird]

Oh, right, the persuasion was not to wakefulness specifically but in general to participate in and perpetuate embodied life, hence psycho-physical harmony, and probably that cues Julie's article, which I should read. Yes, we're in agreement here. It's all very odd, and too big a question for me too on what is now early (pre-dawn) Monday morning here.

Regarding anesthesia and NDEs, this case might be of interest:

Near-death experience in a boy undergoing uneventful elective surgery under general anesthesia

Near-death experience (NDE) is a complex subjective experience, which may include affective elements such as a sense of peacefulness, paranormal components such as a sensation of floating out of the body, and a perception of being in a dark tunnel and seeing a brilliant light. It is usually reported to occur in association with a wide range of life-threatening situations, as for instance, cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We report on an episode of NDE that occurred in a 12-year-old boy who underwent a general anesthesia for an elective uncomplicated surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first case of NDE in a child that has been reported in this context.

The classical etiologies of NDE mentioned in the literature such as cerebral anoxia, hypoglycemia,
hypercapnia, use of ketamine, psychological reaction to approaching death, and psychiatric diseases (1)
can be ruled out in this mentally healthy boy, as he had an uncomplicated surgery with no use of
ketamine. Until today, only two cases of NDE during general anesthesia have been reported; both
were associated with the occurrence of severe perioperative complications (6,7). T

They mention something about the boy reporting "unreal facts", which I thought would mean he saw something that wasn't there in the operating room. However it seems they might be referring to him noting he saw the typical NDE tunnel before light?

I think they might be referring to a prior NDE the boy had but did not speak of to anyone but unsure. [I think the boy had anesthesia awareness during the elective surgery, but had the NDE during the prior surgery ->]

However, the patient also spontaneously described an experience that occurred 3 years earlier
during a similar orthopedic operation. This earlier experience strongly suggested a NDE; however, the
boy specified not having experienced awareness during this earlier operation.

Oh I was wrong, there was a footnote related to the five OBE cases, it's from a survery done in the 1930s:

Circumstances of Occurrence  

Surveys have shown that OBEs typically occur in life-threatening circumstances such as accidents and severe illnesses. But they may also occur in other conditions: relaxed states (meditation, resting, sleeping, falling asleep, use of drugs), or more tense states such as non-life-threatening accidents and physical abuse. In an early compilation of twenty published cases by Bozzano39 OBEs happened during anesthesia (five cases), hypnosis (2), illness (2), and one case each when the person had been shot or had inhaled smoke; was suffocating; was in labour; was depressed; was falling asleep; was sleeping; was in a coma; was experiencing stress and extreme exhaustion; was falling; had fallen; and was performing automatic writing. The most frequent circumstances found in a more recent study were: physically relaxed (79%), mentally calmed (79%), dreaming (36%), meditating (27%), and emotional stress (23%).40 But there were more rare circumstances such as childbirth (4%), having an orgasm (3%), drinking alcohol (2%), and driving a vehicle (2%).

Sadly all that's listed in the Footnote is "Bozzano (1934/1937)"

There's an essay that mentions Bozzano from Carlos S. Alvarado, Ernesto Bozzano on the Phenomena of Bilocation:

ABSTRACT: Italian psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano (1862-1943) was a well-known student of parapsychological phenomena and a strong defender of the concept of survival of bodily death. This paper includes an excerpt of what Bozzano referred to as the phenomena of bilocation, a term he used for the phantom limb sensations experienced by amputees, autoscopy, out-of-body and near-death experiences (OBEs and NDEs), and a variety of luminous or cloud-like emanations that clairvoyants claimed left the body at the moment of death. He believed these phenomena indicated the existence of a subtle body capable of exteriorization during life as well as at the moment of death. I present Bozzano's ideas in the context of his career as a psychical researcher and of previous discussions of the topic found in the early literature of Spiritualism and psychical research. Although some contemporary students of OBEs and NDEs still speculate on the relationship of these phenomena to the concept of survival of death, Bozzano's work is not widely cited today and few researchers have followed up his method. Nonetheless, his work is of historical interest, reminding us of areas and phenomena that deserve further study.

Interesting, will dig into the paper itself later...could possibly connect to the paper by Beischel...

[Laird]

Oh I was wrong, there was a footnote related to the five OBE cases, it's from a survery done in the 1930s:


Sadly all that's listed in the Footnote is "Bozzano (1934/1937)"

Yes, so then you have to look under the Literature section to decipher that reference, and it turns out to be:

Bozzano, E. (1937). Les Phénomènes de Bilocation [The phenomena of bilocation]. Paris: Jean Meyer. (Original work published in Italian 1934).

I can't find an English translation, but if your French is good enough (mine's not) you can read it in the original on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/les-phenomen...rnest_1937

There's an essay that mentions Bozzano from Carlos S. Alvarado, Ernesto Bozzano on the Phenomena of Bilocation:


Interesting, will dig into the paper itself later...could possibly connect to the paper by Beischel...

That does look interesting. I haven't (yet?) read it either though.

Yes, so then you have to look under the Literature section to decipher that reference, and it turns out to be:

Ah, that's a weird way of doing it, IMO at least. I guess it is standard practice, but I'd like it if it worked akin to the way Wikipedia's footnotes take you to the actual source listing. Not even sure what the point of the abbreviated reference is on the Web as opposed to print?

Sadly I haven't studied French in some decades so doubt I'd make heads or tails of that. But thanks for the heads up!

I think the Alvarado paper does a good job of clarifying Bozzano's ideas though.

[Laird]

I hear you. The web format could have been better leveraged there.