Parnia to the "dark side"?

In a very recent (Sept. 29) interview (at https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkamgm/p...dy-reports ), Dr. Parnia has made some extended comments about the results of AWARE II that to my knowledge haven't been publicized to date.

I think that these indicate his true position re. the reality and significance and near-universality of reported near-death experiences, despite the near absence of veridical evidence in this study. Parnia has had to be very cautious in his wording, to claim no more than what the study actually experimentally revealed.

Of course, materialist skeptics fasten on veridical evidence and ignore the extreme unlikelihood (from the materialistic neurophysiological standpoint) of the reported transcendental realer-than-real states of consciousness occurring during comatose brain-impaired processes of CPR. During the study, the team studied hundreds of comatose patients who were undergoing CPR at hospitals in the United Kingdom and the United States. Materialists have a hard time trying to explain the why and the how of such levels of particularly heightened, purpose-filled consciousness especially when occurring under such circumstances.

Patients who survive cardiac arrest “have consistently reported that even though from the perspective of doctors like myself—who try to revive them when they appear to be in a coma and totally unresponsive, teetering between life and death—from their own inner perspective, they find that they're fully conscious,” Parnia said in a call with Motherboard. “They have an inner experience and their consciousness is not only there but it's heightened to a level that they've never experienced before. Their thoughts become sharper than usual, and clearer than usual.”

“Importantly, this experience also involves a purposeful, meaningful reevaluation of their entire life,” he continued. “Not just random moments, but the entirety of their life. It's been a mystery, and it's not one or two anecdotes. There have been a number of studies that have suggested maybe up to 10 percent of the adult population is living with one of these experiences, which if you do the math probably works out to 400 or 500 million people in the world.”

“Most doctors are taught and believe that the brain dies after about five or 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation,” Parnia said. “One of the key points that comes out of this study is that that is actually not true. Although the brain flatlines after the heart stops, and that happens within seconds, it doesn't mean that it's permanently damaged and [has] died. It's just hibernating. What we were able to show is that actually, the brain can respond and restore function again, even after an hour later, which opens up a whole window of opportunity for doctors to start new treatments.”

Indeed, the study reports that “near-normal/physiological EEG activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta rhythms) consistent with consciousness and a possible resumption of a network-level of cognitive and neuronal activity emerged up to 35–60 minutes into CPR. This is the first report of biomarkers of consciousness during CA/CPR.”

Parnia said, “our conclusion is that this is a real experience that emerges only with death. As we transition from life to death, somehow, this experience occurs.” “We're discovering essentially what happens to us all when we go through death; what happens to our consciousness,” he concluded.