Video on recent findings about brain waves at or near time of death

Leaving aside many more differences, as I understand it, DMT "trips" occur inside the brain, whereas NDE's occur 'outside', without brain function. Furthermore, now we have the new definitions, is not this DMT theory now effectively 'dumped' forever ? I honestly can't see any mileage left in it; you take DMT, you have an experience but what has that got to do with actually dying.

Yeah, DMT seems quite divorced from NDEs in several respects. Veridical reporting seems more something that shamans are accomplishing, rather than the average person if I recall the reports correctly. Whereas in NDEs the average person is suddenly given an incredible understanding of reality by viewing their own body and surroundings and gaining later confirmation.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say wherever DMT takes you it is "adjacent" to our reality in the sense that while helpful at times the entities are not in a place that's radically different in a spiritual sense. OTOH NDEs seem to take you to the "next place" in the soul's migration, and the beings there seem to be more aware in a transcendent sense.

Of course there are caveats, some people have nonsensical or terrible NDEs and some people have transcendent experiences on DMT, but overall it seems like DMT takes you to a neighboring reality and NDEs are taking you "higher".

The experiences of trained shamans using ayahuasca, I think, might be another thing entirely though.

Yeah, DMT seems quite divorced from NDEs in several respects...

Posted this in the Spirituality and Light thread awhile back, but Strassman talks about how DMT offers spiritual experiences but these are different than NDEs:

Made of Bright Light: Scientist reflects on his psychedelic research

Marisa Demarco

I found that DMT reliably caused people’s consciousness to enter into an apparently freestanding independent universe made out of bright light—intensely colored, intensely saturated bright light. It was quite reliable in doing this.

Consciousness of the volunteer in that state was also disembodied. The experience to the volunteer felt as if they no longer had a body, and they were just pure consciousness entering into this world of light.

Also, it was quite a common occurrence and reported by volunteers that they encountered beings made of light who were sentient, intelligent and interacted with volunteers. Those were probably the most common things that we found. I was expecting near-death experiences to be more common, but they were quite rare. I was expecting mystical states, like the Buddhist enlightenment experience, to be quite common, and they were quite rare.

It would be interesting to compare the experiences of people on DMT that have had an encounter with alien abduction experiences. There was a striking amount of overlap between some of the reports of my volunteers and people who claim having been abducted. That would be cool, to give DMT to them and ask them to compare the two states.

In my own readings I would say DMT experiences seem more like the kind of thing Vallee talks about than NDEs.

Posted this in the Spirituality and Light thread awhile back, but Strassman talks about how DMT offers spiritual experiences but these are different than NDEs:

Made of Bright Light: Scientist reflects on his psychedelic research

Marisa Demarco


In my own readings I would say DMT experiences seem more like the kind of thing Vallee talks about than NDEs.

Some excerpts from a few of Strassman's subjects:

“I have an awareness of worlds on the other side of this reality. I have the feeling of remembering those entities. My experience of them was so real it doesn’t fade with time like other things do. They want us to come back and teach us and play with us. I want to go back and learn. I wish you didn’t control who gets DMT!”

“DMT has shown me the reality that there is infinite variation on reality. There is the real possibility of adjacent dimensions. It may not be so simple as that there’s alien planets with their own societies. This is too proximal.

“I have had many psychedelic experiences in my life, but nothing could compare with or prepare me for what happened today. … I realized that there are many more realms than the one we exist in.”

“One needs to travel without one’s body. It’s ridiculous to think about space travel in little ships.”

“It’s not like some kind of drug. It’s more like an experience of a new technology than a drug. … It’s not a hallucination, but an observation. When I’m there, I’m not intoxicated. I’m lucid and sober.”

“Suddenly, beings appeared… They were glad to see me… They seemed pleased that we had discovered this technology… They told me there were many things they could share with us when we learn how to make more extended contact.

While one might see a bit of overlap between NDEs and DMT trips, it seems to me there are some key distinctions.