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GladesGuru wrote:
"There may be no need to google search, let alone go to the stacks of the med school library. Merely read the article in Readers Digest about NDE's. The article describes how a reduction of blood flow to the left parietal area of the brain induces "the religious experience".

A more recent Readers Digest article had the NDE of a woman who met God during the happening. She was clinically dead WITH NO BRAINWAVES. In other words nothing was going on in her mind. No brain activity. Yet later she was able to describe exactly what was happening around her.

One hypothesis for her experience is that consciousness is everywhere in the self, not just a function of the brain.
Or did she really have a NDE away from her body?

"She was clinically dead WITH NO BRAINWAVES. In other words nothing was going on in her mind. No brain activity."

Your post made me think of the Terri Schiavo case where Mrs. Schiavo has a severely atrophied cerebral cortex, yet seems to respond to those around her.

As to where consciousness "resides", to the best of my knowledge that question has no answer at this time.

All in all, this brings to my mind the line in the Old Testament to the effect that "I put before you today both life and death - therefore choose life."

I fear we haven't begun to examine how we treat the dying in light of what we are beginning to know about human experiences at the threshold of death.

Are these reports just artifacts of the shutting down of the bodies chemistry or are they something else?