You guys are right. The more probable explanation is that these people honestly experienced something but don't quite understand what exactly theywere literally experiencing at the time. I'm sure the mind is going through all sorts of things during these near death and even actual flatline clinical death experiences...
And I don't really see why we should be all too frightened about consciousness dying out anyways. It arose from something and it will subside back into something (something = something). But what I wonder about is the general mind of nature if you will. The driving force of evolving life and such. Consciousness seems to be a collected network of various universal properties all of which contribute to the over all experience of a conscious living being. It can seem like a sort of primal energy consciousness underlying everything in a strange way. This kind of goes back to where Campbell used to speak of energy and consciousness seeming to be two aspects of the very same thing.
Also, in materialist Milo Wolff's wave structured atom diagrams the two way in and out wave motion provides an explanation for the transfer of energy and information concerning the distance and location of the local surrounding particles in space -
http://www.quantummatter.com While going over his theories it occured to me that if he's correct and space has the properties of a continuous wave medium, and matter is actually caused by the wave motions of space, then the whole of the universe begans to take on the appearence of a massive exchanging of energy and information between all the visible and invisible material objects within the entire expanse of space. I got into some heated debate about this because the wave structure physicists hold to this materialist cosmological model where all that exists is the result of a wave medium substance underlying all things, which we call "space". Matter comes before mind and mind is the result of the existence of matter. And this opposes the pop mystics and metaphysics of mind before matter BTW. So my suggestion was received harshly by some of them. But Milo Wolff himself began to admit that I had a point and that my point doesn't even violate the matter before mind worldview. If space does have the properties of a continuous wave medium making for a way of two way communication between all matter and by which provides a simple explanation for how the natural laws are communicated, then this very primal level of the beginnings of what can later become mind, as we experience it, is the result of the existence of matter first and foremost. But this began to open the door to a type of all is mind philosophy associated with this newer strain of materialist physics and cosmology nontheless. And a sharp tension began to arise because of it. But I was just following the wave structured electron theory / model to it's logical conclusion.
I've thought about this for years and I realize that an entire belief system with mystical appeal can be based around the simple starting point of saying that the mythic gods of antiquity were the human mind grasping towards trying to understand the mystery of it's own existence. What can be said to someone who believes that existence itself is actually the 'uncreated creator' which the mythological Gods are but metaphorical terms to refer back at this mystery to the mind? Can you say that the God who is simply existence itself doesn't exist? The reference here is understood as mere existence so how does one go about suggesting that it doesn't really exist? That's a rather firm starting point for a progressive modern type of belief system based around basic truth seeking. Who's going to knock that version of God down? As far as God belief goes, this is rooted in a firm pantheism. Existence is the all, the whole, the totality. It always was, it is now, and it will forever be in some form or another (something = something). It's everything attributed to the ancient's supreme deities of mythology. And that includes if there is actually some type of natural network of energy and information exchange taking place at all times everywhere throughout the expanse of mere existence, which is likely an infinite expanse with no possible fixed starting or stopping point. That's seems like why the mind associated those attributes to the construction of the mythological Gods... This is just a good healthy panthiest cosmology and worldview which consumes all of the trappings of popular pop culture, mystical oriented, 'all is mind' hype, but based upon a completely natural and materialist model of the universe.
It isn't completely developed by any means, but it has been developing gradually over the years since my grandfather set me off in search of discoverying the truth about Yahweh and the many names of God found in the bible. I tend to think that it is actually possible that our minds can indeed have an effect on reality in terms of attracting certain people, information, circumstances, etc, which have to do with the way in which matter interacts at these fundamental levels. Strong minded and strong willed people pray and hope and wish for things that can at times seem to miraculously come true and unravel in stand back type of ways. But what was the mind doing all the while? Not understanding or thinking about it in these terms people are inclined to attribute any positive results to mysterious outside forces and supernatural activity. But what if it's just the mind interacting through brain wave activity in communication with the natural universe of wave energy based matter? This is a completely different perspective than what you get with the usual mystics flocking to "What The Bleep Do We Know", and "The Secret", etc. etc.
This is how strange my personal experiences have turned out over the years of paying close attention to these things. I went and read the original book "The Secret of the Ages" by Robert Collier - who Ronda Burns based her business on - and shortly aftergetting through that I ran into Robert Tulip and basically brainstormed my way through getting to the bottom of the evolution of precession themes in world mythology once and for all. I understood a little in the beginning and it rapidily became a lot in a rather short period. Just from bouncing ideas and sudden realizations off of one another constantly. And the hub of it all eventually came down to finally realizing that the Sphinx is oriented towards marking out the two extremes of the ages of Leo-Aquarius and the soon coming age of Aquarius-Leo, which is actually echoed down through the bible and hermetic writing periods only to turn up again in the Theosophy movement as well. This interest in the wobbling observation of the heavens kept passing down from the megalithic era's to today and it largely has to do with the notion of human consciousness and mind going through stages of peaks and throughs according to the angles of the sun and stars in relation to the earth. Greater Light, closer sun, greater knowledge and awareness as these myths go. As that was all sinking in, I happened to glance over at my book shelf and there it was the entire time. My edition of Colliers book had a picture of the Sphinx on the front cover right below the title "The Secret of the Ages". I thought to myself, "what a f@#cking coincidence that turned out to be. I read the book about universal attraction and then proceeded to attract the unfolding of this ancient mystery about the "ages" literally.
All of the wave structured electron models I ran into were the same way, by chance. It all just fell into my lap really. Throughout all of this I've harbored the intention of wanting to find truth, wanting to unlock lifes mysteries with a certain degree of passion behind it all. And that's how all of the happenstance events in life began to unfold every since that intitial truth seeking intention began to take root in my subconscious. The subconscious mind being the mind of nature within you as it goes, and the supposed method by which these things are to be communicated if you follow the claims made by Collier and other how claim to have observed it at work.
The way I've digested and perceived all of this is very mystical oriented and yet materialist based at the same time though, opposite to how Robert Collier perceived mind in his day. And it's served to make me the odd man out whether talking to mystics or materialists for sure. No one else seems to be able to see it in that way, but with little wonder because who else has read through the very same variety of books and information necessary to arrive at similiar thoughts and conclusions. That's where I sort of took off on the Heros Journey - entered the forest where it was the darkest, where there was no cut path... That was the Campbell bouncing around in my mind for sure. And this strange journey of happenstance has indeed led me here to these forums where mysticism is strongly opposed with very impressive argumentation
The mystics speaking here seem to get blown out of the water as they arrive. And perhaps that's the reason I felt compelled to follow Tulips link trail to these discussions.
This strange mesh of materialism and mysticism floating around in my mind must face the sword so the outcome can be known...