At least that's the conclusion of a growing number of studies and research done on patients that have been declared clinically dead, but were then revived from ten minutes to as long as several hours afterwards.
source: Wikimedia Commons
Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself.
source: Wikipedia
Consciousness is still mankind's biggest mysterie. From all the "big questions", like "what is our place in this universe" and "what is life" or "why am I here", the question of the origin and function of consciousness is the one we understand almost nothing about scientifically. Our literal place in the universe we have a firm grasp on: we are not at the center of it, but live on an insignificant blue speck in an infinite sea of blackness. And although we still don't understand the origin of all life, we (think we) know what it is and that the "mechanics of life" work the same in and for all living creatures, from fungi and plants to plankton and humans. Darwin and evolutionary genetics have shown us that. Why we are here is more difficult to answer, mostly because "purpose" is a human invention motivated by our ability (curse?) to extrapolate possible futures from past experiences.
But consciousness, the very thing that enables us to ponder all of the above, remains a dark mystery for the sciences. That's why I'm so intrigued by anything to do with the attempts to better understand the well from where everything else seems to flow. Let me point you briefly to some other posts I made on this subject in the now three months I've been active on Steemit:
Science Vs. Buddhism
The Limitations Of Science: Past Lifes Are Real
The Projected Unreality Of Dreamy Reflections
Mind Over Matter Over Mind...
The Overview Effect
A Cosmic Perspective
As you can see, consciousness is occupying my mind a lot! Therefore I'm very glad and encouraged that mainstream science is finally admitting they've been ignoring the greatest of all questions for too long now. So I was surprised to discover the video I want to show you only last week. It's a CBS News item from October 2017 that totally has slipped by me, so I hope it's not old news for all of you, my readers. Watch it if you haven't seen it, but the title says it all really:
Researchers say there's evidence that consciousness continues after clinical death
It is of course laughable that this is brought as "news", as past life experiences and so called near-death experiences are as old as mankind itself. But the fact that mainstream sciences are at least admitting to the possibility that consciousness might very well be something that's completely separate from our physical reality, from our brains even, is news. Good news in my opinion.
More than 40% of the researched individuals report some sort of conscious experience after the brain had been clinically, biologically dead. And there's a strong suspicion that a lot of people who don't report such an experience afterwards, may well have just forgotten about it, just like we lose memory of dreams if we don't make a conscious effort to remember them.
Keep dreaming, keep Steeming and stay curious, my friends. We live in interesting times and everything I can see points toward a shift in our consciousness, be it individual or collective. Maybe we will never know the true nature of reality. Maybe there really is nothing after we die, no one, for now at least, can presume to know the answer to that question, but I do believe there's at least strong circumstantial evidence that points toward there being some eternal quality to consciousness. What do you believe? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below!
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