Rational counter-arguments: Fenwick excerpt #12

Cross-examination of Dr. Fenwick by counsel representing skeptics

Q: One of the central beliefs of most religions is in some sort of afterlife. Scripture and belief are not counted as evidence for this trial, but could they count as evidence against survival? Most people naturally fear death and find it hard to imagine their narrative consciousness just ending. Religions have nurtured this fear with ideas of heaven and hell, thus encouraging hopes for an afterlife. So, as rational minds, should we not distrust ideas of an afterlife as products of indoctrinated fear?

Dr. Fenwick: These experiences do not map onto religious belief. They can happen with similar frequency to atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu etc.

Q. Couldn't A/NDEs simply be like dreams - fantasies generated in the brain?

Dr. F. The similarity of these experiences makes this unlikely.

Q. A/NDEs have been very widely reported in popular books since the 1980s. Couldn't many now be being generated through hopes and expectations of those dying?

Dr. F. Following an early TV program about NDEs in 1989, before the phenomenon had had much publicity. I received over 400 letters about NDEs. They were from an English population who all maintained that at the time of their NDE they had not heard about them.

Q. Can't the tunnel, the light and even the feeling of Love be a result of brain processes starting to fail due to lack of oxygen?

Dr. F. There is no clear evidence that tunnels, light or love are generated by anoxia. For example, in obstructive sleep apnoea oxygen levels fall to below 60% and none of these phenomena occur .

Q. People say they have difficulty putting their ADE into words and a linear sequence. Could this not just be the recovering brain trying to make sense of the confusional blur of unconsciousness and not something actually experienced by those who do not recover?

Dr. F. The experiences of the ADE occur in a very clear sequence and are not a blur as they appear to occur in clear consciousness.

Q. This evidence for NDEs is based on anecdote. Clearly it's not ethical to conduct trials, but is there any quantitative evidence?

Dr. F. This is incorrect. A number of studies have collected multiple cases and analysed these according to a strict proforma for various components of the NDE. So although the data are subjective accounts, the analysis of this data shows objective quantification of the result.

Court Usher: The Court will adjourn.

 

 

“To Be And Not To Be. This is The Answer: Consciousness Survives,” essay for the 2021 Bigelow essay contest submitted by Dr Peter Fenwick & Dr Pier-Francesco Moretti, Dr Vasileios Basios, and Martin Redfern. The complete essay with footnotes is available at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php.