In Reply to: The"Light", Ketamine and LSD posted by Jerry Senear on September 30, 1998 at 06:24:02:

I agree with Jerry's comments on this issue. There have been many similar comments, from Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary and others who have made exactly the same comments. Richard Alpert (Ram Daas), for example, stated that LSD could point the way, but only through meditation or religious techniques have the "real" experience.

I have now collected 7 cases of patients who have temporal lobe seizures, and have had all the components of NDEs except immersion in the spiritual light.

Even Jansen, the ketamine researcher, when I recently asked him this very question, since he believes the NDE is triggered by ketamine, and believes that one can access God in that manner, was reluctant to comment on this issue.

I presented this information in my newsletter to make a much narrower point, which is that we are biologically "wired" (its not wires, but electroneurochemical pathways) to have the near death experience.

From a scientific viewpoint, the question is not addressed. This is why we need some sort of objective marker of the near death experience, such as alterations in the immune system or changes in the electromagnetic patterns of our body. This issue highlights the need, for example, for my study of immune function after NDEs.

Melvin Morse