Book Description
Dying is the last conscious experience undergone by each person. But what do the dying experience? In the last few decades a good deal of publicity has surrounded people who have been close to death and then reported intense experiences that seem to suggest a supernatural existence beyond death. Does the conscious mind somehow continue to exist after the body has passed away? Mortal Minds answers these questions.
Dr. G. M. Woerlee explains how the normal functioning of the human body near death can generate beliefs in the reality of the supernatural and life after death. An anesthesiologist with more than twenty years of hospital experience, Dr. Woerlee has been struck over the years by the similarities between the body’s symptoms under anesthesia and its reactions near death. Among the issues he addresses are the sensations of being disembodied that those near death often describe, the perception that mind and body are separate components of existence, whether there is such a thing as a soul, the physical effects of decreased oxygen to the brain, and the visions that the dying sometimes report, from rapturous experiences of eternal peace to diabolical dreams.
While not dismissing near death experiences as mere hallucinations, Dr. Woerlee is also careful to point out that even powerful psychological impressions by themselves do not constitute scientific proof of life after death. Taking this balanced, objective stance, he succeeds in conveying a better understanding of the dying process and helping us all to realize the nature of these final experiences.
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Questions
Chapter 2: Death of the Body
Chapter 3: Separate Body, Mind & Soul
Chapter 4: Properties of the Soul
Chapter 5: Animation by the Soul
Chapter 6: Control by the Soul
Chapter 7: Paranormal Senses
Chapter 8: Dreams & Visions
Chapter 9: The Aura
Chapter 10: Disembodiment Defined
Chapter 11: Sensation, Body, & Mind
Chapter 12: Disembodied Feelings
Chapter 13: Diabolical Dreams
Chapter 14: Body, Mind & Soul
Chapter 15: Dying
Chapter 16: Oxygen Starvation
Chapter 17: Dying Eyes
Chapter 18: The Experience of Dying
Chapter 19: A Vision of Eternity
Appendices
References