So Much for the Afterlife

Looks like science has finally put the last nail in the coffin of the afterlife. In the last few years a number of mystical experiences have been sufficiently explained by brain function, e.g. ghosts, night terrors, religious euphoria, feeling the divine, near death experiences etc. Each one can be duplicated now in some way. The last one was Astral Projection, leaving one's body, looking down at it and flying around. This has happened to me several times and it's really, really weird. Even cranky, skeptical me was not so sure that there wasn't *something* to it.

Now, this can be duplicated as well and, of course, it's brain function:

“The research shows that the self can be detached from the body and can live a phantom existence on its own, as in an out-of-body experience, or it can be felt outside of personal space, as in a sense of a presence,” Dr. Brugger said.

Scientists have gained new understanding of these odd bodily sensations as they have learned more about how the brain works, Dr. Blanke said. For example, researchers have discovered that some areas of the brain combine information from several senses. Vision, hearing and touch are initially processed in the primary sensory regions. But then they flow together, like tributaries into a river, to create the wholeness of a person’s perceptions. A dog is visually recognized far more quickly if it is simultaneously accompanied by the sound of its bark.

That's pretty much it. There is no afterlife, just the experiences generated by a dying brain trying to keep itself alive.

I can't say this is an inspiring discovery, but it is a comfort to know we live in world of our own design.