Hello, and welcome!
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It's been said by the members here that while an NDE is the front door entrance to the afterlife, a breakthrough DMT flash is more like a back-door. Feel free to interpret that however you want to
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As someone who investigates this stuff beyond my own psychedelic adventures, I can perhaps help guide you to some interesting things that's already been said.
This article is a good introduction to the situation we're in, basically. It is indeed a sensitive subject in this day and age. And as for the actual science of NDEs, see for instance
this,
this,
this and
this for a good introduction.
It should be kept in mind though that NDEs are much,
much crazier and more indescribable than DMT - and I say that fully aware of how infinitely insane and otherworldly DMT is. As for the actual, tangible differences, the following are some examples: DMT flashes are forgotten pretty quickly, much like dreams, whereas NDEs are remembered for life just as they happened. NDEs don't have a comedown like DMT has. You can be in the light, BOOM, you're back in real life completely sober. NDEs are pleasant and easy to handle for most people who have them, whereas DMT can put a lot of people off - no one who has been in the light of an NDE wants to go back, unless they really don't want to leave their loved ones behind, and all of them are certain of the reality of an afterlife. DMT only convinces some people some of the time that there might be something to the whole afterlife thing.
I could go on, but you get the point.
Psychedelics can certainly take you really far though, on proper doses. But nothing like
a truly deep NDE.
As for Eben Alexander's specific NDE, I don't think that in itself is very good evidence for consciousness without brain activity. Taken on its own, it's just a drop in the ocean compared to the vast ocean of data already accumulated. What is more telling is how a Harvard neurosergeon, who previously was completely uninterested in NDEs and thought they were illusions of some kind, has one, and boom, convinced. As all others before him have been.
Here is another famous example of someone who was a super-atheist but changed their tune once they had an NDE.
Anyway, I don't want to drown you in links, so I'll stop here. But this is an interest of mine and I've researched this a lot, so any and all questions and objections are welcome!
"As my soul left my body, I found myself floating in a swirling ocean of multi-colored light. At the end, I could see and feel an even brighter light pulling me toward it, and as it shined on me, I felt indescribable happiness. I remembered everything about eternity - knowing, that we had always existed, and that all of us are family. Then old friends and loved ones surrounded me, and I knew without a doubt I was home, and that I was so loved." - Christian AndréasonDude, that blonde girl is a total DMT/10.