Brief exposure to a counterclockwise global externally applied magnetic field generated from an array of 64 solenoids designed to affect the cerebral fields associated with the left and right hemispheric correlates of consciousness evoked a powerful out of body experience (OOBE) in a single naive subject. The energy available from the applied field within the cortical volume was within the same order of magnitude as that associated with the sum of action potentials in all cortical neurons. During the OOBE there was a marked generalized increase in coherence in quantitative electroencephalographic activity between the left temporal lobe and right prefrontal region with specific abnormally high increases within the 4 to 7 Hz and 15 to 21 Hz band. These results are congruent with the experience of "consciousness" detached from the body and moving through space. The diagonal congruence is more consistent with the existence of two quantized fields or a global field with opposing polarities whose vector determines various emergent states experienced as OOBEs or sensed presences during brief periods of perturbation.
We tested the hypothesis that individuals who frequently practice meditation within another culture whose assumptions explicitly endorse this practice should exhibit more frequent and varied experience associated with complex partial epilepsy (without the seizures) as inferred by the Personal Philosophy Inventory and Roberts' Questionnaire for the Epileptic Spectrum Disorder. 80 practitioners of Dharma Meditation and 24 university students in Thailand were compared with 76 students from first-year courses in psychology in a Canadian university. Although there were large significant differences for some items and clusters of items expected as a result of cultural differences, there were no statistically significant differences between the two populations for the proportions of complex partial epileptic-like experiences or their frequency of occurrence. There were no strong or consistent correlations between the history of meditation within the sample who practiced Dharma meditation and these experiences. These results suggest complex partial epileptic-like experiences may be a normal feature of the human species.
Ren6 Jorgensen's editorial comparing the Clear Light in The Tibetan Book of the Dead (or Bardo Thodol) and the experience of light in some near-death experiences (NDEs) does not adequately acknowledge either the diversity of NDEs or the possibility that the content of The Tibetan Book of the Dead may be metaphorical. Similarities between descriptions of light in some NDEs and descriptions of the Clear Light in The Tibetan Book of the Dead may reflect similar underlying neural mechanisms and does not provide validation for either description. Any relevance of these descriptions to enlightenment is speculative.
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