The Structure and Function of Near-Death Experiences: An Algorithmic Reincarnation Hypothesis

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Journal of Near-Death Studies

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The Structure and Function of

Near-Death Experiences: An

Algorithmic Reincarnation Hypothesis

Todd Murphy

San Francisco, CA

ABSTRACT:

Hypothesizes that a near-death experience (NDE) is the

subjective experience of having the state of consciousness in which a person

experiences the last moment of his or her life being turned, in stages, into the

state of consciousness experienced as the "point of no return." The

life review

this, as is interpreted as a review of the states of consciousness experienced

during our lives. Our responses to reviewing our own behaviors while in

specific states reinforces and classifies them into those to repeat in future

lives and those to avoid. We examine a modification of the traditional doctrine

of reincarnation that takes into account biological and cultural evolution. This

allows an understanding of how the attributes of NDEs could have undergone

selection even though all opportunities for mating have already passed at the

time of death.

KEY WORDS:

near-death experience; reincarnation; Buddhism; rebirth.

Seventy percent of near-death experiencers (NDErs) return from

their experiences believing in reincarnation (Wells, 1993). Often, they

tell of being counseled about the life they lived, and given help in

planning their following lives. Not only NDErs, but also a large group

of past life regression hypnotherapists (for example, Whitton, 1986) and

several major religious traditions accept the doctrine of reincarnation.

Ian Stevenson has also uncovered several types of evidence relating

Todd Murphy is an associate researcher with the Behavioral Neurosciences Program

at Laurentian University under the direction of Michael A. Persinger, Ph.D. Buddhist

Imprimatur

granted for this paper by His Holiness Samdech Preah Mahaghoshananda,

The Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia. Reprint requests should be addressed to

Mr. Murphy at P.O. Box 170414, San Francisco, CA 94117; e-mail: brainsci@jps.net.

Journal of Near-Death Studies, 20(2), Winter 2001

2001 Human Sciences Press, Inc.

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JOURNAL OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES

to reincarnation (Stevenson, 1974, 1997). The pressures favoring the

exploration of reincarnation as a postulate in the explanation of NDEs

are growing. Although polls have found 25 percent of Americans believe

in rebirth, the figure reaches nearly 100 percent in other cultures, most

importantly in the Hindu and Buddhist worlds.

It should come as no surprise that traditional paradigms for rebirth

do not describe NDEs. Those theories were more likely devised to

account for experiences during meditation rather than the experience

of death. The database of death-related experiences was almost non-

existent, while the database of mystical and transcendent experiences

was quite large. The idea was that those who went deeply into medi-

tation were able to see "beyond death's door," and that spiritual

practice was a way to defeat death by breaking the cycle of rebirth.

Descriptions of meditation experiences were used, it appears, as

templates from which speculations about death were traced. Indeed,

there is some overlap between the phenomenologies of NDEs and medi-

tation experiences. The theory of rebirth was never formulated to

account for NDEs, but some reasonable parameters can be imposed

on it, allowing an exploratory hypothesis to be formulated.

One such parameter is derived from the Darwinian theory of

natural selection. According to the theory of natural selection, we

must be able to explain rebirth as an adaptation that contributed

to our survival at some point in the history of our species. If so,

then the specific mechanisms by which it operates must be the

same for everyone, because we all share a common evolutionary

ancestry. The first principle of a Darwinian rebirth hypothesis can be

stated thus:

Information that enables individuals to survive remains

following death in discreet, coherent packets, and other individuals still

undergoing prenatal development elsewhere are sensitively dependent

upon information in these packets for their development.

A reasonable postulate is:

Each person experiences the same state of

consciousness prior to the cessation of subjective experience

. This implies

that the "point of no return" reported by many NDErs, beyond which

they felt resuscitation would have been impossible, is a manifestation

of a state of consciousness that will eventually appear in each death-

process unless it is interrupted, often eliciting an NDE report.

Although there appears to be a universal grammar to NDEs, the

specific vocabulary of any given case is determined by a variety

of factors, including age, culture, the specific circumstances of the

person's death, psychological history, and possibly many other factors

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still undiscovered. The specific phenomenology of any particular

instance of a "point of no return"-its vocabulary-will be confabulated

individually according to these and other factors; but the underlying

state of consciousness will be the same.

If the final state of consciousness in each life is the same for

everyone, then the NDE must access that state from whatever state

of consciousness a person happens to be in at the onset of death, even

if it is accompanied by pain or fear. No one knows how or when he or

she will die, or what state of consciousness he or she will be in when it

happens. The circumstances of death appear at random, and can vary

widely from person to person. I propose that NDEs are the subjective

experience of having one's randomly-appearing state of consciousness

at the time of death brought, in stages, to the nonrandom life review

and "point of no return."

Algorithms and NDEs

Any process that converts randomness to nonrandomness is called

an algorithm. According to Daniel Dennett, "An algorithm is a certain

sort of formal process that can be counted on-logically-to yield a

certain sort of result whenever it is `run' or instantiated" (1995, p. 50).

Dennett wrote that there are three key features that characterize an

algorithmic process:

"1.

substrate neutrality:

The procedure for long division works

equally well with pencil or pen, paper or parchment, neon lights

or skywriting, using any logical system you like. The power of

the procedure is due to its

logical

structure, not just the causal

powers of the materials used in the instantiation, just so long as

those causal powers permit the prescribed steps to be followed

exactly.

underlying mindlessness:

Although the overall design of the

procedure may be brilliant, or yield brilliant results, each

constituent step, as well as the transition between steps, is

utterly simple. How simple? Simple enough for a dutiful idiot to

perform-or for a straightforward mechanical device to perform.

The standard textbook analogy notes that algorithms are

recipes

of sorts, designed to be followed by

novice

cooks. A recipe book

written for great chefs might include the phrase "Poach the fish

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in a suitable wine until almost done," but the algorithm for the

same process might begin, "Choose a white wine that says `dry'

on the label; take a corkscrew and open the bottle; pour an

inch of wine in the bottom of a pan; turn the burner under the

pan on high; . . ."-a tedious breakdown of the process into dead-

simple steps, requiring no wise decisions or delicate judgments

or intuitions on the part of the recipe-reader.

guaranteed results:

Whatever it is that an algorithm does, it

always does it, if it is executed without misstep. An algorithm is

a foolproof recipe." (Dennett, 1950, pp. 5051)

NDEs can be seen as demonstrating these features.

Substrate

neutrality

emerges if we assume that the state-specific character of

hallucinations also applies to NDEs. Hallucinations are dependent

on states of consciousness (Horowitz and Adams, 1970). The same

state of consciousness can produce different phenomena in different

individuals. The breathtaking variety of NDE phenomena might be

manifestations of just a few states of consciousness.

Mardi Horowitz and John Adams (1970) have theorized that the

hallucinatory phenomena associated with complex partial seizures

arise as expressions of altered states of consciousness. The similarities

between NDE phenomena and temporal lobe epileptic symptoms have

been noted by several researchers (Saavedra-Aguilar and G'omez-Jeria,

1989; Persinger, 1994). Thus we can reasonably suppose that similar

mechanisms might be operating in NDEs and in temporal lobe epilepsy.

If so, then it follows that Horowitz and Adams' conclusion might

also apply to NDEs. If we choose to make that assumption, then the

series of experiences that constitute NDEs is better understood as a

series of states of consciousness. The underlying "mindless" apparatus

that brings dying persons to the "point of no return" operates on

their states of consciousness, and the succeeding experiences are the

phenomenological correlates. The bewildering variety of NDE phenom-

ena, as I shall describe below, can be resolved into a few basic states of

consciousness, each of which has a specific function.

Underlying mindlessness

can be derived from the observation

that NDErs find themselves undergoing succeeding stages of their

experience automatically. NDErs do not report that they "willed"

themselves into the tunnel, for example. That NDEs are outside the

control of their experiencers, together with the observation that there

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are significant similarities in many NDEs, suggests that they follow an

automatic sequencing.

I have already made Dennett's third feature of algorithmic processes,

guaranteed results

, a postulate of this model: The guaranteed result is

the "point of no return" and eventual rebirth.

Patterns in NDEs

There seem to be certain grammatical rules governing NDEs.

Although the research elucidating them is far from complete, a pattern

of rough "rules of thumb" appears to be emerging. Examples include:

1. In India, the death process often begins not with an auto-

scopic out-of-body experience (OBE) but rather with "seeing"

messengers of death whose summons must be answered (Murphy,

2001; Pasricha and Stevenson, 1986). There are, however, some

Indian NDEs that begin with an OBE (Blackmore, 1993). The

same rule applies to Thai NDEs (Murphy, 2001).

2. Those younger than seven years old often avoid the life review

and instead visit heaven or a fairyland (Serdahely, 1990).

3. In preliterate cultures, the life review is often replaced by a

visit to a spirit world in which significant events of the dying

person's life manifest symbolically, as features in the spirit world

(Kellehear, 1993).

4. NDErs who have been able to anticipate their death and to reflect

extensively on their life often do not experience a life review;

whereas those whose death appears unexpectedly usually do

review their life (Greyson, 1985).

5. NDErs who believe strongly in a particular religious tradition

often experience the

being of light

as they have been taught

it appears (Osis and Haraldsson, 1977); whereas atheists may

experience it simply as a "presence."

6. NDErs who believe that "all mysteries will be revealed at death"

often have a transcendent experience in which mysteries are

revealed to their satisfaction (for example, Brinkley and Perry,

1994; Eadie and Taylor, 1992).

7. NDErs who need help, guidance, or an escort during their