Cultral differences, worldview, upbringing
Westerners tend to see lights and tunnels, but not so much the hunter-gatherers...
Dark river, for the Japanese...

Can consciousness exist outside the brain....?

Is it a product of brain function, secreted like bile, or a transcendent reality, filtered by the organ known as brain....
Causation vs Correlation

"Absolutely no doubt" neurons communicate with each other in complex ways but the energy involved defies explanation.

Micro-trivial, structures in brain, like mechanical computer, huge matrix of brain, little points of consciousness coming in and woven into circuits of the brain....

The Art of Dying by Jurgen Ziewe - the tunnel of light, the relatives we meet again (they who died before us) - the literature is not big, only half a dozen published papers.... "Do not disturb the dying" by studying them... Ethics Committee allows a Carer study in hospices... what the dying may get: First, a premonition. A dream, or a hunch. One doctors says our behavior and our breathing change for the two years before we die, and many of us "know" we're gonna die. Second: a deathbed "visitor" two weeks before we die. They may stand outside the room where you're dying or may come sit on the bed and talk to you.
The dying often see the dead who preceded us: "First-Degree relatives" - Mother, father, husband, offspring - animals ("not many, sorry") ... angels are commonly seen in other cultures.

"I'm gonna die"

is a huge, fundamental fact to face. Give up your cat your dog your spouse your house.... DETACHMENT is the most difficult thing. From "attached" to giving up everything. At the end you lose your ego and merge with the universe. Lost your trappings of the body and the person.

Next stage: another reality, a spiritual world. Monica Renz, theologian in Switzerland, 3 studies on dying cancer patients.

cup.columbia.edu › book › dying › 9780231170888

Monika Renz is a practicing psychotherapist, music therapist, theologian, and spiritual caregiver and has been head of the psycho-oncology unit at St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland, since 1998. She holds a Ph.D. in psychopathology and in theology/spirituality.

Spiritual Restlessness - anxiety - being pulled back (to the land of the living) -

You're going to give up everything

"Terminal lucidity" - Victorians called it "Late Awakening" -
the paralyzed can sit up and say goodbye, then lie back down and die
Alzheimer's patients will sit up, recognize the people surrounding them, lie back and die.

Two narratives here: in one, we have more control and can "negotiate" to live a bit longer.
"The Visitor" depends on the mental state of the dying patient.
The living may get the feeling that this loved one is dying.
"Narrative dreams" - e.g. the mother dreams her son is in her room, dripping wet, says "It's ok, please don't worry, I'm all right," and she finds that he drowned at that very hour. "Not an unusual story."

Deathbed Coincidences - 45% did not know the person was dying until AFTER they had the dream or vision.

Light in the room can spill into the corridor (Carol wonders is this due to the dying photons mentioned in the Mellen Bendedict video).... nurses report LIGHT in the rooms of the dying... one person may see it and the other not. Some people see smoke. Shapes leaving the body. Clocks stopping: do they really? YES. People show the stopped clocks (pendulum, mechanical models). What about modern digital clocks? YES.

Cats and animals commonly howl at the time of death.

Birds. "Fascinating." Appearing at windowsills of the dying.

"Very common, but people just don't report" most of these observations.

"How to achieve a good death"
Go into an altered reality, with your deathbed visitors at your side.

White owl appears and sits in a tree at the hour of a villager's death, doesn't leave until the funeral is over....

A river of love, golden love, light,

a commonly reported thing. (Mellen Benedict describes it in the video.)

Give up your body to join with universal consciousness, joyfully, lovingly, willingly.

From the evidence of dying people, the evidence is quite good.
You lose your narrative self.
You're always in the moment, not past/future.
You're unbelievably happy. Transcendant.
Jeffrey Martin https://skeptiko.com/267-jeffery-martin-can-enlightenment-be-taught/

If you lead a good life, will your death be different -
You can give up more easily if you're "centered" - but the guilt-ridden resist death more.
"I've never seen a psychopath die" but your quality of life relates to your capacity to give up. The more self-centered you are, the harder it is to give up.
Spiritual anxiety - being attached - laden with guilt - unable to give up all that is "yours" -

"Just hallucinations," doctors say. It's an experience you have and nobody else does, so look at the data. Children, more than adults, may see the deathbed "visitors" that some call "hallucinations."

Hellish Experiences: "I have a lot of difficulty" with them.
Devils, flames of hell, were in fact coming from the heating pad of one NDE patient.
Nurses injecting him were the devils. "Illusory" - intensive care psychosis - medical staff doing "horrible" things to your body.

"I spent my NDE being punished and poked by devils" - says nobody that he's heard from.

Dali Llama: any culture which sweeps death under the carpet is a society which is greedy, collecting things; angry; it's fine to have enemies; very self-centered. Every hundred years we're all swept away, but we won't talk about it. We shield our children from talk of death. But many have had grandparents die. Death is a normal part of living, but we tend not to teach that. Like preparing for an exam.

We don't die like we used to.
Victorians lost so many children. (No antibiotics, no antiseptics.)
We "don't value death."

Wow, I did it... I sat through a whole video, taking notes. :) This guy held my attention. Also, I managed to tune out all the usual distractions.

Thanks for this @vikthor!