Q&A: Clinical Death
Clinical Death
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I assume the Rabbi has also seen and been exposed to the fact that there are tens of thousands of testimonies around the world about out-of-body experiences, with striking evidence involving hidden information about the medical staff, deceased relatives, etc. Can’t it be said that this is unequivocal proof that there is a world of souls? Of course, without getting into the question of religion, tradition, and what the correct faith is (because in my view this does not answer that), why does this information not decisively refute the view (perhaps the atheist one) that does not believe in the existence of some cosmic spirit separate from the body, beyond the spirit that animates a person during the life of the body?
I’m mainly asking this in order to understand whether this sort of atheist “closing of the eyes” teaches us something about the unreliability (and perhaps the tendentiousness) of those parties who are unwilling to believe in a world of souls, and perhaps therefore also in the inventor of this mechanism.
Is there some thesis that makes sense, and is not an Orthodox view, that would help me understand that this is actually not the proof—or at least not necessarily the proof—for the axis of faith…?
Thank you very much
Answer
I haven’t examined those testimonies, because I’ve seen quite a few of them debunked in various ways. Sometimes it’s just nonsense, sometimes fraud, and sometimes it’s a matter of interpretation. But as I said, I haven’t really gone into this whole area. If you search online you will no doubt find a lot of critical material about these testimonies. Look on skeptic websites (in the intellectual sense). There are quite a few of them.