Dr Matt's Newsletter November 2, 2022
Supporting healthy social interactions and diversity of health choices on All Soul's Day and Dia de los Muertos
It seems an odd coincidence that this newsletter happened to fall on All Souls Day, known in Mexico as Dia de los Muertos, a day to remember and celebrate people who’s souls have passed over. I have focused on this topic in previous newsletters, and many of the items below relate to this theme. Today’s newsletter sections include:
Inspiration of the week – Lessons from a woman who had a Near Death Experience 30 years ago when her Jeep fell off a cliff with her inside.
Humor of the week – St Peter at the Pearly Gates
Community Building – in Miami – Brownstone Institute one day conference with Joseph Ladapo on Saturday December 3rd.
Musical selections – A selection from the movie Coco, a children’s fantasy about the Dia de los Muertos, and Latin classics from Celia Cruz and Tito Puente.
Research of the week – Classic study of people who survived cardiac death, published in a major medical journal. See the final section of the Newsletter from September 14th for more information on Near Death Experiences.
Yours truly, one moment at a time.
Matt Irwin
Inspiration of the week – Lessons from a woman who had a Near Death Experience 30 years ago.
In the September 14th newsletter I told you about the Institute for Near Death Studies, or “IANDS”. They send a monthly Near Death Experience description, and below are quotes from the one from October. Chrystal’s experience was extremely profound, and yet her main lessons seem mundane, such as appreciating the normal sights and smells of each moment of life.
“Our small red jeep was sideswiped by an oncoming car that came hurtling toward us, skidding on the ice and out of control. The impact not only hurled the jeep with us in it, over the side of the mountain, but it also threw me out of my body. In this out-of-body state, I was shown poignant moments of my life. In particular, I was shown three very odd and seemingly disparate things.”
First, I was shown that, although I had seen the sun come up over the horizon many times, I had never truly seen it.
Second, I was made to understand that I had never smelled the earthy aroma of freshly cut grass. And again, of course, I had smelled it many times, but only in passing. I had never done so with the deliberate intent of experiencing the magic moments of pleasure and grace offered by my senses.
Touch was the third thing I was shown. I had never reached out and touched another. Truly touched them with my physical body. Obviously, I had two children, so I had touched another and very intimately. But my contact with most was again utilitarian. It was a means to an end. I brushed my children’s hair to send them off to school, but I rarely took the time to simply caress their tender heads. … Now I understand the importance of physical contact. So now, if we meet in person, you most assuredly will get a hug.”
“ … As the jeep tumbled to the bottom of the icy mountain. In that suspended moment where time seemed to be absent, I experienced an overwhelming wave of remorse for the wasted and unacknowledged moments of my life. I was also shown that many others, at the point of death, have the same great sadness and sense of loss. For many, the value of human life was not fully acknowledged until it was too late.”
My avid readers will be reminded of Don Juan’s lessons on “seeing death to our left, and dropping our pettiness” from the October 19th newsletter, and the country songs from Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson. You also may be reminded of the mindfulness research and interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn from the same Newsletter. But back to the story…
“Our small red jeep helplessly fell twenty-five feet through empty space before hitting the unforgiving embankment of ice below. After rolling and flipping, over and over ten more times, we finally came to a sudden halt and were wedged into the side of the icy mountain.
I resigned myself to my impending death. I closed my eyes and disappeared into a blur of darkness and bursts of light. I was quite shocked to wake up back in my body and overjoyed to be given a second chance.
Instead of running from death, I would purposefully run towards life, love, and the opportunity to be of service.
The negative spiral of fear is heavy on this planet. I had to be diligent in my daily commitment to be more conscious, purposeful and alive. To this very day, some thirty years later, I still have to purposefully choose every day to see the good and the God in all. It is an ongoing practice of remembrance.
All the aforementioned shifts in consciousness require that we take full responsibility for our lives, To choose love over fear.”
The author of this account, Chrystal Rae, has written a book, Love Letters to Your Soul, which will be published soon. She can be reached at LoveIsWhy@icloud.com.
More information and links about Near Death Experience research, much of which is located in Virginia including at the University of Virginia, is in my newsletter from September 14th.
Humor of the week – St Peter at the Pearly Gates
Community building –Miami Conference Saturday December 3rd with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.
See the newsletter from October 12th for more information on how Dr Ladapo and others rolled back Florida’s social isolation mandates and turned the focus back to true public health by emphasizing nutrition, exercise, and health social activities.
I plan to attend the conference and if any of you are going please let me know so we can sit at the same table for the fancy dinner Saturday night. Below is a quote and link to the website about the conference:
“Join Brownstone Institute scholars, journalists, and supporters in Miami, Florida, at the spectacular Mandarin Oriental, for an ocean-view afternoon conference and gala dinner, Saturday, December 3, 2022. Our dinner speaker is Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Surgeon General for Florida who has been an extraordinary leader during the pandemic, protecting the rights and freedoms of Floridians against the pandemic hegemon. He will be joined by Brownstone Senior Scholars and writers for panels and sessions during the afternoon.
https://brownstone.org/miami/#learn
Musical selections of the Week – Latin Flavor
First, a selection from the movie Coco, a children’s fantasy about the Dia de los Muertos. Then selections from Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, and when you go to the conference December 3rd in Miami you can see their stars in Little Havana’s “Walk of Fame”.
Remember Me – from the movie Coco: Note that this scene with Miguel’s Great grandmother is a perfect reflection of the research in my September 14th newsletter about people with advanced dementia suddenly regaining their memory when they are near death. I think the movie writers new about this research because they showed it incredibly accurately – except the part about Miguel saving his Great-great-grandfather’s spirit from oblivion which is fun but a bit farfetched. They also have Miguel meeting deceased relatives in other scenes, including many relatives he only knows from seeing pictures, which something real near death experiencers also report.
Celia Cruz – La Vida es un Carnaval – “Life is a carnival”:
Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa” was born in Cuba. Although she may have been seduced by the lure of communist ideology in her youth, she ran into it’s bizarre group-mind when she was exiled by Castro, and not even allowed back to visit her dying mother in 1962. This song is one of her classics, about living life to the fullest and seeing its beauty, even when you feel afraid, lonely, angry, or sad.
Here are some translated lyrics: Everyone who thinks life is unfair - has to know that it’s not like that. Life’s a beauty - you have to live it! … Everyone who thinks things will never change - has to know that it’s not like that. … Don’t cry - don’t cry- life is a carnival. It’s more beautiful to live singing.
Tito Puente was from Puerto Rico and played many times with Celia Cruz – His art was percussion and the timbales. The first selection is a song Santana also made famous, but was originally by Tito - “Oye Como Va”. The second is all percussion, with solos by congas, drum set and Tito on Timbales - the music doesn’t really start until minute 1:10 and the volume is low so may need to be cranked up a bit :-).
Research of the week – Revisiting the topic from September 14th: Near Death Experiences. A Classic study by Pim van Lommel M.D..
Van Lommel is a cardiologist who was struck by hearing his patients describe near-death experiences in the 1980’s and 90’s. He designed a prospective study to investigate it in a series of hospitals. In 2001, he and his fellow researchers published their study in the The Lancet; it was arguably the first scientifically rigorous study of near death experiences. They found that 62 of the 344 survivors of cardiac arrest (18%) had a near death experience. He has a website linked below that describes his research studies, as does his book, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience. The two studies cited below can be found in full on his website which is also linked at the end of the references section.
The second study he published has a nice summary of their research:
“Some people who have survived a life-threatening crisis report an extraordinary experience. Near-death experiences (NDE) occur with increasing frequency because of improved survival rates resulting from modern techniques of resuscitation. The content of NDE and the effects on patients seem similar worldwide, across all cultures and times. The subjective nature and absence of a frame of reference for this experience lead to individual, cultural, and religious factors determining the vocabulary used to describe and interpret the experience. NDE can be defined as the reported memory of the whole of impressions during a special state of consciousness, including a number of special elements such as out-of-body experience, pleasant feelings, seeing a tunnel, a light, deceased relatives, or a life review. Many circumstances are described during which NDE are reported, such as cardiac arrest (clinical death), shock after loss of blood, traumatic brain injury or intra-cerebral hemorrhage, near-drowning or asphyxia, but also in serious diseases not immediately life-threatening. Similar experiences to near-death ones can occur during the terminal phase of illness, and are called deathbed visions. Furthermore, identical experiences, so-called “fear-death” experiences, are mainly reported after situations in which death seemed unavoidable like serious traffic or mountaineering accidents. The NDE is transformational, causing profound changes of life-insight and loss of the fear of death.”
References
Van Lommel, P., Van Wees, R., Meyers, V., Elfferich, I. (2001). Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. In: The Lancet 358, pag. 2039-2045
Van Lommel, P. (2004). About the Continuity of our Consciousness. In: Machado, C., Shewmon, D.A. Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 550, pag. 115-132
https://pimvanlommel.nl/en/pim-van-lommel/scientific-publications/