Central to ITLAD/CTF is that at the point of death consciousness slips into a hyper-realistic re-creation of the subject's life. In Near-Death Experience terminology this is called the "Panoramic Life Riview".Now in order for my theory to work there has to be evidence that such 'memories' exist and are stored in the brain (or if elsewhere can be accessed by the brain for 'projection' into consciousness.
A few years ago I read a book called Epileptic Seizures: Pathopsychology and Clinical Semiology edited by Hans O Luders and Soheyl Noachter. This book was written for professionals in this field but at that time (and as I still do) I needed to know as much as possible about epilepsy and pre-epileptic aura states. This book has contributory chapters by many of the world's leading authorities on the subject. I was particularly interested in a chapter written by Peter Wolf, Martin Schondienst and Elizabeth Gulich. This specifically discussed the latest research into aura states - or, as the professionals term these - "Experiential" Auras. Specifically the writers were interested in what was actually being experienced by Wilder Penfield's patients when they had their three-dimensional past-life memory experiences Now what is of great interest is what neurologists mean by the word "experiential". The neurologist Dr Pierre Gloor explains:
'Typically experiential phenomena, when fully expressed, create in a patient's mind experiences, usually from his personal past, that have a compelling immediacy similar to, or sometimes even more vivid than those occuring in real life. It is this quality of being like a real life experience whic justifies the term "experiential" ... experiential phenomena typically combine elements of perception, memory and affect" (page 337)
What he means is that the memories that Penfield's stimulations evoked in the subjects were absolutely vivid and totally real ... so real that they were identical to the original experience. In other words the subject does not experience the events as a memory but as a literal re-living!
Indeed Penfield and his associate Jaspers wrote about the stimulated "memories" thus:
'Recollection may carry with it the emotion that the individual"felt" at the time of the original experience and the deductions, true or false, that he made concerning the experience."
and then they added the totally itladian observation that....
'it seems to be the integrated whole (of events, related thoughts and emotions) that is recorded."
Note that they specifically use the word "recorded".
Remember, these quotations are not taken from some wishy, washy, New Age book but one written by professional neurologists. This is why ITLAD/CTF is of such importance!
(the image above is Wilder Penfield)
