The DU Lounge

religious beliefs, or lack of belief, matters.

I'm saying that based on near death experiences that I've heard and read about, and paranormal experiences (really the wrong word, since they're normal and pretty common) that I've had, that people I know have had, or that I've learned about. If you've ever been in a grief support group, you've probably heard of such experiences. You're likely to hear about them, too, from hospice workers, or from nurses. You usually won't hear about them, though, unless people feel that it would be OK to talk about their own experiences.

https://www.businessinsider.com/near-death-experiences-research-doctor-life-after-death-afterlife-2023-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Long

There have been some threads in the Lounge about paranormal experiences.

You can run across stories of paranormal experiences in biographies and autobiographies. The Johnny Cash autobiography cowritten by Patrick Carr, for instance. Producer Tony Visconti's autobiography.

You can always try to dismiss the stories...but I've heard stories like this from people in lots of different occupations, from different religious backgrounds, or with no religious beliefs at all. It often took a personal experience to end their skepticism. The people I've found most unwilling to.accept these experiences are avowed atheists and people with very set religious beliefs who don't feel paranormal experiences can fit with their church's teachings.

Some links you might find interesting:

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/

https://youtube.com/@uvadivisionofperceptualstu9909

You'll see some videos with John Cleese on that YouTube channel, and here: