Unfortunately, the only way anyone can know for sure is to die. The scientist and engineer in me says "nothing" happens, that you won't know you're dead becaus

Unfortunately, the only way anyone can know for sure is to die. The scientist and engineer in me says "nothing" happens, that you won't know you're dead because consciousness stops and is never recovered. That these "paranormal" cases are creations of a machine that can't accept the nothingness of its demise. That a belief in life after death is also a construction to allow us to die with dignity and without fear. That "Near-Death" experiences are the result of the memory-recording portion of our brain continuing while the brain stem and other parts have failed. Still, a part of me says no. No way. That something continues. This other part of me wants to believe. It reminds me that I've experienced things that can't be explained by the above science. As have countless others. If there really is a part of "us" separate from the brain, as suggested by this article, then our "soul," if you will, must live in the "cloud" with our brain operating as some sort of radio. I've not seen hard physical evidence of anything of the sort. (But if it's true, God help us if we learn the API.) Near-Death Experiences are a curious subject, and one that deserves real examination. Ages ago (in high school), I attempted to base a research paper on NDEs. Finding sources from medical research was impossible, as there weren't any. The subject was strictly reserved to "New Age Mysticism," and ignored by practitioners for reasons of career self preservation. Not much seems to have changed.