By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Scientists at the University of Southampton in England have come up with a really genius way of proving once and for all whether “out of body” near death experiences actually occur or not.    Is that REALLY a light at the end of a tunnel?   Is that REALLY Nicolas Cage standing there waiting to take me to heaven?

The really foolproof plan involves building really high shelves above the patient’s bed (IKEA will be happy) and then putting postcards and pictures on those shelves.    These pictures can’t be seen from the ground so the only way to see them (yep, you guessed it!) would be if they were having their “out of body” experience!

The theory is that the patient, while dying, would leave their body, lift up into the air, see the pictures, think “oooh!  nice snaps!”, memorize everything, drift back down, re-enter their body, wake up and then tell the doctors all about each picture.    Hey presto!   “Out of body” experiences hereby proven!   Can’t describe the photos?   Then the whole “out of body” thing has been proven not to exist.   End of story.

But is it really that simple?   As the Guardian news blog says, what if you didn’t notice the pictures while you were having your out of body experience?   What if you were more focused on looking down at your dying body and what was going on below you?

Plus the Guardian makes a very good point – should the hospitals be even investigating this in the first place?  Shouldn’t they be spending money and focusing their energies on saving lives instead of researching what happens after those lives are over?

I can’t believe medical professionals are trying to dismiss something as complex as near death experiences by using postcards and high shelves!    Some things in life are just not meant to be proven or known for sure.   What happens after death is one of them.    What do you think?