ABSTRACT
Talk of a common core to NDEs raises all sorts of questions that a largely philosophical and theological examination of the evidence cannot answer. In particular, it arouses the suspicion that more attention needs to be paid to the role of the brain in mediating or possibly creating such experiences. We have already hinted that some researchers have attempted to explain every aspect of NDEs in terms of recognized and understood processes occurring in the brain at or near the point of death. As this chapter will seek to show, many of these researchers have advanced theories which purport to account neurologically for every detail of the NDE: from popular motifs such as tunnels and lights through to other commonly encountered elements such as the outof-body experience, feelings of bliss and joy, and the life review.
