A lecture was given by Dr. Melvin Morse, 28 October 2018 at the IANDS meeting in Salt Lake City. He is a pediatrician in Washington State who is studying near-death experiences in young children (10 and under). He is attempting to get the scientific world to recognize the validity (the reality) of what these children experience when they die and then come back and bring reports back of their experiences while dead. At issue is the question: What is real? What follows here are my answers to that question.
The scientific definition of reality is usually something like: Something is real if it is observable by more than one person, testified to by more than one person, can be reproduced at will by some procedure, and can be quantified (measured in some way). The purpose of these strictures originally was to separate false traditions and claims from things that really are so and do work. The germ theory of disease is a good example. Many people once thought that disease was a spiritual matter, caused by evil spirits. Since evil spirits are not observable nor measurable, that explanation was rejected in favor of the germ theory which postulates that disease is caused by microbes which are observable and measurable: the identifiable germs are present and observable in every instance of a given disease. So the germ theory is scientifically acceptable, and the evil spirit theory is rejected as unsubstantiated folklore. (The germ theory does falter a bit because sometimes the germs are present and the individual carrying them does not get sick.)
The problem that then arises, however, is that there are many things we want to think of as real that are not observable by more than one person and do not have a perceivable (materialistic) cause. The love of one person for another is such a matter. So shall we say that a specific love-bond is not real because it is personal and limited to one subject and perhaps to one object? Those who feel love for another person are often convinced it is very real, even more real than the material things on which scientists focus their attention.
To understand and clarify this question of reality we must explore human knowing.
We understand the following things about human knowing:
1. To know something is to be assured by evidence that our ideas are correct. Sensory experience is one of those evidences.
2. There are about 25 human senses which report evidence about the universe to our human minds.
3. But we do not see in our eyes, hear in our ears, touch with our skin. Our human organs of eyes, ears and skin all report their sensations to the cerebral cortex in the back of the human brain.
4. The cerebral cortex assembles all of the sensory evidence that comes to it from the 25 human senses and sorts and groups those sensations into an image of what might have caused those sensations. The brain thus forms a hypothesis as to what might have caused the sensations reported by the body. The brain then usually tests the hypothesis by asking questions such as:
- a. Can I predict what sensations I will have next?
- b. If I move my hand or foot to the object I think I perceive, can I predict what will happen?
- c. Do repeated observations give me the same hypothesis as to what I am experiencing?
5. The short version of this account of human knowing is that our consciousness of the universe we live in is all invented by us, an attempt of a sometimes rational mind to imagine the universe in which it finds itself.
Conclusion: This I have given is a very short account of an important, complex matter. But it must suffice for present purposes. Moving from that description, I now state the following conclusions about human knowing and “reality.”
1. We do not really know anything about the universe (that which exists beyond our selves) we live in for sure. The fact that we are sure about some things about the universe is a measure of the strength of our belief in something. If I am really sure about something “out there,” that is simply to say that I really believe it. I believe that this mortal state was carefully designed by a loving Heavenly Father so that we would have to live our lives according to our beliefs, not knowledge. His purpose is to give us an opportunity to find out who we, ourselves, really are, by allowing us to construct a universe in our minds as to how we think the universe really is.
2. The best we can do in imagining the universe is to be able to do something again and again. So you and I believe strongly that we understand the universe in relation to what we can accomplish. Rene Descartes, the French philosopher, took this tack by saying: “I think, therefore I exist.” The thing we are most sure about is our own existence, because we can think and plan and do things. Even here we sometimes are not successful, not being able to do something we have done before many times. What this teaches us is to be humble. We are not great “knowers.” But we are good believers, even convincing ourselves that we are so right that we can tell others what to believe. Some people believe what others tell them, but the more thoughtful people are, the less they tend to believe what others say.
3. The purpose of human life, I believe, is for each of us to construct a universe in our minds, then to live in the universe to see if we can become happy persons. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the plan of happiness, and those who live it fully are the happiest people I know. Those who reject it or who play around the edges of it, never fully embracing it, are less happy in my observation (my belief) than those who fully embrace and live it.
4. One marvelous blessing the Christ brings to our lives is understanding. He gives us a set of beliefs that make sense as to who we are, where we came from, what we can and cannot do, and where we may likely find ourselves in the future. The Gospel message makes full “sense” to me. All of my life I have sought to make “sense” of this world and all that goes on in it. The Gospel, the scriptures, the revelations of the prophets of God fill in the blanks so beautifully that I am able to live my life in a very satisfying way. Obviously, what is true and real for me, that which I believe and live by, is not true and real for many others around me, including many in my own family. But, thankfully, what I believe and live by is true and real for some others also, including many in my own family.
5. The bottom line is that each of us is constructing and living in a universe of our own choosing. I think God designed our existence to be this way so that we would be able to choose our own future out of a myriad of possibilities. I believe God will give us to live for the rest of eternity in just that universe we choose and want, and thus each of us will be as happy as he or she can possibly be. That happiness will be God’s gift to each of us, His children.
6. Meanwhile, we get to live, act and believe according to our own choosing. I believe that there is a universe out there that is real. We interact with it all of the time. But we do not “know” it. We simulate what we think it is and act accordingly. Some of us are very successful in accomplishing what we desire to accomplish, I think because those who are successful have better beliefs and better discipline to do what they think should be done than those who are not so successful. But all of us are successful in building and living in a universe that suits our desires, and we each call that universe of our desires “reality.”
7. No person can know what is “real” to another person unless it is revealed to them by God. The Holy Ghost is specifically sent to us to bear testimony of what is true and what is not true. The only way that you and I can know that Jesus is the Christ or that Joseph Smith is the head prophet of this dispensation is to have those truths revealed to us by the Holy Ghost. The only way we can know that the gospel taught in the Book of Mormon is the true doctrine of Christ is to have it revealed to us by the Holy Ghost. The only way I can know if someone who is telling me of their experiences is telling the truth is if the Holy Ghost reveals that to me. That is why the gift of the Holy Ghost is the Pearl of Great Price. Anyone who understands what that gift is and does and who has good sense would be willing to give all else he possessed to obtain that most precious gift.
So, are the experiences people have of near-death experiences real or not? They are very real to the persons who have them. But of course such experiences could also be “pretended,” conjured up by a vivid imagination, and possibly some are.
The answer is that one person cannot be the final judge of the experiences of any other person. Each of us is the master of what we ourselves believe and do, and none of us is or can be the master of what any other person believes and does.
Isn’t it comforting to believe that an omniscient, divine being, a loving Heavenly Father, will be our judge at the end of our mortal lives? He will see things as they really are, and because He is pure, will judge those things and reward each of us as the best we can be judged and rewarded. No partial, twisted view of us will be the basis of how we will be judged.
That is why I try with all my heart, might, mind and strength to serve that God whom I worship. I just wish I could fully deliver in that attempt.