Does your life really flash before your eyes?

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Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? And if so is it in fast forward mode including your whole life or just the important and defining parts of your life?

D4th R3v4n
I do not know... I would say it would only be parts that had signifigance in your life, that defined your personality. yes

Alliance
I dont know...I've never died. But I know some people who have.

Xman Unleashed
*Like I assume it would only occur before you are mortaly wounded like you see a bus or truck coming and cannot move in time, as opposed to sudden death by explosion or not directly looking at it, BTW anyone believe you actually see Death himself appear and slice you his sickle balde? If so would you see your life flash before your eyes, and then Death himself or visa versa?

Evil Dead
this is a pretty silly question because it's based on a myth.......that at first glance, anyone knows is impossible to answer.

No person has ever died.....and came back to life. No human being has ever ceased cardio and neurological function......to have died, to become lifeless and remain that way hence forth.......then have come back as a ghost to explain what they saw before they died.

Shakyamunison
Originally posted by Evil Dead
this is a pretty silly question because it's based on a myth.......that at first glance, anyone knows is impossible to answer.

No person has ever died.....and came back to life. No human being has ever ceased cardio and neurological function......to have died, to become lifeless and remain that way hence forth.......then have come back as a ghost to explain what they saw before they died.

I agree, but I wonder how the myth got started.

Evil Dead
it's impossible to know now........but my guess would be that somebody's mind was wandering as they came close to death, as their neurological functions began being disrupted......synapses misfiring.... what information entered their mind was memories of thier life. Then someone else reported the same.......and another...and another......and another...................ofcourse anybody who would make a claim like, "your life flashes before your eyes when you die" would be sure to leave out that yeah, a percentage of the population experience this while an equal percentage experience feelings of euphoria as if they were stoned......aswell as a percentage experiencing dreams they had once had that were still stored in their memory......aswell as a percentage experiencing their "to do" list for the next day......

it's much more profound to say, "you're life flashes before your eyes when you die" than it is to say "when you come close to death and your brain is robbed of oxygen, the synapses misfire...pulling information at random that is stored in your brain. some may be memories of past experiences but it's just as likely to be travel directions, dreams, yearnings or anything other information ever stored by your brain".

Shakyamunison
Originally posted by Evil Dead
it's impossible to know now........but my guess would be that somebody's mind was wandering as they came close to death, as their neurological functions began being disrupted......synapses misfiring.... what information entered their mind was memories of thier life. Then someone else reported the same.......and another...and another......and another...................ofcourse anybody who would make a claim like, "your life flashes before your eyes when you die" would be sure to leave out that yeah, a percentage of the population experience this while an equal percentage experience feelings of euphoria as if they were stoned......aswell as a percentage experiencing dreams they had once had that were still stored in their memory......aswell as a percentage experiencing their "to do" list for the next day......

it's much more profound to say, "you're life flashes before your eyes when you die" than it is to say "when you come close to death and your brain is robbed of oxygen, the synapses misfire...pulling information at random that is stored in your brain. some may be memories of past experiences but it's just as likely to be travel directions, dreams, yearnings or anything other information ever stored by your brain".

laughing It's also easier to say. laughing

Storm
I hope I won' t find out the answer to this question in the near future.

Xman Unleashed
You will one day we all will, and in 200 years everything you and I and everybody else is doing will just become another page in history....life goes on but.

Quiero Mota
Originally posted by Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? And if so is it in fast forward mode including your whole life or just the important and defining parts of your life?

I don't think it's to be taken so literally that a "film-strip of your life" quickly flashes before your eyes. I do believe that if your lying down and death is imminent (say for example from a mortal wound) your best and favorite life experiences and memories come to your mind in vivid clarity. Kinda like in Forrest Gump when Bubba is mortally wounded in Vietnam and he tells Forrest "I wanna go home".

Xman Unleashed
Yeah i agree that is more reasonable and logical. If however you die suddenly without time to react then your brain obviously would not have the time to generate the process of seeing the best bits of your life.

Atlantis001

darthivader
well, there's actually a book about this, its about a lady who came back from death, and it tells her journey, its pretty interesting, and she has other titles too

Evil Dead
nobody has ever come back from death. death by it's very nature is permanent. Not one person walking this earth has ever had a complete lack or cardio and neurological function......only to miraculously have both again.

sammii
I think for "life to flash before you" could only happen if the person dyin knew it was coming eg cancer ect

then in a sudden rush to snap back to reality drain the mind of as many happy memorys possible

stevenfairley
i think its the brains way of waving good bye to its self to make its self very happy with all the happiest moments of your life.

i started thinking about this when i saw armageddon and just before the bomb blows him to bits (and the rock) his life flashes.
but thinking about it now it actualy makes me feel very pieceful.
hmm

lord xyz
I believe that with history going on forever, we could be able to find a way to bring people back to life, and create a machine that does this.

Then, when we're all brought back to life, we'd remember, and tell and this "life flash before your eyes" will be proven right or wrong.

Mindship
Originally posted by Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? Yes...plus the life you would've had had you not died (no one ever talks about that part). cool

lord xyz
Originally posted by Evil Dead
nobody has ever come back from death. death by it's very nature is permanent. Not one person walking this earth has ever had a complete lack or cardio and neurological function......only to miraculously have both again. What about those people who died for like 4 seconds or something?

Deja~vu
I don't believe it would, but I don't know. I think the first thing that would flash in your mind would be OMG, WTF is going on here? Am I dying? How do I know? Do I hurt..hmm. Where am I? What just happened? Then survival mode would kick in.

I think you'd become over rational in trying to figure out what is going on with your body and the circumstances.

I was in a few close calls.

Adam_PoE
No.

Bardock42
Originally posted by lord xyz
What about those people who died for like 4 seconds or something?


That's a misconception, those people ceased to have heart or lung functions for a while.


"Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted. This is now called "clinical death". Events which were causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support devices, organ transplants and artificial pacemakers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death#Problems_of_definition

lord xyz
Originally posted by Bardock42
That's a misconception, those people ceased to have heart or lung functions for a while.


"Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted. This is now called "clinical death". Events which were causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support devices, organ transplants and artificial pacemakers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death#Problems_of_definition I never knew that, thanks.

Bardock42
You're welcome.

Bada's Palin
Sure it does, didn't anyone see Daredevil?

ragesRemorse
Originally posted by Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? And if so is it in fast forward mode including your whole life or just the important and defining parts of your life?

only one way to find out

Kosta
Originally posted by Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? And if so is it in fast forward mode including your whole life or just the important and defining parts of your life?

I find it hard to believe that if in the case of someone being shot in the back of the head with a bazooka and not realizing it, that there would be anything left for their life to flash in front of, or any time for it to do so stick out tongue. I guess that if it does, or doesn't it really depends on how you die.

Originally posted by Bardock42
That's a misconception, those people ceased to have heart or lung functions for a while.


"Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted. This is now called "clinical death". Events which were causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support devices, organ transplants and artificial pacemakers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death#Problems_of_definition

Pretty sure though that now it's defined as the absence of brain activity, no? We were discussing this at uni a few weeks back in fact. No one had a straight and definite answer though.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
only one way to find out

laughing out loud

jill8beans2
Wow, this was a mighty deep subject. It makes me wonder, how about animals? Would their lives pass before their eyes? Do they have a memory to hold stuff?

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by jill8beans2
Wow, this was a mighty deep subject. It makes me wonder, how about animals? Would their lives pass before their eyes? Do they have a memory to hold stuff?

Depends on the animal but virtually all animals do have a memory, otherwise they wouldn't be capable of learning.

Deja~vu
Nah, they'd just die with a hungry tummy and crap.

Jack Daniels
man there would be alot of beer flashing b4 my eyes

Sado22
adernaline. the senses go into overload and the juices in the brain go haywire because the adernaline pumps like crazy. it makes sense because adernaline is the body's defense mechanism so you can imagine what "oh my god i'm going to die!!" does to adernal glands.

~Sado

Hotterod
Yes it does, I had it happen to me during an attack by someone with a 12" bayonet and for a few seconds before I knew I was going to die I had a dream like experience that started with me seeing myself at about 3 years old and my mother in my backyard walking across the lawn. BUT I was seeing myself at that age with her from above about 20 feet away. Like watching a movie of my life and then it went to another and another and kept going of main event in my life but always with me seeing them as out of my body until the last one where I saw my wife laying on our bed at home from above the room as she watched tv. After I fought with this person and stayed alive (long story) I came home and saw her on the bed still with the clothes I saw her wearing and ask what she was doing all night and she said laying on the bed watching tv.I said I know and told here what happened to me.
No one can really explain how I saw myself from above when when I have never seen myself or a photo of my mother and I in the yard like that before.

zeehippo
I had my life flash before my eyes - it really can happen.

It happened to me once when I was about 7 years old, and I had fallen out of an apple tree. It was a height of maybe 10 feet, but at the age of 7, I thought I was going to die. In the few short seconds as I tumbled to the ground, I saw images in my head (not with my actual eyes) of my whole life. The images came in no specific order, and just kept changing. Some were just flashes of people and some were "clips" - little snippets of events like somebody saying "I love you". It was a very happy and euphoric feeling of joy and love, and it was a one of a kind experience. When I hit the ground, the flashes stopped, and I couldn't believe I was alive. I was astonished by how many things flashed - it seemed like hundreds of different things. I was astounded of how many images I saw that I had forgotten about. It seemed like the experience must have lasted for several minutes, but obviously, it was just a second or two. A lot of the images were just images of friends or families smiling, or telling me they love me, etc. Some of the flashes were of nothing special, but none of the flashes I can remember were negative (i.e. like getting punished, etc.). Also, I saw all of these flashes in the first person. In other words, I saw everything through my own eyes, and not from out of body.

In the movies, they depict this by showing minutes of memories in a split second. First they show the bad event coming (i.e. a bullet heading towards a victim), and then the slowing down of sound and video, then several minutes of flashbacks before the tape speeds back up and the bullet hits. It's not a bad representation, but I would say the number of images and recollections are much greater than a movie could portray.

It was such a positive experience, that I hope I can experience something similar before I go...

Rogue Jedi
Originally posted by Xman Unleashed
Does your life really flash before your eyes? Before you die? And if so is it in fast forward mode including your whole life or just the important and defining parts of your life? How would we know? If someones life flashes before their eyes before they die, then they usually.......you know......are dead.

IMaBeAsT
Originally posted by darthivader
well, there's actually a book about this, its about a lady who came back from death, and it tells her journey, its pretty interesting, and she has other titles too My mum and dad told me that there was this guy they know who died, but then he got revived, he said that hell really existed. He didn't believe in god so he went to hell and he said he saw people eating eachother there. very amazing.

Colossus-Big C
yes it does, if your death is slow enough for your brain to produce the slide show of your life. if its something instant like a bullet to the brain then no.

we will never ever ever find out what happens when a person die since theres no way of seeing it unless you die, and no one can come back to life and tell you.

Colossus-Big C
ive read an article about some one who killed himself because he was so curious about what happens when you die.

Wild Shadow
every time i taken a hit or ko'ed happen only once by the way i only got the flash and no life reel. did hear voices but those were my friends arguing about who to blame and if i were dead and some one to check... pricks

StarCraft2
no, my guess would be remembering the life you had or instant remeniscing. (sp)

alltoomany
a hour is like 7 thousand years to, God
same idea question

GaDaffy Duck
The Universe is finite.... Who cares, everyone dies not every one truly lives.

alltoomany
whats truly living???????

Pinkie Pie
I think that the only thing flashing before your eyes is the thing that matter the most to you. You have no desire to remember your life. You lived it and that I think is enough for most smile I imagine you see the things that define your passions in life. Be it a lover, a child or God.

I believe you see your purpose in life big grin You maybe remember your whole life but as a feeling and not as images flashing by. You feel the life you have lived and you see the thing that define living to you stick out tongue

WHAAM!
Originally posted by alltoomany
whats truly living???????

Not living in fear of being or trying to be who you are.

Pinkie Pie
Having a beating heart stick out tongue

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