I refer you to AN ARTICLE MY jamali et al in nature, vol 631, 18 july 2024, entitled “Semantic Encoding during language comprehension at single-cell resolution.” the authors state the following: “from sequences of speech sounds or letters, humans can extract rich and nuanced meaning through language.”

in my writings i have addressed this capacity at length. the authors state that “the derivation of linguistic meaning in neural tissue at the cellular level and over the timescale of action potentials remains largely unknown.” it is this point which i have addressed over time in my writings. they continue to state that there is “a fine-scale cortical representation of semantic information by individual neurons. . . . we also show how they encoded the hierarchical structure of these meaning representations and how these representations mapped onto the cell population.”

i am identifying this particular article because it shows how the action potentials transmitted by neuronal networks (in this case by single cells) are encoded semantically. According to the authors, their “results therefore together suggested that these cell ensembles encoded richly detailed information about the hierarchical semantic relationship between words. . . . these findings reveal a highly detailed representation of semantic information within prefrontal cortical populations, and a cellular process that could allow the meaning of words to be accurately decoded in real time during speech.”

what i do not see in their article is the role of the immaterial mind in this process, though mention is made of “comprehension” without defining how and where it occurs. i submit that it is the mind which interprets the semantic neural codes, dynamic as they are as the authors point out. no mention of memory archived within neural networks is made which the mind accesses in establishing context to meanings.

I do recommend this article with elaborate methodology and on the forefront of learning how semantic communication occurs. It is my hope that my writings shed some light on this complex topic.

in miller’s conclusion he cites a number of individuals whose examination of nde’s “compelled them to believe that death isn’t the end of life.” he states that “this fascinating field provides remarkable evidence for both life after death and the existence of a loving, brilliant Being who knows us intimately. to me, nde’s are remarkably consistent with a theistic worldview. . . . we have strong evidence to support both life after death and the existence of a personal god.”

i close this series of excerpts from the book by j. steve miller whose writings, based on years of nde research, give strong testimony to a personal, loving and gracious creator god who desires an intimate communion with us. this has been restored by the sin sacrifice of his son, jesus christ, who sent as promised his holy spirit to once again indwell repentant believers so we can experience this bidirectional communion, now and into eternity.

miller includes descriptions of people with lifelong deafness and blindness who have had nde’s with the capacity to hear and to see. an account is shared of a boy born deaf who had a nde in which he had “direct communication with about twenty ancestors . . . he’s neither heard nor understood verbal communication. yet he finds himself communicating effortlessly, not through sign language, but directly mind-to-mind, without learning a new form of communication.”

miller also shared that “blind persons, including those blind from birth, do report classic nde’s of the kind common to sighted persons; that the great preponderance of blind persons claim to see during nde’s and obe’s [out of body experiences]; and that occasionally claims of visually-based knowledge that could not have been obtained by normal means can be independently corroborated.”

miller stated further, “yet, nde’s reveal a personal god who both knows and cares about each of us.” the encounter with a being of light “is felt to be the most intense and most essential part of the experience. . . this encounter [with the being of light] is always accompanied by an overwhelming sense of unconditional love and acceptance . . . it is a personal being. it has a very definite personality. . . . the light . . . was of a kind that i’d never seen before and that differs from any other kind such as sunlight.”

so in these several accounts we are seeing a possible revelation of the truth of the living jesus christ given us in our space-time by god’s grace and boundless love.

i am posting selected excerpts from miller’s book:

“in a near-death experience, the person is truly alive, with a fully functioning mind in a nonmaterial, spiritual world outside the body.”

“by far the typical experience reported by those undergoing anesthesia or experiencing cardiac arrest is no memory of anything. in such circumstances, the brain is unable to either maintain consciousness or form memories. yet, during this time, nde’rs consistently report, not vague, confused consciousness, but vivid, ‘realer than real’ consciousness. it’s like their brains are on hyper drive, some reliving their entire lives within a brief span of time. and their memories, as we have seen, far from being cloudy and fleeting (as we’d expect from a compromised brain) are retained so efficiently that decades later they report remembering each detail as if it happened yesterday.”

“who would expect the typical experience of communicating directly mind-to-mind rather than using the medium of language? [i remind the reader of the interaction between the immaterial mind and the material synaptic networks of the brain in which linguistic neural codes are transmitted through synchronous pathways] who expects to encounter a dimension where both time and space seem to vanish, where they can see both up close and far away with equal clarity, and view an entire lifetime in an instant? a bright light might be expected by some, but who expects the common experience of not having to squint while looking at the extreme brightness?”

my posts will continue, featuring how the deaf hear, how the blind see, and how a personal loving god is experienced.

i share this comment by miller regarding why all people do not have nde’s when they return to physical, conscious life:

“remember, it’s not their final death, just a brush with death. if there is indeed a god, he knows the nde is a parenthesis in earthly life [an already but not yet experience i have discussed in my writings], not a final entrance into the afterlife. perhaps he allows only those who need a glimpse of the other side (e.g., for personal assurance or a challenge to life change) to get a glimpse of eternity.”

miller cites the cambridge and princeton mathematician and physicist who wrote,

the stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine. mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter; we ought rather hail it as the governor of the realm of matter.

in my writings i have identified how the immaterial mind of god is the source of all information. by the process of specification of essentially infinite informational possibilities god has actualized all that has been created. william dembski has stated that energy is the “causal glue” between information and matter, that an energy instantiates what is specified into matter with structure, meaning, purpose and intended action. we must remember that the mind of man has been created in the image of the mind of god, an immaterial personal reality. the human mind does not depend upon the neural networks of the brain, but has function beyond our space-time constraints.

miller suggests that the brain acts as a receiver for the mind. he stATES, “THE MIND CONNECTS WITH THE BRAin while we are in our body, but isn’t dependent upon the brain for its existence.” I am in disagreement with his pespective that brain damage impacts the capacity to access the mind. Rather, i submit that damage to the brain’s neural networks impairs access of the immaterial mind to the compromised spatiotemporal neural codes which are interpreted by the mind, a lifelong learning process I have discussed in my books and selected blog posts. in nde’s the mind does not depend on the brain but has capacities beyond what we experience when we do have interaction with functioning neural pathways.

miller shared in the third chapter of his book some first-hand reports of nde’s. I include a portion of one that i believe readers will find interesting and inspiring:

“i went through this dark, black vacuum at super speed. you could compare it to a tunnel, i guess. the darkness was so deep and impenetrable that i could see absolutely nothing; but this was the most wonderful, worry-free experience you can imagine. i saw a bright light, and on my way there i heard beautiful music and i saw colors i’d never seen before. the light . . . was of a kind that i’d never seen before and that differs from any other kind such as sunlight. it was white and expremely bright, and yet you could easily look at it. it’s the pinnacle of everything there is. of energy, of love especially, of warmth, of beauty. i was immersed in a feeling of total love. . . . from the moment the light spoke to me, i felt really good - secure and loved. the love which came from it is just unimaginable, indescribable. it was a fun person to be with! and it had a sense of humor, too - definitely! i never wanted to leave the presence of this being.”

in the preface to miller’s book is a quote from samuel taylor coleridge:

what if you slept? and what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? and what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower? and what if, when you awoke, you had that flower in your hand? ah, what then?

the author identifies “the promise that many near-death researchers claim to fulfill - a glimpse into eternity, verified by corroborating evidence.” miller addresses this question.

My next blog posts will continue to consider near-death experiences (nde), with reference to a book by j. steve miller entitled, near-death experiences, as evidence for the existence of god and heaven: a brief introduction in plain language, wisdom creek press, llc, 2012. jeffrey long, m.d. wrote the forward to this book. my preceding blog post identified his extensive research into nde’s coupled with that of miller. i am addressing this topic due to the growing public interest and because it considers the communion between jesus and humans, both in the present age and in the “hereafter.” are nde’s revelations given to mankind through the years and across our world to amplify the “already but not yet” relationship believers have with eternity to come through the indwelling holy spirit in our time? in my writings i have presented evidence that substantiates dualist interaction between the immaterial mind of god and of man and the material synaptic networks of the human brain. specified information encoded and transmitted within neural networks is bidirectional. we can pray to god and communicate with other people, and we can also receive communion from god via his holy spirit, which process has been extensively discussed in my books and blogs. but in more recent years we are learning about the reality of nde’s in which communion occurs between individuals in the absence of neural networks. the extensive studies of nde’s by this author and others cited are uncovering evidence of life beyond ours on earth, life in heaven blessed to be in the presence of god.