Dr. Raymond Moody was joined by neurosurgeon John L. Turner for a discussion on life-after-death, near-death, and shared death experiences. Reports of near-death-experiences (NDEs) share certain commonalities, such as patients watching their bodies from above trying to be resuscitated by medical staff, movement into a tunnel and brilliant light, being greeted by deceased relatives and friends, and a panoramic memory/life review, said Moody. Interestingly, the life review is experienced from the consciousness or point of view of the people we've interacted with, he added.

Dr. Turner spoke about brain studies related to NDEs. The drug DMT (thought by some to be naturally released by the pineal gland) might account for bright light effects, but not the other experiences people report in the near death state, he said. Further, lack of oxygen, sometimes cited as an explanation for NDEs, doesn't cover the many NDE patients who have been measured and not found to be deficient in oxygen, he noted.

Dr. Moody's forthcoming book, Glimpses of Eternity, features accounts of shared death experiences, wherein "a loved one dies in bed, and the bystanders feel like they get out of their bodies, and go part way to the light with the dying love one. People will tell me that as their loved one dies, the room fills up with this extraordinary light that permeates everything," said Moody. Further, there are reports that the geometry of the room changes, distorting into an hourglass shape, for instance, and heavenly music is heard "coming from nowhere." It's as though death is a kind of window into something else, said Dr. Moody, and "some sort of transdimensional consciousness...can be opened up by the death of someone," and can spread out to people nearby, or even several states away.

FairTax Update

First hour guest, Bill Spillane spoke on behalf of the FairTax plan, which eliminates personal and corporate taxes and replaces them with a national retail sales tax. So far, there are 65 sponsors in the House, and 5 in the Senate in favor of the plan, he reported. The tax code is a huge liability around our neck, and if FairTax went into effect, Americans would pay just 11% of their income in taxes, he suggested.