Crows start in lake town at 0340 hrs.

BK

However, the hypothesis oered here is not that the universe has human-like cognition and associated information integration. As a matter of fact, the hypothesis is not even that the universe has cognition, dened as the capacity to acquire knowledge or understanding. Instead, the claim is simply that there is raw experience—qualia, pure and simple—associated with the universe as a whole, which does not require anything like the kind of information integration underlying human self-reection

A

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) are the prime examples of self- transcendence associated with dramatically reduced brain function due to e.g. cardiac arrest (van Lommel 2001). They reportedly entail life-transforming phenomenality—encompassing insights, emotions and rich inner imagery—far surpassing the envelop of ordinary experiences (Kelly et al. 2009: 367-421), despite overwhelming disruption to the brain’s ability to operate. A recent and well- publicized NDE, which occurred while the patient was under close supervision of medical sta, captures this self-transcendent dimension. In the patient’s own words:

I certainly don’t feel reduced or smaller in any way. On the contrary, I haven’t ever been this huge, this powerful, or this all- encompassing. ... [I] felt greater and more intense and expansive than my physical being. (Moorjani 2012: 69