Will we be aware of the results of AWARE by the end of the week?
I first became aware of the AWARE study back in 2008. I had become very interested in NDEs after briefly dating a girl who had experienced one herself, this in turn revived memories of my father’s NDE which had so intrigued me when he first described it to me. I read dozens of books on the subject and trawled the web for articles relating to it, and after absorbing the multitude of data, I came to the conclusion that it was highly likely that this was a real experience due to the high number of credible witnesses and the consistency across different demographics. But could I say that it was proven to be real? In all honesty, as a scientist, I could not.
As far as I could see the only way to prove that NDEs were real, was to prove that the OBE (Out of Body Experience) was real. This should be a fairly simple experiment, so I dug deeper to see if anyone had attempted this and that is when I came across the AWARE study. Unfortunately, at that stage it was only just beginning so I knew that there would be a long wait for the data to arrive. I decided to use that interval to write the book Aware of Aware, which I first published in January 2012. The premise of this book was a hypothesis based on my understanding of the design of the AWARE study (abstract on horizon website) , and that due to various factors, only one or two people would need to have proven OBEs to validate NDEs and all the associated core elements.
Over the intervening years there have been a number of dates floated around as to when the results would be available. Firstly it was some time in 2012, then it got pushed back to the end of 2012, early 2013. Anyone who has followed this with the kind of interest I have, will have raised their hopes when Dr. Sam Parnia, an emergency physician and the lead investigator of the study, published his book Erasing Death ( The Lazarus Effect in the UK). Alas, whilst the book itself was very interesting, there was only a hint at the results which he stated at that stage had not produced any positives with regard to proving the reality of OBEs. He also mentioned that the initial results from the study would be published formally in the Fall of 2013. The months of September and October were initially mentioned, then in an interview in Der Spiegel in July, Dr. Parnia very specifically stated that it would be November.
Well here we are, November 24th, and still nothing from the great Dr. Parnia (and I am not being facetious, as I know that he has stuck his neck out a long way in a field dominated by materialist thinking). Have there been a couple of last minute confirmed OBEs that made it worth delaying the publication? Or has he been so busy in his day job of saving lives that he hasn’t been able to spare the time for writing up? Whatever the reason for the delay, he has 7 more days to fulfill his promise.
I for one am on tenterhooks!
AwareofAware 
Indeed,there are good reasons for lots of people s nerves to be frayed.What s the point of announcing impending results and then to postpone them again and again?…That being said ,it s obvious that what we re waiting for is the report of OBEs and lots of observers are getting more and more fretful as it appears that no targets were identified .Moreover,Sam Parnia has revealed that only 1 in a thousand NDERs had reported an OBE….Such a ratio looks rather disappointing when compared to previous Pin Van Lommel sampling!…….Anyway,even if the aware study results fall short of expectations ,they don t detract from the countless testimonies that relate OBEs…..OBEs are real notwithstanding the aware study.
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I agree with what you are saying…from the point of view of someone who already believes that NDEs are real, they do not need a proven OBE, however, for other to believe validated OBEs will be the only acceptable form of hard eveidence…until then most will remain sceptical. By the way, you may have already read the later post in my blog, but the initial results were presented…no validated OBEs unfortunately.
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