Week 1 - Kimberly Pariyavanh

            Week one focused on discussing the spirit realm and near-death experiences (NDE). These topics are often viewed with much skepticism, as there is no concrete way for others to view or study them. In Paul, Devnath, and Islam's article, they describe an NDE as a personal experience, which explains why it is a field that is difficult to study, as it is an individual experience. Information on NDEs are collections of personal narratives that are shared when the person recovers, such as Professor Valverde's story, which is explained in her article, "Fight the Tower: Call to Action for Women of Color in the Academy". Although an NDE is described as a personal experience, there tends to be similarities across stories of individuals.

            In order to make these vast and unknown topics more concrete, the articles provided this week aimed to connect NDEs to mathematics and quantum physics. While reading both articles, I was amazed that mathematics and quantum physics could be applied. I wondered how these mathematicians and scientists could be sure of their application to topics that are intangible and difficult to explain. I also questioned if by applying mathematics and quantum physics can be a limiting factor in how NDEs and the spirit realm are perceived. I feel that both of these topics are so broad that these steps in trying to understand it maybe only cover a minimal portion of it.

By trying to apply mathematical and scientific concepts to the spirit realm and NDEs, can it limit our understand of these concepts?