Ask the Atheist

We know that the brain is a powerful simulation machine. We know it can be fooled by many things. For instance drugs can alter your perception, you can be fooled by optical illusions(like a necker cube), you have dreams etc. The brain is a complex system that we only understand partially. In the process of death or near death the brain will undergo certain chemical reactions in response to things like oxygen deprivation. These kind of reactions can cause many sensations and even hallucinations that seem very vivid and real. What I would say is that unless you can prove something objectively that you feel subjectively, take it with a pinch of salt.

If you are interested in the brain I would point you to the following books:

Steven Pinker - How the mind works
V.S. Ramachandran - Phantoms in the brain
Oliver Sachs - The man who mistook his wife for a hat

I leave you with this example of how subjective experience can be very wrong. Take the example of Cotard's syndrome. This is when a patient truly believes and asserts that they are in fact dead.

"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. "
[b]- Carl Sagan[/b]

Tantum eruditi sunt liberi