A2 - Wednesday, January 20, 1982 - North Shore News

strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

ONE of the most basic changes I see taking
place in our society is the new attitude

towards death.

Of course it doesn’t apply
to everyone. But it does to a
surprisingly large number of
people I meet.

Simply put,
titude is a shrug.

Death. So what?

It's not quite as Scary as it
used to be. Little by little,
the idea has seeped into our
heads that death is neither
oblivion nor extermination.

I note that the studies
carried out by Dr. Raymond

the new at-

Moody, published under the
title Life After Life, have
been largely verified by a
scientist who set out to
disprove them.

In case you missed them
somehow, Dr. Moody's
widely-publicized interviews
with people who had had
“near-death experiences”
showed that they en-
countered a_ surprisingly
consistent situation.

There would be a ringing

The killing of death

or buzzing. Theyd leave
their bodies behind. They'd
be overwhelmed by a feeling
of peace and relief. Often,
they'd travel down a long

tunnel and emerge into a-

place of light, or else be
greeted by a “being of light.”

Dr. Moody’s little book,
and ae sequel titled
Reflectons on Life After
Life didn’t pretend to be

objective. Most scicatists
scoffed at his rapturous
reports.

But that’s changing now.
One of Dr. Moody's
fiercest critics was an

American cardiologist

Medical Investigation. In i.
he submits 100 cases of neas-
death experiences t© @

rigorous no-nonsesse

analysis.

Originally, Sabom says, lor
thought Dr. Moody's clams
were ridiculous. But 2s be

they coukin’t be written off
as hallucinations.

For instance, patents wip
“died” on the operating tabic
and were subsequcatly
revived could give detaited
reports of the surgery. whacts

Sabom was able to verity
with the doctors involved.

One man, whose heast
stopped beating for several
minutes was able to descstbe
the movements of the
defilibrator dial as hss beat

Exposed himself to children

A MAN said to have in-
decently exposed himself to
children in West Vancouver
Wednesday is being sought

by police.

Some children’ were
walking west on Queens
Avenue at 26th Street when

they were called over to a
pick-up truck parked at the
side of the road, where the
driver exposed himself, said

Tel truck pair arrested

IF YOU steal a_ vehicle,
better make sure it isn’t a
B.C. Tel truck. They're just
too conspicuous —
especially around midnight.

A BC Tel truck was
stopped at the north end of

Lions Gate Bridge by a
Department of Highways
patrol officer shortly after

midnight on the night of
January 15.
The occupants of the

truck, stolen from Surrey
about an hour earlier, fled

on foot and the West Van
police were called in.

Two Surrey youths, one 15
and the other 17, were taken
into custody, and the 17 year
old will be charged with theft
and possession of stolen
property, say the police.

Street improvements approved

FINAL APPROVAL was
given to street improvements
in the Dollarton area by
North Vancouver Distnct

council Monday night.

Aldermen Emie Crist and
Manlyn Baker voted against

the bylaw, which will allow
improvement of several
streets in the area over the
next 10 years.

LOOK SENSATIONAL... FEEL GREAT! i

CUT PERM & CONDITION SPECIAL

Our finest quality perm specially priced

Jan. 25 - Feb. 6 only

INCLUDES REDKEN CONDITIONING TREATMENT
AND OF COURSE. A GREAT (UT

$45°

HAIR TODAY

FINE HAIRSTYLING FOR MEN & WOMEN

Park Royal Mall .

(North) ~

922-9308

CAPEN WELD

He a ERE TT

Peep Weep a ge

Lansdowne Mall

270-1701

Oca Ntanoeet,

‘Rewenmsinie eoonseins,

ayy

Wy apie hag

a police spokesman.

The man ss described by
police as a white matic.
approximately 30 years old,
tall, sim, no accent, with
brown har and brown
framed glasses. He was
driving a yellow Japanese
pick-up truck at the Ome of
the incident.

Anyonc with any mom
formation 1s asked to cali Lod
West Vancouver
detective office at 922-4141.

was shocked back into
action.
The machinc had been

located in a place where the

describing the view from
zbowe — where he said he

bovered, outside his body,

after “dying.”
The strongest argument
agaiast near-death ex-

pestences being real is that
they are just hallucination —
pestaps caused by oxygen
sStarvwahon.

Bot Sabom’s well-
docementied studies indicate
that there's more going on
bese than just a chemical
iigson.

Psychologist Kenneth
Rimg of the University of
Coancctic ut says: “We're no
foneer philosophizing; we're

talking about empirical
observations thst can be

feed 7

Obviously. not cveryone
cam bkave a near-death ex-

perience to help them reach
any conclusions vis-a-vis the
afterlife. But there is. no
doubt in my mind that these
studies and reports § are
significant.

And they seem to be
coming at a time when there
is a perceptible change in
attitudes towards death and
dying, ranging from the
establishment of hospices to
a turning-away from the idea
of blindly maintaining life
long after human beings
have turned into vegetables.

It may be that the human
race is poised on the edge of
a tremendous discovery,
which would come in the
form of scientific proof that
there is no such thing as
death after life.

One of my favorite pieces
of graffiti is a line that says:
DEATH IS THE BIGGEST
KICK OF ALL, THATS
WHY THEY SAVE IT FOR
THE END.

And maybe that’s true.

Delbrook Community
Centre rezoned

DELBROOK Community
Centre land will be rezoned
to emsore its parking space is
eosrecdy zoned and to allow
cogstruction of an entrance
and canopy for the centre.

Several people spoke in
cpposition to the rezoning at
2 North Vancouver District
public hearing January 11,
bet council gave the changes
secoed and third reading
Monday aight.

Most of the public op-
position was to vandalism
and associated
with the building when it was
a school.

But Alderman Mary Segal
said vandalism would
decrease now that the
building belongs to the
North Vancouver
Recreation Commission,
because it will be open for a
greater period cach day.

DAN INTERIORS

20% OFF

SOnstGirs

AL SOUTH

oie