The Canadian National Newspaper: Near Death Experience: The Daemon Eidolon Dyad

In early 1961 a young mother was prescribed a sedative for her hyperactive toddler. The doctor assured her that this new wonder drug known as Distaval was totally safe. And so it seemed. Her son reacted well to the first dose and she left the drug in her bathroom cabinet.

A few weeks later she found that she could not sleep. She remembered the Distaval and decided to take some. What happened next seems inexplicable. As she was about to swallow the pills she heard a voice -- from within -- say, quite clearly “They were not prescribed for you, you are pregnant, so don’t take them”. The voice had such authority that the young woman threw the tablets away and made herself a hot drink.

Soon afterwards the voice was proven correct. The young woman was mystified but overjoyed. She was amazed that the ‘inner voice’ knew that she was pregnant but she was puzzled as to why it did not want her to take the drug.

Three months later she knew. Distaval was the trade name for the drug known as thalidomide. Her baby would have probably been born without arms or legs. This would have been a huge tragedy because her new baby grew up to be a very talented artist.

This is one of many cases that I discuss in my book Is There Life After Death-The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die. Although this may not at first sight be anything other than an interesting example of precognition I argue that this incident may be evidence of a much deeper truth - that we are all dual beings and many of us are living the final moments of our lives in a Matrix-like illusion that we assume is reality.

Central to the belief system of the ancient Greeks was that all human beings consisted of not one but two independent entities; a lower, everyday self called an eidolon and an immortal, transcendental being that they called a daemon.

The idea of this daemon-eidolon duality was to fascinate the ancient Greeks and soon a whole philosophy of universal structure was to be built around this relationship. The earliest known writer on the subject was Empedocles. For him the daemon is a divine being exiled from its rightful place among the gods. It exists totally independently of its eidolon, and has great knowledge and power.

Plato tells that throughout his life his great teacher Socrates had assistance from a ‘guide’. Socrates called this disincarnate voice his ‘Divine Sign’. From childhood this voice had communicated to him its opinions on what he was doing, or intended to do. According to Plato this ‘voice’ forbade Socrates from doing things and regularly gave prognostications on whether good or bad luck would follow a certain action. It is as if Socrates ‘Divine Sign’ was directly aware of the philosopher’s potential future. Indeed Plato was at great pains to point out that many of these predictions were marked by extreme triviality; as if this spirit was tied very closely to the minutiae of Socrates’ life.

The Romans also had an ancient but popular belief that each man had his own attendant ‘spirit’ that followed him throughout his life. This being, termed his genius, was born with him and as such was honoured, therefore, by each individual, on his birthday.

This belief carried through into Christianity in the guise of Gnosticism. According to the Gnostics the universe was under the influence of two conflicting forces; Light and Darkness. Human beings are in turn a reflection of this duality. Our soul is a spark that comes from the Light. It is therefore part of the positive side. However our bodies are made up of matter. Matter is part of the Darkness. As such there is this ongoing conflict within the human condition. Man is imprisoned in this body of darkness but a part of him retains memories of his divine origin. The part of man rooted in the darkness equates to the Eidolon. This being is made of matter and will cease to be when the body dies. However that part of him that retains the memory is the Daemon.

This is all very interesting with regard to the history of religion and mysticism but it really has no relevance to 21st century psychology and neurology. Or has it?

Neurologists have long been puzzled by the fact that the brain consists of two absolutely identical hemispheres. Every structure in one side is mirrored in the other, with one, curious exception, the pineal gland. There are two of everything; two limbic systems, two temporal lobes two amygdalas, the list goes on. Indeed the puzzle has deepened in that it has been shown that certain individuals continue as normal people even when one of the hemispheres is damaged or removed. Indeed in the last fifty years or so surgery has advanced to such an extent that the corpus callosum can be cut and in doing so the two hemispheres cease to have a line of communication. When this is done these patients literally have ‘split brains’. They also end up with two independent centres of consciousness. The implication of this is both clear and mind-blowing; we have two independent beings sharing our perceptions.

Usually the two hemispheres work in tandem with the left generating a constant stream of inner dialogue that gives us our sense of self. Meanwhile the right hemisphere is still actively involved in all cognitive processes, working away in the background. However, and here comes the surprise, the being known as ‘I’ or ‘me’ is generally completely unaware of what its silent partner is up to. Indeed for most of the time ‘I’ is completely unaware of its partner. Problems arise when the two fall out of phase. Suddenly ‘I’ senses ‘us’. However it is much more disturbing than that. The dominant hemisphere perceives its non-dominant twin as an external presence, a being that is not self but other. To the experiencer this ‘sensed presence’ is not themselves at all but an outside ego-alien being.

Michael Persinger of the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada, has spent many years studying this peculiar psychological effect. He even has a term for this perception. He calls it the ‘Visitor Experience’. Indeed he has been able to reproduce the sensation under laboratory conditions. Persinger considers that the experience shows a linear progression. At its weakest the subject just feels that they are not alone -- that there is something else in the room that he or she cannot see. However at its strongest the subject perceives an objectively existing being of tangible reality, a being that has great emotional significance to him or her. For some this may be perceived as an angel or even a god.

What is very interesting is that if the lower portion of the temporal lobes become activated at this time then long dormant memories may spontaneously enter the subject’s mind. The ‘being’ will then communicate information that seems intensely personal. This may be interpreted as telepathy or omnipotent knowledge. However there is more. According to Persinger past-life memories can be evoked in a panoramic life re-run similar to those reported during the phenomenon known as the Near-Death Experience.

If this is the case then could it be that the other major element of the NDE experience - the ‘Being In White’ - is really an external projection of the experiencer’s non-dominant consciousness? If so it would certainly explain how this being shows such intimate knowledge of the dying person’s past life. Could it be that this being really is an independent focus of consciousness that has shared the life of its alter-ego? Could the experiments of Persinger shown that the Daemon is a very real aspect of every human being’s neurological make-up?

In my book I suggest that during the last few seconds of life we all split into the two entities. Up until this moment both entities have perceived themselves as a unitary being. The Daemon, suddenly discovering its true vocation, is aware that it is responsible for the experience called the past-life review. It begins the review whilst at the same time manifesting itself as an image perceived by its Eidolon as a reassuring figure such as a relative, religious figure or even an animal. The Daemon then starts the past-life review using the memory stores of the temporal lobes. Many NDE survivors describe how their ‘life flashed before my eyes’. This may be because the Daemon, suddenly becoming aware that death will be avoided this time, metaphorically presses the ‘fast forward’ button and aborts the process.

What happens in a Real-Death Experience is that the Daemon starts the past-life review without the need to fast-forward. The dying Eidolon, in the last few seconds of its life, falls out of time and re-lives again its whole life in a minute by minute three dimensional recreation of a life that is indistinguishable from the real thing. However there is one major difference - this time the Daemon is not only self-aware but remembers what happened last time. In this way the Daemon reproduces exactly the role as described by the ancient sages. It becomes a guardian angel looking after the life of its lower self - exactly as described by Socrates.

Could it be that most of us are living our lives in a three dimensional illusion? Well it would help to explain certain ongoing mysteries such as what happened to the young mother back in 1961. Precognition suddenly does not defy scientific knowledge because it is simply a memory. Déjà vu can be seen for what it is -- a jump in the playback mechanism or simply a flashback. And what about those weird hunches, synchronicities and intuitions that seems to regularly enter our consciousness? Could they be just messages from our own higher self -- our Daemon?

Anthony Peake is the author of Is There Life After Death - The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die. Professor Bruce Grayson, calls it “the most innovative and provocative argument I have ever seen” and Colin Wilson considers it “a remarkable intellectual adventure”. Anthony is a member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies and The Scientific & Medical Network. He can be contacted via his website, LINK and Blogsite, LINK.

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