So Bernardo comes at the problem of nature of consciousness from the conventional scientific reductionist approach. However, he does not dodge the many anomalies and sites several fascinating examples of where individuals have taken on new radical mind capabilities as a result of some form of brain damage. He then goes on to report how modern investigations of the action of hallucinogenic pharmacological agents don't cause the brain to fire more, but actually reduce the brain's activity. IOW, connecting with transcendent experiences involves taking the physical brain out of the way [the brain is indeed a reducing valve - my editorializing].

Of course Bernardo qualifies he hasn't fully come over to the dualist camp just yet (but I'd be willing to wager that that is definitely where he'll find himself if he remains earnest in his pursuit). He next needs to go take a hard look at Dr. Eben Alexander's case.

However, this talk does appear indicative of the thaw that is going on in science - there are those that are indeed starting to face up to the so-called anomalies and try to take them on in respect to explanation. Eventually they'll have to confront the likes of the Dr. Eben Alexander experience and the hundreds of others that are reported in the numerous studies conducted since the 1970s.

BTW, what Bernardo failed to mention to his audience about the experiments using a centrifuge to cause oxygen deprivation of pilots is that the experiences they describe that are said to be like the reported near death experience (NDE) phenomena, is that they never report an extended coherent narrative experience as do all the actual NDE cases. Nor is their life changed by their experience as is the life of NDE survivors. The pilots never experience seeing dead relatives or, as is often the case with NDE, reporting information that can be verified for accuracy but which the experiencer had no a priori knowledge of.

In conjunction to above comments, it is worth mentioning that the Seattle area King County Library system has a wait list of over a hundred for Dr. Eben Alexander's book. (Personally is hard to imagine why anyone waits on a book that can be downloaded for $12 to $14 per Kindle edition, but none-the-less is indicative that the word is out in respect to this book. It's truly a dramatic break-through case for anyone that is honestly examining the evidences.)