What we can perceive collectively tells us little about our collective consciousness. Humans are more than just meat.
[Let’s say experiments are done, and there is finally a comprehensive, scientifically rigorous, and materialist account of what causes an NDE. What then? Does it mean that all the stories people tell of seeing angels and meeting their deceased relatives are just fairy tales to be ignored?]
Yes, but that's even unrelated to NDE's.
Irrelevent
> but that's even unrelated to NDE's
Exactly
What is interesting is how NDEs share traits of the unconscious mind and its archetypes. Commonality that is shared by everyone from dreams, through to meditative states, vision quests and various states of psychosis. Even Jung started building his framework with insights from an NDE; the incorporation of eastern philosophy into our western analytical model allows for a very deep study of our psyche -- regardless of world-view -- and opens up horizons for the mind that were previously inaccessible due to a lack of sophistication in that area. NDEs are another intrigue that can be added to the list of phenomenon that allow us insight into our psyche.