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Opinion Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon, Describes Heaven After Near-Death Experience (VIDEO)

namjiwankaur

SPNer
Nov 14, 2010
557
433
USA
By: Cavan Sieczkowski

A successful neurosurgeon, who has taught at Harvard Medical School and other universities, spent his life dismissing claims of heavenly out-of-body experiences and refuting such talk with scientific logic, until he himself had a near-death experience.

During that time, Dr. Eben Alexander says he saw heaven and knows the afterlife exists. Now he's telling the world in his new book, "Proof of Heaven."

Alexander's tale is the cover story on Newsweek's latest issue, which features the headline, "Heaven Is Real: A Doctor's Experience Of The Afterlife." Alexander, a Christian, claims he took the journey to the afterlife when he slipped into a coma in 2008 after contracting a very rare bacterial meningitis.

Click here to read Dr. Eben Alexander's full account via the Daily Beast.

Alexander describes the heaven he saw over the course of seven days in a coma in an article for the Daily Beast, a Newsweek affiliate:

Toward the beginning of my adventure, I was in a place of clouds. Big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the deep blue-black sky.
Higher than the clouds—immeasurably higher—flocks of transparent, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving long, streamerlike lines behind them.

Birds? Angels? These words registered later, when I was writing down my recollections. But neither of these words do justice to the beings themselves, which were quite simply different from anything I have known on this planet. They were more advanced. Higher forms.

A sound, huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. Again, thinking about it later, it occurred to me that the joy of these creatures, as they soared along, was such that they had to make this noise—that if the joy didn’t come out of them this way then they would simply not otherwise be able to contain it. The sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn’t get you wet.

Alexander says that he traveled through this heaven, surrounded by "millions of butterflies," with a woman. This woman gave him three messages: “You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever," “You have nothing to fear" and “There is nothing you can do wrong.”

Eventually, the neurosurgeon awoke from the coma. He penned a book, "Proof of Heaven," describing his journey. The book is due out Oct. 23.

"Dr. Eben Alexander's near-death experience is the most astounding I have heard in more than four decades of studying this phenomenon," reads a review from Raymond Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of "Life Beyond Life." He goes on to say that the "circumstances of [Eben's] illness and his impeccable credentials make it very hard to formulate a mundane explanation for his case."

"I stood at Eben’s bedside ready to read Last Rites," writes Rev. Michael R. Sullivan, Rector, Holy Innocent’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Ga. "With vivid detail and description, he invites you to walk with him to that place none of us has experienced yet in our humanity we know we shall one day certainly travel. Having survived a near death experience and brought his neurological expertise and background to it, we gain both the insight of the mystics in his poetic words and the reality of the physical world in his scientific explorations."

Still, some remain skeptical. Gawker published a piece comparing Alexander's story to "Experiences" essays written on Erowid.org -- a site a featuring a collection of writings from conscious drug users about their experimentations and trips.

Source: Huffington Post
 

Rory

SPNer
Jul 1, 2012
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Ireland
I find it hard to believe that this man is a neurosurgeon.
Out-of-body experiences can be explained without any supernatural cause. Why then, do people insist on attaching one? To take a purely empirical stance on it, there is nothing to suggest that anything experienced during out-of-body experiences (even meditation) is supernatural.

Still, some remain skeptical. Gawker published a piece comparing Alexander's story to "Experiences" essays written on Erowid.org -- a site a featuring a collection of writings from conscious drug users about their experimentations and trips.
A relevant point.
 

namjiwankaur

SPNer
Nov 14, 2010
557
433
USA
Sat Nam _/|\_

Rory ji

I believe otherwise. I think the things that happen in NDEs and the ways they effect people who have them ... it seems the afterlife is very real. They change people forever. And people watch themselves being resuscitated, etc., and can say what was said and how people were reacting ...even people not in the room.

I know science tries to explain it away, but the reality is...they don't know. The world once thought the world was flat and animals had no emotions....we are still evolving...no matter what science proves it also proves only from their current perspective. Look at the difference between science in 1900 and science today.

But...we all believe different things and there's room for all perspectives on this big big planet.

:singhbhangra:
Nam Jiwan
 

Luckysingh

Writer
SPNer
Dec 3, 2011
1,634
2,758
Vancouver
Sat Nam _/|\_

Rory ji

I believe otherwise. I think the things that happen in NDEs and the ways they effect people who have them ... it seems the afterlife is very real. They change people forever. And people watch themselves being resuscitated, etc., and can say what was said and how people were reacting ...even people not in the room.

I'm sure it does change people forever like you mention and they end up having a comletely different outlook on life.

Roryji,
After being in and experiencing a very similar situation myself, I can say that the majority of what you read is not fictional or imagined!!
Most of what these people say and describe is no joke and they have normally questioned and examined their very own uncertainties before expressing to others.
 

Rory

SPNer
Jul 1, 2012
218
323
Ireland
Sat nam, Namjiwan :grinningsingh:

I believe otherwise. I think the things that happen in NDEs and the ways they effect people who have them ... it seems the afterlife is very real. They change people forever. And people watch themselves being resuscitated, etc., and can say what was said and how people were reacting ...even people not in the room.
It's also known that people in states of unconsciousness & comas can often recall what was happening around them or what people around them were saying. While being resuscitated I don't see why it couldn't be a similar case..

I know science tries to explain it away, but the reality is...they don't know. The world once thought the world was flat and animals had no emotions....we are still evolving...no matter what science proves it also proves only from their current perspective. Look at the difference between science in 1900 and science today.
I probably would've agreed with you a year ago or even maybe a month ago, but I personally have spent too much time and energy believing in these vaguely possible things to make room for any more.
Yes, science changes; but exclusively, science has been ruling out the possibility of, or completely disproving any notion of paranormal/supernatural phenomenons. No reliable scientific discoveries have been made in the way of validifying supernatural claims.

But...we all believe different things and there's room for all perspectives on this big big planet.
That is true and I'm perfectly comfortable with that! mundahug The reason I enjoy posting on this forum is for the wide variety of opinions and interesting characters, and I always log off having learnt something valuable, even if it is just opinion.

Roryji,
After being in and experiencing a very similar situation myself, I can say that the majority of what you read is not fictional or imagined!!
Most of what these people say and describe is no joke and they have normally questioned and examined their very own uncertainties before expressing to others.
Luckyji
I don't mean to be disrespectful towards you or the fact that you've mentioned your experience. I have no doubt that the majority of people (where the minority are conmen, etc.) who claim to have had NDEs or OBEs have had an experience which they believe is supernatural.
I just don't see why we should jump to conclusions when there is a possibility we can explain things rationally, in a way which we might learn something from.
 

Luckysingh

Writer
SPNer
Dec 3, 2011
1,634
2,758
Vancouver
I understand your point quite well and I do agree mostly.
It is clearly NOT all supernatural or the unexplained dimension that can get interpreted quite easily.
There is a lot and I mean a lot of unusual brain activity as well due to your physical state and also the amounts of drugs and meds being infused into a critical being.
There is no doubt that your mind and brain play tricks on you in such situations.

After recovering, it takes a long time to try and work out what was happening and what wasn't.
One thing that I can assure you is that there comes a huge overlap of what is really happening and what you think is happening!!
Personally, it took me well over a year to realise what was going on.
At first, when you realise what your medical condition is, which in my case was after a month in a coma. Then you think that all this activity that was going on was just one huge complicated dream on your heavy doses of meds.

Also NOTE that not everyone has the NDE of hovering and floating above their body etc,, and I certainly didn't OR I don't remember it.
However, there is usually some other things that can help you confirm that something out of the ordinary was going on.
In my case, I awoke and somehow knew my way around the hospital corridors quite well. I actually thought that I had been and walked around until it was confirmed that I was flown in by helicopter and had lay there all the while!!
I also knew the names of some doctors and nurses there, but they had NEVER EVER been on my wing or anywhere near me whilst I was in the coma. But, I knew who they were when I saw them for the apparent 1st time.
So, you see that some other events and knowledge usually confirms that out of the ordinary actions did take place.
BUT, there was also a lot of events and memories that have been confirmed as NOT real or impossible and these I put down to my mind playing tricks due to the condition I was in.

We keep on learning because we will NEVER really know it all.
It is important to concentrate on what's important and not worry too much about things you can't explain.
 

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