Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife [Kindle Edition]

Eben Alexander III M.D. (Author)

Book Description

A SCIENTIST’S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE

 

Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are controversial. Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those people.

A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the “soul” is really a product of brain chemistry. NDEs, he would have been the first to explain, might feel real to the people having them, but in truth they are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.

Then came the day when Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by an extremely rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human— shut down completely. For seven days Alexander lay in a hospital bed in a deep coma. Then, as his doctors weighed the possibility of stopping treatment, Alexander’s eyes popped open. He had come back.

Alexander’s recovery is by all accounts a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself.

This story sounds like the wild and wonderful imaginings of a skilled fantasy writer. But it is not fantasy. Before Alexander underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul. That difficulty with belief created an empty space that no professional triumph could erase. Today he is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition.

This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dr. Eben Alexander’s near-death experience is the most astounding I have heard in more than four decades of studying this phenomenon. [He] is living proof of an afterlife.” (Raymond A. Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of Life After Life )

“Eben Alexander brings a unique perspective to the sacred world combining a glorious, personal vision of spiritual consciousness with patient, insightful scientific inquiry. Proof of Heaven is a compelling story of what may lie ahead for all of us in the life beyond this one. We have nothing to fear.” —Allan J. Hamilton, MD, FACS, author of The Scalpel and the Soul and Zen Mind, Zen Horse

“I can highly recommend this important book that has the potential to break many scientific taboos.” —Dr. Pim van Lommel, cardiologist, author of Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience

“Proof of Heaven is more than just an awe-inspiring account of a profound encounter with spiritual reality. Dr. Alexander’s neuroscience career taught him that near-death experiences are brain-based illusions, and yet his personal experience left him dumbstruck. His honest struggle to make sense of this unforgettable journey is a gripping story, unique in the literature of spiritual experiences, that may well change how we understand our role in the universe.” —Bruce Greyson, MD, co-editor of The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation

About the Author

Eben Alexander, M.D. has been an academic neurosurgeon for the last 25 years, including almost 15 years at the Brigham & Women's and the Children's Hospitals and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 1070 KB
• Print Length: 209 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0749958790
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (October 23, 2012)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008AK8FHM
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Eschatology
  • #1 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult
  • #1 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Science & Religion

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,032 of 1,120 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Science and Religion...Endorsement and Support from another NDE survivor October 26, 2012

By Patric Miller

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As someone who has experienced an NDE, and struggled with many of the same things that Eben discusses here, I am not surprised at the response that many are having to this book. To say "people who have NDE experiences often find the telling of their story, while trying to impart the information they receive during their experience, a difficult task," would be an understatement as vast as the universe.

The clinical aspects of Dr. Alexander's experience are what make this story unique, along with his outright conversion from a "Scientific Reductionist" to someone who sees clearly that consciousness and the vast majority of "what is," are found outside of our space/time universe and current medical or science books.

To get the most out of any book on NDEs, and especially one that intertwines a very personal journey to find family and self, you must start with an open mind and heart. Unfortunately, those who have already hardened their views on both sides of the spectrums of Science and Religion, will dismiss much of what anyone writes on this topic, because it doesn't fit their narrow, dogmatic view of the world.

Even worse, it forces them to look outside of their safe little boxes, and take the effort to learn, while being open to the possibility that current models of both science and faith are a good starting point, but not the ENTIRE answer.

Einstein's quote at the beginning of the chapter "A Final Dilemma" says it best...
"I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be."

Whether you begin as a Christian, a Buddhist, Quantum Physicist or a simple seeker of knowledge beyond current understanding, moving outside of the constructs of your current ways of thinking is imperative to discovery.

Fundamentalism, whether it be religious or scientific, is really no different than intellectual bigotry, closed to expanded thoughts, or encompassing new ways of looking for expanded information. Eben's book embraces both worlds, and does so gracefully, without discounting any specific ideology.

Eben's experience was certainly deeper, and far more expansive than most I have read (including my own NDE). I do agree that the lack of detail about his time in "heaven" (a term that I find limiting) is frustrating to a point. And yet, the need to spend much of this book on the technical side of his coma, his quest and victory regarding his family (past and present), as well as touching on the scientific aspects of the current science regarding external consciousness, make this short book an excellent jumping-off point for deeper study and discussion.

And there's the rub...

After experiencing my own NDE (in 1996), I spent almost two obsessive years trying in vain to "connect the dots of knowledge imparted to me," before putting it all back "in a box" so that I could get on with living my life. Through a series of events over the past two years, I find myself very much back into "telling the story." I now realize that no book, video, or movie is able to even scratch the surface of answering the great questions of life after death, consciousness, and how they all relate to quantum theory. Expecting "the answers" from a book of this size and configuration is naďve and lazy at best.

There is a reason that the section in this book called "Reading List" is expansive. Much has been written on this topic from both the spiritual and scientific approach. If you are a true seeker of the truth, you will not start or end your journey for knowledge with Eben's book. Instead, you will appreciate the facts of his experience, the unique medical reality of his coma, and the amazing revelations about family, love and the eternal nature of consciousness, as the BEGINNING of the journey to true understanding.

While this book in not an expansive, all-inclusive answer to the melding of Science and Religion, I give it 5 stars for being an important, unique story, bringing focus to the need for a global change in the perception and understanding of reality, consciousness and the interconnectedness of everything in creation.

1,181 of 1,301 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rang very true to my soul October 23, 2012

By enoughAlready

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Many of the points the Dr makes were theories that I have personally had for years but couldn't put words to...he puts another's voice to it that is far more technically knowledgeable about the brains function than I.

How time differs from what we understand, how we aren't separate from God or heaven but in our human "suit"(my words not his) we have filters in place which don't allow us to see the glory and miracle all around us...not immediately visible until you understand them for what they are.

It helps explain on a deeper level why it was so painful for Jesus to be separated from God even if only for a short while. That once you have been there you realize that while life in this realm(earthly)is precious, what is ahead is so much better. That we realize the fear of this new place or what happens next is completely unfounded. Sort of like a childs first day of school....by the afternoon most love what they initially feared and never look back to the time before as "better".

I am not sure why but I am certain there is a deep truth to what this Dr experienced. Once I got started I literally stayed up all night reading it.

I come from 25yrs of a very technical background myself where everything has to have an answer, a reason why it works or fails...we don't allow shades of gray or the unexplained in my work. I am the ultimate doubting Thomas and need proof and then documented observational testing/PROOF of it working before I am sold on it and put it into production. Perhaps that is why this Dr's approach...the measuring, going analytical AGAINST what your natural thoughts tell you, making certain to measure in great deal the opposing hypothesis to your thoughts/beliefs ....really works for me. The world is full of crackpots and those easily fooled with emotional tales....but this guy isn't a crackpot and I am no emotional fool. While I don't know him personally I know plenty like him.

Doc if you read these reviews, don't be concerned if you find some haters/doubters/non-believers...in the end it won't matter as we all will experience it and KNOW for certain. I commend you talking about your experience and wish you all the best.

578 of 659 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Prominent Neurosurgeon Vividly Describes Heavenly Journey October 23, 2012

By Jack TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Dr. Eben Alexander, a prominent neurosurgeon at Harvard University, has written a fascinating book about his near-death experience. At the age of 54, he contracted a severe form of E. Coli meningitis, which aggressively attacked his cortex, or the portion of the brain that supplies conscious, rational thought. He slipped into a coma, but instead of experiencing nothing, like in deep sleep, Dr. Alexander describes a journey to heaven.

His experience began in a place of fluffy clouds. Above the clouds, he visualized beings soaring through the sky, beings that he describes as `higher forms.' These beings (or angels?) made a joyful sound that was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. A sound that he could feel, even more than hear. He was then joined by millions of butterflies and a woman. This woman gave him the following three messages: You are loved and cherished; You have nothing to fear; and There is nothing you can do wrong. Her words are comforting and reassuring.

While Dr. Alexander's experiences have startling similarities to other near-death experiences I've read about, what sets his book apart is the fact that Dr. Alexander is a neurosurgeon with great knowledge of what makes up consciousness. The parts of his brain that would create experiences like he underwent (such as in a dream state) were not functional at the time he experienced them. He is also a man of science and a skeptic, who changed his views completely after experiencing this. This transformation is interesting and notable. His descriptions of heaven are vivid, uplifting, and fascinating.

If you enjoy this book, there are two books from physicians which I would highly recommend. Dr. Francis Collins' The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief is an easy-to-read book about integrating Christian beliefs with modern science. Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project, describes how belief in God and the Bible doesn't have to be in conflict with science and its findings. As a physician, I've struggled with these conflicts ever since my college biology courses. His book helped me immensely.

In Stitches by Dr. Anthony Youn is a lighter but highly entertaining coming-of-age story about one young man's struggles with parents, romance, medicine, God, and finding your place in the world. It's especially recommended for people who struggle with who they are and why they're here. Dr. Youn's book is fun, uplifting, and an absolute joy to read.

More About the Author

Dr. Eben Alexander III has been an academic neurosurgeon for the last 25 years, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women's and the Children's Hospitals and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Over his academic career he authored or co-authored over 150 chapters and papers in peer reviewed journals, and made over 200 presentations at conferences and medical centers around the world. He thought he had a very good idea of how the brain generates consciousness, mind and spirit.
In the predawn hours of November 10, 2008, he was driven into coma by a rare and mysterious bacterial meningitis-encephalitis of unknown cause. He spent a week in coma on a ventilator, his prospects for survival diminishing rapidly. On the seventh day, to the surprise of everyone, he started to awaken. Memories of his life had been completely deleted inside of coma, yet he awoke with memories of a fantastic odyssey deep into another realm - more real than this earthly one! His older son advised him to write down everything he could remember about his journey, before he read anything about near-death experiences, physics or cosmology. Six weeks later, he completed his initial recording of his remarkable journey, totaling over 20,000 words in length. Then he started reading, and was astonished by the insights his journey brought to the world's literature on near-death experiences, and to all phenomena of extended consciousness. His experience clearly revealed that we are conscious in spite of our brain - that, in fact, consciousness is at the root of all existence.
His story offers a crucial key to the understanding of reality and human consciousness. It will have a major effect on how we view spirituality, soul and the non-material realm. In analyzing his experience, including the scientific possibilities and grand implications, he envisions a more complete reconciliation of modern science and spirituality as a natural product.
He has been blessed with a complete recovery, and has written a book about this most powerful, life-changing story. Simon & Schuster will publish his book, entitled "Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife" on October 23, 2012.
For more information, including video links and reading list, visit http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net

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