Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Coma

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Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Coma

Postby Nordic » Wed Oct 10, 2012 2:17 am

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/lat ... ng-a-coma/

TOP NEUROSURGEON ‘SPENT SIX DAYS IN HEAVEN’ DURING A COMA

A top neurosurgeon claims to have ‘Proof of heaven’ after making a full recovery from a seven day coma that saw his neocortex inactivated.

Dr Eben Alexander, who teaches neuroscience at Harvard University among others, fell seriously ill after contracting a rare form of bacterial meningitis in 2008.

Within hours of developing a severe headache, Dr Alexander’s entire cortex—the section of the brain that controls thought and emotion —had shut down.

Though his chances of survival were low, he awoke from the coma seven days later and began describing an ‘other worldly experience’.

"I was in a place of clouds. Big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the deep blue-black sky," he wrote in an article for Newsweek.

He also goes on to describe "Flocks of transparent, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving long, streamer-like lines behind them."

While Dr Alexander admits his scientific expertise has made him skeptical of afterlife experiences, he claims the loss of function to his cortex makes his experiences unique.

"I’m not the first person to have discovered evidence that consciousness exists beyond the body," he said.

"I know full well how extraordinary, how frankly unbelievable, all this sounds."

"But as far as I know, no one before me has ever traveled to this dimension (a) while their cortex was completely shut down, and (b) while their body was under minute medical observation, as mine was for the full seven days of my coma."

Dr Alexander admits many still struggle to accept his story, particularly his medical colleagues.

His forthcoming book, "Proof of Heaven, A Neurosurgeon journey into the Afterlife" that aims to dispel the skepticism will be published by Simon & Schuster later this month.

"I’m still a doctor, and still a man of science every bit as much as I was before I had my experience,” he said. “But on a deep level I’m very different from the person I was before, because I’ve caught a glimpse of this emerging picture of reality."


From another article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rgeon.html

Afterlife exists says top brain surgeon

A prominent scientist who had previously dismissed the possibility of the afterlife says he has reconsidered his belief after experiencing an out of body experience which has convinced him that heaven exists.

While in a coma the neurosurgeon says he was met by a beautiful woman in a 'place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones'

By Mark Hughes, New York7:52PM BST 09 Oct 2012

Dr Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days in 2008 after contracting meningitis.

During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion "shut down" and that he then experienced "something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death." In an essay for American magazine Newsweek, which he wrote to promote his book Proof of Heaven, Dr Alexander says he was met by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a "place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones" and "shimmering beings".

He continues: "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." The doctor adds that a "huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. the sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn't get you wet."

Dr Alexander says he had heard stories from patients who spoke of outer body experiences but had disregarded them as "wishful thinking" but has reconsidered his opinion following his own experience.

He added: "I know full well how extraordinary, how frankly unbelievable, all this sounds. Had someone even a doctor told me a story like this in the old days, I would have been quite certain that they were under the spell of some delusion.

"But what happened to me was, far from being delusional, as real or more real than any event in my life. That includes my wedding day and the birth of my two sons." He added: "I've spent decades as a neurosurgeon at some of the most prestigous medical institutions in our country. I know that many of my peers hold as I myself did to the theory that the brain, and in particular the cortex, generates consciousness and that we live in a universe devoid of any kind of emotion, much less the unconditional love that I now know God and the universe have toward us.

"But that belief, that theory, now lies broken at our feet. What happened to me destroyed it."


Okay, none of this is terribly new, but if I recall, most of these "going into the light" type experiences involved a very brief period of time, usually just a few moments, or at the most a few minutes, after which they were whisked back to "reality" to continue living their lives. This one seems to have gone on for quite some time. While the dude was in a coma.

We've probably had a few of these types of threads in the past, but WTH, here's a new one. Place seems kind of slow anyway.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby Ben D » Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:54 am

"I was in a place of clouds.

This is also the error of novice meditators whose state of consciousness has temporarily transcended the mundane ego body consciousness, that when the conscious state returns to normal, the ego body consciousness 'I' claims the experience.

Now he knows that his body/brain was not in heaven, it was in a hospital, and the ego state of consciousness that we refer to as 'I' arises as a result of brain mind, so if his brain was shut down and physical body in a bed under observation, how could he be out of body in Heaven?

Understanding what and who 'I' really am, not theoretical but absolutely, is the key! We're talking subtle bio-vibrational fields beyond the mundane time space model.
There is That which was not born, nor created, nor evolved. If it were not so, there would never be any refuge from being born, or created, or evolving. That is the end of suffering. That is God**.

** or Nirvana, Allah, Brahman, Tao, etc...
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby DrVolin » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:56 am

Of course, the vulgar materialist in me wants to point out that perhaps the whole experience was a split second while his neo-cortex was rebooting at the end of the coma. And the naive Popperian in me wants to ask whether and how he can test that hypothesis.
all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide
And history bears the scars of our civil wars

--Guns and Roses
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby tazmic » Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:25 am

After six days on triple antibiotics, showing no response and with little neurological function remaining, his physicians had few words of encouragement for his family.

On day seven he said “Thank you” when the breathing tube was removed! However, his earliest recollections were strange and involved no recall of his life before coma. Like a newborn, he had no functioning language, nor knowledge of this world, our culture, or the loved ones surrounding him. Foggy-minded for several days, he steadily improved and began writing and organizing his recollections of the experience..

Memories from the time in coma were inexplicable. They were like a patchwork quilt, with no apparent sequence, nor temporal relationship to one another.
[Regardless,...]The purest and most extraordinary part of his journey happened deep in coma.

http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net/archives


Interview:

http://www.skeptiko.com/154-neurosurgeon-dr-eben-alexander-near-death-experience/
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby JackRiddler » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:47 am

DrVolin wrote:Of course, the vulgar materialist in me wants to point out that perhaps the whole experience was a split second while his neo-cortex was rebooting at the end of the coma. And the naive Popperian in me wants to ask whether and how he can test that hypothesis.


Doesn't have to be a split second. Just because the brain's not showing measurable activity on electroscan doesn't mean nothing's going on in there. He was alive. The article speaks of "little" neurological activity, not none. With no inputs or doings to occupy him it might not take much to create this state somewhere deep in there. His story of it is interesting, but once he presents it under the title of "Proof of Heaven," you have to wonder about the effects of trauma.
We meet at the borders of our being, we dream something of each others reality. - Harvey of R.I.

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I am by virtue of its might divine,
The highest Wisdom and the first Love.

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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby crikkett » Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:56 am

a) doctors are stuck on themselves
b) he's probably never hallucinated before
c) I'm glad he pulled through
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby jlaw172364 » Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:56 am

If only I were one of his colleages.

Then I could use the same gaslighting process he probably used on other people.

"Now, Dr. So and So, you know it was all just an illusion, because our imperfect, recently designed instruments based on recently discovered partially understood by only a tiny fraction of humanity principles can't detect your experience! Now, why don't you just sit back and relax with a nice sedative?"

Then he would argue back, with increased agitation, "No! You don't understand! I experienced it! It was real!"

Then I would reply, "Ssuuuuurrreeeeee it was, now let me get the men in the white coats . . . ."

I think a similar experience happened to a leading exponent of positivism, and then he stated that he had to reconsider everything he previously believed. What cracks me up, is clearly THEY have trouble accepted that their own personal experiences might be nothing more than illusions or fantasies, but they have no problem telling OTHER people who have similar experiences that they're completely insane.
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby Hammer of Los » Thu Oct 11, 2012 5:12 am

...

Thank you Jlaw.

F**k doctors.

They don't know the Christian Science, do they?

Time? Space? Cause and Effect? What do they know about it?

I had experiences which I immediately recognised from my many decades of reading.

I read everything. None know how much I read. I am Unamit Alhazredit!

I studied nearly every religion, every philosophy, of occident and orient, exoteric and esoteric.

And I devoted my life to humble service to my family, and to my philosophical studies.

Then I had the experience that was told of again and again and again by those who know.

I should probably have resigned to keep in silence, huh?

That's my problem. My big flappin' beak.

Be a tuning fork upon the earth.

...
Who be Doctor? And Who be Patience?
Who Possessed by Giant so Ancient?

Who Tank Engine? Who Fat Controller?
Who was Flattened by Steam Roller?
...


...
Last edited by Hammer of Los on Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby yathrib » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:19 pm

What if it was "real," but not what it seems?

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_ ... en-III.htm
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If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby DrEvil » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:13 pm

DrVolin wrote:Of course, the vulgar materialist in me wants to point out that perhaps the whole experience was a split second while his neo-cortex was rebooting at the end of the coma. And the naive Popperian in me wants to ask whether and how he can test that hypothesis.


When I was a kid I tried the "hyperventilating and then have someone press your chest till you pass out" trick. I was out for maybe 2-3 seconds, but in that time I had long and vivid dreams. It felt like I'd just spent an entire night dreaming.
Also - someone having an experience like this and then calling it "proof" of anything is not someone I'm inclined to trust. Personal experience is not proof of anything. Our brains didn't evolve for "truth", it shows us what we want/need to see.
"I only read American. I want my fantasy pure." - Dave
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby Elvis » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:58 pm

It's been demonstrated to my satisfaction that consciousness exists/can exist outside and apart from the body---and brain. Of course I think brain activity is 'real' (and there's some interesting overlap here with, among others of course, the "Your Brain Works Like a Radio" thread) but I'm convinced that consciousness is prime, the physical mechanisms secondary.

This might be a good place to lay out the evidence for the primacy of consciousness over matter---even the origin of matter from consciousness---but honestly I'm too busy and distracted to focus on it just now.

I guess the question here is, did this physician visit some "objectively" existing reality? Or did his brain merely make it all up? I'm inclined to take his perception at face value, but I've had some interesting episodes myself and cannot know if what I experienced was "genuine" or something my brain cooked up.

Really, though, what is "real" anyway? Referring to the thread about Nick Bostrom's "20% chance we're living in a simulation," I do think we're living in a simulation, but I think we ourselves are co-creators (along with...who knows?)

The best we can do is proceed with both eyes wide open, so to speak.
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby JackRiddler » Thu Oct 11, 2012 5:22 pm

crikkett wrote:a) doctors are stuck on themselves
b) he's probably never hallucinated before
c) I'm glad he pulled through


You win the prize for brief & obvious. (Obvious in a good way.)
We meet at the borders of our being, we dream something of each others reality. - Harvey of R.I.

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I am by virtue of its might divine,
The highest Wisdom and the first Love.

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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby Hammer of Los » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:11 pm

...

OMFG he mentioned WiH.

moving quickly on

Elvis, is of course, my latest darling.

But I see the good doctor is being evil again;

Also - someone having an experience like this and then calling it "proof" of anything is not someone I'm inclined to trust. Personal experience is not proof of anything. Our brains didn't evolve for "truth", it shows us what we want/need to see.


That's a very confused assertion.

What is the "someone?"

What is the "experience?"

What constitutes "proof?"

What is "personal experience?"

What is a "brain?"

What did it "evolve" for?

What is "truth"?

I have as much proof as I need, thank you very much.

I know what indubitable means.

All is metaphor.

There is no fiction.

Doubt everything you can.

But try to discover that which cannot be doubted.

Absolutely relative are all conceptions of the human mind.

All is Thought in the Mind of Man.

Man rules this Sphere.

Middle Earth.

He is the Paragon of Animals.

The monkey that stood upright.

Nanotech?

Dna?

Black monolith?

...
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby slimmouse » Fri Oct 12, 2012 2:30 am

I have little doubt the reductionists in our midst might beg to differ, but I was always impressed by Dennis McKennas recollections when exiting one of his Ayahuasca experiences, at which point he was apparently informed that "you monkeys only think you're in charge'
I think this might be a point well illustrated when we consider that literally thousands of people ( and no, I can't name them all) have described NDE's and similar experiences as essentially ineffable.
I guess either you get it or you don't.
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Re: Top Neurosurgeon ‘Spent Six Days in Heaven’ During A Com

Postby Hammer of Los » Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:05 am

...

You'd be surprised at exactly how much of the ineffable can actually be effed.

...
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