"Heaven is real," says neurosurgeon

[Mrtyu-Mara]

Article.

For those that don't like to click links:

Quote:

Dr. Eben Alexander has taught at Harvard Medical School and has earned a strong reputation as a neurosurgeon. And while Alexander says he's long called himself a Christian, he never held deeply religious beliefs or a pronounced faith in the afterlife.

But after a week in a coma during the fall of 2008, during which his neocortex ceased to function, Alexander claims he experienced a life-changing visit to the afterlife, specifically heaven.

"According to current medical understanding of the brain and mind, there is absolutely no way that I could have experienced even a dim and limited consciousness during my time in the coma, much less the hyper-vivid and completely coherent odyssey I underwent," Alexander writes in the cover story of this week's edition of Newsweek.

So what exactly does heaven look like?

Alexander says he first found himself floating above clouds before witnessing, "transparent, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving long, streamer like lines behind them."

He claims to have been escorted by an unknown female companion and says he communicated with these beings through a method of correspondence that transcended language. Alexander says the messages he received from those beings loosely translated as:

"You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever."

"You have nothing to fear."

"There is nothing you can do wrong."

From there, Alexander claims to have traveled to "an immense void, completely dark, infinite in size, yet also infinitely comforting." He believes this void was the home of God.

After recovering from his meningitis-induced coma, Alexander says he was reluctant to share his experience with his colleagues but found comfort inside the walls of his church. He's chronicled his experience in a new book, "Proof of Heaven: A neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife," which will be published in late October.

"I'm still a doctor, and still a man of science every bit as much as I was before I had my experience," Alexander writes. "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. And you can believe me when I tell you that it will be worth every bit of the work it will take us, and those who come after us, to get it right."

It boggles my mind as to how this neurosurgeon's word as to what he supposedly "saw" constitutes as proof enough for an afterlife, let alone Heaven specifically. The comments on the article only further the assertion that people are gullible as hell, and will buy into any "based off of a true story" spiel.

What do you think? Personally, in our scientific knowledge, I'm positive we don't even know anywhere close to 50% of how the brain works, and all of its machinations. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to take this neurosurgeon's recollection of his "experience" with a grain of salt.

[Wraith of Azrael]

I'd go off on a limb and say that when his neocortex ceased to function his brain started to die a little and so hallucinations occur or something to that effect.

It's not too uncommon. Someone is dying either due to a heart attack or something like that and as a result of dying brain cells or some other type of s**t they start to see bits and pieces of their pass blob together into absolutely crazy s**t.

Basically, just because someone saw s**t doesn't mean that it means that it existed.

[Riahlize]

Lmao
Aside from the obvious intellectual dishonesty this neurosurgeon is providing, even if he wasn't, he's using the argument from ignorance.
“Nothing in my medical field explains what happened, therefore what I saw was real, therefore heaven exists.”
talk2hand

[Henry Hobo-Master]

I wouldn't rule out that he is using this chance to get famous and rich/richer. He is claiming that heaven exists, and in order to find out you need to buy the book. That sounds a little too good to be true.

Also, the title of his book is misleading. It isn't proof, and we cannot take his "word" that these things are exactly true. I'm with you OP on this one. Take it with a grain of salt.

[Fermionic]

Perhaps he ate something off. Something from Aldi, perhaps.

[Jazin Kay]

Watch as this is spread around Facebook by Christian literalists incessantly.

[Xiam]

Just seems odd that a neuroscientist would experience these things and not first think, "Okay, what would cause this to happen?"

[Jazin Kay]

Xiam

Just seems odd that a neuroscientist would experience these things and not first think, "Okay, what would cause this to happen?"

If he's the kind that prays before operations and blames divinity for his error, I'd like to know where he practices so I can steer clear of him.

[dh8d1]

Ontological Empiricism

"Heaven is real," says Neurosurgeon

Sorry, I saw that and thought "Also extra-terrestrials are real, says retail store manager."

[Haha Coffee]

Xiam

Just seems odd that a neuroscientist would experience these things and not first think, "Okay, what would cause this to happen?"

What if he did?
To quote the artical, and to be man enough tohighlight the speculative

Quote:

"According to current medical understanding of the brain and mind, there is absolutely no way that I could have experienced even a dim and limited consciousness during my time in the coma, much less the hyper-vivid and completely coherent odyssey I underwent,"

It seems like he did question what happened, against his (not petty) knowledge of the Brain and found no sufficient answer.

[Jazin Kay]

All he said, in effect, was that the level of understanding needs to be widened. And because he's Christian, he had to wedge his deity in a crack somewhere.

What worries me is whether or not he'll take it back out when he finds better information, when the mysteries of the mind are solved a little more. If he doesn't, he's not a scientist.

[PikachuBaller]

I'll believe it <3

[Mrtyu-Mara]

Haha Coffee

It seems like he did question what happened, against his (not petty) knowledge of the Brain and found no sufficient answer.

So the answer he settled with was "God/Heaven" instead of actually trying to find a sufficient answer to the bizarre phenomenon he experienced.

"This can't be explained sufficiently, therefore God/Aliens." emotion_awesome

I have to agree with Henry Hobo-Master, and not rule out that he's playing on peoples' gullibility to become richer/famous.

[Haha Coffee]

Ontological Empiricism

Haha Coffee

It seems like he did question what happened, against his (not petty) knowledge of the Brain and found no sufficient answer.

So the answer he settled with was "God/Heaven" instead of actually trying to find a sufficient answer to the bizarre phenomenon he experienced.

"This can't be explained sufficiently, therefore God/Aliens." emotion_awesome

I have to agree with Henry Hobo-Master, and not rule out that he's playing on peoples' gullibility to become richer/famous.

You forget, he did try and find an answer, and didn't find one.
That could just as easily mean that his heaven assumption is correct, as easily as it could mean the experience is simply beyond current medical understanding.
You will notice you are very biasadly leaning only one way in "your" assumption.

He could very well be playing on people, but he could equally not be, and could have experienced a very real thing.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

Haha Coffee

Ontological Empiricism

Haha Coffee

It seems like he did question what happened, against his (not petty) knowledge of the Brain and found no sufficient answer.

So the answer he settled with was "God/Heaven" instead of actually trying to find a sufficient answer to the bizarre phenomenon he experienced.

"This can't be explained sufficiently, therefore God/Aliens." emotion_awesome

I have to agree with Henry Hobo-Master, and not rule out that he's playing on peoples' gullibility to become richer/famous.

You forget, he did try and find an answer, and didn't find one.
That could just as easily mean that his heaven assumption is correct, as easily as it could mean the experience is simply beyond current medical understanding.
You will notice you are very biasadly leaning only one way in "your" assumption.

He could very well be playing on people, but he could equally not be, and could have experienced a very real thing.

I'll say I'm biased, because I'm a skeptic. I'm not going to take this man for his word. It's not just in this case, it's in any case where someone says they experienced something supernatural -- be it a ghost, or a deity.

Unless I observe/experience something for myself, I have a hard time believing, and I take what people say with a grain of salt.

Yes, what he experienced could have been real, but his "say-so" is not proof for the existence of Heaven.