Dr. Eben Alexander says God is 'a brilliant orb of light brighter than a million suns, awesome beyond any words, in and through everything.'
Dr. Eben Alexander’s best-selling book, “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife,” has aroused the ire of both scientists and theologians. Still this eminent neurologist, who was once an articulate skeptic, persists in telling about his near-death experience. He calls it a beautiful gift that has radically changed his life.
One of the most remarkable things about mystical experiences is that they are experienced by both religious and non-religious alike. And they can be life-changing, whether interpreted in spiritual or secular terms.
Dr. Eben Alexander’s best-selling book, “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife,” has aroused the ire of both scientists and theologians. Still this eminent neurologist, who was once an articulate skeptic, persists in telling about his near-death experience. He calls it a “beautiful gift” that has radically changed his life. He now attends worship regularly and tells his story to anyone who will listen.
The doctor speaks to some of the basic questions that all of us have about the meaning of life and, more importantly to old guys like me, the meaning of death.
A few years ago I received an offer for a new book called, “What Happens After Death?” The promo asks, “Where are our loved ones who have died? Is there life beyond the grave? Are we destined to go somewhere to experience some form of reward or punishment? Do we have immortal souls? Will we be conscious after death? Just what is the truth? You need to know.”
Do we need to know? Can we know? I certainly would like to know if our consciousness survives after death. Does the me I know as myself – my memories, my hopes and dreams, all of the knowledge I have accumulated in my72 long years – continue after I take my last breath? I hope so. I believe so. I have faith that my soul survives beyond the death of my body, but I don’t know so.
The Apostle Paul summed up the uncertainty we Homo sapiens have, about all things mortal and immortal, when he wrote, “For now we see through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known” – King James translation
Eugene Peterson translates it this way: “We don’t yet see things clearly. We are squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.”
During his near-death experience, Alexander says he saw things clearly.
“My experience showed me that the death of the body and the brain are not the end of consciousness, that human experience continues beyond the grave,” he wrote. “More important, it continues under the gaze of a God who loves and cares about each one of us and about where the universe itself and all the beings within it are ultimately going.
“To say that there is still a chasm between our current scientific understanding of the universe and the truth as I saw it is a considerable understatement. … The physical side of the universe is as a speck of dust compared to the invisible and spiritual part. In my past view, spiritual wasn’t a word that I would have employed during a scientific conversation. Now I believe it is a word that we cannot afford to leave out.”
But we do not need to wait until we die to know what Alexander knows – or to communicate with God the way he did in that nether world between life and death.
“So I was communicating directly with God? Absolutely,” he wrote. “Expressed that way, it sounds grandiose. But when it was happening it didn’t feel that way. Instead I felt like I was doing what every soul is able to do when they leave their bodies, and what we can all do right now through various methods of prayer or deep meditation.”
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Alexander described God as the very essence of love.
“… a brilliant orb of light brighter than a million suns, awesome beyond any words, in and through everything,” he said.
Yes, get yourself an Easter present. Read Eben Alexander’s “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife.” Go to your local library or bookstore, or order it online today. It might change your life. It did mine.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.
John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the son of dairy farmers. the author of “Vision Stories” and “How to Preach the Miracles,” he's collecting more personal-vision stories for a future column. Email johnsumwalt@gmail.com or call 414-339-0676 to reach him.
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Dr. Eben Alexander says God is 'a brilliant orb of light brighter than a million suns, awesome beyond any words, in and through everything.'
Dr. Eben Alexander’s best-selling book, “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife,” has aroused the ire of both scientists and theologians. Still this eminent neurologist, who was once an articulate skeptic, persists in telling about his near-death experience. He calls it a beautiful gift that has radically changed his life.
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