In 2008 Harvard neurosurgeon Eben Alexander contracted a form of meningitis and lay in a coma for 7 days. His entire cortex had shut down. He writes: "For seven days I lay in a deep coma, my body unresponsive, my higher-order brain functions totally offline."
This week Alexander is on the cover of Newsweek. He is a Christian, and mostly was one in name only. He writes:
"Although I considered myself a faithful Christian, I was so more in name than in actual belief. I didn’t begrudge those who wanted to believe that Jesus was more than simply a good man who had suffered at the hands of the world. I sympathized deeply with those who wanted to believe that there was a God somewhere out there who loved us unconditionally. In fact, I envied such people the security that those beliefs no doubt provided. But as a scientist, I simply knew better than to believe them myself."
But then something happened that changed his mind and his life.
"In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death.
I know how pronouncements like mine sound to skeptics, so I will tell my story with the logic and language of the scientist I am."
You can read his story here - "Heaven Is Real: A Doctor’s Experience With the Afterlife."
On Oct. 23 his book on this event will be published - Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.
You can read his story here - "Heaven Is Real: A Doctor’s Experience With the Afterlife."
On Oct. 23 his book on this event will be published - Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.