Posted on 10/09/2012 8:08:49 PM PDT by grundle
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Over here, troll-boy.
Cheers!
Placemark to read in the AM with coffee in hand ...
I believe some people have been given a glimpse of Heaven, but I don't think that's what he experienced. Heaven isn't located amongst the clouds and no strange beautiful woman is going to take you there.
The author also describes himself as a Christian but not being overly "spiritual" which sets off alarm bells.
I’m curious about the “outer body experience.” I always thought that it was an “out-of-body experience.”
Near death or after life experiences have been reported too many times across cultures and history to be dismissed as delusions.
Notice that this guy and others say that the experience was “more real” than daily life.
It could be that consciousness transcends the brain like information transcends its physical representations.
Perhaps through quantum effects, our minds may be able to sense other dimensions or universes at the point of death.
That said, we do not base our understanding of heaven on these stories. We have the Bible, the revealed Word of God to guide us.
These are merely brief glimpses and not exhaustive observation, so the person reporting them may not have the details right.
Good theology doesn’t depend on NDE stories, but the stories do seem to mesh with what we believe is true — there really is an existence for each human after death. That is why everyone should study the Bible and make sure that they are right with God now.
I do believe in life after death. It makes so much sense and seems intuitive. Why would something as wonderful as a human person be extinguished at death?
There is a better place. Sure there is.
I just wrote a poem on this topic a couple days ago.
Victory Over Death.
http://gillespiepoems.blogspot.com/2012/09/victory-over-death.html
I could have told him the same thing, I was there for 33 minutes last year.
90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper mirrors this story. I believe ever word.
All animals live in a natural state of grace with God.....they do not sin and when they leave this earth,they go to be with Him in heaven. Cats included.
I had a terrible accident when I was young. I had no blood pressure and left my body. I could see my mother crying over me, but I also had God talking to me and I felt no pain. I was looking toward a beautiful light and God asked me if I could see my mother crying. I said I could and then God told me that I had to go back. At that point, I ended up back in my body and then I felt a lot of pain. I tried to tell my mother that God had already told me I wasn’t leaving, but my mouth wouldn’t move because my jaw was broken.
I believe that God allows us to see beyond this finite world and experience His Spirit in a lot of different ways. It may not be a near death experience. I have seen some medical miracles also.
Years ago I read a number of books on NDE’s [near death experiences]. I’m a Catholic and see no conflict in believing they are true, and if you read a book on childrens NDE experiences you will find it hard to doubt.
I read ALL 4 or 5 pages of this Doctor’s article, everyone should do that before they make replies. This same article was posted in the past two days and one supposed ‘doctor’ posted that if the cortex of the brain is shut down, you are unable to see or hear - so the story couldn’t be true!
Well then, how do we see and hear things in dreams when we are in REM sleep since slow-wave activity appears in our brains as the neurons in the cortex switch themselves off and go electrically silent.
My mom was riding with some friends when their car was hit by a drunk driver. She was the only survivor. She was in a coma for weeks. We were told she had no measurable brain activity and we needed to prepare for the worst. My grandmother was a nurse and refused to accept we were at a point where turning off life support was an option.
I don't know if you are familiar with how beds are changed for coma patients, but they would roll mom one direction with the old sheet, place a new sheet and roll her back. Mom was small and an orderly rolled her to close to the edge and she slipped off the side of the bed and hit her head and screamed.
That scream scared the devil out of everyone!
She did not remember the wreck or recognize her family at first but she told everyone this same thing over and over in great detail.
She was walking along a river bank. It was the most beautiful day ever, with a light breeze. (She can recount a thousand details but I'll keep it much shorter for you.) She saw people ahead and she walked to them. There was a boat with billowing white sails, and a gentle man with brilliant eyes was calling out names. Mom wasn't scared at all. She said answers to all her questions came before she could even begin to question. The sun was just beginning to set and she realized her name would not be called. It filled her with sadness! She wanted to go with them, but she heard "This ship is not for you." and she felt comforted.
Doctors said she would not walk. It took a long time, but she ran. They said she may have brain damage. She earned her Masters and became a science teacher! She was even in the 100 teachers considered for the First Teacher in Space Program, and she has been the NRA's teacher of the year. Her class has won awards for building and launching rockets! And she is an amazing person!
She doesn't go around sharing her story with people, but if you ask her, or want to talk about faith she will gladly tell you all about it.
I have always felt very lucky! I have never had to question if heaven is real. Mom said so.
Thanks for sharing your story. :)
That lecture was something else, Zeneta. Thanks.
Something that has always stumped me is the question of why I have experienced the energy of God from time to time in life (from the time I was little); but many others have no idea that that consciousness really exists and can’t stand the whole idea. Still others are so faithful and although they never experienced God, they beleive in Him.
So it could be in our ability (in my case luck is more like it) to move into the right hemisphere of our brain. Those times have come to me from my prayer and love with Jesus. Very interesting. It explains the tradition and purpose of prayer. Although it is an operation of the brain, it really does open us up to experience reality that we operate closed to in our brains. Just cause our brain is not able to perceive God; He’s there all the time.
That is an amazing story! Thanks for sharing it with us.
What better way for Satan to get his “you can do know wrong” message into the world? When the end comes cling to the Cross.
JESUS told me that my reward lies in HIS Kingdom... I BELIEVE!
LLS
An old cowboy was riding his trusty horse followed by his faithful dog along an unfamiliar road. The cowboy was enjoying the new scenery, when he suddenly remembered dying, and realized the dog beside him had been dead for
years, as had his horse. Confused, he wondered what was happening, and where the trail was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall that looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch topped by a golden letter “H” that glowed in the sunlight.
Standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like gold. He rode toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
Parched and tired out by his journey, he called out, ‘Excuse me, where are we?
‘This is Heaven, sir,’ the man answered.
‘Wow! Would you happen to have some water?’ the man asked.
‘Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.’
As the gate began to open, the cowboy asked, ‘Can I bring my partners, too?’
‘I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.’
The cowboy thought for a moment, then turned back to the road and continued riding, his dog trotting by his side.
After another long ride, at the top of another hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a ranch gate that looked as if it had never been closed. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and
reading a book.
‘Excuse me,’ he called to the man. ‘Do you have any water?’
‘Sure, there’s a pump right over there. Help yourself.’
‘How about my friends here?’ the traveler gestured to the dog and his horse.
‘Of course! They look thirsty, too,’ said the man.
The trio went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with buckets beside it. The traveler filled a cup and the buckets with wonderfully cool water and took a long drink, as did his horse and dog.
When they were full, he walked back to the man who was still standing by the tree.
‘What do you call this place?’ the traveler asked.
‘This is Heaven,’ he answered.
‘That’s confusing,’ the traveler said. ‘The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.’
‘Oh, you mean the place with the glitzy, gold street and fake pearly gates? That’s hell.’
‘Doesn’t it make you angry when they use your name like that?’
‘Not at all. Actually, we’re happy they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.’
Twilight Zone episode
Substitute a hillbilly and his hound for the cowboy, horse and dog
There are a whole bunch of different kinds of consciousness, unconsciousness and semi-consciousness, to the point where the old expression “wonderment” applies. Here are some unrelated anecdotes:
A popular means of anesthesia these days is called “twilight sleep”, in which people may either be quiet, be almost awake, or act like they have been given ‘truth serum’; they may feel pain, but they don’t remember it or anything else after the fact - amnesia. Some surgeons require their surgery staff to sign non-disclosure statements in case patients babble out something incriminating or embarrassing. And they do.
The prescription sleep aide, Ambien, can take sleepwalking to extraordinary degrees, some people even driving cars for miles before eventually bumping them in to something. Two members of the Kennedy family have been cited for driving under the influence of Ambien. (Which doesn’t say anything about character, for once, as sleepwalking seems to have a genetic component.)
However, Ambien can also do something that is extraordinarily good.
In South Africa, a young man was in a motorcycle accident, suffered brain damage, and went into a persistent coma. After some weeks he was moved into a persistent coma ward with other such people. However, he had a “restless arm”, that would unpredictably spasm. So the doctor decided to give him some Ambien (the generic version), to see if it would settle down his arm spasms.
Two hours later he woke up and was able to communicate for a while before relapsing. So he was given more Ambien, and woke up again, for a longer period of time. Eventually he fully woke up and was conscious and responsive.
So the doctor gave Ambien to all the other patients, and about 70% had some response, many regaining consciousness.
The doctor speculated that when the brain is damaged, it puts out a lot of a chemical called GABA, which “turns off” the damaged part of the brain so that it can heal. When it has healed, GABA levels return to normal. However, in some people, the big rush of GABA sensitizes their brain to GABA, so that even normal levels will keep it in a shut down state.
And Ambien is a GABA blocker.
There is a lot of interest these days in people trying to create unusual brain activity by stimulating their brain with different frequencies of light and sound during sleep. Here is something of a comprehensive list of such things, and what some people think they can get from particular stimulation:
http://www.lunarsight.com/freq.htm
Of course, most of it is hooey and wishful thinking, but there is some reasonable stuff in there as well. But given the complexity of the brain, it’s hard to know which is which.
Some years ago, I knew a top biochemical psychiatrist who would work with patients for a year or more trying to develop just the right pharmaceutical combination for their exotic brain problems.
He really hated drinking alcohol, because he said that the human brain had at least 100 significant neurotransmitters and chemicals, and alcohol was almost unique in that it could foul up every one of them. After working with a patient for months, they would go out on a bender, and he would have to start from scratch because their neurochemistry had changed so much.
I remember that episode!
LLS
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