Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, M.D.
Guest Review by Jill Phillips
The author of this fascinating book is a prominent and highly trained neurosurgeon (think brain surgeon) at Harvard. I bought this book on Amazon within minutes of watching his fascinating interview on FOX News. I enjoyed Dr. Alexander’s matter-of-fact description of his Near Death Experience (NDE) and found him to be incredibly brave. He is a scientist and NDE’s are not proven science. How many physicians would potentially ‘risk’ their hard-earned scientific/academic reputation and discuss their NDE on national TV? This gentleman has spent time at several renowned institutions to include Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Boston. As a scientist, he didn’t believe in NDE’s. He was a happy, healthy, 54 year old neurosurgeon, and then, WHAM! His brain was attacked by a rare form of meningitis and he slipped into a coma for 8 days.
During his week-long coma, Dr. Alexander experienced several remarkable trips via the “gateway” and into the “core” of another world. He saw angels, heard and felt heavenly music. He visualized beings soaring through the sky, beings that he describes as `higher forms’. His numerous NDE experiences dramatically altered his previously held conviction that NDE’s were impossible and that when your brain died, you died, and that’s it. This incredible experience into another world caused him to rethink his scientific stance about the mind and the brain. The “mind,” or consciousness, is frequently dismissed by the scientific community as insignificant or, at best, a byproduct of our physical body. Dr. Alexander ultimately concluded that the brain wasn’t the source of consciousness, but was a filter for consciousness. How cool is that? As an Adult Nurse Practitioner with 27 years of clinical experience behind me, I can now ponder the implied conclusion that our human brain is filtering out the interconnectedness that we all share – across the planet, across the solar system.
I have recommended/and or sent Proof of Heaven to many of my friends. One of my friends, a former high school teacher, said it was an interesting book but too ‘techy clinical’ for her to fully appreciate. This could be a fair criticism, but I do believe that though the author DOES lean towards clinical when describing the harrowing effects of E. Coli meningitis on the neo-cortex of the brain, it is still a GREAT read. Good luck trying to put the book down once you start reading it!
Jill Phillips and her husband John were guests on the 2012 Thin Places Tour of the West of Ireland. They, currently own the highly popular traveling petting zoo and pony ride business “Squeals on Wheels“. Their family business supports Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. Jill retired from the US Army after serving 27 years as an Adult Nurse Practitioner.
