Brain surgeon claims to have experienced life after death

[pbmus]

The question of where we go after we have died has been one of humanity's greatest mysteries for centuries.

One man who claims to know the answer or at least has an inclination of what might happen is the brain surgeon, Dr Eben Alexander.

In 2008, Alexander fell into a week-long coma and has documented what he can remember from this event in a new book called Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into the Heart of Consciousness.


In the book Alexander claims to have experienced a sensation that felt like he was ascending to the heavens or something of that equivalent.

https://www.indy100.com/article/brain-surgeon-dr-eben-alexander-life-after-death-experience-coma-heaven-afterlife-8103361?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[underpants]

1. It's all in his mind

Yes I clicked on this thinking it was Ben Carson.

[pbmus]

3. Lol

[Voltaire2]

2. except of course that he didn't die so he didn't experience life after death.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Probably a really spectacular hallucination caused by the disease's effects

on his brain function.

[whathehell]

9. Probably not...The man is a neurosurgeon..

I'm sure he would have considered that before coming to another conclusion, especially since he had no belief in an afterlife prior to this experience.

[marybourg]

17. Or especially since someone would pay him to write a book

about it.

[whathehell]

21. .. Someone would pay YOU to expose him if that's what actually

prompted the book....Too bad it's just idle speculation on your part.

[marybourg]

24. Are you his publicist?

You seem incredibly invested in this, even to the extent of personalizing your rebuttals.

[whathehell]

25. In your dreams..

Actually, I find it's you who seems "incredibly invested in this".
You've yet to read the book, but feel comfortable ascribing dishonest, pecuniary motives to it's author.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. If he was in a coma, wouldn't that just be a dream? nt

[whathehell]

7. He wasn't in a comma...He was clinically dead. n/t

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. I don't see that in the article.

I see it listed he was "near death" and "in a coma", but not clinically dead.

[whathehell]

10. You'd need to read his explanation... He's a neurosurgeon, I'm not, but

he claims what he experienced was clinically impossible

[Hav]

11. "He was suffering from a brain infection [...], which left him at two percent

chance of staying alive" and he fell into a coma for a week. And you expect him that he was at this point in a good state to make rational, evidence-based observations and conclusions about the state he was in?

[whathehell]

15. I don't expect anything..

bit I'm not a neurosurgeon, and I suspect, you aren't either...Just sayin'.

[Hav]

18. When you are in the process of recovery after your brain was in the shitter,

it doesn't matter whether you are a brain surgeon or not, you are not functioning at 100%. He should know that. Even as a neurosurgeon, it is impossible for him to pinpoint the exact moment he had this experience. When this story is told, it's always stressed that it happened to a neurosurgeon as if that gives the story any additional credibility regarding the conclusions that were made about the experience. It doesn't even remotely.

[whathehell]

19. Um, It depends on how deeply invested you are in NOT believing

...Some are more inclined to be open minded.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

13. Ben Carson is also a neurosurgeon...

He claims a lot of weird shit, too.

[whathehell]

14. He:s a retired neurosurgeon

and the "shit" he claims is of a more political nature.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

16. Pyramids were used to store grain isn't very political. nt

[whathehell]

20. He's a fundamentalist, I believe..

You don't have to be one of those to be open to the possibility of an after.life.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

23. No, but if you're using someone's title (Neurosurgeon) as some sort of authoritative source,

I'd like some actual proof to go with it.

I'm open to the possibility. Hell, I WANT it to be true. But I've seen no evidence as to such yet.

[whathehell]

27. What "actual proof"?

That he's a neurosurgeon?.....Look up the book on Amazon...You should get all the information you need. Have a nice day.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

28. Proof of an afterlife, the subject at hand.

I tend not to read books that make outrageous claims that can’t be measured with science.

[whathehell]

29. Yes, I understand

but I don't throw out ALL anecdotal evidence either, especially when there's a very large body of it.
Strict empiricism has its weaknesses, especially when one considers that science can't yet explain everything and we have further to go and more to explore.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

30. Anecdotal evidence is unreliable 99% of the time. nt

[whathehell]

31. I'll need more than your word for that percentage, I'm afraid. n/t

[Voltaire2]

32. those are not mutually exclusive properties.

clinical death means his heart stopped and he wasn't breathing. Brain activity continues for a short while after that, and if he was hooked up to life support systems, indefinitely. It doesn't mean he was dead. It means his heart stopped.

[whathehell]

33. Whatever

[Voltaire2]

34. The whatever is critical to the claim.

Near death experiences are not death experiences. People claiming they are either are lying (to sell books for example) or confused.

[whathehell]

35. Uh huh.

I think you should alert the author to this glaring oversight on his part - .As q neurosurgeon, I'm sure he and his colleagues are in dire need of your expertise. . Buh bye now.

[Voltaire2]

36. Alexander is yet another spiritualist grifter.

So, if we add all this up, we have a neurosurgeon who makes fundamental mistakes about how the brain works, because he is not a neuroscientist or neurophysiologist—and that is a BIG difference. On top of this, he has a history of falsifying records and was in trouble with numerous malpractice suits, so his medical career was effectively over. And when Dittrich checked with other people, many important details in the book turned out clearly false.

This does not seem to trouble Alexander or any of his followers who want to believe him. They, like so many others, are willing to be duped out of their money for the book and make him rich, all while he tells them fairy stories to confirm their beliefs and make them feel good. It wouldn’t be the first time some religious figure separated people from their money—but perhaps the first time it was done by a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat.

https://www.skeptic.com/insight/proof-of-heaven/

[Lucid Dreamer]

39. THANK YOU!

I am so glad you posted a link to Skeptic.

Way back in 1990 I got a subscription from my dad to Skeptical Inquirer and I kept stacks of them for about 12 years. The CSICOP literature was a fascinating trip into the analysis of the claimed paranormal.

I've got a lot of catching up to do.
Thanks again.

[The River]

6. Most Likely

an Out Of Body experience.

I did go OOB several times during my time in 'Nam.
I can still do it from time to time.
The Monroe Institute teaches it.
If it is an "hallucination" of the brain, how is it able view itself
from across the room?

[safeinOhio]

12. I've experienced death.

For me, post life was just like what I felt during pre life. NOTHING..

[whathehell]

22. That is the experience of some..

for others, it's not.

[Binkie The Clown]

26. I once heard that only atheists go to heaven. nt

[The_jackalope]

37. Anita Moorjani claims a similar experience.

http://anitamoorjani.com/about-anita/near-death-experience-description/

I'm agnostic on the subject. Even after having watched my wife die, I am none the wiser. Belief is a topic tend to avoid. This is an interesting one, though.

[demigoddess]

38. I have experienced spirits. Some people known to me. Three were cats.

But don't get any sense of a heaven or what not.