by Jerry Alatalo
fter listening to cardiologist Dr. Pim van Hommel describe his years of recording near death experience (NDE) accounts from patients in the last post, another doctor – Eben Alexander – actually had a near death experience and he, too, wrote a book about it. The book is “Proof of Heaven”, of which some will be familiar as Eben Alexander published it a few years ago and made all the bestseller lists. Came across a fascinating twenty-minute interview of Dr. Eben Alexander and thought it might be interesting and corroborating to contrast the doctor who worked with patients who’d had NDEs and the doctor who had one himself.
Dr. Pim van Hommel and Dr. Eben Alexander share the view that consciousness is not brain-based – Pim van Pimmel coming to that conclusion based on discussions with NDE patients, Eben Alexander from personal experience. So, this is almost (well, it seems obvious) scientific confirmation, in that their agreement involved both utilizing university-degreed knowledge of medicine in an intense, in-depth study of the phenomena. For Eben Alexander, trying to explain what he experienced as brain-based was the first challenge he faced after returning to his body, then recovering his memory, educational knowledge, ability to speak and remember family, friends and colleagues.
It’s interesting that his brain was the organ in his body which became severely attacked by a type of virus and almost killed him, so, because his brain was totally incapacitated, the NDE – the consciousness traveling – couldn’t have been the work of the brain. He admits to being changed initially, but describes how the real, powerful changes occurred when his medical knowledge returned. At that point he became convinced that consciousness, spirit, or soul represents a “grander entity at the basis of all that exists”, and that “our souls are eternal spiritual being(s)”.
He sees himself and the millions of men and women who’ve shared the near death experience as examples of people who’ve come to completely new understandings that eliminate boundaries between science and spirit; who’ve transcended the falsehood of dogmas in both science and religion. Dr. Alexander stresses that he strongly recommends meditation as a “smoother, more powerful” option over drugs for attaining spiritually transcendent experiences, and that drugs should only be used, if at all, in a “sacred setting”. He sees meditation, which he practices for 2-3 hours a day, as a “cleaner” way to go, and warns that drugs “create distortion” while presenting “very challenging landscapes”.
Along with Dr. Pim van Hommel, Dr. Eben Alexander sees the NDE phenomenon as not a new civilization development but very ancient. The doctors also share views on the high significance of oneness and interconnectedness of all people, all life and all things – all of creation:
“All those religious systems, once you get beyond the dogma and any of the separatist details at the surface, (that) they all converge on the same very powerful unifying principles of manifesting the love of the Creator for the creation. And as I said earlier, the ascendance of our souls and soul groups has everything to do with leaving that notion of self – and importance of self versus no-self – way behind in the dust, and ascending toward that oneness and the love and the compassion and forgiveness. And that’s where this world is headed now”.
“The change that’s coming on this world will be unprecedented and it is all about love and harmony. It’s all about how we are now at a point where the status-quo and continuing with the way we’ve done business, especially in the 20th and early 21st century, is not really compatible with an ongoing, sustainable world. This is coming for a reason… the change is coming for a reason. It involves radical, fundamental change of all our beliefs as stewards of this planet. Just as I always make a big point that we have free will choices, going with love or out of fear, I don’t believe it’s our current destiny to follow a course of planetary suicide. But in fact that’s exactly where this world is headed if we do not change the status-quo”.
“That’s why this conscious awakening is happening now – for a reason. But it does involve very significant change and each one of us becoming personally involved”.
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THE ONENESS of HUMANITY 