End of Life Issues
Related: About this forumBrain surgeon claims to have experienced life after death
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
(187,333 posts)Yes I clicked on this thinking it was Ben Carson.
Voltaire2
(14,869 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(121,473 posts)on his brain function.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)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
(13,213 posts)about it.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)prompted the book....Too bad it's just idle speculation on your part.
marybourg
(13,213 posts)You seem incredibly invested in this, even to the extent of personalizing your rebuttals.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)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
(6,568 posts)whathehell
(29,873 posts)Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)I see it listed he was "near death" and "in a coma", but not clinically dead.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)he claims what he experienced was clinically impossible
Hav
(5,969 posts)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
(29,873 posts)bit I'm not a neurosurgeon, and I suspect, you aren't either...Just sayin'.
Hav
(5,969 posts)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
(29,873 posts)...Some are more inclined to be open minded.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)He claims a lot of weird shit, too.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)and the "shit" he claims is of a more political nature.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)whathehell
(29,873 posts)You don't have to be one of those to be open to the possibility of an after.life.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)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
(29,873 posts)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
(6,568 posts)I tend not to read books that make outrageous claims that cant be measured with science.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)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
(6,568 posts)whathehell
(29,873 posts)Voltaire2
(14,869 posts)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
(29,873 posts)Voltaire2
(14,869 posts)Near death experiences are not death experiences. People claiming they are either are lying (to sell books for example) or confused.
whathehell
(29,873 posts)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
(14,869 posts)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 neurophysiologistand 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 wouldnt be the first time some religious figure separated people from their moneybut 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
(589 posts)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
(2,615 posts)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
(34,304 posts)For me, post life was just like what I felt during pre life. NOTHING..
whathehell
(29,873 posts)for others, it's not.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)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
(6,675 posts)But don't get any sense of a heaven or what not.