Brain surgeon renews beliefs after near-death experience – “This experience was the greatest blessing of my entire life.”
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The concept of an afterlife is something that most of us struggle to articulate. Besides the fact that death is a grim topic to navigate, it’s also mostly because no one is credible enough to validate what actually happens when we pass on from our physical state… unless someone impossibly comes back to life, right?
An academic neurosurgeon depicted his ‘life-changing’ near-death experience which he claims to have had while in a deep coma from a rare bacterial infection.
Dr Eben Alexander explained that preceding his out-of-body experience in 2008, his 25 years spent working as a surgeon made him sceptical about the existence of an afterlife, believing that when we pass on, our consciousness dies with us.
However, after going into a coma, Dr Alexander completely switched his belief system, claiming that he has seen heaven with his own eyes and hailing it more real and alive than the realm we all currently inhabit.
Dr. Eben Alexander Image Credit: WBUR
“I basically used to have a very conventional, scientific and reductive materialist view that consciousness was created by the brain, and that only the physical world exists.” Dr Alexander explained.
“And what my coma journey showed me… is that consciousness is something that is fundamental in the universe and does not originate in the brain. What I experienced was the most extraordinary, memorable, detailed, and ultra-real experience of my entire life.”
“In fact, the world we live in, this material world, is more kind of cloudy and dreamlike than what I saw on the other side. That world is sharp, crisp and alive – and very real.” he added.
Rewind to November 10, 2008, the surgeon was awakened early in the morning by severe back aches followed by the ‘worst headache of his life’. Assuming he’d come down with merely the flu, Alexander reassured his wife that she didn’t need to call for medical help. He thought it was nothing rest couldn’t fix and so, his wife left him on his own for a couple of hours.
When she came back to check on him, what she discovered made her blood run cold – Alexander was convulsing in his bed, with his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
Alexander was immediately rushed to the Lynchburg General Hospital, the same facility he had been working for the last few years as a neurosurgeon.
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with an incredibly rare and aggressive type of E. coli meningoencephalitis – a variant of bacterial meningitis – and within a few hours, the virus already began gnawing away at his brain. The neurosurgeon was briskly induced into a deep coma and placed on a ventilator, his chances of survival decreasing by the hour.
Alexander mentioned that his medical records stated that his brain was ‘very badly damaged’ with not only his neocortex (the centre of higher brain functions such as perception, language, and decision-making) impaired by the virus, but his brain stem was also in massive trouble. The brainstem is responsible for controlling core bodily functions such as breathing and heart rate.
At best, doctors gave Alexander a 10 per cent chance of survival but that number would drop down to only 2 percent over the next few days. Doctors also unpromisingly warned that even if he somehow managed to pull through, he’d most likely spend the rest of his days in an assisted living facility, unable to care for himself independently.
Although it seems like Alexander’s grip on life was loosening by the second, with his concerned family members weeping at his bedside, he claims that his spirit was taken to another strange realm where he was experiencing a ‘re-birth.’
Alexander reminisced that his surroundings were dark. He believed to be located in some place underground and found himself standing inside a sticky, Jell-o-like substance.
At that moment, he had no sense of self, nor did he have any recollection of his life prior to this point but found himself surrounded by black roots. Nothing else was in focus and he couldn’t speak.
“People think going through this experience, in this state of almost amnesia, must’ve been very horrific.” he explained. “and yet, I knew nothing else as a possibility, and therefore, to me, it all just seemed natural.”
“This was existence. There was nothing foreboding about it, at least in that first passage. Then I went up through a gate, towards a great bright orb.” he continued.
The doctor described the beaming orb to be emitting heavenly music that he called ‘Spinning Melody’.
Just like that, the sky tore open and absorbed him. He was transported to an exuberant, and thriving land where ‘waterfalls flowed into crystal pools’. The sky was filled with clouds of pink and white, and the land was teeming with tall trees, valleys, and merry people dancing in harmony.
Alexander claimed to have traversed through the land on the wing of a butterfly, and beside him sat a gorgeous woman with bright, beautiful eyes.
Though the lady didn’t communicate with him verbally, the doctor said that she told him telepathically: “You are loved. You are cherished. There is nothing you can do wrong.”
He goes on to explain that he was fully aware of the other souls in this journey, describing everything as interconnected and woven together as though being part of a living, and breathing tapestry.
But instantaneously, the heavenly realm dissipated and was replaced by a scene of cosmic depth and darkness. At the centre was a vivid, pulsating light that Alexander says he understood to be the omnipotent creator of all existence.
He expressed feeling united with the supernatural presence. Then, he became aware of another realm – our current realm, the one he had left behind.
Alexander says five faces materialised from the darkness and presented themselves to him. He shared that despite not knowing them, he could tell they were concerned for him.
He then awoke in the hospital, defying the odds of certain death, with no memory of who he was and who the people surrounding him were. Just several hours earlier, the doctors advised the family that it may be best to get him off medication and let him pass on.
Alexander mentioned that he did experience what’s known as ICU psychosis or bizarre hallucinations for the better part of the week, but he insisted that these visions were extensively different from the ones he experienced when he was put into a coma.
“Those memories of that kind of psychotic nightmare disappeared within a week or two, compared to memories of the deep coma experience, which was sharp, crisp, vivid, alive and detailed today as if the whole thing just happened.” he said.
“As more than half of people who’ve had an NDE will tell you, it’s a much more real existence than this existence in the material world.”
Image Credit: Scientific American
After two weeks passed, Alexander was recovering the full functions of his brain. He started recognising the people around him as his family members – four of those faces he had seen in his near-death experience before being brought back to life.
The fifth face he saw, he believes to be a relative who claims to be a psychic and was trying to communicate with him while he was fighting for his life.
“Those first days and week or two were very frightening because my brain was still horribly affected by this illness, which makes it all the more remarkable that I ended up having such a complete recovery.”
“But in truth, I would say this experience was the greatest blessing of my entire life.”
“It’s been a tremendous gift to me to go through this experience, and then go through the 13 years since then, working with other scientists and experts around the world, to make better sense of the way this universe works.
“I look at it all as just extremely positive.” he said.
Because near-death experiences happen so unexpectedly, they are almost impossible to test and validate. Written accounts of these experiences go back all the way to the Middle Ages, but there’s no widely accepted definition of what a near-death experience actually is.
However, it is commonly referred to as an unusual experience taking place on the brink of death and recounted by a person after recovery.
In one study on the Prevalence of Near-Death Experiences in Australia, results have shown that 8 percent of the Australian population reported an NDE. There was also a 36 percent prevalence of Australians who had faced a situation of imminent death, one-fourth of whom reported an NDE.
Statistical data shows that they’re most common in patients who survive from severe head trauma or cardiac arrest.
The scientific field remains divided on the matter, with some hailing it as mere hallucinations. But others like Alexander, believe that NDEs may help solve the mysteries of human consciousness and the possible existence of an afterlife.
“In the 13 years since my coma, other scientists have shown me that consciousness is something that is fundamental in the universe and is not created solely by the brain, as materialist scientists believe.” he shared.
“The brain is still very important. I believe it serves as a filter that allows certain states of primordial consciousness, but to believe that our conscious awareness is fully derived from the brain is erroneous.”
Alexander continued: “This experience changed me completely.
“For most NDErs, they come back and they have absolutely no fear of death. And it’s actually such a liberation, to be freed from the shackles of the prison of the physical body and brain that dominates so much of the living in this world.
“It’s completely shifted my world view… When I first woke up back in this world I said, ‘All is well, all is well.”
“What I’ve come to realise is that as long as we’re aware, and paying attention to the universe and our role in it, and we’re taking charge of directing that in a favourable direction that reflects love and compassion, and kindness and mercy, and kind of this beautiful connection, we share it with one mind, then all is truly well and that is something that is within all of our power – no matter what kind of travesties of the universe is going through.”
What a wild story, eh? Do you believe in the afterlife? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Want to watch Dr Eben Alexander talk about his experience? You can watch this video below!
An academic neurosurgeon depicted his ‘life-changing’ near-death experience which he claims to have had while in a deep coma from a rare bacterial infection.
Dr Eben Alexander explained that preceding his out-of-body experience in 2008, his 25 years spent working as a surgeon made him sceptical about the existence of an afterlife, believing that when we pass on, our consciousness dies with us.
However, after going into a coma, Dr Alexander completely switched his belief system, claiming that he has seen heaven with his own eyes and hailing it more real and alive than the realm we all currently inhabit.
Dr. Eben Alexander Image Credit: WBUR
“I basically used to have a very conventional, scientific and reductive materialist view that consciousness was created by the brain, and that only the physical world exists.” Dr Alexander explained.
“And what my coma journey showed me… is that consciousness is something that is fundamental in the universe and does not originate in the brain. What I experienced was the most extraordinary, memorable, detailed, and ultra-real experience of my entire life.”
“In fact, the world we live in, this material world, is more kind of cloudy and dreamlike than what I saw on the other side. That world is sharp, crisp and alive – and very real.” he added.
Rewind to November 10, 2008, the surgeon was awakened early in the morning by severe back aches followed by the ‘worst headache of his life’. Assuming he’d come down with merely the flu, Alexander reassured his wife that she didn’t need to call for medical help. He thought it was nothing rest couldn’t fix and so, his wife left him on his own for a couple of hours.
When she came back to check on him, what she discovered made her blood run cold – Alexander was convulsing in his bed, with his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
Alexander was immediately rushed to the Lynchburg General Hospital, the same facility he had been working for the last few years as a neurosurgeon.
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with an incredibly rare and aggressive type of E. coli meningoencephalitis – a variant of bacterial meningitis – and within a few hours, the virus already began gnawing away at his brain. The neurosurgeon was briskly induced into a deep coma and placed on a ventilator, his chances of survival decreasing by the hour.
Alexander mentioned that his medical records stated that his brain was ‘very badly damaged’ with not only his neocortex (the centre of higher brain functions such as perception, language, and decision-making) impaired by the virus, but his brain stem was also in massive trouble. The brainstem is responsible for controlling core bodily functions such as breathing and heart rate.
At best, doctors gave Alexander a 10 per cent chance of survival but that number would drop down to only 2 percent over the next few days. Doctors also unpromisingly warned that even if he somehow managed to pull through, he’d most likely spend the rest of his days in an assisted living facility, unable to care for himself independently.
Although it seems like Alexander’s grip on life was loosening by the second, with his concerned family members weeping at his bedside, he claims that his spirit was taken to another strange realm where he was experiencing a ‘re-birth.’
Alexander reminisced that his surroundings were dark. He believed to be located in some place underground and found himself standing inside a sticky, Jell-o-like substance.
At that moment, he had no sense of self, nor did he have any recollection of his life prior to this point but found himself surrounded by black roots. Nothing else was in focus and he couldn’t speak.
“People think going through this experience, in this state of almost amnesia, must’ve been very horrific.” he explained. “and yet, I knew nothing else as a possibility, and therefore, to me, it all just seemed natural.”
“This was existence. There was nothing foreboding about it, at least in that first passage. Then I went up through a gate, towards a great bright orb.” he continued.
The doctor described the beaming orb to be emitting heavenly music that he called ‘Spinning Melody’.
Just like that, the sky tore open and absorbed him. He was transported to an exuberant, and thriving land where ‘waterfalls flowed into crystal pools’. The sky was filled with clouds of pink and white, and the land was teeming with tall trees, valleys, and merry people dancing in harmony.
Alexander claimed to have traversed through the land on the wing of a butterfly, and beside him sat a gorgeous woman with bright, beautiful eyes.
Though the lady didn’t communicate with him verbally, the doctor said that she told him telepathically: “You are loved. You are cherished. There is nothing you can do wrong.”
He goes on to explain that he was fully aware of the other souls in this journey, describing everything as interconnected and woven together as though being part of a living, and breathing tapestry.
But instantaneously, the heavenly realm dissipated and was replaced by a scene of cosmic depth and darkness. At the centre was a vivid, pulsating light that Alexander says he understood to be the omnipotent creator of all existence.
He expressed feeling united with the supernatural presence. Then, he became aware of another realm – our current realm, the one he had left behind.
Alexander says five faces materialised from the darkness and presented themselves to him. He shared that despite not knowing them, he could tell they were concerned for him.
He then awoke in the hospital, defying the odds of certain death, with no memory of who he was and who the people surrounding him were. Just several hours earlier, the doctors advised the family that it may be best to get him off medication and let him pass on.
Alexander mentioned that he did experience what’s known as ICU psychosis or bizarre hallucinations for the better part of the week, but he insisted that these visions were extensively different from the ones he experienced when he was put into a coma.
“Those memories of that kind of psychotic nightmare disappeared within a week or two, compared to memories of the deep coma experience, which was sharp, crisp, vivid, alive and detailed today as if the whole thing just happened.” he said.
“As more than half of people who’ve had an NDE will tell you, it’s a much more real existence than this existence in the material world.”
Image Credit: Scientific American
After two weeks passed, Alexander was recovering the full functions of his brain. He started recognising the people around him as his family members – four of those faces he had seen in his near-death experience before being brought back to life.
The fifth face he saw, he believes to be a relative who claims to be a psychic and was trying to communicate with him while he was fighting for his life.
“Those first days and week or two were very frightening because my brain was still horribly affected by this illness, which makes it all the more remarkable that I ended up having such a complete recovery.”
“But in truth, I would say this experience was the greatest blessing of my entire life.”
“It’s been a tremendous gift to me to go through this experience, and then go through the 13 years since then, working with other scientists and experts around the world, to make better sense of the way this universe works.
“I look at it all as just extremely positive.” he said.
Because near-death experiences happen so unexpectedly, they are almost impossible to test and validate. Written accounts of these experiences go back all the way to the Middle Ages, but there’s no widely accepted definition of what a near-death experience actually is.
However, it is commonly referred to as an unusual experience taking place on the brink of death and recounted by a person after recovery.
In one study on the Prevalence of Near-Death Experiences in Australia, results have shown that 8 percent of the Australian population reported an NDE. There was also a 36 percent prevalence of Australians who had faced a situation of imminent death, one-fourth of whom reported an NDE.
Statistical data shows that they’re most common in patients who survive from severe head trauma or cardiac arrest.
The scientific field remains divided on the matter, with some hailing it as mere hallucinations. But others like Alexander, believe that NDEs may help solve the mysteries of human consciousness and the possible existence of an afterlife.
“In the 13 years since my coma, other scientists have shown me that consciousness is something that is fundamental in the universe and is not created solely by the brain, as materialist scientists believe.” he shared.
“The brain is still very important. I believe it serves as a filter that allows certain states of primordial consciousness, but to believe that our conscious awareness is fully derived from the brain is erroneous.”
Alexander continued: “This experience changed me completely.
“For most NDErs, they come back and they have absolutely no fear of death. And it’s actually such a liberation, to be freed from the shackles of the prison of the physical body and brain that dominates so much of the living in this world.
“It’s completely shifted my world view… When I first woke up back in this world I said, ‘All is well, all is well.”
“What I’ve come to realise is that as long as we’re aware, and paying attention to the universe and our role in it, and we’re taking charge of directing that in a favourable direction that reflects love and compassion, and kindness and mercy, and kind of this beautiful connection, we share it with one mind, then all is truly well and that is something that is within all of our power – no matter what kind of travesties of the universe is going through.”
What a wild story, eh? Do you believe in the afterlife? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Want to watch Dr Eben Alexander talk about his experience? You can watch this video below!
Video Credit: Simon & Schuster Books
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