Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the “me” before my coma journey. Back then, I believed without question what I had first learned from my medical school professors at Duke in the 1970’s – that the mind emerges from the physical brain, and that it cannot exist apart from the physical body.
Those of you who have read Proof of Heaven or heard me speak know why I’m now convinced that this simply isn’t true. The dominant emerging scientific paradigm suggests the brain acts as a filter to narrow infinite consciousness down to the manageable trickle we experience every day.
I wonder: What would be different if I’d known then what I know now? How would I have reacted to patients’ reports of unexpected experiences? What choices would I have made differently?
You might have some similar questions. How would your life be different if you knew you were truly an eternal spiritual being who knew infinite love? How would you behave if you knew that some essence of you existed beyond this physical realm?
Each of us can learn firsthand about the reality of our larger existence, and by doing so, live with greater awareness and fulfillment.
For years now, meditation and prayer have been key to my daily routine. They’re how I stay centered even as I travel for research and presentations. They’re how I continue the journey I began with the events described in Proof of Heaven.
My preferred method of meditation involves sound-induced brainwave entrainment audio recordings created by Sacred Acoustics. Karen Newell and I present workshops around the world that address the use of these powerful tools in many aspects of life. These workshops combine lessons learned from my coma experience, scientific theories of consciousness and the sound technology that allows expansion of conscious awareness reminiscent of that which I experienced deep in coma.
Our latest offering is through Evolver Learning Lab, who is helping us take our findings to a global audience through a five-session online webinar this summer, beginning on June 2, 2015, that includes new lectures, Sacred Acoustics recordings, and real-time Q&A in each session. During one session we welcome Dr. Larry Dossey as a special guest.
You can purchase the series here: Revelations from NDEs
Sound-enhanced meditation provides a powerful tool to help us to glimpse the universal consciousness we are all a part of, and to access the guidance, wisdom and creativity of the Infinite Mind.
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You should read Catherine Emmerich…And you will see that the catholique Church is telling the truth..the bible also …no Big Bang …no reincarnation …and no evolution théorie…Just look at it…Good day to you all…
I learned about Heaven from Christianity, and I wonder if you, Eben, think some go to Hell (as the Messiah taught), or if you think everyone will receive eternal life in Heaven, or if you think your singular experience doesn’t really give an answer to that question.
One thing that almost all those who have experienced NDE report is that no amount of physical language can adequately describe their experience inasmuch as the life after death is not a physical life and not bound by physical laws and attributes of time and space that we are used to in this life. In this life we think of a place in terms of 3 dimensions of length, width and height and we experience time as a linear progression and measure it by a reference point such as a clock. The next life seems to be a life outside time and space. A place where time doesn’t flow the way we are used to in this life and place is not a physical bound by the 3 dimensions. Thus heaven and hell clearly cannot be physical places but spiritual conditions of the soul. If a soul has lived a good life and exercised spiritual attributes of love, mercy, kindness etc, it appears that in the next life that soul is in a higher sate of consciousness (or in other words closer to God which we may interpret as heaven) and if a soul has lived its life devoid of such attributes, it is in a lower state of consciousness (or in other words away from God which we may interpret as Hell). Consider how in this life too one can be in heaven or in hell while living in the same household! A child from a same household may grow to become a thief or a murderer and lead a life of misery or hell, while another child from the same household may grow to be a Philanthropist. Thus heaven and hell are states of consciousness and not physical places.
Buckminster Fuller wrote an essay on contacting universal consciousness. It is at the end of his (over-sized) book that explains his 28 patents.
I prefer to not contact universal consciousness per se, but to contact higher self. Higher self (soul) is an angel who already is a proven member of Father’s Loving Hierarchy, and is one’s own personal access point to the rest of Father’s Cosmos – and to Father, and to universal consciousness.
With contact with your soul, your contemplations will be nurtured toward your real purpose in this incarnation. Your soul is where your 4th dimensional consciousness returns to upon expiration of your body, and it is perfectly possible to have conscious communication with soul (higher self) now. You are always connected with soul; couldn’t be any other way.
Allow, and request of, higher self to facilitate the expansion of your belief system, and you will find yourself moving beyond any-and-all of the mass-marketed belief systems of the day.
Gandhi said, “I have the same religion that God has.”
And the Hopi say, “We are the ones we are waiting for.”
I’m not the only one doing this work. Martin
I would like to speak to you and please tell me how I can get your book proof of heaven, I am working on board cruise ship in USA , I am a born again Christian from India , I would like to hear more about your experience
thank you
Hello Dr. Alexander,
I was wondering if you could clear something up for me: do we maintain our selfhood on the other side? I understand that we are connected to all things and that that becomes apparent. I just have a huge fear of completely losing my identity, my self. Would I still be me? Are we individual spiritual beings who are intimately linked? Or are we literally one mass? Please let me know, as this is causing me quite a bit of distress. Thanks.
I am sure Dr. Alexander will have a wealth of information to share in this regard. In the meanwhile, in answer to your question I am sharing from the writings of Baha’u’llah, a 19th century Prophet who wrote the following:
“Thou hast asked Me whether man, as apart from the Prophets of God and His chosen ones, will retain, after his physical death, the self-same individuality, personality, consciousness, and understanding that characterize his life in this world. If this should be the case, how is it, thou hast observed, that whereas such slight injuries to his mental faculties as fainting and severe illness deprive him of his understanding and consciousness, his death, which must involve the
decomposition of his body and the dissolution of its elements, is powerless to destroy that understanding and extinguish that consciousness? How can any one imagine that man’s consciousness and personality will be maintained, when the very instruments necessary to their
existence and function will have completely disintegrated?
Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by
any bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though an external object may interfere with its radiance, the light itself continueth to shine with undiminished power. In like manner, every malady afflicting the body of man is an impediment that preventeth the soul from manifesting its inherent might and power. When it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendancy,
and reveal such influence as no force on earth can equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness.
Consider the lamp which is hidden under a bushel. Though its light be shining, yet its radiance is concealed from men. Likewise, consider the sun which hath been obscured by the clouds. Observe how its splendor appeareth to have diminished, when in reality the source of that
light hath remained unchanged. The soul of man should be likened unto this sun, and all things on earth should be regarded as his body. So long as no external impediment interveneth between them, the body will, in its entirety, continue to reflect the light of the soul, and to be sustained by its power. As soon as, however, a veil interposeth itself between them, the brightness of that light seemeth to lessen.
Consider again the sun when it is completely hidden behind the clouds. Though the earth is still illumined with its light, yet the measure of light which it receiveth is considerably reduced. Not until the clouds have dispersed, can the sun shine again in the plenitude of its glory. Neither the presence of the cloud nor its absence can, in any way, affect the inherent splendor of the sun.
The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded.
Consider, moreover, how the fruit, ere it is formed, lieth potentially within the tree. Were the tree to be cut into pieces, no sign nor any part of the fruit, however small, could be detected. When it appeareth, however, it manifesteth itself, as thou hast observed, in its wondrous beauty and glorious perfection. Certain fruits, indeed, attain their fullest development only after being
severed from the tree.
Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings, pp. 153-155
I am confused- as much as you refer to God- I see no mention of The Savior Jesus Christ and also no mention of the Bible or anything about a “Born Again” experience! And what about the ” soul”?? The Bible does not talk about a consciousness of the mind but it does speak of the life of the soul in eternity. Can you clarify whether you are a Born Again believer and is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior or are you professing a totally different doctrine?
Thank you
Dear Gloria,
In my own limited understanding (personal views only), what Dr. Alexander experienced was the Eternal True Bliss that is far exalted above all religious ideologies that are held and believed today. To a Christian, Jesus is the Lord and the Savior (which I truly believe He is), and when such a Christian passes on, he could experience that bliss embodied in Jesus. There have been similar NDEs reported by people of other faiths such as Hindus, Jews, Zoroatrians, Moslems, who in their own turn may experience that bliss in the form of Moses, Krishna or Mohammad. If we narrow our consciousness to only Jesus, Mohammad, Moses, Krishna etc, I feel we deprive ourselves from experiencing the bigger picture, the Eternal Truth. The very same One God manifested Himself in different ages through different Christ-like figures Whose only purpose was to guide mankind to the same Eternal Truth. It is us followers of each religion, who then limit our consciousness and believe that we are the only chosen ones! I am sure Gloria, if you were born in Israel as a Jew, or in Saudi Arabia as a Moslem, or in India as a Hindu, you would have posed the very same question in the same manner, yet speaking as a Jew, or a Moslem, or a Hindu. I feel it is time when mankind should forgo its prejudice of religions and come to believe in the Oneness of God and the Oneness of mankind and the Oneness of all religions.
To all that are struck by the book “Proof of Heaven” please read map of heaven, I read and re=read it almost daily. I spent a lifetime as a practicing Catholic which was very dogmatic. Fortunately I was lucky enough to have a lay person who taught adult education at my local parish. This all happened many years ago but it was post Vatican 2. Now as I approach 80 and look back I see a lifetime of LOVE and thanks to Eben’s experience I realize our CREATOR whom we all seek has an everlasting love for us as we are always seeking so much in so many different ways. Tom
Just yesterday I learned about your experience and current work from my brother, who advised me to practice meditation over 35 years ago. That advice changed my life and led to a rather thorough study of the history and psychology of religion, mysticism, and of the psychedelic drugs, a topic I have published a couple books about. I devoted myself to this inquiry for several reasons, but largely because I felt (and feel) our planet is in crisis because our political and economic systems operate in ignorance of the sacred realm which you apparently glimpsed rather profoundly. I have been interested in NDE’s for some time and I am looking forward to the arrival of your books. My question now is this: how do you reconcile the planetary crisis with the magnificence of the sacred? At this moment the United States and its allies are embroiled in the longest and costliest wars of our history, with no end in sight. Horrifying atrocities are kept from the public, but upwards of twenty servicemen and women commit suicide everyday because of what they are commanded to do over there. Millions of innocent people are being slaughtered by our government policy, paid for by an apathetic, deluded citizenry. Yet there seems to be a renaissance of (new age) spirituality today, including a renaissance of the psychedelic drugs, which as you know can, to some extent, reveal the dimensions you experienced. It seems to me that this renaissance is being orchestrated as a distraction from political and sociological realities. Religion is not only a reconnection with the sacred. It is also, as Karl Marx famously declared, an opium of the masses. I wonder, has your experience and your transformation made you more or less concerned about our planet and its people? How, I wonder, can mystical experience such as yours, help end war and restore environmental sanity to this planet?
I noticed I forgot to post the link to the page with the photo of the angel in the clouds; it is at:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/cloud-angel-heralds-new-pope
From what I read (need to be corrected), Dr. Alexander brings up the point that one need not go through the NDE experience in order to have the mystical transformation and a higher level of consciousness. In my humble opinion, when one enters the state of higher consciousness, he / she will begin to see the link between everything, will come to realize the oneness of all mankind, nay rather the oneness of all creation. Such a state of consciousness, in my opinion, is sure going to help end wars and restore environmental sanity as you mention, not only to our planet, but to the entire universe!
Thank you Mr. Alexander for sharing your Heavenly experiences and those here on Earth. It was exactly what I needed and prayed for. I can’t seem to get enough of it.
Relatedly I would like to know more about your friend and amazing healer Sylvia. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Sam Park w/ Faith and Trust in The Loving God
PS I also look forward to my meditation sessions.
What is the role of the ego in the grand scheme of things? Does it go on into eternity? How is it a “Co-Creator” with God in the realization of the universe? A friend and also an author, Helen M. Luke, said “Discipline is to keep a Single Gaze”. I find this a provocative thought and I wonder if single-mindedness is truly possible on earth? If it is possible is that because of divine intervention? Helen also said that something spoken in time echoes forever in eternity so watch out what you say on earth for you may hear it for the rest of your life! I very much enjoyed your book Proof of Heaven. Many are trying to reach your level of understanding through the work of such luminaries as Carl G Jung, Helen M. Luke, Robert Johnson, Ann Belford Ulanov, Edward F. Edinger, etc. Your work supports the idea that nothing is beyond consideration and can offer much toward the development of consciousness. Indeed, it seems that all efforts in that direction are experienced as “re-membering” and coming home. Thank-you, George Sehy
I tried to send an account of my experience to the Share Your Story part of the website (I also couldn’t access other people’s stories there), but I don’t think it went through, so I’ll share it here.
I also was in a coma, in 1997, a Level II coma according to a catscan that was done while I was lapsing in and out of consciousness, and upon waking up, I remembered a couple of things I’d experienced in that state.
One was flowers everywhere with very vivid colors, and the other was observing people holding hands while dancing around in a circle, and they were singing “Thank you Father we can have what we want” over and over again.
I saw Eben on an old ABC 20/20 episode on Hulu Plus and ordered his book to compare his experiences with my own. I don’t know if he was describing the circle dance I saw when he said in ‘Proof of Heaven’ on Page 39, “The people sang and danced around in circles”, or if he meant they individually spun around in circles. He also doesn’t say what they were singing. Anyway, that certainly caught my attention.
Dr. Alexander brings up a very interesting point that in this life it appears that our consciousness is filtered down and in my opinion, one of the effects of such a filtering is the appearance of ego. For example, if you are walking in a dark alley, an object moving down the alley may not be so clear and due to limited amount of light surrounding you, you are prone to misinterpret that object. Similarly in this life, due to the filtering down of consciousness, we cannot clearly see the real meaning of “Self” and this distorted view of self becomes the breeding ground for ego. However, death is like shining the light on that dark alley and all distortions will disappear and the Truth of “self” will shine. Thus in my humble opinion, ego has no role in the next life but “Self” acquires a new meaning.
. . . self has really two meanings, or is used in two senses, in the Bahá’í Writings; one is self, the identity of the individual created by God. This is the self mentioned in such passages as “he hath known God who hath known himself”, etc. The other self is the ego, the dark, animalistic heritage each one of us has, the lower nature that can develop into a monster of selfishness, brutality, lust and so on. (Shoghi Effendi, Living the Life, p. 18).
Thank you for all you are doing to make a huge Godly impact in this world. I am a solid supporter of your experience, your story, your book, your message , and your powerful new mission. That being said, I have a question for you that is unrelated to the aforementioned and pointed directly to your medical expertise.
I am a retired teacher of 35 years. My son and his wife are both doctors. He for Pfizer and she a pediatrician. I have three grandchildren with them. Yesterday the children ( ages 15, 13 and 8). sent me a Facebook video of the 8 year old boy, Porter , using a speech jammer. I was absolutlely horrified at the video…. seeming to intuitively feel there was a messing with the child’s young mind. Porter is a highly intelligent boy with exceptional social skills.
I hardly ever interfere with my son and wife’s child raising but if I do I always have to be backed up with “research”. In tossing and turning on this subject all night you came to mind in a strong way .
Here is my question if you could be so kind as to help me with this delemma … In your opinion, could using this speech jamming activity be seriously messing both physically and psychologically with my young grandson’s brain. Do I have cause to raise a concern?
Although retired I still have great concern for our youth and how we as a nation are preparing them both physically and spiritually for the future. Your response or comment would be greatly appreciated. May God continue to use you to bless us all.
Carol Watson