Thought that this was an interesting read from the neuroscientist's point of view.
http://www.amazon.ca/Proof-Heaven-Ne.../dp/1451695195
Anyone else read it? What did you think?
Thought that this was an interesting read from the neuroscientist's point of view.
http://www.amazon.ca/Proof-Heaven-Ne.../dp/1451695195
Anyone else read it? What did you think?
I did read it. I liked it, but it wasn't as compelling as Anita Moorjani's Dying to be Me
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
Neurosurgeon. There is a difference. Here is what a neuroscientist thinks of the whole thing...
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven
"There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere." --Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
Interesting, Storyteller. Interesting because I would expect that in a continuum where Sam Harris would be at one end, and Eban Alexander at the other, I'd be MUCH closer to Eban Alexander, mainly because I truly believe so strongly in a spiritual life. I didn't realize that Sam Harris actually subscribes to some form of spirituality, namely Eastern meditation. It sounds like it's dogma that he is really shooting down, and I would agree with him there. So I'm probably dead center on that continuum between a Buddhhist/Hindu form of quasi-transcendentalism and a belief that there is a Living God.
So, when I read Eban Alexander's book, I think that what bothered me about it was that it came across as him simply describing what the Movie in his brain was playing. We don't believe that movies are real, but he has convinced himself that his "movie" is Reality. I would not presume to reject that, because I can't know. I really think that knowledge of the rational kind and knowledge of the spiritual kind are completely different, and we spend far too much time defending reality from the rationalist POV.
I think that Moorjani was more compelling because she came away with not just pretty pictures in her head but of a) a real spiritual transformation and b) a spontaneous remission from terminal cancer. I love her book--she motivates you to take on your life differently. I can't say Eban Alexander's book does that.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
I agree with Catherine on this about the two ends of a spectrum.
Philosophically speaking, I think that individuals experience heaven in terms that they can understand and do heal themselves which defies medical expectations.
The experience of THE Consciousness will be different for each of us and to explain it all as a another simple psychedelic experience and slough it off for every person to whom it might happen is not accurate either.
I have two friends that have had NDE when their hearts stopped during surgery. Really amazing and fascinating stories they shared with me. Of course, it was all very real to them. I'm hoping there is a wonderful afterlife after hearing their experiences....
Well, I'm one of those light switch kinda guys... when you flip the switch, the light goes out. Everything we are is here and now and in our heads. It is a point of view I have evolved to over the years, having pondered on it many times and having watched over a thousand animals as life left their eyes. I'm not nearly as agnostic about the subject as Harris is.
Not something I am particularly thrilled about, but it is what it is. No reuniting with loved ones, no beautiful experience, not even nothing. Because nothing implies I am aware of nothingness. It is much less than that. It is merely cessation of existence, just as I didn't exist before I was born.
But there is a kind of peace that comes when I think of it. And an appreciation of life as I now have it, no matter my state of mind otherwise.
And I say all this as someone who was once very near death. So near it is amazing I am alive. And my recollection of that Near Death Experience is...
Nothing.
"There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere." --Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
I read Alexander's book, and it left me cold, for some reason. It didn't ring particularly true or didn't resonate with me, or something. But I do believe in an eternal soul, due to my own experiences and study. I appreciate that Sam Harris--unlike other professional skeptics--at least acknowledges that we don't know it all. I have no time for those who insist that we live in a mechanistic universe where there are no mysteries, only magic tricks. It's like the old fable of the blind men and the elephant--we're trying to make sense of a vast, layered multiverse from a very narrow vantage point using a primitive set of tools.
Ironic, given that I think beliefs in the hereafter are based for the most part on either wishful or magical thinking.
But I'm okay with that. People are entitled to believe what they want to believe. My personal belief is not one that I hold defensively or dogmatically. It is simply what I believe. I have no dog in the fight either way.
One FB friend was appalled when I changed my profile from Christian to Atheist (what a relief that was! It felt like coming out of the closet). She wrote how strongly she disagreed with my belief. I wrote back that it isn't a matter of belief, but simply a lack of belief. I just don't believe. Same thing goes for an afterlife.
"There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere." --Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
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