Posted on 10/16/2011 1:19:00 PM PDT by NYer
DURHAM, N.C.—Eben Alexander was your typical neurosurgeon. A firm believer of scientific reductionism, he thought that all thoughts originate from the brain. But this changed in 2008 when he encountered a case of near-death experience (NDE).
As much as it was the complete opposite of his previous views, he couldn’t dismiss or avoid the case—it was none other than his own experience, and he had to face it and search for an explanation.
Having contracted acute bacterial meningitis, which damages the neocortex—the part of the brain that is thought to involve complex cognitive functions like conscious thought—Alexander went into a coma and spent six days on a ventilator. The chance of survival was very slim, and less so was the possibility of recovering fully.
The normal glucose levels in a human’s cerebrospinal fluid are between 60 and 80 mg/dl (milligram per one-tenth of a liter), and the meningitis infection is considered severe when the level drops to 20 mg/dl. But the glucose level of Alexander’s cerebrospinal fluid was at 1 mg/dl, making it impossible for his brain to function.
However, during the time when he was in coma, Alexander encountered vivid experiences involving multiple senses, such as vision, hearing, and smell. He said that he couldn’t describe how amazing it was.
“What happened deep in coma was absolutely stunning,” Alexander said during an interview.
“The whole situation seems to be much more real than our earthly life, and the sensory modalities were very strange because they were, you know, when I was remembering all this and trying to write it down, a lot of the kind of auditory and visual things that we would normally think of as things that we see or hear, were all kind of blended together.”
For example, he “saw” a beautiful melody appearing as colors in front of him, and he remembered gold and silver arcs of lights as transparent arcs of energy that he perceived as sounds.
“To compare it with sitting here and talking on the phone or working on my computer, it was much, much more real, very rich, and as if I were truly being alive for the first time,” Alexander said. “It was really amazing.”
“My brain right now—I think it recovered pretty well—could not do anything close to what my brain was doing deep in coma,” Alexander said in this year’s International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) conference.
“How does a dying brain end up getting far, far more powerful and able to handle these tremendous loads of information instantaneously and put it altogether?”
“For me the problem was how to explain the hyper-reality. How do I explain such a rich experience, such an interactive experience, one with so much very vivid, and auditory and visual components when the parts of my human brain that normally handle all that were infected with meningitis and were not working. And especially how was it that the mind would experience consciousness, and handling very complex tasks?” Alexander said during the interview.
For months after the coma, Alexander thought about his NDE and tried to explain it from a neuroscientific standpoint. He came up with about seven hypotheses, but later found that none were able to explain fully what happened.
“The standard neuroscientific explanation […] absolutely does not address the real powerful elements of the experience,” he said.
“My conclusion is that the experience was very real and had to happen outside of my brain, and it had to happen outside of this physical universe. […] There is an element of our consciousness that is not dependent on the brain and that is what was set free, for me, and went on that journey.”
“Any scientists who doubt the reality of such extraordinary near-death experiences should begin by explaining the fundamental mechanism of conscious awareness. The evidence for the reality of many related phenomena, such as remote viewing and influence, and out-of-body phenomena, is overwhelming. The reductive materialist view of physical reality, as it currently stands, is not going to fully explain consciousness,” he said.
Alexander has since looked into quantum mechanics as it seems to offer some insights into the phenomenon of consciousness, and thus to NDEs.
"When the enigma of the interpretation of their experiments first came to light more than 80 years ago to the founding fathers of quantum mechanics, such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Planck, they knew their experiments revealed a deep mystery. It was such a mystery because it dealt with the intersection of reality and consciousness. It is even more of a mystery today, as revealed by ever more refined experiments,” he said.
Experiments in quantum mechanics have found that it is impossible to precisely measure a photon or electron’s (or other subatomic particle’s) position and momentum at the same time. These entities would behave like waves or particles, depending on the choice of a conscious observer about how to measure them. The exact measurement result seemed to be arbitrarily chosen from a range of possibilities, but was not exact until the measurement was consciously observed.
An experiment done in 2000 even found that an observation made in the future of a particle could affect the behavior of an entangled particle (one that was generated in the same single process) in the past. The experiment was set up for particles to pass through a double-slit apparatus and end up in four different locations, and the researchers found that just by observing which location the particles arrive at, their behavior back at the double-slit apparatus would be affected.
“I’m worried that some of the physics community today doesn’t sense the same deep mystery behind it all, as did the brilliant founding fathers of the field. The experimental results have gotten even more bizarre with more refined experiments, but many who work with quantum physics overlook the extreme mystery at its most basic level. Quantum mechanics is such a basic part of our lives that a third of our economy (cell phones, GPS, television, computers, all the semiconductor technology, etc.) is based in the physics and mathematics of quantum mechanics. It’s been proven to work very well, but they got away from the deep mystery that is there when you look at the basic experimental results. They indicate that consciousness is crucial in the determination of physical reality,” Alexander said.
It has recently been discovered that quantum phenomena also happen in biological processes such as human olfaction, bird migration, and photosynthesis. Alexander thinks that quantum processes might also be involved with human consciousness.
“The main role in my view for quantum mechanics is that it provides the ‘smoking gun,’ that shows us there’s something special about consciousness in making reality,” he said.
“It suggests that we’re missing a big point about our consciousness and exactly how it interacts with reality. […] I don’t think that by chasing quantum mechanical phenomena to a certain degree that we will come up with the answer about mind and consciousness, although I think it will be very helpful at elucidating the mind-brain interface.”
“I see science and spirituality going forward, together—science and spirituality as being one, and complementing each other beautifully. Both the religious side and the science side will have to let go of some of the more simplistic dogmatic assumptions and statements, but then science and spirituality and this deeper knowledge of the profound nature of our individual consciousness can move forward. The world will be an enormously better place when we do that,” he concluded.
No, he's pretty clear about that; I doubt he was a believer or he would have immediately interpreted his experiences as heavenly, and he would have encountered the Lord. This doesn't sound like heaven, anyway; it was just beautiful and awe-inspiring. But it has taken him a step along the correct path. He seems receptive now, and perhaps will be open to taking the Lord as his Saviour.
Scientists are tough nuts to crack; God knows this, so sometimes He is unusually charitable to them, and kindly shows them such things so that they will inquire after Him. I've known other cases a bit similar to this, in which a hard-boiled pragmatic scientist gets a gentle wake-up slap from God. It's a wonderful thing to watch. Scientists get to see the fascinating way God created the universe, and can be very joyful believers as a result.
He was never afraid to die and always had faith in God for the rest of his life, finally passing for good at the age of 83.
That is so wonderful that you had the chance to say your goodbyes to your dad. You are blessed.
I, in turn, feel blessed by everyone sharing their stories. It was not my intention to hijack this thread. I’m quite gun shy about posting a vanity, except when my dad was dying and the support here is so very heartwarming and exceptional.
God bless all of you who have experienced a loss and even bigger hugs to those of you who are going through the worst of it right now. You are in my prayers.
I read abook about a man named Edgar Cayce who had similar experience. He could even diagnose people’s health problems...but it was about 100 years ago... or more.
He was a different man after that...became a Born again Christian...with adjusted attitude.
Placemark!
That’s for the heads up on this “Evidence of the Afterlife” book Salvation. I downloaded it on my Nook. I am very fascinated by this subject.
You can’t be serious. Did you forget the sarcasm tag?
How is Alexander’s description of an experience, which is indistinguishable in essence from various accounts of drug induced, psychodelic experiences, evidence of anything more than a malfuncitoning mind?
“You can’t be serious. Did you forget the sarcasm tag?”
It’s what happened to me after my near death experience back in 1988. Freaked me out. As a logical left brain tax law professor what happened to me threw me a curve ball that changed my life. I’ve spent over 20 years studying consciousness & cognitive neuroscience after that just to understand myself.
If it were not for the verifiable accuracy of my results, I would have committed myself as “NUTS.”
“How is Alexander’s description of an experience, which is indistinguishable in essence from various accounts of drug induced, psychodelic experiences, evidence of anything more than a malfuncitoning mind?”
I know Eben, we have mutual friends and have heard this presentation on his NDE experience 2 times. As a neurosurgeon he has answered your question from his peers many times. There were too many things that he learned during the NDE, wrote them down prior to talking to anyone about the experience, and then experiences were verified after the experience.
The most profound experience was his meeting his natural birth sister who had died, that he never knew he had. He was adopted, never knew his birth parents, or even that they had married and raised a family after he was put up for adoption by them. He did not meet his birth parents until after the NDE experience.
“Start looking at the language to describe music and color, you’ll begin to notice the crossed senses of the words and themes.”
________
Sounds like when I’m cooking. I tend to think in terms of adding bass notes to my soups, for example, and am good at combining harmonious flavors. For me, food is musical.
One of my very favorite Lewis quotes. Thank you for the memory and the smile.
Awesome Thread Bump.
May God guide our course.
Tatt
May I ask why you know so many?
I’ve only met a total of two. Both were strangers that I met a few times, and then never again.
They both seemed full of peace, almost grace. Angelic in a way.
“I’ve met ~25 people who have had Lazarus Syndromes”
So many? Do you work in the medical field?
I’ve only known one, so far as I am aware.
He was an elderly Japanese gentleman, and our conversation was in Japanese. I hope I didn’t miss anything vital because of the language barrier.
“So, are we saying that in these NDE experiences (of redundancy) the soul left the earthly carcass, went to party on with the angels and their heavenly music (Yanni, John Tesh, Kenny G?) and then returned to the body and related the story to the physical brain?”
That might be what one would say if one were explaining it to a six-year-old.
Perhaps the brain is the primary device through which the soul communicates in the material universe. Perhaps the answer is more than the human mind can conceive. Remember Flatland.
I think you will enjoy reading the episodes. I got tired of some of the doctor’s explanations and got to skimming them at the end.
Yes - 25 in clinical practice
Neurologists see a wide array of people
who have been in coma states
In my experience, it is more common that one would think,
just that many will not talk about it as
they believe others will think they are “Crazy”
Thanks for your testimony!
The first person who described this to me
was total stranger in her 20’s
I met “randomly” in College 34 yrs ago
It dominated her awareness,
her story was so clear
I remember it to this day.
Spent an entire afternoon talking
Didn't know her from Eve,
and have not met her since.
Before that I'd never heard of a Lazarus Syndrome
I've kept my eyes open for them ever since
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