Simon Lewis is a film and television producer and author. After earning law degrees from Christ’s College Cambridge and Boalt Hall, Berkeley, Lewis moved to Los Angeles, CA. Hollywood experiences include managing writers, directors and stars, and producing “Look Who’s Talking” and critically acclaimed films such as “The Chocolate War” which was an Emmy-winning international production for HBO and ITV Central.
The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Journey from Near Death to Full Recovery
Lewis is the author of Rise and Shine, his memoir that uses his personal story of recovery from coma to illustrate insights about consciousness. Lewis uses visualizations from medicine, scientific research and digital art to illustrate solutions for society’s pressing problems such as the erosion of consciousness and our need for solutions to extend mind by cognitive and other therapies.
As an advocate for change to educate our children and ourselves, Lewis says we must not take our consciousness for granted. We must screen and detect learning problems diminish barriers, and prevent academic failure to bridge gaps of potential mind and maximize consciousness.
“When I was thirty-five, my wife and I were both reported dead by the first paramedics to arrive at the scene of a seventy-five-mile-an-hour hit-and-run. My wife Marcy died instantly that day. With brain damage from a massive stroke and my body broken, I wasn’t expected to survive either.”
So begins Rise and Shine, a dramatic story of Simon Lewis and his remarkable recovery from a horrific car accident to navigate the health insurance maze, Rise and Shine is an extraordinary first-person account of unexpected tragedy and life-affirming courage.
Rise and Shine demonstrates that patients achieve maximum regeneration to rebuild their lives probably only when there is a great deal of help and support from their family and caregivers.
Enjoy this story about what it means to return to life after a near-death experience. Rise and Shine is an exploration of the nature of consciousness itself, and its a fascinating tale of survival and recovery.
Description: After a catastrophic car accident that left him in a coma, Simon Lewis found ways to recover — physically and mentally — beyond all expectations. At the INK Conference he tells how this remarkable story led him to concern over all threats to consciousness, and how to overcome them.
The idea that conscious awareness can exist after death, generally referred to as the ‘soul’, has been inherent in Eastern and Western religions for thousands of years. In addition to spiritual accounts, innumerable subjective reports of conscious awareness seemingly separated from the subject’s brain and physical body occur in conjunction with so-called near death experiences (NDEs) in patients resuscitated after cardiac arrest (1,2). Such patients describe remarkably consistent phenomenology including a white light, being in a tunnel, serenity, deceased loved ones, life review and, in some cases, floating out of the body (out-of-body experiences – OBEs). Comparable experiences have been reported in various types of meditative and altered states, traumatic psychological events, or seemingly without cause. A Gallup poll estimated some 10 million Americans have reported NDEs/OBEs (3). The drug ketamine, used as a ‘dissociative’ anesthetic, can produce subjective reports of conscious awareness outside the body (4), as can various other psychoactive drugs.
Modern science is unable to explain NDEs/OBEs, and ignores and derides such reports as unscientific folly or hallucination. But modern science can’t explain normal, in-the-brain consciousness. Despite detailed understanding of neuronal firings and synaptic transmissions mediating non-conscious cognitive functions, there is no accounting for conscious awareness, free will or ‘qualia’- the essence of experienced perceptions, like the redness, texture and fragrance of a rose. Philosopher David Chalmers refers to this as the ‘hard problem’ – explaining qualia and the subjective nature of feelings, awareness, and phenomenal experience – our ‘inner life’. Unable to explain consciousness in the brain, it is easy to see why conventional science ignores out-of-body, or after-death consciousness, rejecting even the possibility of their occurrence.
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Science can measure brain electrical activity known to correlate with consciousness, for example high frequency synchronized electroencephalography (EEG) in the gamma range (‘gamma synchrony’). Monitors able to measure and process EEG and detect gamma synchrony and other correlates of consciousness have been developed for use during anesthesia to provide an indicator of depth of anesthesia and prevent intra-operative awareness, i.e. to avoid patients being conscious when they are supposed to be anesthetized and unconscious. The ‘BIS’ monitor (Aspect Medical Systems, Newton MA) records and processes frontal electroencephalography (EEG) to produce a digital ‘bispectral index’, or BIS number on a scale of 0 to 100. A BIS number of 0 equals EEG silence, and 100 is the expected value in a fully awake, conscious adult. Between 40 and 60 is recommended by the manufacturer for a level of general anesthesia. The ‘SEDline’ monitor (Hospira, Lake Forest, IL) also records frontal EEG and produces a comparable 0 to 100 index.
In recent years these monitors have been applied outside of anesthesiology, e.g. to dying patients at or near the moment of death, revealing startling end-of-life brain activity.
In a study reported in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Chawla et al. (5) reported on 7 critically ill patients from whom life support (medications, machine ventilation) was being withdrawn, allowing them to die peacefully. As per protocol, they were monitored with a BIS or SEDline brain monitor. While on life support the patients were neurologically intact but heavily sedated, with BIS or SEDline numbers near 40 or higher. Following withdrawal, the BIS/SEDline generally decreased below 20 after several minutes, at about the time cardiac death occurred. This was marked by lack of measurable arterial blood pressure or functional heartbeat. Then, in all 7 patients’ post-cardiac death, there was a burst of activity as indicated by abrupt rise of the BIS or SEDline to between 60 and (in most cases) 80 or higher. After a period of such activity ranging from one minute to 20 minutes, the activity dropped abruptly to near zero.
In one patient, analysis of raw SEDline data revealed the burst of post-cardiac death brain activity to be apparent gamma synchrony, an indicator of conscious awareness. Chawla et al. raise the possibility that the measured post-cardiac death brain activity might correlate with NDEs/OBEs. Of course the patients died, so we have no confirmation that such experiences occurred.
In another study published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia, Auyong et al. (6) describe three brain-injured patients from whom medical and ventilatory support were withdrawn prior to ‘post-cardiac death’ organ donation. These patients were hopelessly brain-damaged, but technically not brain dead. Their families consented to withdrawal of support and organ donation. Such patients are allowed to die ‘naturally’ after withdrawal of support, then quickly taken to surgery for organ donation.
The three patients in the Auyong et al. study prior to withdrawal of support had BIS numbers of 40 or lower, with one near zero. Soon after withdrawal, near the time of cardiac death, the BIS number spiked to approximately 80 in all three cases, and remained there for 30 to 90 seconds. The number then abruptly returned to near zero, followed thereafter by declaration of death and organ donation. Various sources of artifact for the end-of-life brain activity were considered and excluded.
Auyong et al. did not consider the possibility of NDEs correlating with the observed end-of-life brain activity, nor did an extensive editorial accompanying their article (7).
Obviously we can’t say whether end-of-life brain activity is indeed related to NDEs/OBEs, or even possibly the soul leaving the body. Nor do we know how commonly it occurs (10 out of 10 in the two studies cited). Those issues aside, the mystery remains as to how end-of-life activity occurs in brain tissue which is metabolically dead, receiving no blood flow nor oxygen. The BIS and SEDline numbers, indicators of level of awareness, are near zero. Then, a burst of synchronized, coherent bi-frontal brain activity occurs, seemingly gamma synchrony EEG (an indicator of consciousness). As marked by BIS and SEDline numbers near 80, the activity persists for a minute or more. Then it abruptly ceases.
There are proposed explanations for the end-of-life brain activity as non-functional, generalized neuronal depolarization. Chawla et al. suggested excess extracellular potassium causes last gasp neuronal spasms throughout the brain. But that couldn’t account for the global coherence – synchronized, organized. Another suggested cause is calcium-induced neuronal death which could implicate disruption of cytoskeletal microtubules inside neurons as the precipitating factor. But again, how and why the bifrontal coherent synchrony?
Perhaps the end-of-life brain activity IS related to conscious NDEs or even OBEs, but without the ‘Near’, i.e. the patients have the experience and are not revived. White light, tunnel, serenity, deceased loved ones, floating life review. What would that imply?
Some see NDEs/OBEs as metaphysical or spiritual events, manifestations of consciousness, or the soul, leaving the body (8). Skeptics suggest NDEs/OBEs are hallucinations or illusions, manifestations of an ischemic/hypoxic brain (9). But hypoxic/ischemic patients, if conscious, are confused, agitated and don’t form memory.
If end-of-life brain activity does correlate with conscious NDE/OBE phenomenology, we still face the question of how/why conscious activity of any sort is occurring in the nearly dead brain. But here we at least have some logical possibilities based on disparities between energy requirements for consciousness and other brain functions. Neuronal hypoxia and acidosis would disable sodium-potassium ATPase pumps, preventing axonal action potentials, but temporarily sparing lower energy dendritic activity which may correlate more directly with consciousness (10), Another possibility is that consciousness is a low energy quantum process (11), in which case reduced molecular dynamics may limit thermal decoherence, providing a temporal window for enhanced quantum coherent states and a burst of enhanced consciousness. A quantum basis for consciousness also raises the scientific possibility of an afterlife, of an actual soul leaving the body and persisting as entangled fluctuations in quantum spacetime geometry (12).
We can’t as yet say for sure, but end-of-life brain activity could very well represent NDEs/OBEs phenomenology which is remarkably consistent among subjects, generally pleasant and often described as life-changing and helpful. Even skeptics of NDEs as metaphysical, soul-related events contend they convey beneficial effects to survivors (9). They should be valued.
Anesthesiologists or other physicians taking care of such patients face several ethical dilemmas. Following withdrawal of support such patients may exhibit the ‘appearance of suffering’: labored breathing, sweating, grimacing. Whether the patient is actually suffering depends on whether they have any conscious awareness. Given that the BIS and SEDline numbers are low, they probably are not conscious. But we don’t know for sure. Physicians would normally treat such signs with sedative and/or pain-killing drugs. However without ventilatory or medical support, such intervention could be seen as ‘hastening demise’, pushing the patient toward death. The American Society of Anesthesiologists prohibits such interventions, as do hospital protocols for post-cardiac death organ donation. We do not actively push patients toward death.
Now, end-of-life brain activity and the possibility of NDE/OBE phenomenology present another dilemma – how to avoid actions which could conceivably prevent end-of-life brain activity, as that could be seen as also preventing NDEs/OBEs, and perhaps even the soul from leaving the body.
We think the optimal management in end-of-life patients with apparent suffering is to give ketamine which alleviates suffering without hastening demise (ketamine does not generally depress breathing nor cardiovascular function). Moreover ketamine by itself has been suggested to induce NDE-like phenomenology (4), elevate BIS numbers during anesthesia(13), and could preserve or possibly enhance end-of-life brain activity, whatever it actually is.
Based on the possibility that end-of-life brain activity could correspond with NDE/OBE phenomenology, or even the soul leaving the body, end-of-life patients deserve to have it. We want it. Patients and their families should be aware of this when making agonizing decisions about withdrawal of support and organ donation.
End-of-life brain activity just may be a sign of the soul.
References: 1. Parnia S, Spearpoint K, Fenwick PB. Near death experiences, cognitive function and psychological outcomes of surviving cardiac arrest. Resuscitation 2007;74(2):215-21 2. van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. Lancet 2001;358(9298):2039-45 3. Chopra D. 2006 Life After Death – The Burden of Proof. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press 4. Jansen KL. A review of the nonmedical use of ketamine: use, users and consequences. J Psychoactive Drugs 2000;32(4):419-33 5. Chawla LS, Akst S, Junker C, Jacobes B, Seneff MG. Surges of electroencephalogram activity at the time of death: A case study. J Palliative Med 2009;12(12):1095-1100 6. Auyong DB, Klein SM, Gan TJ, Roche, AM, Olson DW, Habib AS. Processed electroencephalogram during donation after cardiac death. Anesth Analg 2010;110(5):1428-32 7. Csete M. Donation after cardiac death and the anesthesiologist. Anesth Analg 2010;(5):1253-54 8. Greyson B. Varieties of near-death experience. Psychiatry 1993;56(4):390-399 9. Blackmore S. Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences. London: Grafton, 1993 10. Hameroff S. The “conscious pilot”- dendritic synchrony moves through the brain to mediate consciousness. J Biol Physics 2010;36(1):71-93 11. Hameroff S, Quantum computation in brain microtubules – The Penrose-Hameroff “Orch OR” model of consciousness. Phil Trans Royal Society London (A) 1998;356:1869-96 12. Hameroff S, Chopra D (2010) Can science explain the soul? http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-09/news/22212482_1_quantum-physics-consciousness-science 13. Hans P, Dewandre PY, Brichant JF, Bonhomme V. Comparative effects of ketamine on Bispectral Index and spectral entropy of the electroencephalogram under sevoflurane anaesthesia. Br J Anaesth 2005;94(3):336-40
Stuart Hameroff, MD Diplomate, American Board of Anesthesiology Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology Director, Center for Consciousness Studies University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona quantumconsciousness.org
Deepak Chopra, MD Endocrinologist Co-Director of Chopra Center for Well Being Carlsbad, CA Author of over 56 books deepakchopra.com
“Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao Tzu
A guide to personal freedom … disengaging from the matrix.
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Awareness
Step 1 Awakening free will and personal freedom
I’ll borrow from Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you have time to ponder this, you may agree: “For non-conformity, the world whips you with its displeasure.” It may seem as “clapped into jail by his own consciousness.” Personal fulfillment requires disengaging from society and embracing physical and intellectual solitude … “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members,” Emerson argues. Let us not cease making progress. There is a way to accept what is and be free.
Step 2
Being Loving Kindness
Loving-kindness meditation practice is mindfully practicing kindness for positive growth; practicing systematically developing qualities of loving-acceptance. Loving-kindness acts as a form of self-psychotherapy, a way of healing the troubled mind to free it from its pain and confusion. Loving-kindness has the immediate benefit of sweetening patterns of mind.
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Step 3
Unconditional Love
Now, join Harold W. Becker as he hosts this hour long powerful presentation of inspiration and insight on how to become aware of, embrace and experience unconditional love throughout your life.
When the sci-fi film “The Matrix” first hit theaters back in 1999, it inspired a whole new generation of amateur philosophers to ponder whether the world really is as it appears. In the film, sentient machines have subdued humanity by plugging everyone’s brains into a sophisticatedcomputer network that convinces them to believe in a simulated reality.
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The film is a play on a philosophical conundrum as old as philosophy itself: How can we know whether the world really is how we perceive it to be?
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Now a group of physicists led by Silas Beane of the University of Washington think they have accomplished what centuries of philosophy could not,according to Discover. They believe they have discovered a solution to this age-old mystery. Or at least, they believe they have devised a test that can determine, once and for all, whether we live in a computer simulation like the one in “The Matrix” or not.
Their proposed experiment has been deemed the “cosmic ray test.” It assumes that any simulation of the universe would need to be constructed out of a lattice, or grid, much as television images are built from pixels. The researchers then calculated that such a simulation would require that the fastest particles — or cosmic rays — would always bombard the Earth with a maximum energy amount.
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Beane and colleagues surmise that if we do indeed observe a maximum energy amount for the cosmic rays that bombard the Earth, that this should provide confirmation that we really are living in a simulation. (In case you’re wondering, this is what has been observed: cosmic rays always arrive at Earth with a specific maximum energy of about 1020 electron volts.)
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So does that decide it then? Is Beane’s experiment proof that we’re living in a simulated universe? Beane himself doesn’t think it matters one way or another: “Learning we live in a simulation would make no more difference to my life than believing that the universe was seeded at the Big Bang,” he suggested. To him, the issue is a mere scientific curiosity.
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Philosophers aren’t likely to be so easily sated, however. Beane’s test makes a lot of unnecessary assumptions. For instance, it assumes that any simulation of the universe would need to be constructed from a lattice or grid. Perhaps our supergenius simulator overlords have discovered some more advanced way of constructing a simulation.
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Beane’s test also can’t rule out the possibility that the universe might actually happen to function like a latticed simulation. In other words, it’s possible that reality and simulated reality are simply perceptively indistinguishable. If such were the case, then no test would suffice. We’d be right back at square one — a place where the scientist must, incontrovertibly, give way to the philosopher.
Afterlife? This is a second article that explores afterlife (Near Death Experience). My list of related articles (below) includes other points of view and examples; and recall, I welcome comments (and ping-backs).
It seems by hundreds of thousands of reports from NDE survivors that the afterlife is there… for any or all of us. So, I’m open to experiential reports about the afterlife. In fact, I’ve enjoyed reading dozens of them including some that are oddly opposite to the ones that I’m choosing to feature. I think these are important contributions and yet I like simple facts most of all. However, until the simple facts determine the truth, its necessary to examine possibilities.
I think that its good to explore facts and theories and to take sides based on what’s most likely; also its best to remain open and tolerant of different views in a healthy manner. Thus, I hope that this article awakens healthy interest and genuine investigative spirit.
By their awareness or beliefs, many think that its essential to accept spiritual preparations during our lives. I say accept since most agree that spiritual development comes into us more so than from us. However, spiritual growth by my definition is not necessarily religious. This story, I hope is an example of how spiritual preparedness may positively impact living a happy life. If there is one important fact that I want most to emphasize, its that the stories that I post are about spiritual progress, changed lives and happier people.
I want for myself to meet my maker in an already happy state of mind. I think preparation aids me along a happier life here in the meantime.
Since this article is about beliefs, I defer today to a verse that makes clear my belief that God’s instruction is easy to understand. All I have to do is to be willing and follow simple directions. I’ll leave all of the complications to Him — doing my best to follow directions.
John 3:16-21 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
The verse is not a universal belief; yet, it’s spiritually the crux of a hope that is resoundingly healthy. Again, I want to emphasize that religious spirituality is not my message. Yet, I am Christian and this is an important foundation for my beliefs. The verse is widely appealing to spiritual people of all sorts, I think.
Hmm… “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” — this revelation is easy enough to understand — I am to bring myself along with my transgressions into the light — I may be seen plainly there in the sight of God and those nasty transgressions are in me until then. I am to bring myself into the light, knowing that I am exposed as unworthy — there, the truth will set me free. That’s really pretty simple. It’s a simple process and I firmly believe in it. This transforms me into a happy man; compassionate and empathetic here in my present life and also prepares me via spiritual growth for an afterlife by God’s Will.
Research The topic of afterlife is scientific as well as spiritual. Scientific inquiry explores facts — empirical evidence. However, science also must therefore explore interpretations of facts. Thus, often times, we must sort out the known from the unknown even to determine what to believe from scientific reports. Oh my, this is one of those times.
Let’s look at the process against the universe of facts.
Science looks into the possibility of an afterlife; perhaps mostly because knowing about an afterlife is compelling for some of us. Also, how our universe works is important for many areas of scientific inquiry. How does scientific research occur? Well, typically, scientific research begins with someone that has a theory… often, theories lead to finding of facts… new discoveries bring about new theories. It’s a process. Here is an example:
apparently, the Earth is about 4 billion years old — wow! Who knew?
In 1923, Edwin Hubble began to work out the discoveries that our Milky Way is one of probably more than 200 billion galaxies — and later, by 1929, he’d demonstrated that the universe is expanding. Recently, scientific exploration by observations from new telescopes and spacecraft find that the universe is about 14 billion years old… Wow!
Most accounts as taken from biblical references come up with far less than these scientific estimates… and there is not any direct biblical references to galaxies and for the expansion of the universe… Wow!
Obviously, the biblical account for creation is difficult to apply to scientific findings. In my experience, that is only a small part of the controversy that is involved surrounding debate about afterlife accounts. So, there is much to explore.
In my first NDE story, I wondered what about an NDE may be described and widely accepted as believable. I chose the story of Colton Burpo because of this. His whole family is believable. It seems from further investigation that I’m correct. His story is compelling for many. However, he was just a four-year-old child at the time of the NDE.
Colton’s story is profoundly moving and believable. Yet, can his descriptions of the hereafter hold up to adult inquiry by a scientist? I wondered: Are there scientists that believe that NDE experiences are evidence of an afterlife? Well, yes… it turns out there are thousands. I found one that is widely reported and I want to share about this man, a Harvard trained neurosurgeon that had a NDE.
Dr. Eben Alexander Here is a highly educated man of science that dismissed accounts of NDE experiences. However, in 2008, Dr. Eben Alexander’s own NDE was so profound that he now adamantly believes consciousness continues after death.
What happened to Dr. Alexander? Dr. Alexander awoke one morning with an extremely intense headache. All he could manage was “help…” and painful noise and screams. It turns out a ferocious E. coli meningitis infection had penetrated his cerebrospinal fluid and it was attacking his brain. By the time that he’d entered the emergency room that morning chances for survival in a vegetative state were already looming and his chances for any sort of recovery were quickly sinking. STAT! He was leaving us — sinking fast.
When doctors did what they could, Alexander’s survival was found improbable. Brain scans showed his entire cortex — the parts of the brain that transmit consciousness, thought, memory and understanding — not functioning.
Dr. Alexander was in near-death critical condition. By this time, no one expected him to recover even rudimentary human functions.
Alexander’s NDE occurred during the next seven days while he lay in a deep coma.
Shockingly… Eben Alexander awoke on the seventh day.
As weeks and months passed in recovery, Dr. Alexander began recalling and relating his experiences of that seven days; and he realized that he’d never again doubt that Heaven is real. He was powerfully moved upon miraculously reviving from a comatose state; and he was even more so convinced of his experience later, and especially later, when he realized that he’d met his deceased sister in the afterlife.
During the weeks of recovering, Alexander, who was adopted, had contact with his biological family. He was given a picture by his biological family of a sister he had never met nor seen before. As he stared at her picture, he recognized her from his NDE. “I know this is not a hallucination, not a dream, not what we call a confabulation,” Alexander said. “I know that it really occurred, and it occurred outside of my brain.”
Dr. Eben Alexander was featured in the October 15, 2012 edition of Newsweek. The cover story is an account of his near-death experience. The article summary reads: “When a neurosurgeon found himself in a coma, he experienced things he never thought possible—a journey to the afterlife.”
In my last article, Afterlife, Part One: Colton Burpo, a little boy from Nebraska says that he sat in the lap of Jesus. He saw streets of gold. He says that Angels sang to him. He says that he met his great grandfather that had died thirty years before Colton was born. He claims that he’d met a second sister “there” in what Colton refers to as Heaven. Afterlife evidence is mounting. Alexander also claims to have met a sister that he’d never known about. So, both make claims that they’d met people unknown to them — that had passed on — and of course their families were stunned.
What is meant by an afterlife? The essential meaning of afterlife is that an individual lives on after death. If we apply only classic science and logic, its more like you live; you die; you’re done with no life afterward.
Religious and other spiritual practitioners tend to believe in an afterlife and most believe a soul continues on after physical death.
Either case may be true. Either case may be false. Speculation supports either case, that there may or may not be an afterlife. Making it complicated, various people’s actual experience may support either case as well.
As for what is believed to live on beyond death, that too is complicated. In some circles, an essential part of an individual lives on while others believe that an entire soul of an individual lives on with its personal identity intact. Some believe that an essential aspect returns to the physical world in a new body. Some believe that once entering into an afterlife that there is no returning.
Is there an afterlife? I believe that there is an afterlife. I accept that I cannot completely and indisputably prove it. I have a reason for my belief. To keep it simple, lets say, I believe in an afterlife because I believe that God created us to be eternal. Additionally, I believe that there will soon be scientific evidence that consciousness and perhaps evidence of a soul are passed on from our bodies at death.
Afterlife scientific theories are being investigated. Science works the same for anyone of us if we apply its disciplines to investigating the facts.
If we can’t find all of the necessary empirical evidence, science may often fall back on what’s reasonable. We may base reasonable on what is empirically known and add personal experiences to form a reasonable theory — this is exactly what scientist do.
It certainly is reasonable to believe that God is. Perhaps God created the universe. In fact, for me, it seems “more” reasonable to believe that the universe originates from something; even if the something is undiscoverable using physical laws and even if the something were found to be not God.
It is also reasonable to assume that whatever the origin, the universe probably came about in such a way as that it operates by physical laws and so that anything not physical is closer to its source.
I like science to make simple sense. So do scientists. Thus, many scientists believe in a higher power (God) and they tend to sometimes, as in the case of Dr. Eben Alexander, also support that there is a heaven and that there is an afterlife.
What opposing view is out there?
According to the Oxford dictionary, naturalism refers to the viewpoint that laws of nature operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe. The supernatural is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature. The afterlife is of the supernatural. According to naturalism, the supernatural isn’t real.
Stephen Hawking, eminent physicist says: no god; nor is there fate
What Is Real? When it comes right down to it, science can’t so far even prove that you and I are “real” in some sense of the definition. There are many competing theories that explore what is real. However, if a person really wants to grow in happiness, it makes good sense to follow high moral and ethical standards and to invest plenty of time in developing of higher awareness (spiritual growth), intuitively knowing that this is best.
We are real in some sense and our consciousness is real as well. Herein lies the magic of physics — but I’ll have to come to that in a follow-up article. This post is already much longer than is good for the average reader… so, as to the emerging science of afterlife — look for that next time… and yet there is a bit more.
Dr. Alexander testifies
“I’ve spent decades as a neurosurgeon at some of the most prestigious medical institutions in our country. I know that many of my peers hold—as I myself did—to the theory that the brain, and in particular the cortex, generates consciousness and that we live in a universe devoid of any kind of emotion, much less the unconditional love that I now know God and the universe have toward us.”
Surgeons and other medical professionals tend to believe that consciousness is a function of the brain or of the brain-body. Its part of the intense training that they receive in Western Medicine. Most are compassionate and caring but tend to not believe reports from patients about anything that is supernatural or spiritual.
Dr. Alexander’s testimony continues “There is no scientific explanation for the fact that while my body lay in coma, my mind—my conscious, inner self—was alive and well. While the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them, my brain-free consciousness journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe: a dimension I’d never dreamed existed and which the old, pre-coma me would have been more than happy to explain was a simple impossibility.”
There are scientific inquiries presently investigating consciousness. Many scientists tend to categorize the reports from these investigations as pseudoscientific. Yet, when it comes right down to any differences in scientific knowledge, the difference is really one of beliefs and not of scientific methods.
Dr. Alexander’s testimony continues “According to current medical understanding of the brain and mind, there is absolutely no way that I could have experienced even a dim and limited consciousness during my time in the coma, much less the hyper-vivid and completely coherent odyssey I underwent.”
Dr. Alexander’s testimony continues “Modern physics tells us that the universe is a unity—that it is undivided. Though we seem to live in a world of separation and difference, physics tells us that beneath the surface, every object and event in the universe is completely woven up with every other object and event. There is no true separation.The first time I entered a church after my coma, I saw everything with fresh eyes. Today many believe that the living spiritual truths of religion have lost their power, and that science, not faith, is the road to truth. Before my experience I strongly suspected that this was the case myself. But I now understand that such a view is far too simple. The plain fact is that the materialist picture of the body and brain as the producers, rather than the vehicles, of human consciousness is doomed.”
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (Paul) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
Here is the video story of Colton’s and family claims that he had a near death experience of the afterlife. This is the first story that fascinated me about NDEs. I went on to do some research on NDEs and I’ll share some more about what I’ve found in future posts. Interestingly, science is also taken by this and other stories from NDE survivors and we can probably count on far more being revealed about how these experiences occur.
During his experience, Colton says that he remembers things that make his story more believable since as his family reports that he shouldn’t have known what he claims to have learned in Heaven.
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During the course of surgery for a ruptured appendix, the little boy from Nebraska says that he sat in the lap of Jesus. He saw streets of gold. He says that Angels sang to him. He says that he met his great grandfather that had died thirty years before Colton was born. He claims that he’d met a second sister “there” in what Colton refers to as Heaven.
Colton was only four at the time of his sudden brush with death.” In this second video, the hospital scene is presented. There, the family discovers that Colton is perhaps going to die. Four months after recovery, Colton began to tell his parents about what he remembered from the hospital. His story was very different from theirs. Colton claims that Jesus and some Angels came to him and that they all flew up to Heaven. As he relates the story, Colton says that his visit to Heaven began in the Throne room. He says that he was upset and that God brought out his great grandfather to help him to get calm. Later, he claims that he also met his unborn sister. Colton says that she is waiting there for her parents to come to Heaven. Colton’s message to us: “I learned that heaven is for real and that you’re gonna like it…
When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in.” (Stephen Hawking)
In this video, Colton relates his story in contrast toStephen Hawking’s declaration that Heaven is “a fairy story for people who are afraid of the dark.” Hawking will admit that it cannot be proved that God does not exist but rather than leave it alone at that, he claims that science makes God unnecessary. Hawking claims that “laws of physics can prove the existence of the universe without the need for a creation.
Stephen Hawking seemed to want to disprove God. He can not. Science is “supposed” to demonstrate facts. Scientists know this. Hawking disregards that he is speaking to the world as an eminent scientist when he made the declaration (as quoted) regarding Heaven. Whatever he believes, he cannot prove what he said. His position that intelligent life came about by chance is fine and so may he believe whatever he chooses about the supernatural and spirits and so on. His opinions on that are just his opinions.
According to the Oxford dictionary, naturalism refers to the viewpoint that laws of nature operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe. The supernatural is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature. The afterlife is of the supernatural.
Viewed as entertainment, fact, or fiction, this is an interesting story.
Thanks for reading.
Eric
Here is a summary from the timeline published in the book “Heaven is For Real”
July 1976—Todd Burpo’s grandpa, whom he calls “Pop” (Lawrence Edelbert Barber), dies in a car accident between Ulysses and Liberal, Kansas.
1982—Todd as a thirteen-year-old hears and accepts Christ’s call into ministry as a preacher of the gospel.
December 29, 1990—Todd and Sonja Burpo are married.
August 16, 1996—Cassie Burpo, Colton’s older sister, is born.
July 1997—Pastor Todd and Sonja Burpo accept a call to the Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska.
June 20, 1998—Sonja Burpo miscarries their second child. She is two months along.
May 19, 1999—Colton Burpo is born.
August 2002—Todd shatters his leg in a coed softball tournament game.
October 2002—Todd develops kidney stones.
November 2002—Todd feels a lump in his chest that is diagnosed as hyperplasia.
February 27, 2003—Colton complains of stomach pain and has a high fever that is misdiagnosed as stomach flu.
February 28, 2003—Colton’s fever breaks. His parents rejoice, thinking that Colton is well, when in fact this is a sign of the rupturing of his appendix.
March 1, 2003—The Burpo family visits the Denver Butterfly Pavilion to celebrate Todd’s recovery. That night Colton begins vomiting uncontrollably.
March 3, 2003—Colton is examined by a doctor in Imperial, Nebraska, who dismisses suggestions of appendicitis.
March 5, 2003—Todd and Sonja personally check Colton out of the Imperial, Nebraska, hospital and take their son by car to North Platte, Nebraska’s Great Plains Regional Medical Center. Dr. Timothy O’Holleran prepares for surgery.
March 5, 2003—Colton undergoes his first surgery, an appendectomy. He has both a ruptured appendix and an abscess.
March 13, 2003—Colton is discharged from the hospital. But as Todd and Sonja wheel him into the elevator, Dr. O’Holleran shouts down the hallway for them to return. Blood tests reveal Colton’s white blood cell count has spiked. A CT scan reveals two more abscesses in his abdomen.
March 13, 2003—Colton undergoes a second surgery—a celiotomy [incision]—to drain the abscess. During surgery a total of three abscesses are found.
March 17, 2003—Dr. O’Holleran advises Todd and Sonja that there is nothing more he can do for Colton. He recommends that Colton be transferred to the Denver Children’s Hospital. A blizzard blocks all exits with two feet of snow. Back home in Imperial, their congregation gathers for a prayer meeting.
March 18, 2003—The next morning, Colton shows amazing signs of recovery and is soon playing like a normal kid. He skips to his CT scan, which shows no more obstruction.
March 19, 2003—After seventeen harrowing days, Colton’s family returns to Imperial.
July 3, 2003—While en route to visit his cousin in South Dakota, Colton tells the first of many accounts of heaven while parked in an Arby’s parking lot in North Platte, Nebraska. Colton progressively tells more stories of his adventures in heaven.
What is meant by an afterlife? The essential belief that there is an afterlife is that an individual lives on after death. Otherwise, you live; you die; you’re done–fine, thanks for a home, jobs, kids, friends, the sex and some great meals and so on–that’s it; you’re done. Either experience may be true according to the empirical evidence. If SCIENCE FOLLOWS THE EVIDENCE: Either may be true or may be false. Speculation added on to actual facts may support either case as well. Making it complicated, various people’s actual experience may support either case as well. As for what is meant by afterlife, that too is complicated. What is believed to live on beyond death? In some circles, an essential part of an individual lives on while others believe that an entire soul of an individual lives on with its personal identity. Some believe that an essential aspect returns to the physical world in a new body. Some believe that once entering into an afterlife that there is no returning.
Is there an afterlife? I believe that there is an afterlife. I believe that we are essentially spirits and that by life that makes spiritual progress, we may live on after death and perhaps make some new choices then about the how of living in ‘our’ personal afterlife. Our physical world is a realm that seems real enough and I believe that it is infused by energy that is real; but that’s as far as I go in beliefs as to how real this physical world is. I accept that I cannot prove that there is a spiritual source that is the actual source for a human being. However, I have a reason for my belief. To keep it simple, let’s say, I believe in an afterlife because I believe that God created it. I have a sense of the spirit source and that source is ever present in my heart. As I make my life more about doing what is best, I find that the Spirit source as a spiritual awareness is ever more strongly invigorating me.
I’ll add some information concerning this subject — I’m sure that there is life after death and I want to explore how others here think about this. How afterlife breaks down in this world is apparently something that we can learn from only few — as described by survivors of a near-death-experience and a few spiritual teachers. So, since this (reblog) is already on wordpress, I decided to Reblog this video as a start. I like to include others in my research… I hope you’ll click on related blogs (below).
Eric
Eric
Eric
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