Near Death Experience, book review-Part 2

Today's "Sunday Reflections" blog is the second in a four part series reviewing recent books on the subject of Near Death Experience. The reviews are written by four clergy in the Forest Hills and Regent Square area. Today's column is by Rev. Susan Schwartz, looking at the book, Proof of Heaven, By Eben Alexander, M.D. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012. 196pp. ISBN 978-1-4516-9519. $15.99 (paperback).

Proof of Heaven is a well-written, easy to read book by an American neurosurgeon, Christian, father, and husband, Eben Alexander, III. In this book he describes his own Near Death Experience (NDE) which he defines as proof of heaven.

His experience began when he woke up one morning in November of 2008 in pain. He tried, to no avail, a hot water bath to alleviate the pain, and later that morning was rushed to the ER at Lynchburg General Hospital of Virginia, in full grand mal seizure. For seven days he laid in the ICU with meningitis caused by E. coli bacteria, and while in the coma experienced another place, a new place, radically different from life as he knew it. The base of this new experience was dark and muddy, and yet it was somewhat transparent with the consistency of Jell-O. He could hear sounds, mechanical and rhythmic, and animal voices as well. While in this place a lighted tunnel of white and gold filaments came to him and changed the darkness; and he was drawn inside and up and through. And he came out into a new world, one that was brilliant and vibrant. He saw a green countryside with trees and streams and fields, and people and animals. There was joy and warmth. And he noticed that he was riding above all this on a butterfly’s wing, but not alone, for a beautiful young girl was with him. They rode up into the sky, through clouds and into a pitch black void which was nonetheless filled with light. This void was the Core, in which he met God, or Om. During his seven days in the ICU he returned to the experience a number of times.

OK, so this was his experience. How does he understand it; how does he interpret it?

Much could be said about this book and the whole NDE experience and Dr. Alexander's interpretation, but I will limit myself here. Is an NDE an experience of afterlife? Merriam Webster defines death as "a permanent cessation of all vital functions : the end of life". According to this definition, an NDE, given that it is not permanent, is not death. It may be a near death experience, but it is not an experience of death. If it is not death, then is this an experience of the afterlife? No. Does it tell us about the afterlife? Maybe, maybe, but very conditionally. It is like my standing at the edge of the swimming pool and looking at the water and noticing the color of the water and different properties of the pool. I may be able to see the pool, but I have not experienced it. And we all know that looking at the pool and experiencing the pool are two entirely different things. That an NDE experience is profound, yes. It is a profound mystical experience, yes.

So how do we understand this experience? If it is not an experience of the afterlife, what is it? Now, this is not to discount the profoundness of the experience for Dr. Alexander, but it is to challenge his interpretation. What was it then? I don’t know. It could be purely a function of the brain/mind which occurs to people when the continuation of their life is challenged. We could understand it as a mystical experience. Throughout the centuries people have tried to have mystical experiences. People have fasted, taken drugs, ingested mushrooms, sat in sweat lodges, all in an attempt to have such an incident. Others have learned of ways to breathe, or contort their bodies that would result in an extraordinary experience. We could understand it as an out-of-body experience (OBE) which was a gift from God with a specific purpose for that individual. Or we could just shrug our shoulders and say "I don’t know what it was, but it is interesting."

One of the things that really disappointed me in this was that he didn’t report talking to any Christian spiritual directors or mystics about this. Throughout the book he speaks of being a Christian, belonging to St. John’s Episcopal Church of Lynchburg, so I would expect that as a Christian he would want to know how his faith could help him understand this, but nothing. Nothing. He talks about what others have said about their NDE experiences and refers to other secular resources, but we have no sense that he sought out input from within the Christian community. Throughout history the Christian mystics have been clear that it was important to have someone in this journey with you, and I think that in this instance it would have been extremely helpful.

Another thing that concerned me was the lack of clearly Christian theology. Jesus Christ is nowhere to be found. Toward the end of the book he begins to speak about a theology which includes, among other things, an amalgamation of quantum physics and consciousness, which makes me uneasy. He encourages reading about consciousness, and psychology, and parapsychology. He personally continues to stay connected to his NDE experience by using deep meditation and accessing mystical states. Reading the Bible? Praying? Sacraments? Worship with other Christians? You don’t find it here.

But then that raises some other questions. Could a person have a mystical or spiritual encounter and not experience God? Now that is heavy. Is all spirituality of God? Is all spirituality good? Hmmmm.

And what is the Christian understanding of the afterlife? Is resurrection the same as immortality of the soul?

Well, I have other thoughts about the book, but I will stop here and leave just a these few ideas with you. The fact that he is an educated man, surgeon and physician gives him great credibility among many of us; but he’s not God. He’s still human. We can always just say "It’s interesting."

Pastor Susan C Schwartz

Hope Lutheran Church

(Sunday Reflections for July 28, 2013)