Eben Alexander III is an American neurosurgeon and the author of the book Proof of Heaven:
A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, in which he describes his 2008 near-death
experience and asserts that science can and will determine that heaven really does exist.
Early life, family, and education Alexander is the adopted descendant of a family
of scholars, jurists, and physicians.
He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the
Duke University School of Medicine.
Alexander was an Intern in General Surgery at Duke University Medical Center, a resident
at Duke, Newcastle General Hospital.
He was a resident and research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General
Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American
College of Surgeons.
Career Academic and clinical appointments
Alexander has taught at Duke University Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard
Medical School, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the University of Virginia
Medical School.
He has had hospital appointments at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital,
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Massachusetts
Medical Center, and Lynchburg General Hospital-CentraHealth.
He currently has been without surgical privileges since 2007.
Professional activities Alexander is a member of the American Medical
Association and various other professional societies.
He has been on the editorial boards of various journals.
Proof of Heaven Content
Alexander is the author of the 2012 autobiographical book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey
into the Afterlife, in which he asserts that his out of body and near death experience
while in a meningitis-induced coma in 2008 proves that consciousness is independent of
the brain, that death is a transition, and that an eternity of perfect splendor awaits
us beyond the grave – complete with angels, clouds, and departed relatives, but also including
butterflies and a beautiful girl in peasant dress who Alexander finds out later was his
departed sister.
He further asserts that the current understanding of the mind
"now lies broken at our feet "— for "What happened to me destroyed it, and I intend
to spend the rest of my life investigating the true nature of consciousness and making
the fact that we are more, much more, than our physical brains as clear as I can, both
to my fellow scientists and to people at large."
Alexander's book was excerpted in a Newsweek magazine cover story in October 2012.
Since the release of the book, he has lectured around the world in churches, hospitals, medical
schools, and academic symposia, besides appearing on TV shows including Super Soul Sunday with
Oprah Winfrey.
As of September 21, 2014, Proof of Heaven has been on the The New York Times Best Seller
list for 97 weeks.
Criticism and reaction In a wide-ranging investigation of Alexander's
story and medical background, Esquire magazine reported that prior to the publication of
Proof of Heaven, Alexander had been terminated or suspended from multiple hospital positions,
and had been the subject of several malpractice lawsuits, including at least two involving
the alteration of medical records to cover up a medical error.
The magazine also found what it claimed were discrepancies with regard to Alexander's version
of events in the book.
Among the discrepancies, according to an account of the Esquire article in Forbes, was that
"Alexander writes that he slipped into the coma as a result of severe bacterial meningitis
and had no higher brain activity, while a doctor who cared for him says the coma was
medically induced and the patient was conscious, though hallucinating."
Alexander issued a statement after the Esquire article's publication: "I wrote a truthful
account of my experiences in PROOF OF HEAVEN and have acknowledged in the book both my
professional and personal accomplishments and my setbacks.
I stand by every word in this book and have made its message the purpose of my life.
Esquire's cynical article distorts the facts of my 25-year career as a neurosurgeon and
is a textbook example of how unsupported assertions and cherry-picked information can be assembled
at the expense of the truth."
Alexander's book has been criticized by scientists, including Sam Harris, a leader of the New
Atheism movement, who described Alexander's NDE account as "alarmingly unscientific,"
and that "everything – absolutely everything – in Alexander's account rests on repeated
assertions that his visions of heaven occurred while his cerebral cortex was 'shut down,'
'inactivated,' 'completely shut down,' 'totally offline,' and 'stunned to complete inactivity.'
The evidence he provides for this claim is not only inadequate – it suggests that he
doesn't know anything about the relevant brain science."
"Even in cases where the brain is alleged to have shut down, its activity must return
if the subject is to survive and describe the experience.
In such cases, there is generally no way to establish that the NDE occurred while the
brain was offline."
Neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks agreed with Harris, saying that "to deny the possibility
of any natural explanation for an NDE, as Dr. Alexander does, is more than unscientific
– it is antiscientific."..."The one most plausible hypothesis in Dr. Alexander's case...is
that his NDE occurred not during his coma, but as he was surfacing from the coma and
his cortex was returning to full function.
It is curious that he does not allow this obvious and natural explanation, but instead
insists on a supernatural one."
In November 2012, Alexander responded to critics in a second Newsweek article:
Critics have maintained that my near-death experience, like similar experiences others
before me have claimed, was a brain-based delusion cobbled together by my synapses only
after they had somehow recovered from the blistering weeklong attack.
[...] I also experienced that transitional period, when my mind began to regain consciousness:
I remember a vivid paranoid nightmare in which my wife and doctors were trying to kill me,
and I was only saved from certain death by a ninja couple after being pushed from a 60-story
cancer hospital in south Florida.
But that period of disorientation and delusion had absolutely nothing to do with what happened
to me before my cortex began to recover: the period, that is, when it was shut down and
incapable of supporting consciousness at all.
During that period, I experienced something very similar to what countless other people
who have undergone near-death experiences have witnessed: the transition to a realm
beyond the physical, and a vast broadening of my consciousness.
The only real difference between my experience and those others is that my brain was, essentially,
deader than theirs.
The Map of Heaven Alexander's second book, The Map of Heaven:
How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, was published in
October 2014.
Alexander once again asserts his belief that there is an afterlife, and that consciousness
is independent of the brain.
To support his views, he cites the writings of philosophers, scientists, and religious
leaders throughout history, and also shares letters from readers who have told him about
spiritual experiences that match his own as described in Proof of Heaven.
Excerpts from The Map of Heaven ran in UK newspaper The Daily Mail in October 2014.
The Map of Heaven became a New York Times bestseller the week ending October 18, 2014.
See also 23 Minutes in Hell
90 Minutes in Heaven Heaven is for Real
Howard Storm Pam Reynolds case
The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven References
External links Official website