Tuesday, July 29, 2014

"Heaven is Real"

I came across a story that somewhat illustrates on the connection between an out of body experience and into the world of the unknown. A neurosurgeon himself agreed that he literally experienced an out of body experience so real, he believes he got his first glimpse into heaven. Now normally discussed in the text out of body experiences usually are related to lucid dreaming, trauma, and drug usage. However this neurosurgeon had fallen into a coma for 7 days, where the entire cortex of his brain has shut down. Although I am very bad with explaining science and bodily related functions, from the text I know that the cortex basically controls much of human functioning. With a brain that is basically shut down, shouldn't you anticipate to experience complete... darkness?

This article continues on to explain his experiences with seeing beautiful clouds, feeling so calm, and a lady telling him that the universe is made of nothing but love and you can do no wrong now. Is he indeed witnessing his death? Is this what heaven feels like? I know we have no discussed this in the book, at least not yet, however I thought this experience was awesome! Usually OBE are simply described as "the mind separating from the body". Also, this relates back to the whole "we only use 10% of our brain theory. Was he indeed using other  portions of his brain to experience such wonderful feelings and well... travels? 

I personally believe that OBE are real. As for the brain, I'm undecided if I think we are truly only using only 10%. Like I said I am far from a science major, however, this story I had to share. I want to share it for its eye opening abilities. Showing that these experiences are real. In fact, so real, that people can still wake up from a coma for days being able to describe such wonderful experiences of relaxation. The book talked about one OBE experience where a college student simply saw their body leave their body and return (odd wording, I know). The book turns to a cognitive science approach which goes into explaining how the brain is a central processing unit and uses neurotransmitters to pass messages along. Is the brain just passing messages along to this man? But how can the brain be functioning if the cortex was completely shut down? Something worth thinking about! Truly draws you back to pseudoscience beliefs of whats real, whats not, and how do we really take in and test these beliefs. 


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10/08/heaven-is-real-neurosurgeon-who-once-doubted-out-of-body-experiences-describes-his-own/

Also I thought this was just neat, a video describing all the perfect conditions and steps taken to try and experience an OBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twK3IZhurkU

2 comments:

  1. Kim this is one of my favorite topics, i had the chance to watch the Oprah episode where Dr. Alexander had an OBE experience, i was lucky enough to find a link!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHIEG0oIV80&list=PLOeUeY6TbSuWu1UNxMA7hW78DAYc3RoMe

    Like you i believe that OBEs are real. There have been many stories and movies about this recently, all which have to do with leaving the body and being able to see what happens around you. This is one of my favorite cases because not only is the neurosurgeon leaving his body he has an encounter with heaven and God. He goes on to explain that where he was had an unexplainable beauty in everything, he talks about music being played which is far beyond anything he had ever heard. As you stated above when one is in a coma all you should see is darkness. I feel like we are not only using 10% of our brain, how could Dr. Alexander have seen these objects and heard this music and felt he was flying when he was in a coma. However there are many other theories which make me believe there is no one single explanation for OBEs.

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  2. I wonder if that person was on medication or was lack of sleep before is expericnce and getting a glimpse of heaven. I don't know if i believe obe's or not yet but alot can cause people to have wierd side effects to think stuff.

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