Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Eben Alexander believed that there was no tangible proof of heaven or a spiritual afterlife. Though many of his own patients claimed they had spiritual experiences, Dr. Eben listened to their stories but always had rational explanations for everything they had seen and felt. Near-death experiences were nothing more than the innermost parts of the brain working overtime in a traumatic event to help ease the pain and fear of a patient. The mind can conjure up all kinds of visual pictures and ideas while being unconscious. Not until he had his own near death experience did he understand what his patients were talking about. In his book, Proof of Heaven, Dr. Eben Alexander explains his spiritual journey A healthy, vibrant family man, Dr. Alexander was always more concerned about others than he was about himself—which is why, the morning he woke up with an excruciating headache, he ignored it so as to not worry his family. When he tried to get in the shower, pain shot through his back and head, and he had no choice but to go back to bed. Still, he told his worried wife to go about her business. He would take a small nap and wake up feeling fine. After some time passed and he had not awakened, his wife went to check on him. What she found was a lifeless, unconscious shell of her husband. In a panic, she called emergency services, and Dr. Alexander was rushed to the hospital. After several tests, medicines, and scans, he was still not doing well and was actually falling deeper and deeper into a coma. He had less than 10% of his brain function left, and everyone was finally addressing the fear that they were going to lose him. While lying there unresponsive and barely alive on that bed, Dr. Alexander was experiencing something completely different. As he explains it, he found himself in a brown, scary place where he had no idea who he was or where he was. It was not a place anyone would like to stay very long. After some time there (he did not have a sense of time so could not say how long), he saw a light and traveled to it. He went through different layers of the spiritual world until finally coming to the most peaceful, loving place he had ever been. Colors were beautiful and vibrant, and he was greeted by a beautiful guardian who picked him up on a butterfly wing as she showed him where he was. Communicating only telepathically, he could not only hear, but he could also feel the warmth, love, and compassion that surrounded him. He had no idea who he was, and he did not care. He had no memories and no thoughts of anything but the encompassing love. He never wanted to leave. But somehow, he was falling back through the layers—falling away from that glorious place, and he had no idea why. He suddenly saw people who looked familiar, and as he approached his body, he started to feel the familiar human feelings. He realized that this was his family and that he had to come back because they were not ready to lose him yet. He returned to his body and miraculously had a full recovery. Dr. Alexander allowed this event to transform his entire life, his work, and his beliefs. He no longer excluded others’ near death experiences and instead compared them to his own. No longer a skeptic, he tried to convince his scientific colleagues of what he went though. They, in turn, humored him by listening but dismissed what he was saying. This has not deterred Dr. Alexander from trying to get his story out there, which is why he wrote Proof of Heaven. He is hoping that people will read, believe, and listen to what he went through, and he hopes that it causes his readers to make the same transformations in their own lives.