or memories of who I was. Such an empty slate granted me full access to the true cosmic being that I am, that we all are,” says Alexander. He further recalls that as his NDE unfolded, it occurred to him that he was being granted a grand overview of the invis- ible side of existence. He also had a lovely ethereal com- panion that floated along on a butterfly wing, telepathically teaching him to accept the universal truth that, “You are eternally loved and cherished, you have nothing to fear, and there is nothing you can do wrong.”
“If I had to boil the whole mes-
sage down to just one word, it would be Love—the incomprehensibly glorious truth of truths that lives and breathes at the core of everything that exists or will ever exist. No remotely accurate understanding of who we are and what we are can be achieved by anyone who does not know it and embody it in all their actions,” Alex- ander now understands.
Prior to his life-threatening illness,
“We need to accept—at
least hypothetically—that the brain itself doesn’t
produce consciousness.” ~ Dr. Eben Alexander
this neurosurgeon’s sophisticated medi- cal training had led him to dismiss the possibility of NDEs. Today, he works at returning to his NDE state of one- ness and unconditional love by using meditation and sacred acoustics, as well as quantum mechanics, to explore the nature of consciousness and higher brain function. Like Moody, Alexander studies the ancient Greek philosophers Par- menides, Pythagoras and Plato, who took the notion of an afterlife seri- ously and questioned “what” survives bodily death. Alexander’s consequent nonprofit organization, Eternea, fosters cooperation between science and spirituality by sponsoring research and
education about spiritually trans- formative experiences and holistic consciousness beyond conventional definitions. “I had to learn a whole lot more about consciousness than I had to know about neuroscience,” quips Alexander, who now believes that the brain blocks access to knowledge of higher worlds. “We need to accept—at least hypothetically—that the brain itself doesn’t produce consciousness. That it is, instead, a kind of reduc- ing valve or filter that dumbs down consciousness for the duration of our human experience. “Neuroscience can’t give you the first sentence about how the physi- cal brain creates consciousness,” he states, while many are finding how science and spirituality strengthen each other.
At age 37, a blood vessel exploded in the left hemisphere of Jill Bolte Taylor’s brain. A Ph.D. Harvard-trained scientist specializing in anatomy of the brain, she was fascinated to observe the breakdown of her brain-related functions.
natural awakenings
December 2013
37
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