Welcome to the first session of our discussion and adventure into the journey of our souls. Near death experiences, in the not so distant past, seemed relatively rare since there is little evidence of it, though tales of a bright light leading to another world are as old as time. When NDEs did happen in years past, the people who experienced them had a difficult time talking about them. For one reason, they thought no one would understand or believe them. For another, both then and now, they found it difficult to describe the afterlife in words because they felt there are no words adequate, that would accurately express what they saw, heard, and felt during their time there.

Today, however, with the advances in technology and the ability of the medical community to bring people back from the brink of death, things have changed. There are countless people who have had rich, vibrant and life altering NDEs and they are far more willing to talk about it. The consciousness of humanity has also evolved, and the term spirituality has become more inclusive of all organized religions, as well as people with no religion at all. People of different faiths, as well as those with different or nonexistent belief systems report remarkably similar experiences.

There have also been members of the medical field who, before their own near-death experience, did not give much credence to the stories they heard over and over from patients who miraculously returned from death’s door. Upon coming back from touching the world beyond this one, they had some incredulous stories to tell. One person I will discuss is Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, who in 2008, journeyed to the afterlife during a week’s long coma due to bacterial meningitis.  Doctors told his family there was almost no chance of survival, and if he did survive his brain was too irreparably damaged from the bacteria, for him to return to a life anywhere near normal. He did survive, functioning brain and all, and now shares his story with people around the world. The other is Dr. Mary Neil, an orthopedic spine surgeon who in 1998, also made the journey to the other side after the kayak she was in, tumbled over a waterfall, in a river in South America, and she became submerged in a whirlpool. She was under water for more than twenty-five minutes. Yet, though deprived of oxygen for all that time, she was revived and lived to share her amazing story.

There are also countless more men, women and children who have had near death experiences that are fantastical and life changing. Most of them encountered many things in common, like leaving their physical body and hovering above it, being able to view their bodies and everything that was going on while they lay unresponsive. They describe journeying through a tunnel of some sort, toward a bright light. They report meeting other beings such as loved ones who had crossed or glorious entities of light. Many undergo a life review, where they have an opportunity to examine the life they had lived so far and are assisted by higher beings to help them understand the consequences of their actions. Most have a feeling of non-judgement, sheer peace, unconditional love, and a feeling of never wanting to leave that beautiful place. Then, obviously, they learned that it was not their time and they must return. Finally, almost all who have a near death experience found it to be life changing.

I could talk about so many people I have read about, that have had this remarkable sojourn. However, I chose Dr. Alexander and Dr. Neil because of their affiliation with medicine. The medical community in the past, including these two doctors, though they were happy that their patients experienced something so comforting, believed it was all the result of a dying brain, drugs or other things that might explain what happened from scientific perspective. However, in Dr. Alexander’s case he was a neurosurgeon. Once he returned, he was able to review his own medical records and concluded that his puss-filled brain was completely non-functional at the time of his near-death journey. He concluded that consciousness exists outside the physical body and brain, and thus absolutely continues after physical death.

Dr. Neil’s experience also baffled the medical community, since surviving and returning to near perfect health after being deprived of oxygen for so long, was considered near impossible. In addition, if one did survive their brain would almost certainly be unable to function normally, if at all. One would most likely spend the rest of their lives in a vegetative state. Dr. Neil’s miraculous survival and recovery changed the way she and other colleagues in her field viewed consciousness as well. It was hard to dismiss her experience because she also could view it through a scientific lens, and thus concluded that consciousness does indeed exist apart from the physical form.

The experiences of Doctors Alexander and Neil are well documented and recounted in a very personal way in each of their books. Dr. Eben Alexander’s book is call Proof of Heaven, and Dr. Neil’s is, To Heaven and Back. Both are riveting, extraordinary, and will change the way one looks at life and life after death in an incredibly positive way. Going into too much detail would be impossible for this one blog post. I suggest you treat yourself to a wonderful adventure and learn more of the remarkable detail by reading one or both works.

I do, however, want to share examples from each of these two experiences which are, in my opinion, proof of the survival of consciousness and the soul beyond our physical existence. Dr. Alexander talks about being accompanied on a journey through the afterlife by a woman he did not recognize. He called this person “The woman on the butterfly wing.” Once he recovered, he found out from his biological family that he had a sister who had passed away a few years previously. He had never met her or seen any photographs of her. When shown a picture of her, he was stunned to find out that his deceased sister was the same woman who he met during his near-death experience. His sister was the beautiful woman with him on the wings of a butterfly as they traveled together through heaven.

In Dr. Neil’s case, during her NDE, she was forewarned of the tragic death of her oldest son. She was not told when it would happen but only that it would happen. For years after her ordeal, she told no one, not even her husband about what she had learned. She decided to be hopeful that it might not occur. Ten years later, just after finishing her memoir, her oldest son, Willie was struck and killed by a distracted driver. Part of me feels it was rather cruel for her to have to carry such an ominous thought for so long. I can only conclude that it was necessary for the validation of her experience, and to provide irrefutable further proof of life after death.

There is so much more I would like to talk about, but I am afraid we must end here. I hope this blog has piqued your interest and you decide to further explore this fascinating topic. It truly is life changing.