mfh Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I am just about ready to dive into Eben Alexander's book... Proof of Heaven. Here is a great interview with him...especially his discussion of how each of us can experience the love he experienced and how it can change the world. Guess how...meditation Ah, yes! I have the first half of the blog piece done, Marty. Peace, Mary http://www.btci.org/...s2012/vid3.html The source sort of surprised me...I will have to see what they are all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I have been reading this book since about 4pm...for the bulk of that time. I am finding it to be extremely moving. It has led me to tears many times as it describes this man's experience and reality. It is so moving. I can't recommend it enough. Nothing in it really shocks me. I feel what he says is very familiar to me. Yet, reading it makes it all the more real, valid and significant as well as it leads me through a spiritual experience. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyT Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I agree with you completely, Mary ~ it's an amazing read ♥ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Marty, did you finish it? I just finished at 11pm...I could not put it down though I did have to eat at one point. Must look up the Monroe Institute...for sure. Again, nothing in it was a surprise...very familiar and yet amazing. I plan to do some follow up on some of what he said. Of course the poem at the end, familiar also, put me away. I appreciate his scientific background and how he marries science and spirituality which is slowly happening elsewhere. Bruce Lipton, Deepak Chopra and others believe our consciousness does not exist in our brains. That our identity (soul, spirit) is "out there" sending signals to the brain which filters and that the cells are layered with imaginal antennae according to Bruce Lipton. He says we each have our own signal, like a digital DNA. So many people I know will still dispute his beliefs. Too bad. Of course, I get very excited that Bill is enjoying all of what Dr. A described...and Dr. A's confirmation that those who died are here. This is a very convincing read. Of course, there is that hint of doubt...why are we so afraid to believe? Peace, Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wifflesnook Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I finished my copy yesterday. It has made a huge impression on me. As you know, Mary, my previous background made me a skeptic about these things, but losing my Pete has put me in a very different place indeed. If I am going against all my feelings before Pete died well so be it. In my heart I beleive that there is far far more in this universe or universes than we have understood, and physicists agree with that of course. Yes, there will be many who attack the Alexander book. There is no doubt that he is totally sincere. He didn't put it in his book but I read an interview with him (it will try to find it) where he was asked about his belief system now. In other words is the Christian story right and other religions wrong? And he said they are all like spokes on a wheel leading to the same place. Different paths arising from different cultures. I so can relate to this. I lean towards the Buddhist view if anything and it can fit just fine into Eben's experience of the spiritual world. I long for the past and Pete's physical presence but if I can't have that I have to search for meaning and hope. This book does truly help in the search.it also fits into the wider picture of Near Death Experiences and After Death visitations. I don't know why the curtain between us and the other dimensions is so hard to pierce but I'm beginning to believe that they are there even if we can't often get through. I followed up on the Monroe Institute and Hemi-sync and down ,loaded some apps on my ipad yesterday. Eben has found meditation to be a way for him to reconnect with the world he visited and I intend to try to do that. Even if I don't manage it I know that meditation is good for me. I once had an out of body experience whilst relaxing after yoga. It's many years ago and it frightened me a bit, but I have never forgotten it. I also had an experience of being in another world whilst cycling around a corner when I found myself very briefly in a world of wonderful love and life. And here is a poem my Pete wrote in 2003 which I like to think relates to this topic. I will post it in a minute when I have copied it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wifflesnook Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 This is Pete's poem Sartori This lovely morning I went walking In a meadow where the air was sweet It made my feet go dancing over Growing grass and clumps of clover Bird’s-foot trefoil, bedstraw, thistle Nectar-sweet for butterflies. Bright buzzing bees were everywhere While in the air the gentle yet Insistent hum of hoverflies Seemed like a psalm to praise the sun, And all around, above, beyond Birds called and sang their songs Of summer and of love until Quite suddenly all time stood still And like a dream I could not tell Just where I stopped, and where all else Began, and in that boundless state I smiled to find such joy and gladness For I was standing in the heart Of my true home, my family And I loved it and it was me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Jan, I agree with you about this book. It could be a life changing book for many. I have always felt that religions are like spokes in a wheel all leading to the center...nice to see it in print, however, by someone I tend to trust. I have been all over the Monroe site and downloaded some meditations to try. I will check apps for iPad but need to get to PT and then lunch with one of Bill's caregivers, a guy...he and Bill clicked. I have been to Bob (and Tom's) home many times since Bill died. Bob was so good to Bill. It sounds like you had an OBE. I, too, have had some experiences dating back to the 80s. My mom and grandmother also. I feel like I live in two worlds, always have, but more so now. I love Pete's poem. I agree it relates and speaks to this place. Peace, Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest babylady Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 my friend sent me an article about the book a few weeks ago. we believe in reincarnation and possible other universes so this is no surprise to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayc Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Mary, I know our spirit does not reside in our brain, I saw that with my little niece than was born without a brain...she did not have the ability to think, yet she definitely had a spirit. They are separate and apart from each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Kay, I was sitting at my friend's tea house when I read your post. My friend (tea house owner) came to sit with me and I read your post to her. She proceeded to tell me that she just found out that her granddaughter is pregnant with a baby and tests show the baby has half a brain.... so challenging to accept what life hands us sometimes...a lot of times. I do agree...our consciousness, spirit, soul what ever we want to call it...is out there where it has always been and will always be...the body is temporary housing...on a (right now for many of us) tough to deal with earth. Peace Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wifflesnook Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Oh what a sad thing Mary. I can't even get near imagining what it's like to get news like that when you are carrying a baby. Yes, the world is a hard hard place sometimes. We have to reach out to each other whilst we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayc Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 It changed my little sister, she is a much more in-depth person as a result. It was probably the hardest thing she'd ever experienced, but I think it enriched her life beyond description at the same time. They have now been married over 30 years and I feel have one of the strongest marriages I've seen, although there were times she wanted to chuck it all in, I'm sure. Little Courtney enriched all of our lives and taught us so much. It was us that had the hard time dealing with everything, not her. She just lived her life out the way it was dealt. She was the sweetest baby, beautiful, sweet spirit. It showed us that a person is not just all about what they know and can do, there is inside of each of us, our spirit, and if we allow ourselves to just "be", we can be in touch with the very essence of who we are. Our stupid government, however, didn't make things easy for them. Dana had to give up his business and start over when Courtney died, social security wanted all of their money back (I never understood that). But he started a new business and it thrived. Julie did her best with little Courtney. I remember we went to "Disney on Ice" one time and Courtney was sitting in Julie's lap...Julie had her dressed so cute and little pierced earrings...some bitty behind us loudly exclaimed what a shame it was that someone would pierce a baby's ears instead of letting them grow up and make up their own mind, and how she shouldn't take her to something so loud. Julie finally turned around and told her she didn't have a brain so she'd never make up her own mind, and she wouldn't live to grow up, and oh, by the way, she's deaf so the noise doesn't bother her. That shut her up! Some people get dealt some hard blows in life, all we can do is try to roll with the punches and learn what we can through the experiences. The hardest thing Julie had to go through with having a child born without a brain, was losing her just before age 2. It's hard to lose a child no matter what the circumstances are. You love them because they're there. All of the dealing with doctors, surgeries, hospitals, emergencies, stupid things people say, the bills, and the rest...nothing was as hard as losing her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enna Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Mary, Just finished reading ‘Proof of Heaven” by Eden Alexander. Wow! To heaven and back – many seem to question this theory no matter their spirituality or lack of - we have been questioning the afterlife from the beginning of – and Dr. Eben Alexander seems to NOW believe! His use of adjectives about the new world filled the pages as he wrote – one would think that our finite minds would never be able to describe such a heavenly experience. I liked his analogy of the rocket launch when he was experiencing his out of body trip. As I began to read the book I felt like I was going to embark on a real fairy tale – then I moved into it more and found it interesting to a point, unbelievable at times, skepticism started to set in, incredulity crept in, my rather scientific mind started to take over, and when I finished the book I said to myself, “that was a good read.” I would like to have the question ‘does consciousness exist independently of the brain?’ answered by some of the neuroscientists who are out there. I guess I’ll have to start reading some of the books on Dr. Eben Alexander’s booklist at the end of his book – not that my booklist isn’t already filled to the max. My opinion only… Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Anne, I think he would agree there are no words to describe what he saw. He seemed to struggle with that. If you read Bruce Lipton, Deepak Chopra, and some others...I will check out...the new thinking is that our consciousness is outside of our brains/bodies...which makes total sense to me. The brain acts as a filter according to these guys. I think the neuroscientists are just catching up. I heard someone on an NPR podcast today who said the same thing...consciousness/identity/spirit exists outside of the brain. Signals come to the brain. It is all very exciting stuff. Lipton was a research stem cell and cell researcher at UW-Madison for 20 years and left because what he was told to teach contradicted what he was seeing in his lab. He WAS non-spiritiual...He says he removed the DNA from cells, the genetics, and the cells thrived anyway. He says each cell has imaginal antennae on the outside that receive the signals. Tells of a patient he worked with along with the surgeon...young gal who had a heart transplant. Soon after she started having nightmares about being murdered. The SURGEON wanted to know about the donor only to discover it was a murder victim. This gals nightmares were so real she helped the police identify the murderer. Lipton says this happens with large organ (heart, lungs,) transplants sometimes as the signals are still coming to that heart. I am just the messenger but I read and read and it all feels right. Love Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 What a story. Uplifting and inspiring and so sad also...losing a child has to be one of the toughest, if not the toughest loss, on earth. I am so sorry for all of them and you. She was truly an angel and a teacher to many. Probably saved her parents' marriage also. Thank you for sharing. Your family has been hit hard in life... sometimes it seems some people just get hit too hard and others some how get by. But in the end, I know the ones who had the greatest pains are the wounded healers of the planet. Peace Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wifflesnook Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Anne, Mary, Kay and all Eben's book is fascinating. Like Anne I am by nature a sceptic and I found his description of the after lfe to be weird, since it was rather 'conventionally an old fashioned heaven', which seems so unlikely to me. BUT our brains would struggle to describe anything except in terms of what we know already. I want to beleive in a after life and I need to. I didn't before Pete died. Now well I don't know, but like you Anne I want to follow up some of his recommended reading (I already am doing and have or some time). One person you can listen to on YouTube of Peter Fenton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Dear Anne and Jan, Here is my take on his book. For all I know there may be butterflies and grass in heaven. George Anderson (medium) uses similar traditional words to describe the afterlife as those he contacts describe it to him and he also claims to have seen through the veil on occasion. But I think it matters not what symbols (and grass and butterflies may just be symbols) are used to describe the afterlife. I think what matters is the essence of what Eben Alexander is communicating i.e. that in the afterlife we will know, really know, we are loved and accepted as we are (unconditionally); that fear does not exist; that love is the basis of all; and that somehow love IS all. Eben tried to put into words an experience and concepts and insights that are beyond our human words and thoughts. He tried to put unconditional love into words (p.72). For Eben this took the shape of butterfly rides and more. Who knows what shape heaven (afterlife) will take for each of us. Maybe a hologram unique to each of us. I would see Bill and me walking London streets or climbing a Ouray mountain or just sitting in peace e.g. Instead I focus on the common features, those common to millions of NDE experiences...light, being greeted by those we love, and the love-beyond words. For me "seeing" the light (God energy, pure love, understanding) and seeing Bill and so many I have lost would be heaven for me. I can live without the grass and I think it is not relevant. I remember when our first dog, Buffy, died. I was sobbing and my brother happened to be there and I asked him if he thought dogs would be in the afterlife. Now I would not need to ask anyone. I KNOW Buffy and Bentley will be there. His answer, I think, was deeper than first appears and maybe deeper than he knew as he thinks in pretty traditional ways. He said, If you need Buffy to be happy, he will be there. To me, that is perhaps the essence of it. All of us (Anne, Jan, me and others) tend to question happiness in our lives again since our losses. For me, I seek meaning here not joy. I know that afterlife will not be happiness without Bill whatever form he is in. It is beyond my ability to imagine "heaven" without Bill and since we are one, I believe I will understand that "one" and experience it better after death. Maybe in these parallel universes or heavens or whatever afterlife is, there are glorified bodies (i.e. energy bodies that we can put our hands right through...those we read about in apparitions...or in my case experience on two difference occasions...one many many years ago). I do not know, of course. It may be just energy/consciousness/knowing. What will make me happy in the afterlife is understanding what God is and being united with those I love...seeing Bill again (whatever seeing means), my parents, Bentley who probably will die before me and so many more I love...if seeing them means glorified bodies or no bodies but pure consciousness where we can somehow know we are one....it matters not. We tend to be dualistic in our thinking when, in fact, all there is- is one...the great Om. I believe there will be no dualism and we shall experience one in a way we cannot conceive of right now in our limiting bodies. And yet within that one, many. So grass, butterflies may all be irrelevant or not. If there is grass, I just hope happiness for someone means mowing. (Sorry...I couldn't resist). I believe that in deep meditation, right now, all of us have the ability to have those mystical experiences...i.e. we are hardwired for that but we choose, most of us, to not stop long enough,and to live busy "doing" lives, focusing on the world around us instead of balancing the inner and outer worlds. That is my take on this book and others I have read. The evidence is too huge to ignore. Science IS getting it now. Curious to see your thoughts. Peace and love, Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyT Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Dear Ones, I too have finished reading Proof of Heaven and, without getting into a discussion of concepts that are way beyond my understanding anyway, I think what stories like these do for me is to remove any fear of death (which is different from dying, of course) and to reassure me that the essences of all my deceased loved ones (including beloved animal companions) are somewhere safe, happy, resting in eternal peace and waiting for me to join them. They're also available to assist me as I struggle to get through this earthly life. It is fascinating to me that the message common to everyone's Near-Death Experience is simply Love. I just don't think it's really any more complicated than that ~ and if we earthlings could only get that through our heads and begin to live it while we're still here on Earth, what a wonderful world this would be. ♥ Mary mentions that we humans are hard-wired to have mystical experiences, and (my favorite) psychiatrist Carl Hammerschlag makes the same point in his weekly "Schlagbyte" posted just this morning: Neurosurgeon Finds Heaven And if you're looking for something to warm your hearts this morning, see Forbidden Love: 10 YouTube Clips of Dogs and Cats Snuggling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Marty, I do like and agree with your statement about this book. You always have a way of getting right to the core of things. I agree that it is all about love. It is as simple as that...and yet our fear/s get in the way. I suspect that is what Alexander is trying to say, also. I just went to and read/listened to "Schlagebyte" (I need to subscribe to him) and I like his final statement: "Jesus, Einstein, and aboriginal shaman, all speak the same language; there is something out there that explains the harmony of the universe. It doesn't matter what you call it, and you don't have to experience near death to see it. If you exercise your mind to look beyond your ordinary reality you can catch a glimpse of that peace, harmony and universal love. When that happens we all become instruments through which the divine speaks." I do not fear death. In fact, I look forward to seeing/experiencing the other side of the veil for many reasons. Dying scares me. I do believe we are all capable of this...all..."hard wired" as the mystics know well and as each of us is capable of discovering. All of this is what puts meaning in my life. I love the Golden with the 3 kitties. Animals are some of my greatest teachers of love and peace. Thanks for cutting to the core. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayc Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Your mentioning symbolism reminded me of John (in the Bible) trying to explain things in his day of visions he saw of what I believe to be our day...speaking of giant locusts (airplanes?) etc. (I'm sure everyone has a different take on it, that's okay). Sometimes it's hard to put into words things that we are not familiar with. I don't worry about what will be or what it's like, so long as I am reunited with George, I will be happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Yes, Kay, I agree...lots of symbolism in the Bible. Jonah in the belly of a whale, etc. For some things we want to say, there are just no words. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Says so much. Saw this on Facebook today. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enna Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Hi Everybody, I’m not ready to discuss with you yet, Mary. You are WAY beyond what my mind is able to comprehend right now. I’m still very much in a ‘brain fog’ and I didn’t even have an NDE. Schlagbytes are great. Dr. Hammerschlag, MD makes me smile. My summary since my mind isn’t working fully – grieving, you know – therefore, be aware of those who cross your path and LOVE them – because, as Marty put it – love is what it’s all about. Happy reading everyone… Marty, I liked all dog and cat clips but was really warmed to the ‘proper hug’ video. thanks Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfh Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Anne, I so understand. I was in brain fog for a long long time and I had no interest back then of discussing much of anything. I just returned to the dog and cat clips as I did not realize there was more than one before. Very sweet. Peace Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyT Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 The fog of grief, making it so difficult to concentrate and comprehend, is one reason that I love children's books so much ~ So much easier to digest ~ simple language that even I can understand ~ beautiful artwork and illustrations ~ and often quite profound. (See Using Children's Books to Help with Grief) ♥ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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