Review: Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander.

Proof Of Heaven Neurosurgeons Journey by Eben Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's always difficult to review a book that is someone's lived experience. I had watched an interview with Eben Alexander and was intrigued enough to buy his book. It made for an interesting read, especially after reading An Autobiography of a Yogi. There were things that aligned.

But mostly I felt that for the author this was a spiritual awakening, and felt that it was also a sort of autobiography. I expected a more clinical analysis of what he had experienced, but he was much taken with the spiritual side of his experience, and by the end I felt there was a religious bent to it.

I am always fascinated how they come up with the concept of God, this one creator, when that didn't seem to be expressly part of his experience. It's never fully explained. What actually changed his mind? What actually happened in the event when he was on the other side that iterated this concept? Why does there always have to be the idea of this one single being that created everything? Why could the experience just be of another existence on another plane and other beings welcoming him in?

These are the questions I ponder on after having read it, and although I do have two other books by him - as I bought them as a collection of three - I am worried it is just going to spew religious concepts. For someone who was a non-believer of such things before this experience, I found it all a bit too easy for this sudden change of heart. And the concept of helping others by writing this book, I don't see that, although as I haven't had this experience it has no direct relation.

Interesting, but my sceptism is still intact - not so much about the experience, as I absolutely believe there is something 'on the other side', but the turning to the religious concepts.

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