Yesterday my bestie loaned me a book that her grandpa recommended: Proof of Heaven by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander. It was a fascinating story chronicling his decline into a week-long brain-dead coma caused by bacterial meningitis, where he has a near death experience. There was even an adoption theme woven throughout (where the guardian he meets in ‘heaven’ turns out later to be his biological sister that had died right before he reunited with his biological family. It was fascinating to read such a skeptical doctor, with such a great knowledge of medicine and the brain, write about this very personal and beautiful near death experience where he became enlightened spiritually. Super cool.
Except it is all bullshit.
Well, maybe not all, but I gobbled the book up in a few hours the afternoon sunshine, and was so excited that I googled the book. And found a link to an article debunking the whole thing. Well, maybe not debunking the actuality of the experience on the other side, but certainly debunking all the medical aspects of the story. Like how the doctor didn’t have the most rarest form of bacterial meningitis, that according to the doctor (who treated him) it was a medically induced coma and that he was actually conscious during that week, though in a very hallucinatory state.
Ouch.
Of course this back and forth ‘is it true, is it not true?’ thoughts come on the week of Zen pen where were are exploring writing from our soul. To be honest, my soul feels so torn by all of the spiritual mumbo jumbo about. I want to believe…in something…anything. No, I don’t want to believe in something, I want something to be true. I want to have confidence in something. I sometimes even want to believe in the Christian stories that I was taught as a kid/teenager/young adult. Something. I feel like I’m floating in the abyss of unbelief, a hungry ghost of a soul, wailing and looking for truth that doesn’t exist.
Except, at one time, that truth existed for me. While not a coma-induced near death experience, I once, at such a low point that I thought of death as an option, had a vision/hallucination/psychotic break(?) where I saw Jesus (at least that’s who I perceived him to be, it was a glowing white robed shining figure) who picked me up in his hand, out of a dark hole, and put me on a grassy field. I wasn’t depressed after that for almost 2 years. It was because of that experience that I was baptized as a Christian and started to attend church regularly. While I’m not proud of my fundie evangelical years, that experience was beautiful and authentic and clearly what I needed in that moment of time.
But here I am now, 12 years later, and not even sure God exists, let alone the whole religion based off some dude who lived a bunch of years ago. It feels like a ‘dark night of the soul,’ if I were to couch it in religious terms, though at this point…what’s a soul anyway?
I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I’m tired of feeling lied to, tricked, hoodwinked, duped, and confused.
Yeah, I heard his story too, although I did not read the book. Of course, being a Mormon, you probably know some of my views on the subject, but none of us will ever know the whole truth in this life. We can believe and be faithful, but the whole truth will come later.
Personally, I’ve found lots of ways to live spiritually without being Christian. I feel very dubious of organized religion, although I respect it, and just can’t buy into the whole afterlife thing… but that’s just me. I think the truth is inside us, what ever that may be. You’ll find it. Hugs!
Thanks! Yeah, I do a lot of things that make me feel spiritual, but there’s still this part of me that feels like I’m missing something. I can’t really explain it. Like being hungry but not sure for what?
I can absolutely relate to your feelings here, ‘wanting’ there to be a truth as comforting as some kind of god, afterlife, etc. I am, however, at the end of the day an atheist. And my life feels full of wonder, full of purpose, full of love along with the incredibly poignant reality that this life is my only life. HUGS and good luck on your ‘soul’ searching!
Yeah, I totally get the wonder and love and purpose bit. Just looking around I feel so connected to life. But there’s this part of me that feels empty, like it’s searching for something. And I don’t know what or if it’ll ever find it.
I know that is a common feeling, and I hope you find what fills it or at least learn to live with it as a beautiful unknown!
I don’t remember if I have mentioned this before…but, you can try out books by Oliver Sacks, a New York based neurologist, who wrote many books on rare neurological cases from his experience of dealing with different patients…I love reading his books immensely…
I read his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat awhile back. So fascinating!!