Read my review of Dr. Eben Alexander’s first book, Proof of Heaven.
Neurosurgeon Alexander’s second book, The Map of Heaven, cannot and should not be compared to his first amazing work, Proof of Heaven, where he shares his journey from skeptic to believer after experiencing a near death experience. Map of Heaven is a compilation of his insights, his readers’ experiences and scientific studies, as well as those of great thinkers’ views about the Other Realm.
Map of Heaven is not a light read. Alexander puts forth a lot of information that takes time to digest. Perhaps one of the best aspects of this book is he provides us with further resources to delve more deeply into this topic.
For instance, Alexander refers to Dr. Wilder Penfield, a renowned 20th century neurosurgeon, who penned the 1975 book, The Mystery of the Mind. Penfield wrote that consciousness is not created by the physical brain. Alexander explains it this way: “Penfield knew from decades of work electrically stimulating the brains of awake patients that what we refer to as free will, consciousness or mind seems to influence the physical brain from ‘outside’ and is not created by it (the physical brain).”
To tap into the “outside” or divine, Alexander suggests practicing meditation (he prefers sound-enhanced meditation) to turn off our constant flow of thoughts and raise our awareness to be more in line with the true heavenly beings he believes we are.
Alexander also discusses a 2014 study that confirmed physicist John Stewart Bell’s 1964 theorem, proving that “paired particles separated by millions of light-years will move in instantaneous concert with each other because time and distance are illusions.” Alexander explained this by writing that we have a foot in heaven even while we live on earth. He says it’s imperative to our spiritual growth to stay in touch with our divine roots. “…The only way to live happily on earth is in the light of heaven. To live without heaven is to be a slave to one’s suppressed yearning for the completion that the knowledge of its existence provides.”
Of course, his supernatural experiences combined with his scientific background give him a unique understanding when reviewing research. Alexander states that reputable institutions in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain have established statistical probabilities that telepathy, precognition and similar phenomena exist.
While this book isn’t awe inspiring like his first, it is a worthwhile read for people who want to broaden their knowledge in consciousness studies.