From My Bookshelf 8/16/26
Proof of Heaven
This is the most profound question, but also the most common. What’s waiting for us on the “Other Side?” Is there something more after our human bodies wear out and eventually expire? You might think we get reincarnated; we may go to heaven, or something else. There’s also the possibility that you think there’s nothing else. That one we’re done; that’s it.
It’s very comforting to believe in Heaven. The Christian belief is that we’ll be welcomed by our maker and see all the family and friends… even pets that went before us. That certainly makes it possible to put on a braver face when we’re thinking about death… either ours or a loved one. That’s a wonderful thought, and worth embracing, even if it’s for the sake of taking a positive view of our own mortality.
I am, as you know… curious. I think about stuff, and like to keep an open mind. But I can’t pretend to know for certain that there’s a beautiful place waiting for me. Most people would say that none of us can.
The book I’ve chosen from my bookshelf for tonight is Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander, M.D. My own doctor years ago recommended this book to me. When he spoke to me about it, he was very excited!
Dr. Alexander was born in 1953, which makes him 72 as I write this tonight. He is a doctor of medicine, a Neurosurgeon, and a scientist. This book is about his near-death experience (NDE) and what he learned from it. He went into the experience not being able to reconcile neurosurgery or science with the concept of heaven, God, or the “soul.” A fascinating story really, and I can see why my doctor was also amazed by it.
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It’s not a long book; about 170 pages. This doesn’t include the extensive reading list and indices (2) at the end. It’s pretty impactful for such a short read. It includes some scientific language, but it’s not tough going. He talks about everything he experienced during his NDE. Whether you’re a scientist, a person of faith, or somebody in between, I challenge you to read this and ignore it. It’s very compelling.
This book raises so many questions. What do we know for certain about consciousness, really? Dr. Alexander, it is said, did not care for the title of his book “Proof of Heaven.” He felt that what his experience proved, rather, is that consciousness does not originate entirely in the brain.
He argues that while he was extremely ill, his cerebral cortex was damaged to the extent that it would have been for his brain to produce the extraordinary experience he had. He was lucky to have survived that experience at all, let alone have the ability to recount it vividly.
There is some controversy around what Dr. Alexander is recounting in his book. Some of the doctors who treated him argue that his state of consciousness would have allowed his brain to create the vision that he claims. Still, as I said earlier, hearing the whole story is compelling.
So, dear reader, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether this book settles once and for all what happens when we pass. At a minimum, it may raise more questions about consciousness than it answers. This certainly changes the discussion about consciousness… What do we know? AND, what do we think we know?
I think the book proves that we still have some awfully big questions about this topic. Are you curious, too?
-Cat
Originally published at https://thehokeypokey.substack.com on August 17, 2026.
