Of course, the first question should be: Is there a Heaven? For the sake of this posting, let us, for now, assume there is some elysian, celestial, paradisiacal place after death.
CNN's Anderson Cooper has a Special Report, To Heaven and Back, at 7 and 10 PM (Eastern time, or 2 and 5 PM Hawaii time) on Sunday, December 1. This will mostly be about that return from Heaven experienced by orthopedic surgeon Mary Neal (above) in 1999, but more. Two years ago Dr. Neal wrote a book, Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again. Four years ago Todd Burpo had Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, and just last month, Eben Alexander's Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. These near-death experiences are not uncommon, but to have two surgeons publish their stories provide some real life credibility.But what does Heaven look like?
- Neal
- ...they were taking me down this incredibly beautiful path to this dome-like structure, which was exploding with color and this absolute pure love of God.
- saw brilliant angels
- Burpo
- Four year old Colton met his miscarried sister (previously did not know she had existed) and great grandfather, who had died 30 years before Colton was born
- Jesus really loves children
- Alexander
- He was reborn into a primitive mucky Jell-o-like substance and then guided by “a beautiful girl with high cheekbones and deep blue eyes” on the wings of a butterfly to an “immense void” that is both “pitch black” and “brimming with light” coming from an “orb” that interprets for an all-loving God.
- A spinning light descended, radiating filaments of white-gold light. Then he began to hear a sound, “a living sound, like the richest, most complex, most beautiful piece of music you’ve ever heard” (38). At the center was an opening through which he was transported in a flash to “a completely new world. The strangest, most beautiful world I’d ever seen. Brilliant, vibrant, ecstatic, stunning. . . . I could heap on one adjective after another to describe what this world looked like and felt like, but they’d all fall short” (38).
If you're in New York City, you can stand in line for a long time to spend a few minutes at the David Zwimer Art Gallery to view Yayoi Kusama's "I Who Have Arrived in Heaven" Exhibit:
Yes, that's Kusama above. Somehow, I'm not particularly convinced that she has any pipeline insights into anything like a Heaven.
This is Friday, I should heed the admonitions of my readers to keep my postings as short as possible, but I feel compelled to at least balance the subject. Most Americans believe in a Heaven:
- From Gallup poll:
I pointed out this huge discrepancy in my religion chapter in SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. Like it or not, here are my views on the matter of Heaven:
- Of course there is a heaven, like there is love and the world wide web. The concept is in our minds, throughout the ether and is as real as life itself.
- Those individuals in those books, I believe, sincerely portrayed their experiences. Sure, they went to Heaven...in their minds. I have dreamt of Heaven in strange, and usually colorful ways.
- Love is a chemical reaction, with oxytocin being a key compound in your brain, which can be confirmed through brain scans. The notion of heaven can similarly be proved to be real by scientists.
- However, when you die, these chemical reactions stop. Memories, Heaven and life forever enter the realm of eternal gloom. I suspect the color of Heaven is black.
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