Ep. 49: Dr. Mary Neal - Life After Death is Where the Unity Between Science & Spirituality Is Revealed

Dr. Mary Neal is board certified orthopedic spine surgeon and she's an author -- two times over. In this interview she talks about how she spent 30 minutes without oxygen underwater but came back to life. During those thirty minutes she felt a shift in time and dimension and she watched her body being pulled to the shore. She explains how she didn’t feel unconscious, she felt more conscious and more alive than she has ever felt.

In this interview she shares that there are millions of people who have had this life after death experience and that the stories people share upon returning are similar. She explains, “You can't go through an experience like this without having everything about you change. And I will say that I spent many months afterwards trying to come up with a scientific or medical explanation and ultimately was unable to.”

Dr. Neal believes that it's a false choice to either believe science or believe in a spiritual world because they co-exist and integrate very easily even though they are very different. She explains, “They answer different questions. Science will always be the means by which we try to figure out how things work and spirituality will always be the pathway by which we answer the questions of meaning and purpose.”

She explains that it is ironic people feel threatened by spirituality because in death “all relationships are reconciled and there is nothing but love”. To find your true path, she explains, you must leave the couch, try things and wait for a sign to see if you are headed in the right direction.

Show Notes

[01:02] Mary is going to read a selection from Chapter 10 from her book To Heaven and Back to set the scene. “I was shown events in my life not to an isolation but in the context of their unseen ripple effect. It is easy for all of us to see the impact our words or actions may have on our immediate surroundings but to see the impact of events or words dozens of times removed was profoundly powerful. Through this experience I was able to clearly see that every action every decision and every human interaction impacts the bigger world and far more significant ways than we could ever be capable of appreciating.”
[03:59] I did die. Yeah. I was without oxygen for 30 minutes. Ultimately when they did start CPR of course I had no pulse and wasn't breathing and all that sort of thing. And they are professionals and they were quite aware of time -- they had been timing it. They only started CPR because I was their dear friend and they couldn't bear to do nothing.
[05:39] I never had the experience of being conscious and then unconscious. I had the experience of being conscious and then more conscious -- things became more real than real. And I began to feel more alive than I have ever felt now.
[05:56] And you talk about how you saw yourself there right. That you when you left your body you actually saw yourself in the water right.
[06:04] There is definitely a shift in time and dimension. And I will tell you I'm not a physicist and so I don't really necessarily know what the right words are to use but time and dimension changed.
[06:43] I could see one of my friends pull my body to shore and then I could watch as they started CPR and I could still hear them to a degree. One of them kept calling to me and so I could still hear and in some respects I guess interact with the earthly world even though to me my soul was elsewhere.
[11:57] I mean I grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s and like every other kid went to Sunday school and then went home to my life.
[12:20] Thinking about one's spiritual life is not high on the priority list when you have a busy life. And then I became the director of spinal surgery at a big university and I had a husband and four little kids and I mean I was no zealot for sure. If someone had asked me I would have said that I was a Christian. But as I look back on it I think I was sort of a cultural Christian.
[12:43] I think that I was like so many people just too busy really to think much about any of it.
[13:52] But I'll tell you that near-death experiences or after-death experiences are incredibly common in this country alone. There are millions of people who have had these kinds of experiences and they're all very very similar.
[17:32] All of a sudden it's very inconvenient because all of a sudden maybe they have to change the way they treat people all of a sudden maybe they have to change the way they interact with the world or with themselves or with their family. It's very inconvenient. Most people do not accept spiritual realities or spiritual truths because it's very threatening to them.
[18:10] You can't go through an experience like this without having everything about you change. And I will say that I spent many months afterwards trying to come up with a scientific or medical explanation and ultimately was unable to.
[18:33] It's a false choice were presented when we're asked to either believe science or believe in a spiritual world. Because I discovered they co-exist very easily. They're just very different. They answer different questions. Science will always be the means by which we try to figure out how things work and spirituality will always be the pathway by which we answer the questions of meaning and purpose. The two coexist very easily and are very easily integrated.
[22:13] Can the dead see and interact with the living? Yes. There is no question that there is spiritual crossover. I would only qualify that by saying that I do not believe it's under our control.
[23:53] I think that I think that we live within the spiritual world and occasionally there's crossover that we notice. But I think a lot of it is awareness. You know we sort of close our minds to it and we're too busy to notice. I don't think everything is a miracle. But I think for example there are a lot of miracles that happen and we can either respond to things that happened by saying oh that's weird or be open to the possibility that it is a spiritual occurrence or a miracle.
[24:39] People will believe anything that's written on Facebook even if there is no evidence.But when it comes to spiritual things people want more and more and more and more evidence. And it's a fascinating thing.
[26:18] All relationships are reconciled and there is nothing but love.
[27:27] God will speak to us where we are and in the way that we can understand.
[28:22] Angels bring messages they bring guidance.
[28:34] I think that oftentimes spiritual crossover happens when we're in vulnerable situations and example when we're asleep or when we are in dire straits in the hospital or when we're in a position where we're able to get rid of all of the busyness of life all of the static and focus on what really matters.
[29:19] If I told you a riveting story about purple shirts -- you would spend the next two weeks walking around being amazed how many people wear purple shirts.
[29:38] It's all a matter of awareness. And once your awareness is elevated all of a sudden it does become a bit of a game you all of a sudden can look around go, “Oh wow that's amazing.
[30:22] I believe that there is a plan for each and every one of us.
[30:44] Oftentimes we're being called to do something that challenges us because no one changes or grows when things are easy.
[31:29] I find that oftentimes people don't want, or they think they aren't able, to do what they're being called to do. The second problem is people want to be called to greatness. You know they want to be called to be the director of some big program instead of being called to start a program or they want someone else's plan. They forget about the fact that we each are really important and without all of us, you know, if everyone was a car maker there would be no one to fix the cars.
[32:05] I mean we all have important jobs but people want to be called to other people's paths. Also people forget that nothing's going to happen if you don't get up off the couch and take a step. You may be called to be at the top of the Grand Teton mountains but unless you get in your car and you drive to the base you're never gonna get to the top. I talked to many many people who are just sitting there basically sitting on the couch waiting to be called.
[32:48] You can't go in a pathway if you're not moving. You've got to get up and get off the couch.
[33:15] And at the same sort of thing you can't sit on the couch and think that God's going to present the world to you. You have to get up and choose a direction and wait for confirmation.
[33:47] Be the change you wish to see in the world.
[34:29] Edwin Abbott's book Flatland which was a very old book it was published in the late eighteen hundreds is such a wonderful book for people to read because on its surface it's not that interesting. It was a satire about Victorian culture. But I think it's a book that is able to expand one's consciousness in that it talks all about what I mentioned earlier life in a one dimensional world two dimensional world three dimensional world. And I think it gives a way to imagine our life within a spiritual world.

Thank you for joining us on HealthGig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.

“But I'll tell you that near-death experiences are after death experiences are incredibly common in this country alone. There are millions of people who have had these kinds of experiences and they're all very very similar.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“You can't go through an experience like this without having everything about you change. And I will say that I spent many months afterwards trying to come up with a scientific or medical explanation and ultimately was unable to.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“It's a false choice were presented when we're asked to either believe science or believe in a spiritual world. Because I discovered they co-exist very easily. They're just very different. They answer different questions. Science will always be the means by which we try to figure out how things work and spirituality will always be the pathway by which we answer the questions of meaning and purpose. The two coexist very easily and are very easily integrated.” - Dr. Mary Neal

“People will believe anything that's written on Facebook even if there is no evidence.But when it comes to spiritual things people want more and more and more and more evidence. And it's a fascinating thing.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“It's all a matter of awareness. And once your awareness is elevated all of a sudden it does become a bit of a game you all of a sudden can look around go, “Oh wow that's amazing.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“Oftentimes we're being called to do something that challenges us because no one changes or grows when things are easy.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“All relationships are reconciled and there is nothing but love.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“You can't go in a pathway if you're not moving. You've got to get up and get off the couch.” - Dr. Mary Neal
“And at the same sort of thing you can't sit on the couch and think that God's going to present the world to you. You have to get up and choose a direction and wait for confirmation.” - Dr. Mary Neal

Keywords

#near-death #miracles #CPR #lifeafterdeath #afterdeathexperience #spiritualcrossover #timedimension #timeandspace #spirituality #AngelicPresence #Flatland #EdwinAbbott #Dreamvisitations #MaryNeal #ToHeavenandBack #7LessonsfromHeaven

PodcastadminOctober 15, 2019

Ep. 49: Dr. Mary Neal - Life After Death is Where the Unity Between Science & Spirituality Is Revealed

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Show Notes