Recently I’ve noticed that a few of the books on the top 10 New York Times Bestseller list have been related to accounts of spiritual journeys or Near Death Experiences (NDEs). The most popular in the past few months have been neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven, and Heaven is for Real, a novel dictated by 4- year old Colton Burpo. These accounts answer something man has asked himself since the beginning of time: what really does happen when we die?

I have always seen religion and science as forces working against each other. I was raised as a Catholic school girl surrounded by people who had no doubt that there is a God. In this community of believers I struggled because I am logical to a fault. I have doubted my faith in recent years because of my “seeing is believing” mentality. Science is so tangible, so provable. It’s easy to comprehend the Big Bang, evolution, etc. But imagining heaven? How could that be proved?

Dr. Alexander’s novel opened my eyes to a whole realm of evidence that God exists. NDEs, especially those so vivid and indescribably real as Dr. Alexander’s, are “proof” that physical death is not the end for us. Recently many scientists have set out to study whether man has a soul. Things such as NDEs and Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) have begun to be seen as gateways to the spiritual world, becoming a much more respected field of study.

I hope to one day live in a world where science and religion not only peacefully coexist, but also work together. There is a middle ground between the literal translation of the Bible and the “hard evidence” that man does not have a soul. In the end these things go hand in hand. Both religion and science are real and I believe we should value both.

Carolyn Moore

Hyde School