Eben Alexander, MD, is a former professor of neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and author of Proof of Heaven, The Map of Heaven, and (with Karen Newell) Living in a Mindful Universe.

Here he maintains that the materialist paradigm, in which he was educated as a neurosurgeon, has made no progress whatsoever in clarifying the nature of consciousness. He claims that it is impossible for materialism or physicalism to ever explain consciousness. He notes that many eminent philosophers have suggested that consciousness, not matter, is primary. He points to many lines of research that defy materialist explanations — remote viewing, near-death experience, acquired savant syndrome, and terminal lucidity.

(Recorded on September 6, 2018)

Published on September 9, 2018