by Leo Galland MD ✦ Review by David Lorimer, August 2018
With a subtitle referring to heaven along similar lines to Eben Alexander, this is a personal book of a doctor's journey into the inner realms following the death of his brain damaged son Christopher at the age of 22. Needless to say, this experience radically expands his understanding of reality. The three main themes are The Gift of the Opposite, the Gift of Presence and the Gift of Timelessness. The author gains a completely new perspective on the meaning of his son's life where his behavioural problems are seen in a new light as challenging others by confounding their assumptions and expectations. This could be profoundly disruptive, bringing people up against the limits of their patience and tolerance - including his father. He is encouraged to go of his normal understanding of time and realise that our task is to find our perfect self and embrace it rather than going through life making careful plans: 'let go of time and enter into God's moment.' The material world of matter is seen as the realm able to embody separation and otherness, which contains many spiritual lessons and allows for love. The author comes to realise that opposites always exist together, and that everything in the universe contains its opposite, even if only in potential. When it comes to Presence, the chief obstacle is the perceived pressure of time, and in this context he refers to the insights of the ferryman Vasudeva in Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha – as life flows, we can enter into Presence at any moment. This is certainly a mind-expanding adventure.
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