As a neurosurgeon, I did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences.

I understand what happens to the brain when people are near death, and I had always believed there were good scientific explanations for the heavenly out-of-body journeys described by those who narrowly escaped death.

I grew up in a scientific world, the son of a neurosurgeon.

I finally chalked it up to the fact that the brain is truly an extraordinary device: more extraordinary than we can even guess.

Evil was necessary because without it free will was impossible, and without free will there could be no growth—no forward movement, no chance for us to become what God longed for us to be. Horrible and all-powerful as evil sometimes seemed to be in a world like ours, in the larger picture love was overwhelmingly dominant, and it would ultimately be triumphant.

We - each of us - are intricately, irremovably connected to the larger universe.

As a neurosurgeon, I did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences.