Afterlife

While in this life, everyone asks the question: Is death the end, or is there something of me that survives after death? What kind of existence will I have after I die? Will it be good or bad? Is there anything I can do to make it good?

While answer to these questions depends to some extent on one's culture, there is the undeniable fact that in every culture and in every time and place, people have believed in life after death. It is the unanimous testimony of all religions, as recorded in the scriptures:

"The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7

"You prefer this life, although the life to come is better and more enduring." Qur'an 87:16-17

"You do not die when the body dies... As a man abandons his worn-out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out will a new one be acquired by the Self, who lives within." Bhagavad-Gita 2:20-22

"So it is with the resurrection from the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory... It is sown in a physical body, it is raised in a spiritual body." 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

Contemporary belief in the afterlife is also supported by near-death experiences and the not infrequent experiences of spiritual communication with loved ones on the other side. Traditional societies took it for granted that there is natural intercourse between the two worlds, as in this dance sung by the Cree people:

The Sky blesses me, the Earth blesses me;
Up in the Skies I cause to dance the Spirits;
On the Earth, the people I cause to dance.

This same spiritual connection underlies the creative accomplishments of artists and scientists, who credit their inspirations to a mysterious connection with a greater reality. In the words of Carl Jung, "A creative person has little power over his own life. He is not free. He is captive and driven by his daemon."

The afterlife speaks of an existence, which stretches on to eternity, compared to the short span of life on earth. Does how we live in this life affect that future? If so, then belief in the afterlife can profoundly affect our attitude to this life. First, there is no need to fear death, since we will survive it. Second, we would want to take care of how we live on earth so as to avoid committing mistakes that could jeopardize our future eternal life.

Most believers have a rosy view of the afterlife, believing that they will enjoy a pleasurable existence with friends and loved ones in a place called heaven. Although many believe in a place of punishment called hell, they do not believe they will live there. They believe that they will live in heaven because the power of their belief, or the promises of their religion, that they will go to heaven. Yet is that wishful thinking? Traditional beliefs in heaven and hell hold that that people have no choice but to reap in the next life the fruits that they sowed during life on earth. As Jesus taught in the parable of the sheep and the goats, this lies chiefly in how much they loved others and cared for the less fortunate.

Paradise— Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest Heaven (The Empyrean); from Gustave Doré's illustrations to the Divine Comedy.

Immortality of the Soul

From the standpoint of philosophy, there seems to be no logical ground for believing that there is life after physical death, yet the very nature of our human consciousness seems to contradict the possibility of its annihilation—at least this is the way nearly all cultural traditions have perceived it. Hence, philosophers have sought to ascertain whether the universality of the belief in the afterlife is a remnant of primitive worldviews and the expression of wishful thinking, or the expression of the intuitive awareness of a higher reality.

Christianity and other religions that believe in a personal God also believe in the absolute value of the human person as a partner—no matter how finite and inadequate—to that personal God. This naturally implies the belief in human immortality, whether for all humans or only for those who choose the right path of life.

For Eastern religions that hold to an impersonal Ultimate Reality, confidence in existence beyond physical death is based upon their perspective that the mental world as more "real" than the illusory material world. Hence death of the body is only an illusory end; personal existence continues as its essence transmigrates or is reincarnated into a new form.

Soul and Body

Then there is the question of what form immortality takes. Does the individual soul maintain a separate consciousness, or does it merge with the cosmic soul? If it maintains a separate identity and consciousness, then is the soul clothed in some sort of spiritual body? All folk beliefs in the afterlife describe spirits as embodied beings. However Christian and philosophical doctrines are more equivocal, due to the influence of Plato and Descartes.

For Plato, the essence of reality lies in the bodiless human soul. When the body dies, the soul lives on eternally in the world of ideas. This vision of the eternal soul implies that it has no body or shape of any kind and is limited to a point of consciousness. Descartes similarly drew an absolute distinction between the physical world, which has extension in time and space, and the world of the mind, which is without any extension. This philosophical position creates problems for most conceptions of the afterlife, and other problems as well, for instance how to conceive of the link between thinking and action. For Aristotle, mind and body are two sides of the same entity. He therefore believed that the soul dies with the body. This is the position of all modern materialists. Thomas Aquinas sought to reconcile Aristotle with the Christian doctrine of immortality and stated that our soul temporarily survived death before being reunited with the physical body at the resurrection. Philosophically, this solution has been considered rather artificial and involving a deus ex machina.

Spiritualists and mystics have repeatedly advocated a third position, the survival of the soul in some sort of immaterial body. The 18th-century Swedish scientist and spiritualist Emmanuel Swedenborg has offered one of the most complete explanations from that perspective.

Resurrection of the Dead

Resurrection of the Flesh (1499-1502) Fresco by Luca Signorelli, Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.

One strand of belief in the afterlife is the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. In this literal view, our bodies will rise from their graves and return to life to populate a new redeemed world. This belief is found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, standing alongside conceptions of the afterlife as a state that the soul enters immediately upon physical death. Belief in the resurrection of the dead stems from scripture passages such as Ezekiel 37, which depicts the Jewish dead rising from their graves to repopulate the land of Israel. By the time of Jesus, resurrection was the dominant Jewish view of the afterlife.

The first generation of Jesus' followers were Jews holding to this view; they believed that he was the first human being to be resurrected—not resuscitated. In other words, Jesus was living as a human in a new way from the way that he had previously, not merely made alive in the same body. They also believed that they would be resurrected when they died in the same way as Jesus (1 Thess. 4:14-17). This belief continues among some Protestants, who believe that people who die rest in a state of sleep (Rest in Peace) until the end of the world when they would resurrect. Islam also holds to this view: the dead wait until their bodily resurrection at Last Judgment, when the righteous will enter the pleasures of Paradise, and the wicked will be consigned to the eternal fires of hell.

Nevertheless, there is another widespread view in these religions which contradicts the doctrine of bodily resurrection: namely that at death the soul separates from the body and quickly attains its station in the afterlife. The Hebrew Bible affirms that Job and other righteous men went to Sheol when they died. In the New Testament parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus spoke to an audience that was clearly at home with the idea that at death the soul of a certain poor man was "carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom" while the rich man who had died and was buried was dwelling in torment in Hades. (Luke 16:19-31) Saint Paul likewise spoke in anticipation of the day when his body, an "earthly tent," would be destroyed and he would be "further clothed" in a glorious new body. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

Christ leads the patriarchs from Hell to Paradise, by Bartolomeo Bertejo, Spanish, ca 1480: Methuselah, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and Adam and Eve lead the procession of the righteous behind Christ.

For believers in an immortal soul, the resurrection of the dead that occurs in the end-times is not a bodily resurrection, but rather a jubilant uplifting of the spirit. New life in Christ is a spiritual state of grace, in contrast to the state of sin and death: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). The first letter of Peter alludes to a belief that when Jesus was three days in the tomb, he descended to Hades and preached to the spirits there and saved many. (1 Pet. 3:19-20). According to the author of Hebrews, Jesus brought new life not only to earthly believers, but also to the saints in heaven who waited to be further perfected in Christ: "All these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40)

Evidence of Survival after Death

In both Western and Eastern religions, the spirit is an energy or force that transcends the mortal shell, and returns to either the heavens or the cycle of life, directly or indirectly depending on the tradition. In this section we will look specifically at evidence of personal survival after death as a spirit. This evidence is widespread, in traditional and contemporary sources.

Accounts of Scripture

From the Hebrew patriarchs who believed that the soul at death was "gathered to the fathers," the Bible provides ample support to belief in an afterlife. The Old Testament concept of Sheol, in parallel with the Hellenistic Hades, was the underworld where everyone at death, great or small, dwelt together. (Isaiah 14:9-18) An apparition of the recently deceased Samuel briefly appeared to Saul when summoned by the medium of Endor. (1 Samuel 28:3-15) The New Testament describes the heaven as a place where the saints have gathered, surrounded by angels. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

According to the Qur'an, the dead, especially those martyrs for the cause of God, are indeed alive:

Do not say, “They are dead!” about anyone who is killed for God’s sake. Rather they are living, even though you do not notice it. Qur’an 2.154

The Hindu Vedas describe heaven as a place of joy and wholeness:

Where men of goodwill and good deeds rejoice,

Their bodies now made free from all disease,
Their limbs made whole from lameness or defect—

In that heaven may we behold our parents and our sons! Atharva Veda 6.120.3

Likewise, scriptural accounts of hell are widespread in all traditions. Buddhist and Hindu depictions are particularly graphic:

Some of the sinful are cut with saws, like firewood, and others, thrown flat on the ground, are chopped into pieces with axes. Some, their bodies half buried in a pit, are pierced in the head with arrows. Others, fixed in the middle of a press, are squeezed like sugarcane. Some are surrounded close with blazing charcoal, enwrapped with torches, and smelted like a lump of ore. Some are plunged into heated butter, and others into heated oil, and like a cake thrown into the frying pan they are turned about. Some are thrown in the path of huge maddened elephants, and some with hands and feet bound are placed head downwards. Some are thrown into wells; some are hurled from heights; others, plunged into pits full of worms, are eaten away by them... Garuda Purana 3.49-51

There men were dismembering one another, cutting off each of their limbs, saying, “This to you, this to me!” When asked about it, they replied, “In this way they have treated us in the other world, and in the same way we now treat them in return.” Satapatha Brahmana 11.6.3

Out-of Body Experiences

An out-of-body experience (OBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, seeing one's physical body from a place outside one's body. People often report having these experiences after suffering from trauma such as a motor vehicle accident. They are able to recall the accident as if observing from a location outside the vehicle. Whether the OBE reflects reality remains controversial. Some of those who recall the experience report having visited places and people they have never been to or seen before, only to find that they in fact do exist when they attempt to retrace their travels.

Saint Paul testifies to an OBE, which may have been his own:

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter." (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

The interpretation of OBEs is controversial. Those who take them as evidence that consciousness can exist independently of the physical body often invoke the concept of astral projection. This is a technique to induce out-of-body experiences via visualization or deep meditation. Practitioners maintain that their consciousness or soul has transferred into an astral body, which moves free of the physical body in a parallel world known as the "astral plane." Although death is not involved, OBEs indirectly support belief in an afterlife by shaking the materialist perspective that the mind cannot exist independent of the physical body and brain.

Near-Death Experiences

Near-Death Experiences (NDE) provide stronger evidence for an afterlife, because they occur in patients who who nearly died, or who are clinically dead and then resuscitated. Many take NDEs as experiences of the first stages of passing into the spirit world; however others believe they can be explained by hallucinations produced by the brain as it dies. The experience has become more common in recent times, especially since the development of cardiac resuscitation techniques. Popular interest in near-death experiences was sparked by Raymond Moody's 1975 book Life after Life. According to a Gallup poll approximately eight million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience.

Ascent in the Empyrean (Hieronymus Bosch)

Typically the experience follows a distinct progression, although many NDEs do not contain all these elements:

1. A sense of being dead.
2. A sensation of floating above one's body and seeing the surrounding area (an OBE).
3. Pleasant feelings, calmness. A sense of overwhelming love and peace.
4. A sensation of moving upwards through a tunnel or narrow passageway.
5. Meeting deceased relatives or spirits.
6. Encountering a being of light, or a light (possibly a religious or divine figure).
7. Being given a life review.
8. Reaching a border or boundary.
9. A feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by a reluctance.

Some people have also experienced extremely distressing NDEs. A 'core' near-death experience reflects — as intensity increases according to the Rasch scale — peace, joy and harmony, followed by insight and mystical or religious experiences.

The most intense NDEs involve an awareness of things occurring in a different place or time, and some of these observations are said to have been evidential. They may include elements which can best be explained by an out-of-body consciousness. In one account, a woman accurately described a surgical instrument she had not seen previously, as well as a conversation that occurred while she was under general anesthesia. In another account, a man recovering from a heart attack apparently recognized the nurse who had removed his dentures while he was unconscious because he asked her to return them. In some cases it can be demonstrated that the experience continued in the absence of any EEG activity, posing a challenge the materialist's belief that consciousness is situated entirely within the brain.

A majority of individuals who experience an NDE see it as a verification of the existence of an afterlife. This includes those with agnostic/atheist inclinations before the experience. Many former atheists have adopted a more spiritual view after their NDEs. NDE's can also lead to long-lasting changes in people's outlook on life and the way they treat others.

As Greyson notes: "No one physiological or psychological model by itself explains all the common features of NDE. The paradoxical occurrence of heightened, lucid awareness and logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion raises particular perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to brain function. A clear sensorium and complex perceptual processes during a period of apparent clinical death challenge the concept that consciousness is localized exclusively in the brain."

Research on NDEs occurring in the blind have also hinted that consciousness survives bodily death. Dr. Kenneth Ring notes in the book "Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind" that up to 80% of his sample studied reported some visual awareness during their NDE or out of body experience.

Some people who have had an NDE report encounters with deceased persons. Ken Mullens (1992;1995), who was clinically dead for more than 20 minutes, reported spiritual encounters in his life after his NDE. The deceased persons he communicated with were often unknown to him, but were connected to people he met at a later point. While skeptics attempt to discredit such reports, they remain a mystery, with no apparent medical or physical explanation.

Photographs of "Spirits" and Electronic Voice Phenomena

Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) is a term used to refer to sounds that are captured on recorded media or other electronic devices and are said by paranormal investigators to be voices of paranormal origin. Examples of purported EVP are typically short, usually the length of a word or short phrase, although longer segments have also been reported.

Explanations proposed by those who say that they are paranormal in origin include that they are the voices of deceased human beings, psychic projections from EVP researchers, or communications from intelligent non-human entities. Explanations proposed by those who say they are not of paranormal origin include that they are the result of cross modulation or interference from external RF sources, or that they are random noise that is mistakenly perceived as voices due to the human propensity to find familiar patterns amongst random stimuli.

Current enthusiasts of EVP include those dedicated to the pursuit of paranormal investigation and ghost hunting who populate hundreds of Internet message boards, regional, and national groups. According to paranormal researcher John Zaffis, "There's been a boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off." Enthusiasts, equipped with electronic gear such as EMF meters, video cameras and audio recorders, scour reportedly haunted venues, trying to uncover visual and audio evidence of hauntings. Many use portable recording devices in an attempt to capture EVP and a number of ghost hunting organizations feature audio files on their web sites. Some groups, such as the Big Circle, maintain that their mission is quite different from those who wish to record spirit voices in reportedly haunted locations, saying, "It is our intent to establish contact with one or more individuals we know and love that are now in the spiritual world."

Among believers in the afterlife are researchers experimenting with a variety of techniques for spirit communications which they believe provide evidence of the continuation of life. According to the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, "An important modern day development in mediumship is spirit communications via an electronic device. This is most commonly known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)" An informal survey by the organization's Department Of Phenomenal Evidence cites that 1/3 of churches conduct sessions in which participants seek to communicate with spirit entities using EVP.

Judgment

Contemporary 21st century western culture frequently seeks to escape responsibility for action through a scientific explanation for action. Ancient cultures, and the religions that originated within these cultures, affirmed that we are responsible for all our actions and these actions are part of who we are. We are a good person or a bad person dependent upon what we have done. Contemporary Jews, Christians, and Muslims include in the understanding of a good person the intent and wish of that person to do something good as well as bad. Most legal systems are based on intention, willfulness, and what the person has actually done. One religious symbol of our continuing into the afterlife as a good person or a bad person is the act of Judgment by God or one of God’s delegates, for example, an angel.

File:Torcellomosaic.jpg

Last Judgement. 12th-century Byzantine mosaic from Torcello Cathedral.

All three religions have some version of a judgment scene - either upon the moment of the individual’s death or at the end of the world before or after resurrection. Since the concept of “soul” did not exist in ancient Judaism, judgment was first seen in reference to the nation of Judaism being judged as it carried out its covenant duties with God. As the idea of resurrection developed, so did the concept of a judgment at the end time that resulted in either resurrection to life or damnation to destruction. (Ezek 37:11-14. Dan 12:1-2). Christianity inherits and elaborates upon these images of judgment from its understanding of Jesus’ role as Messiah. The last book of the Christian Bible, Revelation, provides an especially vivid judgment scene and description of the place where God dwells, the heavenly Jerusalem(Rev. 21; 22). One is judged in Christianity as well as in Judaism according to how they have kept the covenant obligations. Of these obligations one obligation in particular is highlighted in both religions’ visions of judgment: how the nation and/or the individual cares for the poor. The judgment scene in the book of Matthew in the Christian Bible perhaps summarizes this emphasis the best when it describes Jesus coming at the end of time and all the people gathered around his judgment throne. He begins to divide people according to whether they gave drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, and clothes to the naked. Those who were rejected asked “When did we see you like this?” and the judge, Jesus, says “When you didn’t do it for the least of those near you, you didn’t do it to me.”

As both Judaism and Christianity entered more deeply into a culture and language that emphasized the individual and accepted the concept of the soul, the vision of judgment at the end of the world began to be applied to the individual immediately after death. This judgment also began to reflect the dominant issues of the time. In Christianity, for example, the Ten Commandments were not central to norming the moral life for the first fifteen hundred years of the Christian tradition. Until the Protestant Reformation the Seven Deadly Sins were central in envisioning how people would be judged. From the sixteenth century onward the Ten Commandments held center stage. Among the Ten Commandments, the ones dealing with stealing and justice were more important (129 pages) than those dealing with sex (12 pages). An example of this is a comparison between moral manuals used by Catholic priests: in those used between 1598 and 1716, the seventh commandment had eighty-eight pages and the tenth, thirty five. The eighth had thirty one. The sixth had twelve and the ninth had none. God’s judgment at death and resurrection, therefore, would reflect these norms.

Islam also has the symbols associated with judgment. As we’ve seen, it also reflects more of the Greco-Roman world that surrounded it. Both the judgment of the soul, as well as the resurrection of the body, is present within the Qu’ran. The souls of the wicked are torn out of their body and questioned immediately upon death. Not recognizing God or his prophet they are condemned to the fires of Jahannam. The good person’s soul is not interrogated by the angels of death but gently released and led into the sleep of the faithful until the resurrection. According to some accounts, the good soul is led by the angels into the garden of life to await the resurrection. (Surah 16:28-32). The original judgment is affirmed at the resurrection and the consequent afterlives described as living in the garden of sensual delights for the good and the horrible tortures of Jahannam for the evil ones.

Eastern Culture

Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto

Today the pluralism of past Western cultures is matched by the pluralism of easily assessable visions of contemporary cultures and religions. One culture, however, only becomes visible to the other culture by adapting its language and way of life to the receiving culture. The result is that the symbols of the other culture may easily be understood through the concepts of the receiving culture as well as seen as meaning the same thing as in the receiving culture’s ideas. We have seen how Judaism and Christianity adapted to the Greco-Roman culture’s view of the soul. There were many other ideas and ways of life that were modified as Christianity became part of the Greco-Roman culture and, later, the cultures of Europe. Similar changes happen as the non-Western cultures enter the Western world through such avenues as the English language. Four adaptations, or translations, have special consequences for discussions of afterlife in the English language: the nature of the “I” that lives in the afterlife; the relationship of the afterlife to this life; the nature of ultimate reality; the manner through which the afterlife becomes better than this life.

File:Wheel life 01.jpg

The 'Wheel of Life' as portrayed within Buddhism, showing the cycle of Samsara, or reincarnation.

When those in the West ask the question “Do I exist?” They usually identify “I” with an awareness of the world around them, an ability to think, to desire, to will to do things, to remember, and to wish for a future that is beneficial to the one who is thinking, desiring, willing, and remembering. If they are members of one of the Western religions they believe that God is somewhat like them and possesses some of these same characteristics while still being completely different. Humans are not God. As members of these religions they believe that what they do and believe in this life effects their life in the next; they have only the one chance of this life to prepare for the next life. Time is linear. God is totally different from humans. There is an actual afterlife with this God.

Eastern religions do not look at life or afterlife in any of the ways we described above. The “I” as such does not exist since we are really all one. The universe, both seen and unseen, is one. Time is cyclical. The western word “God” is not applicable to ultimate reality. There is no afterlife as such, only this life lived in the right or wrong way which we live over and over till we get it right. A life lived correctly enables one to become one with the universe of which they are a part.

In Hinduism (3500 B.C.E.) the real “I” is eternal, is divine, and is actually the universe. Everything we sense is false and leads us away from the true reality of this universe. Death, too, is a moment marking the false world we have and are creating. Everything we do creates our future. Until we act and think correctly we are destined to live forever, incarnate in this false world we create. Life after life, reincarnation after reincarnation, follows our inability to rid ourselves of our karma, our creation of false lives. Only through liberating knowledge will we discover the true nature of the world we are a part of and break the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. In experiencing the knowledge that we are the divine we, as a conscious, sensing, thinking, willing, remembering, entity ceases to exist. Various types of meditation enable us to have this experiencing knowledge. Another way to stop this false existence is through the way of devotion. In this instance, one focuses one’s attention on one of the many gods in the Hindu religion. In the Bhagavadgita, for example, Krishna promises freedom from this illusory world if one fixes their attention on Krishna alone and follows his way of life..

Buddhism (531 B.C.E.) , with its origins in Hinduism, looks at the individual’s future in much the same way: affirming the ideas of continual rebirth or reincarnation; the falsity of this world as we sense it and become attached to it; and, the need to escape from this false existence. While Hinduism emphasizes that ignorance binds us to this falsity, Buddhism emphasizes the fact that our desires create and bind us to a false mode of existence. We must extinguish all desire to be conscious, thinking, willing, remembering, and feeling. When we are nothing we are in nirvana, saved from all craving.

A Japanese graveyard in Kyoto. The thin wooden tablets behind the graves show the Buddhist name the deceased receives after death.

In both Hinduism and Buddhism many false worlds exist. These may be seen as various types of post death existences. Some of these occur while we are dying, others immediately after death, and sometimes for long times after death before we are re-born into the false world that surrounds us right now. These worlds are populated with various beings who try to pull us into their false worlds.

Daoism understands ultimate reality as harmony resulting from the two complementary and interdependent forces of Yin and Yang: the positive and negative; being and non-being; light and darkness. Humans are one aspect of the Dao whether alive or dead. Death is part of the everlasting harmony of the universe. Our will, desires, memory, feelings, freedom and body do not continue beyond death. One’s present life may be extended by such actions as living a moral life, regulating our eating, esoteric sexual activities, and interaction with others. Confucianism is much like Taoism in its emphasis upon harmony, the extension of this life by natural means, and the denial of an individual’s soul existence after death.

Shinto understands ultimate reality as kami, a spiritual force that transcends and is expressed in all things. Life is a mirror of this kami energy; death is its mirror opposite. It is important for one to live a life worthy of being remembered as a famous ancestor. Those who were famous enough as an ancestor would be remembered by all as worthy of becoming part of the eight hundred kinds of kami in the spirit world.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Lifton, Robert Jay. 1979. Broken Connection: On Death and the Continuity of Life. Simon and Schuster ISBN 0671225618

• Chidester, David. 2002. Patterns of Transcendence: Religion, Death and Dying. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN 0534506070

• Matlins, Stuart M. and Magida, Arthur J. 2006. How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Other People’s Religious Ceremonies. 6th ed. Woodstock, VT Skylight Paths Publishing. ISBN 1594731403

• McDannel, Colleen and Lang, Bernhard. Heaven: A History New Haven, Yale University Press. ISBN 0300091079

• Swedenborg, Emmanuel. 2006. Heaven and Hell. Swedenborg Foundation ISBN 0877854769

• Fiore, Dr. Edith. 1987. The Unquiet Dead, Ballantine. ISBN 0345350839

• Borgia, Anthony. 1993. Life in the World Unseen. M B A Publishing. ISBN 0963643509

• Lee, Dr. Sang Hun. 1998. Life in the Spirit World and on Earth. Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. ISBN 091062190X

• World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts. Paragon House. ISBN 0892261293

Further reading

• American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association (Code V62.89, Religious or Spiritual Problem).
• Blackmore, Susan (1993) Dying to live: Science and Near-Death Experiences. London: Harper Collins.
• Blanke, Olaf; Ortigue, Stéphanie; Landis, Theodor; Seeck, Margitta (2002) Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions. The part of the brain that can induce out-of-body experiences has been located. Nature, Vol. 419, 19 September 2002
• Britton WB & Bootzin RR. (2004) Near-death experiences and the temporal lobe. Psychol Sci. Apr;15(4):254-8. PubMed abstract PMID 15043643
• Carey, Stephen S. (2004) A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Third Edition. Toronto: Thomson Wadsworth
• Cowan, J. D. (1982) Spontaneous symmetry breaking in large-scale nervous activity. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 22, 1059-1082.
• Greyson, B. (1983) The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 369-375.
• Greyson, Bruce (1983) The near-death experience scale. Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Jun;171(6):369-75.
• Greyson B. (1997) The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. May;185(5):327-34. PubMed abstract PMID 9171810
• Greyson, B. (2000) Some neuropsychological correlates of the physio-kundalini syndrome. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32, 123-134.
• Greyson, Bruce (2003) Near-Death Experiences in a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Population. Psychiatric Services, December, Vol. 54 No. 12. The American Psychiatric Association
• Greyson, Bruce & Bush, Nancy E. (1992) Distressing near-death experiences. Psychiatry, Feb;55(1):95-110.
• IANDS. IANDS: The International Association for Near-Death Studies. Printable Brochure. Available at www.iands.org
• Jansen, Karl L. R. (1995) Using ketamine to induce the near-death experience: mechanism of action and therapeutic potential. Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness (Jahrbuch furr Ethnomedizin und Bewubtseinsforschung) Issue 4 pp55-81.
• Jansen, Karl L. R. (1997) The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience: A central role for the NMDA Receptor. Journal of Near-Death Studies Vol. 16, No.1
• Kelly EW. (2001) Near-death experiences with reports of meeting deceased people. Death Stud. Apr-May;25(3):229-49
• Lange R, Greyson B, Houran J. (2004) A Rasch scaling validation of a 'core' near-death experience. British Journal of Psychology, Volume: 95 Part: 2 Page: 161-177
• Lukoff, David, Lu, Francis G. & Turner, Robert P. (1998) From Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Problem - The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 38(2), 21-50
• Martens PR. (1994) Near-death-experiences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors. Meaningful phenomena or just fantasy of death? Resuscitation. Mar;27(2):171-5. PubMed abstract PMID 8029538
• Morse M, Castillo P, Venecia D, Milstein J, Tyler DC. (1986) Childhood near-death experiences. American Journal of Diseases of Children, Nov;140(11):1110-4.
• Morse M., Conner D. and Tyler D. (1985) Near-Death Experiences in a pediatric population. A preliminary report, American Journal of Disease of Children, n. 139 PubMed abstract PMID 4003364
• Morse, Melvin (1990) Closer to the Light: Learning From the Near-Death Experiences of Children. New York: Villard books
• Morse, Melvin & Perry, Paul (1992) Transformed by the Light. New York: Villard books
• Moody, R. (1975) Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon - Survival of Bodily Death. New York: Bantam
• Moody, R. (1977) Reflections on Life After Life: More Important Discoveries In The Ongoing Investigation Of Survival Of Life After Bodily Death. New York: Bantam
• Moody, R. (1999) The Last Laugh: A New Philosophy of Near-Death Experiences, Apparitions, and the Paranormal. Hampton Roads Publishing Company
• Mullens, K. (1992) Returned From The Other Side. Publ. Kenneth G. Mullens
• Mullens, K. (1995) Visions From The Other Side. Publ. Kenneth G. Mullens
• Orne RM. (1995) The meaning of survival: the early aftermath of a near-death experience. Research in Nursing & Health. 1995 Jun;18(3):239-47. PubMed abstract PMID 7754094
• Parnia S, Waller DG, Yeates R, Fenwick P (2001) A qualitative and quantitative study of the incidence, features and aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors. Resuscitation. Feb;48(2):149-56. PubMed abstract PMID 11426476
• Peake, Anthony (2006) "Is There Life After Death?" (Chartwell Books in USA & Arcturus in UK)
• Pinchbeck, Daniel (2002) Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. Broadway Books, trade paperback, 322 pages
• Pravda (2004) Reanimators try to grasp the afterlife mystery. Pravda article 21.12.2004. (Article translated by: Maria Gousseva)
• Raaby et al. (2005) Beyond the Deathbed.
• Rivas T. (2003). The Survivalist Interpretation of Recent Studies into the Near-Death Experience. Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, 26, 1, 27-31.
• Rodrigues, Linda Andrade (2004) Ex-atheist describes near-death experience. Standard Times, Page C4, January 31, 2004
• Sabom, Michael (1998) Light & Death: One Doctor's Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House
• Simpson SM. (2001) Near death experience: a concept analysis as applied to nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Nov;36(4):520-6. PubMed abstract PMID 11703546
• Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, 320 pages, Park Street Press, 2001, ISBN 0-89281-927-8
• Thomas, Shawn (2004) Agmatine and Near-Death Experiences. Article published at www.neurotransmitter.net
• Kinseher Richard (2006) Geborgen in Liebe und Licht - Gemeinsame Ursache von Intuition, Déjà-vu-, Schutzengel- und Nahtod-Erlebnissen, ISBN: 3-8334-51963, German Language, (A new theory: During a Near-Death-Experience, a person can observe the scan of the own episodic memory. These stored experiences are then judged by the topical intellect.)

Personal experiences

• Return from Tomorrow by George G. Ritchie, M.D. with Elizabeth Sherrill (1978). George G. Ritchie, M.D. has held positions as president of the Richmond Academy of General Practice; chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps, Inc. He lives in Virgina. At the age of twenty, George Ritchie died in an army hospital. Nine minutes later he returned to life. What happened to him during those minutes was so compelling, it changed his life forever. In "Return from Tomorrow," he tells of his out-of-the-body encounter with other beings, his travel through different dimensions of time and space, and ultimately, his transforming meeting with the Light of the world, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Ritchie's amazing experience not only altered his view of eternity---it has since directed and governed his entire life. One of the most startling and hopeful descriptions of the realm beyond.

It was Dr. George G. Ritchie's story that first inspired Dr. Raymond Moody, PhD (who was studying at the University of Virginia, as an undergraduate in Philosophy, at the time) to first come in contact with NDEs. This led Dr. Moody to investigate over 150 cases of Near Death Experiences, in his book "Life after Life," and his two other books that followed.

• Embraced by the Light by Betty Eadie (1992). One of the most detailed near-death experiences on record.

• Saved by the Light by Dannion Brinkley. Brinkley's experience documents one of the most complete near death experiences, in terms of core experience and additional phenomena from the NDE scale. Brinkley was clinically dead for 28 minutes and taken to a hospital morgue.

• Placebo by Howard Pittman (1980). A detailed record of Mr. Pittman's near-death experience.

• The Darkness of God by John Wren-Lewis (1985), Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Psychical Research No 5. An account of the far-reaching effects of his NDE after going through the death process several times in one night.

• Bahá'í Reinee Pasarow has presented her experiences and an extended talk which was filmed Part 1,Part2, with a partial transcript, and analyzed from a religious point of view in a Commentary and analyzed as part of the paper The Exploration of Life After Death. Pasarow was interviewed by Dr. Kenneth Ring.

• Anita Moorjani, an ethnic Indian woman from Hong Kong experienced a truly remarkable NDE which has been documented on the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF) website as one of the most exceptional accounts on their archives. She had end-stage cancer and on February 2, 2006, doctors told her family that she only had a few hours to live. Following her NDE, Anita experienced a remarkable total recovery of her health. Her full story can be read at www.nderf.org titled "Anita M's NDE".

Fiction

• In Passage, a 2001 novel by Connie Willis, the principal storyline centers around a researcher who has developed a technique for inducing an experience very much like a natural NDE. By studying the effects and comparing them with real NDEs, she hopes to find a biological basis for NDEs.

• In the end of Scorpia, 5th installment in the Alex Rider series, Alex Rider, the protagonist, is shot near the heart by a sniper, collapses and sees his deceased parents appear before him in bright light, before losing consciousness.

• The novel Fearless (1993) by Rafael Yglesias is about an architect that survives a planecrash. His near-death experience starts a period of fearlessness and existential concerns which puts him in conflict with both his family and the surrounding culture. The book was later adapted to the screen by director Peter Weir, starring Jeff Bridges as the main character, Max Klein. See Fearless (film).

• The French novel Les Thanatonautes by Bernard Werber is about a group of scientists trying to study life after death by using drugs to throw them into cardiac arrest. It is the beginning of a successful trilogy including L'Empire des Anges and Nous, Les Dieux.

• Another French novel, "Le Serment des Limbes" by Jean Christophe Grangé, deals with negative NDE and its impact on devil worshipping.

• The movie Flatliners (1990) is about a group of medical students who want to study the near-death experience. They volunteer to clinically die and be revived by their fellow students. However, their experiment begins to go awry.

• In Final Destination 2, Kimberly Corman has a life review before dying. Later she is saved by Ellen Kallarjian.

• In the movie Stay (2005) the character of Henry (Ryan Gosling) has a NDE that lasts throughout the entire film. As he lies dying after a car crash that killed the rest of his family his mind wanders between life and death. Henry's final minutes of his life extended into a dream that lasts several days in his mind. He sees the illusion through the eyes of the man who is trying to keep him alive (Ewan McGregor).

• In the game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake undergoes a NDE after falling into the river, almost drowning in the process.

• In the movie White Noise: The Light (2007), the sequel of White Noise (2005), the main character Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion) has a NDE after his suicide attempt. His spirit separates from his body. His consciousness then floats through a grey tunnel at the end of which there is a bright light to be found. It shines upon his murdered wife and child who are already expecting him. His astral body is pulled back into his physical body after a successful resuscitation.

• In the Christian film Escape from Hell, a man attempts to prove Heaven's existence by purposefully placing himself in cardiac arrest. However, he finds himself in a completely different place: Hell.

External links

Advocacy

• International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS)
• Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF)
• University of Wales, Lampeter Press release: A Near Death Experience
• SpiritualTravel Explaining Neath-death Experiences Objections on current scientific arguments
• Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife Near-Death.com
• High Gravity Causes of NDE Near-Death.com
• Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands Lommel, Hospital Rijnstate
• A Reply to Shermer: Medical Evidence for NDEs Lommel, Division of Cardiology - Hospital Rijnstate
• Does Mind Survive Physical Death? Fontana, Cardiff University and Liverpool John Moores University
• Who's Afraid of Life After Death? Why NDE Evidence is Ignored Grossman, Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)
• How Stuff Works - Near Death Experience
• BBC Documentary about Near Death Experience
• News for the Soul, Archived Webradio Interview with P.M.H. Atwater and Dannion Brinkley on NDE research (mp3 realplayer set at 20, 32, 42 min.)
• With Good Reason by VFH Radio with Bruce Greyson, November 2006
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 1 The Near Death Experiences of Howard Storm, Ned Dougherty, and Dr. George Rodonaia (video documentary)
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 2
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 3
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 4
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 5
• The Near Death Chronicles Part 6

Neutral

• Near Death Experience Man - humorous webcomic about a super hero
• Using Ketamine to Induce the Near-Death Experience:Mechanism of Action and Therapeutic Potential - Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen MD, PhD, MRCPsych
• University of Virginia Health System - Division of Personality Studies

Skeptical

• A Special Report: What Is Betty Eadie Hiding? Christian Research Institute Journal
• Skepdic Article
• Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body? - Susan Blackmore, Published in Skeptical Inquirer 1991, 16, 34-45
• The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience:A Central Role for the NMDA Receptor - Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen MD, PhD, MRCPsych

External links

• Edward N. Zalta, (ed.), "Afterlife", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Retrieved February 18, 2007.
• "Death and Immortality", The Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library , Retrieved February 18, 2007.
• Denosky, J. 2000-2005. "After-Death Experience", SpiritualTravel.org Retrieved February 18, 2007.
• "About Reincarnation", Jayadvaita Swami, Retrieved February 19, 2007.
• "NDEs and the Afterlife", Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife, Retrieved February 19, 2007.
• Michael Martin, 1997; "Problems with Heaven (1997)" Retrieved February 19, 2007.
• "VERITAS Research Program", University of Arizona. 2007, Retrieved February 19, 2007.
• William Rounseville Alger, 1878; "The Destiny of the Soul: A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life", Project Gutenberg, Retrieved February 19, 2007.
• "Home Page", Experiences of the Afterlife, Retrieved February 20, 2007.
• "Eternity", Eternal Perspective Ministries, Retrieved February 20, 2007.
• Victor J. Zammit, 2006; "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife", victorjzammit.com, Retrieved February 20, 2007.
• Nell Gavin, 2002. "Reincarnation, Fact or Fantasy?", nellgavin.com, Retrieved February 20. 2007.

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