The Afterlife Book

Flaxman Larry, Jones Marie D.

Description

The history, folklore, religious traditions, science, and pop-culture of Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife explored

Very thorough accounting of the history, science, religion, the unexplained and the intersections between them

From established authors and experts on the unexplained

Written in a conversational style and easy to comprehend

Filled with intriguing information to spur further research.

Logical organization makes finding information quick and easy

Numerous photographs and illustrations

Thoroughly indexed

Authoritative resource

Ideal for anyone interested in the afterlife

Publicity and promotion aimed at the wide array of websites focused on the supernatural, paranormal, and the unexplained as well as spiritual and religous sites

Promotion targeting more mainstream media and websites on a popular topic

Promotion targeting national radio, including Coast to Coast and numerous other late-night radio programs looking for knowledgeable guests

Promotion targeting lifestyle magazines and newspapers

Promotion through social media on a popular, mysterious topic

About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction

1. What Happens When We Die?
2. How People Die Today
3. Death and Dying Around the World
4. What is the Soul?
5. Heaven and Hell and the In-Between
6. Do We Ever Truly Die? The Brain, Consciousness, and Death
7. Near-Death Experiences, Pre-Birth Experiences and Reincarnation
8. Ghosts in the Afterlife
9. Talking to the Dead: Devices of Ghost Communication
10. Spiritualism and Mediumship
11. Immortality: Who Wants to Live Forever?
12. Conclusion: The Ivy on the Wall

Appendix: Personal Stories of Death and the Afterlife
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Santé et bien-être
• Santé mentale & traumatisme
• Santé mentale
• Santé mentale
• Death
• Expérience de mort imminente
• Hell
• Raymond Moody
• Afterlife
• Grief
• Heaven
• Parapsychology
• Spirituality
• Body (disambiguation)
• Near death experience
• Bereavement
• Christian Living
• reincarnation

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 06 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578598229
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Photo Sources
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Big Question
What Happens When We Die?
How People Die Today
Death and Dying around the World
What Is the Soul?
Heaven and Hell and the In Between
Do We Ever Truly Die? The Brain and Consciousness
Near-Death Experience, Prebirth Experience, and Reincarnation
Ghosts in the Afterlife
Talking to the Dead: Devices of Ghost Communications
Spiritualism and Mediumship
Immortality: Who Wants to Live Forever?
Conclusion
Appendix: Personal Stories of Death and the Afterlife
Further Reading
Index
PHOTO SOURCES
Allposters.com : p. 163 .
American Philosophical Society: p. 197 .
Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP (Glasg): p. 219 .
Boston Sunday Post : p. 61 .
Cirone-Musi, Festival della Scienza: p. 114 .
Cmichel67 (Wikicommons): p. 168 .
Dandebat.dk: p. 72 .
Derby Museum and Art Gallery: p. 236 .
Dura-Europos synagogue: p. 24 .
Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt: p. 34 .
Fibonacci (Wikicommons): p. 162 .
Gutenberg.kk.dk: p. 91 .
John Hill: p. 42 .
Himalayanart.org : p. 80 .
Robert Lanza: p. 59 .
Library of Congress: p. 186 .
Louvre Museum: p. 50 .
MM (Wikicommons): p. 57 .
National Geographic : 220 .
National Institutes of Health: p. 212 .
Paramount Pictures: p. 221 .
Pixar Animation Studios: p. 120 .
Press2014 (Wikicommons): p. 64 .
Carole Raddato: p. 94 .
Sgerbik (Wikicommons): p. 112 .
Shutterstock: pp. 3 . 6 , 8 , 9 , 14 , 16 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 31 , 32 , 37 , 40 , 48 , 65 , 71 , 75 , 79 , 89 , 100 , 103 , 107 , 110 , 111 , 124 , 126 , 128 , 133 , 136 , 139 , 150 , 157 , 160 , 172 , 175 , 177 , 178 , 184 , 188 , 190 , 193 , 198 , 204 , 206 , 208 , 211 , 215 , 223 , 226 , 234 , 241 , 243 .
John Singer: p. 231 .
StagiaireMGIMO (Wikicommons): p. 146 .
Theosophical Society: p. 147 .
TriStar Pictures/Roth Films: p. 153 .
W. David and GayEtta Hemingway Foundation: p. 142 .
Walters Art Museum: p. 53 .
Warner Bros. Pictures: p. 86 .
Wellcome Images: p. 45 .
Kenneth C. Zirkel: p. 119 .
Public domain: pp. 84 , 131 , 201 , 227 .
DEDICATION
To Max and Mary Essa.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I, Marie, would love to thank Lisa Hagan, my longtime agent and friend, who is a wonderful person and a fabulous agent. I am a lucky girl to have her as both. I would love to thank Roger J necke and the staff at Visible Ink Press, the best publisher on Earth. I mean that! Thank you, Roger, for allowing me the privilege to write such great books and work with you and your awesome team!
Thank you to every reader, fan, follower, listener, and friend I have made over the years from my work. You guys mean the world to me, and I do it for you. Your support is what holds me up during the long, hard hours of writing!
Larry, thanks for the many years and intense conversations about the paranormal and the books, articles, and radio shows we have done together. It has been one heck of a ride; you ve inspired me to think in new ways and expand my perception of reality, and I am grateful for it all. May this book extend that lucky streak and be another big hit for us!
Thank you so much to my family. My mom, Milly, who is my number one cheerleader, and my siblings, Angella and John, who love and support me. Thanks to my dad, John, who inspired my love of all things science. Also, to my wonderful extended family and my gal pals and good friends! But most of all, thanks to the reason for my being, my sun and moon and stars: my son, Max. You are my life and I know that death will never end the love I have for you.
* * *
I, Larry, am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, and to thank them all would take an entire book itself!
In the interest of time, I would like to first thank my mom and dad, who, while in spirit, have both motivated and pushed me harder than I could ever have imagined. I d also like to thank Mary Essa, my daughter, who not only motivates me to be the best father I can be but also reminds me that while every writer s work is their art she is truly my masterpiece.
Next (but certainly not least!), I d like to express my gratitude to Sherry, my best friend, soulmate, and better half. She was just as vital to the completion of this book as I was, from late-night brainstorming meetings to reading early manuscripts and providing valuable input.
It is as difficult as it sounds to take an idea and turn it into a book for publication. The experience is mentally and emotionally challenging, but super gratifying in the end. I d like to express my gratitude to the individuals that contributed to making this possible.
Of course, my sincerest thank you goes to my writing partner, Marie D. Jones. It seems like only yesterday that I read a copy of PSIence and rolled the dice to email her. Even after 10 books, hundreds of magazine pieces, and numerous radio appearances, we re still a formidable force!
Finally, I d want to express my gratitude to Roger J necke, the publisher of Visible Ink Press, as well as my literary agent, Lisa Hagan.
INTRODUCTION: THE BIG QUESTION
There are three big existential questions human beings ask at some point in their lives.
1. Why am I here?
2. Are we alone in the universe?
3. Is there life after death?
All three questions are, in a bizarre way, linked. We want to know if our lives have meaning and if we matter, and this frequently requires us to consider the limitations of human life. We really want to believe that we were placed here for a reason and that our lives will not be snuffed away in the blink of an eye. We want to know whether we possess an immortal component-our consciousness or our soul.
Most people believe existence, in some form, goes on. We might even say everyone would like to believe in an immortal soul or spirit, including those diehards who say they are not afraid. Oh, they are afraid. Even the most religious and spiritual folks quiver when faced with death. It s easy to shrug off the fear of something when it s not staring you in the face.
According to recent Pew Research Center polls on afterlife beliefs, the majority of people in the United States believe in the afterlife. They also believe in the existence of Heaven and Hell. Depending on the poll year, approximately 65 to 70 percent say they do. Almost three-quarters of adults believe in God. Unaffiliated religious people made up 37 percent of the population, agnostics 26 percent, and atheists 3 percent. The figure for belief in Hell was a little lower at 62 percent of all Americans, implying that more people believe they will never see the fiery bowels of punishing fury and will instead receive the golden ticket to the pearly gates.
According to a CBS News poll conducted in April 2014, three out of every four people believed in the existence of Heaven and Hell. Eighty-two percent thought they were on their way to Heaven. The same poll asked how often people consider their own deaths: 14 percent said a lot, 31 percent said a little, and 54 percent said not at all. This appears to be the polar opposite of normal human behavior, which drives our actions based on an innate desire to survive and thrive. We believe that people are constantly thinking about death but are not consciously aware of it because to them, eating, sleeping, taking medications, and other actions have as their foundation the desire to live to see another day.
These are just polls, of course, with a very limited numbers of respondents and sometimes skewed demographics. Go on social media and do an informal poll and no doubt more people than not will say they believe there is something beyond death, even if they are not sure what. Ask people if they want to live longer and most will say yes. Who wouldn t want more time with loved ones, or to travel, or to pursue dreams and goals, or to just be alive? Not everyone, but most.
This book will not give you a definitive answer as to whether life after death is real or merely wishful thinking. It will take you, instead, on a journey through the science behind energy and consciousness and the brain s response to death, the pharmaceutical and spiritual quests for immortality, the myth and religious beliefs and traditions, including reincarnation, the personal experiences of those who have stepped beyond the veil for a glimpse, what observing nature has to say about death and rebirth, and even a touch or two from the paranormal world of ghosts and spirit communications and what clues they might hold for us.
Death may not be an end at all but rather a transformation or significant change. It could be a symbolic, archetypal representation of an ending and a new beginning. In the Tarot card deck, the death card represents not a permanent death, but the death of something like a relationship, a cycle, or a current situation that needs closure and requires a new beginning. The esoteric concept of death is one of change because all changes require something to die or end before the next phase can begin.
To be sure, it will be a journey, but the final destination will continue to elude us all until it happens to each of us. The goal is to shed some light on a deep, deep mystery, possibly the deepest of all, while also providing some hope and comfort along the way.
What Happens When We Die?
The first step to eternal life is you have to die. -Chuck Palahniuk
Death, the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening. -Walter Scott
My view of the afterlife is that it s made of different levels, depending on how spiritual a life we live. -John Edward
It has been claimed that space is the final frontier, but this is not the case. Death is a fact. We might one day travel across galaxies and live to tell the tale. Death, on the other hand, may not provide the same level of comfort. We are left in the dark about where we go when we die, if we even go anywhere at all.
Before even contemplating life after death, we need to understand death itself-at least, physical death-and what happens to our bodie