A team of international experts presents the history, recent developments, and controversies in the intriguing study of near-death experience. Experts from around the world share the history and current state of near-death experience (NDE) knowledge. They explore controversies in the field, offer stories from their research, and express their hopes for the future of investigation into this fascinating phenomenon. As modern medical techniques for resuscitation advance, NDEs are more frequently reported. These include more than the popular notions of moving through a tunnel or seeing a light. They also include people, once revived, knowing things their knowledge of which can't currently be explained. As The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation makes clear, great controversy exists in the medical and psychological fields concerning NDEs. Are they caused by physiological changes in the brain, or are they biological reactions to oxygen loss or impending death? Are they a product of changing states of consciousness? Or are they caused by something else altogether? All of these ideas and more are discussed in this unique and comprehensive volume.

After is a ground-breaking book for anyone curious about the scope of the human mind, the nature of consciousness, and the pursuit of a meaningful life. 'Absorbing and convincing' Daily Mail An Independent book of the month ___ What happens when we die? Ten per cent of people whose hearts stop, and then restart, report near-death experiences. Stories of lights, tunnels and reunion with late loved ones have been relayed - and dismissed - since ancient times. But when Dr Bruce Greyson's patients started describing events that he simply could not dismiss, he began to investigate. In After, he shares the scientific revelations of four decades of research into the dying process. He has become increasingly convinced that dying is less an ending than a transition, the threshold between one form of consciousness and another. Dr Greyson challenges us to consider what these lessons can teach us about the relationship between our brain and our mind, expanding our understanding of consciousness and of what it means to be human. ___ 'A book that will challenge your understanding about how the world works' The Independent '[Dr Greyson is] a dominant force at the frontier of this intriguing field' The Times 'A major contribution to the study of what happens when we die, and will quickly prove to be a classic in near-death studies.' Raymond Moody, author of Life After Life

The world's leading expert on near-death experiences reveals his journey toward rethinking the nature of death, life, and the continuity of consciousness. What happens when we die? 10% of people whose hearts stop report near-death experiences (NDEs). Stories of lights, tunnels and loved ones have been relayed — and dismissed — since ancient times. But when Dr Bruce Greyson’s patients started describing events that he could not just dismiss, he began to investigate. As a physician without a religious belief system, he approached NDEs from a scientific perspective. In After, he shares the transformative lessons he has learned over four decades of research. Our culture has tended to view dying as the end of our consciousness, the end of our existence — a dreaded prospect that for many people evokes fear and anxiety. But Dr Greyson shows how scientific revelations about the dying process can support an alternative theory. Dying could be the threshold between one form of consciousness and another, not an ending but a transition. This new perspective on the nature of death can transform the fear of dying that pervades our culture into a healthy view of it as one more milestone in the course of our lives. After challenges us to reconsider these experiences and what they can teach us about the relationship between our brain and our mind, expanding our understanding of consciousness, and of what it means to be human.

Explores ancient Jewish beliefs in life after death as well as contemporary spiritual experiences. Exploring afterlife theories from the ancient world as well as contemporary afterlife encounters, Carla Wills-Brandon, Ph.D., reveals references to Jewish mysticism and afterlife encounters in ancient Hebrew texts, including the Torah, the Talmud, the Zohar, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the writings of the early Kabbalists. She shows how these works describe not only the realms of heaven but also near-death experiences (NDEs), after-death contact, reincarnation, and deathbed visions of crossed-over loved ones. Drawing on her background in psychology and her experience as a licensed therapist, she explains how acknowledging an afterlife as well as spiritual encounters can help you find peace after loss, discover inner spiritual light, and heal from destructive emotional patterns and ancestral trauma, including intergenerational wounds such as those from the Holocaust. Sharing profound accounts of modern-day premonitions, spirit visitations, dream encounters with the dying, NDEs, and other psychic manifestations, the author shows how similar our contemporary mystical experiences are to those of our ancestors. Looking at the strong emotional resonances created by unresolved trauma, she explains how many survivors of World War II developed PTSD, which has been passed down from one generation to the next. She shows how believing in life after death and speaking about spiritual experiences can help heal emotional trauma and release difficult memories stuck psychically in our personal and ancestral past. Revealing how spiritual seekers can benefit not only from a belief in the afterlife but also from expressing their visions of the unseen, the author shows how knowing that physical death is not final fosters a healthier preparation for one’s own death and the deaths of those we cherish as well as a more fulfilling life.