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Afterlife: the Complete Guide
An honest, sometimes sardonic exploration, featuring beautiful illustrations, of the many varieties of beliefs about the afterlife, reviews various religious beliefs and personal accounts of near-death experiences and reincarnation. 15,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.
- GenresSpirituality
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 10, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2025
“Ölümsüzlüğü ister bir aile kurmakta, ister dünyaya yepyeni bir düşünce ya da buluş armağan etmekte arayalım; ya da bir son olmadığını bilmenin verdiği güvenle ölümle yüzleşelim, ölümün yadsınması -fiziksel ölümlülüğümüzü yenme çabası- insanoğlunu dünya yüzündeki diğer canlılardan ayıran tüm etkinliklerin özünde yatar.”
April 13, 2024
A BEAUTIFULLY-PHOTOGRAPHED SURVEY OF NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES, AND MORE
Author Carol Neiman wrote in the Introduction to this 1994 book, “Fortunately, men and women have appeared throughout the ages who have been able to … tell us that we are more than just matter… The problem, however, is that the expression of great spiritual truths is notoriously difficult, and those who have had direct personal access to the experiences upon which these truths are based are notoriously few… Nowhere has this struggle been more evident than in the construction of beliefs about the afterlife. Layer upon layer of otherworldly paradises and hells have been created… over the centuries… These notions have taken quite a beating in the scientific age, of course, and few people believe in them anymore.” (Pg. 12-15)
She continues, “In recent decades, earthly science has brought an unprecedented opportunity for thousands of ordinary people who in previous times would have taken a one-way journey int death to make a return trip and tell us what it was like… The growing and enthusiastic popular response to these reports of near-death experiences is changing our perceptions of death in subtle but profound ways… We are being provoked to take a new look at our old beliefs… In doing so, we begin to see the long-neglected nuggets of actual, living reality that lie hidden within the myths that sustained our ancestors, and to create new mythic visions to sustain ourselves.” (Pg. 16, 19)
She goes on, “But, the skeptic persists, what do near-death experiences actually tell us about what happens AFTER death? These reports do not come from DEAD people, after all, they come from those who … appeared to be dead… but obviously didn’t die, or else they wouldn’t come back to tell their stories. Of all the arguments against taking the near-death experience as an actual view of another reality, this argument is perhaps the most unanswerable. We can’t really know. All we can do is look into what the experiencers have had to say, compare it to what others have said…and come to our own, individual conclusions about the meaning of it all. This book, then, is intended as a guide to the visions of the hereafter that some of us have been privileged to see, and an examination of their place in our eternal quest to know where we have come from, who we are, and where we are going” (Pg. 20)
She explains, “The same collective unconscious that remembers fearful nights … also remembers Golden Age … the beautiful stories of a paradise lost … it is upon this feeling of remembrance that we build our brightest hops for the ‘hereafter,’ in the fragile but persistent hope that we can some day return to our lost home.” (Pg. 31)
She notes, “On the whole, Christianity had tended to be better at depicting hell then heaven or any of the other places. The demons and tortures of hell have an immediacy and richness of texture generally lacking in the corresponding descriptions of heaven, which is most often some vague and ethereal place where angels sit around on clouds playing harps and singing hosannas.” (Pg. 57)
She states, “The belief in just one life, combined with a belief in the immortality of the soul, creates as a consequence the belief in an everlasting punishment or reward for that soul’s actions in its lifetime. We just get one opportunity to claim our place among the saved or the damned, and it we blow it, we have blown it forever. It seems a little unfair, and Christianity in particular has tried to devise ways to ameliorate the unfairness by giving the departed souls a chance to work their way from one side of the dividing line to the other in purgatory. Muslims are also given a posthumous opportunity to declare their faith…” (Pg. 80-81)
She states, “the Church in the early centuries of Christianity did such an effective job of eradicating belief in reincarnation… that most of us now tend to think of it as an exclusively Eastern idea. In fact the idea is too elegant, and offers too many appealing explanations for the paradoxes and inequities to be found in human life, to have been confined only to one hemisphere of the planet.” (Pg. 88)
She recounts, “In the heyday of Spiritualism… mediums who claimed to be able to communicate with spirits… were in constant demand… Of the many thousands of mediums who flourished … Daniel Dunglass Home… emerged unblemished from numerous careful investigations by skeptics hoping to prove that the spectacular phenomena produced at his seances were fraudulent… he himself investigated and exposed a number of performers who were simply skilled conjurers taking advantage of popular interest in the phenomenon.” (Pg. 110)
Of near-death experiences, she notes, “As [Raymond] Moody himself points out, it is rare that a person actually goes through every step in the experience as he describes it. Rather, his description is a kind of compilation of the most common events… it is good to admit one’s prejudices when starting out on a journey. In this case, the prejudice that the experiences … have something to tell us all about the spiritual content and meaning of our lives.” (Pg. 138-139)
She comments, “What has come to be called the ‘life review’ stage of the near-death experience might best be described as the place where the path of love and the path of understanding meet. The events of one’s life before clear for the first time in the context of a transcendent understanding of what is truly significant and what is mere posturing, what is acquired and superficial morality, and what is true love and caring.” (Pg. 163)
She suggests, “The contemplative path of some of the meditations described in the previous section may not appeal to some… In that case, the ‘magic carpet ride’ of an out-of-body experience will achieve the same effect and… can provide hours of entertainment … ‘Astral projection’ manuals abound on today’s high-tech culture, but the technology itself is as ancient as the monasteries of Tibet… Keep in mind, thought, that people have sometime been terrified by the experience when it has happened to them unexpectedly.” (Pg. 199)
She concludes, “The ‘hereafter’ will greet all of us, whether it comes by surprise or after a period of anticipation, with a mirror. Whether the mirror reflects the luminous glory of the heaven within us or unleashes the repressed demons of a lifetime depends, I suspect, very much on what we are carrying with us when we pass through the door.” (Pg. 215)
This book is VERY well-illustrated with abundant photos, reproductions of painting and other art.
Author Carol Neiman wrote in the Introduction to this 1994 book, “Fortunately, men and women have appeared throughout the ages who have been able to … tell us that we are more than just matter… The problem, however, is that the expression of great spiritual truths is notoriously difficult, and those who have had direct personal access to the experiences upon which these truths are based are notoriously few… Nowhere has this struggle been more evident than in the construction of beliefs about the afterlife. Layer upon layer of otherworldly paradises and hells have been created… over the centuries… These notions have taken quite a beating in the scientific age, of course, and few people believe in them anymore.” (Pg. 12-15)
She continues, “In recent decades, earthly science has brought an unprecedented opportunity for thousands of ordinary people who in previous times would have taken a one-way journey int death to make a return trip and tell us what it was like… The growing and enthusiastic popular response to these reports of near-death experiences is changing our perceptions of death in subtle but profound ways… We are being provoked to take a new look at our old beliefs… In doing so, we begin to see the long-neglected nuggets of actual, living reality that lie hidden within the myths that sustained our ancestors, and to create new mythic visions to sustain ourselves.” (Pg. 16, 19)
She goes on, “But, the skeptic persists, what do near-death experiences actually tell us about what happens AFTER death? These reports do not come from DEAD people, after all, they come from those who … appeared to be dead… but obviously didn’t die, or else they wouldn’t come back to tell their stories. Of all the arguments against taking the near-death experience as an actual view of another reality, this argument is perhaps the most unanswerable. We can’t really know. All we can do is look into what the experiencers have had to say, compare it to what others have said…and come to our own, individual conclusions about the meaning of it all. This book, then, is intended as a guide to the visions of the hereafter that some of us have been privileged to see, and an examination of their place in our eternal quest to know where we have come from, who we are, and where we are going” (Pg. 20)
She explains, “The same collective unconscious that remembers fearful nights … also remembers Golden Age … the beautiful stories of a paradise lost … it is upon this feeling of remembrance that we build our brightest hops for the ‘hereafter,’ in the fragile but persistent hope that we can some day return to our lost home.” (Pg. 31)
She notes, “On the whole, Christianity had tended to be better at depicting hell then heaven or any of the other places. The demons and tortures of hell have an immediacy and richness of texture generally lacking in the corresponding descriptions of heaven, which is most often some vague and ethereal place where angels sit around on clouds playing harps and singing hosannas.” (Pg. 57)
She states, “The belief in just one life, combined with a belief in the immortality of the soul, creates as a consequence the belief in an everlasting punishment or reward for that soul’s actions in its lifetime. We just get one opportunity to claim our place among the saved or the damned, and it we blow it, we have blown it forever. It seems a little unfair, and Christianity in particular has tried to devise ways to ameliorate the unfairness by giving the departed souls a chance to work their way from one side of the dividing line to the other in purgatory. Muslims are also given a posthumous opportunity to declare their faith…” (Pg. 80-81)
She states, “the Church in the early centuries of Christianity did such an effective job of eradicating belief in reincarnation… that most of us now tend to think of it as an exclusively Eastern idea. In fact the idea is too elegant, and offers too many appealing explanations for the paradoxes and inequities to be found in human life, to have been confined only to one hemisphere of the planet.” (Pg. 88)
She recounts, “In the heyday of Spiritualism… mediums who claimed to be able to communicate with spirits… were in constant demand… Of the many thousands of mediums who flourished … Daniel Dunglass Home… emerged unblemished from numerous careful investigations by skeptics hoping to prove that the spectacular phenomena produced at his seances were fraudulent… he himself investigated and exposed a number of performers who were simply skilled conjurers taking advantage of popular interest in the phenomenon.” (Pg. 110)
Of near-death experiences, she notes, “As [Raymond] Moody himself points out, it is rare that a person actually goes through every step in the experience as he describes it. Rather, his description is a kind of compilation of the most common events… it is good to admit one’s prejudices when starting out on a journey. In this case, the prejudice that the experiences … have something to tell us all about the spiritual content and meaning of our lives.” (Pg. 138-139)
She comments, “What has come to be called the ‘life review’ stage of the near-death experience might best be described as the place where the path of love and the path of understanding meet. The events of one’s life before clear for the first time in the context of a transcendent understanding of what is truly significant and what is mere posturing, what is acquired and superficial morality, and what is true love and caring.” (Pg. 163)
She suggests, “The contemplative path of some of the meditations described in the previous section may not appeal to some… In that case, the ‘magic carpet ride’ of an out-of-body experience will achieve the same effect and… can provide hours of entertainment … ‘Astral projection’ manuals abound on today’s high-tech culture, but the technology itself is as ancient as the monasteries of Tibet… Keep in mind, thought, that people have sometime been terrified by the experience when it has happened to them unexpectedly.” (Pg. 199)
She concludes, “The ‘hereafter’ will greet all of us, whether it comes by surprise or after a period of anticipation, with a mirror. Whether the mirror reflects the luminous glory of the heaven within us or unleashes the repressed demons of a lifetime depends, I suspect, very much on what we are carrying with us when we pass through the door.” (Pg. 215)
This book is VERY well-illustrated with abundant photos, reproductions of painting and other art.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews