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Life After Death and the World Beyond
S/t: Investigating Heaven & The Spiritual Dimension
The authors invite readers to investigate through first-hand accounts a collection of otherworldly experiences and recent scientific research into the paranormal. 50 illustrations.
The authors invite readers to investigate through first-hand accounts a collection of otherworldly experiences and recent scientific research into the paranormal. 50 illustrations.
- GenresNonfiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 1998
27 people want to read
About the author
Jenny Randles
66 books31 followersBritish author and former director of investigations with the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), serving in that role from 1982 through to 1994.
Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena. To date 50 of these have been published, ranging from her first UFOs: A British Viewpoint (1979) to Breaking the Time Barrier: The race to build the first time machine (2005). Subjects covered include crop circles, ESP, life after death, time anomalies and spontaneous human combustion.
Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena. To date 50 of these have been published, ranging from her first UFOs: A British Viewpoint (1979) to Breaking the Time Barrier: The race to build the first time machine (2005). Subjects covered include crop circles, ESP, life after death, time anomalies and spontaneous human combustion.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 1, 2012
As I am fairly well-read on this topic, I was hoping for some interesting insights, but unfortunately I was mostly disappointed. Setting a confusing tone from the start, the authors couldn't quite decide if they wanted their book to be an introductory text or something more advanced. On some occasions, they would explain fairly basic terms, as if the reader was a neophyte, and in other cases, they would blithely carry on as if the reader already knew very well what they were discussing. They also built support for their point of view with very sloppy reasoning. Almost every phenomenon was accepted at face value, paying only scant lip service to alternative explanations. Most of the stories were anecdotal and unable to be corroborated, the "research" done by the authors was amateurish, unacademic and unconvincing, and they didn't reference any of their sources. For a book that purports to give a more "scientific" approach to the topic, these sins are unforgivable. There were a couple of things I hadn't seen before that were quite interesting, but really, the writers need to revise their entire approach if they want to show that any of what they say has any validity at all. I say this even though I'm very open-minded on this topic. Books like this do nothing to build credibility for aspects of human spirituality, but only serve to put people off.
April 13, 2024
A REASONABLY ‘OBJECTIVE’ OVERVIEW OF VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
Authors Jenny Randles and Peter Hough wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “This book sets out to explore the possibility of heaven, in some form, existing as an objective reality, and offers various kinds of evidence for readers to assess. It contains … first-hand reports from people who have died and supposedly made that final journey. Many of these reports come by way of mediums who believe that they are a conduit between this world and the next. Much of the information received in this say is supposedly channeled from afterlife entities and spirit guides. These guides can take temporary possession of the medium, taking control of their vocal cords and manipulating their hands and bodies. Are such messages the product of imagination? Are they mere fraud? Or could they be genuine?... Nobody knows for certain the truth about life after death, and that includes members of all the major religions and scientific thought… Only you can decide if these eye-witness accounts of heaven strike a chord, or come across as delusions, distortions of the truth, or cruel, deliberate deceptions. All that is required is a willingness to listen.”
They state in the first chapter, “In the ancient civilizations and religions, heaven was traditionally the place where gods, goddesses and other spiritual beings reside… Heaven was the place there the souls of those who lived their lives correctly on earth went. It was the just reward, a blissful abode, the ultimate goal---it was paradise.” (Pg. 12) They continue, “What bearing do traditional views of heaven have on the here and now? Do they equate with the descriptions of today’s experients who believe they have glimpsed the afterworld? In the past so much was accepted on faith. Now, in the dying years of the twentieth century, we demand a more critical look at such claims, and ask whether heaven does indeed exist as a ‘place,’ or whether it lies solely in the imagination.” (Pg. 19)
They suggest, “There does seem to be a part of us---an essence----which is capable of survival outside of flesh and bone. It is variously described as the spirit, soul, or ego…. The idea of the astral body provides us with an easily understood term. It is thought to be a non-material replica of the physical body. In the waking state the two bodies are in perfect alignment. Drugs, illness and extremes of age can cause the astral body to become out of ‘coincidence.’ There are cases of people going about their daily life, then suddenly, fleetingly, leaving their body and finally popping back inside again. During sleep this happens naturally.” (Pg. 27-28)
They acknowledge, “Currently there is a lot of talk amongst sceptics of temporal lobe epilepsy, which they believe can explain the whole range of paranormal experiences from UFO abductions to near-death experiences… There are some obvious correlations between temporal lobe epilepsy and ‘other world’ experiences, but there are just as many elements which they do not share… Psychological theories cannot fully account for the richly detailed and orderly pattern of these other-world encounters. Certainly there seems to be a state of altered consciousness involved which opens the door to paranormal experiences, but malfunction of the brain can only produce chaos---not order.” (Pg. 35-36)
Turning to near-death experiences, they note that “Over the last twenty years a lot of medical research has been carried out, stirring up controversy over whether the experiences are actual or a fantasy thrown up by the dying brain. Sceptics argue… the subjects are only NEAR death, so some spark of consciousness must remain or else irreversible brain damage would occur… psychologist Susan Blackmore has championed the theory that NDEs are hallucinations caused by oxygen starvation and drugs administered while the patient is in a critical condition… Supporters of the NDE point to independent corroboration of some aspects of the experience. For instance… subjects… .accurately describe medical procedures and repeat whole lines of conversation heard while they are
‘dead’ on the operating table… they have travelled through walls and described events taking place in other rooms of which they had no conscious knowledge.” (Pg. 39)
They observe, “If we live forever AFTER death, where was our eternal soul BEFORE we were born? Many religions across the world answer that perplexing question by asserting a belief in reincarnation. They say that we alternate our existence between periods of time spent in heaven and physical embodiment here on earth. In effect we live many lifetimes as different people.” (Pg. 56)
They report, “There are quite a number of well-attested cases in which past life memories retrieved by hypnosis have been verified… The one sceptical theory that does hold up is cryptomnesia… the deeper levels of the mind remain memories of everything we have ever said and done… under hypnosis such data can flood out. It is argued that past lives are built out of this store of images… They will deny quite honestly that they have ever heard a particular fact or name, but deep inside them lies some reference about which they have no conscious memory.” (Pg. 65-66)
They recount, “tied in with the concept of heaven in many religions is a belief in angels. However, for a long time now angels… have been regarded as the province of children or peasants… Yet, curiously, as we approach the end of the twentieth century, there has been a rise in the number of reports of encounters with angels… Why this increase in angel contacts?... perhaps the climate is currently kinder and more patient with those brave enough to make such events public? Are visitors from heaven objectively real beings? If not, does this cast doubt on the reality of heaven, too?” (Pg. 82)
They explain, “During the latter stages of an illness the ties between the earthly body and the spirit seem to loosen. This can be experienced by the dying person as out-of-body states, lucid dreams, images of dead loved ones and even flashes of ESP… Witnesses on earth may also sense this gradual withdrawal from the body…” (Pg. 114)
After recounting a number of view of the afterlife from mediums, channels, etc., they ask, “Is there any possible basis for accepting these fantastic-sounding stories? Could there really be trillions of dead people living in spirit houses on a plane of existence that links with our own? Surely science would dispute this? Some scientists, of course, do reject these messages. Perhaps they are right to do so… [But] It is certainly true that … science has discovered… [that all] objects that we think are real… turn out to be just empty space filled with a whirling mass of energy… So close are the discoveries of modern science to much older beliefs about the afterlife that it has struck a number of researchers very forcibly…” (Pg. 132)
They conclude, “In this book we have considered all sorts of evidence that there is survival after death. Some of it… is in a form that anyone can judge. These are either a cruel hoax by someone somewhere, or are direct proof of an afterlife…. We can, of course, invent explanations---such as wishful thinking, imagination or hallucinations… science appears hopelessly out of touch with the wider and more spiritual issues that become progressively more important the older one gets.” (Pg. 161)
They continue, “Some powerful case histories, strong evidence and personally convincing anecdotes favor survival. But these have to be weighed against growing recognition of how the human mind can do things that are truly extraordinary… science now tells us that all reality is created in the mind. Perhaps after death that is what happens. The mind creates a new reality and we simply shift our point of awareness away from the here and now. If that is a delusion, so be it, but it makes undoubted sense to be ready for that possibility should it happen when our time comes. For what do we lose by contemplating heaven? What do we gain by insisting that there is no such thing… [If] those who profess that there is an afterlife are the ones who are right, then it is a definite advantage to be familiar with what heaven is supposed to be like.” (Pg. 164)
This book will be of great interest to those seeking a broad overview of perspectives on the possibility of life after death.
Authors Jenny Randles and Peter Hough wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “This book sets out to explore the possibility of heaven, in some form, existing as an objective reality, and offers various kinds of evidence for readers to assess. It contains … first-hand reports from people who have died and supposedly made that final journey. Many of these reports come by way of mediums who believe that they are a conduit between this world and the next. Much of the information received in this say is supposedly channeled from afterlife entities and spirit guides. These guides can take temporary possession of the medium, taking control of their vocal cords and manipulating their hands and bodies. Are such messages the product of imagination? Are they mere fraud? Or could they be genuine?... Nobody knows for certain the truth about life after death, and that includes members of all the major religions and scientific thought… Only you can decide if these eye-witness accounts of heaven strike a chord, or come across as delusions, distortions of the truth, or cruel, deliberate deceptions. All that is required is a willingness to listen.”
They state in the first chapter, “In the ancient civilizations and religions, heaven was traditionally the place where gods, goddesses and other spiritual beings reside… Heaven was the place there the souls of those who lived their lives correctly on earth went. It was the just reward, a blissful abode, the ultimate goal---it was paradise.” (Pg. 12) They continue, “What bearing do traditional views of heaven have on the here and now? Do they equate with the descriptions of today’s experients who believe they have glimpsed the afterworld? In the past so much was accepted on faith. Now, in the dying years of the twentieth century, we demand a more critical look at such claims, and ask whether heaven does indeed exist as a ‘place,’ or whether it lies solely in the imagination.” (Pg. 19)
They suggest, “There does seem to be a part of us---an essence----which is capable of survival outside of flesh and bone. It is variously described as the spirit, soul, or ego…. The idea of the astral body provides us with an easily understood term. It is thought to be a non-material replica of the physical body. In the waking state the two bodies are in perfect alignment. Drugs, illness and extremes of age can cause the astral body to become out of ‘coincidence.’ There are cases of people going about their daily life, then suddenly, fleetingly, leaving their body and finally popping back inside again. During sleep this happens naturally.” (Pg. 27-28)
They acknowledge, “Currently there is a lot of talk amongst sceptics of temporal lobe epilepsy, which they believe can explain the whole range of paranormal experiences from UFO abductions to near-death experiences… There are some obvious correlations between temporal lobe epilepsy and ‘other world’ experiences, but there are just as many elements which they do not share… Psychological theories cannot fully account for the richly detailed and orderly pattern of these other-world encounters. Certainly there seems to be a state of altered consciousness involved which opens the door to paranormal experiences, but malfunction of the brain can only produce chaos---not order.” (Pg. 35-36)
Turning to near-death experiences, they note that “Over the last twenty years a lot of medical research has been carried out, stirring up controversy over whether the experiences are actual or a fantasy thrown up by the dying brain. Sceptics argue… the subjects are only NEAR death, so some spark of consciousness must remain or else irreversible brain damage would occur… psychologist Susan Blackmore has championed the theory that NDEs are hallucinations caused by oxygen starvation and drugs administered while the patient is in a critical condition… Supporters of the NDE point to independent corroboration of some aspects of the experience. For instance… subjects… .accurately describe medical procedures and repeat whole lines of conversation heard while they are
‘dead’ on the operating table… they have travelled through walls and described events taking place in other rooms of which they had no conscious knowledge.” (Pg. 39)
They observe, “If we live forever AFTER death, where was our eternal soul BEFORE we were born? Many religions across the world answer that perplexing question by asserting a belief in reincarnation. They say that we alternate our existence between periods of time spent in heaven and physical embodiment here on earth. In effect we live many lifetimes as different people.” (Pg. 56)
They report, “There are quite a number of well-attested cases in which past life memories retrieved by hypnosis have been verified… The one sceptical theory that does hold up is cryptomnesia… the deeper levels of the mind remain memories of everything we have ever said and done… under hypnosis such data can flood out. It is argued that past lives are built out of this store of images… They will deny quite honestly that they have ever heard a particular fact or name, but deep inside them lies some reference about which they have no conscious memory.” (Pg. 65-66)
They recount, “tied in with the concept of heaven in many religions is a belief in angels. However, for a long time now angels… have been regarded as the province of children or peasants… Yet, curiously, as we approach the end of the twentieth century, there has been a rise in the number of reports of encounters with angels… Why this increase in angel contacts?... perhaps the climate is currently kinder and more patient with those brave enough to make such events public? Are visitors from heaven objectively real beings? If not, does this cast doubt on the reality of heaven, too?” (Pg. 82)
They explain, “During the latter stages of an illness the ties between the earthly body and the spirit seem to loosen. This can be experienced by the dying person as out-of-body states, lucid dreams, images of dead loved ones and even flashes of ESP… Witnesses on earth may also sense this gradual withdrawal from the body…” (Pg. 114)
After recounting a number of view of the afterlife from mediums, channels, etc., they ask, “Is there any possible basis for accepting these fantastic-sounding stories? Could there really be trillions of dead people living in spirit houses on a plane of existence that links with our own? Surely science would dispute this? Some scientists, of course, do reject these messages. Perhaps they are right to do so… [But] It is certainly true that … science has discovered… [that all] objects that we think are real… turn out to be just empty space filled with a whirling mass of energy… So close are the discoveries of modern science to much older beliefs about the afterlife that it has struck a number of researchers very forcibly…” (Pg. 132)
They conclude, “In this book we have considered all sorts of evidence that there is survival after death. Some of it… is in a form that anyone can judge. These are either a cruel hoax by someone somewhere, or are direct proof of an afterlife…. We can, of course, invent explanations---such as wishful thinking, imagination or hallucinations… science appears hopelessly out of touch with the wider and more spiritual issues that become progressively more important the older one gets.” (Pg. 161)
They continue, “Some powerful case histories, strong evidence and personally convincing anecdotes favor survival. But these have to be weighed against growing recognition of how the human mind can do things that are truly extraordinary… science now tells us that all reality is created in the mind. Perhaps after death that is what happens. The mind creates a new reality and we simply shift our point of awareness away from the here and now. If that is a delusion, so be it, but it makes undoubted sense to be ready for that possibility should it happen when our time comes. For what do we lose by contemplating heaven? What do we gain by insisting that there is no such thing… [If] those who profess that there is an afterlife are the ones who are right, then it is a definite advantage to be familiar with what heaven is supposed to be like.” (Pg. 164)
This book will be of great interest to those seeking a broad overview of perspectives on the possibility of life after death.
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