By Donna June 2, 2022 4:26 pm Category: Science & Nature (0.0 from 0 votes)
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I'm reading a fascinating book entitled Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife by journalist Leslie Kean who writes for the New York Times (link at bottom).
There are many people who are completely closed off to the notion of an afterlife and reincarnation, but actually there's a surprising amount of evidence that supports their existence. Leslie Kean, along with the physicians and researchers listed further down delve into the trove of evidence supporting those phenomena in her 2017 book.
I think if skeptics examined the evidence, it would give them pause.
It's noteworthy that the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Division of Perceptual Studies (link at bottom) has been studying these phenomena since 1967. From their website:
Founded in 1967 by Dr. Ian Stevenson, the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies (UVA DOPS) is a highly productive university-based research group devoted to the investigation of phenomena that challenge mainstream scientific paradigms regarding the nature of human consciousness. DOPS researchers objectively document and carefully analyze data collected regarding extraordinary human experiences.
The DOPS core research mission is the rigorous evaluation of empirical evidence for exceptional human experiences and capacities that bear on whether mind and brain are distinct and separable and whether consciousness survives physical death.
Also in our research, we examine the impact of these experiences on individuals and the general public, explore the implications for scientific theory, and disseminate this information broadly to the public as well as to scientific communities.
It is our hope that other scientists will join us in addressing the serious study of the nature of consciousness and its interaction with the physical world.
The following physicians and researchers contributed entire chapters to Kean's Surviving Death:
Jim B. Tucker, MD, child psychiatrist and Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His main research interests are documenting stories of children whom he claims remember previous lives, and natal and prenatal memories. He is the author of Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives, which presents an overview of over four decades of reincarnation research at the Division of Perceptual Studies. Tucker worked for several years on this research with Ian Stevenson before taking over upon Stevenson's retirement in 2002
Kimberly Clark Sharp, MSW, Founder of Seattle International Association of Near-Death Studies, the world’s oldest support group for near-death experiencers, since 1982; Founder of the Department of Social Work at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, world’s first bone marrow transplant center; Pioneer in the field of critical care social work, Harborview Medical Center; Co-teacher, Terminal Illness Seminar, School of Medicine, University of Washington (1977-1997); Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, University of Washington; Master of Social Work, University of Washington, 1976
Pim van Lommel, MD, Dutch author and researcher in the field of near-death studies. He studied medicine at Utrecht University, specializing in cardiology. He worked as a cardiologist at the Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, for 26 years (1977-2003). In 2001, his large-scaled prospective study to the near-death experiences after cardiac arrest was published in the medical journal The Lancet.[1] In 2007, the first (Dutch) edition of his bestseller Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience, was published.
Julie Beischel, PhD, Director of Research at the Windbridge Research Center. She received her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a minor in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Arizona and uses her interdisciplinary training to apply the scientific method to controversial topics. For over 15 years, Dr. Beischel has worked full-time studying mediums: individuals who report experiencing communication with the deceased and who regularly, reliably, and on-demand report the specific resulting messages to the living. Her studies began with testing the accuracy and specificity of the information reported by mediums during phone readings performed under controlled, more than double-blind laboratory conditions that address alternative explanations for the source of their statements such as fraud, cueing, and overly general information. This protocol optimizes the research environment while also maximizing experimental controls. Dr. Beischel has also examined mediums’ psychology, physiology, business practices, demographics, and experiences and published peer-reviewed journal articles and anthology chapters discussing these and the potential therapeutic application of mediumship readings during bereavement. Her research interests also include the similarities and differences between spontaneous, facilitated, assisted, and requested after-death communication experiences.
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