In this talk, historian of religions Gregory Shushan explores the relationships between extraordinary experiences and beliefs in life after death. He shows how throughout history and around the world, near-death experiences have influenced ideas about the afterlife, and examines their relationships to shamanism, mediumship, and reincarnation memories.
Shushan compares NDEs with accounts of shamanic spirit journeys to afterlife realms, intermission states between reincarnations from people who remember past lives, and descriptions of otherworlds by souls of the dead communicating through mediums.
Drawing on over two decades of research into cross-cultural afterlife beliefs and extraordinary experiences, Shushan takes a bold new step in psychical research. By combining ideas and methods from a variety of disciplines – archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and the study of religions – Shushan’s unique take on the issues leads to new understandings of them. Unlike any of these disciplines, however, Shushan also crosses over into metaphysics, philosophy, and parapsychology.
“Gregory Shushan’s new book provides a uniquely insightful and provocative analysis of near-death experiences that documents their formative influence on worldwide beliefs about an afterlife. His ethnological perspective results in a more comprehensive understanding of NDEs than a purely biological or psychological model can provide, and suggests that afterlife beliefs are rooted not in culture but in the universal human experience of NDEs. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand NDEs and their role in society.”
Other Books by Gregory Shushan, Ph.D.
“This is a remarkable survey of near death experiences gathered from reports across the world. Interested readers will be amazed at the data reported by the author in this erudite and intelligent inquiry.”
Gregory Shushan, Ph.D. is an award-wining author and the leading authority on near-death experiences and the afterlife across cultures and throughout history. His other books in include The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife, and Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations (forthcoming 2024). He is a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Winchester, Research Fellow at the Parapsychology Foundation, and Adjunct Professor of Thanatology at Marian University. Dr. Shushan was previously Perrott-Warrick Researcher at University of Oxford’s Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion; Scholar-in Residence at the Centro Incontri Umani, Ascona, Switzerland; and Honorary Research Fellow at the Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales. University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He has lectured at universities in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and US, has given numerous talks on his research in nine countries, and has appeared on the History Channel.
