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Is There Life After Death?
"Is There Life After Death?" is a tour de force. Robert Kastenbaum, one of America’s most distinguished clinical psychologists, acclaimed for his work in adult development, aging, dying, suicide, and bereavement, conducts a sustained debate with himself on the evidence for and against survival. The reader plays jury as the author adopts, alternately, the stance of ardent critic and ardent advocate. A range of experiments, happenings, research, and a variety of beliefs are unfolded for examination in scientific, psychological, philosophical, social, and even political terms. Central to the debate is the What is admissible evidence for survival? Near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, poltergeist phenomena, phantom sightings - all are possible candidates, but Professor Kastenbaum carefully selects those cases that are most fully documented and have occurred within reach of cameras, recording devices, and critical bystanders. In the last chapter he transcends the adversary approach to suggest that the more we understand the universe and ourselves, the more obvious it becomes that what we call "death" is not the end of life.
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First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 7, 2024
Interesting but outdated in many places. An overly generous review of mediumship and spirit photography. A lot of credence granted to the ESP-telepathy hypothesis feels like replacing one dubious mysticism for another. Oddly he only covers reincarnation for a few pages near the end, I expected a full chapter on it.
March 8, 2023
Bastante curioso pero desfasado en la actualidad.
February 15, 2024
AN ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE OF VARIOUS TYPES OF EVIDENCE FOR SURVIVAL
Psychologist Robert Kastenbaum wrote in the Introduction to this 1984 book (revised edition 1995), “I hope that you are ready and willing to explore one of the greatest and most persistent questions that ever formed itself in the human mind. If the men and women… at the dawn of history could address themselves to the question of survival, why should we not also accept this challenge, having at our disposal an impressive accumulation of experience, knowledge and… even wisdom? It is a foregone conclusion that we do not have all the answers… the book you are scanning … will be most useful for those who can resist easy and quick answers to difficult questions, and who are aware that new developments continue to occur in our investigation of the survival question.” (Pg. ix-x) He continues, “In … this book… I tried to believe whole-heartedly in every position that was examined; and then to believe just as whole-heartedly in an unsparing critique of every position… This advocate/critic approach is taken until we reach the final chapter in which we can reflect on what we have been through together and where this leaves us… Somehow we must do justice to the depth and character of this ‘immortality feeling’ that at times appears to critical human experience…” (Pg. xi-xii)
He says of Near-Death Experiences [NDE], “If the NDE tells us something about death, why are so many people silent on this subject? And shouldn’t everybody have the same experience? Several researchers have emphasized that characteristics of person or situation do not seem related to the occurrence of NDEs. This makes their non-occurrence just as hard to explain as their occurrence. A hard-pressed advocate might argue that everybody does have an NDE when life is in jeopardy, but that some people … just forget. Such an excuse hardly recommends itself… How much more convincing it would be if everybody came back from a near-death episode with a near-death experience!” (Pg. 17)
He reports, “One study… found that the survivors’ subjective sense of being close to death was not related to the depth or completeness of their NDEs. Furthermore people who objectively had been in a less perilous situation were more likely to report NDEs in the first place! In effect, this study distinguished between Near and Very Near Death Experiences---and the results indicate that fewer memories are reported the closer the individual actually has been to death. This single study should not be taken as definitive. Nevertheless, the survival hypothesis is certainly not strengthened by results which show that people who are very close to death have fewer experiences to report.” (Pg. 21)
He suggests, “Consider… another obvious problem that the NDE fanciers persist in ignoring: all those who have reported NDEs did, in fact, have viable physical bodies remaining to them. No reports have come from people whose bodies were absolutely destroyed by, say, explosion, avalanche, or fire. The expression of mind has invariably depended on a relatively intact, if jeopardized, body.” (Pg. 22)
He observes, “We see that the NDE has a purpose to serve: it helps life-endangered people to remove themselves psychologically from situations that would otherwise make them unbearably anxious. Additionally, the sense of calm that accompanies depersonalization enables them to observe what is happening more accurately than if drowning in waves of despair.” (Pg. 28)
He notes, “Researchers are only now starting to examine the contribution of cultural and racial … images to the core NDE… Mormon NDEs have characteristics of their own. More recent observations suggest that Buddhists and other cultures also have culturally-specific NDEs. The existence of culture-specific NDEs supports the interpretation of image and fantasy release, rather than a universal reality that the split-off ‘I’ encounters regardless of his or her upbringing. Under extreme stress, with our lives and our sanity in jeopardy, we welcome the rush of stored-up imagery from our individual, cultural and racial roots.” (Pg. 32)
He summarizes, “The various explanations offered all converge on one central point: the NDE is an adaptive psychobiological function. We have such experiences because they are in some way helpful to us when we are in special jeopardy.” (Pg. 33)
He notes, “The dismissal of physiological effects appears even more premature since the discovery of chemical substances produced by the brain itself under special circumstances. We manufacture our own opiate-like substances that lead to experiences of well-being, serenity, time-space distortions, and so forth. The effects of endorphins and other self-generated substance … were offered as a possible explanation for the near-death experiences… The absence of prescribed medication does not at all rule out the possibility… that we create our own soothing medicine when suffering and facing the prospect of imminent death.” (Pg. 49)
He states, “Let us pretend … that telepathy does exist. Would cases culled from ‘Phantasms of the Living’ and other sources then prove survival? Not at all! First of all, many of the crisis-telepathy experiences seemed to occur before the ‘transmitter’ died… In some instances it was clear that the transmitting person was still alive at the moment the communication occurred. All cases of this type should obviously be set aside so far as the survival hypothesis is concerned. At the most, they would only indicate that a person in the midst of a crisis can sometimes communicate with somebody else through the process we call ‘telepathy’ or ‘ESP’… This would be a fascinating fact, if established, but would not bear on the survival question.” (Pg. 65)
He asserts, “There is a desperate shortage of real ghosts. These visions from beyond the fringes of our conscious mental life seem to have a difficult time in impressing a more sophisticated public in a technological age… let it be stated immediately: fraud is the rule, not the exception in supposed encounters with spirit forms.” (Pg. 110)
He says, “Channeling is mediumship rigged out in new clothing… Channeling may be seen as an opportunity to explore our own needs and potentials. This approach has been described variously as getting in touch with the ‘inner child,’ ‘the universal self,’ or ‘the higher self.’ Channeling offers legitimation, encouragement, and companionship to adults who are motivated to learn more about themselves.’ (Pg. 182)
He proposes, “Because the life-stream integrates mind and matter, it may on some occasions respond to violent deaths as themes to seize upon and develop, perhaps in order to keep the streams flowing. The correspondences … between physical marks of death and (re)birth might follow naturally within this scenario. As wild as all of this may sound, it is within hailing distance of the observations that have emerged from reincarnation research and yet does not ignore or thumb its nose at the mainstream philosophic/scientific enterprise. It is certainly a ‘stretch’ as an explanation, but a stretch may be just what we need now and them to maintain our vigor in the quest for understanding.” (Pg. 230)
He concludes, “The cosmic process… places our usual assumptions in a new perspective. ‘Life,’ ‘death,’ and ‘survival’ comprise a rather crude and primitive vocabulary with which to think about the future of … life, death, and survival… How foolish it would be to ponder the survival question while neglecting the entire universe in which we live and die… The universal flow is variously matter, energy, and spirit depending on our own frames and circumstances of observation. It is also, in a deep sense, music. Were we able to experience the flow of universe in a direct, encompassing and profound manner, we would probably be experiencing the music to which all music relates and aspires… This music existed before we did. It will continue when we are no longer in its present form.” (Pg. 260-261)
This book is seemingly more ‘skeptical’ than some readers would like, but it will be of interest to people studying the question of survival.
Psychologist Robert Kastenbaum wrote in the Introduction to this 1984 book (revised edition 1995), “I hope that you are ready and willing to explore one of the greatest and most persistent questions that ever formed itself in the human mind. If the men and women… at the dawn of history could address themselves to the question of survival, why should we not also accept this challenge, having at our disposal an impressive accumulation of experience, knowledge and… even wisdom? It is a foregone conclusion that we do not have all the answers… the book you are scanning … will be most useful for those who can resist easy and quick answers to difficult questions, and who are aware that new developments continue to occur in our investigation of the survival question.” (Pg. ix-x) He continues, “In … this book… I tried to believe whole-heartedly in every position that was examined; and then to believe just as whole-heartedly in an unsparing critique of every position… This advocate/critic approach is taken until we reach the final chapter in which we can reflect on what we have been through together and where this leaves us… Somehow we must do justice to the depth and character of this ‘immortality feeling’ that at times appears to critical human experience…” (Pg. xi-xii)
He says of Near-Death Experiences [NDE], “If the NDE tells us something about death, why are so many people silent on this subject? And shouldn’t everybody have the same experience? Several researchers have emphasized that characteristics of person or situation do not seem related to the occurrence of NDEs. This makes their non-occurrence just as hard to explain as their occurrence. A hard-pressed advocate might argue that everybody does have an NDE when life is in jeopardy, but that some people … just forget. Such an excuse hardly recommends itself… How much more convincing it would be if everybody came back from a near-death episode with a near-death experience!” (Pg. 17)
He reports, “One study… found that the survivors’ subjective sense of being close to death was not related to the depth or completeness of their NDEs. Furthermore people who objectively had been in a less perilous situation were more likely to report NDEs in the first place! In effect, this study distinguished between Near and Very Near Death Experiences---and the results indicate that fewer memories are reported the closer the individual actually has been to death. This single study should not be taken as definitive. Nevertheless, the survival hypothesis is certainly not strengthened by results which show that people who are very close to death have fewer experiences to report.” (Pg. 21)
He suggests, “Consider… another obvious problem that the NDE fanciers persist in ignoring: all those who have reported NDEs did, in fact, have viable physical bodies remaining to them. No reports have come from people whose bodies were absolutely destroyed by, say, explosion, avalanche, or fire. The expression of mind has invariably depended on a relatively intact, if jeopardized, body.” (Pg. 22)
He observes, “We see that the NDE has a purpose to serve: it helps life-endangered people to remove themselves psychologically from situations that would otherwise make them unbearably anxious. Additionally, the sense of calm that accompanies depersonalization enables them to observe what is happening more accurately than if drowning in waves of despair.” (Pg. 28)
He notes, “Researchers are only now starting to examine the contribution of cultural and racial … images to the core NDE… Mormon NDEs have characteristics of their own. More recent observations suggest that Buddhists and other cultures also have culturally-specific NDEs. The existence of culture-specific NDEs supports the interpretation of image and fantasy release, rather than a universal reality that the split-off ‘I’ encounters regardless of his or her upbringing. Under extreme stress, with our lives and our sanity in jeopardy, we welcome the rush of stored-up imagery from our individual, cultural and racial roots.” (Pg. 32)
He summarizes, “The various explanations offered all converge on one central point: the NDE is an adaptive psychobiological function. We have such experiences because they are in some way helpful to us when we are in special jeopardy.” (Pg. 33)
He notes, “The dismissal of physiological effects appears even more premature since the discovery of chemical substances produced by the brain itself under special circumstances. We manufacture our own opiate-like substances that lead to experiences of well-being, serenity, time-space distortions, and so forth. The effects of endorphins and other self-generated substance … were offered as a possible explanation for the near-death experiences… The absence of prescribed medication does not at all rule out the possibility… that we create our own soothing medicine when suffering and facing the prospect of imminent death.” (Pg. 49)
He states, “Let us pretend … that telepathy does exist. Would cases culled from ‘Phantasms of the Living’ and other sources then prove survival? Not at all! First of all, many of the crisis-telepathy experiences seemed to occur before the ‘transmitter’ died… In some instances it was clear that the transmitting person was still alive at the moment the communication occurred. All cases of this type should obviously be set aside so far as the survival hypothesis is concerned. At the most, they would only indicate that a person in the midst of a crisis can sometimes communicate with somebody else through the process we call ‘telepathy’ or ‘ESP’… This would be a fascinating fact, if established, but would not bear on the survival question.” (Pg. 65)
He asserts, “There is a desperate shortage of real ghosts. These visions from beyond the fringes of our conscious mental life seem to have a difficult time in impressing a more sophisticated public in a technological age… let it be stated immediately: fraud is the rule, not the exception in supposed encounters with spirit forms.” (Pg. 110)
He says, “Channeling is mediumship rigged out in new clothing… Channeling may be seen as an opportunity to explore our own needs and potentials. This approach has been described variously as getting in touch with the ‘inner child,’ ‘the universal self,’ or ‘the higher self.’ Channeling offers legitimation, encouragement, and companionship to adults who are motivated to learn more about themselves.’ (Pg. 182)
He proposes, “Because the life-stream integrates mind and matter, it may on some occasions respond to violent deaths as themes to seize upon and develop, perhaps in order to keep the streams flowing. The correspondences … between physical marks of death and (re)birth might follow naturally within this scenario. As wild as all of this may sound, it is within hailing distance of the observations that have emerged from reincarnation research and yet does not ignore or thumb its nose at the mainstream philosophic/scientific enterprise. It is certainly a ‘stretch’ as an explanation, but a stretch may be just what we need now and them to maintain our vigor in the quest for understanding.” (Pg. 230)
He concludes, “The cosmic process… places our usual assumptions in a new perspective. ‘Life,’ ‘death,’ and ‘survival’ comprise a rather crude and primitive vocabulary with which to think about the future of … life, death, and survival… How foolish it would be to ponder the survival question while neglecting the entire universe in which we live and die… The universal flow is variously matter, energy, and spirit depending on our own frames and circumstances of observation. It is also, in a deep sense, music. Were we able to experience the flow of universe in a direct, encompassing and profound manner, we would probably be experiencing the music to which all music relates and aspires… This music existed before we did. It will continue when we are no longer in its present form.” (Pg. 260-261)
This book is seemingly more ‘skeptical’ than some readers would like, but it will be of interest to people studying the question of survival.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews