ما بعد الحياة

by Colin Wilson, كولن ولسون, محمد جلال عباس (Translator)

Olumden sonra yasam var mi? Sevdiginiz birini kaybettiyseniz, bu soruyu mutlaka sormussunuzdur. Kitabini, bu soruyu sorarak yazmaya baslayan unlu yazar Colin Wilson normal otesi denilen olaylardan hayaletlere, posesyon vakalarindan kanallasmaya, ruh cagirma seanslarindan cagdas bilimsel arastirmalara dek pek cok kaynaktan yararlanarak insanoglu icin en buyuk gizemi olusturan olum sonrasi ile ilgili yaniti ariyor. Colin Wilson, paranormal olaylar hakkinda yazdigi kitaplarla dunya capinda taninmaktadir. Yazarin, dilimize cevrilen kitaplari arasinda "Kayip Miras Atlantis" adli eser de bulunmaktadir.

Genres: Nonfiction, Paranormal, Religion, Death, Supernatural, Psychology, Philosophy

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.

Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.

Reviews

[Nahed.E · Rating 3 out of 5]

حسناً .. إذا كنت تبحث عن توثيق علمي دقيق لما ستقرأه هنا في هذا الكتاب ، فلن تجد .. !
وإذا كنت تبحث عن أدلة دامغة تعتمد عليها ، فلن تجد .. !
وإذا كنت تبحث عن إجابات شافية ، فلن تجد !
وإذا كنت تنتظر منه في الخاتمة آراء قاطعة ، فلن تجد !

إذن ، ماذا ستجد ؟؟؟؟



الكتاب هو القراءة الثالثة لي مع كولن ولسون .. هذا الباحث الإنجليزي غريب الأطوار والثقافة الذي قدم كتابه الرائع ( اللامنتمي ) والذي اعتقد حقا انها رائعته التي لم يكررها بنفس الصورة علي مدار كتاباته كلها ..
ولكن هذا الكتاب عما يتحدث ؟؟؟
الكتاب يتحدث عن الحياة بعد الموت .. حياة الأرواح التي تظهر وتختفي وتجوب عالمنا دون ان ندري .. أو ربما ندري في بعض اللحظات الفارقة من عمرنا أو بعض الصدف الغريبة التي لا نجد لها تفسيراً علمياً ..
فالكتاب هو رصد دسم لحالات كثيرة كثيرة من التواصل مع عالم الأرواح والتي صادفها شخصياً .. أو قرأها في كتب علماء النفس المشهورين والفلاسفة المعروفين أمثال الفيلسوف الأمريكي وليام جيمس ..
فالكتاب حالات وحالات لا تتوقف من شواهد تواصل عالم الموتي مع عالم الأحياء .. وتجارب الوسطاء الروحانيين .. والقوي الخفية التي تظهر أحياناً دون تفسير .. !!

الكتاب ذكرني كثيراً بكتاب القوي الخفية لأنيس منصور ..
فهو يقترب كثيراً من منهجة في الكتابة .. فهو تجارب شخصية للكاتب من ناحية ، وحالات غامضة من التاريخ والشخصيات العامة من ناحية أخري ، ومن الكتب العلمية من ناحية ثالثة ..
ولكن أن تجد توثيقاً دقيقاً لما ستقرأه .. لن تجد
!!
كولن ولسون يعتمد علي ثقافته وتجاربه الشخصية بصورة كبيرة ..
فيكتب دون أن يعبأ برأيك فيه ... فهو لا يبحث عن تقييمك الشخصي ولا يعنيه في شئ ..
ولكن أنت من ستجد نفسك في دوامة من التساؤلات التي ربما لا إجابة لها
!!

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book intends to show the plausibility and consistency of the evidence supporting survival of consciousness after death.

Wilson reviews a number of cases indicative of paranormal phenomena that can be used to support the idea of survival after death. Contrary to popular belief, the available evidence is quite strong in favor of “survival,” according to Wilson. If the issue were not so controversial, the evidence would be enough to convince many of the truth of survival.

[Alice Otaibi · Rating 2 out of 5]

تقل مخاطبة العقل في الكتاب واستخدام الأسلوب الموضوعي في الطرح, فهو مجرد سرد قصصي للأحداث وشهود عيان ووقائع أقرب إلى الخرافة أو الهذيان دون أي دليل فكري أو فلسفي. يركز الكتاب على وجود تكرار لنمط معين من القصص ويعتبر الكاتب هذا التكرار دليلاً على صحة تلك القصص أو التجارب. قد يكون من الملائم اعتبار أن تكرار حدوث تجربة من عدد كبير من البشر دليل على صحتها وأصالتها, ولكن الكثرة لا تدل على الحقيقة بالضرورة. باختصار كل إنسان يصدق ما يريد أن يصدق, والكاتب لم يطرح الموضوع بشكل محايد, فهو يصدق ويظهر ذلك بوضوح شديد في بعض السطور.

[Zeiad ِAlmallah · Rating 2 out of 5]

الكتاب عبارة عن روايات عن شهود عيان على ظواهر خارقة. مثل تجارب الاقتراب من الموت و التخاطر و الاستبصار و التناسخ و الاقتراب من الموت و التي فشلت القوانين العلمية الحالية عن اعطاء تفسيرات مقنعة لها
بأختصار يتحدث عن تاريخ التحري عن الظواهر الروحانية دون ذكر ادلة حول الموضوع مما يجعل القارئ في شك من مدى مصداقية الاحداث

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a look...not his best work and far from convincing...but a good read.

[Susan Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on our shelves for many years and my interest in it was triggered when Graham (my husband, who is very interested in these matters) and I went to a talk at the Theosophical Society last year by Gary Lachman, talking about Colin Wilson's life and work. Well, I had read The Outsider, that 'angry young man' classic a long time ago, but had not realised that Wilson was such a prolific author!
So Afterlife is really a historical account of spiritualism – real life case histories of people who seem to be possessed by those who have passed away (many cases of apparent multiple personality disorder), the frauds, the genuine cases. I was particularly interested to read of the work of Rudolf Steiner in this area. It maybe comes across as being a bit anecdotal, rather than a serious analysis of that all important question of 'what happens when we die?' but none the less fascinating for that.

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A “SUPPORTIVE” SURVEY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN FAVOR OF SURVIVAL

Colin Wilson (1931-2013) wrote in the Preface to this 1985 book, “In 1980, I suggested to my British publisher that I should write a book about poltergeists… I was convinced at the time that poltergeist phenomena were due to the unconscious minds of disturbed adolescents---what paranormal researchers call ‘spontaneous psychokinesis.’… [But after investigating one case] I suddenly knew beyond all doubt that … This was a spirit… the case seemed to demonstrate the reality of life after death. Yet… there was still a sense in which it did not ‘sink in.’ … This was I continued to feel until a British publisher asked me to write this book. I was, of course, already familiar with much of its material, having been reading and writing about ‘the paranormal’ for more than a decade. Yet it was not until I … plunged into the subject that the overwhelming weight of the evidence really began to impress me.” (Pg. xx-xxi) Later, he adds, “This book is not an attempt to convince anyone of the reality of life after death. It is simply an attempt to present the facts in an orderly manner. At the end, the reader should be in a position to make up his or her own mind.” (Pg. 33)

He notes that the philosopher Bertrand Russell asserted, “It is not rational arguments, but emotion, that cause belief in a future life.” Wilson comments, “This, says Russell… is emotional rubbish, the same kind of rubbish that stood in the way of Galileo and Newton … when they wanted to investigate the universe… Anyway, says Russell, it is only when we think abstractly that we have a high opinion of man. Civilized states spend half their revenue on murdering one another… Surely if our world is the outcome of a deliberate purpose, the purpose must have been that of a fiend. These last arguments are actually as emotional and illogical as those Russell attributes to the Bishop [of Birmingham].” (Pg. 20-21)

He observes that the article on [Daniel Dunglas] Home in Encyclopedia Britannica calls Home an ‘unsolved enigma.’ … As far as home was concerned… He had simply inherited unusual psychic powers from his mother’s side… so the spirits were able to operate through him… this answer failed to satisfy many people who witnesses his feats and accepted their genuineness… one thing that becomes very clear to anyone who reads the accounts of Home’s phenomena… is that the spirits are not only the simplest explanation, but in many cases, the only explanation. A large percentage of the phenomena can only be explained if we assume the existence of disembodied intelligences… sooner or later, most investigators of the paranormal are finally driven to the conclusion that spirits almost certainly exist. They do this with the utmost reluctance… and this is nowhere more obvious than in the case of Daniel Dunglas Home.” (Pg. 109-110)

Turning to the Society for Psychical Research [SPR], he admits that “In 1988, there was a double scandal. The four Creery girls, whose ‘will game’ has so impressed [William] Barrett---and caused him to found the SPR---were caught cheating…. They admitted that they had devised various simple signals to aid their card-guessing games… Then, worst of all, the two Fox girls, whose manifestations had launched the Spiritualist movement, publicly confessed that they were cheats… Another embarrassment to organized psychical research was… Eusapia Palladino… she cheated. The absurd thing was that her cheating was clumsy, and the least competent researcher had no difficulty in catching her at it… she was tested by the SPR at Cambridge… [who] issued a thoroughly unfavorable report. This should have convinced skeptics that the Society had no interest in protecting impostors. It only spread the impression that most mediums were such frauds and that no sane person would waste time on them.” (Pg. 121-123)

Of Leonore Piper, he notes, “Under hypnosis, the left brain is put to sleep, and the right is able to exercise these powers without the unnerving critical scrutiny of the left… Mrs. Piper was controlled by a whole group of spirits who claimed to be the same ones who had dictated to Stainton Moses. But when asked about their names… they gave the wrong answers… The right brain---or subjective mind---is enormously suggestible; it can conjure up a spirit as easily as a hypnotized person can conjure up an illusion that someone is sitting in an empty chair. The fact that [one of Piper’s ‘spirits’] was able to give so much accurate information … including facts unknown to the ‘sitters'; argues strongly that he was a real spirit, making use of Mrs. Piper’s right brain as a telephone line.” (Pg. 167-168)

Of “the celebrated series of communications known as the Cross Correspondences,” he states, “it must be admitted that most of the ‘evidence’ of the Cross Correspondences is … infuriatingly vague and ambiguous as this… It is undoubtedly the most convincing evidence of survival ever obtained by mediums, and also the most boring. A skeptic might well ask why, if Myers wanted to prove he was still alive… he did not write in English: ‘Hodgson asked me to show you a spear.’ … it looks as if the spirits have been ordered to provide just enough evidence to convince those who are willing to be convinced, but never enough to win over the skeptics… The evidence is abundant and plentiful, but it ALWAYS leaves room for doubt… The Cross Correspondences and the Willett scripts are among the most convincing evidence that at present exists for life after death. For anyone who is prepared to devote weeks to studying them, they prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Myers, Gurney, and Sidgwick went on communicating after death. The problem remains: why did they not adopt some straightforward suggestion… that would make them… more convincing to skeptics? The answer … [may be] that they were not out to make wholesale conversions. Of course, this is just the kind of answer that will make the skeptics shrug contemptuously.” (Pg. 168-173)

Of the Bridey Murphy case, he comments, “[Morey] Bernstein wrote a book about the case, ‘The Search for Bridey Murphy, which was serialized…. A Chicago Daily News reporter went to Belfast to try to track down Bridey Murphy… He did find a number of … confirmatory factors… Other details given by Bridey… failed to check. This did not deter the enthusiasm of the American public, and [the book] because the major bestseller of 1956. At this point, the rival newspaper printed the results of its own investigations. It had uncovered Virginia Tighe’s identity (Bernstein had used a pseudonym), and discovered that she … had an aunt who was ‘as Irish as the lakes of Killarney,’ and who had told he tales about Ireland in her childhood… Moreover, during her childhood, Virginia had lived opposite an Irishwoman named Bridey Corkell, whose unmarried name was Murphy. Her Irish background… had fascinated the little girl… The ‘Bridey Murphy’ furor collapsed as suddenly as it had begun, and the book dropped from the bestseller lists. But a Denver feature writer who investigated this ‘exposé’ discovered that most of it was simply untrue… the aunt … had not met Virginia until the girl was eighteen; both she and Virginia emphatically denied that there had been any Irish stories… [The Irishwoman] proved to be strangely elusive, declining to be interviewed, so the reporter was unable to find out whether her unmarried name was Murphy... Virginia insisted that she had never even spoken to her… [This] does prove that it is easier to demolish a claim than to subject it to serious investigation.” (Pg. 208-209)

Turning to Near-Death Experiences [NDE], he notes, “The observations of [Elizabeth] Kübler-Ross, [Raymond] Moody, and others make us aware that when we study accounts of life after death, we should continually remind ourselves of the ‘language gape,’ the problem of trying to translate new perceptions into words that were evolved with a narrower purpose in mind… most accounts of life after death seem to agree that language has become unnecessary.” (Pg. 243) Later, he adds, “It could be said… that the study of the near-death experience is the most important breakthrough in psychical research since the foundation of the Society for Psychical research more than a century ago. To the objection that the NDE has nothing to do with psychical research, we can only reply that it seems to have a great deal to do with it.” (Pg. 250)

But he concludes, “Does the evidence of the near-death experience provide the ‘valid knowledge of the World Unseen’ that Myers and Sidgwick hoped to uncover? Regrettably, no. It is personally convincing; it brings the individual an overwhelming sense of insight into the riddle of the Universe. As evidence of life after death it is worthless… it could still be some defense mechanism of the brain when confronting death, perhaps the release of an enkephalin… [But] If we can accept this kind of [psychical] evidence, then there seems to be no sound reason for rejecting the evidence of the near-death experience, for the two seem to point towards the same conclusion: that the physical body is inhabited by another kind of body that can survive death. The near-death experience proves nothing in itself, but when backed up by the testimony of psychical research, it becomes strong supportive evidence.” (Pg. 253)

This book surveys a great deal of topics---including Swedenborg, Rudolf Steiner, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Oliver Lodge, Jane Roberts, OAHSPE, A Course In Miracles, etc.---and it will be of great interest to those non-skeptics studying psychical research.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colin Wilson’s investigations into the afterlife are fascinating, but not so much for the journal of the various ghostly encounters from possessions, hauntings and séances. Wilson's observations, notes, arguments, persuasions, thoughts on the matter are what bring this book to life. Some of the ghostly encounters are difficult to get one’s head around, and particularly second hand tales of spirit encounters. The accounts were brought forth as clear evidence of the soul surviving after the body died, but such 'proof' would be easily scrutinized and discarded by other investigators.

The author brings up an interesting point about our ancestors ability to plunge straight into ‘cosmic consciousness’ by merely relaxing, but modern man now has a kind of threshold meaning that it would take a lot more stimulus to arouse an individual into awareness.

“A man with a high noise threshold can ignore a racket that would drive a more sensitive person mad”.

I would have preferred a whole book containing only his thoughts. The ghost stories may add to the general feeling of the book, but I found it more of a distraction and it’s actually Colin Wilson’s psychological views on the living that I find far more interesting.

[C.J. Moseley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly slim tome that investigates the best evidence for the afterlife. Which varies from the completely unbelievable, through mundane to strangely compelling. The most interesting ideas in the book are, as ever with Wilson, often sidelines in his argument. Made me think — which can never be bad…

[Aya Ansary · Rating 2 out of 5]

يعد الجزء الايسر من دماغ الانسان او مايدعى بالعقل الموضوعي
المسيطر الاول على سلوك الانسان والذي بوجوده
يكون الجزء الايمن او العقل الحدسي اقل تأثيرا
ولذا يُعتقد انه في حقبة زمنية سابقة كانت السيطرة للعقل الحدسي
واثناء الانتخاب الطبيعي تم تطوير الجزء الايسر
ليخبو الثاني ، لكنه يُظهر قواه احيانا ليعلمنا
بأن حدود العقل لا تتجاوز المألوف ..

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Afterlife: An Investigation. As other good-readers said, is not Colin Wilson's best work. Never had the chance and time to google about many topics that are inside this book. I liked the pages about Madame Blavatski, Sir Oliver Lodge and his hypothesis that "ghost may be a kind of tape recordings" and the story of the Peruvian Manuel Cordova Rios.

[Ingrid Verschelling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gelezen mrt 1996

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasurable read but not one of Colin Wilson's thought-provoking books.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing from his first book, 'The Occult' Wilson pushes his investigation into the unseen world and it's mysteries.

[David Mundy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written with his usual erudition and enthusiasm, referencing some interesting case studies and some perhaps more tenuous, thought provoking without leading to clear conclusions. Not one of his best books but a worthwhile read if taken by this subject.

[حنين خطاب · Rating 3 out of 5]

إن ما يشغل الإنسان هنا يشغله هناك، بل ربما ما قد شغله سابقا ظل للآن يشغله بعدة مسميات مختلفة.
كولن ولسن يبرهن على خلود الروح وإن كان يتطرق للأمر عن طريق الاستشهاد بعدة روايات لأشخاص
يسردون قصص تتأرجح ما بين التخاطر والجذب...والتعرض لخروج الروح من الجسد ولو لفترة وامضة...

بعيدا عن الكتاب وعن ما يمثله من أفكار إلا أن داخل منا جزء ينتمي لتلك الخفايا ما بين مصدق ومشكك
التعرض لمثل هذه الأمور وعرضها كقصص سردية كان لن ينته بخير ولو كان الأمر في وسط شرق اوسطي...!


انصح بقراءته لنعلم كيف يفكرون بعيدا عن الصورة المصدرة لنا عبر قنوات الإعلام المختلفة.

[José Vicente · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting compilation of different psychical events (with explanation) and afterdeath intercourses (without no explanation)...Although the record of the SPR is well performed,the reader has the last word...... Anyway, too much positive and especulative concerning the human potential.

[Caesar Warrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite my longtime admiration for Colin Wilson and his work, I was quite disappointed by this book. AFTERLIFE is less about life after death than it is about Wilson rehashing some of the same stories and phenomena reaffirming his theories on "Factor X," among other things.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the many books I bought back in the early 2000s while listening to Art Bell and kept meaning to read. I finally found the time to make myself sit down and read it. Wilson offers good explanations and descriptions of what could be proof of life after death.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

i could not sleep due to reality...experience ur mind.

[انشراح شبلاق · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جيد،، لكنه سطحي
تحدث عن مشكلات نفسية،، وتجارب الخروج من الجسد،، وتناسخ الأرواح
تناول تجارب وقصص من حياة الناس،، معظمها قديم،، ولم أصدقها
لا يحتوي على الكثير من إثباتات العلم أو الدين

[Michelle Grayce · Rating 3 out of 5]

It explained a bit of the afterlife. But didn't go into much detail.