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At the Hour of Death: A New Look at Evidence for Life After Death by Karlis Osis
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August 14, 2024
TWO PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCHERS GIVE EVIDENCE FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH
Karlis Osis (1917-1997) is "one of the few psychologists (along with Erlendur Haraldsson) to have obtained a Ph.D. with a thesis concerning extrasensory perception... Osis was a colleague of Dr. J.B. Rhine and pioneered experiments on ESP... [He was] a past president of the American Parapsychological Association." Erlendur Haraldsson (born 1931) is a Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Iceland.
They wrote in the first chapter of this 1977 book, "Our investigation is, we feel, the first truly scientific research into the experiences of the dying at the hour of death. First, we collected massive amounts of data through three extensive surveys of physicians and nurses who attended the dying. Second, our research was transcultural... Third, our data were collected carefully and systematically through modern sampling techniques... Fourth, our data were subjected to elaborate statistical, pattern, and content analysis through computer evaluation... What we found is both surprising and hopeful. This book will offer new evidence, based on observations by more than a thousand doctors and nurses, bearing on the question of postmortem survival... this evidence strongly suggests life after death... [but] our findings should not be considered as closing the issue." (Pg. 2-3)
They note that "1. The majority (two-thirds) of apparitions portray dead rather than living persons. The opposite has been found to be true of hallucinations by persons in normal health. 2. The main ostensible purpose of the apparition is to take the patient away to another mode of existence." (Pg 56) Later, they add, "The dead were most often hallucinated... the second largest category was that of religious figures. On the whole, Christians tended to hallucinate angels, Jesus, or the virgin Mary, whereas Hindus would most usually see Yama (the god of death), one of his messengers, Krishna, or some other deity." (Pg. 64) They also observe, "although religious affiliation may not determine the occurrence of deathbed visions, religious involvement... may slightly enhance them." (Pg. 75)
They admit, "Unfortunately, we do not have much information about patients who did not believe in survival, and therefore comparison is impossible. There was no correlation between the length of the hallucination and its ostensible purpose." (Pg. 90) They also state, "The Indian sample contained too few Christians (7) for interaction analysis. Therefore, we had to compare American Protestants and Catholics with Indian Hindus, in spite of the confounding national, socioeconomic, and other secular differences which we cannot remove from analysis." (Pg. 136)
While not as famous as the books by Raymond Moody and Melvin Morse, the parapsychological research background of these two make this a very interesting book for anyone studying near-death experiences.
Karlis Osis (1917-1997) is "one of the few psychologists (along with Erlendur Haraldsson) to have obtained a Ph.D. with a thesis concerning extrasensory perception... Osis was a colleague of Dr. J.B. Rhine and pioneered experiments on ESP... [He was] a past president of the American Parapsychological Association." Erlendur Haraldsson (born 1931) is a Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Iceland.
They wrote in the first chapter of this 1977 book, "Our investigation is, we feel, the first truly scientific research into the experiences of the dying at the hour of death. First, we collected massive amounts of data through three extensive surveys of physicians and nurses who attended the dying. Second, our research was transcultural... Third, our data were collected carefully and systematically through modern sampling techniques... Fourth, our data were subjected to elaborate statistical, pattern, and content analysis through computer evaluation... What we found is both surprising and hopeful. This book will offer new evidence, based on observations by more than a thousand doctors and nurses, bearing on the question of postmortem survival... this evidence strongly suggests life after death... [but] our findings should not be considered as closing the issue." (Pg. 2-3)
They note that "1. The majority (two-thirds) of apparitions portray dead rather than living persons. The opposite has been found to be true of hallucinations by persons in normal health. 2. The main ostensible purpose of the apparition is to take the patient away to another mode of existence." (Pg 56) Later, they add, "The dead were most often hallucinated... the second largest category was that of religious figures. On the whole, Christians tended to hallucinate angels, Jesus, or the virgin Mary, whereas Hindus would most usually see Yama (the god of death), one of his messengers, Krishna, or some other deity." (Pg. 64) They also observe, "although religious affiliation may not determine the occurrence of deathbed visions, religious involvement... may slightly enhance them." (Pg. 75)
They admit, "Unfortunately, we do not have much information about patients who did not believe in survival, and therefore comparison is impossible. There was no correlation between the length of the hallucination and its ostensible purpose." (Pg. 90) They also state, "The Indian sample contained too few Christians (7) for interaction analysis. Therefore, we had to compare American Protestants and Catholics with Indian Hindus, in spite of the confounding national, socioeconomic, and other secular differences which we cannot remove from analysis." (Pg. 136)
While not as famous as the books by Raymond Moody and Melvin Morse, the parapsychological research background of these two make this a very interesting book for anyone studying near-death experiences.
Displaying 1 of 1 review