In Heaven as on Earth: A Vision of the Afterlife

by M. Scott Peck

The best-selling author of The Road Less Traveled and In Search of Stones presents a novel of the afterlife that teaches important spiritual lessons for his life. The soul of Daniel - the author-psychiatrist who narrates this story - awakens in the afterlife infused with fear and excitement. Two spiritual "greeters" guide him as he begins to negotiate the "corridors" of this new environment, encountering welcome and unwelcome spirits. But ultimately only his own spiritual convictions and discoveries will lead him past seductive enchantment to the achievement of his destiny and an understanding of the fundamental moral principles that transcend mortality.

Rich in lessons on finding a place and purpose in this life and beyond, Daniel's odyssey into eternity, like Dr. Peck's other inspirational classics, flows with nourishment for both the soul and the psyche.

Genres: Psychology, Fiction, Spirituality, Religion, Audiobook, Fantasy, Philosophy

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 3, 1996

About the author

Morgan Scott Peck was an American psychiatrist and best-selling author who wrote the book The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978.

Reviews

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every few years, I have this need to explore other people's ideas and fantasies about the afterlife. Where do we go when our spirit loosens its ties to our body? What happens at that moment? Are we met by kindred spirits, guides, angels? Are we transported in blinding light to the Heavenly Gates? Or can we linger on Earth and hope to comfort our loved ones whom we leave behind? What the hell do we do for the rest of Eternity?

I've read The Lovely Bones and The Five People You Meet in Heaven for glimpses of what might be in store for me some day, hopefully far, FAR into the future. But Scott Peck's slim novel comes closest to what I hope the afterlife is really like. Without giving too much away, it was a relief to know that one man's vision of Heaven is not a boring Technicolor romp above the clouds. That there is still meaningful work to be done and souls to discover, is immensely comforting and what I think I would like to imagine in the afterlife.

Peck's humor and skill at characterization shine through. I wanted to hug his "Greeters" Sam and Norma for being the most ordinary of people/spirits that you would ever hope to meet. It was as if Daniel, the recently deceased, had just moved into a new neighborhood and they were the first on his block to show up at the door with a casserole and some friendly advice.

I had a million questions. "You both look to me like you're in your forties," I noted. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you both die in middle age?"
 "You can ask anything you want," Sam said. "No, I died of a heart attack on the golf course on my sixty-sixth birthday. What a birthday present! How 'bout you, Norma?"
 "I died in a nursing home when I was eighty-seven. That was a real present."

Read this book and feel better about the final chapter of your life. You won't be disappointed!

[Leanne Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, though more as a glimpse into the potential for heaven on earth than into the afterlife itself. I suspect Scott Peck wanted to throw light on the kind of world he foresaw if and when people awakened to their freedom in the divine. They enter this kind of life after experiencing some great trauma or shift in outlook. Then there is a time of adjustment when they have to learn to cope as a free spirit, unbounded by prescriptions and rules. Then there may be temptation to divert them from their great inner desire to make a difference in the world. Then there is promotion into their assignment, which involves lots more learning but this time with the joy of true passion. There are many spiritual truths to be found in this book and so I recommend it to people who are on a spiritual journey, seeking a deeper participation in the world at large.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I "co-read" this book with my principal/friend, Bruce, so the joy in this book for me was discussing it with him. It is bascially the story of a man who upon finding himself dead begins his orientation and induction into the afterlife. Very very interesting. Find someone to "co-read" it with you as well--heightens the experience. I LOVE this author. His The Road Less Traveled truly saved me at one point in my life--like balm to my soul. Read it.

[Jaki Haligas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it was strangely comforting.

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sucks cristian ass

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A NOVELISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON THE AFTERLIFE

Morgan Scott Peck (1936–2005) was an American psychiatrist and best-selling author. He wrote in the ‘Acknowledgements’ of this 1996 book, “This vision has too many sources to mention in their entirety, but I would like to single out three for my special gratitude: C.S> Lewis for his vision of hell in ‘The Great Divorce’;’ the Roman Catholic Church for keeping the vision of Purgatory alive; and George Ritchie, M.D., who reported the most thorough and enthralling near-death experience I know in ‘Return from Tomorrow,’ a report that helped inspire Dr. Raymond Moody to write ‘Life After Life.’”

He begins, “I knew the moment it happened. I’d been in a coma for two days. Now, instantly, I was somewhere near the ceiling of my bedroom… The cause of death was cancer of the lung with multiple metastases to the brain. To the children’s chagrin, I’d smoked my beloved cigarettes until the very time I slipped into coma… I felt exultant. I’d been divorcing myself from … life in the body on earth… for over a decade, and most emphatically for the last three years since Mary Martha had died.” (Pg. 3-4)

He continues, “Long before the reports of near-death experiences … it was folklore that your life flashed before your eyes as you died… The light, almost as if it were a movie projector, now exposed my past to me. Exposed the hidden parts… it framed all the scenes of cruelties, large and small, that I’d committed without being aware that I’d committed them… when it was over… the light was welcoming me to respond. I blurted out my question, ‘Are you God?’ The light made no answer and gave me to understand there would be none. Still, it accepted me… at the very next instant I completely blacked out.” (Pg. 5-6)

He goes on, “When I came to I was lying on a sort of bed in a small green room… I looked down and saw nothing except the wall. No hand. No shoulder… No feet either… It dawned on me then that I had no body… Yes, I was conscious… But how? If I had no body, I had no brain. How does one think without a brain?” (Pg. 9-11) Before long, a man and a woman materialized, and the man explained, “We’re your Greeters… People need real people to greet them… Although you’ve left your actual body behind, your soul, and your personality… are here intact.” (Pg. 18-19)

They explain, “The governing law of the afterlife is what we call the Principle of Freedom. There is absolutely nothing that’s coercive here. Souls are free to respond to this place or level of existence in any way they choose. Some choose it to be hell, some purgatory, some heaven… This is a gentle place. A healing place if you want to be healed. And if one wants to be healed it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between heaven and purgatory.” (Pg. 25-26)

He asked the Greeters many questions, such as “Can I see people on earth, like old friends or my children?” and is told, “the Law of Non-Interference also prevails. No matter how much we might love them---or hate them---we are not supposed to interfere with other people or places.” (Pg. 31) He concludes, “It was still not precisely clear that I was within the Gates of Heaven, but it seemed as f I might be.” (Pg. 42)

By himself later, he muses, “Would I miss smoking? I hadn’t yet. There’d not been any of that sensation of rats gnawing at the insides of my rib cage. But then I had no rib cage, no lungs, and no brain to send me messages that its chemicals were getting desperate. I rather liked the idea. Perhaps liberation from my body would mean liberation from my addictions. Liberty!” (Pg. 46)

He meets a person named Tish, and reflects, “Tish did not seem to be in hell… There were no flames or pitchforks, no torture, not even tribulation in the ordinary sense of the word… Still she was miserable in her own way. And it was most definitely her pick. She was doing her very best to fight the Adjustment, and the bars of her boring cell were of her own making.” (Pg. 61)

He encounters “some sort of business operation… called Amalgamated Systems.” (Pg. 69) He summarizes, “The intense misery of Amalgamated Systems was very real, but that didn’t mean the poor employees considered themselves wretched… it occurred to me that perhaps today I’d been standing at the gates of Hell… or at least one of its subdivisions.” (Pg. 86)

He visits earth, noting afterward, “there was this human sense of loss. I had lost my temporary roots on earth, and in this there was a certain poignancy if not sadness. It was quite possible I would never visit earth again or even care to. Still, I was free. If ever I did care to I could return to see the things I’d missed out on.” (Pg. 105)

He encounters Mary Martha (his wife), who tells him, “The world of the flesh is not an illusion … it mostly exists independently of us here… Matter is real. So is spirit. But just because spirit is real---and ultimately more important---it doesn’t mean that matter isn’t really matter.” (Pg. 137) Later, she adds, “I can rest here in the nothingness with complete comfort… But if I get bored I can temporarily create a room and decorate it just as I did for you. That was fun… We could have met in a Gothic cathedral with stained glass windows had I wanted it.” (Pg. 140)

She tells him, “There’s no way we can do God justice. But know this: all creation is an experiment. Not just the creation of a soul. All creation… Things can always go wrong. God is not a mere mathematician… or even a lawmaker. God can be a lawbreaker too. God is a creator, an artist. But it’s a good experiment.” (Pg. 147)

He encounters Isabel, “the one in charge of determining when souls in this sector have completed the Adjustment and, if they have, referring them on.” (Pg. 155) She tells him, “you might best serve God here on a culture change committee… all the committees are involved, one way or another, in furthering the evolution of souls. That includes cultural evolution… The most advanced… focus their activities here in heaven… Then there are those that focus primarily on cross-cultural operations of the kind that are most likely to foster intergroup or international peace. It seemed to me that your calling and experience might best suit you for one of those.” (Pg. 168)

He encounters a woman named Susan, who attempts to seduce him: “What would have happened had I said yes to Susan, that I would worship her forever?... I’d not been deceived by a woman but by a It pretending to be a woman… who had the extraordinary power to seemingly bring my fantasies to life… I could have been damned for eternity… I realized now that I’d not outgrown sexual desire…” (Pg. 188-189) Later, “I began to wonder more deeply whether it was possible for souls t make love without bodies. Might I somehow be able to … metaphorically ejaculate something of myself into her?... But one way or another it didn’t seem workable. There was nothing erotic about it.” (Pg. 203)

He aids Tish, and afterward muses, “God had always spoken to me when I least expected it… what had just transpired was the most direct and dramatic answer to a prayer I’d ever experienced, I’d prayed for Tish to receive a blessing from God, and that was exactly, precisely what had occurred. It was awesome.” (Pg. 210) In the end, a being named Jon says, “All you need do is come with me.” He does, noting, “My apprenticeship had begun.” (Pg. 224)

This book will appeal to some persons interested in speculations about an afterlife.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is clearly a book of fiction, literary fiction of the sort that seeks to present the author's own viewpoints as reality through a story where the plot of is far less importance than the conveyance of the author's worldview on the subject.  As such, it does not make for the most enjoyable of fiction, but the author has enough humorous details that it makes for a compelling read even for those whose vision of the afterlife is far different from that of the reader.  Indeed, I even feel a bit bad for the author in having to engage in that notorious lie that writers of fiction often engage in that claims that the characters in this book are not intended to resemble anyone in real life.  That claim is bogus, as the protagonist of the story is very much meant to resemble the author himself, as such a figure is necessary in any work which seeks to be a vehicle for the author's own ideas and concepts and speculations as this one is.  If the protagonist of the novel is not identical to that of the author, and he is not, he is at least as similar to the author as either of the Philip Roths in Roth's Operation Shylock, neither of whom is identical to the author, sadly.

In this story of about 200 pages of large print, we find ourselves in the company of Daniel, a stand-in for the author who dies as an old man of cancer who finds himself in a green room.  Somewhat impatient with the fact that the greeters he has cannot answer his questions, he wanders about the hospital ward where he comes to in heaven, finds himself talking to a person who died who is upset that she is still fat and undesirable and bored, meets an inhabitant of hell who lives in a trash can, and seeks to uncover some of the mysteries of his new existence.  He finds that his living children are doing alright and that he can leave them be, meets his wife, who predeceased him and who is part of a council that helps souls enter physical life, and finds himself talking to higher ranked angels, finding new tasks to engage in, and being tempted by Satan through his sexual urges.  Finally, the book ends with him engaged in one of heaven's innumerable committees on cultural change, content with having the sort of work that would help make life better as well as the afterlife.

It goes without saying that my own vision of the Kingdom of God is very distinct from that of the author's.  When we write about the afterlife we reveal far more about ourselves than we do about the things that we write about, not least because the Bible is not full of a lot of details on the matter and we as living people are not very well equipped to do more than speculate on areas where we have no expertise or experience.  The result here is not a bad book by any means.  The author focuses on the need to accept reality, to deal gracefully with the process of moral reformation, and to get along with others given the higher degree of intimacy that spirit beings have over physical ones.  These are worthwhile achievements.  The author at least has a vivid imagination of the afterlife that if doctrinally defective is at least mildly amusing at parts, and makes for a pleasant way to spend an hour or so of reading.  If this is not a definitive book on the subject, there are many worse ways to spend time than in Peck's charming view of the afterlife.

[Andrew McHenry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a clever little work of fiction, where Peck (who's most famous for his non-fiction works that blend psychology, religion, and self-help) imagines himself dying and exploring the afterlife. Like most fictional stories in this genre it's useful as long as you don't take it too seriously. (It is a work of fiction after all.) The lead character is clearly patterned after Peck himself, who after some initial scenes that invoke common near-death experiences, he finds himself in a room-setting where he's welcomed by 2 greeters. The storyline later introduces him to a purgatory-type scenario with a woman who's emotionally "stuck", and then a hellish scene where people gather their energies into a corporate dog-eat-dog institution, and later conversations and explorations with other people. Through it all there are two core emphases that he repeats: 1) "the principle of freedom" - where people are not forced into anything against their will; and 2) "the adjustment" - as he and other newcomers make adjustment (or resist adjustment) to their new eternal states. The book bears the limitations of Peck's imagination/perspective. E.g. How much grace is there in a heaven where we're forced to bring along our emotional baggage? But it's entertaining and in many ways insightful about life. He also blends in some Christian images and doctrines occasionally (e.g. "I go to prepare a place for you," a temptation narrative, a sense of resurrection). Some of it I don't agree with, but it fits well in a fictional setting.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing itself in this book is excellent - M. Scott Peck really sets a vivid scene for his vision of the afterlife, and walks through his vision with a compelling and emotional first-person storytelling. That being said, I personally find his vision of the afterlife to be just short of terrifying! Of course it's only a book, and one person's musings, but if the afterlife is anything like the author speculates it to be, then I do not look forward to getting there. I actually took a few small breaks during my read of this book, because I found the concept of the afterlife presented to be genuinely upsetting enough to put the book down for a while before continuing. So, kudos to the author for a well-written and creative book, but I wish the vision he came up with was less unpleasant to me!

[Jennifer Kabay · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / What a delightful surprise. I thought this was someone’s Near Death Experience testimony. But it’s actually fiction about a man, Daniel, who has just died and finds himself in “heaven.”

This book was equal parts fascinating and calming. Daniel explores the afterlife, meets various people in their various roles and purgatories, and discovers there’s still much work to be done.

The author tackles human folly with relatable candor and forces the reader to examine the real definition of LIVING.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

©1996 Jo's book collection

I would give this a 3.5 star rating.

M. Scott Peck is an excellent writer for mind-bending perspectives (he's a psychiatrist/theologian). This book is his "vision of the afterlife". It initially grabbed my brain cells and I was quite fascinated. The later turns in the plot (this is fiction) became less appealing.

[Kate Ellesworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most disappointing reads of 2024. I read this shortly after CS Lewis's The Great Divorce - compelled in part by Peck's acknowledged influence of that book. Peck's protagonist is utterly dislikable and his prose plod. Where Lewis's writing feels imbued with inspiration, Peck's feels coated in ego. Glad to turn the last page on this one.

[Debra Waites · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this after Many Lives Many Masters. This was one of the "resting places" that book spoke of. I liked that this book presented the "after life" as a place of continued growth and meaning.

[Jacob Petrossian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very unique fiction-novel. This book portrays different aspects of human behaviour through the eyes of Peck by showing his interpretations of the afterlife, and what they mean to him.

A quick read, but one that I highly enjoyed, nonetheless.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for pondering

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book if you have sterio concepts of heaven.
You will be challenged!
I am sure Peck is not imagining this is an accurate picture, but he contiunes to play the psychaitrist - well..

[Shar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book. Very easy to read (took me just a few evenings). Nice to think that we will live on as balls of light/energy and that we will meet our loved ones again.

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I thought at all. Not even putting it on the food bank shelves either :(

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It was an interesting take on what the afterlife may look like. It was a little clinical. But the afterlife is pure speculation--so always interesting to read another possibility.

[Victor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve liked all the other Peck books but this one was super corny.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It made me feel that we don't need to fear what comes after we die.

[Claudette · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Audiobook) I didn’t like this book at all. I thought it was going to be a non-fiction book, instead it was fiction.

[Howard Frisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

M. Scott Peck authored one of the best books on personal and spiritual growth that I have ever read, The Road Less Traveled. So, I had high hopes for this work of fiction. It was OK, as some of what he describes of the afterlife did not resonate with me, but I will give him credit for effort.

There are many books that include fascinating accounts of near-death experiences (NDE's) that provide a much more believable glimpse into the afterlife.

[Ted Dettweiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like speculative books like this: What might the afterlife be like? One of M. Scott Peck's twists is that heaven is not really a bodily experience. There are "body images" projected for newcomers to heaven/hell/purgatory to ease their transition but the various spirit-beings in Peck's book have to concentrate their energies on projecting these images. Peck's heaven doesn't involve anything akin to a bodily resurrection. And, if it is heaven, I'm sure I would be fine with those conditions - but that would take some getting used to, I'm sure.

Peck acknowledges C.S. Lewis' vision of hell in "The Great Divorce" so I read that as well once I had finished "In Heaven as on Earth". "The Great Divorce" title is based on the words of Jesus in recounting the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: "...between us and you a great chasm has been fixed..." (Luke 16:26 ESV) as Lewis' book frames conversations between those who have escaped hell (I suppose) on a day tour of the outer regions of heaven and their guides (we might say) who are sent to all but impel them to enter in. The reasons that these fellow travelers would choose to return to hell rather than choosing heaven are rather tiring once you are hearing half a dozen or more of them. Peck spends most of his time contemplating heaven, and what there might be to "do" there and so, ultimately his book about the positive afterlife is a more enjoyable read than Lewis' treatment of what keeps people out of heaven.

Both are worth reading and can inform us on our lives "here and now". Good fuel for contemplation, both.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Peck has a brilliant mind blest with insight into the human condition. (not only "The Road Less Traveled" but his "People of the Lie" for example)
And his soul is one of a searcher- like the main character in the book- wanting answers to all his questions. While I can see why many find this book "awesome", "profound" and have read it several times, I wasn't quite as enamored by it. There are deep truths to be found in his fantasy about the afterlife, but his character Daniel seems too ignorant sometimes for my taste. At least my mind did not track the same way. I like that he avoided any language that identified Daniel as belonging to a particular brand of religion. The afterlife reality here is much bigger than that.
So despite my less than enthusiastic feeling about the book, I am going to pass it on to others. It does have a lot of redeeming value. Perhaps I have been spoiled by watching some very thoughtful movies about the afterlife like the Japanese film "After Life" or even Richard Dreyfuss in "Always"..

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting not to like this book, but I was surprisingly pleased with it. It's not the best writing stylistically, but it's not bad writing either. And I did find it to be philosophically and theologically provocative, if not all that complex. It's a charming read and definitely gives one something to ponder. I read this for my spiritual book club, and it's a perfect selection for such a club. Simple, easy, and quick. Very digestible and meaningful. There is a skill in that kind of writing, and I appreciate it.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having belonged to a clinically supervised "near-death experience" studies group, I readily identified with Peck's "Vision of the Afterlife." I studied it like a manual for the prospect of moving into the realm of the next life with hope, joy and without fear.

Peck has become an icon of wisdom with his last book that I read, "The Road Less Travelled." His views meshed with my own from a lifetime of observation and study of our relationship to the Great Beyond that is waiting for us.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting ideas about what the first few days after death might be like. It was a pleasant read, easy, not too challenging. And that's why it only got 3 stars. Any book about life after death should challenge my thoughts, make me think a little, and perhaps encourage me to clarify my own beliefs.
Although maybe this is just a sign that I'm so firm in my own faith (or stubbornly hard-headed) that I don't have to question my own thinking anymore.

[Louise Silk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently was pointed to some quotes by M. Scott Peck, the author of "The Road Less Traveled" and those quotes led me to this book that he wrote about the afterlife. The main point of the book is that the afterlife is based on the "principles of freedom" where each soul experiences its life as it finds meaning. Dr. Peck puts himself through the transition from life to death with very clever thinking about what it might actually be like after we die. I wonder....

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Your "place prepared for you" is a jail cell in your favorite color. You make your own heaven or hell when you get there. Heaven is committee work and unlimited trips to the psychiatrist for the narrator.
The book is an example of the misuse of fiction. Story has the capacity to express ideas more meaningfully and memorably than other genres, but lousy fiction is insulting and maddening. This is lousy fiction.