7 Reasons to Believe in the Afterlife: A Doctor Reviews the Case for Consciousness after Death

by Jean-Jacques Charbonier

An uplifting study of the scientific evidence for the afterlife from an experienced anesthesiologist/intensive care physician

• Details meticulously recorded and hospital-verified cases of near-death experiences

• Cites scientific research on NDEs to refute the standard objections of doubters and materialists point by point

• Explores out-of-body experiences, sessions with mediums, electronic communication with the deceased, and other signs from the afterlife

Over the course of his 25-year career as an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician, Jean Jacques Charbonier, M.D., gathered hundreds of accounts of patients who returned from clinical death. Across all of these accounts--from patients with vastly different backgrounds--Dr. Charbonier found striking similarities as well as indisputable proof that these experiences were more than hallucinations. He surveyed other physicians, nurses, and professional caregivers and discovered that their patients described the same experiences as well as exhibited the same positive life transformations afterward. Igniting a scientific quest to learn more, he collected more accounts of near-death experiences as well as out-of-body experiences, attended dozens of sessions with mediums, experimented successfully with electronic communication with the deceased (EVP), interviewed hundreds of people who have cared for the dying, and gathered countless inexplicable stories of “signs” from the afterlife. With each experience he studied, he found himself more firmly believing in the survival of consciousness beyond death.

Dr. Charbonier distills his findings into 7 reasons to believe in the afterlife, beginning with the more than 60 million people worldwide who have reported a transcendent afterlife experience. He refutes the standard objections of doubters and materialists point by point, citing scientific research on NDEs and the work of pioneers in the field of consciousness studies such as Raymond Moody and Pim van Lommel.

Drawing on meticulously recorded and hospital-verified cases, Dr. Charbonier explains that we should not fear death for ourselves or our loved ones. By releasing our fear of death, we can properly prepare for “the final journey.” As those who have returned from death reveal, death is simply a transition and its lessons enable us to live more fully, peacefully, and happily in the now.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2015

Reviews

[The Overflowing Inkwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is entirely too expensive for what you actually get. I got it secondhand, and even still I feel I should have gotten it (even) cheaper. The first two chapters are excellent, and I really liked them; the rest of the reasons feel way too weak, or at least too poorly supported, to have included as worthy 'reasons to believe'. (Though after the second chapter with the case he presents of Pamela's NDE when she literally could not be aware, how much more proof do you need!) He is all too eager to exclude all his research and only give extracts from two or three examples, insisting we would be too bored to read them all. 600 reports of basically the same thing would indeed be dull, but I'd like a few more than what is given here at any rate! On that basis alone, I wouldn't recommend buying this book; find it secondhand because there's barely an afternoon's reading from cover to cover, even if you do read the awful afterword written by some physicist who can only think in quantum particles.

(On that front: I really don't care for any theories of the universe based on quantum particles; we keep building all these ideas like the multiverse theory on basically nothing, and here too, we see the afterword author writing an entire theory about how afterlives might be created for specific individuals, but possibly not others, and how every particle in the universe has a 'psi' (as in psychic) element to it which would explain simultaneous inventions of new things on opposite sides of the world (because we're all unconsciously synced into the Akashic records or something), all based on the slit experiment. I get that this is the shiny new frontier for people, but it's all out of proportion at this point. It really felt like the guy was just showing off his theories rather than honestly trying to relate them to the book or give a good conclusion to the book the afterword was supposed to be for. He was a poor choice, and I wish a better fit had been found or the afterword omitted altogether.)

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing I hadn't read before. Perhaps something was lost in translation but I couldn't finish it. Not because the subject matter is not interesting but because there's nothing new here, for me at least.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premise poorly executed. Fairly short book but so boring I couldn’t finish it. Also very repetitive.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is quite the eye opener to hear these stories. wow.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A doctor working in Intensive Care heard of many experiences of people "returning from death." He made a study of it. In this book he makes the case that there is life after death.