Gregory ShushanNear-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations
The Origins of the World's Afterlife Beliefs
Gregory Shushan, Ph.D., is the leading authority on near-death experiences and afterlife beliefs across cultures and throughout history. He is an award-winning author affiliated with Birmingham Newman University, University of Winchester, Marian University, and the Parapsychology Foundation. A former researcher at the University of Oxford and University of Wales, he lives in San Francisco.
Foreword by John Tait
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
Mapping the Terrain of Our Journey
1 Near-Death Experiences
Their Universal, Cultural, and Individual Features
2 Early Civilizations
Their Nature, History, and Interactions
PART II
NDEs and the Ancient Afterlife
3 Egypt
Divine Transcendence and the Cosmic Circuit
4 Mesopotami
Otherworldly Descent and Ascent
5 India
Paths of Gods and Ancestors
6 China
From the Yellow Springs to Mount Kunlun
7 Mesoamerica
Places of the Fleshless
PART III
The Interface of Experience and Belief
8 Comparing Otherworld Journeys
9 Experiential Origins of the Afterlife
Near-Death Experiences, Shamanism, and Dreams
10 Crossing Boundaries
Psychology, Neurotheology, and Metaphysics
11 A Holistic View of the Afterlife
Notes
Bibliography
Index