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In this engaging book, diverse phenomena associated with death, such as apparent after-death communication and near-death experiences, are examined through a scientific lens and evaluated for the degree to which they offer evidence for the survival of consciousness after death. Is death the end of everything? Is life after death really possible? Considerable scientific support has emerged in recent years for the idea that death is best described as an altered state of consciousness. This survival hypothesis contrasts with predominant materialist thinking, which holds that there is only oblivion upon death. Chapters in this book investigate scientific evidence for mediumship, instrumental transcommunication, near-death experiences, after-death communication, and past-life experiences, among other anomalous death-related occurrences, and a framework is presented for understanding the nature of a potential afterlife. The phenomena described in this book will broaden the perspective of consciousness researchers, and fill an educational need for caregivers, grief counselors, and all who are interested in this understudied and misunderstood area.

Now in a second edition, this pathbreaking investigation into the nature of cognitive reality explores various manifestations of consciousness, including more familiar states such as sleeping and dreaming, as well as hypnosis, trance, dissociation, and near-death experiences. Throughout the work, Barušs brings to bear significant new neuroscientific evidence supporting the occurrence of these phenomena and their nature and purpose. Other major updates include the latest findings in sleep research, therapeutic discoveries related to psychedelics, empirical research into transcendent states, and developments in the study of anomalous phenomena such as purported alien abduction and UFOs. A new conclusion discusses an exosomatic theory of consciousness that can account for the findings in the text. Students and other readers of this engaging text will sharpen their critical thinking skills and gain an enriched understanding of consciousness, reality, and the scientific endeavor.