Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death

Carl B. Becker is Professor of Comparative Thought at Kyoto University, Japan. He has also written Survival: Life After Death in Christianity, Buddhism, and Modern Science; American Ideals; and Communication: East and West.

"This book is lucidly written, well organized, and succinct as an overview of the empirical evidence for survival. The author efficiently summarizes the arguments and counterarguments surrounding alleged cases of reincarnation, apparition, out of body experiences and near death experiences. Some of the theoretical material is superb. For these reasons, it is a book I want on my shelf. Most other studies of this kind are hopelessly partisan; this study is highly reputable. The author deftly distinguishes between different facets of paranormal phenomena, and thus clarifies discussion that is usually muddied." — Carol Zaleski, Smith College"…if you really want an honest look at the state of paranormal research, there really is only one, Paranormal Experiences and Survival of Death … comprehensive, possibly the best effort at explaining things that go bump in the night … well organized and can offer the reader concrete 'empiric' evidence for the survival of the human spirit after death." — Texas Bookworm

• Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Proof of Reincarnation? Phenomena Not Considered Déjà-Vu Autoprecognition Child Prodigies Mediumism and Spiritualism Phenomena Considered Spontaneous Possession Hypnotic Age-Regression Spontaneous Memories of Former Lives Objections to the Phenomena as Evidence of Survival Refusal to Accept the Evidence Objections to Population Increase and Lack of Memories Normal but Forgotten Memories? The Super-ESP Hypothesis Objections to All Super-ESP Hypotheses Chapter 2: Invisible Bodies? Phenomena Not Considered Hallucinations Phantom Limbs Poltergeists Hauntings of Place Phenomena Considered Apparitions Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) Objections to the Phenomena as Evidence of Survival Refusal to Accept the Existence of the Evidence Theoretical Objections about Animals and Doppelgängers Normal or Physiological Explanations Super-ESP Theories Conclusions Chapter 3: The Heart of Near-Death Experiences Phenomena Not Considered OBEs The Life-Review Physiologically Explicable Sounds and Lights Phenomena Considered Deathbed Visions Down Through History Visions of Departed Relatives or Friends Visions of Religious Figures Visions of Another World Objections to the Phenomena as Evidence of Survival Patients Pronounced Dead were Not Really Dead Patients' Visions were Hallucinations Siegel's Similarities NDEs are Defense Mechanisms or Mental Disease Attacks on the Veridicality of NDEs Super-ESP Accounts for True Information in NDEs Chapter 4: Philosophy of Science The Ontology of Modern Physics Views of Physical Entities Views of the "Nature of Things" Compatibility of Physics and Parapsychology Unresolved Philosophical Questions Rational Objections to Paranormal Evidence Repeatability Theory-requirement Inherent Probabilities Survival Research as Empirical Science Nonrational Objections to Paranormal Evidence Psychological Resistance to Cognitive Dissonance Intellectual Resistance to Reeducation and Paradigm Shift Religious Resistance to Heretical or Occult Forces Social Resistance and Fear of Ridicule Chapter 5: A Model of Resistance and Change in the Sciences Rejection of the Evidence Refusal to Consider Discrediting by Association Criticism by Authority Suppression Limiting Opportunities for Publication Suppression of Academic Fraternity, Opportunities and Funds Reinterpretation Independent Growth Publications Professional Organizations Grants and Funding Assimilation and Acceptance Recognition without Paradigm Conversion Paradigm Conversion by Personal Persuasion Nonconversion and Supersession of the New Paradigm Public Opinion and Scientific Change Chapter 6: What Will the Next World Be Like? The Wide Range of Experiences at Death Reincarnation An Apparitional World Ethereal Bodies Reconcilable with Materialism Astral Bodies are Not Enough An Idealist Next World A Nonmaterialist Hypothesis? Personhood and Personal Identification The End: A New Beginning Notes Bibliography Index