R. Paterson – författare

This book expounds values which the author styles ''patrician''. It is also a critique of distinctively ''plebeian'' attitudes. These two terms refer to beliefs and responses which any individual may evince, regardless of social class. The main issues in life are within our own consciousness, not in the external world. Our experiences are fraught with symbolisms, noble and ignoble, which our free imagination can reveal and our choices select, in our endeavours to create a successful human identity.

This book critically examines the case for and against the belief in personal survival of bodily death. It discusses key philosophical questions. How could a discarnate individual be identified as a person who was once alive? What is the relationship between minds and their brains? Is a ''next world'' conceivable? The book also examines classic arguments for the immortality of the soul, and focuses on types of prima facie evidence of survival: near-death experiences, apparitions, mediumistic communications, and ostensible reincarnation cases.