Is There an Afterlife?

The question whether or not we survive physical death has occupied the minds of men and women since the dawn of recorded history. The spiritual traditions of both West and East have taught that death is not the end, but modern science generally dismisses such teachings. The fruit of a lifetime's research and experience by a world expert in the field, Is There An Afterlife? presents the most complete survey to date of the evidence, both historical and contemporary, for survival of physical death. It includes mediumship and channelling, spontaneous cases, hauntings, apparitions, near death experiences, out of the body experiences, Electronic Voice Phenomenon, Instrumental Transcommunication and recent laboratory work. It accepts that evidence is often disputed but makes the claim that much of the phenomena is inexplicable without some form of survival. It looks at the question of what survives-personality, memory, emotions and body image-in particular exploring the question of consciousness as primary to and not dependent on matter in the light of recent brain research and quantum physics. It discusses the possible nature of the afterlife, the common threads in Western and Eastern traditions, the common features of "many levels," group souls and reincarnation. As well a providing the broadest overview of the question, giving due weight to the claims both of science and religion, Is There An Afterlife? brings it into personal perspective. It asks how we should live in this life as if death is not the end, and suggests how we should change our behaviour accordingly.

David Fontana is a psychologist with many years' interest in spirituality and psychical research. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Founder Chair of the BPS Transpersonal Psychology Section, Past President and current Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research, and Chair of the SPR Survival Research Committee. He is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University, and Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. His many books on spiritual themes, which have been translated into 25 languages, include The Secret Language of Symbols, The Secret Language of Dreams, Learn to Meditate, Learn Zen Meditation (all Duncan Baird/Chronicle), The Meditators Handbook, Teaching Meditation to Children (Thorsons), and Psychology, Religion and Spirituality (Blackwells). He lives near Cardiff, Wales.