Death as an Altered State of Consciousness

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.

Prologue

Acknowledgments

• Chapter 1: Studying Death
• Chapter 2: Deathbed Phenomena
• Chapter 3: After-Death Communication
• Chapter 4: Mediumship
• Chapter 5: Instrumental Transcommunication
• Chapter 6: Anomalous Physical Phenomena
• Chapter 7: Near-Death Experiences
• Chapter 8: Past-Life Experiences
• Chapter 9: The Nature of the Afterlife 

Epilogue

References

Index

About the Author

Imants Barušs, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology, King's University College at Western University where he teaches courses about consciousness and altered states of consciousness. His current research includes mathematical modelling of consciousness and empirical investigation of apparent after-death communication with electronic devices.

He is the author of 7 books, over 50 papers, and over 100 presentations at conferences and universities around the world. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration and Consulting Editor of Psychology of Consciousness, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Society for Consciousness Studies, and the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences.

• Prose Psychology and Applied Social Work Award Finalist

Finally, a book written by a skilled researcher, teacher, and communicator that presents the diverse areas of evidence that collectively all point in one direction—toward the survival of consciousness after physical death. Dr. Barušs is deeply thoughtful about alternative interpretations of the different areas of evidence. Although he is balanced and fair, he allows the best evidence to rise to the surface and helps the reader appreciate its importance. Since all living systems face the fact of physical death, having the opportunity to learn the evidence for survival of consciousness in a reader-friendly yet scholarly manner is refreshing and essential. This book is destined to become a classic. It deserves to be read and pondered by psychologists, scientists more broadly, and the science-minded public in general.
—Gary E. Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry and Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States; Director, Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health

If you are interested in knowing what the afterlife looks like to a serious academic studying the available literature from both a scientific and spiritual perspective, there is no better book that I could recommend. Dr. Barušs’s approach is thoughtful and well-informed. He is able to integrate masses of data to carefully delineate possibilities in an area that most people find confusing at best.
—Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, Host and Producer, New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel

Death as an Altered State of Consciousness: A Scientific Approach is a key contribution to the scientific literature exploring the nature of consciousness. You will be delighted with the way the narrative captures your interest, as well as the clear organization of Barušs’s arguments. He builds compelling evidence from a variety of research areas, including near-death experiences. This book will be of special interest to caregivers in end-of-life care, offering a new understanding of this highly debated and often misunderstood topic.
—Marjorie Woollacott, PhD, Professor, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States

Barušs is just one of the few real authorities on altered states. I can’t wait to order a copy!
—Charles T. Tart, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States; Editor, Altered States of Consciousness

Even the most skeptical readers will see Death as an Altered State of Consciousness’s relevance to ongoing developments in dissociative identity disorder, fantasy proneness, grief counseling, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and other means of personality transformation. Barušs’s lively writing style and his judicious use of intriguing examples make it difficult to put this book down.
—Stanley Krippner, PhD, Affiliated Distinguished Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, United States; Coeditor, Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence

Perhaps the most important book of our age, and certainly among the most fascinating. Not since Rudolf Steiner, Emanuel Swedenborg, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) have we been treated to such a rich tour of conscious experience during dying and death. And this time with scientific rigor.
—Allan Leslie Combs, PhD, Author, The Radiance of Being: Understanding the Grand Integral Vision; Living the Integral Life and Consciousness Explained Better: Towards an Integral Understanding of the Multifaceted Nature of Consciousness