Join Gregory Shushan, Ph.D. on a thought-provoking journey into our ancestors’ beliefs about death, dying, and the afterlife. He reveals the powerful influence of near-death experiences (NDEs) on religious beliefs and ritual practices throughout human history. Focusing on five ancient world regions in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, and Mesoamerica, Shushan explores each civilization’s afterlife beliefs. He explains how there is a series of similarities among afterlife beliefs too consistent and specific to be mere coincidence. This leads to the profound implication that afterlife beliefs are not entirely invented by cultures: they also derived from NDEs. Drawing on anthropology, psychology, and philosophy, Dr. Shushan explores how each civilization interpreted NDEs and how afterlife beliefs develop over time. He also explores the metaphysical implications of his discoveries, including what an actual afterlife might look like.
Key Points include:
• Reveals the powerful influence of near-death experiences (NDEs) on the formation of religious beliefs, mystical literature, and ritual practices
• Focuses on the afterlife beliefs of five ancient world regions: Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt, Sumer and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, Vedic India, pre-Buddhist China, and Maya and Aztec Mesoamerica
• Shows how the similarities among afterlife beliefs and their correspondences with NDEs reveal that they both stem from universal truths
• Considers what kind of afterlife might be possible in light of cross-cultural diversity and similarity
Gregory Shushan, PhD, is a historian of religions, an award-winning author, and the leading authority on near-death experiences and the afterlife across cultures and throughout history. His books include Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations, The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife, and Near-Death Experiences in Indigenous Religions. He is also the editor of Mind Dust and White Crows: The Psychical Research of William James, and of the forthcoming Historical Anthology of Near-Death Experiences. Dr. Shushan has undertaken research at University of Oxford, University College London, University of Wales, and the Cross-Cultural Centre in Ascona, Switzerland. He has lectured at universities in the UK, Ireland, and Switzerland and has given numerous talks on his research in nine countries, and has appeared on the History Channel. He is currently researching near-death experiences in Classical antiquity for a second PhD at Birmingham Newman University.
Website: https://www.gregoryshushan.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-shushan/
Substack: http://gregoryshushan.substack.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gregoryshushan
https://bsky.app/profile/gregoryshushan.bsky.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregoryshushan/
Links for Books: https://www.amazon.com/Near-Death-Experience-Ancient-Civilizations-Afterlife/dp/1644118688
