• 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

Taking readers on a thought-provoking journey into our ancestors’ beliefs about death, dying, and the afterlife, Gregory Shushan, Ph.D., reveals the powerful influence of near-death experiences (NDEs) on religious beliefs and ritual practices throughout human history. Focusing on five ancient world regions—Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt, Sumer and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, Vedic India, pre-Buddhist China, and Maya and Aztec Mesoamerica—Shushan expertly explores each civilization’s afterlife beliefs, highlighting their similarities with NDEs and comparing them with each other. He explains how each of these civilizations developed independently of one another, with little or no cultural contact between them, yet there is a series of similarities between afterlife beliefs among these groups 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 stem from universal truths derived from NDEs.

Drawing on anthropology, psychology, and philosophy, the author explores how each civilization interpreted NDEs to form their beliefs and presents a rich understanding of how afterlife beliefs develop over time. He also explores the metaphysical implications of his discoveries, including what an actual afterlife would look like based on cross-cultural similarities and differences.

Revealing that NDEs have occurred throughout human history, Shushan shows how they continue to influence our understanding of what lies beyond death to this day.

Gregory Shushan, Ph.D., is the leading authority on near-death experiences and afterlife beliefs across cultures and throughout history. He is an award-winning author affiliated with Birmingham Newman University, University of Winchester, Marian University, and the Parapsychology Foundation. A former researcher at the University of Oxford and University of Wales, he lives in San Francisco.

Foreword by John Tait

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I
Mapping the Terrain of Our Journey

1 Near-Death Experiences
Their Universal, Cultural, and Individual Features

2 Early Civilizations
Their Nature, History, and Interactions

PART II
NDEs and the Ancient Afterlife

3 Egypt
Divine Transcendence and the Cosmic Circuit

4 Mesopotami
Otherworldly Descent and Ascent

5 India
Paths of Gods and Ancestors

6 China
From the Yellow Springs to Mount Kunlun

7 Mesoamerica
Places of the Fleshless

PART III
The Interface of Experience and Belief

8 Comparing Otherworld Journeys

9 Experiential Origins of the Afterlife
Near-Death Experiences, Shamanism, and Dreams

10 Crossing Boundaries
Psychology, Neurotheology, and Metaphysics

11 A Holistic View of the Afterlife

Notes

Bibliography

Index