NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES ARE REAL

Pillow (co-author: Souls Are Real! Death Is Not!, 2013, etc.) offers an exploration of the soul and reincarnation.

Is death the end of everything, or is there a chance that humans have something in them that lasts forever? This is the question at the heart of this slender volume, and although Pillow provides his own answer early on, he expounds at length on the details. The author begins his investigation with, as the title suggests, near-death experiences. The average NDE account usually involves a feeling of being dissociated from one’s body or of going through a portal of some kind to an afterlife. Although such experiences are not easy to replicate in a controlled setting, as the author points out, the descriptions of them are “remarkably consistent,” he says. Pillow uses the concept of the NDE as a jumping-off point to explore the possibilities of past lives and reincarnation as well as to ruminate on what life could possibly be like beyond the mortal coil. If one can recall an experience in which they were physically dead, he wonders, can death really be the end? If not, according to the author, it strengthens the case for the existence of an indestructible soul, which would, in turn, help to explain such phenomena as children recalling former selves and even the existence of God. He then goes on to address what these concepts might mean for humanity as a whole. Although the text is just over 100 pages in length, it certainly covers a lot of ground. The spiritual side of humanity, what happens after we die, and the nature of God are hardly light topics. For the most part, though, the book manages to state its case smoothly without dallying too long on any one point. He also draws on other people’s work along the way—particularly that of American hypnotherapist Michael Newton—to lend support to stories that may not convince skeptics, such as that of a child who recalled past-life experiences of fighting in World War II. The author’s cheerful tone gives the work a positive spin throughout; one chapter, for instance, is described as being for both “you, the reader, and your family and friends.” The goal seems to be to help readers come to terms with the existence of an eternal self, even if that realization is only the first step of a longer journey. As the author states, getting to know one’s soul is a long process, not an “overnight goal.” Certain sections of the book, however, seem to veer off this instructive path. For instance, it includes information on the late researcher Masaru Emoto, whose theories on the connections between water and human consciousness were far from uncontroversial—and it doesn’t seem particularly relevant to the soul, as Pillow describes it. Nevertheless, the book ends on a distinctly upbeat note, as the reader is told to remember that “your soul wants to help you.”

A welcoming, if not scientifically airtight, consideration of the possibility of eternal existence.