Belief in postmortem survival is common

Psychologist Jeffrey Mishlove writes in “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death” that: The argument for postmortem survival is far from trying to prove a miracle. To a large extent, it is based on phenomenology – “the study of the structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.”

William James, also one of America’s greatest philosophers, linked phenomenology to final argument on Radical Empiricism. It was an important step in challenging David Hume’s rejection of human testimony. James was adamant:

... empiricism must neither admit... any element that is not directly experienced, nor exclude... any element that is directly experienced.

Besides accepting human testimony as important evidence, my essay is based on a metaphysical worldview where postmortem survival can best be thought of as natural. I argue that consciousness, of any kind, occurs because the universe is alive and mindlike.

A belief in postmortem survival of consciousness is common to every culture, nationality, religion, and linguistic group in every region and historical period on Earth. Every single one! Americans’ belief in life after death, for example, has been stable for 75 years at over 70%.

 We have had excellent evidence for postmortem survival for over 160 years. This evidence has always been widely accepted, especially by those who have taken the time and trouble to study it carefully. However, with very few exceptions, academic and scientific institutions treat this evidence as if it never existed.

Bertrand Russell’s belief that consciousness is a product of neurological activity remains today an unconfirmed hypothesis. Nobel laureate Francis Crick, DNA pioneer and author of The Astonishing Hypothesis, expresses a refreshingly truthful scientific attitude. In this video from 1995, Crick acknowledges the religious view favoring an afterlife might well be correct.

Even Martin Gardner, an arch-scoffer of everything paranormal, has acknowledged postmortem survival! In a fascinating book chapter from 1983 titled “Immortality: Why I Do Not Think It Impossible,” Gardner’s opinion went even further than Francis Crick.

Gardner built upon William James’ 1897 filtration theory of brain function. This hypothesis likens the brain to a filter or reducing valve, not the source of consciousness. The brain accesses mind-at-large, or universal consciousness, in all its magnificent potency. Then the brain places into the spotlight of awareness a reduced level most useful for biological survival. James presented this theory as a way of accounting for life after death.

William James had an unusual ability to take the complex and make it simple. His theory – the brain is the filter, rather than the source of consciousness – is one of his powerful and easy to grasp ideas. At the same time there is substantial empirical research to reinforce this hypothesis. We will see this later in studies of psychedelics, terminal lucidity, extrasensory perception, and psychokinesis.

 

Jeffrey Mishlove’s essay, “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death,” received first prize in the 2021 Bigelow Institute’s challenge to provide proof for the survival of human consciousness after death. Footnotes in Mishlove’s essay and videos he refers have been removed in this presentation but are available in his essay, which may be downloaded at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php. Mishlove is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and YouTube host of “New Thinking Allowed.”