After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond

This book has strengthened my faith in God and Jesus!! It’s one crucial “piece of the puzzle” in our journey through this life to earn Heaven. Dr. Greyson writes this book in a very “neutral” way presenting everyone’s story as they are. However, he tells the complete story of the experiencers and to an extent his own transformation after decades of studying NDEs. The book has helped me to better understand and appreciate my late Father’s NDE! I will give this book to my children!!

Credit the progression of the Near-Death Experience (NDE) over the past 50 years from an event that raised eyebrows about the experiencer’s sanity to a phenomenon that merited serious consideration by scientific and medical professionals to the curiosity and persistence of Dr. Bruce Grayson, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, among many other professional credentials.Dr. Greyson’s interest in near-death experiences began in medical school when he encountered a patient in the emergency room who stunned him with an account of leaving her body while unconscious, an event that challenged his orthodox beliefs about the mind and the brain and thus led him on a lifelong journey to study near-death experiences scientifically. He went on to co-find the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and serve as editor to the Journal of Near-Death Studies for 27 years.As a writer myself who focuses on reincarnation and the paranormal, I found IANDS ten years ago, have attended several of its events, read widely on the subject, and observed related research by Dr. Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona. This is not to blow my horn, but to give some standing in reviewing and recommending Dr. Greyson’s recently published (March 2021) memoir/autobiography of his work with NDE’s, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond. To those with considerable experience, direct or indirect, in the subject, Dr. Greyson’s work might, as a top Amazon reviewer put it, appear to be “interesting, not groundbreaking,” qualifying such bluntness by saying: “You will not be disappointed if you approach this book as a biography of Greyson and a late-in-life summation of his work and perspective on the NDE phenomenon. It isn't by any means technical or groundbreaking. It touches all the bases, but not in a deep or challenging way.” A left-handed compliment but the type of innuendo that Dr. Greyson as an academic working in a non-traditional field must be used to, and one I see as more of a positive than perhaps intended. After is indeed not highly technical or overburdened with jargon; Greyson is an experienced teacher introducing his subject in a way that novices to the concept of the NDE, his target audience, can readily absorb. That same reviewer also takes issue with the author holding to middle ground: “Greyson bends over backwards - and beyond - to maintain at least a façade of objectivity between the extremes of insisting NDEs are full-blown experiences of the afterlife and insisting they're products of natural processes.” Again, a left-handed swipe that can be seen as a compliment to Dr. Greyson’s ability to encourage the reader to think independently and synthesize the opposite sides of the argument for himself. He does this so elegantly when he writes: “One of the fruits of that open-minded attitude is an appreciation for things we can’t explain. Studying things that fit our preconceived ideas helps us understand their fine points better. But studying things that don’t fit our preconceived ideas is what often drives breakthroughs in science.”And I believe he is plenty bold enough in stating what is obvious and incontrovertible about the NDE experience: “Whatever NDEs were, they were changing people’s lives as surely as our psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy. What’s more, they seemed to do this much faster, more profoundly, and more permanently. And beyond that, NDEs changed not only the experiencers’ lives, but often the lives of others who came into contact with them—including me.”He takes on the tough, perhaps unfathomable, questions, a key one of which in his own words is: “What’s a better way to think about the relationship between the chemical and electrical activity in your brain and the thoughts and feelings in your mind?” He then points out the need to differentiate the mind from the brain, citing NDE phenomenon as evidence to that separation in the human makeup, a conclusion he is then content to leave open-ended: “We may eventually come up with another explanation, but until then, minds and brains as separate things, with brains acting to filter our thoughts and feelings, seems to be the most plausible working model.”After is Highly recommended for those newly curious about to the subject of NDEs (there are also dozens of books with supportive case studies and alternate analyses) but equally valuable to the already initiated as a summary of the subject from a master and a well-crafted handbook for use in presenting this difficult but critical element of the life process to those who need to know about it. And if NDEs are as frequent and impactful as Dr. Greyson proposes they are, who shouldn’t know as much as can be known about them?

This is an interesting, readable book, but it does not live up to the hype it has been given. I’m not sure that any book on so complex and potentially consequential a subject as this could. It concerns near death experiences, which Dr. Greyson has been studying for over four decades. The subjects involved are what my college classmates would have termed cosmic: the existence of God, the existence of an afterlife, the aspects of that afterlife which might be described and enumerated, the existence of a heaven and a hell, the meaning of life/death/experience, and so on.The scientific method is interviewing/categorizing/calculating experiential overlap/summation. What did people experience in their NDE’s? How many people near death have NDE’s? Of what do they consist? What are the most common experiences? What conclusions can we draw from all this?Needless to say, this is all of the greatest possible importance, but the evidence is perforce anecdotal, not anecdotal in the ‘that’s not science or real data’ sense (which he addresses at some length) but the kind of science represented by ethnology—the interviewing of individuals, the development of case studies, and so on. The investigator is limited by the number of ‘experiencers’, the nature and quality of their experiences and the degree to which concrete conclusions can be drawn from those experiences. This is not topology, particle physics or genetics though it may be more important than all of them.Given the fact that the data are thus limited and that the book’s audience is a general one, the science is interesting and instructive but not as weighty and persuasive as we might like (particularly when readers are all personally invested in certain conclusions that might be drawn).I found the first half of the book a bit of a slog. It is largely autobiographical (how I got into this, what it meant to my career, why I wouldn’t have gotten tenure doing it at the U. of Michigan, and so on). About halfway through, the book comes alive with the discussion of consciousness. Consciousness is the most complex and perhaps most weighty of the subjects facing contemporary neuroscience and the notion that NDE research suggests (proves?) that the mind and brain are separate entities, that the mind lives on when the brain ceases to function and that not only does the brain not ‘create’ the mind; rather, it takes its directions from the mind . . . this is all very heavy, fascinating stuff. He returns to this in the book’s interesting (8-page) conclusion. The problem is that the weight of the conclusions is perforce disproportionate to the weight of the evidence.The bottom line is that for this reader (familiar with much of the popular neuroscience literature and the product of Catholic education, from grammar school through college) the book carries less weight than I would have liked, even though I am disposed to agree heartily with its conclusions. It may be that skeptical but passionate believers, like Samuel Johnson, e.g., always want more evidence, more rigor, something approaching a proof that compels belief, even though such a so-called apodictic proof may not be possible. I recommend the book, particularly for those who are new to the subject, but I warn those already familiar with it that they will come away wanting more.

Good summary of his extensive research. Excellent discussion of a very difficult topic. Interesting attempt to model a complex phenomenon

I thought the first third or so of the book was a little boring when the doctor's research methods were being presented but I guess that this was just part of the necessary scientific process. I found the remainder of the book to be very interesting and thought provoking. I have never had an NDE but I have had a couple of close calls in auto accident situations. In these cases, time as I perceived it, slowed way down but my brain was processing information very quickly. Similar things were mentioned in NDE experiences in the book. I am glad I purchased the book. At the very least it was very thought provoking as to what happens next for all of us.

Loved this book and the way Dr. Greyson approaches the subject. I cannot say I remember anything about my death, but I know I came back without the fear of dying. A reevaluation of dying did occur somehow, as did how important it is to just listen to what is really being said without judgment or expressing an opinion. Acceptance is key to those who have such a memory.

This book stunned me. On the one hand, I am a skeptic like Sir Richard Dawkins on esoteric topics. On the other hand, for long years, I was quietly terrified by what Sir Bertrand Russell called "Terror of cosmic loneliness". Are we really alone in this damned ****ing universe? What happens to our soul after death? What happens to the souls of all our near & dear ones after their passing away? Do we ever get to meet them again? Such emotional questions that always stay at a corner of your mind looking for attention. This book fundamentally & totally changed my outlook towards "After life". After reading this book, I finally reconciled with my dad's death, which had had a devastating effect on me for more than a dozen years. What more can happen to you when you realize your "terror of cosmic loneliness" has been replaced by a subtle happy curiosity about the subject "Death" itself. I couldn't thank the author Dr.Bruce Greyson enough. I am very grateful to him and even more grateful to the good God for making me accidentally stumble on to this powerful book. One thing I highly appreciated was the tremendously thorough scientific rigor Dr.Greyson employed to find answers to a topic most scientists feel uncomfortable to even talk about. There's an elephant in that room that they don't want to see. Dr.Greyson has taken the rare risk of talking about such an elephant. Thank you very much. This book should be read by every person who has a spiritual and/or philosophical bent of mind. This book also has key takeaways for those who have a purely scientific bent of mind. God bless.

Ottimo saggio scientifico sulle NDE.di grande valore scientifico è anche la sua diretta testimonianza di una percezione extrasensoriale verificata della paziente in coma.

An honest and a great job of Dr. Greyson. It really puts some light in the fantastic trajetory of each human being.

Dr Greyson’s (Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry) 4 decades of research about thousands of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) convincingly makes the case that:- there is life after death– the life that awaits us is fuller than we can conceive of with love and joy. “They consistently describe feeling peaceful, calm, tranquil, at home, and, most of all loved” p.161 “you are safe here” p. 199– our lives have purpose.Many of those who die and come back are sent back to complete something in this life eg “I was sent back for a reason” p166-7. So this life, however meaningless it may seem, has profound significance.- people who have a near death experiences come back utterly changed, realising the need to show up in the world with love and kindness.For example the Marine, who returned from his NDE and realised he could not fire his gun. “I couldn’t shoot my gun. All I ever wanted was to be a marine, but I realised I could no longer do my job. The NDE had an incredible effect on my life. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fire my rifle. Eventually, I left the Marines … I joined the National Guard, because it helps people instead of killing them “ p187Read this book, and see this life anew.- Each of us has a purpose to our life.- Our purpose is linked to showing kindness and care to each other.- One day we will be in an place of eternal joy, safety and unimaginable love.Thank you so so much Dr Bruce Grayson for your gift to hear your message.