Beyond the Veil

Scott D Rogo. The Return from Silence: a Study of Near-death Experiences. Aquarian Press, 1989.

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The subject of near-death experiences (NDEs) will be familiar to our readers. What they will want to know is is whether they are purely subjective or whether they indicate that a purely materialistic account of human life is inadequate to explain them.

 

Rogo gives a clearly written review of most aspects of the subject, drawing on the work of several researchers, such as Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring and Michael Sabom. He explores the similarities between NDEs and religious visions, and drug-induced experiences. It is sometimes alleged that persons undergoing NDEs see things which they could not normally know about, such as what is happening in another room. Rogo discusses such cases in a chapter entitled ' Paranormal aspects of the NDE'. He admits that perfectly normal explanations are available in many cases, and that the most interesting cases have not been rigorously investigated. However, he believes that NDEs are objectively real.

 

There is also discussion of the of the question concerning the extent to which the content of NDEs is culturally determined. Investigations among Melanesians show that although they reported somewhat similar experiences, there were important differences. The Melanesians did not report out-of-t he-body experiences or the feelings of exhilaration, or other strong emotional reactions commonly reported by people brought up in the Western, Christian tradition who are the sour ce of most of the available reports. Differing opinions are presented in a very fair and reasonable manner, making this book a good introduction to the subject.

• John Harney, from Magonia 34, 1989