Synopses & Reviews
For centuries death has drawn our attention. Some fear the imagined darkness while others consider it a peaceful reunion with family and friends; still others view death as nothing more than a transition. Despite our curiosity and the vast literature on death and dying, no one has truly examined from a cross-cultural standpoint what happens to us after we die.
Using extensive and innovative research, anecdotes, and stories, Sukie Miller has woven together the results of groundbreaking studies of attitudes worldwide toward the afterdeath. Identifying four distinct stages of the afterdeath, Waiting, Judgment, Possibilities, and Return, she clarifies and analyzes the results of her work in India, Brazil, Indonesia, West Africa, and the United States.
In 1969 Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross asked, "What happens to us as we die?" In 1975 Dr. Raymond Moody sought to discover what happens to us when we die, and in 1994 Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland introduced us to the physical realities of death itself. In this novel look at cross-cultural afterdeath systems, Dr. Sukie Miller now reports and reflects on what happens to us after we die.
Synopsis
Based on a pioneering eight-year study, this is a fascinating and ultimately reassuring look at the belief systems that surround death and dying in cultures around the world -- revealing the startling similarities found in traditional descriptions of the journey we embark on after death.
The first cross-cultural investigation of how humanity copes with the reality of death, this comforting guide supplies an important new understanding of the after-death in much the same way the work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross does for the dying process.
"It will stretch your mind, enlarge your hope, and fill the sails of your spirit with a fair wind for the longest journey into the beyond". -- Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly
About the Author
Sukie Miller Ph.D., a psychotherapist, is one of the first researchers to study the cross-cultural dimensions of the afterdeath. Miller is currently founder and director of the Institute for the Study of the Afterdeath.