ACADEMY OF SPIRITUALITY AND PARANORMAL STUDIES. INC.ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 2007

PROCEEDINGS

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES IN ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY; THEORIGINS OF RATIONAL INQUIRY INTO THE AFTERLIFE

Raymond A. Moody, MD. Ph.D.

"Abstract:" This paper discusses ancient Greek philosophers' views onnear-death experiences and other phenomena related to the prospect oflife after death. Greek philosophers were the first men to applyreason in attempts at answering the question of an ajierworld.Moreover, they discovered and developed the system of reason andlogical thinking that is still in force today. Hence, the origins ofWestern, rational thought are closely connected to the Greekphilosophers'studies and practices related to the afterlife world.Together, these men set the style for rational inquiry into the ajierworld.This paper identifies nine themes in their work which continue toinjluence today's research.

What do we know about life after death? And how do we know it? Or, rather, can weknow anything about life after death? Heraclitus, Plato, Hume, and other greatphilosophers said that the question is ultimately unfathomable. That is, they said that thisparticular mystery may be beyond the reach of rational knowledge. But, even if they areright, can we correct the situation? Can we develop new methods of rationalinvestigation suitable to the question of life after death?

First, though, we must remember that not everyone cares about rational proof. Someare convinced that there is life after death hecause of personal, transcendent, near-deathexperiences. Othersareconvincedof it because of their religious faith. And yet othersare just as convinced on personal, philosophical grounds that there is no such thing as anafterlife.

People in these three groups are truly lucky. They can relax and stop wondering aboutthis nagging and fearful question. They feel certain that they know the answer already, sothey have no need for a rational proof

For the rest of us, however, reason is the only recourse. So, the big, epistemologicalproblems surrounding life after death are crucial and pivotal questions. Is there a rationalpath to knowledge about the prospect of life beyond death?

It is not possible to rethink rational inquiry into this mystery without reconnecting withthe ancient Greek philosophers. They were the first men to apply rational methods toconsider the fate of the conscious self upon physical death. In fact, at that time, mostpeople identified philosophy with curiosity about that mystery in particular.

The Apology is Plato's memoir of his mentor Socrates' trial. The dialogue discusses aproverbial definition of philosophy that figured into Socrates' legal difficulties. It helpedget Socrates into trouble in the first place, and it was in the jurors' minds at his trial. Thisancient, proverbial definition highlights two essential or characteristic activities ofphilosophers, according to general opinion. Specifically, a philosopher is someone whoinquires into things under the earth and things in the sky. And each element-investigating the underworld, and fiying to study the earth and sky-bears directly on themystery of life after death.

Ancient Greek philosophers ventured to the underworld, evoked spirits of the dead,traveled out of their bodies, and studied near-death experiences. Their otherworldadventures helped lay the foundation and set the agenda for all subsequent, rationalthought in the Western world. So, the ideas of philosophers like Pythagoras, Heraclitus,Parmenides, Empedocles, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are built into ourestablished way of debating about life after death. Specifically, Greek philosopherspropounded the following nine ideas that continue to influence the course of rationalinquiry into the afterlife.

1. Certain phenomenal experiences are relevant to the question of life after death.

The earliest philosophers did not just wonder about the other side, they went there toacquire firsthand knowledge about it.For, the Greeks envisioned the afterlife realm as a subterranean dimension occupying theunderworld. And they were acquainted with a handftil of traditional techniques forcontacting the spirits of the dead or traveling to the underworld. Greek philosopherspracticed, studied, or discussed about a half-dozen ways of accessing the world beyond.

About 600 B. C. E., the Cretan proto-philosopher Epimenides isolated himself deepwithin a cave for about three years. During this period, he journeyed to another worldand experienced visions of knowledge. About 500 B.C. E., Pythagoras, too, supposedlylived in a cave for the standaid, three-year term. At Pythagoras' schools, studentsdescended into on-site subterranean chambers for visionary journeys through sensorydeprivation and, presumably, other techniques, including music.

About 500 B. C. E. an underworld deity supposedly summoned the philosopherParmedides and transported him down there for consultation. While Parmenides was inthe underworld, the deity revealed the concept of independent truth to him. Then, whenhe returned fTom his journey, Parmenides founded deductive logic upon what he hadlearned below ground.

People also associated philosophers with oracles of the dead, subterranean complexesbuilt for various procedures for evoking spirits. Resident experts on these procedureswere known as psychogogues, or evokers of the deceased. Greeks fiocked to oracles ofthe dead to seek information fixjm departed loved ones. Or, more commonly, theyprobably went there because of grief, and hope of reunions.

The Birds, one of Aristophanes' comedies, specifically links Socrates to an oracle ofthe dead, "in the swamp of dismal dread." It continues, "there we saw foul Socrates comecalling up the dead." So, during his lifetime, ordinary Greeks believed and stated thatSocrates was a psychogogue.

The Greek philosopher Empedocles, as Darwin himself mentioned first propounded atheory of evolution. Empedocles also made other advances in philosophy, science, andmedicine. For example, he formulated a concept of impersonal force. Healsodefmedthe notion of an element as something that cannot be broken down into another kind ofsubstance. And he introduced the notion of a pore, or an opening too tiny to be visible.

Empedocles acknowledged himself to be a psychogogue by claiming that he calledpeople back from death. He descended into the underworld through openings ordepressions in the slopes of a simmering volcano, Mt. Etna. For, in a volcano, theunderworld came up to the surface ofthe earth. Hence, it was a good place forcommurung with the spirits ofthe dead.

The philosopher Democritus realized that, contrary to ordinary sense perception,material substances must be made up of minute, indivisible bits. He dubbed these minutebits atoms, or indivisibles and, hence, founded the atomic theory of matter. According toDemocritus's atomism, atoms and the void are all that exist.

Democritus studied reports of near-death experiences, which were popular even then.However, like today's medical materialists, he denied that near-death experiences areevidence of an afterlife. Unfortunately, Democritus' book on the subject is now longlost. Other ancient writers commented on his book, though. And they state thatDemocritus discounted near-death experiences as an unreal by-product ofthe dyingprocess. He pointed out that there is no such thing as a moment of death.

The Greeks thought that, sometimes, people got swallowed up by the earth, and wentdown into the underworld. A huge chasm would suddenly open up in the ground, andswallow someone into the earth. This sort of calamity is also portrayed in the Bible, inNumbers 16. In that passage, Moses warns a couple of reprobates that they and theirfamilies are about to be swallowed by the earth, down into the underworld. And ithappens, too just as Moses said it would.

Sometimes, someone who barely escaped being swallowed by such a chasm wouldclimb down thorough it and voluntarily venture into the underworld. Either way, heroesof this type of underworld journey had to survive the descent and retum to tell the tale.Plato's Republic centers on this and two other types of underworld journeys and afterlifeexperiences.

The Republic is attempts to establish what justice is, and define its relationship to themystery ofthe afterlife. The dialogue does so while recounting three popular types ofunderworld or afterlife adventures. At the beginning, there is the story of Gyges whowandered through a gigantic chasm that opened in the earth and into the underworld. In

the middle, Soerates describes and debunks on a subterranean oracle of the dead, wherepeople traveled to experience lifelike apparitions or visions of their departed loved ones.Then, at the end, Socrates tells the story of Er, a warrior who spontaneously revived at hisfimeral, after having apparently died in battle. Clearly, in Plato's opinion, near-deathexperiences are the type of afterlife journey that offers the strongest rational support forthe possibility of an afterlife.

To recap, Greek philosophers discussed their own or other people's afterlife orunderworld experiences. These phenomenal experiences fiimished one of the basicrequirements for rational inquiry into life after death. For, as Plato pointed out, some sortof story, narrative, or account is necessary, just to get rational thought and debate aboutthe afteriife started. Or, that is, some sort of scenario is always required to talk aboutcontinued personal existence beyond death. Hence, experiential accounts of apparitionsof the deceased, underworld journeys, and near-death experiences were the originalfodder for rational inquiry into life after death.

2. The possibility of life after death depends on the mind-body relationship.

About 600 B.C. E., Hermotimus, an ancient Greek proto-philosopher, was known forhis ability to leave his body at will. During his out-of-body experiences, Hermotimus'soul would supposedly travel to far away places in search of knowledge. So, the Greekphilosophers knew about out-of-body travel, too. Accordingly, they realized that whetherthere is life after death depends upon whether the conscious self can exist independentlyof the physical body.

This is the ancient imponderable mystery known in philosophy as the mind-bodyproblem. Theories abound, but if consciousness is merely a secondary, unrealmanifestation of electrxKhemical events in the brain, consciousness ceases to exist uponbodily death. The mind-body problem remains among the primary issues in today'srational debate about the afterlife. And Plato was the first philosopher to write asystematic study of the relationship between the soul and body, vis a vis the afterlife. It ishis dialogue. The Phaedo.

3. The souls of the dead reincarnate and are recycled through this worid.

Pythagoras introduced reincarnation into Western thought. For, he said that he couldremember eight of his past lives. Plato, too, supported the notion that the soul comesback to earth after death in a new body.

4. The souls of the dead continue to exist in an afterlife worldAncient Greek philosophers spatialized the afterlife. For, they postulated that if the dead

continue to exist, they must do so in some other kind of world, apart from this one. Platocomposed vivid descriptions of the layout of the afterworid. Even so, he emphasized thatall such accounts are, at best, only plausible conjectures, or opinions. We continue in thisphilosophical tradition today, when we talk about life after death as though it exists in a

conjectural, quasi-spatial environment.

5. Ones conduct in this world determines ones state in the next world.

An afterworld of everlasting reward or punishment is more familiar as a religiousdoctrine. Even so, Plato also envisioned a just and moral hereafter. His own, best-guessscenario is a split-level spirit world in which divine justice is meted out to the souls ofthe

dead, according to individual merit.

It seems that a notion of justice is built into the mystery of life after death. For,people seem to take it for granted that there must be justice in the afterlife. Hence, eventoday, we cannot investigate this mystery without somehow taking the moral dimension

ofthe afterworld into account. For example, questions about the differential fate of goodpeople versus evil doers in the afterlife often come to the surface during learned debates

about near-death experiences.

6. Grief and fear of dying stir people's curiosity about life after death.

Some wonder about the prospect of an afterlife from early childhood. However, inmany cases, people begin to ponder this question only in the wake of losing loved ones to

death. Or, they begin to wonder about it as age encroaches.

Plato observed that the aging process itself eventually brings people around to thequestion of life after death. So, he was the first philosopher to point out that life after

death is partly a developmental question. In other words, it is a question that people tendto ask themselves during periods of grief, or when they are worrying about dying.

A grief-stricken or anxious state of mind is not conducive to rational thinking aboutperplexing mysteries, however. Plato recommended thinking about the afterlife

constantly throughout life. That way, he thought, philosophers would be able to facedeath with equanimity.

7. Consolation is a main aim of rational inquiry into life after death.

Plato's Phaedo marshals several lines of reasoning to support the possibility of anafterlife. The dialogue is set in prison, on the day Socrates was to be executed. And it

reports the discussion Socrates and his fiiends supposedly had that day about the afterlife.

Socrates lays out several rational arguments that seem to show that the soul leavesthe body at death and travels to the next world. After presenting his case, however, hecharacterizes his rational arguments as "my attempt at consoling you and myself." So,Plato and other Greek philosophers saw consolation as a legitimate object of rationalinquiry into this mystery. They figured that fmding strong rational arguments for life

after death would console the grieving and cheer up the dying. Hence, Greekphilosophers of every school, notably the Stoics, published consolation books. These

books compiled arguments that would give readers hope and consolation as they faced thereality of death.

Some philosophical authors threw any argument into their books, as long as it mightconsole someone. So, the arguments in the same book of consoling arguments sometimescontradicted one another. Apropos, the Platonic dialogue Auxiochus_exposes the foibles

of philosophical attempts at alleviating fear of death by logical argumentation. In thedialogue, Socrates is called to the bedside of his friend Auxiochus, who is filled with fear

of dying. After hearing Socrates' arguments Auxiochus says "Your logical reasoningdoesn't help, Socrates. Only what sinks to my level consoles me." Then, at the end of the

dialogue, the two men agree that Socrates will probably have to come by againtomorrow. For, by then, his nervous fiiend will probably need another dose of consoling

arguments.

Even today, the main aim of some afterlife researchers is to make people feel better.For example, one investigator says that he decided to study mediums in order to console

his grieving girlfriend. And, of course, consoling others is a commendable goal.However, this particular motivation for conducting afterlife researeh presents its ovm

dangers. For, consoling grieving people is no excuse for helping them deceivethemselves. And, ultimately, the best, most effective and lasting consolation is the truth.

8. Sentences like" There is life after death" are not literal in meaning.

It was Plato who first defined literal meaning and linked it to the distinction betweentruth and falsehood, hi that way, literal meaning with its binary true-or-false propositions

became the gold standard for the purpose of searching for rational knowledge. So,significantly, Plato also first pointed out that talking ahout life after death is not a purelyliteral way of using language. Plato compared sentences like "There is a world beyond

death" to incantations, or magic words. He said that we ought to repeat them to ourselvesconstantly, to keep up our courage. He recommended them as a way of arming ourselves

against the vicissitudes of life.

Moreover, as we discussed earlier, the Greek philosophers regarded consolation as alegitimate use of reason. Experts in rhetoric and literary theory, however, place

consolation in a special category of figurative language. That is, phrases like" gone to abetter world" are not literal. Rather, they are stylized, figurative expressions of

consolation.

Furthermore, also as discussed earlier, the idea of an afterlife has a moral dimension. Inother words, it always comes with moral eonsideiations attached to it, and notions ofjustice whether openly or in the background. Meanwhile, many experts maintain thatmoral pronouncements are more like commands than they are like literal, tnie-or-falsestatements. Or, they are as much like imperatives as they are like declaratives. Hence,

sentences like" there is life hereafter" always have a moral, imperative, normativecomponent. In that respect, then, such sentences are not purely literal in meaning.

To recap, claiming that there is an afterlife has something in common with magicalincantations, figurative consolations, and normative judgments. In each respect, claims

about life after death are not solely literal. Therefore, rational investigation oftheafterlife must take these non-literal dimensions of meaning into account.

9. The mystery of life after death is unfathomable, and perhaps evenunintelligible.

Heraclitus was the first philosopher to point out that life after death is animponderable mystery. For, he said that we cannot foresee or imagine what might awaitus after death. Similarly, Plato acknowledged that it may even be impossible to answer

this question with certainly while we are alive in this world. Or, at least, he said, thequestion of life after death is impenetrably difficult.

When Plato wrote, the rules of sound, logical reasoning had not yet been clearlyworked out, and codified. No uniform code of logic existed, to govern rational

argumentation. So, in The Phaedo. Plato experimented with a system of logicalprinciples that might fit questions about life after death. Specifically, he structured ThePhaedo around a table of opposites- odd and even, approach and depart, light and dark,

pleasure and pain, and so on. The table of opposites was originally a Pythagoreaninnovation, so Plato chose a logic that is in keeping with The Phaedo's discussion of

reincarnation.

Plato's student Aristotle worked out the code of logic we still swear by, in every fieldof rational knowledge and when reasoning about everyday problems. However, this logichas never yielded an answer to the most important question of human existence. Instead,

the ancient notion that the mystery of life after death is unfathomable repeatedlyresurfaces throughout the centuries of debate. In the modem, Humean version logic

unravels over the idea of life after death. Or, as logical positivists and other analyticalphilosophers put it, the very notion of an afterlife is unintelligible.

ReflectionsThe ideas ofthe Greek philosophers still shine through rational debate about the fate

of consciousness at death. We should never forget that they emphasized the centrality ofthis question for all human existence. Nor should we ignore their insight that solving

this, the deepest mystery, may be beyond the power of rational intellect, or existing logic.

To me, the latter is the most interesting and exciting challenge of rational inquiryinto life after death. I think we ought to take up the Humean challenge. Rather than

trying to fit in, we ought to develop new rational means of investigation appropriate to thequestion. We need a new kind of logic, which will bring a whole new mentality with it.A rational proof of an afterlife would transform the nature of logic itself—and the mind!

Raymond A. Moody Jr. M.D., Ph.D.1215 Old Downins Mill Rd.Anniston, Al. 36207256-835-7811Email:Raymondnde@aot.com

Education:-Residency in Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry,University of Virginia Medical Center, 1980-1983-M.D., Medical College of Georgia, 1976-Ph.D in Philosophy, University of Virginia, 1969-M.A in Philosophy, University of Virginia, 1967-B.A. with Honors in Philosophy, University of Virginia, 1966-H.S. graduate, Stratford Academy, Macon, Georgia, 1962

Teaching Experience2002-2007- Lecturing, vmting, and researching.1998-2002 - Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies, University of Nevada at LasVegas. Also taught philosophy at UNLV.1987-1992- Associate Professor of Psychology, University of West Georgia, Carrollton,Ga.1978-1979- Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Virgmia.1969-1972- Assistant Professor of Philosophy, East Carolina University.

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