Dancing Past the Dark ~ distressing near-death experiences

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The “Are you afraid of death?” question, Part 2

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Tomas and some others asked me, “Are you afraid of death?”

The opening of my response (last week’s post, the one below this one): “Some yes.”

This week: “Most no”

What does that mean, “Most no?”

Bear with me, please, because I’m thinking on paper here. I think what “Most no” means is that I’m probably not afraid of what most people are afraid of when we think of death. At least in Western societies, most people are afraid of hell, or at least of punishment. That is what at least 1,700 years of theology have led to. [Read more…] about The “Are you afraid of death?” question, Part 2

Conference presentation: Untangling Hellish Visions

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A written version–not a verbatim transcription–of my 2012 International Association for Near-Death Studies conference presentation, “Untangling Hellish Visions,” has just been added to the Articles page here. Essentially, the article, like the talk, is a quick trip through Western ideas about hell, with a very preliminary suggestion of an alternative view. Lots more to be said in blog posts to come!

The slides that went with the actual presentation were terrific, as you can sample in the article, proving yet again that human beings have no end of ways of scaring themselves blue, not to mention being unspeakably vicious to each other and then blaming it all on God. You can see them on the DVD, which is available, along with other conference talks, at the website, http://iands.org

Before you write to comment that this proves how horrible religions are, you might want to pause to consider a) the uses of secular ideologies such as Marxism and American Exceptionalism and b) what you think might encourage better behavior.

More to come. I do so appreciate your being here!