Book announcement: The Bahá'í Faith and Life After Death

 The Bahá'í Faith gives a considerable depth of insight into life after death and the next world. 

This book attempts to review the main Bahá'í teachings on this subject. Included are topics such as God, the soul and prayer. Mention is also made of the NDE (Near Death Experience) phenomenon.

It is hoped that it will increase the readers interest in spiritual knowledge in these difficult times. 

And hopefully give comfort to those who have lost loved ones.

The book is about 70 pages and includes many quotations. The costs are $1.99 for the ebook and $6.70 for the paperback.

Note: all ebooks will be free to download for 3 days during the Ayyam-i-Ha period (Feb. 25 - Mar. 2nd).

The problem of consciousness

The question of how consciousness comes about has perplexed mankind for ages. Most of those with a science background assume that it arises due to special features of the brain such as high complexity, computing power etc. If this were true then perhaps computers of the distant might start to show this property also. This view suggests that there is no survival after death.

However another school of thought holds that consciousness resides elsewhere (with the soul or spirit) and that the brain is only a kind of filter. Survival after death is therefore possible.

Consider then this story about a man who lives with most of his brain missing... as reported by Science Alert. At first I thought this must be fake news! First described in The Lancet (a well-known medical publication) in 2007, link provided in article.

"A French man who lives a relatively normal, healthy life - despite missing 90 percent of his brain - is causing scientists to rethink what it is from a biological perspective that makes us conscious."

The Near-Death Experience

According to an article in Atlantic "Near-death experiences have gotten a lot of attention lately" and

"All of this makes NDEs perhaps the only spiritual experience that we have a chance of investigating in a truly thorough, scientific way. It makes them a vehicle for exploring the ancient human belief that we are more than meat. And it makes them a lens through which to peer at the workings of consciousness—one of the great mysteries of human existence, even for the most resolute materialist."

What are NDEs? That is too much to attempt here. Try this BBC news item.

This phenomena seems almost unknown here in Guyana. Perhaps because there are fewer recoveries from cardiac arrests. But I feel it is very important and that it is likely we will experience more as our health services are updated.