Sell Back Your Copy
For a $0.68 Gift Card
Trade in
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Unanswered Question: Death, Near-Death, and the Afterlife
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Unanswered Question: Death, Near-Death, and the Afterlife [Paperback]

Kurt Leland (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.



Book Description

November 1, 2002

Near-death accounts of the experiences after death are so commonplace today as to stand as received truth. But are they? Is a near-death experience actually predictive of what the real death experience will be like?

No, in many respects, concludes Kurt Leland in this ground-breaking, controversial, and extraordinary book. Leland starts by accepting the validity of Near-Death experiences. The NDE may be something like a forced initiation into the mysteries of death, he says. NDEs may open the Afterlife door a crack, but the view may not penetrate very far into that world, and we could be drawing mistaken conclusions that leave us unprepared when we do die. "I'm questioning whether they're enough to pack our bags and go with when our own time comes to die," says Leland.

At the center of this book, of course, is the great unanswered question: what happens after death? Leland convincingly shows that we need not have an NDE to explore the Afterlife. He combines his own formidable psychic research and remarkable otherworldly adventures with analysis of the reports of numerous NDEs and classical texts and wisdom traditions about death to describe an Afterlife terrain both very different from and perhaps even better than our expectations.

Like a seasoned guide, Leland conducts us on a fabulous and enriching tour of the Afterlife, its marvels and mysteries. What happens to suicides? Where do we go when we get there? Who's in charge? What do the angels do? Are there different realms for different religious beliefs, or no beliefs? You'll find unforgettable answers to these mysteries and many more in The Unanswered Question.



Product Details

  • Paperback: 520 pages
  • Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing (November 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1571742999
  • ISBN-13: 978-1571742995
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,397,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but impossible to verify, February 5, 2003
By 
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Unanswered Question: Death, Near-Death, and the Afterlife (Paperback)
Leland offers a detailed overview of his purported out-of-body travels, which, as he freely admits, took the form of dreams. Allegedly he visited realms of existence to which the rest of us will relocate after we die. Trouble is, his accounts differ markedly from those of people with near-dear experiences and from mediumistic information. So whom to believe? Well, the NDEs and the channeled info can at least be verified in certain ways - for instance, if an NDE involves an observation of medical procedures that are later confirmed, or if the medium brings through information about this world that there is no normal way of knowing, then we may perhaps be justified in accepting the rest of the account as trustworthy. Leland's dreams offer no such objectively testable content, so we have to take them on faith.

The author does try to substantiate his views by comparing them with ancient writings on the afterlife and with some NDE accounts, but it's not clear whether his knowledge of these matters may have influenced his dreams in the first place. I also had a great deal of trouble believing that Leland could remember his dreams/travels in such exhaustive detail; he recounts long conversations, which go on for pages, with otherworldly beings called Facilitators. This material reads like fiction or, at the very least, like a highly embellished account of a dream.

On the plus side, the book is well written and presents interesting summaries of esoteric material from many cultures. I just don't buy into Leland's astral traveling.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Look at the Astral Plane, January 9, 2004
By 
K. Redelfs (Warrenton, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Unanswered Question: Death, Near-Death, and the Afterlife (Paperback)
This is an amazing book! I couldn't put it down. Reading it provided a most powerful validation for me. Much of what the author recounted of his own explorations in the Afterlife resonated strongly with many experiences I've been having in the afterlife zones of what I call the astral plane during my own Out-of-Body experiences (or 'Adventures in Consciousness' as Leland calls them.) I've already ordered his previous offering--'OTHERWHERE'--and I'm sure it will be just as fascinating. In this book, Leland offers a 'triangulated' approach--he compares current NDE research, his own experiences, and sources from the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead, as well as Swedenborg's 'Heaven and Hell'. It's Leland's contention that the NDE experience--though compelling and valid in itself--might not be enough to go on when we're navigating our own post-death journey. His claim that NDE-ers may only be seeing 'death's threshold' seem valid to me. As both an OOBE-er and also having experienced a non-standard and ecstatic NDE myself, I found that I made much more of my NDE because I was already quite practiced at OOB explorations when this event occurred. This is an amazing title, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking interesting and stimulating perspectives on the afterlife.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Deep revelation, February 15, 2003
By 
M. Skinner (Groton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Unanswered Question: Death, Near-Death, and the Afterlife (Paperback)
The Unanswered Question is one of those books that I realize I have been waiting my whole life for. As I read the material and integrate it into my mind and my life, I am feeling shifts in my understadning and daily "Ahas!". Leland combines accounts of his experiences in "otherwhere", and specifically what he terms the afterlife, with accounts of near death experiences, the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Egyptioan Book of the Dead. For just that combination the book is fascinating, but Leland takes us much deeper than that. The understadning of how negative or unexpressed emotions hold us back, or keep us from growing into our soul's purpose is something everyone could take to heart. I find this and the information on how to do this to be the key behind the fascinating topic of the Unanswered Question. As I read the book, I feel myself connecting more to my own soul's purpose in this lifetime and, although not always an easy journey, I welcome it as I sink deeper into my lessons. Kurt Leland has done the world a huge service by recording his experiences and sharing them with us. His analysis and scholarly attention to detail leaves no questions unanswered, in terms of the material in the book. Because this book is so easy to read and so entertaining, I was not prepared for all the shifts that began happeing in my mind and in my life, but as I said before, I have been waiting for this book for a long time.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews






Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
"Many years ago, while attending a summer music camp for high school students, I heard an extraordinarily moving piece by the early-twentieth-century American composer Charles Ives." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
afterdeath journey, normative balance, unexpressed negative emotion, nonphysical reality, fisher gods, lightning rod effect, sidpa bardo, afterdeath state, dominant love, equipped spirit, womb door, nonphysical body, unimpeded motion, nonphysical bodies, celestial eyes, inert ones, sacred baboons, otherworld journeys, confused souls, eighth heaven, life review, great unanswered question
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tibetan Book of the Dead, Afterdeath Zone, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Dream Zone, Sun Barque, Book of Gates, Sun God, Holding Zone, Clear Light, Deep Life Review Zone, Field of Reeds, Uncle Gerry, Sogyal Rinpoche, Release Zone, James Merrill, Bridge of the Separator, Life After Life, Robert Monroe, World War, Forest Hills Cemetery, Guardian of the Threshold, Kenneth Ring, Recovery Zone, River Styx, Books of the Netherworld
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:





Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject