After Death: How People Around the World Map the Journey after We Die (Paperback)

by Sukie Miller (Author), Suzanne Lipsett (Contributor) "In the mid-1980s, two great friends and a client of mine died..." (more)
Key Phrases: afterdeath beliefs, afterdeath journey, vital imagination, New York, Dalai Lama, Michael Lutin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Mixing contemporary case studies drawn from her own psychotherapy practice with cultural data gathered by the Institute for the Study of the Afterdeath is Miller's recipe for an inspirational discussion of what happens after we die. From an analysis of the institute's database of beliefs from cultures comfortable with the idea of death, Miller constructs an map of the "afterdeath," giving readers a face to go with death, rather than leaving them to stare into amorphous nothingness. After Death isn't a comprehensive tour book to the other side, but it is the beginning of an important conversation that most people avoid, as well as a handle for grasping this final mystery we all have to face at some point in our lives. --Brian Patterson

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Touchstone ed edition (April 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684838699
• ISBN-13: 978-0684838694
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,230,638 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent survey of beliefs and experiences relating to the afterlife, March 27, 2006

By	Daniel J. Benor "Wholistic Healing Publications" (Medford, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sukie Miller has produced an excellent survey of beliefs and experiences relating to the afterlife. She distills from this collection four stages in the process of transitioning to spirit life. These stages go well beyond the merging with the Being of Light that is well known from the Near Death Experience.

Stage I is a Bardo state of waiting, as one adjusts to the transition from physical to spirit existence. Stage II is one of judgment and life review, an immersion in the deeper truth of the meanings of one's total life experiences. Stage III is a less homogeneous collection of beliefs and reports (Miller does not distinguish between the two in this discussion), that may include heavenly realms, encounters with angels, and varieties of other visions. Stage IV is the return to physical existence, in another incarnation.

Far beyond the contributions of this book in cosmologies are the richly detailed anecdotes of Miller's explorations and work with people who have had glimpses into the infinite in the last stages of their lives. She also shares the stories of others who, like her, work in these areas between life in the flesh and life in spirit worlds. Here are a few of these stories.

This book is highly recommended to anyone working in end of life midwifery.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor research methods on Judaism, January 16, 2005

By	Rabbi Yonassan Gershom (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I don't know about the rest of the religions presented in this book, but Sukie Miller's claim that Jews do not believe in an afterlife is just plain WRONG! True, SOME Jews do not believe in an afterlife, but others most certainly do. Unfortunately, her academic credentials (quite bona fide) have made this book something of a classic in the field, with the result that it continues to mislead the general public about Jewish beliefs.

When I met Sukie at a conference in Las Vegas a few years back, I asked her if she had interviewed any Hasidic rabbis or other Orthodox Jews for her study. No, she replied, she had not. Who, then, did she actually survey? Mostly secular colleagues at various academic institutions. Therefore, in my opinion, her presentation of Jewish beliefs is not valid, because it does not in any way represent a true cross-section of Jews. It merely represents a limited, specialized sample of secular Jewish academians on college campuses. Pretty sloppy research if you ask me, especially since she went out of her way to contact believing members of the other religions. The fact that Sukie is herself Jewish makes it even worse. She should have known better.