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Titus Rivas

The Self Does Not Die: Verified Paranormal Phenomena from Near-Death Experiences Paperback – July 6, 2016

by Titus Rivas (Author), Anny Dirven (Author), Rudolf H. Smit (Author),

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Are near-death experiences (NDEs) just elaborate hallucinations produced by a dying brain? Or the exuberant fantasies of attention-seeking narcissists? As the accounts in this book abundantly demonstrate: Neither!

This book contains over 100 reliable, often firsthand accounts of perceptions during NDEs that were later verified as accurate by independent sources. These near-death experiencers were everyday people from all over the world—many of whom were clinically dead, unable to see or hear, and yet able to perceive new vistas of a world beyond the senses and even beyond death.

The Self Does Not Die is a trailblazing effort to present the most confirmed cases of consciousness beyond death ever compiled. In these cases, the authors have gone back to the original sources, the people involved in each case, whenever possible, rather than relying on secondhand sources. In so doing, they have assembled a unique collection of empirical data that any scholar worthy of the name must take into account.

By carefully studying and describing many convincing and corroborated cases, during cardiac arrest and other cases, the authors conclude that there are good reasons to assume that our consciousness does not always coincide with the functioning of our brain: Enhanced consciousness can sometimes be experienced separately from the body.

This book is a must read for anyone wanting to know more about this fascinating subject with its implications about the very nature of human consciousness and its survival of physical death. It has the potential to radically change the currently still widely accepted materialist paradigm in science.

Print length

410 pages
Language

English
Publication date

July 6, 2016
Dimensions

6.69 x 0.93 x 9.61 inches
ISBN-10

0997560800
ISBN-13

978-0997560800
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Titus Rivas (born 1964) wears many hats: theoretical psychologist, philosopher, parapsychological researcher, and writer of books and articles, in both Dutch and English. Published subjects include parapsychological research, reincarnation, life after death, spirits with and without bodies, and near-death experiences. Co-founder of Athanasia Foundation, a nonprofit to investigate survival after death, reincarnation and spiritual evolution, Rivas continues to pursue his interests in parapsychology and philosophy also by instructing home-study courses for the National Business Academy in Panningen, Netherlands. Anny Dirven (1935–2016), who was paranormally gifted, was active for years as a general assistant and researcher affiliated with the Athanasia Foundation, often working together with Titus Rivas. Dirven came to know Rivas by way of the parapsychology course he teaches for the National Business Academy. Together, Dirven and Rivas produced many parapsychological and philosophical articles and books, some of which she coauthored. They were particularly proud of two books in Dutch, Vincent, Karim and Danny and From and to the Light. Dirven was a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She spent most of her life in Budel, Netherlands. Rudolf H. Smit (born 1942) is the author of books and articles in both English and Dutch on subjects ranging from photography to near-death experiences to computer programming. Former editor of the Dutch photographic monthly Foto and the British Astrological Association’s scientific journal Correlation, Smit is the current editor of the Dutch quarterly Terugkeer (Return), published by the Network for Near-Death Experiences (Netwerk NDE), the Dutch affiliate of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). Interested in promoting critical research in the field of astrology, Smit also runs the internationally acclaimed Astrology and Science website. When not writing, he enjoys retired life with his wife, Miny, in the Netherlands.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ International Association for Near-Death Studies; 1st edition (July 6, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 410 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997560800
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997560800
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.43 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.69 x 0.93 x 9.61 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #527,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #293 in Near-Death Experiences (Books)
- #811 in Reincarnation (Books)

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Top reviews from the United States

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Reality Explorer

Investigating the Breadth of Reality

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2019

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In the early 1980s I was managing the day to day service operations for a commercial, industrial air conditioning company. I sent a tech to work on a 440 volt roof top unit where he received a massive electrical shock which almost took his life. While recovering in the hospital, he told me about his out of body experience seeing his body lying on the roof. He somehow realized it wasn’t his time to die, returned to his body and began the long, arduous process of recovery. I hadn’t heard of NDEs before this but I knew his experience was something remarkable.

Fast forward to 2002 when I began questioning my childhood religious beliefs. I read Raymond Moody’s book Life After Life where he coined the phrase “near-death experience”. I thought back to that technician’s experience and considered maybe NDEs would be a good place to start finding contemporary evidence (not proof) that might help me reshape my spiritual (not religious) beliefs. Since reading that book, I’ve spent the intervening years studying the breadth of reality through reading books, talking with individuals and curating my own transformative experiences.

Every individual has his or her own unique perspective on the big questions of who we really are and whether there is a God (or whatever name you care to use). This perspective is shaped by a variety of influences from our culture, religion and personal experience. The weighting of these influences in shaping individual beliefs varies considerably.

If you have a curiosity about the big questions in life and are willing to expose yourself to contemporary information that might help reshape your thinking, this book provides some information that might be a good starting point. The anecdotes indicate we are more than physical beings and that something may await our consciousness after death. If one comes to that conclusion, a plethora of investigative options become interesting opportunities to build a broader awareness.

20 people found this helpful

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Sauropod

An important and serious study of NDEs

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2016

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When I started “The Self Does Not Die,” I wasn't too excited about the prospect of reading yet another book about NDEs. But this one proved to be different from most other books of this type. It is never sensationalistic or overheated; the authors carefully consider the strengths and weaknesses of the various cases, ranking each according to how well documented and authenticated it is. The collection of professionally researched cases is the most comprehensive I've seen. The overall tone is serious, even a little dry, an approach I like much better than the carnival barker style of some popular accounts.

The sheer number of cases and the obvious efforts that have been made to substantiate the patients' stories add up to a powerful argument for the significance of NDEs – not as the hallucinations of a traumatized brain, but as ontologically real events. Readers who are serious about the scientific study, analysis, and interpretation of near-death experiences can't go wrong by reading this important book.

My only complaint is that there's no ebook edition. Soon, I hope!

50 people found this helpful

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Leonard Goodwin

Challenge to the Scientific Community

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2016

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Anyone interested in Near Death Experiences should read this book. The authors report on more than one hundred verified NDEs. Included are well known cases such as that of Pam Reynolds. The authors go to great length to counter arguments that Pam was in fact conscious during her brain surgery and so was able to accurately describe the procedure. In any case, the sheer weight of the number of verified cases makes clear that human beings have a separate system which can perceive and recall events in our everyday world (and perhaps other worlds) even when the brain and the body are declared dead. The authors do not try to explain how such another system originates or how it works or interacts with the bodily system. They limit their task to presenting the evidence for such a system. There are those who will continue to deny the evidence for this other system as being "unscientific." The real task for the scientific community is to consider ways of conceptualizing and measuring attributes of this other system. One of the hallmarks of scientific procedure is to follow (account for) the data.

30 people found this helpful

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Jimmy Ganann

Incredible compilation

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016

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I have to say that this compilation of NDEs with veridical perceptions is best book on this subject I've come across. The information in this book is incredible and I applaud the authors and editors for what must have been painstaking work putting this together and ironing out the details. The only thing wrong is that a book like this should've been published long ago. This book focuses directly on veridical perceptions, omitting the spiritually rich content that usually accompanies the full NDE. In my opinion, it's a slam dunk against materialism.

20 people found this helpful

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Ana Marshall

Thorough review of the subject, but it will not convince skeptics

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016

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The authors of this book, where possible, personally revisited the primary sources or participants for many cases that have been documented elsewhere, and published those they could verify as credible. The book also has many pages devoted to answering the most salient objections raised by famous skeptics. I found it interesting, though written in a somewhat dry and at times tedious manner. The main idea is that to become entrenched in ignoring the plethora of testimonials and personal experiences is just as anti-science and fanatical as it would be to insist that anyone accept a religious dogma with no evidence. I do not think it will change anybody's mind on the subject, one way or the other; but it does give those who keep an open mind a lot to marvel at and ponder about. Perhaps that is the most readers can expect from a topic like this.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Christopher Carter

Excellent review of the evidence

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2017

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Literally millions of people alive today have reported clear, lucid consciousness and thought, including often accurate perception of the surrounding environment, occurring during periods of time in which there is every medical reason to believe that their brains were either severely impaired or entirely non-functioning. These so-called near-death experiences (NDEs) have been studied under rigorous conditions by cardiologists around the world; and the results have been published in scientific journals, including prestigious medical journals such as The Lancet, Resuscitation, and the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine,

Several of the very best cases are described in detail in this excellent book.

There is no self-contradiction in the statement that the mind can exist without a functioning brain: hence, it is at least a logical possibility, and the only way to decide if it is actually true is by a careful examination of the data. This book provides that careful examination.

The authors, as well as many respected physicians, brain surgeons, neuroscientists, and philosophers have concluded that these experiences provide solid evidence that normal, even enhanced consciousness can exist in the absence of a properly functioning brain. Their conclusion is the NDE is exactly what it appears to be: a genuine separation of mind from body during the early stages of biological death.

However, a small yet vocal minority of scientists and physicians deny this conclusion.

If this were almost any other field of inquiry, the controversy would have been settled by the data decades ago.

However, the study of near-death experiences (NDEs) is not like any other field of inquiry. The data of NDEs challenge deeply held worldviews, worldviews that are concerned not only with science, but also with religious and philosophical issues. As such, the evidence arouses strong passions, and for many, a strong desire to dismiss it.

It is impossible to fully understand this controversy without realizing that it has a strong ideological component. Most of the so-called “skeptics” are militant atheists, with a strong hidden agenda of promoting the ideology of materialism: the doctrine that everything, including life and mind, can be explained by the interaction of particles of matter and force fields. The data of NDEs indicate that the mind can exist without a functioning brain, which strongly refutes materialism.

Refusing to accept data that falsifies a scientific theory turns it into an ideology, a belief held as an article of faith, held despite evidence that it is not correct. And there seems to be a growing realization that ideological factors play a crucial role in several scientific controversies. Philosopher Tyler Burge (1993) has argued that the naturalistic view of the world is more like a political or religious ideology than like a position supported by evidence, and that materialism is an article of faith. More to the current point, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard in his book The Spiritual Brain has written:

“Materialists have conducted a running war against psi [and NDE] research for decades, because any evidence of psi’s validity, no matter how minor, is fatal to their ideological system. Recently, for example, self-professed skeptics have attacked atheist neuroscience grad student Sam Harris for having proposed, in his book titled The End of Faith (2004), that psi research has validity. Harris is only following the evidence. But in doing so, he is clearly violating an important tenet of materialism: materialist ideology trumps evidence.”

The thinking of militant atheists is, for the most part, based on the materialism implied by classical physics, which has been known to be fundamentally incorrect for over a century. And materialism simply cannot accommodate the reality of NDE and psi phenomena. If materialism is proven false by the data for the NDE and for psi, then one of the foundations of their opposition to religion is thereby removed.

In short, the deniers and debunkers tend to be militant atheists who are motivated by allegiance to an obsolete worldview, by ignorance of the implications of the new physics, and by a hatred of religion. If they admitted to the reality of psychic abilities such as telepathy, and of near death experiences as involving a genuine separation of mind from body, then the materialistic foundation of their worldview would crumble. Hence, their vehement denial of any evidence for the existence of the NDE as involving a genuine separation of mind from body.

Many “skeptics” are fond of pointing out various atrocities which have made a mockery of religious belief, such as the occasional persecution of witches and heretics in medieval times.
But we can just as easily find examples of atrocities committed in the name of ideology, which I define as a faith-based belief system that motivates a social agenda. Consider the misery inflected upon millions in the twentieth century by the ideologies of fascism and communism. Turning from one faith-based belief system to another is unlikely to solve the problem of fanaticism.

The “NDE debunker” who figures most prominently in this book is militant atheist Gerald Woerlee, an anesthesiologist currently practicing in the Netherlands. He is the most vocal and the most medically knowledgeable of the NDE “skeptics”. Woerlee has made it his personal crusade to debunk NDEs, as he realizes – correctly – that any evidence for the validity of NDEs is fatal to his ideological system. Rivas, Dirven, and Smit take on Woerlee’s arguments directly and convincingly refute them with logic, evidence, and the testimony of neurosurgeons and cardiologists directly involved with NDE cases and research.

A Little History

In 2001 Worelee published an article in the Journal of Near-Death Studies (JNDS, vol. 30, Number 1, Fall 2011), which attempted to debunk the famous Pam Reynolds case. I responded to Woerlee’s article in the same journal, which can be read online at the IANDS website.

In response to this “outrage”, Worelee posted a sarcastic two-star review of my own book on NDEs. I replied once, and let the matter drop. However, this review led to a phenomenal online debate on Amazon.com, between Woerlee and the authors of this book: Rivas, Smit, and others. Currently there over 1000 posts! It can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2C2V8J3JMO8Q1/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg1?ie=UTF8&asin=1594773564&cdForum=FxNPU9ZANWBS7C&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx1XK00VD3J08DQ&store=books#wasThisHelpful

One of the authors of this book has told me that The Self Does not Die grew, in part, directly out of these exchanges with Woerlee. Some of these exchanges are mentioned in the book, and here is one from Woerlee in which he makes his motives crystal clear:

“As regards my attitude toward religion, my opinions are very simple. Some might criticize this, but this website and the book reveal that the basis of most religious beliefs is NDEs, OBEs, and other apparently paranormal phenomena. Combine this with interpretations from these illogical and very evil holy books, and you have religions.” (January 26, 2011)

In response, Rudolf Smit commented on the same Amazon blog:

“From these statements above one can deduce that Woerlee is not primarily motivated by science – ie: the unbiased desire to know – but at least equally so by his revulsion against religions which, as he sees it, are the source of all evil in this world. And then, quite logically, it follows that NDEs are the cause of these evils. Consequently, Worelee is not interested in the real nature of the NDE; no, he uses his own brand of science to explain the NDE away, even if he has to twist the facts to achieve that goal. (page 294 of The Self does Not Die)

Chris Carter
Author of Science and the Near-Death Experience
Science and the Near-Death Experience: How Consciousness Survives Death

19 people found this helpful

Benjamin Hargreaves

A very factual approach

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent quite factual (and therefore slightly dry) study of the evidence for, as the sub-title says, verified paranormal phenomena from near-death experiences. The evidence is well presented and clear cut, and indeed overwhelming, and in this the book fulfils its aims very well. However, of course as the authors acknowledge, some people are never going to be convinced as a matter of a 'religious' faith in a material or purely physical world. The evidence here is fascinating and undeniable. As the book concentrates on slightly dry evidence it is not perhaps the starting point I would recommend for a first look at the issues, unless the reader is used to such an approach (Kenneth Ring's Lessons from the Light or the work of Raymond Moody are 'easier' starting points), or wishes to make sure the facts presented are absolutely as unambiguous as possible - as they are here.

4 people found this helpful

Zofia Weaver

Re-examining the evidence

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2017

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The phenomenon of near-death experience has now been the subject of popular interest for nearly half a century, and descriptions of cases appear in an ever growing number of collections and individual volumes. The interest is not surprising, but it also means that the most impressive-sounding and famous cases are requoted in a variety of contexts, together with reports that may well be accurate, but have not been corroborated or examined by relevant professionals. This makes it difficult for a non-expert to assess just how robust is the actual evidence on which the claims are based. Things get even more confusing when one lacks medical knowledge and is presented with “ever so simple” medical explanations that seem to do away with the subject altogether.
This book is an important step in helping to resolve these issues in two ways:
firstly, the cases it presents (including the most familiar ones) are re-examined by going to the original sources and their corroborative evidence;
secondly, the authors ask – and get comprehensible answers to! – the probing medical questions that, if not answered, leave the layperson unequipped to deal with contradictory claims.
All this information is presented in terms that are accessible to a non-specialist. What then emerges points to individual consciousness being active in places and at times when (according to the current mainstream model) it should not exist at all. I hope the authors go on to provide more high quality material for thinking about one of life’s “big” questions.

2 people found this helpful

Cameron707

Essential Reading for those interested in NDEs

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

Essential reading for anyone with a genuine interest in near Death Experiences. First published in the Netherlands, the English language edition appeared due to the support of the international association for Near Death Studies IANDS. This book is (as the Forward states) "a valuable catalog of important cases of paranormal phenomena from NDEs that have been investigated, confirmed, and documented by researchers over the years". To call it valuable is actually an understatement - this is an immensely valuable contribution to the growing body of evidence that materialist reductionism must surely be replaced by a wider view of the universe that does not dismiss the fundamental importance of human consciousness.

2 people found this helpful

TomD

A good read but will take time to work through

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2017

Verified Purchase

A serious and well researched book with lots of examples presented to support the authors' assertions. There's a lot to read and take in and sometimes it can be a bit tedious to work through some of the text. I'm not sure that I'm completely convinced that the authors have cracked it but as part of a general reading programme, this book will provide a good source of information and context.

2 people found this helpful