Science and Spirit
Exploring the Limits of Consciousness
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It is hard to imagine not being curious about our own consciousness and about what happens to that consciousness after we die. What does science have to say about consciousness, if anything? Or are these unanswerable questions relegated to religious faith and popular culture? Some of the alleged phenomena that might suggest consciousness beyond or apart from a living body are ESP, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), near-death experiences (NDEs), reincarnation, spirit mediumship, and ghost (apparition) experiences. In the past I have written as a sociologist/anthropologist about ghosts (Chinese Ghosts and ESP, 1982), UFOs (At the Threshold, 1997), and spirit mediums (Guided by Spirit: A Journey into the Mind of the Medium, 2003, with my wife Penelope Emmons). Unlike most sociologists and anthropologists studying the “paranormal”, I actually admit that I’m curious about whether such things are “real”, instead of just examining other people’s beliefs and experiences. Worse yet, I’ve even participated in the experiences, like becoming a spirit medium. My wife Penelope Emmons (a licensed counselor, ordained minister and spirit medium) also contributes to this volume by presenting her own views, especially on spirit mediumship, and reflecting on her own bottom-line conclusions at the end. Penelope helped in some of the interview sessions as well. She was an important contributor to our book Guided by Spirit (Emmons and Emmons, 2003), and as an intuitive she is a good counterbalance to my mostly academic point of view. But there is also a little bit of yin in the yang and yang in the yin as we have learned to trade frames.
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About the Book
Are you out of your body? At least part of you may be, if consciousness can extend beyond the brain in your skull. In Science and Spirit, authors Charles F. Emmons and Penelope Emmons explore some intriguing questions: What evidence is there for consciousness apart from the body, and what evidence is there for survival of consciousness after bodily death?
Through ethnographic interviews with scientists, observations at conferences, and visits to research institutes, they investigate the existence and meaning of ESP, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, reincarnation, spirit mediumship, lucid dreaming, and ghost experiences. In this study, they share a variety of scientific frames for looking at these questions and happenings, and they disclose their own paranormal experiences.
Science and Spirit uses a unique blend of strong academic and scientific theory and methodology and applies it to the examination of paranormal topics.
About the Author
Charles F. Emmons is a sociologist at Gettysburg College. His books include Chinese Ghosts and ESP, At the Threshold, and Guided by Spirit. He appears on the Ghosts of Gettysburg television show, and he is a member of Exploring the Extraordinary and of the Society for Scientific Exploration .
Penelope Emmons, MSW, LSW, is a psychotherapist with a counseling and coaching practice in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She coauthored Guided by Spirit. Emmons has facilitated metaphysical workshops in the United States and Canada and is also a Mandala Assessment Research Instrument practitioner and instructor, a healer, and a spirit medium.