One of the deepest questions we can ask is: What happens after we die? For the past centuries, with the rise of scientific materialism, the prevailing answer to this has been: nothing.

Our conscious self-awareness is simply an accident of evolution, arising from the increasing complexity of the physical brain. There can be no awareness outside of the brain. However, scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, particularly in physics, flipped this over, supporting what mystics have said throughout time: Consciousness is the underlying reality, the “ontological primitive,” and the physical universe is a transitory expression of this indivisible, instinctive consciousness.

This revolution in scientific thought gives us reasonable grounds to reconsider a great deal of evidence pointing toward an afterlife. This includes children who spontaneously recall their past lives, mediums able to bring information from the deceased, Indo-Tibetan death meditation practices, and near-death experiences.

In Afterlife: Is There Consciousness After Death?, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Pinchbeck (Breaking Open the Head, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl) builds the philosophical foundation for a new understanding and acceptance of our existence as souls and spirits within a larger continuum of consciousness, connecting contemporary scientific knowledge with ancient esoteric and shamanic wisdom traditions.

Changing our relationship to the afterlife will also transform our relationship to this world. As the worldview of monistic or analytic idealism displaces the obsolete model of reductive materialism, the values of our civilization will also change profoundly. Hence, on every level, this is a subject of primary importance for humanity’s future.