Near-Death Experiences: Exploring the Mind-Body Connection Paperback – 30 Jun 2008

Ornella Corazza is the near-death experience (NDE) researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London. In 2004-5 she was a member of the 21st Century Centre of Excellence `Program on the Construction of Death and Life Studies' at the University of Tokyo. Her book gives an uncommon perspective on the subject, going beyond Western-style thinking and introducing us to Japanese perspectives on death and life.
Near Death Experiences begins by exploring the relationship between the mind and the body, first of all looking at the ideas of the 17th C Roman Catholic philosopher, Rene Descartes and then opening the field to more recent commentators such as Rupert Sheldrake and Yasuo Yuasa. Here the scene is set for the thrust of the book, in which Corazza begins to tackle Descartes' doctrine of mind/body dualism, wherein Descartes claimed that the mind was an unextended, incorporeal substance entirely distinct from the body.
Corazza moves on to ponder stories and accounts of journeys in the afterlife, considering Dante's Divine Comedy and Plato's Republic and then she begins a more critical review concerning the frequency of NDEs, the forms they usually take and the features NDEs share. Corazza also draws parallels between NDEs and out-of-body experiences, the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Japanese traditions, including the experiences of the visionary healer, Hiroshi Motoyama.
In some interesting chapters, Corazza investigates the use, legal or otherwise, of the dissociative anaesthetic, ketamine. She describes the effects the ketamine can produce and its parallels with NDEs. Ecstasy users at raves and squat parties often describe their euphoric experiences as producing a sense of `peace, love, unity and respect' and Corazza quotes similar sentiments from ketamine users, one user quoted as saying; "My ketamine experiences helped me to understand that all things in the universe, material and spiritual, originate from the same source and are related to each other as if they were one family." All very reminiscent of Huxley's experiments with mescaline and also recent studies into Old Testament Temple theology - scholars reckoning the incense used by the Temple priests was made from known hallucinogens.
Corazza asks us to reconsider Descartes' dualism of mind/body and the Catholic doctrines regarding the soul and the resurrection as they are traditionally understood: that the soul is created by God at a specific point, that the soul is immortal and that the body is resurrected. Corazza, looking to the work of Hiroshi Motoyama and Yasuo Yuasa, suggests instead that NDEs are proof of something more immediate than life after death, something more concerned with the here-and-now. After all, she argues, the fact that people who have experienced NDEs did not die contradicts their account of dying and of leaving their bodies.
Ornella Corazza's book is wide ranging in its scope and cross-cultural in its approach. Readers will appreciate Corazza's informed critiques of Raymond Moody, Rupert Sheldrake, Peter Fenwick and Paul Badham but will be disappointed that folk like Robert Crookall, Dewi Rees, Mary Anne Sanders, Michael Perry, David Albert Jones and John Hick are not referred to.
To end this review on a personal note, I recently attended a multi-disciplinary meeting dealing with end-of-life health care. At the meeting, a young nurse made the observation that patients who are near death, or have died, look very different from when they were alive and well. "It's as if something has gone out of them - and something has!" the nurse said. Corazza's book is a welcome addition to the debate surrounding near-death experiences, but perhaps the final word on the subject is yet to come - and that may take us a life time and beyond to discover.

A very good book. Its strength lies in trying to overcome the narrow-minded materialism, and giving a new perspective, blended with Japanese philosophy. One of few books from scientific world which seriously treats NDE. The part devoted to ketamine research study, however, does not convince me that artificially induced experiences are of the same, or close enough, nature (in terms of what is experienced about the meaning of life, morality or God) as real NDEs. Nevertheless, even if disagreeing at some points, I spent good time reading this book.

A most original contribution to the study of near-death experiences. As well as covering the basic questions (what are the typical features of NDEs? how common are they? how have they been explained? etc.), the book contributes to the cross-cultural study of experiences at the brink of death by examining contemporary cases from Japan in relation to Japanese attitudes towards death and life. This is very interesting in itself, but also ties in with the underlying theme of the book, which is to overcome dualist attitudes towards mind and body by rethinking embodiment, drawing on Japanese theorists of 'place' and 'body'. This philosophical dimension does not take away from the book's readability: it is written in an approachable style, and there are some delightful retellings of myths and many intriguing first-person accounts, including experiences under the anaesthetic ketamine. The similarity between near-death and ketamine experiences has been noticed before, but Corazza's book looks into the issue in unparalleled depth, drawing on accounts supplied by recreational users. An illuminating study. Highly recommended.

This book represents an important step towards a cross cultural understanding of the mind/body connection. Through exploration of Eastern, particularly Japanese theories of the mind/body relationship, Corazza seeks a non-dualistic, non-reductionist explanation of near death experiences. Highly readable.

As a non specialist, nor academic I found this book, most interesting, mind-opening view on the role of our bodies and the environment that surrounds us.

It was not difficult to read. Corazza writes in a clear manner about a most fascinating subject.