The Afterlife and Psychiatry

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Reading the first book provided by my friend Al, or at least the one I read first about past lives, I was in a hurry to begin to begin the second on the afterlife possibility.¹ I was also primed a little by a few comments about progressing people and patients into the future by Brian L. Weiss, MD, in his book.² In the questions that Weiss answered on his website, one is³:

Q: “Is it possible to go into future lives?”

A: “Recently I have been progressing people into the future, especially into future lifetimes. I have been doing this with individuals and with groups, and my findings are published in my new book.”

The afterlife and near-death experiences have been—and continue to be—studied. Each religion has its own particular view of the afterlife, too.⁴ One of our colleagues has written a scientifically-based summary book on the afterlife.⁵ This year he received the Oskar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association’s Religion, Spirituality, and Psychiatry Caucus.

I felt some trepidation as I began and finished both books. As I finished the second last Sunday, I was listening to the late jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler play the song “The Truth is Marching In.” Ironically, the truth of how he died decades ago is unknown.

The truth of this volume of the afterlife is also unknown. How could it not be when the book is the story of the connection of a younger sister to her brother in the afterlife, as dictated to her by him? It could all be fantasy or wishfulness, as the author herself thought at first.

For me, the only tentative conclusions that I can make is related to the numerous serendipities that are shared throughout, though for me mainly from pages 121-153. Here are a few passages that shook me.

“Each human being carries out Divine experiments in the conditions that earth has to offer.” – page 122

So far, my tentative view on the purpose of humanity is that we are a divine experiment, put into motion in the story of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge in what has been called the Garden of Eden. Our technological progress has been outstanding, it seems, but our human nature much less so.

“My EKG looks suspicious. Florence is sending me to see a cardiologist.” – page 126

If you read my column yesterday about death and dying, you will already know about how the serendipity of this quote brought me to a reality standstill. For the Steve needing a cardiologist in the book and me, this Steve, our lives were rescued by unexpected, connected events. The example in the book even had a dangerous drug, just like the dye that my wife stopped that could have killed me before my pacemaker surgery was about to begin. (She has saved my life many times).

“Certain music written by the composer Sibelius gives you an idea of what the cosmic sound is.” – page 133

Sibelius is my wife’s favorite famous classical composer, and Sibelius believed that some of his music came from a divine source, the same sort of sense I have about what inspires these weekday daily columns.

“I went through the death of memories.” – page 167

One explanation comes about why we do not usually remember past lives.

I could go on and on about the serendipities in the book that connects with me and my life, but do not want to spoil for any potential readers. As attractive as this sort of afterlife is portrayed, I am in no hurry to enter it. Whether it is true or not, I guess we will all find out in some way someday. Regardless, what is portrayed seems psychologically helpful to the grieving author, and possibly to her late brother too.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Kagan A. The Afterlife of Billy Fingers: How My Bad-Boy Brother Proved to Me There’s Life After Death. Hampton Roads; 2013.

2. Weiss B. Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discovering the Healing Power of Future Lives Through Progressive Therapy. Free Press; 2005.

3. Weiss B. Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives. Touchstone; 1988.

4. Moffic HS. Social psychiatry: death and dying. In: Gogineni RR, Pumariega AJ, Kallivayalil R, et al, eds. The WASP Textbook on Social Psychiatry: Historical, Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Perspectives. Oxford University Press; 2023.

5. Moreira-Almeida A, Costa M, Coelho H. Science of Life After Death. Springer; 2022.