Commentary on Allan Kellehear's "Near-death experiences and the pursuit of the ideal society".
The Journal of near-death studies 1991 DOI: 10.17514/jnds-1991-10-2-p113-122. (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | The author raises four questions about whether NDEs can model earthly societies, whether transcendent societies must address material practicalities, whether NDEs reflect cultural projections of the transcendent, and what hope awareness of Western NDE features offers. The author addresses these by drawing on anthropological literature, particularly the North American Indian Prophet Movement, rather than presenting empirical findings. |
Abstract
Allan Kellehear's article raised four questions for me: (1) whether the near-death experience (NDE) presents enough data about the nature of a transcendent society for it to be a useful model for earthly societies; (2) the degree to which transcendent societies have to address the practical considerations of a material society; (3) whether NDEs are projections of experiencers' cultural concepts about the nature of the transcendent realm(s); and (4) the kind of hope offered by the growing awareness of the features of Western NDEs. I address these questions by referring to transcendent realm concepts and NDEs in the anthropological literature, particularly that of the North American Indian Prophet Movement.