Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & The Paranormal (Volumes 1 and 2)

Abstract

To begin at the ending, these volumes are recommended for members of the SSE.That is despite the many difficulties that I found in reviewing these books.It appears to me that the author is an astute observer and reporter on various phenomena, as opposed to being a practitioner, experiencer, or independent researcher of the topics about which he writes.Nonetheless, the sheer volume of anecdotes collected from around the world is worth the trip.From a personal perspective, the subtitle raises questions.That subtitle is called A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal.Frankly, I and many members of the SSE have been addressing the integration of these topics for decades.Ken Ring wrote about the parallels between NDEs and UFO abductions over three decades ago.That was published in The Omega Project: Near-Death Experiences, UFO Encounters, and Mind at Large in 1992.That same year, I gave a presentation on that topic at the conference on alien abductions at MIT.That famous conference was hosted by celebrated psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prizewinner, John Mack, M.D. of Harvard, and world-renowned optical physicist David Pritchard of MIT in 1992.My presentation, also based on Ring's work, was titled, "Comparative Phenomenology" and can be found in the Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Cutchin is aware of Ring's book as it is addressed on pages 31-32 of Volume One.While we might agree with much of the discussion, the idea of coincidence of these disparate topics would hardly be considered new.The newness of the concept of crosspollination and interrelationships between seemingly disparate phenomena may be true for the casual reader but not likely for most SSE members.For at least decades, many of the SSE members have been aware of theoretical entanglements of interdisciplinary studies of phenomena.It is notable that several experts in related fields have provided laudatory comments in support of these works.It also is observed that the volumes are highly referenced.So much so, that it encompasses an entire third volume devoted solely to those references.That volume with over 4,200 citations is available for free at Cutchin's website: https:// www.joshuacutchin.com/_files/ugd/e44a4e_0c39cd7964e145fd8e6c71bf5343a4d7.pdf .Of concern is that all numeric references are listed for nearly every paragraph, but there is considerable disparity in the qualifications of those persons.For example, on page 75, Lobsang Rampa is quoted and footnoted as 421.There is no doubt that T. Lobsang Rampa is a highly published author of numerous popular books, including his best-known, The Third Eye.Upon investigation, it was discovered that T. Lobsang Rampa was a pseudonym for one who was posing as a venerable Tibetan Lama when, in reality, he was later exposed as a Canadian plumber.Those books are very detailed and interesting, it is just that the authenticity of the author is dubious (although Rampa later claimed