Book review: The Afterlife Therapist

I just submitted this review to Amazon, and since it's relevant to our interests, I thought I'd also post it here. 

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Retired college professor Stafford Betty has written more than one book on visions of the afterlife. In these books, such as The Afterlife Unveiled, he has compiled excerpts from channeled literature — material purportedly conveyed from departed souls via automatic writing.

His latest book, The Afterlife Therapist, is a departure from these previous books in that it is a work of fiction. Now I can already hear skeptics guffawing that the channeled material is equally fictional, and I suspect some of it is. But the new book is avowedly fictional — the story of psychological counselor Aiden Lovejoy, who continues his occupation in the first sphere of the “afterworld.”



I came to the novel not knowing what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The Afterlife Therapist is as deeply researched as Richard Matheson’s What Dreams May Come, and offers greater psychological depth. The characters may be angels, but they are not saints. They are, after all, still at a comparatively low level of spiritual evolution, still subject to ego-driven conflicts and doubts. Dr. Lovejoy is by no means too good to be true; his character faults prove frustrating to his colleagues and mentors in the next world, just as they did when he was on earth. His arc of development, which is by no means completed at the story’s end, is entirely believable. This focus on the imperfections of all-too-human souls sets The Afterlife Therapist apart from similar books.

Another key difference with other books is the novel’s variety of characters and incidents. Just when you think you know where the story is going, it jogs off in a new direction. Some of these moves are quite bold; at one point, a historical character is introduced, reigning over a petty kingdom in a shadowy netherworld. When his name came up, I thought, “This is probably going to be over the top,” but it plays out very well.

Speaking of shadowy netherworlds, I have to say that, for me, the chapters set in the lowest levels of the afterworld were especially compelling. Perhaps it reveals something not-so-great about my own level of personal development, but I found Betty’s depiction of these fogbound, grim, rat-infested hells viscerally real.

Having read many books on postmortem survival, I’m inclined to believe in it. My expectations with regard to the next life are not always in line with Stafford Betty’s — his afterworld is essentially physical; it exists in physical space not far from the planet Earth, though it is undetectable by Earth’s instruments. While this is consistent with some channeled literature, I feel that asking for the physical location of the afterworld is like asking for the physical location of a dreamscape. We’re dealing, I suspect, with a spectrum of frequencies of consciousness, rather than of matter. But nobody is going to agree on all details of such an esoteric subject, and the truth, as J.B.S. Haldane once said of the universe, is probably not only stranger than we imagine but stranger than we can imagine. In any event, the physicality of the afterworld in Betty’s novel allows for an interesting excursion to several alien planets, another bold move that works out better than you might think.

I highly recommend The Afterlife Therapist as an ambitious, imaginative, serious, and self-reflective work that reaches far beyond the usual limits of afterlife exploration.

Comments

[Paul]

Dear Michael,

I have yet to acquire Stafford Betty’s newest book, but will certainly do so. I very much appreciate your advance review. I thought to comment on your penultimate para, where you state that in Betty’s novel, “his afterworld is essentially physical.” Curiously, I have a number of very long and detailed comments to Betty’s most recent blog post in which I specifically address the vibrational character of the afterlife, as overwhelmingly portrayed in the posthumous literature: http://whitecrowbooks.com/staffordbetty/entry/a_philosophers_salvation/, see comments on: Thu 2 Jul, 14:10; Fri 3 Jul, 18:31; Tue 21 Jul, 03:27. This does not mean, as I bring out in my comments, that merely describing the afterlife as comprised of vibrational levels or frequencies renders it at all clear how such an arrangement could ‘work’, but one has to look hard in the posthumous literature to find testimony that runs against this basic description. The only portion of the posthumous literature that describes posthumous reality in ‘physical’ terms is perhaps the early American Spiritualist literature associated with figures such as Andrew Jackson Davis. It is also true that, while not physical in portrayal, neither of the early ‘bibles’ of Spiritist/Spiritualist literature – Allan Kardec’s “The Spirits’ Book” (1857) and William Stainton Moses’s “Spirit Teachings” (1883) – make mention of ‘vibration’ and ‘frequency’. However, subsequent to this, posthumous descriptions in terms of ‘vibration’ and ‘frequency’ become ubiquitous. As I explore in my aforementioned comments, I suspect that this may have to do with the invention and successful demonstration and deployment of wireless telegraphy in the late 1890s, which made possible the introduction of ‘vibration’ and ‘frequency’ as technical metaphors of description in discarnate communications.

[Michael Prescott]

Another channeled source that insists on vibration is "The Unobstructed Universe," by Stuart Edward White, which says that frequencies or vibrations of consciousness are responsible for different realities. Consciousness is the ground of being in this theory.

This is also a theme of my forthcoming book "The Far Horizon," a nonfiction exploration of different perspectives on life after death.

[Paul]

Different Paul from me,...just saying.,,

[Art]

\\"says that frequencies or vibrations of consciousness are responsible for different realities." - Michael Prescott//
-----------------------------

It's interesting to me how string theory is about vibrating strings and how a lot of new agey descriptions portray the afterlife as different levels of vibration? Once again spiritualism and science don't seem to be all that far apart? Perhaps there is some connectedness between the two? Information somehow being channeled into the minds of physicists? {smile}

"String theory depicts strings of energy that vibrate, but the strings are so tiny that you never perceive the vibrations directly, only their consequences. ... When there is a node on each end and only one antinode in between them, the wave is said to vibrate at the fundamental frequency."

https://www.dummies.com/education/science/physics/string-theory-and-vibrations/

[Art]

From the article:

"In string theory, the vibrational modes of strings (and other objects) are similar to this example. In fact, matter itself is seen as the manifestation of standing waves on strings. Different vibrational modes give rise to different particles! We perceive the particles from the lowest vibrational modes, but with higher energies, we may be able to detect other, higher-energy particles."

[Michael Prescott]

Thanks, original Paul. Maybe the new Paul can adjust his screen name to avoid confusion.

Art, it’s interesting that string theory talks about vibrayional. frequencies. Spiritualist material often (but not always) focuses on frequencies of consciousness, which is not part of string theory. But there could be some overlap in terms of physical environments being manifested by vibrations at different frequencies. Perhaps someone who's studied string theory will weigh in; I’m certainly no expert.

[Juan]

Hello, Michael, would you like to comment on this article by Michael Shermer?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-ldquo-you-rdquo-in-an-afterlife-wouldnt-really-be-you/

I think his argument can be refuted by saying that with death we wake up to another avatar and ambient, not different from how we go from dreaming to being awake.

[Michael Prescott]

I have a book coming out on about a month. I’ll let the book answer that kind of argument. But yes, the avatar image is a good one.

[Art]

I don't usually like to argue with skeptic/materialist/atheists because from what I can tell most of them have done very little study or reading on life after death and the things that are connected to it? Arguing with them seems to be so pointless? They seem to have a very minimal understanding of the subject? They don't know what I know and haven't read what I have read and they may not see what I see?

But I have thought about the continuity issue in regards to life after death and it is in the continuity, me being me, that makes life after death... life after death. If I am no longer me than there is no life after death. It is like going to sleep at night and then waking up in the morning and feeling like I am still the same person that I was when I went to sleep.

If the holographic universe theory is correct then that would mean that whatever is "here" must also be "there" and death would simply be a transition from this dimension to another dimension, with everything that is "here" also being "there" except that the physics of heaven (as described by numerous near death experiencers) will be very different from the physics we currently experience here and that is exactly how many near death experiencers describe it. Similar to the metamorphosis that a caterpillar goes through in the process of becoming a butterfly?

So for me at least it is the continuity in me still being me that makes life after death... life after death. And that is what I believe happens and that it is simple and not complicated and the "soul" that awakens in heaven will pretty much still be me albeit living in a dimension with a physics that is very different from the physics we normally experience here.

It will be the physics of holographic film as described by Michael Talbot in his book The Holographic Universe with overwhelming feelings of oneness and connectedness, everything past present and future all existing at once, 360 degree vision, communicating telepathically, thoughts becoming things, time and space not existing in the same way they do here, etc.

Time and the NDE: https://www.near-death.com/science/research/time.html

The Universe as a Hologram, probably written by Michael Talbot. Where we are now is the holographic projection and heaven is the original holographic film that our universe is projected from. http://www.earthportals.com/hologram.html

[Eric Newhill]

But what happens to the rapist? Does he have a bad afterlife experience?

Sorry...couldn't resist

[Michael Prescott]

There's a nonfiction book called "Therapist" that recounts the ordeal of a female patient who was pressured into having sex with her psychiatrist. I always wondered if the title was an unconscious pun.

[Art]

\\"But what happens to the rapist? Does he have a bad afterlife experience?" - Eric//
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I believe we are all healed when we enter or make contact with that Light. It's a by-product of the oneness and connectedness of the other side. We are able to see the reason why things happened the way they did.

I am deeply suspicious of free will and lean heavily towards fate and predestination. That this Earth life is a school and we simply learn here the things that can't be learned in heaven. It has to do with the difference between the physics of where we are now versus the physics of where we are going. This side is more like a play or movie and we are all actors, teachers, and students at the same time.

As we are playing our parts we are teaching and learning at the same time the things that we came here to learn, holistically, what it is like to be separate and what it means and how it feels, what it feels like to be inside a body and control that body, what "out there" looks and feels like, making memories of what it means to live in a 3 dimensional + 1 time universe.

Why? So that after we cross back over to the place we call heaven, which is the original holographic film that our universe is projected from, we can use this information to be able to understand and create a reality of our own. The alternative is to exist in existential nothingness and black void. Heaven is a place where nothing exists and everything exists. It has the potential of being "all that is" but first it has to be thought of and before something can be thought of it has to first be experienced and understood and the only way to do that is to first experience it.

Little babies are empty vessels when they are first born. They are conscious and sentient but because they haven't experienced life yet they have to come here and learn about being in a place where they are inside a body and controlling that body and all the 5 senses, taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. What "out there" even is?

The soul's lessons are embedded in our everyday lives, and it is holistically imprinted with what it needs to learn regardless of who we are, or where we live, or even what we believe? From all the NDEs I've read belief seems to be completely irrelevant?

When a teacher writes out a detailed lesson plan she writes at the top a clearly stated objective of what the student will learn by the end of the lesson. And the more in control she is of the classroom the more effective she is as a teacher. If the students are doing whatever they want to and have complete autonomy the classroom is pandemonium and nothing is learned but if the teacher is in control and controlling the classroom the students are engaged and learning the things they are in the classroom to learn.

Excerpt from Michelle M's NDE description, "I felt an understanding about life, what it was, is. As if, it was a dream in itself. It's so very hard to explain this part. I'll try, but my words limit the fullness of it. I don't have the words here, but I understood that it really didn't matter what happened in the life experience. I knew/understood that it was intense, brief, but when we were in it, it seemed like forever. I understood that whatever happened in life, I was okay, and so were the others here." https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1michelle_m_nde.html

And from James E's NDE description, "It taught me that everyone, everything, is in its right place. Always will be, no matter how much we try to change, or try to destroy, or try to create, we're simply doing exactly what was planned. The meaning of life, as I felt it to be, is simply to live. We're here because we want to be here." https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1james_e_nde.html

[Arthur Riechert]

Life has to be the way it is in order to evoke lots of emotion. There is a very strong connection between emotion and memory and the more emotional the experience the more powerful and long lasting the memory it creates. The things we experience and learn here have to evoke enough emotion to last for eternity. They have to be emotional enough to overcome those overwhelming feelings of oneness and connectedness on the other side so that we don't just melt back into that oneness and forget who we were. Otherwise our visit here to this dimension would all be in vain. Separation, time and space, being in a body, and living in a 3 dimensional + 1 time universe. Pure consciousness,"soul stuff", learning what it is like to be something more than just pure consciousness.

Emotions make the memory last:
https://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20050131/emotions-make-memory-last

[John Le Roux]

Greetings I had tried to link here from C2C
but no luck.Well having never been on radio
except pirate never considered having to ad
lib for 2 hour segament you came across very
polished and George does take care of guests
I am also ordering your newest one sounds
right up my ally.

Sometime I may share with you an event I had
at age 7 or 8 forgot it for a time it was WOW !