Near-death experiences and the pursuit of the ideal society

Up to one half of near-death experiencers report a social and physical realm beyond death. I describe the features of this afterlife society and compare them with previous ideas about the ideal society. I argue that the society so often mentioned by near-death experiencers is a unique type of utopian society. As stories from utopia, near-death experiences (NDEs) serve as inspirational narratives that help us re-evaluate the social world and our place in it. They also help integrate sometimes contradictory paradigms from religion, politics, and science. In this way, NDE narratives may be seen as the latest chapter in a long search for better social ideas about living harmoniously with each other.     

Walden two: The morality of anarchy

The utopian label is often pinned on calls for comprehensive change as a means of dismissing them from serious consideration.... [S]ocial orders come and go, and those who indulge in utopian thinking may be more prepared for... the inevitability of widespread societal transformation.... Keeping utopia in mind can prevent our settling for minor reforms when more significant change might be possible. (Fox, 1985, p. 55)When... I called myself a benign anarchist... someone said that that was not like the dictatorship of Walden Two. But Walden Two was anarchistic.... The functions delegated to [authority figures] in the world at large were performed by the people themselves through face-to-face commendation and censure. (Skinner, 1983, p. 426, emphasis his)The issue for anarchists is not whether there should be structure or order, but what kind there should be and what its sources ought to be. The individual or group which has sufficient liberty to be self-regulating will have the highest degree of order; the imposition of order from above and outside induces resentment and rebellion where it does not encourage childlike dependence and impotence, and so becomes a force for disorder. (Barclay, 1982, p. 17).     

Aleksej Losev's Antiutopia

This article is devoted not only to Losev'sphilosophical works, but also to his fiction,which he created during 1930s and 1940s.Losev's eight books of the 1920s (his``octateuch'') combine into a single whole thatamounts to his philosophy of life and historydepicted in expressive images. At the same timeLosev's ``octateuch'' strikes one as having beenwritten at a single sitting and in a singlestyle, in a genre that can be identified as the``philosophical novel'' having as much right asSpengler's opus to be called an ``intellectualnovel.'' In his prose of the 1930s and 1940sLosev tries with artistic methods to resolvethe philosophical problems which he raised inhis works of the 1920s. Losev's ``octateuch'' andhis fiction are directed against thosecontemporary materialists who seek to embodyPlato's Republic, whom he christens``soil-less nihilist idealist utopians.'' All ofthis leads to the conclusion that Losev'sintellectual novel belongs to a definite andmore specific subgenre. It is undoubtedly ananti-utopia, full of the grotesque. In additionto its scientific and social orientation,Losev's anti-utopia is also religious innature. Thus Losev not only depicts the realconsequences of utopian dreams, but also turnsto the ``life of the artist,'' which is far fromany technological or social utopias but isfilled with another, no less terrifying ornihilistic utopia: that of the non-religiousexistence of the human person. Losev preservedhis anti-utopian and anti-nihilist viewsthrough his late period (1950s–1980s), despitethe care he took not to cross Sovietcensorship. Losev's anti-utopia is the kind ofChristian realism to which he appealedthroughout his life.     

The omega project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality

Seventy-four near-death experiencers (NDErs) and 54 persons interested in near-death experiences (NDEs) participated in a mail questionnaire survey to assess the role of psychological factors in influencing susceptibility to NDEs and to measure aftereffects stemming from such events. NDErs, while not more fantasy-prone than control subjects, reported greater sensitivity to nonordinary realities as children and a higher incidence of child abuse and trauma. NDErs also scored higher on a measure of psychological dissociation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the concept of an NDE-prone personality. In addition to substantial shifts in values and beliefs, NDErs described far more psychophysical changes, including symptoms of kundalini activation, following their NDEs than did controls. We then discuss the implications of these findings with respect to their possible significance for human transformation and the emergence of a more highly evolved human being, the Omega Prototype.At the time of this study, Mr. Rosing was a student at the University of Connecticut     

Realism,Utopianism, and Radical Values

One of the more debated topics in the recent realist literature concerns the compatibility of realism and utopianism. Perhaps the greatest challenge to utopian political thought comes from Bernard Williams' realism, which argues, among other things, that political values should be subject to what he calls the ‘realism constraint’, which rules out utopian arguments based on values which cannot be offered by the state as unrealistic and therefore inadmissible. This article challenges that conclusion in two ways. First, it argues that the rationale for accepting Williams' original argument for the ‘realism constraint’ fails. Secondly, it argues that there is at least one genuinely political value of liberty available which is both compatible with realism and something that cannot be offered by the state, namely that of the political anarchist. This opens the way for far more ambitious and utopian forms of realist political thought and implies that the arguments of what we call political anarchists must be met by (realist) political argumentation, not simply ruled out by methodological stipulation.     

Utopianism in psychology: the case of Wilhelm Reich

This article examines utopian elements in Wilhelm Reich's writings in his American phase (1939-1957) in order to illustrate utopian sources of dynamic psychology. Although there are scholars who have used the term "psychological utopia" and applied it to individual thinkers (Reich, Marcuse, Fromm) and to specific psychological disciplines (psychoanalysis, behaviorism, cognitive psychology), the term itself has remained elusive and vague. Furthermore, there have been few attempts to systematically examine utopian elements in twentieth-century psychology in general and the basic assumptions of psychological utopianism in particular. While pointing out that Reich's orgonomic theories have no scientific merit, this article argues for the relevancy of his ideas for understanding the nature of utopianism in dynamic psychology.     

The impact of a near-death experience on family relationships

This study explores the influence that a near-death experience (NDE) had on the family relationships of eleven NDErs, based on in-depth interviews. I detail the changes in relationships with extensive quotes providing data on family interactions. Analysis of the adjustments of NDErs within their family relationships reveals that while some families cope well and are positively influenced by an NDE, others may encounter difficulty and cease to function as they previously did. The transformation that NDErs themselves undergo, as well as the attitudes of others toward the NDE and the NDEr, are instrumental in altering NDErs' family relationships.This paper was excerpted and adapted from his seniors honors thesis.     

Of Waters and Women: The Philosophy of Luce Irigaray

This article reviews three recent books that enhance our understanding of the work of French feminist Luce Irigaray: Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche and The Irigaray Reader (both by Irigaray), and Philosophy in the Feminine, a commentary on Irigaray's work by Margaret Whitford. The author emphasizes a dynamic reading of Irigaray's philosophy and integrates theoretical concepts with poetic/utopian passages from the works.     

Daughters of the Enlightenment: Reconstructing Adorno on Gender and Feminist Praxis

This article offers a reconstruction of Theodor Adorno's work as it concerns sex/gender and feminist praxis. Although the prevailing interpretation of Adorno's work conceptualizes its relationship to women as one of either exclusion or essentialism, I argue that both the reading of Sade's Juliette in Dialectic of Enlightenment, as well as a number of Adorno's aphorisms in Minima Moralia, present complex feminist claims and commitments. Max Horkheimer and Adorno position Juliette as a subject of the Enlightenment, forestalling the possibility that women qua women are potentially utopian figures. I utilize Adorno's work in Minima Moralia to show that he—far from excluding or essentializing women—was interested in metaphorically capturing the subjective conditions developed by a system of binary sex/gender within a heteropatriarchal society. Indeed, one can find an iteration of queer theoretical commitments in Minima Moralia. As a result, I argue that he displays a number of straightforwardly feminist commitments: that a liberated society requires the disambiguation of sex from gender, affirming the nonnaturalness of our social sex/gender regime, and claiming that all subjects as gendered subjects are damaged by living within a heteropatriarchal society. Lastly, I provide preliminary evidence of Adorno's critique of (neo)liberal feminist praxis.     

Utopic ideas of cure and joint exploration in psychoanalytic supervision

The idea of the decisive and complete cure is deeply rooted in our unconscious and in the sacral roots of symbolic healing. Double sets of private theories of cure can frequently be found among patients in psychoanalysis and their analysts. The utopian cure involves a profound transformation of the personality by way of deep regression. The idea of an attainable and more limited cure includes new ways of managing old problems. The actual ongoing treatment is then seen as the 'next-best solution'. The utopian fantasy of creating 'the new person' by means of 'proper' psychoanalysis or analytic training has far-reaching consequences for psychoanalytic education and supervision. Our awareness of the inevitable temptation in the 'utopian state of mind' can help us to trace and focus on utopic elements in the supervisory process. Exploration of utopic ideas of all the three parties involved can itself be a fruitful and stimulating way of working in supervision. An important aim of psychoanalytic supervision is to promote a distinct state of mind that can counterbalance utopic ideas and counteract the phenomenon of a 'false analytic self'.     

The Meaning and Intensity of the Near-Death Experience

This is the second in a three-part study exploring the hypothesis that near-death experiences (NDErs) assign the meaning of the NDE by using causal (effect) and semantic (affect) attributions. To test this hypothesis, 32 spontaneous verbal accounts of NDEs were analyzed. Each statement comprising the account was coded and classified according to the six attributional types in the Norton-Sahlman matrices of attributional classification. On the bases of these findings, we conclude that NDErs abstract the most significant aspects of meaning from their experiences by the use of attributions expressing the purposes of the experience and the intentions of the participants. Second, the meaning and intensity of the experience derives from attributions of both effect (causality) and affective significance: the assignment of subjective meaning to objects and events (affect). Third, the findings demonstrate that there are significant changes in NDErs' overt and affective states, reinforcing our argument that meaning and intensity of the NDE is a function of how the experiencer assigns causation, in addition to the affective significance that the experiencer places on the events constituting the NDE.     

Discriminating utopian from dystopian literature: Why is walden two considered a dystopia?

Skinner thought of Walden Two as a utopia, but many literary critics consider it a dystopia. The present paper examines works by several authors of utopian literature in an effort to determine what elements lead critics to classify works as "dystopian." Common elements seem to include (a) suspicion of scientific social planning, (b) the unhappiness of the characters portrayed, (c) suspicion of sources of control of behavior outside the individual, (d) violation of a presumed inherent need to struggle, and (e) suspicion of behavioral methods of governance. The elements Walden Two shares with other utopias and dystopias are examined, and the conclusion is offered that Walden Two could not be considered a dystopia for any of the traditional reasons. Instead, the negative view of Walden Two seems to be an outgrowth of literary devices and general negative reactions to behavioral determinism.     

RELIGION AND FRANCIS BACON'S SCIENTIFIC UTOPIANISM

Francis Bacon often is depicted as a patriarch of modernity who promotes human rational action over faith in divine Providence and as a secular humanitarian who realized that improvement of the human condition depended on human action and not on God's saving acts in history. Bacon's New Atlantis is usually described as a “scientific utopia” because its ideal order, harmony, and prosperity are the result of the investigations of nature conducted by the members of Solomon's House. I challenge these characterizations by showing that Bacon's so‐called scientific utopianism is grounded in his religious convictions that his age was one of Providential intervention and that he was God's agent for an apocalyptic transformation of the human condition. I examine the centrality of these religious themes in two of his philosophical works, The Advancement of Learning and The Great Instauration, which are well known for setting out Bacon's critique of the state of learning and for presenting the principles of his epistemology. Analysis of The Advancement of Learning demonstrates Bacon's conviction that his reform of natural philosophy was part of a Providentially guided, twofold restoration of the knowledge of nature and the knowledge of God. Examination of The Great Instauration reveals that Bacon sees his age as one of apocalyptic transformation of the human condition that restores humanity to a prelapsarian state. Analysis of the New Atlantis shows that utopian perfection can be achieved only through a combination of right religion and the proper study of nature. Moreover, when the “scientific” work of Solomon's House is recontextualized within the religious themes of salvation and deliverance that permeate the New Atlantis, the full scope of Bacon's “scientific utopianism” can be seen, and this project is not the one usually portrayed in scholarly treatments. Bacon's program for rehabilitating humanity and its relation to nature is not a secular, scientific advance through which humanity gains dominion over nature and mastery of its own destiny but rather one guided by divine Providence and achieved through pious human effort.     

Back to the garden: new visions of posthuman futures

This article examines the contemporary phenomenon of imagining a world from which people have been removed. Such a trend speaks to a utopian impulse, but one that is not comparable to traditional utopian ideas. What does the popularity of books like The World without Us or documentaries such as The Future is Wild, Aftermath: Population Zero, and Life after People say about the current status of utopian ideals, environmental thought, and our cultural understanding of humanity's place in the nature order?     

A comparison of UFO and near-death experiences as vehicles for the evolution of human consciousness

This study compares unidentified flying object experiencers (UFOErs) with near-death experiencers (NDErs) in regard to changes in attitudes toward self, others, and life in general, toward religious or spiritual orientation, and toward psychic abilities and beliefs. Kenneth Ring's questionnaires administered to NDErs (1984) were given in this study to 93 persons whose UFOE included either a light experience, an object experience, or a close encounter. The author concludes that the UFOE, like the NDE, provides impetus toward spiritual growth, but neither as consistently nor as strongly.This paper was derived in part from her M.A. thesis submitted to John F. Kennedy University.     

Social positions in the city of light

This article describes the social positions of inhabitants in the otherworldly City of Light as reported by a limited number of Mormon near-death experiences (NDErs). These social positions included men and women and various relatives and friends, in addition to authorities or administrators, genealogists, guardians, guides, homemakers, missionaries, teachers, and students. These reports of social positions in the City of Light are similar to those described by other researchers, and are comparable to those found in our own world.The authors thanks Jay G.Burrup for providing a section of theDiary of George Henry Carver. This research was supported in part by a sabbatical leave granted to Dr. Lundahl by the Sabbatical Leave Committee of Western New Mexico University.     

MEASURING SATISFACTION IN JEWISH “UTOPIA”

As a framework for social analysis, utopia is usually the province of classicists and political theorists. Yet practitioners of Jewish social studies — particularly specialists on the subject of the kibbutz — have much to offer non‐regional specialists of intentional communities and micropolities. Indeed, by applying standard social scientific techniques of survey and analysis, the kibbutz framework re‐emerges as a viable construct within contemporary comparative politics and sociology. Here, two similarly planned communities in the Negev desert, with founding memberships including a core (approximately one‐third) of “progressive” (i.e.Reform) Jewish emigrants from the USA, are analysed and compared statistically along several indices of satisfaction. Significant differences arise in the areas of personal relations, economic security, contentment with children’s education, and standard of living. Contrasting degrees of ideological and theological flexibility — attributable, in these two communities, to middle ageing and child rearing — may also account for different success outcomes. Measurement of satisfaction levels in Israel can help other neo‐utopian movements refine their proposed programmes and quantify their claims to superior socio‐political planning.