Gregory Shushan is the guest on the Malliard Report. He is the leading authority on near death experiences and afterlife across cultures and is the author of numerous books, including the most recent one, The Next World of Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife.  Gregory and Jim are discussing Gregory's new book, The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife. Gregory explains that his previous two books are published by Bloomsbury and Oxford University Press and are intended for an academic audience, which is why they come with a hefty $110 price tag. He wanted to write something more accessible and affordable for people interested in near-death experiences. His new book looks at the idea of the afterlife from different cultural and religious perspectives. It is both accessible in terms of academic language and affordable for readers. The narrator has always been interested in unusual phenomena and began exploring after reading a book called Phenomenon. During his first degree in Egyptian archeology, he noticed similarities between ancient Egyptian beliefs of the afterlife and near-death experiences, such as leaving one's body and entering a realm of light and meeting a being of light. He decided to pursue the subject and make his work accessible to a broader audience. The conversation discussed near-death experiences (NDEs) and how they are symbolically expressed in ancient cultures. It was mentioned that in ancient Egypt, the dead were associated with the god Osiris and that part of the afterlife journey involved encountering the corpse of Osiris in the other realm. This realization that the corpse is one and the same as the dead body on Earth is what allows the spirit to continue on to the afterlife. Contemporary NDEs involve the spirit rising out of the body and looking down to see their dead body lying there. This realization allows them to accept the reality of what is happening to them and accept their own death. Gregory then explains that the NDE is not the only way to explore the afterlife. He suggests that lucid dreaming, out-of-body experiences, astral projection, and other forms of non-ordinary consciousness can allow us to explore the next world. He also discusses the importance of integrating these experiences into one's daily life and how they can help to facilitate a deeper understanding of life and death. Finally, Jim and Gregory discussed the importance of looking at the afterlife from a spiritual perspective, and how it can help to provide comfort and understanding in our own lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices