Otherworld Journeys

Author : Carol Zaleski
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 1988-11-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780195363524

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Otherworld Journeys by Carol Zaleski Pdf

Dozens of books, articles, television shows, and films relating "near-death" experiences have appeared in the past decade. People who have survived a close brush with death reveal their extraordinary visions and ecstatic feelings at the moment they died, describing journeys through a tunnel to a realm of light, visual reviews of their past deeds, encounters with a benevolent spirit, and permanent transformation after returning to life. Carol Zaleski's Otherworld Journeys offers the most comprehensive treatment to date of the evidence surrounding near-death experiences. The first to place researchers' findings, first-person accounts, and possible medical or psychological explanations in historical perspective, she discusses how these materials reflect the influence of contemporary culture. She demonstrates that modern near-death reports belong to a vast family of otherworld journey tales, with examples in nearly every religious heritage. She identifies universal as well as culturally specific features by comparing near-death narratives in two distinct periods of Western society: medieval Christendom and twentieth-century secular America. This comparison reveals profound similarities, such as the life-review and the transforming after-effects of the vision, as well as striking contrasts, such as the absence of hell or punishment scenes from modern accounts. Mediating between the "debunkers" and the near-death researchers, Zaleski considers current efforts to explain near-death experience scientifically. She concludes by emphasizing the importance of the otherworld vision for understanding imaginative and religious experience in general.

Author : Claude Lecouteux,Corinne Lecouteux
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2020-08-04
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781620559437

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Travels to the Otherworld and Other Fantastic Realms by Claude Lecouteux,Corinne Lecouteux Pdf

A collection of tales from the Middle Ages that reveal voyages to Heaven and Hell, the realm of the Faery, mystical lands, and encounters with mythic beasts • Shares travelers’ accounts of voyages into the afterlife, alarming creatures of unparalleled strangeness, encounters with doppelgangers and angels, chivalric romantic misadventures, and legends of heroes • Explains how travelers’ tales from the Middle Ages drew on geographies, encyclopedias, travel accounts, bestiaries, and herbals for material to capture the imagination of their audiences • Includes rare illustrations from incunabula and medieval manuscripts Heading off to discover unknown lands was always a risky undertaking during the Middle Ages due to the countless dangers lying in wait for the traveler--if we can believe what the written accounts tell us. In the medieval age of intercontinental exploration, tales of sea monsters, strange hybrid beasts, trickster faeries, accidental trips to the afterlife, and peoples as fantastic and dangerous as the lands they inhabited abounded. In this curated collection of medieval travelers’ tales, editors Claude and Corinne Lecouteux explain how the Middle Ages were a melting pot of narrative traditions from the four corners of the then-known world. Tales from this period often drew on geographies, encyclopedias, travel accounts, bestiaries, and herbals for material to capture the imagination of their audiences, who were fascinated by the wonders being discovered by explorers of the time. Accompanied by rare illustrations from incunabula and medieval manuscripts, the stories in this collection include voyages into the afterlife, with guided tours of Hell and glimpses of Heaven, as well as journeys into other fantastic realms, such as the pagan land of the Faery. It also includes accounts from travelers such as Alexander the Great of alarming creatures of unparalleled strangeness, encounters with doppelgangers and angels, legends of heroes, and tales of chivalric romantic misadventures, with protagonists swept to exotic new places by fate or by quest. In each story, the marvelous is omnipresent, and each portrays the reactions of the protagonist when faced with the unknown. Offering an introduction to the medieval imaginings of a wondrous universe, these tales reflect the dreams and beliefs of the Middle Ages’ era of discovery and allow readers to survey mythic geography, meet people from the far ends of the earth, and experience the supernatural.

Author : Evans Lansing Smith
Publisher : University Press of America
Page : 528 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0761805095

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The Hero Journey in Literature by Evans Lansing Smith Pdf

This book provides an overview of the hero journey theme in literature, from antiquity to the present, with a focus on the imagery of the rites of passage in human life (initiation at adolescence, mid-life, and death). This is the only book to focus on the major works of the literary tradition, detailing discussions of the hero journey in major literary texts. Included are chapters on the literature of Antiquity (Sumerian, Egyptian, Biblical, Greek, and Roman), the Middle Ages (with emphasis on the Arthurian Romance), the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (Shakespeare, Milton, Marvell, Pope, Fielding, the Arabian Nights, and Alchemical Illustration), Romanticism and Naturalism (Coleridge, Selected Grimm's Tales, Bront%, Bierce, Whitman, Twain, Hawthorne, E.T.A. Hoffman, Rabindranath Tagore), and Modernism to Contemporary (Joyce, Gilman, Alifa Rifaat, Bellow, Lessing, Pynchon, Eudora Welty).

Author : Heiner Schwenke
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 239 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2019-01-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781532656040

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The Confusion of Worlds by Heiner Schwenke Pdf

The idea of the resurrection of the physical body and the eternal continuation of life with this body in a future paradisiacal kingdom of God on earth is one of the most enigmatic of religious ideas. It fully contradicts our knowledge of the transitoriness of all things in this universe. According to the author, the origin for this idea lies in certain forms of otherworld experiences, as, for example, reported by people who had near-death experiences: encounters with the dead in brilliantly beautiful bodies and the experience of paradisiacal, seemingly earthly landscapes. He observes that cultures with a pre-modern cosmology sometimes projected such otherworld experiences onto this world, to distant and unknown locations on earth. These experiences were the blueprint for an expectation of paradisiacal conditions on earth. The author establishes parallels between the reports of otherworld experiences and the eschatological ideas of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity. He shows that otherworld experiences can indeed foster the expectation of paradisiacal conditions on earth by referring to the Ghost Dance movement of the Lakota people in 1890. He presumes that the confusion of worlds proved fatal not only for the Lakota people but also for Jesus of Nazareth.

Author : Arthur Alexander Wachsler
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 1146 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 1972
Category : Celts
ISBN : STANFORD:36105037803983

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The Celtic Concept of the Journey to the Otherworld and Its Relationship to Ulrich Von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet by Arthur Alexander Wachsler Pdf

Author : Jason Segel,Kirsten Miller
Publisher : Ember
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2019-10-01
Category : Young Adult Fiction
ISBN : 9781101939390

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OtherEarth by Jason Segel,Kirsten Miller Pdf

Return to the series BuzzFeed compared to Ready Player One! The second book in the fast-paced trilogy from New York Times bestselling authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller is perfect for fans of HBO's Westworld. Simon would have done anything to save his best friend after a mysterious accident almost killed her--including follow her into a virtual world. And what he and Kat discovered there was more terrifying than anything they could have ever imagined. The world's largest tech corporation, the Company, is using unwitting hospital patients to test a device that lets VR be experienced with all five senses. The technology is so advanced that it's deadly. Now the Company is hunting Simon and Kat while war rages in Otherworld, the virtual world it created. Determined to destroy the coporation, Simon and Kat must join forces with a hacker, a gangster, and a digital entity. But as they battle to save two worlds, they uncover an all-new threat to our world: the Company's latest creation, an augmented-reality game called OtherEarth. Not only does OtherEarth kill, it has the power to erase the line between what's real and what's fantasy. Praise for the Last Reality series: A New York Times bestseller "A potent commentary on how much we're willing to give up to the lure of technology." --EW.com "Full of high stakes, thrillers, and fantastic twists and turns, fans of Ready Player One are sure to love this addictive read." --BuzzFeed "An engaging VR cautionary tale." --The A.V. Club "A fantastic journey from start to finish." --Hypable

Author : Mark Fox
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2003-12-16
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781134442799

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Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience by Mark Fox Pdf

This dramatic and sustained response to decades of research into near-death experiences (NDEs) is the first book to credibly bridge the gap between the competing factions of science and spirituality. Neither a religious argument touting NDEs as hard evidence for God, nor a scientific rebuke to religious interpretations, it balances investigation of these much-reported yet baffling phenomena, and brings fresh urgency to the study of our hopes for a life beyond.

Author : Philip Gardiner
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2009-01-30
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781442960985

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Gateways to the Otherworld by Philip Gardiner Pdf

Is there life after death? Is there a world outside our own? WHAT IF ANCIENT PEOPLE ALREADY KNEW THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS? Acclaimed author Philip Gardiner proves that our ancestors were far more advanced ''scientifically and spiritually'' than previously believed. Through a special technique, ancient Egyptians and others were able to journey to other realities within themselves - in short, to the Otherworld. The author undergoes his own experiments to prove the point. Gardiner also shows that ancient people knew more about their place in the universe than previously thought. They placed buildings and objects in specific places around the globe because these points had a distinct relation to the universal and human wave resonance of electromagnetism. When the ancients journeyed to these places, they were joining with God and visualizing the effect. The remarkable conclusions and discoveries in this book not only dispel some age - old myths, but also address questions such as: ....Is there a universal frequency that allows the mind to travel into other realms? Does the Great Pyramid hold a real secret to the quantum realm? What are those mysterious round towers found scattered around our planet? Is ESP real? What Gateways to the Otherworld uncovers are not just tales of ancient trips to other realms, nor theories on why stone circles were built in specific locations, but real answers based on thorough research and science.

Author : Matthias Egeler,Wilhelm Heizmann
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 980 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2020-05-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783110625103

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Between the Worlds by Matthias Egeler,Wilhelm Heizmann Pdf

The rich corpus of literary otherworld journeys that has survived from the Scandinavian - and especially the Icelandic - Middle Ages is in many respects tied to a space 'Between the Worlds'. Every otherworld journey quite literally engages with a space 'between the worlds' in the sense that it plays itself out between this world and a world beyond, an otherworld. Yet this is not all. Also in terms of its cultural context this branch of the literature of the medieval North takes up a position situated midway between a broad range of poles. Texts from the Christian period treat pre-Christian mythology; allegedly pre-Christian material is studded with Christian motifs; Scandinavian texts adapt the learning and literature of the European continent, Ireland, and the classical Mediterranean; and Finnish narratives in turn appear to adapt Scandinavian narrative patterns. The volume presents a rich panorama of a broad range of very different - Scandinavian, Finno-Ugric, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Ancient Near Eastern, and archaeological - perspectives on the topic of the 'otherworld journey', which contextualises the motif of the otherworld journey in Old Norse-Icelandic literature in an unprecedented breadth.

Author : Kenneth Johnson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Shamanism
ISBN : UVA:X004049919

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North Star Road by Kenneth Johnson Pdf

This book reveals -- through a compelling mix of scholarly research, global mythology and lucid story-telling -- the spiritual roots of Western culture: shamanism. An in-depth study of the witchcraft trial records and the testimony of the witches themselves proves that the European peasants accused of witchcraft died, in fact, for the sake of the world's oldest spiritual path. Learn why Shamanism has survived in one form or another to this day.

Author : J. Todd Billings
Publisher : Brazos Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2020-09-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781493427543

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The End of the Christian Life by J. Todd Billings Pdf

We're all going to die. Yet in our medically advanced, technological age, many of us see death as a distant reality--something that happens only at the end of a long life or to other people. In The End of the Christian Life, Todd Billings urges Christians to resist that view. Instead, he calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, Billings says: following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes. Drawing on his experience as a professor and father living with incurable cancer, Billings offers a personal yet deeply theological account of the gospel's expansive hope for small, mortal creatures. Artfully weaving rich theology with powerful narrative, Billings writes for church leaders and laypeople alike. Whether we are young or old, reeling from loss or clinging to our own prosperity, this book challenges us to walk a strange but wondrous path: in the midst of joy and lament, to receive mortal limits as a gift, an opportunity to give ourselves over to the Lord of life.

Author : Piotr Bienkowski
Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2020-05-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781785356391

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Where Airy Voices Lead by Piotr Bienkowski Pdf

Many have pursued, and continue to pursue, real immortality by seeking to prolong their lives on this earth. Others pursue symbolic or proxy immortality, through children, fame or being part of something long-lasting. One can imagine these different forms of immortality as a menu of options of how to live forever: you click the one that appeals to you most and best fits your beliefs, hopes, values and worldview.

Author : Steven M. Oberhelman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2016-05-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317148050

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Dreams, Healing, and Medicine in Greece by Steven M. Oberhelman Pdf

This volume centers on dreams in Greek medicine from the fifth-century B.C.E. Hippocratic Regimen down to the modern era. Medicine is here defined in a wider sense than just formal medical praxis, and includes non-formal medical healing methods such as folk pharmacopeia, religion, ’magical’ methods (e.g., amulets, exorcisms, and spells), and home remedies. This volume examines how in Greek culture dreams have played an integral part in formal and non-formal means of healing. The papers are organized into three major diachronic periods. The first group focuses on the classical Greek through late Roman Greek periods. Topics include dreams in the Hippocratic corpus; the cult of the god Asclepius and its healing centers, with their incubation and miracle dream-cures; dreams in the writings of Galen and other medical writers of the Roman Empire; and medical dreams in popular oneirocritic texts, especially the second-century C.E. dreambook by Artemidorus of Daldis, the most noted professional dream interpreter of antiquity. The second group of papers looks to the Christian Byzantine era, when dream incubation and dream healings were practised at churches and shrines, carried out by living and dead saints. Also discussed are dreams as a medical tool used by physicians in their hospital praxis and in the practical medical texts (iatrosophia) that they and laypeople consulted for the healing of disease. The final papers deal with dreams and healing in Greece from the Turkish period of Greece down to the current day in the Greek islands. The concluding chapter brings the book a full circle by discussing how modern psychotherapists and psychologists use Ascelpian dream-rituals on pilgrimages to Greece.

Author : Aisling Byrne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780198746003

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Otherworlds by Aisling Byrne Pdf

'Otherworlds' offers a new perspective on the otherworlds depicted in British and Irish medieval literature.

Author : Tony Davenport
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2004-09-23
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0191587982

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Medieval Narrative by Tony Davenport Pdf

An introduction to the variety of medieval narrative, intended both for students and more general readers who already know some of the classics of the Middle Ages, such as Beowulf, the Decameron and The Canterbury Tales,, and who wish to venture further. Medieval definitions and theories of narrative are considered in relation to modern narratology and the major medieval types of narrative are discussed. The perspective in this book is mainly English, with Chaucer as a central figure, but it refers to a range of well-known European texts and writers, such as Marie de France, Cretien de Troyes, the Niebelungenlied, the Poem of the Cid, Dante and Boccaccio.