- 3 - 1. 0 The disowned hereafter 1. 1. Afterlife research in the background The universe is not something that exists independently from us “on the other side”. We inevitably participate in everything that takes place. We are not just observers, but also contributors. Even if we might find this strange, the universe is a universe of participation. John Archibald Wheeler (Quantum physicist) The question about the continuity of the human existence beyond death no longer only interests psychologists and researchers of the paranormal. Throughout the world, physicians, biologists, cyberneticists, chemists, physicists and engineers are engaged in researching this possibility. The cost involved with such research does unfortunately not only depends on the financial freedom of movement. A lot of researchers have to take public opinion and the benevolence of those around them into consideration. The technical facilities that are generally available for their work at institutes, universities and other research centres are available for researching the hereafter only on rare occasions. Their freedom of action is restricted, because they want the least amount of publicity for their investigations and there is a good reason for this: • Not every scientist has such an inviolable name like Albert Einstein, who could dare to formulate a preface for Upton Sinclair’s telepathy report “Mental Radio”. • Not all of them enjoy the high professional recognition of a Wolfgang Pauli who could dare to speculate, with C. G. Jung, about the non-physical nature of coincidence. Most scientists must have a fear of being exposed to ridicule, to experience professional hindrances or even loss of livelihood, if their engagement with the scientific underground were to be exposed. A professor of medicine, who is searching for the soul of a just deceased patient, would have to be considered untenable at most universities. Scientists that want to seriously delve into paranormal phenomena, risk being considered occult dreamers. Even though they are actually the exact opposite, namely: • Realists that are not prepared to acquiesce with the existence of the supernatural and are therefore looking for rational explanations. Researchers at the forefront of the unknown were always forced to take unconventional paths. They violated taboos and stirred up society against them. • Leonardo da Vinci hid corpses in his bed so that he could secretly study the anatomy of the human body at night. • Galileo, who was so careless that he promoted his ideas in public, was forced to disavow Copernicus’s view of the world under threat of torture. • Semmelweis exposed himself to the hatred and the contempt of his professional colleagues, because he declared that the uncleanliness of doctors and hospitals was the cause for sepsis. A lot of scientists still fear similar hindrances. They often perform their work in secret, because it
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