Spirituality means something different to everyone. Some may believe it involves participating in organized religion. Others may prefer it to be more personal, like getting in touch with ones inner self through yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, or even long walks. A few may find that it lies in finding a new sense of purpose for their lives. Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion addresses all of these, and more, through a new paradigm about life and death. It lifts readers above their daily press for competitive survival and success, by going to the heart of all spirituality. The book disputes traditional sciences claim that physical matter is the only reality. It also helps explain enigmas that have confronted orthodox religion for centuries. To do so, this book correlates published research from nearly one hundred and fifty authors and professionals in medicine, neuroscience, psychology, theology, history, and metaphysics. It explores new insights being revealed through thousands of subjective experiences around the worldall of them beyond the ability of science or religion to explain. The book therefore not only offers reassurance that death is not final but it also discloses profound implications for how we live our lives on earth. The US Review of Books Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion by William Pillow, with Jack McMahan and Lillian Stover Wells iUniverse reviewed by Priscilla Estes "but deep inside us is the recognition that life can and should have more meaning, one that reaches far beyond traditional science and orthodox religion and one that involves all of us." The mind-body-spirit (MBS) publishing industry has come a long way since the 1960s and 1970s when Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hesse and Carlos Castaneda combined Eastern and Western thought in the best-sellers Doors of Perception, Siddhartha, and The Teachings of Don Juan, respectively. In fact, according to religion and publishing expert Elizabeth Puttick, MBS publishing is the fastest growing non-fiction genre, which a quick examination of virtual and real bookstores supports. More than ever before, great minds race to close the gap between science and religion, to answer the questions of where do we come from, why are we here, and where do we go after death. We search for answers inside the human brain, the psyche, the fetus, gravity, energy fields, near-death experiences (NDEs), universal consciousness, time travel, soul travel, quantum medicine, karma, dharma, and moreit's hard for the average person to comprehend, let alone keep up! Finally, here is a book that helps pull it all together for us, written by William Pillow, ex-US Air Force and retired pharmacist with thirty-four years at Eli Lilly. Pillow began a quest to discover where we go after death and why when a long and lingering illness befell his wife and he confronted aging. Initially a Southern Baptist and a skeptic about all things metaphysical, he changed his mind while reading the incredible body of research on soul survival. After prodigious investigation, much of which concerns NDEs and studies on fetal awareness, Pillow concluded there is a soul, a God, and a Heaven. His conclusions may challenge your philosophy, but parenthetical documentation and a fifteen-page bibliography encourage independent verification. The book starts slowly and carefully as Pillow builds his case by conscientiously stitching together scientific, religious, and metaphysical literature, both ancient and modern, on the nature of God (the spark of life), souls (the human superconsciousness) and Heaven (the spirit world). The brain begins to smoke while chugging through study after study on NDE's, shared NDE's, life-between-lives (LBL), out-of-body-experiences (OBE), past-life regression, after death communications (ADC), pre-birth visions, neurological pathways, the transcendent source of consciousness, the ego, and more. We long for an index, a glossary, and less use of quotes around words that don't require them. Halfway through, our mental labors are rewarded with chapter 7, "Our Incomparable Souls." This is the heart of the book, a behind-the scenes look at the soul and a parting of the veil of forgetfulness produced by the ego. Pillow discusses studies on fetal consciousness, which provide the strongest circumstantial evidence for existence of the soul, and gives a moving testament to the soul's purpose: to instill compassion, empathy, and benevolence in its human host. The second half of the book flies by, as we greedily gobble mainstream studies on energy healing, brain waves, and the need for face-to-face friendships in an electronically connected world. Tucked unobtrusively at the end of chapter 11 are three paragraphs titled "For Me Personally," in which the author shares his private definition of faith. Such unheralded brevity from a man who once considered entering the Christian ministry shows great respect for the reader and for the role of science in decoding religion and spirituality. The final chapter implores us "to at least consider the possible importance of these concepts and commentaries for your loved ones and for you." Pillow believes that by knowing there is a God, a soul, and a Heaven, we can sustain our inner journey toward purpose and meaning in our lives; and that by recognizing our shared humanity, we can save civilization. One hopes and prays this is true as murders by children, mass killings by governments, greed, corruption, materialism, apathy, mental illness, addiction, and more threaten to suffocate humanity's life force. Pillow is an accomplished author, having written or edited five educational textbooks, several dozen articles, one murder mystery involving reincarnation and the paranormal, and five books about the search for self and the meaning of life through science, self-awareness, and spirituality. Spirituality Beyond Science and Religion is his first book written with theologian Jack McMahan and clinical psychologist Lillian Stover Wells. Pillow brilliantly connects his philosophy on the soul, God, and Heaven with salient literature in the field of science and religion. The MBS genre has come a long way from the Indian fables and drug-induced journeys of the sixties and seventies. Pillow's overall message that the power of love is greater than the love of power points us in the right direction for the twenty-first century.

"I have personally adopted many of the practices Rupert describes in his book and experienced more love, joy, empathy, gratitude, and equanimity as a result. We are all indebted to Rupert, who has tirelessly brought us deep insights from both science and spirituality.” ―Deepak Chopra The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier. In this pioneering book, Rupert Sheldrake shows how science helps validate seven practices on which many religions are built, and which are part of our common human heritage: meditation, gratitude, connecting with nature, relating to plants, rituals, singing and chanting, and pilgrimage and holy places. Sheldrake summarizes the latest scientific research on what happens when we take part in these practices, and suggests ways that readers can explore these fields for themselves. For those who are religious, Science and Spiritual Practices will illuminate the evolutionary origins of their own traditions and give a new appreciation of their power. For the nonreligious, this book will show how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all. This is a book for anyone who suspects that in the drive toward radical secularism, something valuable has been left behind. Rupert Sheldrake compellingly argues that by opening ourselves to the spiritual dimension, we may find the strength to live more fulfilling lives.

Michael Ruse offers a new analysis of the often troubled relationship between science and religion. Arguing against both extremes - in one corner, the New Atheists; in the other, the Creationists and their offspring the Intelligent Designers - he asserts that science is the highest source of human inquiry. Yet, by its very nature and its deep reliance on metaphor, science restricts itself and is unable to answer basic, significant questions about the meaning of the universe and humankind's place within it: why is there something rather than nothing? What is the meaning of it all? Ruse shows that one can legitimately be a skeptic about these questions, and yet why it is open for a Christian, or member of any faith, to offer answers. Scientists, he concludes, should be proud of their achievements but modest about their scope. Christians should be confident of their mission but respectful of the successes of science.

The rise of modern science has brought with it increasing acceptance among intellectual elites of a worldview that conflicts sharply both with everyday human experience and with beliefs widely shared among the world’s great cultural traditions. Most contemporary scientists and philosophers believe that reality is at bottom purely physical, and that human beings are nothing more than extremely complicated biological machines. On such views our everyday experiences of conscious decision-making, free will, and the self are illusory by-products of the grinding of our neural machinery. It follows that mind and personality are necessarily extinguished at death, and that there exists no deeper transpersonal or spiritual reality of any sort. Beyond Physicalism is the product of an unusual fellowship of scientists and humanities scholars who dispute these views. In their previous publication, Irreducible Mind, they argued that physicalism cannot accommodate various well-evidenced empirical phenomena including paranormal or psi phenomena, postmortem survival, and mystical experiences. In this new theory-oriented companion volume they go further by attempting to understand how the world must be constituted in order that these “rogue” phenomena can occur. Drawing upon empirical science, metaphysical philosophy, and the mystical traditions, the authors work toward an improved “big picture” of the general character of reality, one which strongly overlaps territory traditionally occupied by the world’s institutional religions, and which attempts to reconcile science and spirituality by finding a middle path between the polarized fundamentalisms, religious and scientific, that have dominated recent public discourse. Contributions by: Harald Atmanspacher, Loriliai Biernacki, Bernard Carr, Wolfgang Fach, Michael Grosso, Michael Murphy, David E. Presti, Gregory Shaw, Henry P. Stapp, Eric M. Weiss, and Ian Whicher

Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.

To go beyond is to move into a higher state of consciousness, to a place of bliss, greater understanding, love, and deep connectedness, a realm where we finally find life's meaning - experiences for which all spiritual seekers seek. Dr Rupert Sheldrake, writing as both a scientist and a spiritual explorer, looks at seven spiritual practices that are personally transformative and have scientifically measurable effects. He combines the latest scientific research with his extensive knowledge of mystical traditions around the world to show how we may tune into more-than-human realms of consciousness through psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, and by taking cannabis. He also shows how everyday activities can have mystical dimensions, including sports and learning from animals. He discusses traditional religious practices such as fasting, prayer, and the celebration of festivals and holy days. Why do these practices work? Are their effects all inside brains and essentially illusory? Or can we really make contact with forms of consciousness greater than our own? We are in the midst of a spiritual revival. This book is an essential guide.

Eloquent, urgent, and inspiring, The Constant Fire tackles the acrimonious debate between science and religion, taking us beyond its stagnant parameters into the wider domain of human spiritual experience. From a Neolithic archaeological site in Ireland to modern theories of star formation, Adam Frank traverses a wide terrain, broadening our sights and allowing us to imagine an alternative perspective. Drawing from his experience as a practicing astrophysicist and from the writings of the great scholars of religion, philosophy, and mythology, Frank locates the connective tissue linking science and religion—their commonality as sacred pursuits—and finds their shared aspiration in pursuit of "the True and the Real." Taking us from the burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 to Einstein and on to today's pressing issues of global warming and resource depletion, The Constant Fire shows us how to move beyond this stale debate into a more profound experience of the world as sacred—a world that embraces science without renouncing human spirituality.