BOOK Project
Jen is actively working on a book to honor and commemorate Claire. We used to read medical memoirs together. What I thought would be a memoir has turned into a nonfiction expose on death, life, and healing from chronic illness.
“Demystifying Death: A Scientific and Spiritual Exploration of How Death Adjacent States of Consciousness Inform Life” is a thesis on consciousness-body-spirit communication as it relates to life and death. I explore death adjacent states of consciousness across multi-disciplinary fields. Whether facing the death of a loved one or grappling with one’s own death, divergent states of consciousness offer insight to what potentially lies beyond. New tools in science allow us to explore these states with increasing rigor. Increased science around metaphysical experiences challenges the widespread models that treat the body exclusively as a physical entity.
Wellness circles frequently reference the "mind-body-spirit" connection. However, no one stops to clearly define how the mind, body, and spirit interact.
Moreover, most people assume that the mind is of the physical brain. However, increasing research on near death experiences and out-of-body consciousness suggests that aspects of the mind exist outside the physical body.
I posit that this mind-body-spirit model needs updating. Instead, calling it the "consciousness-body-spirit" connection. Wherein the cognitive processes we associate with the brain relate to 'body.' And aspects of mind that exist outside the brain relate to "consciousness." While spirit is left open to interpretation. Many religious traditions reference the soul. Popularized psychology references the 'highest self.' I explore how consciousness, the physical body, and ‘highest self’ interact in ways to experience aligned health and wholeness. In a world where binaries are increasingly being challenged, I think it is important to recognize that science and spiritually occur across a spectrum and are not mutually exclusive.
A chapter outline for my book is listed below.
PART 1: Setting The Scene
1. When Death Becomes Trauma
2. Science and Spiritual Dichotomies
3. Mind Over Matter
PART 2: Divergent Consciousness and The Afterlife
4. Out-of-Body Consciousness
5. Consciousness at the Moment of Death
PART 3: The Case For Continued Consciousness
6. After Death Communication
7. Past Life Implications
PART 4: Living While Grieving and Dying
8. Grieving Loss
9. Consciousness-Body Communication
10. Conscious Dying
PART 5: Transcending Death and Rebirth Cycles
11. Celebrating Impermanence
12. Destruction and Creation in Balance
13. Dying to Live
AFTERWARD: Rest in Peace