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The Meaning of Life
A Former Python Pursues Life After Death
“I am here for one reason. I am a celebrity, you see.”
With those words, John Cleese, longtime member of the British comedic troupe Monty Python and key writer of Python classics The Life of Brian, The Holy Grail and others, introduced himself to the Charlottesville, Virginia crowd. They were attending the Tom Tom Festival, highlighting the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) research on Is There Life After Death?
Cleese, moderating the panel, added “I’m also here because I’m fascinated by what these guys do and I think they are dealing with the most interesting things you can deal with.”
Scroll down to videos:
“The One Mind” Series: My interview with world-renowned NDE expert Bruce Greyson, M.D. from The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS)
“Is There Life After Death?” from UVA’s Tom-Tom Festival
It Starts with Jefferson, Segues to Stevenson
The storied history of the University of Virginia starts with Thomas Jefferson who considered its founding one of his three greatest accomplishments, more so than being the nation’s third president. One reason for its unique legacy has flown largely under the radar: the passionate, scientific and data-driven pursuit of understanding NDEs (near-death experiences), OOBEs (out-of-body experiences), the viability of reincarnation and the survival of consciousness after bodily death.
For over fifty years, psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, M.D. worked for UVA’s School of Medicine. He chaired its Psychiatry Department for ten of those years, founding the Department of Personality Studies in 1967, which evolved into the present-day DOPS in 2004. Stevenson passed away in 2007.
In his lifetime, Stevenson engaged in compelling studies as reflected in his publications Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (1974), Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect (1997) and his 2002 presentation…
