Flipside of Plato’s Myth of Er

THE FLIPSIDE OF PLATO’S NEAR DEATH ACCOUNT: “THE MYTH OF ER”

“If the knowledge which we acquired before birth was lost to us at birth, and afterwards by the use of the senses we recover that which we previously knew, will not that which we call learning be a process of recovering our knowledge, and may not this be rightly termed recollection by us? .. (Therefore) our souls must have existed before they were in the form of man — without bodies, and must have had intelligence.”

Socrates (as reported in Phaedo 72c-82e “On the Soul” written by Plato)

Plato by Conego 1783

In Plato’s REPUBLIC the last chapter is about the “Myth of Er” — myth being a term for “story of” rather than “Made up story about.” Either way, if what Er had to say about the flipside is accurate, then some of his story, or all of his story should follow the same architecture that others have said about the afterlife.

In terms of data, I highly recommend reading Dr. Greyson’s book AFTER, or the various online peer reviewed studies done by Dr. Ed Kelly or Dr. Emily Kelly — all three of whom I met when giving a talk at the UVA Medical lab DOPS after the publication of my book FLIPSIDE — about people under hypnosis saying the same hallmarks about the afterlife. (See Dr. E Kelly’s “Near-Death Experiences with Reports of Meeting…