May 31, 2021 ~~ Volume 2 Number 5

JUST WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?
by Shari Harris

Surviving Death
by Leslie Kean
Just Who Do We Think We Are?
Leslie Kean Says...

"While exploring the evidence for an afterlife, I witnessed some unbelievable things that are not supposed to be possible in our material world. Yet they were unavoidably and undeniably real. Despite my initial doubt, I came to realize that there are still aspects of Nature that are neither understood nor accepted, even though their reality has profound implications for understanding the true breadth of the human psyche and its possible continuity after death."
Leslie Kean, Surviving Death, Inside Cover
Greetings

What a wonderful time of year! Spring has sprung and summer is pretty much here! Like the song, "June is busting out all over!" And COVID restrictions are loosening up! Feels like we're poised for a great summer. I hope you are feeling as positive as I am about where we are.

In this issue, I am highlighting a book, Surviving Death, by Leslie Kean. She is an investigative journalist who turned her interest in what happens when we die into a thorough investigation and finally an in-depth book. She explored many of the same topics I have written about in this newsletter--past lives, near-death experiences, and mediums. And she goes a bit further into the mysterious realms of seances with some personal stories of her experiences.

There are many fascinating stories included in Surviving Death that illustrate the possibility of survival beyond this life. I've chosen one of my favorites to relate--The Shoe on the Ledge. I hope you'll become curious enough to locate Surviving Death and read the others!

I've included two short videos to bring this book to life: a six-minute video of Leslie Kean talking about end-of-life visitations experienced by many dying people and an eleven-minute video of an interview with Kimberly Clark Sharp about the story of The Shoe on the Ledge.

I've found also that there is a Netflix documentary series called "Surviving Death." Season one has five episodes. I haven't watched it yet, but there is a trailer that shows Leslie Kean, Jim Tucker, and others from the book as well as some additional stories. I hope you find these videos and the documentary as interesting as I do.
Be well and enjoy your amazing life!
Sending my love,
Shari
Surviving Death by Leslie Kean

Leslie Kean is an independent investigative journalist and author who is best known for books about UFOs and the afterlife: UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, 2010, and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife, 2017.

Her groundbreaking second book, Surviving Death, is an "impeccably researched, page-turning investigation suggesting that consciousness survives death." (Surviving Death, Inside Cover)

Kean explores:
  • Case studies of young children reporting verifiable details from past lives.
  • People who die and then come back to report journeys into another dimension.
  • Mediums who seem able to see beyond the boundaries the physical world.
  • Apparitions of deceased spirits who can provide information about their lives on earth.

If you are interested in learning more about whether or not consciousness continues after we die, this is a "must read" with its broad view of the field of survival.
The children who Kean highlights in her study of children remembering past lives in Part One are James Leininger (Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by Bruce and Andrea Leininger, 2010) and Ryan Hammons (Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D., 2013).

Their stories were featured in Just Who Do We Think We Are, July 2, 2020 issue, available at www.shari-harris.com. These are well documented past life stories where the children's early memories have been verified to match persons who actually lived. Kean uses the stories to introduce the theme of survival after death.
In Part Two, Kean explores incidents of near-death experiences (NDEs), out-of-body experiences (OBEs), reversal of clinical death (actual-death experiences), memories from between lives (intermission memories), and end-of-life experiences (ELEs) when dying persons experience visits from dead relatives who seem to be welcoming them to "the other side."
Part Three of Surviving Death focuses on mental and trance mediumship, featuring mediums including Laura Lynn Jackson, who was certified through a rigorous double and triple blind testing method by the nonprofit organization, the Forever Family Foundation. This certification is quite an elite distinction for a medium. Jackson is the author of The Light Between Us and was featured in Just who Do We Think We are, March 30, 2021, which is also available at
The final Part Four is an in-depth look at physical mediumship, its history, and current practitioners. Physical mediumship includes phenomena such as seances, materialization, and exploration into poltergeists, some of which was experienced directly by the author. This is probably the most controversial of Kean's research since it hasn't been written about as much as past life stories and NDEs have in recent years. One recent publication is An Extraordinary Journey: The Memoirs of a Physical Medium by Stewart Alexander.
Kean writes, "Mainly, I have learned that what we call death may not be the end of our awareness, nor our sense of self, nor our relationship to others. Our consciousness does exist outside of time and space and the confines of our bodies." (p. 91)

She concludes with, "We can draw our own conclusions, based on consideration of the evidence, our own experience, and our sense of inner knowing and connection, all of which inform our relationship to the question of survival. I hope this book has opened doors that will allow you to engage meaningfully in that process and to take some solace in the fact that there is abundant mystery all around us, and that death may very well not be the end." (p. 362)
________________________________________
Leslie Kean is the daughter of environmentalist and philanthropist Hamilton Fish Kean and the granddaughter of Congressman Robert Kean. Her uncle is former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Sr., and her cousin is New Jersey State Senator Tom Kean Jr. Kean is a New York Times bestselling author and has been published widely in dozens of newspapers and magazines. She currently contributes articles to the Huffington Post. She lives in New York. (From the Back Cover flap)
Six-Minute Video with Leslie Kean
Speaking about End-of-Life Experiences


"The similarities between descriptions of NDEs, intermission memories, and end-of-life experiences reinforce the possible reality of another realm or nonphysical dimension where consciousness dwells after death. I believe that these interconnections give weight to the survival hypothesis." Leslie Kean, Surviving Death, p.133. (Video from YouTube.)
The Shoe on the Ledge

A concept that Leslie Kean explores is that consciousness may exist beyond the brain and may not be dependent on it. Consciousness then may conceivably continue from one life to the next.

A mysterious case that demonstrates this concept is related in Surviving Death by Kimberly Clark Sharp, a medical social worker in Seattle in 1977. A middle aged woman named Maria was admitted to the ER coronary care unit after suffering a massive heart attack, and Sharp visited with her for a psychosocial workup, which was not easy because Maria spoke Spanish and only a few words of English. A few days after being admitted to the hospital, Maria again suffered cardiac arrest. As a dozen healthcare providers rushed to the emergency, Sharp watched them work to revive her as the screen showed she was flatlining with no heartbeat and was clinically dead.

Paddles were positioned on her chest and after several applications of shock, Maria's heart was beating again, although she was on a ventilator and still unconscious. A few hours later when Maria awoke, Sharp was called to help because Maria was very agitated, waving her arms and very quickly speaking Spanish. Since Sharp knew a bit of Spanish, she was eventually able to calm Maria enough for her to explain her excitement.

Maria told that she had left her body and watched her resuscitation from a corner of the ceiling. She was able to give details of what happened while she was unconscious, who was in the room, where they stood, what they had said and done, and she was even able to describe the machinery that was used. Maria then relayed that she found herself outside above the emergency entrance to the hospital which she could describe accurately even though she had been unconscious when she arrived and which was not visible from her hospital room.
Maria continued to explain that she then found herself three or four stories above the ground staring at an object sitting outside on a window ledge--a dark blue men's tennis shoe. The area where the little toe would be was scuffed up and one end of the white shoelace was tucked under the heel. Maria was adamant that Sharp should find that shoe so it would prove that while she was "dead" she had been conscious and floating outside the hospital walls. Sharp felt it would be a futile search, but she agreed to look for the shoe.

Sharp first walked around the outside of the hospital but was not able to see a shoe on the ledge on the fourth floor. Back inside, she searched the various sections of the hospital, looking out each of the windows on the fourth and then the third floor. She was going through the motions but at one windowpane, she was astonished to see a man's dark blue tennis shoe. The lace was under the heel and the little toe area was scuffed just as Maria had described. Time seemed to stop for Sharp. She felt weak and slumped against the glass, thinking this was inconceivable. As she eventually gathered herself, she opened the window, picked up the shoe and took it to Maria.

The story of the shoe on the ledge became well known. It was documented in a film reenactment, and Kimberly Clark Sharp was invited to conferences to tell the story. Out-of-body experiences during cardiac arrests have since become the focus of serious research. Sharp went on to found the Seattle International Association for Near-Death Studies to support those who experience NDEs and to research and report on them. (Paraphrased from Chapter 6, pp. 83-91.)


Eleven-Minute Video of Kimberly Clark Sharp
Telling the Story of the Blue Sneaker
WISDOM FROM BRIAN WEISS, M.D.

"Our lives are not the result of random actions and events. Lifetimes are wisely and carefully scripted to enhance our learning and evolution. We choose our parents, who usually are souls with whom we have interacted in prior lifetimes. We learn as children, adolescents, and adults, evolving spiritually as our bodies evolve physically. After our souls leave our bodies at the time of physical "death," our learning continues on higher planes, which are really higher levels of consciousness. We review the lives we have just left, learn our lessons, and plan for our next life. Learning does not end with the death of the body." Brian Weiss, Messages From the Masters, p. 11.
MORE GOOD NEWS!
About Future Crunch: "We are a team of science communicators based in Melbourne, Australia. We curate stories of good news, mind-blowing science, human progress, and we support small charities using science and technology to make the world a better place. More than 40,000 people subscribe to our free, fortnightly email newsletter. (https://futurecrun.ch/)
"There's been so much good news on the clean energy front we're not even sure where to start. Let's kick off with "
'oil and gas are now junk investment' according to some head-in-the-clouds, granola loving climate activist; oh wait, it's (checks notes) the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Faith Birol. Sky News"
"The IEA's new Net Zero by 2050 report says that, after 250 years, humanity should now stop exploring for oil, gas, and coal. It's arguably as big a moment as the Paris Agreement, because in one stroke, it completely wipes out the fossil fuel industry's last remaining justifications for new capacity. People throw around the word 'turning point' a lot but this really is one. New Yorker"
"The Butterfly IQ is the world’s first handheld ultrasound device and one of the most impressive pieces of medical technology we've ever seen. It's about the size of an electric shaver, and connects to a smartphone or a tablet to quickly perform ultrasounds and upload scans to the internet. Doctors and nurses can slip the device into their pocket and carry it with them the same way they would a stethoscope."

"Two years ago, the New York Times did a feature on an organization called Bridge to Health, which was using the devices for pneumonia screening in Uganda and maternal health in Kenya. Since then it's been used in places like Gaza and on the US-Mexico border, allowing doctors to provide basic medical care to people struggling to get access to hospitals."

"Bridge to Health is now planning a new expedition to Yemen, which is where you (Future Crunch subscribers) come in. We're sending them $4,500 on your behalf, to buy two extra Butterfly IQ devices to take with them, putting life-saving medical imaging into the hands of people who need it the most, and allowing them to continue their work through the ongoing humanitarian crisis."
Just Who Do We Think We Are?
Shari Says...
I believe we are eternal spiritual beings who are currently living one
of our many lives on Earth and who are the co-creators
of our experiences through our thoughts and beliefs.
Shari Harris
I believe that if people understand that we live many lives and that our current identities will change in our next lives, it will help the world to be more accepting of all people. I believe that if we realize that we chose to be here and helped to plan our circumstances, we will avoid feeling like victims of fate or accident.
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Previous Issues of
"Just Who Do We Think We Are?"
are available on
Shari's website under the "My Two Cents" tab.

2021 Issues
1-28-2021: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 2, #1/Bob Olson-Afterlife
2-23-21: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 2, #2/Natalie Sudman-NDE
3-30-21: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 2, #3/ Lessons from the Other Side
4-26-21: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 2, #4/Past Life Perspective-Ann C. Barham