The Ghost in the Time Machine: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death

by Leo Ruickbie

In this prize-winning essay for the 2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies essay contest, Dr. Ruickbie examines the evidence for the survival of consciousness after death (“life after death”). Initially skeptical, he found that there was sufficient evidence from a wide variety of sources, including apparitions, reincarnation, near-death experiences, after-death communication, and premonitions, that met the contest’s criteria of being “beyond reasonable doubt.” Such claims are often dismissed as contravening the laws of physics; however, Ruickbie takes the ground-breaking approach of organizing the evidence as eye-witness testimony to the "block" universe (in which past, present and future exist at the same time) described by Albert Einstein and Hermann Minkowski; and finds further support in the latest theories and findings of Quantum Physics for what Ruickbie calls “timetanglement” and “cloud consciousness.” Using a novel framework inspired by Charles Dickens, this is a readable and convincing account of a complex and highly debated subject.

139 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2024

About the author

Dr Leo Ruickbie is a sociologist and historian specialising in the field of witchcraft, Wicca, magic and the occult. He hold a PhD from King's College, London, for his work on modern witchcraft, and is the author of several books including Witchcraft Out of the Shadows and Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician. In 2008 and 2009 he exhibited on the subject of witchcraft in France. As well as giving public talks and writing articles for Pagan Dawn, Watkins Review and ASANAS, he also runs the WICA (witchology.com) website.

Reviews

[Matthew C.]

Without a doubt there was fascinating information in this book, and I'll definitely be digging into the bibliographical sources for future work. That said, I felt like Ruickbie overstates his case and overplays the evidence at certain points, and I say this as someone who is not typically a "skeptic" in the field of parapsychology. And regarding his conclusions based on quantum physics, I am too ignorant of the field to make any meaningful comments; I felt lost in the weeds in that section.

[David smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

One if the best books I've read on life after death, consciousness and the challenge of paridigmatic bias in the study if paranormal phenomenon .