Sense of Presence of the Dead Today, as a Research Topic in the Secular Age

Abstract

The present paper reviews the research history of sensed presence of the dead, and then considers ways of treating the problem of the dead today.

A sense of presence of the dead has been studied in different disciplines like psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, religious studies, social research, psychical research, or parapsychology. In recent decades, research on sense-of-presence experiences, especially in non-western cultural settings, has fostered the development of the “continuing bonds model” in the study of grief, and vice versa.

The increasing interest in the problem of the dead today involves criticism of secularism as a materialistic worldview. However, at the same time, it is to evaluate the dead in terms of psychological function. Furthermore, it participates and promotes liberal secularism which treats any religious traditions equally with no regard for their substantial contents, from a detached position. Thus, the positive evaluation given to the presence of the dead does not seem to signify the coming of the post-secular age.