Raymond Moody (born June 30 1944) is a parapsychologist. He is most famous as an author of books about life after death and near-death experiences, (a term which he coined in 1975). His best selling title is Life After Life.

Moody studied philosophy at the University of Virginia where he obtained a B.A. (1966), a M.A. (1967) and a Ph.D (1969) in the subject. He also obtained a Ph.D in psychology from West Georgia College, where he later became a professor in that topic. In 1976, he was awarded an M.D. from the Medical College of Georgia . In 1998 Moody was appointed Chair in Consciousness Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After obtaining his M.D., Moody worked as a forensic psychiatrist in a maximum-security Georgia state hospital. Moody has been married three times. As of 2004, he is married to Cheryl, and they have one adopted son, Carter. Moody was born in Porterdale, Georgia and currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Moody's most famous book was made into a movie of the same name; Life After Life, for which he won a bronze medal in the Human Relations Category at the New York Film Festival for this film. He was also awarded the World Humanitarian Award .

The Dr. John Dee Memorial Theater of the Mind is a research institute in Alabama that was founded by Moody as a place where people can experience an altered state of consciousness with the intention of invoking apparitions of the dead. One of the methods used to obtain this altered state is crystallomancy, or "mirror gazing".

Moody has also researched past life regression and believes that he personally has had nine past lives.

From a study of 150 people who had clinically died or almost died, Moody concluded that there are nine experiences common to most people who have had a near death experience. These are:

1. hearing sounds such as buzzing
2. a feeling of peace and painlessness
3. having an out-of-body experience
4. a feeling of traveling through a tunnel
5. a feeling of rising into the heavens
6. seeing people, often dead relatives
7. meeting a spiritual being such as God
8. seeing a review of one's life
9. feeling a reluctance to return to life

Partial bibliography

• Life After Life
• Reflections on Life After Life
• The Light Beyond
• Reunions
• Life After Loss
• Coming Back
• Reflections
• The Last Laugh
• Life after loss

External link

• Moody's website: lifeafterlife.com