Annual Gathering

Consciousness beyond Life: The Near-Death Experience and the Nature of Reality

6 July 2012 - 8 July 2012

Venue: Horsley Park, East Horsley, Surrey

This conference is open to Scientific and Medical Network members only. For information about joining the Network, click here.

Programme

The 2012 Network Annual Gathering will be held at Horsley Park in Surrey from 6 – 8 July 2012. The Programme will begin on Friday evening with drinks and dinner.

The first session on Saturday morning will be the presentation by Dr. Pim van Lommel. Pim is the winner of the 2010 Network Book Prize, and will base his talk on his book Consciousness beyond Life, which is the single most comprehensive study on NDEs that also discusses their implications for our understanding of the nature of consciousness and reality. In the second morning session there will be a half-hour trialogue in which Pim is joined by Dr. Peter Fenwick and David Lorimer, who have both been involved in the field for 25 years. The discussion will then be opened up to the floor.

Saturday afternoon will be free for walks and informal discussions following on from the morning session. We will participate in our traditional enjoyable entertainment on Saturday evening. On Sunday we will hold our formal Annual General Meeting, where Members have a chance to hear from the officers about our work since last year, to contribute to the evolving direction of the Network and to elect new members of the Network Board.

For those of you who have not yet attended the Network Annual Gathering, you will find it a wonderfully stimulating and sociable event where you can meet other Members in relaxed surroundings to exchange ideas and experiences.

Book Bazaar

This year we will again be holding a fundraising book bazaar and invite Members to bring their surplus books for sale. You are also welcome to bring copies of your own books for sale on the basis of a 50:50 split of profits with the SMN. 

Travel and Costs

Horsley Park is based round a grand Victorian mansion built in 1828 with an ornate classical chapel, wonderful four-poster beds and Great Hall.  We will be using more contemporary accommodation at Horsley Court.  Horsley Park is set within 70 acres of stunning parkland, and leisure facilities include a health and fitness club with gym, sauna and indoor swimming pool.

Travel

Horsley Park is easily accessible from the M25 and A3, and is only a mile and a half from Horsley Railway Station. On weekdays there are two trains every hour from both Waterloo Station and Guildford. A taxi can be booked from Horsley Station by prior arrangement with Reception.

Accommodation is in en suite single or double rooms. Rates include all meals and coffee/tea breaks. Please reply using the booking form. In the event of cancellation, a fee of £20 will be retained, and no refunds can be given after 25 June.

The Speaker

Pim van Lommel, M.D. graduated in 1971 at the University of Utrecht, and finished his specialisation in cardiology in 1976. He worked from 1977-2003 as a cardiologist in Hospital Rijnstate, a Teaching Hospital in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and is now doing full-time research on the mind-brain relation. He published several articles on cardiology, but since he started his research on near-death experiences (NDE) in survivors of cardiac arrest in 1986, he is the author of over 20 articles, two books and several book chapters about NDE. The Dutch prospective study on NDE was published in The Lancet in 2001: “Near-death  experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands”. This article caused an international sensation as it was the first scientifically rigorous study of this phenomenon.  In  2005 he was awarded the ‘Bruce Greyson Research Award’ on behalf of the IANDS (the International Association of Near-Death Studies) in the USA, and in 2006 the President of India awarded him the ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ at the World Congress on Clinical and Preventive Cardiology 2006 in New Delhi. 

In November 2007 his book ‘Eindeloos Bewustzijn’ [Endless Consciousness] was published in the Netherlands, where it was a national bestseller, and it has been published in several languages, including German and in English as ‘Consciousness Beyond Life: the science of the Near-Death Experience’. Editions in French, Spanish and Polish are next in line.  

Dr. Peter Fenwick is President of the Scientific and Medical Network and of The Horizon Foundation. He is the author of many books and articles on death and dying.

David Lorimer is Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network, and Vice-President of The Horizon Foundation and The Swedenborg Society. Among his books is Whole in One – the Near-Death Experience and the Ethic of Interconnectedness. 

View pdf leaflet and booking form