Abstract
The following is a summary of key findings from my analysis of the unconventional interviews that I posthumously conducted with Dr. Allan Leslie Combs in a creative take on qualitative interviews. This study is based on my viewing of several of his recorded interviews and talks and on reading two of his books, The Radiance of Being and Consciousness Explained Better. From these sources, I created a synthesis of theoretical responses from Combs to my interview questions for the purposes of this study. These findings include insights gained from my textual coding process and their relationship to emergent themes in Combs’s reflections on consciousness and death in the data from the interviews. I also share implications of the key findings in the interviews for understanding Combs’s views on the fear of death, the nature of consciousness, and what happens to consciousness at death. Also included in this analysis is a suggestion for the further research and study of Combs’s theories as well as recommendations for further studies with members of the consciousness studies and thanatology disciplines, among others. I present recommendations based on these findings.
Keywords: Combs, consciousness, death, integralism, interview, perennial philosophy, radiance, transdisciplinarity
Recommended Citation
Kincaid, L. A. (2025). On Consciousness and Death: In Conversation With Allan Leslie Combs—A Posthumous Study of an Influential Thinker’s Perspectives. Journal of Conscious Evolution, 22(2). https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol22/iss2/15
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