John Wren-Lewis (1923 – 25 June 2006) was a British-born scientist who taught at universities in Great Britain and the United States of America. He became known for his publications ranging over the fields of science,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

, education and religion. He played a leading part in the so-called "Death of God" movement in Britain. Bishop John Robinson cites him as a key influence in the writing of 'Honest to God' in 1963. Wren-Lweis' 'conversion' to a rational/humanist Anglicanism is described in a collection called 'They Became Anglicans' (1959). In later life, after a traumatic near-death experience in Thailand in 1983, he wrote and taught about the meaning of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

and a broad spectrum of spiritual teachings.

Life

Wren-Lewis graduated in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

from the

Imperial College of Science Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. In the 1950s and 1960s, while working as industrial research executive with

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

, he became known for his publications as scholar, author and lecturer on topics of science,

, education and religion.Wren-Lewis
www.capacitie.org As of 1970 he was president of the British Association for

Humanistic Psychology Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...

, which later became the European Association for Humanistic Psychology. Participating in the Regents' Lectureship Program in the

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

in 1971–1972, he moved to the United States in 1972 with his life partner, the dream psychologist

Ann Faraday Ann Faraday is a British-born psychologist, who conducted an experimental study of dreams for her PhD thesis at University College London. After several years in experimental dream research, she then trained in hypnotherapy, Freudian and Jungian ...

. In 1972 he joined

New College of Florida New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an aut ...

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

as visiting professor of religious studies and member of the faculty until 1974. Faraday and Lewis worked with the

Esalen Institute The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education. The institute played a key role in the Human Potential ...

since 1976. He has taught at universities in Great Britain and the United States of America.

Travel to Asia and near-death experience

John and Ann left the US to undertake three years of extended travel to India and East Asia. They spent the year 1982 together in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Earlier, in her publications relating to dream theory, Ann Faraday had cited writings of Kilton Stewart, who had seen great potential in what he had called "

Senoi The Senoi (also spelled Sengoi and Sng'oi) are a group of Malaysian peoples classified among the Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. They are the most numerous of the Orang Asli and widely distributed across the peninsula ...

dream theory", and similarly

Patricia Garfield Patricia L. Garfield is an American academic specializing in the study of dreams, specifically the cognitive processes underpinning them. She is the author of 10 books covering a broad range of dream topics. These topics include: nightmares, child ...

referred to techniques of the Senoi when describing her work on dreams. However, Faraday and Wren-Lewis did not find any evidence supporting the use of dream control education in local culture. In 1983, travelling with Ann, he was nearly poisoned to death in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in the course of an attempt of robbery and underwent a

near-death experience A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers claim share similar characteristics. When positive, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detac ...

which profoundly changed his world view, and which has since been cited as a well-known example of experience of transcendent consciousness.Imants Barušs: ''Quantum Theories of Consciousness'', Baltic Journal of Psychology, 2006 vol. 7 no.
p. 39–45
/ref> Having been a convinced sceptic up to that point, he changed perspective. He said of the movie

Fearless Fearless or The Fearless may refer to: Psychology * Lack of fear * Courage or bravery Film, television and audio Film * ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi * ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...

that it conveyed "the actual feeling of a dimension beyond the life of space and time". He has described his changed view of perception in the words:

Australia and death

In 1984 the couple moved to Australia. He later said of himself that at that moment he was "still reeling" from his experience of a year before. He became honorary associate at the Faculty of Religious Studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. He and Ann Faraday together wrote a book ''The 9:15 to Nirvana'' about his near-death experience. As recorded in the Ryerson Index, he died on 25 June 2006 at

Shoalhaven The City of Shoalhaven is a local government area in the south-eastern coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is about south of Sydney. The Princes Highway passes through the area, and the South Coast railway line traverses t ...

, New South Wales, aged 82 years.

Views

After his near-death experience, Wren-Lewis was no longer a sceptic of mysticism as such, yet remained critical of endeavours aimed at attaining personal growth and

spiritual awakening Used in a religious sense, enlightenment translates several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably ''bodhi'', '' kensho,'' and ''satori''. Related terms from Asian religions are ''kaivalya'' and ''moksha'' (liberation) in Hinduism, '' Kevala ...

by following existing paths of practice, in particular when undertaken with the aid of a guru. His change in viewpoint was reflected in his later work: The psychologist

Imants Barušs Imants Barušs is Professor of Psychology at King's University College (University of Western Ontario), King's University College at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Background He started out in engineering science on a scholarship at th ...

has interpreted this as a notion of a ''pre-physical substrate'' with similarity to the ''implicate order'', as it has been postulated by theoretical physicists

David Bohm David Joseph Bohm (; 20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American-Brazilian-British scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th centuryPeat 1997, pp. 316-317 and who contributed u ...

and

Basil Hiley Basil J. Hiley (born 1935), is a British people, British Quantum mechanics, quantum physicist and professor emeritus of the University of London. Long-time colleague of David Bohm, Hiley is known for his work with Bohm on implicate orders and for ...

. In his book review of

Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience. Life and career Wilber ...

's book ''Grace and Grit: Sprirituality and Healing in the Life and Death of Treya Killam Wilber'', he wrote:

Publications

;Books: * John Wren-Lewis: ''What shall we tell the children?'', Constable (London), 1971, * Charles Rycroft, Geoffrey Gorer, Anthony Storr, John Wren-Lewis, Peter Lomas: ''Psychoanalysis Observed'', Edited with an introduction by

Charles Rycroft Charles Frederick Rycroft (; 9 September 1914 – 24 May 1998) was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He studied medicine at University College London, and worked briefly as a psychiatrist for the Maudsley Hospital. For most of his caree ...

, Coward-McCann, 1967 �
Book Review
* C.F.D. Moule, John Wren-Lewis, D.A. Pond, P.R. Baelz: ''Faith, Fact and Fantasy'', Westminster Press, 1966 ;Articles: * John Wren-Lewis: ''The implications of Near-Death Experiences for Understanding Post-Traumatic Growth'', Psychological Inquiry, vol. 15 no. 1, 2004 * John Wren-Lewis

First appeared in IONS Review No. 54, December 2000 – February 2001, pp. 16–19 (now published under the name ''Shift–At the Frontiers of Consciousness'') * John Wren-Lewis: ''On Babies and Bathwater: A Non-Ideological Alternative to Mahner/Bunge Proposals for Relating Science and Religion in Education'', Science and Education, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996, pp. 185–188
abstract
* John Wren-Lewis: ''Death Knell of the Guru System? Perfectionism Versus Enlightenment'', Journal of Humanistic Psychology Spring 1994, vol. 34 no. 2, pp. 46–61,
abstract
* John Wren-Lewis: ''Aftereffects of near-death experiences: A survival mechanism hypothesis'', Journal of Transpersonal Psychology vol. 26 no. 2, 1994, pp. 107–115
abstract
* John Wren-Lewis: ''Avoiding the Columbus Confusion: An Ockhamish View of Near-Death Research'', Guest Editorial, Springer, Journal of Near-Death Studies, 1992, vol. 11 no. 2, pp. 75–81,
abstract
* John Wren-Lewis: ''The Darkness of God. A Personal Report on Consciousness Transformation Through an Encounter with Death'', Journal of Humanistic Psychology Spring 1988, vol. 28 no. 2 pp. 105–122,
abstract
(an
excerpt in German translation
* John Wren-Lewis: ''Resistance to the study of the paranormal'', Journal of Humanistic Psychology vol. 14 no. 2, Springer 1974, pp. 41–48,
abstract
* John Wren-Lewis: ''Faith in the technological future'', Futures, vol. 2 no. 3, September 1970, pp. 258–262 * John Wren-Lewis: ''The Passing of Puritanism I'', Critical Quarterly, vol. 5 no. 4, pp. 295–306, December 1963 (Article first published online: 28 September 2007,
abstract

References

External links

at www.capacitie.org, wit

an

* Comments from Professor John Wren-Lewis on Susan Blackmore's book Dying to Live: Science and the Near Death Experience, Harper Collins, 1993
PDF
* John Wren-Lewis: '' The dazzling dark''

* Book Review by John Wren-Lewis, University of Sydney, of the book ''The Little Book of Life and Death'' by D. E. Harding
PDF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wren-Lewis, John British scientists Near-death experience researchers 2006 deaths 1923 births British expatriates in the United States Alumni of Imperial College London British expatriates in India British expatriates in Malaysia British expatriates in Australia