When we ask whether consciousness continues after death, we usually assume that a surviving self will exist in some kind of body and will include the personality familiar from waking experience. Since the consciousness that may continue after death presumably exists before, we may explore it in the living. This essay, chapter 17 of Psychic Exploration, studies the problems and possibilities of survival research. The full volume of Psychic Exploration can be purchased as an ebook or paperback version from all major online retailers and at cosimobooks.com.