A comparative study of the nature and purpose of human existence, 'Our Pathway of Being', written by Jenny Masefield, has recently been published by Janus Publishing Company.

Mrs. Masefield will be remembered by many Bermuda residents as the gracious wife of former Governor Thorold Masefield who arrived in Bermuda in June 1997 and left at the end of November 2001.

While they resided on the Island, they offered selected pieces from their collection of African art for display in the foyer of the Bermuda College library, and later donated a portion of that collection to the people of Bermuda.

Mrs. Masefield was awarded the designation Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2002 New Year's honours for her services to the community in Bermuda.

According to the author's introduction, her book is intended to be "a philosophical and thought-provoking exploration of our lives, both before and beyond death" and touches on such topics as karma, re-incarnation, spirit communications and mediums, possessing spirits, and the afterlife. A comparative study, the book discusses philosophical ideas humans have struggled with across centuries and cultures, examining how they have been interpreted and presented at different times by different societies.

Quotations are taken from a wide range of philosophers and texts, including the ancient Greeks, works associated with Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, African and American Indian beliefs and 20th Century writings on paranormal happenings. Footnotes not only cite the text but also the belief system within which it was written, enabling the reader to appreciate the philosophical and spiritual contexts of the sources used, and brief backgrounds on the religions and philosophies referred to in the text are helpful to those unfamiliar with those belief systems.

Mrs. Masefield explained the conception of the work in an interview with Catherine Draycott published in the June 13, 1997 edition of the Mid-Ocean News.

The book she explained is "a sort of anthology of ideas from different philosophies and cultures" resulting from research she conducted while her husband was a fellow at Harvard University.

"While there," she told Miss Draycott, "I became very interested in different cultural ideas that sort of fitted together, about life, death and the afterlife. I started researching these cross cultural ideas and putting the information together." The result was "a book for fairly deep thinkers but also for the general public."

Explaining the approach she took to such a challenging topic, she noted, that while the book is a collection of ideas from different philosophies and cultures, "you can read them from beginning to end as one piece. They are like conversations; I use them all as voices building up their ideas about life and death."

For those intrigued about the possibility of life after death, spiritual evolution and the forms that might take, Mrs. Masefield's comparative study will be a welcome addition to the canon of metaphysical works.