emotional

I do. I've been interested in the question since I was eight years old, and I won't take the materialistic "you become nothing at all" for an answer.

Of course, you can also do yoga without taking Hindu beliefs of "union of Atman and Brahman" into account. But the roots are still there. Yoga or Buddhist meditation as a way of relaxation for stressed-out Western man, akin to a massage on the back, are perfectly possible, but originally these schools have a whole metaphysical theory behind them.

Carol Massey

My life is punctuated with many (as yet) unexplainable events. What is commonly referred to as ESP, impying that it is somehow beyond the senses, I consider normal. I would suggest that it is better understandable in terms of 'bandwidth'.

Ghosts? Leyline, all I know of ghosts could be summed up in two words: energy manifestation. I communicate with those that many others consider to be dead and gone, so I guess the answer would yes....I sure do!

Although I could just as easily accept that this communication is a chemical concert within my own wee brain. One does not rule out the other...so it is with all science and spirituality.

-beings are we of incredible power, but no particular grace.

emotional

Very good! Another person who takes spiritualism seriously!

Ghosts are discarnate but not disembodied beings. I don't know if they're natural or supernatural. They could be natural, meaning beings on a different wavelength or quantum vibration, but this hasn't been proved so far. Lacking this kind of proof, I still believe they are supernatural, and that all spiritual phenomena (ghosts, astral planes, telepathy) are supernatural, as God is.



I rule it out. If spiritual phenomena are not real, if they are just tricks of the brain, they're not much of a comfort. For the thought of life after death to have its comforting effect upon me (I fear final death more than anything in the world), I must believe it is absolutely real. And therefore I do.

Carol Massey

Dear emotional,

What if the brain chemistry is one with the energetic field, (soul, or spiritual body)?

And what if everything is absolutely real?

What if the ego is the tool by which we guide and direct not only our individual life experience, but the interactive mode that allows us to participate in a larger sense with the conscious evolution of all LIFE?

What if we lived as if every breath we take, every word we utter, and every act we perform influences every wave and particle within the Universe?

What if we knew that we are beings of incredible power and we had the ability to evolve into beings of incredible grace?

Imagine for a moment if you will the freedom that you may experience if you released the belief: "I fear final death more than anything in the world". I'm not saying that the fear is not real....only suggesting that it is possible to play with the idea with imagination.

leyline

hi people

i have much to say but i am leaving for a few days. catch you later.....

emotional

How can the brain chemistry be identical to the spiritual body? The brain is part of the material body. Granted, the spiritual body is a duplicate of the material body, but they are still separate entities (they coexist but they are distinct).



I have no doubt that brain chemistry is real. My concern is that the spiritual body should be real also. I have no problem with people telling me the brain is the control mechanism of the human body; I do have a problem with people telling me that there is no life after death.



I'm all for that. I just want to be sure that life after death is real.

The fear is real and obsessively engulfing me, as it has been since I was eight years old, when I first learnt about the fact of death, and I cannot shake off that fear except by believing - really believing - in a literal life after death.

Have you ever read Susan Blackmore? I simply can't stand her writings. It's also the reason why I very seldom dare to visit the Science and Scepticism Forum.

I believe, therefore I do not fear. It is by faith I triumph over death.

Carol Massey

Hi emotional,

I have a phrase for overcoming fear, and I've had to do it many, many times so I truly have understanding and compassion for the fear you describe. I call it: Looking the tiger in the eye .

Here's a wonderful site of interviews with other kindred beings who walk the same path that we do and have been willing to share their triumphs and failures:

My favorites, personally are: Matthew Fox, Rupert Sheldrake, and Riane Eisler....all people who are willing to 'think outside the box'!

Voices From the Edge

I like Susan Blackmore, and particularly because she's willing to share what she learns as she goes, and doesn't mind saying that sometimes it's necessary to make notes in the margins and sometimes rewrite the script of our understanding of life....

but that's neither here nor there...

I'll be back tomorrow, as we're having a family birthday celebration this evening.

Til then!

Carol

Opera Nut

Fascinating stuff here.......

Beyond the strict scientists on one hand and blind faith fundies on the other.

I have never heard God talk to me, or seen a ghost, or seen a UFO, or had a near death experience, so those are not real to me personally.

I have had a couple of "cosmic" experiences in my life that I would call holy or numinous to quote Rudolf Otto, and they go beyond regular experiences. Not ESP but still cosmic and profound.

emotional

Looking the tiger of death in the eye hasn't helped me overcome the fear of it. What has helped is that I now no longer believe it's a tiger anymore.



I don't like her at all. She spends all her time thinking up materialist explanations for NDEs and for other things that may be evidence for life after death.



I'm not opposed to most of science, but when it comes to the question of life after death I'm a "blind faith fundie" as you call it.



Neither have I, but they are real to me, because I believe in them (God, ghosts, NDEs - not UFOs though).

Carol Massey

Dionysus Risen