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This is too crazy https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRqWGs3Q/
I hope the link is allowed. This is a very interesting post
Just a warning: tiktok is a huge privacy killer.
Feel free to check the link if you don't care.
The details are interesting (ex: 'the colors are both grayer and different'), and would be fun to explore in a Do-Over story, but aside from this one blogger, I've never heard from anyone concerning 'living in an alternative universe', and I'm normally pretty well keyed in to these sorts of 'alternative' medicine/science field.
I've personally had a similar experience, but just slightly, where I woke up one day (I'm guessing it was around age 10 or 12) having just dreamed about my early life, and once I awoke, had NO memory or my early life OTHER THAN those experienced in my dream (with a year or two leeway, so I COULD remember what I'd done last month with friends). But it was like a 'mind-erase' experience and yet another RL experience to use in Do-Over stories (though Gray Wolf's Variations on a Theme series has already used that example, so it's not entirely 'new' to fiction.
I've never heard from anyone concerning 'living in an alternative universe', and I'm normally pretty well keyed in to these sorts of 'alternative' medicine/science field.
Past lives is a frequent theme that could be construed as an alternate universe. The reports of that make me wonder about the many worlds theory/interpretation.
Past lives is a frequent theme that could be construed as an alternate universe. The reports of that make me wonder about the many worlds theory/interpretation.
Heinlein did that quite well in his 'World as Myth' explanation. That one basically had the characters in a book reading - and then encountering, courtesy of a dimension traveling spacecraft - the actual people FROM that book.
While the infinitely expanding universe based upon the random rolls of dice sounds great - and is also the theme for a lot of different stories, including the recent Marvel 'What If' comic series - there's always a certain issue that comes into play. Just take into account the number of people that are rolling craps in Las Vegas, right this very second. If each roll creates eleven alternate universes on the quantum level, the number of alternate universes created from each and every casino is already ridiculous. Now add in the number of people that have played Dungeons and Dragons or Yahtzee over the years, and Buzz Lightyear's slogan 'To Infinity and Beyond' takes on a whole new absurdity.
That there are alternate universes out there, sure. But what can happen is you throw in the philosophy of Neale Donald Walsch, and his 'Conversations With God' series, and alternate universes with past lives becomes more believable. It also matches in with both resurrection as well as the Wheel of Life theory of Eastern religions.
Let's just say that John Doe dies tomorrow at noon. His spirit is examined to see what lessons it's learned in this lifetime. Depending upon how well those lessons were learned, and what else it needs to learn, it can be sent forward, backwards, or sideways, to learn whatever it is that needs to. The movie, 'The Matrix,' is entirely based upon this, for example.
What gets fun is when those of us who have had 'death-experiences' get into the ballgame. I'm calling them that, as opposed to 'near-death,' for the simple reason that at the time of the experience, we were clinically dead. No heartbeat, with only brain activity remaining. For me, laying on the operating table with my chest cavity wide open and seeing my body laying there, the surgeon working inside me first with heart massage and then with the cute little lollipops that they use, convinced me of that reality. I described the OR perfectly, the nurse dropping something, and everything else that happened. My thoracic surgeon said I'm not the first patient he's had that's experienced it, either.
You tell me. I'm a realtor, so it's obvious I would dream about showing houses. How about having a dream two months ago that I'm showing a house to a couple of kids, and it's a little odd, because the house has a front entry way with a piano and a bike in it, with wooden floors? Then I find myself last week, having only met these kids three weeks ago, showing them a house, with the front entry way, with the piano and the bike in it, with wooden floors, and with them in the exact position from my dream.
Deju-vu, sure. But HOW? And that detailed?
My wife and I both believe that we were married or with each other before, in previous lives. We simply fit together too easily from our initial meeting. (Comfortable with each other, not Tab A/Slot B, you perverts.)
Comfortable with each other, not Tab A/Slot B, you perverts.
Not both? How sad for you. :)
Not both? How sad for you. :)
Initial meeting was in an airport lounge. Very difficult to do much of anything there. Two hours later when we got back to my house ... that's a different story. :)
What gets fun is when those of us who have had 'death-experiences' get into the ballgame. I'm calling them that, as opposed to 'near-death,' for the simple reason that at the time of the experience, we were clinically dead.
Convincing others is near impossible. Especially when you start talking about seeing your own dead body. It's a common thing for those who've experienced it. What convinced my parents was that I could quote the power pole number which was verifiable by the utility company. After being hit, I could see myself (or what was left of me) looking down on myself. The pole number A709868 on a small metal plate nailed to the top of the pole was the next thing I noted when I realized the body was me. I watched them trying to resuscitate me, then putting me on the gurney and covering me up. My next clear memory was coming out from under the sheet as they were putting me into the meat wagon. Scared the hell out of the EMT as they already figured I was dead.
The memory of the time between the pole and sheet memories still fucks with my head to this day.
I have times in my life like they are precognitive. I know that I've been there done that already, with no 'sane' (for the values of sanity) explanations. What I do know, is every time I ignore it, something bad happens, like getting shot.
I have times in my life like they are precognitive. I know that I've been there done that already, with no 'sane' (for the values of sanity) explanations. What I do know, is every time I ignore it, something bad happens, like getting shot.
That's why you don't ignore those things!
And I figured if anyone on this forum would understand, you would.
Convincing others is near impossible. Especially when you start talking about seeing your own dead body.
This is an area that's always challenged me. As anyone who's read any of my stories knows, they're all focused on 'finding religion' for the non-religious, because as a lifelong atheist (from age 16), I've always searched for some 'deeper, guiding force nudging the universe along'.
I also pepper my stories with relevant information from the EM (Energy Medicine) movement, which has been trying to scientifically account for many of these issues to validate EM techniques among the medical field). It makes an interesting combination, and has generated a host of stories.
So far, I've founds lots of evidence to support a living soul, but none which justifies a paternal father figure floating in the sky, or even the existence of heaven and hell. There's just nothing known to science which would account for it, so I've been mostly left with the conviction that those 'out-of-body' experiences are merely temporary, as a person's psychic energy escapes, only to later dissipates into the ether. However, there is a lot of evidence (EM's Past Lives theories) where people can actually communicate with those who've past on. Much of it is pretty convincing, but again, it doesn't seem to point to any standard religious concepts.
What's more, the vast majority of out-of-body experiences (ex: seeing a light and moving to it), have been convincingly demonstrated simply by depriving brain cells of oxygen (in a controlled and safe manner). In those situations, they don't deprive patients of oxygen, but expose them to the same chemicals that brains, deprived of oxygen, generate, and they nearly all fit into that stereotypical experience. That doesn't make it any less true, but it seems to be a basic biological process, rather than some mystic psychic one.
They are interesting theories, but I'm unconvinced they'll EVER produce any concrete results. Yes, Energy Medicine seems very productive, but a coherent theory of God based on those theories, highly doubtful. And any form of reincarnation of Do-Over lives, even less so.
I don't really care if anyone believes me, my life doesn't hang on the balance of other people's opinion of me or what I believe.
Too many people IMO, depend on the opinions of others for their sense of well being. Many of those people felt so strongly about it, that they committed suicide when others opinions turned negative on them.
Some song lyrics that cover my take on it.
from Wash it All Away; Five finger death punch:
I've given up
On the media
Feeds my hysteria
Sick of living down on my knees
I've given up
On morality
Feeds my brutality
Fuck what you think about me
That last line covers my personal attitude well. Living for the approval of others is not living at all.
...
Fuck what you think about me
That last line covers my personal attitude well. Living for the approval of others is not living at all.
In general I agree with you because I also don't care much what others think of me. But I do take into account that it often affects how people treat you, communicate with you (or not). Some people you need to achieve some of your (personal) goals so it's sometimes necessary to have them look at you in a positive way or at least not negative. It's not all black-and-white.
Some people you need to achieve some of your (personal) goals so it's sometimes necessary to have them look at you in a positive way or at least not negative.
People evolve over time. Especially when they retire and no longer need to play nice. Even then, I learned early on, people will still hire you if your reputation is as a competent person in what you do for my line of work.
The "some people need you" works both ways, in business and in life in general. When shit hits the fan on a project, or any other problem in life, personal opinion of someone is the first thing out the door, when that someone has the reputation for bailing your company or person out of the fire in the most expeditious and efficient manner.
As an analogy, if you life is on the line, do you want a competent doctor or a nice doctor?
People evolve over time. Especially when they retire and no longer need to play nice. Even then, I learned early on, people will still hire you if your reputation is as a competent person in what you do for my line of work.
I agree with you, but building and using your own competence is also part of how people think of you. Thankfully "Some people you may need" definitely works both ways.
Thankfully "Some people you may need" definitely works both ways.
As I got older, I weaned myself off of using other people. Most people developed connections with others for the purposes of using that connection later on. It's an unavoidable fact of a person's early life. At some point, they should stand on their own letting their competence speak for them instead of using people. I consider myself to have reached that point about my mid 40's. Some like minded people I met over the years developed a support group that still exist today. None of us consider using others. If one has a problem we all have a problem and help out. That is not considered using people to survive by us.
Other people never get past using connections to survive professionally, and in some cases personally. They never learn to stand on their own.
The only people I "need" are family. Family is another classification in and of itself. Even then, they understand and agree with my attitude.
As I got older, I weaned myself off of using other people.
Then WTH are you spending so much time arguing with other people online? You can hardly state that you've 'weaned myself of others' and then bitch when they refuse to agree with your positions on an online forum. Your 'opinion' isn't any more valid than anyone else's (unless of course, you have some empirical evidence to back it up).
You appear to have taken an antagonistic approach to my comments. Feel free to continue doing so. I don't really care what you think about me.
As an analogy, if you life is on the line, do you want a competent doctor or a nice doctor?
Maybe who believes on the latest scientific evidence, as opposed to their opinion, without listening to anything that contradicts their personal views?
As Twitter demonstrates every day, you're free to be as much of an ass as you wanna be, but it won't stop people from calling you to task for it (though you can always find plenty who'll believe any misguided notion you have).
Hey, I tried being pleasant, but if you're still punching, I'll punch right back.
I don't really care if anyone believes me, my life doesn't hang on the balance of other people's opinion of me or what I believe.
I never said I didn't. I was merely reflecting my personal experience on a related topic (though the details of 'seeing' and moving towards 'the light' have been documented to be a function of brain death. It FEELS real, but the fact they can recreate it in a lab, without ANY brain damage, clearly establishes the relationship.
Call me crazy, but rather than following the latest million posts on FaceBook and Twitter, I tend to trust science, though I also keep a skeptical attitude concerning that too.
Care whatever you want, but it doesn't keep others from having their own opinions.
the vast majority of out-of-body experiences (ex: seeing a light and moving to it), have been convincingly demonstrated simply by depriving brain cells of oxygen (in a controlled and safe manner). In those situations, they don't deprive patients of oxygen, but expose them to the same chemicals that brains, deprived of oxygen, generate, and they nearly all fit into that stereotypical experience.
Of course, the key thing in this comment is vast majority and nearly all.
Then there's the rest of us, that don't fit because we didn't 'see the light', we saw a hell of a lot more. One thing I've found is that if modern and western science can't explain something, it has a tendency to ignore or trivialize it, rather than simply admit ignorance.
One error you make in your concluding sentence is that reincarnation presumes a do-over life. It does NOT. A do-over means you're back in the SAME body, at an earlier time. Reincarnation means that you remember past lives, but what you're living now is a unique experience that you may simply have more knowledge than usual.
Ex: A Do-Over would be if I found myself in 1971, ten years old, with the knowledge that I had of the next fifty years.
Reincarnation would be that when I was born in 1961, I had knowledge of living in Depression Era America and then fighting in Europe, dying in combat on the beach at Normandy. (And no, I don't have that particular first-hand knowledge, but I'm using it to show the difference.)
One thing I've found is that if modern and western science can't explain something, it has a tendency to ignore or trivialize it, rather than simply admit ignorance.
That's accurately stated.
Then there's the rest of us, that don't fit because we didn't 'see the light', we saw a hell of a lot more.
And I'm not arguing over those assertions, nor am I rejecting those claims. I was merely pointing out that there are alternative explanations for the 'seeing the light' phenomenon. That doesn't make it any less 'real', but just helps explain what's happening.
But, I've heard many convincing and consistent stories concerning other aspects (such as people trained to see 'auras', including actually witnessing someone's 'aura' leaving their bodies at death. Granted, that's not empirical evidence either, but it's consistent enough, i choose to accept it (at least until proven wrong).
There's a LOT of evidence for the existence of spirits, but NONE for what happens once they leave our sight.
By the way, the ONLY reincarnation stories that I've ever heard about 'remembrance of past lives' (credited to past Dali Lamas), went away (vanished) a short time later, making it difficult to validate other than "I swear everything he said was true!" statements. However, there IS growing evidence of a LOT of specialists being able to retrieve detailed information either from deceased spirits or by doing 'Past Lives Therapy' on particular individuals. I consider that pretty convincing evidence. The awareness seems to exist, though whether it persists during reincarnation doesn't seem validated by the vast majority of supposed reincarnations. (The fact that almost no one ever comes back as a mere peasant also cast significant doubt on many of the past-life recollections, as we can't all be Kings and Queens of Egypt!) Those recollections don't negate the entire field, but it makes individual assertions highly questionable.
However, I didn't claim that reincarnation was identical to Do-Over experiences, only that there are certain similarities between the two.
I'm a strong believer in reincarnation, based on personal memories I shouldn't have. Being a viking berserker in around 7th-9th century was a vivid experience, even if not by far the first time around. I sometimes love to joke the wolf Fenrir from Norse mythology was my good pal at same point.
I might, or not, been here another time in the meantime, but whatever it was it was bleak and uneventful in comparison (I partially believe it might be have been a peasant girl that died by hands of some wandering soldiers quite young, but that might be much too direct "karma" interpretation, or misguided, misplaced memories of similar in my own doing, personalised and perception shifted in later remorse).
This time around, I'm kinda on a pacifism run. Or might have been called upon a battle that didn't enter the physical plane. Including, consciously not engaging my special gifts. I could claim birthright on "pagan" priesthood, can do dowsing with bare hands (my palms tingle in specific ways with proper concentration), might be able to heal with the right training, have had shared dreams, remote vision episodes, and spiritual experiences.
But given my history I would more than likely also abuse it all for not the best purposes (my morals twisted at best by popular perception), and have had seen several gifted individuals going totally nuts, and yes, that's a perfectly viable explanation of it all on it's own, so I'm abstaining. Or maybe I'm just a coward tempted with too much potential power.
And nothing of that proves there's anything at all "beyond" although my personal interpretation is leaning towards some variation of "simulation" hypothesis, placing us in this world more as interactive avatars that may or may not be direct images of the players behind. The aggregate of different spiritual practices I have briefly explored seems to suggest mechanism that could be described in such terms.
I'm remaining militant agnostic, engaging the Zen notion that no affirmative statement about God (or afterlife, by extension) can possibly be true.
Magic? There's we're running into contradictory wording and nitpicky definitions. I can, or perhaps possibly could do magic but don't believe in such. Throwing fireballs loaded with perverted love is less fun than you may think. And we all know how it's actually done, the guy in robes on the tower just a spotter for the catapults behind the wall. Game of layered misperceptions and delusions including of self that has real effects because of wrong reasons. The modern approach may be limiting, but sure and safe, up to a point. Is there more than meets the eye, sure. Just like astronomers who see about one percent of what they believe is. Our perception of the world is so fragile it might as well not exist indeed.
But I digress.
The thing with reincarnation is the inability of a toddler's brain to retain long term memories. So reuse of souls is in theory safe, and doesn't differ all that much from creating new ones on demand. Or perhaps Egyptians was onto something believing those who have born without one are responsible to build one in their lifetime. And there's no technical need for other dimensions, supreme beings or grand plans, it could be just glitch of energy preservation.
I'm a strong believer in reincarnation, based on personal memories I shouldn't have.
I'd find it far more convincing if you didn't have dozens of people all claiming to have been Marie Antoinette in a past life and no one who remembers being her maid in a past life.
Well, as I said at the end, it doesn't work. It's no different than clean sheet approach, unless, we allow for glitches in the system.
There's also that little problem with how many people are alive right now. Continuous reuse of limited soul stock is at best problematic concept. That can be worked around by re recruiting from animals or other forms of continuous creation.
At that point, we could, in theory also allow the memory records to be imprinted multiple times in parallel, or shared, in full or part. Or, with multiverse, there could be uncountable different Marias Antoinettes around at the same time.
Of course much simpler explanation is that all (but possibly one, with very low probability) claiming to be a specific historical person are crazies. I pretty much said I am, and I never claimed to be anyone that could be named on record (for a lot of intentional artistic license I could pick Meleager as a possibility, for how sweet girl Atalanta was, but that's myth stuff too).
dozens of people all claiming to have been Marie Antoinette
I don't see that as a problem. When you copy one file off of a PC into a file stored on a thumb drive, is the orginal file corrupted or deleted?
When you copy one file off of a PC into a file stored on a thumb drive, is the orginal file corrupted or deleted?
I don't see that as relevant to my issue with reincarnation. It simply moves the question, why would one person be reincarnated multiple times simultaneously? I don't see a valid reason for why that would happen.
We are talking about reincarnation, reason and logic need not apply.
Maybe not, but when someone claims 'Faith' as justification for their beliefs, those of us who don't already agree with them tend to have doubts of their veracity.
Claiming to personal experience is one thing, claiming questionable 'proofs' only undermines your positions.
I don't see a valid reason for why that would happen.
Perhaps the soul needs to learn many lessons simultaneously. Perhaps not.
However, since 'reason' and 'logic' don't allow for what Remus2, LupusDei, and myself have personally experienced, then perhaps there IS no reasonable or logical explanation. Which is when you must allow your mind to be more flexible in realizing that there are things that can't be explained by reason and logic.
However, since 'reason' and 'logic' don't allow for what Remus2, LupusDei, and myself have personally experienced, then perhaps there IS no reasonable or logical explanation. Which is when you must allow your mind to be more flexible in realizing that there are things that can't be explained by reason and logic.
If you want others accept what you three believe you have experienced then in turn you must accept those who don't share your belief.
Of course there are things that occur that are unreasonable or illogical, but that proves nothing. Until and unless there is irrefutable proof, it remains a belief, not a fact. Believers usually desire their beliefs to be accepted, all too often they deny everyone else's right not to share their beliefs.
To suggest a lack of belief requires another to "allow their mind to be more flexible", is disrespectful. That kind of response does not gain you respect, nor does it advance your belief.
Eye witness testimony is well proven to be unreliable. When the event is emotionally charged the reliability drops drastically. That does to mean what the witness believe to have happened isn't true. It doesn't prove what they believe did happen either.
A shared belief has often resulted in a great deal of good happening. But a shared belief has also been the cause of many very bad things happening. Who is to say which beliefs will result in good or bad? Certainly not the believers themselves.
If you want others accept what you three believe you have experienced then in turn you must accept those who don't share your belief.
There is an error in your comment. We do not 'believe' we have experienced something. Belief implies that we could also disbelieve our experience. Reality does not require belief.
When I got up this morning, I went to the bathroom and both peed and pooped. Reality. I do not have to have believe that I experienced that. I did.
The other error is that you assume that we care what others think about what we have experienced. We don't. We're not seeking converts to a religion. We're not asking you to take anything on faith, or to 'believe' in something. We're sharing our actual experiences. You can accept them as the truth that they are, or not. It doesn't matter to us.
All we're doing is simply discussing our individual experiences, and the assorted theories of explanation. No belief required - simply an open mind to discuss things.
When I got up this morning, I went to the bathroom and both peed and pooped. Reality. I do not have to have believe that I experienced that. I did.
And you have the pee and poo to prove it. So it is not the same at all.
The other error is that you assume that we care what others think about what we have experienced. We don't. We're not seeking converts to a religion. We're not asking you to take anything on faith, or to 'believe' in something. We're sharing our actual experiences. You can accept them as the truth that they are, or not. It doesn't matter to us.
Agreed. Though the reaction is that of atheist when someone preaches faith to them. The latter being a mistake on their part.
If you want others accept what you three believe you have experienced then in turn you must accept those who don't share your belief.
I neither want, nor require, anyone to believe my personal experiences. It is their choice to believe or not. However, I won't sit quietly in a corner for fear of ridicule. Therein is the difference and where you are mistaken. Just as they are not required to accept me, I am not required to accept them.
Just as they are not required to accept me, I am not required to accept them.
Yet you stated I'm mistaken…
Is it double standard Saturday today?
And there's no technical need for other dimensions, supreme beings or grand plans, it could be just glitch of energy preservation.
Conservation of energy as applied to the metaphysical. Now there's a thought to ponder.
And nothing of that proves there's anything at all "beyond" although my personal interpretation is leaning towards some variation of "simulation" hypothesis, placing us in this world more as interactive avatars that may or may not be direct images of the players behind. The aggregate of different spiritual practices I have briefly explored seems to suggest mechanism that could be described in such terms.
That pretty much fits into the CWG concept, too.
Those of us who've experienced something ... well, I don't have to take things on faith.
Those of us who've experienced something ... well, I don't have to take things on faith.
Faith is believing something when no evidence has been found or demonstrated to you.
Knowledge is something entirely different.
Or perhaps Egyptians was onto something believing those who have born without one are responsible to build one in their lifetime. And there's no technical need for other dimensions, supreme beings or grand plans, it could be just glitch of energy preservation.
Getting back towards the topic, the belief in a soul or life force, that can reincarnate opens the door to the possibility for "supreme beings" and other things that cannot be readily proven. Believing in one while denying the other is an exercise in contraindications.
As for premise of coalescence of a soul where none existed, and continuing with the premise of energy preservation/conservation, there would need to be a source of that energy to build with. Conservation of energy raises a few questions by itself. Such as what happens to the electrical energy of the human body when it dies. Does the energy simply cease to exist? If other examples are taken in reference from the natural universe, it would simply be converted to another form of energy. Possibly one that cannot be detected by modern instruments, that could linger about until it finds another host or vessel to contain it.
As for fate, I believe there is no fate except what we make for ourselves.
Doovers would also bridge temperol travel. Going back in time with set patterns (memories) to the original host. It could travel forward in time, from a previous host as well.
If one buys into that premise, it's a very short leap to the premise of magic. Which to my mind would be the conversion and transfer of one energy form into another.
Which to my mind would be the conversion and transfer of one energy form into another.
Gee, I wonder where I got the idea for this exchange, from 'A True History, Book One, Chapter Two?
"I noticed you mentioned that, last night. I'm surprised that people here practice religions, but if you're … well, I don't want to insult your culture and call it 'primitive', but I can't think of a more appropriate word … then religions make sense. Thunder gods, rain gods, sun gods. Those are all part of a society that hasn't learned the science behind the reality of our existence."
Betty frowned. "What does that mean, exactly?"
"Matter, and energy, are interchangeable. Our minds are powered by energy. Our bodies convert food into the energy to power our minds. Now, I presume that my body, because I grew up in a different solar system, is converting some of the radiation your star emits into other energy. People on my world can't … couldn't … sorry, it's tough at times to think that I'm the sole living survivor from more than twenty billion people."
Betty squeezed my hand in sympathy. I nodded to her. "We used machines to fly, high powered lasers for cutting. I didn't have the speed or strength or any of the abilities I now have, there. That's what I mean by that. But where I was going is that we know that matter and energy are simply two different forms of the same thing, and neither can be destroyed, merely changed in form. So, when our consciousness leaves our body when we die, we don't go to some other plane … I think that one book called it Heaven … we end up, well, effectively still around as simply a loose consciousness. Sometimes that can end up in an inanimate device, most of the time they simply wander, taking in the grandeur of the world and the universe."
Harry frowned. "You sound like you KNOW this, not as something you believe."
"Advanced science, with very detailed tracking of the energy flows in bodies during death. And then out of said bodies. Your religion calls them souls. To a certain degree, I might agree with that description, it's just not scientifically accurate or complete. It assumes a certain … mysticism.
Related - my wife has been a nurse for more than thirty years, primarily in elder care. She's been in the room many times over the years with patients that pass away in her presence. She's also opened the window, or made sure it's open. Pagan tradition? Or maybe because, as a lot of cultures know, it's reality.
Related - my wife has been a nurse for more than thirty years, primarily in elder care. She's been in the room many times over the years with patients that pass away in her presence. She's also opened the window, or made sure it's open. Pagan tradition? Or maybe because, as a lot of cultures know, it's reality.
Energy Medicine exists because a large amount of experts are attempting to provide evidence for those experiences. However, when one hopes to provide evidence, you've got to expect others to be skeptical. They're not WRONG, they just aren't swallowing your unvalidated claims. (That was in relations to Remus's positions, not your won StarFleet.)
Getting back towards the topic, the belief in a soul or life force, that can reincarnate opens the door to the possibility for "supreme beings" and other things that cannot be readily proven. Believing in one while denying the other is an exercise in contraindications.
Hardly. Many offer substantial evidence concerning 'spirits' while I've NEVER encounter serious (i.e. non-religious sources) detailing the existence of Heaven, Original Sin, Adam & Eve, or a multitude of other 'Ultimate Truths'!
Saying that other people MUST keep an open mind generally means that each person evaluates that evidence themselves, but to claim that there's only ONE valid interpretations of unvalidated claims doesn't demonstrate anything other than an unjustified opinion.
In short, you believe what you want, and I won't counter you, though I will suggest alternative opinions, but when you insist that you don't 'listen to anyone else', and then go on a rant when someone else questions your 'beliefs', I see a decided like of 'openness' to anyone else's opinion!
The ever-increasing number of lawyers and politicians convinces me that we ran out of souls some time back.
Thus there would be a great incentive to re-use any that become available.
The proliferation of law schools is proof that Satan likes to buy in bulk.
I had a similar situation to Remus, I was in a severe crash that broke multiple bones. Impact being inevitable & unavoidable, I remember thinking 'This is going to hurt!' And my point of perception was suddenly from above and behind the truck. I watched my head hit the windshield, the chassis bend, panels collapse, etc. I only returned to inside my head after the damage was done.
I've also had multiple Vietnam vets come up and tell me their stories 'because I was there and could understand'. I wasn't while wearing this body.
Like Carl I've definitely run into a GF and a wife from my last life. The wife confirmed without my asking, delighted to see me again. the GF answered to her old name. She was still a treacherous plotter.
Also had a four year old kid have come up to me and tell me they knew me 'before' with complete confidence. I met her again when she was nine and she didn't know me, which matches with Lupus Dei's idea.
Transmigration of souls? Reincarnation? Conservation of metaphysical energy? I've no clue. I do cover my bets and try not to be a curmudgeon to little kids in case they end up as my next parents.
The "Marie Antoinettes" are easily explained. These are usually adult, usually women, usually vain. They go to a psychic. Do you think a psychic is going to tell 'em that they cleaned toilets in a Paris brothel? Not if they want to get paid they don't!
This explanation doesn't work so well when very young kids spontaneously say things that are 1) pretty ordinary, and 2) can be substantiated. There are numerous documented and researched studies on this.
The concept of a unique soul which gets recycled may not be the only way to explain memories of "previous lives" and "near death experiences", however.
Study acquired savant syndrome. There are neuro-scientists with theories about how people (often with left hemispherical brain injuries) can suddenly develop unexpected skills and access information that isn't general knowledge or readily available.
Some of the theories are more weird than the idea of souls surviving death - one includes quantum entanglement!
"Max Planck, who's the father of quantum theory, said that he viewed consciousness as fundamental and that matter was derived from it. So in that case, it would mean that consciousness would not necessarily be dependent on a physical brain in order to survive, and could continue after the physical brain and after the body dies."
- Dr. Jim Tucker, professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia
There's a beautiful hindu, I don't know how to call it, saying?
"We're all just dreams of Krishna."
"We're all just dreams of Krishna."
Consider the kid who apparently remembered being a WWII pilot who crashed and died at Iwo Jima.
Was he a reincarnation of that pilot, or did he just tap into a single thread of those dreams?
How could we tell the difference?
Consider the kid who apparently remembered being a WWII pilot who crashed and died at Iwo Jima.
Was he a reincarnation of that pilot, or did he just tap into a single thread of those dreams?
How could we tell the difference?
There is not any way to tell the difference that I'm aware of. From the family of the pilot, and military records, it was obvious there was an influence at play, but what that influence was, there is no way to determine definitively.
Study acquired savant syndrome. There are neuro-scientists with theories about how people (often with left hemispherical brain injuries) can suddenly develop unexpected skills and access information that isn't general knowledge or readily available.
That is something I've already done. I disagree with the aquired part of it. I believe it was always there, just blocked in the same manner as memories of trauma in some PTSD patients.
I agree. In this case "acquired" means the syndrome appeared following an accident, brain surgery, or even, in one case, being struck by lightning.
This is to differentiate it from the syndrome that has no obvious "trigger event", for example, a child who just sits down at the piano one day and plays a classical composition perfectly, perhaps only after hearing it once.
The fact that it is enabled in some cases by brain damage might indicate that the left hemisphere of the brain is normally busy filtering out extraordinary abilities.
One interesting ability is calendar calculation, frequently found in savants, and almost non-existent in the general population.
There are formulas for doing this, but they require a lot of study and time to work thru, so no one actually memorizes the necessary steps. We just look at a calendar or our phones.
Yet many savants can compute, as an example, the date of the third Tuesday in March 1931,in a fraction of a second. Certainly, no one has instructed them how to do this, but the information has to come from somewhere.
Doing things like prime numbers or dates is definitely not a useful survival tactic when being chased by a sabertooth tiger. So maybe we had or still have some abilities that have been suppressed by evolution.
The fact that it is enabled in some cases by brain damage might indicate that the left hemisphere of the brain is normally busy filtering out extraordinary abilities.
I've read that bipolar persons have manic episodes due to an inability of the left hemisphere to filter out thoughts that most would consider crazy.
That has been traced to a trace lithium deficiency in the brain.
I would love to see a study on "savants" that measures the lithium levels.
Doing things like prime numbers or dates is definitely not a useful survival tactic when being chased by a sabertooth tiger. So maybe we had or have some abilities that have been suppressed by evolution.
I believe there are many such suppressed abilities. Evolution or de-evolution in this case. The question in my mind is what was the trigger event or environment that brought those abilities to the fore.