Why so many people–including scientists–suddenly believe in an afterlife

reply to post by wildtimes

That's a rather "harsh" self-assessment! Are you 'projecting', or has someone told you this??

If the latter, when did you first buy-into it? If the former, how long have you felt like such a 'tosser' and assumed others see you as such?

It's been a personal fact for YEARS. Since I was a kid. I was intelligent, no one could deny that, but my intelligence resulted in behavioral quirks that no one appreciated or liked much. I was kept inside a box when I should have been flying. So my behavior reflected my pent up emotional and intellectual state, in some very bizarre and unusual ways. I'm tempted to say it was almost autistic. I was like no one I knew. And it just grew.

But now, I'm able to work with it a little more...but I don't try to hide that side. Instead of suppressing it, I craft it. I make it into an art form. But that only works with a certain range of personalities.

reply to post by AfterInfinity

But that only works with a certain range of personalities.

Well, ALL of us have qualities that only "work" with a certain range of personalities. Don't be so hard on yourself....!!

reply to post by wildtimes


Wildtimes...lol.

I wondered the same thing. The only thing I found out about Dr. Stule is that Dr. Stule has bad grammar and spelling.

You would think such a highly educated person would not have so many misspellings. The funniest misspell was when he said in another thread...Vial dogs...when he meant vile dogs. It made me think, did he experiment on dogs he could fit in a vial?

I am Dyslexic and have to go back through my posts many times just to make sure I was correct. But darn, I'm no a PhD. Wildtimes, we simply aren't as intelligent and edumacated as Dr. Stule. We's ignunt compared...

But I digress, Dr. Stule, just what is your PhD in? And can I get it online also?

I would so get a PhD online if it were affordable and accredited.

For once, I am with Wildtimes on this one.

reply to post by WarminIndy

For once, I am with Wildtimes on this one.

Oh, c'mon, now, Indy. We get along tolerably well!!

"For once"? Nono, we've agreed before - on many things...whether you noticed or not.
DMAN that dyseliax!

reply to post by wildtimes

Many members seem to be of the persuasion, still, that life and all its accoutrements simply are OBLITERATED at death.

Yes, STILL

You sound incredulous :-)

Wildtimes - as interesting as it all is (and, the truth is - if you're human - it's interesting, no matter what you believe) there is still no proof

There is however hope and faith - and art. The humans are a creative lot after all

I often joke that on a good day - I might call myself agnostic. I'm having a good day today, so - I'm here to play

The truth is (however) that whatever the truth is - I'm comfortable with the idea that I'm living a life that is over when it's over

Or - maybe not just over, but - OBLITERATED!

:-)

Theory, hope, faith, conjecture...all of it fair, some of it lovely - much of it a hindrance - some of it butt-ugly and leaning towards evil - as if there is such a thing. We all have our opinions - don't we?

But none of us knows

I'd give anything (almost) if you could give me a list of life's accoutrements. I seriously love that part

wildtimes

That's a rather "harsh" self-assessment! Are you 'projecting', or has someone told you this??

If the latter, when did you first buy-into it? If the former, how long have you felt like such a 'tosser' and assumed others see you as such?

I have a very similar condition, and my guess is he's going by people's reactions. In my case, the words just fall out of my mouth wrong, and often times hilarity ensues. You should see the looks on people's faces sometimes - priceless! I realized long ago that I cant blame them for misunderstanding me if it was MY mouth the words fell out of wrong, so I usually just run with it in my old age. That's where us old curmudgeons have it easier - we don't CARE what people think or how they react any more. Younger people have it tougher, and tend to feel a sort of isolation that ought not to be.

When you get older, you just force a fit. Sharp elbows help.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I don't know that Set would apply, and by the way, that's a good drawing, whoever drew it.

The descriptions were not of the usual Medieval variety, which were all artist renditions. I never heard him describe it as with horns and a red tail.

All the witnesses from there have never even indicated that preconceived notion, that's why I tend to believe it was real, above suggestion. We simply don't know how many manifestations Satan can take on, so who knows how Satan would be in his real form. As this was just one of the forms of manifestation, I would assume Satan might appear to someone else differently.

The only thing I had gathered from hearing the adults talk, was that was a black mass figure. I don't mean black mass as in Satan worshiping, but a black figure with some kind of mass. I would venture to say, and one may disagree with me, that Set is one of the manifestations of Satan?

But it's more than just how Satan appears, it's what Satan does. And I think the greatest power that Satan possesses is manipulation. He has the power to convince, so then Satan must be intelligent. As far as energy, maybe Satan can manipulate that as well?

Since the spirit realm is so little understood and seen, then we simply just don't know everything about it. It's like this, as people called things names according to their own languages, then to give a name in Egyptian for the same thing elsewhere, could mean it's the same thing.

A Dybbuk, that I mentioned earlier, is the Yiddish name for a possessing spirit. But in German, there are Poltergeists, which are just noisy ghosts, but geist is the word we in English derive ghost from. English is one of the newer languages and what we speak now, simply was not the same even 600 years ago. English has evolved.

I don't see that it could be different, and Set and Satan may come from the same root words. But Satan is the word that means adversary. This should be a new thread.

But I have heard before what nenothtu said about that. It is a theory out there.

reply to post by wildtimes


Yeah, you are right. We have gotten along well in a lot of cases.

We do agree on some things, so that's cool. It's all good.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I think AfterInfinity is saying there is a "Creative Possession". That's a concept I learned in film school. We were asked why we wanted to make films. The instructor explained that the best filmmakers have "Creative Possession" or something in them that won't let go of them until they express it.

wildtimes

Quite!

That's what I've gathered as well.

See Aklusha99's post regarding 'preconcieved' images - and how "thought-forms" exist. Mellen-Thomas Benedict visited a variety of "heavens" - and discussed how there's a "fractal" of our souls in every "version" of heaven we have ever heard of or imagined....

those who are immersed in only ONE traditional view have MOST of their 'higher self' in those "heavens" that they imagine. They all "exist" merely by having been dreamt up.

Kind of reminds me of my early stages of reluctance to investigate - I remember thinking "If I read this, I will become contaminated!". But, being me, I did it anyway. What a ride!!

In dcmb1490's NDE, he said that he could "feel" or "hear" other people, but could not see any of them, and had a feeling of "belonging", as if he were just a part of the whole, although "part" is not quite correct, in that he WAS the whole, but retained his separate identity for that segment of it. A very difficult concept to understand or get across.

He also said that he didn't want to come back, but was told he had to. WHY he had to I've no idea, because he died for good just a few months later. What he had to do in those few months I have no idea.

He spoke of open fields and wild flowers, vibrant colors, and all in a place where the light was such that no shadows were cast at all. No other visible people, but he could detect others talking amongst themselves, almost as whispers.

It was not "Christian specific", which is one of the things that led me off into this line of thought I hold now about the figure with the assumed identity.

reply to post by wildtimes


Wildtimes,

You do not need tibetan book of the dead, all these books on NDE's, science, and everything else, to prove to yourself there is life after death,

You can skip all that, skip the hours of research, skip the years of pondering, and spend just a few hours meditating on the Words of the One you have known, all along!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

God bless you wildtimes, you and your entire family, and anyone who reads this,

Through Christ our Lord,

Amen

AfterInfinity

I make it into an art form. But that only works with a certain range of personalities.

You'll just have to trust me on this... I know, I get creepy-skin when someone says "just trust me", too. Just roll with it.

There is One, somewhere, that is a perfect fit, the ideal personality. You don't find them, they just bump into you at the damndest times, and then there it is. In my case, I don't recall how many poor fits I ran through looking, but I can say I married 3 of them, much to my undoing.

When I bumped into the perfect fit, it was in the least expected place, the very last place I would have looked had I still been looking.

SO - my advice is to just roll with it, have fun with life, and when you trip up, take a closer look at who catches you.

I won't say it's your "soul mate", because I don't want to send you off into paroxysms.

reply to post by Spiramirabilis

Wildtimes - as interesting as it all is (and, the truth is - if you're human - it's interesting, no matter what you believe) there is still no proof

There is however hope and faith - and art. The humans are a creative lot after all

Well, I happen to think that protracted NDEs - escpecially those that have occurred after protracted 'death states' are "proof".


I guess it just depends on how much one wants to cling to preconceptions?

The 'accoutrements' of life - glad you enjoyed that one.....
Consciousness
Affection
Connection to loved ones
Wisdom
Knowledge

How's that, spiramira? The ones I won't miss: having to eat, eliminate waste, be ill or injured, suffer devastating losses and life crises (although I suspect that life after life, we have crises - one of the universals of human existence).

reply to post by godlover25

You do not need tibetan book of the dead, all these books on NDE's, science, and everything else, to prove to yourself there is life after death,

You can skip all that, skip the hours of research, skip the years of pondering, and spend just a few hours meditating on the Words of the One you have known, all along!

Thanks, godlover, but....

I ENJOY reading all those books, studying science, and everything else....
And the "words" published in 'the Bible' as supposedly uttered by the "one I have known all along" just don't do it for me. It's the way I'm 'put together'. The Bible never did, and never has, "caused" me to feel faith in it, or anything in it.

Since "he" didn't write it himself, I prefer to look at other sources and find the common denominator. Right NOW, the common demoninator is the NDEs that happen every day. I feel that medical technology has allowed us to 'glimpse' that other side without prejudice.

If you're not interested in exploring, that's fine for you. I am interested in knowing more, and not satisfied with "Christian" dogma.
/shrug

WarminIndy

But I have heard before what nenothtu said about that. It is a theory out there.

The "local genii" or "local genius" in the singular.

I have the same discussion with my wife some times. She occasionally blames things locally on "djinn". Djinn are middle eastern desert spirits, and there ain't a desert around here for miles and miles. That's one of the things we don't see eye to eye on, but I'm content to let it slide, believe what I believe, and let her believe what she believes.

Makes for lively discussions some times!

I've never pointed out how "genius", genii", and "djinn" sound so closely related. That might get points taken off of my side of the tote board in discussions!

reply to post by nenothtu

She occasionally blames things locally on "djinn". Djinn are middle eastern desert spirits, and there ain't a desert around here for miles and miles.

Interesting!!

Yeah, I have a hard time believing in "demons" of any kind. It's just not in my experience so far. I'll be "formally" 55 in two weeks - might have been born two weeks earlier and still been "full gestation", so I consider it a 'done deal.'

The demon thing? I know it's popular, even saw an article regarding how 18-29s are showing more belief in it than ever - but I've NEVER experienced anything like it. Then again, I have done "protective" rituals and ceremonies to 'ward off' whatever 'evils' might be lurking.

Either it worked, or demons are imaginary.

idk....

AfterInfinity
reply to post by wildtimes

 

How much you wanna bet it's a bible?

If this is in reference to My offer of the book, How much can You (the doubter) afford to lose? Why would I forward a "Rule Book" that could be found in any dump motel? If it was a Bible™ then YES, there would be a "catch" but seeing that it isn't, there isn't.



You mentioned "The Tibetan Book of The Dead" The book I referenced takes that One a step further, which I mentioned in My first post. I read where You read books and planned to buy One. This One was presented to Me to pass forward for One to continue the line. (again which I referenced earlier..) Part of the mystique has to do with the book and Blessing of same, by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama and signed.

Not everyBody is out for "something" and I take no offense. In My first post that was the only proviso that You not keep it but read it and pass it on, I'll send it to another One. Good Luck on Your journey.

namaste

reply to post by wildtimes

I guess it just depends on how much one wants to cling to preconceptions?

Enough said - go ahead and pick your poison :-)

I'm not really in the mood to rain on anyone's parade - but, proof? Hope springs eternal I think

That's a very funny thing - citing scientists to make your argument...the word of a scientist doesn't seem to be good enough these days to convince anyone there's been a change in the weather

But it's good enough to get us across the River Styx :-)

Thanks for the list - it's a good one. None of those things disappear when we die - that's the really interesting part - don't you think? They do for the individual - but they remain with those left behind

Nice thread - civil. Friendly even. It's been done before, but maybe this one will get further along than most

S&F

reply to post by wildtimes


One day, when I feel really brave, I'll tell you a demon story. I don't feel really brave today, however, so I'll just say that I believe in them, and leave it at that.

I ain't skeert of them... much... but I do have a habit of looking over my shoulder some times.

ETA: It WASN'T a djinn, however - there wasn't any desert around, despite the cactii.

reply to post by LewisStulePhD


WHOA!! Signed by the Dalai Lama!!!!????
NOW you definitely have my attention.

That's amazing. Contact me U2U, and we'll discuss. Thanks....