For those interested in reports of spiritual experiences, may I recommend this book. It contains a wide variety of unique spiritual experiences, many of them near death experiences, had by a number of individuals. It is very fascinating and uplifting reading! SHARKA Todd
Many arguments are had over a being that I don't think exists and that being is the controlling God- the one who punishes us for our crimes and intervenes in our lives against our free will.
The only God that I understand is a loving one who maintains an unlimited respect for our free will and does not interfere in our lives in any way except to support us and help us reach the goal of unlimited joy- as soon as is humanly possible!
Many people look at life through the veil of their thoughts- their projections. Only by stilling our mind and paying attention to what is around us and how we are feeling, without initially thinking about it, can we gain an understanding of what we're dealing with!
It is common among monotheistic religion believers to expect to be judged by a God after their death. This God is believed to be one who rules the heavenly world with an iron fist, ruling our fate and determining our destiny, independent of our own will.
I'm here to tell you that this isn't the case at all. God is a loving God who allows us to determine our fate forever! We will be where we choose to be and where we focus ourselves to be. If we feel punished it is only because we punish ourselves because we believe we are unworthy and deserving of punishment. The reality we experience is an outcome of our mental processes and the beliefs we hold about the world and our place in it, during this life and in the world to come.
Many humans project their fears onto God, who they view as a demanding tyrant, but by all accounts this view is wrong and he truly is the loving father that we would wish him to be.
There is a common belief that nothing can be known about the afterlife by living humans. This assumes that those who have died have no way of communicating with the living and that the living have no way of visiting after death realms. Both of these assumptions I believe are false.
There is a large body of literature written by those who claim to have communicated with people existing in "afterlife" realms. This information lies under the heading "spiritualism". A list of some worthwhile spiritualist books (mostly available as free ebooks) dealing with the afterlife can be found here.
Some- having paid cursory attention to spiritualism- make the claim that it is all fraudulent. This idea seems to be based on the reports of a small number of cases where individuals were shown to fake such things as table tipping and the like in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Like all fields containing a wide variety of people not everyone within it acts with integrity. But this doesn't mean all reports are fraudulent. In fact, there are a considerable number of serious-minded and believable accounts in existence which are worthy of the scrutiny of anyone truly interested in this topic.
The next source of human knowledge of the afterlife comes from people who have had a "near-death" experience. These vary widely in content though many have common themes. Some are incredibly detailed while others seem simpler, but most seem to have great significance to those who have experienced them. Although there are those rusted-on materialists who claim these experiences are all the work of the dying brain there are plenty of reasons to take these accounts seriously and to study them in detail.
The third category of human knowledge of the afterlife comes from mystics, those who have visited after death realms while in altered states of consciousness, and those who have experienced out-of-body experiences (OOBE's). Such people, some of who are serious-minded and well respected people (such as Robert A. Monroe), have written some quite detailed accounts of the non-physical worlds they have visited in altered states of consciousness, including interacting with those believed to be "dead" (discarnate).
Other sources of knowledge of the afterlife come from common people who have had personal experiences that lead them to believe they have connected with loved ones who have died. Most of these experiences are confirmations that their loved ones still exist and are happy where they are rather than detailed accounts of the afterlife, itself.
Of all these sources of knowledge the most detailed accounts come from spiritualist sources, particularly in the many accounts written in the earlier parts of the 20th century. Some of these accounts are incredibly detailed and are fascinating reading. For those interested in these accounts there is quite a good list of mostly free ebooks here.
I understand that there are some who base their ideas on the afterlife on what is written in the bible but my own understanding is that these scant accounts not only lack detail but are often factually wrong. For example, the widely promoted idea of an eternal hell for non-believers is false. While some will create a hell for themselves after death due to their own ignorance and unsavory character such a state is not permanent and help is always available for those who ask for it.
Sharka Todd
AJ Miller (Jesus) discusses love and the various spiritual dimensions.
Everyone has beliefs. In fact, our psyche is a reservoir of them. We believe we are a worthwhile person, we believe in evolution, we believe when we die we will cease to exist, we believe our wife loves us, we believe in the validity of the scientific method for ascertaining truth, etc. Someone who says "I don't believe in evolution, I know evolution is true", is in denial. If we haven't experienced something directly we don't know if it's true or not, though we may have strong opinions about it.
Everyone has a worldview that is a combination of beliefs about things that we surmise from the words of others and things we have actually experienced ourselves. For some people this includes a belief in a higher power and for others it doesn't. Either way, it's still beliefs. The idea that the universe was created by an intelligence is certainly no more irrational than the idea that it just popped into being from nothing, which is a belief held by many.
Indeed, a variety of beliefs should be taught in schools and the source of the knowing (or surmising) should be made abundantly clear! I am actually of the opinion that religious and spiritual studies is a worthwhile pursuit, and that it should cover a number of religions and other spiritual approaches and philosophies to give students an idea of what is "on offer" out there. It is the lack of choice and the focus on one system of belief, whether it be religious or secular, that I think presents the real danger.
There are those who attempt to shed light on an issue- and there are those who only wish to disrupt communications. The disruptors should be treated as trolls and ignored. When this is done en mass the disruptors will be made ineffective- and clarity will emerge.
Having observed the battles during the mid-2000's between those interested in 911 truth and those who actively oppose it- it is my suggestion to those of good will who support 911 truth that they completely disengage from discussing the topic with opposing (anti-truth) forces. It is energy wasted that could be used constructively.
Anti-truth activists should be treated as trolls, as they mostly are, and ignored, for they are not interested in truth, only in wasting the precious resources of those of good will who seek it and attempting to upset them.
Instead, discuss the topic with those who are interested and have an open-mind and leave the "anti-truthers" to stew in the juices of their own self-loathing. "Anti-truthers" are unworthy of one's attention and waste precious resources and focus!
10 years to the day before the 911 terrorist attacks, George Bush Sr
gave his famous New World Order speech to Congress. It took a terrorist attack on US soil 10 years later to give the push needed to implement many of his desires.
