Hello all,

I admit I have immense problems with believing in an afterlife - but I am willing to be convinced otherwise (very much so), because it is a terrible and as thought that we just perish into oblivion forever. Which I think is 95% likely, but maybe you can help me.

Two questions baffle me:

1. I know from my medical experience that all our emotions and everything we consider to be our "self" is connected to our brain functions. For people with brain damage, they can lose all sense of "self", all memories, they do not even recoginze themselves in a mirror. There is a case of a poor man who lost his ability to gain new memories and he is now living in the "present moment" for 20 years, always writing "I just woke up" in his dictionary...again and again. Otherwise he is is intact, so the argument that his consciousness is not there doesnt work. Also, I know that if you damage some parts of the brain, people will become more aggressive or lose their moral compass - in short, change personality so other people do not recognize them anymore.

If you take all this into account, how can there be an afterlife once the brain is destroyed utterly? Do people with brain damage get "restored" to the original person somehow?

2. Other lifeforms on this planet, for example dolphins and chimpanzees, have language and intelligence and self awareness. Do they not have a soul as we see it? Why does no one ever report them in the afterlife? Or do they get their "own" afterlife? What about the millions of extraterrestrial lifeforms that are likely to exist in our fantastic universe?

Don`t get me wrong, I am not a fanatical atheist trying to convince you. I am a very very sad and frightened soul who has seen a lot and therefore lost all faith - I don`t know how the other atheists manage to get up at all, the universe is such a stark cold place when there is no purpose to life, no soul, no afterlife - just randomness and oblivion. Argh.

Hi Chrwe,

I'm sure there are others on this on this site much more qualified to answer than me but I'll get the ball rolling....

Both your questions are good ones. Regarding your first point its a pertinent question as many people die old with their mental faculties impaired e.g. Alzheimers. According to many anecdotal reports from mediums/oobers people they meet in the afterlife have their mental functions restored. This is in accordance with the notion that the brain acts as a kind of translator of the non-physical into the physical rather like a TV. For instance the program ER does not reside in a TV and does not cease to exist when the TV malfunctions/ is destroyed ! I suppose a dodgy brain is like a TV set on the blink !

Regarding your second point, I would say all conscious (living) creatures have a non-physical i.e. soul aspect. Although of course the level of conscoiusness varies from organism to organism. Mediums often report a beloved pet as being with a deceased person; although a 'love connection' seems to be important, which is why random animals are not reported in readings.

The above are tentative answers, I say keep exploring/researching to get your answers...

Dave

No scientist or doctor can prove that consciousness originates from the brain. So recognize that belief.
Asking questions and being open to the answers and then pursuing the answers  via personal experience is the only way to find out what's for real.

Have fun and keep an open sensible mind... anything is possible.  :)

Go and read Robert Monroe's "Journeys out of the Body" http://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Robert-Monroe/dp/0385008619 for a start and see how it tugs at your beliefs ;-)
and a video of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLApcABHQw

Before we misunderstand each other :)

I have read all three of Monroe`s books, all three of Bruce Moen`s books, Buhlman´s book and countless others that have to do with NDEs, afterlife, philosophy, religion(s) etc.

I count myself to be really educated on the subject now.

Nothing has managed to answer the two questions that I posed, making me believe there is no soul nor any afterlife.

So I turn to people like Bruce Moens, who supposedly know first-hand.

I have tried to go out-of-body, but failed to achieve anything, I dont even know what you mean by vibrations. I tried for 6 months, then decided it`s either bogus or my brain just won`t do it.

chrwe wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 3:24am:

Nothing has managed to answer the two questions that I posed, making me believe there is no soul nor any afterlife. I have tried to go out-of-body, but failed to achieve anything, I dont even know what you mean by vibrations. I tried for 6 months, then decided it`s either bogus or my brain just won`t do it.

In my post I mentioned that it all comes down to personal experience. That is an answer that doesn't really satisfy but rings true.
Nobody no matter what credentials or experience they have or how many books you read  will give you  an answer to any question you pose and leave you feeling satisfied. It's only intellectual stuff. To truly  know you must experience :-)
The 'belief' you can't OBE or anything will block you to no end. This is the biggest hurdle you need to overcome by yourself.

One of the problems of this area is that something which constitutes great proof for one person means nothing to another. I remember having a conversation on the afterlife with a dear (sceptical) friend who I could'nt believe was'nt impressed by something which greatly impressed me. Looking back now the odd thing is that I was surprised that we needed different validations !

Having said that it seems likely from your comments that you are a 'left-brained' type (which I can relate to) who needs hard proof. To this I would say don't expect instant enlightenment. Start by reading scientifically rigorous books such as 'The Conscious Universe', 'The Afterlife Experiments' etc., read articles from the Institue of Noetic Sciences all which suggest strongly we are more than our physical bodies. Hopefully this should loosen beliefs enough to allow more personal/powerful validations at least a chance of coming through. These beliefs are powerful - after all we grow up with the belief that our physical body is us and this is constantly reinforced during our daily lives by TV, media,friends etc. Remember the bit near the end of 'The Truman Show' where someone asks Ed Harris why Truman never suspected anything his reply, that we don't question something we've always been exposed to, is , as any despot's propagandist (N. Korea anyone ?)knows is so true ...

Finally, be patient with yourself and your progress !

chrwe wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 12:08am:

Hello all, 1. I know from my medical experience that all our emotions and everything we consider to be our "self" is connected to our brain functions. For people with brain damage, they can lose all sense of "self", all memories, they do not even recoginze themselves in a mirror. There is a case of a poor man who lost his ability to gain new memories and he is now living in the "present moment" for 20 years, always writing "I just woke up" in his dictionary...again and again. Otherwise he is is intact, so the argument that his consciousness is not there doesnt work. Also, I know that if you damage some parts of the brain, people will become more aggressive or lose their moral compass - in short, change personality so other people do not recognize them anymore. If you take all this into account, how can there be an afterlife once the brain is destroyed utterly? Do people with brain damage get "restored" to the original person somehow?

Your first sentence should read "...everything we consider to be our "self" is connected "THROUGH" our brain functions".  I agree with Dave's comments.  The physical brain is the nexus between the soul mind and the body.  Those two meld to produce a conscious individual.  In the event there is physical damage to the brain the connection between the soul mind and body may be diminished, thus impacting the behavior of the individual.  But the brain is not the soul, and the soul is not impacted by physical disability.  The body is simply the three dimensional host for the soul's physical life...when it dies the soul returns from whence it came...carrying with it all the experiences, memories, and feelings enjoyed while incarnate.    

I am sure after the reading you have done that this is nothing new.  Further your medical training provides explanations that supercede in authority and research any comments based on faith and experiential understanding.  However it is that faith and experiential understanding that provide me with my belief in the afterlife.  The comfort, love, and warmth I have received through otherwise unexplainable events and absolutely improbable synchronicites have provided me the basis on which to build my truth.

   

I`m happy for any of you who can hold this faith and that I am here, asking you these questions, should show you that I sincerely hope you have some answers.

If I go to a neurologists forum..well I don`t need to go there, I know what they say.

Ever see "Men in Black II"?  There's a bit where they pop open some guys skull, and inside is this tiny little alien, sitting in a captain's chair, operating the "human" body with hand and foot controls, and seeing and hearing the world through speakers and video screens.  Now imagine the controls all got their wires crossed, and the audio and video got an old VCR tape of, oh, "Harvey", say, plugged in.  The little guy inside is as sane as he ever was...but it sure isn't going to look like it on the outside!

I don't question your motivation and I apologize if that is the way my response appeared.  Unlike some who search, I cannot rely on ascertainable facts and provable hypotheses to justify my beliefs.  I get a warmth and a calm upon finding truths which then fit into the overall schematic of my beliefs...and one doesn't find that sensory response as a reasoned justification in any book or studied analysis.  But it has worked for me. 

My point is that there will not be any hard and fast, lock-down answers to the questions you have about the afterlife...until we get there.  This illusion of our reality provides the expectation of consistency and solidity, while the afterlife is not of this reality.  Your findings, proof and understanding of the afterlife will come from experiences, feelings, revelation, synchronicity, and any number of flashes of truth that, if you allow them will light your way to your own truth.  The key is to allow them... 

Best wishes with your search...and may yours bring you as much satisfaction and peace of mind as mine has brought to me.

Hi chrwe and Welcome!

Experience is the most helpful, but ideas that contradict one's goals can keep one from reaching those goals -- even when we're not aware of the contradictory ideas!  You may have plenty of ideas that are contrary to afterlife experience  :)

For the sake of this one goal of visiting the afterlife, could you do a brief experiment under conditions that are conducive to success?
First, set a time when you will be uninterrupted, well rested, and  nutritionally well-'charged.' (I see now that you've been on this site for the last eleven hours, so I wonder whether you'll find a time soon when you are well rested, but later perhaps  :) )

Next, try sweeping away all your contradictory ideas with a broad statement to yourself, such as "I am setting aside
my disbelief and all I was taught in the past that
negates afterlife experience.  I need to have an
afterlife experience. I am not fearful and I am ready. "
You are attempting to clear a lifetime paradigm with this small affirmation.  It won't affect your knowledge later; it won't empty your brain's contents, just set it aside.

As you restfully wait for signs of your self trying to comply with the above stated goal, you might hear yourself mentally saying "... but this will never work." or some such. If you do, you have to repeat your request and affirmation that having the afterlife experience is your priority goal.

Stay quietly aware of what sensations or even sense of change that you experience. Give it a half hour of non-contradictory ideas.  Please let us know what happens.

I was fortunate to be able to move into the afterlife relatively easily but sometimes when I try to go back I find I am blocked and I have to clear my way again with a process similiar to what I'm suggesting. I wish you much success in this!

Bets

Chrwe,
You mention "faith".  The reason I am here (pretty new here) is that faith isn't enough for me, I need proof.  Can't say I have that, yet, but little by little over the months of searching and listening I'm getting a little more. 

My other point is that your position that if we are all wrong here, and there is no afterlife, then all is "randomness and oblivion" and there "is no purpose".  I think the horror and despair that thought makes you feel could  be alleviated by a little change in your point of view. 

As I see it, we have all really pretty much won the lottery already.  We are alive, sentient, human beings in the universe.  We have a life span long enough (if we take care of ourselves) to experience much pleasure and joy, and create some for others before we go. 

Isn't feeling sad about the idea that there might not be an afterlife kinda like winning the mega millions lottery, but being completely unable to enjoy your good fortune because you fear you may never win the lottery again?  Just sayin!

Chrwe, Personally, I dont think that you will end up being "convinced otherwise". Perhaps others here are in the business of changing belief systems but in the end, you believe, what you believe. Points of view can be exchanged. Arguments can be made. You say you are 95% sure that you will end up perishing in oblivion. I highly suggest that you open your heart to the possibility that that is not the case. Just the possibility. That done, in the end, someone may end up being able to reach you once you do leave here for there....no matter where that there is. 

I admit it will be difficult to convince me, however I am 100% sure that if there is an afterlife, I will be very happy about it. I used to be sure that I can roam the earth and stars after life...discover all I want to and more...help others develop and talk to anyone and higher beings in whatever time there is. That I really believed, but then life and a lot of medical very sad cases hit me on the head.

Trust me, it`s a very sorry state to be in.

Ah well, in any case I really appreciate your help and your words. I`ll try opening myself up more. I have "felt" higher purpose and have "felt" right when communicating with love, but something is forcing me at the moment to believe all this was just delusion and fooling myself.

Calypso wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 10:43am:

Isn't feeling sad about the idea that there might not be an afterlife kinda like winning the mega millions lottery, but being completely unable to enjoy your good fortune because you fear you may never win the lottery again?  Just sayin!

...or getting upset that the sun will no longer support life on earth in four billion years...my son brought that up when he was trying to find something to feel badly about...we discussed worrying about the things we can actually control, got gloves and ball and went out to play catch...now the sun burning out is codeword for "tossing the ball".

This is not intended to minimize anyone's concerns about the hereafter...rather, Calypso's comment brought me back to my latest "perspective lesson" to my son...now he tries to help me get a better perspective in difficult times.  He's brought out the gloves and ball no fewer than three times in the past month! 

chrwe, as a medical professional you are kind of obligated to deal in the nuts and bolts of our physical world, and the "realities" you face are your stock in trade.  However, I would suggest that you hold onto your previous beliefs of your afterlife and continue to make the effort to live and communicate through love.  Your past beliefs are very similar to what I expect to meet when I leave this incarnation, so you are not alone.   But remember...no one can convince you of what you must believe...it is all yours.  You will come to what works for you in your own time...just allow it and listen.  All my best.     

Chrwe,
let's see it from the extreme; instead of a brain damage, let's think of a total damage of the whole body. It's plain to see that then there is no personality anymore in the physical. The body is the sine qua non in the physical. Your question was about the non-physical, so the examples you brought which made you doubt about an afterlife are simply not applying, and cannot be a true basement of this doubt.

We finally must admit that all we experience is here and now. If you so want, within your consciousness.

Spooky

I try to explore as some of you describe and ask my helpers - if there are any - and God - if there is one - every night to help me out of this despair and let me leave my body, just once, so I dont have to be afraid anymore. It does not work.

Can none of the retrievers and travellers really answer these questions? Do you think it would be worthwhile to pm Bruce?

And about the lottery: For me, this is not helping one bit. I feel I am told a wonderful story that is only beginning and takes 80 years (if I have 80 years) to write, only to burn it at the end. I am just petrified by the thought that I will never, ever again think, feel or experience anything. I would have no problem with ceasing to exist for millions of years, but forever is more terrible than anything. No use arguing, fear is not something that can be helped by saying that you do not have this fear, for me it is the most terrible thing I can imagine.

Greetings,

What happens when you (as Bruce suggested) think of the tenderest, most loving moments of life, such as a baby being held in the arms of a loving mother?  Can you imagine the feeling of such an infant and carry that feeling into your own life?

I know that you have nothing to fear about the afterlife's reality, but I don't know how to describe such knowing.  It grows out of allowing yourself to feel 'pure unconditional love.' Imagining it is a good first step. "Fake it until you make it.'  Then it will become much more than your brain could ever imagine by itself.  The immensity of it as it grows becomes proof of something more than what physical life offers.

Bets

betson wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 10:31pm:

Greetings, What happens when you (as Bruce suggested) think of the tenderest, most loving moments of life, such as a baby being held in the arms of a loving mother?  Can you imagine the feeling of such an infant and carry that feeling into your own life? I know that you have nothing to fear about the afterlife's reality, but I don't know how to describe such knowing.  It grows out of allowing yourself to feel 'pure unconditional love.' Imagining it is a good first step. "Fake it until you make it.'  Then it will become much more than your brain could ever imagine by itself.  The immensity of it as it grows becomes proof of something more than what physical life offers. Bets

I think this is a good way of going about it Bets.  I have not dealt with Bruce's methodology, however, I have had moments of awareness that blew me away...from the proverbial "view through the crack in the curtain" to a sudden broadening of perspective leaving me gasping at what I had just perceived.  Any one of these occasions revisited through meditation has resulted in a priceless view of what to me is the truth...whether it is a visual of infinity or pure, unconditional love inundating me to the point I could no longer receive it, everything for me points to the afterlife being so much more than we as humans can conceive.  I only wish I could somehow share the tremendous "bigness" of everything beyond our three-dimensional ken...the love, the compassion, the wellbeing...all of it is simply amazing.      

chrwe,,,, I still can't get away from the fact that, if it is as you describe, and there is no future, after 'death', as you call it, then you really won't care, afterwards, right? It won't matter because it just won't. However, if you are wrong, or simply allow for the possibility that there is 'more', how do you know where that would end? It is an open-ended mystery, one which might be worth pursuing. Therefore, I just can't really get too worked up about it, even if there would be no afterlife. But, I see what you're saying, all that time, forever. One could interpret it as a big giant hand in one's face saying 'shut up' and that wouldn't be anything new, maybe. It certainly seems, though, that an awful lot of people are convinced, that we are more, that we will be more. I guess I'll tell you when I get there.

I`m so frightened I cant sleep anymore - see, I was quite sick some time ago and since then cannot get this terrible dread out of my head.

Please those of you who like to help others, send me your love and support :), I really need help at the moment.

I know how you feel chrwe. It's funny because it's like looking into a mirror when you talk about your feelings. Many of us have been there. You are searching for the truth, for an answer. An answer which is 100% proven (to you). You are looking for the perfect answer and solution, the proof you can truly believe in.

The bottom line?

There either is no afterlife...
or
There is an afterlife.

Only YOU can set the requirements of your choice to believe or disbelieve.

Maybe you need to experience your own NDE?
Maybe you need to pursue OBE and meditate to experience an OBE personally?
Maybe you need to contact a special person that can contact and communicate with the dead?
Maybe you can talk to a priest and be comforted? (personally I frown upon that last option but I am forced to mention it as a possibility.)

All of these things you need to seek out. Some of them can and or will cost money.... but if you prove that there is an afterlife to yourself does money in this short life really matter?

I cannot offer you more than this...

keep looking.

Don't give up.

I doubt you can find absolute proof that the afterlife does not exist but if you do please enlighten me.  :D

chrwe wrote on May 19^th, 2010 at 10:12pm:

I`m so frightened I cant sleep anymore - see, I was quite sick some time ago and since then cannot get this terrible dread out of my head. Please those of you who like to help others, send me your love and support :), I really need help at the moment.

chrwe,

Words are limited in what they can do for you. :-/

Even if you don't believe a word I write but give it a go ,what can you lose ;-)

YOU aren't who you think YOU are. Let your idea of who YOU are go for a moment. All it takes is a moment of this realization. You don't need to do anything, just let it all go, every thought about what if and when you die. Only for a moment be free of thought. All it takes is a moment.
The fear you have is the fear of losing who you THINK you are  i.e. The ego/person that has a body and nothing else.
And funnily enough to lose who you THINK you are is enlightenment :-)

I'm reminded of  the episode of The Simpsons where Homer has a mid-life crisis when he hears that he only has another 37 years to live (statistically). Obliviously he meanders in front of speeding cars , miraculously avoiding being hit, rueing that he only has that time left. Sometimes by worrying about the afterlife we forget about the before afterlife bit....

"I am not who I think I am"? Sorry, if I am here to learn anything and if it is true that Shakespeare is still writing on "the other side" etc., then I am who I think I am.

It doesn`t help me to think that the person I am is gone forever, only some sort of essence that I can`t identify remains.

And no, I don`t forget about the part before afterlife, only I cannot have joy anymore because I am so terribly afraid.

chrwe, I don't mean to minimize what you are feeling, but again, isn't the worry about what might or might not become of you after your death along the lines of my son's concern over the sun burning out in four billion years?  When it happens, what will it matter?  What can you do about it?  Will you have any control over it?  This simplistic line of questioning is intended to bring some perspective to the importance you are placing on an event over which you have no control...how important can it be while you are intended to live this life to the best of your ability? 

If upon death, life is over as if someone switched off the light, then it is.  While I do not believe that it is, I cannot change whatever actually happens.  And since I am alive now, whatever my ultimate destiny holds will wait until I am finished with this incarnate existence. 

No one can tell you anything that will make this real for you...it must come from inside you.  All I can do is assure you that upon coming to the self-realization that your soul, has not only lived before, but that it is immortal and will continue to learn, love and grow in experience, you will find an amazing sense of peace.

One thing that might help is to speak to an akashic reader.  If you are unaware of the akashic records, they are the "book of life", or a record of everything your soul has ever thought, felt, experienced in every lifetime from the beginning of your soul's existence.    Ask the reader to help you understand why this blockage in your mind is manifesting itself right now.  What has occurred or what is trying to change in you that is causing you such discomfiture.  While you're at it, ask what your soul intended for this life and who with you now has been with you in previous lives and what roles they played with you.  The revelations you receive may alter your life...they altered mine drastically.  I was beginning a particularly virulent midlife crisis when I spoke to a reader and it ended the crisis and opened a whole new world.  As you advance you can access the records yourself with the help of your guidance.  If you have any questions about the readers feel free to pm me.

My best wishes and I hope this helps.         

Well, firstly, i really appreciate your answers and your kind words. I have never, ever felt so sick and terrible in my whole life and I have been through a bit! Such debilitating fear is terrible, yet I would rather live millenia in this fear than disappear forever. I know not everyone feels that way (and they are lucky and blessed), but I do and fear is not something another needs to feel or understand, it is just THERE like a blinding avalanche for me. It`s of course personal and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Either my brain has an imbalance or I am overstressed and have a medical condition - and have no soul - and will just vanish forever. Terrible, sensless, dark and cold, too terrible to accept for me.

Or there is hope. I am here because I really need you all to give me hope :). In case there IS an immortal soul after all, my personal theory is that my soul has somehow hit the greatest learning cliff that there ever was - and that, maybe, in time I will learn to OBE and learn to see spirits. All I wish is to help them and to love them and to be free of this body (and still exist). I used to be quite spiritual and could feel what others feel and sometimes sort of "turn on" a warmth and love that others felt and it felt so right and good when I could talk to others while in this "warmth". Now it`s all gone behind this fear "you only imagined this - its all an illusion - you will lose everything, forever..."

My husband told me about a ghost on a ship the other day he saw in a documentary and how scary he thought that was and all I honestly thought was "If that is true, it is a poor soul that probably needs guidance, I wish I could give it".

That all may seem extremely weird and conceited to you, I don`t mean it this way.

This kind of fear which can morph into a full-fledged phobia is something I am familiar with, and I think you can reprogram your mind to lose this negativity. For instance, for some people, and this used to be me, fear of flying was practically disabling. Fear of driving on the freeway was another one. But, replacing those disabling thoughts with other thoughts was very difficult for me. I used a lot of guided imagery to help me over those times, and succeeded in creating 'mind strategies' to change my thinking patterns. This is an ongoing thing, not something that just disappears, but it does diminish.  You can actually function, even through such fears. Eventually, the thoughts you 'choose' instead will crowd out the other ones. What I realized was that my brain was taking over, like a manic dog or something similar, and I had to take control, and I could do it in a positive way. I still do this, quite often, for many reasons. Just put in a new 'program' when I feel the need. It's become a 'fun' thing. Well, forgive me for rambling on and on, but I think we just cannot let our 'fears' take such a large 'position' in our lives. It's our life, and what a waste if our ever active brain does nothing but torture us along the way. I say, it's a waste. Crowd out those thoughts of 'poor disappearing me' with better thoughts, and I'm not saying that's always easy. But it can be done.

chrwe, beyond what we have provided you all I can say is there is hope, that the truth will become clear...I'd still call an akashic reader.

Leading on from B2's wise words it seems that you are in a depression. The insidious thing about depression is that a kind of feedback loop operates leading to disrupted sleep, repititive negative thoughts which in turn reinforces the depression leading to .... deeper depression.

Getting out of depression can seem like trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps but it can be done by developing a strategy. First of all I would suggest that you lay your afterlife search to one side to for a moment and concentrate on you...

Some things which helped me when I was in a low state a number of years ago...

... Reprogram your thoughts by listening to positive uplifting tapes such as available at the Monroe Institute site.
.... Listen to uplifting music.
.... Reinforce that by reading positive looking books and eschewing negative stuff such as the news, tragedies etc.
.... Get plenty of exercise esp. outdoors in natural scenery.
.... Write down how you feel/ talk to a trusted friend.

When your mood has lifted revisit the afterlife stuff and you'll probably find that it feels much differently to how it did before. It won't have changed but you will have.

Hope this helps,

Dave  :)

Thank you Dave and others,

I`m very glad you took the time with me. I still hope people well versed in exploring the afterlife can answer this and my other question.

Otherweise - you are right, i guess. I have to give my brain a rest and re-program it positively. Only this is easy to say...and very hard to do when you feel like people would normally feel before three minutes before a plane crash, i.e. in mortal fear.

Thanks :)

may love, which surely exists, be with you all

chrwe,

Shelve everything  for the time being it is obviously a dark place to think of anything about the afterlife for you.

Eckhart Tolle experienced something similar before stopping his compulsive thinking. Look up "The dark night of the soul" it may shed some light for you.


Here is a link http://www.themystic.org/dark-night/

description fits 100% :o

lets hope the eventual outcome is true as well (can`t imagine that, but then, I am very deep in the dark night)

Caroline Myss is someone you may like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSfqFQuxZmY&feature=related

Let go of all resistance to what is. Be content with the way you feel no matter how bad it feels. It is what it is.
Resistance makes it worse.

It is true, also, that it is okay to be in the deep dark night. You may look up into the sky and see a beautiful moon there, when the clouds drift by. I have found that there can be something beautiful in some very difficult states of being, as long as I can go with the flow. But you must take your time, take the time to slow down, especially let your breath lengthen, which is why guided meditation, exercise, rest, relaxing 'fun' or 'conversation' times with those you enjoy or trust, can help so much. For me, once I moved on, into explorations of a possible 'afterlife', I gained a new perspective, one in which I realized that our capacity to create, to have visions of our own, is much bigger than we can imagine in our typical 'everyday' state of being, when we are focused on making a peanut butter sandwich, or that kind of thing. Not that you can't have a fine moment there, with your sandwich. But, understanding the source of peace and contentment as yourself, which is a source much wider, and deeper, and simply vaster than what you can imagine at this very moment...well, that's just plain fabulous.

Hi

You are MORE than you think you  -- is what we're trying to tell you.   You are so much more than matter but your thoughts are so into the material that they won't even call your brain your mind.

Human inquiry into their own thoughts was extended to brain functioning centuries ago, then brain to mind, and now mind to consciousness. You are centuries behind !  ::)
And you say you work with brain to some extent, mechanically I assume. Forget the mysticism --  You need to catch up on the scientific view of it.
Try neurophysics instead of neurology. Try Google.
Try imaging all the love, kindness, and cooperation that holds us together.

Bets

(I'm only playing bad cop   >:(  or gadfly or meanie because I'm trying to get through to you. The kindness in the 14 previous posts doesn't seem to affect you. I do care as do the others who are trying to find the key to your troubles.)

B

You`re a good person Bets :)

I appreciate help - in all its forms

That's not bad for starts - look at all those people rooting for you !

:)

Hey Chrwe! 

I think I get a little of what you are feeling.  It is sometimes VERY SCARY the stuff we are all thinking about and doing here on this site.  It's like we have come to the very edge of what we have known up to this point, and are on the verge of a great unknown and are about to undergo great change.  The good news is, I don't think you would be thinking this stuff if you weren't ready to be, and meant to be.   

Try to do what you can to keep your mind and body in the most optimum condition for doing this work.  I agree with Dave's advise above wholeheartedly, and would add:

be sure you are eating healthy foods, staying hydrated, don't forget to sleep every night and keep breathing well! 

maybe as a precaution, get a physical and make sure you don't have any small imbalances that can be easily corrected (check thyroid, BP, vitamin D).  (I only suggest these things because you sound kinda like how I felt a few years ago, and some of these helped me a lot.  Then again, you are a doctor, so you probably don't need any of this advice from me...... :))

I'd love to keep hearing how you're doing.  Sending you my share of PUL.... :)

betson wrote on May 21^st, 2010 at 9:02am:

(I'm only playing bad cop   >:(  or gadfly or meanie because I'm trying to get through to you. The kindness in the 14 previous posts doesn't seem to affect you. I do care as do the others who are trying to find the key to your troubles.) B

LOL I deleted a post I was about to post   :o
It takes many times saying the same thing over and over and over... then people need to 'want' to listen ;-)

Thank you for not taking offence, chrwe  :)

Here's another one:
Let's say that you only have a brain. A brain is a programmable collection of facts that it is taught by its owner. How often have you programmed into your brain that you are, seem, fear that you are,  fearful?  So now it is feeding back that information to you -- You are fearful.

But that isn't the end of the story. Now that you have learned what your brain is capable of, you can decide to reprogram it with
"I am not fearful."  "I will not be fearful." "I do not seem fearful." etc. You will have to repeat that for as many times and with as much feeling/emphasis as you have said or thought the opposite.

Probably you could say it fewer times if you say it with true full belief, but since belief is not a mechanistic, material factor, you will have to say it equal times.    :D   ;)

Please let know how that works for you. (Actually I think it will help.)

Bets

Along those same lines Bets, she could also try the opposite of fear..."I accept my life with love and grace"..."I live my life through love and grace"..."I find love in all I do".

Anything positive can help change the energy being attracted.  It is so cool when it becomes manifest!

love and light...

you are very kind people and I want you to know I so appreciate your help :)

Hi
Chrwe, I put some bait in my last post here but you didn't take it that I can see.  :)
I said  "Let's say that you only have a brain.... a programmable collection of facts..."  I was hoping you would take offence at that and 'come out swinging', but alas, I failed when you only said that people here are nice  :(

Weren't you in the least offended ? Because if you felt offended even just a bit, what aspect of you would be feeling that way?

Oh well, so much for my leading the witness.

Bets

You cannot offend me with what I fear is the truth, my friend, especially not when you mean it in kindness

so I don`t feel offense, only fear and a great sadness, you see?

but I don`t want to go into this again :)

I am trying to be a loving person, that has nothing to do with there being an afterlife or not - love will always be THE meaning of life for me

Hi

There's a parable around somewhere about that kind of faith in love being the greatest because it doesn't rely on the afterlife as a reward.

Bets

Bets,

a reward is not important to me, but oblivion - and therefore total senselessness of existance - is.

I just learned, for example, that when you split the communication between the two brain halves, both store memory independently and act independently. How can this be if there is a consciousness somehow outside the brain? How could this consciousness store memory? Also, with Alzheimer, people can carry on a converstation sometimes, but do not remember their children, even that they have children etc. How can this be? They are "there" but yet not really there as they forget very important parts of who they are.

I just cant take it.

chrwe wrote on May 27^th, 2010 at 8:40pm:

I just learned, for example, that when you split the communication between the two brain halves, both store memory independently and act independently. How can this be if there is a consciousness somehow outside the brain? How could this consciousness store memory? Also, with Alzheimer, people can carry on a converstation sometimes, but do not remember their children, even that they have children etc. How can this be? They are "there" but yet not really there as they forget very important parts of who they are. I just cant take it.

This video may  give you some perspective on how the brain is but a 'filter' of consciousness and not the other way around. A damaged brain means only so much consciousness can filter through to put it in the most simple terms. It isn't the consciousness that is damaged.
Let go of your 'trained' left brain thinking and you may see what this is about...

Here is the video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq--75v4lI8