Polly,

I just thought of two psychological concepts in Peck's  "People of the Lie" that might not be clear to you--transference and countertransference.  Let's assume that I'm a shrink and you are my patient.  To help you during counseling, I need to be aware of any "transference."   What is that?   Well, I may remind you of your father.   So you may want me to "take care of you" and just tell you what to do.  But counseling needs to empower the patient, not to infantilize her.    The patient needs to come to her own insights without direct advice.   Daughters with problems often have issues with their fathers.  So if transference occurs, the daughter may unconsciously project those issues on to the shrink and her resulting anger may prevent therapy from being successful.   The shrink needs to recognize transference and bring it to his patient's attention.

"Countertransference" is just the opposite.   The female patient may unconsciously remind the shrink of his ex-wife.   This may evoke mild hostility to the patient which she may pick up as coldness.   Also, countertransference may cause the shrink to impute motives to the patient which applied to his ex-wife, but do not apply to his female patient.   So shrink's need to be self-aware enough to recognize their own countertransference.

Why is this important in "People of the Lie?"   In the presence of evil people, Peck experiences confusion and revulsion.  Sensitive people can pick up the "negative vibes" of truly evil people.   But herein lies the danger.   If countertransference is occurring, the shrink may be unconsciously projecting an idenity onto the patient from his unhappy past and this projection may be the true source of his revulsion.  In such cases, the patients may not be evil at all and the negative perceptions of them may merely reflect the shrink's hang-ups.  

Countertransference can also distort astral encounters.   For example, a being of light may remind me of my Jesus stereotype.  In the more mental astral realm, my distorted projection may prevent me from discerning the light's true identity and message.   So sensitivity to transference and countertransference can be essential to a well honed spiritual discernment.

Mattb,

Let me know what you think of Behe's book.   I agree with you that the attitude of many skeptical modern Bible scholars is elitistic, patronizing, and unethical.  But there is also such a thing as tough love and confrontational approaches to spiritual quests can be loving if motivated by a desire to wake someone up, expand his horizons, and energize his spiritual quest.  

Lewelln,

Now that you have shared more about your hypnagogic experienences, they strike me as potentially on the brink of genuine OBEs.  Your "choir" experiences are very typical of NDEs, which provide the best paranormal evidence for an afterlife.  

Don