This repost is part of my answer to question (1).  In my view, this post establishes 3 points: (a) One is not necessarily contacting the dead even if impressively verified evidence about the personality and life of the deceased is channeled by the medium.  (b) Even if the medium channels information about a spirit's future, this does not necessarily mean that the medium is in contact with the spirit in question.  (c)  So if channeled material conflicts with a coherent pattern of insights from OBEs, astral travel, NDEs, and ADCs, I'd be inclined to discount the channeled material.  That is not to say that all channeled material is either bogus or the product of deceptive spirits.

Mediums routinely put their eager sitters in touch with deceased loved ones, who seem alarmingly available.   If these contacts were geniune, one would expect these loved ones to be unavailable because of present commitments and activities much of the time.  True, some mediums will protest that they sometimes fail to contact the spirit desired by the sitter.   But generally these spirits seem far too available to be credible.  The spirits seem incapable of answering a simple question like, “So what have you been doing since I last talked to you through this medium?”  To explain away this problem some resort to the desperate expedient of claiming that our deceased loved ones now live in a timeless realm.  This solution is refuted by the astral explorations of Emanuel Swedenborg and Robert Bruce who discover that most heavenly planes are stll subject to a sense of time, though time may seem more compressed in certain realms.  Consider my answers to these 4 questions:   

(1) What if sitters request contact with fake deceased relatives and the mediums still oblige with a very impressive channeling?               

(2) What if the spirit control of mediums with impressive verifications can be proven to be a fraud?   What conclusion would that warrant about other spirit controls whose self-professed identity cannot be verified?                                                 

(3) What if a drop-in communicator could provide amazing verifications even involving precognition of the future, and yet, be later proven a fraud?            

(4) What if it can be shown that the attribution of channeled materials to discarnate friends and relatives reflects a culturally conditioned bias?   

(1) As already mentioned, Leonore Piper is one of the most impressive mediums ever.   She had the uncanny ability to channel two entities at the same time, one through automatic writing and the other through entranced speech.   Psychologist G. Stanley Hall had a trick up his sleeve when he went for a sitting with her. She was currently using the spirit of Richard Hodgson as her control.   Hodgson had formerly investigated her, but had recently died of a massive heart attack.  Hall asked Hodgson's spirit to contact Hall’s niece, “Bessie Beals,” so that he might speak with her.  Miss Beals was duly introduced and proceeded to communicate with Hall through Mrs. Piper.  Actually Bessie Beals did not exist.  She was a figment of Hall’s mind.  "Hodgson" in embarrassment tried to wriggle out of the situation, saying that he had been mistaken about the name.  He said that the person brought was a Jessie Beals, related to another sitter.  Dr. Samuel Soal...visualized incidents with an imaginary friend, John Ferguson.  He then went for a sitting with the medium, Blanche Cooper.  The incidents he visualized came forth as though communicated from beyond death!  These cases demonstrate that mediums can unwittingy gain information about the ceased by reading the sitter's mind.  They then routinely dramatize this ESP by inventing a phony personal contact.  One might expect the telephatic abilities of their spirit controls to detect this sort of ruse.   Clearly, the spirit controls were also a fake.

(2) Some spirit controls seem clearly fraudulent.  While Richard Hodgson was still alive, he thoroughly investigated one of Leonore Piper's spirit controls named Phinuit in 1892.  The Phinuit persona claimed to be the spirit of a French doctor whose full name was Jean Phinuit Scliville and who had lived in the early 1800s and had practiced medicine in London, France, and Belgium.  But he was unable to speak more than a few French phrases, displayed no more knowledge of medicine than the average layman, and had never (according to medical records) attended the medical schools at which he claimed to have studied and practiced.  Hodgson initially concluded that Phinuit was just a secondary personality of Mrs. Piper which either erroneously believed itself to be or falsely pretended to be the spirit of a deceased French doctor.   But Hodgson later changed his mind and now concluded that some of the material produced in a trance by Mrs. Piper seemed to go beyond what might be obtained by thought transference from the sitters and thus seemed to suggest real contact with the dead. In his words, “Among these (comunicators) are more than half-a-dozen intimate friends of my own, who have produced upon me the impression...that they are the personalities I knew, with characteristic intelligence and emotion, questioning me and conversing with me under difficulties.”  It seems doubtful that Hodgson would have changed his mind if he had lived to discover the Gordon Davis case, which I shall now describe.

(3) At a sitting with medium Blanche Cooper on Jan. 4 ,1922 , Dr. Samuel Soal’s deceased brother unexpectedly said, “Sam, I’ve brought someone who knows you.”  Then in a very clear, strong, and familiar voice, Gordon Davis began to speak through Cooper.  Davis was an old school acquaintance whom Soal believed to have been killed during World War I.  Davis seemed to verify this when he said, “My poor wife is my only concern now--and my kiddie.”  Soal thought he recognized Davis' tone of voice with its fastidious accent.  The communicator used forms of expression that typified the real Gordon Davis' speech  (e.g. “old chap”; “confab” instead of “meeting”).  Davis spoke of the school they had attended, Rochford, and provided details of their last conversation.  He proceeded to refer correctly to persons, places, and events from their school days.  At two ensuing sittings on Jan. 9 and 30, 1922, Davis gave a detailed description of his house, its contents, and the arrangement of its contents.   

To his great surprise, Soal learned in 1925 that Davis was still alive after all and went to visit him.  A great deal of the channeled material about the house proved to be correct.  But Davis and his "wife and kiddie” had not moved into the house until over a year after the relevant sitting!  Davis' diary showed that during Soal’s sittings he had been seeing real estate clients.  Only around the time of the sittings did Davis even inspect this house for the first time.   But Davis did not move into the house until a year later.  More importantly, the furnishings of the house had not been planned in advance!  Yet the details channeled earlier turned out to be correct: a large mirror, lots of paintings, glorious mountain and sea scenes, very big vases with funny saucers, two brass candlesticks, and a black dickie bird.  Two of the paintings were only done after the sittings!  So much of the material channeled in the later sittings about the house must be ascribed to precognitive telepathy (John Heaney, 176-177).  And this precognition surely casts doubt on the authenticity Gladys Leonard's repeated channeling of many details posted in specific columns of
tomorrow's newspaper.

Why is channeling not discredited in this way more often?  Well, ask yourself how often you are mistakenly informed that your friend has died.   Was the medium able to exploit Soal’s mistaken faith in Davis’ death as an aid in the process of reconstructing Davis’ personality and future by precognitive telepathy?  Or were the medium (Blanche Cooper) and sitter (Sam Soal) duped by an impersonating spirit?

(4) Shamans understand their mediumship to put them in contact with spirits and demons as well as with deceased people.  In earlier centuries Neoplatonists also practiced trance mediumship, but attributed it to the agency of gods or demons rather than to discarnate humans.   Likewise, witches from the 17th and 18th centuries ascribed their channeled material to demons.  Perhaps
the modern attempt to identify spirit controls with deceased personalities reflects the wishful thinking of modern cultural prejudice.  Why is Leonora Piper’s spirit control (Phinuit) lying about his true identity?  Why did Sam Soal’s alleged brother lie about bringing Gordon Davis’ spirit through?   Or were these people simply deceived?

Don

Monroe defines Focus 23 this way: "A level inhabited by those who have recently left physical existence but who have either not been able to recognize and accept this or are unable to free themselves from the ties of the Earth Life System.  It includes those from all periods of time (UJ 249)."

Paranormal research would endorse much of this characterization.   But there are two problems: (1) Many seem to enter the lower levels in a holding or welcoming area (Sheol) before their transition to other realms, whether heavenly or below heaven.  They are neither confused about their death nor earthbound.  I will post examples of this in future posts.  (2) When one researches the insights of OBE adepts who are not locked in a Monroesque Focus straightjacket, one encounters intriguing astral claims that the lower astral realm must be subdivided into other distinct realms.  For example, consider the interesting alternative astral "geography" alleged by Claire, an OBE adept:

"Sheol is in lower planes, not the physical realm.  "Earthbound" implies those "negative energy spirits who are trapped on Earth, not below it.  I have been to Sheol/ Hells.  Those humans cannot visit Earth, but can lift their vibration to get to Heaven and then come here. ...Most spirits cannot move the physical (= psychokinesis).  Just as most humans could, but do not develop clarient esnse, so most spirits could, but do not develop abilities to `appear' (on Earth)...Materializing so that an unaware (person) can see them or hear them takes a higher vibration and more energy output.  It drains spirit."

For now, forget her distinction between planes "below Earth" and another dimension of the "physical realm."  She just may have idenitified one reason why our loved ones cannot communicate with us from their brief or longterm sojourn in the lower planes.

Compare Claire's claims with George Meek's mind-blowing research on an ADC machine that recorded the voice of George Mueller, a deceased engineer who apparently lingered in the lower planes.   Meek theorized that the right medium might be able to receive instructions on how to build an ideal machine for recording the voices of the dead.  William O'Neil served as a effective channel for Mueller.  Here is a brief list of just some of the incredible details about Mueller channeled by O'Neil: Mueller's social security number/ his degrees and the colleges where he earned them/ his daughter's address/ a club membership/ various honors/ his employment history/ his publications
and inventions/ and much more.  

All of this information was later verified.  Some of it was channeled by O'Neil and some of it was communicated via "voice' on Spiricom, the name of Meek's ADC machine.  Mueller issued instructions on how to build the machine, and then his voice on Spiricom suggested ways of upgrading this machine.  Fontana's investigation is able to rule out fraud or ESP as an alternate
interpretation.
 
In 1981 Mueller made it clear that "he was beginning to shed his dense earthly vibrations and starting his progression upwards" through his world's various levels of consciousness.   It became harder for him to communicate through Spiricom, and so,  he began to issue instructions on the machine on how to build a more advanced model that would enable him to remain in contact.  But
Spiricom fell silent before Mueller completed these instructions.   Apparently he had a limited grasp of his "ascension" process and could not control it.

It strikes me as very significant that the ascended Mueller could no longer communicate with Earth, apparently even through a medium.   This finding seems to contradict Claire's claims and demands an explanation.   Was Mueller suddenly shifted to a realm in which he lost access to hes earth memories?   I will address this subject in a future post.

But in my next few posts, I will offer further illustrations of the promise and limitations of the lower planes with respect to ADC contact.  We need greater insight into the scope of the problem and possible solutions. 

Don

Don

I want to retell another story that is very relevant to my topic.  Leonard was a wealthy retired construction baron.  He was a good friend, a fellow who wore his feelings on his sleeve.  As his pastor, I had often visited him and stayed for dinner.  He had shared his sorrow over the illness of his wife, brother, and cousin.  But I was curious about a perceived psychological inconsistency.  Leanard's son Jeff had been killed in a small plane crash which also killed his wife Karen and his two children.  Yet he seemed oddly undisturbed by this tragedy in contrast to his reaction to family illness.  I decided I would look for a tasteful opportunity to ask him about it.  

I went to see him, but he was out on an errand; so I mentioned in passing to his wife Helen how serene he seemed about the plane crash.  She beamed, "Oh, that's because he received a reassuring contact from Jeff soon after the tragedy."  So I thought to myself, "I guess Leonard had a typical ADC."  I thought wrong!   A couple of days later, I asked Leonard about his confirmation.  What her shared with me is the most astounding ADC I have ever heard.  An author PMed me on this site to publish my account which is now one of the stories in a book on ADCs.  

Leonard lived in the country.  After the funerals, he needed to do some errands in town.  So he hopped into Jeff's pick-up and drove down his driveway to the highway.  Then he glimpsed someone rising from the dtich by thr road.  What Leonard saw put him in a state of shock.  It was his dead son, Jeff, approaching the truck!  Jeff asked, "Dad, can I drive my old truck for old time's sake?"  Len moved over and Jeff took the wheel!  They drove north down County Road 40 towards Rochester, NY.   Jeff offered assurances that he and his family were  alive again and OK.  He shared details about his investment situation to help his Dad tie up loose financial ends.  It was a joyous reunion.   Then Jeff turned right on a side road and drove another 2 miles to a forested area.  Suddenly he stopped and said, "I'm sorry, Dad, I'm not PERMITTED to drive any further."   Father and son bid a tearful good-bye and Jeff exited the truck and walked towards the trees.  He then dematerialized.  

Leonard was too much in shock to process this improbable ADC.   His sadness and sense of loss intensified so much the next day that he felt the need to take a long walk down the trail in the woods behind his house.  Finally, overcome with grief, he sat down on a log and wept profusely.   Suddenly he heard the cracking of branches.  A woman was approaching.  When she came closer, Len recogniZed her as Jeff's deceased wife Karen.   She sternly admonished him: "Didn't we tell you that our family was together again and doing just fine?  You  get back in the house with Mom and comfort her!"   This second encounter lifted Len's burden and freed him from the intensity of his grief.

Leonard gazed at my skeptical expressoin with pain on his face.  He had kept this ADC a secret out of fear of being scorned.  I couldn't help my reaction. I felt terrible because I had badgered him to share his miracle.  I just had trouble processing so great a miracle.  I now recognize it as the most amazing confirmation of survival I have ever personally encountered.

Leonard's experience proves how spectacular ADCs can be.   But once again, we must confront the question of why ADCs of this calibre are so rare.  One factor might be that this young family was unexpectedly killed in the prime of life.  In my research, impressive ADCs often occur after such a tragedy.  But there is a more important clue: Jeff had lamented that he was not PERMITTED to drive past the 2-mile point on the side road.  It seems that the most specactular ADCs are not merely a function of gifted souls who can adjust their vibrational frequency to the level needed for dematerialization.  Special permission is needed.  On what basis is such permission granted?  Who supervises such ADCs and gives the needed permission and limits for such family reunions?  I suspect that God or a saintly agent of God supervises such spectacular healing ADCs.

Don

Hi Don

It's very easy to get dead people to come and talk when doing past life work. I've had people happy to meet dead relatives etc, and dead relatives unhappy to meet their living counterparts because "It isn't your time yet - What're you doing here?" But geting verifiable data seems to be much more difficult. 

Perhaps one reason is that because we are using an essentially regenerative mechanism (imagery prompting awareness prompting imagery etc) to reach these places, there's at least 50% noise. (Regeration runs at a 3 db noise factor.) Noise is non-additive, so we never get overwhelmed, but neither are we ever going to get anything that is perfectly clear.

Perhaps if we were to set up an experiment designed for noisy environs we'd do better. I've been trying to peddle an experiment to an organization in which we obtain a form of imagery that is not possible in a 3-space, as one example. The idea would then be that there's something more. But the experiment is still hanging in a state of uncertainty, since I would like a lot of subjects so that statistics will be more sensitive.

In the same kind of way, violation of any of the "sacred laws" of materialism (such as not being able to know what is in a sealed box on your desk without looking) would be adequate. It would produce a paradox that woudl lead to further thinking. Duke experiments have followed this trend, but not with much value  For some, however, accuracy seems uncanny. John Donne (And Experiemnt With Time" did a related study on dreams, and although I mistrust his math he demonstrated that the ability to predict events seems to be available to us in dreams.

Trying to get a complicated life history and then check it is a lot more work. Further, if even one or two details (like how to spell the name of the town) are off, the entire episode is usually rejected as "pure chance".

A survey of opinions of people in this general area is a good start, but no proof.

I wonder whether it might be useful to do ESP and related tpes of experiments exclusivelty with disembodied souls through regression methods. That is, selecting subjects from dead souls who want to come and play, as opposed to working only with the living as subjects. I have done very little methodological thining in this regard, but it might stimulate others usefully.

dave

One ADCstudy found that 50% of Americans and 48% of the British reported an ADC from a deceased loved one within the first year since the passing.  After a year, these incidents drastically diminish.  So one might suspect that ADCs are easist in Focus 23 or the biblical Sheol/ Hades. If so, the reassurance of the loved one that she is OK may be premature and deceptive, meaning only that she has survived, fully conscious.  Just consider how George Ritchie is taught by Jesus that the principle of like attracts like even operates among earthbound souls:

""`Keep your eyes on me,'  Jesus had told me as we set out on an incredible journey....The Light drew me inside a dingy bar and grill near what looked like a large naval base.  A crowd of people, many of them sailors, lined the bar 3 deep, while others jammed wooden booths along the wall...A number of the men standing at the bar seemed unable to lift their drinks to their lips.  Over  and over, I watched them clutch at their shot glasses, hands passing through the solid tumblers,...through the very arms and bodies of the drinkers around them.  And these men, every one of them, lacked the aura of light that surrounded the others...As I stared,  stupefied, the identical scene was repeated.  A man passed out.  A crack swiftly opened in his arua, one of the non-solid people vanished as he hurled himself at the opening., almost as if he had scrambled inside the other man...They had developed a dependence on alcohol that went beyond the physical....Except when they could briefly take possession of another body, they would be cut off...from the thing they could never stop craving (quoted from Ritchie's "Return from Tomorrow")."

The ability of the deceased to temporarily possess these drunks may be a hint at how some ADCs occur.  Hauntings and poltergeist phenomena seem to be facilitated by analogous auric penetration. 

Ritchie's NDE journey coontinues:

"In one house a younger man followed an older one from room to room: `"i'm sorry, Pa!' he kept saying.  `I didn't know what it would do to Mama!  I ddin't understand.'  But though I could hear him clearly, it was obvious that the man he was speaking to could not.  The old man was carrying a tray into a room where an elderly woman sat up in bed...The young man said again, `I'm sorry, Mama.'  Endlessly, over and over to ears that could not hear....Several times we paused before similar scenes.  `What are they so sorry for, Jesus?' I pleaded. `Why do they keep talking to people who can't hear them?'...[Jesus:] `They are suicides, chained to every consequewnce of their act.'"

Don

Yes interesting life stories Don and comments by all.  AhSo its true what you say how an alcoholics personality changes while under the influence.  And nine times out of ten it is not a pleasant change to see or converse with.  Dave I am sure you come across this numerous times in your work.  Although a patient wouldn't be under the influence while in theraphy, although I might be generalising and they are, but if not then the influencing character change would be in a passive mode, under the surface.  

The Dweller on the Threshold also known as the Doppleganger (Double) or even altered Ego is interesting to research and I believe may be related to a sort of individual 'possession'.

It is said; our Astral body (our invisible body) is created by our actions, thoughts and feelings.  The Astral body is our spiritual body identity as our physical body is our physical identity.

In attainment of (spiritual) higher worlds, it is said, one meets ones Double and is viewed as a Being seperate from one but at the same time connected ie is one cannot merely walk away from it.  The myth stories relate it to the three-headed beast or dog guarding the door.  The account in Harry Potter when he approaches 'fluffy' the three-headed dog guarding the door to the philosophers stone is a very good modern account of this mythology.  The three heads : Thinking, Willing and Feeling.   

To tame the beast, that is to enlighten the Astral body to ensure it is not a beast but the opposite an angel (in it's highest form) is the tasks of dissolving negative karma and general good ethics and projecting love and help where one can each task suited to one's own path and ability to see through the darkness into the light.

So maybe the possession character in an alcoholic is oneself, ones altered ego?

My prior post highlights memory problems created by spirit descent from higher planes.  My current post takes this one step further and challenges the assumption that discarnate spirits have access to their full earth memory in higher planes. The  reader must ask hsmself how ADCs and channeling from these planes remains possible in light of this problem.  Certainly these troubling insights shed light on why our deceased loved ones so rarely contact us in an impressively paranormal and verifiable way.   I am not trying to discredit ADCs.  But integrity requires us to come to terms with evidence that contradicts our preferred astral explorers and their comforting insights.   We must come to terms with the incoherence of the overall evidence from astral exploration and seek a fresh synthesis.   Consider, then, how George Titchie's NDE and ES's astral insights challenge common New Age perspectives about the ease of contacting our deceased loved ones in higher planes and finding them with their earth memories intact.

Psychiatrist George Ritchie experienced the most influential and one of the most in depth NDEs ever recorded.   It is his NDE experienced as a young solider during World War II that inspired Raymond Moody to research NDEs for his influential book “Life After Life.”  Together with Howard Storm’s “My Descent into Death,”  Ritchie’s book “Return from Tomorrow” ranks as my favorite NDE book and certainly the best written.  This post picks up his story after Christ has appeared to him as a blazing Being of Light and taken him on a tour of the locales of various earthbound spirits. Christ then takes hiim to a hvgher, more peaceful educational plane.  Let me quote a few snippets from Ritchie’s enthralling description of that plane:

“We entered a studio where music of a complexity I couldn’t begin to follow was being composed and performed.  There were complicated rhythms, tones not on any scale I knew. . .Now we walked through a library the size of the whole University of Richmond.  I gazed into rooms lined floor to floor with documents on parchment, clay, leather, metal, paper.  `Here,’ the thought occurred to me, `are assembled all the important books of the universe.’...Then abruptly, at the door of one of the smaller rooms, almost an annex: `Here is the central  thought of this earth [70-71].’”

“I could not tell if they were men or women, old or young, for all were vovered from head to toe in loose-flowing hooded cloaks which made me think vaguely of monks.  But the atmosphere was not at all as I imagined a monastery.  It was more like some tremendous study center, humming with the excitement of great discovery.  Everyone we passed in the wide halls and on  the curving stair cases seemed caught up in some all-engrossing activity; not many words were exchanged among them.  And yet I sensed no unfriendliness between these beings, rather an aloofness of total concentration.”

“WHATEVER ELSE THESE PEOPLE MIGHT BE, THEY APPEARED UTTERLY AND
SUPREMELY SELF-FORGETFUL--ABSORBED IN SOME VAST PURPOSE BEYOND
THEMSELVES.  Through open doors I glimpsed enormous rooms filled with complex equipment.  In several of the rooms hooded figures bent over intricate charts and diagrams, or sat at the controls of elaborate consoles flickering with lights....I felt that some vast experiment was being pursued, perhaps dozens and dozens of such experiments [69-70] .”

Ritche's NDE description seems incompatible with the chatty ease with which mediums interrupt the lives of discarnates and seek confirmation from their memories of their earthly lives.  His description hints at the insight thst the inhabitants of this educational plane have an altered state of consciousness that cuts them off from their normal earthly memories.  His reports cohere nicely with Robert Bruce’s OBE insights into memory problems created by shifts in focus from one astral plane to another. 

The educational realm witnessed by Ritchie seems reminiscent of some descriptions of Focus 27 in the Monroe-Moen scheme of “astral geography.”  But Ritchie detects that its inhabitants are still incapable of perceiving Christ’s exalted presence and that even this peaceful realm does not yet qualify as Heaven.  Monroe implies that Focus 27 contains the Healing Center that helps new arrivals adjust to their new discarnate life.  But R. Bruce implies that the loved one’s of this Center’s patients must “descend” from higher planes with impaired memories to visit their hospitalized loved ones.   Thus, both Ritchie and R. Bruce imply that Focus 27 is not Heaven itself, but a training ground for the higher Heavens.  So the Monroe model should probably revised in term of, say, Focus 28, 29, etc. to account for such distinctions.    

The astral insights of Ritchie and R. Bruce might have profound implications for deceased souls from higher planes who might otherwise want to retrieve their loved ones who are "stuck" in lower or hellish planes. To what extent do they even remember these “trapped” loved ones, let alone their loved ones who are still alive on the earth?

Swedenborg would agree with Ritchie and Robert Bruce against the Monroe concept of Focus 27 that these educational planes and the Healing Center do not exist in the Heavens.  As in typical Swedenborgian fashion, ES explores astral memory problems in greater depth than either Ritchie or R. Bruce.   Here is a sampling os some ES quotes about the status of memory in “the World of Spirits,” a realm “below” the Heavens:

“We have two memories, an inner and an outer, or a natural one and a spiritual one. We are not aware that we have this inner memory.  How much better the inner memory is than the outer one! The contents of our outer memory are in the world’s light, while the contents of our inner memory are in heaven’s light.  It is because of our inner memory that we can think and talk intelligently and rationally.  Absolutely everything we have thought, said, done, seen, and heard is inscribed on our inner memory....Things that have become second nature to us and part of our life and therefore have been erased from our outer memory are in our inner memory (463, note b)."

After death, adult memory “stays fixed and then goes dormant; but it still serves their thinking after death as an outmost plane because their thought flows into it.  This is why the nature of this plane and the way their rational activity answers to its contents determines the nature of the individual after death (#345)."

".All that remain are the rational abilities that now serve as a basis for thinking and talking.   We actually take with us our entire natural memory, but its contents are not open to our inspection and do not enter into our thought as when we were living in this world...To the extent that our spirit has become rational by means of our insights and learning in this world, we are rational after
our departure from the body (#355).”
   
“The reason our outer memory goes dormant as far as material things are concerned is that they cannot be recreated.  Spirits and angels [= discarnate people] actually talk from the affections and consequent thoughts of their minds, so they cannot utter anything that does not square with these...I have talked with any number of people who were regarded as learned in the world because of their knowledge of such ancient languages as Hebrew and Greek and Latin, but had not developed their rational functioning by means of the things that were written in thos  languages. Some of them seemed as simple as people who did not know anything about those languages; some of them seemed dense, though there still remained a pride as though they were wiser than other people (#464).”

“I have also talked with some people who had believed in the world that wisdom depends on how much we have in our memory and who have therefore filled their memories to bursting.  They talked almost exclusively from those items, which meant that they were not talking for themselves, but for others; and they had not developed any rational functioning by means of these matters of memory.   Some of them were dense, some silly, with no grasp of truth whatever (#464).”

“Our rational faculty is like a garden or flower bed, like newly tilled land.  Our memory is the soil, information and experiential learning are the seeds, while heaven’s light and warmth make them productive...There is no germination unless heaven’s light, which is divine truth, and heaven’s warmth, which is divine love, are let in.  They are the only source of rationality (#464).”   

“One particular spirit lamented the fact that he could not remember much of what he had known during his physical life.  He was grieving over the pleasure he had lost because it had been his chief delight.  He was told, though, that he had not lost anything at all and that he knew absolutely everything.  In the world where he was now living, he was not allowed to retrieve things like that.  It should satisfy him that he could now think and talk much better and more perfectly without immersing his rational functioning in dense clouds, in material and physical concerns, the way he had before, in concerns that were useless in the kingdom he had now reached (#465).”

“Since the natural objects that reside in our memory cannot be reproduced in a spiritual world, they become dormant the way they do when we are not thinking about them.  Even so, they can be reproduced when it so pleases the Lord (#461).” 

Don