For those who have read ACIM, you know how our own egos keep getting in the way of spiritual advancement.  Egos love to "attack" whenever they perceive that their primary role in our lives to be in danger.  We always have to be on guard to make sure that the source of our anger is really not our ego acting or reacting.

Consider, however, another role our egos play.  What is the thing that our egos fear the most?  We know the answer- our ego fears its own death, its own eventual extinction.  It is this threat that our ego will do most anything to avoid and/or to refute.

So.......when our ego finds something it can glom onto that offers it eternal life, what does it do?  Right!!  It jumps on it like white on rice.  Similarly, what does it do when someone comes along and tries to show our ego that such evidence of eternal life perhaps may be bogus, or at best such evidence may be weak and needs solid verification before we should accept it?  It gets pretty darn defensive and instead of examining the evidence, it resorts to belittling the person who presents it.

This is why I, for one, continually urge that we measure twice and cut once before we jump to conclusions that things we read or hear are true.  Fact is, they may be true or they may just be our own ego seizing a golden opportunity to believe that it is going to survive forever.

I would just encourage folks to stop for a few minutes and ask themselves why they get so upset when someone like Don comes along and warns us that many OBEs may just be lucid dreams instead.  Is it because they have carefully studied the possibility that things perhaps are not as they or others tell them, or is it because their ego has been threatened by probably one of the most potent things it can be threatened by- the possibility that it might someday die.

Remember, ACIM warns us that the ego is extremely clever and will resort to all sorts of tricks when threatened.  I see evidence of egos at work throughout this conversation board, all feverishly trying to persuade themselves that things they read about eternal life must be true.  And, conversely, that any evidence that might question eternal life must be untrue.

I'm grateful for Don, because if he should post a retrieval account, or have an experience that he considers to be a genuine case of an OBE, I can be assured that he has thoroughly considered all other alternative explanations before reaching his conclusion.  If it gets past Don's own internal criteria, it must be pretty darn good!

Just as a reminder, I'm not saying retrievals and not real or that the afterlife does not exist.  All I'm urging is that we don't attack the messenger if we are told something we don't like.  Let's look beyond the "way" something is said and consider the "what" of it instead.  Some of us get too sidetracked in engaging in personality clashes instead of focusing on the substance of the issue.

HOWEVER, I do agree with you about the role that ego plays in protecting our ingrained and also our unsteady belief systems.

The fear of death is instinctive.  It is part of our animal nature....which we should not be ashamed of.  There are many things in life worth protecting....but with care.

Recently I was thinking about Jesus.....I thought, Jesus does not need us to defend him.  This was just something that popped into my mind.  I thought, of course, how could such a man need defending?

What has been perfected, what is immortal cannot be destroyed.  Material objects can be destroyed. Thoughts can drift away and be forgotten.

But what is true and immortal cannnot be destroyed. Therefore, the need for defensiveness is completely illogical. It comes down to what we believe is important.

Is this moment important? Do we wish to experience joy, hope, love?

How MUCH do we wish to experience these things?

love, blink

This is too bizarre!     Rondelle defending Don with ACIM.  I would've like to have seen his face when he read this.