Sort of related to what Don wrote, some people might be interested in the below book.  

http://www.amazon.com/Siren-Call-Hungry-Ghosts-Investigation/dp/1931044023


http://www.paraview.com/fisher/


Here's a link with reader reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1931044023/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?%5Fenco...



Berserk2 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2007 at 7:03pm:

I have to say that I am for the most part in agreement with what Don and others are saying here, though I admit that I am knee deep in reading ES Heaven and Hell so this I’m sure influences my thoughts.  If we do create our own heaven or our own hell how careful do we really need to be about the things we believe and/or don’t believe?  Right off hand I’d say we probably do need to be more careful, more discerning.  Yet on the other hand, by doing so, do we invite this type of influence?  And can we really take someone else’s word over what we feel in our own heart?  It truly is confusing and perhaps that is why/how evil/fear gains a foothold within us.  We all no longer remember much about who we really are and yet we all yearn for the truth of this knowledge.

It is not that the intentions of various authors are not necessarily above board.  I think it’s possible that they truly believe what they write/teach to be the truth, as they understand it.  I believe Dave pointed this out in one of his posts on another thread.  I read a book recently where I felt the author (a very credible researcher) had bought into a few popular ideas mentioned in the book, thereby repeating the beliefs of others because it made sense in the context of the book.  I recall Boris at one time mentioning something about the numbers of people believing in a particular belief has the effect of escalating the result of that particular belief.  That’s interesting when you consider the power in smaller groups within larger groups, and the impact this has dynamically.

At any rate, if we do choose to speak out in regards to something that doesn’t agree with us perhaps it would benefit us all to do so with words that speak with love and compassion.  In HH, ES talks about the interior of man and man’s love and affection that leads either to heaven or hell.  It’s interesting stuff that makes you wonder what is truly within your own heart or if you can even really know for sure.  For me, it’s food for thought. 

Love, Kathy 

Hi Kathy-

Great post.  You raise an excellent point, or as an old TV show was titled "Who Do You Trust?".  Remember Johnny Carson?

Anyway, yes discernment is the key.  But then, what exactly does that mean?  What if I were a Muslim extremist in the Sudan right now, calling for the execution of that UK teacher because a child in her class named a teddy bear Mohammad?   

I suppose in my heart I would think that would be the right and proper course of action.  And further, that Allah would approve!

And to me anyhow, that's pretty scary.  The killers would go thru life convinced that they did the right thing in their hearts, while most non-Muslims would think they are cold blooded fanatics.

So I dunno about trusting in what my heart tells me.   

But I don't think our intellect is any better.  Many intellectually astute folks do some pretty awful stuff.

So what do we do?  What's the answer?  In fact, IS there an answer, a one size fits all answer?

Like I said in another post, why not just put all of these things aside (for one thing we will never in this lifetime really know the answers anyway) and just follow the golden rule?   

Maybe the answer is just in treating others with compassion and understanding and the rest will be sorted out in God's own way.

R

ps- Alysia, most of us have not attained your level of enlightenment, so pls forgive us for "hashing around" on this subject. Peace of mind is not necessarily a great thing if it's obtained via false teachings.  I'm sure you would agree.

vajra-

Yeah, whether it's a fundamentalist or an Islamic terrorist, they both probably have peace of mind thinking their way is God's way.  And that they will be rewarded in the afterlife with 72 virgins or whatever floats their boat.

Peace of mind, therefore, does not seem to me to be an objective worth pursuing.  I'm sure you know, as do I, people who are totally smug and self-righteous, thinking they have the keys to the kingdom.  Their peace of mind comes at a pretty high price. 

Comforting someone who is upset or lonely, or helping a neighbor do his grocery shopping....far more real than being an expert on the teachings of some guru or some channeled entity.

Hi Alysia,

On the surface this thread may appear to be about ACIM, Gurus, false teachings, etc., but if we were to take what appears on the surface to a deeper level of our being we might view this thread in a different way.  You know me well enough to know that my view of things usually has to do with healing.  That’s been my lifelong path that has taken me into my greatest fears and back out of them through pain and suffering.  And hopefully I’m gaining more and more understanding because I think that is key to remembering who we really are in more meaningful ways than what we previously knew.  (I’d also like to see us get back to Don’s heaven thread with all of us participating in it.  Sure we might argue a bit, but the truth is chaos can be a good thing.  Chaos destroys the old order so that a new order can emerge.  And from my perspective, that’s what ascension into the fifth dimension is all about.  That’s what we see happening in our world right now.)

I’ve never read ACIM so I can not speak of it’s teachings specifically, but it seems to me that within every truth that mankind can conceive of, that truth also contains within it falsities.  And as Roger asks: Is there a one size fits all answer?  On the surface most of us would probably say no, but if we dig deeper we might be able to say yes. 

I think it’s great that ACIM helped you heal.  Albert may or may not realize it, but ACIM helped him heal also.  See that’s the thing about each of us.  We are all unique individuals.  We all view things from our own unique perspective depending of what we need at any given moment in time.  Even our discernment, which I have always considered to be a gift of the spirit, is unique and this unique gift guides us to as Ian mentions, exactly where we need to be for our own personal transformation.

Our life is the way it is because of all the choices we make throughout every moment of our life.  We might judge those choices to be either positive or negative based on whether or not they give us pain or pleasure.  We avoid pain if at all possible in search of pleasure.  But if we are human, there is no real avoidance of pain.  It is through suffering, patience, and endurance that we make conscious the knowledge of who really are.  But even that knowledge I suspect will be individualized as well.  The beauty in that is each of us is a portion of the whole and all of us together produce a greater, clearer, fuller whole. 

Love, Kathy

PS to Ultra:  I’ve been meaning to thank you for adding your voice here and the links you’ve provided.  I have only had time to briefly glance at a couple of them and I’m sure there is information that is of value to me personally.  So thanks!  And thank you to everyone else who participates here with his or her voice.  I’m always learning a lot from each of you.  I love and appreciate all of you!

Kathy-

You go girl!!

All too often we get bogged down by either advocating a particular book or guru or by criticizing the book or guru.

But even as we go back and forth on these things we are learning, either directly or indirectly.

I have learned more from Don than from most anyone else, and yet there are folks who compare him to the anti-christ!  Goes to show how diametrically different some of us are.

As you say, from chaos we can learn (altho what may be disguised as chaos may not be). 

I'll go back and re-read Don's heaven thread as you suggest.  I highly value his input to things.

R