To pitch it another way Terethian: it's easier to wear sandals than it is to cover the whole world in shoe leather. (old saying)

Applied to the topic of death and what we're trying in our various ways to say here: what needs to change is not the nature of life, or of the external world/existence - the way to transcending the these fears is to change our view.

'View' in this case being the way we perceive the nature of existence, and life - and this is a matter of going inward and working with our mind. Our untrained perceptions generally don't stand up very well when we examine them.

Vee's point about life for example - just to get to the point of knowing that this is likely the case in a very 'felt' sense from experience backed up by teaching can only be a hugely liberating shift.

Likewise Rondele's point about self absorbtion. That's not a criticism, rather the suggestion that while we're like almost everybody else stuck with the feeling that 'I' can only survive if I live physically death can only be a horrendous prospect.

Yet the experience of being an individual physical me is only the result of a particular way of looking at things. The development of an alternative view can again only be very liberating - for example that the real me behind this is a non physical entity that cannot die - even if it can't ultimately deliver total certainty in the terms of what the scared physical me right now would claim to want. (but bear in mind that no matter what you give it it will find ways to second guess the evidence)

The problem in the end is that it's the previous catch 22 problem. While we're in 'me' mode we can perceive only a certain threatening sort of reality. Yet as if by magic if we work our way past these beliefs through the calming effects of meditation, teaching and higher knowing then 'hey presto' - new and more benign takes on reality slowly open up before us.

But as above - the fear based 'me' reality or set of beliefs excludes us from perceiving them before start. Basically because mind is wired so that we perceive what we believe. 'Opening' means shedding layers of belief, passing through successive 'veils' that prevent our seeing.  We literally move into new worlds and new realities with new knowings...

I am starting to feel afraid and obsessed with my fear of death and ceasing to exist....again...

I am not feeling good at all.

Don,

That sounds like a fascinating book, however you should also look at both sides of the brain issue.  Either the brain itself causes thought or it is like a receiver of thought (like a radio).

Karl Lashley did certain gruesome yet pioneering experiments with mice to localize certain memories in them.  He would teach them how to run a maze to get food.  Then, he would take a heat probe and burn away certain parts of their brain, and let them rerun the maze.  He expected to find the location of the maze memory and be able to expunge it by frying the brain.  He tried many conventional areas associated with memory, but to his amazement, found that the mice could still run the maze, even when he had burned away first specific and then large amounts of the total brain.  (He knew this because he carefully compared the mice before running the maze, clocked their time and then had clocked them after learning the route of the maze).

Lashley's conclusion, which stand in physiology to this very day,  was the idea that memory of the maze was distributed across the entire cortex of the mouse brain rather than localized to one pinpoint area. 
He came up with two priniciples by 1950:  The principle of "mass action" stated that the cerebral cortex acts as one—as a whole—in many types of learning. The principle of "equipotentiality" stated that if certain parts of the brain are damaged, other parts of the brain may take on the role of the damaged portion.

I have seen stroke patients with either right or left cerebral dysfunction, and while there are some general findings depending on the location of the brain infarct, there is a wide range of variability here.  Some people show little or no dysfunction with the same injury, and others are devastated and unable to move or function at all. 

The idea that a blissful oneness is therefore a protective mechanism of an injured brain is one woman's conjecture about her experience but by no means a universal reproducible state.  The more one sees patients with brain injuries, the more one realizes that the brain does not create thought in discreet areas.  To use the analogy of a radio receiver, (which I prefer but can not prove) if I damage certain parts of the radio, I may get different results - I may lose the treble or bass contribution, or create static, or other audio effects.  However it would be wrong of me to conclude that the radio itself was the originator of the radio signal. 

Matthew

<<Terethian,

I suspect you feel that way because so many New Agers here just cite chapter and verse and refuse to examine the devastating contradictions among various astral adepts.>>

Don- Actually he probably is having a bit of fun at our expense.  He's been whining about this for a long time, we have given him specific recommendations on how to deal with his "fear", but he never responds to those recommendations.

Instead, he waits a while and then merely re-posts the same thing.  It's getting a bit tedious and way too predictable.

So, Terethian, you told us a month ago that you were going to produce a movie.  Here's what you said:

Ok so I am gonna die.

Yep.

I am going to film a short film in which I die from a car accident and then I somehow help my wife by connecting with her somehow. (maybe with a medium.)

I need some serious brainstorming! This is going to be really fun for me... - I can do green screen so I really WILL be in the afterlife... anything can happen.....

Let's hear your ideas! Everybody! What is the best way to go about this to make it "potentially" accurate

And, once again, people gave you feedback on this project.  So, it's been a month.....why don't you tell us how far you've come with this project?

You really need to do something useful with your time.  It might take your mind off of yourself.

R

That's friendly of you, Rondele.

Terethian, I enjoy your posts. I find them refreshing.

Gosh, this language makes blissful oneness, or nirvana, or whatever you want to call it, sound just terrifying. It makes me feel like: don't go play in the street (nirvana) because you might get hurt...or stupid...or something.

Berserk2 wrote on Oct 28^th, 2009 at 1:35am:

Matthew,

Thanks for your post.  My point is this: deep down inside, we unconsciously recognize when we are striving for rationalization and comfort rather than breakthrough insights which can at times be painful.  The discoveries, insights, and contrary perspectives of those who know the most about the brain can infuse our quest with more integrity which, in turn, will increase the comfort we derive from the truly positive evidence for an afterlife. 

Don

Either way Like I keep saying as far as I can tell I DID get amazing results from my phone reading for a spiritual medium, but I am uncertain if I can say the results are enough evidence.

But as far as I can tell.... I have at the least received evidence that facts about a dead person were related to me from someone I do not know and did not leak any information to.

I am not certain where to take this in my mind as it is only one test, and any good scientist knows that one test is just not enough.