I know many of you have heard this from me before but here is what I think in as concise a manner as I get it down.

There are many theories about where we come from, what we’re doing here, and where we are ultimately going (if anywhere). Are we going to Hell? Are we in a Virtual Reality simulation? Are we real? Will we become real? What is real? How do we grow in this world? Is morality to be our guide? Churches? Yogis? Who knows best how to advance spiritually? And is that advancement really why we are here? If this experience is to benefit our higher selves, then why should what we do be curtailed to someone else’s idea of what we should be?  This is where I have to draw the line and say that open minded skepticism is the best way to obtain the knowledge we seek. One must look for their own answers for what we are is a very subjective experience. We can see this from all the varying accounts people have from Near Death Experiences to Drug induced observations and out of body experiences and so much more. Since science is based on a belief system just as religion is created from the same, these ideas will not provide the answers, but I say the consciousness of the arts as opposed to the sciences can offer a glimpse at the truth.

I consider the theatre to be the culmination of all the different arts in one manner or another. Theatre did not grow out of religious practice as many would have you believe. It grew out of a need to communicate everyday happenings to a large group of people whether they be cave men or a more modern audience. Theatre predates Religious practice by thousands of years and there is even science to back that up. It was at first purely for communication by acting out how the hunt went, how to hunt, how to plant food. Theatre was a method of informing the prehistoric masses and grew into what is now considered entertainment for its own sake or performance that is geared to speeches and the like, still informing.

Within the theatre you will find every other art form represented in one manner or another. Understanding of the plight of the actor is key to understanding our existence beyond our physical world. I liken each of us to the actor who has forgotten he is playing a role and believes what is happening on the stage is absolutely real and that there is nothing beyond the stage. Imagine his folly when he dies upon the stage or simply exits stage left to find a whole other world beyond what he perceived to be all there is. In addition to the expansion of place and even time to the point where it seems infinite compared to what he had thought all of the characters “life” he finds that within himself he is remembering how he is not really the character he portrayed but so much more. He is, relative to that character, immortal.

I say this is what happens at “death” pure and simple. If we can steer clear of all the preconceptions we have about what the experience will bring then we discover a much larger imagination than we had ever conceived of dwelling within our consciousness.

I liken it to Bruce Willis believing he is John McClain in Die Hard to the point that he becomes so immersed in his scene that everyone outside of it, ie the director and technicians and even his fellow actors are concerned. Then perhaps through de-hypnotherapy he is brought out of his trance to realize he is actually an actor with a much larger decision space than the character he was portraying.

I do believe we are mostly improvising here, but occasionally we are given hints and even pieces of scripted thought forms to utilize.

The belief system will affect us the same way as we leave the stage as it will when we leave the body perhaps. As an actor or simply a human being if I have expectations in the here and now can I not perceive them to be true even if to others they are not? Certainly I cannot conjure monsters or Jesus in my current waking life, but when my experience becomes much more subjective in the realm beyond this dimension suddenly thoughts are things and if hallucination is possible here would like not be even more powerful there? I liken this to how the character may feel as he comes out of his “trance” and realizes there is more to be experienced than the mere stage he existed on for a time and now believes his immediate impressions of this new life or after life (which is actually where his actor self came from in the first place) are real when they are just his mind trying to make sense of the new situation.

Once off the stage the actor remembers all the characters he has been over the ions, just as the stage actor in the physical can remember and even recite some of those past character’s lines. So the person, after death remembers his other ventures. Unless of course he has never been onstage before and that might explain why in life he went with the pack rather than explore new facets of existence. The new actor can be either careful or rambunctious when on stage for the first time. Perhaps within the non careful actor is where the murderers and thieves that come into play (no pun intended), as they are more anxious to perform and be seen than those who have crafted their experience to learning about this stage and pursuing a higher calling or we are all characters wired a certain way and that’s that. Or we are here to overcome the character and experience the stage as the actor now in control of his environment.

I’ve written about this theory before but there were some things I wanted to clarify for myself. There are many theories out there and I find them to be very complex or very limiting or both. This is what I have been working with for many years and I find hints of it in most every open minded assertion of the afterlife I’ve come across so far.

I try to avoid religion in what write, but I sometimes use constructs like Lucifer and God and Angels in what I write but they are just metaphors to me and things that are seen upon expectation, I guess.  I have never had these experiences, but sometimes someone else writing about them can get my attention because in my earliest years my parents attended a very fundamentalist church and it was pretty scary to a little kid …mercifully that didn’t last very long and my parents began to open their minds more to what could actually make sense to me.


Yours,
Beau

Beau,

Ah, I enjoyed reading this. Excellent!

Dave,

When I say that science is following a belief system I have borrowed this from Tom Campbell. In so saying it I mean that, for example, the seat of consciousness-which mainstream science is certain must exist in the brain are missing every other option because of such a belief system. It's not the same as a religious belief system certainly, but isn't it a system of beliefs to limit research to one possibility even though you can't prove it? That's all I meant. I don't consider gravity a belief system.

Check this out when you have time. It's not about consciousness so much but it opens the door to some open minded skepticism:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rNbMRNye8&feature=related

My big fear is that when it's all said and done I will be the only consciousness out there and all this has been an illusion. I guess that's better than no consciousness at all however. I was both audience and actor ...ugh. But hey, I only know beyond a doubt that my consciousness is real. I guess I have to ride the storm to see what's next.

Yeah I'm reading Seth right now, but I think I'm trying to use the metaphor of acting to explain the feeling of discovery one must have upon realignment with the higher self which is not really separate but suppressed I guess. Maybe. Something like that. And it certainly works as way of explaining the early situation too.

There once was a theatrical troupe made up of Actors who were merely called by their letter. A was the one with the idea to form the troupe and he had been there the longest. B was the son of A and had close contact with him. C saw things way off in the distance and could predict which shows would be the best received. D was a very understanding soul and could intervene when arguments arose within the troupe. E was lightning fast at learning his lines almost as if he knew his part before he had even been given the script. And F was the “what if” guy. He always was throwing a kink in the works by saying “what if we do this” or “What if we do that”. Together they worked flawlessly at communicating their intricate stories.

One day a new Actor appeared on the scene. Her name was G. Everyone was kind of put off by G because she questioned whether A was really the original member of the troupe and questioned his authority. This put the whole troupe in a panic and they didn’t really want to let her partake, sensing that even D would not be able to bridge the gap between them all and G. A, however, felt that adding G might be a good addition because she would keep everybody thinking and add dimension to the shows. Finally F spoke up at their Actor meeting and said, “I see no reason to leave G out, but I wonder what would happen if we did keep her out.”

As a whole the troupe announced to G that she would not be joining them, but could of course continue to watch from the wings if she so chose.

Then during the next day’s performance while F was delivering one of his rousing soliloquies G walked out from the wings, looked F in the eye and said “How bout this!” At which point she pulled out a gun and shot F on the spot. As F lay there upon the stage taking in his last breath he looked into G’s eyes and whispered, “G, you in, I hope you know where this is going.”

And so the troupe continued without F, and never again did anyone ask “What if” anything. They just stuck to the script.

I once had the fear that I could be the only actually real consciousness. I mean all you really know is yourself and your life. Whose to say you aren't actually a god, creating this reality for yourself? I think they call this solipsism. There are people that truly believe this.

I came up with the idea of it on my own before I knew it was a real thing, and I had smoked some legal herbs and after that epiphany my head totally flipped. I felt like I had figured out the truth. It took a few hours to come down. No more of that stuff for me. But I won't believe I'm anything more than anyone else. We're the same. We're connected. We are part of a great plan to bring about the Eden to this planet. It all makes so much sense to me. We are the plan. We are the gods of this planet and only we can improve it by improving ourselves. Maybe this isn't our souls home, but I have a feeling that it's going to be one day.

"Whatever was the beginning of this world, the end will be glorious and paradisiacal, beyond what our imagination can conceive"
Joseph Priestley

Hi

What if ...

Since audiences come to a theater with expectations of a good time (and without fear), what if a script were about characters at a workshop such as Bruce's?
Could the audience be brought into the workshop frame of mind and perhaps have their own afterlife experiences, much as the regular workshop participants would have ?!

Bets