Hello all,

I admit I have immense problems with believing in an afterlife - but I am willing to be convinced otherwise (very much so), because it is a terrible and as thought that we just perish into oblivion forever. Which I think is 95% likely, but maybe you can help me.

Two questions baffle me:

1. I know from my medical experience that all our emotions and everything we consider to be our "self" is connected to our brain functions. For people with brain damage, they can lose all sense of "self", all memories, they do not even recoginze themselves in a mirror. There is a case of a poor man who lost his ability to gain new memories and he is now living in the "present moment" for 20 years, always writing "I just woke up" in his dictionary...again and again. Otherwise he is is intact, so the argument that his consciousness is not there doesnt work. Also, I know that if you damage some parts of the brain, people will become more aggressive or lose their moral compass - in short, change personality so other people do not recognize them anymore.

If you take all this into account, how can there be an afterlife once the brain is destroyed utterly? Do people with brain damage get "restored" to the original person somehow?

2. Other lifeforms on this planet, for example dolphins and chimpanzees, have language and intelligence and self awareness. Do they not have a soul as we see it? Why does no one ever report them in the afterlife? Or do they get their "own" afterlife? What about the millions of extraterrestrial lifeforms that are likely to exist in our fantastic universe?

Don`t get me wrong, I am not a fanatical atheist trying to convince you. I am a very very sad and frightened soul who has seen a lot and therefore lost all faith - I don`t know how the other atheists manage to get up at all, the universe is such a stark cold place when there is no purpose to life, no soul, no afterlife - just randomness and oblivion. Argh.

No scientist or doctor can prove that consciousness originates from the brain. So recognize that belief.
Asking questions and being open to the answers and then pursuing the answers  via personal experience is the only way to find out what's for real.

Have fun and keep an open sensible mind... anything is possible. 

Go and read Robert Monroe's "Journeys out of the Body" http://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Robert-Monroe/dp/0385008619 for a start and see how it tugs at your beliefs
and a video of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLApcABHQw

chrwe wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 3:24am:


In my post I mentioned that it all comes down to personal experience. That is an answer that doesn't really satisfy but rings true.
Nobody no matter what credentials or experience they have or how many books you read  will give you  an answer to any question you pose and leave you feeling satisfied. It's only intellectual stuff. To truly  know you must experience
The 'belief' you can't OBE or anything will block you to no end. This is the biggest hurdle you need to overcome by yourself.

chrwe wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 12:08am:


Your first sentence should read "...everything we consider to be our "self" is connected "THROUGH" our brain functions".  I agree with Dave's comments.  The physical brain is the nexus between the soul mind and the body.  Those two meld to produce a conscious individual.  In the event there is physical damage to the brain the connection between the soul mind and body may be diminished, thus impacting the behavior of the individual.  But the brain is not the soul, and the soul is not impacted by physical disability.  The body is simply the three dimensional host for the soul's physical life...when it dies the soul returns from whence it came...carrying with it all the experiences, memories, and feelings enjoyed while incarnate.    

I am sure after the reading you have done that this is nothing new.  Further your medical training provides explanations that supercede in authority and research any comments based on faith and experiential understanding.  However it is that faith and experiential understanding that provide me with my belief in the afterlife.  The comfort, love, and warmth I have received through otherwise unexplainable events and absolutely improbable synchronicites have provided me the basis on which to build my truth.

Ever see "Men in Black II"?  There's a bit where they pop open some guys skull, and inside is this tiny little alien, sitting in a captain's chair, operating the "human" body with hand and foot controls, and seeing and hearing the world through speakers and video screens.  Now imagine the controls all got their wires crossed, and the audio and video got an old VCR tape of, oh, "Harvey", say, plugged in.  The little guy inside is as sane as he ever was...but it sure isn't going to look like it on the outside!

Hi chrwe and Welcome!

Experience is the most helpful, but ideas that contradict one's goals can keep one from reaching those goals -- even when we're not aware of the contradictory ideas!  You may have plenty of ideas that are contrary to afterlife experience 

For the sake of this one goal of visiting the afterlife, could you do a brief experiment under conditions that are conducive to success?
First, set a time when you will be uninterrupted, well rested, and  nutritionally well-'charged.' (I see now that you've been on this site for the last eleven hours, so I wonder whether you'll find a time soon when you are well rested, but later perhaps  )

Next, try sweeping away all your contradictory ideas with a broad statement to yourself, such as "I am setting aside
my disbelief and all I was taught in the past that
negates afterlife experience.  I need to have an
afterlife experience. I am not fearful and I am ready. "
You are attempting to clear a lifetime paradigm with this small affirmation.  It won't affect your knowledge later; it won't empty your brain's contents, just set it aside.

As you restfully wait for signs of your self trying to comply with the above stated goal, you might hear yourself mentally saying "... but this will never work." or some such. If you do, you have to repeat your request and affirmation that having the afterlife experience is your priority goal.

Stay quietly aware of what sensations or even sense of change that you experience. Give it a half hour of non-contradictory ideas.  Please let us know what happens.

I was fortunate to be able to move into the afterlife relatively easily but sometimes when I try to go back I find I am blocked and I have to clear my way again with a process similiar to what I'm suggesting. I wish you much success in this!

Bets

Chrwe, Personally, I dont think that you will end up being "convinced otherwise". Perhaps others here are in the business of changing belief systems but in the end, you believe, what you believe. Points of view can be exchanged. Arguments can be made. You say you are 95% sure that you will end up perishing in oblivion. I highly suggest that you open your heart to the possibility that that is not the case. Just the possibility. That done, in the end, someone may end up being able to reach you once you do leave here for there....no matter where that there is.

Calypso wrote on May 18^th, 2010 at 10:43am:


...or getting upset that the sun will no longer support life on earth in four billion years...my son brought that up when he was trying to find something to feel badly about...we discussed worrying about the things we can actually control, got gloves and ball and went out to play catch...now the sun burning out is codeword for "tossing the ball".

This is not intended to minimize anyone's concerns about the hereafter...rather, Calypso's comment brought me back to my latest "perspective lesson" to my son...now he tries to help me get a better perspective in difficult times.  He's brought out the gloves and ball no fewer than three times in the past month! 

chrwe, as a medical professional you are kind of obligated to deal in the nuts and bolts of our physical world, and the "realities" you face are your stock in trade.  However, I would suggest that you hold onto your previous beliefs of your afterlife and continue to make the effort to live and communicate through love.  Your past beliefs are very similar to what I expect to meet when I leave this incarnation, so you are not alone.   But remember...no one can convince you of what you must believe...it is all yours.  You will come to what works for you in your own time...just allow it and listen.  All my best.