Thursday, November 30, 2006
Life after Death, Coma, Visits from the Dead
Recently, I watched a fascinating DVD called called "Experiencing the Soul: Before Birth, During Life, After Death" by Eliot Jay Rosen. Later I wrote the following account to a friend:
The DVD consists of interviews with several people, many of whose stories are familiar, others not. I was especially impressed with Joan Borysenko's account of her mother's death--she was present and saw the room fill with light, as did her twenty-year-old son who was with her.
And then there was Jean Houston's story of a dream in which her father appeared (he had died quite recently). He was a comic by trade--when she asked what to call him he said, "Call me popsickle." She thought that was odd, but later she found out the he was to be buried in Forest Lawn, but they were backed up, and were keeping him on ice temporarily.
There was also the woman who had been in a coma for several years, who suddenly awakened and began to talk shortly before her death. She announced she had been there and seen it and was no longer afraid to go on. Her daughter told her she had been in a coma for years, and only now was talking. The mother answered, "Oh, you'd be surprised to know the places I've been."
I think this fits in with the theory of Elmer and Alyce Green that folks in the later stages of Alzeimer's go back and forth between the realms (earthly and heavenly) and have adventures of various kinds. One woman reported that while she was on "the other side" she helped those on earth.
I got this DVD on Netflix, which has a surprising number of similar selections. Also several on Buddhism, Yoga masters, and the like.
I had a new reaction to "Unmasking" recently. A friend (via e-mail) gave it to an older family friend of hers to read, and this woman (a very conventional person) was quite upset by it. She thought I was having hallucinations brought on by some strange drug. I think we forget how "unusual" our experiences may seem to some of the more traditional types. Events outside their "comfort zone" can be quite threatening. Often they will describe these in terms they are familiar with--as mental collapse, hallucination, drug experience, whatever. These are the folks who want to feel "safe." They choose to remain within the accepted societal norms and live totally within the "culture trance," which does not acknowledge or accept happenings which challenge its premises. That way they feel safe, and are assured of secure boundaries and fixed explanations for what goes on in the familiar world. Often these people are quite surprised when they themselves have some atypical encounter which opens them to new awareness, and shows them that their "knowledge" is limited, for, as one philosopher (I think it was Whitehead) observed, reality is greater than we imagine, indeed, it is greater than we can imagine.
Let's face it. Kundalini like certain other human phenomena is threatening to some. It challenges their assumptions about what is possible in human experience. I think this is why so many "spiritual explorers" have, through the ages, kept silent about their various inner adventures, for they knew that punishment (rejection, isolation, condemnation, even incarceration or death) could be the price paid for public revelation. Thus those who are willing to put their experiences up for public view can expect a variety of responses, from the supportive to the judgmental. In one sense, to "go public" with one's private journey is in fact to offer the self as a sacrifice for the greater good.
We are living in the time of the opening of the portals between the realms of the earthly and the divine. Things which were heretofore veiled are now being revealed to "those who have eyes to see." Experiences which were once rare or hidden are springing to light on all sides as the Mysteries are exposed. Some cling to the old paradigms. Others discover the new knowledge and embrace it gladly. However, all of us must tread with caution, using discrimination to distinguish between the authentic and the phony. Otherwise we will indeed be swept into delusion, some form of "false reality."
The DVD consists of interviews with several people, many of whose stories are familiar, others not. I was especially impressed with Joan Borysenko's account of her mother's death--she was present and saw the room fill with light, as did her twenty-year-old son who was with her.
And then there was Jean Houston's story of a dream in which her father appeared (he had died quite recently). He was a comic by trade--when she asked what to call him he said, "Call me popsickle." She thought that was odd, but later she found out the he was to be buried in Forest Lawn, but they were backed up, and were keeping him on ice temporarily.
There was also the woman who had been in a coma for several years, who suddenly awakened and began to talk shortly before her death. She announced she had been there and seen it and was no longer afraid to go on. Her daughter told her she had been in a coma for years, and only now was talking. The mother answered, "Oh, you'd be surprised to know the places I've been."
I think this fits in with the theory of Elmer and Alyce Green that folks in the later stages of Alzeimer's go back and forth between the realms (earthly and heavenly) and have adventures of various kinds. One woman reported that while she was on "the other side" she helped those on earth.
I got this DVD on Netflix, which has a surprising number of similar selections. Also several on Buddhism, Yoga masters, and the like.
I had a new reaction to "Unmasking" recently. A friend (via e-mail) gave it to an older family friend of hers to read, and this woman (a very conventional person) was quite upset by it. She thought I was having hallucinations brought on by some strange drug. I think we forget how "unusual" our experiences may seem to some of the more traditional types. Events outside their "comfort zone" can be quite threatening. Often they will describe these in terms they are familiar with--as mental collapse, hallucination, drug experience, whatever. These are the folks who want to feel "safe." They choose to remain within the accepted societal norms and live totally within the "culture trance," which does not acknowledge or accept happenings which challenge its premises. That way they feel safe, and are assured of secure boundaries and fixed explanations for what goes on in the familiar world. Often these people are quite surprised when they themselves have some atypical encounter which opens them to new awareness, and shows them that their "knowledge" is limited, for, as one philosopher (I think it was Whitehead) observed, reality is greater than we imagine, indeed, it is greater than we can imagine.
Let's face it. Kundalini like certain other human phenomena is threatening to some. It challenges their assumptions about what is possible in human experience. I think this is why so many "spiritual explorers" have, through the ages, kept silent about their various inner adventures, for they knew that punishment (rejection, isolation, condemnation, even incarceration or death) could be the price paid for public revelation. Thus those who are willing to put their experiences up for public view can expect a variety of responses, from the supportive to the judgmental. In one sense, to "go public" with one's private journey is in fact to offer the self as a sacrifice for the greater good.
We are living in the time of the opening of the portals between the realms of the earthly and the divine. Things which were heretofore veiled are now being revealed to "those who have eyes to see." Experiences which were once rare or hidden are springing to light on all sides as the Mysteries are exposed. Some cling to the old paradigms. Others discover the new knowledge and embrace it gladly. However, all of us must tread with caution, using discrimination to distinguish between the authentic and the phony. Otherwise we will indeed be swept into delusion, some form of "false reality."
