I LOVE THE ATHEISTS

While enjoying our meal during break in one of the Conferences of the Summit Lighthouse in Australia a few years ago, I overheard one member on the other table said, “My girlfriend is a Christian-atheist”; then seemingly surprised, the other member spoken to asked, “How could she be a Christian and at the same time atheist?” I didn’t hear the answer but I also wondered how that could be. I didn’t bother to ask even at one occasion when he introduced his girlfriend to me. But a few days after the conference I found myself in one of the library in Melbourne and I chanced upon a book “Religion for the Atheist” by Alain de Botton. I borrowed the book and there I learned that the author raises a brand of atheism where it acknowledges the beauty and merits of organized religion where atheist can enjoy without having to believe in God. It somehow bridges the gap between theists and atheists. The author upholds that atheists can enjoy the arts and culture in the religious organizations as well as social interactions and perhaps including ideas and projects for the betterment of society. This approach will somehow create rapport between believers and unbelievers instead of reinforcing conflicts between the two. The perceive problem here could be some members of the congregation would give a sour attitude to them; but if they intimate that they honestly attend with good intent to make friends and do not proselyte, I think everything will work out fine.  This probably is the answer to my question about the Christian-atheist mentioned above. Alain De Botton is himself an atheist since childhood because he grew up with atheist parents. He is a practitioner of Buddhist’s mindfulness but rejects the belief on reincarnation. There is no doubt that his brand of atheism is better than the militant atheism that adamantly criticize and attack the organized religion and seeks to convert the believers into their fold.

Another type of atheism is secular humanism that holds humanity as the central and highest social figure and that problems of humanity can best be solved without adopting religious doctrine. To them ethics and morality is part of universal culture and is not a sole province of religion.

There is also Atheistic Buddhism. They do not believe in Creator-God because they maintain that Buddha does not mention any God in his doctrine. But they believe in life after death and law of karma and reincarnation. They simply regard this law to be the natural process of existence or universe. There are many Theistic Buddhists, however.

If you do a little web search, you can find that there are many types and factions in atheism. They disagree and criticize one another like what usually happens in various religion and their different sects. Other people even consider atheism a type of religion because of this attitude including their acts of proselyting. I wonder how they could say that the world would be better off without religion.   The truth is we are living in imperfect world and so, we can only expect imperfections in every aspect of human endeavor. What is important is we ought to be progressing to live harmoniously in this human environment. I think most atheists erred in assuming that simply because of flaws in various religion they need to be totally discarded. If they will only take an honest look with the various merits that religions are bringing in our society they will find that it helped substantially in the progress of evolution in higher consciousness. If they will only gather together all the pieces of good and useful teachings and concepts from these various religions, it will help a lot in self-improvement thence on human society. They probably should imitate Alain de Botton. Better still if they follow the atheistic Buddhists who believes in afterlife if, for some reason they remain atheists instead of becoming a pure materialist. As I will explain later, pure materialistic point of view of existence will soon fade away as there are now convincing evidences of existence of consciousness outside the brain.

I believe that faith and belief in God is deeply rooted in human psyche. It is part of our collective consciousness. As I have explained before, when GOD created us we once enjoy direct communion with our individualized God Presences. We simply have lost that ability because of continual misuses of our freewill. But it is still intact and etched in our memory body. In other words, we all had a taste of individualized God Presence.  Contrary to science and atheistic belief we are not Homo Sapiens, a type of animal that came from apes as byproduct of biological evolution. Atheists would explain that the belief in God began when primitive men observe and experience bolts of lightning, rains and storms and other disastrous natural events. They regarded these occurrences as an act of angry God up there.  I think this is a wrong presumption. In my opinion, if those primitive men have apes as their forefathers they will never think of anything like God (assuming apes have no God) regardless of the circumstances. They will simply accept those disastrous occurrences as part of existence. If a concept of supernatural God occurred to them, it was because there is a sort of vague reignition in their memory of what was once true. (There is new study however, indicating that Apes and humans have common ancestors in the past.  I do not subscribe to this study either because I put more weight in the Ascended Master Teachings telling us that de-evolution occurred in human history until they become apelike, instead of evolution.  See my previous post, the Story of Adam and Eve)

I believe this is the primary reason there are many believers of God because there already stored in their psyche past spiritual experiences. I believe we are living in the universe where return to its original state of perfection is possible. Many of the lifestreams evolving in this planet have elected to return to oneness to their God Presence, although there are hindrances in the process. But I also believe that there is a chaotic universe which is already on the brink of destruction where all residents, by misuse of free will, have elected to embody such fatal end. (I believe in parallel universes or multiverse as put forth by some scientists/physicists including Stephen Hawking)

Even non-believers were once believers. Their conversion to skepticism was probably the result of negative experiences in their life while embracing certain religious belief. Perhaps they were merely misguided by their intellect as we can find that many of them are highly intellectuals. Perhaps they lack nurturance of faith and in such a case it is our duty to help them find their way back to God. Or perhaps like Alain de Botton, they were atheists since childhood. Whatever be the case, I believe the circumstances that led to their becoming atheist were of their own making as an out-picturing of what was recorded in their memory field/body. They probably had ended up in the astral plane, instead of etheric/heavenly plane, when they died in previous life. (Astral plane has a negative connotation in the parlance of Ascended Master Teachings. It is considered a lower plane of existence in the spirit world as opposed to etheric plane where Higher souls and Heavenly beings reside.  According to Theosophy, there are -33 levels in the astral plane and +33 levels in the etheric plane. Lord Maitreya for example is known to reside in the 11^th level of etheric plane known as the Tushita Heaven. Most fallen angels who reside in the lowest level of astral plane (-33) are probably just awaiting their second death).  Thus, there in the astral plane these souls found out that there is no heaven nor hell as normally understood by mainstream exoteric religion. Then they felt that they had been deceived by organized religion while on earth. Perhaps they were once a Christian or a Moslem or Jew who were promised of a sure way to go to heaven. Thus, they resolved not to believe anymore in any religion the next time they embody here on earth. We can say that it was a wrong resolve, but that could be the reason.

A philosopher once said that all of us including non-believers are on the journey towards reunion with God. Though the path maybe filled with mazes and stumbling blocks we will eventually reach our destination. We never know, we might had also been an atheist in one of our past lives; the atheists today are probably simply late comers in this journey. Who knows, they could overtake us in our spiritual path. Remember the conversion of Saul in Damascus who became St Paul, a staunch follower of Christ.

You know, one of the advantages from the atheist’s side is their practicality; they are very practical in many aspects. Since they don’t believe in God, they don’t pray and don’t expect any Deity to help them do the work. Thus, they completely rely on their own effort and bear full responsibility of their tasks at hand and life’s duties. And they obtained great deal of accomplishments and success for that matter. (although there is surely involved the operation of karmic law) Whereas some believers pray much and expect that God will do the rest when all they ought to do is simply exert some effort and act practicality.

PRAYER AND PRACTICALITY

We know that when we pray and converse with God, we can’t hear God talking back to us because our inner/spiritual ears are simply dulled by our dense vibrations.  But I believe God answers all prayers. Sometimes the apparent answer comes immediately or the next day or months. Sometimes He answers through dreams, through hints and synchronicity as we go through our daily activities if only we keep ourselves attuned to Him. And there are times when your prayer seems to be not granted, and that most likely is God’s answer. And your God Presence who has an all-seeing eye, who knows what is best for you had surely impressed upon your mind the reason why it cannot be granted but you simply could not receive it. Thus, ofttimes God will simply hold the immaculate concept for us expecting that we will accept the situation and will simply go through the natural course or practicalities of life but unbeknownst to us He is there constantly caring and guiding every step of the way.  Thus, God always resort to practicality in guiding us for it is usually through this avenue that he can reach us. This reminded me of a dictation through the messenger where an Ascended Master said that sometimes we should live as if there is no God. This implies that we must completely rely on our own effort and be practical. But we know that sometimes we are confronted with difficult problems and situations that we don’t know what is the most practical thing to do. So, we pray and rely for Divine guidance. Being practical therefore doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray (at least from the point of view of the believer). Pray we must, and Jesus said pray unceasingly. Unbroken communion with God should be the order of the day.  However, prayer does not always mean asking God to get what you want which is usually focus on satisfying your human creation and wants. It is better to pray for spiritual strength, guidance, protection, acquiring Christly virtues and then act and apply it in our daily life. Prayer is not appeasing God. Prayer is for sharpening and strengthening our spiritual senses. Prayer is for self-renewal that brings us intimately closer to our God Presence. So, when God did not grant your prayer, maybe God has a better alternative that can improve your spirituality.

Yes, we can pray for material needs and help during times of difficulties and sufferings and God does answer and grant these things but not always. This is because of certain karma that must be passed first. This is because the cycle of karma has returned for you to balance. And you must pass it!     

ATHEISM IS FAITH-BASED TOO

The downside of atheism is lack of belief system in the unseen spirit specially the materialist. They do not believe in God because to them His existence cannot be proven; leaning on scientific proof alone. Most of them believe that life has no purpose; and is just a result of random events. Their philosophy maybe let us eat and drink and make merry for tomorrow we may die and cease to exist. Thus, some of them became hedonist, taking pleasure in all material and sensual things in life to the point of ruining their health and life. Some are wiser that they take care of their body and control their appetites and senses to maintain health and prolonging life. But they distrust any religious belief because to them this is simply based on faith. They want scientific evidence. To me that sounds unreasonable.  Because many atheists believe on scientific theories which can be said to be based on faith alone not unlike the religious ones. For example, there is no evidence that man evolve from apes or life comes from non-life (abiogenesis) yet they believe in it.  They believe that consciousness/awareness is solely generated by the brain but there is no evidence of it.  They have no explanation about miraculous healings. There are many things that science cannot answer, yet they continue to believe that someday it can be.  In one online religious forum that I read, one member explained that this physical universe harbors intelligence. These intelligent beings (like humans) could someday be able to create planets, suns, solar systems, galaxies or another universe. What if the universe we are in was just a creation of intelligent beings (alien) from another universe? Will you accept it? It may be tempting to some atheists to accept. In fact, you can read in some online religious debates that some atheists have faith in aliens. It becomes apparent that atheism is also a belief system that is faith-based. It seems that it is unavoidable to have a faith-based belief system because reasoning and science has limitations. There are things that are incomprehensible specially when we are talking of vast universes or invisible forces of nature or God as the First Cause. For this reason, wouldn’t it be better for the theists and atheists to respect each other’s belief system. What is important is our belief system is helpful to our well-being, makes us a better person and contributes to harmonious society and for a better world; that we uphold universal goodness, love, ethics, morality and eternal verities of life.

MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS WITHOUT BRAIN

To me, the existence of God (as Spirit/as God Presence) cannot be proven through rationality. But the God Presence can be experienced. It may take a lifetime to experience God or maybe it may need many lifetimes (reincarnation) as it entails continual spiritual disciplines and self-purification that usually cannot be attained in one lifetime by many seekers. I am talking about mystical experiences. If you have no patience and lacking spiritual faith, it is likely that you will fall into the trap of non-belief in God. Many atheists will immediately dismiss this mystical occurrence as simply a product of brain processes. In fact, any so-called supernatural phenomena will be labelled as myth, deception, or by-product of hallucination, delusion or schizophrenia.

This is because they firmly believe that mind and consciousness is generated solely by the brain. To them, the consciousness cannot exist outside the brain. Those are intertwined. Thus, they don’t believe in the so-called ESP like remote viewing, mental telepathy, foreseeing the future, etc. because scientifically the brain waves cannot travel very far and they don’t believe in akasha/ether (not ether as defined in science) where future can be shown.   It is also for this reason that they don’t believe in life after death, spirit, soul, seeing and hearing a Deity or dead loved ones.  They criticize religious literatures because those are filled with accounts of supernatural phenomena. To them, we are purely a physical being.  

I think the primary reason why they are skeptic about this supernatural experience is they do not experience it themselves. Once they experience any of those I have no doubt that they will believe it. This is the reason many atheists who experienced such supernatural phenomena were converted into believers. Example is the physicist, Fred Hoyle, who when a flash of intuition occurred to him was immediately convinced of ESP. Atheist/materialist is inerrant to say that such supernatural experiences are simply a product of brain disorder because they didn’t experience it themselves. Once they experience it, they will be absolutely sure of its reality.

To give personal explanation, I myself had frequent déjà vu experiences in the past. It is the feeling that you had been in a particular place or situation although you had not. The feeling is hard to explain. It is not that probably you had such similar situations in the past that you simply had forgotten. It is not that. You have an extra-ordinary feeling that you are absolutely sure that it happened before, even if it hadn’t. I can remember during those times that my déjà vu experiences had become frequent that I began to think that if the situation had already happened to me I could predict what’s going to happen next. I remember an occasion when I and my colleagues were playing dart in the faculty room. When it’s my turn to throw, a déjà vu occurred to me; I suddenly foresaw what’s going to happen next. I foresaw that I hit the bulls eye and how everyone in the room would exactly move. That happened exactly how I foresaw it. I even screamed “bulls eye!” even before I throw the dart. The experience lasted in a matter of seconds, however. By and by, I began to think that if déjà vu experience enabled me to predict what will happen, I could also change what’s going to happen. This is logically speaking. So, there was a time when a deja vu experience occurred to me again. I was playing table tennis with one of my co-faculty members that time when I foresaw that I was defeated in that game and my opponent was teasing me for being beaten by him. I resolved to change the situation that I will not allow myself to be beaten so I did all my best in that game hitting many drives with my racket and beat him. Afterwards in the faculty room, he was speechless when I told him, “You’re gonna tease me if you beat me huh!”.  It is interesting to note here that even a future so close to happen can still be changed. How much more if it is a remote future. Perhaps simply a change of attitude and doing violet flame decrees can change the situation for the better. The skeptics who will read this may think I am just making this up or perhaps my prediction was just a coincidence in my thoughts. This is a problem with skeptics, they will not trust anyone perhaps even their own relatives when they speak about something supernatural. By the way, the déjà vu experiences do not happen to me anymore for a long time now. I don’t know why. But I am sure if that kind of thing happen to atheist/skeptic they will absolutely believe that it is real.

I will tell you another thing. Even a simple flash of intuition will convince the atheist of the same. As you may know, a flash of intuition like ESP suddenly comes without the aid of five senses so that we can confidently say that its source did not come from the brain. It could probably have been picked up by the brain. There was a time when I was at home solving a difficult problem in physics when I was still a university student; I tried many possible solutions to the problem, but I couldn’t get the correct answer (which can be found at the back of the book). I even thought that maybe that answer is wrong. I decided to leave my study table to take a break for a while and went to the kitchen downstairs to eat. When I was about to eat, suddenly a flash came to my mind how it will be solved, and I knew without a doubt that that’s it. The wonder here is the answer came in a flash even if the process of solving it will take a long time. When I came back I did the solving as I retained it in my mind and I got the correct answer. That was amazing, wasn’t it? I tell you when a mystical experience like that occurred to you, you will be absolutely convinced of its reality. Skeptics who had experienced these things and still insists that it is simply a wonder of brain function is deluding themselves. They are cynics not skeptics.

Because I have such experience myself, I believe people who tells their own story of something supernatural. Thus, I believe Mark Prophet, former Messenger of GWB, when he tells that the entirety of founding the Summit Lighthouse had occurred to him in the moment when he raised the sledge hammer and pounded it onto the red-hot metal while working as blacksmith. I also remember reading a Filipino esoteric book in one of the bookstore in the Philippines where the author mentioned that “to an adept everything that happens in his life is just a re-enactment”. I believed this because of deja vu experiences that I had before. An adept will continually experience such phenomena and thus will seem everything will simply be a reenactment. My explanation of déjà vu experience is, you have sensed an immediate future that is now beginning to happen. That’s why it seems that you had already experienced it. To an adept he continually sees the future that is coming to the present. (There is a type of déjà vu experience where a person was placed in the spot where she lived in previous life)        

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES (NDE)

I would like to proceed now to evidences of some paranormal experience like Outside-the-Body Experience (OBE) of near-death-experiencers.  I would like to quote the discussion posted by a blogger Spiros Kakos in his blog “Human Consciousness and the end of Materialism”: “But riddled throughout the NDE literature are accounts that seem to suggest that there is more going on in these experiences than can as yet fit into the materialist picture. In one widely reported case, a post-operative patient correctly identified the nurse who had removed his dentures and the drawer she had placed them in – while he was in a coma. In another, an unconscious patient had an out-of-body experience after which she accurately described a tennis shoe she had seen on the outside ledge of a third-floor hospital window. The most dramatic case to date is probably the now famous story of an Arizona woman named Pam Reynolds. In a last-ditch attempt to save Reynolds from a brain aneurysm that threatened her life, doctors performed a rare and dangerous “standstill” operation in which they lowered her body temperature to below 60 degrees F, stopped her heart and respiration, and drained all the blood from her body and brain. She was, by any reasonable definition, brain dead. Her EEG was a flatline and brain stem showed no response to the “clickers” placed in her ears. Yet, following her recovery from the operation, doctors learned that not only she undergone a classic NDE, but she was also able to recount with astonishing accuracy many of the details of the operation, from the surgical instruments used to the conversation between the surgeons and nurses. All of the above have led prominent researchers, such as the late Nobel-winning neuroscientist Sir John Eccles, to propose a dualist view of the problem, arguing that the human mind and consciousness may in fact constitute a separate, undiscovered entity apart from the brain.” There are critics of the case of Pam Reynolds notably Keith Augustine and Gerald Woerlee. Both are skeptics and atheists who published papers in the Journal of Near-Death Studies emphasizing the hallucinatory features of NDEs. Long debates ensued as can be seen in the commentaries and defenses. In my own understanding, the result leans slightly in favor of the survivalists (who believe in the survival of consciousness after death). I will leave to you to read the website on Near Death Experiences The responses and reply of Stuart Hameroff and Chris Carter (2012) to “Could Pam Reynolds Hear?” by Gerald Woerlee and its rejoinder are very convincing to me. Another is the article by Leo Mc Donald “Rebutting Keith Augustine’s Objections to the Near-Death Experience”; and also, the articles on section 5 The Case Against Keith Augustine’s “Internet Infidels”

REINCARNATION CASES

In addition to the above, there are scientific researches on reincarnation that supports the possibility of survival of personality after death. Let’s take the case of Shanti Devi first as this is one of the best cases. Shanti Devi was born in Delhi, India in 1926 who at the age of four began to talk of her past life in Mathura, another locality in India. She mentions her husband and son as well as the cloth shop that his husband owned there. At first her parents took no notice of it but became worried when she began to talk about it repeatedly. She even narrates the details of different foods that she eats, type of dress that she wears in Mathura and even describe how her husband looks like including a big wart on his cheek. She even gave the detailed account of her death following child birth. By and by her parents began to think that these memories might have been of past life. As years went by, given the details of what Shanti were saying, her parents would naturally be able to pinpoint the exact location and the said husband in Mathura. Until the time came when a distant relation in Delhi arranged for the said husband to visit the place of Shanti and her parents to find out the truth of what Shanti were saying. Instead the said previous-life husband suggested that one of his relative Kanjimal who lived in Delhi be allowed to meet Shanti Devi.  Upon their meeting, Shanti immediately recognized Kanjimal as her husband’s cousin. She described to him in detail their house in Mathura and even mentioned the location where she had buried some money.  When asked if she could find the house in Mathura if taken there from railway station, she answered in the affirmative. Impressed by this, Kanjimal went to Mathura to persuade Kedarnath (the said previous-life husband) to come to Delhi to meet Shanti. Kedarnath came to Delhi together with his new wife and his son with Shanti in her previous life. Shanti was 9 years old by this time. Kanjimal misled Shanti by introducing Kedarnath as the latter’s elder brother. Shanti Devi blushed and stood on one side. Asked why she blushed, she answered in low firm voice that, “No, he is not my husband’s brother. He is my husband himself.” Then she addressed her mother that “Did’nt I tell you that he has a wart on his left cheek?” When Shanti’s mother was preparing meal Shanti suggested to cook the dish that Kedarnath wants to eat and Kedarnath wondered how she knows his favorite dishes. Shanti even mentioned to Kedarnath why he married his present wife when he promised not to remarry. Kedarnath was dumbfounded. After the meal, Kedarnath had a chance to talk alone with Shanti and perhaps to establish once and for all if she really was her past wife, she asked her about their sexual intercourse. That fully convinced him that she really was his former wife reincarnated. This news was spread and even caught the attention of Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi was able to talk to Shanti and requested her to stay in his Ashram.  He established a Commission to study the case composed of 15 prominent people including parliamentarians, national leaders and members from the media. The Committee persuaded her parents to accompany them to Mathura. When they reached Mathura, Shanti described in great detail the locality showing familiarity even to the people whom she had not met before including her previous parents. The publication of the Committee’s report attracted worldwide attention. And many learned personalities studied the case some in support some as critics trying to prove it a hoax. You can read in full detail the abovementioned reincarnation case on the website of Carol Bowman 

The above reincarnation case is included in the 3,000 reincarnation cases researched by Dr. Ian Stevenson while he worked at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, department of psychiatry. He is the founder and director of University’s Division of Perceptual Studies, which investigates the paranormal. He authored 300 papers and 14 books about reincarnation.  Among these are “Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation” (1966) which mostly occurred in India and other countries where reincarnation is common belief; “European Cases of the Reincarnation Type” (2003) where many people do not believe in reincarnation; and “Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersects” (1997). The latter showed numerous evidences that birthmarks of children in the present life corresponded to injuries and wounds (usually fatal) of deceased people in their past lives. For example, a birthmark on the chest was verified to correspond to a person in past life who had died during heart surgery or shot on the chest.

As usual, there were critics of Stevenson’s works, usually the materialists. In fact, most scientists ignored Stevenson’s early paranormal researches. But lately his works are beginning to gain recognition after earlier mockery that he stood up with. He also had supporters and some followed his footsteps continuing similar researches. And many supportive books were authored along this line of reincarnation studies. Among these are: Death and Personal Survival (1992) by Robert F. Almeder, Old Souls: The Scientific Search for Proof of Past Lives (1999) by Tom Shroder, Life Before Life (2005) by Jim B. Tucker; Science, The Self, and Survival after Death (2012) by Emily Williams Kelly and Return to Life (2013) by Jim B. Tucker.

Dr Stevenson’s work were only published in Scientific journals and Academia. He refuses to sensationalize his work by not attending public and media interviews, etc.

Let me mention that he himself do not want to commit fully on reincarnation as the only explanation on his works. But he is also not convinced that environment and heredity are solely the factors on development of human personality. An alternative explanation is psychic abilities of most children who could pick up memories and personalities of past lives. But to him reincarnation is the best even though not the only explanation for the cases investigated.

Based from what I read in Wikepedia, it seems that all the blah blahs of Stevenson’s critics did not hold out as it did not hit specifically the stronger evidences of reincarnation cases that Stevenson studied. Some critics like Robert Baker tried to explain the reincarnation case as caused by known psychological factors such as a mixture of cryptomnesia and confabulation and other normal means. This to me is unsatisfactory because some of the stronger case had no contact between the child and the relatives of alleged deceased past life person. Even arguing that the child’s recall of past lives is the equivalent of imaginary playmates is less than satisfactory because how can a child know in great details and accuracy of the past life including names, and familiarity with places without prior knowledge and contact.     The chief critic of Stevenson’s work is the philosopher Paul Edwards, editor-in-chief of Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He criticized Stevenson’s work including personal attacks in his books Immortality (1992) and Reincarnation: Critical Examination (1996). I think personal attacks is intended to strengthen his point but has no bearing whatsoever on the truth and falsity of reincarnation cases. He pointed out the weaknesses in Stevenson’s work and stated that it can be found in all case studies. However, Edwards failed to specifically mention and address the stronger cases (although few in numbers) where there had been no contact between the families of the deceased and of the child before the interview. In my view, even if there had been contacts between the two families, the cases can still be considered strong if it can be established without doubt that there were no fraud happened. It is probably this reason that one of the supporters of Stevenson, Almeder, argued that Edward’s “dogmatic materialism” had forced him to the view that Stevenson’s case studies must be examples of fraud delusional thinking. It seems that many of criticisms against Stevenson’s works did not hit the nail on its head so to speak that’s why Stevenson’s supporters continue to uphold his works. “And many people, including skeptics and scholars, agree that the cases presented by Dr. Ian Stevenson offer the best evidence yet for reincarnation.”( Reincarnation Research  ) One of Stevenson’s research that offers objective and graphic proof of reincarnation is his study on children’s birthmarks and deformities that appears precisely on the same spot in the body of the supposed previous life. Only 30% to 60 % of the cases can be put down to genetic factors, virus infections or chemical causes. But the 40% to 70 % of these cases has no medical explanations and cannot be attributed to mere chance.      

Wealth of information supporting reincarnation studies and children's past lives can be found on Carol Bowman webpage.

Dr Jim Tucker who worked with Dr. Ian Stevenson and took over the project when the latter retired in 2002 has written two books, “Life before Life” and “Return to Life”. You can find his media interviews on his webpage www.jimbtucker.com. Return to Life focuses on reincarnation cases in United States. He invites skeptics to come with him during his investigations, but it seems no one bothered to accept his invitation. His media interviews are very convincing to me. If you want to read and watch those just click on the media icons on the webpage.

The abovementioned investigations about NDEs and reincarnation should somehow jar the skeptics’ unbelief and begin to consider the existence of consciousness outside the brain; that our consciousness and memory continue to exist even after death of the physical body.

Actually, there are studies indicating that memory is stored not only in the brain’s synapses or neurons but also in other cells and organs of our body. There were cases of heart transplant where the patient had experience changes of behavior and personality that is similar to the organ donor. She even had flashed of past experiences that were experienced only by the donor. See the following studies about Organ Transplants and Cellular Memories.  However, the studies show only 20% of the patients exhibit changes of personality. Although it is only 20%, this in no way can be attributed to mere chance. As they say, if you wish to upset the law that all crows are black… it is enough that you prove one single crow to be white. (Not all crows are black by the way). Do you know that a long time ago it was once believed that all swans are white until the discovery of Australia where they found lots of black swan? 

Recently, an International team of Researchers led by Scientists from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) has discovered that some bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, exhibit memory that can be pass from one generation of cells to the next, all without central nervous system or any neurons. Can’t this also indicate that even in humans, memory can be stored elsewhere?

It is fascinating to cite here the paper published in Scientia Ricerca authored by Psychologists Jason Buttigieg and Duffy C. Jason Buttigieg is a clinical Psychologist in Monash University at Clayton, Victoria, Australia. The paper is about “Transplant Psychology: Exploring the Fundamental Origins of Cell Memory and Personality”. The paper proposed that memory originates well within the realms of atomic signatures (i.e. magnetic wave forms produced by atomic activity) of the biological cells that determines their functionality which in turn governs neurological activity thence person’s personality. The paper also explains why sometimes the personality of the organ donor can be transferred to the recipient and sometimes not at all depending upon the energy, intensity, and frequency of the atomic signatures of one over the other.  Although the paper may border within the realm of speculations, it may very well be true.  

Actually in esoteric teachings and religions like Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism everything has varying degrees of consciousness even inanimate objects like rocks, mountains, chairs, houses, and possibly even computers and Artificial Intelligence. Some mystics who achieved enlightenment like Ramakrishna , Jacob Boehme, Jane Goodall and many others have experienced Oneness with everything. In fact, every atom and subatomic particles have consciousness. Jesus knew this. Remember what he said in Luke 19:40 during triumphal entry in the Temple of Jerusalem while the crowd is shouting and greeting him; when the Pharisees asked him to rebuke his disciples, he said, “the rocks will cry out if they were stopped from their merriment” Isn’t that an indication that Jesus is aware that rocks have consciousness? I do not know if it can be proven scientifically someday that subatomic particles and inanimate objects have consciousness.

The idea that everything is conscious, which is termed panpsychism is gaining recognition from some neuroscientists like Giulio Tononi and Christof Koch. They have developed the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness. That the higher level of consciousness (such as that of human brain) arises out of “any complex and interconnected mechanism whose structure encodes a set of cause-and-effect relationships.” If we will start off with particles of matter having consciousness as its property and then if by way of some integrated complex mechanisms, a higher degree of consciousness emerges; this will still fit to materialistic view of existence. The spiritual existence is taken out of the equation. I think those who favor the above theory should first adequately answer the abovementioned NDEs and reincarnation cases where it points out the existence of consciousness after death? Will they simply turn a blind eye on these? Or should they find other theory?

There is a theory associated with quantum mechanics proposed by Stuart Hameroff, M.D. and Physicist Sir Roger Penrose. They ascribe consciousness to quantum computing in microtubules inside neurons.  Simply, they consider consciousness as quantum process and therefore non-local. I tend to agree with them. However, quantum field to me is not part of spiritual realm. Albeit,I speculate that it can serve as bridge between physical and spiritual realm. This is because quantum field is detectable by scientific instruments, which is to say that its frequency is within that of physical light. The frequency in spiritual realm is million times higher than physical realm according to Ascended Master Teachings (AMT).  That means the law of physics will simply not be applicable in that realm. It will have an entirely new law unknown to mortal man.

If you will ask me, I don’t need proof of reincarnation or life-after-death. The concept of law of karma and reincarnation is enough for me to believe in it. Because this ancient esoteric concept is the only explanation that will make sense of the seeming disorder and problems to the world we live in as I have mentioned in my previous posts. Besides, the sacred scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other mystical religions are conveying this concept; and I don’t think that those are merely human invention. These I believe, are written under Divine inspiration. Do you know that many astronomical and other scientific facts are already written in the Hindu Vedas and Puranas long before science discovered it? Even the atomic structure is described in this scripture as well as the exact number of living species in our physical universe.

What more? How about the plethora of well-documented mystical experiences of the Saints and Sages of East and West down through the ages? Do you suppose that those are all hallucinatory or fraud?

I have a simple analogy to portray why it is likely that there is spirit world. Like the life in microbial community or in the fishpond, microbes and fishes are barely aware of our human existence because of the limitations of their perception that is adapted only to their own environment. Similarly, we as human beings have limited perception that we cannot perceive the existence of the spirit world. But if we can expand and transform our consciousness, which only few individuals can do at present stage of evolution, we can see and perceive the beings in spirit world. Or when we transit to their world through death we will know them. It is like a life of a caterpillar living only within the limited branches of a tree. Once it shed its cocoon and transform into a butterfly, it will have new experiences and environment far grander and wonderful than what it used to be.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD

Based on what I learned from various sources especially Ascended Master Teachings and even from mediumships and channelings it is just natural for the soul to exhibit such feat as teleportation, mind reading, etc. They can go to any places instantaneously at will. They can see the earth and observe what is happening, watch their relatives and their thoughts. They can explore and experience the details of the blade of grass, the lives of plants and trees, ensoul the mountains, birds and other animals; they can swim under the ocean, explore the bedrocks, study and investigate the center of the earth, and even the sun, go to other planets, galaxies and universe and many more. They can probably study all the books in the world or even watch all the millions of films in the world simultaneously and retained in their memory. You’d say that is impossible! That is because you compare them to us humans with physical bodies and brains that think linearly and sluggishly. Remember that they don’t have brain and physical body hence freed from confines of time and space. Their life is unimaginably different from ours.  Another natural capability that they can do in their realm is whatever they think becomes very real and concrete. It’s like our dream that seems very real and upon awakening we realized that it was just a dream. But in their world, it is real and solid much like here on earth, because they are not dreaming. What you think and imagine becomes very real. If you think you are in your house cooking menu for dinner, you are. If you think you are in one of the beautiful beaches wading the waters, you are. You can feel the gentle touch of the winds and the coolness or warmness of the sea waters. If you think you are in bed dreaming, you are. Thus, if a soul had just passed away and had not adjusted yet to life in spirit world, it will be hard for her to tell whether what she experiences is a product of her own mind or it is real. Truly, there are souls who died suddenly and do not know that they are dead (especially if they firmly believe that there is no life after death) because they are probably thinking of themselves still living on earth.   They became lost souls and will need a guardian angel or other souls closely related to them to help them navigate the spiritual world. These guardian souls can see and experience what is in your mind and they can enter into it and communicate with you. By and by as you adjust you too can do that with ease and you will be able to tell whether what you experience is simply a product of your mind or it is fixed creation. In Hindu literature, they have what they call Devachan, a place in the spirit world where you can realize your unfulfilled dreams on earth. I don’t know if this soul capability can only be manifested at certain planes in the spiritual world or it applies to all planes whether in astral or etheric level.

Existence of Higher Spiritual Beings can be perceived to no other than the dictations given through the messengers of the Brotherhood of light as I frequently mention in this blogspot. Read them, study them and feel them with your heart. You can use it for guidance and meditation purposes. You will become close and have personal relationships with these Ascended beings and experience them at work in your life when you pursue and apply their Teachings and way of life.

POSTULATES ON CONSCIOUSNESS* AND REINCARNATION

I would like to give possible explanation on reincarnation and how the consciousness exists out side the brain or our physical body in somewhat scientific terms. I postulate that yes, it can be said that the brain generates consciousness simply because the subatomic particles, atoms, molecules and cells that make up the brain and body have consciousness in the first place. Moreover, the non-local memory field of the soul (that exists even after death) is anchored in the neurons and throughout the cells of our body via certain process in the quantum field that we do not know.  This quantum process operates as a step-down transformer or phase and frequency modulator that connects the high-frequency memory field to the low-frequency cells of the brain or our physical body. This quantum connection makes it possible to register the physical brain processes into the non-physical non-local memory field of the soul and vice versa. This will explain why some NDEs are able to remember their experiences in spiritual realm. The same is true for some children/person who can remember their past life.  After death the soul carries this memory field that continually changes through experiences in spiritual and physical realm. The soul will reincarnate when a new cell/life in the Mother’s womb- which is a blending of two memory fields of parents - (sperm and egg cells)- matches with the soul’s memory field. These process however, are all adjudicated by the Lords of Karma. (Some school of thoughts regard the process of reincarnation as automatic and doesn’t believe in the existence of the Lords of Karma or Great Karmic Board.  This is probably because they fail to realize that the enormous high frequency in the etheric realm will enable the Heavenly Beings/Karmic Board to see, analyze, confer, deliberate and decide the karma of the soul in a fraction of second of earthly time, which if viewed from their realm (or taken in slow motion) could be equated to years of earthly time)

GOD IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Take note however that the existence of consciousness outside the brain or life after death for that matter is no proof of existence of God the creator of universes. As I have said before if a soul ended up in the lower astral plane, he will not experience the magnificent etheric retreats in the Heaven world. He will not be in the direct company of higher souls, angels, Archangels, Ascended Masters, and Elohim. And even if a soul meets one of the Ascended Masters or Angels who visit the astral plane, they will probably regard them as simply beings in the spirit world and not God the creator – the First cause.

Presumably, the reason why God is not mentioned in the Buddhist teachings is because God will remain unknown and incomprehensible. He can only be known partly through our individualized God Presence. To the Buddhists, the process of reincarnation and experience in the spirit world is regarded as a natural process of life/existence.

Imagine first when God created you as a soul. It will be like you are an innocent newborn babe flung into the midst of innumerable universes. But you have the Holy Christ Mind and the glorious eternal individualized God Presence with whom you know the Law and eternal verities of existence. You are free to taste and experience the fruits of these universes created in the mind of God that is timeless and spaceless. You know that like your I AM Presence you can be eternal and powerful as long as you keep wisely your free will to experience only the perfect universes, i.e., obeying only the eternal verities of life.  You also know that you can vanish yourself from existence if you choose to experience the imperfect universe and continually misqualify the energy that God has given you till it snuff out. It can be likened to the chessboard games bounded within 64 squares that is governed by certain rules and laws. All the millions of games (representing the innumerable universes) that can be played already exists in the invisible/etheric/imaginative realm yet very real and dynamic. You are free to choose which games you want to play or experience. The present imperfect universe that we are in is the one we have chosen. Owing to disobedience to eternal verities and laws of life we lost our direct connection with our Christ Self and God Presence and hence restricted in time and space. However, this is a universe where there are opportunities for the souls to come back to perfection freeing themselves from the difficulties and cycles of time and space. And once we have reunited with our Christ Self and I AM PRESENCE, we can once more enjoy the magnificent eternal dance of creation. Perhaps as we move further up the infinite evolutionary ladder of experiences we can be as Elohim, a co-creator with God, create universes. Like our I AM Presence we are aware of our eternal existence, but still the First Cause, our Source and Creator, remains unknown to us though we are aware that He is birthless, deathless, and changeless. Perhaps because it is best to be like that. 


May you have a Blessed and Happy New Year everyone

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*Human consciousness as defined in Ascended Master Teachings is different from definition adopted by science which is simply awareness or perception. It is more than that. Even that which you are not aware of such as past-life memories below the level of consciousness is part of consciousness. Thus, often you will see terms like purification or transformation of consciousness. Or raising one’s consciousness.