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The only suffering is the suffering you bring with you.

Think about that for a while.

Ironically, that also applies directly for this physical reality as well as any non-physical reality. 

This forum is just so typical of those who consider themselves part of the "White Robes Brigade".
That is those who on physical, death, will be elevate to some exalted position in the Afterlife, given
their white robes, and be educated into the mysteries of the Universe. Just read Xanth's-Ryan's
comments above! No doubt he's one of them! Past lives, and present life traumas obviously
does not affect him! He resolved them all, and is now a high spiritual being in physical incarnation.

"The only suffering is the suffering you bring with you." Ryans words! So all the worlds greatest
murderers and assholes only have to overrule their emotional feelings about the thousands
or millions they slaughtered, and now they are living in some sort of wonderful bliss according
to your pathetic statements! Adolf Hitler must now be living in some sort of 'Aryan Paradise'',
in the Afterlife if he just thinks so! Ryan! You are a complete fool. Punishment and Karma happens
in the Afterlife, just like it happens in the physical! Get Educated!   

       

Be Spiritually, Psychically, Mentally, and Physically aware of this guy, folks. He uses copy and paste in all of his previous Christian based endless posts, and then edits his posts from his endless, religious based Christian dogma, to fit in with his current mental hidden agenda and whatever ulterior motives he has in planting himself on this forum, the Astral Pulse Forums! He resided for years on Bruce Moens "Afterlife Conversation" forum and message board!..Now he's here!? All his "stuff' is just repeated junk from his original posts, over the many years, on Bruce's and other forums!...I don't think he ever got over the fact that his girlfriend committed suicide because of his utter dogmatic and phony intellectual revelations that the Christian tradition and way, is the ultimate spiritual "Truth!"??...Harry12345!         

Come on Folks! Tambourines ready! All together now! Sing!

" Bringing in the sheep....Bringing in the sheep......Berserk will come re-joycing.....Bringing in the sheep"

E. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPIRITUAL PLANES:



  Don!! You don't have to repeat all your posts, whether original or 'copy and pasted' from all those Afterlife Forums you posted on for many years! You may have re-edited them, but this this does not sway the readers from your original posts, from all those other forums, over the years, who originally read them! I sincerely ask you to seek(spiritual)counseling help!.. As I see you now heading the same way as your former girlfriend who committed suicide for her own personal reasons...Love God!

 

Dude,

Your question provides a natural transition to my next topic and is the best question I've been asked on this site.  A full answer would require me to read everything ES has ever written. I have not done this yet, but will give you my provisional reply.  I think the answer requires a recognition that ES is somewhat inconsistent in the way he describes the intermediary realm between the heavens and and hells--the World of Spirits, which seems to contain the Hollow Heavens and the upper hells discovered in Bruce's Moen's explorations of Focus 25-26 (terms borrowed from TMI).  ES's astral insight that new discarnates in the World of Spirits gradually ascend to a heaven or descend to a hell may already imply the use of retrievals. because ES describes the role of astral schools and makes it clear that astral progress is ultimately a matter of choice and of achieving the right energetic for ascent.  In my view, this "upward or downward" journey already implies a system in which the core personality can evolve, especially since ES's astral discoveries anticipate Darwin's theory of evolution by a century. 

As you know, Bruce Moen is especially concerned with the work of spirit retrievals; yet even he insists that it is almost impossible to retrieve souls in the lower hellish planes.  But here, ES seems more optimistic:  in his later works, he implies that even denizens of the hells can be converted and retrieved.  His biographer, Ernst Benz reports that ES has converted denizens of the hells with the result that their human appearance is restored: "The devils he converts change before his eyes, lose their bestial form, and regain their human faces (Benz, p. 327).  By "devils" ES does not mean demons in the traditional sense, but evil humans.  Perhaps, ES's astral perspective evolves over the years.  I hope to track down ES's retrieval references to which Benz alludes.  Ther are none in ES's "Heaven and Hell."

Don! Are there any writings calling him a fraud! Off course not! That's Swendenborg if you have forgotten!? You must be his 21st Century Advocate! I'm just wondering if he has appointed you as his voice?..All the way from all those 'True Heavens' you wrote and assured us about on Bruce Moens Message Board, over those many years you posted there! Have a nice day Mister Theologian! I'm sure you will rescue some 'backsliders' back into the Christian fold from this forum!!!!!

Harry (raric):

This thread deals with Swedenborg, not with Betty Eadie or Howard Storm.  In my view, Betty Eadie is almost as unreliable as Robert Monroe in her uncritical acceptance and interpretation of her OBE (NDE).  So why your long irrelevant tirade against her?  As for atheist Howard Storm's NDE, Have you closely read this ex-atheist's book, "My Descent into Death?"  I can respond to your mischaracterization in a separate thread on Storm.  One manifestation of SOME New Agers like yourself is an inability to follow a train of thought to its logical conclusion.  Don't "assume."  When you "assume," you just make an "butt" of "u" and "me."  As for other posters, remember Harry's rant as you observe how I actually unfold this thread.

OK Donny Boy! Here's a 2005 thread where he teamed up with a 'Vampire Writer' to re-promote his book so's he, they, could earn more 'Mullah', 'Big Bucks', 'Muchos Pesos',..from his original 'My descent into Hell' which earned him small change!!!.....http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-02-21-rice-storm_x.htm   

I am not a "Swedenborgian."   But in my view, Emanuel Swedenborg (hereafter ES) is the most accomplished astral explorer who ever lived, the explorer with the most impressive verifications.  He deserves to be labelled "the Father of Astral Projection."  I propose to use the 12 listed topical guidelines to introduce readers to the most important aspects of his gift and astral insights.  My major sources are ES's books, especially his classic, "Heaven and Hell," Wilson Van Dusen's survey of ES's insights in "The Presence of Other Worlds," and Ernst Benz, "Emanuel Swedenborg: Visionary Savant in the Age of Reason."       

A. Swedenborg: A Scientific Genius
B. His Evolving Methodology 
C. His Awesome Verifications
D. The 3 Stages of the Transition from Death to the Next Life
E. The Structure of the Spirit World
F. Life and Activities in a Timeless Spirit Plane
G. The Principle of Correspondence that Unites All the Worlds
H. The Nature of the Self
I.  How Swedenborg Discovers that His Astral Past Life Recall is Delusory
J. A Comparative Analysis: Hallucinations in
     Swedenborg and in Psychopathology 
K. Existence Itself as Symbolic
L. A Critique of Swedenborg

A. SWEDENBORG: A SCIENTIFIC GENIUS

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772 AD) spent the first part of his life absorbing the scientific knowledge of his era and wrote over 100 scientific works.  He also mastered a repertoire of technical trades.  His primary occupation was that of mining engineer and inspector of mines.  But he was a  ground-breaking thinker in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and astronomy For example, he is particulary famous his nebular hypothesis.   He also made major contributions in anatomy and the neurosciences.  For example, he was the first to discover the functions of the brain's cerebellum.  He recognized a special funtion of the pituitary gland two centuries before modern endocrinology.  He was a metallurgist and is credited with founding the science of crystallography.  He also directed a project that moved ships over 14 miles of mountains and valleys.  He designed stoves, an ear trumpet, pumps and fire extinguishers, and a flying machine.  The list goes on and on. 

At age 56 in the 1740s, he shifted his focus to the nature of the pysche or  soul.  ln 36 volumes he recorded and interpreted his dreams and, in the process, anticipated many modern psychoanalytic insights.  He quickly realized that anatomical and neurological would not be very helpful in this new quest.  His former scientific approach was inadequate for such elusive matters.  This realization catapulted him down the road to mysticism and he was soon to merit the title 'the father of astral projection."  That is my judgment, not the judgment of Swedenborg or his followers.
My next post will focus on his evolving methodology that honed his unique spiritual gift. 

B. SWEDENBORG'S EVOLVING METHODOLOGY

Without knowing it, ES engaged from childhood in a meditation akin to Yogic and Buddhist practices.  He would relax, close his eyes, and focus in with total concentration on a scientific problem.  At the same time, his breathing would nearly stop and his awareness of the outer world and even bodily sensation would diminish to the point of vanishing.  He whole existence would focus on the one issue he wanted to understand.

What began as an intensely intellectual form of meditation ultimately progressed to an exploration of his dreams, the hypnogogic state, and later, trances.  The hypnogogic state is experienced twice a day as one goes into and out of sleep.  Few people have the discipline and focus to explore the spontaneous wellsprings of mind that bubble up from this state.  ES learned to converse with its symbolic inner processes.  Those who really explore this state can linger for hours watching scenes and hearing things said.  For some reason, some people are primarily visual during this state, and others, like myself, are primarily  auditory.

When I awaken, I often hear a whirring sound like a washing machine completing its cycle and also hallucinatory voices, both known and unknown.  I wonder if the whirring sound signals recent astral travel erased from my memory.  During his hypnogogic state, David Fontana often experienced a combination of waking paralysis and a sense of a menacing alien presence.  Upon further experimentation, he discovered that the alien presence was in fact a dim memory of his soul returning from a forgotten OBE state!

In the hypnogogic state, something is said or seen  before there is any possibility of grasping its meaning.  For example, in this state ES gains this insight: "As to pleasure, wealth, and rank, which I had pursued, I perceived that all was vanity and that he is the happier who is devoid of such things. ..I seemed to hear a hen cackling, as she does when she has laid an egg."  ES later realizes that chickens are not very bright.  Symbolically, his mind is warning him that his insight is nothing to be proud of and must be only the prelude to far more profound insights.

The sphere which most people rule within their minds is relatively small.  Unlike ES, the average person would find it very hard to hold one thought, image, or intention in mind for even one minute.  In the hypnogogic state, one can watch thoughts form and be spoken without one's behest.  Further, the inner processes think faster and more cleverly than the meditator and the symbolic language spoken may not even be understood.  By inspecting feelings, associations, and the situation being symbolized, it is possible to penetrate the symbol.   

For ES these inner states suggest the presence of other spiritual beings interacting with our lives.  Those who scoff at this suggestion have rarely shared ES's determination to  use the hypnogogic state as a springboard for more vivid waking trance states and ultimately for visits to the World of Spirits, the Hells, and the Heavens.  By contrast, we generally experience such inner states merely as pieces of the unconscious self bubbling to the surface.  ES's communal notion of of the earthly self would embrace both perspectives as valid!

SWEDENBORG'S DISCERNMENT OF THE GENUINENESS OF HIS PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS

As his consciousness expands from dreams and hypnogogic states to waking trances, conversations with demons and angels, and visits to the afterlife territories, ES actively seeks out ways of validating his experiences.  In all these psychic states, he begins to experience the little-known phenomenon called photism or orbs of light.   The meditator seeking guidance finds a signal system to guide him.  ES sees an affirming flame.  He observes: "Such a flame appeared to me so often, and indeed, in different sizes in a diversity of color and splendor, that during some months when I was writing a certain work, hardly a day passed in which a flame did not appear as vividly as the flame of a household hearth."    Most people who experience orbs are puzzled by by their significance.  ES tested the validity of his flame and soon discovered that it was "a sign of approval."  He could, for example, correlate it with his scientific breakthroughs.  Both by its color and warmth, his flame symbolizes love and feeling.  During his expanded awareness, ES begins experiencing his guiding flame during his daytime trances and visions as well.

Too many modern astral adepts tend to accept the entities they encounter at face value without rigorously discerning their positive or negative ambience.  ES's passion to encounter the divine reinforces his discipline and resolve to test the spirits by sorting out their quality and usefulness.  He even experiences automatic writing.  He'd feel his hand being seized by lower-order spirits and forced to write things about biblical figures that he didn't even approve of.  But his most impressive verifications derive from evidence that he can truly contact the dead and gain from angels information that at times cannot be gleaned from the minds of incarnate humans.  This evidence will be discussed in my next planned post.

Sorry to 'Rain on your Parade' Don! But on another forum which you resided and posted for many years as the 'Ultimate authority on Christian Theology' ala your Harvard degree and education!...You constantly mentioned Swedenborg's ancient explanations as somewhat factual?..As if people in those days never lied! You constantly base your afterlife knowledge on Christian texts and assumptions when relating and analyzing their writings from these literary suspect dinosaurs!!?...In your  mental-emotional mind, people never lied in those ancient days!? You also mentioned the 'New Age Ghetto' as people who dwell in a 'Woo-Woo' land! Quote!...So where do you dwell?..In a Christian fantasy 'Mumbo-Jumbo' land!...(We must be right because there's more of us than you attitude? Besides, look at all the fantasy Hollywood movies that has been made about Christianity since Cecil B. DeMille presented us with his epic 'The Ten Commandments' in the 1920's, plus all the other countless fantasy productions that Hollywood gave to us since!..And this is not including the books and other media that this huge-rich world wide organization and Premier Number One Richest cult(christianity)spews out every year!)...You also mention Howard Storm and Betty Eadie in relation to afterlife experiences? Howard Storm is a phony as is Betty Eadie. Howard Storm mentions, in a video available to all internet users that its Jesus Christ or Hell, as told to him by 'Jesus'. There is no neutral or middle according to 'Jesus' or Howard!....In his book when he asked 'Jesus' what is the best religion, 'Jesus' mentions that there is no best religion, but the religion that brings you closest to God is the best for you!? I'll present the web address to this video of his where he mentions that it's 'Jesus' or 'Hell'. It used to be on Wikipaedia-re Howard Storm(Google)videos at the bottom of that page! Here's the Betty Eadie Link. Harry


Dear NDE group,

It has been well-documented that Betty Eadie's story is full of contradictions. Furthermore, Eadie has changed her story a number of times depending on the audience to which she is speaking. Her book "Embraced by the Light," was originally published as a MORMON book by Mormon publishers in Utah (Eadie has been a Momron since BEFORE her experience and reflects classic Mormon doctrine). It quickly became the #1 selling book among Mormons.

The general public then picked up on her story, which was quickly changed to be more palatible to the general audience. She quickly became a "Christian" and her books sold in Evangelical stores. Then, suddenly, Jesus in the light became just a light that could be Buddha or some other religious figure to someone else. Interestingly, there ae actually TWO versions of her book--one for Mormons and one for the rest of the country. Her original MORMON volume recounts how Jesus told Eadie abortion was wrong, it is a crime against the child. Then , in her second book, Jesus is suddenly very pro-choice and is saying something completely different. Also, distinctively Mormon phrases are removed.

I am an investigative reporter and member of the International Associatoin for Near Death Studies. In fact, the last Journal of Near Death Studies includes a brief piece that I wrote regarding Betty Eadie and other issues.

The true story behind Eadie's alleged NDE can be found documented in the book "Embraced by the Light and the Bible" (Horizon Books). Anonther book deals with NDEs and Eadie in a very thorough way entitled "Journey into the Light: Exploring NDEs" (Baker). Both books are available in Religious and secular bookstores.

raric
raric@aol.com

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It has been thoroughly documented that Eadie is indeed a Mormon. The book was published by Momrons and initially distributed as a Momron book in Utah. A flyer contained in the initial printings included Eadie's Mormon testimony and spoke of her conversion to Mormonism BEFORE her NDE. This flyer was conveniently removed in all versions of the book that went out to the rest of the country. For photigraphic reprints of this flyer, see the book "Embraced by the Light and the Bible" (Horizon Books).

raric
raric@aol
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Actually, although Eadie claims to be a Christian she has continually backed off of her claims about Jesus being teh Light. Furthermore, if you read her book carefully, she denigrates Christianity and such historic Christian teachings as the doctrine of the Trinity. Eadie also denies the unique deity of Jesus Christ. Eadie is certainly not pro-Christian> Many people use terms that SOUND Christian and pro-Christian, but the meanings they put behind these terms do not line up with what Christians really believe. In other words, if I were to go around using terms like Allah and Mohammed and called myself a Muslim, but then when I explained that I believed Allah was a four headed serpent God and Mohammed was a woman, I would not be representing teh religion of Islam. That is sort of the same thing Eadie does when she claims to be Christian.

raric
raric@aol