Sign of Things to Come
You didn’t ignore the sign, did you?
Congrats. Now we’re both rule breakers and in the same boat.
I’m starting my first post off by breaking one of the rules I laid out, covering what I currently believe and announcing which religion I come from. My background is a mix of Catholicism, Non-Denominational Christianity, and Judaism.
My current religious beliefs are best classified as agnostic. I believe in two possibilities: either there is no god and just nothing after we die (Richard Dawkins The God Delusion and The Selfish Gene [2nd much better and an excellent read on evolution], or God is Not Great and Mortality by Christopher Hitchens). Or. What I currently believe.
There is a “loving rocking chair” god. This Being is to us as we are to ants. It is a further evolved life form far beyond our own. Just like we are trying to create and unravel the mysteries of life it was as well and has successfully done so, either through innate ability by trial and error through evolution, or highly advanced technology. Aside from that basic definition, I also believe the most succinct way to describe it is as pure love, agape, complete accepting goodness that transcends all cultural, physical, religious, social, and known boundaries. I base this conclusion primarily off of verified (published by missouri medicine done with scientific rigour) studies on near death experiences. Countless accounts of people from all over the world who have (verifiably) died and come back to life have accounts that have shocking similarities between all of them. (Later post will be more on this).
Even if you take things from a more skeptical point of view the implications include “With one exception, NDEs may be interpreted as unusual forms of hallucinations associated with the injured or dying brain. The exception involves perceptions described from vantage points outside the body that are later confirmed to be correct and could not have been inferred. Over a century of laboratory studies have investigated whether it is possible in principle for the mind to transcend the physical boundaries of the brain. The cumulative experimental database strongly indicates that it can. “ - Dean Radin PhD
And “ Drs. Radin, Van Lommel, Alexander, and pioneering neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, MD, all deny that the complexity of the brain can account for the existence of consciousness. Alexander writes, “The truth is that the more we come to understand the physical workings of the brain, the more we realize it does not create consciousness at all. We are conscious in spite of our brain! The brain serves more as a reducing valve or filter, limiting pre-existing consciousness down to the trickle of the illusory ‘here-now’ in which we find ourselves in this physical realm.” He continues, “The NDE community, as well as related spiritually-transformative experiences of all stripes, provides compelling evidence that consciousness is fundamental in the universe.”
With this I have an amendment and third belief, it is possible that there is neither a god nor nothing after death but instead a transition to a different form similar to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
