Steve Campbell, author of Historical Accuracy
Cicero wrote about this in Scipio’s Dream
“Strive on,” he answered, “secure in the knowledge that only your body is mortal and that your true self endures forever. The man you appear to be is not yourself at all, for your real self is not that corporeal, palpable, changing form you see, but the spirit inside.
“Use this everlasting force, then, for the most resplendent deeds possible! And remember that the most splendid deeds you can do are those which serve your country. Those souls devoted to such deeds will find it easy to wing their way to this place, which is the true and genuine home for human souls. The soul’s flight will be all the more quick if, during the period of confinement within the body, this soul has contemplatively roamed widely, thinking on what lies outside itself, and has contrived ways to detach itself from the body as much as possible. When one has failed to do this, and has abandoned the soul to bodily indulgence and enslaved it to the body, allowing those passions which are bonded to pleasure to persuade the soul to flout the laws of gods and men, this soul, after departing from the body, can only hover weakly above the earth. Nor does it return to its proper place in the heavens until it has suffered many ages of torment.”
Reports of NDEs are too numerous to be dismissed but psychology and neuroscience can give a naturalistic accounting of these and other so-called “Out of Body” experiences. The mind builds up an internal brain/body model of itself. When this model is disrupted in some way, either through unintentional trauma or through intentional techniques (many associated with traditional religious practices), one of the possible results is an experience of mind/body dissociation.
Sorry to be such a metaphysical party-poop but why privilege the content of experiences caused by trauma? Is the mind under stress any more reliable than under normal waking consciousness? (I ask this same question of my druggie friends. Are you really in contact with “ultimate reality” in any meaningful way when you’re tripping? And to anticipate the first question I’m always asked in response to that question, yes I have spent a night or two myself in the Caves of Eleusis.)
Strange. If I go to the main forum page, and click “inbox” it takes me to all my direct message threads. I wonder if it is another bug.
I did send you something some time ago–I was wondering whether we might be in the same general geographic area and I might entice you with libations.
Stephen
neuroscience can give a naturalistic accounting of these and other so-called “Out of Body” experiences.
Steefen
No it cannot: existence operates differently in different dimensions.
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Someone who used to have that mindset has something to say. He’s a doctor, a neurosurgeon.
His book has 24,180 ratings averaging 4.5 stars.
Steefen did you do even cursory research online about Dr Eben Alexander and his story? If you do you’ll find that he was disciplined (and sued) for performing improper medical procedures and that the physicians directly involved dispute his account of the medical emergency that supposedly resulted in his NDE. Now in and of itself this wouldn’t prevent God from choosing Dr Alexander for some special revelation but it does at least give us a reason for suspicion. And If he’s going to rely on his medical authority to establish the authenticity of his claims about Heaven shouldn’t he own up to his malfeasance?
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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