Life After Death
The Burden of Proof
Today’s Agenda
Housekeeping
Life After Death Lecture 1
Break
Video “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”
The night kissed the fading day
With a whisper.
“I am death, your mother,
From me you will get new birth.”
Rabindranath Tagore
Guided Meditation
Quickening: Toward Embodiment
•Bring your focus within. Let yourself focus with the third eye (Ah shnah) the space above your
eyes in the middle of your forehead. Awaken your third eye right now.
•White light falls gently above you like a million snowflakes falling from the sky. Feel the magic of it
touching your being and blessing you with every sparkle.
•You look above you, fascinated with the sparkles. You notice the sun is behind you shining throw
the scattered flakes so bright. It catches these sparkles and every now and again these sparkles change
from white to golden light.
•You feel lighter and lighter as streams of piercing light shower you.
•The sunlight warms your back and travels up and down your spine, expressing love as it moves. It’s
radiance makes you feel safe and supported.
•From your belly button, you see a golden thread of light. You gently touch it and lightly tug on it.
•As you do so you are flying fast to the destination of your tiny body in the womb, seeing flashes of
loving memories you've had so far, as you travel to this space.
•You have arrived! Feel you’re being pulsating with energy! So strong is its presence it overwhelms.
•Feel the connection between you and your new parents. If there is anything you feel uncomfortable
with in this moment, and you're ready, let it go in this instant.
•Send it all around to the earth to the trees. To the ocean. To the animals. To the stars.
To the universe. To all the expressions of creation that exist.
•And as you do this, spirals of energy explode from you. Gratitude ever abundant and
overflowing.
•The golden light flashes again at your belly button and you join with your mother and
travel through the birth experience, with love and absolutely no pain for you or your
mother. Seeing that intimate connection and noticing how mysterious it feels sharing in
this moment. And then...
•You are born! The cosmos shakes for a moment shimmering with a new presence.
Hold this vision this moment.
•Feel it from within, that feeling coming into the world. Feel yourself being held by the
spiritual ground and by your mother and father or whoever was around at your birth.
Scientism Creed
• I BELIEVE - in the material universe - as the only and ultimate reality - a universe controlled by
fixed physical laws - and blind chance.
• I AFFIRM - that the universe has no creator - no objective purpose - and no objective meaning or
destiny.
• I MAINTAIN - that all ideas about God or gods - enlightened beings - prophets and saviours - or
other non-physical beings or forces - are superstitions and delusions. - Life and consciousness are
totally identical to physical processes - and arose from chance interactions of blind physical forces. Like the rest of life - my life - and my consciousness - have no objective purpose - meaning - or
destiny.
• I BELIEVE - that all judgments, values, and moralities - whether my own or others - are subjective
- arising solely from biological determinants - personal history - and chance. - Free will is an illusion.
- Therefore the most rational values I can personally live by must be based on the knowledge that for
me - what pleases me is Good - what pains me is Bad. - Those who please me or help me avoid pain
are my friends - those who pain me or keep me from my pleasure are my enemies. - Rationality
requires that friends and enemies be used in ways that maximize my pleasure - and minimize my
pain.
• I AFFIRM - that churches have no real use other than social support - that there are no objective
sins to commit or be forgiven for - that there is no divine or supernatural retribution for sin or reward
for virtue - although there may be social consequences of actions. - Virtue for me is getting what I
want - without being caught and punished by others.
• I MAINTAIN - that the death of the body - is the death of the mind. - There is no afterlife - and all
hope of such is nonsense.
A New Science of the
Soul
Meeting The Lord of Death
Miracle of Death?
• In the West - death is linked sin, satan,
or heaven - “God saves us from death’s
clutches” - (Chopra p. 25)
• Birth is a Miracle / Death the enemy
• Where is it that you come from...?
• Who dies?
Rumi - Death is our wedding with eternity -
Death’s 5
Accomplishments
•
It replaces time with timelessness
•
It stretches the boundaries of space to infinity
•
It reveals the source of life
•
•
It brings a new way of knowing that lies beyond
the reach of the five senses
It reveals the underlying intelligence that
organizes and sustains creation
Vedanta, Atman, Essence,
Soul
• Chopra: “The soul doesn’t belong to me
the way the house does, as a
possession, or as my children do, as an
extension of my flesh and blood - it is
impersonal (p. 31).
•
•
•
•
One substance or essence
The Perennial philosophy
Your are not the body
Death a journey to eternity - “dying isn’t any more real than any
other moment”
Conclusions to Meeting Lord Death
•
What we bring to
those dying.... From
this perspective...
•
•
•
Grace
Calmness
Death comes into
the present with
the fullness of love
as it chariot and
with intrigue to see
what’s next...
The Cure for the
Dying
Crossing Over
•
Consciousness beyond the brain
•
Delogs
•
NDE’s
•
Reincarnation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How the Afterlife
Dawns
Physical body stops functioning (person
eventually knows)
Physical world vanishes (upward / floating
feeling / look down)
Person freed from limitation
Mind and senses eventually give way to
nonphysical perception
Presence grows that is felt to be divine /
communication can occur
Personality and Memory Fade “sense of I
remains”
I has an overwhelming sense of moving no
to another phase of existence
Not the same as
going to heaven
at least
phenomenologically
!
•
Specifics change from person to person
•
Various places / heaven / hell / different realms
•
The nature of the person plays a part
• Experience and tradition show that these
places
are not permanent not fully reality
“dharmakaya”
• Westerns argue could these places be real as
the physical world; Easterners declare that they
are mental projections.
•Westerner’s limit human life cycle to short span
(linear)
•Easterner’s see an eternal life cycle from life to
death to rebirth
•
•
•
This is Significant
because...
NDE’s show us that different people from different
cultures will have experiences based on there
beliefs systems
Thus leading us to suggest that we create our own
afterlife
We are consciousness and consciousness is us so I ask you again - “WHO DIES” -
Death Grant’s Three
Wishes
Erosion of Traditional
Faith
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20080531/god_poll_0805
31/
Is this a problem or an opportunity?
To believe or Not
• High A
- Believer: Holder of religion or
those who pursue spirituality
•
[You feel secure of afterlife / come to terms with you
fear of dying, ideas of soul make sense, NDE’s
support your ideas]
• High D - Skeptic: Your are logical and
materialistic (not necessarily a
scientist)
•
[Trust scientific model over models of faith, disbelief
afterlife, NDE’s brain dysfunction, mind could be
changed with evidence (but not yet), proof of
afterlife is wishfulfillment]
• High N - Agnostic / noncommittal:
afterlife may or may not exist.
•
[May be one who doesn’t think about death or dying
prefer to wait until their is no other choice, or believe
that the afterlife will never be explained, NDE’s
mildly interest you.]
The Kicker is... We are all
Believing...
• Consciousness is dancing
despite the egoic mind,
regardless if we are against, or
believe, or are if we are
indifferent!!!!!
Science of the Soul and Part II
Escaping the Noose
A Rishi’s
Heaven
•Not Heaven / Nor Hell
•Not Fixed
•Meeting with the Unknown
•Kingdom of Heaven within...
•Available Now
•Heaven in not an award to be earned
Death is another process in
the act of transformation!
• Journey here on earth unfolds if you
allow your consciousness to flow thru
you - an evolution in consciousness!
• An absorption into the universal...
Become love - what is - morphing!
Tibetan Book of the Dead:
Movie