observation about mediumship books

[pigfarmer]

Found a copy of the Afterlife Interviews Vol 1 by Jeffrey Marks. Saw a couple of things in here that I think are common to books like this; seen this before but can't pull a reference right now.

Obviously there is a taboo against suicide. The author wouldn't want anyone offing themselves to get to the great place they describe. Practical consideration.

If Time doesn't exist after we shrug off our mortal coils then how come mediums tend to talk about past lives and not future ones ? You'd think any incarnation would have equal validity at the same time.

 

[Standingstones]

I knew an old gentleman (deceased) who invented a device for where he worked. There was a problem that needed to be solved at his factory. He went to the Akashic records and found the solution, so he stated. He was able to patent it and live off the money that came in from his invention.

Perhaps all the solutions are just waiting there in the Akashic library (in the past?) for someone to find them.

 

[pigfarmer]

(in the past?

Could be. That's about what Edgar Cayce said.

Thing is, I had a medium talk to me about a past life I had as a 18th century soldier. So how come nobody wants to talk about my service as a Starship Trooper?

If there really is a Big Google how come it only answers questions from the inquirer's current time frame? Was there a sign on the door I missed?

 

[Standingstones]

Could be. That's about what Edgar Cayce said.

Thing is, I had a medium talk to me about a past life I had as a 18th century soldier. So how come nobody wants to talk about my service as a Starship Trooper?

If there really is a Big Google how come it only answers questions from the inquirer's current time frame? Was there a sign on the door I missed?

Remember what happen to most of those Starship Troopers. They were fodder for the Bugs.

 

[Rick Hunter]

Found a copy of the Afterlife Interviews Vol 1 by Jeffrey Marks. Saw a couple of things in here that I think are common to books like this; seen this before but can't pull a reference right now.

Obviously there is a taboo against suicide. The author wouldn't want anyone offing themselves to get to the great place they describe. Practical consideration.

If Time doesn't exist after we shrug off our mortal coils then how come mediums tend to talk about past lives and not future ones ? You'd think any incarnation would have equal validity at the same time.

My decidedly non-expert view is that, quite simply, the future does not yet exist. Those lives haven't happened yet. "Time" doesn't exist by itself, it is a means of measurement of the progress of events.

 

[pigfarmer]

Remember what happen to most of those Starship Troopers. They were fodder for the Bugs.

Kobyashi Maru. test of character. An icky one, but still a test ......

 

[pigfarmer]

Afterlife Interviews is one of those books I don't remember buying and just came across it on the shelf. It's an easy read so I leave it out and pick at it like a box of candy. Code for 'bathroom reading' I eventually did get to a section where the author sort of coughed up his sleeve and devoted the tens of words to the explanation. Basically, you wind up in a 'no time zone' which are the author's words not mine. Maybe I'm splitting hairs with his words but he places far greater emphasis on 'past' lives than 'future' ones because they're more appealing. Being the reincarnation of an ancient warrior or whatnot is cool. Most people don't imagine themselves a serf who died uneventfully after a short life of dirt farming. Or pig farming All the reader gets is a glossing over of the topic. I see it as tripe, just paying the bills by marketing this topic at an extremely receptive audience. Paying off the boat.

As for the past - at least the Enterprise or the HMS Bounty Bird of Prey are a self contained starships. Marty's DeLorean is definitely NOT so if you are really going back in time to 1985 you'd best get your orbital calculations correct or you're floating in a vacuum with a problem. The Earth moves you know.

The layman's description of the physics I recently read says the 'the future' including the state of Schrodinger's cat exists in a cloud of possibility. It has no state until it is observed. So by extension if a tree falls in a forest and nothing is around to hear it does it make a sound? By that logic it doesn't even fall until it is observed, which makes my head hurt. Best analogy that I can fit my small mind around is say, Luxembourg. I know it's really there and is easily verifiable but in my head it isn't really. I'd have to observe it myself to make it 'real' to me. Ugh.

But perhaps that may shed some light on the common concept of pre-planning your lives while hoovering around The Ether while in a discarnate state; free will exists because of the endless series of choices. Maybe our lives follow a general path but not a fixed path like railroad tracks.

Just trying to sort the pop culture from something more academic and Mr. Marks really falls into the former category.

 

[pigfarmer]

Got me thinking Big Thoughts in the wee hours. An old story but applicable.

I used to do vendor meets with service providers. There were demarcations points involved - this side mine that side yours. Usually a finger pointing contest. In one case it was a simple T1 digital circuit. The guy I met pulls out a piece of test gear and opens it up and oh boy is it impressive. Many blinky lights, knobs, buttons obviously telling us Important Things. Plus he was physically imposing and spoke in an very authoritative manner. I was pretty young and taken aback. For one minute. Then I pulled out my own very impressive and identical piece of test gear and explained to him how those things worked, how to read them properly and what they were actually saying. He really didn't know what he was looking at and just wanted to BS me into making his trouble call go away.

He had a motive to deceive me.

In that case it was obvious, not so much in others - and in my view that includes religions and about anyone else who wants to Show You The Way. I just don't think anyone really does have the Answer and that all roads lead to Rome; it's the message not the method. Awareness is the companion of Consciousness. I am very cautious when I hear folks making bold statements with certainty that believe they have the correct answer; mystics, religious and spiritual leaders couching a message in strange or foreign speech, ritualistic practices, ceremony etc . Also of those who want to use impressive physics and mathematics to prove their point. All of that is like waving test gear with cool looking lights on it under my nose. Doesn't mean I don't listen, you never know what someone will say - but sometimes I hear familiar things even if they come in many disparate forms.

We all pick something that gives us comfort, even if it's the certainty of the physical world, atheism and no expectation of life after death.

My personal belief - and to be totally honest it's Belief - is that consciousness is not tied to a body and there is more to our existence than can be easily quantified. I pick and choose sources to my liking - in my case the hunt for an academic or clinical or military reference. Some are comfortable with other references. Not uncommon to have those poo-pooed by others as inaccurate, wrongheaded or what have you. Like ufology - which may not be as separate a topic as we might think - there are those who find easy prey in these arenas. I think the book I mentioned is written by one of those.