It also matches up with the "pre-birth memory" phenomenon.This is an area that interests me, because there does seem to be strong evidence, and because it links up with Michael Newton's claims, and with the claims of some NDErs.
http://skeptiko-forum.com/threads/239-dr-jim-tucker-compiles-database-of-past-life-memories.545/
David
It also matches up with the "pre-birth memory" phenomenon.
No, there are just a good number of seemingly credible people with pre-birth memories. Ive mentioned my friends previously, and there are some good ones on youtube and some here http://www.oberf.org/prebirth.htmIs that just part of Newton's regressions, or something else?
@LetsEat Incidentally LetsEat is doubtful about Newton's work because of his experience as a hypnotherapist.
David
Which aspects of his books do you feel were likely fabricated?No, there are just a good number of seemingly credible people with pre-birth memories. Ive mentioned my friends previously, and there are some good ones on youtube and some here http://www.oberf.org/prebirth.htm
Regarding Newton, Im convinced of two things when it comes to him. Im no expert, but ive read both his books and have conversed with a couple of people who worked with him (I talked with them online) and have read reviews of people who worked with him. My 2 opinions 1) He has had a lot of legitimate success doing regression work with many many people. 2) He's cleaned up a lot of the transcripts and maybe even fabricated parts of them to make the books more tidy and presentable and hes exaggerated what he KNOWS about the afterlife. I'm pretty confident that that is the story with him,.
Watching this led me to a 2015 interview of Alex's with Jim Tucker and the Ian Stevenson studies of reincarnated children, 75% with traumatic death memories. It seems to be strong evidence of the power of consciousness, not only leading to a carry-over of experience but also physical manifestations of previous injury.Fantastic short video on the science of re-incarnation. It covers some of the research which has been done including a couple of noteworthy cases. The evidence for the reality of re-incarnation is extraordinarily strong in my opinion and VERY difficult to explain away.
I don't understand one thing:
Why are you all so optimistic about these things?
Even if people have past life memories, that doesn't prove an afterlife or world beyond our physical one. Those memories might be directly injected into the experiencer's current "self", not have been experienced by the experiencer's current "self".
When we die, our "self" may not pass onto next life or spiritual world, our "self" just disappear. There may be something else, like memories, which will be gleaned and recycled by some force beyond, like God, extraterrestial forces, etc. But our "self" won't take this fortune and probably won't be cherished or granted the privilege by those forces.
I don't see it as optimism. Sometimes I'd just as much prefer to disappear. Having to come back and do it all over again isn't a source of joy. If this life is not satisfactory, then doing it twice or three times or a hundred times is just many times more disatisfaction and troubles over and over.
But - from my own experience, we do come back. I say that not because of memories. It is something else which continues, it is the feeling of self, of being, of existing. It is very hard to put into words. What is it that makes me a person who calls himself 'Typoz' and what is it that makes you someone different who goes by the name 'Tarantulanebula'?
Anyway, for me, the biggest problem, the one thing above all which I had to solve, was why I had pains and emotions which must have had some powerful events to cause such feelings, yet my life here was very simple, rather boring and uninteresting, but not unhappy in itself. Why did I hurt so much, deep inside, not a physical pain which I could go to see a doctor about, but a mental pain which was without a cause? I struggled with this problem for a number of years, my life ground to a halt, I couldn't work, I could barely live.
Then, after much reading and much inner turmoil, by some chance events (seemingly) I found the cause of my unhappiness. It did have a cause after all. It was simply a continuation of where I left off in a previous lifetime. There had been events and causes there, real happenings which caused these emotions and distress.
This is a complicated and personal story, the details I cannot share, it is a story for myself only. Nevertheless it was a huge relief. There was a cause and effect after all. This simple outcome, after years of difficulty, the understanding that the universe can be understood, it isn't just chance, there is some logic to it, this gave me cause to hope. It meant this life is not in vain. No life is without meaning, everyone has value, each is a part of a very much bigger picture, extending far beyound our short human lifetimes.
I don't claim any bigger understanding, I don't speak much of God, I don't say where we are going, what is our destination. For me it is sufficient that I know an explanation is possible.
On a slighly different topic, there is something else which gives me hope. It is the fact that we have free will. We can choose. This is very powerful - and there are many who seek to deny freewill, to try to make us believe we are mere machines, random collisions between atoms and molecules. I don't accept that. Free will is fundamental, and it is this which is the real hope, the ability to change course. If things are not satisfactory, we can decide to try a different approach, to do things differently. This is most of all taking place deep inside ourself. It isn't the external actions, these could be mere play-acting or carrying out the instructions from someone else. But the way we approach these things, everything, on the inside, this is where we can choose. Here is the place to set a different path.
Hello Tarantulanebula, it's good to hear from you.
You are right and I agree with you that my previous reply was not very satisfactory.
In fact, even the same day that I wrote that post, I began reflecting on what I had written. It seemed to me one of the weakest and least complete accounts that I have written about my experiences. I have attempted many times to describe these things, sometimes on several different forums, and some days I have included more detail. At times I have felt the urge, the need to talk about these things. But maybe each time I do so, the story becomes a bit less fresh, getting more stale. It is partly because I have to talk about things which were happening to me around the year 1980, and that is a long time ago now. Nearly forty years have passed. Things which burned in me like a fire back then are more distant and like a glow which remains after a fire subsides.
What I'm saying is only background, I'm not here attempting to answer you yet. But it seems some times I've expressed more fully the essence of my life story, but on other days it just seems ordinary, the same as any other tale.
Sorry, all this is a distraction. I want to reply again later when I have reconsidered how best to give a proper account of how and why I came to see myself, my life and the world, in the way I do.
As for yourself, Tarantulanebula, I hope you are well. I know sometimes you talk about the pressure of your job, working hard many days without a break. And we also hear in the news of a virus which is causing concern and disruption to ordinary life, for example transport and movement is disrupted.
Good wishes to you.
Tarantulanebula
I've noticed that you tend to express negative thoughts and dark or depressing ideas about the way things are. I think this is something you should pay attention to.
I'll tell you a little story - entirely true, this is not fiction, but something very real which happened to me during the past year or so.
I had been going through a dark period, a kind of depression where every day was pain and suffering, without light. I should add that nowadays I measure these things relative to where I've already been in my life. This recent experience was almost nothing, almost a slight ripple compared with some of the very deep troughs I've journeyed through in the past. Nevertheless, I was struggling on, each day in gloom and despondency, nothing seemed worthwhile.
But one day, I woke up and I felt fine. Everything was ok, it was like the first warm day at the beginning of summer, after a long cold winter. I felt happy, overjoyed. Later on that day, I had a thought about something. I don't recall exactly what, it might have been about shortage of money, or about some unpleasant incident I recalled, I'm not sure. Anyway, within a few moments, perhaps five or ten seconds, I found myself back in depression and suffering again.
This is hard to describe, it is all happening within my mind. But there it was, after months of darkness and suffering, then emerging into warm sunlight, I found myself right back in the gloom again. I pondered on this. What just happened? A chain of events. A few moments thinking some negative idea, and my whole world had changed. It didn't seem fair. I was shocked, a little angry at the unfairness of it all. But then I reasoned: if a simple negative thought can take me into a dark place where I then find myself caught, there must be some other thought which could reverse the process. I sat and dwelt on this for a short while, a few minutes. Gradually my inner clouds lifted and I was back in the sun again.
With some relief, I relaxed a little. But, I asked myself, if that should happen again, how do I find my way out? Surprisingly, a voice replied, "The doorway is always directly in front of you".
That may sound puzzling, but I think I learned something valuable that day.
I'm reminded sometimes of when a fly or maybe a wasp finds its way indoors, and keeps buzzing around, then finds a window and keeps bouncing off the pane of glass. Sometimes I will open the window, but only one small pane will open, the rest of the window doesn't open. I try to fan the fly, wafting it towards the open window, but still it keeps on banging its nose into the glass elsewhere. Sooner or later it will probably find the open part by chance, and fly outside, free once more.
I think maybe sometimes we are like that fly or wasp, bouncing off the closed pane of glass, only finding the way out by chance.
Well, that's really the end of what I wanted to talk about. However, my point in telling this is to emphasise that thoughts are important. We can be imprisoned by our own thoughts. We don't deal in neutral observations here, every thought carries us along with it. We need to be careful where we send ourselves.
By the way, I don't mean to disrespect or minimise the sufferings and distress of anyone who has suffered or is suffering from depression. I'm aware of how hard life can be at times. I wish strength and courage to anyone in that situation.