I’ve just finished the second book in this series. I didn’t highlight as many things as I did with Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects but did find some good nuggets.
Calloway claimed that he went on to experience many of these so-called dreams of knowledge, in which the realization that he was dreaming allowed him freedom of action in them. He could command himself to rise off the ground, glide at a height of 100 feet, and pass through walls, although he was always eventually called back to his body by some unknown force that made his head ache when he attempted to resist it.
This is also known as a lucid dream which I’ve had quite a few times in my life. It occurs when I suddenly realize my reality is simply too strange and so must be a dream. Then, I catch myself from waking up and take control of the dream, almost always deciding to start flying. Perhaps one day I’ll study on how to make this happen at will but for the moment, I’m content with just a good nights sleep.
Like the Theosophists, he believed that most of his travels took place in the astral plane through the vehicle of his astral body. He claimed to have learned the technique of “skyring,” or rising through the higher planes of existence, but was frightened by one trip that seemed to take him to the edge of outer space, where he encountered an awe-inspiring succession of concentric circles of light.
I’ve had a dream similar to this. In fact, I know the exact date – 10/27/2012 because it left such a powerful impression on me that I wrote in down in this very blog. I asked to meet my subconscious and in my dream encountered a being so magnificent and powerful that I was terrified, not of being harmed but of simply being in the presence of a power that is incomprehensible in our normal reality. I’ve kept this entry private until now.
Their efforts to recall the hopes expressed in the 1920s by psychic researcher Archibald Holms: “A widespread conviction of continued existence after death and of the temporary character of earth life would do much to ameliorate conditions in the latter. The outlook on life would be different, things now regarded as of paramount importance would cease to be so regarded; unscrupulous ambition, the passion for wealth and power over one’s fellow-men, and the desire for social distinction, would all be robbed of their glamour, to the great good of the individual and the masses.”
This gives me comfort. As I age I try to be more mindful and always on the search for that which I believe is there but so far have only penetrated in mental flickers through meditation and dreams. Life and all its busyness are constantly distracting, making me forget what is truly important and causing precious time to pass unheeded like running water wasted down the drain.
The being of light. Possibly the most amazing element in the accounts that Moody studied, and the one that has the most profound effect on the individual, is the encounter with the being of light. Typically, the light is dim at first but then waxes brighter and brighter until it reaches an unearthly or indescribable brilliance. At the same time, those who have seen the light say that it does not hurt their eyes or keep them from being able to see other things. Perhaps, Moody notes, this is because the dying do not have physical eyes to be dazzled.
In every case that Moody recorded, those who saw the light as part of a near-death experience knew that it was a being, one who emanated love and warmth beyond description. The identification of this being varies with the religious background of the dying person. Most Christians see the light as Christ, whereas Jews have identified it as an angel. That being may communicate with the dying person seemingly by thought transference. Usually it asks a question that is understood as “Are you prepared to die?” or “What have you done with your life to show me?” or “Is it worth it?” None of the subjects felt that the questions were judgmental or condemning.
Is it a separate being, our higher selves, or both?
And for some, the NDE was even unpleasant. One woman remarked, “If you leave here a tormented soul, you will be a tormented soul over there, too.” A widower who tried to commit suicide said, “I didn’t go where [my wife] was. I went to an awful place…. I immediately saw what a mistake I had made.” Such cases were a small minority of Moody’s sample, however.
This frightens me. Every human being has negative thoughts, the difference in characters is the balance between negative and positive, Ying and Yang. But I would think the divine unjust since so many humans are born and raised in circumstances where the negative outweighing the positive is a certainty. Those born in a ghetto and thus predisposed to a life of crime are going to continue their misery in the afterlife? If we look at Christianity the doctrine preaches it both ways: the wicked will burn in hell for their deeds unless they accept Jesus and repent before death.
My own thoughts are that yes, perhaps the mindset with all its emotions will persist after death. I just hope the “being of light” has a way to help and wash it all away. If that “being of light” is our higher selves then does our experience on Earth influence it in any way, or would the earthly experience be like a drop of water in an infinite ocean?
Finally, Ring speculates “with considerable intellectual reluctance” that the being of light and the voice that seems to be heard by thought transference in the NDE come from within – from a “higher self” that he suggests is vastly different from normal consciousness. The higher self, says Ring, could have total knowledge of the individual and could produce a review of his or her life in total detail.
I like the idea of a “higher self.” This reminds me of Lord of the Rings and how the Nazgûl reside primarily in the shadow realm with only dark outlines in Middle Earth. I also learned in the Silmarillion that the Elves also reside in two “dimensions” if you will.
The Elves are the “First-born.” They are not angels but have a special connection to the divine that men do not. They exist in both the physical as well as spiritual worlds simultaneously.
The Silmarillion
When Bernstein probed further and asked Bridey about the interval between one life and the next she mentioned “a place of waiting … where everybody waits,” a realm without day or night or death or disease or families. There, she told him, she could travel by merely willing herself to be somewhere else. In time she learned of her imminent rebirth from “some women,” and then she simply “Passed to another existence.”
I heard a story about someone I know who went to a medium and was able to contact that person’s parents. They were all “waiting” in a “place” just as is described above. The mother had a message but the father remained silent. That story and the description above match up.
Cayce identified the source of his knowledge as “the Akashic records,” said to be a sort of cosmic register of all phenomena throughout history.
I was hoping the Akashic records would be from some ancient spiritual civilization but nope, it comes from the Theosophists and that crazy lady Helena Blavatsky. I’m under the opinion she was mostly crazy and in that craziness perhaps she was able to make a few small miracles happen such as her pinging bells that weren’t there.
