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Cases of children speaking of previous lives are among the phenomena that have come to be identified as possible evidence for human individuality extending beyond birth and death. The stronger and weaker sides of these cases will be presented to allow the participants to gain some insight into the quality of the evidence. I present three cases that I have investigated in Sri Lanka. In one the statements of the child were amply recorded before the core statements were found to fit a person who died three years before the child was born. In another case the statements of the child were assessed retrospectively, but a cluster of prominent birthmarks were found to fall within the area of fatal injuries described in a post-mortem report. Finally, a case in which the child makes unverifiable statements, one of which cannot be corresponding to any fact. - With slides.
Talk for 30 minutes. During this time she will share:
Demonstration of Channelling for approximately 30 minutes where the audience can ask questions.
Among the very few common doctrines in all the religions is that it is possible for a person to practise spiritual disciplines for the sake of transformation so that the person's identity is defined less and less by an isolated self and more and more by an integrative and unitive self. The hoped for transformation is from an identification of oneself exclusively as the body to the supreme identity of oneness with the all. A fully developed person can mirror all the dimensions of reality, including the non-material ones. These multiple levels of identity can be spoken of as levels of spiritual development or in terms of levels of materiality corresponding to subtler and subtler bodies. Only the intermediate levels of subtlety are said to be subject to reincarnation. Spiritual disciplines do not aim at or hope for reincarnation. Each person is in fact condemned to reincarnation until one develops to the level of subtlety and freedom which is not subject to the law of cause and effect. The birth at that level is virginal, not biological, but possibly only in a suitably prepared body-mind.
When I think about wanting to survive death, it's "me" that wants to survive, but who is this "me?" This physical "me" has blue eyes, but if I survive as "soul," whatever that is, do I need blue eyes to be "me?" Research has shown that lots of what we take to be "me" is not simply a personality or mental trait, but has a lot to do with the particular neuro-chemical condition of my physical body - so who or what might survive? If I automatically identify with the parts of "me" that are mostly physically based, will I be in for a bigger shock at death than necessary? If I work to lessen this "me" while alive, would something "bigger," something "spiritual" in nature benefit? We don't have any firm answers, but it's important to think about, as it affects how we will live - and die.
Past life regression, spirit release and soul retrieval all make use of what Carl Jung called active imagination to access the collective unconscious. Archetypal images spontaneously arise in a realm untrammelled by the five senses and where synchronicity abounds. Clinical case studies will be used to illustrate the nature of this extra-sensory domain in which consciousness determines all.
The primary nature of consciousness is given further support by quantum physics. It is argued that consciousness collapses the wave function, out of which emerges our familiar and apparently stable world of sense perception. We have a new framework for thinking about the Self, yet one which flows from Jung's concepts of half a century ago.
The ego-centred psychology born of space-time impels us to ask such questions as whether individual identity endures beyond the incarnate psyche. From within the confines of the embodied mind, there can be no independent, demonstrable proof for, as with the wave-particle, all observations are rooted deep in our subjectivity. We are more than likely to come up with the evidence we seek, since we collapse the wave in accordance with our expectations.
Before embarking on a journey to an unknown country it is as well to learn something of what lies ahead. If human survival is a fact, we thus need to find out what the next world is like, and to provide ourselves with something of a route map to its terrain. In the West, little real attention has been paid by orthodox religion to what we can usefully call otherworld geography. We are expected to take its existence on faith and to leave the rest to divine providence. But in the Eastern spiritual traditions and in the Western mystery teachings interesting and sometimes precise descriptions are given of the next world and of the preparations we should make for the experiences it offers. Mediumistic communications are also claimed to give useful information, as are the accounts yielded by out of body and near death excursions. Many of these descriptions show remarkable consistency, and the presentation will draw some of them together and attempt to offer an overall picture.
The process of dying has been well studied scientifically, from a physiological point of view. Little attention has been paid to the subjective experience of the dying person. There are numerous anecdotal accounts but very few proper studies of deathbed visions. There is almost a conspiracy of silence concerning the experiences of the dying, and hospices, while dealing admirably with the physiological and psychological aspects of approaching death, are reluctant to acknowledge or examine those experiences which seem to lie outside our culture. It is surprising how many people report that either they, a relative, or a friend, have been aware of either a presence or an apparition which appeared at the time of death, usually with the aim of comforting the dying person, or saying that they had come to collect them. More scientific studies are needed in this area.
Near death experiences have been thoroughly studied since Raymond Moody brought them to public attention in the 1970s. Surprisingly, although almost thirty years have gone by since then, there have been no proper prospective studies. However, two such studies have recently been carried out, the first at Southampton Hospital, by Dr. Sam Parnia, and the second in a Welsh Intensive Care Unit by Penny Sartori. The data from these two studies will be presented.
What connects the lives I may have had with the ones I may yet have by definition also "survives" during my current life. In several publications, I have argued that this core "stuff" is neither purely physical nor non-physical but is, rather, a double aspected unity of energy-consciousness, neither aspect of which is reducible to the other. The resulting theory ("Energy Monism") incorporates the strengths of traditional dualism, materialism, idealism, and panpsychism, while avoiding their weaknesses; it is relatively new in the history of philosophy and science, although has close affinities with the perennialist perspectives of both Spinoza and Wilber. In this presentation, I argue for Energy Monism on the basis of both theoretical analysis and empirical data, with reference to out-of-body experiences, healing and the nature of the self-as-subject. I also respond to several objections.
Our perspective of life between life has focused mainly on information received from those who have experienced NDEs or from regression therapy. However, increasing information is emerging from another spectrum of society – the children – who recall, not only memories from past lives, but also that of life within the womb and between lives. These individuals, whose spiritual connections are still conscious, bring to us wisdom which challenges a limited view of individual identity.
The stories of a child remembering the sound of their mother's blood pulsating through the arteries, of sensing anxiety for a healthy delivery or of recalling different relationships with various members of the family in past lives, allows us to glimpse the wealth of knowledge available to us.
I have studied willing or guessing a 1-0 signal from simple random events generators (dice or PC game). Bias possibilities were thoroughly prevented. These processes were drawn as two dimensional step-wise random walk diagrams (up if successful and down if not). There were forty experiments, and on average 250 steps each, depending on when mental fatigue set in.
Results:
Peculiar upper limits of psychokinetic performance (e.g. +6,+6,+6,+6,+6,+6, and suddenly +8,+8,+8,+8... and +13,+13,+13...) slowly pushed further as if a morphogenetic field were active.
Conspicuous back-lash runs immediately following successful upwards runs, as if the binominal distribution pattern actually were an entity alive in time (!)
Discussion:
By human mind discerned patterns, actual willing better than chance, and strong heterogeneity of distribution of "good" and "bad luck" may depend on intersecting higher dimensions.
Some say, "There is no God, but God " – that is, their God. If you do not believe in that God, you are wrong – evil, even. Of course others know that the only true God is really their God. So both sides are absolutely certain that they are right: they know it beyond doubt. It is very easy to find any number of people with completely incompatible views, but each with the total conviction that he is right. There can be no better demonstration that 'personal knowledge' cannot be relied upon as evidence.
Of course in the final analysis we do not actually know what is out there at all. We do not know what distinguishes living things from non-living, or where consciousness begins. We can be absolutely certain of only one thing, and that is our own consciousness.
The "knowledge" that we get from Science suffers from exactly the same lack of certainty as any other 'external' knowledge. But Science has developed a methodology which allows us to test our perceived knowledge in relation to our shared 'consensual reality'. We can never be sure that the "consensual reality" actually exists, but by applying the accepted scientific method we can get as close to certainty as it is logically possible to be.
Because of lack of success in using conventional Science to prove 'the paranormal', some have suggested that we need a new kind of science. Of course the kind of science we use is not the only possible one – but it is the only one which has shown that it gives us results which stand the test of time, in our 'consensual reality'. The idea of developing a new methodology of science is interesting – but we cannot apply any new method until it has been thoroughly tested over a long period and shown to provide reproducible results. There are at present no credible candidates to fulfil such a role.
Beyond the brain! What does it mean? Does it mean going out of brain! Transcension of brain! Or, total denial of existence of brain! Who is he desiring to travel beyond brain? Does he dwell inside the brain and is now willing to change his residence? Beyond brain, but where? Can the place be located in space? If the brain is a structure of space and time, then does it mean going beyond space-time?
The answers could be found in the mechanics of Conquering the Brain. Collectively the human brains have constructed the present picture of the universe. Then, by beyond the brain, do we mean a journey beyond the universe? Are we envisaging a plane from where the universe(s) are born, the plane in which several universe(s) are to die! English dictionary does not offer any plural for the universe on an assumption that the universe is only one. On the other hand, one envisages beyond brain a pluralism at the highest level, the existence of multiple universe(s), the multiverse, forming a system, the Multiversity!
The brain is not material. Beyond the brain, therefore, does not mean beyond material. The brain itself is beyond material. It is an organised collection of 100 billions of living neurons along with 700-800 billions of supporting cells (glia), fed through an enormously laid out vascular bed maintaining exchange of chemicals and gases. The cells here are all conscious, communicating through an elaborate network of synapses, the activities in most of which are transacted at quantum level. Beyond the brain, therefore, does not mean going beyond quantum world. The brain itself is beyond quantum world. The brain makes uses of quantum mechanics for routine communication amongst its parts.
The neurons composing the brain are all conscious. What, therefore 'beyond the brain' really means is beyond consciousness. May be beyond consciousness within the brain. This leads us to two questions. What is that which leaves brain when a person dies? What is that which comes back into the brain when a person is reborn in the same body? Life and Death are two of the five elementary phenomena. Beyond the brain then really means beyond the domain of elementary phenomena. Is it not a real wonderment how does brain handle these phenomena at elementary level! Doesn't it appear amazing how does brain master their mechanics? Without gaining mastery over the mechanics of elementary phenomena, how would it be possible by brain to go beyond itself?
The journey beyond brain, therefore, focuses on the very purpose of evolution of brain as an organ in living being. It is a journey therefore not in horizontal but in a vertical direction. The purpose of evolution of other organs like, bones, muscles, even lungs, liver, or kidneys are well known over the entire phylogenetic spectrum and in ontogenetic scale as well. Their purpose is known to almost completion point. On the contrary, in spite of having so much knowledge on mode of functioning of brain, the scientists today have no final answer to the purpose of evolution of the brain!
The purpose of evolution of brain as an organ in a living being, as realised during conquering the brain, is to unify consciousness within and consciousness without. If consciousness within the brain is vertically stratified as brainstem consciousness, limbic system consciousness, and cortical consciousness, what could be the next vertical plateau. The brain is destined to evolve following this triune development?
To fulfil its purpose, the brain has already biologised quantum mechanics and has been trying at present to biologise the mechanics of elementary phenomena. A yogi's brain experiences life, death and rebirth in every sitting of his deep meditation. To go beyond brain therefore really means to explore the very purpose of its development and to discover the Being who has willed to design it. It cannot be made possible by leaving the brain, denying the brain, or ignoring the brain. Being in the brain it is a realisation of the ultimate purpose of its development. It is to become aware of consciousness outside the brain, to learn the mechanics for 'tapping' the Essence from interuniversal plane. This state of the being is required to be expressed with a vibrant phase, amounts to acceptance of the existing reality of supracortical consciousness, which appears as the first tangible landmark beyond brain.
This presentation will explore the phenomenon of the likeness of the presenter's late wife (who died in October 1995) appearing in a photograph taken in May 1997 of his then four-year-old daughter, where the daughter's face and head is completely replaced by that of an adult's image. This image shows a strong resemblance to the presenter's late wife as she looked just before she died. For comparison, a photograph taken a month before her death will be shown. Another photograph of the daughter, also taken at the same time as the 'mystery' photograph, will show the stark dissimilarity between the two images.
However, rather than using this photographic evidence to prove the survival of the personal identity, the presenter will argue, from his own near-death experience and integral understanding of the nondual world view, that such phenomena, while they exist, are not helpful for any profound understanding of life. Rather, they are distractions from the main purpose of perceiving in the here and now whether there is at all, fundamentally, something that may be called 'personal identity'. The presenter, however, will not be postulating the traditional nondual view that what is termed 'personal' is simply the sense of ego, but will examine the work of transpersonal spiritual teacher A.H. Almaas in elucidating how the sense of the personal comes from that which is the Ground of Being. So while denying that a personal identity—in terms of it being a socially constructed personality with a personal history—is what ultimately survives death, the presenter will argue that what survives is that which is never born nor dies; our intrinsic Awareness, our Glassy Essence, which is also our most personal Self, but very different to what we normally conceive of as being 'me'.
We do understand that all phenomena in the universe, though impermanent in nature, do continue to exist with necessary transformation. Human beings are also part of this universal phenomena.
Unlike other material phenomena, all sentient living beings including human beings are considered to be higher forms of existent phenomena. Human beings are considered more intelligent even among sentient living beings.
However, when it comes to the question of the continuation of our own existence, we seem to have a strong doubt about it. We do not even try to entertain the idea of a 'possibility'. When some other culture has other ways of understanding about such questions, we tend to reject the ideas simply by explaining away with not so logical statement like 'we do not remember our past' and so on.
One of the reasons why we are not able to have a clear understanding of our own existence is that we do not understand the fundamental components of our human 'person'. We do talk about the mind but we think it is just a function of our physical body and we see our material physical body disintegrates at the time of our 'dying'. Hence we conclude that 'we' end our existence with the death.
In the first place, we need to have a better understanding of the phenomena called 'mind'. One thing we do understand about the mind is that it is more powerful than our material physical 'body'. The nature of the mind and the body are not the same. The nature of the body is 'material' where as the mind's is non-material. The mind does depend on the material body for its existential functioning.
In our present time, it appears that we have not given much attention and time in trying to understand the nature, function and the role of the mind is our existence. Thus, if we see the necessity of understanding the continuation of our existence and it's bearing on the kind of living experience that we wish to have then we must be willing to investigate the nature and relationship of our body and mind.
As the material-physical body has it's substantial cause so has the mind but their nature and sources are not the same. We will find many contradictions if they have the same substantial cause or if each of them is the substantial cause of each other.
Understanding the body-mind causal relations may pave further avenues to see the possibility of the continuation of our existence beyond death.
The Maperton Trust is an educational charity concerned with the holistic approach to health. Holism in health care covers all ways of getting ill and all ways of getting and keeping well.
Optimum health is defined as a state when a person is balanced in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual and therefore is in the best state to evolve.
Part of the research by the Trust has been concerned with the link between various health care disciplines and how these disciplines can be made available to the sick. During this research we have created a data base of the therapeutic effects of homoeopathy, herbalism, acupuncture, gem, flower remedies, light, colour, sound, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and many psychological and physiological conditions.
Our research has also provided us with a way of connecting with the subconscious of the person being treated providing accurate information on the health state of the individual.
By writing a programme to combine these two factors to provide optimum treatment for each individual we have, in three years of trials, achieved a considerable level of success in giving free treatment to the local people.
Idea:
The brain-self-dualism by the late Sir John C. Eccles is still one of the state of the art theories in neuroscience and consciousness research. How can one prove such a theory that implies biological brain effects of an immaterial structure, the self? In 1998 a research project was started in Berlin with the idea to discuss this question by using the phenomenon of deep trance mediumship.
Concept:
Certain deep trance mediums are supposed to be able to loosen the close connection between their brain and their consciousness and thus give a second consciousness or self (e.g. of a late person) the opportunity to use the medium's brain, voice, and body. The intention of the research project is to conduct a series of interviews with a late neuroscientist to discuss the brain-self-interaction mechanism. Who to call if not the late John C Eccles himself? A certain very experienced Austrian deep trance medium was selected and first interviewed about her experiences and the phenomenon itself. Later deep trance interviews with "Eccles" were conducted, recorded, and analysed.
First results:
First there were slight language problems, answers came in English and German."Eccles" was asked to describe the quantum physical and physiological interaction of self and brain, but was limited by the lack of scientific terms in the medium's memory. He gave definitions of the self, the soul, the consciousness and tried to explain the "place" where he is now.
Discussion and Outlook:
Maybe for methodological reasons there will never be a proof that the consciousness who spoke through the medium was really the late John C. Eccles or more than the medium's (sub)conscious at all. Still the answers we got are fascinating enough to continue the series of interviews. It is suggested to repeat this project with other deep trance mediums in other countries (and languages). This should be done in a networked manner to compare results. At least this will help us to better understand the phenomenon of mediumship.
In August 1999 nearly 300 people spent three days at St John's College Cambridge considering whether consciousness extends beyond birth and death. Could such an event been held in 1959? No. In 1969? Most unlikely. In 1979? Well, DAVID LORIMER in opening the Conference reminded us that in 1974, six months after its foundation, the Network mounted an invited conference cautiously but rotundly entitled Ideas on the extension of individual awareness beyond the two ends of earthly life. A public conference in 1989? Possibly. In 1999 not only was such an event held, but the consensus amongst its largely secular audience was that consciousness does indeed so extend.
Dr. PETER FENWICK on the one hand, and DIANE O'CONNELL on the other, illustrated very different ways of developing this theme. Peter gave us a beautifully judged exposition of the evidence (with the promise of more to come) concerning the largely neglected area of the subjective experience of dying, both that of the person who dies and of those with them as they die. Not only are deathbed visions, commonly of visitors who come to comfort and welcome, far from rare, but awareness of such phenomena is sometimes shared amongst all those in the room. He followed this, not with an orthodox questions and answer session, but with an invitation to the audience to speak about their own 'near death' experiences. There followed a trickle turning to a flood of awesome, memorable and difficult to stop accounts of provocative and moving events, most of which chimed convincingly with the data just presented. A good example of the power of orthodox scientific method to illuminate dark areas, provided you have the wit to choose and the courage to pursue the conventionally improper question.
Diane, who also has an orthodox background, is now a renowned professional healer and channeller. She contributed a demonstration rather than an exposition, though supplemented it by an interesting account of her own path and an explanation of channelling (and indeed of healing) as perhaps an extended form of intuition. The content of the material she channelled from an (apparently never incarnated) lama, both spontaneous and in response to audience questions, could perhaps be characterised as hinting at the profound though unoriginal, which is hardly surprising since the deeper we probe the closer we converge. Its form could take explanations other than that of communication with a discarnate entity (as I think Diane would agree), but it is the nature of the experiential that it cannot be contained within a single explanation. Maybe this is where we need the sensitively constructed experiment: Diane complemented by Peter.
The first full day had begun with a typically intelligent and wide-ranging presentation by Dr. MARILYN SCHLITZ, Research Director of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, co-sponsor with the Network of the Conference. She provided an anthropological perspective towards death, and while reminding us that expectation could distort objectivity, noted that what carries conviction is subjective experience, not objective results. So what is 'real' experience? Perhaps material reality is an aspect of a lucid dream from which death awakens us. (And can we wake from it before death?)
Some of her illustrations of birth marks which tally with ancestral misfortunes were taken up by Prof. ERLENDUR HARALDSSON, who provided a detailed analysis of three cases of children who appear to remember past lives. He made vivid the value of meticulous attention to detail, without which no proper conclusions can be drawn.
Prof. RAVI RAVINDRA as always made spiritual truths seem both sublime and commonplace, in that they are everywhere about us. He emphasised the duality of the self: singular and universal, isolated and unitive. Science seeks (is) knowledge, spirituality transformation, and that requires a 'centred self'. Reincarnation (generally regarded in the East as a punishment) is not the same as being born again. His comments about this distinction contributed to a minor theme running through the conference: what is it that might reincarnate, and what are the practical implications of the various answers to this question.
In the evening we enjoyed a remarkably successful video conferencing session with Prof. CHARLEY TART in Canada. He unfolded for us a remarkable case concerning a NDE during drastic heart and head surgery, during which all bodily functions were not only monitored but brought temporarily to a standstill. It appears that the patient noted the detailed appearance of certain instruments at a time when her EEG was flat, generally regarded as a sign of brain death. His presentation illustrated the value of a single fully documented case study. In no way could this data be dismissed as a mere 'anecdote', as sceptics are wont to call anything other than a randomised trial.
Indeed the next morning provocative anecdotes, here better described as clinical case studies, were set by Dr. ANDREW POWELL within a beautifully crafted and wide-ranging presentation, which itself significantly enhanced their impact. For me this illustrated the ultimate inseparability of form and content, itself reflecting the necessity of duality which, transcended, attains a higher unity. Andrew related Jung's collective unconscious and synchronicity to examples of past life regression and spirit release, showing how the evidence pointed to the primacy of consciousness over matter. Going further, he cited AMRIT GOSWAMI'S work (in particular his The Self-Aware Universe) as illustrating how close this view is to the findings of modern physics. Andrew's comments on the place of the shadow within this comprehensive vision I found especially illuminating.
Dr. MICHAEL GROSSO and Prof. DAVID FONTANA share a deep knowledge of psychical research, though both move with professional confidence and expertise within psychology and philosophy. Michael celebrated the convergence of psychical research and transpersonal psychology, and commended to us the use of the will, provocatively for me in relation to diet and fasting contemplation. He noted how easily we can 'fabricate fantasy', and how readily the sceptic will dismiss the whole if part is false. Michael ranged widely, so widely that to follow all the threads would call for another conference, if not another lifetime.
David, on the other hand, after some tantalising remarks concerning recent psychical manifestations, and some penetrating ones about the evolution of consciousness, confined himself to illustrating the broadly convergent map which the esoteric traditions provide of the layout of the after-life. This sort of exercise runs the risk of coming across as overly schematic and conventionally moralistic, a trap he perhaps did not entirely avoid. The effort to translate oneself from one level of the spiritual universe to the next can sound a little like the application required to escape being kept down an extra year in the lower fifth, and sits uneasily with the identity that God is Love.
GESHE NGAWANG is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, who had debated earlier with Ravi about Hindu and Buddhist models of identity, and who later gave a moving description of a deathbed vigil in response to Peter's presentation. He talked to us wisely about the need to understand (in the full sense of that word) the nature of mind if we are to discover that part of it which survives death.
The earlier than expected arrival of new life within my family meant I had to leave during the last morning, after Prof. MARK WOODHOUSE but sadly before Dr. CHRISTINE PAGE'S final presentation and David Lorimer's summing up. Mark links the living expression of his energy monism with its experimental and philosophical substrate in a way which engages and convinces. Vivid and often personal examples of intuitives who 'deliver the goods' were used to illustrate the many dimensions of and filters within that unity which manifests as both energy and consciousness and which is the Cosmos. Like Ravi in another context (or is there only One Context?), he distinguished 'I' from 'me'. Perhaps we cannot find the 'I' because the 'I' is single, and is the universal mind.
I understand that Christine gave a characteristically mobile and vigorous presentation, focusing initially on the exuberance and intuitive insights of the child, which are later so curbed and conditioned. In regression therapy some of the ability of the young to pass from one aspect of reality to another can be regained, greatly to the benefit of our well-being.
David, I'm told, summed up as cogently as ever, illustrating the way in which Christian mysticism and esoteric theology reflect and indeed deepen many of the themes developed at the Conference. He stressed the way in which our preconceptions and previous experience determine in so large measure the way we perceive and interpret evidence.
A Cambridge college is an excellent though not perfect venue for an international conference of this sort. Organisationally things run smoothly, the food is good, the servitors young and attractive, the walks superb, the ambience apposite. On the other hand it is expensive, with uncomfortable seating in Hall, the constrictions on personal exchange and debate inevitable in a conventional lecture theatre, and the opportunities for partying have to be self-generated. Two valuable innovations this year were individual introductions from the platform by the speakers on the first evening, and a 'forum for sharing experiences and insights' each afternoon, when we gathered in small groups to let off steam and grope towards an intersubjective experience.
Overall though this Conference, the third in a continuing series, was not only fun to be at, but from a larger perspective was a remarkable success. Often we do not recognise how fast and how much things are changing. In 1989 the Berlin wall came down, but in 1999 the walls of Valhalla itself are collapsing. More precisely, the glass wall set up by Galilean science between the observer and the observed, the subjective and the objective, conscious experience and 'scientific fact' is crumbling. It is increasingly recognised that the problem with materialistic science is not that it is wrong , but that as it stands it is irredeemably incomplete. Cambridge 1999 did nothing to discredit orthodox methodology, but the data presented and the experiential and participatory methods we explored went well beyond what is acceptable to the public face of science. In particular, the Conference gave consciousness, which mainstream science does not know how to begin to explain, its proper place at the centre of human and universal experience, and showed that in this sphere as in all others reason and intuition can complement and reinforce each other in seeking out the path which leads to wisdom, itself that unity of knowledge and love. What a hopeful way to end a Millennium!
Dr. Julian Candy is a Vice-Chair of the Network Council