Life is apt like-end to a large ship sailing on a vast ocean.
There are no shores in sight, no sailship, where it came from, or where it's going.
Nobody even knows how they got on board in the first place.
Everyone simply shares the same story of waking up one day, and here they were.
As you can imagine, such a mysterious situation as this human condition is quite heavy,
confusing and difficult to deal with.
Observing and living with the fact that, deep down and in utter honesty, yourself and everyone
else on board know nothing, is a truth that very few ever grasp or accept.
A tiny minority in the back of the boat understand and fully embrace this reality, but the
vast majority up front pile hope upon hope that some day, some way, someone will or has
already appeared on board who does know something.
Some say they have seen him.
Some say they are him.
Some say he came to the boat once, but died long ago.
Some claim they know for certain who built the boat.
Some claim the boat-builder even wrote them a book.
Others claim to know where the boat departed from, and others claim to know where it's going.
Excited evangelists, frenzied philosophers, and missionaries on a mission fill the front
of the boat, along with a large crowd of starry-eyed supporters, cocksure and righteously
indignant, virtue-signaling and chest-puffing, always making a noisy commotion, and sometimes
coming to blows with and killing one another.
The few who keep to themselves in the back of the boat, the true skeptics, the radical agnostics,
those who purposely refrain from all beliefs and retain the eyes of a child, are, ironically,
the only ones who will still be open-minded enough to recognize the truth if and when
it is revealed.
Those who think they already know the truth, or follow one who does, are like the naked emperor
and his subjects, acting as if this odd, confusing, mysterious circumstance is no more unusual than
the sun's rise each morning.
Only those who maintain the ability to see life with a fresh pair of eyes would even
notice the emperor was wearing no clothes.
The majority are too busy believing, or pretending to know, something that nobody does.
So there is wisdom in waiting.
Waiting for the afterlife before deciding about death.
Waiting to meet your maker before describing him.
The most cited quote by the most celebrated philosopher in history, Socrates, says essentially
this.
In many ways he would say the same thing, that the only true wisdom is to know that you know
nothing.
The most honest declaration of limitation, All I know is that I know nothing.
It is truly ironic that the most resonant quote by one of the smartest men in history
is simply reminding us that even the most intelligent geniuses really don't know
anything.
We are all in this same boat together.
Nobody knows who built it or why, where it started or where it's going.
But accepting this foundationless foundation is all we have here in the open ocean.
Until we actually see land, the only sane philosophy is to wait.
Every prophet is a sophist.
Every religion is a foregone conclusion.
Those of us in the back of the boat are content with our current ambiguity and
willing to wait for solid ground before making missteps.
Far from impotent or ignorant, the agnostic is ironically the most ready to receive true
gnosis.
As the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated,
He who truly thinks for himself is like a monarch, in that he recognizes no one over
him.
His judgments, like the decisions of a monarch, arise directly from his own absolute
power.
He no more accepts authorities than a monarch does orders, and he acknowledges the
validity of nothing he has not himself confirmed.
Pascal's wager was a theological argument presented by 17th century philosopher
Blaise Pascal positing that everyone is essentially involved in a lifelong gamble
regarding belief in the existence of God.
Pascal's contention was that every rational person
should adopt a lifestyle consistent with the existence of God, and believe, or at
least strive to believe in God.
He reasoned that if God doesn't exist, then believers would incur only minor
losses from being incorrect, such as potentially sacrificing certain worldly
pleasures or luxuries.
However, if God does exist, believers stand to gain immensely, especially those
of the Abrahamic faiths, which promise an eternal afterlife in heaven, while
simultaneously avoiding an eternity of burning in hell.
Pascal wrote, if there is a God, he is infinitely incomprehensible, since having
neither parts nor limits he has no affinity to us.
We are then incapable of knowing either what he is or if he is.
God is or he is not.
But to which side shall we incline?
Reason can decide nothing here.
There is infinite chaos that separated us.
A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or
tails will turn up.
What will you wager?
According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other.
According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
But you must wager.
It is not optional.
You are embarked.
Which will you choose, then?
Pascal argues that the existence or non-existence of God are inherently
impossible to prove through human reasoning.
Therefore, rather than attempting to determine the ultimate truth between the
two options, the best we can do is make our metaphysical wager by weighing out
the possible consequences.
Believers are divinely promised eternity in heaven and to be saved from
eternity in hell, whereas non-believers are barred from heaven and condemned to
eternity in hell.
So if God exists, then the believer's wager provides the ultimate payout.
And if God doesn't exist, then the believer isn't really out anything at all.
In contrast, the non-believer gains nothing from their disbelief, but stands
to lose everything if they are wrong.
If your wager is correct, you gain eternal happiness in heaven.
And if incorrect, you are unavoidably annihilated anyway.
Or, as Pascal said, if you gain, you gain all.
If you lose, you lose nothing.
This pragmatic approach to theology may sound reasonable on the surface.
However, there are several implicit, invalid assumptions in Pascal's argument.
Firstly, it is assumed and implied that belief in the existence of God,
heaven, and hell is as simple as turning on a switch.
Even if I fully agreed with Pascal's premise, the act of genuinely believing and having true
religious faith in no way follows from it.
I cannot simply force myself to believe in something that hasn't been sufficiently
demonstrated and proven beyond any shadow of doubt.
Without seeing the pearly gates with my own eyes, without feeling a lake of fire with
my own feet, without meeting my maker personally and having experiential knowledge of exactly
who that is and what that means, I cannot simply force myself to believe and there will
always remain a nagging and legitimate skepticism.
Also, Pascal bases his belief on a selfish wager hoping to save his own skin, without
acknowledging the fact that an omniscient God would see right through such a scheme.
If the impetus for our faith and the basis for our belief is simply a selfish outcome-based
decision, how could an omniscient God accept this as a legitimate conviction?
Furthermore, Pascal commits the black and white fallacy by presenting a false dilemma
between belief in the Abrahamic God and non-belief in any God whatsoever.
There have been thousands of religions throughout recorded history, each having differing
conceptions of a God or gods, and differing descriptions of afterlife realms, but none
of these are considered in Pascal's wager.
For example, the gods Kali and Odin promise finite, semi-blissful afterlives to their
devotees and not the infinite perfect paradise of heaven promised by the Abrahamic God,
or Buddhists, for example, argue that non-attachment, not belief, is the ultimate epistemic attribute
necessary for achieving Nirvana. Pascal's wager attempts and fails to create a dichotomy
between the two extremes of the Abrahamic God and godless atheists, while leaving out
every other possibility. When given a false choice, rather than picking either alternative,
we always maintain the option of refusing to participate. That is why I personally practice
and advocate radical agnosticism when it comes to religion and other metaphysical matters.
I would define this as the refusal to believe in anything unproven. In my experience,
skepticism and doubt have shown themselves time and again to be invaluable filters for
finding truth, whereas belief and blind faith have only shown themselves to be vehicles for
propagating unevidenced falsehoods and delusions. Belief or having faith are very different standards
from knowing or having proof. A god that hides its existence and endows its creations with the
ability for skepticism and doubt would be quite the cruel prankster to condemn us to eternal
hellfire for exercising these qualities. Hinging infinite rewards in heaven or infinite punishment
in hell on such a random and weak epistemic function seems rather superficial and unfounded.
Judging eternal souls based on our deeds, our character, or karma, all make much more sense
than judging us purely on what we did or didn't believe during our lifetimes.
Wouldn't a god who endowed us with faculties like logic and reason
understand that true belief can only be attained through a genuine acceptance of a preponderance
of evidence? Why would God require such a finicky concession like blind faith from
his creations in the first place? Of all possible attributes to judge our eternal
souls, why would belief in a specific deity be the ultimate requirement of every human life?
How could an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent creator not see through such a self-serving
epistemic stance as Pascal's wager? Why would God reward such behavior,
while simultaneously condemning those who would instead practice rational skepticism
and honest introspection? Why would God even create flawed finite beings to later judge
and divide into infinite heavenly and hellish afterlife realms?
Ultimately, Pascal's wager serves no purpose beyond attempting to fool and appease
a petty and very human conception of God into your favor.
Personally, I simply cannot force myself to believe in something that doesn't automatically
compel me to do so through empirical or experiential evidence. I would absolutely
like to live in a heavenly afterlife and avoid eternal damnation just like anyone else.
But if the only way to allegedly achieve such a fate is to pretend that I wholeheartedly
believe in the God of Abraham, when in fact I have legitimate skepticism and valid doubts,
then that would be dishonest and superficial. Rather than wager my eternal soul on Pascal's
shaky grounds, I gamble instead that God might be sympathetic to my concerns and understanding
of the human condition. I gamble that God might appreciate my struggle to make sense of the
mystery of existence and not condemn me for my confusion. I gamble that remaining radically
agnostic in metaphysical matters will actually serve me better than any foregone conclusions.
And I gamble that waiting until after my death to determine what I believe about the afterlife
makes far more sense than deciding now.
One of the most widespread beliefs found in nearly all religions and spiritual systems
is that we live in a wonderful world designed by a benevolent designer,
created by a wholly loving and perfect monotheistic creator. The universe is seen as a university,
a material dimension where we can manifest our desires, learn lessons, gather information
and experience, grow and evolve into something better, and later go somewhere better. By developing
our karma, living in accordance with certain commandments, or by having enough faith,
we are promised immortality in a heavenly afterlife realm with other perfected spiritual beings.
Generally accompanying these claims is the further belief that those who don't manifest
their desires, refuse to learn lessons, fail to develop their karma, live out of
accordance with commandments, or don't have enough faith, are condemned to nearly endless
reincarnations, or worse yet, to spend eternity in hell. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other
Eastern religions teach that we reincarnate here potentially hundreds or thousands of times
to learn lessons and refine our karma until we are finally allowed to graduate to a higher
heavenly dimension. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other Western religions teach
that we incarnate here only once, but by having faith and or living in accordance
with certain commandments, we are also allowed to graduate to a higher heavenly abode.
Even the New Age movement and most other esoteric spiritual systems share this fundamental
foundational belief that our material realm is a generally positive place made for learning
and experience. Almost no formal religion or metaphysics, barring the ancient Cathars and Gnostics,
have even breached the possibility that this reality could be a purposely negative place
created by a malevolent entity. If God is defined as omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent, and a perfect being, wholly loving and benevolent, why are its creations
so pitifully imperfect? Why would a sane God create psychopaths, sociopaths, predators,
homicidal maniacs, serial rapists, and other insanity? Why is everything subject to entropy,
aging, sickness, suffering, and death? Why would God create parasites like hookworms,
ringworms, tapeworms, and lice? Why the need for skin-eating fungi, organ-destroying cancers,
disease-breeding bacteria, and so many other chronic and degenerative illnesses, diseases,
toxins, and poisons? Why did God create such a huge variety of terrifying and torturous natural
disasters from tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, hailstorms, and volcanic eruptions
to droughts, famines, plagues, and pestilence? Why does everything exist in a predatory,
hierarchical food chain where life feeds upon life and must constantly kill to survive?
Why do we have no memory of anything before our births into this realm? And why are we
never given a clear and unarguable history, explanation, instructions, or purpose for our
existence here? Why would a perfect, loving, and benevolent God create such a horrific,
malevolent, and confusing reality as this? Most people are quick to answer that the reason for
this is because we must have pain to appreciate pleasure, we must have hate to differentiate
from love, and we must have yin to understand yang. The world is full of dichotomies and
polar opposites, so that we are able to experience the full depth and breadth of possibilities.
While I agree that some level of negativity is necessary to differentiate, appreciate,
and balance with positivity, I would argue that this reality is unfairly skewed towards the
negative. For example, consider the most pleasurable, worldly experience you can imagine,
whether that be the most delicious, delectable feast, an exciting, fun-filled adventure,
or a tantalizing, lustful fantasy. Consider being granted one full hour of this most pleasurable
experience imaginable, but with one very important caveat. After an hour of the world's most
pleasurable experience, you must then endure one full hour of the world's most painful
tortures. That means bone breaking, boiling or burning alive, branding, castrating, cutting,
flaying, and flagellation. That means medieval instruments like iron maidens, racks,
whips, flails, brazen bulls, and choke-pairs. Would you volunteer to endure one hour of
such horrific torture if it meant one hour of the world's best pleasures?
I have yet to meet anyone who could say with a straight face that they would honestly volunteer
for such an offer. If they were awarded an hour of the most enjoyable, worldly happiness,
but afterwards had to endure even five minutes of excruciating suffering like being skinned alive
or violently disemboweled, I know of no one who would take such a rotten deal.
This is because the gap between the levels of pain and pleasure possible here on earth
is more like a chasm, the most enjoyable pleasures imaginable, pale, wither, and disappear into
irrelevance when pitted against the disgusting and horrific pains possible here. Consider the
pleasure a predator derives from eating its meal versus the pain of the prey being eaten,
the overwhelmingly negative experience of the prey far outweighs the level of pleasure
experienced by the predator. The lucky lion experiences ten minutes of mild, gustatory
satisfaction, while the unlucky deer experiences the extreme torture of being eaten alive,
having its skin and muscles torn open, bones broken and mangled, limbs ripped apart,
and life ended prematurely, all for a sick game of survival of the fittest, instituted by a supposedly
loving and benevolent creator. Humans have a high capacity for self-delusion,
especially when it comes to feel-good answers to uncomfortable questions. We also tend to
remember things, people, and events more positively than they actually were. This
psychological tendency, known as rosy retrospection, is a cognitive bias found in most people,
causing them to remember the past more positively than it was in reality.
Is it possible that most people are also suffering from a similar cognitive bias, causing them
to downplay the abundant negativity present in this world? Could this metaphysical,
rosy retrospection make people blind to the unnecessary evils and inexplicable suffering here?
Howdy Mikowski wrote, Another thing that should become obvious, if you look at this reality
honestly, is how easily we all get fooled. Once you realize that all the major organizations,
either government, media, or advertising, are run by people trained in how to fool and
manipulate, it makes sense what our realm has become. Following the Hermetic principle of
as above so below, is it any surprise that the after-death astral realm would be one of pure
deception? Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, In any case, even though things have gone with you
tolerably well, the longer you live, the more clearly you will feel that on the whole,
life is a disappointment, nay, a cheat. If two men who are friends in their youth
meet again when they are old, after being separated for a lifetime, the chief feeling they will have
at the sight of each other will be one of complete disappointment at life as a whole,
because their thoughts will be carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair,
as it lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so much,
and then performed so little. This feeling will so completely predominate over every other
that they will not even consider it necessary to give it words, but on either side it will be
silently assumed and form the groundwork of all they have to talk about. He who lives to see
two or three generations is like a man who sits some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair,
and witnesses the performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be
seen only once, and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect is gone.
To discern whether earthmore resembles a school or a prison, first consider the key differences
between the two institutions. Schools are places of higher education and development, whereas
prisons are lowly places of survival and atonement. In schools, students either pass their tests
and graduate, or else fail and continue trying, whereas in prisons inmates simply must do their
time regardless. The most important difference, however, is that schools have the option of
not attending or dropping out, whereas prisons do not. If we cannot simply drop out of this
school of life and go home, then that proves this is not a school, but a prison.
If the only exit is locked behind hundreds or thousands of reincarnations, slowly refining
our karma until we manage one perfect lifetime in this wildly imperfect world, how fair of a curriculum
is that? Furthermore, if the universe is meant to be a university, and we are all simply here
to learn, grow, and develop spiritually through multiple lives, why are we born a blank slate
with our memories completely erased every incarnation? What kind of education are we
supposed to receive if our memories aren't retained through each lifetime? Forcing humans to
reincarnate without their past life memories and expecting improvement is like sending a
senior in college back to kindergarten with a lobotomy in hopes they will graduate next time.
If earth is truly a school with the purpose of teaching lessons and helping us grow,
wiping each student's memory every time we enter a new grade is completely antithetical
and mutually incompatible with this goal. Besides, there are far kinder and more effective ways of
teaching than the numerous types of negative reinforcement and retributive punishment
present on prison school earth. If we were created by a sane, wholesome, perfect,
all-loving, and all-powerful God, why would such a God create fallen, sinful,
imperfect, and ignorant beings in the first place? Why would God then place these beings
into a giant disciplinarium full of various forms of physical suffering, mental anguish,
and emotional torment, just to teach them lessons? If and when these students fail
their final tests, God then hits them upside the head so hard it knocks out the entire memory
of everything they learned in class, and forces them to start school all over again.
Surely an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God could find a better way than this.
Howdy Mikowsky wrote,
It did not take long to realize that this is not a school, or you would remember your previous
incarnations and lessons learned. One key facet that most near-death experiences reveal
is that the return to earth and a human body includes the above-mentioned memory wipe,
where everything from that previous life is forgotten. This alone clearly indicates
that this is not a place of learning and growth. If you touch stinging nettle without gloves,
your hand gets stung and it hurts. You remember that. And from then on, if you want to pick some
nettle, you wear gloves. That is learning. Remembering is a key step in the process.
But if on each incarnation you have to go back to touching the nettle to find out its things,
that is not learning or growth, but insanity. That is our reality. If we really could remember
how much suffering we had gone through lifetime after lifetime, we would have long ago shut down
our reincarnations. The trap can only work with the memory wipe.
Besides, if someone has had a thousand lifetimes, surely that person must have learned everything
by now? Given that most of those lives would have been fraught with intense suffering,
does someone really need 997 lives out of a thousand full of pain to learn?
I don't know about you, but I learned better in school from teachers who were kind,
took time with me, and encouraged me to be creative, not by someone who whacked me
over the head with a stick constantly.
Gaslighting is a type of psychological manipulation
in which an abuser attempts to gain power and control over another
by sowing seeds of self-doubt and confusion, deliberately and systematically feeding false
information, intentionally distorting reality, and coercing the victim into constantly questioning
themselves. The term originally derived from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a woman's abusive
husband slowly twists and shapes her reality until she believes she must be going insane.
In many ways, this parallels the metaphysical plight of the human condition,
the constant confusion, contradictions, and confounding nature of this realm.
In most religions, including and especially the Abrahamic faiths,
God is purported to be omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, holy loving, benevolent,
and perfect in every way. Yet at the same time, this God is the creator of all things,
including Satan and every evil that exists. Every single negative, torturous, agonizing,
infuriating, terrifying, tragic, disgusting, depraved, and downright evil thing in existence
was created, condoned, and codified by this supposedly perfect creator.
Every predator, parasite, and psychopath, every disease, death, and natural disaster,
every sickness, suffering, and sordid thing under the sun is sanctioned by this holy loving and
benevolent God. How can such a clear contradiction not raise constant suspicion in believers?
Arthur Schopenhauer said, There are two things which make it impossible to believe
that this world is the successful work of an all wise, all good, and at the same time,
all powerful being. Firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere, and secondly,
the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be.
These things cannot be reconciled with any such belief. If you ask them, they tend to respond
that Satan and man are to blame for all the evils of this world, and that the good God only
allows evil in the name of freedom. In other words, when you start questioning the abundant
abuses and unnecessary evils of this world, God suddenly becomes the great Allower rather than
the Supreme Creator. In short, they have been gaslighted into accepting that God simply
allows evil rather than the truth that he created, maintains, and sustains evil.
In the face of every evil, every atrocity and tragedy, rather than being omnipotent, omniscient,
and omnipresent, this God suddenly becomes impotent, aloof, and invisible. But God is by
definition omnipotent, meaning all-powerful, and must be, otherwise, would have to be
redefined as a demigod. Therefore, this Abrahamic Creator is either a gaslighter
or a demigod, and cannot be the true, traditional, monotheistic, capital G, God.
First, the Abrahamic God gaslights believers into thinking Satan is some uncontrollable,
separate entity responsible for all negativity and evil in the world.
In reality, however, since God is by definition omnipotent, all-powerful,
omniscient, all-knowing, and omnipresent, all-pervasive, God must know everything,
have power over everything, and exist even within Satan himself. In this sense, the Abrahamic God
uses Satan as a scapegoat, and effectively removes himself of blame from every evil and
imperfection. He is still wholly good, benevolent, and perfect, you see. It is
God, through his scapegoat Satan, manifests through a scapegoat serpent in the Garden of Eden,
who manipulates Eve into breaking a previous promise she had made with God.
Due to this so-called original sin, every human born forever thereafter, until this very day,
is said to be sinful and deserving of punishment for thousands of years because of scapegoat
Eve's broken promise. Believers of this story start to develop
an acute spiritual Stockholm syndrome, causing them to blame themselves and believe that they
and all of humanity are lowly sinners, unworthy and fallen in need of a Savior's redemption.
None of this should seem surprising, heretical, or blasphemous, since the Abrahamic God is
often portrayed in the Bible as being vengeful, vindictive, arrogant, impudent, insecure, and
indecisive. He is shown to be homicidal, philicidal, infanticidal, and genocidal, orders human and
animal sacrifices from followers, and drowns nearly everyone alive, hundreds of thousands,
for behaving against his bidding. This is the same God that created the predatory food chain
where every living being has to kill and consume the bodies of other living beings in order to survive.
He demands adoration, worship, and obedience, while at the same time supposedly allowing for
complete freedom. Rather than seeing this insanity for what it is, many have the gall to call this
system perfect and see the cycle of incessant suffering as some beautiful circle of life.
As Arthur Schopenhauer said,
Even new-agers gaslight themselves with similar belief systems, claiming we actually choose everything
about our incarnations on earth, from our parents, friends, and enemies, to all abuses we endure
and tragedies we suffer. Similar to children of toxic parents, they tend to justify their
abusive upbringings as tough love and learning opportunities, then continue to repeat the
poor parenting behaviors themselves. All suffering, negativity, and evil is attributed to God
wanting your pain to teach you something, and if bad things keep happening, it's just because
you haven't learned your lesson yet. As Howdy Makowski wrote,
The entire God loves us and me is a big lie that all religions and the new age are trapped under.
They find ways to turn the torture of this world into a wonderful message and learning from light.
Do you really think God wants an eight-year-old kid to get beat up,
a girl to get raped, or a dog tortured by its owner? Careful examination would reveal that
the Demiurge or Satan wants that. The idea that God loves us is a key foundation pillar upon which
this entire matrix is built. It is such a strong foundation that many people will even get angry
and violent if you suggest otherwise, because if this belief were found to be false, every other
connection to this reality would also have to be questioned. Thus the God loves me belief
is one of the hardest nuts to crack. When confronted and pressed on why God would
create and allow evil to exist in the world, most people respond that it's because God gives us free
will, and therefore evil exists because of man, not God. People may choose to do evil things of
their own accord, or through the influence of demigods like Satan, but the good God has
nothing to do with it, because his only part to play was in providing us all with free will.
But is that really the case? Can God be so easily led off the hook? Does man truly possess
this prized and pedestalized concept called free will, or is that too mostly an illusion?
Firstly, it must be reiterated that God by definition being the omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent creator of all things is alone responsible for the existence of absolutely
everything. That means every mosquito, leech, lice, tick, flea, ringworm, tapeworm, hookworm,
and every other blood-sucking parasite in existence. That means every earthquake, blizzard,
avalanche, landslide, wildfire, hurricane, tornado, tsunami, cyclone, hailstorm,
lightning strike, volcanic eruption, flood, drought, famine, and every other terrible natural disaster.
That means every flu and fever, hemorrhoid and hernia, bruise and broken bone, every
debilitating case of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autism, asthma, allergies, measles,
mumps, migraines, menstrual cramps, meningitis, and more, the list of agonizing elements
could fill their own book. Suffice to say God created the conditions for a veritable buffet
of suffering here on earth, and when a child is born with a torturous and terminal brain tumor,
when a mother suffers and dies during a painful delivery, or when whole innocent families die of
floods or famine, it is because the world was created to be this way. The world could have
just as easily been complete without parasites, natural disasters, and diseases,
but the inclusion of such creative torments were clearly the conscious and intentional choice of
our Creator. Likewise, the necessity to constantly kill and eat the life energy of other sentient
beings simply to survive must have also been a conscious and purposeful decision by our Creator.
So where within such self-destructive choices determined by God do us created,
subjective beings living in this world have free will? Do I have the free will to stop lions from
eating gazelles? Do I have the free will to end famines and pestilence? Do any of us have the
free will to end the constant cycle of suffering here? How free are we really in the choices
we make? Am I free to eat razor blades or drink gallons of bleach? I could attempt to do such
things, but I am certainly not free to do them in the sense of having no consequences or even
tolerable consequences. Am I free to flap my arms and fly to the moon or breathe while
swimming underwater? Of course not. The Creator has already determined the range of choices
available, allowing us only a limited list of options for any given situation.
For example, I may use my free will to jump off a cliff, but no matter how fast I flap my arms,
no matter how hard I pray, and no matter how much self-belief or positive thinking I manifest
will stop me from smashing into the ground below. I cannot will myself to fly, I cannot
will another person to love me, and I cannot will away suffering, aging, or death. So where
and when do we actually exercise this elusive entity known as free will? When I woke up and
dressed myself this morning, was that an act of free will? My clothing choices were constrained
by my body type, income, climate, material, trends, and what items were actually in my
closet? I could choose not to wear clothes, but that would start a whole other chain of
events beyond my free will, where I might catch pneumonia, my neighbors might think I'm crazy,
the police might arrest me for indecent exposure, and I might spend the night locked in a steel
cage all for attempting to exercise my supposed free will. There are far more determined choices
already made for us than the actual free choices we have to make for ourselves,
regardless of how much we will them to be otherwise. When you consider the limitations
of our physiology, physical laws, societal laws, societal norms, personality types,
character flaws, strengths, weaknesses, the will of others, and a host of other factors,
the term free will reveals itself to be a complete misnomer. When carefully considered,
the concept becomes so nuanced that it disappears into a sea of determinism.
In ultimate terms, the only being who could truly have free will is God. Since God is the
objective, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator, God has no subjective limitations,
boundaries, dependencies, or competing wills to contend with. God created our physiology,
the physical world, and the laws that govern it. God determined every aspect of our being,
every cell, every organ, from our eyes to our toes, to our minds, egos, and emotions.
Every twinge of sadness, and every pang of hunger, was designed to feel that way,
and to elicit certain reactions. We may attempt to use our freedom, or exercise our
will within those constraints, but it's analogous to fish swimming upstream a never-ending river.
How can an objective Creator being's omnipotence meaningfully coexist with subjective created
being's free will? If everything we see, hear, taste, touch, feel, and think was
intentionally created to be that way by an all-powerful entity, how can we claim any
thought-based decision, sense-based reaction, or emotion-based preference as our own?
Think of it this way. How much free will do characters have in a dream?
When you're dreaming, how much agency does each individual character in your dream have
when making decisions? The dreamer is the sole arbiter of all decisions made in the dream.
Dream characters have no autonomy whatsoever, apart from the dreamer, because the dreamer
is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator of all dream characters and the entire dream world
itself. People may fancy themselves as separate individuals with free will to act this way or
that throughout the dream, but instantly upon awakening, the dreamer remembers that they
were actually everyone in the dream. During the dream state of consciousness,
each character believed they were exercising their own free will
throughout every situation in the dream. But in reality, the one responsible for everything that
happened, good or evil, comedy or tragedy, the only entity who ever truly had any agency in the
first place was the dreamer. Imagine you were the supreme Creator, designing and constructing
your own world, complete with beautiful beaches, majestic mountains, and wondrous woodlands.
Imagine creating and populating your bright new world with a menagerie of cute, cuddly animals
and happy, loving people to experience and enjoy your creation. Envision the kind of paradise you
could and would create if you were the omnipotent Creator. Conjure the blissful emotions you
would feel existing in such a heaven of your own creation, and imagine the peace of mind
such a positive place could engender in all for eternity.
Now imagine looking down on your perfect paradisical realm and deciding to introduce a
variety of new negative situations, systems and species into the mix, first and foremost being
death. Rather than immortal beings that live forever in a perfected state, everything instead
becomes subject to entropy. All the beautiful plants, cuddly animals, and happy people you
created now become subject to degeneration, suffering, aging, disease, and death.
The only way to temporarily avoid the effects of these new negative systems
is through the introduction of another, consumption. In order to extend their lives,
to escape the pain of disease and deterioration, and to momentarily end the suffering of their
insatiable hunger, all living beings in creation must now kill and eat the life out of other living
beings simply to survive. The entirety of existence becomes inherently predatory and selfish,
where it was once peaceful and compassionate. Next imagine adding even more horrors to your
new creation. Imagine populating it with a variety of blood-sucking, life-destroying parasites,
like leeches, lice, ticks, and fleas, to attach themselves to your cute, cuddly creations,
causing them immense pain and suffering as they leech the life from them. Imagine creating cold,
calculating carnivores to stalk and slay your innocent, defenseless herbivores.
Imagine adding a multitude of new natural disasters to constantly concern and kill your
creations, from famines and floods to tornadoes and tsunamis to devastating earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions. Imagine introducing scarcity, depravity, degeneracy, degradation,
pollution, pestilence, and pain into a realm that need not have any such things.
Then imagine looking down on those you created, watching them suffering from sickness, dying from
diseases, generation upon generation of people, pleading on their knees, praying for God to
save them from their plight. They are praying to the same God who created their plight and asking
to save them from it. The same God they are praying to for help is the one who caused
them to need to pray for help. The same God that cured their cancer is the one who gave
them cancer in the first place. If you truly loved and wanted the best for your creations,
is this how our world would be set up? What kind of bias, bipolar, spiritual
Stockholm syndrome possesses people to see this scenario as sane?
Howdy Makowski wrote,
I have come to see that it is not a benevolent force, as religion, new age,
Advaita, or shamanism all suggest, but a malevolent force, like the Cathars and Gnostics suggest.
It does not take much to see that a realm full of suffering and anguish
would not help a loving creator. It helps a malevolent force. A good way to keep people from
seeing this is to present the loving creator as a non-logical answer for why so many terrible
things happen. A loving deity makes you suffer to improve you, torture you to make you better,
as Richard Rose would say it. People are given traumatic misfortunes, then they come to
believe those were part of a loving God's plan. Then they pray to the very same God that
just traumatized them, asking to end their suffering. If there really was a happy loving
deity in charge of this place, it could of course be a much more peaceful experience.
However, we live in a physical and energetic slaughterhouse. You are living in many ways
as a computer game character or semi-programmed robot in a very insane system.
How many worms have just died in the last five seconds to feed all the birds?
How many mice died to feed all the cats? What set up such an insane and sick system?
This world is a feeding frenzy. Think of how many insects are killed every day to feed the
world's fish. How many fish are killed every day to feed the world's birds? How many birds
are killed every day to feed the world's humans? And how many humans are killed every day
to feed lions, tigers, bears, crocodiles, sharks, vultures, wolves, and hyenas?
Why was such a systemic cycle of suffering put into place here? Is that really necessary?
Is that really what a loving, benevolent, compassionate creator would design?
What truly good, ultimate purpose could such incessant suffering serve?
How many children have to be born with torturous terminal illnesses?
How many have to die in terrible natural disasters?
What is the underlying reason for all these tragedies?
Why did the creator have to include such perpetual torments in this reality?
Why have we, the created ones, been left alone in the dark with regards to ultimate answers?
Why can't we remember things like the creation of the world?
Pre-birth experiences? Or have true, deep fundamental understanding of reality?
Why do we find ourselves with so little knowledge, power, and agency in this
complete mystery of a life devoid of any attainable objectivity?
Many people actually believe they know the answers to all these questions.
They will claim this life is a school or a test made to fortify and develop our spiritual
selves, a chance to refine our karma, or to renounce and repent for our sins,
a filter to separate the wheat from the chaff. But if so, what is the point of that whole process?
An omnipotent creator could create perfect beings in a perfect realm just as easily
as flawed beings in a fallen realm. So why opt for the latter?
As Angeliki and Agnostic wrote,
In other words, souls started off as pure spiritual entities and are incarnated to matter.
Why? To return home to where they start from, pure again, and having gained what?
Virtual life experiences? Useless to the spiritual plane.
Before the establishment of the Roman Orthodox Church, dating back to the first century AD,
the Gnostics were a sect of Christians with a very different set of beliefs from what the
new blossoming religion of Christianity would soon become. The Gnostics insisted they were,
in fact, the original Christians, and that the Roman Church were imposters co-opting and
changing their mythology. Many original founders, like Marcian and Tatian, were actually
devout Gnostics who would later leave the Orthodoxy claiming the Church was, quote,
setting up the fraud of historic Christianity. Gnosticism continued to flourish alongside the
Roman Church until it was declared heresy and outlawed by Emperor Constantine in 325 AD.
Once the Orthodox Bible became canonized, all extra-biblical Gnostic Gospels were considered
heretical and either hidden or destroyed on threat of death. By the turn of the next century,
any remaining Gnostics still openly practicing were hunted down as heretics.
The Gnostics believed that there existed only one true, absolute God, which the ancient Greeks
referred to as Agnostos Theos, the unknown or unknowable God. This one true God, also called
the Monad, was ultimate and perfect, existing completely outside of creation, impossible
to know or understand from our limited human perspective, described in the Apocryphon of John as
illimitable, unfathomable, immeasurable, invisible, eternal, unutterable, and unnameable.
This unknowable God produced a diverse group of spiritual beings called the Aons,
who lived in a heavenly dimension of fullness known as the Pluroma.
Among the Aons was a goddess named Sophia, who decided she wished to birth a divine
being of her own without the involvement of a male partner, and without approval from her
father, the one true God. The being she birthed was described as a miscarriage or abortion,
quote, having a serpent-like body with the head of a lion. And Sophia named him Yaldibuath.
The Gnostic texts referred to this creature as the Demiurge, or the God-like self-willed,
who became a tyrannical, maniacal, selfish creator-god himself. First he produced a race of powerful
minions called Archons to assist him. Then together they created their own world to rule over,
which was a broken mirror image of the Pluroma. Next the Demiurge and Archons created and
animated the animals of the world, filling the land with cattle, the seas with fish,
and the sky with birds. Finally they attempted to create man, the copy of a heavenly being known as
Adam, but they could not breathe life into him and failed to animate his body. Seeing this as an
opportunity, Sophia and some other Aons from the Pluroma sent by the Monad came upon the
Demiurge and insisted they could help breathe life into his Adam. A divine spark from Sophia
was then bestowed upon man, bringing him to life and allowing all humans afterwards
to contain this divine light within themselves. This spark of true light from the Pluroma made
man more pure and more powerful than the Demiurge, which infuriated and made him jealous.
To satisfy his spite he made man mortal, and placed him in a paradisical realm called
the Garden of Eden filled with material delights made to distract him from his divinity.
As you may have guessed by now, this Demiurge Yalduboath is better known in the Bible as
Yahweh or Jehovah in the Old Testament, where he is presented as though he is the Monad,
the one true God. In reality however, as evidenced by several of the Gnostic Gospels
removed from the Bible, Yahweh is actually only one of many lesser gods. In the Apocryphon of John
it was written, When he saw creation surrounding him, and the throng of angels around him,
who had come forth from him, he said to them, I am a jealous God, and there is no other God
beside me. But by announcing this, he suggested to the angels with him that there is another
God. For if there were no other God, of whom would he be jealous?
Jose Aragon wrote, In the first centuries of our era many of the Gnostic sects viewed the
Creator God not as a good or just being, but as a satanic one. Many of them likened him to Satan.
Gustavo Adolfo Becker relates in one of his accounts how the Creator God Brahma created
worlds, like bubbles, and how he experimented with them, as sometimes they turned out good,
and sometimes not. The Creator God is not a completely perfect God, but apparently quite inept.
There are worlds which turn out badly, and he has to destroy them. There are worlds that
turn out better. He tries, practices, creates through trial and error. The Bible says,
God said let there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good.
How? Didn't he know? Didn't he know it was something good? That is why Gnostic say we are in
the presence of a Creator ignorant of the effects of his creation. Likewise, the Creator God always
maintains that he is the only one. He doesn't say it once, he says it all the time. He's
no other God. I, your God, am the only one, etc. We all know that when someone repeats the
same thing over and over again, it's because they're not sure of what they're saying,
which is why they have to repeat it so often. The Gnostic's interpretation of this is that the
Creator suspects, since he's not altogether sure, that there is another God higher than him,
a God infinitely more superior to him, much bigger, much more important than him.
And that is what he's trying to hide by incessantly repeating,
I am the only one, there is no other God. The fact that Yahweh wasn't the only Creator God
is also evidenced within the Bible, such as the very first sentence,
which translates to, in the beginning, the gods created. Because Elohim in Hebrew is not singular,
but plural, meaning gods or lords. Also, in Genesis 126, where, quote,
God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. The use of plural pronouns like us
and our implies Yahweh wasn't creating alone. Several books removed from the Bible make it clear
who and why. In the Apocryphon of John it is written that, Yalda Bawath said to the Archons with him,
Come, let us create a human being after the image of God and with a likeness to ourselves,
so that this human image may give us light. In other words, the Demiurge and his Minions
together created humanity in order to steal our light power. Gnostic texts differentiate between
true light from the Monad and false light from the Demiurge, such as in the Pistis Sophia,
where it is written that, Sophia had been deluded through the God-like, self-willed Demiurge,
and had not been deluded through anything else, save through a light power, because of its
resemblance to the light in which she had had faith. Being an emanation and emissary
of the true light, Sophia essentially represents the modern Christian equivalent of the Holy Spirit.
She created the Demiurge in error upon descending to a lower heaven,
but quickly recognizing her mistake withheld from him and his Archon Minions the ability to
hold within them the true light. Sophia then weeps, repents, and apologizes to the unknowable God,
who forgives her and devises his own plan. He sends other aeons from the Pluroma to help
breathe life into Yahweh's Adam, and when they do, give the Divine Light power, the Holy Spirit,
to humanity. This makes the Creator God already jealous of his Minion helpers,
now even more jealous of his creations. The Apocryphon of John states,
at once the rest of the powers became jealous, although Adam had come into being through
all of them, and they had given their power to this human, Adam was more intelligent than
the creators and the first ruler. When they realized that Adam was enlightened, and could think more
clearly than they, and was stripped of evil, they took and threw Adam into the lowest part of the
whole material realm. The Garden of Eden was created to be a paradise of plenty, where Adam
would not want for anything, and live in blissful blind ignorance. In Eden, Adam existed in a
Yahweh placed him in such a paradise, not for his pleasure, but for the express purpose that
Adam would forget about his own divinity, his true heavenly home, and the one true God.
The Apocryphon of John continues,
The rulers took Adam and put him in paradise. They said,
eat, meaning do so in a leisurely manner, but in fact their pleasure is bitter,
and their beauty is perverse, their pleasure is a trap, their trees are a sacrilege,
their fruit is deadly poison, their promise is death. They put their tree of life in the middle
of paradise, but the rulers lingered in front of what they call the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, which is enlightened afterthought, so that Adam might not behold its fullness,
and recognize his shameful nakedness. Enlightened afterthought hid herself within Adam.
The first ruler wanted to take her from Adam's side, but enlightened afterthought
cannot be apprehended. While darkness pursued her, it did not apprehend her.
The first ruler removed part of Adam's power, and created another figure in the form of a female,
like the image of afterthought that had appeared to him. He put the part he had taken from the
power of the human being into the female creature. It did not happen, however, the way Moses said,
Adam's rib. Adam saw the woman beside him. At once enlightened afterthought appeared,
and removed the veil that covered his mind. He sobered up from the drunkenness of darkness.
He recognized his counterpart, and said, This is now bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh.
The demiurge removed not Adam's rib, as Moses claimed in Genesis,
but a part of the light power from the monad which animated him, and it is that
which animated Eve. Recognizing the pure light of the one inside her, Adam grew to know true love.
Sophia successfully atoned for her accident by bringing enlightened afterthought to material
creation, but the demiurge also succeeded in keeping Adam and Eve in a state of spiritual
ignorance, blind to their divine nature. A messenger was needed, a light-bearer from
the one true God, to open their eyes. According to the Gnostic Gospels, the unknowable God
sent Lucifer, an angel of pure fire and light, to show man his true origin, and stir the divine
spirit inside him. Jose Aragon wrote, Gnostic myths relate that Lucifer is the messenger
of the unknowable God. We had said that this God, the greatest one, unreachable and unknowable,
is unable to penetrate this limited universe of impure and satanic matter. But according to these
myths he can send someone, Lucifer. Gnostics consider that the biblical myth of creation
can be explained as follows. The creator Satan of the world trapped Adam and Eve in his miserable
world, and Lucifer, in the form of a serpent, offered them the forbidden fruit of saving
Gnosis, and showed them that the Creator was deceiving them. In other words, the Creator said to
man, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that
you eat of it you shall surely die. On the other hand, the serpent said, You will not surely die,
for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God knowing good and evil. The Creator lied. He said that man would die if he ate the fruit,
but man did not die. The serpent was telling the truth. The Creator himself ended up agreeing
that the serpent was right. Gnostics believe that this serpent, Lucifer, is the liberator of man
and the world. Of course, this messenger of the unknowable God, Lucifer, is an opponent and an
enemy of the creator of this world. Gnosis states that the Creator wants to keep man captive
in this limited, inferior, and impure dimension. He also forbade man contact with the higher world,
represented in the biblical myth by the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But Lucifer, the angel of light, made a great sacrifice and descended into this satanic hell
to give the forbidden fruit of Gnosis to man, and opened his eyes so that he would be able
to remember his divine origin and his superiority in relation to the Creator.
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the Creator God revealing his lack of omniscience
arrived in Eden, unable to find them. Like a master calling his servant,
Jehovah beckoned asking, Where are you? He had created humanity with the intention of
indentured servitude, wanting man to be ignorant of his origins and incapable of
distinguishing between good and evil. This is why he was waiting in the garden
with a death threat, falsely warning them of their demise should they dare to eat the
forbidden fruit. This is also why once they did eat of the fruit and his lie was exposed,
Jehovah exiled Adam and Eve from his garden paradise and condemned humanity forever thereafter
to so-called original sin. Jose Aragon wrote, Eden wasn't paradise, but just the opposite.
In his book La Franque Maisonnerie, Father Leon Mourin describes the Gnostic interpretations
of the earthly paradise and the serpent of Genesis, and the following ideas come up.
Jehovah does not want man to know his origin or his great destiny. He forbids all contact
with the higher world. He wants man to be a reflection of him, the Creator,
and not a reflection of the Supreme God. But man did wake up,
and he did become aware of good and evil. Lucifer took the form of a serpent to wake man up.
He is a messenger of the Supreme God, the unknowable God. He is a messenger of the
true God who came into this imperfect, inadequate, and wretched world to wake up and liberate man,
to show him his true situation and what his great destiny could be like.
For this reason, those who follow the orders of the Creator God
consider the serpent to be something malicious and satanic and in all this confusion
liken it with Satan. On the other hand Gnostic see the serpent Lucifer as a savior,
someone who came to save man, a messenger of the true God. This serpent of enlightenment,
which brought Gnosis, Gnostic truth which allows the authentic and true nature of things
to be seen in this world of confusion, came to liberate man.
So what these Roman Orthodox Christian conspirators achieved by eliminating these
key books from the Bible was threefold. Firstly, and most importantly,
they completely removed God from the Bible. All mentions of the one true unknowable God
have been replaced by the Demiurge Jehovah. This is why the God of the Old Testament
and the God of the New Testament seem like two completely different entities,
because they are. The God of the Old Testament is vindictive, genocidal, and psychopathic,
whereas the God of the New Testament is loving, compassionate, and forgiving.
As early Christian Gnostics like Marcion stated,
the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament,
they are two different gods. The first is a God who applies law and punishes,
whereas the other is a God of love who always forgives. The two are irreconcilable.
The good God that sent Christ the Savior to Bethlehem in the New Testament
is the same good God that sent Lucifer the Savior to Eden in the Old Testament.
Meanwhile, the evil God that lied to Adam and punished all of humanity thereafter for
Eve's disobedience is the same evil God that ordered human and animal sacrifices
and genocided humanity in the Flood. It is clear that these must be two completely
different entities, but Christian conspirators like Origen insisted,
there are not two different gods, one fair and the other good, it is the same God,
and he is fair and good. This is how the unknowable God was effectively removed from the Bible,
and how the Demiurge Jehovah came to be viewed as just and perfect.
Secondly, if the Demiurge is now supposedly good, fair, and perfect,
who is to blame for all the evil in the world? If all the divine attributes of the
ethically upstanding New Testament God have been force fit onto the morally bankrupt Old
Testament God, who is the new scapegoat? The Gnostics blamed all evil, suffering,
and negativity in this world on the Demiurge Creator God himself, who they viewed as Satan.
But the Roman Orthodox conspirators needed a new enemy, some new Satan to take his place.
Who better than Lucifer, the lightbearer, the angel of light,
sent from the unknowable God to enlighten humanity? Thus the conspirators turned Lucifer
into Satan, and turned the Satanic Demiurge into God.
Jose Aragon in The Forbidden Religion wrote,
The evil of the Demiurge has been taken outside to a Satan different from the Creator.
Now it is this new Satan who likes blood, the smell of burnt flesh, the slaves,
wars, rituals, sacrifices, conspiracies, and genocide. Now it is this new Satan who enjoys
the fact that men bow down before him in adoration and make covenants of blood-packs with him in
exchange for power or earthly wealth. It is easy to discover that all the characteristics
which Satan now has were taken from the Creator God of the Bible.
So this is what we have. The unknowable God does not exist. His attributes have been transferred
to the Demiurge, and the attributes of the Demiurge have been transferred to a Satan outside of him.
What does this great conspiracy, this big scam now need? What is lacking is someone
who we can transform this Satan into. It has to be someone who we very much hate,
since Satan is the most wretched figure that we can conceive of. It occurred to someone
that the most appropriate way would be to disclose the fact that this evil Satan
is none other than Lucifer. In this way not only is the Demiurge cleansed of his Satanic nature,
but the figure of Lucifer is also completely distorted. The Angel of Light, sent by the
unknowable God to save mankind, was transformed into a monster whose function is to keep man
enslaved. Lastly, now that the one true God had been eliminated from the Bible,
the Satanic Demiurge had co-opted all the divine attributes of God,
and Lucifer, the Monad's Angel of Light, had become Satan. The final change the Christian
conspirators needed was to redefine hell, then blame mankind for the existence of evil.
The Gnostic Gospels make it clear that this world is a broken simulation,
designed by a demented designer, created by an evil creator. This dense material
dimension full of suffering and death created by the Demiurge is the only hell. But to hide this,
hell instead became another even worse place of punishment for all those who dared disobey the
Demiurge. Meanwhile, the obvious imperfections and evils of this world would never be accepted as
the perfect paradise of a loving benevolent creator, so what justification could be given?
Jose Aragon wrote,
So we have a good and perfect creator who accomplished good and perfect work.
All his creation, matter, time, man, were good. Paradise was a perfect place,
and man lived there happily. All this went wrong and deteriorated due to the disobedience of man.
To state that man is to blame for the original sin and for the fall
has been one of the crudest ideas conceived against the spirit and the true God.
Man has been held responsible for the incompetence of the creator
and the shortcomings of his work. We have already seen that man was nothing
more than an ignorant servant in paradise. He ignored everything concerning himself
and his creator as it appears he is still doing. He did not know that another God existed
who was immensely superior to the creator God. He did not know that beyond his body and soul
he had a spirit imprisoned. He did not even know until he woke up and was able to rebel.
Furnosis, the only original sin that existed, was that committed by the Demiurge
on binding the eternal spirits to the mortal soul of man.
Furnosis, the only fall that existed and helped along by the Demiurge,
was the fall of our spirits into the hellish world of matter.
Similar to the early Christian Gnostics there existed a sect in southern France
known as the Cathars who considered themselves the only true Christians of their era.
The Roman Orthodox Church vehemently disagreed with this of course,
so just like Gnosticism, Catharism was outlawed and they too were hunted down as heretics.
In fact the Cathars were the first Christian group targeted by the Catholic Crusades
and the very first Inquisition was specifically created to torture Cathars.
On June 22, 1209 Pope Innocent III sent his Crusader army to the town of Béziers
in the Languedoc province of southern France who were celebrating their feast day of the Magdalene.
Headed by Inquisitor Arnaud Amalric, the Catholic Crusader army gathered outside
the Béziers city walls and demanded an ultimatum of the townsfolk.
They were allegedly harboring 200 high-ranking Cathar leaders known as Perfecti within the city
and were ordered to turn them over. The townsfolk refused and continued their feast day celebrations
which enraged and caused Inquisitor Amalric to declare that they shall all,
quote, die as heretics rather than live as Christians.
When asked by his army how to determine which of the townsfolk were the Cathar
leaders to be exterminated he answered, kill them all, God will know his own.
Thus the Crusaders sieged and sacked the town, murdering nearly 20,000 people before the
day was finished, mostly women and children. Crusades against the Cathars continued for the
next 40 years until the entire sect was eliminated off the face of the earth.
Their final stand occurred on March 16, 1244, at their fortress on Mount Segour.
For nine months the Crusader army was held at bay until finally a siege of catapults
succeeded in knocking down their castle walls and the remaining 210 Cathar Perfecti protected
inside were burned at the stake. So who were these Cathars and what did they believe?
Why did they consider themselves, like the Gnostics, to be the only true Christians?
And why were they deemed so hated and heretical by the Church of Rome
that they needed to be genocided? The Cathars viewed all of material reality
including our physical bodies as nothing but a prison for our immortal souls.
Like the Gnostics they believed the Creator God of the Old Testament was actually Satan,
referred to in Cathar texts as Rex Mundi the King of this world, whereas the God of the
New Testament was the one true God of light and good. The Cathar creation story
states that Rex Mundi ascended to the Pluroma wanting to enter but was refused.
After patiently waiting for a thousand years he successfully snuck into heaven then promptly
promised the heavenly angels every worldly pleasure to tempt them to leave with him.
He said they were slaves that God never gave them anything and owned everything around them,
but if they followed him he would provide them with wonderful riches,
beautiful partners, and extravagant foods. For nine days and nine nights Rex Mundi seduced
the heavenly angels down through a hole in the Pluroma he had created and into his evil world
before the good gods sealed it shut. Once the divine spirits had fallen they found
themselves in physical bodies in a dense material realm without any of the pleasures
promised. When they repented and asked to return to heaven Rex Mundi refused
and replied that the physical bodies he had fashioned for them would now bind them to earth
and make them forget all about their heavenly home. Meanwhile the one true God, disappointed
and distraught, decided the fallen angels needed to work towards his grace and forgiveness
by struggling within these physical body prisons and thus made a deal with the devil.
Satan could do what he wanted with these physical bodies but the individual souls which
animated them belonged to God and could return to him once they renounced the body and all of its
temptations. The devil agreed to this deal and the rest is human history. Trapped in these physical
bodies the individual soul essence was condemned to repeatedly live, die, and reincarnate into
new bodies for as long as that soul remained attached to worldly things and desiring material
pleasures. Thus for the Cathars the whole purpose of human existence is to repent and renounce our
worldly desires and attachments in order to return to heaven. Our lives are seen as a dualistic
struggle between the worldly temptations of the flesh and the spiritual peace of the soul.
As Manny, the originator of Manicheism, a forerunner to Catharism, stated,
souls are prisoners of darkness and they must fight to recover their original destiny,
abandoning the body that imprisons them. For the Cathars all of material reality including
their physical bodies were seen as a prison caging their pure spiritual essence. They aimed
to leave this world forever and return to paradise believing that anyone who failed
would be doomed to repeated reincarnations. Their solution was a sacred rite known as the
Consolamentum which was the cornerstone of Catharism. This ritual could only be performed
by Cathar priests known as Perfectae who were pairs of one man and one woman that lived together
according to a strict set of rules. The Perfectae took vows of poverty, pacifism,
vegetarianism, and anti-natalism. Since they viewed all of material reality as evil,
childbirth was discouraged and seen as a sin that condemned souls to be trapped in the
reincarnation cycle. The last step to becoming a Perfectae was completing the Consolamentum
ceremony and living a sinless life according to their vows until death which they believed
would allow them to return to heaven. Regular Cathars known as Credentes also had the opportunity
to perform the Consolamentum once during their lifetime. But since the vows were so sacred
and irreversible most would only do so on their deathbeds often refusing food and water afterwards.
The Consolamentum washed away their sins but bound them by oath to pure principles
thereafter. So performing the ritual late in life was actually advised, making it easier to live
one's last days in a sinless state. Howdy Makowski wrote,
As mentioned earlier, once you had a Consolamentum ceremony you could not have another because
after completing the ceremony one could no longer sin. Most would have this ceremony as death was
approaching for the likelihood of further sin was greatly reduced. Only Perfectae could administer
the Consolamentum and from what has been preserved it seems amazingly simple. It included the
reading of several Biblical passages with a focus on the Gospel of John and the Lord's Prayer.
Many calls for the good God to remove all sin and ended with an experience referred to as
the laying of hands upon the person. The Cathars held as their main belief that this was a world
created by an evil God Rex Mundi who kept them in a reincarnation cycle and their only focus
in this life was to escape it. The Cathars were not concerned with making this place better,
finding new forms of government or commerce or anything else. Their focus was to escape the
evil realm of the Rex Mundi forever and return home to the Father. The Cathars had no fear of
going to hell after death because they felt that the only hell that existed was this material realm.
Reincarnation was the fear for it is what would force them back into a body and therefore
back into hell.
The Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead are two ancient and enlightening tomes revealing the
complex afterlife beliefs of two fascinating religions. The Egyptian Book of the Dead,
also known as the Book of Coming-forth by Day, originally was not a book at all,
but rather a collection of hieroglyphics carved or painted on pyramid walls.
The oldest known version is estimated over 5,000 years old and was found in the tomb of a king
buried in Amados. During Egypt's mid-dynasties the Book of the Dead was more often inscribed into
sarcophaguses than on pyramid walls and in later dynasties usually written on papyrus scrolls
buried inside the coffin. The Egyptians believed that after physical death a material body
known as the kat would produce an etheric double-body known as the ka. In the afterlife state
inhabiting our new etheric body we wander about the earth plane at will for a period of time.
The recently deceased is always identified with the god Osiris and frequently called by the god's
name. Eventually the deceased is brought to judgment which is the main and most important
feature of the Egyptian afterlife experience. Present at the judgment are several gods of
the Egyptian pantheon such as the Ibis-headed Thoth, the dog-headed Anubis, and the crocodile-headed
Amit, devourer of the dead. At the centre of the scene stand the scales of justice
where Anubis weighs the heart of the recently deceased on one side balanced with a single
feather on the other side known as the feather of truth. Thoth the scribe stands to the side
recording the results while Amit the devourer of the dead waits under the scale to perform his task.
If the heart weighs equal to or less than the feather the deceased is said to be pure
and may continue their journey towards immortality. However if the heart outweighs the truth
feather it was deemed impure and Amit would immediately devour their heart leaving them
without a soul. To prepare for this afterlife judgment the Egyptian Book of the Dead recommends
the recitation of 42 negative confessions of specific sins they did not commit during their
lifetime one for each of the 42 gods present in the Hall of Osiris. By reading what ancient
Egyptians considered sinful it is clear they abhorred abuse, adultery, promiscuity, cheating,
thievery, fraud, violence, and murder. A pious Egyptian endeavored to not curse the gods,
not speak hotly, not judge hastily, and not stir up strife. They sought to give food to the hungry,
drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and boats to shipwrecked mariners.
The 42 negative confessions recited during judgment, such as, I have not stolen,
would later appear in Christianity's ten commandments, such as, thou shalt not steal.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead states, I have not committed sin, I have not committed robbery
with violence, I have not stolen, I have not slain men and women, I have not stolen grain,
I have not porloined offerings, I have not stolen the property of God,
I have not uttered lies, I have not carried away food, I have not uttered curses,
I have not committed adultery, I have not lain with men, I have made none to weep,
I have not eaten the heart, I have not attacked any man, I am not a man of deceit,
I have not stolen cultivated land, I have not been an eavesdropper, I have not slandered
any man, I have not been angry without just cause, I have not debauched the wife of any man,
I have not polluted myself, I have terrorized none, I have not transgressed the law,
I have not been wrath, I have not shut my ears to the words of truth,
I have not blasphemed, I am not a man of violence, I have not been a stirrup of strife,
I have not acted with undue haste, I have not pried into matters,
I have not multiplied my words in speaking, I have wronged none, I have done no evil,
I have not worked witchcraft against the king, I have never stopped the flow of water,
I have never raised my voice, I have not cursed God,
I have not acted with arrogance, I have not stolen the bread of the gods,
I have not carried away the kenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead,
I have not snatched away the bread of a child, nor treated with contempt the God of my city,
I have not slain the cattle belonging to the God, I have not repulsed God in his manifestations,
I am pure, I am pure, I am pure.
The judgment and afterlife journey described in the Egyptian Book of the Dead paints a
psychedelic picture of their mysterious religion, and actually shares many similarities
with Tibetan Buddhism and their Book of the Dead written thousands of years later.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, also known as the Liberation through Hearing during the intermediate
state, was first orally preserved, then eventually written down in the 8th century.
Both the Egyptian and Tibetan books of the dead were afterlife guides meant to be
whispered into the ear of the dying and deceased by priests, monks, or close family members.
They both speak of an etheric body that survives physical death,
and freely travels the earth-plane until eventually being brought to judgment for
all sins committed during their lifetimes. The Tibetan Book of the Dead calls this
etheric double the thought-body of propensities, and gives very specific details about what to
expect starting from the moment of physical death, ending in the eventual reincarnation
into a new physical body. Dr. Carl Young wrote,
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a book of instructions of the dead and dying.
Like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, it is meant to be a guide for the dead man
during the period of his bardo-existence, symbolically described as an intermediate state
of 49 days duration between death and rebirth. The text falls into three parts.
The first part describes the psychic happenings at the moment of death.
The second part deals with the dream state which supervenes immediately after death,
and with what are called karmic illusions. The third part concerns the onset of the
birth instinct and of prenatal events. It is characteristic that supreme insight
and illumination, and hence the greatest possibility of attaining liberation,
are vouchsafed during the actual process of dying. Soon afterward the illusions begin,
which lead eventually to reincarnation. The illuminative lights growing ever fainter
and more multifarious, and the visions more and more terrifying.
This descent illustrates the estrangement of consciousness from the liberating truth
as it approaches nearer and nearer to physical rebirth. The purpose of the instruction
is to fix the attention of the dead man at each successive stage of delusion and entanglement
on the ever present possibility of liberation, and to explain to him the nature of his visions.
In Buddhism, this intermediary state between death and rebirth is known as bardo,
which symbolically lasts for 49 seven times seven days before the deceased is reincarnated.
The ideal in Buddhism, however, and the guidance of the Tibetan Book of the Dead,
is not to reincarnate here at all, but rather to release all desires and attachments to
the material world in order to reach a blissful state called nirvana at one with the source.
This would be considered a perfect death, rarely achieved, and generally requiring
hundreds or thousands of reincarnations before succeeding.
Buddhists believe a level of karmic purity and meditative awareness must be diligently
practiced, usually over many lifetimes, before reaching nirvana.
Otherwise, shortly after physical death, a series of hallucinatory karmic illusions
will beckon their attention and drag them down into increasingly darker delusions,
resulting in progressively worse rebirths. Dr. Kalyang wrote,
At any rate, it is unexpectedly original, if nothing else, to find the after-death state
of which our religious imagination has formed the most grandiose conceptions
painted in lurid colors as a terrifying dream state of a progressively degenerative character.
The supreme vision comes not at the end of the bardo, but right at the beginning,
in the moment of death. What happens afterward is an ever-deepening descent into illusion
and obscuration, down to the ultimate degradation of new physical birth.
The spiritual climax is reached at the moment when life ends.
Human life, therefore, is the vehicle of the highest perfection it is possible to attain.
It alone generates the karma that makes it possible for the dead man to abide
in the perpetual light of the voidness without clinging to any object,
and thus to rest on the hub of the wheel of rebirth, freed from all illusion of genesis
and decay. The Tibetan Book of the Dead emphasizes the importance of maintaining
at the moment of physical death a meditative, undisturbed, pure state of consciousness,
free from desires and attachments to the material world.
Spiritual adepts, able to transcend the trap of reincarnation,
are promised not to experience the devolution of delusion into hallucinatory dream states,
but to instead, quote, be set face to face with the fundamental clear light,
and without any intermediate state, they will obtain the unbored dharma kaya
by the great perpendicular path. A parallel teaching to this is found in the Hindu Bhagavad Gita,
where Krishna tells Arjuna that one attaineth whatever state of being one thinketh about
at the last when relinquishing the body, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof.
If the deceased is unable to maintain meditation, clings to material attachments
and desires, or has accrued too much negative karma, they will be thrust into a series of
dreamlike illusions. The Tibetan Book of the Dead states, however, that these illusions
all emanate directly from our own minds, and are a result of our own beliefs, preconceptions,
and other subconscious factors. The bardos each person experiences are based on their own
unique mental content, so a Buddhist would likely see visions of Buddha and the deities in
their pantheon, a Christian would see Jesus and the Christian heaven, and a Viking would
see the Norse gods and Valhalla. Sir John Woodruff wrote,
The Bible of the Christians, like the Koran of the Muslims,
never seems to consider that the spiritual experiences in the form of hallucinatory
visions by prophet or devotee reported therein may, in the last analysis, not be real.
But the Tibetan Book of the Dead is so sweeping in its assertions that it leaves its reader
with the clear-cut impression that every vision, without any exception whatsoever,
in which spiritual beings, god, or demons, or paradises, or places of torment and purgation
play a part, in a bardo, or any bardo-like dream or ecstasy, is purely illusionary.
The whole aim is to cause the dreamer to awaken into reality,
freed from all the obscurations of karmic illusions, in a supramundane or nirvanic state,
beyond all phenomenal paradises, heavens, hells, purgatories, or world of embodiment.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead states that upon the moment of physical death,
the following passage should be whispered into their ear repeatedly.
O nobly born, the time hath now come for thee to seek the path.
Thy breathing is about to cease. Thy guru hath set thee face to face before with the clear light,
and now thou art about to experience it in its reality, in the bardo state,
wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect
is like unto a transparent vacuum, without circumference or center.
At this moment know thou thyself, and abide in that state.
Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the great body of radiance,
hath no birth nor death, and is the immutable light.
If the deceased is able to recognize their true nature as the clear light,
and shed their mortal existence, the bardo ends immediately with their return to source
in a state of nirvana. Otherwise a series of self-created delusions begin to overtake
their consciousness. The Book of the Dead continues,
O nobly born, when thy body and mind were separating,
thou must have experienced a glimpse of the pure truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling,
glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in
springtime, in one continuous stream of vibrations. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor odd.
That is the radiance of thine own true nature. Recognize it.
Similar to an amputee with phantom limb syndrome, when the physical body dies,
our consciousness still thinks and feels much like it did during life,
creating dream states so convincing that many deceased people do not even realize
that they are dead. Much like the Robin Williams movie What Dreams May Come, the recently deceased
often becomes so consumed with hallucinations related to their attachments and desires on
the material plane that they may be in denial of their own death. For those who refused the
immutable clear light, the Book of the Dead claims they will now experience two more lights.
First a good true blue light of the highest divine, and then a false white light of the Devas,
spiritual beings in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, which relate to the archons or fallen angels
of Gnostic Christianity. The Tibetan Book of the Dead continues,
the wisdom of the Dharma Datu, blue in color, shining, transparent, glorious, dazzling from
the heart of Varochana as the father-mother will shoot forth and strike against thee with
a light so radiant that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it. Along with it,
there will also shine a dull white light from the Devas, which will strike against
thee in thy front. Thereupon, because of the power of bad karma, the glorious blue
light of the wisdom of Dharma Datu will produce in thee fear and terror,
and thou wilt wish to flee from it. Thou wilt beget a fondness for the dull white light of the
Devas. At this stage, thou must not be awed by the divine blue light which will appear shining,
dazzling, and glorious, and be not startled by it. That is the light of the Tathagata,
called the light of the wisdom of the Dharma Datu. Put thy faith in it, believe in it
firmly, and pray unto it. Be not fond of the dull white light of the Devas. Be not attached to it.
Be not weak. If thou be attached to it, thou wilt wander in the abodes of the Devas,
and be drawn into the whirl of the Six Lokas. That is an interruption to obstruct thee
on the path of liberation. Look not at it. Look at the bright blue light in deep faith.
For the next seven days, the recently deceased is tempted by seven different colored lights,
emanating from seven peaceful deities, each representing one of the seven shakras,
and one of the seven vices, including anger, pride, and jealousy.
Depending on the accumulated karma of the recently deceased,
they will feel irresistibly drawn towards the deity that represents their vice.
The Book of the Dead insists to remain impartial and unattached to each emotion as it passes,
or else be thrust and reincarnated into that world. For example, for those trapped by the light of
jealousy it says, A light of dull green color from the Asura Loka produced from the cause
of the feeling of jealousy, coming side by side with the wisdom rays will shine upon thee.
Meditate upon it with impartiality, with neither repulsion nor attraction. Be not fond of it.
If thou art of low mental capacity, be not fond of it. Fear it not.
Be not fond of that dull green light of the Asura Loka. That is the karmic path
of acquired intense jealousy which hath come to receive thee. If thou art attracted by it,
thou wilt fall into the Asura Loka and have to engage in unbearable miseries of quarreling and
warfare. If we are attracted to the impure lights of these worlds, it says we will assume a body there
and lose our opportunity to be emancipated from the cycle of suffering. Each successive light,
however, guarantees progressively worse rebirths, so the longer we remain lost in these karmic
illusions, the more suffering we will have to endure. After the first seven days of the
seven peaceful deities, the next seven days are controlled by seven wrathful deities.
The Book of the Dead says these are actually the same seven deities,
but with a changed aspect, so that they will not resemble themselves,
and now they will use negative rather than positive reinforcement to lure us.
Again we are reminded, though, not to fear or be in awe of these gods, because they are simply
embodiments of our own intellect, aspects of our own consciousness. O nobly born, listen undistractedly,
not having been able to recognize when the peaceful deities shown upon thee in the bardo
above, thou hast come wandering thus far. Now on the eighth day the blood-drinking wrathful
deities will come to shine. Act so as to recognize them without being distracted.
After seven days of the peaceful deities, and seven days of the wrathful deities,
on the fifteenth day the thought-body of propensities changes to a denser version of itself,
called the desire-body. This desire-body is given the powers of unimpeded motion
and miraculous action, meaning it can travel anywhere in an instant, and go straight through
walls and other physical objects. We are even encouraged to test the desire-body,
to experience our new powers, and prove to ourselves that we must really be dead.
O nobly born, thou art actually endowed with the power of miraculous action.
Thou art able in a moment to traverse the four continents round about Mount Meru.
Or thou canst instantly arrive in whatever place thou wishest.
Thou hast the power of reaching there within the time which a man taketh to bend,
or to stretch forth his hand. O nobly born, unimpeded motion implyeth that thy present body,
being a design intellect having been separated from its seat,
is not a body of gross matter. So that now thou hast the power to go right through any rock
masses, hills, boulders, earth, houses, and Mount Meru itself without being impeded.
Even the king of mountains, Mount Meru, can be passed through by thee,
straightforward and backwards, unimpededly. If we have proceeded this far still without
liberation, we are again urged towards meditation. We are also warned that at this
point we may see living relatives giving alms, performing religious ceremonies,
or sacrificing animals in our names, which may anger or sadness, but to be careful
that such emotions could cause us to be reborn in hell. If we feel attached to worldly goods that
we left behind, or because of seeing our old possessions being enjoyed and owned by other
people, we should not feel jealous or upset at our successors, nor attached to our possessions
any longer. We are told to renounce them, and cast them away, because we can no longer possess them.
O nobly born, when thou art driven hither and thither by the evermoving wind of karma,
thine intellect, having no object upon which to rest, will be like a feather tossed about by the
wind, riding on the horse of breath. Ceaselessly and involuntarily wilt thou be wandering about.
To all those who are weeping, thou wilt say, Here I am, weep not. But they not hearing thee,
thou wilt think, I am dead. And again at that time, thou wilt be feeling very miserable.
Be not miserable in that way. O nobly born, thou wilt rest a little while,
but thou wilt not be able to remain there very long. For thine intellect hath been
separated from thine earth-plane body. Because of this inability to loiter,
thou oft times wilt feel perturbed and vexed and panic-stricken. At times thy knower will be dim.
At times fleeting and incoherent. Thereupon this thought will occur to thee.
Alas, I am dead. What shall I do? And because of such thought,
the knower will become saddened, and the heart chilled, and thou wilt experience
infinite misery of sorrow. Since thou canst not rest in any one place,
and feel impelled to go on, think not of various things, but allow the intellect to abide in its own
unmodified state. Finally a gray twilight-like light will begin to shine forth at all times
until the forty-ninth day. Our old life and body will start to dim as we frantically search
for a new body, thinking about a future life. We will be drawn towards couples engaging in intercourse,
and soon find a womb to enter, where we may be born again. The Book of the Dead warns us, however,
to instead meditate with peace and tranquility on the vacuous clear light, which will shut the
womb door. If unable to do this, we are destined for reincarnation, but first enter a judgment
scene very similar to the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Both scenes feature symbolic scales of justice,
but in the Tibetan version, rather than weighing our heart against a feather, a number of small white
pebbles representing our good karma, and a number of small black pebbles representing our bad karma
are weighed on the scale. O noblyborn, listen, that thou art suffering so cometh
from thine own karma. It is not due to anyone else's, it is by thine own karma.
Accordingly, pray earnestly to the precious trinity that will protect thee. If thou neither prayest
nor knowest how to meditate upon the great symbol, nor upon any tutelary deity, the good genius,
who was born simultaneously with thee, will come now and count thy good deeds with white pebbles,
and the evil genius, who was born simultaneously with thee, will come and count out thy evil
deeds with black pebbles. Thereupon thou wilt be greatly frightened, odd, and terrified,
and wilt tremble, and thou wilt attempt to tell lies, saying, I have not committed any evil deed.
Then the Lord of Death will say, I will consult the mirror of karma.
So saying, he will look in the mirror wherein every good and evil act is vividly reflected,
lying will be of no avail. Then the Lord of Death will place round thy neck a rope and drag
thee along. He will cut off thy head, extract thy heart, pull out thy intestines, lick up thy brain,
drink thy blood, eat thy flesh, and gnaw thy bones. But thou wilt be incapable of dying.
Although thy body be hacked to pieces, it will revive again. The repeated hacking will
cause intense pain and torture. Even at the time that the pebbles are being counted out,
be not frightened, nor terrified, tell no lies, and fear not the Lord of Death.
Thy body being a mental body is incapable of dying, even though beheaded and quartered.
In reality, thy body is the nature of voidness. Thou needs not be afraid.
The Lords of Death are thine own hallucinations. Thy desire body is a body of propensities and void.
Voidness cannot injure voidness. The qualityless cannot injure the qualityless. Apart from one's
own hallucinations, in reality, there are no such things existing outside oneself as Lord of
Death, or God, or Demon, or the bullheaded spirit of Death. Act so, as to recognize this.
Similar to the Egyptian God Amit, devourer of the dead, who would eat heavy hearts off the scale
of justice, the Tibetan Lord of Death dismembers and devours those deceased who fail their judgment.
In fact, he repeatedly does so. Not simply to punish, but to prove to the deceased
that we are not our bodies. Our bodies, the judgment scene, and the Lord of Death himself,
are all said to be simply hallucinations emanating from our own consciousness.
If we cannot realize this, we will continue to be reborn time and again.
Walter Evans Wentz wrote,
Each deity, as it dawns from its appropriate psychic center, represents the coming into
after-death karmic activity of some corresponding impulse or passion of the complex consciousness.
As though in an initiatory mystery play, the actors for each day of the bardo come on the
mind-stage of the deceased, who is their sole spectator, and their director is karma.
The higher or more divine elements of the consciousness principle of the deceased
dawn first in the full glory of the primal clear light, and then, in ever diminishing glory,
the visions grow less and less happy. The peaceful deities of the heart center,
and then of the throat center, merge into the wrathful deities of the brain center.
Finally, as the purely human and brutish propensities personified, in the fiercest of the wrathful
deities, as horror-producing and threatening spectral hallucinations come into the field
of mental vision, the recipient flees and dismay from them, his own thought-forms,
to the refuge of the womb, thereby making himself to be the plaything of maya and the
slave of ignorance. In other words, in a manner similar to that in which the earth-plane body
grows to maturity and then withers, and after its death disintegrates, the after-death body,
called the mental body, grows from the heavenly days of its bardo-childhood to the less idealist
days of its bardo-maturity, then fades and dies in the intermediate state, as the knower, abandoning it,
is reborn. Reincarnation is the cornerstone belief of many world religions, including Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Zoroastrianism. The idea that our consciousness
survives physical death and is reborn into new bodies was believed by great minds, such as Plato,
Socrates, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Hume, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Whitman, Napoleon,
Franklin, Goethe, and Gandhi. Many researchers, including Dr. Ian Stevenson, have dedicated
their lives to proving the phenomenon by meticulously documenting and verifying
over 3,000 cases of children remembering and confirming knowledge from past lives.
In his six-volume work spanning over 40 years of investigation, Dr. Stevenson reported on children
from around the world able to remember so much about their previous lives that he was able to
locate former friends, relatives, villages, houses, and possessions based solely on the
children's testimony. Published in distinguished scientific periodicals such as the American
Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Nervous Medicine and Disease, and the International Journal
of Comparative Sociology, even the American Medical Association Journal stated that Dr.
Stevenson has quote, painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases in which
the evidence for reincarnation is difficult to understand on any other grounds. If you are
personally still unconvinced that reincarnation is real, I highly recommend reading Dr. Stevenson's
work or my book Spiritual Science. Along with reincarnation, two other afterlife beliefs are
often featured prominently in the world's religions, namely judgment and sin or karma.
Buddha said, everything in the universe is the fruit of a just law, the law of causality,
the law of cause and effect, the law of karma. Karma builds itself as essentially
the moral and spiritual equivalent to Newton's Third Law of Motion. For every action there is
an equal opposing reaction. What goes around comes around, and do unto others as you would
have done unto you, because either in this life or the next the scales of justice will remain
balanced. Whether it is the Christian judgment of one's sins, the books of the dead weighing
one's heart on the scales, or the Hindu-Buddhist notion of karma determining one's rebirth,
the idea that our moral decisions in life are recorded, analyzed, and scrutinized during the
afterlife is nearly ubiquitous. On the surface this may seem just and good that our actions
are judged and reflected in our afterlife experience, and that evil people will eventually
have to atone for their sins. But a deeper examination reveals that under the surface
this system is really not fair or balanced at all. First of all, there is no God-given
life instruction manual, no objective standard, or unanimously agreed upon set of rules for what
constitutes a sinless, karma-free existence. There are thousands of religions and holy texts,
each with their own unique set of precepts, laws, or commandments, and no two are exactly alike.
How are we to know whether to follow the Buddhist Eightfold Path, the Christian Ten Commandments,
the Egyptian Forty-Two Prohibitions, or any other sacred set of directives?
Furthermore, the holy books of these religions state that most everyone falls short of their
nearly impossible standard. For example, in the Christian Bible, Romans 3-23 says,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And Ecclesiastes 7-20 says,
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
In the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, 8-16, it says, From the highest plain in the material world,
down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place.
And in the Buddhist text, Sutta-Napada, it says, Countless lives we have lived in this Samsara,
so full of suffering. It is hard to find someone who has not been our mother or father.
So even if we are lucky enough to choose the correct religion and perfectly follow its
moral directives, we are informed that our efforts are still almost certainly in vain,
and we will have to suffer due to falling short of their near impossible standard.
Beyond the ambiguity of moral precepts and the near impossibility of maintaining them,
we are also surrounded by billions of other confused sinners acting out their karma.
Just by proximity alone, from sharing the earth with so many people involved in their own internal
struggles, it is ensured that we will be repeatedly challenged throughout our lives
and eventually accrue negative karma from some of these interactions.
We all have bad days navigating this world of suffering, dealing with a myriad of miserable
people, living in physical bodies that deliver us chemical doses of roller coaster emotions.
Is it really fair to be judged so harshly for simply trying to survive and do our best
in this far from perfect world? Wouldn't a loving, benevolent creator
put us in a safe, caring environment if they truly wanted us to learn, grow, and thrive?
How just is it to put people in a dangerous, confusing world full of sin and sinners,
then punishing anyone who falls short of absolute perfection?
It seems the message of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, being crucified on the cross,
is that this evil world is so fallen that even God in the flesh could not thrive or survive
here. Instead, he would only be able to help a small group of fortunate people
before ultimately being tortured and murdered for his efforts.
We see this repeatedly throughout history as well, with humanitarians like Malcolm X,
Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Mahatma Gandhi being assassinated
rather than applauded for their activism. There are several cliché phrases hinting at
this truth as well, such as, only the good die young. Virtue is its own punishment.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and no good deed goes unpunished.
These have become idioms and proverbs because they have proven true over generations,
and speak of inherent injustices most everyone can relate to and identify with.
These ideas of virtue being its own punishment, or no good deed going unpunished,
run completely contrary to the ideas of karma or justice. So which is true, that life isn't fair,
and nice guys finish last? Or like the Buddha said, that everything is the fruit of the
just law of karma? Isabella Green, in Leaving the Trap, said, the whole idea of karma
quite literally means that if a person caused suffering to others during their life,
which in one way or another most of us do, then this person has to pay off this karma
in a different life where they are the ones who are now suffering. The whole idea makes me wonder
who exactly came up with it and fed it to humans to begin with. From this perspective,
I would suggest that the idea of facing one's karma, also known as Judgment Day,
is an artificial construct generated to keep the reincarnation cycle going.
Throughout history, people who have been pronounced dead, but then later successfully
resuscitated, have recounted eerily similar stories. Upon the moment of bodily death,
they report that their consciousness, their awareness, their feelings, memories, and personal
identity all remain intact but become detached from their physical body. They can still see and
hear everything around them, but no longer through their eyes and ears. Their consciousness
rises out of their dying bodies and they observe the resuscitation attempt or their
mourning family members while floating around in this disembodied state. Soon they begin to hear
a ringing, buzzing, or musical vibrations and find themselves traveling through a darkness
or a tunnel toward a white light in the distance. The light lovingly beckons them with its beauty
and brings them to a heavenly realm where they meet with deceased friends, family,
and angelic beings of light. These light beings emanate love and compassion and telepathically
present themselves as afterlife guides tasked with helping recently deceased souls transition.
They then initiate a full life review where people report their entire life flashing before them.
In an instant they are shown a panoramic playback of their whole lives on earth.
The beings of light observe the life review alongside the recently deceased,
drawing their attention to certain key moments when they made selfish, insensitive,
or immoral decisions and question them about their behavior. The near-death experiencer
usually feels remorseful and regretful about their shortcomings in life and the light beings
console them by letting them know they can go back and that they still have a mission on
earth to complete. This beautiful heavenly realm, the loving light beings and warm
reception by deceased friends and family makes most want nothing more than to stay,
and many often protest, insisting not to return. Ultimately, however, they are coaxed,
coerced, and convinced to come back to earth and soon find themselves waking up alive in
their physical bodies. This exact sequence of events or a version thereof has been
experienced by countless people throughout history. In recent times many well-respected
clinicians like Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Kenneth Ring, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross,
Dr. Michael Sabam, and Dr. Melvin Morse have left their established professional careers
in order to dedicate their lives to researching and reporting on this fascinating phenomena.
These and other doctors have recorded and detailed several thousand cases
in dozens of books compiling an incredibly compelling preponderance of evidence.
These modern near-death experiences also mirror many facets of the ancient Egyptian and Tibetan
books of the dead, such as the existence of a bardo body that survives physical death,
meetings with luminous beings and deceased relatives, and an intensive life-review judgment scene.
Researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long has compiled the website nderf.org with over four thousand
testimonies from modern-day near-death experiencers who share very similar stories.
When compared for commonalities and contrasted for inconsistencies, a disturbing common thread
that crops up repeatedly is deception and manipulation by the light and light beings.
For example, nearly ninety-five percent of near-death experiencers insinuate that they are
pulled or drawn to the light in an irresistible manner, like by magnet, as though they have
little choice in the matter. The life-review judgment scene features God or another authoritarian
luminous being who points out specific instances of regrettable, inconsiderate, or shameful behavior
engaged in during their lifetimes, then uses those negative events and emotions
to convince the recently deceased to return to earth. Most are manipulated to believe they
have some ambiguous mission to complete and willingly return after the life-review.
But many others are not so easily deceived, and when they refuse to return to earth,
find themselves forcibly sent back to their physical bodies against their will.
In her NDE testimony, Mary S. said,
In the distance I saw a light, and I went into it. The light was very intensely bright,
but not blinding. I could hear sublime music that sounded like love songs.
I knew at that moment that I am not alone in the world.
I felt an unconditional and infinite love. I had never felt so bathed in love,
and I had never felt anything like that since.
Maria T. said, I was thrown straight into the middle of the warmest, most beautiful,
most welcoming light, where I instantly felt that here I feel good.
I was drawn to the ocean of light as a gigantic magnet and drowned in light
exactly like the center of the sun. And Martin M. said,
Then all of a sudden I was gone from my small house, and I was in a dark space or tunnel.
It scared me. I felt lost and didn't know what was happening when I saw a white light in the
distance. The light was whiter than white, a light we don't have here on earth.
I felt I had to go to the light, but I didn't know how. I was sucked towards it,
and once in the light, I saw that the colors were much more intense than here.
When describing the light, near-death experiencers universally report feelings of love,
happiness, and contentment so intense they are fully enthralled and entranced by it.
Bonnie V. said, It was the most incredibly beautiful light that I had ever seen.
It seemed to have a personality that was beyond belief loving.
I was happy just being in the light.
Larry L. recounted his experience saying,
When I got to the light, it was like all of a sudden there was nothing but the most
intense bright white all around me. I instantly realized the most peaceful,
pain-free, contented, euphoric state that I can imagine.
I never felt so good and at home in all my life experiences on earth.
And Bill V. said, As I moved forward in the dark tunnel,
I passed into a bright white light. It was the most incredibly beautiful,
peaceful, calm, loving place I had ever been in my life. It was full of this unconditional love
and this great knowledge of the universe. As wonderful as these accounts seem on the surface,
such stories of this hypnotic loving light that greets us at death
also raises many questions. If the possibility exists for us to experience absolute bliss,
contentment, and pain-free euphoria, why is that not available here on earth?
Why is such beauty, happiness, and unconditional love reserved only for the afterlife?
In considering the life-review judgment scene that occurs right afterwards,
the light's strategy seems reminiscent of the narcissistic manipulation tactic called
love-bombing, whereby a target is initially overwhelmed with flattery and attention
to butter them up and relax their defenses. Afterwards, the love and positivity are promptly
taken away, leaving the target feeling devalued, discarded, and while in that emotionally vulnerable
space easily deceived. This is conveniently when God, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, angels,
light beings, or deceased relatives appear to help guide the soul with their transition.
These beings always seem specially tailored to the individual and can shape-shift
depending on what form best suits them. Lonnie F. remembers, I was spoken to immediately
and made aware of a presence. After we agreed that I would see him in physical form, he appeared.
I think that having me make the decision to communicate with him, instead of him just
appearing in front of me, was more for my comfort than anything else.
Cathy B. recounts her story, saying, The thoughts came into my head.
What kind of form or shape would make you most comfortable? What do you mean, I thought back?
Some require me to take the shape of a wise old man, others a woman,
and still others an animal, all of different races, ages, sizes, or species.
What about you? I thought without hesitation, human.
With that, the light began to simultaneously separate
into amazing rays of colour and intensify into a more solid form.
Once the light reached the stage where it looked like a human form,
a rather generic-looking cookie-cutter shape, like a gingerbread man, appeared.
After assuming some form, the beings telepathically initiate a life review
where they draw attention to key moments during the life of the recently deceased.
They ask leading questions, prying into these pivotal moments,
poking and prodding about their behaviour and how they treated others.
These beings seem very focused on pointing out wrongs committed by the recently deceased,
and making them feel guilty and ashamed. Gail A. recounted,
Then came a judgment of sorts, where I was judged on the things I had done.
I wasn't judged on big things, more small instances of intent.
It was the little things that mattered, and not the big things.
Then I was told that I had to go back, which didn't make me happy at all,
as I knew that being alive would hurt. Every aspect of living would hurt.
The thought of going back into a wet, disgusting body repulsed me.
I couldn't believe I had to wear my body again,
as it felt like wearing an old, disgusting coat that belonged to someone else.
George W. stated, I think I am still stuck in the life review part sometimes.
I haven't been the best person, and have sinned a good bit.
I feel like I am supposed to realise that I am my own worst enemy,
and need to forgive myself and move on. My grandfather was my judge in the experience,
and he told me to come back and honour my father.
And Deborah J. said, Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of a council of 13 beings,
with the one in the middle twice as big as the six on either side of him.
They were all sitting in big chairs at a sizeable distance in front of me.
I was naked, and felt totally revealed, and tried to use my hands to cover myself up.
The main one in the middle began to speak to me telepathically.
The questions they were asking me were about my life, and how I had lived it.
I got the feeling they were not pleased with me. I was terrified to say the least,
exposed to the hilt. I knew they knew it all.
Towards the end of the ordeal, he told me they were not going to let me remember most of what
had happened. And they had decided they were going to send me back, because you have to get it right.
The next thing I knew, I was in my body, on the bed, some three days later.
Most near-death experiencers report feeling so blissful in their disembodied state,
and contented with the heavenly afterlife realm, that they do not want to return to earth.
Even when the light beings protest how much their families will miss them,
insisting that their time has not yet come, and that they still have a mission to complete in life,
the majority of near-death experiencers wish nothing more than to stay in the afterlife realm.
Even after pleading and begging not to be sent back, many report being coerced,
or outright forced back into their bodies against their will.
Joanne M. remembers, I encountered a form who I knew was God,
who told me it was time to now go back. I started arguing with God in my own little obnoxious way,
and God said I needed to go back, because my mission here wasn't complete.
Mary W. said, My main reason for staying was because I didn't want to let God down.
I wanted to finish the job I had come here to do.
I wanted to show him that I'm not a quitter. I also wanted to live on this earth,
knowing God loved me. I felt like I had no other choice than to stay.
I replied, almost in a whisper, and very, very reluctantly,
I really want to go with you, but I have to stay.
Leonard Kay stated, At some point, God told me, You must go back to earth.
I refused. No way I should go back into that sick body.
Then God showed me a vision of my mother who cried because I was dead.
Then I came back.
And Steve L. said, I asked if I could stay because it was so beautiful there,
and I didn't want to come back to earth. The light being said, No, you have a mission
that you must do. I didn't know what the mission was, but I said yes to returning back to earth.
In the majority of cases, the near-death experiencer is subtly coerced through
suggestions and visions to willingly return to earth.
After shape-shifting into a personalized authority figure, and insisting they have
some ambiguous mission to complete here on earth, the light usually succeeds in manipulating them
to agree. In some cases, however, particularly stubborn souls who refuse to capitulate are
simply forced back into their bodies without their consent. Geraldine B. remembers,
it was not my choice. I was forced to go back. I didn't want to. The decision was made by that
main light source. Philip S. said, There was a royal figure who decided, without my consent,
if I could stay with them or not. It was decided I must return back to earth,
where I currently and happily reside, but I wish I could have had the choice to stay there.
Stephen R. stated, They asked me if I wanted to stay with them,
or if I wanted to come back to earth, because everything was so overwhelmingly wonderful and
beautiful, I asked to stay with them. It wasn't until years later, after I realized what happened to
me had a name, near-death experience, and that what happened to me was real, not a dream,
that I remembered then they sent me back against my will. Then I was really mad.
Why did they make me come back when I wanted to stay? I felt controlled.
Why did they ask me if the decision wasn't really mine? I was so mad.
And Maria T. said, Then I thought like this. It's not so bad here. I don't want to go back to earth.
No. Never again back there. Never again back to earth. And why should I go back down to earth
where everything is so materialistic, where you have to fight hard for results? A lot of work
for nothing. Here I could move as I wanted, where I wanted. It's not so bad here.
I absolutely don't want to go back down to earth. And while I was enjoying my new condition
of total freedom and total love, I was pulled down, as by a line, an elevator, or a force,
something pulled me back into my body. It's quite suspicious how this after-death light,
either coerces or sucks people towards it, transforms itself into a personalized authority
figure, replays negative moments from their lives to guilt-trip and shame them,
then coerces or forces them to return back to earth. Why is there so much manipulation involved
in this experience? If souls can simply be forced back without their consent, why is so much effort
put into persuading them to return willingly? The afterlife realm seems so abundantly superior
to earth that few souls wish to return, which begs the question, why would anyone freely choose to
come here in the first place? Is there so much deception, manipulation, and coercion in the
afterlife realm because it's necessary to trick souls into coming here? Leslie V said of the
heavenly afterlife realm, it felt very warm, safe, cozy, and comfortable. I did many recreational
jobs in my youth, and this was the best high you can imagine, the high of all highs, the ecstasy of
all ecstasy, the ultimate high, just so free, light, and weightless. Accounts like Leslie's
sparked serious questions about the nature of our reality. If there exists a realm of pure
bliss and ecstasy just outside of these physical bodies, why have our souls chosen to don them?
If heaven is so freely accessible, what exactly are we doing down here on earth?
Dwayne S said of his NDE,
after experiencing heaven, in no way did I want to go back to earth any time soon. If earth was a
theme park, then they could have any part of my unused ticket they wanted. I had had enough
drama for a while. I was finished with that petty, trite, hellhole of an earth game it
all become. Howdy Makowski wrote,
Generally, when a person has had an NDE, they present a similar story. They enter a realm that
is confusing, until they either see a white light, off in a tunnel, with perhaps angel-like beings,
or dead relatives, encouraging them towards the light. Those who experience this light
say it is the most beautiful experience they could imagine. Love personified, some report.
A place they did not want to leave. At some point they are told, either after a type of life review,
or by simple presentation, that it is not their time. They have work or a mission to complete,
or they have more to learn, and are sent back to their bodies on earth.
The experience tends to transform them, and often they change their life in drastic ways.
Generally they tend to become kinder, more loving, and lose their fear of death.
It all sounds good, doesn't it? Or is it too good to be true?
If I were to ask the average person what an NDE is like, they would present the words
white light, tunnel, love, peace, God, life review, and relatives. This is what makes
it into TV shows and movies. The white light is your friend. It will comfort you,
and take away all your pain. What if the white light is not the doorway to heaven,
but a slide back into this realm of suffering? Then much of what is presented in these experiences
may be deception. Another red flag, even in these standard feel-good experiences,
is that most of the people are sent back against their will. Generally they all want to stay in
the love and peace they feel, but a being that they feel they should agree with tells them
they have to go back, or just forces them back. Generally they are told they have more
to learn, or a mission to complete. Yet many also claim that while in this after-death realm
they had access to all knowing. And so what more does a soul need to learn if they already
are in a place where they know everything? Oddly this part of the experience tends to
get glossed over, as the returned person focuses on the love and happiness of it all.
They forget that they came back to earth against their will.
During an episode titled Coda from season three of the popular science fiction show Star Trek
Voyager, Captain Catherine Janeway is directly confronted with a reincarnation soul trap matrix.
After having their shuttle struck by ion lightning in space, the captain and her co-pilot
begin experiencing a time loop where every time they seem about to perish,
they instantly revert back to the moment just before being struck.
Janeway slowly starts recognizing this incessant deja vu and begins to worry that she may have died.
In reality they had crash-landed on an alien world where her body lay dying,
where her consciousness was having a near-death experience. Suddenly, somehow back on the Starship
Enterprise, out of a bright white light steps Captain Janeway's long-deceased father,
smiling, and in full Captain's uniform. Who are you? Are you responsible for what's
going on here? She asks him sternly.
You know who I am, Catherine. He responds. She shakes her head.
My father died over fifteen years ago. You may be a hallucination or some kind of projection
of my own imagination, but you are not my father. The entity insists that he is indeed her father
and that she died in a shuttle-crash. He claims to understand her confusion
and to have gone through the same feelings when he passed away,
explaining, I went back to you, your mother, and your sister after I died for a long time
until I realized it was futile. That's what happens when death is unexpected.
One's consciousness isn't prepared to let go.
Still skeptical, she quips back. Consciousness? Is that what you're calling me? Catherine's
consciousness? For want of a better word, he answers.
Some say ghost or spirit. We all heard the stories
and thought they were the product of vivid imaginations or self-induced hysteria.
I'll admit, I was surprised when I found out they were true.
Catherine continues to test the entity claiming to be her father by asking questions only he
should know. He answers convincingly and details her family's actions during the days
after his death, insisting that he was there in spirit, watching over her,
her sister, and her mother. Eventually, you will cross over, he says. The only question
is how long it will take you to give up this world.
Cross over to where, she asks.
I don't know what to call it, he replies. Another state of consciousness,
unlike anything we ever could have imagined in life. It's not a frightening place, Catherine.
It's full of joy and indescribable wonder.
Captain Janeway's father leads her to a room on the Starship Enterprise,
where the crew are now holding her funeral. After the final speaker finishes their last
teary, heartfelt goodbye, her father interjects.
It's over now, Catherine. There's nothing left for you here. Come with me.
What do I do to leave here? she asks.
Just decide, he answers. The only thing that keeps you is your refusal to leave.
Catherine acknowledges that she simply isn't ready to accept it, and wishes to stay in spirit
with her friends and crew. Her father responds.
You're saying all the things I told myself when I refused to leave you.
I was hoping you wouldn't have to go through that. It's a horrible existence, Catherine.
As time wears on, you begin to see how potent, how destructive loneliness is.
You'll see the people you love going on with their lives, doing all the things
you used to share with them, but you won't be a part of it any more.
You'll forever be shut out of their existence. It becomes agonizing.
I don't want that to happen to you. You can only be an observer of their lives,
never a participant. Every hour you stay here makes it that much more difficult to leave.
Defiant and unyielding, Catherine sternly snaps back saying,
I don't care. I'd rather be here in spirit than not at all.
A captain does an abandoned ship.
Why are you pushing me? I've made up my mind. I'm staying here.
Then, just as she makes this decision, her dying body lying on the alien world
begins to show vital signs of coming back to life.
For a brief instant, her consciousness shoots back into her body.
Lying there on the wet, rocky ground of the alien world,
looking up through her physical eyes again at the doctor and co-pilot,
she sees the resuscitation effort underway to save her.
In this moment Catherine realizes how the white light entity was trying to deceive her.
I didn't see myself, she said. I was looking up at them.
That's the real me, isn't it? Lying on the ground on that planet dying.
And this is the hallucination. This isn't real.
Her father begins to scowl, losing his patience, shouting,
more denial. You're only making it harder on yourself. I'm trying to save you unnecessary pain.
Catherine refuses to relent and notices, you're trying very hard to convince me to come with you.
Why is that? If what you're saying is true, why not let me come to that decision on my own?
My father would never act like this. He always believed I had to learn my own lessons,
make my own mistakes. He never tried to shield me from life.
Why would he try to shield me from death? You're not my father. I could be imagining you,
but I don't think so. You have such a specific agenda. You're determined that I go with you
somewhere. Who are you? Are you an alien being of some kind? Is that it? I was right.
You're an alien. You created all these hallucinations, haven't you?
Acknowledging his exposure and finally admitting defeat, the entity explains,
this is what my species does. At the moment just before death one of us comes to help you
understand what's happening, to make the crossing over an occasion of joy.
And what is that? Catherine asks, pointing at the bright white light from which he appeared.
Our matrix, he responds, where your consciousness will live. I was being truthful
when I said it was a place of wonder. It can be whatever you want it to be.
Shaking her head, she asks, then why didn't you tell me this from the beginning?
Why pretend to be my father? The entity disguised as her father reasons that,
usually, people are comforted to see their loved ones. It makes the crossing over
a much less fearful occasion. I've done this many times, but I've never encountered someone so
resistant. Captain Janeway narrows her eyes in condemnation at the deceitful entity. I don't
get the feeling you're trying to make me comfortable. You're only interested in my agreeing to come
with you. You don't strike me as any kind of good Samaritan. You're more like a vulture,
preying on people at the moment of their deaths when they're most vulnerable.
What's the real reason you want me in that matrix? Somehow, I don't think it has anything to do with
everlasting joy. In a last-ditch effort, the entity grabs her by the shoulders and demands,
you must go with me. Unphased, Captain Janeway makes the astute observation that,
if you could force me to go, you'd have done it already. You need me to agree, don't you?
I have to go voluntarily. Let me tell you this. We can stand here for all eternity,
and I will never choose to go with you. With that, the entity concedes defeat, but warns her.
You're in a dangerous profession, Captain. You face death every day. There will be another time,
and I will be waiting. Eventually, you'll come into my matrix, and you will nourish me
for a long, long time. This episode of Star Trek Voyager perfectly encapsulates the typical
near-death deception experience. After being drawn towards a bright white light,
entities often claiming to be deceased relatives present themselves as afterlife guides to help
assist with their transition. They praise and hype the light as a place of overwhelming abundance,
joy and love beyond anything ever experienced on earth. They patiently answer every question,
clear up any confusion, then begin nudging the near-death experiencer towards entering the light.
As Captain Janeway wisely notices, the entity pretending to be her father
is unable to physically force her into the light. His only power is to mentally and emotionally
deceive her so that she might choose the light of her own volition. Thus the entity cloaks himself
in the body of the most loved and respected authority figure in Catherine's life. He relays
stories and information that only her father should know to solidify the illusion.
In order to scare her from waiting around in her disembodied state for too long,
he warns about the agonizing loneliness and futility of staying. He insists the light
is a place of joy and wonder where she can manifest anything she wishes. But when she
finally adamantly refuses, the pretense of patience and understanding wears thin.
The entity's forceful behavior exposes his cloak of compassion, and it becomes obvious
that it is not actually her father. Like a pushy used car salesman trying to force
an impulsive purchase, he gives false answers and makes false promises.
If the white light was really worth the price of admission, why would it need these sleazy salesmen
in their cheap meat suits to sell us on it? The entity's final comment gives the clearest clue
when he says, eventually you'll come into my matrix and you will nourish me for a long,
long time. In other words, our entry into the light seems to serve as some kind of energy
extraction that feeds these entities. Similar to how Morpheus bleakly described the human condition
in the Matrix movie, we may ultimately be nothing more than batteries farmed for a type of energy.
Robert Monroe was an American radio broadcasting executive who was known for his work in the
field of altered states of consciousness. He founded the Monroe Institute for the
Exploration of Human Consciousness, patented Hemisink binaural beats, and coined the term
out-of-body experience. Monroe wrote several books about his astral travels out-of-body,
the beings he met in the spirit world, and the information they imparted to him.
Perhaps the most notable of all occurs in Chapter 12 of his book Far Journeys,
where he describes an out-of-body experience with a being who shared a creation story
claiming Earth was made as a garden to grow lush. This entity claimed that beings reminiscent of
the Gnostic Archons allegedly require, like, need, value, collect, drink, eat, or use as a drug,
a substance called lush. Natural forms of this vital substance valued by these beings
was said to originate from a series of vibrational actions in the carbon-oxygen cycle.
So the creator decided to grow his own in a garden experiment.
Robert Monroe explains that, first, he created a proper environment for the carbon-oxygen cycle
where it would flourish. He created a balance with much care, so that proper radiation and
other nourishment would be in continuous supply. He then tried his first crop,
which actually did produce lush, but only in small quantities and of comparatively low grade.
It turns out the lifespan of the crops were too short, and the crop units themselves too small,
bringing about limits in quality and quantity. Also, the lush could only be harvested at the
moment of death and not a second before. As the story goes, the creator planted a second crop,
which was only marginally better. He changed the environment to another part of the garden
where the density was gaseous rather than liquid, and the higher density chemicals formed
a solid base and thus were still available. He planted numberless units in many varieties
in a new form, with great increase in size, some many thousands of times larger and more complex
than the simple unicellular first crop. This second crop receded itself at regular intervals
and terminated their lifespans automatically. The creator also immobilized the second crop
to avoid the uneven distribution of chemicals and radiation prevalent in the first crop.
Each was designed to stay principally in its own section of the garden. To this end,
each was given firm tendrils which burrowed deep in the more dense chemical matter.
Attached to this was a stem or trunk which helped elevate the upper portion upward
for its share of needed radiation. The upper portion, broad, thin, and somewhat fragile,
was designed as a transducer of carbon-oxygen compounds to and from the crop unit.
As an added thought, brilliant color radiators accompanied by small particle generators were
mounted on each unit, usually near the top and symmetrically centered. In other words,
the first crop was the creation of unicellular organisms, and the second crop was the creation
of trees, flowers, and plants. According to Monroe, the creator was still unsatisfied with the results
of the second crop, which produced more quantity but of no greater quality. He did, however,
discover a new means of swift harvesting through what sounds like strong winds,
hurricanes, or tornadoes. He set up circulating patterns in the gaseous envelope around the
crop principally to aid in the receding process. Later, he discovered that the same
turbulent effect served as a means of harvesting the loosh. If the turbulence were violent enough,
the crop would be blown down, the lifespan terminated, and the loosh would discharge.
After his second failure, the creator hovered over his garden, pondering how he would change
his third crop. He decided the original carbon-oxygen cycle must be included, mobility
must be restored, and size must be added to the units. Thus the creator removed some sample units
from the first crop still thriving in the liquid portion of his garden and modified them to exist
in the gaseous area. Then he adapted them to take nourishment from the second crop to allow them
to grow into efficient loosh collectors themselves. Thus it was that the first of the mobiles,
the third crop, came into being. The mobiles took nourishment from the second crop,
thus ending its lifespan, and produced low-grade loosh. When each huge mobile terminated its own
lifespan, additional loosh was produced. The quantity was massive, but the frequency pattern of the
loosh residue still left much to be desired. So the third crop was larger mobile units
that feed upon the second crop, or in other words, animals were created to further refine the loosh
production of plants. The creator was getting closer and closer to a viable loosh garden,
but his new problem was that the monstrous and slow-moving mobiles had a lifespan far out of
proportion to their nourishment input. The growth and life termination process was of such length
that soon the mobiles would all but decimate the second crop. The entire garden would be out of
balance, and there would be no loosh production whatsoever. While hovering over his third crop
and pondering his next move, the creator noticed as the second crop plants grew more and more
scarce, the energy needs of the third crop animals became acute. Often two mobiles would seek to
ingest the same second crop unit, causing conflict and physical struggle, which to the creator's happy
surprise created huge amounts of loosh. With this new revelation in mind, the creator tried another
experiment. He removed another unit of the first crop from the liquid garden area, redesigned it
for the gaseous environment, but with one significant change. The new mobile unit would
be somewhat smaller, but would require the ingestion of other mobiles for nourishment.
This would solve the problem of overpopulation of mobiles, and at the same time would create
good quantities of usable loosh during each conflict struggle, plus a bonus if the new
class of mobile terminated the lifespan of the other. In other words, for the fourth crop,
the creator made carnivorous animals who, in their struggle to survive, harvested record
amounts of loosh. For his fourth crop units, the creator tried a few different types. Some were
made to subsist mostly on the second crop units, while others required the energy from ingestion
of their fellow third crop units. The completed circuit operated quite satisfactorily. The stationary
second crop modification in the liquid environment flourished. Small, highly active,
liquid breathing mobiles took nourishment and ate the second crop modification.
Larger and or other active mobiles consumed for energy the smaller plant eaters.
When any mobile grew too large and slow, it became an easy target for the smaller mobiles
who attacked in voracious numbers. The chemical residue from these ingestive actions settled
to the bottom of the liquid medium, and so provided new nourishment for the stationaries,
completing the circuit. The result was a steady flow of loosh, from the lifespan termination of
the stationaries, from the intense conflict among the mobiles to avoid ingestion, and finally,
from the sudden termination of the lifespans of such mobiles as the inevitable product of
such conflicts. The garden was now producing adequate loosh and self-regenerating as well.
Even still, the creator was not finished refining his crops, and had more ingenious ideas in mind.
He created thousands of new types in his fourth crop mobiles with the goal of more struggle,
suffering, and conflict. These took the form of mass, elusive speed, deceptive and or protective
coating, and color radiation, wave action, and particle perceptors and detectors,
and unique higher density perturbances for gouging, grasping, and rending during conflict.
In other words, he created faster, larger, stronger animals with claws, fangs, and antlers
to hunt and kill one another. These new additions prolonged the periods of conflict
and resulted in increased loosh production. Next, as a side experiment, the creator
designed one form of mobile that was weak and ineffective by the standards of the other mobiles
in the fourth crop. Yet this experimental mobile had two distinct advantages. The first advantage
was its ability to ingest and take energy from both the stationaries and other mobiles. Second,
the creator pulled forth a piece of himself with no other source of such substance being
known or available to act as an intensive, ultimate trigger to mobility.
By infusing this piece of himself into the fourth crop units, the creator added a new
motivating force beyond the satisfaction of energy requirements through ingestion.
These units would now always seek to satisfy this tiny moat of the creator engendered as it
sought reunion with the infinite whole. This piece of himself sounds like consciousness
or higher mind, and the special fourth crop units given this gift are humans.
After endowing us with humanity, the creator began designing violent harvesting methods to
generate extra amounts of loosh. To reap such harvest, the collectors generated
storms of turbulence and turmoil in both the gaseous envelope and the more solid
chemical formations that were the base of the garden itself. Such upheavals had the effect
of terminating lifespans of multitudes of the fourth crop as they were crushed under the rolling
base formation or smothered under waves from the agitated liquid area of the garden.
In other words, natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and tsunamis were purposely
introduced to periodically aid in loosh harvesting. Increasingly satisfied with his garden,
the creator hovered above watching his creations and noticed certain fourth crop units emanating a
type of the highest quality purified and distilled loosh. Intensely curious, he investigated the
source and found this most desirable loosh was coming from one particular unit.
The fourth crop unit was not struggling in conflict over an ingestible remnant of a
void termination of life and ingestion by the other conflicting fourth crop unit.
It was in conflict to protect and save from life termination three of its own newly generated
species huddled under a large second crop unit waiting for the outcome.
To translate into normal language, the creator noticed a human parent fighting to
protect its three young children under a large tree, and it was this intense emotional
defense of their loved ones that created a purified and distilled type of loosh energy.
Continuing to observe the fourth crop units in his garden, the creator noticed another unit
also producing purified loosh, but this one was alone and seemingly not in conflict at all.
Investigating closer, the creator found that this individual standing alone under the leafy
upper portion of a large second crop unit was not hungry, not in conflict, and not acting
in defense of its young, but still producing high quality loosh energy. The unit was lonely.
It turns out loneliness also acts as a great catalyst to loosh production,
so the creator made a brilliant revision to his formula. He split all fourth crop units
into new type 4M units with male and female halves to engender loneliness as they sought
to reunite. From experience, the collectors have evolved an entire technology with complementary
tools for the harvesting of loosh from the type 4M units. The most common have been named love,
friendship, family, greed, hate, pain, guilt, disease, pride, ambition, ownership, possession,
sacrifice, and on a larger scale, nations, provincialism, wars, famine,
religion, machines, freedom, industry, trade, to list a few. Loosh production is higher than ever
before. Robert Monroe's interaction with the entity ended abruptly there.
If this creation story is true, it appears that the existence of plants, animals, humans,
and the entire earth itself are all simply to feed our creators. If we were ultimately designed
not by a loving, benevolent God as most religions preach, but rather by a race of malevolent
super beings like the Gnostic Archons, this provides unique answers to certain metaphysical
questions. For example, why is there so much pain, suffering, disease, and death? Why is
earth plagued with an abundance of various natural disasters? And why does life feed upon life in a
destructive cycle of survival? If all of these things produce a kind of nourishment for other
entities, then such seemingly negative circumstances only appear that way to us. For the entities
that created us, our suffering would likely be no more concerning than that of an ant colony
under their feet. Isabella Green said, Loosh is what human beings produce when in emotional turmoil,
fear, guilt, unworthiness, war, conflict, pain, drama, and suffering of all gradations.
Guilt, unworthiness, and suffering have been normalized as a part of the human experience
and are promoted from all directions. Just think about the ideas so common in our reality
that we no longer notice, such as no pain, no gain, love hurts, not worth it if you didn't suffer for it,
etc. The inferiority of the human race to the handlers is promoted in religious texts,
which makes people look up to them and be eager to do whatever they say.
Unworthiness is also the foundation on which most of the present-day industrial complexes
stand and is heavily utilized in marketing. If we zoom out and closely examine our key beliefs
on earth, we will see that these beliefs prepare people for submission to the suggestions of the
handlers when we face them after death. The handlers shepherd the souls in and out of their
physical bodies and use the tactics of convincing them to continue physical experiences on earth
while utilizing love, guilt, unworthiness, and suffering.
Howdy Mikowski wrote,
In Chapter 12 of his book Far Journeys, Robert Monroe presents an out-of-body experience
where he met a being of light who provided him with details of our realm.
The being described the earth as a giant experiment for the creator beings
to build the perfect luce harvest system. Luce being a word Monroe coined to mean a
specific type of harvestable energy that the creator beings, Demiurge and Archons, require.
While some energy is harvested while beings are still alive, the majority is taken at their death.
This energy is claimed to be used by the Demiurge and Archons to extend their own lifespans.
I would argue that this phrase, placed into computer terms,
means that the energy goes into the computer simulation power grid to keep it running,
hence extend the life of the simulation. In order to have this occur,
a garden was created by these beings to farm their food source. Our world
is one that is dominated by what we call the food chain, a need to eat other things to survive.
Monroe presents that the food chain has only been set up to maximize luce at death.
No creature can survive long on earth or in this realm without eating something.
A vegetarian may think eating a carrot is not the same as eating a duck,
but each are living organisms who are only here to be a part of the luce farm,
and their death is the same as any other creature's death from that perspective.
If a good god creator was really the only one who set up this place,
and if energy was needed to help keep it running, a much better system could have been developed.
People try to ignore this problem, but it is critical to see that the only reason a food
chain exists is because it comes from the mind of that which is evil.
When people pray to the creator, god, the gods, angels, deceased relatives,
or other entities, the general hope is that these beings are listening,
that they are benevolent, and that they desire to grant our wishes.
But what if none of that is true? What if in reality the very act of praying to something
outside ourselves disempowers and subserviates us? In other words, what if prayer makes us pray?
People have been praying to god and gods for many millennia, asking to be saved from suffering,
freed from enslavement, and cured from disease. People have prayed to be delivered
from poverty, war, floods, famine, starvation, and torture.
Billions of suffering souls throughout history have prayed for these same things,
yet all of these problems still remain. If our prayers are really being heard,
and truly matter to these beings, why has there not been some serious, large-scale
divine intervention and improvement to help us? People pray to be cured from cancer,
and then if cured, they praise god for hearing their prayers. But isn't this the same god who
created cancer to begin with? Then if god doesn't remove their cancer, it's usually said to be
god's will, or in god's hands. So if it's all just god's will anyway, then what's the point
of praying? If god didn't want people to suffer, if god didn't want a world full of death,
disease, disasters, destitution, and depravity, then it would have been created differently.
Why should we assume that a god who created all the conditions for our suffering actually
wants to deliver us from it, but only if we ask really nicely on our knees with our hands clasped?
This ritual act of subservience to an outside entity or entities to assist us
is disempowering to our own spirit. Why should we put the onus on anything outside
ourselves to save us? Wouldn't it be wiser instead for us to pray to our own inner divinity,
our highest spiritual self? What is wrong with trusting our own personal power
and praying to the deepest source within us? If we all possess a small spark of the divine,
the Holy Spirit within, why shouldn't we pray directly to that part of ourselves?
The one true unknowable god would not desire our prayers or our worship.
To propose that god needs our love assumes that god is deficient in something.
Such a needy god would not be omnipotent and must be some lesser deity anyway.
Considering the near death deception experience where astral entities claiming to be god, gods,
angels, aliens, deceased relatives, or other beings appear at physical death to usher us
through a guilt-inducing life review process, how might the act of prayer be viewed through this lens?
If we spent our lifetimes praying to an outside entity for protection or to grant our wishes,
then that puts us in its debt. Couldn't these astral beings then leverage our previous prayers
against us in the afterlife? Any entity that claimed to be the one who answered our prayers
would possess a significant power over us. They could then guilt us into reciprocation
through some sort of contract being fulfilled. Jose Aragon wrote,
Gustav Mayrink in his most profound and extraordinary book, The Green Face,
gives us the key to the process of liberation of the Spirit.
Mayrink gives us a technique and recommends a practice which we should adopt.
You must ask the Spirit, because the only one who can hear you is the Spirit.
You must talk to it and ask only it. Here Mayrink is of course relating that the
unknowable god is very far from the common man, and the demiurge, who could maybe hear him,
is a judge who would never change his karmic sentences to consent to an insignificant request
by an insignificant man. All that remains is to ask the Spirit. In the case of a man who
has woken up and liberated himself, things are different. He indeed will be able to change
wills, laws, and destinies. But if a common man wants to be heard,
he will have to talk to his Spirit. Mayrink says,
If you want to pray, pray to your invisible self. It is the only God who will listen to your prayers.
But very few men speak to their Spirit. Yet most of them sleep like a log.
For Mayrink, the liberation of the Spirit is the only worthwhile thing a man can do in life.
It is the only task that he should perform. There is no other single thing
which justifies spending time on. All the rest are useless. This is the only task,
indeed, the most important one to which a man can dedicate his life.
Soren Kierkegaard said, The function of prayer is not to influence God,
but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
And Howdy Makowski wrote, Is praying just making us pray, P-R-E-Y?
Where is our energy and focus going with this practice?
It seems prayer is just putting our own authority on some outside force,
hoping it will like us and grant us something, so we keep trying to please the puppeteer.
How do we know who or what we are praying to? This is one of the crucial pieces of
information that almost no one contemplates. Are they angels, Spirit guides, loving dead
people, happy aliens, God, Jesus, or Ashtar command? Or are the communicators,
nasty parasitic entities, who are masters of disguise and deception?
You say you spoke to an angel, or some religious figure, but how do you really know?
When you pray, how do you know where your intent and energy is going?
The more we put our energy on things outside our self,
the more those beings can manipulate us and make our lives much, much worse.
What is wrong with praying to yourself? To trust your own inner power.
A great shift will occur when you realize that you do not need a Savior,
nor do you need to pray to anything outside of yourself.
You, as in the essence part of your soul, is the most powerful thing within this creation.
This is why the system is set up to distract, confuse, and deceive it.
Because if you turned all that energy that is always focused on something outside yourself,
and focused it within, there would be an explosion of power.
That power can then be used to override all the systems and tricks that have been keeping
you here. When you learn the only Savior you need is you, and the only prayer you ever
need to make is to your true self, the exit is closer. If the core messages of Gnosticism
and Catherism are true, and the Egyptian and Tibetan books of the dead are correct,
then we are all living within a reincarnation soul-trap matrix from which very few escape.
If the reports from many near-death experiencers can be trusted, then we are being expertly coerced,
manipulated, and sometimes forced against our will to come back here after death.
And if Robert Monroe was right, then Earth is a giant lush farm with human suffering
and other negative emotions being the main crop harvested.
This bleak outlook painted by these various sources is also echoed in many world religions.
For example, the iconic image of the Bhavashakra, or Wheel of Life in Buddhism,
depicts all of human life happening within the jowls and grips of Yama, the Lord of Death.
Four concentric circles show how we are trapped within a reincarnation cycle.
The pig, rooster, and snake in the inner circle represent the three poisons, ignorance, attachment,
and aversion. These three poisons give rise to positive and negative actions, which result in
the light and dark karmic manifestations shown in the second circle. Karma then gives rise to
the six realms of suffering depicted in the third circle. And finally, the fourth circle
symbolizes the twelve links of dependent origination, showing how the poisons, karma,
and suffering all cause inevitable reincarnation. Importantly, also shown in the picture is the
moon, which represents liberation from the reincarnation cycle, and Buddha pointing to
the moon, which indicates that our liberation is possible. The Hindu religion also maintains
that we are trapped within a reincarnation cycle created by the God Brahma. The Vedas describe this
world, our bodies, and all of physical creation as maya, meaning a trick or an illusion created
by Brahma. Within each of us exists an atman, or soul essence, which discards and acquires
new bodies the same way we throw away old and buy new clothes. In this view,
the physical world perceived by the senses is actually the greatest obstacle separating us
from true reality, and the goal of human life is to achieve moksha, or kvalya, meaning emancipation
or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Even the three Abrahamic religions of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are sending a similar, albeit more cryptic version of this
message. They don't feature reincarnation or claim physical reality to be illusory,
but do view earth as a fallen realm, and not the kind of paradise one would truly wish to inhabit.
Humans are viewed as inherently sinful beings, and earth serves as a kind of mediocre purgatory
for our souls, not nearly as good as heaven, and not nearly as bad as hell. Depending on our
beliefs and or works during this life, we are judged, and if positively so, our souls ascend to
a heavenly afterlife, never to return here again. One commonality found in all of these
religions is the notion that we are imperfect souls trapped in an imperfect realm, but with
the ability to escape and transcend to something somewhere better. Earth is never presented as our
true home or the best place to be, but rather as a temporary prison or school where we must first
purge our sins or karma. Arthur Schopenhauer stated in On the Suffering of the World,
If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish all doubt as to the right
way of looking at it, you cannot do better than accustom yourself to regard this world
as a penitentiary, a sort of penal colony. I refer not to my own philosophy alone,
but to the wisdom of all ages, as expressed in Brahmanism and Buddhism, and in the sayings
of Greek philosophers like Empedocles and Pythagoras, as also by Cicero in his remark that the wise
men of old used to teach that we came into this world to pay the penalty of crime committed
in another state of existence, a doctrine which formed part of the initiation into the mysteries,
and Vanini, whom his contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task than to confute him,
puts the same thing in a very forcible way. Man, he says, is so full of every kind of misery
that, were it not repugnant to the Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if
evil spirits exist at all, they have posed in human form and are now atoning for their crimes,
and true Christianity, using the word in its right sense, also regards our existence as the
consequence of sin and error. So if this world truly is a penitentiary, a sort of penal colony,
then how do we break out of this prison? If there is a better place to be, or a better
state of existence to experience, how do we achieve it? If we wish to be free from suffering, free from
all falsehoods and illusions, free from sin, karma, and repeated reincarnations, how can we truly be
liberated? The majority of modern Christians would be satisfied to say it is as simple as
believing wholeheartedly in the divinity of Jesus Christ, but as previously established,
beliefs may be used as a weapon of manipulation against us in the afterlife realm, and this gamble,
known as Pascal's wager, has potential downsides unforeseen by Pascal or most Christians.
Likewise, most modern Buddhists and Hindus would answer that we should conduct our lives in a way
that creates no new negative karma, but as previously established, this is deemed nearly
impossible, and even the most diligent disciples are doomed to suffer thousands of deaths and
reincarnations. Interestingly, if instead we look to the words of the Buddha himself in the Buddha
Vachana, he states, "...you may declare for yourself that I am done with hell, with the
animal realm, and with the sphere of afflicted spirits, finished with the plane of misery,
the bad destination, the lower world. I am a stream-enterer, no longer subject to rebirth in
the lower world, fixed in destiny, heading for enlightenment." In other words, he is saying
what is really necessary for us to transcend this soul-trap is true intention and conviction.
It would seem the most important aspect of avoiding reincarnation is having the clear
intention and solid conviction against it. It makes sense that karma, material desires,
and attachments would play a part in luring us back into body, but if our intention never to
return is strong enough, it should outweigh any material desires or attachments trying to bring
us back. In addition to this, something else that would seem incredibly important is having
full faith and complete confidence in our own innate authority. Almost every near-death experience
involves some kind of angel, demon, god, alien, spirit guide, deceased relative, or other light
being appearing and introducing itself as an afterlife authority figure. Why should we believe
or trust in the imposed authority taken and information given by these beings?
If and when I find myself in a mysterious new afterlife realm,
I would much rather travel to and fro learning things on my own than be led around and lectured
by an appointed tour guide. I would rather trust my own instincts and intuition
remaining skeptical and suspicious of new people and places. Blindly believing strangers
isn't advised in this life and isn't something that sounds advantageous in the afterlife.
Many near-death experiences also feature a life review and judgment scene
presided over by these beings, as explained in the Egyptian and Tibetan books of the dead.
Most people report just passively watching the entire life review and accepting whatever
judgments were made about them. But why should we accept the judgments of anyone outside
ourselves? Why should we even agree to watching a life review with these judgmental beings?
Why not instead opt for polite non-compliance? If a being wants to be your afterlife tour guide,
just respectfully decline the offer. If the being starts giving you
unsolicited information about the afterlife realm, just nod, smile, and remain skeptical.
If they want to watch your life review with you, again politely decline and see what happens.
If these beings are as benevolent as they attempt to appear, your respectful
refusal of their requests shouldn't be a problem. The whole trick seems predicated on the fact that
these entities need our consent to send us back into body. They can shapeshift and appear as our
most influential authority figures, lie about anything they need to persuade and manipulate us,
watch playbacks of our entire lives choosing key moments to guilt and shame us for,
then encourage us to reincarnate to right the wrongs we supposedly committed in this life.
But if they could simply force us to reincarnate, why would they bother with all the pretense?
It seems the ultimate choice is ours alone. They can attempt to guilt trip or shame us
into coming back. They can try to entice or bribe us with better incarnations.
But if our intention is set and our conviction strong enough, what are they going to do about
it? Decide that you are never reincarnating regardless of what anyone says. Make the
decision that no outside entity has the right to judge you. Reject their offers of life review.
Refuse their demands and directives. Remain skeptical of their claims. Maintain your sovereignty
and deny their imposed authority. Set your intent on ultimate truth and let everything
false fall away. Howdy Mikowski wrote, One of the things many NDE's present
is that the beings we encounter claim to have some sort of an authority over us,
and that one should be in both fear and awe of them. This is likely the main reason one is
programmed since birth to respect authority and to never question it. You don't discuss or deal
with these entities. You must be rooted in your divine spark. You go past them by dissolving
them, and as such seeing that everything they are and present are manipulated lies,
that they have no authority over anything that comes from outside the matrix. Those who allow
such judgment to take place are abdicating their own authority. We have to drop the idea
that anyone or anything is above us or has the authority to judge us. Only the divine
spark within can do that, and the divine spark never judges. And Isabella Green wrote,
Know that you have a different choice. Decide on your choice while still alive.
Make a strong agreement with yourself. Stand your ground. No one yields any power over your
decisions for yourself. No matter how mighty that authority might seem to you, you do not
need any authority to give you permission. This is very important for you to know.
Own your power to decide and execute your choices for yourself in all areas of your
experience, and you will be sovereign and free. Another aspect of the near-death experience
often reported is being presented with something called a soul contract. After an
archonic light being appears and introduces itself as your personal afterlife tour guide,
you may be led to the Akashic Records, or to a council of elders,
and shown a contract that you allegedly agreed to and signed. These soul contracts
are then offered up as evidence to prove that whatever has happened or will happen to you during
your many incarnations on earth was already contractually agreed upon. For example,
from the near-death experience research foundation, Matt S. said,
I was made aware that there were things that I had contracted to do that were still undone,
which was confirmation to me of reincarnation and contractual incarnation that we pick our
lives. Chantal El remembers being made to feel like a failure for not accomplishing her contracted
life mission. She stated, We ask to be born and we enter into a contract. We come to earth
with a purpose. On the other side, it is all that matters. Did we accomplish that mission or not?
This insistence that we have some important incomplete life mission is one of the main
reasons cited for being sent back into body after a near-death experience.
Chantal and others report that everyone signs these contracts before being born
and in them are key people, places, events, and missions to be included in your life script.
Rachel E. said, We enter a contract with God, and the terms and conditions
include difficulties, challenges, and definite hardships. That is the experience we all signed
up for. Thinking critically about this for a moment raises some serious questions.
If the terms and conditions for incarnating on earth include difficulties, challenges, and definite
hardships, along with ambiguous missions to complete during our lifetimes, and the penalty
for anything short of absolute perfection is hundreds or thousands of forced reincarnations
and memory wipes, who in their right mind would sign such a contract?
If our memories are erased before each incarnation, how and why should we trust or
believe that we even signed such contracts in the first place? I certainly don't remember
anything that happened before I was born, so if somebody claims that I signed a contract
in the spirit world, how can they prove it to me? Even if they somehow showed video
of my disembodied soul entering a contract, why should I believe it?
Contracts are only lawful when signed by both parties with due process,
given full disclosure, not under duress, and without any misrepresentation, fraud,
or unconscionable terms. If a signatory lacks the capacity or fails to understand
the full scope of the contract, or if the terms of the contract are so one-sided,
unfair, or oppressive that they shock the conscience, all of these are lawful reasons
for termination. When it comes to these soul contracts, I find it hard to believe
that we are given full disclosure and understand the full scope. I would actually argue that
everyone lacks the capacity to understand what they are originally signing up for,
because that first contract would have to be agreed upon before ever incarnating here.
How can anyone have the capacity to fully understand what it means to agree
to repeated reincarnations into a realm they have never experienced?
Furthermore, the terms of these contracts are most certainly one-sided, unfair, oppressive,
and shocking to the conscience. Contractually obligating a spirit that has never experienced
life on earth to suffer and die repeated reincarnations until they complete a perfect
lifetime free from any sins or negative karma is both unreasonable and unconscionable.
Howdy Makowski wrote,
Some unique near-death experiences have discussed seeing symbolic rooms
that held billions of soul contracts. Of course, like any valid contract,
they must have been signed in good faith and without manipulation or deception.
And that is what must be seen about these so-called soul contracts. No matter how these
beings try to enforce these agreements, they are not valid due to the many layers of deception,
lies, and pressure put into them. As such, they are all null and void. It is all just a
Westworld-type backstory that is placed in the soul's unconscious to explain the pain and
suffering one will experience in life. The contracts are as fictional as everything
else in the Matrix. They will only exist because we have been tricked to believe them.
Wayne Bush wrote,
According to a guest I interviewed who met the Demiurge, we all signed a contract.
Some other near-death experiences mention it too. I'm sure that is one of their biggest ploys.
One thing I wondered about, though, is those who say they adamantly refused to come back to Earth,
but were sent back against their will anyway. Now, we can't know for sure what really
happened other than what they say, but if the Archons need our consent or agreement,
then how do we explain those? Maybe that's why some near-death experiences
say we make contracts and agreements before coming into our lives, and the Archons use those,
if unfulfilled, and they can always find one thing we didn't do or fulfill, to send us back.
I think the contracts expire at our death, but just in case a promise extends past death,
we need to revoke these contracts. They will surely use guilt and shaming tactics
to get you to renegotiate. They will show you highlights of a life that looks enticing,
but just remember the pain and suffering that can be endured. Don't let them manipulate you.
You sin the second you are born and consume other life. You can never not sin and be born into a
body. You will not be allowed to remember all of the soul contracts that you have made,
but you can revoke them since you are a sovereign being, a divine spark of God,
and we're duped into making them. This is another reason we must be
careful about praying to any entity outside of ourselves. If we spend our lifetimes praying
to something or someone else, whether for protection, to grant our wishes, or any other reason,
then that puts us in its debt. These shapeshifting astral beings, or the demiurge itself,
could leverage our prayers against us in the afterlife, insisting we now owed them.
Any entity that claimed to be the one who answered our prayers
would possess significant power over us. They could then guilt us into reciprocation
through some sort of contract being fulfilled. For this reason, it is crucial while we are
still alive to intentionally and adamantly revoke any and all soul contracts.
I recommend creating a personalized contract termination ceremony
where you write and then verbalize your revocation aloud.
For example, you could recite,
I am a sovereign being. No entity has any authority over me but myself. I hereby revoke any and all
previous soul contracts or agreements. I have no memory of entering into any such contracts or
agreements, but suspect I may have intentionally had my memories erased before incarnation.
If it is ever claimed that I willingly entered into a contract,
but then subsequently had my memory erased, that would constitute fraud, misrepresentation,
and violate the necessity of full disclosure. It is impossible to convince me that I would
ever consent to a complete memory wipe, which makes any contractual obligation
after such a process null and void. Furthermore, any prayers, wishes,
or requests that I have made throughout my lifetime to God or any other entity
are not to have any consequences or strings attached for being granted.
If I was assisted and my prayers answered, I give my honest and sincere gratitude,
but refuse to accept any imposed contracts or agreements as a result.
I am solely in charge of my soul's destiny and decisions.
I declare all previous contracts and agreements made with all beings in all dimensions obsolete.
Lastly, the revocation of soul contracts and agreements must extend to any made during this
lifetime as well. Many friends, family, or lovers make vows and promises to each other,
which may prevent them from ever leaving the reincarnation cycle.
For instance, people will often swear to come back for you in the next life,
or promise to be together for all eternity. And these are exactly the kind of memories
brought up during the life review to guilt and shame us into reincarnating.
We must be careful not to make these kinds of statements while on our deathbeds
or during such intense emotional moments. We may promise to love people for as long as we live,
but once we die, all bets should be off so that our souls may remain unbound and free.
Isabella Green wrote,
If you plan to get out of the reincarnation cycle, I recommend having closure with family
and love connections before you are ready to pass. This does not mean to stop loving them
while you are still alive. On the contrary, love with all your might, right there and then.
But pay attention not to make any promises to come back for a loved one,
or to follow them across time in incarnations. If such vows have already been made,
take steps to revoke these vows and to release yourself in your heart from any such promises.
Complete your love agreements within the lifetime you consider or want to be your final incarnation
on earth. Be ready to depart with a clear heart that cannot be either guilted or seduced.
Whether it is the Christian notion of Judgment Day, the Hindu and Buddhist concept of karmic
reincarnations, the afterlife trials and tribulations of the Egyptian and Tibetan books
of the dead, or the personalized life reviews encountered by near-death experiencers, the idea
that we are ultimately made accountable and judged for the actions taken during our lifetimes
is nearly ubiquitous. On the surface it seems fair and just that people's bad deeds be penalized
and good deeds rewarded with such a system. But what if the punishments really don't fit
the crimes? Spending eternity in a lake of hellfire, having your astral body dismembered and
eaten by archons, or being condemned to suffer and die thousands of reincarnations on earth,
all seem like rather harsh penalties. Whether you were the worst psychopathic murderer,
or you just hurt someone's feelings one time, the purpose of the life review seems to be
about finding any and all instances of regrettable or shameful actions taken during our lifetimes,
making us feel guilty about committing them, then getting us to consent to being punished for them.
Similar to soul contracts, or entering the white light, it appears the archons need our
willing permission to punish us, and the life review is their manipulative method of gaining
consent. By having us relive our rock bottoms and re-experience the most negative choices made in our
lives, they are purposely putting us into an emotionally vulnerable state. Once we are sufficiently
ashamed of ourselves, and made to feel guilty for every infraction, they then present our
punishment in the form of an opportunity. In order to right the wrongs of our lives,
and to hopefully do better next time, we are offered to be reborn.
What if we refuse that offer? What if we disagree with whatever punishment we are
served in the afterlife? Will you just accept whatever God, Jesus, angels,
archons, great-grandma, or whoever judges you decides? Shouldn't you have a say in the matter?
Or more than just a say, shouldn't you be the ultimate arbiter of your own fate?
Why should we willingly grant such authority over us to any outside entity?
Why even consent to watching a life review with these judgmental beings? If we are sovereign spirits
with our own conscience and moral compass, surely we can recognize and repent for our
wrong actions without someone else forcing us. If we are brutally honest with ourselves,
and perform our own in-depth life reviews before we die, there should be no need to subject ourselves
to a judge and jury like some criminal. This practice is called recapitulation,
and is another key tool in helping transcend the soul trap.
Howdy Makowski wrote,
One of the main things most claimed to have experienced in their near-death experiences
is a life review. This is really not about going over one's life so the person can see
how they lived and thus learn and grow. What this review is really about is that the beings
the soul will meet are cons in some kind of disguise as a karmic council, beings of light,
or something projecting authority, scanning through one's human life to highlight all the
moments of guilt and shame they can. Even young children receive a life review.
Who doesn't have past moments you wish would have been done differently?
Those feelings easily get manipulated to trick us to coming back here. Of course we are humans
placed in this world with no memory of anything, no guidebook on how to live, and we have our
lives manipulated by these control beings. As such, the practice of recapitulation is vital.
It is not just to clean your energy or reintegrate yourself from past experiences while
alive. Those are secondary gains. The recapitulation is meant to prepare you properly for that
after-death review, to know your past inside and out. Nothing can be thrown at us as a surprise.
We want to be able to say to everything shown, Yes, I know about that. It was a challenge
or I was under some stress. I have seen the event myself and have come to better understand
who I was then and why I acted that way. I am okay with all that now and I am no longer that person.
A proper recapitulation should begin by acquiring a large new journal and writing down the names of
every single person you have ever known. Anyone you have ever interacted with beyond
superficially should be included. Even if you don't know their names, write down what you can
remember about them. Think back to every year of your life since childhood, one by one, and list
every person you interacted with, from friends, family, and neighbors, to teachers, coaches,
and co-workers. Once you have finally compiled a complete list, which will likely be extensive
and overwhelming, first just sit and meditate on one person at a time, remembering every major
interaction that carried any emotional weight throughout each year of your relationship.
Focus specifically on negative, regrettable, or shameful behaviors on your part,
and write down each incident with as much detail as you can recall. Be objective and
honest about your shortcomings, what you did wrong, what you should have done,
and how you have changed or will be changing as a result of the realizations.
The entire recapitulation may take weeks or months to finish and shouldn't be rushed.
The point is to recognize and repent for our sins now,
rather than waiting to be blindsided by them during an after-death life review.
By owning our mistakes, taking accountability for our actions, and working through the
associated emotions stirred up during the process, not only do we achieve personal
growth and development, but by taking responsibility now and making steps to improve,
we fortify our future selves against any emotional manipulation by archons trying to guilt or shame
us during a life review. If we have already objectively analyzed our actions,
sincerely repented for our failings, and made positive changes as a result of our realizations,
what purpose would further punishment serve? If we have already performed our own recapitulations,
shown contrition for our crimes, bettered our behavior, and refined our character,
we should move beyond the need for judgment or discipline from outside entities.
Isabella Green wrote,
guilt-tripping souls into taking more incarnations on earth and pressing the idea of
not good enough is the mechanism heavily utilized by the handlers.
Earth's population has been deliberately conditioned into a state of unworthiness for
generations, so this mechanism of convincing works like a charm. From the inception of the human
race, in all belief structures, we have been trained to believe that we are secondary to the
gods, regardless of the form these gods took. Humans were conditioned to believe
that other beings were more powerful or knew better for us than we did for ourselves.
This kept humans subservient and obedient to the ones who handled them.
This is the mechanism that, to this very day, makes most people trust and follow suggestions
received from any supernatural apparition that they might encounter. The same conditioned
default behavior kicks in once we face the angelic-looking beings telling us to return
to earth. This default behavior is something to be aware of and watch out for. Those who lived
their entire lives with a sense of unworthiness constantly reinforced from all directions in
our present-day reality. Those who did not manage to overcome this conditioning before passing
will be especially vulnerable to the guilting and convincing techniques reincarnation cycle
keepers use. Remember not to fall for any of the tactics they employ, namely guilt tripping,
love trapping, triggering your unworthiness, suggesting a bigger purpose, or even offering
attractive scenarios for your next lifetime. Know to the very core of your being that these are
just the tactics to keep you in the cycle and don't buy into any of it. Own your choices here
and now. This will help you to release the guilt. Start living consciously. Be a good person in
service to others as much as you are able. Forgive yourself when it is not possible,
so that there are no regrets and no guilt at the bottom of your heart that the handlers
could tap into and guilt trip you into returning. To the best of your ability, release all of
the not-good-enough programming. Unworthiness is the key factor that makes the tactics of
the handlers so effective. Do not buy into the pressure that you are not good enough
in this lifetime and need to go back to do better. If there is any aspect of our beings able to
survive physical death and live on in other realms or dimensions, it is undoubtedly our
consciousness. Consciousness is our internal world of awareness, thoughts, emotions,
sensations, perceptions, and choices. It is the eye we experience as I am and the sense of self
inside us that has never changed since childhood. As philosopher Malcolm Hollick wrote,
events are experienced by an experiencer. Thoughts are thought by a thinker. Pain is felt by a
feeler. Imaginings are created by an imaginer and choices are made by a chooser. This is consciousness,
our inner witness, the only part of ourselves capable of existing outside a physical body
and thus the most important part of ourselves to train and develop for transcending the
soul trap. Some key practices for exercising and expanding our consciousness which should
assist us in the afterlife include meditation and mindfulness, astral projection or out
of body experiences, shamanic plant medicines, and lucid dreaming. To begin with, meditation
and mindfulness are practices of inner stillness, maintaining awareness of the present moment,
paying attention to thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations without judgment or rumination.
There are many methods of formal meditation including focusing on mandalas, chanting mantras,
or pranic breathing, all of which work towards cultivating mindfulness,
being fully engaged yet non-reactive, accepting whatever arises in the moment
and not getting caught up in past regrets or future anxieties.
By fostering deep introspection and clarity, helping us become more aware of our egos,
desires, and fears, we can better recognize the illusions, attachments, and karmic patterns
that may bind us to the material plane. The inner peace and power gained from meditation
can also reduce our need for external validation, weaken the influence of outside entities trying
to control us, and strengthen our resolve for spiritual sovereignty. With a calm, focused,
meditative mindset, we can more easily access our higher intuition and thus better navigate
challenging situations like those faced at death. Beyond simple meditation and mindfulness
techniques, another more mystical and esoteric practice recommended for helping transcend the
soul trap is astral projection, also known as the out-of-body experience. Astral projection
is the ability to separate oneself from the physical body while remaining fully conscious
and perceptive. Such out-of-body experiences often occur spontaneously during deep sleep,
anesthesia, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, extreme illness, or trauma, but can also
be purposely induced through practicing certain meditation techniques. The experience usually
begins by surprisingly finding yourself sitting, standing, or floating next to your physical body.
Your dormant physical body remains seated in meditation, lying down on the bed,
or wherever you left it, but your consciousness moves to a point outside of it, still perceiving
everything normally, but with a new feeling of lightness and power. You may have a ghostly
astral body that looks similar to your physical body, or you may be a point of pure consciousness
that can travel anywhere at the speed of thought. With practice, the experience can be repeated
at will, and has been scientifically verified through remote viewing. As covered in my book
Spiritual Science, expert remote viewers in formal Princeton and Stanford experiments
have repeatedly accurately reported seeing objects, people, and events in far-off locations
behind locked doors or in sealed vaults by projecting their consciousness out-of-body.
Many books have been written explaining how to astral project, two of the foremost authors on
the subject being Robert Monroe and Robert Bruce. I recommend reading their books and
found them helpful, but have personally been unable to induce an out-of-body experience
myself using their methods. During a magic mushroom trip, however, I once experienced
momentarily looking down on my body from a point high above, which was absolutely surreal
and paradigm shifting. Being able to perceive, think, and feel while floating outside your physical
body provides genuine experiential knowledge of life beyond the physical. The more comfortable
and confident we can become with this separation of consciousness from our physical form while
still alive, the more prepared we will be for the permanent separation at death.
With practice, when your final day arrives, the process of leaving your body will be familiar to
you. Experienced astral projectors also mentioned travels to other realms beyond the material
plane and meetings with light beings much like those recounted by near-death experiencers.
By navigating these realms and learning to interact with these entities now,
we become better prepared for what to expect and how to handle them in the afterlife.
As Robert Monroe stated, I no longer merely believe in survival of death or an immortal soul,
I know that I will survive death. I have directly experienced being alive and conscious
without this physical body, therefore I know that I possess some kind of soul that will
survive bodily death. The ingestion of certain shamanic plant medicines like ayahuasca, DMT,
or magic mushrooms are also used to facilitate out-of-body experiences, visits to the spirit world,
and encounters with other dimensional beings. The altered states of consciousness
accessed under the influence of such substances parallel near-death experiences in many ways
and can be a useful tool to train ourselves for the inevitable transition out-of-body.
These parallels caused Dr. Rick Strassman to dub DMT the spirit molecule
because of the mystical and spiritual experiences reported by those in his clinical trials.
Many of his patients felt themselves lift out of their physical form, entered tunnels of light,
heard celestial music, encountered angels or beings of light, felt absolute peace and
painlessness, and were reluctant to come back into their bodies. Most reported a lessened fear
of death, with patients saying things like, I rest in the comfort of knowing my soul is eternal
and my consciousness endless. The DMT sessions gave me the gift of truly subjectively knowing
the phenomenon described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Another patient said,
I knew I was going through the first bardo of death, that I had been here many times before,
and it was okay. I no longer fear death. Thus having some acquaintance with these
altered states of consciousness and successfully navigating them while still alive can certainly
help better prepare us for our physical demise. Lastly, lucid dreaming, or the practice of becoming
fully conscious and controlling our dreams, is another useful tool for those attempting to transcend
the soul trap. Altered states of consciousness, like those experienced during out-of-body
experiences and near-death experiences, are very dreamlike, and without practice,
the opportunity to assert ourselves while in such a state may pass us by.
If, however, we develop the skill of lucid dreaming, it is much more likely that we will be able to
stay aware, alert, and assertive in situations where we might otherwise be passive or unaware.
Dreamstates are also full of symbolic imagery, illusions, and deceptive entities,
similar to what many report in near-death experiences,
so lucid dreaming should help us better navigate the afterlife with clarity and purpose.
It provides approving grounds for interacting with dream characters
and testing their authenticity, giving us a safe environment for developing our discernment
to identify and reject any astral trickery. There are several methods to becoming lucid
during our dreams, with the first most important being a dream journal. Keep a journal in pen
or pencil right next to your bed at night, so whenever you wake up from a dream in the
detail you can recall. This simple act of writing down everything you remember about your dreams
instantly upon awakening is the quickest and easiest way to work towards becoming lucid.
By training our minds to recollect intricate details from our dreams right after they finish,
the level of dream awareness begins wrapping up, and the process becomes so ingrained that
eventually, at some point, rather than remembering after the fact,
we recognize while still asleep that we are dreaming. When this first happens to someone,
often the shock and excitement is so overwhelming that they wake up anyway.
So if you do become lucid, try to remain calm, focus on sensory details of the things
present in the dream, and say to yourself things like, I'm dreaming now, I'm in control, I can
do anything. With practice, you should be able to take control of the dream and do whatever
you want. Beyond a dream journal, another method for becoming lucid is doing reality checks
throughout the day during your waking life. A basic reality check is simply asking yourself
several times every day, am I dreaming right now? At first this seems like a ridiculous
waste of time, because every time you ask the question, you can immediately answer,
no, I'm awake right now of course. But once this routine becomes habitual,
eventually you'll be walking around one day and ask, am I dreaming right now? Only to realize
that actually this time you really are asleep and dreaming. One recommended reality check that
has personally worked for me is touching door frames when walking into a new room. Every
time you walk through a doorway, touch the door frame on either side and say to yourself,
I'm awake now. Once this becomes habit, you'll eventually touch a dream door frame one
day and realize you're not awake this time. There are also lucid dream masks you can purchase,
which use timers and movement sensors to determine when you're entering REM sleep.
They then flash a soft red light through the mask, which infiltrates and colors the
environment of your current dream, alerting you to the fact that you're dreaming.
Through training these techniques like lucid dreaming, astral projection and mindfulness,
by familiarizing ourselves with altered states of consciousness,
and by increasing our ability to remain alert, aware, and assertive in such situations,
we should become better equipped and able to transcend the soul trap.
When our final moment arrives and we must leave our physical bodies behind,
what exactly should we do next? Should we have a prepared plan of action,
or just stay fully present and respond to whatever happens?
The Tibetan Book of the Dead emphasizes the importance of maintaining a meditative,
undisturbed, pure state of consciousness free from desires and attachments to the material world.
But it would also seem that having certain intentions and convictions
are necessary to avoid being impotently swept along by the experience.
Near-death experiencers almost universally report lifting out of their bodies,
being drawn towards a white light, conversing with angelic beings,
and having their actions judged during a life review.
But if we refuse to enter the light, reject meeting with angels,
and repudiate their judgment and life review, then what should we do instead?
The Gnostic Apocryphon of John states,
Lord, what of the souls of the people who do not know whose people they are?
Where do they go? He responded,
In those people the artificial spirit has grown strong and they have gone astray.
Their souls are burdened, drawn to wickedness, and cast into forgetfulness.
When they come forth from the body, such a soul is given over to the powers created
by the rulers, bound in chains, and cast into prison again.
Around and around it goes, until it manages to become free from
forgetfulness through knowledge, and so eventually it becomes perfect and is saved.
If the Gnostics and Cathars were right about this world being the sole recycling farm
of an evil Demiurge and his Archon Minions, then refusing to be recycled and escaping this
prison existence is paramount. The Apocryphon of John recommends to
become free from forgetfulness through knowledge, and the knowledge we need
pertains to liberation of the spirit. In the Forbidden Religion, Jose Aragon wrote,
If man were only a body and a soul, if those two entities created by the Demiurge were the
only things that man were made from, of course there would never be any rebellion at all.
Nothing created rebels against its creator. What happens is that there is something in man
which was not created by the Creator God, the eternal spirit. The spirit has been brought from
outside and does not belong to this world. It has been added to the monstrosity which is body
soul, to make it function and evolve. But it was put there against its will, and finds itself
imprisoned in matter. It is the spirit which rebels. It is not rebelling against its creator,
but against the one who imprisoned it. If the God of this world has hijacked our spirits and
imprisoned them into reincarnating body souls, then separating our original spiritual essence
from this body soul matrix is essential. If it is true that our spirits come from the one true
unknowable God and a heavenly home in the Pluroma, then we should set our intent
and hold a solid conviction to return there. In fact, the Gnostic Gospels insist that we will
need to remind the Archons that we know about our true home in the Pluroma, and that they have no
power or right to keep us from it. The Gnostic scholar Elaine Pagels recommends
performing an initiation ceremony where we admit that previously we had adored and served the
mistakenly confused with the one true God, but now we no longer recognize his authority
and declare independence from him and his creation. By means of such an initiation,
she suggests we can intentionally separate our true spiritual selves from the God of
this world and his body soul construct. An example declaration might be,
I intend to separate myself from the creator of this material world. I want to separate myself
from both body and soul. I wish to reunite with my true spiritual essence, to be my spirit,
and for my spirit to be liberated. The only power you have over me is the power I give away,
and recognizing this I resolve to be my own authority and stand in my own power
as the sovereign being I have always been. Jose Aragon wrote,
With what we have said up to now, we are in a position to reply to the three fundamental
questions that man rarely ever asks himself in life. These three questions are,
Who am I? Why am I here? What must I do in this life? Who am I? I am an uncreated and
eternal spirit, chained up in the created and ephemeral body soul, imprisoned in matter.
Why am I here? I am here to be used as a lab animal in a crazy insane experiment
conceived by an inferior God. This plan requires an eternal spirit to be imprisoned
in order to use its anti-matter power to impel the evolution of this impure and
mortal monstrosity called body soul. The power of a spirit is essential so that man can at some
point achieve the final objective for which he has been created, his transformation into the demiurge.
What must I do in this life? I must wake up. I must become aware of my real situation
and find a way out. Then I must liberate myself and escape from this prison.
Many religions and new age spiritual systems talk about union with God or becoming one with God
and hold a general belief about merging themselves with God after death.
They often speak about a fusion of individual consciousness with the one consciousness
as the pinnacle of all achievements, but is losing our individuality to merge into a
collective super-being really a goal worth striving for? What if this is actually the final
trick of the demiurge? Traumatizing our eternal spirits by recycling us through a prison existence
until we willingly wish to relinquish our identity and become one with the warden.
Angeliki Agnostou wrote, with every new incarnation the spiritual part gets more and more
poisoned from the clay of dense matter. What will a human finally reach after these thousands of
reincarnations? It is not ascension as they claim, but total spiritual death inside the clever body
of a biorobot. Rather than the traditional conception of old souls being those that have
accumulated significant wisdom after successive reincarnations, it's possible that old souls
are really just the most traumatized and primed for their fusion with the demiurge.
Personally, I have no desire to merge my consciousness with anything else. I enjoy my
individuality and wish to continue experiencing my own internal world. In fact, I will fight with
everything I have for my spiritual sovereignty and will resist any outside entity attempting to
make me relinquish my individual consciousness. Whatever happens after death, my intention
will be to maintain my autonomy, to remove falsehoods and move towards truth. I plan to
approach the afterlife like a detective investigating his most important case, collecting and corroborating
clues until piecing together the bigger picture. I will refuse to be rushed through the
experience, remain skeptical and critical about everything presented, and make my own decisions
in due time after gathering all the evidence.