Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Currently reading...

"The Last Frontier" by Julia Assante. I think it's a good book, particularly as an introduction to the topic. Although she does not emphasize it, I detect a distinct Seth influence upon her philosophy--which can be good or bad. (As much as I am always quoting Seth, I don't necessarily agree with "him" on several things.) The book is divided into logical examinations ("The Evidence For Survival," "The Social Construction Of The Afterlife," etc.).  Some parts can be skimmed--particularly if you've read a lot of Jane Roberts. There's a very good summary of the development of the religious notions of the afterlife among the major religions through the millennia.  It all caused me to wonder, "What are gods, and who is God?"  In my opinion, the correct answer to the later is, "No living person knows with certainty, or can say with authority."  The answer to the first question is knowable, and discoverable and, I think, important.

Unfortunately, the fact that Dr. Assante has to even discuss the subject of religion in a book on the afterlife is because we as a society relegate the entire topic to that of religion and belief.  Our beliefs in, and notions of, the afterlife are largely wrapped up in our notions of divinity--along with ideas of moral worthiness ("if I'm a bad person, I won't go to heaven").  Dr. Assante tries to decouple this association, for good reasons--many of our beliefs on the "afterlife" are simply not accurate, just as our notions of "God" are probably inaccurate (or flat-out wrong, as is the case with some).  And these erroneous religious beliefs contaminate our ideas of the afterlife--not only now, but in the hereafter.

Which brings me to something that Dr. Assante has observed, which, to my knowledge, no one else has addressed:  Primarily, accounts by survival personalities (via mediums) never talk about the wondrous being of light that is common in NDEs. Also, there is no past-life flashback review described in these communications.  (These descriptions are also absent from hypnotic past-life regressions.)  I've wondered about this for years, even to the point of causing me to doubt the authenticity of much of mediumship material.  Over time, I've developed my own theories of why this might be, but Dr. Assante has some interesting ideas on this.

7 comments:

  1. I found a dissertation on Jane's work that you would most likely find fascinating to read: by a medical anthropologist at UC Berkeley called "From Another Psyche." It's 249 pages and absolutely fascinating. I've been glued to it since yesterday. Free on the web

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    1. Found it! Looks interesting. I'm glad that someone in academia is researching it. I'm a bit surprised that it's anthropology. What Jane Roberts did is very much in the tradition of shamanism.

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  2. I'm on Page 83 now & glued to reading it. I even had a startling realization, that I had dreamed on 1/16/15 about Fernando Pessoa but didn't know who he was. I only just now learned who he was from reading this dissertation. I had a big experience in 2014 that tallies with Jane's explanation of the plurality of the self. No doubt in my mind.

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    1. I started a dream journal many many years ago and began noticing the precognition immediately. I dreamed about the current snowpocalypse last summer. (On a more mundane level I dreamed about David Bowie's "Heroes" album a few months before it came out.)

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  3. I love Heroes and the video as well. Heroes is my favorite video of Bowie's. I have a poster of him in my bedroom! I have a YouTube channel: dreamself96. I interviewed Sue Watkins in 2005, put the interview up there and I do a lot of videos about Jane/Seth, etc.

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    1. You interviewed Sue Watkins?! I will have to check that out. The "third-part" accounts of Seth are very interesting to me. Jane and Rob welcomed many visitors through the years and, to my knowledge, not a single one of these ever said that Seth was not who "he" claimed to. None of the witnesses ever stepped forward and said, "It was all a fraud."

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  4. Right, I have not heard that either from anyone. I had put one of my "critical" videos of Seth on private but I will make it public again, it's called "sethstuff 11 26 14" so you can view it in the future if you want. So much to think about with Seth...

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