Do you believe in reincarnation and anxiety

[Carnation]

I just knew you'd love this thread nora
I too find it a fascinating subject and between us we could keep this going til Christmas and beyond (excuse the pun).

First off, reincarnation.....
It's possible, not proven, some people believe it, some don't. Personally I wouldn't rule it out but also I would be more inclined to believe in a reform of the energy. Our bodies are just carriages and as nora says we are energy. Some people can see their aura which is energy, and on others, but that's another subject.

Visits from family that have passed...
Again, is it in the mind or dream because they want to see that person again, others have unexplained but quite solid evidence.
For me I dream a lot about people that have passed, particularly my mum. She features at least weekly in my dreams. My mum was very in tune with the beyond and claims she had several visits from people she had lost.
My dad called it her imagination.
I was in the middle somewhere.
But not so long ago my cousin told me of her 8 year old niece having a visit from her nan and telling her she was ok. Strange or true?

The sixth sense.......
I have this unexplained feeling when I sense something about to happen, maybe a person about to call or something about to happen or a feeling about something. Why? Again, another unexplained situation.

Angels........
I'm not talking about Gabriel coming down from the sky to waiver above you flapping his beautiful white feather wings guiding you to safety, but the angel in the form of a normal human being that appears from nowhere, says something to you and then disappears. Normally it's a message that you need to hear. This has happened to me several times.

Past lives.....
I'm not sure about this one but my partner has had this and believes it. I'm still a bit sceptical. I do believe that imagination can be so strong to make you believe anything if you want it so bad.

Contacting the beyond......
The rule is not to, because you are messing with an entity you do not know about and it may have consequences. I'm talking mainly of the ouija board. I know many have gone to mediums and fortune tellers to receive messages from their loved ones and I've done that myself. But it can be open to abuse from so-called fakes, so I'm not so sure if it's a good idea. I think it may be better to wait for a message to come to you naturally if that is what you want.

Feathers, Robins, messages through channels....
So a white feather in your path, a visit from a Robin is supposed to be a visit from a passed loved one.
This can be very comforting to someone grieving or struggling with loss. Personally I'd like to believe this.
Messages through channels. Could be the radio, TV or computer. You might be struggling about a decision in your life and then pops up a message relating to what you were thinking about. Or your mum , dad, husband, wife's favourite song or something related to a memory. Could be a coincidence but people see it more as a comfort as time passes.

Our energy......
We are full of it. And that energy has to go somewhere when we pass. The question is where?

As for reliving anxiety.......
Well, if reincarnate doesn't exist then the answer is no!

Over to you nora

[pulisa]

I hope i haven't opened a can of worms....

[BlueIris]

I don't believe in any sort of an afterlife, but I do find it profoundly comforting that matter continues to exist even as it changes in form. I love the thought of gradually diffusing into the cosmos.

[NoraB]

During discussions of matters of life, the universe and everything, it’s always helpful to be reminded of TV daredevil Guy Martin’s Latvian grandfather’s immortal and unambiguous words of succinct profundity...

“When you dead, you dead.”

Dude's autistic apparently?

Interestingly, this was my dad's view as well. There were no such things as ghosts; when you're dead, you're dead. Etc etc etc..

A couple of weeks after he died, my dad infiltrated my dream state to warn me that my uncle (his brother) was going to die. In the dream, we were in the crematorium where my dad's service had been held and Dad was sat in front of me with my uncle. Dad had his arm around my uncle and said, 'I'll look after you kid'. I was desperately trying to get my dad's attention. I knew he was dead, but he was there, looking like my dad, only healthy again. Only it was as if I wasn't there. He didn't speak to me or look at me. And that upset me. A few weeks later (six weeks after my dad died) my uncle died and his service was held in the same crematorium. I think my dad was trying to warn (and prepare me) that we would to have to go through that again..

Eight years after he died - with the help of an elderly medium dude in a spiritualist church - Daddio came through with some of THE best evidence of the afterlife that I've ever had including stuff that was going to happen in the future (and it did).

For someone who didn't believe in this stuff, he certainly put the effort into proving otherwise...

[spectrum123]

We are not just a body. We have consciousness. So what happens to this consciousness when our bodies shut down?

NDE accounts have been around for centuries but more recently we've had Sam Parnia's AWARE study on awareness, memories and consciousness during cardiac arrest - as in people who were 'dead' with no heart beat or brain function for periods of time..

The body get's barbequed in cremation (changes form) and smoke is sent out into the atmosphere (where it will change form again) but that doesn't account for consciousness, as in, that which makes us human.

Consciousness is energy (as everything is energy) and energy cannot be destroyed, it can only change form. So the 'when you're dead you're dead' theory just doesn't work for me...

We are just a clump or arranged cells formed from atoms. We take on board other arranged atoms like suguars to give is energy which our body uses to move or create a consciousness.
When we die the bonds that hold our cells together break down, this includes our brain, during that process the energy stored within out bodies is released. Not as a lump of consciousness but broken down into the energy that created it.
The worms use some of that energy to fuel themselves.
I don't buy consciousness exists for very long after death, once the decomposition process starts, that's it, the sugars and charged ions are released.

[NoraB]

For me I dream a lot about people that have passed, particularly my mum. She features at least weekly in my dreams. My mum was very in tune with the beyond and claims she had several visits from people she had lost.
My dad called it her imagination.

That was my dad too lol

But not so long ago my cousin told me of her 8 year old niece having a visit from her nan and telling her she was ok. Strange or true?

I don't find it strange at all, and I find the anecdotes of young children to be more convincing that those of adults..

Angels........
I'm not talking about Gabriel coming down from the sky to waiver above you flapping his beautiful white feather wings guiding you to safety, but the angel in the form of a normal human being that appears from nowhere, says something to you and then disappears. Normally it's a message that you need to hear. This has happened to me several times.

I believe I've encountered one in human form..

I was in the shit with the car (brakes failed) with an ailing MIL and no phones in sight (and this was pre mobile phones) and this dude(with THE bluest eyes I've ever seen) appears from nowhere. After years of being taken advantage of - I'd become wary of people and started to think that everyone was a serial killer. There was none of this with this geezer. I felt (and this was weird) as if I'd known him all my life, but I'd never seen him before. He took me and MIL (and the shopping) to her house and helped us to carry the bags in. Dude was literally there one second and I turned around to thank him and offer him a brew and he wasn't there. The car was gone too. Yes, I checked that nothing had been nicked but, unless I'd had some kind of brain melt, it was IMPOSSIBLE for the bloke to get through my MIL's garden, up the path, across the road, and into his car and drive off without me seeing him..

Those eyes though..

Years later I got into reading about angels and I read story after story of strangers turning up randomly in someone's hour of need (with electric blue eyes) and then buggering off in an impossibly fast time, and I thought, 'Ooh, I wonder?'

That said, I still can't get my head around the 'he drove a car' bit...

I've had other experiences since (funny one too) but I'll save it for another day...

Past lives.....
I'm not sure about this one but my partner has had this and believes it. I'm still a bit sceptical. I do believe that imagination can be so strong to make you believe anything

This forum is full of what imagination can do (HA)

Contacting the beyond......
The rule is not to, because you are messing with an entity you do not know about and it may have consequences. I'm talking mainly of the ouija board.

I wouldn't touch one of these which a barge pole, Carn. My mum mucked about with one when she was in the WRAF and she and her mates scared themselves shitless (alcohol may have been involved)

I know many have gone to mediums and fortune tellers to receive messages from their loved ones and I've done that myself. But it can be open to abuse from so-called fakes, so I'm not so sure if it's a good idea. I think it may be better to wait for a message to come to you naturally if that is what you want.

I've seen obvious fakes and I believe I've seen genuine mediums (three) - simply because I'm looking for certain things which can't come from hot or cold reading. In Dad's case, hot reading wasn't possible. The bloke (who I didn't know and who didn't know me) was a medium in a spiritualist church that me and my mate went to one night. We sat through the service (nothing special) and then we had a cup of tea afterwards and it was then when this older gent came up to me (smartly dressed in a suit) and he asked if he could give me a message. He told me not to speak, to let him speak and the only time he asked me anything was if I knew a certain song (which he sang to me) and also if I wanted to be a nurse as he saw me working with drugs and medicines. I laughed at that because I am NOT nurse material. (Plus, I was a school caretaker at the time) I didn't know the song either. It was some old fashioned one I didn't know. Everything else was SPOT ON. No guessing. He just spoke as if he was relaying someone else's words. He gave me a lot of information (all correct) and he told me that the bloke he was with looked like me, only with different coloured eyes. I do look like my dad and we do have different coloured eyes..

So, I went home and told my mum about the song. Not missing a beat she said, 'Yes, the song was playing the day I met your dad.' Dad had the record apparently but it went missing'. Then she starts singing it to me (like the bloke did). Mum told me that they'd tried to buy another copy years later but it had gone out of print. However, in the last few years of my dad's life they found a copy at a record fair. For some reason, Mum didn't keep it with the other records which is why I didn't know it as I was always rooting through those records.. I found it under her bed when we cleared the house out. (I have it in my collection now..)

The 'nurse' thing? A few months after the reading my job was made redundant and I had to find another job. I went for a cleaning job and I had my interview on a carpark. (classy, eh?) The supervisor told me their company cleaned schools, offices, warehouses/factories and I didn't get a choice where I would be positioned. I was offered the job there and then and I accepted. The supervisor then drove me to my placement which was a pharmaceuticals warehouse. (drugs and medicines) only I only cleaned offices, toilets, boardrooms, and the canteen etc. I didn't go anywhere near any drugs. So I said, 'You were close, Frank (that was the medium's name) but not quite...

12 months later my marriage went tits up and I needed to go full time. The manager of the warehouse overheard me and the supervisor talking about me having to quit because I needed a full time job and he offered me a job with them. For the next four years, my job title was picker/packer (I was working DIRECTLY with drugs and medicines).

Dude got 100%..

Feathers, Robins, messages through channels....
So a white feather in your path, a visit from a Robin is supposed to be a visit from a passed loved one.
This can be very comforting to someone grieving or struggling with loss. Personally I'd like to believe this.
Messages through channels. Could be the radio, TV or computer. You might be struggling about a decision in your life and then pops up a message relating to what you were thinking about. Or your mum , dad, husband, wife's favourite song or something related to a memory. Could be a coincidence but people see it more as a comfort as time passes.

I believe that these things are often a matter of synchronicity, rather than coincidence...

Also, given that we're energy and spirit is energy, it's not too much of a stretch to the imagination to accept that spirit can try to reach us through various channels, and I have had experience of this...

Our energy......
We are full of it. And that energy has to go somewhere when we pass. The question is where?

Exactly. And that's why Spectrum's theory doesn't work with me. It leaves far too many questions unanswered. If we die and that's that, then why do these things happen, and to credible people, not just 'bleevers'. And, yes, we can provide explanations for almost everything, but not all. Such as with NDE's when people come back with information they didn't previously know. Or that, during the time they were clinically dead, they were seen by their loved ones, or they were able to recount conversations their loved ones had either in the hospital or away from it - and sometimes in different countries. This only makes sense if consciousness/awareness is separate from our bodies..

If the 'when you're dead, you're dead' theory brings comfort, then why not? For some people, there is comfort in the thought of annihilation, right? But sometimes we carry on the opinions of our parents without doing the research. I've done my research on the back of some very profound experiences - one of which removed my fear of death itself. I've been gifted (twice now) with experiencing love in its purest sense, minus ego. I can't find a way to talk about this stuff without sounding like a massive hippy (or nutter) but this is all my truth. First with my gran, and recently with my mum where I flew above the Earth with her (more specifically her energy) and like most people who describe NDE's - I was proper gutted to have to come back down. (And nope I wasn't on my meds)

I'm confident that consciousness survives death, and not just clinical death, or for a few hours after biological death. The time difference with the visits from my deceased rellies say otherwise. But I can't be 100% certain. Nobody can. And as I said, I honestly don't think it would be the best thing for us a species if we did have a definitive answer on this..

[panicface]

OP - I fall down rabbit holes far too frequently on stuff like this. My best advice, unless you're studying and this is gonna be your major - is to resist temptation and simply don't google stuff about reincarnation.

Past holes I've visited - ghosts, spirits, NDE, different culture and religious thoughts about death, and basically all things death - no matter how gruesome. After all, it's something we will all have to go through, and we never know for sure when it's coming... (like the worst kind of birthday present, ever)....

Anyone who tells you they know what happens (before life) or after you die is full of cra*p in my book - because no-one has ever done it, and come back to tell about it... NDE don't count for me.. Die for a year, a decade, a century - then come back and tell your tale.

If this subject becomes a morbid curiosity, that inspires anxiety - maybe avoid it. I grew up watching horror movies and now if one comes on, I just flip the channel.. Life is too short to bring 'negative' energy into your mind... None of us are getting out of this alive - if it turns out we get reincarnated, if there's a zillion year bank spot, if it's a simulation or video game and we get deleted or pushed into the 'lake of fire.exe' - for being bad characters - so be it... Not much we can do about something so esoteric.

[NoraB]

Anyone who tells you they know what happens (before life) or after you die is full of cra*p in my book - because no-one has ever done it, and come back to tell about it

Millions of people have done just that...

... NDE don't count for me.. Die for a year, a decade, a century - then come back and tell your tale.

Those are your goalposts then eh PF?

Explain to me how people who are clinically dead - as in no heart beat, brain processes are absent or impaired (plus they're no doubt pumped full of drugs) can describe, in detail, everything that happened to them in the operating theatre etc, music that was playing, and dialogue between the staff. Also describing conversations between people outside of the room or in a different area altogether- sometimes in a different country. I'm talking about corroborated perception of events happening whilst outside of the body...

I'm going to need something more than 'it's full of crap'..

For me, it's simple. The only theory that adequately explains the NDE is that brain and consciousness are separate of each other, meaning that consciousness survives death. A sceptic will doubt this but they will not dismiss or ridicule it. To rule this possibility out is ridiculous, and to say it's 'crap' is lazy to say the least, because the evidence is overwhelming and if anecdotal evidence counts in the court of law, why not here?

Also, we now have the AWARE study...

What you're doing is to belittle people's profound and life-changing experiences down to a few badly chosen words from a poorly formed opinion whereas I can give you over thirty years of NDE research including reading hundreds of books, watching numerous documentaries, listening to podcasts and regularly looking at NDE websites. I've also read the AWARE study and that it was able to validate (using the scientific method) the detailed account of visual awareness during the time when a man was in cardiac arrest. Previously it was assumed that these 'hallucinations' happened just before cardiac arrest or after the heart has been restarted but this proves otherwise and "merits further investigation and without prejudice". If this was all 'a load of crap' do you honestly think credible people of science like Sam Parnia would bother wasting over five years of his life on an NDE study?

Also, I think you're missing the point of how NDE's can (and do) remove fear of death - even for those who haven't experienced one, and this matters!

[WorryRaptor]

This is a wonderfully interesting thread that I need to come back to, and read in full! If I forget to, I'll hopefully remember in another life. But as my luck would have it, I'd come back as a snail, and it would take me another lifetime to drag my slimy body over the keyboard to type in my password.

[NoraB]

But as my luck would have it, I'd come back as a snail, and it would take me another lifetime to drag my slimy body over the keyboard to type in my password.

I was on the codeine at 3am this morning so I'm currently typing five words per minute..

Speaking of snails..

We have one in our sunroom. Sid Snail is leaving his slimy trails all over my shelves, chair and Pot Pourri. I also have a coaster with Johnny Rotten's face on it and he's slimed over that too (only it seems quite fitting for a punk lol) and I will be buggered if I can find the little sod!

Meanwhile, he's living his best life in my conservatory (ok, it's a lean-to)