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John E. Mack About Our Worldview and Alien Abductions


I reallly get what he's talking about with regards to the "past life". I had a dream once where I was experiencing someone else's life, or it seemed that way. This was not like any dream I've had before or since, I was experiencing another person's experience. Past life? Just a dream? I don't know. But I have never had a dream like this. Think about how you dream. Normally, you can see yourself in some capacity ie. it isn't like an experience per say, more like a film, a kind of surreal playing out of something or other, but not like an actual experience. This was. I was a slave, in America at some stage (I'm from Ireland so it isn't something that was ingrained in me, but I had come into contact with the whole issue of slavery). Anyway, I was being hanged for something I didn't do - I knew that much (who is this "I"? I was literally seeing and feeling and experiencing someone else's life, or at least it felt like it). I remember looking at the people who were doing this to me - in a church! - and feeling such great anger towards them, and being convinced of my innocence. And I looked at their blank faces like they really didn't care or give a damn, like it was just another thing in their day. Like putting a man to death (though I wasn't a man in their eyes) was just another thing.

Then it flashed forward to the actual hanging, and my hatred was replaced survival mode. I was literally trying to find a way out of this mess. I thought that if I put my hands between the rope and my neck I might survive, and I convbinced myself of this futile option. And then, crack, I was hanged, and I heard a crack, but no pain. But I wasn't experiencing things normally any more. It was like I had stepped outside everything, and could truly view everything without any constraints. I saw that these people who were at the hanging were disconnected from it - like they had a mental block that kept them seeing what was truly going on. And, in this very strange, almost omniscient state, I felt sorry for them for not truly recognising what they had done. And then I faded away, as if my perception was turning white, like a white haze enveloping everything, and I remember thinking, "I going to a better place."

Make of that what you will. I had that dream five years ago, but I can still remember it - it has stuck with me. I woke up gasping from it. It was by far the craziest dream I have ever had, and up against seeing a UFO (which I have), this was crazier.

Make of it what you will, but to get back to the point, without any drug, I had this experience. I can at least relate in some way to what he's saying. Interestingly, it's interesting that he talks about decapitation. Being hanged is not a millon miles away........
 
Thanks for sharing! But I wonder sometimes if experiences such as what you are describing, especially when you get them in very lucid dreams that stick out like tree's in an othewise barren landscape of forgetfulness -- that sometimes those dreams of what seems like a past life could also be a brief temporary case of spirit possession where you are living out a part of the spirit's life while they were still incarnate. If you are in any way mediumistic, having such an experience of a spirit merging with you at night while you are asleep and then working through your mind to replay a part of their life that you will experience as a dream... well, just saying that this is one other alternative explanation for past-life experiences and that I think it is one to consider.
 
Thanks for sharing! But I wonder sometimes if experiences such as what you are describing, especially when you get them in very lucid dreams that stick out like tree's in an othewise barren landscape of forgetfulness -- that sometimes those dreams of what seems like a past life could also be a brief temporary case of spirit possession where you are living out a part of the spirit's life while they were still incarnate. If you are in any way mediumistic, having such an experience of a spirit merging with you at night while you are asleep and then working through your mind to replay a part of their life that you will experience as a dream... well, just saying that this is one other alternative explanation for past-life experiences and that I think it is one to consider.

Hmmm, interesting idea. Jung's idea of the collective unconsciousness appeals to me as well. In a way, perhaps we all have lived the past lives of everyone who has ever lived. Just a crazy thought.
 
'Conor' - The depth of the experience and recollection from what you described has obviously opened a few doors questioning the existence of the surrounding world to one that takes place while asleep - I can completely identify with this. I have only had one dream similar to what I could label as a 'past life dream' but I'm hesitant to alter my attitude towards any specific philosophies associated with this belief, despite the experience.

The mainstream view generally accepts that dreams/experiences only takes place within the confounds of our heads/imagination - society tends to think more functionally and logically with regards to this.

However, I would say it remains an important issue where and whether language shapes specific forms of the dream/experience (thought, perception, emotion), their content or meaning, and if one can have power over the other. Its also important to note that our personal understanding of the nature of our consciousness, what we see, our ethics, how we reason, and phenomenology linking them altogether - contributing towards each one of our own experiences.

I have experienced many dream states (AP's, OBE's etc) in what I would associate as reality by the same definition to the real physical world, and consciousness awareness always and essentially involving my sub-consciousness. However, I cannot bridge the gap between these two essential levels by being able to validate the existence back to the real physical plane.

Therefore I have always been speculating on the true nuts and bolts of what is taking place during these dreams/experiences. Is it a real alternative reality (or transpersonal states as mentioned in the above attached clips) or could it be that some of us unwittingly tap into a chemical misbalance in our brains for which we can only associate it to something external.
 
As somebody, that has had on a frequent occasion, more dramatically in youth been subject to such types of experiences -

I have come to the view, that anything associated with dreams/sleepy encounters/paralysis etc - is mostly a reflection of the individuals fears and self definition.

The argument purported by John Mack, grasps for straws - which can be seen in the last segments of the video posting - that society is controlled by ideas and that which enlightenment can be gained by "guess what" - accepting his idea's - is a reflection of the ego of the humanity that he tries to attack - the contradiction and irony of his argument, is the one that makes him the prisoner of his own reasoning.

I defend the cause that humanity is what it is! - and nobody can change it no matter how intellectually stimulating they try to counteract it.
After ploughing his lonely burrow; whipping up his theories of quantum physics again, and drifting off into his little wonderland of make believe, the fact remains -

Humanity requires materials, it is the essence of our nature -
Commodities to derive subsistence - Wheat, Corn, Rice and Oats.
Commodities to derive warmth - Cloth, Silk, Linen and Leather
Commodities to derive heat - Wood, Coal, Gas and Oil
Commodities to derive shelter - Stone, Brick and Iron

And all the commodities, labour, rent and profit to bring them to market which allows John E Mack to pursue such artistic and immaginative concepts is a statement to how successful this materialistic and capitalistic idea really works - and how a little knowledge of human nature could really help John E Mack in more assertively assesing the minds of others.

With all due respect, of course.
 
I'll withhold judgment of Mack until I've read Jung's newest book. John Mack can wait till I can afford The Red Book.

Amazon.com: The Red Book (9780393065671): C. G. Jung, Sonu Shamdasani, Mark Kyburz, John Peck: Books

For an explanation of the book and the timing of its release:

Carl Jung and the Holy Grail of the Unconscious - NYTimes.com

The Holy Grail of the Unconscious

I hope it explains why I've avoided a similar journey into my unknown. Didn't think I was smart enough to come out of the journey with my sanity in tact.
 
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