Astral Projection and Out of the Body Experiences (OOBE)

Astral projection, or out of the body experiences (OOBE), is the ability to meditate in such a way where one experiences a disembodied state of consciousness, and one can clairvoyantly visit other places. I first learned about it from the book Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe. He was a successful businessmen, had no religious leanings and his writing is a matter of fact style with little or no "mystical" explanations that you often find in other books. He later setup the Monroe Institute to help train people to experience an out of the body journey. The experience is actually quite ancient, and was practiced by shamans, prophets and visionaries. The flaw I find with the book is that there is little verifiable proof that his experiences were valid. The site Objective proofs of the "reality" of Astral Projections summarizes the introduction of the book in which Charles T. Tart attempted to verify Monroe's experiences:

Tart describes the inconclusive attempts in a laboratory setting to get Monroe to go in his Second Body and read some words written on a piece of paper in the next room. Monroe failed to do so but reported other details that were verified, but Tart couldn't testify that Monroe couldn't have known those details by other, more conventional means.
Another time, Tart tried to set up a visit by Monroe out of body to his home where Monroe had never been. The random time Tart chose to concentrate with his wife on Monroe corresponds to the time when Monroe, far away in his own home, started to feel a tugging which he understood as the signal to visit Tart. However, Monroe's subsequent description of Tart's home was way off the mark.
Tart concludes:
"What do I make of this? This is one of those frustrating events that parapsychologists encounter when working with poorly controlled phenomena. It is not evidential enough to say that it was unquestionably a paranormal effect, yet it is difficult simply to say that nothing happened. It is comfortable to stick with our common-sense assumptions that the physical world is what it seems to be, and that a man (or his sense organs) is either located at a certain place and able to observe it or he is not. Some OOBEs reported in the literature seem to fit this view, while others have a disturbing mixture of correct perceptions of the physical situation with "perceptions" of things that weren't there or didn't happen (to us ordinary observers). Mr. Monroe reports a number of such mixed experiences in this book, especially his seeming to "communicate" with people while he is having an OOBE, but their never remembering it."

However later in the book, Monroe himself attempts to validate his experience with a friend of his, and describes a successful attempt in describing a remote scene.

SCIENTIFIC VALIDITY TO OOBE?

Here is a summary description of OOBE from Wikipedia:

OOBEs can be induced by brain traumas, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep, and electrical stimulation of the brain, among others. It can also be deliberately induced by some.

Science currently considers the OBE a type of hallucination that can be caused by various psychological and neurological factors. Some parapsychologists and occult writers treat OBEs as evidence that a soul, spirit or subtle body can detach itself from the body and visit distant locations.

One in ten people has an OBE once, or more commonly, several times in his or her life, but scientists still know little about the phenomenon.

Most people assume that an OOBE occurs while one is asleep. This is not true - many occur while one is in full wakefulness, even when one is in a high arousal situation:

Irwin pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very low arousal. For example, Green found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects reporting a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12% considered they had been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her cases occurred under conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic accident, or childbirth. McCreery has suggested that this paradox may be explained by reference to the fact that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal. He proposes that OBEs under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal, represent a form of "waking dream", or the intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking consciousness.

Many OOBEs occur during full wakefulness. I remember mentioning this phenomenon to a friend of mine, wondering if it was true or not, and he mentioned an experience of his own: he had an OOBE while fully awake. In fact he was riding a bicycle very fast down a hill. He then realized he was approaching an intersection, and saw an oncoming car and there was no way he could stop in time. As he thought he was going to get hit, he rose out of his body for a moment. Luckily he missed getting hit by the car, and then he was back in his body riding the bicycle. It would seem that OOBE may be common when one is approaching death. It is also often reported during the Near Death Experience, when one first loses bodily consciousness they then experience rising from their body and being able to report on the events surrounding them.

There were in fact scientific studies done that lend credence to the reality of astral projection or an OOBE, although in this case it was called "remote viewing":

Michael Persinger has undertaken similar research to Olaf Blanke using magnetic stimulation applied to the right temporal lobe of the brain, which is known to be involved in visuo-spatial functions, multi-sensory integration and the construction of the sense of the body in space. Persinger's research also found evidence for objective neural differences between periods of remote viewing in two individuals thought to have psychic abilities. Persinger undertook his research on Sean Harribance and Ingo Swann, a renowned remote viewer who has taken part in numerous studies. Examination of Harribance showed enhanced EEG activity within the alpha band (8–12 Hz) over Harribance's right parieto-occipital region, consistent with neuropsychological evidence of early brain trauma in these regions. In a second study, Ingo Swann was asked to draw images of pictures hidden in envelopes in another room. Individuals with no knowledge of the nature of the study rated Swann's comments and drawings as congruent with the remotely viewed stimulus at better than chance levels. Additionally, on trials in which Swann was correct, the duration of 7 Hz (alpha band) paroxysmal discharges over the right occipital lobe was longer. Subsequent anatomical MRI examination showed anomalous subcortical white matter signals focused in the perieto-occipital interface of the right hemisphere that were not expected for his age or history.

THE VISIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The visions and experiences of Emanuel Swedenborg show that humans do have the capability to have an out of body experience (OOBE) or have an "astral journey" where it appears as if the spirit has left the body to journey elsewhere, either somewhere on this earth or some other spiritual plane. As explained in The Confirmed Clairvoyance of Emanuel Swedenborg, in full wakefulness Swedenborg was able to clairovyantly describe a fire that occurred in Stockholm Sweden in 1759 to guests at a dinner party. Normally he kept his experiences hidden, but the fire had threatened to burn his house where we kept all his writings. In his published writings, he describes the OOBE experience in detail - he was able to have these experiences continuously over a period of 26 years. In fact, this was the mode in which many prophets of the Bible saw their visions:

Of the prophets we read that they were "in the spirit" or "in vision," also that the Word came to them from Jehovah. When they were in the spirit or in vision, they were not in the body, but in their spirit, in which state they saw such things as are in heaven; but when the Word came to them, then they were in the body, and heard Jehovah speaking. These two states of the prophets are to be carefully distinguished. In the state of vision the eyes of their spirit were opened, and the eyes of their body shut; and then they heard what the angels spoke; or what Jehovah spoke through the angels, and they also saw the things which were represented to them in heaven; and then they sometimes seemed to themselves to be carried from place to place, the body remaining in its place. ...that to be "in the spirit" is to be "in vision"; which is effected by the opening of the sight of man's spirit; which, when it is opened, the things which are in the spiritual world appear as clearly as the things which are in the natural world appear before the sight of the body. I can testify that it is so, from the experience of many years. (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 36)

Since a person's spirit means his mind, 'being in the spirit', a phrase which occurs a number of times in the Word, means the state in which the mind is separated from the body. That was the state the Prophets were in when they saw the kind of things which happen in the spiritual world, so it is called 'the vision of God.' They were then in the same state as that of the spirits and angels of that world. In that state a person's spirit, as the visual capacity of his mind, can be transported from place to place while his body remains in one place. This is the state in which I have been for the last twenty-six years, with the difference that I have been simultaneously in the spirit and in the body, and only at times outside the body. (True Christian Religion, n. 157)

An astral journey or OOBE can occur while one is in between sleep and wakefulness, or while one is fully awake. For Swedenborg, the latter state was not as common as the first:

There are two kinds of visions that are not of the ordinary kind, into which I have been let solely that I might know their nature, and what is meant by its being said in the Word that men were "withdrawn from the body," and that they were "carried by the spirit into another place."
As regards the first, namely, being withdrawn from the body, the case is this. The man is brought into a certain state that is midway between sleep and wakefulness, and when he is in this state he cannot know but that he is wholly awake. All his senses are as fully awake as in the highest wakefulness of the body; the sight, the hearing, and, wonderful to say, the touch, which is then more exquisite than it can ever be in the wakefulness of the body. In this state also spirits and angels have been seen to the very life, and also heard, and, wonderful to say, have been touched, and almost nothing of the body then intervened. This is the state of which it is said that they are "withdrawn from the body," and that they "do not know whether they are in the body or out of it." I have been let into this state only three or four times, merely that I might know how the case is with it, and that spirits and angels are in the enjoyment of every sense, even touch in a form more delicate and more exquisite than that of the body.
As regards the other kind of vision-being carried away by the spirit into another place-it has been shown me by living experience what it is, and how it is done, but only two or three times. One single experience I may mention. Walking through the streets of a city and through the country, and being at the same time also in conversation with spirits, I did not know but that I was wide awake and saw as at other times, so that I walked on without mistake, and all the time being in vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and many other things. But after I had thus walked for hours, suddenly I was in the sight of the body, and became aware that I was in another place. Greatly amazed at this, I perceived that I had been in such a state as they were in of whom it is said that they were "led away by the spirit into another place;" for while this state lasts there is no reflection concerning the way, even if it be many miles; nor is there reflection concerning the time, even if it be many hours or days; nor is there any feeling of fatigue. Moreover the person is led through ways of which he has no knowledge, even to the appointed place. This took place that I might know that a man can be led by the Lord without his knowing whence and whither. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 1882-1884)

The interesting thing to note in the above passage, is that while having an OOBE while fully awake, his body was in control by the spirit so that he could navigate the streets.

JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS

Swedenborg used the ability of astral projection or OOBE to visit other inhabited planets, at least on the spiritual plane, to have a better understanding of the thinking of those extraterrestrials. In all cases the extraterrestrials he encountered were human in form. He explains how this is possible, as in the spiritual world there is no actual space, but instead, changes of state:

He who is not acquainted with the arcana of heaven, may believe it to be impossible for a man to see earths which are so remote, and from the evidence of the senses to give any account of them. But he should know that in their first cause and origin, the spaces and distances, and consequently the progressions, which appear in the spiritual world, are changes of state of the interiors, and that they appear with angels and spirits in accordance with these changes; and that by means of such changes angels and spirits can be translated from one place to another, and from one earth to another, even to earths which are at the end of the universe. And so can a man in respect to his spirit, his body still remaining in its own place. So too has it been done with me, for of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been given me to be in company with spirits as a spirit, and at the same time with men as a man. (That in heaven the spaces and distances, and consequently the progressions, are appearances arising from changes of state of the interiors, see n. 5605.) A sensuous man cannot conceive that in respect to his spirit a man can be translated in this manner, because such a man is in space and in time, and measures his progressions according to these. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9440)

Robert Monroe had many OOBEs, but his problem is he often could not control his destination. The way in which Swedenborg was able to journey to other earths was through the power of the Lord, in which his inner state was changed to be in a similar state to those of the extraterrestrials on other planets:

To be conducted to the earths in the universe is not to be conducted and transported there as to the body, but as to the spirit; and the spirit is not conducted through spaces, but through variations of the state of the interior life, which appear to him like progressions through spaces (n. 5605, 7381, 9440). Moreover, approaches take place in accordance with the agreements or likenesses of the states, for the agreement or likeness of the state conjoins, and disagreement or unlikeness disjoins. From this it can be seen in what manner removal as to the spirit from one place to another is effected, and also the approach of the spirit to distant regions, while the man still remains in his own place.
But to conduct a spirit outside his own world by means of variations of the state of his interiors, and to cause these variations to successively advance up to a suitable or like state with that of those to whom he is being led, is in the power of the Lord alone; for there must be a constant direction and foresight from first to last, both ways, especially when this is to be effected with a man who as to the body is still in the world of nature, and who is thereby in space.
That this has been done, no one who is in the sensuous things of the body, and who thinks from them, can be brought to believe. The reason is that these sensuous things cannot grasp progressions apart from spaces. Nevertheless they who think from the sensuous of their spirit somewhat removed or withdrawn from that of the body, thus they who think interiorly within themselves, can be brought to believe and to apprehend it, because in the idea of their thought there is neither space nor time, but instead of these such things as are the sources of spaces and times. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9579-9581)

If Swedenborg's account of taking an astral journey to other planets sounds a bit fantastic, Ingo Swann did exactly the same thing - although through remote viewing, a method which he helped pioneer at the Stanford Research Institute for the CIA. Similar to Swedenborg, Ingo Swann even remotely viewed some planets in our solar system, and like Swedenborg discovered that some of them were inhabited. For details of the remote viewing project of the CIA, see Remote Viewing and the US Intelligence Community. It is slightly different from what Swedenborg did. With remote viewing, one can determine the physical characteristics of the planet. Swedenborg journeyed out of the body in the higher spiritual planes, and thus could not describe so much the planets he visited.

AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL CONTACT THAT INDUCED AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE

The reason why I bring up the subject of astral projection and OOBE is that I have found a couple of interesting cases where extraterrestrials apparently induced an out of the body experience in a contactee in order to contact that person on another spiritual plane. Scientists have only been able to induce an OOBE state in a subject's brain with limited success, but in these cases I discovered the extraterrestrials were able to induce a full out of body the experience. And not only were they able to induce an OOBE, the OOBE state in the subject lasted for a period of several days. It is not the manner of contact we typically expect: most expect a radio signal, or a saucer to land and have a face to face encounter. But with highly spiritually evolved beings, this does not have to be the manner of contact: contact and communication can take place on higher levels of consciousness. The first contactee I encountered who had this type of contact was Lyman Streeter. Who is Lyman Streeter? He was the HAM radio operator who made contact with extraterrestrials via HAM radio in 1952. This contact was described in detail in Extraterrestrial Contacts by HAM Radio. In the book he was initially known as "Mr. R." for "radioman" to hide his identity. I will quote from the relevant passage from The Saucers Speak by George Hunt Williamson:

There was always something strange overshadowing the life of Mr. R that I find impossible to describe in words. The only clue I might have would be a radio message from the UFOs we received during the evening of 28 September 1952. At 11:20 p.m. the following message came through the receiver:
`Radioman has deep secret in his mind. We will not reveal. We are alarmed.'
Streeter turned to the rest of us in the ham shack and said, `If they (the UFOs) had known about this before, they would never have picked me for your radioman.'
Immediately, code came through the receiver again : `Be of peace!'
We waited for several minutes without talking until more code started.
`Happy, happy! You, Radioman Kanet are installed in the records. Good! Attention! Surprised, my brother?'
What was meant by `deep secret'? Evidently Lyman and his wife knew for they looked at each other in a strange way and she came over to sit beside him and hold his hand. Lyman seemed very concerned over this message. None of us was impolite enough to ask the Streeters what it all meant, so we said nothing. Anyway, the space intelligences didn't stay alarmed for long for they spoke of Streeter being `installed in the records' and called him by another name: Radioman Kanet! This name was formerly left out of the message because we felt it was something that belonged to Streeter alone and could be of no interest to the public. However, it is well to mention it now for it might be a clue for which we are looking.
I remember how, one evening, Streeter told us, rather reluctantly, it seemed, that after attempting contact in 1950 he had appeared one day at work acting in a very strange manner. He went about his assigned radio tasks in the normal way, but his fellow workers noticed he wouldn't answer them when they spoke to him and behaved as if he were in a trance of some kind. His wife was called, and he was taken home. For eight days he was in this unusual `zombie' condition. He said nothing to anyone during that period. Later, when he regained a state of normalcy, he admitted he couldn't remember a thing that had transpired during those eight days of amnesia.
After the contacts started on 22 August 1952, Streeter suddenly remembered what had happened several years previously (during the memory lapse). He told us that he apparently had left his earthly body (that would account for the zombie condition... the physical body had gone about its usual tasks at work under the direction of the animal mind, while the entity had been elsewhere) and awoke in a beautiful, large hall where many people were gathering. He was called before a tribunal and noticed that he was dressed in fine garments. He was called by a different name (Kanet?)--and told that he must work rapidly to complete his task upon the Earth planet. All he could remember from this eight day journey was the fact that he must work quickly.
His wife said that before the period of amnesia Lyman was just an ordinary radioman, but after his recovery he spent long hours studying electronics and would work for hours on end until he became a top-grade operator.
Besides working at the Santa Fe radio shop, he had his amateur equipment in his ham shack back of his home on Maple Street, and at the other end of this shack his workshop, where he repaired most of the radios, TV sets, recorders, etc., of the neighborhood, including the car radios of the local Police Department. (I remember that once the police interrupted one of our communications with the UFOs by driving into the yard one night and asking Lyman to fix their radio. He obliged, but kept trying to hear the code coming in, listen to the idle talk of the officers and fix the radio, all at the same time.)
Evidently, Lyman H. Streeter was a `Wanderer'. His name had been Kanet, and he was born on Earth to assist the programme of the Space Confederation. His so-called amnesia experience must have been his awakening period.

In these HAM radio messages, these extraterrestrials claimed to have come our solar system, and the messages do contain information that was confirmed by science many years later.  I want to make note of this induced out of the body experience in this contact case, as the exact same method of contact occurred in another completely independent extraterrestrial contact - which I will discuss in a future blog post. They are so similar in nature I am inclined that the contact was made by the same group of human extraterrestrials.

Here is an interesting video which explains the relationship between different corresponding states of consciousness, a Near Death Experience, and the out of the body experience (OOBE):

Human Extraterrestrials Hidden Among Us

Many who think about extraterrestrial contact assume that other life forms will be very different than us, and that when contact will be made, it will be a very public event and there will be a knowledge exchange. What I am finding in certain extraterrestrial contactee reports is something very different: many of these extraterrestrials are human like us. You cannot tell them apart from those of us born on earth. Not only do they look exactly like us, some have been observing us for thousands of years. Others do not look like us - see The Atamaca Alien Skeleton - an Extraterrestrial Hybrid?. When scientists said most of the DNA was human, they are completely missing the point. As for these human extraterrestrials, not only are they highly technologically advanced but also they tend to be more spiritually evolved, and have telepathic abilities. I have found a few humorous accounts where they show up in our clothing, and an individual contactee can recognize them but no one else in the crowd cannot. Not only do intelligence agencies wish to keep their presence a secret, but these extraterrestrials wish to keep their presence a secret as well. Their opinion of us? We tend to honor our own selfish ego more than our Creator, and are too warlike. The danger with us is that we are developing rapidly on the technology front but we are spiritually stagnant, caught up in external material desires. Thus in most cases, they do not wish for close contact. With the invention of the atomic bomb and the risk of the destruction of our planet, that all changed, and beginning the 1950s they started to openly reveal themselves.

At this point, I have been investigating their spiritual philosophy wherever I can find it, which I find interesting. I look for certain evidence where I can weed out the frauds and hoaxes. But genuine contacts have been made, so look for more on that in future blog posts. Honestly I did not intend for this blog to focus on extraterrestrials, but I just keep finding more and more information. Once one gets beyond the roadblock as to whether they are here or not, one then begins to ask WHY they are here. And once you figure that out, other possible avenues of research open up, where you consider things that before you thought was not in the realm of possibility. When they reveal information confirmed by science years later, or make a prophecy that comes true, then like most people I pay attention. I think my big surprise came from the NSA, where they declassified a document in which extraterrestrials revealed knowledge about the periodic table of the elements that was years ahead of its time. Its in full public view, completely missed by the media. See A Decoded NSA Extraterrestrial Radio Signal from Outer Space where I analyze it in detail.

For extraterrestrials among us, see A Report on the Motivations and Activities of Extraterrestrial Races – A Typology of the Most Significant Extraterrestrial Races Interacting with Humanity by Dr. Michael Salla, which is an interesting read in itself. He mentions the the greys, who are cooperating with the U.S. military-industrial complex on certain endeavors, as well as human extraterrestrials, who refused to cooperate with the U.S. military and warned the U.S. government against the alien greys in 1954. They had also warned the U.S. to give up their atomic weaponry, and in exchange they would give them spiritual knowledge. This was refused, and instead some agreement was made with the alien greys where they would exchange technology in return for allowing them to abduct humans while keeping their presence secret. In his article Dr. Michael Salla also gathered testimony that indicates that the greys originate from the constellation of Orion. I previously discussed this in The Orion Messages of Stan Romanek. As for the warning given by the human extraterrestrials concerning the alien greys, that may have been first widely publicized in a MUFON speech by UFO researcher William Cooper the the late 1980s - see The Strange World of Milton William Cooper. Although he was not sure when and where the warning came from, I think I found the earliest evidence of that warning concerning extraterrestrials from Orion in Extraterrestrial Contacts by HAM Radio - HAM radio messages which happen to contain information that was confirmed later by science. It warned that those from Orion came here to conquer. The article by Dr. Michael Salla also mentions how in one contactee case, the Pleiadeans who had contacted Swiss farmer Billy Meier again warned humanity about the alien greys:

"There are also different life forms that have acquired much knowledge and have freed themselves from their environment. They travel through space and occasionally come to Earth. Many of them are rather unpleasant creatures and live in a type of barbarism that frequently is nearly as bad as the terrestrials. You should be aware of them because they often attack and destroy everything that gets in their way. Many times they have even destroyed whole planets or forced their inhabitants into bondage. It is one of our missions to warn the people on Earth of these creatures. Let this be known to the Earth people because the time is approaching when a conflict with these degenerate human creatures [Grays] becomes unavoidable."

Another contactee was told that the alien greys have already started to gain control over key members within intelligence agencies such as the CIA and KGB. An extraterrestrial told a contactee what the alien greys did to their planet:

"The Grays began to visit us, first a few as ambassadors, then as specialists in various domains where their expertise could be useful to us, as participants in different programs that involved mutual collaboration, and finally as tourists. What had begun as a trickle became a flood, as they came in ever-increasing numbers, slowly but surely infiltrating our society at all levels, penetrating even the most secret of our elite power groups…. Just as on your planet they began by unobtrusively gaining control over key members of the CIA and KGB through techniques unknown to them, such as telepathic hypnosis that manipulates the reptilian levels of the brain, so on Procyon through the same techniques ... they established a kind of telepathic hypnotic control over our leaders. Over our leaders and over almost all of us, because it was as if we were under a spell that was leading us to our doom, as if we were being programmed by a type of ritual black magic that we did not realize existed."

I have previously discussed the alien greys ability in telepathic mind control and hypnosis. We are barely familiar with this kind of mental ability. However we have a certain spiritual ability that they do not, something that many take for granted or dismiss out of hand:

"...it would be suicidal to attempt to fight the Grays directly with the weapons now at your disposal. One must be rational in attempting to fight back, and understand the proper way to proceed. Your own consciousness is the most potent weapon that is available to you at the present time. The most effective way to fight the Grays is to change the level of your consciousness from linear thinking to multi-dimensional awareness... They have the technology to throw your planet out of orbit, but there is one key ability that you have and they do not have: the ability to hold in mind imagery that inspires an individual to realize his or her direct personal connection to the source of all that is... That is your key to victory."

What is that "direct personal connection to the source of all that is"? Prayer. We have a direct spiritual connection with God. In Alien Abduction and EMF Mind Control  I discussed this odd finding that was supported by a survey: abductees found they could break the telepathic mind control through prayer. With our materialistic viewpoint and the tendency to only believe in the things we can see, we tend to discount the power of thought, the power of having true intentions in all that we do. It is important, because this is what decides what happens to our spiritual bodies after we die. This is probably why the human extraterrestrials wanted to impart this knowledge to the U.S. Government in 1954.

MORE THOUGHTS ON STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Since we are discussing extraterrestrial greys from Orion, who are opposed by other human extraterrestrials, I want to throw something out here concerning the movie Star Trek Into Darkness. When I saw it, I thought the script was a very clever rewrite of the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. There are several surprising role reversals, and the one I took note of is that the movie focuses on a personal battle between the Vulcan Spock and this other human extraterrestrial, John Harrison:

At one point Spock and John Harrison are literally at each others throats. For those of you not familiar with Star Trek, the Vulcan race have learned to suppress their emotions and follow logic and science. Spock is half Vulcan and half human - recently I have begun to wonder if Spock was modeled after the alien greys. I have seen multiple reports where they tend to be highly intelligent, logical, and technology oriented, but have lost something genetically - human emotions. The agenda behind alien abductions is a hybridization program between humans and greys, to produce a new race that is half human. Could Spock from Star Trek have been modelled after these alien greys? Like the greys who cooperate the U.S. military to reverse engineer extraterrestrial technology, Spock becomes a science officer in the Federation. John Harrison, on the other hand, may represent another extraterrestrial group which does not want to cooperate with the U.S. military - which is obvious in the plot line of the movie. In Star Trek Into Darkness there is a scene that is similar to the rescue of Morpheus by Neo from the movie The Matrix, which symbolically portrays the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The Matrix was released in 1999, and before that time the earliest prophecy I have seen of this attack on the World Trade Center came from a contact with Pleiadean extraterrestrials in 1987 (see The Secret Space Program and Hidden Intelligence).

One reason why I am paying more attention to Star Trek Into Darkness is that a portion of the movie like The Matrix seems to be a bit precognitive: the plot discusses a failed false flag operation that was going to be used to instigate a war, which foreshadowed the chemical attack of August 21 in Syria. I discussed this a bit in United States arming Al Qaeda to overthrow Syria. And NO, Assad did not launch that chemical attack - Al Qaeda did, who happened to have killed a few of their rebel "allies" in the process, and now its all out war between the two parties. For the evidence for this, see Saudi Arabia giving Chemical Weapons to Syrian Rebels. Besides this, I know someone who has clairvoyant dreams, and this person saw at the time that someone was trying to falsely blame another party, in order to get others involved in falsely accusing them. In the dream the person was caught - at which point I knew that the effort to involve the U.S. in military strikes on Syria would fail. The person who had the dream had no information on the false flag operation of the chemical attack on August 21. In the past, the precognitive (or clairvoyant) dreams have been 100% accurate. At this point, it is in the best interest of the FSA to lay down their arms and negotiate a settlement with the Syrian government - which in my view, is a better alternative than Al Qaeda whose goal is to create a religious government in Syria. True religion is born out of love, false religion seeks power and control. The path to this settlement is through amnesty and forgiveness.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; 

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. 

Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; 

Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; 

Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD,

"Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; 

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 1:16-20)

THE ALLEGED NATO REPORT ON EXTRATERRESTRIALS AMONG US

The article A Report on the Motivations and Activities of Extraterrestrial Races – A Typology of the Most Significant Extraterrestrial Races Interacting with Humanity discusses a NATO report on extraterrestrial involvement in human affairs. Apparently, in the early 1960s NATO and the U.S. Military became aware that we are not just dealing with strange flying saucers in the sky. What was more worrisome to them is that they became aware of human extraterrestrials were among us: and it was just about impossible to tell them apart from those of us born on earth. This drove them nuts more so than the flying saucers that could outmaneuver our aircraft. Here is the relevant passage:

Master Sergeant Bob Dean had a twenty seven year military career and at one time during his service worked in military intelligence at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE) from 1963. His distinguished service record gives him great credibility in claiming to have witnessed classified information during his military service. During his SHAPE assignment he claimed he was instructed to read a detailed study of the activities of UFOs/ETs and how they might impact on Soviet-NATO relations which was published in 1964 with the title: “An Assessment: An Evaluation of a Possible Military Threat to Allied Forces in Europe." [5] In an interview, Dean described four extraterrestrial races described in ‘The Assessment’ as follows:
"The group at the time, there were just four that they knew of for certain and the Greys were one of those groups. There was a group that looked exactly like we do. There was a human group that looked so much like us that that really drove the admirals and the generals crazy because they determined that these people, and they had seen them repeatedly, they had had contact with them, there had been abductions, there had been contacts. These people looked so much like us they could sit next to you on a plane or in a restaurant and you'd never know the difference. And being military and being primarily paranoid, that bothered the generals and the admirals a little bit. That the fact that these intelligent entities could be involved with us, walking up and down the corridors of SHAPE, walking down the corridors of the Pentagon. My God, it even dawned on a couple of them that these guys could even be in the White House! Of course, as I said, being paranoid in those years it really shook things up a little bit.
"Two other groups, there was a very large group, I say large, they were 6-8 maybe sometimes 9 feet tall and they were humanoid, but they were very pale, very white, didn't have any hair on their bodies at all. And then there was another group that had sort of a reptilian quality to them. We had encountered them, military people and police officers all over the world have run into these guys. They had vertical pupils in their eyes and their skin seemed to have a quality very much like what you find on the stomach of a lizard. So those were the four they knew of in 1964. But I've been told by friends that are still active in military service that it's well over a dozen by now."

Is the above account valid or not? Apparently some requests have been sent to NATO (go to Allied Command Operations) concerning the validity of the document. An investigation ensued - see The Alleged SHAPE “Assessment” of UFOs in 1964: What the Official Records Show. While NATO was unable to confirm the existence of the assessment, they did confirm that Robert O. Dean was stationed at SHAPE from 1963 to 1967. And even though the research did not turn up evidence for the document, I do not consider that surprising - I doubt such evidence for an assessment will be left around for someone at a lower classification level to find it and then write about it for the public. But at any time was NATO aware of the extraterrestrial UFO presence? Of course. I found this document from Declassified UFO documents #2. Here is a summary:

"19 September 1952 - This declassified British document talks about an UFO sighting that happened during a big NATO drill, the soldiers spotted a flying saucer out of nowhere that seemed to be following a Meteor aircraft at first but then started to descent, swinging in a pendular motion like a leaf. The object then started rotating on his own axis and suddenly accelerated at an incredible speed."

And for the skeptics, here is the actual document:

There are more declassified documents at Declassified UFO documents - it is worth reading, as one of them is a request from the FBI to get access to the flying discs that the U.S. Army had recovered in 1947, presumably the flying saucers that had crashed in Roswell New Mexico of that year. So what is my point? If in 1952, NATO became aware of flying saucers observing a NATO military exercise, you can bet there was a NATO or U.S. military study addressing the risk of their involvement in human affairs. In the 1960s the concern was that UFO blips on radar could be mistaken for Soviet or U.S. bombers, leading to a nuclear war between the two nations.

CIA INVOLVEMENT WITH EXTRATERRESTRIAL AFFAIRS

So, if you have human extraterrestrials with telepathic abilities that could infiltrate all levels of society (should they choose to do so), extraterrestrial visitors are not just a matter of concern for politicians and the military. It is primarily a matter of interest for intelligence agencies. I have read some accounts that in response to the Roswell crash in New Mexico in 1947 and further visitations beginning in 1952, the U.S. Government responded with the creation of the CIA and the NSA. Their public mission of course is foreign intelligence, but hidden behind that public mission is their goal in gathering intelligence on all matters related to extraterrestrials. Those within those organizations would have no knowledge of this without the proper security clearance. Thus the NSA has a paper which discusses an extraterrestrial radio signal (see A Decoded NSA Extraterrestrial Radio Signal from Outer Space), which I suspect is an intercepted short wave HAM radio signal from 1952. What about the CIA? Well basically CIA operative Chase Brandon spilled the beans on a radio show and in a fictional novel (see The Korpus Keg Konundrum of Chase Brandon . But I was curious, and decided to go to the CIA web site to see what declassified documents they had on UFOs. The ones they declassify tend to be information they receive from other nations (see Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room and search for "UFO"). But among the documents, one of them took me by surprise: a document which discusses how CIA agents paid a visit to George Adamski, basically telling him to shutup about his extraterrestrial contacts - see CIA document concerning George Adamski. It was declassified rather recently - the year 2003. So who is George Adamski? He was one of the most famous contactees of the 1950s, spreading knowledge of their presence through his books and lectures. His contact is backed up with video, photographs and witness testimony. The George Adamski Foundation survives to this day. He claimed to have been visited by human extraterrestrials from Venus, Mars and Saturn - confirming the visions of Emanuel Swedenborg in which he saw that the other planets of our solar system are inhabited by human extraterrestrials. For Venus and Mars, the only way I can see that this is possible is that they have live in bases below the surface of the planet. As for Jupiter and Saturn, if there is extraterrestrial life there then that means our scientific knowledge of the surface of the planet are incorrect. At this point, I am not sure how much to believe concerning scientific data from NASA - NASA began as a military agency, and they brush up photos in order to hide extraterrestrial artifacts found on the surface of planets in our solar system (see Emanuel Swedenborg was right, and NASA is hiding it, which also shows a presentation given by Robert O. Dean).

EXTRATERRESTRIALS WHO JUST GAVE UP ON US

If we all step back and look at the society  and morals of our planet, and try to see ourselves from the perspective of more advanced extraterrestrial races, the picture is not very good: it would be easy for them to dismiss us as primitive, selfish and even insane. Just turn on the television, and with rare exceptions, just garbage. In the west, selfish individualism reigns over service to others. Capitalism breeds competition. And extraterrestrial involvement has negative consequences: the focus on our side seems to be reverse engineering the technology in order to obtain advanced weaponry. Or even creating genetically engineered humans as soldiers for wars (see The Extraterrestrial Science of Michael Wolf). After visiting us 30 years, one group of extraterrestrials decided to leave when nuclear warfare became a greater threat, and left this message:

"For 30 years we have studied your science, your culture, history and civilizations All this information we have carried from your Earth to Ummo in our titanium crystals codified with data. We HAVE DEMONSTRATED to you our culture and our technology in purely descriptive form - so you cannot convert them or realize them practically. We have done this because we note with sadness that you employ your sciences primarily for war and the destruction of your own selves, which cont[inue] as your principal objective. You are like children playing with terrible and dangerous toys which will destroy you. WE CAN DO NOTHING! A cosmic law says that each world must take its own path, to survive or to perish. You have chosen the second. You are destroying your planet - annihilating your species, and contaminating your atmosphere and your seas until now this is irreversible. With sadness we contemplate your insanity, and understand that the remedy is only in yourselves. We can not look forward a great distance into your future because your psyche are completely unpredictable and capricious bordering on paranoia. As your elder brothers in this cosmos, we urgently desire with all our hearts your salvation. Do not destroy your beautiful blue planet, a rare atmospheric world that floats so majestically in space, so full of life. IT IS YOUR CHOICE."

Others however, apparently have not given up, as they realized leaving us alone means leaving us as prey for other negative races, such as the greys. A cosmic law of non interference makes no sense when other races choose to interfere to our detriment. Negative ETs would like to see us fail: our failure is their opportunity, and they may feel justified considering how we are destroying this planet.

OTHER THOUGHTS ON THE MOVIE INCEPTION

I have previously discussed some of the hidden information in the movie Inception, which, believe it or not, involves extaterrestrials. Most people who see the movie are going to miss this completely and think it is just about the dream world. If you do not know what I am talking about, see Extraterrestrial Cattle Mutilations And Secret Intelligence  When one examines the spiritual philosophy that was imparted to contactees from extraterrestrials, many of them believe in reincarnation. Is reincarnation fact or fiction? As I stated earlier in the blog post Christianity, Reincarnation and Emanuel Swedenborg reincarnation is not exactly true, and not exactly false. And yes, reincarnation does pop up in the movie Inception. If you have unfulfilled selfish or material attachments and desires when you die, your spiritual self may drop down back into a natural state where you will experience these attachments until your mind can be elevated upward towards higher spiritual realms. So best to examine one's material attachments now, and break free of them before one dies.

According to a NATO report on extraterrestrials in the 1960s, there were four groups of extraterrestrials visiting earth: the greys, the reptilians, the humans, and tall giants. Emanuel Swedenborg spoke of the latter two in his visions. Most people who have studied UFOs have heard about the greys since they actively abduct humans. Now, pay special attention to the final scene in the movie Inception. Below is a snapshot:

We have a bug-eyed robot and a dinosaur. A grey and a reptilian? Here is another snapshot right before the end scene:

So there are two bug-eyed robots and two dinosaurs. Strangely, one of the bug-eyed robots has a visor over its eyes in this snapshot, which is missing in the final end scene. And here is an extended end scene which reveals a bit more abou the movie Inception:

Christianity, Reincarnation and Emanuel Swedenborg

Common among New Age thought, spiritual channeling and eastern religions is the concept of reincarnation. This doctrine repeats over and over again, and it was also a way of thinking among the ancients, especially among Neoplatonic philosophers. So is this true, or is it false? That is not an easy question to answer. One must be familiar with the spiritual world, about which modern science knows absolutely nothing. Naturalists just assume we cease to exist at death. The Near Death Experience has been challenging this primitive materialisic view. But when it comes to reincarnation, confirming whether it is true or not is not easy to confirm since since the doctrine of reincarnation teaches that we are forced to forget our past lives before we are reborn again. That there may be some truth to this idea was rediscovered recently by hypnotists, who could regress people back in time to recall memories that they had forgotten. Some hypnotists, noticing the memory recall was enhanced under hypnosis, experimented a bit and regressed people from beyond the time they were born. The result was surprising: hypnotists began to uncover past lives of those who died before, sometimes uncovering historical facts and even a language or a particular accent that was unknown to the subject that was hypnotized. Hypnotists discovered that past life regression was also therapeutic in value: one can understand on a more spiritual level the limits we place on our own behavior, and the way we look at life, based on past unknown fears. Unexplained phobias or depression can be traced to a spiritual source of thought. So reincarnation may be true, right? Well let me throw in a monkey's wrench. All seemed well and good, but then some hypnotists discovered that these past lives overlap with each other chronologically. So what is going on here?

REINCARNATION IN THE BIBLE?

Opposed to eastern religions, the three religions of the book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, state that we live once and then after we die, comes the judgment. Yet among the mystical traditions in all three religions, some mystical schools of thought subscribe to the idea, although opposed to the orthodox theology. And unfortunately - and I will be honest here - ministers and those who go to church often just live in a box. They are out of touch with society, not meeting its needs. So we now find a lot of spiritual independents, and people attracted to New Age thought, but without a proper guide to wander through the forest of ideas. Some churches are even detrimental in their doctrine - declaring after we die we just fall asleep, all to await a physical resurrection at some always future date. Its a false doctrine, as there is no literal physical resurrection of the body: however there is a spiritual resurrection of the spiritual body after death. But that is another topic. The point is, most churches are failing to address the issue because they are blissfully ignorant of it inside their box. Just telling people from scripture is not enough.

So, out of curiosity I delved into this to see what Jesus had to say about reincarnation. The topic comes several times. And in every single case, he never answers the question. He gives a different answer to a different question. Which drove the Jewish Pharisees nuts. Here are some examples:

Jesus: Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus: Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus: How can these things be?
Jesus: Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. (John 3:3-13)

To be born again is to experience a spiritual rebirth, to leave one's sins behind and begin a new life. It begins with a period of temptation, but once one overcomes then one is born with a new will, with new desires: based on love for others, rather than being self-centered. One's spirit or soul is then drawn up into heaven. But notice he does not answer the question of Nicodemus. And he says why he does not answer: if he spoke of heavenly matters no one would believe. So Jesus always spoke in parables. Here is another example:

Jesus: Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?
Disciples: Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Jesus: But who do you say that I am?
Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matt. 16:13-16)

Implied in the question is that prophets reincarnate, held to be true by some Jews at the time. But Jesus does not address that question, He asks them who he is. As a side note, Peter's answer is a hidden explanation of the Trinity: there is a trine which resides in one person Jesus Christ: You are the Christ (3), the Son (2) of the living God (1). But that is another topic. So why does the prophet Jeremiah come up? It is from this passage:

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jer. 1:4-5)

Which implies a preexistence, after which the prophet Jeremiah became incarnate. But it can be read the other way: God simply had foreknowledge of who is to come. Here is another passage:

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:1-5)

Implied in the question, is that the man born blind had committed a sin in a previous life. Again, Jesus does not answer the question. This just drove me nuts. Just ANSWER the QUESTION. Why does he not answer? The answer is a bit complicated, and involves spiritual matters that could not be revealed at the time. Perhaps he does give an answer in this statement:

And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."
Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. (Matt. 17:10-13)

So, Elijah was reborn as John the Baptist? Or he fulfilled the role of Elijah? And then we have this answer:

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." (John 1:19-21)

Which could mean John the Baptist was denying he is a reincarnation of Elijah. But then again, maybe he just does not remember? My answer to this is he fulfilled the role of Elijah...but that again is another topic. The point is, when just depending on the literal sense of scripture, we just got nowhere. This is because the literal sense of scripture hides behind it the true spiritual meaning, for those willing to find it. You can't just read it and expect to understand it unless you ask the Lord to reveal it to you. Otherwise the literal sense can be "bent" to confirm what you want it to confirm. Without revelation, it is a closed book.

THE SPIRITUAL REALM AS SEEN BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

There is a certain spiritual uncertainty to important questions unless a direct revelation is given. It is questions such as these that led me to Emanuel Swedenborg - one who claimed to have had continuous visions of heaven and hell over a period of 25 years. He had extraordinary gifts of the mind - see The Confirmed Clairvoyance of Emanuel Swedenborg. One of the main reasons for the revelation is that most people have absolutely no idea what happens to them after they die, and deny the afterlife. And he wrote volumes concerning what he experienced. He summed up the afterlife in his work Heaven and Hell. Simply put, the world of ideas inside our mind is what becomes our reality when our body dissipates. More accurately, it is our will that survives more so than our intellectual thought, for the will - how we lived - determines who we are. So what does Swedenborg have to say? A lot. Actually more than a lifetime of study. Within our material body there is a more refined spiritual body that causes the material form to live, which is not visible to light:

With regard to the soul, of which it is said that it shall live after death, it is nothing else than the man himself who lives in the body, that is, the interior man who acts through the body in the world, and who causes the body to live. This man when loosed from the body is called a spirit, and appears then altogether in a human form, yet cannot in any wise be seen by the eyes of the body, but by the eyes of the spirit; and before the eyes of the latter appears as a man in the world, having senses, namely, touch, smell, hearing, sight, much more exquisite than in the world; having appetites, lusts, desires, affections, loves, such as in the world, but this in more excellent degree; thinking also as in the world, but more perfectly; conversing with others; in a word, he is there as in the world, insomuch that if he does not reflect upon his being in the other life, he knows no otherwise than that he is in the world — as I have sometimes heard spirits say; for the life after death is a continuation of life in the world. This then is the soul of man which lives after death. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 6054)

The soul is not amorphous, or some aether in the air. It is in its complete human form. Not only that, but a male will be male and a female will be female, and this does not change to eternity:

Since man lives as a man after death, and man is male and female, and the masculine is one and the feminine another, and they are so different that one cannot be changed into the other, it follows that after death the male lives as a male, and the female as a female, each a spiritual man. It is said that the masculine cannot be changed into feminine, nor the feminine into masculine, and that therefore after death the male is a male and the female is a female (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 32).

The sex does not change. If you examine accounts of past lives retrieved through hypnotic regressions, you will find that past lives will interchange between male and female. Why? These memories one is accessing through hypnosis are not exactly "past lives."

THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF THE SOUL

One's memory of what one did in life survives after death - this becomes a "book" that is inscribed on everyone's life, that can be read by anyone that is close in the spiritual world. It is what is read when one first enters the light of the afterlife, to determine where you belong. And memories of different spirits are accessible in the other life through telepathy.

For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. (Mark 4:22)

Hypnosis was not known in the time of Emanuel Swedenborg. And yet he speaks of what would happen should one come into contact with the memory of another spirit:

An angel or spirit is not allowed to speak with a man from his own memory, but from that of the man; for angels and spirits have memory as well as men. If a spirit should speak with a man from his own memory, then the man would not know otherwise than that the things which he then thought were his own, when yet they were the spirit's; it is like the recollection of a thing, which yet the man never heard or saw. That it is so, has been given me to know from experience. From this some of the ancients had the opinion, that after some thousands of years they should return into their former life, and into all its acts, and also that they had returned. They concluded it from this, that sometimes there occurred to them a recollection, as it were, of things which they never saw or heard; and this came to pass because spirits flowed from their own memory into their ideas of thought. (Heaven and Hell, n. 256)

This perfectly explains past life memories retrieved under hypnosis: they are the memories of those who have gone before us. It also explains why in ancient times they held to the belief of reincarnation: when their minds were more spiritually open, they came into touch with these kindred spirits from the spiritual realm, and thought the memories were their own. Each and every individual is associated with angels and spirits which influence how one thinks and acts, and these spirits are so integrated with the personality that they think that one's own memory is their own memory. These spirits are both good and bad:

With every man there are good spirits and evil spirits; by good spirits man has conjunction with heaven, and by evil spirits with hell. These spirits are in the world of spirits, which world is in the midst between heaven and hell, and will be described particularly hereafter. These spirits when they come to a man, enter into all his memory, and thence into all his thought; evil spirits into the things of the memory and thought that are evil, but good spirits into the things of the memory and thought that are good. The spirits do not know at all that they are with man, but when they are with him they believe that all things of his memory and thought are their own (Heaven and Hell, n. 292)

It is for this reason that those who get in touch with spirits through channeling - which are typically lower order spirits - will constantly insist that reincarnation is a fact. This is false - it a fallacy that comes from shared memory between the spirit and the subject:

The spirits who are in company with a man enter into all his memory and into all the knowledges of memory that he possesses. Thus they take upon themselves all things belonging to the man, so completely that they do not know but they are their own. This is a prerogative that spirits have above man. In consequence, all things which the man thinks they think, and all things that the man wills they will. Conversely also, whatever the spirits think the man thinks, and whatever the spirits will the man wills; for they act as one by conjunction. Yet on both sides it is supposed that all these thoughts and feelings are in and from themselves, both on the part of the spirits and on the part of man. But this is a fallacy. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 5843)

And the funny thing is when these spirits were told that reincarnation is not true, that these are shared memories with the subjects they influence, they get extremely upset and angry:

From much experience it has been given me to know that whatever the spirits think and speak from the memory of man, they suppose to be their own and in themselves. If it is told them that it is not so, they are highly indignant — such fallacy of sense reigns with them. To convince them that it is not so, they were asked whence they knew how to speak with me in my mother tongue, when they had known nothing at all of it in the life of the body, and how they knew other languages with which I was acquainted, and they of themselves knew not one — whether they believed these were their own. I read Hebrew in their presence and they understood it, even children, as far as I did and no farther. And all the science that was in my mind, was in theirs. From this they were convinced that when they come to a man, they come into possession of all his knowledge, and that they are in error in believing it to be their own. They have also their own knowledge, but they are not permitted to draw this forth, to the end that they may serve man through his knowledge — as well as for various other reasons, of which above (n. 2476, 2477, 2479) — and because there would be the greatest confusion if spirits should flow in from their own memory (n. 2478). (Heavenly Arcana, n. 5858)

Apparently, under hypnotic regression this barrier between the subject's memory and the memory of spirits is somehow brought down - especially when someone is asked to remember something from the time before they were born. This brings about confusion as to identity. Indeed, one spirit was so integrated with Swedenborg's memory that he thought he was Swedenborg:

Another spirit also supposed himself to be me, insomuch that he believed when he talked with me in my native language that he was speaking from his own, saying that the language was his. But it was shown that the language that belongs to spirits is entirely different, and that it is the universal language of all, and that from it ideas flowed into my native language, and thus they spoke, not from themselves, but in me; and that this is a proof that they not only come into those things which are man's, but also that they suppose them to be their own. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 6199)

So one can begin to understand why Jesus did not answer the question concerning reincarnation. It involves the interaction of the spiritual world with the lower material world. And if he gave answers such as the above, the Jews probably would have stoned him for heresy. When Jesus revealed who He was they thought He was an insane demoniac. Even in the present day, many are not ready to hear about these spiritual matters. But at this time I believe these answers must be given, as there is a proliferation of reincarnation in New Age thought and the church has not addressed it, nor are they ready to address it.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL

It is quite understandable why many believe in reincarnation, especially those who may have become more spiritually advanced and had their minds opened through meditation. The past memories will be of lives similar to your own. But for those that believe in reincarnation, the origin of the soul becomes problematic. In the other world Swedenborg encountered some ancients who could not adequately explain the origin of the soul:

But some of them, not indeed dissenting from the rest, but to throw light on the state of the question, said: "Souls sprang into existence when the ether gathered itself together from that great chaos, and then in the highest region divided itself into innumerable individual forms, which infuse themselves into men while they begin to think from the purer air; and these are then called souls." Hearing this another said, "I grant that the individual forms, formed from the ether in the upper region, were innumerable; but still the men born since the creation of the world have exceeded their number; how then could those ethereal forms suffice? Wherefore I have thought with myself that the souls which go out of the mouth of men when they die return to the same after some thousands of years, and enter into and pass a life similar to the former; that many wise men believe in such things and metempsychosis, is well known." (True Christian Religion, n. 79)

So, when and where does the soul originate? The answer is quite simple, and it is one that is supported by biology: the soul, or one's life, originates at conception of the seed of the father with the ovum of the mother.

...the soul is from the father and the body from the mother; for the soul is in the seed of the father, and it is clothed with a body in the mother; or, what is the same, all the spiritual that man has is from the father, and all the material is from the mother. (True Christian Religion, n. 92)

What a man receives from his father is one thing, and what he receives from his mother is another. From his father a man receives all that is internal, his soul itself or life being out of the father; but he receives from his mother all that is external. In a word, the inner man, or the spirit itself, is from the father; but the outer man, or the body itself, is from the mother; which every one can comprehend merely from this, that the soul is itself implanted from the father, and this begins to clothe itself in a little bodily form in the ovule. Whatever is afterwards added, whether in the ovule or in the womb, is of the mother; for it has no increase from anywhere else. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 1815)

The soul originates from the seed of the father. And this explains why Jesus was born of a virgin - as there was no human seed, but conception was by the Holy Spirit, His soul was Divine, and this is the reason why he calls God His Father:

Every man's internal is from his father, and his external from his mother; or what is the same thing, the soul itself is from the father, and the body with which the soul is clothed is from the mother. The soul and the body together still make a one; for the soul is the body's, and the body is the soul's; they are therefore inseparable. The Lord's internal was from the Father, and thus was the Father Himself. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 2005)

Most Christian churches have fallen into the error in believing that the Father is a separate distinct being from Jesus. The New Church does not make this error, it is this doctrine which distinguishes the New Church from the older Christian churches. What does this mean? Jesus is Jehovah in human form:

The Divine Itself which is the Esse of all things was in the Lord alone, for He was conceived of Jehovah; and every man has from his father the esse of his life, which is called his soul. Hence it is evident that the Divine good of the Divine love was in the Human of the Lord, as the soul of a father in a son. And because with man nothing lives but his soul, for the body without the soul does not live, and because everything of the body is produced from the soul, thus to the image of it, in order that the soul may be in adequate condition and adapted to functions in the ultimates of order, which are in the world, it hence follows that the Esse itself in the Human of the Lord was Jehovah, which is the Divine good of the Divine love. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 10125.2)

Thus the human in which He was born eventually became glorified and one with the Divine, and rose from the dead:

So was it in the Lord as to His Human; yet concerning His Human it cannot be said that it was regenerated, but that it was glorified, for His inmost, which with man is called the soul from the father, was the Divine Itself, as He was conceived of Jehovah. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 10052.2)

Thus the "Son of God" is the human that was born to Mary in time, not from eternity:

Whence is the soul of a son but from the father? and whence is his body, but from the mother? We speak of the Divine of the Father, and mean the Father Himself, since He and His Divine are the same; this also is one and indivisible. That it is so, is evident also from these words of the angel Gabriel to Mary: The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Spirit come upon thee, and the Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God; and just above He is called the Son of the Highest, and elsewhere, the only-begotten Son. (True Christian Religion, n. 112)

Finally, the Christian church invented the doctrine of a "Son of God born from eternity" - this doctrine was introduced into the Nicene Creed in the fourth century, and from that error much of Christianity became a corrupt religion that was not truly monotheistic. Swedenborg compares this doctrine of the Nicene creed to the fable of reincarnation:

That a Son of God born from eternity descended and assumed the Human, may be compared to the fables of the ancients, that human souls were created from the beginning of the world, and enter into bodies and become men; and also to the absurd notions that the soul of one passes into another, as many in the Jewish Church believed — as, that the soul of Elijah passed into the body of John the Baptist (True Christian Religion, n. 171)

PERFECTION OF THE SOUL CONTINUES FOR ETERNITY

Those who have held reincarnation as a central tenet of their belief system may be disappointed to hear that one only lives once, then comes the judgment, and then that is it, the end. But it is not the end, it is the beginning: for the perfection of the soul continues for eternity.

The Lord out of Divine mercy regenerates man, and this is effected from his infancy even to the end of his life in the world and afterward for ever. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9452)

In this life we have barely touched the surface of what we will experience in the higher planes of existence:

...it is an arcanum [hidden secret], man's regeneration in the world is only a plane for the perfecting of his life to eternity. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9334.3)

...one who is being born again passes through the ages of life as when first born; and that the state that precedes is always as an ovum with respect to the following one, and thus that he is continually being conceived and born; and this not only when living in the world, but also to eternity when he comes into the other life; and still he can never be perfected further than to be as an ovum to the states that still remain, which are without number. It is manifest from this how innumerable are the things relative to man's regeneration, when as yet man knows scarce any of them (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4379)

The means by which a soul is perfected is barely known to us, but they are based on the means of perfection in this life, beginning with acknowledgment of one's faults through self examination, and exercising love for others according to their need:

Sins are not remitted by repentance of the mouth, but by repentance of the life. Sins are continually remitted to man by the Lord, for He is mercy itself; but sins adhere to man, albeit he supposes that they are remitted, nor are they removed from him except by a life according to the precepts of faith. So far as he lives according to those precepts, so far his sins are removed, and so far as they are removed, so far they are remitted. For man is withheld by the Lord from evil and is held in good. And he is so far able to be withheld from evil in the other life, as in the life of the body he had resisted evil. And he is so far able to be held in good then, as in the life of the body he had done good from affection. From this it may be evident what the remission of sins is, and whence it is. He who believes that sins are remitted in any other way, is much deceived. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 8393)

Belief is nothing unless you live by it. But how is one perfected to eternity? There are a variety of passages I can draw from Swedenborg, but I found this one interesting - angelic spirts occasionally revert back to their natural state. This is explained in the symbolism of the Jewish law concerning touching dead bodies:

Again: The soul which toucheth any such [uncleanness] shall be unclean until the even, and shall not eat of the holy things; unless he bathe his flesh in water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things (Lev. xxii. 6, 7). And again: Any man that is not clean . . . when evening cometh on, shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp (Deut. xxiii. 10, 11). That this law also has its origin from the laws of good and truth, or the laws of order, which are in the Lord's kingdom, may be evident; otherwise it would never have been commanded that the unclean person should be unclean until the evening, and should then wash himself with water, and after the sun was down should be clean. The law of order in the Lord's kingdom, from which the above law comes, is that good and angelic spirits, when they lapse into a state of self-love, and thereby into a state of falsity, are then remitted a little into their natural or lower state, and are there imbued with knowledges of good and truth as to that thing, which is signified by washing themselves with water in the evening. That washing with water means being purified from falsities, may be seen above (n. 3147, 3148); and that waters are the knowledges of truth (n. 28, 680, 739, 2702, 3058). And after they have been in that obscure state, which is signified by the going down of the sun, they return into their former state, which is signified by their being clean, and entering into the midst of the camp — on which subject, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, something shall be said elsewhere from experience. From what has been said it is now manifest that the going down of the sun, in the Word, signifies an obscure state as to truth with the good, and a state of falsity with the wicked. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 3693.7)

And what happens when an angelic spirit descends to a lower natural state of self desire? That angelic spirit becomes conjoined with the mind of a person on earth who has chosen to live in the same state of being. A spirit can become conjoined with the memory of a living person to the point where they think that memory is one's own. So is the doctrine of reincarnation true or false? It is not true, but it is not exactly false either. To all intents and purposes, we will each have the experience of multiple life times in order to be perfected. And yet as a material life form, we only live once. Going down to a lower natural state is not the only means of perfection. Angelic beings are given tasks as guides for others: at birth, two angelic spirits and two evil spirits are assigned to each person at birth:

Man does not know at all that he is governed of the Lord by means of angels and spirits; and that with every man there are at least two spirits, and two angels. Through spirits communication of man with the world of spirits is effected, and through angels with heaven. Without communication through spirits with the world of spirits, and through angels with heaven, and so through heaven with the Lord, man can by no means live. His life entirely depends on that conjunction. If the spirits and angels should withdraw, he would perish in a moment. While man is unregenerate, he is governed quite otherwise than when regenerated. While unregenerate there are evil spirits with him, who so domineer over him that the angels, though present, are scarcely able to do any thing more than just to guide him so that he may not plunge into the lowest evil, and bend him to some good — in fact to bend him by means of his own desires to good, and through the fallacies of the senses to truth. He then has communication with the world of spirits, through the spirits who are with him, but not so much with heaven, because evil spirits rule, and angels only avert their rule. But when man is regenerated, angels rule, and inspire him with all goods and truths, and with fear and horror of evils and falsities. The angels indeed lead, but only as ministers, for it is the Lord alone who governs man by angels and spirits. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 50)

And the above is similar to ancient Neoplatonic thought, where an angelic genius is assigned to each person at birth. This blog entry is long, but I have barely touched the surface. Obviously broaching this topic of the spiritual afterlife brings up a host of other questions. I had to eliminate a lot of other passages from Swedenborg, there was a lot to choose from. But my intent here was to focus on the spiritual matters behind the idea of reincarnation. Perhaps, by participating in the memories of others, one can find the means to escape from limbo:



Did anyone bother to read the confidential paper that appears at the beginning of the movie Inception?

The heading of the confidential paper says PROCLUS.  Proclus, of course, was one of the last major Neoplatonic philosophers. So what did he have to say about the soul? Here is a summary from wikipedia:

Individual souls have the same overall structure as the principle of Soul, but they are weaker. They have a tendency to be fascinated with the material world, and be overpowered by it. It is at this point that individual souls are united with a material body (i.e. when they are born). Once in the body, our passions have a tendency to overwhelm our reason. According to Proclus, philosophy is the activity which can liberate the soul from a subjection to bodily passions, remind it of its origin in Soul, Intellect, and the One, and prepare it not only to ascend to the higher levels while still in this life, but to avoid falling immediately back into a new body after death.