Saturday, January 31, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thought-provoking essay by former State Dept. language interpreter
You may or may not agree with the author of the following, but you might be impressed with his sincerity and humble dedication in working for good on our planet. As a State Department employee who worked for many years with high government officials, he was once a skeptic who laughed at his "conspiracy theorist" friends. You can read about how that changed for him. His story is a very interesting one, which probably could be read for no other reason than that. Because I believe an educational process is under way on this planet, guiding us toward a deeper understanding of who we are and why we are here, I am betting that many who read about his experience will find an inner resonance with what he is saying:
Introduction: What's Really Going on Here?
As a former language interpreter for presidents and other top government officials, I was present at a number of secret meetings where the only people allowed were the top officials and their interpreters. For most of my 18 years working with the U.S. Department of State, I did not see or hear anything which would support the belief of some of my conspiracy friends that global politics is largely controlled by a small group of evil men behind the scenes who wield inordinate amounts of wealth and power.
I laughed at the level of paranoia I perceived in these friends, as I had been in top secret meetings and never seen anything to support their fearful beliefs.
Then in 2001, a wonderful friend sent me a life-changing video. The powerful, reliable information in this astonishing video shook me to the core, as it revealed a major cover-up of UFOs. Generals, astronauts, and other highly respected individuals sharing their personal experiences in this video could not all be lying. This forced me to completely reformulate my beliefs about how the world works. It started me on a quest to discover what was really going on behind the scenes.
I dove into serious research and came up with an astounding amount of reliable, verifiable information on a number of major cover-ups which I previously would have dismissed as completely crazy. I then compiled the best of this information on the website WantToKnow.info. This website eventually became quite popular and put me in touch with many wonderful, brave researchers who shared reliable information they had gathered on various aspects of these cover-ups.
WantToKnow.info is designed for those who are not already aware of the major cover-ups, so the information provided is limited to that which is highly reliable and generally easy to verify. Because of this, I did not post my own speculation on the website about what is really going on behind all of the cover-ups. Yet based on information I received independently from sources I personally trust, I developed my own theories about the big picture, which I provide here for you.
The information given here is speculative in nature, yet I include many key links for verification. I fully acknowledge that parts of what I've written could be mistaken. Yet I first came to these basic conclusions in 2002, and most new information I've received since has only strengthened my belief in all of this. Remember as you read that the mass media clearly plays a major role in fabricating the current consensus reality and keeping some of the biggest cover-ups out of the public eye.
I present this material not to convince anyone of its truth. I offer it simply to present the conjectures of someone who has devoted many long hours to exploring these issues with a discerning eye, and with a faith that I am being led by forces greater than myself who are aligned with what's best for all of us. Some of this information is far outside of consensus reality, yet there is lots of reliable evidence to support what I've written. As you will read below, despite all of the major manipulations, I am incredibly optimistic about our future. Thanks for your interest and may you be guided to whatever is best for you and for all of us as you explore this intriguing material.
Special Note: This is a speculative essay written by WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks. In no way does it represent the views of anyone else associated with the website.
The Galactic Federation
First, the television program Star Trek is much closer to the truth than anyone might imagine. I'm convinced that there is some form of galactic federation of advanced beings from various planets and star systems throughout our galaxy. The vast majority of these beings are far advanced from us both technologically and spiritually. A million years is a very short time in the evolution of a planet. Some of these extraterrestrial societies are many millions of years more evolved than us. They generally travel between planets not by mechanical propulsion, but by shifting dimensions.
The federation's members all agree to a prime directive similar to that of Star Trek – not to disturb the natural evolutionary process of less evolved planets unless help is specifically requested, or unless it is necessary to avoid major disaster. Developing planets are invited to join the galactic federation only after they have evolved to a place where they have expanded beyond the confines of their own world both technologically and spiritually – meaning no more wars at the very least. Many researchers of these matters, including myself, are quite hopeful that humanity will soon move rapidly in that direction, so that Earth will eventually be considered for membership.
A Brief Speculative History: The Evolution of Humanity
Key researchers of UFO matters speculate that there are a few relatively young ET (extraterrestrial) societies which have developed the technology of interstellar travel, yet spiritually are lagging. They are not part of the galactic federation, nor do they feel obligated to abide by its guidelines. Like the Klingons of Star Trek, these societies at times ignore the prime directive and manipulate the natural evolution of developing planets for their own benefit.
This may be what happened here on Earth. An abundance of revealing evidence suggests that ETs have been visiting Earth from long prior to the dawn of modern man. In fact, some researchers even suspect that one or more human-like, less spiritually evolved ET races may have been involved in the evolution of humans on this planet.
These researchers speculate that at key points in ancient human history, members of these ET races chose select human women for procreation to inject more intelligent, capable genes into humankind, thus upgrading human capabilities. This may have been done for scientific purposes – such as to upgrade the pool of genetic possibilities available to the ETs – or to help correct perceived deficiencies in their own genetic code, or simply to forward evolutionary agendas.
According to this theory, at certain times in ancient human history, these "sons of gods" (in the eyes of early humans) came down to procreate with "the daughters of men," as is mentioned in Genesis 6 in the Bible and other ancient writings. Stories in the texts of various religions make a lot of sense if you consider that what was being described might have been some kind of extraterrestrial contact, for instance, Moses and the burning bush, Muhammad's trip into the heavens described in the Koran, "virgin" births, chariots of fire in the Bible and other ancient sources, and more.
Nuclear Dangers Draw ET Interest
As humanity progressed through the industrial revolution and then developed nuclear capabilities in WWII, many ET societies began to pay more attention to developments in our world. This would account for the large increase in UFO sightings during and after WWII. More advanced ET societies became concerned that we could seriously damage our planet. Many UFO sightings occur around facilities with military and nuclear capabilities. The famous 1947 Roswell incident, where two UFOs may have crashed and been recovered in the New Mexico desert, took place right near where the 509th bomb group was located – the only nuclear-capable jet fleet in the world at that time!
Some of the more advanced ET societies may be sending clear warnings to those in power not to play with nuclear bombs. Three military witnesses in the landmark book Disclosure describe riveting personal experiences with UFOs where nuclear warheads were either disarmed or destroyed. In one case, at least 16 nuclear warheads were disarmed after UFOs were sighted over two U.S. military bases firing pencil-thin red beams into the warheads.
One of the reasons I'm so optimistic about our future is that even though some of the less advanced ET societies may be causing problems here, other societies far advanced of them will not allow us or any other ET societies to badly damage the planet or the human race. In accordance with the prime directive, they will implement the minimum intervention necessary to keep things in balance. The vast majority of people on the planet may not even know that there was intervention. A significant number of caring individuals, including myself, are already sending requests to the more advanced ETs not to allow things to get out of hand, and to help us in whatever way is best.
The Control Group
After the recovery of two downed UFOs at Roswell in 1947, it is speculated that Majestic 12 was formed. A secret task force comprised of top military and government officials, this group advised the president on the UFO situation and was charged with doing everything necessary to keep information on the subject top secret – for reasons of "national security." Actions taken by this group may have led to secret contact with the ETs, and a meeting between Eisenhower and some ETs.
At this meeting, agreements were made whereby one species of ETs was given permission to conduct genetic studies on the planet (cattle mutilations, abductions) in exchange for helping the U.S. to develop and advance its technology. This apparently was one of the lesser-evolved ET societies. Lasers, the integrated circuit, and fiber optics were just a few of the technologies "seeded" by these ETs secretly through military channels to select research groups in large corporations (see the book The Day After Roswell by Colonel Philip J. Corso, who was in charge of seeding this technology).
During Eisenhower's presidency, a major power struggle erupted over UFO technology. Eisenhower lost control of the subject, which is likely one reason why in his farewell speech on leaving the presidency, he gives the following stern warning, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
Through the ever-increasing secrecy around this issue, everything related to UFOs became hidden even to later presidents. A culture of intense secrecy was formed, whereby all involved in these unacknowledged or "black projects" on UFOs and related material were strictly prohibited from discussing any information, except on a "need to know" basis.
A Culture of Strict Control and Secrecy
Something to remember in dealing with secrecy and major cover-ups is that governments are massive bureaucracies and thus very inefficient in general and incapable of carrying out detailed secret plans. However, the military and intelligence branches of government are rigid hierarchies in which everyone knows their position. Superiors who give commands are very rarely questioned. Just the words "Yes, sir" bring up images of a "good soldier" in the military.
The massive Manhattan Project (development of the first atomic bomb) is one example of a huge military project that was successfully kept secret for years. The building of an entire city to support the project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee at the time was successfully kept secret even from the state's governor. It is only through the use of the highly organized military and intelligence services that the world's power elite, working together with key allies in government and the media, are able to carry out major cover-ups and secret operations like those involved with UFOs and ETs.
A person must have special clearance to even get close to the group involved with UFOs and advanced technologies. Once a person reaches a certain level within this secret community and has been screened and cleared, if they agree to go deeper and thus be exposed to sensitive parts of the cover-up, they must agree to give up quite a bit of their freedom. Microchips are implanted in their bone to track their whereabouts. They are frequently monitored and strictly forbidden from sharing any secret information with anyone, under threat of severe penalties, including death if necessary.
Everything that those with this special clearance publish or write – even their emails – is screened for content. They have become a part of what is almost like a secret brotherhood or secret society. And there is no turning back once you're in. You do what you are told by your superiors – no questions asked. Only a very few of these people have ever managed to escape and get information out. The large majority of them likely enjoy the power of their positions, and thus are willing to put up with the restrictions on their liberty in exchange for money, power, and knowledge.
Even among this secret group, which likely involves many thousands of people, very few have any idea of the full scope and scale of all that is going on. Some don't even know that their work is based in UFO technologies. Complex layers of secrecy (compartmentalization) and the passing of sensitive information on a "need to know" basis ensure that only a few at the top of the command structure know the big picture. Highly sophisticated disinformation programs also lead even insiders into false beliefs about the cover-up. It is unlikely than any one person knows all of what is going on, as like in any large society, there is infighting for control and power all the way to the very top.
Dr. Steven M. Greer, an MD and former head of a hospital ER, is the head of the Disclosure Project, which has collected riveting testimony from over 400 government and military witnesses on the UFO cover-up. Dr. Greer has met a few of the top echelon within the secret group. He estimates that as many as 40% of the top leaders in this secret structure now feel that everything has gone too far, and that it's time for a large-scale disclosure. Major shifts and changes are happening in this structure as people all over are gradually awakening to the fact that we are all interconnected at the deepest levels.
Disempowering ETs
From my extensive research of this topic, I've come to believe that like humans, ETs have their strengths and weaknesses. It appears that while many, if not most ETs are either benevolent or neutral, others are more interested in control and dominance. Some of these may work with key individuals both inside and outside of the secret group which manages the cover-up. I suspect they interact with a select group of powerful men we might call "the controllers." These are the ones at the top of the pyramid in the "brotherhood" mentioned above. These human controllers now have unprecedented control over the press, corporations, drug trade, stock market, oil and energy production, and lots more. They facilitated the 9/11 attacks in order to promote fear and war.
Empowering ETs and Humans
Other ETs, along with groups of humans and many individuals like myself, are focused on uncovering the intentions of the controllers at the same time as we lay the foundations for planetary transformation. We are working to help humanity wake up both to all that is going on and to the infinite potential within each of us, so that humankind might eventually join the galactic community.
We are focused, each in our own way, on spreading love and empowerment with no desire to work against anyone. We know that the controllers don't fully understand what they are doing, as their personalities and beliefs have been twisted by their own upbringing and many other factors. We are actively working to stop the destructive behavior of these controllers, yet even as we do this, we recognize that all beings are in their essence divine and fully worthy of love and empowerment. Both advanced ETs and humans working with them have no doubt that in the end, love always prevails.
Other Beings
Aside from these ETs, there are a large variety of beings or spirits who do not have physical bodies. The vast majority of these beings are far advanced of us spiritually, though like the ETs, among them are some less evolved spirits who don't yet understand the transformative power of love. By asking for guidance from the spirits (call them angels if you like) who spread love and empowerment, we can deeply enrich our personal lives and help to shift the planet into a new paradigm.
We tend to attract to us whatever we hold deepest and strongest inside ourselves. Let us work to become more aware of both our conscious and unconscious beliefs as we develop clear intentions and seek guidance in this. There are many sources of guidance and inspiration if we only choose to open to them. By first committing ourselves to a path of love, healing, and empowerment, and then doing our best to fully live that path, and by inviting guidance from empowering ETs and other beings and forces more aware than ourselves, we can and will transform our lives and world.
Global Control
The controllers are working hard to consolidate the global economy under the multinational banks and corporations which they own and control. They know that cheap new energy sources would allow people to become independent of the power grid that they now control. It would also destroy the oil economy which in so many ways dominates the world and keeps those in power rich. So they will take whatever measures necessary, including killing people, to keep new energy sources from becoming available. They often use "national security" as the excuse to forward their plans. Patents for new energy devices and inventions are known to have been seized for national security reasons.
These controllers now have incredible influence over the mass media, and thus public perception. Just 10 years ago, 50 corporations jointly controlled most of the mass media. Today it is dominated by less than ten enormous transnational conglomerates. The controllers also have their hands in the international drug trade (largely through the CIA), and can have great influence on the stock market through the huge amounts of cash they control as a result of the cash-only drug trade.
One of the reasons these people wanted 9/11 was that the Taliban began to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan in mid 2000, thus decimating the cash income through drugs of the controllers. In 2000, Afghanistan provided over 70% of the world's heroin. By 2001, it had dropped to almost nothing. Yet by the end of 2002, under an American installed puppet (a former Unocal contractor), the opium trade had surpassed the levels of 2000! If you don't believe it, follow the links. 9/11 provided a convenient pretext to invade Afghanistan and revive the profitable opium industry.
Control Methods
The controllers realize that there are several powerful methods to control people: (1) create as much fear as possible while encouraging people to feel like victims, (2) convince citizens of the need for ever more secrecy, (3) keep the public polarized and (4) distract people from their deeper purpose in life through promoting consumerism, empty sex, drugs, the money chase, and more. 9/11 and the war on terrorism are part of an extended plan to promote these methods so that the controllers can eventually gain unbridled control of the politics and economics of the whole planet.
Transcending Control
Ultimately, it is the collective fear, secrecy, polarization, and loss of purpose within all of us that has allowed leaders to take power who would subvert democracy, and who would take away our freedoms and liberties. By each one of us making a commitment to work on these issues both inside of ourselves and out in the world – and to inspire others to do the same – we can and will change our collective direction and build a solid foundation for a brighter future.
The simple way to counteract the methods of the controllers is to do our best to (1) transform fear into love, (2) promote transparency, (3) recognize and overcome polarization, and (4) continually develop and refine our deepest intentions for life and then live these intentions. We can also empower ourselves by noticing when we feel like victims, and choosing instead to take responsibility for how we interpret our lives. Coming together to do this in groups provides support and magnifies all these efforts. The more people who join in these efforts, the less control the elite group has over our world. And it's already happening! We are rapidly developing a new paradigm on this planet!!!
When we learn about things that appear to be "bad" or "wrong," it's easy to place the responsibility outside of ourselves. It's very easy to blame others, like the controllers, for everything that's wrong with our world. Yet ultimately, we all are co-creators here. We all play a role in everything that goes on. When we commit to look inside of ourselves for the reason things aren't working the way we would like, we can make a big difference.
By working to transform fear and hatred inside of ourselves, we can play a significant role in creating more love and empowerment not only in our own lives, but also in the world around us. I am totally committed to do my very best to love, heal, and empower myself and all beings on this planet and beyond. I invite you to join me in this in whatever way feels right to you.
The Internet – A Powerful Source of Information
So I suspect there has been ET intervention throughout the history of humankind, with greatly increased contact over the last 50 years. For decades, there have been huge cover-ups around energy, wars, drugs, and news coverage of these. All this information has been strictly suppressed through a variety of means and for a variety of reasons. With the advent of the Internet, however, the flow of information on all the cover-ups has become much more difficult to control.
The controllers are very aware of the power of the Internet. They have a very well developed disinformation campaign working through a great variety of websites and other sources to lead researchers astray. That is why WantToKnow.info has been very careful to focus on information that can be verified and that comes from trustworthy sources. If people are careful to verify and substantiate what they find on the Internet, they can now research and discover for themselves what is really going on in the world. This is another reason I'm very optimistic about the future.
Does Anybody Want to Know?
From all this, it is clear that my entire view of the world shifted radically beginning in 2001. Before that, I was deeply convinced that there were no really huge cover-ups. Once I learned what was going on, however, I was eager to share this information with my friends. Yet to my great surprise, most of my friends didn't want to hear about it. As almost everything I had learned was based on solid, verifiable evidence, I had assumed that others would be both concerned and fascinated. I was very wrong. I found that few even of my close friends really wanted to know anything that would disturb their comfortable view of reality.
I've now become very clear that most people are not willing to let their established concepts of the world go so easily. It can feel threatening to most people to learn that they have been massively deceived. I've learned that I'm more flexible than most in changing even deeply held beliefs when presented with evidence which clearly shows these beliefs to be mistaken. I now encourage people to explore how to develop a more open mind and more fluid intelligence if they want to play a significant role in the transformation of our planet.
I have also found that very few people are deeply committed to what's best for all of us. Few are really interested even in consciously moving in that direction. On meeting new friends, I now generally expect most people not to be interested in all this, though I almost always put out feelers, just in case. I have no desire to push anyone into believing anything. Yet I do love talking about both the cover-ups and the transformation movements sweeping our planet with the few who are really open, and especially with the even fewer who already knew about some of this before I did.
New Friends
Thankfully, the deeper I open to all of this, the more I meet people from around the world who do share my commitment and my desire to know what's really happening, no matter how ugly it may be. It's great to now be in contact with courageous, pioneering people not only from across the U.S., but also from Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and many other countries. Yet no matter how little or how much friends support me, I'm just excited to have gained all of this knowledge. I truly want to know what's happening in the world, so that I can be more effective in promoting transformation.
I'm aware now that some of the controllers would like to steer us into World War III. And I'm really OK with that. Even if in a worst-case scenario we end up completely destroying the planet, I know that this would simply mean that all of our souls would migrate somewhere else to try again to learn that love is the way back into wholeness. Now I highly doubt that we will destroy the Earth. I'm actually incredibly optimistic, yet I'm also prepared for anything. Based on my belief in the divine interconnectedness of all beings, I fully trust that what's best for all is what happens always.
No Fear. It's Why I'm Here!
It's remarkable how I've hardly felt scared by even the most twisted activities I've learned about. The reason is that for the first time in my life, it's very clear to me why I ended up living on this planet now. I'm here because this is a unique time when many souls on the planet are awakening from their slumber and being presented with a choice. We have the choice, upon being exposed to all this, to go back to sleep and be led into disempowering realms, or to wake up and join in creating a beautiful new paradigm based in love and cooperation. I am very clear that I am here with many others to invite all people on this planet to choose a new paradigm now and to help create it together.
I am totally jazzed and passionate about playing my role in transforming this planet into a place of love, healing, and empowerment for all! Yea!!! In the years since learning about all the cover-ups, I have become incredibly clear that I was called here not just to invite people to awaken, but also to help spread love and empowerment to all who are open to it. What a joyful mission to have, no matter what might happen in the future!
I am very excited about inviting all I meet to work towards transforming fear into love, towards moving from victim consciousness to becoming powerful creators in our lives, towards developing and refining our purpose and intentions in life, and towards truly seeing all beings as divine. What an exciting mission to have! And I get to work with many wonderful, courageous souls who are passionate about this work, too! How awesome is that!!!
Shifting Focus to the New Paradigm
Having researched major cover-ups almost full time for over 10 years now, I feel I have the big picture pretty well down. I see the plan of the controllers, yet I also surrender to the greater divine plan of All That Is. The knowledge I've gained has helped me to awaken to who I am and what I'm doing here. I'm now ready and very excited to spend much less time on researching the cover-ups, and focus my energies much more on creating a new paradigm of love, healing, and empowerment for all. I'm thrilled about all the transformation happening in my own life and in the world around me!
If you feel that you are called to be a part of this planetary change, we have developed an empowering website specifically for you, which you can find by clicking here. As we join together in building bridges to a new paradigm for our world, we are paving the way for our planet to join the galactic federation, and for humanity to join the galactic family which patiently and lovingly awaits us. It's an exciting time to be alive and a privilege to be committed fully in service to all of us. Thank you to all of you for wanting to know and for working together to build a brighter future for us all!
Special Note: This is a speculative essay written by WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks. In no way does it represent the views of anyone else associated with the website.
For an inspiring essay by Fred Burks on his journey down the rabbit hole, click here
For several other excellent summaries of the big picture of life on our planet, click here
For my personal favorite spiritual writings on the deeper reasons behind it all, click here
For an 90-minute talk I gave on global transformation and the meaning of life, click here
For what I feel are the most inspirational and transformative materials available, click here
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
CAN THE MIDDLE CLASS BE SAVED???
THE MIDDLE CLASS CAN'T BE SAVED UNLESS WALL STREET IS TAMED
By Robert Reich
Presidential aspirants in both parties are talking about saving the middle class. But the middle class can't be saved unless Wall Street is tamed.
The Street's excesses pose a continuing danger to average Americans. And its ongoing use of confidential corporate information is defrauding millions of middle-class investors. Yet most presidential aspirants don't want to talk about taming the Street because Wall Street is one of their largest sources of campaign money. Do we really need reminding about what happened six years ago? The financial collapse crippled the middle class and poor — consuming the savings of millions of average Americans, and causing 23 million to lose their jobs, 9.3 million to lose their health insurance, and some 1 million to lose their homes.
A repeat performance is not unlikely. Wall Street's biggest banks are much larger now than they were then. Five of them hold about 45 percent of America's banking assets. In 2000, they held 25 percent. And money is cheaper than ever. The Fed continues to hold the prime interest rate near zero. This has fueled the Street's eagerness to borrow money at rock-bottom rates and use it to make risky bets that will pay off big if they succeed, but will cause big problems if they go bad.
We learned last week that Goldman Sachs has been on a shopping binge, buying cheap real estate stretching from Utah to Spain, and a variety of companies. If not technically a violation of the new Dodd-Frank banking law, Goldman's binge surely violates its spirit.
Meanwhile, the Street's lobbyists have gotten Congress to repeal a provision of Dodd-Frank curbing excessive speculation by the big banks. The language was drafted by Citigroup and personally pushed by Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Not incidentally, Dimon recently complained of being "under assault" by bank regulators. Last year JPMorgan's board voted to boost Dimon's pay to $20 million, despite the bank paying out more than $20 billion to settle various legal problems going back to financial crisis.
The American middle class needs stronger bank regulations, not weaker ones. Last summer, bank regulators told the big banks their plans for orderly bankruptcies were "unrealistic." In other words, if the banks collapsed, they'd bring the economy down with them.
Dodd-Frank doesn't even cover bank bets on foreign exchanges. Yet recent turbulence in the foreign exchange market has caused huge losses at hedge funds and brokerages. This comes on top of revelations of widespread manipulation by the big banks of the foreign-exchange market.
Wall Street is also awash in inside information unavailable to average investors. Just weeks ago a three- judge panel of the U.S. court of appeals that oversees Wall Street reversed an insider-trading conviction, saying guilt requires proof a trader knows the tip was leaked in exchange for some "personal benefit" that's "of some consequence." Meaning that if a CEO tells his Wall Street golfing buddy about a pending merger, the buddy and his friends can make a bundle — to the detriment of small, typically middle-class, investors. That three-judge panel was composed entirely of appointees of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
But both parties have been drinking at the Wall Street trough. In the 2008 presidential campaign, the financial sector ranked fourth among all industry groups giving to then candidate Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. In fact, Obama reaped far more in contributions from the Street than did his Republican opponent Wall Street also supplies both administrations with key economic officials. The treasury secretaries under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson, respectfully, had both chaired Goldman Sachs before coming to Washington. And before becoming Obama's treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner had been handpicked by Rubin to become president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (Geithner is now back on the Street as president of the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus.)
It's nice that presidential aspirants are talking about rebuilding America's middle class. But to be credible, he (or she) has to take clear aim at the Street. That means proposing to limit the size of the biggest Wall Street banks; resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act (which used to separate investment from commercial banking); define insider trading the way most other countries do – using information any reasonable person would know is unavailable to most investors; and close the revolving door between the Street and the U.S. Treasury.
It also means not depending on the Street to finance their campaigns.
Monday, January 26, 2015
A video to blow your mind: The Andromeda Galaxy as never before seen
One of the more difficult ideas to grasp in astronomy is the sheer scale of the cosmos.
NASA Has Now Released The Largest Picture Ever Taken -- Gigapixels of the Andromeda Galaxy
This YouTube video zooms in on a specific section of the galaxy and is detailed enough that the telescope can resolve individual stars. The image takes you through over 100 million stars and travels more than 40,000 light years. This is the largest, most detailed image of space ever. Simply breathtaking! It's likely to make you feel like you are only a very, very small part of a universe that we can only begin to understand the true size of as each day passes. Viewed cosmically, we are less than specks in the grand scheme of things.
And yet...as quantum physics is now discovering, the entire universe and all that appears are contained within our consciousness. Physicists such as University of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believe the newest quantum science findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram. It is more in the nature of a dream, just like last night's dream, created by our consciousness. Wow! Take just a minute to let that sink in... And think about last night's dream and how real and solid it seemed--until you woke up. Where did that world go when you awoke? Where were all the people and places that seemed so real? Where did all that exist?
As wise sages have told us through the centuries, the greatest journey you will ever take is within yourself--to discover who you really are. The vastness of the universe is unfathomable by the mind. And the vastness of our own being is what the universe is pointing us to. What a marvelous adventure this life is!!!! (~.~)
Sarah Palin's latest speech
Some (Tea Partiers) may have a different reaction, like most of her audience there, who cheered her nonsensical ramblings. But thinking Republicans, worried about finding a candidate who can win in 2016, were very disappointed with the pettiness and disconnectedness of her speech. Suffice to say, she will not be considered as a candidate -- or even as a speech-maker for a 2016 candidate, except in places where coherent substance is not appreciated or required--and where style is thought to be perfect when meaningless, haphazard mental wanderings are shrilly shouted out in "down-home, folksy" words that drop their endings.
In case you want to hear what we could have gotten stuck with as our vice president or (horrors) president, you can see/hear her speech at: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-26/video-reliving-sarah-palin-s-painful-petty-incoherent-speech
But you might want to spare yourself 35 minutes of pain.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Press Release - Air Force UFO files land on Internet - CNN - USA Today
Subject: Press Release - Air Force UFO files land on Internet - CNN - USA Today
Air Force UFO files land on Internet
CNN and USA Today first to cover the US Air Force release of UFO files
BREAKING NEWSPress Release
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTIONJan 22.2015
Toronto [ZNN] It had to happen sooner or later. The UK has done it. Canada did it. France did it. So has Belgium.
Now - the American media is a-buzz about the declassification and release of nearly 130,000 pages of UFO files by the US Air Force onto the internet - files that were once sequestered and deemed either not existent or inaccessible by the public.
This amounts to 37 cubic feet of data - excluding 94 rolls of 35mm of UFO microfilm.
What could have motivated the US Air Force to display its most secret files?
READ THE ENTIRE PRESS RELEASE AT:
Friday, January 23, 2015
Washington Post article re. chemtrails
Following is the Washington Post article which, of course, contains all kinds of sneering comments against "conspiracy theorists" but which also contains a few important sentences that give credence to the concerns of all of us "conspiracy theorists" who see chemtrails in our skies almost daily and have been seeing them for the past decade and longer -- and who actually care about what is being put into our atmosphere for all to breathe.
Please read the Readers' Comments at the end of the article -- virtually ALL of them show that "We, the People" know our atmosphere is being sprayed with barium and strontium particles and that we are breathing in those particles -- and most are very concerned about it!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/22/how-a-group-of-conspiracy-theorists-could-derail-the-debate-over-climate-policy/
EXCERPT from the article:
SRM researcher David Keith of Harvard University argues that we can't simply dismiss the concerns that drive this emotionally charged movement. "The strength of the concern about chemtrails no doubt reflects very real and much more widespread concerns about high-leverage [technologies] in general, and about solar geoengineering in particular," he explained in an email.
Environmental concerns could naturally become central to any mainstream debate over whether to actually use aerosols to undertake SRM. Some scientists have suggested that putting additional aerosols in the air could increase deadly air pollution or damage the ozone layer. It also wouldn't address emissions of the most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. Thus, not only would it do nothing to slow down CO2-driven ocean acidification; it also would mean that if you were ever to stop injecting aerosols into the air, global warming would resume — and quickly.
What Happens When We Die? Major Media Articles Raise Questions on Past Lives, NDEs
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE: MAJOR MEDIA REPORTS ON THIS ALL-IMPORTANT SUBJECT
"He essentially gave us three items of information over about a three month period. One, he gave us the name of the ship, which I verified through research on the Internet. "Natoma Bay." He gave us a name Natoma. About a month later, he gave us [the] name of a guy he said he flew with. When we asked him if there was anyone else in his ... dream that he could remember. Jack -- Jack Larson."
-- CNN article on a young boy's past life memory as a WWII fighter pilot
Dear friends,
Humans have been intrigued by death and the possibility of past lives for millennia. In India belief in past lives is a given for most of the over one billion people who live there. Yet is there evidence to support this? The below articles, including news articles over the years on fascinating near-death experiences, raise profound questions about what happens when we die. Enjoy this exploration and follow the links for lots more.
With very best wishes for a transformed world,
Fred Burks for PEERS and WantToKnow.info
Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news articles on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.
Child Psychiatrist Says Past-Life Memories Not So Uncommon in Kids
2006-07-25, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2232830
From the ages of 2 to 6, James Leininger seemed to recall in striking detail a "past life" he had as a World War II Navy pilot who was shot down and killed over the Pacific. The boy knew details about airplanes and about pilot James Huston Jr. that he couldn't have known. James' parents say he also had terrible nightmares about a plane crashing and a "little man" unable to get out. James, now 8, stills loves airplanes, but he is free of those haunting images of the pilot's death. Jim Tucker, a child psychiatrist and medical director of the Child and Family Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Virginia, is one of the few researchers to extensively study the phenomenon of children who seem to have memories of past lives. He says James' case is very much like others he has studied. "At the University of Virginia, we've studied over 2,500 cases of children who seem to talk about previous lives when they're little," Tucker said. "They start at 2 or 3, and by the time they're 6 or 7 they forget all about it and go on to live the rest of their lives." Tucker -- the author of Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives -- has seen cases like James' where children make statements that can be verified and seem to match with a particular person. "It means that this is a phenomenon that really needs to be explored," Tucker said. "James is one of many, many kids who have said things like this." While about three-fourths of Americans say they believe in paranormal activity, 20 percent believe in reincarnation, according to a 2005 Gallup poll.
Note: To watch the engaging ABC News video clip of this incredible story, click here. For an even better Fox News clip, click here. For an excellent survey of powerful evidence of past lives and more, click here.
Kenneth Ring: 'You Never Recover Your Original Self'
1988-08-28, New York Times
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1DB1E38F93BA1575BC0A96E94...
Probably the oldest mystery to vex mankind is what, if anything, occurs after death. For a decade, Kenneth Ring, a psychology professor and researcher at the University of Connecticut, has looked into the question through the near-death experiences of others. Mr. Ring ... talked with hundreds of people between the ages of 18 and 84 who have come close to physical death. [His books] Life at Death [and] Heading Toward Omega both deal with near-death experiences and how they change people's lives. A near-death experience ... often happens to individuals who find themselves on the verge of imminent biological death. It involves ... a sense of the most profound peace and well-being that is possible to imagine. It's a sense of being separate from the physical body and sometimes being able to see it as though a spectator off to one side or from up above. These people have a sense of moving through a dark space or tunnel toward a radiantly beautiful white or golden light. They are absorbed in that light, having in some cases a panoramic life review in which virtually everything that they've ever done in their life they're able to see; perhaps meeting the spirits of deceased love ones or friends. And in some cases, they are asked to make a decision as to whether they would like to continue or go back to their body. The most powerful antidote to the fear of death is coming close to death ... and remembering one of these experiences. After having a near-death experience, people believe the end of life isn't [the end]; they believe in some sort of life after death. [Those] who have a near-death experience almost totally lose their fear of death.
Note: The documented experiences of those who have been declared clinically dead and come back to life are some of the most mind-boggling and inspiring cases to have ever surfaced. To read some of the most amazing of these cases and explore other excellent resources on the topic, click here.
Heaven Is Real: A Doctor's Experience With the Afterlife
2012-10-08, Daily Beast/Newsweek
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/07/proof-of-heaven-a-doctor-s-e...
As a neurosurgeon, I did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences. In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death. I had somehow contracted a very rare bacterial meningitis that mostly attacks newborns. E. coli bacteria had penetrated my cerebrospinal fluid and were eating my brain. For seven days I lay in a deep coma, my body unresponsive, my higher-order brain functions totally offline. While the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them, my brain-free consciousness journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe: the same one described by countless subjects of near-death experiences and other mystical states. What I saw and learned there has placed me quite literally in a new world: a world where we are much more than our brains and bodies, and where death is not the end of consciousness but rather a chapter in a vast, and incalculably positive, journey. For most of my journey, someone else was with me. A woman. Without using any words, she spoke to me. The message went through me like a wind, and I instantly understood that it was true. I knew so in the same way that I knew that the world around us was real—was not some fantasy, passing and insubstantial. "You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever." "You have nothing to fear." "There is nothing you can do wrong."
Note: The author of this stirring account, Dr. Eben Alexander, was a neurosurgeon for 25 years. His engaging book on this life-changing experience is Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. For video interviews and other information on Dr. Alexander, click here. For other highly inspiring resources and stories related to near-death experiences, click here.
Ask the Experts: What Is a Near-Death Experience?
2011-08-03, ABC News Nightline
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/beyondbelief/experts-death-experience/story?i...
What does a NDE look and feel like? There are thousands upon thousands of descriptions, all of which show striking similarities between different people's experiences -- the white light, a tunnel, a life review and sense of peace -- so there does seem to exist a unifying thread throughout. Caroline Myss, a best-selling author and a speaker on spirituality and health, focuses on the first explanation. "A near-death experience is a phenomenon in which a person's physical body ceases to have any signs of life, and the soul detaches from the body and begins what could be called the journey into the afterlife. ... A long tunnel of light begins to appear. ... What's so phenomenal is that the descriptions [people] give, no matter what culture, no matter what background, match the ancient descriptions ... from various cultures. So if these experiences were in fact made up or hallucinatory, somebody did a very good job of getting that information out to multiple cultures at the same time." Dr. Jeffrey Long runs the Near Death Experience Research Foundation. He defines the physical conditions of someone having a NDE as "unconscious ... or actually clinically dead, with absent heartbeat and no spontaneous respiration. ... And yet when they shouldn't have any conscious remembering at this time, they do. ... While no two NDEs are the same, if you study large numbers of NDEs you see that very consistent pattern of elements."
Note: Watch a profound BBC documentary on near-death experiences which raises many questions.
Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims
2010-10-25, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304248704575574193494074922.html
At least 15 million American adults say they have had a near-death experience, according to a 1997 survey -— and the number is thought to be rising with increasingly sophisticated resuscitation techniques. In addition to floating above their bodies, people often describe moving down a dark tunnel toward a bright light, feeling intense peace and joy, reviewing life events and seeing long-deceased relatives—only to be told that it's not time yet and land abruptly back in an ailing body. "There are always skeptics, but there are millions of 'experiencers' who know what happened to them, and they don't care what anybody else says," says Diane Corcoran, president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, a nonprofit group in Durham, N.C. The organization publishes the Journal of Near-Death Studies and maintains support groups in 47 states. In his new book, Evidence of the Afterlife, Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist in Louisiana, analyzes 613 cases reported on the website of his Near Death Research Foundation and concludes there is only one plausible explanation: "that people have survived death and traveled to another [mode of existence]." "The self, the soul, the psyche—throughout history, we've never managed to figure out what it is and how it relates to the body," [said Sam Parnia, a critical-care physician]. "This is a very important for science and fascinating for humankind."
Note: For two of the most amazing near-death experiences ever told, click here and here.
The boy who lived before
2006-09-08, The Sun (highest circulation English language daily)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001290023-2006410683,,00.html
Cameron Macaulay was a typical six-year-old, always talking about his mum and family. He liked to draw pictures of his home too — a long single-storey, white house standing in a bay. But it sent shivers down his mum's spine — because Cameron said it was somewhere they had never been, 160 miles away from where they lived. And he said the mother he was talking about was his "old mum." Convinced he had lived a previous life Cameron worried his former family would be missing him. [He] said they were on the Isle Of Barra. Mum Norma, 42, said: "Ever since Cameron could speak he's come up with tales of a childhood on Barra. He spoke about his former parents, how his dad died, and his brothers and sisters. Eventually we just had to take him there to see what we could find. It was an astonishing experience. Cameron wouldn't stop begging me to take him to Barra. It was constant. When we got to the island and DID land on a beach, just as Cameron had described, he turned to ... me and said, 'Now do you believe me?' He got off the plane, threw his arms in the air and yelled 'I'm back.'" The Macaulays booked into a hotel and began their search for clues to Cameron's past. Norma said: "We contacted the Heritage Centre and asked if they'd heard of a Robertson family who lived in a white house overlooking a bay." Next the family received a call from their hotel to confirm that a family called Robertson once had a white house on the bay. Norma explains: "We didn't tell Cameron anything. We just drove towards where we were told the house was and waited to see what would happen. He recognised it immediately and was overjoyed. But as we walked to the door all the colour drained from Cameron's face and he became very quiet."
Note: If the above link fails, see this webpage. A powerful documentary on Cameron's story was broadcast on the U.K.'s Channel Five and can be viewed by clicking here.
Was a World War II pilot reincarnated in a body of a little boy?
2009-12-22, CNN Larry King Live
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0912/22/lkl.01.html
[Guest Host Jeff Probst]: Was a World War II fighter pilot reincarnated in a little boy's body? Bruce [and Andrea] Leininger say yes. They are authors of Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot. Their book describes how their son James had memories of a WWII pilot who was killed in battle more than 60 years ago. James is now 11 years old. Andrea, when did you first realize that ... James was having ideas or stories that he wanted to share about this? Andrea Leininger: [It] started about two weeks after James' second birthday. He had a -- a night terror, which he had never had before. And this first nightmare began a series of nightmares that started occurring every other night, every night. And after several months of this, he was having a nightmare and ... I was able to finally determine what he was saying. And he was saying, "airplane crash on fire, little man can't get out." Probst: Bruce, even at three, he was -- James was drawing pictures of an airplane crashing. Bruce Leininger: By the time he started drawing those pictures, he'd been talking about this ... for several months. And he essentially gave us three items of information over about a three month period. One, he gave us the name of the ship, which I verified through research on the Internet. "Natoma Bay." He gave us a name Natoma. About a month later, he gave us [the] name of a guy he said he flew with. When we asked him if there was anyone else in his ... dream that he could remember. Jack -- Jack Larson.
Note: Jack Larson was confirmed to be a member of the crew of the Natoma Bay, who when contacted, remembered the incident of the crash described by this boy. For an excellent, intriguing four-minute Fox News clip on this fascinating case, click here.
Tales of the Dead Come Back: How Modern Medicine Is Reinventing Death
2014-09-03, National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140903-near-death-experiences...
They can fly through walls or circle the planets, turn into pure light or meet long-dead relatives. Many have blissful experiences of universal love. Most do not want to return to the living. When they do, they're often endowed with special powers: They can predict the future or intuit people's thoughts. These are the testimonies of people who have had near death experiences (NDEs) and returned from the other side to tell the tale. Journalist Judy Bachrach decided to listen to their stories. [National Geographic:] Your book, Glimpsing Heaven: The Stories and Science of Life After Death, [describes] one scientist [who] suggests that NDEs may simply result from the brain shutting down, ... that, for instance, the brilliant light often perceived at the end of a tunnel is caused by loss of blood or hypoxia, lack of oxygen. How do you counter these arguments? [Bachrach:] The problem with the lack of oxygen explanation is that when there is a lack of oxygen, our recollections are fuzzy and sometimes non-existent. The less oxygen you have, the less you remember. But the people who have died, and recall their death travels, describe things in a very clear, concise, and structured way. Lack of oxygen would mean you barely remember anything. [NG:] You suggest there is a difference between brain function and consciousness. Can you talk about that idea? [Bachrach:] The brain is possibly ... not the only area of consciousness. Even when the brain is shut down, on certain occasions consciousness endures. One of the doctors I interviewed, a cardiologist in Holland, believes that consciousness may go on forever. So the postulate among some scientists is that the brain is not the only locus of thought.
Note: Watch a profound BBC documentary on near-death experiences. Explore a treasure trove of concise summaries of incredibly inspiring news articles which will inspire you to make a difference.
Stories of life, death and faith: 'To Heaven and Back' - Anita Moorjani
2013-11-29, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/us/to-heaven-and-back
On February 2, 2006, Anita Moorjani was in a coma. With her body riddled with cancer, doctors told her husband that her organs were shutting down and she likely would not make it beyond the next 36 hours. "I was just so tired of fighting to try to stay alive," she said. So she said she let go. The next morning, she didn't wake up. Her husband rushed her to the hospital, where the family was told the bad news: Moorjani was in a coma and not expected to wake again. Moorjani can't put her finger on the exact minute that she says she left her body. She saw her husband standing next to her hospital bed. Moorjani could also hear conversations that took place between her husband and her doctors, far from her hospital room. She heard them, she said, discuss her pending death. "Your wife's heart might be beating, but she's not really in there," a doctor told her husband -- a conversation, she said, he would later confirm to her after she asked. Hovering between life and death, she said she was surrounded by people who loved her. Her [deceased] best friend, Soni, was there. So was her father, who had died years earlier from heart failure. There were others there, too. She knew they loved her and cared for her. It was a feeling unlike anything she says she had ever felt. "At first, I did not want to come back. Why would I want to come back into this sick body?" she said. About 30 hours after being hospitalized, Moorjani awoke. Within days, she said, her organs began to function again. Within weeks, doctors could find no evidence of cancer in her body, she said.
Note: For more on Anita's incredible journey through death, click here.
Doctor claims he has evidence of the afterlife
2010-01-20, MSNBC
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34953759/ns/today-today_people?gt1=43001/from
A clinical psychologist, [Mary Jo] Rapini had long worked with terminal cancer patients. When they told her of their near-death experiences, she would often chalk their stories up as a reaction to their pain medication. But in April 2003, she faced her own mortality. She suffered an aneurysm while working out [in] a gym and was rushed to the hospital. She was in an intensive care unit for three days when she took a turn for the worse. "All of a sudden [doctors] were rushing around me and inserting things into me, and they called my husband," she [said]. "I looked up and I saw this light; it wasn't a normal light, it was different. It was luminescent. And it grew. I kept looking at it like, 'What is that?' Then it grew large and I went into it. I went into this tunnel, and I came into this room that was just beautiful. God held me, he called me by name, and he told me, 'Mary Jo, you can't stay.' And he said, 'Let me ask you one thing — have you ever loved another the way you've been loved here?' And I said, 'No, it's impossible. I'm a human.' And then he just held me and said, 'You can do better.' " While Rapini's account may seem far-fetched, [Dr. Jeffrey] Long [in his book Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences] says her recollections mirror nearly all stories of near-death experiences.
Note: For a powerfully inspiring online lesson focused on near-death experiences, click here. For intriguing investigations into the nature of reality from reliable sources, click here.
First hint of 'life after death' in biggest ever scientific study
2014-10-07, The Telegraph (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11144442/First-hint-of-life-a...
The largest ever medical study into near-death and out-of-body experiences has discovered that some awareness may continue even after the brain has shut down completely. Scientists at the University of Southampton have spent four years examining more than 2,000 people who suffered cardiac arrests at 15 hospitals in the UK, US and Austria. And they found that nearly 40 per cent of people who survived described some kind of 'awareness' during the time when they were clinically dead before their hearts were restarted. One man even recalled leaving his body entirely and watching his resuscitation from the corner of the room. Despite being unconscious and 'dead' for three minutes, the 57-year-old social worker from Southampton, recounted the actions of the nursing staff in detail and described the sound of the machines. "We know the brain can't function when the heart has stopped beating," said Dr Sam Parnia, a former research fellow at Southampton University ... who led the study. "But in this case, conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn't beating, even though the brain typically shuts down within 20-30 seconds after the heart has stopped. The man described everything that had happened in the room." Of 2060 cardiac arrest patients studied, 330 survived and of 140 surveyed, 39 per cent said they had experienced some kind of awareness while being resuscitated. One in five said they had felt an unusual sense of peacefulness. Some recalled seeing a bright light. 13 per cent said they had felt separated from their bodies.
Note: Explore a treasure trove of fascinating resources on this most vital topic.
Stories of life, death and faith: 'To Heaven and Back' - Mary Neal
2013-11-29, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/us/to-heaven-and-back
It was January 14, 1999, and Mary Neal ... crested at the top of the first big drop in the river. She looked down into what she later described as a bottomless pit. Then she went over. The front end of her boat got pinned in the rocks, submerging her in the water. Pinned in the boat and out of air, Neal started to give up. "I really gave it all over to God, and I really said, 'Your will be done,'" she said. [She] was sucked out of the bottom of the boat by the current -- with her legs bending back over her knees. "I could feel the bones breaking. I could feel the ligaments and the tissue tearing. I felt my spirit peeling away from my body, sort of like peeling two pieces of tape," Neal recounted. As one of her friends grabbed her wrist to try to pull her out of the water, Neal realized she was outside her body watching the rescue effort. "I could see them pull my body to the shore. I could see them start CPR," she said. "I had no pulse, and I wasn't breathing. One fellow was yelling at me to come back. ...My body was purple and bloated. My pupils were fixed and dilated." She watched people work on her, but she felt none of it. "When I saw my body, I actually thought 'Well, I guess I am dead. I guess I really did die,'" Neal said. As she watched, she said she was met by "these people or these spirits" who started to guide her toward a brightly lit path toward what appeared to be a domed structure. "It was exploding, not just with light and brilliance and color but with love," she said. There, she spoke with the spirits. They told her it was not her time to die, that she still had a job to finish, Neal said. Then she was back in her body, breathing again. Those involved estimate that Neal had been without oxygen for 30 minutes.
Note: Don't miss the highly inspiring four-minute interview with Mary Neal at the link above. Another CNN interview of seven minutes is available here. For more, click here.
'Afterlife' feels 'even more real than real,' researcher says
2013-04-09, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/09/health/belgium-near-death-experiences
If your hospital is in Belgium, Dr. Steven Laureys may pay you a visit, interested to hear what you remember from your NDE, or near-death experience. Laureys heads the Coma Science Group at the university hospital in the city of Liege. NDEs feel "even more real than real," Laureys said. Laureys and his team studied the near-death memories of people who survived -- in particular those of coma patients -- with the help of a psychological examination. The Memory Characteristics Questionnaire tests for sensory and emotional details of recollections and how people relive them in space and time. In other words, it gauges how present, intense and real a memory is. They compared NDEs with other memories of intense real-life events like marriages and births, but also with memories of dreams and thoughts. Memories of important real-life events are more intense than those of dreams or thoughts, Laureys said. "If you use this questionnaire ... if the memory is real, it's richer, and if the memory is recent, it's richer," he said. "To our surprise, NDEs were much richer than any imagined event or any real event of these coma survivors," Laureys reported. The memories of these experiences beat all other memories, hands down, for their vivid sense of reality. "The difference was so vast," he said with a sense of astonishment. Even if the patient had the experience a long time ago, its memory was as rich "as though it was yesterday," Laureys said. "Sometimes, it is hard for them (the patients) to find words to explain it."
Note: For lots more on NDEs, click here. For a treasure trove of great news articles which will inspire you to make a difference, click here.
Top five regrets of the dying
2012-02-01, The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying
A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. And among the top, from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'. Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again." Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware: 1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. "All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence." 3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Readers Join Doctor's Journey to the Afterworld's Gates
2012-11-26, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/books/dr-eben-alexanders-tells-of-near-deat...
For years Dr. Eben Alexander III had dismissed near-death revelations of God and heaven as explainable by the hard wiring of the human brain. He was, after all, a neurosurgeon with sophisticated medical training. But then in 2008 Dr. Alexander contracted bacterial meningitis. The deadly infection soaked his brain and sent him into a deep coma. During that week, as life slipped away, he now says, he was living intensely in his mind. He was ... guided by "a beautiful girl with high cheekbones and deep blue eyes" on the wings of a butterfly to an "immense void" that is both "pitch black" and "brimming with light" coming from an "orb" that interprets for an all-loving God. Dr. Alexander, 58, was so changed by the experience that he felt compelled to write a book, Proof of Heaven, that recounts his experience. He knew full well that he was gambling his professional reputation by writing it, but his hope is that his expertise will be enough to persuade skeptics, particularly medical skeptics, as he used to be, to open their minds to an afterworld. Having trained at Duke University and taught and practiced as a surgeon at Harvard, he knows brain science as well as anyone. And science, he said, cannot explain his experience. "During my coma my brain wasn't working improperly," he writes in his book. "It wasn't working at all." [Proof of Heaven] rose instantly to No. 1 on The New York Times's paperback best-seller list and is there again for next week. The publisher has printed nearly one million copies, combined hardcover and paperback, to be snapped up at airports and as stocking stuffers at big retailers like Target. Another 78,000 digital copes have been sold.
Note: Dr. Eben Alexander was a neurosurgeon for 25 years. His engaging, best-selling book on this life-changing experience is Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. It was the New York Times #1 bestseller for over half a year. For video interviews and other information on Dr. Alexander, click here. For other highly inspiring resources and stories related to near-death experiences, click here.
ABC: What it's like to experience a brush with death
2011-08-03, ABC15 (Phoenix ABC affiliate)
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/science_tech/ABC-tonight%3A-What-it%27s-like-to...
ABC's Bob Woodruff probed the mysteries of near death experiences – including his own – in a special "Primetime Nightline." ABC15 spoke with Woodruff. He told us so many people he interviewed for the story had an out-of-body experience, similar to his own when his group was hit by an IED 5 years ago while covering the war in Iraq. He told us when he woke up 36 days later he remembered seeing his body floating below him. Woodruff says others he spoke with describe experiences like his, but the thing he found interesting was, all of them say they weren't scared. "Everyone said it was comfort. There was a lack of fear, and certainly no pain. All of them share that, no matter who they are that's gone through this and it's very, very interesting." Woodruff also spoke with several doctors and scientists, who don't necessarily reject these out-of-body experiences, but they're just looking for answers. ABC15 wanted to know, how the people he interviewed felt about coming back to this world. Woodruff says, "Almost everybody said not only that they thought about staying, but generally wanted to stay. I, in some ways, was fine with staying."
Special Note: If the above link fails, see this webpage.
What Happens When We Die?
2008-09-18, Time magazine
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1842627,00.html
A fellow at New York City's Weill Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Sam Parnia is one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death. Last week Parnia and his colleagues at the Human Consciousness Project announced their first major undertaking: a 3-year exploration of the biology behind "out-of-body" experiences. The study, known as AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation), involves the collaboration of 25 major medical centers through Europe, Canada and the U.S. and will examine some 1,500 survivors of cardiac arrest. TIME spoke with Parnia about the project's origins, its skeptics and the difference between the mind and the brain. What sort of methods will this project use to try and verify people's claims of "near-death" experience? When your heart stops beating, there is no blood getting to your brain. And so what happens is that within about 10 sec., brain activity ceases — as you would imagine. Yet paradoxically, 10% or 20% of people who are then brought back to life from that period, which may be a few minutes or over an hour, will report having consciousness. So the key thing here is, Are these real, or is it some sort of illusion? In my book What Happens When We Die? ... I wanted people to get both angles — not just the patients' side but also the doctors' side — and see how it feels for the doctors to have a patient come back and tell them what was going on. There was a cardiologist that I spoke with who said he hasn't told anyone else about it because he has no explanation for how this patient could have been able to describe in detail what he had said and done. He was so freaked out by it that he just decided not to think about it anymore.
Note: How interesting that when something amazing happened that this cardiologist could not explain, he chose not to think about it rather than consider that there might be some deeper explanation. For an excellent analysis of how this kind of thinking stops scientific progress, see our essay on fluid intelligence available here. For other highly inspiring resources and stories related to near-death experiences, click here.
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