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Post by Admin on Aug 1, 2020 23:09:37 GMT
ANCIENT HISTORY The Ancient Sumerian and Egyptian Attitudes toward Death and the Afterlife The two civilizations had vastly different views on their own mortality. medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-ancient-sumerian-and-egyptian-attitudes-toward-death-and-the-afterlife-6f3fced56b57Life was difficult for the peoples of the Ancient Near East (~6500-~1200 BCE) in virtually every aspect imaginable. Their challenging existence, largely regarding the labors of farming and providing sustenance, served as the basis of their attitudes toward death and human mortality. Although the Sumerian and Egyptian concepts of the afterlife were initially formed by the challenging nature of their existence, each society came to vastly different conclusions on what awaited them after death. Namely, the Sumerians viewed death as an underworld of darkness that they emphatically wished to avoid for as long as possible. The ancient Egyptians were the juxtaposition of this grim conception of the afterlife, and they instead viewed death as a temporary transition into what could become everlasting life in paradise. Below, we will dive into the Sumerian fear of death in comparison to the Egyptian optimism and hopefulness toward the afterlife while noting the relevant similarities between these cultures.
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Post by Admin on Aug 1, 2020 23:12:10 GMT
How different religions view the Afterlife. www.victorzammit.com/articles/religions3.htmlAfterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death or the world to come) is the belief that the essential part of an individual's identity or the stream of consciousness continues after the death of the physical body. According to various ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on after death may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, of an individual, which carries with it and may confer personal identity or, on the contrary nirvana. Belief in an afterlife is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death. In some views, this continued existence often takes place in a spiritual realm, and in other popular views, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics. Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by God, or other divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life. In contrast, in systems of reincarnation, such as those in the Indian religions, the nature of the continued existence is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the ended life. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife
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Post by Admin on Aug 7, 2020 6:29:31 GMT
"The spirit world is round and about us. Some people see it and hear it because they can tune in to its vibrations. It is not situated in some far-off continent. It is a part of the universe, blending and intermingling with the physical world". Maurice Barbanell, medium for Silver Birch. August 7th, 2020 www.victorzammit.com/August7th2020/
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Post by Admin on Aug 14, 2020 7:26:54 GMT
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2020 0:34:05 GMT
"If you succeed in enabling one soul in darkness to find the light, one troubled, wearied individual to gain strength, if you comfort one mourner, if you heal one sick person, if you prevent exploitation of and cruelty even to one animal, then indeed your earthly life has been well worth living.” (Guidance from SIlver Birch p. 63). August 28th, 2020 www.victorzammit.com/August28th2020/" ... If you examine the records of the past, you will find that the more you go back to primitive times, the more natural was the exercise of psychic faculties. But, like all other faculties, they have atrophied through long disuse and the number of those today who can register the vibrations of the spirit is very, very small. You, all of you, are living in prisons. You have five tiny windows to your prison, and these five apertures are your physical senses. You are unaware of the millions of happenings around you unless they can be seen, smelt, touched, tasted, or felt. But because you do not see the busy, teeming, active world around you, that does not mean to say it has no existence. It means only one thing, that you are unable to register its vibrations..." p.117 The Seed of Truth - Silver Birch.
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Post by Admin on Sept 4, 2020 0:16:55 GMT
"Your world is full of living sleepwalkers who go through the day’s activities in a dream. They are not awake, and they are dead to all reality. If you can touch one of these souls and kindle the divine ember so that gradually it is fanned into a living flame, there is no service comparable to that.” Guidance from Silver Birch p. 65 September 4th, 2020 www.victorzammit.com/September4th2020/
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Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2020 0:41:54 GMT
"Today, many people travel through life without clear spiritual direction. They cling to the popular religious beliefs of their culture. They settle for tradition and faith instead of seeking personal spiritual experience.” ― William Buhlman, The Secret of the Soul .” "Bringing light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair." September 11th, 2020 www.victorzammit.com/September11th2020/
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Post by Admin on Sept 18, 2020 1:34:30 GMT
"I have sought out the best arguments to support the existence of a hereafter and I have found seven of them - seven phenomena that are unfortunately quite unknown, disputed by many people, and yet irrefutable". ― Jean Jacques Charbonier M.D. 7 Reasons to Believe in the Afterlife: A Doctor Reviews the Case for Consciousness after Death by Jean Jacques Charbonier September 18th 2020 www.victorzammit.com/September18th2020/COMMENTARY: ARE YOU A SPIRITUALIST? For some people Spiritualism is a science, for some, it's a philosophy, and for others, it's a religion as well. Its core beliefs, as expressed in the 7 guiding principles of Spiritualism, are a challenge to atheism as they recognise the existence of an all-intelligent creating force. www.snu.org.uk/7-principlesSpiritualism teaches that there is life after death but rejects the idea that we merge into formlessness. On the basis of evidence from years of spirit contact, Spiritualists have concluded that we retain the same personalities and characteristics, and we change only as a result of our own efforts. It rejects the concept of an eternal hell, saying instead that "eternal progress is open to every human soul". A key part of Spiritualist science is that there exists evidence that communication with departed spirits can, and does, take place. Early Spiritualists called this "The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels". Having Spiritualism formally recognised as a religion has been important in some contexts as it offers legal and social protection for the practice of mediumship and spiritual healing. At a time before the Internet and New Age bookshops, Spiritualist churches and newspapers were one of the few places where people could learn about the philosophy and science of Spiritualism and spiritual healing. Having a place where people could come together physically to demonstrate and develop mediumship and share experiences of the afterlife has been very important to many. Read more about Spiritualism in the world today - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualist_church
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Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2020 0:06:45 GMT
"Your world worships many things and attaches importance to them, whereas here we regard them as insignificant. All that makes people crave position, wealth, authority and power, we regard as unimportant. When the body dies they all die with it...The service that is given out of love and affection and devotion all help to increase the character, and so make an eternal hall-mark on the soul.” Guidance from Silver Birch p. 72. victorzammit.com/September25th2020/September 25th, 2020 COMMENTARY: CAN SPIRITS INFLUENCE US NEGATIVELY? I think most people reading this would agree that we can be influenced by the thoughts and feelings of the living, but what about those of the dead? The idea that afterlife entities can influence our thinking and "win us to our harm" has been accepted in every human culture, literature, and religion. As Alan Kardec warns us, people are no different when they die and "thus, there are very superior spirits as there are very inferior ones; very good and bad; very wise and very ignorant; there are those of levity, malevolence, liars, astute, hypocrites, polished, sharp, jokers, etc.". While our medical and legal systems may ridicule the idea of spirit influence, several modern psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, and hypnotherapists have written books claiming that we can be negatively influenced by smothering relatives as well as by malevolent entities. Some of the most influential are the following: Dr. Carl Wickland: Thirty Years Among the Dead. Dr. Edith Fiore: The Unquiet Dead. Dr. Louise Ireland-Frey: Freeing the Captives. Dr. William Baldwin: Spirit Releasement Therapy. Dr. Samuel Sagan: Entity Possession. Dr. Wilson Van Dusen, a clinical psychologist and author of The Presence of Spirits in Madness claimed that he was able to hold coherent conversations with the voices of his schizophrenic patients and that their behaviour precisely matched what Christian Mystic Emanuel Swedenborg described. Jerry Marzinsky, in his book An Amazing Journey into the Psychotic Mind (2019) comes to the same conclusion. Given the number of reports and the fact that we are living in times of enormous emotional stress, it makes good sense that all those seeking to make spirit contact (whether it be mediumship, EVP, or automatic writing) practice "spiritual hygiene" and always use their discernment.
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Post by Admin on Oct 1, 2020 21:27:22 GMT
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Post by Admin on Oct 2, 2020 1:07:25 GMT
"“The percentage of people reporting contact with the dead in surveys ranges anywhere from 42 to 72 percent. Widows having contact with their deceased husbands can go as high as 92 percent...It’s hard to believe that a society can deny the validity of an experience shared by so large a proportion of its population". Dr. Julia Assante The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death victorzammit.com/October2nd2020/COMMENTARY: WE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF OUR ENVIRONMENT Sociologists tell us that our beliefs come first directly from our family, then our immediate friends and from our education system, from the media we are exposed to, from our own culture, workplace, tradition, and history. So that, by and large, the country you are born in usually determines your beliefs: if you were born in India, you're likely to be Hindu, in Israel, Jewish, In Iraq or Iran - a Moslem, Western Europe, UK, U.S.A. - you're likely to be Christian. In modern Russia and China - you're very likely to be an atheist. What is also very interesting is that there are people who would die for their beliefs. Yet, if they were born in a different country that may not happen! When we search for the truth about the afterlife we all have to rise above nationality, history, culture, and tradition. Fortunately, information about death and the afterlife is moving out of the control of the various religions and people everywhere have access to freely available information on the internet. Also, we now have people who can guide those of us who are open to having personal experiences.
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Post by Admin on Oct 8, 2020 23:37:28 GMT
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy". - Shakespeare Hamlet (1.5.167-8) victorzammit.com/October9th2020/October 9th, 2020
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Post by Admin on Oct 15, 2020 23:07:23 GMT
“You cannot convince people of spiritual truth. They can only convince themselves. You cannot convert people; they can only convert themselves. Spiritual power must work its own will, and not until the soul is receptive can the individual accept the truth". Guidance from Silver Birch, '66 p.73. "Bringing light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair." October 16th 2020 victorzammit.com/October16th2020/
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Post by Admin on Oct 29, 2020 23:08:16 GMT
"The great ones of your world are not the great ones of my world. We see greatness as greatness of soul, greatness of spirit, greatness in desire to serve. These things will endure long after the glitter of the material world has disappeared." Silver Birch Bringing light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair." October 30th, 2020 victorzammit.com/October30th2020/
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2020 1:22:01 GMT
"Your purpose in life is to grow in character. It is not to doggedly pursue that which your society says is your own self-interest, such as amassing wealth, building a "healthy" retirement, traveling at length or otherwise indulging in purely selfish pursuits". (Beyond The Veil, Judy Laddon p.67). November 6th, 2020 victorzammit.com/November6th2020/
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