Life after Life experience shows surgeon that everyone has a God-given purpose in life

I feel heartened by the story of Wyoming orthopedic surgeon Mary C. Neal, author of To Heaven and Back, who was without air for 14 minutes and almost drowned during a kayaking mishap and survived.

During the 14 minutes when she died, she had what is variously called a “Near Death Experience,” in which a person is clinically dead and is revived, or a “Life After Life” experience in which a person has a Near Death Experience and discovers there is life after death.

Neal says that after she “died” she was greated by a group of loving spiritual beings who led her to a glowing hall where she would have the opportunity to choose God or not.

During her experience, she felt sad, because she was told that she would have to go back to the living to fulfil her purpose in life.

I wonder if part of that purpose was to write her book to help people to face their own inevitable end.

In the following excerpt from an online The Economist “Good Report,” Neal discusses her revelation that God has a purpose for us all:

“Based on my experience, I know that God has a plan for me and for everyone,” she said. “Our job is to listen and try to hear what God is saying to us as he tells us what he needs us to do. The real challenge for us is to give up control and be obedient to what God is asking of us.”

Life After Life: This surgeon says she believes

Pythagoras and Plato both believed in reincarnation

I just learned that both Pythagoras and Plato, ancient Greek philosophers, believed in reincarnation.

Indeed, according to an excerpt from the What’s Life after Death website, Pythagoras could remember some of his past lives. Pythagoras, who lived from 575 B.C.E. to  495 B.C.E., is especially remembered for the Pythagorean Theorum which says that the square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the other sides for a triangle containing a right angle (90 degree angle).

 Among the ancient Greek philosophers, Socrates, Pythagoras and Plato are considered among those who made the subject of rebirth and life after death a steady part of their teachings. They even claim to have gone through a near death experience. In his last days, Socrates said, “I firmly believe that there is life after death” and that “Life emerges from death itself”. Pythagoras claimed with full confidence that he had memories of his previous birth and Plato described the topic of rebirths and previous births in a number of his works. Various religions, like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc, despite being practiced by different people in different geographical areas accept the existence of life after death in one way or the other. Most of these religions and philosophers relate rebirth with the deeds of a person in his previous birth. A person doing good for others and attaining knowledge is considered to take birth as a better species and finally gets free from the cycle of life and death whereas a person who is involved in wrongdoings and sinful activities, the one who leads a selfish life getting immersed in physical desire and material things takes birth again and again in this mortal world.

A Mysterious Journey

Difficulties in life can be opportunities for growth

In a post on this blog dated May 8th, I talked about the difficult situations numerous of my friends were going through and wondered if: “their whole self, their spiritual self, has been trying to get them to enlarge their lives, pursue greater goals, and live healthier lifestyles, and after trying over and over again to get through to the person with gentle hints, longings, and desires to improve their lives, in the end, putting them in a difficult situation has motivated them … finally … to action.”

Interestingly, in an online Deseret News article about a Wyoming surgeon’s Near Death Experience, the surgeon says that her life has changed after being brought back to life. She now has a similar perspective and says that:

“Physical challenges can be opportunities for growth — I think that’s a valuable perspective to maintain. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before.”

Life after life? This Wyoming surgeon says she believes

Preparing for Toronto Event Saturday June 2nd

Today I’m excited and preparing for my day-long event in Toronto on Saturday, June 2nd. I’ll be speaking on: Atlantis and Its Colonies in Egypt and Yucatan.

Mayan ruin shows dates beyond December 21, 2012

While searching Mayan ruins in Guatemala, Archeologists have found mathematical calculations on the walls of a room showing dates into the future beyond the December 21, 2012 date. Therefore, the Mayan Long Count Calendar does not end on December 21, 2012.

Astronomical records were key to the Mayan calendar, which has received attention recently because of doomsday warnings that it predicts the end of the world this December. Experts say the calendar makes no such prediction. The new finding provides a bit of backup: the calculations include a time span longer than 6,000 years, meaning it could extend well beyond 2012.

Mayans never thought the world would end in 2012, new research shows

I feel happy to see this since it will add to the two Mayan Long Count Calendar dates I already know about that are beyond the December 21, 2012 date, which I will be presenting in Toronto on Thursday, May 31 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Alternative Thinking on 758 Bathurst St.

Speaking events in Toronto May 31 and June 2

I’ll be in Toronto, Canada, for two events:

Thursday, May 31, Do Mayan Shamans Believe the World Will End on December 21, 2012?

Free Talk & Booksigning,  7 – 9 pm  
at Alternative Thinking  758 Bathurst St Toronto

Saturday, June 2, 10 to 4:30 p.m. Atlantis & Its Colonies
in Egypt and The Yucatan

Workshop  Location: 221 Sterling Rd Landsdowne/Bloor Area
   Workshop   $75 
**Early Bird Registration $65 when paid by May 31st

For more information and to pre-register for the events, click here.

Hard Times can lead to motivation

It seems that lately, numerous people I know, are going through hard times. Whether it’s problems at work, health issues, economic constraints, or dealing with handicaps, in each case, the difficulty they are going through has spurred them to action of one kind of another.

As a result, I wonder if their whole self, their spiritual self, has been trying to get them to enlarge their lives, pursue greater goals, and live healthier lifestyles, and after trying over and over again to get through to the person with gentle hints, longings, and desires to improve their lives, in the end, putting in a difficult situation has motivated them … finally … to action.

A Gas Cloud on the Way to the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center

As we wait to line up with the Milky Way’s Galactic Center on December 21, 2012, the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center waits for a dense gas cloud, three times the diameter of the earth, to fall into its center.

Or anyway, the light from this dense gas cloud on the verge of falling into the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center started beaming toward us 27,000 years ago.

Who knows what’s happening at the Galactic Center right now! It will take 27,000 years to find out.

Nonetheless, it’s fun learning about what WAS happening at the Galactic Center 27,000 years ago in this brief, information-packed article at Nature. By the way, the Galactic Center is in the constellation of Sagittarius and hence is called, Sgr A.

Here we report the presence of a dense gas cloud approximately three times the mass of Earth that is falling into the accretion zone of Sgr A*. 

A Gas Cloud on the Way to the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center

Speaking in the Toronto Area Next

I’ll be speaking in the Toronto area during the next month:

Wednesday, May 23rd in St. Catharines (evening event)

Thursday, May 31st in Toronto (evening event)

Saturday, June 2nd in Toronto (all-day event)

Forget 2012! There’s a slight chance that Asteroid Apophis may actually collide with earth in 2029!

In the midst of conjecture and fantasy about the Mayan 2012 end of the world prophecy, real scientific observation has detected an asteroid that is moving toward earth and will pass closer to earth than satellites in orbit  in 2029 and 2036.

That’s pretty darn close!

And, it makes me just a wee bit nervous that since the asteroid has only a diameter of 690-1080 feet (210-330 meters) and is 17 years away from its close encounter with earth, there’s a chance that as it gets closer, the original calculations might need to be revised and that it might actually collide with our beloved blue planet!

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s an excerpt from a long scientific-sounding post on NASA’s Near Earth Object Program website:

Researchers at NASA/JPL, Caltech, and Arecibo Observatory have released the results of radar observations of the potentially hazardous asteroid 99942 Apophis, along with an in-depth analysis of its motion. The research will affect how and when scientists measure, predict, or consider modifying the asteroid’s motion. The paper has been accepted for publication in the science journal “Icarus” and was presented at the AAS/DPS conference in Orlando, Florida in October of 2007. The Apophis study was led by Jon Giorgini, a senior analyst in JPL’s Solar System Dynamics group and member of the radar team that observed Apophis.

The analysis of Apophis previews situations likely to be encountered with NEAs yet to be discovered: a close approach that is not dangerous (like Apophis in 2029) nonetheless close enough to obscure the proximity and the danger of a later approach (like Apophis in 2036) by amplifying trajectory prediction uncertainties caused by difficult-to-observe physical characteristics interacting with solar radiation as well as other factors.

Predicting Apophis’ Earth Encounters in 2029 and 2036