At work today, a coworker and I got on to the subject of religion (taboo I know.) Here is how the conversation went (my responses in blue):
“We all follow some faith tradition. Are you a Christian?”
“I used to be.“
“So you are an atheist then?”
“No.“
“So what are you? What do you believe?”
“There is no label that I know of that fits me. What I would say is: based on what I’ve read about NDEs and related phenomena, there are certain things I’ve come to accept.“
“That’s interesting. What are they?”
“1. We are spirits that temporarily inhabit bodies
2. We come back many times (reincarnation)
3. We are here to experience, learn, and grow“
“Respect.”
He did not take the conversation any further. But if he had, I would have directed him to my online bookshelf. It has some of the top books I have read that have informed my world (and otherworld) views. Here is a link to that bookshelf:
- Site: books.whatwelove.org
- Password: 42
I want to be clear about a few things. While I and the researchers/authors accept the answers given to be true:
- The researchers started out as skeptics. It was only after many experiences (direct and 2nd hand) that they came to accept the supernatural explanations of their research.
- The answers they found do not always agree with mainstream belief systems. They certainly go against the things I was taught from my former religious teachers.
- The answers do not always sit well with me (but then, the same can be said of quantum physics. The universe is under no obligation to make any sense, especially to our limited brains. Even more so with the otherworld.)
For a clear summary of the findings of these researchers, please see my other post on this topic here.
Lastly, in the title of this post, I could have said, What faith tradition do I claim to follow? Notice the word claim. That’s because many people are a nominal or cultural XYZ (Catholic, Jew, etc.) Some even publicly profess to be a XYZ while privately not believing a word of it. They do this because they don’t want to be ostracized (or worse.)
And then there’s this little video: The Egg – A Short Story