Elysium Unveiled: A Visual Odyssey of Life Eternal by Jurgen Ziewe

I would definitely question that considering that most experiences are life affirming rather than otherwise. Death might be nicer, but life is far more important.

This a rather odd comment from someone (I think) who is highly sceptical of anything that requires non-material forces.

However, you have been a contributor here for quite some time and I assume you would not waste your time here if you were certain about your scepticism.

If your sceptical position is correct, then clearly death is an empty experience and life is thus infinitely more important. However it could be that death is analogous to waking up in the morning, when daily life suppresses whatever we were thinking about 5 minutes earlier!

Surely you would admit that NDE stories (often from previously sceptical people just like you) suggest an amazing afterlife awaits us.

David

Mediochre,

Do you have a blog or anything describing some of your explorations?

David

No, other than my training updates thread here. I only focused on projection to help me figure out how to get back the pk I lost. I didn't care about exploring the afterlife or anything. And I shut all that down in 2017 once I felt I'd achieved enough. Which I now think was a mistake.

This a rather odd comment from someone (I think) who is highly sceptical of anything that requires non-material forces.

However, you have been a contributor here for quite some time and I assume you would not waste your time here if you were certain about your scepticism.

If your sceptical position is correct, then clearly death is an empty experience and life is thus infinitely more important. However it could be that death is analogous to waking up in the morning, when daily life suppresses whatever we were thinking about 5 minutes earlier!

Surely you would admit that NDE stories (often from previously sceptical people just like you) suggest an amazing afterlife awaits us.

David

I wouldn't say I'm highly sceptical of anything that requires non material forces, just more that I try to keep a skeptical mind about everything regarding this kinda phenomena. I use to jump into things a lot more, now I take a step back. I don't want to commit myself to believing in anything only for it to turn out to be wrong.

The thing about NDEs, deathbed phenomena, mediumship stuff whatever is that they aren't often life denying, they're life affirming. Suicide attempts with NDEs more often then not (though there are exceptions) are shown the importance of life. People are told to go back rather than continue on to any potential afterlife. Death bed phenomena tends to help people make peace with the life they've lived rather than make them excited for what comes after. Mediumship is a mixed bag between presenting a pleasant afterlife or something that could almost be considered mundane.

I think that good skepticism about all this stuff is also skepticism about what may potentially come after. There's no guarantee that any kind of afterlife would be something that would be nice to us. Much like life itself, it just is what it is. And that's not even considering our whole ability to even understand everything being limited by us being human.

I use to jump into things a lot more, now I take a step back. I don't want to commit myself to believing in anything only for it to turn out to be wrong.

That's a valid position. Myself, I tend to be open on certain topics, especially philosophical debates where I don't have any particular involvement, it doesn't impact me. On the other hand there are aspects of life where not being committed to anything is less useful. For example I spent years not being usefully employed, at least in part because I was unwilling to commit to any particular field. At some point things became very obvious to me, perhaps it was a matter of it being the right time, I got into a certain field of work and it turned out well. Nowadays I'm retired, I don't have any special commitment to that field any more.

I guess my point is, that while it's ok to remain non-committal on a topic, it can be beneficial to take a step, try out an idea, see how it feels from the inside, like seeing what certain clothing feels like when actually wearing it, rather than just looking at things. The important thing, I would say, is the ability to change one's mind. Just because a person wears certain clothes for a while, it doesn't mean there isn't a possibility to change at a later time, choose different clothes. Perhaps as well as the possibility to change one's mind, in my view it's also important to not be too attached to things, having the ability to let go, to release one's grip and travel lightly through the world, that makes sense to me.

To avoid constantly saying "assuming the afterlife exists" let's call that proposition P1.

The thing about JZ's descriptions of the afterlife is that they do seem strangely plausible. Life on Earth is very complicated with humans taking up all sorts of interests, and if P1, I'd say the afterlife almost has to be equally complex, if not more so.

If P1, JZ rambles around the hereafter rather like a hiker might ramble over a hilly landscape. Unless he knows geology, he won't be able to figure out exactly what processes went into creating the landscape, but he may be able to describe it in an interesting way.

Again assuming P1, it isn't unreasonable to assume that some people can explore the terrain while others cannot.

Looking at it that way, I'd say his books are worth reading.

David