Lyall Watson - The Romeo Error

I agree that the religious figures seen in NDEs are not real religious beings. For example, many NDErs report seeing Jesus, but he looked exactly like the pictures of him (blue eyes etc.) and not like a real Middle Eastern man of his time would have looked like. Nevertheless, there are many NDEs and reincarnation cases with memories of the intermission period in which those people met some kind of guides. To me it seems that those beings appeared as themselves instead of having a false appearance. I also don't think that those beings were merely products of wishful thinking on part of the subjects of these cases. Therefore I think that at least some of these discarnate spirits are real and some of them are more advanced than others. Sometimes they have helped subjects of the reincarnation cases in choosing their parents etc. To me all this suggests that the dead relatives and other normal people met during these experiences are really themselves.

I think you might have misunderstood the point I was making. I wasn't suggesting that these welcoming spirits were figments of the imagination of the perceiver but that they are actual spirit guides (as you rightly say) who assume a persona which will be of comfort to the recently deceased. Many would be comforted by the appearance of Jesus and some might be reassured by being met by Albert Einstein. It is a guise that serves a purpose and not something that is maintained beyond that usefulness.

When it comes to already deceased relatives, I am somewhat troubled by how this might fit with other considerations. What if the parent has reincarnated? What if the parent has moved to a different level or spiritual environment? I can think of plausible explanations for all of these questions but I don't dismiss the possibility that specialist guides are employed and may well appear as a comforting figure such as a parent or a religious figure just to soften the transition.

I think you might have misunderstood the point I was making. I wasn't suggesting that these welcoming spirits were figments of the imagination of the perceiver but that they are actual spirit guides (as you rightly say) who assume a persona which will be of comfort to the recently deceased. Many would be comforted by the appearance of Jesus and some might be reassured by being met by Albert Einstein. It is a guise that serves a purpose and not something that is maintained beyond that usefulness.

I understood exactly what you meant. Actual spirit guides may sometimes assume a false appearance in order to comfort the recently deceased. The possibility that those spirits were figments of imagination of the perceiver was just another explanation that I rejected.

To me it seems that those beings appeared as themselves instead of having a false appearance. I also don't think that those beings were merely products of wishful thinking on part of the subjects of these cases.

When it comes to already deceased relatives, I am somewhat troubled by how this might fit with other considerations. What if the parent has reincarnated? What if the parent has moved to a different level or spiritual environment? I can think of plausible explanations for all of these questions but I don't dismiss the possibility that specialist guides are employed and may well appear as a comforting figure such as a parent or a religious figure just to soften the transition.

I think that just because the parent has reincarnated, doesn't mean that they can't keep watch over their child as a Soul.

My logic on this is that only part of the Soul incarnates, as a incarnate existence cannot possibly contain something as comparatively vast an existence as a Soul.

It would also explain individuals meeting their Higher Self, for example ~ it's just a manifestation of their Soul, and it appears to be Other, due to the dissociation that comes with being incarnated.

I think that just because the parent has reincarnated, doesn't mean that they can't keep watch over their child as a Soul.

My logic on this is that only part of the Soul incarnates, as a incarnate existence cannot possibly contain something as comparatively vast an existence as a Soul.

It would also explain individuals meeting their Higher Self, for example ~ it's just a manifestation of their Soul, and it appears to be Other, due to the dissociation that comes with being incarnated.

I wonder if the latter might explain a pattern I've seen in a number of different NDE cases. The person is met by some bright, luminous being who guides and helps the person during the event. The person asks, "Who are you?", and a rather smiling sort of gentle response is something like "Don't you know?". The implication being that this entity is really very familiar, the answer must surely be obvious, but there is a temporary loss of memory making it confusingly unclear.

I think that just because the parent has reincarnated, doesn't mean that they can't keep watch over their child as a Soul.

My logic on this is that only part of the Soul incarnates, as a incarnate existence cannot possibly contain something as comparatively vast an existence as a Soul.

It would also explain individuals meeting their Higher Self, for example ~ it's just a manifestation of their Soul, and it appears to be Other, due to the dissociation that comes with being incarnated.

I agree to an extent. I do think that the spirit inhabiting the physical form is only one aspect of a much larger soul entity. That said, I am not so sure that, in that case, the parent would remain as the being the recently deceased would recognise as the earthly parent. It may well be that the soul who meets that new arrival is the higher self of the parent and it is also possible (in my view) that this entity might assume the appearance of the parent as he or she might be remembered from the earthly life.

I'm trying to say that the earthly form and personality that we have during this life may not last long into the afterlife. I have often seen it mentioned that the we revert to a younger/healthier version of this earthly self (in the case of those who die in old age) and I've also read that we sometimes choose to dispense with the human form completely and are perceived by those who have just recently passed over as beings of light.

Lastly, another seemingly widely held view is that there actually are specialists who make it their "vocation" to assist in he transition. Perhaps they might be accompanied by loved ones and perhaps they do have the ability to appear as those loved ones. I think that all are quite well within the realms of possibility.