Visions of the Flipside

Bosch

Heres a "Tunnel of white light" as heard in a high percentage of NDEs. I've heard variations, ball of light, moving through light, towards and into light. Feelings of unconditional love, infinite wisdom and reconnecting with loved ones. 

Dr Bruce Greyson UVA created the NDE scale, appears in "Its a Wonderful Afterlife." Mario Beauregard Phd, using fmri has proven these events, memories aren't confined to any particular place in the brain, or "god spot." 

He's in the book as well. Science shows these religious experiences arent religious at all, although they do inspire people to realize life isnt confined to this realm. In my research i find no two nde's are identical, yet they all point to the same conclusion. Like the word "home" - no one can define it outside their own experience, yet we can all agree it exists within our own journey. Not based on belief or philosophy but the data. 

Bosch's depiction of hell, on the other hand, is not in the data. 

Great to see in his paintings, but the few accounts I've examined, dissolve under analysis. "So why are you experiencing this?" Or "why did you choose to be here?" allows a person to see choice or free will is involved. This tunnel, on the other hand, is the way "home" according to the 25 I've filmed and thousands of cases I've examined. 

MEANWHILE FROM THE DAILY MAIL ON FEB 25TH, 2016:

The following is a news story about a woman who died for an hour, saw her husband during an NDE and came back. I'm posting it as "further data" - and by data I mean:

I'm referring to the thousands of cases Dr Greyson has examined at UVA, the data from the Aware project (2000 cases over 10 years) even your own brothers experience during an NDE. at some point thousands of cases, examined by scientists becomes "data." And this case is no different than those. Sorry. Its just science. But you'd know that if you read Dr Greyson's chapter in "its a wonderful afterlife." Not belief. Or philosophy. Or a story in the paper. Based on thousands of medical cases.

This story is just like all the other stories. Identical. Dr. Greyson is the person who created the NDE scale back in the 80's. Indeed, the medical establishment considers NDE research science and his articles have been peer reviewed and published. He's considered the "godfather of NDE research." 

His book "Irreducible Mind" is a textbook for many psychiatrists (as he is the head psychiatrist at UVA.) Interviewed him for the book (It's a Wonderful Afterlife). There are other scientists who have studied NDE - the Aware project, where a doctor studied NDEs under clinical conditions (hospitals, ORs, etc). 

As Harvard's Gary Schwartz PhD mentions in the foreword to Flipside - "at some point you have to stop pretending" that these cases are not data. Each and every case has been examined thoroughly that Greyson cites - I recommend his youtube talk "Is consciousness produced by the brain" for further cites.

Just because a person in the UK has the identical experience that other NDE people have - that my own brother had after dying in Fort Benning Georgia - which is also reported in the book - these cases all saying relatively the same thing. And that's how Dr. Greyson was able to make a scale of events for near death experiences. 

I've stayed at Greyson's home, and he's given me a tour of his facilities at UVA. I had a conference meeting with his associates at the Dept of Perceptual Studies - including Drs Jim Tucker, Ed Kelley (PhD from Harvard) when you have thousands of people saying the same things about their experience - the same way people collect data on headaches or acne, at some point subjective reports become "evidence" and "data." 

(I refer also to Mario Beauregard's "Brain Wars" for further cites and medical cases) 

I've documented these cases on film for the past 8 years. so I'm not offering that it's data lightly - but at some point, one has to step back from the insistence that its not data to ask - "why wouldn't we consider it data? At what point or degree would you consider it data, if scientists have gone on record saying that it is data?" 

Some folks will never see these reports as anytime but conjecture (for whatever reason). That's their path. But it's not mine. I've examined thousands of these cases, documented 25 on film and dozens in print - so to me - at the end of the day, since they all say relatively the same thing "I knew it was my wife/son/daughter/best friend because I know what their touch feels like, they answered questions before I could ask them" etc... these reports become what science requires: that they be consistent and replicable.

While this woman may have invented this incident, she didnt invent dying for an hour. The report she gives of seeing her husband is consistent with many NDEs. And as I've done, taking people who've had an NDE and filming them under hypnosis allows them to replicate the event. And as noted in "Its a Wonderful Afterlife" what they report is the same event yet with more clarity. They could dispute the memory of the event, but they do not. 

Doesnt matter what religion they are, what gender or background. They consistently say the same things.

HERE'S THE ARTICLE AS REPORTED FROM THE UK:

'Sonia, it's not your time... just go back to the kids': Bingo worker who 'died' for 56 minutes says she was saved by the spirit of her late husband who told her not to die

• Sonia Burton, 50, suffered a heart attack and had no pulse for 56 minutes
• Paramedics refused to give up on her and continued to carry out CPR
• Mum-of-four said her late husband visited her and said 'it's not your time'
• Sonia thanked medics who saved her when they were reunited on Tuesday

By JENNY STANTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:54 EST, 26 January 2016 | UPDATED: 06:22 EST, 27 January 2016

 
 
 
 
 

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A bingo worker who had no pulse for almost an hour after suffering a massive heart attack says her late husband visited her and said 'it's not your time'.

Sonia Burton was 'dead' for 56 minutes following her heart attack at the bingo hall in Ashington, Northumberland, but paramedics refused to give up on her.

The mum-of-four said: 'The only thing I remember is my late husband coming to me and saying "it's not your time, Sonia, go back to the children". Then I woke up in hospital.' 

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Saved: Sonia, who had no pulse for almost an hour, pictured with her daughters, granddaughter and brother

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Message: Sonia Burton with her late husband John. Sonia said she got a message from John, who died in 2004 following a heart attack aged just 37, while she was being resuscitated 

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On Tuesday, Sonia described herself as a 'living miracle' as she was reunited with the paramedics who brought her back to life.

'Every day I think how incredible it is that I'm still here,' she said. 'I don't take anything for granted.'

On the day of her heart attack, Sonia had gone about her daily tasks with daughter Rebecca, 30.

She had been due to start work at Gala Bingo Hall in Ashington at 5.30pm but went in early at 4.45pm to talk to colleagues and have a coffee.

The 50-year-old said: 'I mainly work in the dining area and had been heading out of there when I remember getting a pain in my chest and then collapsing.'

Out cold, Sonia's frantic boss Karen Arkle began trying to resuscitate her as an ambulance was called. 

Within four minutes, paramedic Jason Riches and emergency care assistant Gary French were on the scene, taking over CPR from Karen. 

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Sonia pictured with the people that saved her life - trainee paramedic Rosie Priest (left), and paramedics Stephen Eke (second from left) and Jason Riches (right)

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Sonia described herself as a 'living miracle' as she was reunited with the paramedics who saved her life

They were then backed up by paramedic Stephen Eke and first year student paramedic Rosie Priest.

For the next 56 minutes the team worked to save Sonia as she was transported to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

It was while they were trying to save her that Sonia said she got a message from late husband John, who died in 2004 following a heart attack aged just 37.

'I spoke to him and he told me that it was not my time and I should go back,' she said. 'To be honest, it felt very comforting.'

By the time they arrived at Cramlington hospital, Sonia was still unconscious but had started breathing. 

She was then transferred to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, where she underwent lifesaving surgery to have a stent fitted in her heart.

Eight days later she was back home, being cared for by brother, Mark, and her four children, Michael, 31, Megan, 22, Rebecca and 19 year old Thomas.

'It's strange to think I was technically dead for an hour,' added Sonia. 'If it wasn't for the guys being there so quickly and not giving up on me, it would have been a very different story. 

'My mind is a bit forgetful and I'm on a lot of medication but otherwise I'm doing really well - and, at the end of the day, I'm still here.'

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Sonia Burton, pictured with her granddaughter Sophie Murray, said it would have been a different story if the medics had given up on her

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 Sonia Burton, pictured with her family, was 'dead' for 56 minutes following her heart attack at the bingo hall

Sonia's brother Mark, who she lives with, had been walking the dog when he received the call to say his sister had collapsed.

He said: 'They were working on her when I got there. It was frantic, there was no life in her at all.

'I said 'please don't stop' and, they never did.

'I couldn't be more thankful for everything Stephen, Jason and Gary did for Sonia that day. To see Sonia like she was that day and to see her now is phenomenal, I can't express just what a good job they've done.'

Paramedic Stephen, 43, said: 'Jason and I have over 50 years' experience between us and neither of us have ever seen somebody come back after that length of time.

'We often get a return of a pulse, maybe one out of 10, but usually it's just the adrenaline that's making the heart work again and as soon as that wears off they go back into cardiac arrest.

'It's unbelievable to see how well Sonia's doing now.'

Paramedic Jason, 44, said: 'You go into this job to help people. It's a nice feeling knowing that we were able to make a difference and even better to see what a remarkable recovery she's made.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418068/Bingo-worker-died-56-minutes-says-saved-late-husband-visited-said-not-time.html#ixzz41Dd8r3qL
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Mother Earth and consciousness outside the brain

Can consciousness exist outside the brain?

Look deep into my eyes...

This is pretty much the crux of the question about the afterlife.

Great talk by Dr. Bruce Greyson on the topic can be found here:

There are scientists, reasonable people, very intelligent people, who don't believe it's the case.  There are doctors, lawyers, educators, politicians, business people who don't believe this is the case. There are entire sociological structures who don't believe it's the casee.  It's at the heart of whatever debate anyone wants to have about the afterlife.

And from my research into the topic, I can tell you that religious people don't really believe it either. Plenty of theories about the soul going somewhere - used to go to limbo, then when limbo was cancelled, Buddhists believe that there's a subtle clear light of consciousness that moves from one body to the next, but not that it's fully conscious - they describe it as a "wisp of smoke."  There are a number of eastern religions who feel that our consciousness after leaving our body is pushed/pulled moved around to places based on our karma, or good or bad deeds.  Certainly that's echoed in the Christian religions who believe that sin or the lack of it dictates where and how our consciousness moves around after we're gone.

Look deep into my eyes...

And then we have the post materialist scientists, those dealing with quantum physics who believe that there may be a myriad of universes, options, that are occuring, all of them beyond our will, and that in the afterlife we find ourselves pulled in a myriad of directions, perhaps millions of lifetimes and choices, ad nauseum.

It's just not in the data.

What is in the data - or research - or anecdotes - I don't particularly care what one calls them, but they're eyewitness accounts, we find that not only are we conscious after this life, there are many accounts of being hyper aware, or conscious of other details, all of our lifetimes, conscious of libraries, and classrooms and teachers and schools and groups of individuals who guide and counsel and love us, and laugh at us too.

Basically that everything we've been told about the afterlife - that it's a place or retribution, it's a place of revenge, it's a place of suffering from our actions here on the planet, is not supported by the data.  Or anecdotes.

Light reflecting on light

I use the word anecdote because that's the latest attack by materialist scientists talking about near death experiences.  "They're just anecdotes."  Well, if you get 10,000 anecdotes, and they all relatively report the same events, do we ignore them?  And then if you compare the 10,000 anecdotes to people who have had between life experiences, either via a coma, or while under deep hypnosis, or some other consciousness altering event, should we discount them when they all relatively say the same things about the afterlife?  I call them "eyewitness accounts" because what else are they?  If you get 10,000 people who witness the same event, you're going to get that many saying different things about it - but you're also going to find that most of them say the same things about it.  Because that's the nature of language, of communication, of syntax and nomenclature.  They express themselves in the best way they can.

Recently, I was given a transcript of a session that a person did while under deep hypnosis, where he was able to access some other entity that was not human in nature, not alien in nature either, but just some form of energetic thought that was beyond anything the person who had the experience had ever heard of or pondered before.

This person remembered a previous lifetime, the dates, life and journey of someone who lived in the 15th century, and during that lifetime had this apotheosis event where he/she felt connected to the earth.  And the hypnotherapist asked this person to describe that event in greater detail.  And further, the therapist asked the person to examine what that "connection to the earth" was about.

And in the session, this person claimed to be speaking to an entity - or energetic force if you will - that represented the planet itself.  Mother Earth. Gaia.  Whatever new age phrase you'd like to associate with this particular entity - that's been written about for eons, that many native cultures have claimed exists.

The pale blue dot has its own soul? Who knew?

And in this fairly mind blowing encounter, this entity shared some wisdom - that every planet has their own version of an energetic "oversoul" that represents the planets (and stars I would imagine) and that they're all interconnected.  That they all form some kind of network that is sentient.  I've heard this before during some of the sessions I've filmed - that the "universe is sentient" but I didn't quite understand the concept.  Perhaps this is a way of getting closer to that.

And this "mother earth" energy seemed slightly annoyed by the way humans had been treating their home.  She/he likened it to "having the flu." She/he was describing the human a bit the way we would describe germs that have taken over our health, and how that would eventually "no longer be the case."  This person couldn't access any apocalyptic version of events (for which I was grateful) but that things would "right themselves" in a way that it's supposed to.  And that the consciousness of the planet is being raised, and those who can't handle that transformation will choose to incarnate on other planets where they'll fit in.

Which I thought was kind of funny.  "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."  This person under deep hypnosis was claiming that those who can't handle the transformation of energy won't be coming back.  It does give one pause.  But it's just one person's observation, and if I get another dozen or so who say the same thing, I'll spend more time examining it.  But until then, it's just another anecdote.  Enjoy the weekend.

Luana's Birthday and Scott De Tamble talks Flipside hypnotherapy

For fans of "Flipside" today is our pal Luana Anders birthday - or day she chose to join us on the planet.

"The Essence of our Relationship"

Happy Birthday Luana! 

When I put this photo on the fridge in 1996 I said aloud "Look, Lu, the essence of our relationship." - laughs and cappuccinos from L.A. to Rome. About 3 months after she checked off the planet, Charles Grodin had the psychic James Van Praagh on his talk show, and Chuck had me secretly call in to test how accurate he might be. When I asked about "a friend named Luana" Van Praagh said "She says there's a photograph on your refrigerator that is the essence of your relationship." 

Luana's not gone. She's just not here. 

She's home.

Lu

On that note, I filmed this talk the other day at the Orange County Iands group about what it's like over there; home.

Scott De Tamble lightbetweenlives.com

In it, clinical hypnotherapist Scott De Tamble talks about between life hypnotherapy and some of the insight he's gained from his 14 years doing it, as well as the Michael Newton method of hypnotherapy.  After his 50 minute talk, there's a 20 minute open discussion, where I add my two cents about some of the cases that I've filmed with Scott.  

I've been filming between life hypnotherapy sessions for the past six years, many with Scott, and the transcripts appear in "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" or "It's a Wonderful Afterlife: Further Adventures in the Flipside" volumes one and two.  

The film "Flipside: a Journey into the Afterlife" features some of Scott's sessions, as well as interviews with other hypnotherapists.(all available online, in audible, ebook and paperback via flipsidethebook.com.) If you're interested in booking a session with Scott, he's in Claremont, CA, his website is lightbetweenlives.com. This talk was given at the Orange County Iands group (International Association of Near Death Studies), more info can be found at IANDS.org.  

This is an organization dedicated to sharing experiences of a spiritual nature and most everyone in the room of this talk has either had a near death experience, or is familiar with the concepts Scott is speaking about (and people ask questions that he answers at the end of his talk) the form of hypnosis that is 4 to 6 hours in length, and was pioneered by psychologist Michael Newton, who taught Scott his method that he honed over 30 years with 7000 clients. 

 In the recent books, I examine the near death experiences (which science has been able to catalog and use in peer reviewed journals - see the work of Dr. Bruce Greyson at UVA) and compare them with between life sessions, where people under deep hypnosis see, experience, hear or feel some of the same hallmarks that people do during an NDE - a past life review, a visit with a guide or higher energy, moving into the light and beyond it, the experience of unconditional love, etc.  

Luana waving from home.

The premise of my latest books is that if we can study NDEs in a scientific setting and get verifiable results (that can and have been duplicated, in studies like Dr. Sam Parnia's "Aware" project) then we should be able to view these accounts of deep hypnosis between life sessions through the same lens. 

Thousands of people have had them, report the same events no matter what their religious, ethnic or gender, and Michael Newton has trained hundreds of therapists who ask roughly the same questions to their clients - and the results are remarkable for their similarities, whether the client has ever been under hypnosis, or in many cases, is a skeptic and doesn't believe in any form of afterlife whatsoever.  

So please listen to this talk in its entirety, if you have the 70 minutes, and keep an open mind. 

I've known Scott for six years now, have filmed a number of sessions with him, and consider him a virtuoso in his abilities to explore and examine what a person says while under hypnosis about their previous lifetimes, and the journey of their souls between lifetimes.  This is a pretty amazing talk, and if you're open to it, it will change your perspective about the planet.  

Enjoy. And Happy Birthday Lu. Without further adieu:

The Jerusalem Sydnrome

So what's going on?

There's the Stendahl syndrome (named in 1989, but observed for centuries) where people faint, or feel dizzy while looking at the David in Florence (I've had that myself) and the Paris syndrome where Japanese tourists wig out while in the City of Light (I've felt wobbly in Paris too, but usually after a late night of playing piano at Monteverde in Odeon).  

In the article below science tells us that there's three possibilities.  1. People go nuts visiting Jerusalem. 2. People are nuts who visit Jerusalem, then it manifests. 3. People are temporarily nuts (but when removed from the city, return to normal.)

Or....

In "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" there's a deep hypnosis session where a woman (a friend actually) reports remembering a past life where she lived in Jerusalem.  It happened to be in the year 18, and when she was asked in detail about her experience there - including the question "Have you ever seen anyone speak in public?" she remembering seeing Jesus speak. 

As noted in the chapter, LBL therapist Paul Aurand in NYC has had numerous clients where they claim to remember a previous lifetime in Jerusalem (a handful, but enough to mention it when I asked if he'd seen any patterns or trends in his work), where people remembering knowing or seeing Jesus.

What's great about the Jerusalem syndrome is that it affects all religions.  People report being "overwhelmed" and then they have some kind of psychotic break where they "claim they used to live there before."  And instead of treating these people with hypnosis - and asking them question about what they saw or experienced in a non-judgmental way, or by asking neutral questions like "why did you come to Jerusalem?" they're given psychotropic drugs to cure them of their "illness."

Wow.

Last time I looked the Hippocratic oath is about helping people - not in the manner that the Doctor believes or insists on believing, but in a manner that actually helps the patient.  So why not hypnotherapy?  Why not learn the techniques taught by the Newton Institute that allow for clients to examine and explore all manner of issues as to what may or may not be happening with their patient?

But I digress.

In the syndrome itself, from Wikipedia: as listed Jerusalem syndrome 

"is a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences that are triggered by a visit to the city of Jerusalem. It is not endemic to one single religion or denomination but has affected Jews, Christians and Muslims of many different backgrounds.

The best known, although not the most prevalent, manifestation of Jerusalem syndrome is the phenomenon whereby a person who seems previously balanced and devoid of any signs of psychopathology becomes psychotic after arriving in Jerusalem. The psychosis is characterised by an intense religious theme and typically resolves to full recovery after a few weeks or after being removed from the area. The religious focus of Jerusalem syndrome distinguishes it from other phenomena, such as Stendhal syndrome in Florence or Paris syndrome for Japanese tourists."

So.  As painful as it may be for modern medicine, there must be included another possibility, one that requires examining how consciousness may not be relegated to the brain (Dr. Bruce Greyson's "Is Consciousness Created by the Brain" on youtube will help, Mario Beauregard PhD's "Brain Wars" or Gary Schwartz PhD's "Sacred Promise" - all scientists discussing how it's possible that memories might exist outside the physical body) - or we can just ask the people who under deep hypnosis remember a lifetime in Jerusalem.  

The key is to ask questions.  "Where did you live? What was the name of your parent or relative? What did you do for a living?" and "Why is this memory coming forth today, what significance does it have on your lifetime?"  

I hate to upset the apple cart, but there is a distinct fourth possibility with regard to this syndrome, if we can rule out that the person was psychotic prior (and of course, we'd have to examine if they'd spent most of their lifetime trying to get back to Jerusalem) to their visit, if they were prone to taking drugs or hallucinating, or, if they actually remember a lifetime where they lived in Jerusalem.

Instead of wondering "how is this possible?" or "How does that physically work?" wonder "How come I haven't looked into this before?"  Once you begin to examine multiple memories of people living in a particular city or previous lifetime, you can start to compare the details of these various lifetimes.  In Brian Weiss' work, he recounts having a client who remember Brian living in Jerusalem in a previous lifetime.  Dr. Weiss had told NO ONE about his past life memory of living in Jerusalem and wearing an robe which had orange piping as part of his daily wear, and during a past life regression, a client said that he too had lived in Jerusalem, and he remembered Dr. Weiss as well.  In fact he remembered a particular incident in Jerusalem and suddenly said "And you were there!" and described Dr. Weiss in detail, EXACTLY as Dr. Weiss had seen himself in his own past life memory.

Let's pretend for a moment that Dr. Weiss is telling us the truth. (I do, but many may not.)  Let's pretend for a moment that somehow this client sought out his services, not realizing that he'd met him in a previous lifetime.  And finally, let's just let the details of this story be what they are (instead of the rather stunning detail that both were attending the moment when Jesus carried the cross on the Via Della Rosa).

One fella standing off to the side.  One fella standing on the other side of the road.  He's lying on a couch in Dr. Weiss' office, and remembering a previous lifetime where he was standing by the side of the road, and suddenly says "and you were there" and describes in detail the same outfit that Dr. Weiss saw himself in.

What are the odds of that happening?

There aren't any really.  Some make the argument that the "client was reading the Doctor's mind" but then you have to demonstrate how that works, rather than how that dismisses this story.

And once we've accepted Dr. Weiss' story for what it is - just data - then we can see that the idea of the Jerusalem syndrome needs to be examined in the light of scientific data with regard to how and when and why this person remembers a lifetime where they once lived in the city they're currently having a "psychotic episode."

I just ran across this article from Huffington Post where Dr. Weiss did a session with his daughter Amy who was suffering from cataracts - and by doing her past life regression (in a group! from her own dad!) she saw herself in a lifetime where she was blinded for her beliefs - and then end result of this memory was that she was cured of her cataracts.  

"Amy says she closed her eyes and heard Dr. Weiss instruct her to go back in time to when the symptoms first began. Rather than picturing herself as the young woman she was, Amy experienced something very different. "Immediately, I saw myself in the body of an old man with long white hair, living in the Middle Ages," Amy says.

This old man, she explains, lived a very solitary life inside a hut. "I was basically a hermit," Amy says of her past life. "But these townspeople thought I was a wizard and that I was doing evil."

The townspeople took action, storming the hut. "They came in with their torches and set fire to everything I owned," Amy says. "And the fire burned my eyes. It blinded me... I could feel his pain, and, so, that man just sunk into a deep depression."

Dr. Weiss then told his workshop attendees to go to the end of that life and hear what the message of that life was. "The message I heard was, 'Sadness clouds the eyes,'" Amy remembers. "For me, that had a double meaning, not just that I had been carrying the cataracts and the literal blindness from the past life, but... I had been carrying that man's sadness in the present life too."

After this regression, much to Amy's surprise, her doctors told her that her cataracts had disappeared. "There could be biological explanations for why my cataracts healed," she says. "But it doesn't really matter to me. What matters to me is that they were gone."

So if past life regression can help remove cataracts, might it also help people treat the Jerusalem syndrome?

Bizarre Syndrome Makes Visitors to Jerusalem Go Crazy

 

By Tanya LewisApril 4, 2015 12:47 PM

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View photo

A small number of people who visit Jerusalem have developed seemingly spontaneous religious delusions, a set of conditions known as "Jerusalem syndrome."

As Christians and Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the holidays of Easter and Passover, many will flock to the city of Jerusalem. Since ancient times, the city has been a magnet for religious pilgrims from some of the world's largest faiths — namely, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

But for a small percentage of these visitors, their reverence ofJerusalem may become pathological — in other words, a visit to the city may trigger obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychotic experiences.

Some psychiatrists have dubbed this condition "Jerusalem syndrome," and say it happens in people who have no prior history of mental illness. However, others dispute the diagnosis and say the condition is more likely part of a broader psychosis, and is not unique to Jerusalem. [Top 10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders]

"I'd never heard of it before," admitted Simon Rego, director of psychology training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "You see things like this emerge periodically in the literature, where people think they have found a unique syndrome," but it may just be the result of an underlying mental illness, Rego told Live Science.

Jerusalem syndrome was first identified in 2000. Israeli psychiatrists reported in The British Journal of Psychiatry that they had examined 1,200 tourists who had been admitted to the city's Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center with "severe, Jerusalem-generated mental problems" between 1980 and 1993. The researchers identified three varieties of Jerusalem syndrome.

The first type included people who suffered from a previous psychotic illness, which often made them believe they were characters from the Bible. For example, one American tourist who had paranoid schizophrenia believed he was the biblical Samson, and visited Israel because he felt compelled to move one of the stone blocks in the Western Wall. (After some commotion, police intervened and took the man to the hospital.)

Patients with the second form of the syndrome may have some signs of mental disorders but not a full-blown mental illness. This category includes some people in nonmainstream Christian groups who settle in Jerusalem to wait for the reappearance of Jesus Christ. The researchers also gave the example of a healthy German man who was obsessed with finding the "true" religion, and came to Jerusalem to study Judaism, but wound up having a psychotic episode in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built on the site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and buried).

Finally, the third type of patient identified in the study had no previous history of mental illness, had a psychotic episode while in Jerusalem and recovered spontaneously after leaving Israel. Only 42 of the 1,200 patients in the report fit these criteria.

...Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital, said he thinks Jerusalem syndrome may result when a person who is at risk for psychosis undergoes the stress of traveling to another country and is immersed in a place of religious significance.

"I think what happens is, vulnerable people can be inspired by the circumstances around them," which, in Jerusalem, happens to be religion, Manevitz told Live Science.

Rego agreed that the psychotic syndrome is not unique to Jerusalem. It may be influenced by being in the city, he said, but not caused by it. "If it was purely causal, you would expect everybody who visits Jerusalem to get it," he said.

Flipside in the News... Ed Sheeran Et Al

Just wanted to weigh in on some recent news stories that point to the research in "Flipside" and "It's A Wonderful Afterlife."
(On SALE AT AMAZON)

Let's start with the Brit Awards.  While winning his award, the amazing singer and musician Ed Sheeran said:

"Since I was a little kid I dreamed of people all over the world singing my songs and although I've got a long way to go, this shows that I'm stepping in the right direction." Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran, photo: Daily Mail UK

I've asked a number of people "their first conscious thought they'd be doing what they're doing" and often hear of recurring dreams, visions, or "always knew" as if the future lies somewhere under the surface of our reality. 

Not that we're destined, as free will reportedly dictates our path (to accomplish or screw up), but the dreams or visions appear to have little or nothing to do with nature or nurture. Genetics or environment seem to only support the outcome, but its the consciousness of knowing your path that puts one in the "right" direction. (Sheeran quote is buried after Madge's tumble)

I've come across many accounts of people who had profound dreams, recurring dreams or visions of what or who they were to become.  It was also in their behavior in the school yard.  

I asked one FBI agent when she first became conscious of what she might want to do in her life.  She said in preschool, because "I started keeping lists on what people did in school every day. What they wore, what they ate."  (As quoted in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife")

Was she seeing into the future?  Or seeing the path that she'd already chosen for her to be on?  Does it matter?  It does if you're a parent or guardian, and your child says something silly like "When I grow up I'm going to sing music to millions of people."  The answer is, "Cool! Let me get a camera and I want you to say that on camera, because in 20 years, it will be very valuable."

Just like Dave Schultz (the Olympic wrestler, whose story is told in "Foxcatcher") told his father when he was 5 that he "wasn't going to be here very long," but that he had come here to "teach a lesson in love."  (A conversation the father didn't remember until he said it at the eulogy.)  That's a hard pill to swallow - but when you consider the growing mountain of evidence that shows that we don't die - that we are here on stage temporarily, and that those we love have not disappeared, or gone into oblivion, it can be a source of comfort to those who would like to know there is data that backs that up.

Dave Schultz told his dad he wouldn't be here long.

Then, I found this clip, on the anniversary of George Harrison choosing to be on the planet (his birthday), an old friend of mine posted this link to his speaking about death. George says in the clip:

"What happens when you die? That, to me, is the only thing that's of any importance. The rest is just secondary." "If you want to know anything in this life, you just need to knock on the door. Which I found through meditation. It's all within." (At the end a live version of "All Things Must Pass.")  

"What happens when we die, is the most important thing for us to know while we are on the planet."  

Why is that?

Because the answer will inform how you live your life, how you relate to people, how you relate to fear, to stress, to other people behaving badly.  

And finally, a "Near Death Story" with a different outcome:

In the Independent Newspaper in the UK, there's this story about a fellow who "died twice" and both times didn't see or experience anything (consciously) and they use it to report that "nothing happens after we die." No light, no tunnel. Nada. Zip.

Tunnel? Doorway? Different planes of existence? Pixels on a page?  All of the above.

Au contraire.

One person had that experience - an unconscious one - but thousands have had the opposite experience.

We all have different dreams, different experiences of being awake, widely divergent concepts of what being alive is. Or consciousness is. This fella experienced being dead and nothing came to mind. No tunnel of light. Just blankness. 

Never mind thousands have the opposite experience; scientists like Dr. Bruce Greyson at UVA studying cases for decades, Dr. Sam Parnia's published results of the extensive 7 year Aware Study showing consciousness existing outside of dead people, or the 100 cases Mario Beauregard PhD cites in his neuroscience research where people had no blood to the brain for minutes, and yet saw, heard new information from their "out of body" perspective. 

I got pals all over the planet.  These fellas are in Kashmir. Made me a rug.

Some people are actually convinced nothing happens after we die. Sorry to say, it's just not in the data.

Finally, if you want proof of the afterlife, I suggest you watch this clip.  In it, author David Bennett ("Voyage of Purpose") recounts his near death experience where he saw into the future and saw that he would be diagnosed with cancer that would only give him months to live, and then survive it (knowing he would survive it, because he'd already seen that he would). His case has been examined by science: Dr. Greyson at UVA.  I'll let him describe his experience in his own words:



My two cents.

"Flipside" and "It's A Wonderful Afterlife."
(On SALE AT AMAZON)