God, death, the afterlife…. subjects not comfortably spoken about between people, which is a shame considering how much our beliefs affect us. The research I’ve done and experiences I’ve had related to this topic have truly changed my view of life. This article will share with you the journey I’ve been on since I was 17, trying to make sense of everything related to GOD. Being a uni science nerd, I used to be adamant that peer reviewed, double blind, randomised research had to be presented to prove anything to me. Therefore, this article has pertinent videos, books and experiences written to show you how I have come to my conclusions on this subject. I’ve experienced a lot of emotions whilst taking this journey. Be prepared to be defensive, skeptical, or shocked. Or possibly more comfortable knowing you have some confirmation of beliefs that you may already have. I personally feel much more at ease now with who I am and what I am doing in this life. I hope it does the same for you.
From a Primal perspective, what does GOD have to do with health?
If you are familiar with our Primal 6, we believe your thought patterns are the number one things that affect your health. Therefore, the thoughts and emotions that we have about religion, spirituality, afterlife, life purpose, sin, guilt and the existence of heaven and hell, can have profound effects on your thought patterns, shaping the way you live your life and your overall health. This is certainly the case for me, and why I’m sharing it with you. I encourage your comments below to share your own experiences and thoughts.
Does true health have a Spiritual component?
Definition of Health [Webster’s Online Dictionary]: the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially: freedom from physical disease or pain. This definition was similar to what I first encountered studying Human Movement / Exercise Science in University. Such words like ‘spirit’ and ‘soul’ had never held much weight with me as I had never grown up in a religious or spiritual family and didn’t really know what they meant. Since then, I have always had in the back of my mind that my own health must not be complete due to not having any spiritual belief system. I didn’t want to just follow the herd though. Hence my ensuing thirst for knowledge grew and the journey began.
Stressed by Christianity as a Teenager
At school, I always had a wide variety of friends, from Skinheads to Christians. ‘Don’t mock what you don’t understand’ being the credo I lived to. So I decided to look deeper into why my Christian friends were doing what they were doing. I started attending church, going to bible study and asking a million questions about who GOD was. Being so interested in science, I found it very hard to believe in anything not tangible that I couldn’t see with my own eyes. The idea of not having sex before marriage didn’t appeal to me either when I had such a natural Primal urge to have sex as an 18 year old! I persisted with my studies though. The biggest aspect of Christianity that stressed me out was the idea of an afterlife where you either go to heaven or hell. This made me very uncomfortable with death, as even though I was only a half-hearted Christian, my ‘sins’ against the rules of Christianity could condemn me to a fiery pit for eternity. The Christian view of spirituality was not working for me and therefore affecting my health.
Discovering a multitude of beliefs during my world travels
Nothing beats traveling the world to learn about and experience how other cultures and traditions have been molded by religion. Learning about different religions around the world other than my Christian knowledge, was a crucial experience I needed to have. All religions think that their version of GOD is the right one. Whilst I needed these experiences, it really just confused me more! Which is the right one? Are any of them right? Is it all just designed to control the people?
A new way of looking at life…and death
The work of Dr. Michael Newton, in his book Journey of Souls, had a profound affect on my thoughts with regards to a spiritual world existence. Newton was an atheist psychologist and hypnotherapist who stumbled on his ability to regress people to past lives and lives between lives. Through his inter-life hypnotherapy research, he has found conclusive information about the afterlife across the board with his patients. Regardless of their religion, spiritual stance or lack thereof, they all say the same things. From Fishpond.com.au: “In this groundbreaking book, 29 subjects under hypnosis reveal graphic details about how it feels to die, what the spirit world is really like, where the soul goes and what it does there, why souls come back in certain bodies, how to recognize soul mates, and much more. They confirm the existence of an immortal soul whose journey between lives confers meaning on our earthly existence.”
Buy here:
www.amazon.com
www.fishpond.com.au
Videos and documentaries that have shaped my current beliefs:
Zeitgeist
[Documentary]
Controversial take on the origin of the bible and the crossover similarities of 15 + religions. This video shows just Part 1 – Religion.
The Pharmacratic Inquisition
[Documentary – Lecture]
Lecture by two American historians backing up much of the information from Zeitgeist, plus detailed information on the relevance of psychedelic drugs in all world religions. This was the first information shown to me negating the origin of the bible.
Sensing Murder
[New Zealand TV Show – VIDEO]
Evidence for the spirit world and the power of psychics. Multiple Psychics that don’t know each other, solving crimes for the Police simultaneously, producing the same information about each of the crimes. Here is the preview for Sensing Murder Episode: Blood Money – George Engelbrecht.
Am I Normal? – Spirituality
[Documentary – BBC – 6 parts]
Great BBC documentary on spirituality and religion from a scientific view.
Reincarnation
[ABC USA Interview]
Parents in the USA discover that their child’s nightmares of being attacked in an aircraft dogfight and knowledge of things related to military and aircraft, are that of his soul incarnated from a past life. This video blew me away and instantly changed my views on Christianity and the notion that we die and go to either heaven or hell for eternity.
Tom Silver – Hypnotherapist
A hypnotherapist who does past life regression therapy.
What the Bleep Do We Know?
[Documentary]
From their website: “Starring Marlee Matlin and 14 Scientists and Mystics. Exploring the worlds of Quantum Physics, Neurology, and Molecular Biology in relation to the spheres of Spirituality, Metaphysics and Polish weddings. Part documentary, part drama, part animation, How does it all fit together???” A documentary you have to watch a couple of times to get your head around but very interesting none the less.
Dr. Brian Weiss: Past-Life Skeptic to Past-Life Expert
[Oprah Winfrey Interview]
Back in 1980, Dr. Brian Weiss was using hypnotherapy with a patient named Catherine to discover the roots of her paralyzing phobias. During one of their sessions, Dr. Weiss asked Catherine to go back to the time those phobias started. Instead of going back to childhood, she went back 4,000 years in time to a past life. At first, Dr. Weiss, an Ivy League-trained psychiatrist, thought what she was saying was unbelievable. Then, Catherine said something that turned Dr. Weiss from skeptic to believer. Watching Brian’s videos motivated me to explore his books recommended below.
[Interview]
In this video Author Michael Newton explains in detail the latest details and most recent groundbreaking discoveries that reveal, for the first time, the mystery of life in the spirit world after death on Earth―proof that our consciousness survives from the botth in Journey of Souls by Michael Newton, Ph.D. Michael’s book ‘Journey of Souls’ then was the ground breaking book for me.
Craving more information on spirituality, here’s what I found:
Same Soul, Many Bodies – Dr. Brian Weiss
[BOOK]
After reading the work of Dr. Michael Newton, I found another doctor / psychologist / hypnotherapist from the states doing the same work, but also ‘progressing’ people. Fishpond Review:”Through dozens of case histories detailing both past-life and future-life experiences, Dr. Weiss shows how the choices that we make now will determine our future quality of life. From Samantha, who overcame academic failure once she learned of her future as a great physician, to Evelyn, whose fears and prejudices ended after she envisioned prior and forthcoming lives as a hate victim, Dr. Weiss gives concrete examples of lives transformed by regression and progression therapy.” Read about Dr. Weiss as a guest on Oprah.
Buy here:
www.amazon.com
www.fishpond.com.au
The Maharishi Effect
[BOOK]
Hardcore scientific studies that were done in the late 70’s to early 80’s that proved meditation in groups of hundreds to thousands of people, had a statistically significant effect in improving everything from crime rate, to the weather, to the Dow Jones! This book has helped me to confirm that power and energy that we cannot see does exist, and most certainly has an influential effect on our health. Our thoughts, or lack of them, through achieving ‘pure consciousness’ or the art of meditating to think of nothing, affect those around us, and worldwide! The original book is very hard to find. Amazon has some second hand copies last time I looked.
Buy here:
www.amazon.com
Destiny of Souls – Dr. Michael Newton Ph.D.
[BOOK]
Dr. Michael Newton’s second book putting the experience of the afterlife from 70+ patients, into this extremely detailed 409 page book. He answers the full range of questions one could ever think to ask about life after death: How can a soul be in heaven and reincarnate at the same time? How are new souls created? How are souls who’ve done evil on earth punished? These and many other questions are answered with amazing congruity between respondents.
Buy here:
www.amazon.com
www.fishpond.com.au
David and Rosa – Applied Kinesiology & Intuitive Healing
This gifted couple taught me so much about how emotions you have experienced that are stored within your subconscious or superconscious can greatly affect your body, causing pain and disease. I have referred numerous clients to them, who also found that diet and lifestyle changes could only do much if their thoughts hadn’t been addressed. See Rosa and David’s contact details here.
More Pieces of the Puzzle falling into place…
I had an eye-opening past life regression therapy session done on myself in Sydney. I started doing regular meditation, and have had visions which have significantly affected me mentally and physically. One meditation vision resulted in the elimination of a particular pain in my body where pain had long existed. And as I talked about my spiritual journey with intelligent friends whom I respect, I found that many of them, too, had undeniable spiritual experiences.
Sure, my beliefs change slightly every now and then as I learn something new, but I am without a doubt convinced by my experiences and studies, that a higher power, source of energy, creator, Allah, God exists. Believe what you will, but check out the articles, books and videos above before you scold any claims. I must admit, my scientific scrutiny has now wavered a lot for many different reasons based on my experiences over the years. Science, I find, is constantly contradicting itself, based on who pays for the study, and most certainly cannot prove everything. Especially in the case of God.
Some conclusions that have brought me inner peace…
– Christian versions of Heaven and Hell do not exist.
– Sin does not send you to hell.
– A spiritual world exists in which we all go to when we die.
– We live multiple lives as different genders (and other things) hence life is not short, just this one we are currently in!
– We have several soul mates that we continually live lives with.
– Each life on earth is about learning lessons until we have reached a pinnacle in our understanding (enlightenment: call it what you will)
– Physical pain can most definitely be carried across from a past life
– Most religion has elements of truth in it about the big picture but is mainly just a means of controlling masses of people (my opinion)
Hope this article got you thinking! I believe we all have different ways of experiencing spirituality. Whether you are religious, aethiest or spiritual, if you have found peace and happiness within yourself, you will be much healthier and happier.
Is there a God? How Your Religion and Beliefs May Affect Your Health – November 2015