It's been a subject of long debate. Does consciousness exist outside the brain?
With accounts of Near death experiences as detailed in Dr. Alexander's book, "Proof of Heaven" and the best selling "Heaven is For Real" along comes a couple of articles I wanted to mention. One is this amazing story of a man in a vegetative state for the past 12 years, and a British scientist, Dr. Owen, who has been studying this research for years, has shown that he could communicate with the consciousness of the man in the vegetative state by using an MRI machine.
It's a simple experiment, but it's results are quite profound. A recent breakthrough on communicating with a patient in a vegetative state has the medical world reeling - and patients' families thrilled.
from The examiner.com: "According to an article in the Toronto Star, on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, Scott Routley, 39, a victim of a car accident which resulted in his vegetative state 12 years ago, is letting his brain do the talking for him say leading scientists at the University of Western Ontario’s Brain and Mind Institute. Scientists are using an MRI to connect to his brain and can essentially "see" what he is thinking when they ask him questions.
This breakthrough work on brain activity has allowed him to answer questions posed by scientists - for example, they have learned he is not in pain. “It became very clear that Scott had some awareness and he could respond in the scanner to the task we asked him to do while he was in there,” British neuroscientist professor Adrian Owen, who leads the research team, told the Toronto Star Tuesday.
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| British scientist Adrian Owen |
“What we have done here for the very first time is ask a patient a question that is actually relevant to their clinical care. “Asking somebody whether they are in pain in tremendously important, because of course if the answer had been yes, we could do something,” he said in the Star article. It's hoped that research of this kind will lead to routine communications with at least one in five patients in this state. “That’s where we are trying to get to. We are trying to create what’s called a brain computer interface … some form of a machine that could allow somebody like Scott to routinely communicate with the outside word . . . We would like to give these patients a voice to enable them to actually communicate their wishes and needs,” he told the Star.
“We put him in an MRI scanner and while he is in the scanner we ask him to imagine doing certain things in his mind . . . for example, we ask him to imagine using his arms. Scott is unable to use his arms in reality but it turns out he is perfectly able to imagine moving his arms. And we can pick that up on the scanner and we can tell he’s doing what we ask him to do,” Owen said in the Star article.
However, for day to day communications, an MRI is much too costly, he said. Rather, it's possible an EEG machine, which costs approximately $75,000, could be hooked up to the patient's bedside for this purpose. The EEG uses scalp electrodes to measure response from the brain. Owen said with Scott, they ask him to imagine something, and researchers can see a certain area of the brain light up. When they ask him to stop the imagining, the light goes out. In this way, they were able to ascertain, twice, that he was not in any pain. “It is an extremely powerful technique for trying to understand a lot more about what it’s like to be in this condition,” Owen said, in the article."
This clip from ABC news:
The other story of late I wanted to bring your attention to is that of a woman whose son died and has begun to communicate with her from the afterlife. The things that he says to her are consistent with the research presented in "Flipside: a Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the afterlife" - as well as other books like Galen Stoller's "My Life after Life."
Pretty much everything Tony is saying to his mother is accurate in terms of the research that Michael Newton has done ("Journey of Souls") I hasten to add that when people speak to someone from the great beyond it's usually just for that person to hear - and I think that applies to his references of "Christmas" and gifts being given. We have a tendency to equate that with our own experience - but whose to say that his soul group doesn't celebrate Christmas or some form of gift giving once a year? Goes without saying that if you're from another group or religious background, it would make more sense to celebrate something else - but the concept of giving gifts is not relegated to our earthly plane, according to the research.
And he mentions "the Hitler question" which is frequently brought up in this research. I"ve always said that we spend a great deal of time going through our past life review, and experiencing what it's like for all the negative energy we've engendered in a lifetime - if that's the case, then I would imagine Hitler (and Pol Pot, Stalin, etc) would all be still going through a lengthy review. In this case he describes counseling - and all that implies - compassion, forgiveness, examination of negative energy by experiencing themselves. The reports from the afterlife or spirit world are uniform - it's not based on a belief or religion or philosophy - these reports are consistent, and I've spent the past five years documenting them film (and are recreated in the book). As a reminder you can find the book through flipsidethebook.com, and the film through flipsidethefilm.com
Here's the original story:
GRIEVING Sally Woodmansee has a hotline to heaven – through her son who died in a car crash two years ago.
Today we bring you letters that Tony, who was 20 when he died, has written through her hand describing who God is, where heaven is and even its colour scheme.
Sally, from Herne Bay, Kent, was devastated to think she would never speak to her beloved boy after his accident.
But now she says the pair communicate through a phenomenon known as automatic writing — with Tony’s spirit gripping Sally’s hand.
Sally, 52, said: “I’m no psychic and at first I thought nothing like this could be possible.
“But now I know the only explanation is that I am talking to my son.”
As well as talking about everyday family matters, Tony has told his mum the secrets of heaven.
Here we exclusively reveal extracts from his letters.
TONY ON GOD
“God is the whole light, the full sense of love and good in us all. Whether we hang on tightly to all that or let it slip away is our own decision.
“God is not a person. Feel good about yourself and you’re feeling God. To give love and to feel love, to love yourself, is to love God.
“It isn’t looked on with the right attitude today. We can all get on with our everyday lives and include those feelings so naturally. That’s all it takes.”
October 20, 2012
TONY ON HEAVEN
“Once you have arrived, you go to communities that are full of people you will have been connected and familiar with on Earth — family, friends and faces you know that have at some time crossed paths with your life.
“It all helps in the settling in process, especially if you are young and your life is cut short or even if your passing is sudden but you weren’t ready to leave the life you loved.
“Accepting the change can be almost instant or can take a while. After all, everyone is different.
“There are no set borders for countries, no boundaries to towns or villages. It is all as one.
“Who we are spiritually creates our boundaries here and our journey through life and beyond the physical. It is how the life we lead on Earth reflects the life we continue with here and learning to improve who we are.
“Geographically speaking, Heaven surrounds and covers the entire Earth.
“At ground level, more and more are missing out on the very important but simple message from Heaven, to love each other, genuinely love each other.
“It is not a saying, it is a doing. It needs bringing back to the surface and to be shown.”
June 16, 2012
TONY ON LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR
“Positivity and hope create strength. People are getting weak by their own doing. It really is time for change.
Tragic ... Tony Woodmansee
“It is this simple: Lose the hate and find the love. Feelings don’t disappear as if by magic — if there were issues and troubles with anyone before, they mellow and become far less important.
“We must realise that a lot of troubles and worries aren’t half as serious or necessary as we make them out to be. It is magnified by negativity.
“It becomes far easier to resolve differences once you are here.
“There aren’t added pressures here, so we can see everything more clearly.
“We encourage everyone to forgive and accept that we are not perfect in our own lives. So it is good to accept an apology when it is genuinely meant.
“It is easy to see a situation for what it really is and to understand more about why we behave the way we do sometimes.
"It is where freedom of choice and useful guidance come in to play.”
June 16 and 23, 2012
TONY ON INJURIES
“When we pass there aren’t any physical effects, no matter how bad it was. The only thing that comes here is your spirit. It takes most people very little time to settle.
“When someone has had a long-term illness they can either fight for their life until they pass, usually because they can’t bear the thought of leaving everyone they love, or they can be ready and relieved to leave all their pain and suffering behind.”
September 6, 2011
TONY ON JOBS IN HEAVEN
“There is room for any useful profession. There is room to continue with it, learn from it, teach it. Share knowledge or help others in need of your guidance. Payment comes as job satisfaction. It is the only wage packet here.
“It is full of the feelgood factor. So it is a job well done. It can all help on the next life path.”
June 16, 2012
Pen pal ... Tony 'communicates' with his mum through automatic writing
Stewart Williams
TONY ON THE FUTURE
“It is time for our strengths to join for the same cause.
“We need to reduce the doom and gloom people hang on to. We can change the way of their thinking, or at least help. It will help them to help themselves.
“The world is in need of purity, honesty and great change for the good before all is lost.
“We are all capable of change within ourselves. We are all given the choice of right or wrong, good or bad. We all make mistakes. We need to recognise and rectify them as best we can. So we learn not to make the same mistakes.”
October 23, 2012
TONY ON CHRISTMAS
“Christmas is not like it is on Earth, where people buy presents they can’t afford then stress about the debt they are in for months after.
“We celebrate in a much more traditional and meaningful way. We all get together and spend time with family and friends.
“And yes, we have presents. It will always be something meaningful and useful. Sounds boring but it is not. Everything is heartfelt. Sound like heaven? It is.”
December 11, 2011
TONY ON HEAVEN’S COLOUR SCHEME
“Heaven is full of bright, vivid and very intense colours. They aren’t colours that are easy to miss and aren’t seen daily on Earth. They are unmistakable.
“The nearest anyone will see to these colours in their natural form is somewhere tropical and in the deep sea.”
December 19, 2011
TONY ON CHILDREN WHO DIE
“Children are looked after in a family environment.
“It will be the mother’s mum, if she is here, who will take over the care, unless she’s got enough already going on — then it goes to the next closest female.
“There’s no animosity over who looks after the kids.”
September 4, 2011
TONY ON ABORTION
“Abortion is a hard word. But then so is termination.
“More and more it is taken very lightly as a way of changing a situation, with little thought about the consequences.
“With abortion rates so high, the consequence is a high volume of babies arriving here and others taking on responsibility for them — though it is done with more love than anyone can imagine.
“Children should be born out of love, not sex.”
September 4, 2011
Evil ... Tony says Hitler, Myra Hindley and Saddam Hussein are reminded of their acts in heaven
Press Portrait Service/Getty/Gamma
TONY ON EVIL PEOPLE
“This may come as a big surprise to some but no matter who they are, good or really bad, all come here. We all enter Earth in the same way. We all physically leave one day.
“The spiritual life afterwards reflects who you were and how you lived your life. People who give love on Earth easily live a rewarding life here. But people like Adolf Hitler, Myra Hindley and Saddam Hussein are shown what they did as reminders, because if you are seriously bad your passing can wipe the enormity of the destruction from your memory.
“Money, power and possessions are irrelevant when you pass. But they are more often the path to bad or even evil life choices.
“Mental health issues that anyone has on Earth don’t follow you here.
“The worse people were there, the more spiritual guidance they need here.
“There is still more good in the world than bad. Sadly, the baddies grab the world’s attention and the headlines. Good will always be stronger than bad. When people start to remember that and believe it, harmony can be restored to somewhere people will be glad to be. The bad stuff has helped lose sight of that.
“Though it has been man-made, everyone needs to help to undo the damage.”
June 11, 2012 Talking To Tony by Sally Woodmansee and Laurie Stone is available as an eBook to download from Amazon for the Kindle, at £5.14. For more details, visit talkingtotony.com.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/4636931/sally-woodmansee-talking-to-tony-letters.html#ixzz2CERgVPhW
