# Mysticism/Print version

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# What is mysticism?

In mysticism, we learn that there is a higher, holistic reality. This reality can be understood as a higher consciousness that encompasses everything and permeates everything. It can be seen as personal and impersonal. It may be referred to as God. There are many names and descriptions for it in various religions, such as Nirvana (emptiness/unity) in Buddhism, Brahman (the absolute, the ultimate reality) in Hinduism or communion (light, Holy Spirit, spiritual energy) in Christianity. Almost all founders of religions have had enlightenment experiences. God is a fact of experience on the spiritual path. In Buddhism, enlightenment is central and in Christianity the center is God (God-consciousness). These are two different paths to the same goal. The goal is a mystery, which brings together many different spiritual ways.

## What is mysticism?

This section draws heavily from a version of the Wikipedia article on mysticism.
Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God. The believer seeks a direct experience, intuition, or insight into divine reality/the deity or dieties. Followers pursue certain ways of living, or practices that are intended to nurture those experiences. Mysticism can be distinguished from other forms of religious belief and worship by its emphasis on the direct personal experience of a unique state of consciousness, particularly those of a peaceful, insightful, blissful, or even ecstatic character.
Such pursuit has long been an integral part of the religious life of humanity, pursued in private or group devotions, worship, rituals, as well as in the habits of everyday life. In many long-established religions, it has been explicitly pursued within monasticism, where rules governing the everyday life of monks and nuns provide an environment that encourages the cultivation of mystical states of consciousness. Practices particularly associated with mysticism are meditation and contemplative prayer. Mysticism may be dualistic, maintaining a distinction between the self and the divine, or nondualistic. Many religions teach new devotees to begin with a dualist approach, and then to work toward a fully unified experience, transcending the self to be at one with all of existence, and/or the diety or dieties.
In ancient Greece, particularly around 300 BCE to about 100 CE, the mystery religions pursued the worship of one or several known Greek gods and goddesses, and sometimes some from other cultures. Using secret religious rituals, the mystery religions provided the mysticism that many Greeks, either at home or in colonies abroad, desired during the uncertain times after Alexander conquered Greece and surrounding areas in the fourth century BCE.
In early Christianity the term mystikos (Greek) referred to three dimensions of worship, the biblical, the liturgical, and the spiritual or contemplative, which became intertwined. The biblical dimension referred to "hidden" or allegorical interpretations of the scriptures. The liturgical dimension referred to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, or the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension was the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God. A link between mysticism and visions of the Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in "mystical theology" and "mystical contemplation".
Under the influence of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the term mystical theology came to refer to the investigation of the allegories in the Bible to try to discern underlying truths. Pseudo-Dionysius' "apophatic theology", or "negative theology", exerted a great influence on medieval monastic religiosity. It is best known nowadays in the western world from the works of medieval Christian leaders Meister Eckhart and John of the Cross.
In contemporary usage, the term mysticism has become an umbrella term for many kinds of transcendent, or non-rational (in the sense of not scientific) worldviews and experiences. A popular view of mysticism holds that a common "mystical experience" runs through a wide diversity of religious traditions as well as modern and less formal spiritual approaches and activities in life.

## The Path of Enlightenment

Through enlightenment, one learns that there is a higher, unified reality. This reality can be seen as a higher consciousness that encompasses everything and is present in everything. It can be taken as a personal and impersonal reality. There are various terms for this in assorted religions such as nirvana (emptiness or unity), Brahman, (the absolute, the highest reality), or light (the holy ghost, enlightenment consciousness, spiritual energy). The founder of each religion has had an experience with enlightenment. God is absolutely present along the spiritual way, to be experienced. What exactly takes place still has to be explained by science.
The path of enlightenment consists of working on one’s thoughts and meditation. Then the mind can quiet down, one rests in his or her true nature (in God) and inner peace and happiness awakens. Buddhat taught the way of four steps to absorbtion (meditation combined with contemplation, meditation without thinking, the dissolving of the ego and existing in Nirvana/God/Light). Patanjali consists of three steps which are concentration, meditation and Samadhi (bliss).
A large danger along every spiritual path is practicing habitually, like a machine. This empty ritual will not advance you spiritually. Buddha was against this type of empty ritual. He advised the Brahmans (Hindu priests) to concentrate on arriving at enlightenment instead of focusing on aesthetically, externally perfect ritual form for show. (Hermann Oldenberg: Reden des Buddha. Page 366)- It is helpeful to read spiritual books (Jnana yoga) and to have sufficient spiritual knowledge. Sometimes one can only escape the danger of formal practice through an enlightened master or guru, or through the grace of the cosmos in that you arrive at enlightenment through spontaneous experience.
The Dalai Lama recommends to test every master before taking his path. (Dalai Lama: Dzogchen page 40). There are many traps along the spiritual path that can be overcome with personal truth and wisdom. (Padmasambhava: Der Führer auf dem Weg zur Wahrheit, page 34).
According to Swami Sivananda enlightenment occurs through the three principles of calm, practice, and love. If a person lives alone on a quiet place, then he or she is already halfway to enlightenment. The second half is then managed through spiritual practice. The gate to light is passed through via the way of all-encompassing love.
1. Enlightenment comes about when tension in body and mind is dissolved. The tension builds up through the stress of life and false mental reactions toward that stress. One can say “an enlightened person is healthy inside.”
2. Meditation and thought work are the main techniques to let go of inner tension.
3. The enlightened mind is distinguished by inner peace and calm. God is not an image, but inner peace and calm facilitates higher consciousness. The human can suddenly find him or herself thinking within the unity of all. This person can see things as they really are. He or she sees things according to their connection. Whereas the person was fixated on the ego before, he or she now thinks without the ego and finds him or herself one with the cosmos.
4. When the tensions of a person disappear, deep inner peace becomes inner bliss, divine happiness. This person is one with him or herself and the world. He or she feels peace, happiness, power, love and clarity. He or she has a higher consciousness, an expanded ability to understand what is. He or she can think according to higher dimensions in the cosmos. The boundaries of time and space disappear. One can sense the past and future. He or she can see things far away, and can transfer thoughts and energy.
5. An enlightened person sees God as light in the world. He or she recognizes that there is a higher consciousness that permeates everything. He or she is connected to this consciousness of God.

## The Sermon on the Mount

* "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you." "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. 'But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you."
* Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
* Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
* Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
* Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
* Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
* Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
* Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Jesus meant "poor" in terms of the inner self, and not the outer self. Outer poverty does not lead automatically to inner happiness. Those who let go of outer attachments can simply exist and find a way to inner contentment in God.
Suffering in and of itself does not lead to happiness. However, those who can take suffering in their lives and raise themselves through spiritual exercises, can find solace in inner peace. Mourning can help to let go, but one should not allow the self to be overwhelmed by grief. Grief is not the center of life, rather inner peace.
Those who can greet their fellow beings with non-violence and placidity, can live in a relaxed and peaceful way and relinquish into a cosmic consciousness. Those who are at peace with all things, are at peace with themselves.
Justice means correctness in the Bible. To long for a correct life, means to long for a life in the light. Those who long for happiness and search for it in the right places will receive it one day, in the form of inner peace.
Those full of empathy, will feel with the cosmos. Those who love their enemies will experience inner harmony. Those who experience the center of their existence as a love for all other beings will be rewarded by God with an all-encompassing love, peace, and inner happiness.
To dissolve inner tension, exercises for the body are required (going, meditation) and exercises for the spirit (reading, thought exercises). Those who exercise spiritually every day will reach a lasting happiness one day. Then one day the meaning of God will be found.
Those who let go of the ego, come into the light. Without a sacrifice, the breakthrough to enlightenment cannot be made. Those who live according to these teachings and therefore experience difficulty in their daily lives, provide the basis for such a spiritual sacrifice. To let go in a spiritual manner is an art. Those who do not go about this the right way create inner tension and conflict. We should not sacrifice too little or too much. Those who go about this the right way will be rid of their inner conflict.
A peacemaker is a person who makes peace within the self and the world. Those who are enlightened can be called holy, a son or daughter of God. Those who live in peace radiate peace into the world.
The central message of Jesus’ Mount Sermon is that a person cannot serve two lords. He cannot serve God (inner happiness) and money (the outer form of “happiness”). One has to decide for him or herself as to what form of happiness he or she will seek to attain. As a wise person, one must place the way of peace, serenity, love, and spiritual exercises as the central point of existence. In this way, he or she will one day find true happiness and live in the light.

## Breakthrough to Enlightenment

There is in all people a thought which hinders the enlightenment and the inner happiness. This thought mostly has something to do with unwisdom, immodesty and lack of love to all. We need either wisdom, humility, resting, self-discipline, some fun or universal love. We need a special thought which awakens the lacking quality. Suddenly the happiness, the love, the light and the peace is in us. The right word in the right moment for the right person causes a breakthrough to inner happiness. What is now your magic word?
1. Shower = We visualize a shower above us. We turn on the shower and clean us with enlightenment energy. We think the mantra "Water" and massage water (or light energy) from head to toe in our body. We rub all tensions and stress from the body.
2. Earthing = We rub the earth with our feet. We draw a circle with a color of healing around us. We think the name of our healing color several times as a mantra. What is your healing color (purple, orange, yellow, red)?
3. Friend = We go in the shower on the spot. We move our feet. We visualize a boyfriend or a girlfriend and say a positive word. What is your positive word? Imagine that the word actually reaches your person. Think your word several times as a mantra: "My word for... is... (I love you.)"
4. Enemy = We remember an enemy (aggressive person). Whom do you feel in this moment as an enemy? Who is your opponent? Give him a positive word. What do you say to him? Forgive him and get inner peace. Move a hand and send him wisdom and love. Think your word so long as a mantra, until you are in peace with your enemy.
5. A word for you = Investigate your own mind. Is there a thought that blocks your inner peace, your happiness and your love? Which positive word can overcome it? "My negative thought is ... My positive thought is ... (Forward on the way of wisdom, love and happiness.)"

## Mysticism worldwide

The following table briefly summarizes the major forms of mysticism within world religions and their basic concepts, as recognized by a Perennial perspective.
Mysticism in world religions :
| Host religion | Form of mysticism | Basic concept |
| Buddhism | Shingon, Vajrayana, Zen | Attainment of Nirvana, Satori, Bodhi, union with Mahamudra or Dzogchen |
| Christianity | Catholic spirituality, Quaker tradition, Christian mysticism, Gnosticism | Spiritual enlightenment, Spiritual vision, the Love of God, union with God |
| Hinduism | Vedanta, Yoga, Bhakti, Kashmir Shaivism | Liberation from cycles of Karma (moksha), self-realization (atma-jnana), non-identification (Kaivalya), experience of ultimate reality (Samadhi), Innate Knowledge (Sahaja) |
| Islam | Sunni, Shia, Sufism | Innate belief in God; Fana (Sufism); Baqaa. |
| Jainism | Moksha | Liberation from cycles of Karma |
| Judaism | Kabbalah, Hasidism | Abnegation of the ego |
| Rosicrucianism | |
| Sikhism | |
| Taoism | - | connection to ultimate reality (Tao) |

## Videos

* Bede Griffiths talks about the love of God (3 min.)
* Bede Griffiths talks about God (5 min.)
* David Steindl-Rast Search for Spirituality (5 Min.)

## See also

* Christianity
* Angel oracle

# Mystic theology

Mystical theology is a branch of theology which focuses on experiences or states of the soul which are experienced mystically and cannot be produced by human effort.

## The Desert Fathers

Desert Fathers is a term for the early Christian ascetics, who lived in the third century a reclusive life in the deserts of Egypt and Syria, either as a hermit or in groups. The main principle of the Desert Fathers was to sit down in the hut (cell) and then "feel the path of effective spiritual practice from within." They called it "your hut will teach you." The skill on the spiritual path is to find exactly the right degree of personal rest and activity. Decisively on the path of enlightenment (inner happiness) is to deal wise with the thoughts. We have to find a way to resolve the mental blockades. Then there is suddenly an inner transformation and man is in happiness. The victory over all suffering is the awakening of the inner light (God consciousness). An important problem of the Desert Fathers was dealing with sexuality. They have talked about it openly. Who represses his sexuality, gets tensions and blocks his enlightenment. On the other hand, too much sex causes attachments and in turn creates internal tensions. The Desert Fathers have been trying to find sensitive their personal way of resolution of sexual addictions and relationship desires. A desert father convinced himself of living alone with the thought, that he had to work much for a relationship. The life of a hermit is much more quiet and friendly. Another desert father saw women only as people (sisters, daughters, mothers, goddesses) and not as sexual beings. A third desert father had a girlfriend in a nearby village. When he was visited by his fellow monks, he hid her. A holy father discovered her, but he did not betray. He only told the monk to give good care of himself. This can be understood that one can have a relationship, but without losing his spiritual path.
The desert fathers dealt also with the question, whether it is more important to help a fellow human being, or to pray. Who is holier, the helper or the prayer (contemplation)? Basically both is important. But the helper is holier than the prayer. A helper could consume in helping and lose his peace of mind. Therefor a helping man needs the rest and prayer, if he wants to find God. The desert mother Synkletika knew that the hermit who want to live a life in God, stands before a lot of inner work and hard fighting. But in the end there would be an unspeakable joy. On the path to God one should not overwhelm oneself. Some hermits need a flower in their hut, and some do not. Suppose someone can not live without a flower, he should plant one. Who needs joy on his way should give himself sufficient enjoyment.
(Excerpts from Sayings of the Desert Fathers])
* Abba Moses, "Sit in thy cell and thy cell will teach thee all."
* A hermit said, 'Take care to be silent. Empty your mind. Concentrate on God, whether you are resting or at work. If you do this, you will overcome your problems.'
* A man who keeps death before his eyes will at all times overcome his problems.
* Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace, and, as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?' Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'
* Abba Ammonas was asked, 'What is the "narrow and hard way?" (Mt. 7.14) He replied, 'The "narrow and hard way" is this, to control your thoughts, and to strip yourself of your own will, for the sake of God."
* It was said of Abba Helladius that he spent twenty years in the Cells, without ever raising his eyes to see the roof of the church.
* Amma Theodora said, 'Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate, Just as the trees, if they have not stood before the winter's storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.'

## Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite was a Christian theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century (writing before 532). According to him, the human soul longs for God. This longing can only be satisfied through the mystical unity with God. This recognition of God is reached through inner cleansing, enlightenment and unity. The recognition of God, to live with God, is the highest form of bliss according to Areopagita. The way to God can be described with the terms of darkness (becoming nothing) and light (bliss). First a person must get rid of the inner dependences and attachments to material things, then he or she must go through the darkness of dissolving the ego and then wakes up in God’s light.

## Teresa of Ávila

Teresa of Ávila is a well known Christian mystic. Her main technique was to practice four steps of anchoring the self: 1. Mental prayer 2. Prayer of quiet (contemplation, meditation) 3. Devotion of union (bliss within God) 4. Devotion of ecstasy or rapture “ What is the soul in this condition! She would like nothing else than tongues to praise the Lord.”

## Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart was an important theologian and philosopher of the late Middle Ages. He taught an intensely personal image of God and of a way to enlightenment through meditation. A person should not just think about God. “those who have God in their very existence…is illuminated in all things, and all things taste of God, and God’s image is visible in all things…. Striving and effort and attention to the inner world belong to this.” “He must learn an inner solitude wherever and with whomever he may be. He must learn to break through things and to reach for God within. He should be proficient in this art of being, and should practice this often.”

## My experience of Jesus Christ

Nils: "My parents are atheists. After my studies, I became a lawyer. When I was thirty, I found my spiritual calling in addition to my profession. I did three hours of spiritual exercise daily. In November 1986 I had my first big enlightenment experience. During a meditation while lying down, a warm column of energy slowly rose from my lower belly. As the energy reached my head, my self-consciousness disappeared, I became one with the all-encompassing love of the cosmos. I experienced extreme happiness. I was suddenly able to understand the holy books written throughout mankind's history at a deeper level.
The high point of my spiritual experience was what I felt as the entrance of the Holy Spirit. A thick beam of energy flew from the sky and into my crown chakra. The energy flowed through my body and filled it out completely. On my head was a small flame of energy. This experience is comparable with the Pentecost event. On the heads of the early Christians appeared small energy tongues. Spontaneously arose in me the thought that now I have been blessed by the Holy Spirit. I felt the energy beam as a descent of the Holy Spirit. A short time later I had another amazing experience. When I made my daily walk one evening, I suddenly had the feeling that I was seen from the sky. It was as if at the sky there was a large eye that saw me. The message of this eye was: "You can go your way with trust. You are guided by God." I read the Bible thoroughly from front to back. Through my experiences of enlightenment I could now understand the deep wisdom in the Scriptures. I also understood what the term "God" did mean.
One day I layed on my bed and meditated. My thoughts always came to rest more and more. Suddenly Jesus Christ stood as a great shining light in the middle of the room. Back then I lived for six years as a hermit in seclusion. I knew immediately that this luminary was Jesus Christ. Jesus came to me and floated into me. I was filled with bliss. I rested for some time in this unimaginably large energy of love, peace and light."

## Finding God through the path of enlightenment

God is a mystery that can be seen and understand only by enlightenment. One can see God only in enlightenment. The Bible says: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Who cleans his heart (his mind) with spiritual exercises, enters the dimension of God and sees God. With funding of physics or logic, we can describe God very limited. Science cannot explore more than circumstantial evidences for God. If one really want to know whether God exists, one must realize enlightenment.
1. Purify yourself. Do walking (body work, pilgrimage), meditation and mental work. Practice the five qualities inner peace, love, wisdom, self-discipline and happiness.
2. Pray to Jesus, God or Mother Mary.
3. Pray for all people. Send all people light. All-encompassing love is the quickest way to a life in God. Move a hand in blessing and think, "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy."
4. Connect daily with God or the enlightened Masters (the saints) and follow the voice of your inner wisdom. Read in the holy books, pray or think a mantra as: "Dear God (Om all enlightened Masters). Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way."
5. Think positive. Become positive through forgiveness, positive living and thankfullness.

## Discussion

(Quote Forum Jesus.de, 2011)
Nils: There is only one religion, the religion of love. All religions are different roads to that one religion. When we allow ourselves to be found by God, to be containers and channels of love, there will be paradise on earth and heaven.
Kahlan: I found it very interesting that you have a daily structure, a system. That is something that also exists in daily life of a monastery: an order and structure. That is what is so appealing for people who visit monasteries, in this peace and quiet of order they are able to relax and find peace.
Nils: That’s exactly the way it is. You use a structured daily plan to find a calm state of being. However, in most monasteries there’s a chance one works too much, does too many rituals or has too much contact with other people. Then one uses all of his or her energy for material things and has none left to turn inward. When one lives in a state of calm and doing little, then at some point, the energy focuses inward. At that point, inner tension begins to dissolve, and the person begins to grow in light. This point is difficult to find and hold onto. This hardly works with other people around. First being alone feels intolerably boring and then one starts to really feel uncomfortable, and then suddenly the hermit is in God and bliss.
Norbert: Why does God allow suffering in the world?
Nils: I don’t ask myself this, because I see God-conscioness as the state of enlightenment. Those who are enlightened can fully (Buddha) or partially (Jesus) rise over suffering. Those who walk the spiritual path can use spiritual techniques (meditation, contemplation) to help with suffering. Suffering is. Where life is, there is suffering. If we want to live, we have to accept suffering as a part of that. We can only try to reduce or avoid suffering of the mind and body. An important way to get over suffering is shown to us by Moses. If we accept suffering in our lives and arrive in a state of non-attachment (in a state of “I am”, of God consciousness), then we can integrate suffering into our greater souls. Then inner bliss arises and we live in light despite any suffering.

## External links

* Wikipedia: Mystical theology
* Wikipedia: Christian meditation

# Life After Death

Over the centuries, the life after death has been a topic of much theological discussion. Essentially there are five references to a life after death: the quantum physics (Professor Dürr), the near death research (Pam Reynolds), the after death research (Karmapa), the reincarnation cases (Shanti Devi) and the statements of the enlightened (the clairvoyant).

## Is There a Life After Death?

Quantum physics has proven by physical tests that a higher dimension in the universe exists (Alain Aspect). The former head of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Professor Hans-Peter Dürr believes that the brain by thinking forms a field of consciousness (quantum field) that can exist after the death of the body in the higher dimension further.
* You are 78 years old. Do you believe in for afterlife? Is there existence after death? Professor Dürr: "That is an interesting question. What we consider the here and now, this world, is actually just the material level. The beyond is an infinite reality that is much bigger, which this world is rooted in. In this way, our lifes in this plane of existence are encompassed, surrounded, by the afterworld already. If I imagine that I have written my existence in this world on a sort of hard drive on the tangible (the brain) and that I have also transferred this data onto the spiritual quantum field (the spirit, the indepenendent consciousness), then I could say that I do not lose this information, this conscioiusness. The body dies but the spiritual quantum field continues. In this way, I am immortal." (P.M. Magazin 05/2007)

## Near death experience

Wikipedia: Near death research. The near death research confirms that the mind can think independently from the body. 1991 the 35 year-old Pam Reynolds underwent a brain operation. Her blood was routed from her brain and she was placed in a state of artificial coma. Her head was attached with wires to measure brain waves. It was ascertained that no brain waves could travel during this half an hour. The thought processes were blocked, and examined as no hormone release could occur. Hallucinations were not possible in this state. And it just so happened that Pam Reynolds had her out of body experience at this time.
She floated with her soul out of her body. She observed from above all of the details of her operation. She then floated through a tunnel to a world of light. There, she met her dead grandmother and other people. The beings there lived in a paradise dimension and possessed positive energy. With their energy, they strengthened Ms. Reynolds so that she could go through her operation successfully. In a BBC interview, Pam Reynolds explained that she had experienced the breath of God. (Video Pam Reynolds)
The special aspect of the case of Pam Reynolds lies with the fact that modern measurement equipment showed that the consciousness of a person exists even when the stuff of the brain is shut off. This leads one to conclude that there must be an independent consciousness separate from the body. The body and soul are two independent manifestations of energy.

### The arguments of the atheists

The main argument of Gerald M. Woerlee (2005) is that Pam should have been awake during the operation. This argument is very questionable. With a heavy brain surgery one can not awake and can not follow the conversations in the room and watch the proceedings. Especially when the blood is pumped out largely from the brain, the ears stoppered and the eyes are connected, and a cessation of brain waves is measured. There are many cases of near-death experience and all to explained by a wake at the operation is very questionable. Waking up in the anesthesia is 1.3 from 1000 people. Near-death experiences have about 30% of the people. So the near-death experiences usually can not be explained by an awakening during the operation.
Woerlee: I can look back on more than 20 years of professional experience as an anesthesiologist, and it has always fascinated me, how the body is able to create seemingly paranormal experiences. So I know that this experience was caused by the interaction of the reactions of Pam Reynolds’ bodies and their consciousness of her situation and her anesthesia.
Nils: “Knowledge” is an unacceptable claim. You would have said better: “I believe …”
Woerlee: Sometimes the concentration of the anesthetics for a narcotic effect is not enough. These people stay awake: they hear what’s going on in their environment, they feel the work of surgeons and other persons and see what happens when their eyes are open.
Nils: A wake up under anesthesia comes at 1.3 from 1000 people. Near-death experiences have about 30% of the people. So the near-death experiences usually can not be explained by an awakening during the operation. “If their eyes are open.” Pam Reynolds eyes were closed.
Woerlee: As Pam Reynolds during the operation several times was conscious, I suspect, however, that neither isoflurane nor enflurane were used as additional anesthetics. Without the application of these gases it is likely that the patient wakes up during surgery, and that’s what happened to Pam Reynolds.
Nils: You simply assert without proof that Pam Reynolds is woken up several times during the operation. This is very unlikely.
Woerlee: The screech of the saw woke Pam Reynolds.
Nils: The saw does not have the volume of a chainsaw, but the buzz of an electric toothbrush. In a deep anesthesia one does not awake from this.
Woerlee: She could hear people talking to each other.
Nils: The ears were stoppered. It is very unlikely that she could follow the operation talks.
Woerlee: A malfunction of the brain, triggered by the interaction of anesthetics with the abnormal function of muscle fibers evoked the body experience.
Nils: That is a claim without sufficient evidence.
Woerlee: The high-frequency sound of the pneumatic saw, together with the subsequent feeling that her skull was sawed open, called in her memories the image of a device that looked like a dentist drill.
Nils: You use the term “safe” when you think highly speculative. You try to convince the reader your view of things. Pam Reynolds said, however, that she had expected a kind of saw. And she described previously completely unknown details: “I had assumed that they would open the skull with a saw. I had heard the term saw, but what I then saw reminded me more of a drill. There were also several small drills in a box that looked like the tool box of my father when I was a child.”
On closer inspection, the arguments of Woerlee dissolve. There are thousands of further researches. Who wants to know exactly, should familiarize themselves thoroughly in the research. I did that to me. And other people did so too and came to the same results as I.
The experts largely agree that there is no natural explanation. At the moment, the most speaks for the duality of the brain and soul. Even in science is hotly debated. There are different camps. There are the materialists and the holistic thinker. And that’s good. The result is progress.
---> Quote from the homepage of the Human base project in December 2009: The attending physician, Dr. Spetzler does not believe that Pam could know the facts from a previous observation: “There were the devices for her just not visible. The drills and the other things were covered or wrapped. They will not be discovered or unpacked, before the patient is not fully asleep. This is necessary to keep the area sterile.” “In this phase of the operation, no one can see or hear something. It is inconceivable that in this phase senses like hearing do work. Apart from that, we put earphones for the click test in her ears. There was no way for her to hear the talks.”

## The death of the 16. Karmapa

Enlightened Tibetan masters traditionally stay in their bodies for three days after death. This is recognized by the fact that their bodies do not begin to decompose and that the heart chakra is warm. This fact can be explained with the continuation of life after death. The 16th Karmapa died in 1981 in a hospital in Chicago. He stayed three days after his death with his soul in his body and he showed the special abilities of an high enlightened. The body did not rot in that time and the heart region was warm. Dr. Levy cared for him until his death:
* "Early the next day he died actually. We saw the change on the monitors. The heart pulse changed in a way, that clearly shows that the heart fails. (...) With all the drugs we could not get him high again. We continued to work, gave medications, and then his heart stand still. I realized that it was over. You could see his heart die on the monitor. This was the point when I gave up. His Holiness had been lying there dead about 45 minutes. We started to pull out the feeding tube, when I suddenly saw that his blood pressure was 140 to 80. My first reaction was that someone leans against the pressure monitor. It was impossible that he became alive again. Then a nurse screamed: "He has a good pulse! ! He has a good pulse." One of the older Rinpoche patted me on the back, as if he wanted to say:" It is impossible, but it happens." The heart rate of His Holiness was 80, his blood pressure 140 to 80th in that moment. No one said a word now. It was a moment of "That does not exist. It can not be." It was clearly the greatest miracle that I had ever seen. I mean, it was not only an extraordinary moment. It happened an hour after his heart beating had stopped. I ran out of the room to tell Trungpa Rinpoche, that His Holiness is alive again. I had the impression that His Holiness returned to try if this body can still carry his spirit. So he came back to see if his body was still usable. Only the power of his returning consciousness could do that."
* „48 hours after his death, his chest was still warm. In this moment, my hands were both warm, and his chest was warmer than my hand. In order to test this, I moved my hands to the side of his chest, away from his heart, and there it was cold. I then felt the middle again, and above his heart it was warm. I pinched his skin and found that it was still elastic and completely normal. After 36 hours, the dead typically have skin comparable to dough. And his skin was still like that of the living after 48 hours. It was as if he weren’t dead. Shortly after we left the room, the surgeon came and said, „ he is warm, he is warm.“ And then it came to be that the medical staff asked again and again if he were still warm. It was naturally consistent to the traditional Tibetan experience. Developed individuals like his Holiness stay in their bodies after breath and heartbeat have stopped, within a state of deep meditation. After three days the Samadhi ended. It was recognized that his Holiness was no longer warm and that the process of death set in. After this, the atmosphere changed, it too became normal.” (Quotes buddhismus-heute.de)

### Discussion Over the Death of the Karmapa

Nils: The Tibetan masters have considered how they can prove the existence of the soul beyond death. They prove this in that after physical death, the soul remains in the body for three days. Enlightened masters possess this ability. This is recognizable in that the heart chakra remains warm and the body doesn’t decompose, and the presence of the master can be perceived by sensitive people.
What is special in the case of the Karamapa is that he selected a normal, Western hospital in America, with average, everyday doctors as witnesses. Interesting is that the Karmapa had already “died” to the point where the doctors had given up and had turned off the measuring devices when the Karmapa returned to his body and lived on, according to the reports of the doctors responsible for treating him. These things cannot be explained in material terms. I don’t know of any account of this matter in which atheists could make some comment. They remain silent when presented with the facts.
Thale: All of these examples do not serve as proof for life after death.
Nils: Amit Goswami established that an information field (the Other Side, a quantum field, a higher dimension, consciousness field) must exist behind the material cosmos. That can be proven according to quantum physics. To get more into detail, I recommend the book “ The Conscious Universe” from Amit Goswami, and the book “God’s Secret Thoughts”, from Volker Becker. Even the String theory, which dominates physics at the moment, says that a higher dimension is recognized as existing in the material cosmos. A higher field of information is implied in the String Theory. The big question is only whether the human brain can really build an independent quantum field capable of existing in the context of a higher information field after death. Dürr implied it according to near death research. According to the Karmapa case and statements made by clairvoyants and enlightened individuals, it is likely. A complete change of point of view on the part of science is represented here, which most atheists have unfortunately failed to notice. I am here to change that.
Thale: The Karmapa case could have been the result of any number of things.
Nils: That’s right. But up to now, no one has been able to explain it. The continued existence of the soul after death is the most probable explanation up to this point. So long as the further existence of the soul after death is likelier than the non-existence of it, one should live oriented around this idea.
Thale: The Karmapa incident can also be attributed to genetic makeup, coincidence, imagination, through any number of things.
Nils: This statement proves your lack of insight. A warm heart chakra definitely cannot be explained through genetic predisposition. Who can think up such nonsense? Coincidence isn’t a very good argument either, particularly when said coincidence occurs again and again. The enlightened masters of Tibetan Buddhism spend three days after death in their bodies, and there are hundreds of examples of this on record. I also find it amazing that you refer to hundreds of other phenomena without giving sources. You are well-schooled in Sophism, but every sophist can be proved wrong with clear reasoning. I have also forgotten the point relating to imagination. The Karmapa died in a western hospital. That a doctor in such a setting would imagine a warm heart chakra and elastic skin, is unlikely. He examined the Karmapa thoroughly after death, because he could hardly believe his own observations. Furthermore, there are many similar cases and the rest of the hospital staff also saw the Karmapa.
Thale: Show me the evidence for the existence of an afterlife.
Nils: If you want evidence, look at near death research, the death of the Karmapa, the reports of the afterlife from clairvoyants and the enlightened, the experiences acquired through regression therapy, reincarnation research, quantum physics experiments (especially Alain Aspect, but many other experiments are described in the book by Amit Goswami). Parapsychology also indicates the existence of higher cosmic dimensions.
Thale: But you need to show us the basis for your knowledge that you use to prove the sceptics wrong.
Nils: The basis of the existence of the soul after death is the duality from the body and the consciousness. The soul is consciousness energy. The soul consists of thoughts and feelings. The soul is a cloud of consciousness that is in and around the body. The soul is an oscillating connection to a higher cosmic information field. The deciding point is whether there is such a higher cosmic information field. The experiments conducted in quantum physics speak in favor of this. The string theory also speaks in favor of it. The findings of near death research and the experiences of clairvoyants also refer to the existence of a higher information field. There are many indications for the existence of a higher cosmic dimension. When there is such a higher dimension, then it is quite possible that the consciousness of humans can also survive after death.

## Reincarnation research

Wikipedia: reincarnation research. The reincarnation research approaches more and more to the fact that there are past lives. Thousands of reports were investigated . The witnesses could accurately describe the previous places and situations, although they were never there and had heard nothing about it in the normal way. The most well-known reincarnation researcher in the West is Professor Ian Stevenson from the University of Virginia. He examined over the course of 40 years over 3.000 reincarnations situations throughout the world. Often, he noticed similarities in behavior and bodily signals in line with the former incarnation.
One of the most well-known cases of reincarnation in India is Shanti Devi. She was born in 1926 in New Delhi and could remember her previous life as a house wife in Mathura. Although she was never in that location, she was able to describe her previous husband, her previous house, and the city itself. She could even remember where she had always hidden her money in her former life.
* Nils Horn, "My beliefs are based mainly on my own experiences. I have seen about thousand previous lifes in the course of my spiritual cleansing processes. After seven years as a Yogi, I was suddenly overcome by the wish to know my earlier life. I went back in my meditation to a previous time and felt resonance with a particular time. I felt a sort of resistance, and looked in that direction and could spiritually “see” four earlier lifes. After eleven years as a Yogi, many former lifes came in dreams to the surface of my consciousness. Differing from the conscious perceptions while meditating, very clear film-like scenes- appeared. I could see the details of the situations and the environment I was in at the time of the previous life. From the single pictures I could see geographical details."

## The Statements of the Enlightened

Who is enlightened can, thanks to its expanded consciousness, look in the beyond and know the life after death. One might think that the enlightened are imagining their perceptions. Against this speak, however, the attempts with the clairvoyants. The American professor Gary Schwartz tested the most well-known mediums of the United States from 1998 to 2001. The mediums could experience the beyond with their spirits and make contact with the dead. Gary Schwartz compared their statements about distanced things with a control group of average people. The medium had a ratio of correct answers of 83%, whereas the control group got only 36%. If the mediums know things far away it is very possible, that also their knowing about things in the beyond is correct. (Bernard Jakoby, Wir sterben nie, (2009).)
All of the religions of the world assume that there is life after death. A quote from Swami Shivananda, “The person is not this body. Body and mind are change, loss and death; whereas the real human, the eternal self (Atman) always is. One has a body, but is not that body. One has a mind, but is not the mind. Death is not the end. Death Is not total deletion. Death does not end the rebirth of the soul. The soul does not die with the body. The soul is immortal. Just as a person takes off a jacket, death lays aside the physical body. The body is the skin of the soul. The soul is the steering wheel of the car of the body. If the body is destroyed, the spirit lives on. One still has thoughts, mental processes, will power, and a subtle body. Through the grace of God and Sat-Guru I am unburdened and free. All doubt and disappointment have disappeared. I am free and blissful forever. I am free of fear, as I rest in this non-dualistic state. Fear arises from duality. I am intoxicated with God. I have reached freedom. I live in pure consciousness. I have won the game of life.”

## Discussion On MyKath.de 2013

Volker: I am familiar with the “tests” regarding reincarnation where people are hypnotized and then asked about their past lives. The only problem is, people in hypnotized states can make up stories and lie just as they can when awake, with the distinction that they do not know that they are just telling stories. The information they give belongs to two categories. First, it deals with information where the general truth is established or can be researched and verified immediately, so that anyone can figure out the degree of truth of what they are saying. That the hypnotized person doesn’t know what he or she is saying consciously is no argument. The second category of things a hypnotized person tells deals with information that cannot be verified. Another interesting category is things the person tells which no one can know, but can in fact be verified. An example of that would be a hidden treasure that no one knows about, but can be searched for to see if the information holds true. That I know of no hypnotized person who tells of such things is suspicious.
Nils: You are unfortunately not correct with that. There are many examples of such cases. Reincarnation research has searched for such examples and has found many. I know of a situation where an English woman was burnt as a witch in the Middle Ages in France. She could say exactly where the documents were and what they said. They weren’t known to anyone beforehand. On TV there were various broadcasts of some regression therapy. In hypnosis certain facts were given that sent the TV team to certain places mentioned. And then it was considered whether the person could have known these things beforehand or if they were really dealing with situations from previous lives. There are some videos on the internet. You can look for them if you have time. The case of Shanti Devi is so interesting because she knew things that no one could know under ordinary circumstances. She was born in New Dehli in 1926 and remembered as a child her previous life as a housewife in 128 km distant Mathura. Although she was never there, she could remember her previous husband, the house ,and the town. She even remembered where she had hidden her money earlier. A test showed that she was right.
Dr. Arthur Guirdham was a British doctor, psychiatric doctor and writer. He believed that he was the rebirth of the Cathar priest named Roger de Grisolles. A patient who was referred to him had recurring nightmares where she was a farm girl in Toulouse, France. She was friends with a priest named Roger de Grisolles. He was arrested and died later in prison. The girl was burnt at the stake. She could relate that in detail. Guirdham had similar nightmares since his childhood. As the patient told what she had to say, she said he was that priest she had seen in her dream. Guirdham was impressed and began to research. The occurances and names in the dream were confirmed.
Matzdan (atheist): There aren’t ”many cases”, rather some. Even if there is reincarnation, it doesn’t make much of a difference for millions of people. So what use is reincarnation anyway?
Nils: It’s nice that we are both of the opinion that there are some such cases. Of course there are only a few cases where there is such clear evidence. There are many known cases of reincarnation. But it is difficult to find these specific cases. I think life is multi-faceted. Some souls reincarnate and some develop on the “other side”, so to speak. Souls develop. All religions are in agreement there. What is important is how we are developing. We develop forward to inner peace, bliss and love. Or we revert, we go backwards to suffering, unhappiness, fear and hate. Knowledge of reincarnation is helpful because then we are able to think further than death. We should try to live positively so we have a good existence in the next life. We can do something ourselves to have a good next life. We can also make it so, that we step out of the circle of reincarnation. We can come to eternal life on the other side. One can come out of the circle of reincarnation when one has practiced spiritually in an intensive manner and has become enlightened before death. Or, if one has an enlightened helper like Jesus who can bring one to paradise when one dies. An enlightened master or saint has free choice after death whether he or she will go to the light and stay there or not, according to the teachings of Indian Yoga. The alternative is to come back to earth and to help one’s fellow humans. In Buddhism there is the Bodhisattva and in Hinduism there is enlightened Karma Yoga (Siddha Yoga with special powers). Many enlightened people know their earlier lives and have chosen again and again to return to earth. One example is Amritatanandamayi who described this in her book ”Mother of Eternal Bliss”. Like Buddha, she also saw her earlier life.
Volker: The problem is, many of these cases are consciously deceiving. In addition, there are more questions remaining than answers. As almost always, you can see, for example, in the film about Elisabeth from Thuringia a blatant error: an expert on the castle accompanies the woman, who then establishes where the wall or moat or blockades were. Sorry, but I can easily imagine a Clever Hans effect at work. In a fair discussion, or when one is really interested in the truth of a matter, the same criteria are given in each instance.
Nils: I’m also for a fair discussion. I think we both are having a fair discussion here, which doesn’t mean that we are going to come to the same conclusions through the same facts. One can always find a different interpretation from the same thing. The points of the argument can carry varied weight for different people. As an atheist can one always explain certain phenomena with the arguments of deception, self-delusion or mistake. I believe that one cannot explain the given case through deception. Certainly, deception occurs sometimes. But the given cases are so important and well-known that they have been tested and checked out by many people. That is especially true for the Shanti Devi case, where many expert commissions investigated several times. Reincarnation research is directly involved with the ruling out of deception, self- delusion and error. In fact, only in a few cases could that be found to be true. Most cases are found to be indisputable. Also, the many positive reincarnation cases that are shown on TV cannot all be explained away with mental tricks.
Volker: I think many of these can be explained away, that they are the result of mental tricks because I know more about such mental tricks than most magicians. There are still some that cannot be explained by anything but coincidence. This reminds me of a discussion with a historical expert (something like with Elisabeth from Thuringia) about a “Cold reading” and muscle reading. In addition, one can remember things under hypnosis that one hasn’t had conscious access to in a long time.
Nils: You have your explanations, and your theories. I don’t want to take that away from you. Everyone has to see things for himself and then find his own decision. People in the videos have considered and decided carefully for themselves. When they take that to be reincarnation, one has to accept that first, outside of proving an error of thinking. As viewer, one also has to make a decision. That will surely be different by convinced atheists than from those who are open to the possibility of reincarnation. You believe in atheism. I find it good that you even admit that there remain cases where one cannot explain away what is happening. That is the way it is. I have personally seen over a thousand earlier lives. I have checked the facts and have built up my conviction. And that is how I will leave it. You have your conviction, I have my conviction. And that is good the way it is. We live in a pluralistic society.

## Paradise Meditation

With this meditation, we purify our mind of stress. We learn something about the way to Paradise. We get into a life in the light. We realize happiness in our life. We become a master of life and awaken our enlightenment energy.

### The Body

We concentrate on our bodies and through this process bring the spirit into a state of peace. We sense this through our legs and feet as we let the light circulate through our lower limbs. We think of the word “light” as our mantra. We let the light then circulate through our arms and hands while envisioning the word “light”. We then wrap our entire bodies in a vision of light and think of the word at the same time. Then we relax.

### Energy Cloud

We begin our ascent to heaven. First we enter the astral world. We become a soul. We then visualize a cloud composed of very fine energy which encircles the body. We are this cloud. We concentrate on the cloud and not our bodies. We leave the body and think of the mantra “I am a cloud. I am a soul. I am independent from my body.” We think of this mantra until we can feel this cloud.

### Stars

We visualize the entire cosmos around us as full of stars. Our souls can travel anywhere they so desire. We meditate on the cosmos. We think of the mantra “stars”. We make large circles with the arms until we feel at one with the cosmos. We feel secure with our place in the world, we are at one with the world.

### The World of Positive Souls

We land in the upper astral world, beyond the material cosmos. This is the world of positive souls. We become positive unto ourselves. We consider the positive points in our lives. We think of the mantra “Positive in my life is...” We count as many positive things as possible, until the soul is glowing with positivity.

### The World of Happy Souls

Over the positive souls are the blessed souls. We are now in paradise. We imagine that all our wishes have been fulfilled. What do you wish? Fulfill them or let go of them here. Define the point where you have reached enough. Create contentment with your life. “My way to contentment is...”

### The World of the Holy

Above the world of the happy souls lies the world of the enlightened. We become sons and daughters of God, Gods and Goddesses, enlightened Buddhas. We wish for a happy world. We envision the following: “I send light to... May all people be happy. May the world be a happy world.”

### The Great Transformation

We move our hand to bless the entire cosmos with love and light. We move light into all areas of suffering. We send all suffering beings light. We surround them with light and think of the mantra “I send light to all suffering beings”. We think of all the problems in our lives and surround these problems with light. We integrate our problems into our life. We become masters of our lives. We surround all our life’s situations with light.

### Seventh Heaven

We come to the seventh heaven. We visualize a sun with strong energy composed of peace, love and happiness. The hands lay relaxed in the lap. We think of the mantra, “Sun, peace, love, happiness, light.“ We fill our souls with peace, love, happiness and light, and rest in the light of God (in bliss).

### Inner wisdom

We connect ourselves with the Angels, Jesus or God. We rub the palms of our hands in front of the heart chakra and think, "Dear God (Om all enlightened Masters, Angels). Om inner wisdom. Please guide me and help me on my way.”

### Return

We move our feet slowly, then stretch and wiggle a bit. We then return to earth and our daily lifes. We are filled with peace, love and optimism.

## External links

* Meditation (Wikiversity)
* Fairytales meditation (Meditation Music Video, 8 min.)

# Belief and brain research

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a conjecture or premise to be true.

## Belief and brain research

(Quotes http://www.zeit.de/2010/29/Gott-imHirn) Persinger, brainresearcher at the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada, did not think that he could call forth religious experiences in his lab. Apparently, an altered motorcycle helmet with solenoids were enough to cause the brain to produce “godly” waves. Many of the test people that Persinger took into his soundproof chamber, equipped with helmet and blackened glasses reported astounding effects: they felt a presence, as if someone stood next to them. Some people felt there was a guardian angel or even God there with them.
Dawkins saw his chance to test his own lack of faith. He travelled to Sudbury, put on Persingers helmet and waited for what was to come. Secretly, he wished for an enlightenment experience. But nothing came of that. He was “very disappointed” said Dawkins after the attempt. He felt nothing at all. Meanwhile it’s clear why the mystical experience eluded him. What made the experiment successful for those who had more intense experiences wasn’t the magnet stimulation, rather the power of their own belief. Where that was lacking, the mystic helmet couldn’t help.
We can thank the psychologist Pehr Granqvist who also tested the experiments, but with a difference. The researcher from Uppsala was strict about conducting the experiment as a double blind test. That means: only half of the people had the magnetic field on under the helmet. Even those who were not exposed to the magnetic field felt something holy while they were waiting in the dark. The results turned out to be the same for both groups. The Swedish psychologist came to the conclusion that results depend on personal characteristics, as to whether they had a consciousness-expanding experience or not.
The brain researcher and theologist Nina Azari wanted to know what effect texts that are religiously significant have on the brain. What happens to the brain when you read a well known psalm from the bible, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”? In order to answer this question, Azari invited two groups into her lab: one consisting of members of a protestant church that is especially strict in terms of interpreting the Bible exactly as it stands. This group also considers the psalm as a way of coming into personal contact with God. The control group consisted of six strict atheists, who wanted nothing to do with the psalm. The result was that the Christians had entirely different results when reading the Psalm in comparison to the atheists. Azari decided the results were due to what people believe.
In an oncological clinic in Bad Kreuznach in Germany, Murken examined how faith influences healing among breast cancer patients. The result was that religious orientation can truly help healing along, however, only under certain circumstances. In patients who were highly religious and had a positive image of God, and connected God with values such as love, empathy and forgiveness this was deemed the case. According to the moto “what God does is done well” can help breast cancer patients to deal with their situation more easily.
In contrast, those of the patients who saw God as a strict and punishing deity suffered anxiety and depression. They felt they were being punished through their illness for past sins and put themselves under pressure. Also, cancer patients who only possessed a passing faith ( of the going to church on Christmas and Easter crowd) didn’t profit from their (lack of) faith. They also felt uncertain and full of doubt.
One could go as far as to say that faith is a type of medicine with strong active ingredients that can mobilize positive energies, but in the wrong amount can cause bad side effects. That is especially applicable when such convictions are accompanied by a community of those who feel the same. Science leads us to the conclusion that religion is of a mental nature. It means that spirituality cannot be explored without considering the religious background, the faith of those who are being studied in the context of the research. If terms like God, Buddha or Allah have relevance for us depends on us as individuals. The question of whether they exist or allow themselves to be proven is only secondarily important.

## Discussion

Nils: The text deals with recognizing what science knows at the moment.
1. Faith is helpful when it is positive. It can lead to healing and inner happiness. The sins are not important, rather love must be the main point of the belief system.
2. There are enlightenment experiences. There are experiences of God. Many witnesses taking part in studies can confirm that. Even Dawkins tried to have an enlightenment experience, otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the time to take part in the experiment. But it didn’t work for him. It doesn’t work for everyone. Enlightenment is a blessing that God gives at the right time. God cannot be fathomed, but one can experience God.
3. The experience of God is related to consciousness. It is of a mental, spiritual nature. They can be called forth through images and imagining. That doesn’t mean that God exists only in imagination. It is more the case, that from deep relaxation a deeper consciousness can be reached that allows one to experience higher levels, God. One must be without attachments, to be in the state of consciousness that Moses called “I am”, in order to experience God.
4. Brain research examines the experience of God in the brain. It doesn’t examine whether God exists outside of the brain. If you see an apple in your head, this apple can be just a product of the imagination. But it can also exist in the outer world. Therefore, it’s more difficult to find reasons to back this up than it is to find reasons to back up enlightenment, or the experience of God. The result is that current brain research confirms the psychological evidence of God’s existence, and this is a big step toward proving God in general.
Sanduhr (non-dogmatic Christian, Jesus.de): You yourself have pointed to a study that shows that the “God helmet” doesn’t function at all.
Nils: The God helmet functioned, just differently from what Pershinger first thought. Many people had an experience of God, but not much came from the helmet. From that perspective, we can see that one’s own thinking plays a large role in one’s experience of God. What I mean is, the people who were ready had an experience of God. The Bible says “blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” Furthermore, it was likely also possible that God’s own blessings were a factor, and this element was clearly not with Dawkins.
Sanduhr: Proof also needs a more precise definition of ”God”. Because there are such varied impressions of God, we also have to decide which one we want to prove. From a Christian perspective, there is only one God, so we should just concentrate on that image of God.
Nils: I agree. In my perspective, there is a three-fold God (Holy Trinity) consisting of father, son, and holy spirit.
Sanduhr: One could attempt to prove the person ”God”. That Jesus lived, is relatively widely recognized, even if some people doubt it. The more hotly debated question is what Jesus did and if he really worked miracles.
Nils: The special abilities are in my opinion an important point for proving God. If one could really prove them, it would convince many atheists. The problem is how difficult it is to prove and refer to that proof. But I think that it is generally possible to prove. Of course, a perfect set of evidence that would convince every single atheist doesn’t exist. I assume Jesus lived. I also would go so far as to say that he could perform miracles. Special spiritual abilities such as the ability to heal or clairvoyance appear along the way to enlightenment. I can feel those abilities partially in me. I observe them, test them, and I am convinced by them. That’s enough for me, and the people who are thus healed are also convinced.
Sanduhr: On the other hand, to want to prove that a particular being invented the world is not a task that one is likely to succeed at.
Nils:. The physicists are definitely challenged there. As long as they haven’t found out anything knew, we can only speculate.
Sanduhr: What does the Holy Trinity mean in terms of looking for proof?
Nils: To understand the Holy Trinity, I refer to my experiences of enlightenment. A son or a daughter of God is an enlightened being. This person has a body and can do things on earth. He or she bears witness to God. God works through the saints and through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual energy that the various religions know by various names such as Prana, light or Chi.
What the spiritual energy is exactly, hasn’t been researched very well up to now. According to my experience, it is a type of consciousness energy. It can be directed by the consciousness and created through spiritual exercises. It can also be developed through physical exercises. It works on a spiritual and physical level. It is a mystery, just like God. One can describe it only roughly, but after a certain level of development one can feel it in oneself and transfer it to other people (as healing). It feels like a type of water that flows through the body. It is often depicted as an aura in pictures and paintings of the saints. If you visit a holy person, you often feel a special radiation around them. With this energy, one can see into the future and the past. One can overcome the time and space dimension of the cosmos. One is omni-present. One can also see things from a distance.
I take God to be a higher field of consciousness that is behind the material cosmos. God pervades everything , and can control everything. God is everywhere and in every person. But only a few people can feel him. God is a part of everyone, as Jesus is a part of God, and the few who can feel God feel a part of God. They have a consciousness of unity, of peace and of happiness. They live in the consciousness of enlightenment in which they are connected directly to God. Through God they also can take part in other abilities God has, the powers of omni-presence, all-knowingness, all-powerfulness, and all-goodness. The more developed, the more enlightened a person is, the more abilities they have.
Sanduhr: Are these special abilities really a point to cite when proving God?
Nils: Enlightenment can be characterized by happiness, bliss in a person, and through that person’s special abilities. The inner state of the person can be researched through brain research, happiness research and psychology. The special abilities can only be observed and measured. And that has occurred several times.
Sanduhr:? Is it not the goal of proving God to convince everyone?
Nils: God is a mystery. Enlightenment is a mystery. Spiritual energy is a mystery. A mystery cannot be described easily, or proven easily, then it wouldn’t be a mystery anymore. Also, proof of God cannot be fully clear. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a free choice in whether we go the spiritual way or not. Those who are ready, will be open to God.
Sanduhr: OK, so now in fact NO proof of God?
Nils: If something is difficult, it doesn’t mean that it is impossible. Be careful with the words “not simple”. If proving God were simple, then it would have already been done. Philosophers have been thinking about the subject for thousands of years. And despite that, the majority of the people in the world believe in God. They obviously don’t need perfect proof, just good reasons. And there are good reasons.
Sanduhr: It doesn’t mean God exists just because someone has special spiritual abilities.
Nils: We should consider the reasons as a whole. The center of religion is the experience of God. This experience is well attested to. But first of all, this experience is of an inner nature. God exists in the head. That is sufficient proof of God, but for many people, it is important that God exists in the outside world, too. Can God help us? Is praying helpful? Can God or enlightened masters such as Jesus help us from the other side? For most people in the various religions it is important that one gets help from God. God must be able to act in the world. One has to be able to get in contact with him, to connect with him. Here is where it begins to vary between the religions. In Christianity one believes that prayer works, in original Buddhism not (but this is different again in Tibetan Buddhism) and in Hinduism this is partly believed and partly not believed to be the case.
Sanduhr: I have reason to consider such experiences of God as an experiment. Something is proven when it everyone can conceive of it in the context of an experiment, that the results can be repeated and verified. The challenge would be to describe why some people don’t experience God induring that experiment.
Nils: The experience of God comes as a blessing, and for that reason we cannot produce those effects in an experiment. We can only talk to people who have had an experience of God. That’s the problem with atheists. They demand an experimentally derived form of evidence that can be repeated with the same results in every experiment. It is just that which is not possible. So atheists then conclude that it is impossible to experience God. A Christian will explain that the experience is achieved as a result of a blessing from God. Even enlightenment can’t be forced through spiritual practice. One can prepare the self through spiritual exercises and increase the chances of having such an experience. One can also sometimes achieve an experience of God through the use of drugs (which some tribal cultures use) or suggestion (Pershinger’s God helmet), but that can’t be forced, it can only be set up so that all of the elements are there and the chances are increased.
Sanduhr: So again, it can’t be consistently reproduced. In itself, that is enough for proof, the question persists what one can actually prove with such experiences. The way I understand it here with the thread with the active atheists, they don’t doubt the experience has been had, rather, what it has to do with God.
Nils: Many atheists also doubt the experience itself. And if they don’t doubt the experience, they take it to be a type of insanity such as temporal lobe epilepsy. In that case, the experience itself isn’t accepted. Enlightenment occurs through a cleansed consciousness. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” It is more the case that one is insane as atheist because one doesn’t believe in God. The enlightened have a healed consciousness, not the unenlightened. The ability to reproduce an experience of God just doesn’t exist. But for proof, it is enough that a lot of people have seen God, have experienced God. In that situation, the question is what exactly did those people see/feel/experience? In that regard, science still is in the dark. An experience of God is directly related to a change in consciousness. Science is not able to identify exactly what consciousness is. The near-death research shows that consciousness can exist outside the body. Some quantum physicists also state that an expansive field of consciousness or a field of information exists. Furthermore, the special abilities of enlightened people have not yet been properly researched.
Sanduhr: So it comes down to wanting to take the consciousness to be something in its own right?
Nils: Exactly. That is a good starting point for proving God. If the consciousness is independent from the body, then there is likely a life after death. Then the reports of those who travel to the other side and meet God are true. Along the way to enlightenment, special abilities appear. One can transfer consciousness energy, as John the Baptist did for Jesus. One can help other people have an experience of God, as Philip asked Jesus to do. One can heal other people with consciousness (Holy Ghost) energy. The pre-requisite for that is that the consciousness energy is independent from the body. The examples lead up to that conclusion.
In enlightenment, one expands the consciousness and experiences the fact that there is an all-encompassing consciousness behind the cosmos, responsible for the existence of the cosmos. This consciousness is omnipresent, all-knowing, all-powerful and entirely good. Through the connection with this consciousness one takes on strengths and abilities of this consciousness. I’ve heard that from many people, and that can be verified.
Sanduhr: Then the question would be, where did our concrete consciousness come from?
Nils: That’s a good question. A Christian would of course say “from God”. An atheist would say “from the brain.” During a spiritual cleansing process, I saw some 1000 earlier lives play before my eyes like a film. Through those “films” I can follow the development of my consciousness. I first had many lives as plankton in the sea. Then I developed into a fish, into a mammal, into a person. In every stage of development I learnt something and developed my consciousness. I can personally confirm that people have a soul and a consciousness independent from the body. The interesting question for me is where I began. Either I developed my consciousness alone, from the time I was a water flea, or it arose out of my nerve cells and wandered from body to body. Or, it came from God, the light, or a consciousness dimension behind the material cosmos. I don’t know, but I tend toward the last theory, as my consciousness was already highly developed in my first existence.
Sebastian (Facebook): Nils, how do you define consciousness?
Nils: God is a mystery. Enlightenment is a mystery. The universe is a mystery, if we look at the deep roots of it. Consciousness is also a mystery. Today’s science hasn’t researched consciousness fully enough to know exactly what it is. If I consider God to be a higher consciousness, that created the whole cosmos, then that is something different from the limited human consciousness. But both are probably related. Soul and God. Physically there is no material, rather everything is energy. Energy cannot be conceived of materialistically. I would go so far as to say that this energy has a consciousness of its own that can create and think in a way. God is a higher consciousness that is the root of the cosmos. From this consciousness, the entire universe was created and in this consciousness every dissolves again, to allow something new to arise. An enlightened master connects with this higher consciousness and transcends time and space and thus receives special spiritual abilities.
Klaus: To step out of time. That state is reached in death and in sexual orgasm.
Nils: That’s how it is with enlightenment consciousness, one steps beyond time and space. One is pure consciousness that thoughts and actions can manifest from. A pure consciousness has no identity, it can only say “I am”, that is how God identified himself to Moses. An “I am” consciousness rests in unity, in peace and in bliss.

## External links

* Belief (Wikipedia)
* Religion & Brain: Belief Decreases With Analytical Thinking, Study Shows
* Where God Lives - Brain Research and Religion

# Prayer

Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. Thus, people pray for many reasons such as personal benefit or for the sake of others. Most major religions involve prayer in one way or another. Some ritualize the act of prayer, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.

## Scientific studies

Scientific studies regarding the use of prayer have mostly concentrated on its effect on the healing of sick or injured people. Meta-studies of the studies in this field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is "no discernable effect" while a 2007 systemic review of intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had "small, but significant, effect sizes" but the review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings. The efficacy of petition in prayer for physical healing to a deity has been evaluated in numerous other studies, with contradictory results. (Wikipedia)
One scientific movement attempts to track the physical effects of prayer through neuroscience. Leaders in this movement include Andrew Newberg, an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In Newberg's brain scans, monks, priests, nuns and gurus alike have exceptionally focused attention and compassion sites. This is a result of the frontal lobe of the brain’s engagement (Newberg, 2009). Newburg believes that anybody can connect to the supernatural with practice. Those without religious affiliations benefit from the connection to the metaphysical as well. Newberg's research provides the connection between prayer and meditation and health. By understanding how the brain works during religious experiences and practices Newberg's research shows that the brain changes during these practices allowing an understanding of how religion affects psychological and physical health (2009). For example, brain activity during meditation indicates that people who frequently practice prayer or meditation experience lower blood-pressure, lower heart rates, decreased anxiety, and decreased depression. (Wikipedia)

## Thought transfer

A prayer is a thought transfer to God or an enlightened master such as Jesus, Buddha or Krishna. An enlightened being takes on the thoughts and can react to them. It occurs through the sending of energy such as strength, love, peace, and tranquility or helpful thoughts. Only sometimes does that occur through physical manifestations such as miracles, healing, changes in the outer world. There are miracles which science cannot prove. That can be shown with the many healings in Lourdes. At the same time, it is also shown that only few healing miracles occur.
The effects of the prayer can be shown through spiritual energy. Spiritual exercises can awaken this energy. One can get this energy from the grace of God or from highly developed spiritual people. This energy can then be given on to others. That can be verified. One can ask other people if they’ve felt or experienced something, and one can feel it for him or herself when getting that energy from spiritual people.
Mainly, you experience the effects of spiritual energy through your feelings and your thoughts. You can have a connection with other people. You can feel the love of another person in the heart chakra. You can feel power in the second chakra. There are realities you experience along the spiritual way. You can see that you have abilities. You can prove it by asking people. Science has proven that it is possible to transfer thoughts. Energy transfer and thought transfer are closely related. Thought transfer is just one type of energy transfer.

## Discussion

(Quote from Jesus.de, Febr. 2013)
Plueschmors: People define and practice prayer in differing ways. For me, prayer is to commune with with God, my breath and my point to life. Martin Luther once said, “you can find a Christian without prayer just as seldom as you can find a living person without a pulse.”
Caro: I pray. It is something that I can’t imagine my life without. Could I ever become more healthy or successful without praying? I have no idea. I don’t pray for those reasons though, I pray out of love. It makes me happy, to pray out of love.
Nils: Sadly, research shows that it doesn’t help other people if you pray for them. However, this research is rather general. One should research spiritually developed people. Then you could find, for example, that Yoga teachers who have been at their careers for a long time can help heal people in their group. People use that in America already, in hospitals. How these healing effects occur is not explainable. I would attribute it to higher abilities. I observe that in my groups. In Yoga and Buddhism, there are people who pray and those who do not pray. It is a highly disputed question. I observe in myself that special abilities develop as I progress on my way. I can feel the energies of other people, partly read their thoughts, and I can sense their feelings from a distance and I think that I can also help to heal people. I have checked up on that by simply asking people.
Furthermore, one can say that God exists beyond the level of the material, and also in it, and can work through coincidence. This cannot be proven, but help comes to you anyways. I feel that my life is lead by God. I observe coincidences in my life that don’t seem like accidents anymore. But there is a thin line between wisdom and imagination. Certain is though, that enlightenment exists and prayer is a type of mantra that helps along the spiritual way. It calms the feelings, causes inner peace, and can bring about inner bliss. Everything else is a question of belief. I let the people in my group decide whether they want to pray or not.

## Healing Meditation

We sit or lie down. We relax.
1. Sun = We visualize above ourselves a beautiful sun, raising both hands to the side at head height and think several times the mantra "sun." We let the light of the sun flow down on us and massage it into the body.
2. Earth = We visualize the earth below us, rub the earth with our feet and think: "I send light to the earth. May all beings in the world be happy."
3. Healing Massage = We consider what part of our body needs healing in the moment. We let light flow into it, massage it in circles and think the word "light" as a mantra. By the light massage we resolve the tensions in the particular area of ​​the body and enable it in the self-healing. We can visualize the light in a color we feel that it heals us. We think the color name as a mantra. We can successively rub the light of healing in several parts of the body, thinking always the mantra "Light".
4. Cosmos = We visualize the cosmos around us full of stars, make big circles with our arms and think, "Om cosmos. I take the suffering in my life. I consistently walk my way of health and healing."
5. Master of Healing = We visualize before or above us the Master of Healing (God, Jesus, Mother Mary). We rub our hands in front of the heart chakra and think, "Dear God (Jesus, Mother Mary). Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way."
6. Question of Healing = We focus on a part of our body who needs healing or on a personal problem. What is the way of our healing? What do we have to do? What triggers our problem? We think so long until we are satisfied with the result. When we hear no answer, we are either blocked inside (we don't want to see the real causes of the problem), or we have a bad contact to our inner voice (we sense ourselves poorly). The best way then is slowly to get into thinking about our problem.
7. Sick people = We move a hand, bless all people with light and think, "May all the people who have the same problem as I be healed. My problem is ... The way of healing is ..."
8. Amen = We think inhaling and exhaling "Amen". We stop all other thoughts. We feel calmness, serenity and peace in us. We stop a minute every thought and move gently our feet. We focus on our feet and move on, until our mind comes completely to rest. Then we linger in a slight meditation. All thoughts and feelings may come and go as they please. We relax.

## The Lord´s Prayer

The image refers us to connect the Lord's Prayer (Christian main mantra) with visualizations and thereby strengthen the spiritual effect considerably. To have a powerful effect, we should speak or think the prayer how it fits us best. We should interpret the images so that they are helpful to us. We can formulate the sentences of the Lord's Prayer in our own words. This can help us to come better into contact with the energy of the prayer. The Pater Noster picture divides the Lord's Prayer in eight areas.
1.Our Father in heaven,
(We visualize God on our personal way above our crown chakra.)
2.hallowed be your name,
(We think sometimes the word "God", until we are in contact with the energy of God.)
3.your kingdom come,
(We visualize us in the kingdom of God. We see the positive in our world. )
4.your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
(We take all things in our lives as they are.)
5.Give us today our daily bread.
(We are grateful for everything good in our lives.)
6.Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
(What do you want to forgive your fellow man or God / your life today?)
7.Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
(What false desires you want to let go of today?)
8.For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
(Feel the power and the light of your spiritual role model flowing into you and filling you. Think Amen as long until you are one with the power of Jesus or God. Move one hand and send the light with the mantra Amen to all beings on earth. So you will come fully into the light.)

## External links

* Prayer (Wikipedia)
* Efficacy of prayer (Wikipedia)
* Sanctuary_of_Our_Lady_of_Lourdes (Wikipedia)
* Ganzfeld_experiment (Wikipedia): John McCrone: Roll up for the Telepathy Test. In: New Scientist, Nr. 1873, 15. Mai 1993.) Remote viewing: a further important aspect of the Ganzfeld experiment from Charles Honorton in Edinburgh. In this experiment, people who were shielded from one another sketched what other people who were also blocked off saw for video clips or pictures. This was one of the most successful tests for parapsychology that took place in the past century.

# Discussion on mysticism

Does God exist, what is God and what is the path to God?

## Debate on Mykath.de (2013)

Nils: A mystic is in dialogue with God. He or she can feel the Holy Ghost within and around him or herself. He or she lives in the light of God. The mystic allows the self to be lead by God.
A person must choose between God and the world. The Holy Ghost can only fill a person when the person is free of worldly, materialist-oriented thoughts, The person must empty the self of attachments and the ego and become empty so that the light of God can flow within him or her. In mystic theology, Dionysius Areopagita, who lived around the year 500, concerned himself with the topic of the experience of God. According to him, the human spirit longs for God. Through the three steps of inner cleansing, enlightenment and unity the recognition of God can be reached.
OpusX (atheist): Up to now the believers I’ve met were simply certain in their belief and haven’t searched for proof.
Nils: Those who truly believe don’t need proof. But he must have found his way to his beliefs somehow. In this phase he needs arguments supporting this belief. Many Christians today are made uncertain through material influences. They need good reasons to believe. In my view, the main reason for the downfall of the Christians in Germany is that the churches don’t give any more good reasons, any good arguments to believe. For this reason, the mystic proof of God is very important.
Claudia-Jutta (atheist): So the experience of God is real?
Nils: How do you recognize a real experience, encounter with God? I have my experiences with comparing what the Holy texts of mankind say about that. Afterwards I could relate what I had personally experienced to that. One has to be honest though, with oneself. One has to have clear wits and understanding when perceiving. Everyone can consider each of those who has born witness to God, and figure out whether this one is believable. I personally find Jesus believable, as well as Buddha, Socrates, Laotse, Ramakrischna, Teresa of Avila, Master Eckhart, Saint Frances, Saint Paul, and many others. I refer not to myself, but of those who have born witness to God. Enlightenment and experience of God are described well in literature. In certain cases it can be difficult to differentiate between a fake experience and a real one. I have never experienced conscious errors up to now, but there are varied degrees of enlightenment. What I have experienced often, is that someone thinks his or her degree of enlightenment is the highest and his or her way is the one correct way. One can make this mistake easily, because one finds it difficult to imagine an even higher state of enlightenment.
Claudia-Jutta: Could it be that during my deep relaxation experience a few years ago as I just sat there and was happy I could finally breathe easily again (and a frequency of breathing that could be a dream for the rest of my life), that I was closer to “Him” than a mystic?
Nils: You were not closer, rather you were going in the right direction. Maybe it was already an enlightenment experience. You have to describe your experience more closely. There are many levels of enlightenment. Relaxation and deeper inner peace is the first step. When you continue on this way, you will have even deeper experiences. I started using autogen training and thought it couldn’t go further than that. As someone asked me if I could see God during meditation I laughed. Later I didn’t laugh.
Einer (atheist): God is not to be comprehended?
Nils: God is a mystery and is not to be comprehended or described, rather is to be experienced. But one can find words that lead up to this mystery. That is what Jesus, Buddha and many others have done. The further you are in your experience of God, the less you can say about it, until you are only silent and other people sense your spiritual presence.
Gingganz (catholic): If you are honest with yourself, then you will recognize that we don’t know anything about this Jesus. It isn’t even certain if he lived at all. Written proof doesn’t exist. Contemporary sources from the time he supposedly lived don’t exist sufficiently either. What exactly is it that you find believable about Jesus?
Nils: We know some things about Jesus. Especially what it says in the Bible. I compare the contents of the Bible with what I have experienced myself. I recognize that the teachings of Jesus are consistent with what I have experienced. In this way it is an authentic spiritual teaching, no matter who it comes from. Someone wrote the text. And this person lived. That is indisputable. And this person knew the state of enlightenment and the way there. That is especially clear in the telling of the sermon on the mount.
GermanHeretic (atheist): The only argument that religion brings is political.
Nils: Forced conversion is very successful when one has political power in a country. In the Islamic countries that is how Islamic comes to be so widely practiced. In Germany we have a more free country, with freedom of opinion and freedom of religion. In such a society, those who have the better arguments and the more attractive offerings are heard. If Christians cannot argue properly in favor of their beliefs, they are not as viable any more. That’s what we can see at the moment. I think the situation will get better if Christianity is more geared toward its mystic tradition.
Korri (evangelical): I believe the Christian church consists of those who believe and follow Jesus.
Nils: There we are of the same opinion. God doesn’t differentiate between catholic and protestant Christians. God sees the heart of a person. He sees whether someone really follows Jesus, and if a person is serious in his search for the truth, for inner peace and inner harmony and happiness.
Volker (atheist): For me, the ”Mystic Proof of God’s Existence” served as proof for many years. Not because others told of this, but because it touched upon my own experiences. I can still understand those who believe in God because of such experiences. Interesting is that mystics have experiences which seem to reflect their own cultural circle. As I told my ZEN master what I experienced in my childhood, he said exactly these two sentences, “I know that there are many who experience that when intensively meditating. Then, one should continue to meditate and the hallucinations will go away.” My master was a Japanese man, more of a Taoist, who doesn’t adhere to any religion. Hindu mystics tend toward Pantheism, ZEN mystics see unity awareness as a phenomena of the own mind, Buddhists see Nirvana, Christians see their God, pagans nature or their God, Chinese mystics the Tao, etc.
Nils: For me, the mystic Proof of God’s Existence is still all the proof I need. But I accept that one can interpret the experience in various ways. You follow the Zen- path. That’s fine. I allow everyone their own way. Enlightenment is the center of life. There are various ways to reach it and to interpret it. It is still a mystery. It goes beyond words. One has to experience it, then one knows what it really is.
Volker: In my experience of Unity, I met the “spirit of my childhood” again with the recognition, “man, that’s me!” The key is to recognize one’s self, and everything is already there. Every ”recognition” of God is an appearance of one’s own self.
Nils: Words about God are always false, because the experience is not describable. Words about God are only theories about God. God goes beyond words. I accept your theories. As you are following the way of enlightenment, there is nothing there to criticize. At the same time, you should allow me my words and theories. They are my way to God. In the case you are attached to your words and theories, then I would doubt the depth of your experience of enlightenment. At a particular level, one sees that enlightenment goes beyond all words.
Volker: God is endless and eternal, that is something one cannot comprehend as a human.
Nils: Very good. Then we are of the same opinion. The center of the mystic proof of God is that God is a mystery. One cannot make an image of him. Every image leads to confusion. On the other hand, we need the images that lead to God. Such images allow one to speak of God and enlightenment. They are helpful for many. Master Eckhart recognized that one lets go of images at the deep level of enlightenment, that one must go beyond his own image of God.
Volker: I had the experience that I was one with the world, and the only spirit in this world was my own. Some would like to then interpret themselves as being God, I am not such a person.
Nils: That’s fine that way. Everyone is allowed to follow the way that is helpful for him. When you write that others take that to be God, you basically accept the mystic proof of God’s existence. It is just not a helpful theory for you at the moment. You follow a different system of terms than the Christian one.
Volker: Only because the experience was so amazingly impressive -Reality is nothing in comparison- it doesn’t have to contain a “higher truth”.
Nils: Don’t set yourself up to be caught in new dogmas, such as that God doesn’t exist. Others call that God.
Volker: The following, dear mystic, is my confirmation for what you say. Spirituality is the passion to find the truth.
Nils: Very good.
Volker: Those who bind themselves to a certain conviction are unable to search for the truth, because they believe they already have it.
Nils: Exactly.
Volker: You may take me to be an atheist, but I only follow my own Gods, not yours.
Nils: I don’t really see you as an atheist. You are a spiritual person. You are a spiritual atheist. That’s possible too.
Volker: Every religion is the exact opposite of spirituality.
Nils: Unfortunately there are often power struggle-based developments which are going in the wrong direction. But generally, the Christian church is needed to spread the good aspects of Jesus. We shouldn’t condemn the church, we should improve it. Problems appear when Christians get lost in their dogmas. That’s a problem of every religion. They need mystics and truth searching people in order to renew the religion, keep it up to date and to stay relevant.
Volker: A Catholic priest goes to a Zen master to learn. Finally, the priest reaches the highest level of enlightenment. The master asks him, “what have you experienced?” The priest replies. “It was unimaginable! The entire universe melted into one, until there was only God. Then how was your experience?” The master: “It was unimaginable! The entire universe melted into one, until only I was there.” The priest: “you have experienced it differently from me. I only saw God!” The master:” when you understand, then you will realize that we both saw the same thing.”
Nils: Wonderful. That is exactly the way it is. The experience of enlightenment of all enlightened is the same. But they describe it differently. And when you say, that only you were there, I also see that as correct. It wasn’t the usual, normal Volker. It was his higher self. And this higher self can also be described with the word “God”. The drop of water dissolved in the sea. And despite this, he still exists. I use the words “to live in God, to be one with God.”
Volker: The God of the bible is defined in such a way that it isn’t possible to have an experience which points to this God. Finally there cannot be a human experience that depicts a way to this God.
Nils: I see that differently. If you look carefully in the bible, it shows the way to this experience of God. Moses went the way of calm and peace. He lived in the desert for 40 years, alone and apparently did his spiritual practice. That points to the experience of God. In his enlightenment he saw the light in the world (God in the burning thorn bush) and recognized that the true self (the attachmentfree self) is the goal and way to God. Further, he threw his staff to the ground which changed into a snake. That is a symbol for exercises which awaken the kundalini energy (which is typically represented as a snake). The staff is the spine of the human, which is the path the kundalini energy takes to reach the head. Then bliss and enlightenment arises. The person then acquires special spiritual powers, healing, energy transfer, the fruits of the holy ghost.
In contrast, the way of Jesus from a spiritual perspective was a completely different one. Jesus acquired his enlightenment energy (the Holy Ghost) from John the Baptist. If someone practices as a Yogi for many years, then he gets special spiritual energy and can transfer these to people whom are ready for them. John the Baptist activated the Kundalini energy of Jesus through his baptism. Jesus then meditated for 40 days and nights in the desert. Then Jesus arrived in enlightenment. The devil (ego) disappeared and the angel (energy) served him. He could use his own truth to teach other people and help them with his energy.
We can develop spiritually when living aside from the chaos of the world around and instead living in calm and contemplation, as many monks and nuns do. Or we can get energy transferred to us from spiritually highly developed people. The energy really comes from God, or directly from God as would hold with Christian thinking. An enlightened doesn’t create from himself, rather through God. He lives in God and gives the energy of God onto others. That is highly visible in the church services of developed, realized saints.
One particular, special point is to be found in the way of Jesus. And that is all-encompassing love. The practice of all-encompassing love is a chance to arrive in unity consciousness. We find five main techniques in the Christian way: the way of peace and calm (contemplation, meditation), the way of all-encompassing love, the prayer (mantra), thought work (positive thinking), and energy transfer from saints and Jesus (blessings).
GermanHeretic: May I briefly quote Wikipedia: ”transcendence (from Latin, transcendentia, ”to go over”) is the philosophy and theology of the characteristic beyond the realm of perception through the five senses and their material accompaniment and to be independent from them.”
Nils: Transcendence is difficult to describe. God is experienced in silence. Through prayer and meditation one can arrive in a higher state of consciousness. At the same time, a new form of perception develops. One sees through the eyes God as light in the world. One senses God as light, peace and happiness in the self. One achieves heightened abilities such as the ability to heal other people.
Wikipedia: As mystical experiences, individual, inner experiences of a person go beyond what is seen as typical daily consciousness and in certain ways is gone beyond this and a particular, intuitive, perspective into the unified nature of reality is achieved. It deals with a type of spontaneous breakthrough of consciousness from a subjective-relative to an objective-absolute basis.
josef (catholic): The immeasurable, ordered depth of the world is proof of the existence of God. And the encountering of humans with the holy ghost of God is a second proof.
Nils: John 14 refers to this. Philip says to Jesus: give me experience of God, then I believe in God. Give me energy of enlightenment as John the Baptist gave to you. Jesus could have done that if Philip was ready for it. But Philip’s heart wasn’t pure enough yet, so Jesus couldn’t give him the spiritual energy requested.
After Jesus’ enlightenment, angels served him. The angels are a symbol here for spiritual energy (the holy Ghost) that can be sent from a distance to help others spiritually. God deals through Jesus. For me, Jesus is the presence of God which deals directly in this world. Jesus possesses abilities which a non-enlightened person can hardly begin to imagine. The more enlightened one is, the more one can also have a part of these abilities. That is also described in the bible, and is experienced in oneself as an enlightened being. According to Paul, one receives the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, friendliness, kindness, loyalty, gentleness and self-control. Just for those reasons, it is worth it to strive for enlightenment.
Marcellinus (atheist): That isn’t proof.
Nils: My mystic proof of God corresponds with what is in the Bible. In John: 14.8 Philipp bids Jesus to give him an experience of God, so that he can believe in God. It takes a deep experience of God to comprehend what God is. One can only speculate about God beforehand. You define God as something that doesn’t exist and then assume that God doesn’t exist. You see God as an old Man in the sky. For something like that there can be no proof. God is a mystery.
GermanHeretic: And how can you differentiate as an unenlightened between the real and the only supposedly enlightened?
Nils: For someone who is unenlightened it is difficult to differentiate. You can orient yourself around whom the majority considers enlightened. That Buddha was enlightened is something most people agree with. One can read what Buddha said. One can then compare his own experience with that. It is very important that you are honest with yourself. Otherwise your ego will trick you.
Volker: If we are talking about a purely transcendental God, then Kant was correct. A 100% transcendental God cannot be proved or disproved. But from that point, most believers make a big mistake. I know this because I’ve made the same mistake: the Christian God is not 100% transcendental. If only a little bit of immanence exists in this God, which is what most believers believe, then God’s existence can in fact be basically proven.
Nils: Correct. God’s existence can basically be proven. How that can be done is written down in John 14.8 ”Lord, show us the Father, that’s enough for us.” In order to believe deeply and truly in God, then an experience of God is enough. God is a mystery. With means steeped in science and logic one can only approach this to a certain degree. One can find indications that point toward God. But one can only grasp God when one has had a transcendental experience. Then it is a belief that is supported by knowledge. For all Christians whom have never had their own experience of God, Jesus is the witness for God. God is proven through Jesus Christ.
Volker: No enlightened person can say the least bit about things which are found outside of his or her head.
Nils: If enlightenment is the way of the deepest happiness, peace and love, then it is already enough to strive for enlightenment and to experience God. Through enlightenment one arrives in higher consciousness and then gets special abilities. Enlightenment is not just in one’s head. You connect with God, with a higher field of consciousness that also exists outside of you, beyond your “own head”. And one can deal through and with this higher field of consciousness. One can observe the self as a spiritual person and recognize that one has the extraordinary abilities which make it clear enlightenment is not just in the head.
Volker: There are unexplainable healings, for example spontaneous remission of cancer. Some can be explained with simple, natural causes such as false diagnosis. We know that the body has abilities to fight cancer. Yes, and I think that belief in healing convinces a person that healing has taken place. “It is your faith that helped you”, as Jesus supposedly said. Not religious belief, but belief in oneself or a particular method of healing. When an ”enlightened” person thinks he has supernatural abilities, then he should go to James Randi and find the abandoned million dollars. He can then donate the money to charity. But as long as none of the “enlightened” achieve this, then I refuse to believe such people with such supernatural abilities exist. I can still remember well, that one of the course participants asked my zen master if one can get supernatural abilities. The Zen master began to laugh. If one has these special abilities, then they should be able to demonstrate this.
Nils: The main point of the spiritual way is enlightenment and not just some special spiritual abilities. For this reason, I can understand why the Zen master laughed at the question if one can get special powers through meditation. In Zen Buddhism, one doesn’t reject this, but doesn’t concentrate on this because enlightenment is the main thing.
All speculation about God, life after death and spiritual abilities lead one away from the main thing. One realizes this when one has achieved enlightenment. Then one recognizes what God is. Then one can see the special spiritual abilities and use them. In science there are those who oppose and those who are for this. You can only really be convinced through your own experience.
There are enlightened people at various levels of enlightenment. Particularly interesting is that some enlightened have abilities and others don’t. It seems enlightened without higher abilities exist, and those with also exist. In my perception of what occurs, you first arrive in enlightenment, and then rise to various levels of enlightenment which are tied to this. That’s how I think it happened with Jesus. He achieved enlightenment after being baptized by John and meditating in the desert. And through crucifixion he went to a still higher level of enlightenment, after which he could say “I have all of the powers of the heaven and earth. Be sure : I am with you for all days, until the end of the world.” Jesus reached the level where he can see all people and can lead them and connect with them spiritually and mentally.
Many enlightened masters report of their experiences with this level of merging of omnipresence. I have experienced this ability when dealing with many enlightened masters. They could appear to me in dreams and give me information that I didn’t have before. I always check the information I receive, as a onetime atheist I am critical towards such things. And I always find reasons to believe in these apparently “supernatural” abilities. With myself personally, I observe how these abilities continue to develop, and I still check up on this critically. I always find indication that these abilities do in fact exist. At the same time, I realize this is difficult to prove to others. But my conclusion overall is that these abilities do exist.
Volker: Ever since I had my experience of the unity of all things, I’ve looked for an explanation for this. The most plausible is that one can show what is happening through brain scans. There is a part of the brain which is responsible for differentiating between itself and it’s outside environment. Newborns are not born with the ability to differentiate, they learn it. During meditation, this function is shut down.
Nils: I have experienced particular spiritual abilities myself. That is the difference between you and I. We’re different people, we’ve had different experiences. There’s this discussion also in Buddhism and Hinduism. There are two great schools of thought. Buddhism is the way of self-enlightenment and Buddhism is the way of enlightened helpers (Bodhisattvas). Yoga without prayer and Yoga with prayer. We will not be able to decide who has won this discussion, and we will also not need to. Also, scientifically the situation is not as clear as you think. There are enough scientists with differing views and differing research.
Brahman (buddhist): Mysticism and enlightenment are on the fringe of the Christian belief system. In Buddhism it’s a different story. Enlightenment and mysticism play a central role in eastern religions.
Nils: Pope John Paul II was a mystic, in my opinion. The current Pope Francis is engaged for the poor of the world. I welcome that. Jesus was a mystic. If the church comprehended that, then they could also be successful as a religion with the world today. At some point they will understand the mystical aspects of the Bible. Jesus meditated on the mountain. This way, he found his way to a transfiguration. For a mystic, that is easy to recognize. Jesus meditated for 40 days and nights in the desert. He didn’t just sit around or run around confused in the desert. If someone is really touched by the holy Ghost as Jesus was after his baptism, then one reaches a deep and joyful meditation.
GermanHeretic: I don’t trust one thing: when someone says their way is for everyone.
Nils: I agree. If you think I believe my way is the only way and THE way for everyone, then you’ve misunderstood my point. I actually believe the opposite, which is that there are many ways to enlightenment and to God. Every religion has several ways to it. That is even the Catholic stance since the II Vatican. “The Catholic church doesn’t reject anything that is true and holy. With sincerity it considers every way of dealing and living, every text and teaching, in which several things differ from what we personally hold for truth and what we teach, but often we see a ray of truth in that which differs from our own traditional beliefs which also enlightens mankind.”
I would go even further. I follow the enlightened Catholic priest Bede Griffiths, according to whom all religions are part of a greater whole. That is exactly my personal experience. I read in the texts of all religions, comprehended the essence and found my own way. I represent the position of the individual spiritual way. That can be the way of Buddhism, of Yoga, of philosophy, of a nature religion, of a mixture of all religions, but also the Christian way with its various branches of teaching.
It depends on whether one is honest, serious and persistent in their spiritual undertakings. One bust be persistent in his personal way of the principles of truth, wisdom and love. One finds God, enlightenment, inner peace and inner happiness when one listens to the voice of his or her inner wisdom. One has to follow his or her consciousness. One has to follow his or her own sense of what is right. One has to combine good sense with inner sense. Enlightenment stands above all. But in a deep enlightenment experience I asked myself how one can find the way there. What terms can one use to describe this way? In its essence, one can describe this with truth and love.
The problem most people have is not they follow various religions. The problem is that they really believe in material happiness and not in inner happiness. They orient themselves toward false goals and for that reason do not find their way. Furthermore, most people only practice their religion on the surface. They do the material rituals without wanting to change themselves on the inside.
GermanHeretic: And your way is first of all just your way.
Nils: Indeed.
GermanHeretic: I believe right away that your way works for you.
Nils: Thank you.
GermanHeretic: But it lacks objective validity. That is why expressions such as “that is the only way”, or “ follow me, otherwise it won’t work” are completely irrelevant. Jesus said such things, and for that reason he isn’t a role model for me.
Nils: I don't believe that Jesus really said that he is the only way to God. This was put in his mouth later by his followers. Jesus wanted to turn the Judaism of his time from a formal spiritual practice to a real one. He taught the way of love to God and all people. First in John’s evangelism hundred years later the notion that Christianity is the one way to God arose. Jesus didn’t know or plan anything regarding Christianity. He didn’t intend to start his own religion. He wanted to remain a member of Judaism. The development arose after his crucifixion. Later there was a sharp division between Jews and Christians. In this conflict, this phrase of the St. John’s evangelism arose. The truth is, that all religions have saints and a way to God. Judaism and Moses are a way to God. We should see the phrase in the St. John’s evangelism symbolically. One has to decide for the spiritual way and not live primarily from the perspective of materialism. One needs an enlightened master like Jesus. One has to develop his or her characteristics which lead to enlightenment.
GermanHeretic: Siddharta is completely different. He said, ”I offer a way that works. Follow me, and it might work. But it could work when you go your own way.” That is much more acceptable.
Nils: Buddha and Jesus said the same. Jesus offered the Jews and later followers of other religions the way of all-encompassing love. He didn’t force anyone to go that way. Love doesn’t force. It loves. It helps. It is tolerant. It is non-violent. That is also what he says in the mountain sermon. Jesus was non-violent and gentle.
GermanHeretic:. If Jesus was real. What he really said no one really knows.
Nils: There are many Enlightened in the world. Mostly they say the same thing as Jesus at the heart of the matter.
Einer: There is only one thing one “must” do, and that is to die at some point.
Nils: Everyone has to die when the time comes. The big question is where it goes afterward. The consciousness at death determines where one will be after death. The characteristics of inner peace, love and happiness well developed will cause the person to go to a happy place after death. Characteristics of a person such as foolishness, addiction, hate and ego madness will take the person to a corresponding place after death. It is a great advantage to live spiritually. One harvests richly in the afterlife and on earth. A wise person can only go the way of wisdom.
GerhardIngold: I quote the bible the same way I quote Kant, Nietzche, Marx and others. There are ideas from each which I consider good, less good or completely wrong. But I never quote the Koran, the Tora, the NT, etc as if they contain the word of God. Rather, I quote them the same way I quote every book.
Nils: It’s helpful when you are inspired by the Holy Ghost. I would say that it is helpful to comprehend the Bible with the intellect and with wisdom. Wisdom means deep knowledge. Those who know enlightenment and have experienced God can comprehend the Bible at a deeper level.
GerhardIngold: It’s a fact that no one can argue effectively that God exists. At the same time, no one can argue that God does not exist. But generally atheists have the most conclusive arguments.
Nils: Atheists argue that God does not exist. It’s possible to argue from that perspective and to demand a proof of God. This proof exists. There are millions of people who have experienced God. One can experience God. So God exists. The big question then is what does one experience and what is God, exactly?

## Discussion Jesus.de 2013 (evangelical forum)

Nils: The mystic knowledge of God is the basis for the mystic proof of God. The term “proof” is used a lot. God does not allow himself to be proven on simple terms because God is greater than the understanding of the human. But one can find good reasons to support the notion that it is in good sense to live as a spiritual person.
Swift: If something isn’t proven, then you don’t need to believe it. Solid proof of God would do away with belief.
Nils: It has nothing to do with getting rid of belief, rather with strengthening it. Many people doubt God today. They need good reasons to believe. That’s the point here. It has to do with good arguments for the spiritual way. There is nothing more to it, nothing more to setting out to prove God’s existence. God isn’t just some imagining, some fake thing, rather there is God and God can be experienced. There are plenty of witnesses for that, plenty of people who have experienced that for themselves . If you can and don’t want to experience for yourself, then you have to believe in his witnesses such as Jesus, Moses, Paul, Areopagita, Master Eckhart. In that regard, it remains belief, but with a good reason to believe. Only when you’ve experienced enlightenment and God can your belief become “knowing”.
rap2:. The real point of life is happiness. What other worthy goal is there for our short time on earth?
Nils: Correct. We should live in a way that makes us happy. And at best, all together with one another and for one another. The highest happiness can be found in enlightenment, in the mystic unity with God.
rap2: And if someone really knows the Bible, mystical experiences can be useful. Then one can really place them, and get a sense of what is truly happening!
Nils: Mystical experiences are a blessing. They help us along our way. They allow us to recognize our way. They are a taste of the paradise that is to come.
Hesse23: The community of saints are all believers.
Nils: That’s a theological theory which is partly correct and partly false. It is correct in the sense that the Bible is a way to holiness and directs us to paradise. In that regard, all Christians are potential saints. But they are often far away from really seeing that through. When I consider the sins of the Christians of today and the past, then it’s clear to see that not all believers are holy. There are witch burnings, inquisition, forced conversions, child molestation, crusades, war crimes, and torture… what do these have to do with holiness or saintliness? A bad person is no saint, rather a bad person, even if he is a Christian.
Hesse23: Believers don’t strive toward completion. You mix things up that don’t have anything to do with one another.
Nils: I know that in Christianity there is a debate surrounding the term ”saintliness”. I orient my thinking around Jesus who referred to striving for completion in the sense of enlightenment and holiness, saintliness. Matth. 19,21. “If you want to be complete, then sell your belongings and give the money to the poor. Then you will be a treasure in heaven.
Wikipedia:. ”The Christian theology has a double concept of saintliness: the saint is an incorporation of God himself. In the New testament this view is modified. Now it is the holiness or saintliness of Jesus that effects those who follow him. Christian saints show that they are already a step further in grace, but that it is possible for everyone to also achieve that grace. “
P (atheist): It’s only physical chemistry and brain processes.
Nils: What exactly is the enlightened experience? Does it deal with just brain processes, or is connected with a real higher power? I experience God as a higher dimension of consciousness that exists behind the material cosmos, where time and space have no meaning. God is omnipresent and all-knowing. Those who are connected to this higher power have a piece of these abilities. They can go beyond time and space. They can demonstrate abilities such as thought transfer, clairvoyance and healing.
hhi: What are spiritual exercises?
Nils: Spiritual exercises are meditation and thought work. In thought work we exercise through our enlightened role models. Then we develop positive characteristics such as inner peace and all-encompassing love. Prayer is an important spiritual exercise. Prayer can be a form of thought work or meditation. Teresa von Avila called meditation the prayer of calm and peace. She prayed to God and connected to him. Then the spirit of God flowed within her, her thoughts became quiet and she rested in a clear-headed state of the bliss of God.
Central to this is the statement from the sermon on the mount: ”Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” The point is to be pure of heart. The heart is meant as the center of the soul. To be pure in the soul, we need exercises for the body and the mind as well. One must work through the tension and energy blockages in the body and the mind. When the tension disappears, happiness, love and peace can develop within. Then you can arrive in the dimension of God.
There are many different exercises. Which ones work for you has to be tested for yourself. I’ve tried a lot of things until I found the right ones for me. An obstacle to true progress is practicing without putting your heart and soul; just going through the motions without sensing anything. Praying can be a good mental exercise. But if we just speak without feeling, then praying won’t bring us to God. Terasa von Avila only needed to think of the prayer “Our Father” once, concentrated on it, felt the deeper meaning of the words and was in happiness, bliss, God, enlightenment.
Spiritual exercises for me are living life in calm, to go for walks, to read the Bible, to pray, to avoid negative thoughts, to practice positive characteristics such as love, peace, and happiness. At the center of the spiritual way there are two things: the love of God and the love of one’s fellow man. God can be found in meditation and contemplation, love of one’s fellow man can be found through positive thinking and doing good deeds. To say it briefly, meditation and positive thinking will bring you to enlightenment and to God.
Momoko: It sounds a lot like ”you can save yourself through work.” It’s enough for me that Jesus died for me.
Nils: Self-salvation is not possible. Enlightenment occurs through grace. What one can do is to purify oneself. Then God will take his time and fulfill the rest with grace, as God chooses to do so. “blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” God loves those who work for blessings, not the lazy. If you don’t work on yourself, you can’t expect blessings from God.
It’s a big argument among Christians as to whether one can become a saint through good deeds. Catholics emphasize the importance of good deeds and many evangelical Christians love to do nothing. From my perspective, both positions are correct. One has to walk the spiritual path with balance and understanding. Mostly it is correct and important to intensively practice prayer contemplation and helping others, to read the Bible and to visit church services. But sometimes it can be good to just be relaxed and leave things to God.
The way to enlightenment is normally so that one has to work intensively at the beginning. Right before you break through to enlightenment, often you have to just leave things to God. But there are also people who reach God through intense inner cleansing. There are many ways to God. If you connect to God every day through prayer or reading texts, and listen to your voice of inner wisdom, then you will find the way that is right for you.
Sanduhr: The question is what would be different with you personally from the other schools of thought which are just as focused on practice.
Nils: I’ve tried it out on myself, and that’s enough for me. My main principle is the individual way for each person. People are all different and live in different situations. What could be good for one could be bad for another. For me, I notice that it’s good to practice spiritually. It doesn’t do me good though to see things dogmatically. I need a middle road of spiritual practice with meditation, prayer, thought work, some joy and enjoyment in life, doing good, and finally just leaving things to God, trusting God. But there are some people who need strict discipline. The first Christian hermits have found that both of these ways are effective. That was the first test along the way of saintliness and enlightenment.
Momoko: What does it mean to you to be focused on God?
Nils: You have to decide between God and the world, between the spiritual way and the material way. To be focused on God means to live basically, according to spiritual truths. It means that inner peace, all-encompassing love and wisdom are the main points of life. How one does that exactly can vary.
Momoko: The Bible doesn’t say anything about working on ourselves. The Bible says GOD changes us. God can only do that when I stay in contact with him (pray, meditate, etc) but with you it seems the focus is on YOU doing things, that YOU work on yourself, instead of letting GOD work.
Nils: I pray and let God lead me. I let God work on me. I let my inner voice advise me as to what specific exercises I should do. There is the active and the passive spiritual way. It depends on the individual, as to which way is right for him or her. An active person will interpret the Bible differently from a passive person. Let us take this sentence as an example “blessed are the merciful at heart, for they will strive toward mercy.” I interpret that as a call to action. This action will change a person on the inside.
Sanduhr: To love one’s fellow man is an attachment in a sense.
Nils: It depends on what type of love that is. The center of the spiritual way of life is the rule of love to God and to all other beings. I interpret that as concentrating on God and love. We have to find our own balance of calm and love. When we use up our energy just on love, we get burnt out and don’t come to the light. On the other, all-encompassing love is a good way to overcome the ego and to arrive in unity consciousness (the consciousness of God). The best way for me to grow consists of living away from the world in a sort of isolation, to do good for others, and to practice spiritually by reading, praying and meditating, all in the right amount. This amount has to be found each day, as it can change, and that by sensing and using wisdom.
Sanduhr: Those who love from God, will be stronger, the more they love.
Nils: If we anchor our existence in God then light will flow into us and we can pass this love to others without using it up as it comes from God. An enlightened lives this way, and for an unenlightened person it is a way to practice. If we lose our inner peace and calm when we are doing things, then we are no longer centered in God and use up our own energy when giving to others.
Sanduhr: The people around you are those you encounter directly, but they are not all beings.
Nils: That’s an important point that is often misunderstood. In order to come to a mystical experience of God one has to love all other beings, including one’s enemies. Only all-encompassing love can bring one to the all-encompassing love of God. It deals with more than just the people you meet and are thinking about. It could be those starving in Africa and Indian, the victims of the terrible wars in the world and the many poor in the world. We know that at least through the news and TV. They need our help and our love. We help others as much as possible without overwhelming ourselves. We would like all people to live in light, to be enlightened and to come to paradise after they die. If we approach others from the perspective of all-encompassing love, that will bring us to love, to the peace of God and to happiness.
Momoko: There are many saints. This forum is full of them. I, for example, am holy. I belong to God.
Nils:s To me, a saint is an enlightened master. Only. Only they have the true fruits of the spirit within them (love, peace, patience, friendliness, goodness, loyalty, gentleness, self-control.) The rest of us are just on the way to this completeness of being, but we are not there yet. When I consider my fellow Christians, I don’t see much of this completeness and saintliness. Most protestant Christians don’t even pray once a day. How should someone become a saint that way? The Catholics are more honest, they honor their saints and look to them for knowledge and know they are not that far along yet.
Momoko: Blessings are something one cannot work towards.
Nils: That’s correct, but there’s a connection between one’s doings and of being blessed by God. That is also expressed in the Bible that the human being has to choose between God and the world. To choose God means to live consistently spiritual. That means one needs to work on oneself. And then one will be blessed.
Momoko: The term “enlightenment” isn’t biblical.
Nils: The Bible mentions perfection, following Jesus, becoming a saint, and being full of light innside, to live in light and to radiate light. There is the following passage of the Bible, “God is the one who enlightens my darkness.” (2. Samuel 22:29). “The true light, that enlightens all humans, came into the world.” (Joh. 1.9) “With you is the source of life, and in your light we see the light.” (Psalm 36:9). “Jesus spoke once again to them and said: I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will will not change in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12). Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you." (Luke 11.36)
Momoko: God doesn’t need perfectly enlightened people, whom are always nice and good and calm and quiet, but he loves us dirty and crazy, weird and spiteful.
Nils: An enlightened person can have quirks and mostly DOES have them. What makes an enlightened person different is the light of God. HE or she is full of the holy Ghost, is full of peace, happiness and love. He or she feels the light of God and radiates it into the world. With the Evangelist Luke it says: “Jesus went up with them to pray. And while he prayed, the look of his face and his clothing changed to a radiant white.” (Luke 9,28-36). That is how it is with the enlightened.
Momoko: Who is Jesus, in your opinion? Just an enlightened person?
Nils: Jesus is an enlightened person. That is the result I have come to after contemplating the Bible. But he is not “just” an enlightened person. There are several steps, levels of enlightenment. Jesus incorporates the highest level because he taught all-encompassing love. Enlightened masters have differing spiritual abilities. In my view, Jesus had the highest abilities, as he is omnipresent and has the ability to lead us all spiritually.
Momoko: I’m not a physicist but I am rather sure that a physicist can’t just sum everything up with the quote from the quantum physics for everything “supernatural.”
Nils: I’ve discussed this topic often with physicists. In physics, there are communities of two groups, the atheists and the spiritual people. There is a growing group of spiritual scientists, especially quantum physicists. Their arguments are very good. Don’t insult Professor Hans-Peter Dürr. The atheist physicists haven’t even dared to do so. He is a recognized scientist.
Wikipedia: Hans-Peter Dürr (October 7, 1929 in Stuttgart) is a German physicist. In addition to nuclear and quantum physics, elementary particles and gravitation, epistemology, and philosophy, he has advocated responsible scientific and energy policies. Until Fall 1997, he was the diretor at the Max-Plank-Institute for physics (Werner-Heisenberg Institute) in Munich.
Meli77 (Atheist): What makes Jesus believable for you?
Nils: I believe what Jesus said because his words make sense. He describes experiences I’ve also had.
Meli77: And where is the Bible proven?
Nils: The main point of the Bible is enlightenment, the way to God, life with God. Otherwise there are a lot of historical references in the Bible which were right for the time in which they were written. We have to use the Bible wisely, and apply it to our situations today.
Meli77: How do you differentiate between fakes and real enlightened masters?
Nils: A good indication is whether something is believable. We have to look at the entire behavior of a person and then compare their experiences with what it says in the Bible. Which spiritual gifts do they have? Inner peace, all-encompassing love, mental clarity, joy?
Basically one can orient oneself to the criteria in religious texts. When Moses saw the burning bush, I know he was enlightened. As an enlightened, one sees the light of God in the world. Moses saw the burning bush and light all around. When Moses threw his staff to the ground and it changed into a snake, I know that is a symbol for the awakening of enlightenment energy. The enlightenment energy is also represented as a snake, that winds itself around a tree (the spine).
When Jesus was transformed during the prayer on the mountain, I know that he was enlightened. You don’t directly see the light, you feel it. You feel it in you and around you. And sensitive people can also feel it from you. They can tell they are in the presence of a holy person. Jesus was an enlightened person with aura full of light.
Paul described criteria such as joy, peace, and love. That’s how one can recognize enlightened people. Especially important is the consciousness of unity, or the consciousness of God. One feels connected with God, the world, and other people. One develops special abilities.
Meli: I am satisfied, am I enlightened? OK, I can’t do any miracles, but does that matter?
Nils: If you are completely satisfied, that’s good. But that’s not enough for enlightenment, although you are on the right track. You should meditate and love all other people. Miracles do not necessarily accompany enlightenment, maybe they are possible at a higher level. Jesus could perform miracles, as could Moses. Buddha also. I could name many enlightened masters who could perform miracles. But the point is experiencing God, not miracles. Enlightenment is first of all just one way to live happily. It depends on inner peace, happiness, and love. Those who are enlightened live better than those who are not. Doing miracles is just a side ability. In some religions it’s taught that one shouldn’t just perform miracles because one can.
Sanduhr: In my Bible, the angel of the lord appears in the burning bush.
Nils: The angel is God himself. Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense. And it’s also clear that God himself answers out of the burning bush.
Sanduhr: Is there a devil?
Nils: In my view, there are bad souls, bad energy, and bad thoughts. But, at a deep level there is only God. The devil is a symbol for the ego that is dissolved with enlightenment. I take that from the story of Jesus praying (meditating) for 40 days and nights in the desert. The devil disappeared after that. In Buddhism there is a similar story with Mara.
Sanduhr: What did Adam and Eve do wrong?
Nils: In my view, Adam and Eve were at the level of a child. They were enlightened, without being aware of strong energies in themselves and without being able to do deal with those energies properly. They had to lose their enlightenment and go out into the world in order to become true adults and to learn how to combine enlightenment with a life in the outside world. One can easily hold onto enlightenment when living away from the outside world. But as soon as you go out there and are confronted with all the chaotic energies, you lose your enlightenment. It is a delicate art to be able to be peaceful and enlightened when you encounter aggressive people, more so when they attack you directly. Also, being addicted to sex one can fall from the grace of enlightenment. That could have also been the problem with Adam and Eve.
GoodFruit: God promised us that when we look for him, he will allow us to find him.
Nils: I believe that too.
GoodFruit: Skeptics are always appearing, demanding proof. It should be possible to give them this proof, miracles HAVE occurred.
Nils: That’s how it is. The proof has appeared several times. There are thousands of experiments regarding thought transfer and clairvoyance. Miracle healings have been documented in Lourdes.
XHelghastX: You seem to regard atheists as the enemy.
Nils: Not at all. I was an atheist in the past, and my son is an atheist. Atheists can also arrive at enlightenment. Atheists can also experience God, even when they would likely call it something else. According to Pope Francis, atheists can also go to heaven if they are good people.