You have made mention of free will or the lack of it. Can you explain your thoughts? Are we programmed step by step or is it a matter of choices?
I joined the Spirituality & Consciousness forum on TBD.com to network for promotion of my book. I was astounded to see how many are deeply thinking on consciousness, spirituality and doing the right thing. Rather than using TBD as a platform (BTW, TBD means “To Be Determined”) for book promotion, it was brought to my attention that the purpose of the form was far more important than that (Wanda, I thank you)!
I began to discuss very interesting things from the theory of parallel universes to the art of Paying It Forward ), for which I owe a thank you to David, and also on the concept of free will. I started a discussion titled, “On the Matter Of . . .” Interestingly, it was to read On the Matter of “Free Will” but the software at TBD chopped the part in quotes. At any rate, I want to share that initial post with you as it posits that we may have an element of free will:
Posted: Dec 24, 08 4:50pm
This is a topic of great interest to me. I would appreciate comments on free will.
Question: Is there such a thing as free will?
My mother passed on in January of this year, almost 99 years old. I was fortunate to have her with me in Hawaii for the last 5 years of her life as she dealt with advanced Alzheimer's disease.
Prior to her loss of concentration, I discussed this matter of free will. Her life was spent as a clinical psychologist and she had firm and definite thoughts on it. Briefly, it went something like this:
"Mom, listen . . . In writing my book, I came across very interesting experimental research by a Dr. Benjamin Libet in his book, "Mind Time." The incredible thing is, his studies show that there is a period of 350 milliseconds before we are consciously aware of an act, that signals (evoked potentials) can be recorded from the brain that show the act is already in progress!"
She was not impressed. I continued:
"Does that not suggest that we follow a pre-planned program, and what we think we are doing as "choice" is nothing of the sort? All planned in advance?"
I was expecting something other than her terse reply which was,
"Ridiculous! If there was not such thing as free will, then a person could do anything he/she wanted without worrying about consequences."
Well, I think she was declining in cognition at that point, as she received her PhD in 1935 at age 26, a straight A college student at a time when people of color, especially women, were kept from academics. She certainly had been aware of social mores which keep people from doing whatever they want (in some countries you lose a hand for theft of a loaf of bread, right) so law and order does restrain us but yet. . .. she was adamant about free will being our right and privilege.
Now if fairness to my mother, Libet also determined that there is a 200 ms period in which we may influence that which is already in progress.
That requires a sharp and focused mind, free of drugs, stress, etc. Now, I wonder if it is faith (such as that described by Louvette and others) that gives us that clear mind to operate within this limited window of time (1/5 sec)? Or is it clarity of consciousness and the ability to live in the moment that will pull this off?
I would appreciate any thoughts on this matter. Libet's work does seem to suggest that we follow a script and recent research confirms this finding.
My thought and conclusion in Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations is that we create a plan for each incarnation in a spiritual world, another dimension of time and space in the afterlife. Everything, including my present keystrokes, is planned well in advance. After birth, we follow that plan to the letter with only a very narrow window of time (1/5 second) in which to exercise a modicum of free will. If we miss this window, the plan proceeds unaltered and we are presented with the lesson to be learned.
If our next life’s plan is written in the spiritual world, how is it crafted?
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I came to the realization (based upon psychics, remote viewing, patient encounters, authors who have written on this topic and the thoughts of past thinkers such as Mokichi Okada) that we do follow a plan and thus the lack of significant free will as I have discussed earlier. It is hard to dismiss Dr. Libet’s experimentation as not being valid and worthy of serious consideration.
Mr. Okada proposed that based upon his direct knowledge of the spiritual world, we follow a plan and therefore we should be able to accept any hardship or mistreatment with a smile.
As a result of my investigations and experiences, I was able to take this a step further: there is ample evidence that we create this plan ourselves.
As far as how long does it continue, I refer you to Jane Robert’s books, The Education of Oversoul Seven and The Further Education of Oversoul Seven as this is exactly how I see it working. That is, at some point we are able to help others reach a level of realization by teaching via dreams, such as the work being done in these stories by a spirit called Seven. It was seven’s job to oversee and advise by dreams, the life of four individuals, his incarnations existing in four different time periods but yet, coexisting in time. This is the function of an oversoul. In Ms. Robert’s books, he is being tested by a more advanced soul, tested to see how he is preforming his job.
On my first reading, I thought them to be fiction stories. Ms. Roberts is known for her books on the channeled Seth. It is interesting that recently departed webmaster for this site, my friend and brother, Martin Simmonds, referred to himself as “Seth.”
For an interesting discussion, listen to Sandy Andrew’s radio interview with Robert Swartz:
Do we Plan our Lives Before Birth?
"The book Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? by Robert Schwartz explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we’re born for purposes of spiritual growth.
The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four gifted mediums and channels, including one who has the ability both to see and to hear the dialogue we have with one another before we’re born."
You base your conclusion on personal experience with medical cases, what psychics past/present/and future have said and what remote viewing reveals about life-after-death. Please explain.
We covered this in an earlier question, but this repeat of it gives me a chance to expound upon this topic.
I mentioned that my book contains only one appendix. This was originally designed for my friend Robert Bruce’s Astral Dynamics. As a result of my knowing Robert, I met his editor at Hampton Roads, Frank DeMarco. In my book, I used a quote from Mr. Colin Wilson’s The Mind Parasites. I begin the appendix which is “The Mind” with a quote from his book:
I had been assuming that man is limited because his brain is
limited, that only so much can be packed into the portmanteau.
But the spaces of the mind are a new dimension. The
body is a mere wall between two infinities. Space extends to
infinity outwards; the mind stretches to infinity inwards.
—Colin Wilson, The Mind Parasites
Although the use of most quotations in writing can be consider part of a public domain, I did my best to contact authors for their permission to quote. In some cases I was referred to their publishers, but not when it came to Richard Bach and Colin Wilson.
When I speak of life’s plan and that once we realize that we have very little power to change things, it is easy to see how events fall into place just as we assemble a jigsaw puzzle. When the time is right, the needed element appears, as if by magic.
Through Robert, I met Frank who knows Richard and Colin personally and professionally. He put me in touch and I was able to obtain permission to quote them. They were most happy to oblige in this regard.
Now, as a result, I came to realize that Mr. Wilson, author of over 50 books, had one that appealed to me. I purchased it with another of his books and now, after being on the shelf for a year or two, it has jumped into my hands as a spring board for my new interest:
Afterlife, by Colin Wilson.
It was one piece of the puzzle that I now need to focus my research into a deeper study of the spiritual world and what happens when we go, as has my friend Martin Simmonds, into the mystic!
I will be able to explain this in my next book on universal healing, universal energy and consciousness. For now, Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations addresses the thoughts of psychics past and present, remote viewing, and patient encounters which suggest that there is indeed an afterlife and a spiritual world.
How did you come to the realization that one could bear with any hardship, any mistreatment, accepting it with a smile, just as though it were nothing?
Questions for Dr. T | Page-16
What I thought at the time was serendipity, came to pass in April 1997. I describe this in some detail in my book.
The Way for Man to Live (from Prayers and
Gosanka, Church of World Messianity, 1978), one of many waka
(Japanese-language poetry) verses that Mokichi Okada created following his enlightenment.
The final stanza is the key:
Let us have the strength
To bear with any hardship,
Any mistreatment,
Accepting it with a smile,
Just as though it were nothing.
It took a full two years from the time that I first read these words to the day in 1997 when the full meaning struck me. Strangely enough, it was coupled with my meeting Martin Simmonds! The point Okada was making was, in retrospect, transparently obvious! If indeed our life’s plan was prewritten, and written in stone, why be upset or vindictive when events seem to be evil, bad or troublesome. It is all part of our life’s lessons unfolding. As I describe this event in my book, it was that very day that a period of six years of stress began. Fortunately, I was prepared for it all.
I came to this realization after Dee Harris, Gail Harlow and Martin Simmonds, three people I met on the Internet, took their time and money to fly from California, Missouri and Florida to spend one weekend with me in Denver where I was attending a neurosurgery conference that April.
After that, I flew to Ohio to visit with my mother and many friends came to see me. It was then that it hit me full force: it is written!
If you want to know how it could have been for me had this not happened, I refer you to the 1999 movie with Michael Douglas, Falling Down.
Reaching this state of awareness, I was able to accept hardship and mistreatment with a smile and, as a result, I was able to meet, face and deal with an onslaught of stressful situations, weather the storm and all the while, remain focused. The realization happened as I saw true demonstrations of unconditional love from Gail, Martin, Dee and my friends and family in Ohio. That triggered the realization.
And, in summary doctor, could you pose twenty brief questions that could be asked of you that would
Yes, of course. Most of these have been addressed in the preceding sections, but in skeletonized form, here they are again:
1.) Tell me about your childhood and life before college Dr. Turner. What inspired you to go into the field of Engineering Physics?
2.) How does one make such a shift from physics to neurosurgery and then to metaphysics?
3.) What is the difference between a neurologist and a neurosurgeon?
4.) What stimulated you to write MMM? Was there a cardinal event that led you to search for the meaning of life, death and life-after-death?
5.) You begin MMM with a case in which you could not control the bleeding. Could you explain what allowed you to save this patient from what appeared to be a certain death? Was it simply prayer?
6.) You mention psychics in your book, from Edgar Cayce to Sylvia Brown. What is your opinion of psychics and their work?
7.) How did you discover remote viewing?
8.) Could you discuss some if the remote viewing sessions that were used in training with Ed Dames? What is your opinion of the ability to remove view past, present and future?
9.) You cite a medical case in which remote viewing was used. Could you describe the case for us and how remote viewing played a part in diagnosis and treatment?
10.) You also discuss a most interesting case in a lady who saw an angelic apparition on the day of her death. What is your feeling about angelic apparitions in general and in particular, could you review your patient's case for us?
11.) Of all the medical cases discussed, which one stands out as the most dramatic for you and could you discuss it?
12.) You make mention of the spiritual world. How did you come to know Mokichi Okada and Johrei, The Medical Art of Japan?
13.) Do you have experience with other forms of energy treatments or alternative/complimentary medical treatments and if so, could you expound upon them?
14.) You have a somewhat technical appendix in which you mention Robert Bruce and his Astral Dynamics and his New Energy Ways. Could you tell us how you met Mr. Bruce and your thoughts on consciousness and the seat of the soul?
15.) How do out of the body experiences differ from lucid dreaming and astral projection? Let's begin with OBE. You mention Eckankar. How does this fit in with OBE and astral projection?
16.) You have made mention of free will or the lack of it. Can you explain your thoughts? Are we programmed step by step or is it a matter of choices?
17.) If our next life's plan is written in the spiritual world, who or what is responsible for crafting it and how long does this process continue?
18.) You base your conclusion on personal experience with medical cases, what psychics past/present/and future have said and what remote viewing reveals about life-after-death. Please explain.
19.) How did you come to the realization that one could bear with any hardship, any mistreatment, accepting it with a smile, just as though it were nothing?
20.) I understand you have another book in progress, a book on various techniques of energy healing. How do you think they work and does, as you have mentioned, free energy play a significant role?
