Religion
Singapore Table of Contents
Temples and Festivals
Singapore's immigrants commonly made their religious congregations a form of social organization. From the foundation of the city, colonial authorities had avoided interfering with the religious affairs of the ethnic communities, fostering an atmosphere of religious tolerance. It was characteristic of colonial Singapore that South Bridge Street, a major thoroughfare in the old Chinatown, should also be the site of the Sri Mariamman Temple, a south Indian Hindu temple, and of the Jamae or Masjid Chulia Mosque, which served Chulia Muslims from India's Coromandel Coast. The major religions were Chinese popular religion, commonly although inaccurately referred to as Daoism or Buddhism; Hinduism; Islam; Buddhism; and Christianity. Other religions included smaller communities of Sikhs and of Jains from India; Parsis, Indians of Iranian descent who followed the ancient Iranian Zoroastrian religion; and Jews, originally from the Middle East, who supported two synagogues.
The Chinese practiced Chinese popular religion, a distinctive and complex syncretic religion that incorporates some elements from canonical Buddhism and Daoism but focuses on the worship of gods, ghosts, and ancestors. It emphasizes ritual and practice over doctrine and belief, has no commonly recognized name, and is so closely entwined with Chinese culture and social organization that it cannot proselytize. In Singapore its public manifestations included large temples housing images of deities believed to respond to human appeals for guidance or relief from affliction and use of the common Chinese cycle of calendrical festivals. These occasions included the lunar New Year (in January or February), a festival of renewal and family solidarity; Qing Ming (Ching Ming in Wade-Giles romanization), celebrated by the solar calender on April 5th (105 days after the winter solstice), to remember the ancestors and worship at their graves; the fifteenth of the fifth lunar month (April or May), in Singapore known as Vesak Day and celebrated as marking the birth of the Buddha; the festival of the hungry ghosts in the seventh lunar month, a major Hokkien holiday, marked by domestic feasting and elaborate public rituals to feed and placate the potentially dangerous souls of those with no descendants to worship them; and the mid-autumn festival on the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, an occasion for exchanging gifts of sweet round mooncakes and admiring the full moon. All Chinese temples held one or more annual festivals, marked by street processions, performances of Chinese traditional operas, and domestic banquets to which those who supported the temple, either because of residential propinquity, subethnic affiliation with a particular temple and its deity, or personal devotion to the god, invited their friends and business associates. To prevent the disruption of traffic and preserve public order, the government limited the length and route of street processions and prohibited the use of the long strings of firecrackers that had previously been a component of all Chinese religious display. Some festivals or customs that had little religious significance or were not practiced by the southeastern Chinese migrants were promoted by the government's Singapore Tourist Promotion Board for their spectacular and innocuous content. These included the summer dragon boat races, originally held only in China's Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River Valley, and the lantern festival in which paper lanterns in the shape of animals or other objects are carried through the streets by children or, if especially impressive, displayed in parks and temples. In China the lantern festival is celebrated in the first lunar month at the end of the New Year season, but in Singapore it is combined with the mid-autumn festival.
Canonical Buddhism was represented in Singapore as Sinhalese Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism prevails in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia and differs from the Mahayana Buddhism of China, Korea, and Japan in both doctrine and organization. Theravada Buddhism was brought by Sinhalese migrants from Ceylon (contemporary Sri Lanka), who also influenced the architectural style of Thai and Vietnamese Theravada temples. These latter were staffed by Thai or Vietnamese monks, some of whom were originally members of the overseas Chinese communities of those countries and served a predominantly Chinese laity, using Hokkien, Teochiu, Cantonese, or English. Singapore was also home to a number of Chinese sects and syncretic cults that called themselves Buddhist but taught their own particular doctrines and lacked properly ordained Buddhist monks.
Hindus have been part of Singapore's population since its foundation in 1819, and some of the old Hindu temples, such as the Sri Mariamman Temple, were declared national historical sites in the 1980s and so preserved from demolition. Singapore's Hindus adapted their religion to their minority status in two primary ways--compartmentalization and ritual reinterpretation. Compartmentalization referred to the Hindus tendency to distinguish between the home, in which they maintained a nearly completely orthodox Hindu pattern of diet and ritual observance, and the secular outer world of work, school, and public life, where they did not apply categories of purity and pollution. Singapore lacked the tightly organized caste groups of communities found in India but replaced them in large-scale temple festivals with groups representing those of the same occupation or place of employment. The major Hindu holidays were the Hindu New Year, in April or May; Thaipusam, a festival during which penitents fulfilled vows to the deity Lord Subramanya by participating in a procession while carrying kavadi, heavy decorated frameworks holding offerings of milk, fruit, and flowers; and Deepavali, the Festival of Lights. Deepavali, a celebration of the victory of light over darkness and hence of good over evil, was a national holiday.
Seven of the ten national holidays were religious festivals; two of them were Chinese, two Muslim, two Christian, and one Hindu. The festivals were the Chinese New Year; Vesak Day; Hari Raya Haji, the Muslim pilgrimage festival; Hari Raya Pusa, which marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and was a time of renewal; Christmas; Good Friday; and Deepavali. Citizens were encouraged to learn about the festivals of other religious and ethnic groups and to invite members of other groups to their own celebrations and feasts. Public ceremonies such as National Day or the commissioning of military officers were marked by joint religious services conducted by the Inter-Religious Organization, an ecumenical body founded in 1949 to promote understanding and goodwill among the followers of different religions.
Religion and Ethnicity
In the 1980s, members of all ethnic groups lived and worked together, dressed similarly, and shared equal access to all public institutions and services. Religion, therefore, provided one of the major markers of ethnic boundaries. Malays, for instance, would not eat at Chinese restaurants or food stalls for fear of contamination by pork, and a Chinese, in this case, could not invite a Malay colleague to a festive banquet. Funerals of a traditional and ethnically distinctive style were usually held even by families that were not otherwise very religiously observant. The Community Associations and the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board encouraged the public celebration of such ethnically distinctive and appropriately colorful and noncontroversial festivals as the Chinese lantern festival and the dragon boat races.
The marriages, divorces, and inheritances of members of religious communities and the management of properties and endowments dedicated to religious purposes were of concern to the government, which interacted with some religious bodies through advisory boards dating back to the colonial period. The Hindu Advisory Board, established in 1917, advised the government on Hindu religion and customs and on any matters concerning the general welfare of the Hindu community. It assisted the Hindu Endowments Board, which administered the four major Hindu temples and their property, in organizing the annual festivals at the temples. The Sikh Advisory Board acted in the same way for the Sikhs.
The Singapore Muslim Religious Council (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura) played a very important role in the organization of Islamic affairs and therefore of the Malay community. Authorized by the 1966 Administration of Muslim Law Act, the council, composed of members nominated by Muslim societies but appointed by the president of Singapore, was formally a statutory board that advised the president on all matters relating to the Muslim religion. It acted to centralize and standardize the practice of Islam. The council administered all Muslim trusts (wafs); organized a computerized and centralized collection of tithes and obligatory gifts (zakat harta and zakat fitrah); and managed all aspects of the pilgrimage to Mecca, including registering pilgrims, obtaining Saudi Arabian visas, and making airline reservations. The council also helped the government reorganize the mosque system after redevelopment. Before the massive redevelopment and rehousing of the 1970s and 1980s, Singapore's Muslims were served by about ninety mosques, many of which had been built and were funded and managed by local, sometimes ethnically based, communities. Redevelopment destroyed both the mosques and the communities that had supported them, scattering the people through new housing estates. The council, in consultation with the government, decided not to rebuild the small mosques but to replace them with large central mosques. Construction funds came from a formally voluntary contribution collected along with the Central Provident Fund deduction paid by all employed Muslims. The new central mosques could accommodate 1,000 to 2,000 persons and provided such services as kindergartens, religious classes, family counseling, leadership and community development classes, tuition and remedial instruction for school children, and Arabic language instruction.
The government had regulated Muslim marriages and divorces since 1880, and the 1957 Muslim Ordinance authorized the establishment of the centralized Sharia Court, with jurisdiction over divorce and inheritance cases. The court, under the Ministry of Community Development, replaced a set of government-licensed but otherwise unsupervised kathi (Islamic judges) who had previously decided questions of divorce and inheritance, following either the traditions of particular ethnic groups or their own interpretations of Muslim law. The court attempted to consistently enforce sharia law, standard Islamic law as set out in the Quran and the decisions of early Muslim rulers and jurists, and to reduce the high rate of divorce among Malays. In 1989 the Singapore Muslim Religious Council took direct control of the subjects taught in Islamic schools and of the Friday sermons given at all mosques.
Religious Change
Modernization and improved education levels brought changes in religious practice. The inflexible work schedules of industrialism, which tended to restrict communal ritual to evenings and Sundays, and the lack of opportunity or inclination to devote years to mastering ceremonial and esoteric knowledge, both contributed to a general tendency toward ritual simplification and abbreviation. At the same time, prosperous citizens contributed large sums to building funds, and in the 1980s a wave of rebuilding and refurbishing renewed the city's mosques, churches, Chinese temples, Buddhist monasteries, and Hindu temples. Ethnic affiliation was demonstrated by public participation in such annual rituals as processions, which did not require elaborate training or study.
Immigrants tended to drop or modify religious and ritual practices characteristic of and peculiar to the villages they had come from. Hindu temples founded in the nineteenth century to serve migrants of specific castes and to house deities worshipped only in small regions of southeastern India became the temples patronized by all Hindu residents of nearby apartment complexes. They offered a generic South Indian Hinduism focused on major deities and festivals. Many Chinese became more self-consciously Buddhist or joined syncretic cults that promoted ethics and were far removed from the exorcism and sacrificial rituals of the villages of Fujian and Guangdong. The movement away from village practices was most clearly seen and most articulated among the Malays, where Islamic reformers acted to replace the customary practices (adat) of the various Malay-speaking societies of Java, Sumatra, and Malaya with the precepts of classical Islamic law--sharia.
In 1988 the Ministry of Community Development reported the religious distribution to be 28.3 percent Buddhist, 18.7 percent Christian, 17.6 percent no religion, 16 percent Islam, 13.4 percent Daoist, 9 percent Hindu, and 1.1 percent other religions (Sikhs, Parsis, Jews). The Christian proportion of the population nearly doubled between 1980 and 1988, growing from 10 percent to nearly 19 percent. The growth of Christianity and of those professing no religion was greatest in the Chinese community, with most of the Christian converts being young, well-educated people in secure white-collar and professional jobs. Most converts joined evangelical and charismatic Protestant churches worshiping in English. About one-third of the members of Parliament were Christians, as were many cabinet ministers and members of the ruling party, which was dominated by well-educated, Englishspeaking Chinese. The association of Christianity with elite social and political status may have helped attract some converts.
By the late 1980s, some Buddhist organizations were winning converts by following the Protestant churches in offering services, hymnbooks, and counseling in English and Mandarin. A Buddhist Society at the National University of Singapore offered lectures and social activities similar to those of the popular Christian Fellowship. Some Chinese secondary students chose Buddhism as their compulsory religious studies subject, regarding Confucianism as too distant and abstract and Bible study as too Western and too difficult. They then were likely to join Buddhist organizations, which offered congenial groups, use of English, and a link with Asian cultural traditions. In the late 1980s, other Chinese whitecollar and skilled workers were joining the Japan-based Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society, an organization based on Nichiren Buddhism), which provided a simple, direct style of worship featuring chanting of a few texts and formulas and a wide range of social activities. The more successful religious groups, Christian and Buddhist, offered directly accessible religious practice with no elaborate ritual or difficult doctrine and a supportive social group.
In the 1980s, the government regarded religion in general as a positive social force that could serve as a bulwark against the perceived threat of Westernization and the associated trends of excessive individualism and lack of discipline. It made religious education a compulsory subject in all secondary schools in the 1980s. The government, although secular, was concerned, however, with the social consequences of religiously motivated social action and therefore monitored and sometimes prohibited the activities of religious groups. The authorities feared that religion could sometimes lead to social and implicitly political action or to contention between ethnic groups. Islamic fundamentalism, for example, was a very sensitive topic that was seldom publicly discussed. Throughout the 1980s, the authorities were reported to have made unpublicized arrests and expulsions of Islamic activists. The government restricted the activities of some Christian groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses who opposed military service, and in 1987 the government detained a group of Roman Catholic social activists, accusing them of using church organizations as cover for a Marxist plot. The charismatic and fundamentalist Protestant groups, though generally apolitical and focused on individuals, aroused official anxiety through their drive for more converts. Authorities feared that Christian proselytization directed at the Malays would generate resentment, tensions, and possible communal conflict. As early as 1974 the government had "advised" the Bible Society of Singapore to stop publishing materials in Malay. In late 1988 and early 1989, a series of leaders, including Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, condemned "insensitive evangelization" as a serious threat to racial harmony. Official restatements of the virtue of and necessity for religious tolerance were mixed with threats of detention without trial for religious extremists.
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Source: U.S. Library of Congress
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Let me share what is Demonic Possession.........
From newspapers, books, and movies to the pulpit, secondhand stories and urban legends, we have all at least heard about cases of people, animals, and even inanimate objects supposedly inhabited by evil forces such as demons. Some have had firsthand encounters with this phenomena and can attest to these events. There are even "expert" exorcists who specialize in banishing evil forces.
What exactly is demonic possession? What are these evil forces and how do they possess another being or object? How can these things be banished? How can such events be prevented in the first place?
There is a current of energy that roams about in the cosmic creative level in the universe. It is this connection which comes into our lives and works through us. This is part of the natural god-stream which is a neutral force that can be forged into the experiences in our lives depending on where our thoughts lie. This creative energy puts us on the path to what we will experience. Such energy is neither good nor bad, pure or wicked, it just is what it is.
Take electricity as an example. We know that electricity is a very powerful form of energy. It is not capable of reason or moral judgment. It is just a source of energy that can be manipulated by those who choose to use it.
With electricity one could do good things like light up a room, keep groceries cold, heat up your dinner, start a car, and save your life. When people who do have the capacity of reason and moral judgment use the energy force of electricity in good ways, then we do not think of it as an evil force, but praise the people who made the electricity available in a user friendly manner. Electricity is not considered pure or good, but a useful energy force.
On the other hand, a person with the capacity to use their reason and moral judgment chooses to use electricity to torture, maim or kill another person or animal, we may consider the person evil, but how can we really call electricity itself evil? Likewise, we may being doing something without much thought which brings about electric current in ways that are unwanted. Electricity works on specific laws and if you wander into areas you should not with it, you can be hurt or killed, not because electricity is evil, but because it follows its own specific laws. Just as if you jumped off the cliff the law of gravity will push you down which does not make the law of gravity evil, it is what it is.
The creative energy force colours the world we see to bring into our lives what we think about most. If we view people as being mean, cold, distant and untrustworthy, this creative force will blind you from seeing anything but your view of the world and block out a completely different experience you could have by changing your thoughts. Anyone who does not share your thoughts will not see what you see.
Or take the example of people experiencing war, disease, poverty and hunger. There is no doubt this occurs. We all see it on the news and hear about it. But exactly what is the message we hear? One of bleak, hopelessness without an end in sight. As a result, the problem is reflected by the majority of the population. Instead, if the reports were that this is a problem that could be solved and there is hope, people could come up with workable solutions to end the problem to the satisfaction of all involved. One path closes all of our minds to the possibilities of ending it while the other opens our minds to come up with a solution.
If you are in a bad situation and it seems that everything is going against you and you will never get out, what happens is you have closed your creative mind to the answer out because you have locked it out as being hopeless and it will continue bringing you more of what you see and intensify if you manually try to dig your way out. On the other hand, if you change your mind and acknowledge there is a workable solution to your problem and it will come to you, then you have opened your mind to new possibilities that you have not blocked out before that can help you.
Demonic possession is merely the same aspect of misusing this creative energy to bring about a fearful experience based upon your own superstitions and religious dogma as well as fear of the unknown. It is not that there is an intelligent force with the capacity for moral judgment has moved in on someone or something. It is a creative energy that comes from those who conjured it.
In other words, to have a demonic possession it has to be invited there by the one who wants to believe it. The person or object is totally unaffected by an intelligent force from without, but from their own mind.
A person in the past who suffered from mental illness that heard voices or saw things which were not there used to be considered possessed by demons. Why? Fear and ignorance. Before modern medical science which could point out that mental illness is a result of misfiring of neurotransmitters in the brain, people had no idea why these victims could not just behave normally. There was also a popular fear brought on by the churches who perpetuated the idea of demonic possession in order to control their flock. If anything that could not be explained in the holy works were to occur then it was attributed to something designed to get god's people away from the right path which was the church. With people kept in fear and ignorance, many have been wrongly accused of demonic possession or witchcraft by narrow-minded points of view that could not conceive of another explanation.
However, there are still people trapped in the mentality of older times. They are stuck in this fear cycle over something they cannot understand. They will still treat the mentally ill as if they were possessed by demonic forces. They still accuse those who do not follow their particular path as being led around by demons. And they strongly believe in demonic possession. These are the people, these are the ones who are the only targets who will ever experience demonic possession. Those who absolutely hold no belief or fear of such a thing in even the most remote part of their minds, they will never experience it.
This "demonic" force is all part of the neutral god-stream that creates the experiences of what we think about. If you use this force to create a "demonic" experience, that is what you will get. Many choose to unwittingly use this force to create the experience in something they do not understand or fear and it is amplified by others with similar ignorance and fear of a person or object which give this creative stream more power to manifest itself.
Take a ouija board as an example. It is merely a wooden or cardboard surface with numbers, letter, a "yes" and "no", along with whatever artwork the manufacturer wants to imprint upon it. Anyone could create their own board out of common items. Even if you were to just get a piece of paper from the usual stack of paper you use normally, it can be changed into a ouija board without any ritual, magic spell, or incantation to make it do what it was meant to do.
The vast majority who own it view it merely as a party game. In and of itself, it is just a parlor game. Participants in the game are in fact doing a psychologically proven exercise. We are almost always drawn to the leader of a group and our general circle of friends usually hold the same beliefs and common thoughts. The alpha-member of the group is usually the one from which most in the group on some level seeks approval, as a result they are easily led into going with the group. When a question is presented to the group, everyone with the similar mind set already has the same basic answer which is confirmed by alpha-member which has the stronger hand while the followers allow themselves to be led to the "answer".
There is absolutely no outside force behind a ouija board. It is merely a game. Nothing more, nothing less...unless you want to believe in an evil force behind a concept you do not understand.
When this game was invented, to propel curiosity and make sales rise, it was said to give answers from the spirit world. This certainly gave it a rise in curiosity and made sales. The claim was no more true than many commercial claims, but it became ingrained on the imagination of those who heard about it. Of course, religious groups which strongly believed in demonic possession and no one should ever try and contact spirits caught on to the popular toy and warned their members not to play with it and instilled in them the belief that their souls could be possessed by evil forces.
What do you think happened? Reports came in from only the believers that someone they loved was playing the game only to be possessed. One story grew into many stories which perpetuated the belief that if you owned a ouija board you risked demonic possession. This belief became mainstream and turned up in the media so that even the non-religious which were highly suggestible could also experience this possession. On the other hand, skeptics have used it to solve the so-called mystery of the ouija board to find out the real reason why the answers come to the participants and it was not because of an evil force, but because of people with much in common are being led by someone in their own group. Since then, most rational people know the secret and either still play the game for fun or laugh it off as a waste of time. This group does not get possessed by demonic forces.
It is only those who believe in that possibility who get swept up in that creative stream. It is because they approach a ouija board with a preconceived notion based on ignorance and fear that their creative energy conjures up their own demons. Only those who acknowledge it will experience it. One can create evil where it was not before. One creates evil that others cannot see, feel, hear or believe. That does not mean it does not exist, but it exists in the minds of those who believe it. And those who act upon such fearful ignorant beliefs tend to do irrational acts and can act in evil ways themselves.
Take Adolf Hitler as an example. He, like many in Europe at the time believed that Jews were evil, subhuman and manipulative people set out to destroy and conquer the world. The fact was most of the Jews in Europe were just trying to survive as everyone else. Some had prominent jobs and had plenty of money, some were dirt poor and others were between the two extremes. However, in a large Christian society that tried hard to not understand anything outside of their world developed phobias of those who were different. Those who were different made perfect scapegoats. This deeply held belief among many empowered Hitler to bond with this common mentality to help him rise to the top. It was based on his highly held belief of a solution that he decided to do the only rational thing his creative mind could come up with - to exterminate all the Jews.
As long as people wish to remain fearful and ignorant of what they do not understand and not bother coming up with rational uses of the creative mind, this type of thing will always occur. However, if people are taught to think in better, higher ways, this problem could be eliminated. Ignorance, fear and superstition keep one's mind from thinking in higher ways.
With demonic possession, unless you invite in the experience it will have no effect on you.
There is a woman I know who is a wonderful, friendly, and hospitable person. She loves people and would do anything to help them if they were in need. Considering her education, which was lackluster, she is pretty smart. However, there is a dark side to her personality that a few people have encountered.
Although she is smart, she was raised with all kinds of superstitions and taught to be fearful of things she does not understand. She met up with a religious group that shared those exact beliefs. This group goes around perpetually fearful of anything they do not understand and accuse people and objects of being filled with demonic influence and will not be calmed until that force is expelled. She will ask fellow members with the same belief to make confirmation of the demonic influence which perpetuates in their minds before they approach it that it is already possessed and they confirm the experience. Then they must exorcise the demons and/or burn the object in order to feel safe.
Mind you, many times these are things that unbelievers have in their homes that have caused them no thoughts of discomfort until they brought it to their attention. At that point they will either conform to the group mentality or be silently, but quietly annoyed with this invasion of nonsense.
How exactly do the so-called expert exorcist banish demons? To begin with, they work only on those who believe that the exorcist has the power to rid them of demonic manifestation. They put their belief on the ability of someone else to free them of something they do not believe they could do themselves. These are all people who believe in the upside down world that experience starts from without instead of from within. Because the exorcist approaches the "victim" with confidence and authority, they can feel safe to let go the idea of demonic possession because in effect the exorcist gives them permission and a blessing to move on. It is truly a con game.
It is the people who have the capacity of reason and moral judgment who bring about what they experience. One can look at an object and think nothing of it. Another can look at an object and think it brings luck and good fortune. Yet another can look at the same object and fear it as evil. All would be correct because they are bringing about what they think which is influencing the creative force. Most who create an evil experience do so out of ignorance. Knowing this, why on earth would you purposely choose it? You can at any time decline to choose it.
In order to master the demonic control issue, you have to see it for exactly what it is - your own creative manifestation based on fear, superstition, and ignorance. To banish your demonic experience approach it without fear. Look directly at it and know you are more powerful than your manifestation. You brought it into existence and you can make it vanish. Understand why you felt the need to create such an experience and realize it has no control over you, but you have control over it.
Once you do all this, you will have mastered control over that aspect of your creative will. You will discover there is no need to fear anyone or anything.
From newspapers, books, and movies to the pulpit, secondhand stories and urban legends, we have all at least heard about cases of people, animals, and even inanimate objects supposedly inhabited by evil forces such as demons. Some have had firsthand encounters with this phenomena and can attest to these events. There are even "expert" exorcists who specialize in banishing evil forces.
What exactly is demonic possession? What are these evil forces and how do they possess another being or object? How can these things be banished? How can such events be prevented in the first place?
There is a current of energy that roams about in the cosmic creative level in the universe. It is this connection which comes into our lives and works through us. This is part of the natural god-stream which is a neutral force that can be forged into the experiences in our lives depending on where our thoughts lie. This creative energy puts us on the path to what we will experience. Such energy is neither good nor bad, pure or wicked, it just is what it is.
Take electricity as an example. We know that electricity is a very powerful form of energy. It is not capable of reason or moral judgment. It is just a source of energy that can be manipulated by those who choose to use it.
With electricity one could do good things like light up a room, keep groceries cold, heat up your dinner, start a car, and save your life. When people who do have the capacity of reason and moral judgment use the energy force of electricity in good ways, then we do not think of it as an evil force, but praise the people who made the electricity available in a user friendly manner. Electricity is not considered pure or good, but a useful energy force.
On the other hand, a person with the capacity to use their reason and moral judgment chooses to use electricity to torture, maim or kill another person or animal, we may consider the person evil, but how can we really call electricity itself evil? Likewise, we may being doing something without much thought which brings about electric current in ways that are unwanted. Electricity works on specific laws and if you wander into areas you should not with it, you can be hurt or killed, not because electricity is evil, but because it follows its own specific laws. Just as if you jumped off the cliff the law of gravity will push you down which does not make the law of gravity evil, it is what it is.
The creative energy force colours the world we see to bring into our lives what we think about most. If we view people as being mean, cold, distant and untrustworthy, this creative force will blind you from seeing anything but your view of the world and block out a completely different experience you could have by changing your thoughts. Anyone who does not share your thoughts will not see what you see.
Or take the example of people experiencing war, disease, poverty and hunger. There is no doubt this occurs. We all see it on the news and hear about it. But exactly what is the message we hear? One of bleak, hopelessness without an end in sight. As a result, the problem is reflected by the majority of the population. Instead, if the reports were that this is a problem that could be solved and there is hope, people could come up with workable solutions to end the problem to the satisfaction of all involved. One path closes all of our minds to the possibilities of ending it while the other opens our minds to come up with a solution.
If you are in a bad situation and it seems that everything is going against you and you will never get out, what happens is you have closed your creative mind to the answer out because you have locked it out as being hopeless and it will continue bringing you more of what you see and intensify if you manually try to dig your way out. On the other hand, if you change your mind and acknowledge there is a workable solution to your problem and it will come to you, then you have opened your mind to new possibilities that you have not blocked out before that can help you.
Demonic possession is merely the same aspect of misusing this creative energy to bring about a fearful experience based upon your own superstitions and religious dogma as well as fear of the unknown. It is not that there is an intelligent force with the capacity for moral judgment has moved in on someone or something. It is a creative energy that comes from those who conjured it.
In other words, to have a demonic possession it has to be invited there by the one who wants to believe it. The person or object is totally unaffected by an intelligent force from without, but from their own mind.
A person in the past who suffered from mental illness that heard voices or saw things which were not there used to be considered possessed by demons. Why? Fear and ignorance. Before modern medical science which could point out that mental illness is a result of misfiring of neurotransmitters in the brain, people had no idea why these victims could not just behave normally. There was also a popular fear brought on by the churches who perpetuated the idea of demonic possession in order to control their flock. If anything that could not be explained in the holy works were to occur then it was attributed to something designed to get god's people away from the right path which was the church. With people kept in fear and ignorance, many have been wrongly accused of demonic possession or witchcraft by narrow-minded points of view that could not conceive of another explanation.
However, there are still people trapped in the mentality of older times. They are stuck in this fear cycle over something they cannot understand. They will still treat the mentally ill as if they were possessed by demonic forces. They still accuse those who do not follow their particular path as being led around by demons. And they strongly believe in demonic possession. These are the people, these are the ones who are the only targets who will ever experience demonic possession. Those who absolutely hold no belief or fear of such a thing in even the most remote part of their minds, they will never experience it.
This "demonic" force is all part of the neutral god-stream that creates the experiences of what we think about. If you use this force to create a "demonic" experience, that is what you will get. Many choose to unwittingly use this force to create the experience in something they do not understand or fear and it is amplified by others with similar ignorance and fear of a person or object which give this creative stream more power to manifest itself.
Take a ouija board as an example. It is merely a wooden or cardboard surface with numbers, letter, a "yes" and "no", along with whatever artwork the manufacturer wants to imprint upon it. Anyone could create their own board out of common items. Even if you were to just get a piece of paper from the usual stack of paper you use normally, it can be changed into a ouija board without any ritual, magic spell, or incantation to make it do what it was meant to do.
The vast majority who own it view it merely as a party game. In and of itself, it is just a parlor game. Participants in the game are in fact doing a psychologically proven exercise. We are almost always drawn to the leader of a group and our general circle of friends usually hold the same beliefs and common thoughts. The alpha-member of the group is usually the one from which most in the group on some level seeks approval, as a result they are easily led into going with the group. When a question is presented to the group, everyone with the similar mind set already has the same basic answer which is confirmed by alpha-member which has the stronger hand while the followers allow themselves to be led to the "answer".
There is absolutely no outside force behind a ouija board. It is merely a game. Nothing more, nothing less...unless you want to believe in an evil force behind a concept you do not understand.
When this game was invented, to propel curiosity and make sales rise, it was said to give answers from the spirit world. This certainly gave it a rise in curiosity and made sales. The claim was no more true than many commercial claims, but it became ingrained on the imagination of those who heard about it. Of course, religious groups which strongly believed in demonic possession and no one should ever try and contact spirits caught on to the popular toy and warned their members not to play with it and instilled in them the belief that their souls could be possessed by evil forces.
What do you think happened? Reports came in from only the believers that someone they loved was playing the game only to be possessed. One story grew into many stories which perpetuated the belief that if you owned a ouija board you risked demonic possession. This belief became mainstream and turned up in the media so that even the non-religious which were highly suggestible could also experience this possession. On the other hand, skeptics have used it to solve the so-called mystery of the ouija board to find out the real reason why the answers come to the participants and it was not because of an evil force, but because of people with much in common are being led by someone in their own group. Since then, most rational people know the secret and either still play the game for fun or laugh it off as a waste of time. This group does not get possessed by demonic forces.
It is only those who believe in that possibility who get swept up in that creative stream. It is because they approach a ouija board with a preconceived notion based on ignorance and fear that their creative energy conjures up their own demons. Only those who acknowledge it will experience it. One can create evil where it was not before. One creates evil that others cannot see, feel, hear or believe. That does not mean it does not exist, but it exists in the minds of those who believe it. And those who act upon such fearful ignorant beliefs tend to do irrational acts and can act in evil ways themselves.
Take Adolf Hitler as an example. He, like many in Europe at the time believed that Jews were evil, subhuman and manipulative people set out to destroy and conquer the world. The fact was most of the Jews in Europe were just trying to survive as everyone else. Some had prominent jobs and had plenty of money, some were dirt poor and others were between the two extremes. However, in a large Christian society that tried hard to not understand anything outside of their world developed phobias of those who were different. Those who were different made perfect scapegoats. This deeply held belief among many empowered Hitler to bond with this common mentality to help him rise to the top. It was based on his highly held belief of a solution that he decided to do the only rational thing his creative mind could come up with - to exterminate all the Jews.
As long as people wish to remain fearful and ignorant of what they do not understand and not bother coming up with rational uses of the creative mind, this type of thing will always occur. However, if people are taught to think in better, higher ways, this problem could be eliminated. Ignorance, fear and superstition keep one's mind from thinking in higher ways.
With demonic possession, unless you invite in the experience it will have no effect on you.
There is a woman I know who is a wonderful, friendly, and hospitable person. She loves people and would do anything to help them if they were in need. Considering her education, which was lackluster, she is pretty smart. However, there is a dark side to her personality that a few people have encountered.
Although she is smart, she was raised with all kinds of superstitions and taught to be fearful of things she does not understand. She met up with a religious group that shared those exact beliefs. This group goes around perpetually fearful of anything they do not understand and accuse people and objects of being filled with demonic influence and will not be calmed until that force is expelled. She will ask fellow members with the same belief to make confirmation of the demonic influence which perpetuates in their minds before they approach it that it is already possessed and they confirm the experience. Then they must exorcise the demons and/or burn the object in order to feel safe.
Mind you, many times these are things that unbelievers have in their homes that have caused them no thoughts of discomfort until they brought it to their attention. At that point they will either conform to the group mentality or be silently, but quietly annoyed with this invasion of nonsense.
How exactly do the so-called expert exorcist banish demons? To begin with, they work only on those who believe that the exorcist has the power to rid them of demonic manifestation. They put their belief on the ability of someone else to free them of something they do not believe they could do themselves. These are all people who believe in the upside down world that experience starts from without instead of from within. Because the exorcist approaches the "victim" with confidence and authority, they can feel safe to let go the idea of demonic possession because in effect the exorcist gives them permission and a blessing to move on. It is truly a con game.
It is the people who have the capacity of reason and moral judgment who bring about what they experience. One can look at an object and think nothing of it. Another can look at an object and think it brings luck and good fortune. Yet another can look at the same object and fear it as evil. All would be correct because they are bringing about what they think which is influencing the creative force. Most who create an evil experience do so out of ignorance. Knowing this, why on earth would you purposely choose it? You can at any time decline to choose it.
In order to master the demonic control issue, you have to see it for exactly what it is - your own creative manifestation based on fear, superstition, and ignorance. To banish your demonic experience approach it without fear. Look directly at it and know you are more powerful than your manifestation. You brought it into existence and you can make it vanish. Understand why you felt the need to create such an experience and realize it has no control over you, but you have control over it.
Once you do all this, you will have mastered control over that aspect of your creative will. You will discover there is no need to fear anyone or anything.
Let me share what is Demonic Possession.........
From newspapers, books, and movies to the pulpit, secondhand stories and urban legends, we have all at least heard about cases of people, animals, and even inanimate objects supposedly inhabited by evil forces such as demons. Some have had firsthand encounters with this phenomena and can attest to these events. There are even "expert" exorcists who specialize in banishing evil forces.
What exactly is demonic possession? What are these evil forces and how do they possess another being or object? How can these things be banished? How can such events be prevented in the first place?
There is a current of energy that roams about in the cosmic creative level in the universe. It is this connection which comes into our lives and works through us. This is part of the natural god-stream which is a neutral force that can be forged into the experiences in our lives depending on where our thoughts lie. This creative energy puts us on the path to what we will experience. Such energy is neither good nor bad, pure or wicked, it just is what it is.
Take electricity as an example. We know that electricity is a very powerful form of energy. It is not capable of reason or moral judgment. It is just a source of energy that can be manipulated by those who choose to use it.
With electricity one could do good things like light up a room, keep groceries cold, heat up your dinner, start a car, and save your life. When people who do have the capacity of reason and moral judgment use the energy force of electricity in good ways, then we do not think of it as an evil force, but praise the people who made the electricity available in a user friendly manner. Electricity is not considered pure or good, but a useful energy force.
On the other hand, a person with the capacity to use their reason and moral judgment chooses to use electricity to torture, maim or kill another person or animal, we may consider the person evil, but how can we really call electricity itself evil? Likewise, we may being doing something without much thought which brings about electric current in ways that are unwanted. Electricity works on specific laws and if you wander into areas you should not with it, you can be hurt or killed, not because electricity is evil, but because it follows its own specific laws. Just as if you jumped off the cliff the law of gravity will push you down which does not make the law of gravity evil, it is what it is.
The creative energy force colours the world we see to bring into our lives what we think about most. If we view people as being mean, cold, distant and untrustworthy, this creative force will blind you from seeing anything but your view of the world and block out a completely different experience you could have by changing your thoughts. Anyone who does not share your thoughts will not see what you see.
Or take the example of people experiencing war, disease, poverty and hunger. There is no doubt this occurs. We all see it on the news and hear about it. But exactly what is the message we hear? One of bleak, hopelessness without an end in sight. As a result, the problem is reflected by the majority of the population. Instead, if the reports were that this is a problem that could be solved and there is hope, people could come up with workable solutions to end the problem to the satisfaction of all involved. One path closes all of our minds to the possibilities of ending it while the other opens our minds to come up with a solution.
If you are in a bad situation and it seems that everything is going against you and you will never get out, what happens is you have closed your creative mind to the answer out because you have locked it out as being hopeless and it will continue bringing you more of what you see and intensify if you manually try to dig your way out. On the other hand, if you change your mind and acknowledge there is a workable solution to your problem and it will come to you, then you have opened your mind to new possibilities that you have not blocked out before that can help you.
Demonic possession is merely the same aspect of misusing this creative energy to bring about a fearful experience based upon your own superstitions and religious dogma as well as fear of the unknown. It is not that there is an intelligent force with the capacity for moral judgment has moved in on someone or something. It is a creative energy that comes from those who conjured it.
In other words, to have a demonic possession it has to be invited there by the one who wants to believe it. The person or object is totally unaffected by an intelligent force from without, but from their own mind.
A person in the past who suffered from mental illness that heard voices or saw things which were not there used to be considered possessed by demons. Why? Fear and ignorance. Before modern medical science which could point out that mental illness is a result of misfiring of neurotransmitters in the brain, people had no idea why these victims could not just behave normally. There was also a popular fear brought on by the churches who perpetuated the idea of demonic possession in order to control their flock. If anything that could not be explained in the holy works were to occur then it was attributed to something designed to get god's people away from the right path which was the church. With people kept in fear and ignorance, many have been wrongly accused of demonic possession or witchcraft by narrow-minded points of view that could not conceive of another explanation.
However, there are still people trapped in the mentality of older times. They are stuck in this fear cycle over something they cannot understand. They will still treat the mentally ill as if they were possessed by demonic forces. They still accuse those who do not follow their particular path as being led around by demons. And they strongly believe in demonic possession. These are the people, these are the ones who are the only targets who will ever experience demonic possession. Those who absolutely hold no belief or fear of such a thing in even the most remote part of their minds, they will never experience it.
This "demonic" force is all part of the neutral god-stream that creates the experiences of what we think about. If you use this force to create a "demonic" experience, that is what you will get. Many choose to unwittingly use this force to create the experience in something they do not understand or fear and it is amplified by others with similar ignorance and fear of a person or object which give this creative stream more power to manifest itself.
Take a ouija board as an example. It is merely a wooden or cardboard surface with numbers, letter, a "yes" and "no", along with whatever artwork the manufacturer wants to imprint upon it. Anyone could create their own board out of common items. Even if you were to just get a piece of paper from the usual stack of paper you use normally, it can be changed into a ouija board without any ritual, magic spell, or incantation to make it do what it was meant to do.
The vast majority who own it view it merely as a party game. In and of itself, it is just a parlor game. Participants in the game are in fact doing a psychologically proven exercise. We are almost always drawn to the leader of a group and our general circle of friends usually hold the same beliefs and common thoughts. The alpha-member of the group is usually the one from which most in the group on some level seeks approval, as a result they are easily led into going with the group. When a question is presented to the group, everyone with the similar mind set already has the same basic answer which is confirmed by alpha-member which has the stronger hand while the followers allow themselves to be led to the "answer".
There is absolutely no outside force behind a ouija board. It is merely a game. Nothing more, nothing less...unless you want to believe in an evil force behind a concept you do not understand.
When this game was invented, to propel curiosity and make sales rise, it was said to give answers from the spirit world. This certainly gave it a rise in curiosity and made sales. The claim was no more true than many commercial claims, but it became ingrained on the imagination of those who heard about it. Of course, religious groups which strongly believed in demonic possession and no one should ever try and contact spirits caught on to the popular toy and warned their members not to play with it and instilled in them the belief that their souls could be possessed by evil forces.
What do you think happened? Reports came in from only the believers that someone they loved was playing the game only to be possessed. One story grew into many stories which perpetuated the belief that if you owned a ouija board you risked demonic possession. This belief became mainstream and turned up in the media so that even the non-religious which were highly suggestible could also experience this possession. On the other hand, skeptics have used it to solve the so-called mystery of the ouija board to find out the real reason why the answers come to the participants and it was not because of an evil force, but because of people with much in common are being led by someone in their own group. Since then, most rational people know the secret and either still play the game for fun or laugh it off as a waste of time. This group does not get possessed by demonic forces.
It is only those who believe in that possibility who get swept up in that creative stream. It is because they approach a ouija board with a preconceived notion based on ignorance and fear that their creative energy conjures up their own demons. Only those who acknowledge it will experience it. One can create evil where it was not before. One creates evil that others cannot see, feel, hear or believe. That does not mean it does not exist, but it exists in the minds of those who believe it. And those who act upon such fearful ignorant beliefs tend to do irrational acts and can act in evil ways themselves.
Take Adolf Hitler as an example. He, like many in Europe at the time believed that Jews were evil, subhuman and manipulative people set out to destroy and conquer the world. The fact was most of the Jews in Europe were just trying to survive as everyone else. Some had prominent jobs and had plenty of money, some were dirt poor and others were between the two extremes. However, in a large Christian society that tried hard to not understand anything outside of their world developed phobias of those who were different. Those who were different made perfect scapegoats. This deeply held belief among many empowered Hitler to bond with this common mentality to help him rise to the top. It was based on his highly held belief of a solution that he decided to do the only rational thing his creative mind could come up with - to exterminate all the Jews.
As long as people wish to remain fearful and ignorant of what they do not understand and not bother coming up with rational uses of the creative mind, this type of thing will always occur. However, if people are taught to think in better, higher ways, this problem could be eliminated. Ignorance, fear and superstition keep one's mind from thinking in higher ways.
With demonic possession, unless you invite in the experience it will have no effect on you.
There is a woman I know who is a wonderful, friendly, and hospitable person. She loves people and would do anything to help them if they were in need. Considering her education, which was lackluster, she is pretty smart. However, there is a dark side to her personality that a few people have encountered.
Although she is smart, she was raised with all kinds of superstitions and taught to be fearful of things she does not understand. She met up with a religious group that shared those exact beliefs. This group goes around perpetually fearful of anything they do not understand and accuse people and objects of being filled with demonic influence and will not be calmed until that force is expelled. She will ask fellow members with the same belief to make confirmation of the demonic influence which perpetuates in their minds before they approach it that it is already possessed and they confirm the experience. Then they must exorcise the demons and/or burn the object in order to feel safe.
Mind you, many times these are things that unbelievers have in their homes that have caused them no thoughts of discomfort until they brought it to their attention. At that point they will either conform to the group mentality or be silently, but quietly annoyed with this invasion of nonsense.
How exactly do the so-called expert exorcist banish demons? To begin with, they work only on those who believe that the exorcist has the power to rid them of demonic manifestation. They put their belief on the ability of someone else to free them of something they do not believe they could do themselves. These are all people who believe in the upside down world that experience starts from without instead of from within. Because the exorcist approaches the "victim" with confidence and authority, they can feel safe to let go the idea of demonic possession because in effect the exorcist gives them permission and a blessing to move on. It is truly a con game.
It is the people who have the capacity of reason and moral judgment who bring about what they experience. One can look at an object and think nothing of it. Another can look at an object and think it brings luck and good fortune. Yet another can look at the same object and fear it as evil. All would be correct because they are bringing about what they think which is influencing the creative force. Most who create an evil experience do so out of ignorance. Knowing this, why on earth would you purposely choose it? You can at any time decline to choose it.
In order to master the demonic control issue, you have to see it for exactly what it is - your own creative manifestation based on fear, superstition, and ignorance. To banish your demonic experience approach it without fear. Look directly at it and know you are more powerful than your manifestation. You brought it into existence and you can make it vanish. Understand why you felt the need to create such an experience and realize it has no control over you, but you have control over it.
Once you do all this, you will have mastered control over that aspect of your creative will. You will discover there is no need to fear anyone or anything.
From newspapers, books, and movies to the pulpit, secondhand stories and urban legends, we have all at least heard about cases of people, animals, and even inanimate objects supposedly inhabited by evil forces such as demons. Some have had firsthand encounters with this phenomena and can attest to these events. There are even "expert" exorcists who specialize in banishing evil forces.
What exactly is demonic possession? What are these evil forces and how do they possess another being or object? How can these things be banished? How can such events be prevented in the first place?
There is a current of energy that roams about in the cosmic creative level in the universe. It is this connection which comes into our lives and works through us. This is part of the natural god-stream which is a neutral force that can be forged into the experiences in our lives depending on where our thoughts lie. This creative energy puts us on the path to what we will experience. Such energy is neither good nor bad, pure or wicked, it just is what it is.
Take electricity as an example. We know that electricity is a very powerful form of energy. It is not capable of reason or moral judgment. It is just a source of energy that can be manipulated by those who choose to use it.
With electricity one could do good things like light up a room, keep groceries cold, heat up your dinner, start a car, and save your life. When people who do have the capacity of reason and moral judgment use the energy force of electricity in good ways, then we do not think of it as an evil force, but praise the people who made the electricity available in a user friendly manner. Electricity is not considered pure or good, but a useful energy force.
On the other hand, a person with the capacity to use their reason and moral judgment chooses to use electricity to torture, maim or kill another person or animal, we may consider the person evil, but how can we really call electricity itself evil? Likewise, we may being doing something without much thought which brings about electric current in ways that are unwanted. Electricity works on specific laws and if you wander into areas you should not with it, you can be hurt or killed, not because electricity is evil, but because it follows its own specific laws. Just as if you jumped off the cliff the law of gravity will push you down which does not make the law of gravity evil, it is what it is.
The creative energy force colours the world we see to bring into our lives what we think about most. If we view people as being mean, cold, distant and untrustworthy, this creative force will blind you from seeing anything but your view of the world and block out a completely different experience you could have by changing your thoughts. Anyone who does not share your thoughts will not see what you see.
Or take the example of people experiencing war, disease, poverty and hunger. There is no doubt this occurs. We all see it on the news and hear about it. But exactly what is the message we hear? One of bleak, hopelessness without an end in sight. As a result, the problem is reflected by the majority of the population. Instead, if the reports were that this is a problem that could be solved and there is hope, people could come up with workable solutions to end the problem to the satisfaction of all involved. One path closes all of our minds to the possibilities of ending it while the other opens our minds to come up with a solution.
If you are in a bad situation and it seems that everything is going against you and you will never get out, what happens is you have closed your creative mind to the answer out because you have locked it out as being hopeless and it will continue bringing you more of what you see and intensify if you manually try to dig your way out. On the other hand, if you change your mind and acknowledge there is a workable solution to your problem and it will come to you, then you have opened your mind to new possibilities that you have not blocked out before that can help you.
Demonic possession is merely the same aspect of misusing this creative energy to bring about a fearful experience based upon your own superstitions and religious dogma as well as fear of the unknown. It is not that there is an intelligent force with the capacity for moral judgment has moved in on someone or something. It is a creative energy that comes from those who conjured it.
In other words, to have a demonic possession it has to be invited there by the one who wants to believe it. The person or object is totally unaffected by an intelligent force from without, but from their own mind.
A person in the past who suffered from mental illness that heard voices or saw things which were not there used to be considered possessed by demons. Why? Fear and ignorance. Before modern medical science which could point out that mental illness is a result of misfiring of neurotransmitters in the brain, people had no idea why these victims could not just behave normally. There was also a popular fear brought on by the churches who perpetuated the idea of demonic possession in order to control their flock. If anything that could not be explained in the holy works were to occur then it was attributed to something designed to get god's people away from the right path which was the church. With people kept in fear and ignorance, many have been wrongly accused of demonic possession or witchcraft by narrow-minded points of view that could not conceive of another explanation.
However, there are still people trapped in the mentality of older times. They are stuck in this fear cycle over something they cannot understand. They will still treat the mentally ill as if they were possessed by demonic forces. They still accuse those who do not follow their particular path as being led around by demons. And they strongly believe in demonic possession. These are the people, these are the ones who are the only targets who will ever experience demonic possession. Those who absolutely hold no belief or fear of such a thing in even the most remote part of their minds, they will never experience it.
This "demonic" force is all part of the neutral god-stream that creates the experiences of what we think about. If you use this force to create a "demonic" experience, that is what you will get. Many choose to unwittingly use this force to create the experience in something they do not understand or fear and it is amplified by others with similar ignorance and fear of a person or object which give this creative stream more power to manifest itself.
Take a ouija board as an example. It is merely a wooden or cardboard surface with numbers, letter, a "yes" and "no", along with whatever artwork the manufacturer wants to imprint upon it. Anyone could create their own board out of common items. Even if you were to just get a piece of paper from the usual stack of paper you use normally, it can be changed into a ouija board without any ritual, magic spell, or incantation to make it do what it was meant to do.
The vast majority who own it view it merely as a party game. In and of itself, it is just a parlor game. Participants in the game are in fact doing a psychologically proven exercise. We are almost always drawn to the leader of a group and our general circle of friends usually hold the same beliefs and common thoughts. The alpha-member of the group is usually the one from which most in the group on some level seeks approval, as a result they are easily led into going with the group. When a question is presented to the group, everyone with the similar mind set already has the same basic answer which is confirmed by alpha-member which has the stronger hand while the followers allow themselves to be led to the "answer".
There is absolutely no outside force behind a ouija board. It is merely a game. Nothing more, nothing less...unless you want to believe in an evil force behind a concept you do not understand.
When this game was invented, to propel curiosity and make sales rise, it was said to give answers from the spirit world. This certainly gave it a rise in curiosity and made sales. The claim was no more true than many commercial claims, but it became ingrained on the imagination of those who heard about it. Of course, religious groups which strongly believed in demonic possession and no one should ever try and contact spirits caught on to the popular toy and warned their members not to play with it and instilled in them the belief that their souls could be possessed by evil forces.
What do you think happened? Reports came in from only the believers that someone they loved was playing the game only to be possessed. One story grew into many stories which perpetuated the belief that if you owned a ouija board you risked demonic possession. This belief became mainstream and turned up in the media so that even the non-religious which were highly suggestible could also experience this possession. On the other hand, skeptics have used it to solve the so-called mystery of the ouija board to find out the real reason why the answers come to the participants and it was not because of an evil force, but because of people with much in common are being led by someone in their own group. Since then, most rational people know the secret and either still play the game for fun or laugh it off as a waste of time. This group does not get possessed by demonic forces.
It is only those who believe in that possibility who get swept up in that creative stream. It is because they approach a ouija board with a preconceived notion based on ignorance and fear that their creative energy conjures up their own demons. Only those who acknowledge it will experience it. One can create evil where it was not before. One creates evil that others cannot see, feel, hear or believe. That does not mean it does not exist, but it exists in the minds of those who believe it. And those who act upon such fearful ignorant beliefs tend to do irrational acts and can act in evil ways themselves.
Take Adolf Hitler as an example. He, like many in Europe at the time believed that Jews were evil, subhuman and manipulative people set out to destroy and conquer the world. The fact was most of the Jews in Europe were just trying to survive as everyone else. Some had prominent jobs and had plenty of money, some were dirt poor and others were between the two extremes. However, in a large Christian society that tried hard to not understand anything outside of their world developed phobias of those who were different. Those who were different made perfect scapegoats. This deeply held belief among many empowered Hitler to bond with this common mentality to help him rise to the top. It was based on his highly held belief of a solution that he decided to do the only rational thing his creative mind could come up with - to exterminate all the Jews.
As long as people wish to remain fearful and ignorant of what they do not understand and not bother coming up with rational uses of the creative mind, this type of thing will always occur. However, if people are taught to think in better, higher ways, this problem could be eliminated. Ignorance, fear and superstition keep one's mind from thinking in higher ways.
With demonic possession, unless you invite in the experience it will have no effect on you.
There is a woman I know who is a wonderful, friendly, and hospitable person. She loves people and would do anything to help them if they were in need. Considering her education, which was lackluster, she is pretty smart. However, there is a dark side to her personality that a few people have encountered.
Although she is smart, she was raised with all kinds of superstitions and taught to be fearful of things she does not understand. She met up with a religious group that shared those exact beliefs. This group goes around perpetually fearful of anything they do not understand and accuse people and objects of being filled with demonic influence and will not be calmed until that force is expelled. She will ask fellow members with the same belief to make confirmation of the demonic influence which perpetuates in their minds before they approach it that it is already possessed and they confirm the experience. Then they must exorcise the demons and/or burn the object in order to feel safe.
Mind you, many times these are things that unbelievers have in their homes that have caused them no thoughts of discomfort until they brought it to their attention. At that point they will either conform to the group mentality or be silently, but quietly annoyed with this invasion of nonsense.
How exactly do the so-called expert exorcist banish demons? To begin with, they work only on those who believe that the exorcist has the power to rid them of demonic manifestation. They put their belief on the ability of someone else to free them of something they do not believe they could do themselves. These are all people who believe in the upside down world that experience starts from without instead of from within. Because the exorcist approaches the "victim" with confidence and authority, they can feel safe to let go the idea of demonic possession because in effect the exorcist gives them permission and a blessing to move on. It is truly a con game.
It is the people who have the capacity of reason and moral judgment who bring about what they experience. One can look at an object and think nothing of it. Another can look at an object and think it brings luck and good fortune. Yet another can look at the same object and fear it as evil. All would be correct because they are bringing about what they think which is influencing the creative force. Most who create an evil experience do so out of ignorance. Knowing this, why on earth would you purposely choose it? You can at any time decline to choose it.
In order to master the demonic control issue, you have to see it for exactly what it is - your own creative manifestation based on fear, superstition, and ignorance. To banish your demonic experience approach it without fear. Look directly at it and know you are more powerful than your manifestation. You brought it into existence and you can make it vanish. Understand why you felt the need to create such an experience and realize it has no control over you, but you have control over it.
Once you do all this, you will have mastered control over that aspect of your creative will. You will discover there is no need to fear anyone or anything.
POWERFUL MANTRAS AND BLACK MAGIC
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Powerful mantra & Black Magic - Vashikaran Specialist
Posted: Feb 15, 2011 |Comments: 0 | Views: 505 |
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The powerful mantras contained in this booklet can be recited to benefitindividuals who are dying or have died. They can also be laid on the bodyof someone who is dying or has died and will benefit that personimmensely to have a peaceful death and to find a beneficial higherrebirth in the next life.
AstroIndianGuru – Specialist in Vashikaran and Sifli & nuri-hajuri ilm. Horoscopes, Astrology, Occult Science, Black Magic, Indra Jal, Mantras, Occult, Evil Spells, the intentional use of negative powers to affect in Horoscope, Divine blessings and Wish-fulfillment Pujas Havan Vashikaran and other problems like business & Money, Love & Harmony, Luck & Fame, Health & Energy, Knowledge & Career, Protection & Fortune & lots more. It can bring new peace, prosperity & happiness in your life.
POWERFUL MANTRAS
Shri Gamesha Mantra for Sidhi
Om glam glim glum gam ganpataye namah sidhim me dehee budhim
parkashay glum glim glam om phat swaha.
Hanuman darshan hetu mantra
Om Hanuman pahalwan, varsh barha dk javan
hath mein laddu, mukh mein paan. Aao aao baba Hanuman
Na aao toh duhai Mahadev Gaura-Parvati ki. Shabad sancha.
Pind kancha. Phuro mantra ishvaro vacha.
Dhan-varidhi karak padmavati mantra
Om namoh bhagwati padam padmavati, om hrim om, om purvay dakshinay
pashchamay utray aash puray, sarvjan vashya kuru kuru swaha.
Sarv-karya sidhi hetu Bhairav mantra
Bhairo uchake bhairo kude bhairo sor machave
Mera .............. amuk karya ........... na kare toh
Kalika dk pur na kahave. Shabad sancha,
Pind Kancha. Phure mantra ishvaro vacha.
Sarv-karya sidhi dayak mantra
Om namoh maha-shabari shakti. Mm anishat
Nivaray-nivaray. Mm karya-sidhi kuru-kuru swaha.
Echchhit var prapati hetu Do mantra
Om valai aarat dh rut kuru swaha.
Om biaaliya aasut ka sut kastu swaha.
Sukh-sampati varidhi karak Shri Gorakh-Gayatri mantra
Om guruji, sat namah, aadesh guru ji ko aadesh
Om kare shiv-rupi, madhyahane hans-rupi, sandhyaya sadhu-rupi.
Hans, param hans do akshar. Guru to goraksh, kaya to Gayatri.
Om brahma, sosham shakti, shunyamata, avgat pita, vihangat jaat,
Abhay-panth, suksham-veda, ashankhya shakha, anantpravar, niranjan
Gotra, trikuti kshetra, jugati jog, jal swarup, rudra-varna.
Sarv-dev dhyayate. Aaye shri shambhu-jati Guru Gorakhnath
Om soshm tatpurushay vidmahe shiv gorkshay dhimahi tanno goraksha parchodyat.
Om itna Gorakh-Gayatri-jaap sampurna bhaya.
Ganga Godavari trayambak kshetra koykachal anudhan-shila par
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Sidhasan baith. nav-nath chaurasi-sidh, anant-koti-sidh-madhye
Shri Shambhu-jati Guru Gorakhnath Ji kath padh jap ke sunaya.
Sidho guruvay, aadesh-aadesh.
Manokamna dayak Shri Bagalamukhi mantra
Om halim bagala-mukhi ! Jagad-vashankari !
Maa pitambare, parsid parsid,
MM sarv-manorathan puraya-puraya halim om.
Dhan-dayak Lakshmi mantra
Om aavo Lakshmi baitho aangan, roli-tilak chadhaun.
Gale mein haar pahnaun. Bachano ki baandhi, aavi hamare paas.
Pahla vachan Shri Ram ka, duja vachan Brahma ka, tija vachan
Mahadev ka. Vachan chuke, to narka pade. Sakal panch mein path karun.
Vardaan nahin deve, toh Mahadev ki shakti ki aan.
Sidhi hetu Annapurna Mata ka mantra
Om namah Annapurna pure. Gharit pure Ganesh ji.
Pati pure Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh tino devtan.
Meri Bhakti guru ki shakti. Shri Guru Gorakhnath
Ki duhai. Phuro mantra ishvaro vacha.
Vivah hete aghor mantra
Makhno hathi jard ambari, us par baithi Kamal Khan ki savari.
Kamal Khan, Kamal Khan, mughal pathan. Baithe chabutare, padhe kuran.
Hajar kaam duniya ka kare, ek kaam mera kar. Na kare,
Toh, teen lakh tantis hajar paigambaron ki duhai.
Vyapar-vardhak Bhanvarvir Mantra
Bhanvar Vir tu chela mera, khol dukan kahaa kar mera.
Uthai jo dandi beekai jo maal, Bhanvarvir sokhe nahin jaay.
Sidhi ke liye Mutthi Peer ka mantra
Bismillah arrahmaan nirrrahim. Sah chakar ki bavdi,
Gale motiyan ka haar. Lanka soo kot samundar si khai,
Jahan phire Mohammada Vir ki duhai. Koon vir aage chale.
Suleman Vir chale, Durshani Vir chale, Nadirshah Vir Chale.
Mutthi Peer chale, nahin chale toh Hajrat Suleman ki duhai.
Shabad sancha, pind kancha. Chalo mantra ishvaro vacha.
Sidhi mein sahayak Kali ka mantra
Om kali ghate Kali Maa, patit pavani Kali Maa.
Javaa Phule, sthuri jale. Seye javaa phul mein seeaa bedai.
Devir anurbale, ahi hot karivaja hoive. Tahi Kali
Dharmer, vale ka haar aagye raathe. Kali ka chandir aase.
Aakarshan hetu Shri Bhairav Mantra
Om Kala Bhairav kapila kesh, kanon kundal
Bhagva vesh. Jo man dharo toh Lanka jaaye Raavan
Ko maaro, tisne kaaj Ishvar ka samaro.
Meri bhakti guru ki shakti. Phuro mantra ishvaro vacha.
BLACK MAGIC:-
Black Magic can be used to harm or hurt another person by performing certain acts even at a distant place - the effect of this technique can be experienced thousands of miles away. With increase of jealousy, frustration, greed, selfishness, negativity and inability to accept other's happiness & growth, the use of Black magic has become the most common way to take out one's vindictiveness and get an evil kind of satisfaction from the turmoil of others. This problem has intensified a lot in the last few years, and many are suffering all over the world, totally unaware of the attacks made by no other than their closest friends, acquaintances and relatives. Many prosperous and happy families are ruined by Black magic.
Symptoms of Black Magic
Black magic puts a block on a person's wisdom and intelligence and all efforts to solve the problem go fruitless. One feels a mental block, gets disturbed sleep with bad dreams, and negative thoughts. There is heaviness and weight on the heart and constriction in the throat.
At times, there could suddenly be blue marks on thighs without getting hurt, or faster & erratic heartbeat and breathing without any physical exertion. There are quarrels in the family without any reason. One might feel the presence of somebody in the house.
One feels one is not getting one's due and can achieve much more. One feels suffocated & restless in all circumstances, and is never at peace. One remains depressed, with lack of enthusiasm or desire to live & rise in life.
AstroIndianGuru – Specialist in Vashikaran and Sifli & nuri-hajuri ilm. Horoscopes, Astrology, Occult Science, Black Magic, Indra Jal, Mantras, Occult, Evil Spells, the intentional use of negative powers to affect in Horoscope, Divine blessings and Wish-fulfillment Pujas Havan Vashikaran and other problems like business & Money, Love & Harmony, Luck & Fame, Health & Energy, Knowledge & Career, Protection & Fortune & lots more. It can bring new peace, prosperity & happiness in your life.
The Astro Maharaj Ji (Vashikaran specialist) one of the most famous Astrologer has super specialist for solving different problems regarding issues like Love Marriage, Affairs, Divorce, Disturbed Marriage Life, Trouble in marriage, Foreign Traveling and all kind of any Family Problems.
Astroguru Maharaj (Vashikaran Specialist) has also super specialist in solving problems of Inter Cast Love Marriages. Note:-Any fees is charged after being completing of work and 100% gurantee for solution here.
ISLAMIK MANTRA "Click Below"
Regards:- http://www.astroindianguru.com
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Maharaj Ji - About the Author:
The maharaj Ji also deal many other problems like husband/wife in illicit relations, Son/ Daughter out of order, child-comforts using supernatural powers, ghost-some troubles, somebody is performed black magic on you anyway, domestic violence, problem in voyages/going to foreign and so on.
Website:http://www.astroindianguru.com
http://www.astroguru-maharaj.blogspot.com/
Just E-mail us at: guruji@astroindianguru.com
Maharaj ji
PH. +91-9779286799, +91-9876150763
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Does david blaine use black magic?I am deeply in love with a person but he is not ready to leave his parents and marry me. Is there any powerful mantra to change his mind and make him marry me and be with me forever.Pls helpDoes black magic work for rogues?Rate this Article 12345 0 vote(s)FeedbackPrintRe-Publish
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/powerful-mantra-black-magic-vashikaran-specialist-4235070.html
Article Tags:vashikaran, specialist, astrology, jyotish, powerful, navgrah, shabar, horoscope, india, mantra, yantra, tantra, totke, puja, man, women, husband, tilak, pushp, love spells, love back, kamakhya, kamakshi, mohini, laung, matika, supari, relationships, marr
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Sunday, August 28, 2011
Thai Black Magic Amulet #9999
Want Thai amulets in bulk from Thailand? Don't miss our Thai Amulet Blog where we release new amulets first!
We have these - in a clear plastic case
Measurements
Description Before Discount Now Item #
.9 inches long
.30 inches thick
.7 inches wide
Amulet measurements
are
approximate
I didn't look closely at this Thai black magic amulet for a number of weeks as I didn't think there was anything much on it. I was surprised when I took it out of it's protective cover and saw this. Then, I asked my friend - Pra Pornpitak, a monk at the temple what the sign said over the bowl of these. He told me that...
These are made from the clay from 7 sacred burial sites here in Thailand. This is a black magic amulet that we've never seen at the temple before. It's really quite unique. We can get custom silver cases for these amulets if you require. Really better to have it protected as they're not likely to make these for long at the temple.
There were just 2 of these amulets at the temple at last check.
This is a new amulet we will purchase from the temple for you when you order securely through Paypal.
*10% of all sales goes back to the temple in the form of a donation.
NOW IN STOCK -
a smaller version in waterproof plastic case for $29.95.
Buy below:
$69 $29.95*
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9999
Order this black clay, black magic waterproof amulet in plastic protective case,
guaranteed authentic from Wat Tum Sua Buddhist Temple in southern Thailand...
$29.95 + $ FREE Shipping = $29.95 shipped worldwide.
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Hey people, do you think it's possible?
Pls read this : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,41427,00.html
This part reprinted here:
?Bomoh blamed it on a spirit
SHE had part of her leg amputated. She's spent much of the last six years in a wheelchair.
She is often ill and in pain.
But she has had two healthy babies in this time.
Yet, she looks after herself, raises her four children and manages a household.
Madam Jamaliah began to have high fevers, aching joints and rashes when she was 10.
But, more than 20 years ago, lupus was not as well-understood as it is now.
Her father had died from diabetes. Her mother, a part-time cook, had 13 children to look after.
'I ended up going from one bomoh (medicine man) to another. They all said it was a spirit that had entered my body,' she said in Malay.
'No-one understood what was wrong with me. If I went to a doctor, they could only give me pills to treat the pain.'
Her condition went undiagnosed until she was 17. By then, it was too late.
Six years ago, Madam Jamaliah accidentally scalded the sole of her foot while riding pillion on a motorcycle.
'It was a small wound, about the size of a 10-cent coin. But it didn't heal properly and became pus-filled,' she said.
Gangrene set in. Eventually, her right leg had to be amputated below the knee, leaving her confined to a wheelchair.
She tried using crutches but found them too difficult to handle. Now, her left leg is very weak.
Recently, she developed a urinary tract infection, so she now has to use a catheter when she goes to the bathroom.
'When I lost my leg, I nearly gave up. I was afraid to go out of the house. I was embarrassed, thinking everybody would look at me in a wheelchair,' she confessed.
So is she just unlucky to be the one of the 4000 people in Singapore suffering from this disease called LUPUS, or was the work of s spirit. Was she cursed in certain ways?
Have anyone ever heard of someone who suffered as a result of a curse laid on him/her
Pls read this : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,41427,00.html
This part reprinted here:
?Bomoh blamed it on a spirit
SHE had part of her leg amputated. She's spent much of the last six years in a wheelchair.
She is often ill and in pain.
But she has had two healthy babies in this time.
Yet, she looks after herself, raises her four children and manages a household.
Madam Jamaliah began to have high fevers, aching joints and rashes when she was 10.
But, more than 20 years ago, lupus was not as well-understood as it is now.
Her father had died from diabetes. Her mother, a part-time cook, had 13 children to look after.
'I ended up going from one bomoh (medicine man) to another. They all said it was a spirit that had entered my body,' she said in Malay.
'No-one understood what was wrong with me. If I went to a doctor, they could only give me pills to treat the pain.'
Her condition went undiagnosed until she was 17. By then, it was too late.
Six years ago, Madam Jamaliah accidentally scalded the sole of her foot while riding pillion on a motorcycle.
'It was a small wound, about the size of a 10-cent coin. But it didn't heal properly and became pus-filled,' she said.
Gangrene set in. Eventually, her right leg had to be amputated below the knee, leaving her confined to a wheelchair.
She tried using crutches but found them too difficult to handle. Now, her left leg is very weak.
Recently, she developed a urinary tract infection, so she now has to use a catheter when she goes to the bathroom.
'When I lost my leg, I nearly gave up. I was afraid to go out of the house. I was embarrassed, thinking everybody would look at me in a wheelchair,' she confessed.
So is she just unlucky to be the one of the 4000 people in Singapore suffering from this disease called LUPUS, or was the work of s spirit. Was she cursed in certain ways?
Have anyone ever heard of someone who suffered as a result of a curse laid on him/her
Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims
At 18 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K., researchers have suspended pictures, face up, from the ceilings in emergency-care areas. The reason: to test whether patients brought back to life after cardiac arrest can recall seeing the images during an out-of-body experience.
People who have these near-death experiences often describe leaving their bodies and watching themselves being resuscitated from above, but verifying such accounts is difficult. The images would be visible only to people who had done that.
"We've added these images as objective markers," says Sam Parnia, a critical-care physician and lead investigator of the study, which hopes to include 1,500 resuscitated patients. Dr. Parnia declined to say whether any have accurately described the images so far, but says he hopes to report preliminary results next year.
The study, coordinated by Southampton University's School of Medicine in England, is one of the latest and largest scientific efforts to understand the mystery of near-death experiences.
At least 15 million American adults say they have had a near-death experience, according to a 1997 survey—and the number is thought to be rising with increasingly sophisticated resuscitation techniques.
In addition to floating above their bodies, people often describe moving down a dark tunnel toward a bright light, feeling intense peace and joy, reviewing life events and seeing long-deceased relatives—only to be told that it's not time yet and land abruptly back in an ailing body.
The once-taboo topic is getting a lot of talk these days. In the new movie "Hereafter," directed by Clint Eastwood, a French journalist is haunted by what she experienced while nearly drowning in a tsunami. A spate of new books details other cases and variations on the theme.
Yet the fundamental debate rages on: Are these glimpses of an afterlife, are they hallucinations or are they the random firings of an oxygen-starved brain?
"There are always skeptics, but there are millions of 'experiencers' who know what happened to them, and they don't care what anybody else says," says Diane Corcoran, president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, a nonprofit group in Durham, N.C. The organization publishes the Journal of Near-Death Studies and maintains support groups in 47 states.
Dr. Corcoran, a retired Army colonel who heard wounded soldiers talk of such experiences as a nurse in Vietnam, says many military veterans have had near-death experiences but are particularly hesitant to talk them for fear of being branded psychologically disturbed.
Some investigators say the most remarkable thing about near-death reports is that the core elements are the same, among people of all cultures, races, religions and age groups, including children as young as 3 years old.
In his new book, "Evidence of the Afterlife," Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist in Louisiana, analyzes 613 cases reported on the website of his Near Death Research Foundation and concludes there is only one plausible explanation: "that people have survived death and traveled to another dimension."
Skeptics say there is no way to verify such anecdotal reports—and that many of the experiences can be explained by neurobiological changes in the brain as people die.
In the 1980s, British neuroscientist Susan Blackmore theorized that oxygen deprivation was to blame and noted that fighter pilots also encountered tunnel vision and hallucinations at high altitudes and speeds.
This year, a study of 52 cardiac-arrest patients in Slovenia, published in the Journal of Critical Care, found that the 21% who had near-death experiences also had high blood levels of carbon dioxide, which has been associated with visions, bright lights and out-of-body experiences.
A study of seven dying patients at George Washington University Medical Center, published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, noted that their brainwaves showed a spurt of electrical activity just before they were pronounced dead. Lead investigator Lakhmir Chawla, an intensive-care physician, notes that the activity started in one part of the brain and spread in a cascade and theorized that it could give patients vivid mental sensations.
Some scientists have speculated that the life review some patients experience could be due to random activation of the dying brain's memory circuits. The sensation of moving down a tunnel could be due to long-buried birth memories suddenly retrieved. The feeling of peace could be endorphins released during extreme stress.
Other researchers say they have produced similar experiences by stimulating neurons in parts of the brain—or by giving patients ketamine, a tranquilizer and sometime party drug.
Yet researchers who have studied near-death experiences note that such experiments tend to produce only fragmentary visions and hallucinations, not the consistent, lucid and detailed accounts of events that many resuscitated patients report. One study found that people who had near-death experiences had higher blood oxygen levels than those who didn't.
Several follow-up studies have found that people undergo profound personality changes after near-death experiences—becoming more altruistic, less materialistic, more intuitive and no longer fearing death. But some do suffer alienation from spouses or friends who don't understand their transformation.
Other relatives understand all too well.
Raymond Moody, who first coined the term near-death experience in his 1975 book "Life After Life," explores the even stranger phenomenon of "shared death experiences" in a new book, "Glimpses of Eternity." He recounts stories of friends, family and even medical personnel who say they also saw the light, the tunnel and accompanied the dying person partway on his or her journey. "It's fairly common among physicians who are called to resuscitate someone they don't know—they say they've seen a spirit or apparition leave the body," says Dr. Moody.
Meanwhile, in his book, "Visions, Trips and Crowds," David Kessler, a veteran writer on grief and dying, reports that hospice patients frequently describe being visited by a deceased relative or having an out-of-body experience weeks before they actually die, a phenomenon called "near-death awareness." While some skeptics dismiss such reports as hallucinations or wishful thinking, hospice workers generally report that the patients are otherwise perfectly lucid—and invariably less afraid of death afterward.
Mr. Kessler says his own father was hopeless and very sad as he was dying. "One day, he had an amazing shift and said, 'Your mother was here—she told me I'd be dying soon and it will be fine—everyone will be there."
Dr. Parnia, currently an assistant professor of critical care at State University of New York, Stony Brook, says verifying out-of-body experiences with pictures on the ceiling is only a small part of his study. He is also hoping to better understand whether consciousness exists apart from the brain and what happens to it when the brain shuts down. In near-death experiences, people report vivid memories, feelings and thought processes even when there is no measurable brain activity.
"The self, the soul, the psyche—throughout history, we've never managed to figure out what it is and how it relates to the body," he says. "This is a very important for science and fascinating for humankind."
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304248704575574193494074922.html[/img]
_________________
The Most Beautiful Thing We Can Experience is The Mysterious. It is the Source of All True Art and Science - Albert Einstein
At 18 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K., researchers have suspended pictures, face up, from the ceilings in emergency-care areas. The reason: to test whether patients brought back to life after cardiac arrest can recall seeing the images during an out-of-body experience.
People who have these near-death experiences often describe leaving their bodies and watching themselves being resuscitated from above, but verifying such accounts is difficult. The images would be visible only to people who had done that.
"We've added these images as objective markers," says Sam Parnia, a critical-care physician and lead investigator of the study, which hopes to include 1,500 resuscitated patients. Dr. Parnia declined to say whether any have accurately described the images so far, but says he hopes to report preliminary results next year.
The study, coordinated by Southampton University's School of Medicine in England, is one of the latest and largest scientific efforts to understand the mystery of near-death experiences.
At least 15 million American adults say they have had a near-death experience, according to a 1997 survey—and the number is thought to be rising with increasingly sophisticated resuscitation techniques.
In addition to floating above their bodies, people often describe moving down a dark tunnel toward a bright light, feeling intense peace and joy, reviewing life events and seeing long-deceased relatives—only to be told that it's not time yet and land abruptly back in an ailing body.
The once-taboo topic is getting a lot of talk these days. In the new movie "Hereafter," directed by Clint Eastwood, a French journalist is haunted by what she experienced while nearly drowning in a tsunami. A spate of new books details other cases and variations on the theme.
Yet the fundamental debate rages on: Are these glimpses of an afterlife, are they hallucinations or are they the random firings of an oxygen-starved brain?
"There are always skeptics, but there are millions of 'experiencers' who know what happened to them, and they don't care what anybody else says," says Diane Corcoran, president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, a nonprofit group in Durham, N.C. The organization publishes the Journal of Near-Death Studies and maintains support groups in 47 states.
Dr. Corcoran, a retired Army colonel who heard wounded soldiers talk of such experiences as a nurse in Vietnam, says many military veterans have had near-death experiences but are particularly hesitant to talk them for fear of being branded psychologically disturbed.
Some investigators say the most remarkable thing about near-death reports is that the core elements are the same, among people of all cultures, races, religions and age groups, including children as young as 3 years old.
In his new book, "Evidence of the Afterlife," Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist in Louisiana, analyzes 613 cases reported on the website of his Near Death Research Foundation and concludes there is only one plausible explanation: "that people have survived death and traveled to another dimension."
Skeptics say there is no way to verify such anecdotal reports—and that many of the experiences can be explained by neurobiological changes in the brain as people die.
In the 1980s, British neuroscientist Susan Blackmore theorized that oxygen deprivation was to blame and noted that fighter pilots also encountered tunnel vision and hallucinations at high altitudes and speeds.
This year, a study of 52 cardiac-arrest patients in Slovenia, published in the Journal of Critical Care, found that the 21% who had near-death experiences also had high blood levels of carbon dioxide, which has been associated with visions, bright lights and out-of-body experiences.
A study of seven dying patients at George Washington University Medical Center, published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, noted that their brainwaves showed a spurt of electrical activity just before they were pronounced dead. Lead investigator Lakhmir Chawla, an intensive-care physician, notes that the activity started in one part of the brain and spread in a cascade and theorized that it could give patients vivid mental sensations.
Some scientists have speculated that the life review some patients experience could be due to random activation of the dying brain's memory circuits. The sensation of moving down a tunnel could be due to long-buried birth memories suddenly retrieved. The feeling of peace could be endorphins released during extreme stress.
Other researchers say they have produced similar experiences by stimulating neurons in parts of the brain—or by giving patients ketamine, a tranquilizer and sometime party drug.
Yet researchers who have studied near-death experiences note that such experiments tend to produce only fragmentary visions and hallucinations, not the consistent, lucid and detailed accounts of events that many resuscitated patients report. One study found that people who had near-death experiences had higher blood oxygen levels than those who didn't.
Several follow-up studies have found that people undergo profound personality changes after near-death experiences—becoming more altruistic, less materialistic, more intuitive and no longer fearing death. But some do suffer alienation from spouses or friends who don't understand their transformation.
Other relatives understand all too well.
Raymond Moody, who first coined the term near-death experience in his 1975 book "Life After Life," explores the even stranger phenomenon of "shared death experiences" in a new book, "Glimpses of Eternity." He recounts stories of friends, family and even medical personnel who say they also saw the light, the tunnel and accompanied the dying person partway on his or her journey. "It's fairly common among physicians who are called to resuscitate someone they don't know—they say they've seen a spirit or apparition leave the body," says Dr. Moody.
Meanwhile, in his book, "Visions, Trips and Crowds," David Kessler, a veteran writer on grief and dying, reports that hospice patients frequently describe being visited by a deceased relative or having an out-of-body experience weeks before they actually die, a phenomenon called "near-death awareness." While some skeptics dismiss such reports as hallucinations or wishful thinking, hospice workers generally report that the patients are otherwise perfectly lucid—and invariably less afraid of death afterward.
Mr. Kessler says his own father was hopeless and very sad as he was dying. "One day, he had an amazing shift and said, 'Your mother was here—she told me I'd be dying soon and it will be fine—everyone will be there."
Dr. Parnia, currently an assistant professor of critical care at State University of New York, Stony Brook, says verifying out-of-body experiences with pictures on the ceiling is only a small part of his study. He is also hoping to better understand whether consciousness exists apart from the brain and what happens to it when the brain shuts down. In near-death experiences, people report vivid memories, feelings and thought processes even when there is no measurable brain activity.
"The self, the soul, the psyche—throughout history, we've never managed to figure out what it is and how it relates to the body," he says. "This is a very important for science and fascinating for humankind."
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304248704575574193494074922.html[/img]
_________________
The Most Beautiful Thing We Can Experience is The Mysterious. It is the Source of All True Art and Science - Albert Einstein
Couple sells child for afterworld marriage
Tue, Aug 23, 2011 | The Star/Asia News Network
A couple in China sold their foster daughter, who suffered from a serious illness, to a family who wanted to conduct an afterworld marriage for their dead son, China Press reported.
According to iqilu.com, there were rumours that the foster parents did not send the sick girl for medical treatment and planned to kill her if she did not die in the next three or four days.
A check conducted by the website's reporter revealed that the girl was staying with her uncle in a village.
The uncle denied the rumours and said the girl was currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
However, the reporter failed to locate the girl in the hospital. According to a worker at the hospital, the girl was discharged a few days ago.
The worker told the reporter that the girl had been "booked" by a family and once she died, the family would claim her body and conduct an afterworld marriage.
According to the villagers, the afterworld marriage practice was very popular in the area as they believed that the spirit of those who died before marriage would roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.d roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.
that the spirit of those who died before marriage would roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.d roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.
Tue, Aug 23, 2011 | The Star/Asia News Network
A couple in China sold their foster daughter, who suffered from a serious illness, to a family who wanted to conduct an afterworld marriage for their dead son, China Press reported.
According to iqilu.com, there were rumours that the foster parents did not send the sick girl for medical treatment and planned to kill her if she did not die in the next three or four days.
A check conducted by the website's reporter revealed that the girl was staying with her uncle in a village.
The uncle denied the rumours and said the girl was currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
However, the reporter failed to locate the girl in the hospital. According to a worker at the hospital, the girl was discharged a few days ago.
The worker told the reporter that the girl had been "booked" by a family and once she died, the family would claim her body and conduct an afterworld marriage.
According to the villagers, the afterworld marriage practice was very popular in the area as they believed that the spirit of those who died before marriage would roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.d roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.
that the spirit of those who died before marriage would roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.d roam around and cause trouble to the family.
So, the family of the deceased would try to find them a partner and bury them together.
As China has more men than women, the afterworld, too, is said to have more men.
Once a single woman dies, a matchmaker would propose a marriage to the deceased's family.
Mon, Oct 11, 2010
New Straits Times
M'sian bomohs catch 12 more spirits
[photo: Onlookers taking pictures of the containers where the nine djinns are believed to have been trapped earlier on Friday.]
JERTIH, MALAYSUA - Three healers from Terengganu Islamic Foundation (YIT) claim they captured 12 more djinns from the house of Siti Balqis Mohd Nor after she disappeared again on Saturday night.
Her family thought her ordeal was over when two bomoh captured nine djinns on Friday and put them in sealed containers.
Yesterday, however, the 22-year-old, who is the eldest of four children, claimed she was whisked away to a cave about 15km from her home in Kampung Gong Nangka here.
She mysteriously disappeared at 7.30pm, minutes before state religious and information committee chairman Khazan Che Mat, YIT director Kamarul Al Amin Ismail and YIT officials arrived at her home with the healers.
Hundreds of residents searched around the house and at locations that she had been found in previous disappearances but this proved futile.
At 11.30pm, her mother Norizan Said, 47, received an SMS from Siti Balqis, saying that she had been taken to a cave in Bukit Keluang.
Jabi assemblyman Ramlan Ali headed a rescue team to Bukit Keluang but they only found seven men and two women who were meditating (bertapa) inside the cave.
Two hours later, Siti Balqis sent another SMS, saying she had been whisked home but had landed on a rambutan tree.
Siti Balqis was pale and unconscious when rescuers brought her down from the rambutan tree.
Read also:
» M'sian bomohs capture 9 spirits
» Bomoh shivers when facing woman
The three Islamic medical practitioners said they captured 12 djinns after treating her.
Siti Balqis only regained consciousness at 5am and told her mother she saw Ramlan and other rescuers at Bukit Keluang cave but none of them could hear her calls.
"I even tried to touch Ramlan's wife as she passed by me but she did not see me," she said.
Meanwhile, Khazan said the medical practitioners were sent by the state government to help the family.
One of the bomoh treating Siti Balqis Mohd Nor in her house as her mother looks on.
An obviously human skull is among the remains in a field behind Bisbee's Memorial Gardens Cemetery
It's a chilling discovery: piles of human bones dumped into open pits at a Bisbee cemetery. At first glance, a casual observer might think: this can't possibly be legal.
Not so, says the Bisbee Police Department.
The place: Bisbee's Memory Gardens Cemetery. Last week a couple looking for a relative's grave discovered that the headstone had been moved to an area behind some brush.
Bisbee police officer Chris Long told KGUN9 News, that's when the couple made a startling, stomach-churning discovery: an area pocketed with piles of dry human bones mixed with ashes. Most of the bones had been dumped in two open pits.
Officer Long says the cemetery's owner, Paul Parker, came forward to take responsibility for dumping the partially cremated body parts.
Parker told police it's something he's been doing for years now - to save money.
But according to Long, it's not illegal, and the owner cannot face criminal charges. "We looked into the avenues of any crime here," Long said. "We don't find anything criminally wrong with what he's doing."
Long admitted that he found that news surprising. "It's one of those things you hear about but don't think you're ever going to see."
It's hard not to find the sight disturbing. Long told Nuñez that it certainly has that effect on him. "It's one of those things you catch yourself staring at. You can't really explain it but you keep staring at it in disbelief."
According to Long, the Medical Examiner's office determined the bones are human remains. But because the cremation process compromised the DNA, there is no way to establish whose bones are lying there.
As disturbing and unsettling as the sight may be, this does not appear to be a case of misplaced ashes. Bisbee Police tell 9 On Your Side that the remains came from a medical research company, which sent the bodies or body parts to the cemetery owner for disposal.
Even though the disposal appears to have violated no laws, it remains to be seen whether it violated funeral industry regulations. The Arizona Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers is investigating.
Meanwhile, for now, the bones will remain where they are.
source: WorldNow and KGUN USA
_________________
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity...A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:17,22)
沈阳几个市政工人在清理下水井时发现一巨型老鼠，体形足有水桶大小，比一 般的肥猫还要大，门牙比兔子的牙还长，粗壮的四肢如狗腿粗细。
当它从地下初到地面时见人就咬，当即被市政工人们乱棍打死。如此硕鼠不知是传说中的鼠王还是受环境影响变异至此，看来环保问题真的值得我们深思了！
Google translate:
Shenyang municipal workers cleaning up the next few wells found a giant rat, a bucket full body size, bigger than the fat cats, front teeth is longer than the rabbit's teeth, stout limbs, such as the thickness of the dogleg.
When it first came to the ground telling anyone from the underground to bite, was immediately killed by municipal workers beling. Shuoshu so I do not know the legendary King Rat, or by environmental variation to this, it seems that environmental protection is really worth considering it!
_________________
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity...A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:17,22)
SOURCE: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/apps/print.php?newsid=30142736
CRIME
Foetus horror widens
Published on November 20, 2010
Count rises steeply as police inspection uncovers another 1,654 from two morgues; Three celebrities face questioning; immunity likely for undertakers in exchange for more info
The number of dead foetuses yesterday rose to 2,002 after the inspection of two morgues uncovered another 1,654 carcasses.
Police are set to summon the three celebrities named by the former nurse Lanchakorn Janthamanas, when she was arrested on Wednesday, as having aborted their babies with her.
Police have secured detention of Lanchakorn after obtaining a court approval to extend her detention for more questioning. She had no visitors or a bail request submitted by anybody throughout her earlier and current detention.
More temple officials would be questioned over their suspicious link or awareness to the crimes, Nong Khaem police said.
Suchart Phoomee, another undertaker who was involved in disposing the foetuses, yesterday accused Lanchakorn's mother, Sombat Sinothok, of lying when she told the media that she had nothing to do with her daughter's abortion business. Police found a notebook in which Suchart recorded the number of foetuses delivered to him by the two women.
Suchart said Lanchakorn worked as an assistant nurse at a Bangkok hospital before she started operating the abortion clinic. The abortionist's mother got involved in the operation after her daughter was discharged from another hospital from an unspecified position and for unknown reasons. The undertaker apologised for his actions at a reenactment yesterday at the temple. He appeared stressed and depressed during the session.
Suchart and Suthep Chabangbon have not been charged with hiding or disposing of dead bodies yet, because police are reportedly planning to allow them legal immunity in exchange for information about Lanchakorn and other possible abortionists.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health Services Support will scrutinise more than 4,000 private clinics that provide familyplanning schemes and are located near student dormitories and universities across Bangkok.
"The department has been informed of four clinics in Bangkok had provide illegal abortions," the agency's director general Dr Somchai Pinyopornpanich said yesterday.
This crackdown follows the discovery of nearly 300 aborted foetuses on Tuesday at the Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bangkok's Bang Kho Laem district.
Somchai said the department had questioned a suspect and discovered some clues linked to other illegal abortion clinics.
"We've got some clues from the suspect but he did not give us the name of the clinics. He just told us the areas," he said, adding that the doctors at the private clinics, who had registered with the department and provided illegal abortions, would be imprisoned for five years and fined Bt10,000.
Doctors will be fined Bt 14,000 and sevenyearjail term, if doctor has caused a single death.
Department will also ask the Medical Council of Thailand to give punishment to doctor who undergo illegal abortion and abuse code of conduct.
"Most of illegal abortion had been underwent at private place," Somchai said.
Meanwhile Health Productive Division's director Dr Kittipong Saejeng said the division found that about 60 percent of abortion were women aged under 25yearold and 40 percent of abortion were women aged over 25yearold.
"Most of women with unwanted pregnancy are afraid to consult with their family. So, they made their decision to undergo abortion," he said.
He added the division found that about 11,000 women had underwent abortion at hospital per year and about 150,0000 women to 200,000 women per year went to private places to underwent illegal abortion.
However, he said a draft bill on reproductive health protection, which would help to resolve abortion in teenager problem, will proposed to the cabinet meeting on November 23.
CRIME
Foetus horror widens
Published on November 20, 2010
Count rises steeply as police inspection uncovers another 1,654 from two morgues; Three celebrities face questioning; immunity likely for undertakers in exchange for more info
The number of dead foetuses yesterday rose to 2,002 after the inspection of two morgues uncovered another 1,654 carcasses.
Police are set to summon the three celebrities named by the former nurse Lanchakorn Janthamanas, when she was arrested on Wednesday, as having aborted their babies with her.
Police have secured detention of Lanchakorn after obtaining a court approval to extend her detention for more questioning. She had no visitors or a bail request submitted by anybody throughout her earlier and current detention.
More temple officials would be questioned over their suspicious link or awareness to the crimes, Nong Khaem police said.
Suchart Phoomee, another undertaker who was involved in disposing the foetuses, yesterday accused Lanchakorn's mother, Sombat Sinothok, of lying when she told the media that she had nothing to do with her daughter's abortion business. Police found a notebook in which Suchart recorded the number of foetuses delivered to him by the two women.
Suchart said Lanchakorn worked as an assistant nurse at a Bangkok hospital before she started operating the abortion clinic. The abortionist's mother got involved in the operation after her daughter was discharged from another hospital from an unspecified position and for unknown reasons. The undertaker apologised for his actions at a reenactment yesterday at the temple. He appeared stressed and depressed during the session.
Suchart and Suthep Chabangbon have not been charged with hiding or disposing of dead bodies yet, because police are reportedly planning to allow them legal immunity in exchange for information about Lanchakorn and other possible abortionists.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health Services Support will scrutinise more than 4,000 private clinics that provide familyplanning schemes and are located near student dormitories and universities across Bangkok.
"The department has been informed of four clinics in Bangkok had provide illegal abortions," the agency's director general Dr Somchai Pinyopornpanich said yesterday.
This crackdown follows the discovery of nearly 300 aborted foetuses on Tuesday at the Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bangkok's Bang Kho Laem district.
Somchai said the department had questioned a suspect and discovered some clues linked to other illegal abortion clinics.
"We've got some clues from the suspect but he did not give us the name of the clinics. He just told us the areas," he said, adding that the doctors at the private clinics, who had registered with the department and provided illegal abortions, would be imprisoned for five years and fined Bt10,000.
Doctors will be fined Bt 14,000 and sevenyearjail term, if doctor has caused a single death.
Department will also ask the Medical Council of Thailand to give punishment to doctor who undergo illegal abortion and abuse code of conduct.
"Most of illegal abortion had been underwent at private place," Somchai said.
Meanwhile Health Productive Division's director Dr Kittipong Saejeng said the division found that about 60 percent of abortion were women aged under 25yearold and 40 percent of abortion were women aged over 25yearold.
"Most of women with unwanted pregnancy are afraid to consult with their family. So, they made their decision to undergo abortion," he said.
He added the division found that about 11,000 women had underwent abortion at hospital per year and about 150,0000 women to 200,000 women per year went to private places to underwent illegal abortion.
However, he said a draft bill on reproductive health protection, which would help to resolve abortion in teenager problem, will proposed to the cabinet meeting on November 23.
Undertaker arrested for hiding some 200 foetuses in temple
He admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the foetuses. -The Nation/ANN
Wed, Nov 17, 2010
The Nation/Asia News Network
AN UNDERTAKER has been arrested for allegedly assisting five abortion clinics to dispose some 200 aborted foetuses.
Suthep Cha-bangbon, 46, an undertaker of Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bang Kholaem district, has been arrested, a police source said.
Initially, Suthep claimed that he was the one who spotted the aborted foetuses and alerted police.
He claimed he did not know how the foetues had ended up being hidden in one of temporary body storage of the temple pending cremation.
But after he was taken to Wat Phayakrai police station for questioning, he admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the foetuses.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
He admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the foetuses. -The Nation/ANN
Wed, Nov 17, 2010
The Nation/Asia News Network
AN UNDERTAKER has been arrested for allegedly assisting five abortion clinics to dispose some 200 aborted foetuses.
Suthep Cha-bangbon, 46, an undertaker of Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bang Kholaem district, has been arrested, a police source said.
Initially, Suthep claimed that he was the one who spotted the aborted foetuses and alerted police.
He claimed he did not know how the foetues had ended up being hidden in one of temporary body storage of the temple pending cremation.
But after he was taken to Wat Phayakrai police station for questioning, he admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the foetuses.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
A Thai man, who has an extreme fear of ghosts, wears about 1,000 amulets daily.
The amulets weigh about 30kg and is worth between 10 Bath ($0.40) and 200,000 Bath (S$8,340).
The 40-year-old supervisor of an electronic appliances company in Chiangmai said: "I have been very afraid of ghosts since I was young and have always dreamt that I'm possessed by spirits.
"I started wearing a few amulets 20 years ago and now, I have almost 1,000.
Although he is not so frightened of ghosts anymore, the man said he is now more worried about being robbed.
The amulets weigh about 30kg and is worth between 10 Bath ($0.40) and 200,000 Bath (S$8,340).
The 40-year-old supervisor of an electronic appliances company in Chiangmai said: "I have been very afraid of ghosts since I was young and have always dreamt that I'm possessed by spirits.
"I started wearing a few amulets 20 years ago and now, I have almost 1,000.
Although he is not so frightened of ghosts anymore, the man said he is now more worried about being robbed.
By VBS.TV staff
November 4, 2010 -- Updated 1948 GMT (0348 HKT)
Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- At the foot of Mount Fuji, in the Chubu region of Japan, a lush and expansive forest named Aokigahara sits dauntingly. Local residents are told from an early age to avoid it altogether, as its sheer volume leaves little question that a curious youngster will be unable to find his or her way out of thickets that have become synonymous with a dark mythology.
Though the area has served as a respite for the peaceful elderly suicides of yore, today it has devolved into the country's ultimate destination of despondent citizens suffering under the pressures of Japan's notoriously driven and achievement-based culture. Aokigahara is now the site of 50 to 100 suicides each year.
Earlier this year, VBS contacted Azusa Hayono, a geologist who for more than 30 years has patrolled Aokigahara studying the land, serving as an environmental conservationist and stumbling upon the not infrequent dead body. A sweet, conscientious and demure man, it is strange to consider the amount of solitary carnage he has encountered. He's come to act as a sort of counselor to the many people he finds contemplating death along Aokigahara's pathways.
See the rest of Aokigahara Suicide Forest at VBS.TV
As he led us into Aokigahara, so creepily scored with the echo of birds and crackling brush, the idea that Azusa was sane at all seemed almost impossible. That we'd find a dead body, to us at least, was entirely possible -- so much so that when we did in fact stumble on what Azusa judged as a suicide from at least a year before, and were left staring at the decomposed corpse, we were shocked it hadn't happened sooner.
Over the course of our time with Azusa, this eerie side of Japanese culture came into clearer focus. He explained to us the numerous ways its citizenry is called on to excel -- and how the subsequent feelings of inadequacy mislead and often overwhelm. It paints a sweeping and telling portrait that a sole stretch of forest, born centuries before in the wake of a volcanic eruption, could come to represent to so many the only way of escaping the ways and pressures and apparent failures of an entire nation
Extracted from: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/02/vbs.suicide.forest/index.html there is a video attached in the web. You may go to the website to have a look.
Cheers!
_________________
There is always something that you can't explain~
*I will always remember you, my dear guardian angel*
^^==Squee Squee==^^==the sotong man==^^
~^^Chip chip^^Birdie man^^
November 4, 2010 -- Updated 1948 GMT (0348 HKT)
Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- At the foot of Mount Fuji, in the Chubu region of Japan, a lush and expansive forest named Aokigahara sits dauntingly. Local residents are told from an early age to avoid it altogether, as its sheer volume leaves little question that a curious youngster will be unable to find his or her way out of thickets that have become synonymous with a dark mythology.
Though the area has served as a respite for the peaceful elderly suicides of yore, today it has devolved into the country's ultimate destination of despondent citizens suffering under the pressures of Japan's notoriously driven and achievement-based culture. Aokigahara is now the site of 50 to 100 suicides each year.
Earlier this year, VBS contacted Azusa Hayono, a geologist who for more than 30 years has patrolled Aokigahara studying the land, serving as an environmental conservationist and stumbling upon the not infrequent dead body. A sweet, conscientious and demure man, it is strange to consider the amount of solitary carnage he has encountered. He's come to act as a sort of counselor to the many people he finds contemplating death along Aokigahara's pathways.
See the rest of Aokigahara Suicide Forest at VBS.TV
As he led us into Aokigahara, so creepily scored with the echo of birds and crackling brush, the idea that Azusa was sane at all seemed almost impossible. That we'd find a dead body, to us at least, was entirely possible -- so much so that when we did in fact stumble on what Azusa judged as a suicide from at least a year before, and were left staring at the decomposed corpse, we were shocked it hadn't happened sooner.
Over the course of our time with Azusa, this eerie side of Japanese culture came into clearer focus. He explained to us the numerous ways its citizenry is called on to excel -- and how the subsequent feelings of inadequacy mislead and often overwhelm. It paints a sweeping and telling portrait that a sole stretch of forest, born centuries before in the wake of a volcanic eruption, could come to represent to so many the only way of escaping the ways and pressures and apparent failures of an entire nation
Extracted from: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/02/vbs.suicide.forest/index.html there is a video attached in the web. You may go to the website to have a look.
Cheers!
_________________
There is always something that you can't explain~
*I will always remember you, my dear guardian angel*
^^==Squee Squee==^^==the sotong man==^^
~^^Chip chip^^Birdie man^^
Spine-chilling 'demon' and 'ghosts' appear on handphone after cemetery visit
A Malaysian family was taking photos at a Chinese cemetery in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, during a tomb sweeping visit, and later discovered that one of the photos contained many scary images, including a demon face.
One of the family members, Ms Lee, who is working in Singapore, sought the help of the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI).
She said the family visited the cemetery on October 2 2006, during the Qing Ming festival, and after paying respect to their ancestor's tomb, they trekked past other tombs, taking photos using her brother's handphone along the way. They took the photos in broad daylight.
When they downloaded the photos into their computer that night, they found nothing wrong with the photos, accept for one, which showed blurry images of scary objects. The family said they did not remember taking that photo and had no idea how it got into the phone.
The images included a female ghost, Chinese tombs, faces with talisman pasted on them and a Japanese solider.
The family had two theories -- that they had either offended the spirits there by laughing and joking, or that it was just a way the spirits were trying to connect with them.
Initially, SPI speculated that the photo might have been the result of several things, which include human error and phone malfunction.
But it all changed when they saw the first prize lottery number on the newspaper -- 4941, for the game on Saturday July 7 2007, the very day they met Ms Lee.
SPI said:
"Ms Lee told us in the afternoon (before we got to know or think of lottery number), that she was able to see a 4 digit number 1944 from the photo. Naturally we related the number to the year 1944 of WW2, since there was an image of a Japanese solider wearing a cap in the photo.
"We had been discussing whether the photo was revealing a battle scene with people who were killed during the war time.
"Therefore the ghosts showed their faces, and their tombs etc. Little we know that on a special 07/07/07 (triple 7), 1944 was hinted but nobody thought of buying a lottery ticket (4D) in combination!"
For the full SPI report, click here.
Source: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/210032/spinechilling_demon_and_ghosts.html
_________________
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity...A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:17,22)
A Malaysian family was taking photos at a Chinese cemetery in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, during a tomb sweeping visit, and later discovered that one of the photos contained many scary images, including a demon face.
One of the family members, Ms Lee, who is working in Singapore, sought the help of the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI).
She said the family visited the cemetery on October 2 2006, during the Qing Ming festival, and after paying respect to their ancestor's tomb, they trekked past other tombs, taking photos using her brother's handphone along the way. They took the photos in broad daylight.
When they downloaded the photos into their computer that night, they found nothing wrong with the photos, accept for one, which showed blurry images of scary objects. The family said they did not remember taking that photo and had no idea how it got into the phone.
The images included a female ghost, Chinese tombs, faces with talisman pasted on them and a Japanese solider.
The family had two theories -- that they had either offended the spirits there by laughing and joking, or that it was just a way the spirits were trying to connect with them.
Initially, SPI speculated that the photo might have been the result of several things, which include human error and phone malfunction.
But it all changed when they saw the first prize lottery number on the newspaper -- 4941, for the game on Saturday July 7 2007, the very day they met Ms Lee.
SPI said:
"Ms Lee told us in the afternoon (before we got to know or think of lottery number), that she was able to see a 4 digit number 1944 from the photo. Naturally we related the number to the year 1944 of WW2, since there was an image of a Japanese solider wearing a cap in the photo.
"We had been discussing whether the photo was revealing a battle scene with people who were killed during the war time.
"Therefore the ghosts showed their faces, and their tombs etc. Little we know that on a special 07/07/07 (triple 7), 1944 was hinted but nobody thought of buying a lottery ticket (4D) in combination!"
For the full SPI report, click here.
Source: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/210032/spinechilling_demon_and_ghosts.html
_________________
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity...A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:17,22)
Fear and worry over teen girls who go into trance in class
Religious leader who counsels the secondary school girls is concerned about them learning Javanese trance dance, which attracts mainly youth here. -TNP
Sun, Jun 13, 2010
The New Paper
By VEENA BHARWANI
IT WAS just an ordinary day in class for Dina (not her real name). The 15-year-old and her classmates were taking notes as their teacher conducted a lesson.
Suddenly, Dina stood up and and started dancing intensely, totally oblivious of her teacher and classmates as they called out to her.
She even lapsed into bouts of anger, like someone who was deeply disturbed.
Fearful of what she would do next, her classmates ran out of the classroom.
A couple of minutes later, Dina collapsed and fainted.
She recovered a short while later and wasn't hurt.
What her friends and teacher did not know was that she had gone into a trance apparently because of her deep involvement in kuda kepang - the traditional Javanese dance of men riding fake horses.
Imam Mohd Azmi Rabbani from Assakirin Mosque, who was called in by the principal of the secondary school to counsel the girls, said the incident last July was not an isolated event.
Another 15-year-old girl from the same school had also apparently gone into a trance in class around the same time, he said.
He said the two had been taking kuda kepang lessons on weekends.
Said Imam Mohd Azmi in Malay, through a translator: "I asked them why they wanted to get involved in this dance and they said it was to pass their time on weekends.
"They admitted that they did not know what they were getting into. They also told me they were just copying their other friends who were involved in the dance.
"They also said that when they go into a trance when performing the dance, they get angry and emotional."
He is concerned about such incidents as it is mostly young people who are involved in the dance.
There are close to 40 groups teaching the dance here and more than two-thirds of those taking lessons are young people, two kuda kepang practitioners said.
Added Imam Mohd Azmi: "Some parents are not even aware of what their children are up to as they take the lessons on weekends."
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) advises Muslims to avoid getting involved in such performances as it goes against the teachings of Islam.
Two parents contacted by The New Paper said they were uncomfortable that these youngsters go into a trance.
Said 44-year-old full-time tutor Zainon Jantan: "As a parent, I think it is dangerous. Sometimes, during performances they eat glass, climb trees and jump down.
The performances can also turn violent. It is also a public nuisance.
"Whenever I attend weddings, I leave as soon as the performance begins. It is scary. I ask my children to stay away from the performance and performers."
There have been growing complaints over such performances in public places like void decks and open spaces.
More complaints
Coordinating secretary of PAP Town Councils Albert Teng said: "We are primarily concerned with the growing number of complaints regarding the disruption that these performances can cause, drawing a huge crowd with the commotion sometimes lasting late into the night."
To reduce the disruption to other residents, he urges kuda kepang performers to explore "alternative venues that are more enclosed, such as an indoor arena or hall".
He added that a police permission is necessary for such performances.
However, Mr Teng stressed that all forms of ethnic performances which do not alarm the public are allowed at void decks and other public areas managed by the town councils, as long as permission has been granted.
Some kuda kepang practitioners say the dance form actually benefits youth as it saves them from heading down the wrong path.
Said Mr Abdul Malik Haji Marwi, 43, who teaches the kuda kepang dance to youngsters: "So many youths actually indulge in a lot of useless activities like wasting their time at shopping malls and getting involved in fights."
He has 20 students, all below 18 years of age.
The adviser to the kuda kepang group Jaran Sembrani said: "I've encouraged many youths to join our group as it teaches them something about Javanese culture and it helps preserve this art."
Mr Abdul Malik said his son used to be one of those "misguided youths who got into a lot of trouble".
"I never saw him on weekends. He was involved in fights and even got in trouble with the police over a year ago. I was so worried about him.
"I told him to think about learning kuda kepang to learn something new and not get involved in bad company."
His son,Mohd Ashraf, 16, has been involved in kuda kepang for about a year and enjoys it.
Mr Abdul Malik said his students do learn how to go into a trance but do not eat glass.
He said: "We discipline them. The young ones first learn how to play the musical instruments and when they are above 16, when they are more disciplined, I teach them how to go into a trance. The process takes over six months."
Only a performance
As for the aggressive performances at public places, Mr Abdul Malik said: "It looks dangerous but it is only a performance. If it is too dull, then people will not be entertained. It is more entertaining if the performers look angry and are a bit aggressive."
Added Mr Ramle Ismail, 42, another kuda kepang practitioner: "We take great care when teaching the art to the youth. There is always an adult like myself or Mr Abdul Malik present at performances to make sure thingsdo not go out of hand."
Added Mr Ramle: "We perform at least once a month at weddings and there are marshals present, so it doesn't get out of hand."
To demonstrate how they can control their students' trance, Mr Abdul Malik and Mr Ramle watched over student Indra Shahril, 18, as he performed the dance and apparently went into a trance within three minutes.
After his trance, Indra, who is waiting to go into National Service, lay on the floor and wriggled for a while before becoming still - like he had fainted. Moments later, he stood up and went to sit in the corner.Hesaid: "I didn't feel anything. I am just tired."
Trancers are 'sinful' in Islam
IT has its roots in Java and Bali and has steadily gained popularity in Singapore.
Practitioners The New Paper spoke to said kuda kepang is an art form that the locals use to tell the ancient story of the Ramayana through dance skits.
Its main attraction is the horse dance ritual, which gives it its name. A kuda kepang performer mimics the movements of a horse.
He or she straps on props shaped like a horse. Usually, these performers are invited to perform at weddings and other occasions. Sometimes, the performances can go on the whole day.
The performers carry out rituals like inhaling incense smoke and eating glass and flowers - which have worried parents and religious groups in Singapore.
The act of eating glass, flowers and grass, as well as going into trance, is considered syirik or sinful in Islam.
Going into trance is reaction to stress
YOU can go into a trance when you are stressed. And it can be dangerous.
Dr Adrian Wang, psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said that trances can sometimes be abnormal and reactions to stress.
He said: "People who are troubled and stressed go into trances as a coping mechanism.
"A young person might go into a trance if he's stressed and troubled. This might be dangerous. He might act in a dangerous manner which can harm him."
The person may behave in an uncontrollable manner and cause harm to himself.
Dr Wang cautioned that parents and adults should be aware that kids are impressionable and they have a duty to guide their kids and teach them the right values.
Explaining what a trance is, he said: "It is a psychological state where the person's consciousness is altered and is in a state of suggestibility.
"During this time, the person might say or do things that are out of his usual character."
However, he added that trances can be culturally acceptable.
He said: "Most Asian cultures have some form of trance dances, like the Chinese temple mediums and Thaipusam where the devotee goes into a trance and feels no pain when he pierces his skin with sharp objects and carries the kavadi. These are culturally acceptable."
He said trances are not dangerous if performed as part of cultural or religious ceremonies where there is spiritual meaning attached.
veenab@sph.com.sg
This article was first published in The New Paper.
Religious leader who counsels the secondary school girls is concerned about them learning Javanese trance dance, which attracts mainly youth here. -TNP
Sun, Jun 13, 2010
The New Paper
By VEENA BHARWANI
IT WAS just an ordinary day in class for Dina (not her real name). The 15-year-old and her classmates were taking notes as their teacher conducted a lesson.
Suddenly, Dina stood up and and started dancing intensely, totally oblivious of her teacher and classmates as they called out to her.
She even lapsed into bouts of anger, like someone who was deeply disturbed.
Fearful of what she would do next, her classmates ran out of the classroom.
A couple of minutes later, Dina collapsed and fainted.
She recovered a short while later and wasn't hurt.
What her friends and teacher did not know was that she had gone into a trance apparently because of her deep involvement in kuda kepang - the traditional Javanese dance of men riding fake horses.
Imam Mohd Azmi Rabbani from Assakirin Mosque, who was called in by the principal of the secondary school to counsel the girls, said the incident last July was not an isolated event.
Another 15-year-old girl from the same school had also apparently gone into a trance in class around the same time, he said.
He said the two had been taking kuda kepang lessons on weekends.
Said Imam Mohd Azmi in Malay, through a translator: "I asked them why they wanted to get involved in this dance and they said it was to pass their time on weekends.
"They admitted that they did not know what they were getting into. They also told me they were just copying their other friends who were involved in the dance.
"They also said that when they go into a trance when performing the dance, they get angry and emotional."
He is concerned about such incidents as it is mostly young people who are involved in the dance.
There are close to 40 groups teaching the dance here and more than two-thirds of those taking lessons are young people, two kuda kepang practitioners said.
Added Imam Mohd Azmi: "Some parents are not even aware of what their children are up to as they take the lessons on weekends."
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) advises Muslims to avoid getting involved in such performances as it goes against the teachings of Islam.
Two parents contacted by The New Paper said they were uncomfortable that these youngsters go into a trance.
Said 44-year-old full-time tutor Zainon Jantan: "As a parent, I think it is dangerous. Sometimes, during performances they eat glass, climb trees and jump down.
The performances can also turn violent. It is also a public nuisance.
"Whenever I attend weddings, I leave as soon as the performance begins. It is scary. I ask my children to stay away from the performance and performers."
There have been growing complaints over such performances in public places like void decks and open spaces.
More complaints
Coordinating secretary of PAP Town Councils Albert Teng said: "We are primarily concerned with the growing number of complaints regarding the disruption that these performances can cause, drawing a huge crowd with the commotion sometimes lasting late into the night."
To reduce the disruption to other residents, he urges kuda kepang performers to explore "alternative venues that are more enclosed, such as an indoor arena or hall".
He added that a police permission is necessary for such performances.
However, Mr Teng stressed that all forms of ethnic performances which do not alarm the public are allowed at void decks and other public areas managed by the town councils, as long as permission has been granted.
Some kuda kepang practitioners say the dance form actually benefits youth as it saves them from heading down the wrong path.
Said Mr Abdul Malik Haji Marwi, 43, who teaches the kuda kepang dance to youngsters: "So many youths actually indulge in a lot of useless activities like wasting their time at shopping malls and getting involved in fights."
He has 20 students, all below 18 years of age.
The adviser to the kuda kepang group Jaran Sembrani said: "I've encouraged many youths to join our group as it teaches them something about Javanese culture and it helps preserve this art."
Mr Abdul Malik said his son used to be one of those "misguided youths who got into a lot of trouble".
"I never saw him on weekends. He was involved in fights and even got in trouble with the police over a year ago. I was so worried about him.
"I told him to think about learning kuda kepang to learn something new and not get involved in bad company."
His son,Mohd Ashraf, 16, has been involved in kuda kepang for about a year and enjoys it.
Mr Abdul Malik said his students do learn how to go into a trance but do not eat glass.
He said: "We discipline them. The young ones first learn how to play the musical instruments and when they are above 16, when they are more disciplined, I teach them how to go into a trance. The process takes over six months."
Only a performance
As for the aggressive performances at public places, Mr Abdul Malik said: "It looks dangerous but it is only a performance. If it is too dull, then people will not be entertained. It is more entertaining if the performers look angry and are a bit aggressive."
Added Mr Ramle Ismail, 42, another kuda kepang practitioner: "We take great care when teaching the art to the youth. There is always an adult like myself or Mr Abdul Malik present at performances to make sure thingsdo not go out of hand."
Added Mr Ramle: "We perform at least once a month at weddings and there are marshals present, so it doesn't get out of hand."
To demonstrate how they can control their students' trance, Mr Abdul Malik and Mr Ramle watched over student Indra Shahril, 18, as he performed the dance and apparently went into a trance within three minutes.
After his trance, Indra, who is waiting to go into National Service, lay on the floor and wriggled for a while before becoming still - like he had fainted. Moments later, he stood up and went to sit in the corner.Hesaid: "I didn't feel anything. I am just tired."
Trancers are 'sinful' in Islam
IT has its roots in Java and Bali and has steadily gained popularity in Singapore.
Practitioners The New Paper spoke to said kuda kepang is an art form that the locals use to tell the ancient story of the Ramayana through dance skits.
Its main attraction is the horse dance ritual, which gives it its name. A kuda kepang performer mimics the movements of a horse.
He or she straps on props shaped like a horse. Usually, these performers are invited to perform at weddings and other occasions. Sometimes, the performances can go on the whole day.
The performers carry out rituals like inhaling incense smoke and eating glass and flowers - which have worried parents and religious groups in Singapore.
The act of eating glass, flowers and grass, as well as going into trance, is considered syirik or sinful in Islam.
Going into trance is reaction to stress
YOU can go into a trance when you are stressed. And it can be dangerous.
Dr Adrian Wang, psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said that trances can sometimes be abnormal and reactions to stress.
He said: "People who are troubled and stressed go into trances as a coping mechanism.
"A young person might go into a trance if he's stressed and troubled. This might be dangerous. He might act in a dangerous manner which can harm him."
The person may behave in an uncontrollable manner and cause harm to himself.
Dr Wang cautioned that parents and adults should be aware that kids are impressionable and they have a duty to guide their kids and teach them the right values.
Explaining what a trance is, he said: "It is a psychological state where the person's consciousness is altered and is in a state of suggestibility.
"During this time, the person might say or do things that are out of his usual character."
However, he added that trances can be culturally acceptable.
He said: "Most Asian cultures have some form of trance dances, like the Chinese temple mediums and Thaipusam where the devotee goes into a trance and feels no pain when he pierces his skin with sharp objects and carries the kavadi. These are culturally acceptable."
He said trances are not dangerous if performed as part of cultural or religious ceremonies where there is spiritual meaning attached.
veenab@sph.com.sg
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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