Intelligence and the brain!

[TheAstonMartian]

Hi!

I had this one question out of curiosity, and something that did concern me throughout my life and also something others may wonder. This would pertain to science and spirituality, as it can be looked at from other perspectives as well. There are two parts to this question.

What role does the human brain have in harboring one's intelligence? Suppose a soul wants to come back to life as a prodigy with skills in a field such as engineering, or an aptitude for mechanical work. Can that soul come in a body with a brain that works differently or with critical thinking skills, or does that get honed in the earth. So nature vs. nurture? Can a human change the difficulty level on earth? As souls, we pick obstacles so we can face them and learn from them, but can we also ask for rewards or some form of gratification while we live life? I realize it's not meant to be easy, but instead of getting everything in the afterlife, can't we experience some of that abundance here?

The second question that boggles me is this. Once the body is dead, the soul does not have a physical body. It only takes the form of the last body. Therefore, sex is not a necessity for many, and rather a boring act that does not lead to endorphin's being released in the brain. Why is it then that the soul takes the personality of the last incarnation then? The brain no longer exists so shouldn't the soul be omniscience and omnipotent? Without the body, shouldn't consciousness go back to being the source? Or does the consciousness get projected into another form? In heaven or the summerland, how does a soul learn something? Do they read or do the soul think of a topic and knowledge comes flooding in? Would you remember your previous incarnations immediately or do you have to go through the memory bank? What if you saved data in a disc, computer, file, etc? Can you remember all of that if you simply reflected on it?

I realize I question a lot so please forgive me for posting another one of those "Can we?" topics on here again. My curiosity gets the best of me. Thank you very much!

[TheAstonMartian]

Also, what's the emotion that one feels in the summerland? Is it akin to being high on weed or orgasmic? Since the body is non-existent, emotions probably are generated by vibration or the environment. Once the life review is done, I think it's just love as in being in a pleasant state of being rather than frustration, anger, or any of those other emotions.

It's just that when I am drunk or high, I tend to open up to people since I am an introvert. It kills me because there are times when I want to talk to people, especially pretty women (I am corrupted that way!), and I fear rejection. I tend to shut people out even though I just want to connect with them and I worry that if I associated with anyone, I would appear needy and lose them. That is why it helps to be in a positive state of mind when you simply want to share your happiness with others. It's like ecstasy when you feel like you won a $100,000,000 and so did others with you, so you just want to share that state of joy instead of fearing rejection. I wish I had an extrovert personality for that reason.

[Roberta Grimes]

Hi!

I had this one question out of curiosity, and something that did concern me throughout my life and also something others may wonder. This would pertain to science and spirituality, as it can be looked at from other perspectives as well. There are two parts to this question.

What role does the human brain have in harboring one's intelligence? Suppose a soul wants to come back to life as a prodigy with skills in a field such as engineering, or an aptitude for mechanical work. Can that soul come in a body with a brain that works differently or with critical thinking skills, or does that get honed in the earth. So nature vs. nurture? Can a human change the difficulty level on earth? As souls, we pick obstacles so we can face them and learn from them, but can we also ask for rewards or some form of gratification while we live life? I realize it's not meant to be easy, but instead of getting everything in the afterlife, can't we experience some of that abundance here?

The second question that boggles me is this. Once the body is dead, the soul does not have a physical body. It only takes the form of the last body. Therefore, sex is not a necessity for many, and rather a boring act that does not lead to endorphin's being released in the brain. Why is it then that the soul takes the personality of the last incarnation then? The brain no longer exists so shouldn't the soul be omniscience and omnipotent? Without the body, shouldn't consciousness go back to being the source? Or does the consciousness get projected into another form? In heaven or the summerland, how does a soul learn something? Do they read or do the soul think of a topic and knowledge comes flooding in? Would you remember your previous incarnations immediately or do you have to go through the memory bank? What if you saved data in a disc, computer, file, etc? Can you remember all of that if you simply reflected on it?

I realize I question a lot so please forgive me for posting another one of those "Can we?" topics on here again. My curiosity gets the best of me. Thank you very much!

Dear AstonMartian, I love all your wonderful questions! And you have asked more than two here, as you realize. You are right, dear friend: lots of people wonder about the same things... I have wondered about them myself. Here are the best answers that I can give you, based upon my current understanding:

1) Our brains operate differently from person to person and in different lifetimes, but our minds are eternally perfect. We choose to have more or less operating intelligence in this field or that as part of our life-planning, but these adjustments and limitations are temporary. Once we are out of our bodies again, our perfect eternal intelligence is restored. I can recall reading somewhere an account of someone's life in which she (I think it was a she) suffered an unplanned brain injury either in utero or at birth. There was hurried consultation between the being and her guides about just how limited this lifetime would be and how that would affect her lifeplan, and she had the option of leaving that body then but she chose to revise her lifeplan instead because there were lessons that she could learn in this newly impaired body that she thought would be worthwhile in her eternal spiritual development. All brain injuries work that way: the brain is impaired, but the mind remains perfect.

2) We can edit our lifeplans during our nightly visits with our guides. I suspect that this happens a lot! The example given above is an obvious situation where lifeplan changes are going to be needed; but we all learn our life-lessons more or less well than planned, and we may suffer diversions from the track we had planned, so changes to our lifeplans while we are alive seem to be necessary for nearly all of us. I have read about cases where lessons were unexpectedly more challenging than expected, so the lifeplan had to be simplified; and other cases where people learned so much so early that additional lessons were planned into a lifetime. I don't think, though, that we plan extra rewards or treats during the course of our lives, dear Martian - I haven't seen much evidence of that. For us, just graduating with our lessons well learned and having attained a lot of spiritual growth is all the wonderful reward that we seek!

3) You can have any body that you want after death. It is common for the most recent earth-body to serve as a template, although what our minds create in the Summerland is that body in a more beautiful form. But I have seen cases where people chose to look like a different lifetime of theirs - one with which they more strongly identified - and no one cares. We know each other there on a spiritual level. Remember that our Summerland bodies are entirely mind-created by us!

4) Learning in the Summerland is apparently difficult. Yes, we do seem to read a lot. We take classes a lot. We travel a lot. We pick up skills - like playing the piano - that can carry over to some extent to other lifetimes. But the learning that really counts to us there is spiritual development, and that is difficult for us to achieve without the stresses inherent in earth-life.

5) We don't know much more immediately after we die than we knew when we were alive. I know how amazing that sounds, but it's true! Apparently we can have dim memories of other lives which were important to us, but to really reconnect with those other lifetimes we have to research them. (My guess based upon my reading is that we go to a library that houses these records and re-experience our other lifetimes' life reviews.)

6) I don't know whether there are computers and other electronics in the Summerland. I tend to think not, since I don't think they're necessary. But I don't know. The people who died in the first third of the 20th century - the time when my research has been concentrated - told their families rather haughtily that of course they didn't have phonograph records there because they could attend a concert whenever they wanted one! But that was the extent of their earthly consumer electronics back then, and records truly were not needed. Now, nearly a hundred earth-years later in time but light-years later in electronics development, who knows?

Great questions, dear AstonMartian! Please keep 'em coming ;-)!

[Roberta Grimes]

Also, what's the emotion that one feels in the summerland? Is it akin to being high on weed or orgasmic? Since the body is non-existent, emotions probably are generated by vibration or the environment. Once the life review is done, I think it's just love as in being in a pleasant state of being rather than frustration, anger, or any of those other emotions.

It's just that when I am drunk or high, I tend to open up to people since I am an introvert. It kills me because there are times when I want to talk to people, especially pretty women (I am corrupted that way!), and I fear rejection. I tend to shut people out even though I just want to connect with them and I worry that if I associated with anyone, I would appear needy and lose them. That is why it helps to be in a positive state of mind when you simply want to share your happiness with others. It's like ecstasy when you feel like you won a $100,000,000 and so did others with you, so you just want to share that state of joy instead of fearing rejection. I wish I had an extrovert personality for that reason.

This is actually a pretty profound question. What does it feel like to be there? As best I can determine, immediately after death any negative emotions we may have had at the end of that lifetime are still there, but kind of burned-out and muted. Only their ashes remain. Depending upon our level of spiritual development, and assuming that we are at least on level 3, our positive emotions seem to run the gamut from relief that we have survived and the Summerland is nice to flat-out, nearly unbearable joy in being with our loved ones again in such a beautiful place. We don't have physical bodies, so none of the feelings that we associate with being in physical bodies are really operative there. Think instead about Christmas morning, falling in love, playing with a kitten, and every other moment of joy you have ever felt in your life. It's more like that, dear Martian, when we first arrive. And - wonderfully - it gets better from there!

[mac]

Isn't the answer to such questions "It depends"?

There will not be one, single answer because we are all individuals. Some will experience one set of feelings, someone else may experience others.

Do we all feel the same here in the physical about what we see, feel, experience? No we don't and after our passing there will be a range of emotions, sensations, feelings that we may feel in any depth or intensity, all dependent on our personal situation, our individual level of spiritual progression thus far....

For those who subscribe to the notion of reincarnation it won't be a first time for some or many and theirs may be a different situation than/from others who are non-reincarnationists or first-timers in the physical.

There are so many potential variables that giving a definitive answer is not possible.

[Andrew]

Isn't the answer to such questions "It depends"?

There will not be one, single answer because we are all individuals. Some will experience one set of feelings, someone else may experience others.

Do we all feel the same here in the physical about what we see, feel, experience? No we don't and after our passing there will be a range of emotions, sensations, feelings that we may feel in any depth or intensity, all dependent on our personal situation, our individual level of spiritual progression thus far....

For those who subscribe to the notion of reincarnation it won't be a first time for some or many and theirs may be a different situation than/from others who are non-reincarnationists or first-timers in the physical.

There are so many potential variables that giving a definitive answer is not possible.

You are, of course, correct, Mac. The evidence tells us that death is a highly individualized process and, as such, there is never really one definite answer for how someone will feel or how a certain part of the afterlife will be for them. I think it's safe to say though that everyone in the Summerland is essentially in ecstasy. I haven't read one report of anyone being notably angry/annoyed/sad there.

[Andrew]

This is actually a pretty profound question. What does it feel like to be there? As best I can determine, immediately after death any negative emotions we may have had at the end of that lifetime are still there, but kind of burned-out and muted. Only their ashes remain. Depending upon our level of spiritual development, and assuming that we are at least on level 3, our positive emotions seem to run the gamut from relief that we have survived and the Summerland is nice to flat-out, nearly unbearable joy in being with our loved ones again in such a beautiful place. We don't have physical bodies, so none of the feelings that we associate with being in physical bodies are really operative there. Think instead about Christmas morning, falling in love, playing with a kitten, and every other moment of joy you have ever felt in your life. It's more like that, dear Martian, when we first arrive. And - wonderfully - it gets better from there!

I agree with this, dear Roberta! In the Summerland levels and above, most people seem to describe the air itself as being filled with joy, love, and light. And, the higher we go, the better it gets!

[TheAstonMartian]

Wow! Thank you for all the answers! I wanted to get a gist of it so the answers are really helpful. It's wonderful that the summerland gets better and better.

Sorry for asking more that two questions. It started out with two and my curiosity led me to more. One things that keeps popping up is that we come here to grow spiritually. What does "spiritually" entail? Growing to understand the oneness of all that is? Reality is an illusion and so is all our drama's including sex, eating, etc. so it boggles me that infinite beings would become limited to understand the various problems, emotions, limitations, etc. when they are already in a place of love. There are an infinite number of limitations that a human being can go through and not to mention other extraterrestrial planets with life forms with their own problems and issues, so a soul has to be incarnated way too many times to experience all of that and learn something from that.

But why learn from an illusion? What purpose does it serve to learn from made up relationships and life issues when it's all transitory and temporary. Here is an excellent article that helped me understand as to why we may choose pain or horrors in life. I still think being in the summerland is nicer since you can work from there and watch over others to help them.

https://sites.google.com/site/kookys...hy-choose-pain

Can you not de-exist? If a soul gets bored, can they not dissipate, or become nothingness? Or is the only option we have is to be one with the source and then life goes on while the soul becomes omnipresent?

[TheAstonMartian]

5) We don't know much more immediately after we die than we knew when we were alive. I know how amazing that sounds, but it's true! Apparently we can have dim memories of other lives which were important to us, but to really reconnect with those other lifetimes we have to research them. (My guess based upon my reading is that we go to a library that houses these records and re-experience our other lifetimes' life reviews.)

That sounds inefficient to have to go to a library and re-experience the life review's of previous lives which can be traumatic. If one can do that, can one not be able to go to the library and go through other soul's life reviews instead of incarnating to Earth to experience it? I guess these questions have no point since we will figure this out in the summerland anyways!

6) I don't know whether there are computers and other electronics in the Summerland. I tend to think not, since I don't think they're necessary. But I don't know. The people who died in the first third of the 20th century - the time when my research has been concentrated - told their families rather haughtily that of course they didn't have phonograph records there because they could attend a concert whenever they wanted one! But that was the extent of their earthly consumer electronics back then, and records truly were not needed. Now, nearly a hundred earth-years later in time but light-years later in electronics development, who knows?

Great questions, dear AstonMartian! Please keep 'em coming ;-)!

Thank you. It must be annoying to keep answering to so many questions. I will try to not ask as often.

Wow! A concert? That sounds swell! It's just that on Earth, I have a collection of songs, as well as cars that I would like to drive, so I have to retain some of that memory so I can experience them after I die. I am not a wealthy chap by any means and I doubt I will be wealthy enough in this life so I would love to experience some joys afterwards.

[Andrew]

Please, never apologize for your curiosity! It's only natural, after all. We're all here to learn and grow together!

Here is the simplest way for me to put it: it's easy to do the right thing when everything is all wonderful and peaceful, but it's a whole different matter when helping someone could cost you your own life. Our souls are already perfect by nature of course - we are, by nature, part of God/Mind. But, somehow (A Course in Miracles says it was an accident, by I don't want to open up that can of worms again ), we came to believe that were separate from God/Mind. So, in order to return to that level of spiritual awareness, where we are not individually aware, but are aware as God, we must grow and advance spiritually.

Now, in the Summerland, everything's all fine and dandy. Of course it is really easy to be nice and loving there because you have nothing to lose. But, a person is defined by how he acts under stress, not when perfect, is he not? So, we have to essentially learn how to be loving and forgiving in situations that seem to be terrible, even though they are illusions.

Does that make sense to you? I fear I am not doing the best job explaining this. If I'm unclear, just tell me where and I'll expand or rephrase. Anyway, we have to learn that we are all One, so we have to learn to put the well-fare of others before our own. We cannot really do that in the Summerland, since it is impossible to incur anything negative there. So we come here to learn.

Now, what you have to understand is that, just because this is an illusion, doesn't mean that it's not real. The growth that happens here will shape our being and stay with us for the remainder of our spiritual journey - but the negative effects of being a physical entity wear off soon after death. What happens here does matter, and it is important, but it is not objectively real.

The next profound revelation I have to impart to you is that the afterlife is an illusion as well. It is also there for us to learn and grow spiritually. It is more real than the physical realm, which could be seen as an illusion inside an illusion, but it is ultimately not real. So what is real? Mind/God. In our truest sense, we are a united, self-aware, loving energy that is God. We are not naturally individually aware, but share God's awareness.

The reason why we don't just skip the afterlife illusion and go right back to God is because, even after we are done incarnating on earth, we have to be slowly conditioned to remember how natural is to be God and not have body/physical world. It is ultimately a better and purer state of existence, but we have to get back there gradually.

No, souls cannot de-exist. We were never created, so we can never end. You seem to portray this eternal existence as a negative thing, but I think it would be a lot more boring to cease to exist, than to be God forever!

I hope that I didn't confuse you here. I'm not the best at explaining the more profound afterlife truths. Let me know if something needs clarification.