posted April 03, 2020 01:25 PM            

I haven't watched all these in their entirety, but thought I'd put them here with a brief explanation. Many are bored right now and might find these comforting.

First, on Other Planets, a fun one that only sees a small part of a world (imagine how much there is to explore!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHKcQE1EbRA

And this fascinating one on how different religions are actually important to Heaven (and comes at it from a psychological, environmental, even web comment point of view), and describes the difference between positive religious mindsets (good for Heaven and humanity) and toxic religion (bad for humanity and Heaven):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNoAwJ1a9WQ

Speaking of which, this includes a theory I've found plausible on the afterlife, how different people are drawn to similar mindsets (and can mean someone's heaven is someone else's hell, and vice versa, and that many in Hell are there because they WANT to be, though trapped with so many other minds devoted to cruelty and desire to dominate, it's Hellish for everyone, no matter how much they want the power they seek):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9D2hr0WWh0

It adds that pure Heaven is very hard to endure because it means pure love untainted by ego, which is too much for the vast majority to handle save in small doses. This doesn't mean they suffer, rather they go to other pleasant places that they CAN handle, in hopes of one day being able to ascend. (Many areas can be familiar to life, but this doesn't mean one raised in a war zone goes to a war zone.) Maybe shades of Spirited Away (I'm mainly thinking of that breathtaking, if calm, train scene of presumably ghosts heading to a new home, complete with baggage they take with them).

As for Hell specifically (and why some choose to go there, which isn't by rejecting God or anything, but rather their own inner personal desires who are irrestibably drawn to where they can act upon them, even if it means it being acted on them, shades of Hazbin Hotel for any who've seen it--I've only seen the first ep myself, a very dark comedy about a demon trying to reform other demons which the other demons aren't having, but I digress):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXCO1P6r-Kw

It really takes a lot, not just having vices and obsessive temptations, one has to have the burning desire to make others suffer for a variety of reasons in which case they dive right in at the opportunity (and then mix other sadistic souls). They're not necessarily stuck there permanently, and for the most part the punishment is which they inflict on each other (and the Light of Love that shows them what the peace and happiness they lack can also "burn" them as higher beings try to reform them, or at least keep them from causing harm elsewhere or even to provide some service that just might make them let go of their hateful ways).

And here's one over an hour that I have yet to see (but will soon) on the parallels between Swedenborg's beliefs (and presumably astral travels) and Buddhism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBbuaPLIkE4

posted April 03, 2020 06:14 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
And finally, this looks like the actual book I was asking about online. If I like it as much as I think I will, I'll buy a copy (rather than borrowing it from the library via ILL as originally planned):
http://swedenborg.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/NCE_OtherPlanets.pdf

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posted April 21, 2020 05:29 PM            

First vid was a lot of fun. Summed up (and leaving much out) Swedenborg claimed to have been able to contact spirits on other worlds by attuning to them, that is travel through the spiritual planes in which distance is not a factor. Adding depth to his experience was interacting with mediums on other planet that allowed him to see through the eyes of the living on those worlds.

In short, it would be like the internet linking from one server to another via frequency, though the software would limit what information could be shared or understood. Though Swedenborg described it more as the different planets and solar systems as organs in the same body that existed simultaneously on different frequencies.

It's an intriguing idea, and some of what he says makes a lot of sense to me, but I'd think his perceptions and what he could understand would be limited by his own perspective which would mean, according to my guess on how it would work (and assuming his experiences are valid in regards to an objective reality) he'd miss and misunderstand a lot despite a similarity in spiritual vibe. For example, some might seem human because to them they are what's normal and Swedenborg would be the alien, and their "sheep" would be an equivalent, but translate to his mind as a concept he could understand.

On a more mundane level, the simple life described sound much like how our life was with nomadic existences that moved with the food source before property became a thing (the "forbidden fruit" was never described, but many see it as an apple, and it could be that apple trees were the first to be grown that created the concept of property--and math, which at the time was a female occupation since it applied to feeding the family--that would create proto-capitalism and the idea of property including people as property which would also give us thieves, a new concept which still poisons our society, but one that Swedenborg, who probably knew little to nothing of such anthropology on our world, claimed other worlds lived by, at least on the spiritual plane, and found the idea that they'd steal from or prey on each other a bit offensive as well as deeply disturbing).

There were some interesting NatGeo worthy stuff, like what they wore, how they made the threads they wore and augmented their shelters, etc.

Ultimately, however, only the highest vibratory heavens are intergalactic. Most others are tied closer to their planet of origin with their own concepts of what heaven is like (though generally pleasant enough).

SECOND vid: different religions are important because they focus on God in different ways (and forms) which gives them their own strengths. Each helps strengthen the heavenly community in their own way. And in learning to value each other (much as we're starting to do now--at least superficially--paramedics, people who run grocery stores, etc), and in so doing learn from them and also develop empathy for those who are different which polishes love, increasing one's own spiritual vibration which is why these differences are not only necessary, but work out to everyone's benefit.

Naturally, those who practice the more toxic, hateful kinds of their religion, who want to make others suffer (or at least practice supreme indifference to them) are not part of these diverse heavenly planes, and are instead in Hell where they both punish and are punished (by each other). They're not put there, rather they're drawn to their spiritual kin who are just as toxic and they wage war on each other. All Heaven does is try to contain it so that it doesn't bother and disrupt the actual Heaven, and sometimes attempt to get one to give up their hatred and toxic ego (which might mean physical incarnation) so that they can finally move on to a heavenly community rather than hellish one (shades of Hazbin Hotel...)

Note that one does not need to profess a religion to enter into a heaven or hell, this is a function of spiritual vibration, not religious faith.

THIRD: I think I summed it up well enough above and won't add more at this time.