There Is Life After Death with Roy Varghese – Paranormal Podcast 128

Well, i can't speak for your experience, Poppy. Thank you for the good conversation and hope to see you around other topics. :)

Poppy, i do see your point. I don't think people who believe such things are automatically dishonest about it, but yes i do believe there is a level of delusion about it. Delusion in the sense that they deny anything natural could possibly explain their experiences and therefore it must be paranormal, thus involving post-life existence in some intelligent form. That's a huge assumption and i think that is the arrogant thing, not the scientifically grounded position.

Now, i am not saying we can detect all energies in the universe. But it seems perfectly reasonable to suppose that an energy form that directly interacts with a physical organ on a constant basis, spread throughout billions of living humans...well...wouldn't it be somewhat detectable? I think that it would have to be before your theory of a soul could be taken scientifically seriously. Likewise, it seems to me more plausible that the reason why so many experiences in this field are similar ot "textbook" if you prefer, is a common function of the brain. I understand some argue that there is no brain activity, but we're talking surface brain activity. Activity closer to the centre would be more be difficult to detect and could quite logically explain these experiences.
I do love the unexplained myself, but i don't think that trying to push the idea of life after death explains anything, as it is founded on nothing solid. Let's continue to gather the evidence before we celebrate the spirit world or the divine.

Hi Jim,

LOVE the show, I have gone back and listened to all of your older podcasts too!
Additionally I adore the subject of life after death, multiple dimensions, etc, BUT this guest does a very poor job of substantiating his points. The merits of his beliefs are similar to mine so it's not that I disagree with him, but I was frustrated to hear this talk because I imagined listening to this with a friend who wasn't a believer and thought I'd be pretty disappointed.
To make it blunt, he rambled and didn't ever really get around to making a point. There is SO much info out there on NDE s and I was looking forward to something like that. I don't know, maybe I'm being too critical, but I love your show!!!!!

Poppy, that's an interesting explanation and i'm not one to say you are certainly wrong because i can't rule it out entirely. However, there are a few problems with this that would be worth considering. Let's say that the brain is indeed an organ that acts as a conduit for the the exterior personality. What form does this personality take? It must be capable of interacting with physical matter, so why has it not been detected? Without being visible or possible to sense with normal human abilities, you might assume that it would be an energy form. With our understanding of electromagnetism and radiation, one might think such a potent and essential energy to life would be identifiable?

There's another problem too. When you talk about information coming from an after-death state, why is it so unreliable? The messages seem to focus primarily on actual physical events the person could have known about, or be highly subjective. Why is no real information shared? Things that are vitally important in the real physical world, that could make a difference? I will give one example, just for consideration. Would it not be more constructive for someone who is existing after-death to perhaps help solve a crime? If it was possible, would you not think that a lot of the deceased who met untimely ends at the hands of others would be coming forward to identify the living criminal?

Whilst i enjoyed this show a good deal, i fail to agree with pretty much 100% of what was said. The argument that human cultures across the globe share a belief in life after death is absolutely no evidence for the reality of it whatsoever. It is entirely natural for a being that can think in abstracts to imagine a state beyond physical death and is utterly in keeping with what one would expect from pattern-seeking animals such as ourselves.

The argument concerning God and consciousness is, frankly, a nonsense. We understand that consciousness is a difficult thing to pin down, but let's take the example of brain injury for starters. If all a person is, is somehow contained in a "soul" seperate from the brain, why can the personality of an individual change vastly after an injury to a physical organ (the brain)? If a soul existed, whilst the physical functioning of a body might be impacted by a brain injury, the personality would remain identical and unchanged.

Anyway, great podcast and keep it up!

Hi Jim,
long time listener, first time commenter, currently I am very interested in the Baha'i faith and I think that you could find it very intriguing as well. This religion give us a lot of answers, about all this kind of topics.
You can learn more at www.bahai.org
I really enjoy your show!!!
Thanks.
Jorge

Hi Jim,

I have just finished listening to the recent interview with Roy Abraham Varghese.
This has prompted me to ask if you have previously discussed the subject of animals - do they have souls? I believe they do and have experienced something with dogs which strengthens my long held belief.

Do you think that sometime in the future you might bring the topic up or incorporate the topic into one of your discussions? It would be fascinating as I imagine there are many people who believe they do have souls.

I have heard other less animal inclined people say that they do not, based on the 21 gram theory (unethically) produced by Doctor Duncan MacDougall. I quote Wikipedia here:

'In 1907, MacDougall weighed six patients while they were in the process of dying from tuberculosis in an old age home... MacDougall also measured fifteen dogs in similar circumstances and reported the results as "uniformly negative," with no perceived change in mass. He took these results as confirmation that the soul had weight, and that dogs did not have souls.'

Apart from this being a cruel (healthy animals poisoned) and pointless experiment, it is apparently a discredited theory, but many still believe in it and think it has some merit.
If you are interested in the subject, I'd love to hear about it sometime in the future. Just a thought.

Anyway, thanks for bringing your fabulous shows to us paranormal freaks :) Take care.

Warm regards,

Vicki

Hi Jim,
there are two books on this subject that go far beyond the light at the end of the tunnel.
They are jouney of souls and Destiny of souls. They changed my life and my spirituality. In the books we actually find out about what the afterlife is, what we do, how we choose our lives, etc. I can't say enouph about these books. If you are curious about why we are here and what goes on after we die then you need to read these books.
Ron