MY NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

By “"AQUARIS": [April 6, 2004] I am one of those who have returned from death so to speak I was critically injured in a bomb blast...in my country while I was on vacations.( 13 August 2001 in a remote area called Kalam in my country Pakistan....Its in the Northern Part of my country and is as beautiful and scenic as Switzerland ). The bomb was placed under a stall.( 14 th August being independence day of Pakistan so there were celebrations all around) and it hit full impact on my right side. I was thrown away about 10-12 feet. It was just like one being suddenly hit by a very high voltage. I lay there, I don't know how long. But I was fully aware, yet my body had gone numb and even though blood was flowing from my body, I felt nothing -- no sense no feeling. Then they took me to a local dispensary where they stitched some of my wounds and then took me to the nearest Hospital (Saidu Sharif) which was about 30-40 miles away, and took about 6-8 hours as the road were curvey and it was raining very heavily. It was there, while being operated on, that I think I died. I was rushed into the operation theatre, then they gave me anesthesia, and minutes after I found myself floating above my body. I could clearly see my self being operated on. My right side was completely damaged, and it had a large gaping hole in my back – about 16-18 inch by 8-10 inch in length.. Yet the strangest thing was I saw my lips moving though I could not hear anything, but the surprised look on the surgeon’s face convinced me that I was telling them where to look for splinters in my body. Before I saw my body floating above .... I had a sudden rushing movement ... everything swirled, and every thing became first a cube then a dot ... and then very fast moving light beams: all similar but different. I cannot explain the difference but each beam was different. Then it was all black ... the amazing thing is I was also watching myself being operated on at the same time. There was nothing but pitch-blackness ... and I heard someone behind my back. I could not turn back and I did not wanted to turn back. That someone was talking in some very strange language .... Hebrew, Arabic, ...I don't know which, but I could understand what was being said. I cannot now recall it...the memories have dimmed. But I knew I could understand it. 2. Then I saw four white spots ... and was told it’s my wife and my three kids ... then again...it was pitch black. And then when I woke again, I was travelling again in the ambulance to be taken to the nearest city (Peshawar, and then to Lahore my city of residence at the time. Now I have moved back to my father in Karachi). I was admitted in my City's Hospital and stayed for about three months there (Lahore's Hospital) as they told me I was in no condition to travel ... and for three month constantly visiting the operation theatre. Its been nearly 2 3/4 years since I had my accident. But still some times I wake up during the night and the whole Incident repeats itself, and in the morning I have a sudden yearning to die. Well that’s my story if anyone can comment on it. I have lost an eye... my right ... and my right side though covered up still troubles me. I have tried to be brief, as it's painful to recall it.

COMMENTS ON ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY

By LEVANNAH IVRI, [Melbourne, Australia.] [To the writer of the first two articles about Esoteric Christianity, I would like to offer some additional comment]. 1. THE HIDDEN MEANING IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE: I would like to draw to the attention of the writer of the above article the fact that in the Old Testament -- as he/she implies, commandeered from the Jewish people -- that the Jews have long had a practice of esoterica in the Bible. Mostly, this comes from a system of numerology employed in the Hebrew language to give a magical or mystic interpretation to the Bible. I am well aware that numerology has been employed in the Bible by Christians and others since the Hebrew application, except while I cannot entirely understand its relevance in the latter, I can in the Hebrew, for it most certainly does have relevance. Let me explain. Hebrew is a language which gives an alpha-numeric value to each character. For instance, the first letter of the alefbet (alphabet) is designate alef, which, while being a silent letter also designates the numeral one. Likewise, beta, the second letter which can give a sound of either 'b' or 'v' is also two, and so on and so forth. Therefore, it is not difficult to turn any given word into a string of numbers, each with a unique mystical (or inner) meaning of its own. The additional fact that ancient Hebrew in particular (Biblical Hebrew) is never written with vowels -- try reading the following: MLBRN or perhaps NW STH WLS -- and one begins to experience the difficulty of this ancient language. Each word must be read in context with all others in the sentence to make it clear exactly what is meant, and this practice serves also with the mystic numerical application as well. Try the many combinations of CT, for example, and the numerical value will be as different as the many words which a vowel or two will turn CT into. 2. ASTROLOGY IN THE BIBLE: Yes, I agree wholeheartedly with the writer that a great deal of astrology does exist in the Bible. In Biblical days, however, astrology and astronomy were interchangeable, and astrology was actually banned to the Jews because it was seen as 'fortune-telling', much in the same way as witches, soothsayers and idolatry were banned because " . . . the Lord your God is a jealous God, and you shall have no other gods before me!" (Funny then that the most common expression for 'congratulations' to someone in Hebrew remains mazal tov! -- lucky stars!) The episodes chosen by the writer of this article to illustrate his/her point are, indeed, particularly apt, except the cycle to which he/she refers is (astronomically) closer to 2500 years for each zodiacal sign, the total cycle being 26,000 years. It is known even today in astronomical circles as the precession of the equinoxes, explaining the 'slipping back' or going in reverse to the way we know them today. And whatever God had commanded the Jews in the Ten Commandments was undoubtedly severely tested during the Exile in Babylon, where the Jews must have come across the astrology/astronomy of the Babylonian practice. This is quite probably how astrological references throughout the Bible crept in, for the Babylonians were the greatest practitioners of this art in their time.

RELIGION versus CHAOS -- GOD versus HUMANS

By ALLANA, [Illinois, USA.] Religion has been around forever. Or at least for as long as man could write. Why? Religion keeps order. It gives us boundaries and reasons to behave. Reasons that have far more power than laws made by government. Laws are made by man, and reasons to break those laws are easily rationalized. Rules created and enforced by Religion have a much stronger hold because they were made and enforced by a much higher power. Usually an unseen, much unknown powerful force or forces. Revealed to few and working in ways mysterious to most. The consequences and rewards for behavior in life are eternal in death, and therefore create a much stronger incentive than the punishments or rewards for man made laws. Humans have a power, called Faith. Faith allows humans to believe in something(s) they have never seen, touched or heard. That belief then allows them to rationalize their actions and choices in life based on the rules set down by the higher power(s). Religions are as diverse as our cultures. Which brings up the question, which one is right? Every religious believer says that their religion is the right one. But who is to say for sure? Is it really true that because one culture doesn’t follow a certain religion that they are to be eternally damned in the afterlife? How can one whole race be damned because of what they believe in? Because of these questions you have to wonder what validity there is behind the claims of afterlife, reincarnation and the like. As well, how can one religion condemn another? Whether you believe in one god or many, no one really has any physical evidence of these gods. There are stories, believed to be true accounts, legends, myths and books. But these were all created by man. Who can say what the driving force behind the creators was? Humans have an incredible capacity for imagination. They can come up with a reason or story for why things are they way they are. Why is it not possible that someone came up with an idea and it seemed to make sense, so everyone else agreed? I could go on and on about this, but I tire of the subject right now. I'll touch on this again some day. Right now I believe that there are forces around us that we cannot see that affect the way we are. I don't know if I believe that it is one all knowing force. I believe we do have a large control over our own destinies based on the choices we make in our lives. I believe religion serves a good purpose in society, to help create and maintain order and some degree of civility. [Read more of Allana’s thoughts at ALLANA’S AXIOMS

HOW COLOUR HEALING CHANGED MY LIFE

By PAT CAMPBELL, [Newcastle, Australia.] Last year I was very seriously unmotivated; had to really force myself to do anything at all re study, job searching, housework etc. When various tasks were utterly unavoidable and I had exhausted every procrastination method known to man, I would do what was absolutely essential and not one iota more. Could not even motivate myself to do things I liked such as a trip to the beach or learning some new computer skills etc. So I decided to have a go at hypnotherapy, for the generalised purpose of increasing motivation and self-discipline. I figured that if I could get myself on the right track with regards to these issues I could then achieve what was currently my aim, be it smoking, weight loss, study or whatever I wanted. After trying several hypnotherapists who did not do me much good, I located in Parramatta a married couple who practised what they called "Colour Treatment Hypnotherapy". It was the best $160 (2 x $80) that I think I have ever spent. They understood what it was that I really wanted. In fact they said that was their mode of operation: they do not single out one specific aim but rather allow their patients (for lack of a better word) to set their own goals and alter them as often as they desired. I was told to write down on a sheet of paper every single thing I would like to achieve or fix up in my life, no matter how trivial or how far-fetched or fanciful it might seem to be. I did not have to show them this at all: they said I should read through it at least once a week and alter anything that I changed my mind about whenever I wanted to. Initially what they did was talk to me about all sorts of things and ask me some specific but seemingly unrelated questions, they said it was to get an idea of what "made me tick". They had a table on which were arranged about 100 or so small glass bottles, each containing two different coloured oils, one colour sitting on top of the other, the two colours did not intermingle at all. Then I had to put my right hand behind my back and select bottles that appealed to me until they told me to stop. [The left hand chooses things by emotions, the right hand would have made logical choices.] Although I may well have chosen my first selection logically (it was a two-tone purple and purple is my favourite colour), the rest of my selections were not particularly colours that appealed to m -- there were many nicer ones I would have logically chosen. Anyway from their analysis of these coloured bottles, they told me a great deal about my childhood, my likes and dislikes, my strengths and weaknesses and much more; it was so incredibly accurate, even more so than astrology and numerology; it was a little scary but also very fascinating. Then they proceeded to hypnotise me using a spiral that I had requested. I did not really feel like I had been hypnotised, but as there were definite changes in my attitude to various things I guess I must have been on a very light level. After a bit more discussion and a logical selection of two colours from a smaller group, I was then given small samples of these two colours. From then on I had to (each day) put a few drops of first one colour and then the other onto my left hand and rub it in with the other hand, smelling each colour as I put it on. On my 2nd visit, my colour selection was different except for my first choice and they provided an interesting picture to look at instead of the spiral. They would have totally succeeded in hypnotising me on that occasion if it wasn't for the fact that the chair was not altogether satisfactory and I was aware of my neck being uncomfortable. I really started to "fall into" the picture I was looking at, it was a great feeling. Well I was a bit sceptical about what had happened (at the first visit) but even from the next day started to notice changes in myself, the main difference was that I actually started enjoying life despite its rather boring components (the highlight of my life is usually going grocery shopping) and for the most part had a great feeling of being happy to be alive. I had not felt like that for ages, if ever to that degree at all. Then I started adding things to my list which never occurred to me before such as "enjoy my holiday", "stop being negative about things", "stop feeling guilty about wasting time" etc etc. My kids have noticed radical differences in me, even when talking on the phone, and I have also found that (perhaps because I am more enthusiastic about life) various little good things have come my way. I now have the feeling that I can accomplish anything at all that I desire instead of finding reasons not to attempt anything because of a reluctance to deal with failure. Although I have not yet succeeded with the most important aims (getting a job for one thing), I have definitely made some inroads into most of the things on my list. I wish I had found these people a long time ago. I may never go back; do not know at this stage, they do not suggest that you should go back at any certain time, they said that I would know if and when it was necessary.