The following excerpts are taken from various chapters of the recommended book
ARE YOU PSYCHIC …. By Hans Holzer.
The astral-physical connection
A human being is essentially a unique electromagnetic field, consisting of pure energy, temporarily
housed in a denser layer of matter called the physical body.
As long as a person is alive in the physical world, his or her astral body remains attached
to its physical counterpart by a thin connecting link called the silver cord, a kind of cable through which impulses go back
and forth. At the time of physical death, the cord is indeed severed and the astral body floats freely outward into the next
dimension.
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Out-of-body Experiences
The phenomena of out-of-body experiences and bilocation prove that we can function fully without the
physical body. This is because there is within each of us a secondary body---variously called the etheric body, aura, or soul.---that
is the true vehicle of the self. The movement of this inner body and all communications by and with it, are part of the dimension
we call the astral, the etheric, or the psychic.
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Near Death Experience
Perhaps the single most common thread in near-death experiences is the feeling of being
at peace that seems to follow ----- a feeling of serenity and contentment and, most notable, a complete absence of the fear
of death. Upon their return, these travelers often seem to have undergone profound changes. Their attitudes toward life and
death usually change completely, allowing them to live the rest of their lives with a feeling of being more at peace. In addition,
in many cases, their inherent psychic ability is fully awakened, and to their amazement, they have become psychic. Apparently
exposure to the next dimension, the Other Side, can trigger an increase in psychic ability.
Some people are quick to argue that near-death experiences are nothing more than hallucinations,
mental aberrations, or fantasies brought about by situations of extreme stress. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that authentic
near death experiences do not fall into this category. The clarity of the experience, the full memory of it afterwards, and
the many parallels between individual experiences reported by different people in widely scattered areas weigh heavily against
the possibility that these experiences are of hallucinatory origin.
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Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the return of the true self (or soul) after death to earthly existence
in another life. Belief in reincarnation is common throughout the world, particularly in Asian cultures. In the Far East,
reincarnation is widely accepted as a matter of fact because many Eastern religions have incorporated this concept into their
belief systems. In Tibet, the idea of reincarnation has also been a practical way of government.
Less well known are passages in the Bible that hint at the idea of reincarnation in Jewish
culture.
The concept of Karma holds that the object of existence is to achieve a certain level
of perfection and that the soul makes a fresh start from incarnation to incarnation until this is achieved; at this point,
no further return to a bodily existence is necessary.
According to the classic idea of reincarnation, memories of one lifetime are supposed
to be wiped out completely prior to the beginning of the next journey in the body. However, there seem to be a limited number
of cases in which the system simply doesn’t work as it should, and the result is a phenomenon called the reincarnation
memory. [ through recurrent dreams or hypnotic regression]
It appears that we all reincarnate, but the lengths between lives and the frequency of
return may vary.
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Dreams
Much psychic material comes to the surface in dreams. This is because it is easier for
such information to reach the mind when the mind is not otherwise occupied and is in a resting state.
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Automatic Writing
Automatic writing is another phenomenon in which an external source communicates through
a living person, but in this case using the written rather than the spoken word. The person attempting to serve as a channel
of communication for a discarnate entity holds a pen or pencil and allows it to be guided by that entity.
In addition to being guided, as it were, by an unseen hand, an automatic writer receives
information and impulses to write down sentences faster than he or she ordinarily would be able to do so. One of the earmarks
of genuine automatic writing is the tremendous speed with which dictation takes place.
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