thought you might enjoy A HIPPY FUNERAL
http://www.layoutlocator.com/videos/Plantem-Funeral__lu5mGu_gy3c.html

LONG LIVE THE PLANTUM
WHO SHOWED HOW WE PLANT-UM DEEP

Dear Banjo,

>>The mystic thinks he is looking at God, but it is simply an image produced by his own mind, his imagination.<<

Maybe so, I already admitted that not all mystics claim to be in contact with a personal God.

However again, a fairer formulation would have been “the mystic thinks … but I THINK it is simply …”.

As I said, I do not claim to have insider knowledge of mystical experiences, not even a theoretical (psychological) understanding. I simply respect what those who had such experience say about it in the heaps of literature available (there are also studies in psychology explaining the difference between mystical experience and hallucinations).

>>To employ your metaphor, he is looking at his own finger<<

I agree, although the original saying goes "when the finger points to the moon the fool looks at the finger". Where we probably disagree is whether it is possible that the finger points to something as against just being part of a clenched fist.

Of course you are entitled to call Sellick what you want. I just wanted to point out that he was not a Catholic monk.

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Dear George,
 
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You wrote :

[ >>The mystic thinks he is looking at God, but it is simply an image produced by his own mind, his imagination.<<

Maybe so, I already admitted that not all mystics claim to be in contact with a personal God. 

However again, a FAIRER formulation would have been “the mystic thinks … but I THINK it is simply …”. ]

Fairness, justice, is one of the rare principles I try to persuade myself I am willing to die for if need be. Love is another. Goodness knows if I should have the courage to do so, if ever the occasion should arise.

But in the context of our conversation on mysticism, the superior value, in my mind, is not fairness, but fact or reality. I do not seek to be fair but to correctly interpret reality, to state the facts as they are.

God is not a fact. Until he has been established as such he remains a simple hypothesis or a belief. Whereas an image is a fact, a reality of life. The whole animal kingdom, of which we are a species, all have images ,except, perhaps, for those of us who are blind from birth (that is something I ignore).

So, despite my natural inclination to be fair in all things, the facts simply cannot be denied.
 
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FUNERALS..SHOULD FIND WAYS..TO PREPARE/THE SOUL..for..realising new aspects of..FURTHER/LIFE-experience...FROM./LAWRENCE../OF\..ARABIAS/DEATH EXPERIENCES..
http://www.divinetruth.com/PDF/People/Other/Jane%20Sherwood%20-%20Post%20Mortem%20Journal.pdf
Now..I feel..the necessity to fit..all these..odd adventures..together..and to/attempt to make..a whole..[COMPLETNESS]..of them.

My earth-life..already feels...more than a lifetime away;..remote and unreal..and its..CLAUSTROPHOBIC..cramping..frustrating necessities..seems/just..a bad dream...Day/night..cold..heat, inescapable hunger/thirst..-..all these/have vanished.out of..my/existence.

Here..we still have./a material\..aspect..of life..but..it wears an easier/air;..THE..hard necessities..of/LIFE..and are relaxed..or non existent...But..with this change..another set of inexorable..POSSIBILITY..has come into view.

The world..which has/now..to be conquered..is the..interior world..[of the emotions..and..the..eternal/essences..of..spirit]. Before,..[materially]..one avoided..physical suffering..if possible and/or..endured it..with what/courage..remains..if/it..was inevitable.

Now,..suffering..is of..the soul..and..the spirit..and/cannot be avoided..if it..has been..incurred...It too has/to be..borne with fortitude..and in time...and with help/cured.[REMEDIED]...Just as on earth..one speedily learned..that..fire burned, hard things hurt and sharp things cut..and there/were..limits to human-strength..and prowess,,,[so here]...a whole..new set of rules..of conduc.. has to be mastered.

There is,.in fact,..a framework..of moral law/as rigid..as the framework of/physical law..for earth...On earth I think..it is beginning..to be suspected..that the rule of law..goes beyond the physical..but...there is no peradventure..about it for us;..it has become..a matter/of daily experience...One..had better know..and observe the..rules so as not..to get hurt.

Although law..is thus transposed..from a physical basis..to a moral one,..it still operates..in../physical ways...Emotions are a visible and..tangible reality..[forming a good..or bad/soul-body,..healthy or diseased..according to..one’s..emotive-mind state.

If one..is diseased..and repulsive..one cannot.hide/the fact..but must submit...TO/ITS KARMIC/remedial-treatment...as/our..Emotions, as well as..forming..the stuff of..our/soul-bodies,..can..also/be used..as..a very real..energetic-force...

[They can be sent/out..from the body..with almost lethal effect..[upon/other etherized flesh.]..and the..discharge of hatred,...anger or cruelty..can cause grievous injury..to the one..against whom it..is directed.

In fact,..there is no longer..any need to moralize..about such things;..they are no longer./in the realm of the/abstract,..but are open..and palpable offensives..[MORTAL-SINS]..for which..a penalty/must be paid

HERE..Society..is organized...on a basis of
emotional health;..the angry,..the sadistic,..the brutal
and..the jealous/GREED/SELFISH..each..have of necessity to foregather..in their own place,..because..the atmosphere they engender..cannot be borne...by others,..nor can they/themselves..bear the more..rarefied/etherized]..conditions..of the higher spheres.

the..Cure..of these disorders..comes gradually..and as..they are cured men..are able to..graduate..into better conditions..and are admitted..INto higher planes..of being...

It is..much/like...a caste system [if you like,]..but one based on..fundamental affinities..of mind/heart/soul/spirit..and never..a cast-iron system..from which there is no escape.

The path upward..is always open..and
there are..always..willing hands..to help/and..encourage any man who aspires...to tread it.

But just..as on earth..the soul begins to grow..and fills the being with strange..and unwonted desires,..so now the developing
spirit..forming within..this body of desire,..creates an unrest and a longing...for a yet further/ higher mode..of loving.

The shackles..of time/age/distance..even health/faithlessness..are..removed..it is true,..so that..the period we need..for..higher spiritual..[celestial]..growth..can be long or short.[WE/HAVE..ETERNITY]..

This phase..of living..is not bounded by any
‘three score years and ten’,..nor does..a decaying physique..put a period..to limited/development..as so often..it does on earth...

My..time/here..is my own..and I can have..as much of it..as I need;..is...another example of the relaxation..of tension..and the easing..of..earthy/pre-..conditions...

Dear Banjo,

>> God is not a fact.<<

I agree if by fact you mean something accepted as such by (practically) everybody. Neither is it a fact that there is nothing beyond what natural science can have access to, call it God or what.

One question is whether such a supernatural dimension of reality exists, another whether the particular mystic had a contact with it as he claimed. Of course, for those who ASSUME (believe) that such a dimension of reality does not exist, it indeed must be a fact that no such contact could have taken place, that the mystic’s claim must have a scientific explanation (e.g. “an image produced by his own mind, his imagination”).

I do not believe that those who claim mystical experience must have had a contact beyond the physical and mental, nevertheless I would not make a sweeping statement about my disbelief because I think human consciousness is still not very well understood by science, not to mention its metaphysical meaning or aspects (if any).