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Home
Excerpts
Books
About
Reviews
Influences
Extras
More
  • Home
  • Excerpts
  • Books
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Influences
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  • Home
  • Excerpts
  • Books
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Excerpts

Please scroll down to to see excerpts from the following sections:


1. One Great Whole:

Disembodied Consciousness

The Human Energy Field


2. The Spirit of God:

Faith and Action

Light and Purity


3. The Parable of the Seed:

Intro Pages


4. A Testimony of Christ:

Another Testament..


5. On Dreams..

An Inwardly Visual Experience


6. Chess in the Desert:

Introduction

A Heavenly Light


From 'One Great Whole'- Disembodied Consciousness

 Scientists call [the] verifiable aspects of the NDE “veridical  perceptions”, perceptions of specific and unique events that  can be verified as true or false. Veridical perceptions are often  accurate depictions of events that the NDE experiencer’s  (NDEr’s) physical body could not have seen or heard and  that the NDEr could not have figured out through logic  or reasoning skills. The veridical perceptions normally  happen in stages of the NDE where the subjects experience  themselves in surroundings considered part of the “natural”  world. Moody reports a case in which a woman left her body  during surgery, traveled to the waiting room, and saw that  her daughter was wearing mismatched plaid clothes. While  the mother did not see her daughter that day physically, she  later mentioned this to her maid, who was astonished to hear  how she knew this fact and explained that she had dressed  the woman’s daughter so hastily that she had not noticed the  mistake. 

From 'One Great Whole'- The Human Energy Field

 Some of the most notable research on the Human Energy Field has been performed by Valerie Hunt, a professor of  kinesiology at UCLA: “she discovered that a device used  to measure the electrical activity in the muscles called an  electromyograph (EMG) can measure the electrical presence  of the HEF: Hunt used the electromyograph first to test the  frequency of the brain, heart, and other muscles and areas  of the body. In addition to these, Hunt discovered that the  electromyograph could pick up another field of energy radiating  from the body, much subtler and smaller in amplitude than the  traditionally recognized body electricities, but with frequencies  that averaged between 100 and 1600 cps, and sometimes even  higher.” [4] These frequencies were much higher than those of  the brain, which averaged between 0-30 cps, and the muscles,  which averaged 225 cps. The HEF demonstrated the capacity  to vibrate at  a much faster speed than the physical body. [5] 

From 'The Spirit of God'- Faith and Action

 As faith moves a person to action  in the absence of proof, some argue that faith-based  ideologies can be dangerous since they cause a person to act without the certainty that the principles he is operating  from are in fact correct. Yet all human action possesses  some degree of uncertainty. Outcomes and responses to a  person’s actions are rarely, if ever, absolutely predictable or determined. Human beings do not act with full and  perfect knowledge of every event that will arise after the  words they speak or the actions they make. Every attempted  communication requires a person to have the faith that his  intended meaning will be conveyed. Every movement is  enacted by the faith that its course will find completion.  As no course of events or human response is entirely  determined, no matter how likely, faith is ever-present  in human action: faith in a person’s abilities, faith in his  decisions, faith in others, faith in the processes of day to  day life. The scriptural declaration that “without faith you  can do nothing” (D&C 11:1) is a universal law that applies to every  deliberate or non-instinctual action, in every instance.  

From 'The Spirit of God'- Light and Purity (Full Section)

 Just as climbers scaling the top of Everest need to  know what temperatures and air conditions they will  face as they make their ascent, knowledge of the nature  of a person’s spiritual destination lets her know what  preparations will be required in order for the journey to  be successful.  


The evidence of the pre-mortal existence of the soul [1], coupled with the emotional innocence of children  testifies of a spiritual plane from which souls came that is  pure beyond description. NDEs give additional support to  this premise. In nearly every NDE described as pleasurable  that has a period where the subject goes beyond the natural  realm, there is a description of an incredible light that  encompasses everything. This light not only illuminates  the external surroundings, but pierces through the soul, making every aspect of one’s heart and mind open and  visible before all others present. [2] One effect of being in  such a place of authenticity is that people see themselves  as they really are, even beyond their own self-image, or  rationalizations of their behavior. There is no possibility of  making oneself different in one’s mind; every unconscious  motivation is manifest. The experience is described as  complete nakedness, all of one’s life actions, thoughts,  and desires opened, with every detail exposed in the light.  Every thought or intention is instantly manifest before all  others. It is impossible in this place to lie, to conceal one’s  feelings, or to even entertain a private thought:  


“Whatever anyone thought, however fleeting or  unwillingly, was instantly apparent to all around him,  more completely than words could have expressed it, faster  than sound waves could have carried it...What was it going  to be like, I thought with a sudden panic, to live forever  where my most private thoughts were not private at all? No  disguising them, no covering them up, no way to pretend  I was anything but what I actually was.”[3] In Return From  Tomorrow, George Ritchie notes what an uncomfortable  experience it would be to live in such a state of openness  before all if one’s thoughts and intentions were prideful,  angry, or full of judgment or resentment towards others.  “How unbearable. Unless of course everyone around me  had the same kind of thoughts.” [4] This casual observation  points to the difficulty of living in a place of such purity and  authenticity if one is not prepared to do so. He explains  understanding that living in this state of authenticity  before others in a realm of purity, with any embarrassment of one’s deepest self, would be much more uncomfortable  than living with others who had similar aspects of character  that they were not comfortable exposing, whether pride, or  lust, or hate, or bitterness, or deceit. While those who have  had such experiences do not claim to be in the presence  of God, those who returned from these experiences often  testify of “purity” as an energetic reality and explained  feeling uncomfortable to be near such purity while filled  with any degree of impurity of heart or intention.  


For this reason, nearly all scriptural texts exhort each  and every soul to purify their hearts and intentions,  understanding that “God is a discerner of the thoughts  and intents of the heart.”[5] In the course of the ‘Life  Review’, Ritchie is asked what he has done with his life and  searches for an accomplishment that would be of spiritual  worth: “I started to point out my pre-med courses, how  I was going to be a doctor and help people. But visible  alongside the classroom scenes was that Cadillac car and  that private airplane – thoughts as observable as actions in  that all pervading Light.” [6] Where the action of going to  Medical School may have seemed an admirable thing on  it’s own, this account demonstrates that beyond this life,  the intentions behind action are as important as the actions  themselves, and visible to others. Scriptures and NDEs set the standard of  human worth far beyond achievements, and beyond how  a person’s actions may appear on the surface to others;  spiritual worth is placed on the love and kindness shown  to other souls, and the state of one’s heart and intentions.  


There is a massive gap between objects and qualities  emphasized to be of worth in practical life, and the spiritual qualities given importance in these types of Near Death examples. The gap between these two different  value structures, those of the immediate world in contrast  to those of the world to come, works to create the slope  of this mountain. It is this gap which makes it an uphill  climb to pursue things of spiritual worth while in a place  which ignores them, or at times encourages one to hold  values in conflict with things of spiritual worth. As with an  actual mountain, it requires more effort to progress up a  steep pitch then to take a leisurely walk through a gentle  valley or downhill slope. Since it is more difficult to go  uphill, unless the climber sees value in the objective of  summating the mountain and therefore willing to do what  is required (however more difficult to keep moving higher  in elevation), any climber will certainly take what appears  to be the easier path. 


(See PDFs for the References which correspond to those marked here.)

The Parable of the Seed

A picture book for all ages giving a story of a seed growing into a tree, as an analogy of spiritual progression toward  divine potential.. Illustrated by the incredibly talented Luis Peres!

From 'A Testimony of Christ'- Another Testament..

 During his ministry among the Jews, Jesus told them that there were “other sheep” who would hear his voice:  “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” [2] After his  Resurrection, when Jesus sent the Apostles to preach to the Gentiles, many assumed that they were the other sheep to whom he was referring. But as Jesus said these  sheep would “hear my voice”, and the Gentile nations did  not ever hear his voice literally as did the those he walked  among during his ministry, question of the identity of  these other sheep remains unanswered in the Bible. Yet the existence of a 531 page record stating itself to be a temporal and spiritual history of “a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his  brethren into many pieces” or Joseph of Israel’s descendants, solves the  mystery of the identity of the “other  sheep”; its existence as another testament of Jesus Christ, according to  the promise of two or three witnesses, helps to establish the truthfulness of  important spiritual premises, none  more important than correctly  recognizing the redeemer of all  humankind.


 The record includes account of  the resurrected Jesus specifically appearing to a people whom he identifies as a “remnant of the house  of Joseph” [4], a branch of the tribes of Israel, and then declaring: “verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold;  them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;  and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.  And they  understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice— that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost. But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are  my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the  father hath given me.” [5]


(Revised edition coming later in 2026)

From On Dreams - An Inwardly Visual Experience

  …Don't I know my own associations for words, or wouldn't I at least recognize them if l saw them? Don't I know that for the word "Mountain", I think of trees, and this picture of Everest, and cold, and perhaps a city I have lived in near mountains? But I associate cold with many things, and many memories, as well as Littleton, Colorado. When I see Littleton in a dream, I don't realize that it was my dream's pick to signify "mountain". Just show me a mountain! But when I see a mountain in a dream, how do I know whether I am to take it for a mountain, or if it is intended to be an association of some other word, such a "climbing" or "difficulty"? Herein lies the problem: mental contents are many times representational things. Sometimes they are used as an association of a sign, and sometimes they just are the things they are. In a dream it seems I have lost objectivity in being able to tell which they are. 


Perhaps I need go no further. Wittgenstein's objection to the content of dreams being considered as signs is that though one may determine a use of a symbol and translate this into speech, the opposite of this is not possible. I can say now, that not only can I not translate my speech into the symbols of a dream, but I could not have any objectivity either, in determining what part of the content of a dream are symbols to start with. It is not only that I cannot determine a use, I cannot determine a sign! This looks to be the more technical clarification of Wittgenstein's objection to dream language on the grounds that it fails the test of two-way translation. 


But I am not yet ready to concede this inquiry to an impossibility of determining meaning in dreams just yet. It is true that deriving determinations of the use of the represented contents that I believe to be associated with meanings is going to be quite difficult as perhaps I have associated many contents with one meaning or use, and a particular content for many different meanings or uses. But is it impossible in all cases, or so subjective of an endeavor that it is futile to even try??


Examples of dream content that seem persuasive that meaning about the particular life of the dreaming individual is being transmitted in a comprehensible form or with a determinable link between expression or content and particular use, are the following two examples regarding physical ailments: A case of a man that had dreams of a rat gnawing at his stomach just before being diagnosed with an ulcer and of a woman who dreamt of the shattering of a contact lens just before the shattering of one of the disks in her vertebrae is noted by an MD, PhD, Mona Lisa Schulz in her analysis of body phenomena reflected in unconscious mental process. (Schultz pg.48, 53) 


Now these people could listen to Wittgenstein or me and say to themselves, "well, it looks as if the border between the associative content I carry for a word, and the words themselves, has dissolved in my dream, so it is no use to pay any attention to these useless dream manifestations." But should years go down the road and either of these two individuals begin to have dreams where these same contents of the contact lens or the rat are used in similar ways, it would be wise for them to go and see a doctor. Or if the application of a symbol seems to resemble either instance e.g. the man begins to dream of little black specs filling his lungs, he would benefit from checking to see if he has developed lung cancer. 


The problem that has almost ended this inquiry has simply been that objectivity seems to be lost in the dream in terms of designating a sign from the wreckage. But was not custom distinguished as the prerequisite of objectivity. How can this be hoped to be found in examining a single dream? Examining dreams when taken in a series, however, provides additional context to distinguish content and their possible use as signs connected with meaning in a type of language in dreams. 

From 'Chess in the Desert' - A Heavenly Light

In Spring 2007, while I was in the very early stages of writing 'One Great Whole', before I had any idea what I would call the progression of evidences for God, the afterlife and immortality of the soul, and many other spiritual truths, I had a very memorable and powerful spiritual experience. I would go into the study, which was the center room of the house and just write solid as long as I could. On one evening, I got into a flow and wrote a lot on a lot of different sections, but came to having trouble with organization, and the structure and layout of the book. This eventually brought my writing to a stop, as I wasn't sure of the order of the sections or how they would connect and progress. 


While struggling, I might’ve said a few quick prayers that my writing could be guided by the Holy Ghost, to be the best that it could be. And then soon, at some point later into the night, I suddenly saw the area behind the computer against the wall illuminate into a beautiful iridescent light and saw a vision of the layout of the book, written out with the chapter headings and titles in a special font, as if I was seeing the organization of the book as it would have been conceived in heaven, or as an inspired layout would look. I felt seized upon in my heart and felt a very real and beautiful possibility of the book’s potential. 


As I had been writing late at night and gotten very tired, this intense vision and feeling also brought my mind sharply into focus and alertness, and quickened my spirit or gave me the energy to continue. I only was able to glean a little from the headings and the structure I saw. I didn’t remember everything, but just enough to get through my wall with the organization and get into a great flow and progress again with the writing.


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