.
This theory -- that we are some other/higher beings' science experience -- makes a lot of sense to me. And I think would make sense under Aaron's theory as well. If the creative force enjoys creating an unlimited array of "creatures" in all shapes/sizes and at all levels of consciousness, why not higher level beings who want to create/modify and then observe/experiment with lower level beings? Aren't we (our scientists) engaged in all sorts of cloning/genetic modifications using bacteria/plants/animals? And if we, as humans, can already use nanotechnology and such to spy on almost every aspect of a human's life without the human being even being aware of such surveillance, I can only imagine what would be possible for higher level beings to do in order to observe and experiment/toy with us.
So perhaps we ARE living in some vast Truman Show! It certainly addresses a lot of the data points in Laird's article -- and is basically the theory of Westworld.
(....)
Totally in agreement with you on this. Simply accepting the positive NDE experience without trying to understand why it would be so contrary to our experience here is not unlike religious believers who simply take things on "faith" and brush away anything that goes against their belief system by saying that we are simply too small to understand the greater logic, etc... It's very unsatisfying.
So, what do you think about Aaron's theory?
Unfortunately I do not have the time to reply in detail so just some quick thoughts for the moment. (I don't have the time to think this through properly so they are preliminary thoughts and I may have to "correct myself" somewhat in future posts.)
In a nutshell, while Aaron's theory seems fairly plausible overall, I think it does not sufficiently explain the emergence of...well, people like us! :) I mean, why would we (and there have been millions if not billions of people like us throughout the ages) feel ill at ease with this 'experience for experience's sake" approach? Basically, as I was implying with my questions #4, no matter how much these NDErs purport that 'we are all One' there seems to be a clear separation between "us" (as individuals) and this impersonal, amoral force which somehow experiences things through us. It's as if we have become so detached from it that we do not instinctively share its approach to existence. How come?
This would seem to be possible only if in fact we were not just mere 'tentacles' of this one being (to use a metaphor), sharing 100% its its will-to-experience as existential motivation, but rather separate creatures which however "IT" can partly (largely?) control - the nearest analogy I can think of is AI, you know, the classic sci-fi trope of robots rebelling against human beings:we would be flesh and blood robots created and controlled directly by "The One/The Source", or by higher level beings who share the "Source"'s motivations far more than us and wanted to do the same thing the Source is doing on a kind of Universal scale, but on a smaller scale, ie, our Planet. Incidentally, I have always wondered how come there seems to so little life in the Universe, despite its vastness - I mean, our planet truly seems to me to be the product of a one-off experiment somehow. All this huge (infinite?) empty space, just rocks and stars and then this planet teeming with gazillions of life forms. I don't know, it just seems incongruous! A tiny pocket of "living organic matter" in a vast and seemingly inanimate universe....Maybe there are loads of entities out there that we can't however see and perceive with our senses....Have you seen the movie "Contact"?
And yes, of course the idea whereby we could be the creatures of imperfect higher level beings, rather than the direct expressions of this "Universal Energy/Source" fits the Gnostic myth of "the God-Above-God"(NB: all this is METAPHOR, not to be taken literally). In fact the God-Above-God always meant very little to me in terms of hope, because if it was truly morally better than the Demiurge (who is a higher level being than us in the myth) it would have already "liberated" us, and moreover it would not have been possible for it to emanate such a flawed "higher level creator being" (Demiurge) in the first place. The God-Above-God always seemed to me to be an indifferent/amoral 'Ground of Being', from which anything "emanates" - a bit like Aaron's infinite energy. It emanates both good and beautiful things (as well as good spiritual/discarnate entities?), and utterly heinous ones - and everything in between.
So it is fair to speculate (yay! An optimistic thought for once! :)) that, if there is indeed a spiritual dimension inhabited by higher level beings of various description, just as some people (like us) object to the way things are, there may be spiritual entities who see things like us and who may decide to help us work toward our liberation (OK, let me have a dream, hehe!)
Of course there are loads of teachings/spiritual practices focusing precisely on this, ie on NOT coming back to this material world (which personally I would be happy to leave to those who enjoy the thrill of a ride in this splatter-themed amusement park called Planet Earth!).
I am sure you and most other people around here will be fairly familiar with this, for example:
https://www.near-death.com/religion/buddhism/tibetan-book-of-the-dead.html
And of course the Ancient Egyptians also invested a lot of energy in 'getting to a better place' after this life.
(I am obviously not saying that the above is a truthful or accurate map of what happens after death, but it is certainly evidence that there have always been people who have aspired NOT to come back here and to go to a better place instead. After all, most religions are precisely about managing to go to a better place after death, so it seems a bit bizarre that there are allegedly so many "people" in this energy realm Aaron describes who appear so eager to come back here over and over again.....)
Will read Aaron's report as soon as I can - would you be so kind as to post the link again? Thank you so much dear AryaS! It's really great to have you here - before you came along this type of logical discussion about NDEs and their metaphysical implications would never have happened!