Originally posted by margaretplain
I mean making us believe anything that satisfies our wishes. Fantastic Lucid Dreams, Life after death, being not alone, hope for the future. Or is it just Eye Candy for the soul. Does it Die when we Die. Call me a Pessimist.
Dear Margaret,

It is not as though the Subconscious Mind never says 'no' to a suggestion. Many Lucid Dreamers have discovered that the Subconscious Mind has a stubborn streak. Indeed, the schools of Psychology have only been able to generalize concerning the Subconscious Mind precisely because it is NOT all things to all people. It stays within certain patterns despite people's preconceptions. Just look at the hype and propaganda behind lucid dreaming, and then look at the actual results we find. We find that people are hitting some Wall of Reality even in regards to the Subconscious Mind.

Now, regarding that big question of life after death. The Catholic Church has been dealing with that issue quite practically. Few people know this, but a person cannot be declared a Saint unless it can be demonstrated that they have exercised some influence from beyond the grave. Recent Vatican decisions now require only a few miracles from those deceased people whose Political Profile warrant them becoming Saints. I rather regret some of these recent politically motivated canonizations. They are bound to make people cynnical regarding the entire process and institution. But, in the old days, the Church was very conservative about declaring people Saints and would hold off until it seem absolutely necessary -- that these Saints were appearing in Apparitional Form in front of numerous witnesses and performing their Miracles spectacularly. It is THESE cases that argue strongly for the survival of some beyond the grave.

The Ancient Greeks and most of the rest of the Ancient World truly thought that mortals were mortal, and that one would have to become par to a God to attain to life after death. This was what was meant by becoming a "Hero" -- that the Gods would be so impressed by the actions of a Mortal that they would be granted Immortality as a prize. But at a certain time in History it became popular to suppose that everyone was immortal -- some destined for reward and others for punishment. Actually, if I were God, I would go back to the Ancient system of rewarding the Heroic with Immortality, and just let the rest live out their lives and fall into the blackness and obvivia of Death. No need punishing anybody. Just have them cease to exist. The ultimate punishment for their selfishness is simply to take their self away.