Whatever you may believe about reincarnation, near death experiences, or NDEs, are incredibly well documented. Clint Eastwood’s film The Hereafter covers some of this territory –

The hereafter, Casino Jack and vengeance
via Roger Ebert’s Journal by Roger Ebert

Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter considers the possibility of an afterlife with tenderness, beauty and a gentle tact. I was surprised how enthralling I found it. I don’t believe in woo-woo, but there’s no woo-woo anywhere to be seen.

It doesn’t even properly suppose an afterlife, but only the possibility of consciousness after apparent death. This is plausible. Many near-death survivors report the same memories, of the white light, the waiting figures and a feeling of peace.

The subject lends itself to sensationalizing and psychic baloney. Eastwood has made a film for sensitive, intelligent people who are naturally curious about what happens when the shutters close. He tells three primary stories. Their three central characters meet at the end, but please don’t leap to conclusions. This is not one of those package endings where all the threads come together in a Coincidence that makes everything clear. They meet in a perfectly explicable and possible way, they behave as we feel they might, and everything isn’t tied up neatly. Instead, possibilities are left open in this world, which is as it should be, because we must live the lives we know and not count on there being anything beyond the horizon…

For the complete article, click here to go to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Beyond the obvious legal and moral and cultural controversies regarding a certain lab created synthetic microbe called Synthia, the success of such a man-made life form evokes fascinating spiritual questions. The DNA in this tiny creature was hand stitched in its entirety from scientist-created bits. What will happen when our human DNA is eventually re-created molecule by molecule in the lab, resulting in a complete living and breathing person?  This would not be a clone per say, but a completely synthetic human being. Beyond cyborg, as cyborgs contain mechanical or robotic parts along with the biological, and even far beyond babies created from eggs or sperm grown from stem cells. The DNA of these beings would have never, at any point, been human.

Synthetic human blood is already a reality.

Will scientists be able to resist such a Frankensteinian act of creation? Will cultural morality and global law bind them? Will we as humans be able to reach a level of moral maturity that can manage the ethical, spiritual, and cultural subtleties of such a “being” walking in our midst?

Without direct proof, it has proven difficult for many of us to accept even the possibility that we humans have souls: would be able to conceive of these synthetic humans as entities that contain souls of their own?

…And, if they are bearing souls, would these people enter into the cycle of death and rebirth with us, and if so, will they then actually become us?

It’s hard to resist reporting on the UFO scene once in a while. So, here you go, from Huff Post – a really, REALLY great preview of a new book on the subject…

UFOs ‘On The Record’: Generals, Pilots And Government Officials Talk About What They Know

The subject of UFOs — of intense interest to the general public — is no longer something that reputable journalists will feel they need to avoid or dismiss as silly. Popular culture has distorted the facts about this compelling mystery, and a new book sets the record straight. “UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record” (Harmony Books / The Crown Publishing Group) by journalist Leslie Kean pulls back the curtain on the incredible occurrences of unexplained behavior by unknown objects over many decades.

“UFOs” includes a foreword by John Podesta and riveting, first-person accounts written by over a dozen military and aviation witnesses and official investigators from around the world. Contributors include a former governor of Arizona, the former head of the FAA’s Accidents and Investigations Division, military generals from five countries, a retired senior research scientist from NASA, Air Force and commercial pilots, and government officials from agencies investigating UFOs in their respective countries.

For the complete article and to view a series of incredible photos, click here.