My very mild and kind father-in-law was an atheist. He believed death was the end, period.

Yet, after his death, he came to me in a picture vision, where I saw him overlooking small hills of green grace, with his wife on one of these hills, who was waiting for him to call her up to be with him--which he refused to do (as she had not been very kind to him during their marriage). For instance, she would say to him, in a de-meaning way, "Oh, Sherwood!". He also told me that he was very happy.

The reason I am writing this now, is because my son and daughter-in-law have driven up to see my sister-in-law, who is the daughter of this kind man.

True Atheist only dream of pies, myriads of pies, some with ice cream!

Besides, you admit that it was YOUR dream!

Yeah but what kind of pies ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2020 05:08PM by Dave the Atheist.

I think you can be both an atheist and believe in an afterlife. IMO the afterlife either exists or it doesn't, and if it exists it doesn't matter if we believe in it or not. If it exists, it's where you go when you close out your earthly chapter.

After my mother's death, she visited me in dreams a number of times. Once I saw her and my dad walking together in a lovely garden. They both looked as they had in their 30s. Other times we've just chatted as we might in everyday life. Once she told me something about my future -- where I'd be living in my 80s. It will be interesting to see if that comes true (I can imagine one possible scenario for that happening.) I had to laugh about it when I woke up, because it would be very much like her to assure herself that I would be okay and live a long life.

There are more stories, but that gives the gist of it.

Polly, your dream about your parents has a feeling of humor to it. I think that in the afterlife, you hang out with whomever you wish to hang out with.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think you can be both an atheist and believe in
> an afterlife. IMO the afterlife either exists or
> it doesn't, and if it exists it doesn't matter if
> we believe in it or not. If it exists, it's where
> you go when you close out your earthly chapter.

You can be. There is no conflict since atheism just touches on how many gods you believe in that exist.


> After my mother's death, she visited me in dreams
> a number of times. Once I saw her and my dad
> walking together in a lovely garden. They both
> looked as they had in their 30s. Other times we've
> just chatted as we might in everyday life. Once
> she told me something about my future -- where I'd
> be living in my 80s. It will be interesting to see
> if that comes true (I can imagine one possible
> scenario for that happening.) I had to laugh about
> it when I woke up, because it would be very much
> like her to assure herself that I would be okay
> and live a long life.
>
> There are more stories, but that gives the gist of
> it.
>
> Polly, your dream about your parents has a feeling
> of humor to it. I think that in the afterlife, you
> hang out with whomever you wish to hang out with.


I believe that you were thinking about your parents a lot. It is normal that the things you think about appear in your dreams at certain times.
Car mechanics sometimes dream about fixing cars.
Dentists sometimes dream about fixing teeth.
Lab workers sometimes think about glassware and chemicals.

~~~~iceman9090

Yes, that's possible. I happen to believe in the afterlife, so for me, that was a visit.

I would love to share some of your stories on my website...what do you think? Cheers! Janet https://inthewhisperofthewinds.com/

I have had both vision and hearing experiences with relatives that have passed.

I am a 'believer' in the after life.

Based on my experiences, Michael Newtons books, some sold over 200,000 copies are pretty accurate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2020 06:07PM by spiritist.

tell us why you put the word believer in quote marks.

Just to bug you and for emphasis.

My DW worked geriatrics. She stayed with her patients until they died. For future reference, here’s how you know it’s time to go. First of all you hear music. Then two of your dead relatives come to accompany you.

About a half hour before my mom died, she had a waking dream where she saw an airplane with one of my dad's friends standing by it. I heard her chatting with this friend. I like to think that my dad was inside the plane, waiting to fly her away. She didn't mention any music, though!

Also, in the two weeks before she died, she reported seeing her deceased siblings in her dreams.

My father commented on seeing his brothers and Mom before he died.

Note the word "before."

bradley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My DW worked geriatrics. She stayed with her
> patients until they died. For future reference,
> here’s how you know it’s time to go. First of
> all you hear music. Then two of your dead
> relatives come to accompany you.

I was primary caregiver to my aunt, who was dying of pancreatic cancer. One night very late (midnight or so), during the time when she was entering into her last stage, her voice returned almost to normal, and she began talking to Nannan (her mother; my maternal grandmother--who had been dead for some years by that point).

She could clearly see Nannan somewhere near the foot of her bed, and she was answering questions (the only answer I remember was "pretty punk," meaning how she was feeling at that moment, although she did talk briefly about a definitely NOT-in-any-way-"humorous" family situation which had occurred a day or so earlier, with a kind of shoulder shrugging, "what are you going to do?" attitude). There was some additional family information conveyed from my aunt to her mother, and then my aunt seamlessly entered her final death process. She died a few hours later.

I was sitting there, right by my aunt's side, listening to every word my aunt said, as this was going on and I do believe that, in some way, my Nannan WAS there, and my aunt WAS conversationally talking back-and-forth with her.

I knew both of them very well, and I believe that conversation actually occurred.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2020 04:50PM by Tevai.

Dreams of living people who die in the dream do not kill the living person. Dreams of seeing dead people do not bring them back to life.

Dreams pretty much by definition are mental images of events that didn't actually happen. It's a skill we all have, and even other animals appear to have. I see no reason to think that certain types of dreams are events that actually did happen, even if the rest of dreams are fictional.

You must have faith, brother.

Ironically, hallucinations are real?

My new name is Elias and when it's time to go I expect nothing less than a Chariot of Fire.

Done & Done Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ironically, hallucinations are real?

I don't think so but that is only my opinion.
How do people decide what is real and what isn't?
A lot of people claim that Jesus or some other dead person appeared to them in a vision.
I assume by vision, they mean that at 11 PM, he went to sleep and had a dream. I do that all the time.
There are a lot of people who think about Jesus all the time. They even know what he looks like because they see pictures of Jesus in church and elsewhere.

I have a family member who had visions of Jesus and Mary all the time. They said to him that the end of the world was coming in 2 or 3 years. He said that to me in 2011. 2014 came and went and we are still here.
Back then, he would wake up screaming.

Some people hide under the protectful wings of "let's keep an open mind".

I go with the "where is the evidence? Where is the strong evidence?"
With the billions of people on this planet dreaming all the time, can't any of these people from the other side give us some valuable information about the future, mathematics, physics, medicine?

~~~~iceman9090

Your final two sentences are contradictory.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your final two sentences are contradictory.

How so?
If a guy is simply dreaming, then the characters in his dreams are just imagines generated by the mind of the person. The characters will not know more than the dreamers.
If the characters are truly separate entities, then they will have additional information.
Useful information about our reality would serve as a form of evidence.

~~~~iceman9090

You presume that the characters in dreams are "truly separate entities," a proposition for which you have no evidence.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2020 11:37PM by Lot's Wife.

Not only have a lot of people claimed to see Jesus, a few have claimed to *be* Jesus.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Christs_of_Ypsilanti

In Mormonism, there is an entertaining variation where various megalomaniacs are convinced they are the "One Mighty and Strong". That particular delusion tends not to end well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Mighty_and_Strong


Similarly, lots of people have dreams where they can fly or levitate. Some people are convinced they actually *can* levitate. However, even with literally billions of cell phone cameras in the world now, there is a real dearth of videos of people levitating, though there are no doubt some tik tok stop action videos...

Iceman, Hallucintations are real otherwise we wouldn't have a word for them.


My point of my attempt at humorous that the hallucination is real even if what is being hallucinated is not. Ironic.

Like a dream is real to the dreamer because they are really truly dreaming. Like me flying in my dreams sometimes. I'm not really flying but my dream is still a dream and dreams are real things.

Or maybe the flying was real. Like the hallucination. You never know.

An idea is real even if you don't act on it.

iceman9090 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> I go with the "where is the evidence? Where is the
> strong evidence?"
> With the billions of people on this planet
> dreaming all the time, can't any of these people
> from the other side give us some valuable
> information about the future, mathematics,
> physics, medicine?
>
> ~~~~iceman909
_____________________________________________________________
They can and they have!!!

Personally, I have been given wining numbers to get 'training' and monetary rewards, I have been given test questions to get better grades and be recognized professionally. I have been given significant insights in my work when I was about to give up. I have been given specific warnings and actually verified the accuracy by thinking forewarned was sufficient and by clearly seeing the danger after being warned by a 'voice'. I have been given peace and personal information/suggestions from dreams/visions.

I talked today with another 'experiencer' that won $3k by being shown in vision the slot machine he should play when he got to Mesquite. Other times he was helped at craps and won thousands --- not to make him rich as he needed the money at the time. Now he is 'rich' by the way, but he got 'clear' help when he was struggling financially. I believe he was helped after also but more subtly.

I don't concentrate on proving things but clearly remember song writers, musicians, inventors (Tesla, others) claim they got a lot of 'inspiration that directly impacted' their creations in dreams. I wish I had names with this stuff but that is not what I concentrate on --- you will have to do some research if you want.

I am an atheist and I have seen visions, but exclusively after voluntarily ingesting certain plants/fungi/chemical compounds.

Soft Machine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am an atheist and I have seen visions, but
> exclusively after voluntarily ingesting certain
> plants/fungi/chemical compounds.

Sorry, due to Mormonism and it's influencing behavior and of course the terrible record Joseph Smith owned, it almost sounds as if maybe possibly acting stupidly like him may have had some special appeal?

https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/visions-mushrooms-fungi-cacti-and-toads-joseph-smiths-reported-use-of-entheogens/

Didn't Joseph Smith's dad play with drugs too?

Romantic Love

Don't get me wrong! Love is real!!

But the delusion of romantic love, and its supposed power, that's totally a delusion/an illusion.



Maybe 'Fate' is also an illusion; but I suppose that if the Bell-Shaped Curve exists, one of its manifestations could be 'fate'.

Posted by: elderolddog ( )
Date: November 15, 2020 03:41PM
Re: OT: Atheism and visions new

"True Atheist only dream of pies, myriads of pies, some with ice cream!

Besides, you admit that it was YOUR dream!"
---

Did they throw the pies at other peoples faces, like in an old-time movie I saw?

you had a dream. Neat.