Hi again, Native Son- First I must thank you for such a respectful reply. I do not always get this, here and there, over the internet.
I will say that the a brain co-operates with the Consciousness/Self/'I' in piloting the body, but not as if "willingly" since the brain is inanimate but for the 'self'. To suggest some of where I am coming from in all of this, I think a fetus is enabled to proceed in its becoming a human because it is enhanced by self/consciousness/soul as it evolves physiologically. It is fostered and facilitated, I theorize, by That which is its reason for being, for enabling " manifestation" of humanity here amid the (a) material domain.
Sharon's video youtube can be seen and heard here ( one of them, that is) :
Part of what enables me to appreciate and believe the authenticity of Sharon's various accounts ( I have spent hours on the phone with her, as well- we are thousands of miles and an international border removed, physically speaking) ) is my own experience in 1971. It also is the event by which Sharon wrote to me, to ask about, and which began our online relationship. If I succeed in this next part of clarification it will perhaps be the first time I have done so, but I want to make it clear that while nearly every instance of a "Jesus" reference is due to biblical, churches and books and Christianity and t.v. preachers, my own references to Jesus/Jeshua are not determined by these faulty allusions. The 'Only-Son-of-God-Jesus' is
not who I mean to be referring to! I saw the
actual Jesus in Toronto, briefly, in 1971. Sharon read of this and contacted me to hear more about it, since she is quite familiar with the real Jesus. Sharon is quite church-influenced but the real Jesus , who is not towing the church line, loves all of us and not just those who already know all about his true self and actual allocation amid creation.
I do not quibble with Sharon's accounts but her tendency to idealize God as King, and Jesus as King are
NOT my own current and growing awareness. My brief and visually and emotionally known visit from Jesus/Jeshua preceded a Oneness experience that same night which enables me, as suggested, to relate to, and with, numerous metaphysical accounts and ideologies I have encountered.
You asked: "Have you
, yourself, ever left your body in the same way you say your friend Sharon does hers? And if you have not, on what premise are you accepting the claim that her awareness does not cease at all when outside of the body?" I have had to write the above stuff in response to this. In the link to Sharon's video, she is hit by lightning on her back porch. She ultimately winds up in a Heavenly environment. He awareness does not cease. The lightning strike shut down electricity in the local neighborhood for hours. It left char marks on the patio. She remembers rising out of her body, seeing her "dead" brothers, speaking with God, feeling incredible encompassing Love etc. It's what she experienced. ( Shall I question her testimony, or my own ability to "hear" of it?) In my own experience, much less elaborate, though most consciousness-altering and amazing, I experienced the ineffable Self. I was not dead, though minutes before I lay whimpering on a bed, weeping and in dread about my supposed mortality and imperfections as a human. Somehow my seeing Jesus put me in touch with my deepest subconscious fears, and after that, my tears. And after that, I began "seeing" God, Self, Atman. I know and have experienced Life,
inclusive of me, that depends not whatsoever on a body. That awareness was inherent to the experience, as was its inherent eternality, sublimity, holiness, freedom, lovingness, joy and peacefulness. Yes, "I" was standing with opened eyes, but what I saw was the true and real 'I" which was, as well, the All "I". And I know
we are not bodies. My point, in part, is that leaving my body has nothing to so with anything. I experienced a freedom and awareness that has nothing to do with any body! I did not have to "die" to experience Heaven in its formless capacity. It was a monumental blessing to me to have that experience and I no longer entertain suicide as a possible means of escape from life. I know we cannot "die". I think that Polaris8 gives a very good summary of stuff that happens. " I approve of this message." : ) (within the limits of my own understanding). Much of what he states also appears in "Home with God" by Neale Walsch, and God. I see little point, actually, in gaining confidence in the non-physical without also allowing for the being Self-Source. I see no point in anything without God, Cause, "Knowing, Knower, Known as One". (Paramahansa Yogananda) "...on what premise are you accepting the claim that her awareness does not cease at all when outside of the body?" On what premise, I may ask of you, are you accepting the claim that to think you are "in" a body is true? I highly recommend " Jesus My Autobiography", published in 2015. In spite of its seeming unlikelihood, it is an authoritative first person account of this teacher's life, inclusive of his awareness of spirit vs matter, love, etc.