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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 

Preface........... 9

Introduction........... 14

Chapter Summaries........... 19

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PART I,  Beliefs and Secularity........... 23

1   A Roll of the Dice........... 25

2.   The Secular Avalanche........... 35

2.1   NDEs........... 37

Anita Moorjani.......... 38

Mary Neal.......... 46

Other NDE Cases........... 47

Omni Vision for the Blind............ 50

Summary of NDE Findings........... 56

Prospective NDE Research........... 59

Criticism of NDE Research........... 60

2.2   Spontaneous Recollection of Past Lives........... 62

James 3............ 64

Other Past Life Cases........... 66

2.3.   Subconscious Recollection of Past Lives........... 69

Santorini 1863 B.C........... 69

Sadness Clouds the Eyes........... 70

Evidence Based?........... 71

2.4   Conscious Access to Nonlocal Existences........... 72

2.5.  Non-Physical Individual Differentiation........... 76

2.6.   A Foundation for Secularity........... 77

3.   Beliefs........... 81

3.1.   Beliefs........... 81

Adoption and Internalization........... 85

Capitulation........... 86

The Flip............ 89

A Belief in Superiority........... 90

Belief Sublimation........... 92

Faith and Trust.......... 93

3.2.   Blanket Beliefs........... 94

3.3.   Selective Beliefs........... 96

3.4.   Inspirational Motivation........... 98

Demeaning the Starting Point ..........102

3.5.  Collective Internalization........... 104

3.6.   Beliefs and Exclusivity........... 104

4. Beliefs and Surrogacy........... 108

4.1.  Religion, the Mother of Blanket Beliefs........... 109

4.2.    Scientific Beliefs........... 122

Hyper Extending Into Pseudo-Science........... 123

Provable by Real Science........... 131

4.3.   Philosophical Joe........... 134

The Bouncy Floor of Self-Evidence........... 135

The Closing of the American Mind............ 139

The Context in the 1950’s........... 145

4.4.   Doodling and the Rabbit Hole........... 147

Pinker’s Rationality........... 152

Gatekeepers of the Self.......... 162

4.5.   Democracy and Self-Combustion........... 169

Equality........... 173

Inequality........... 174

Politics of the Herd............ 178

4.6. A Paper-Thin Unidimensionality........... 180

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PART II, Dismantling Beliefs........... 182

5.  Deconstructing Beliefs........... 184

5.1.   My Beliefs, My Gods........... 184

Gods Without a Cause........... 185

Fusion of Essentials........... 191

You Got Nothing, You Are Nothing............ 197

You Never Left ..........199

Truths Worth Lying for.......... 203

5.2.   The Dance Around Fear.......... 204

5.3.   Two-Way Roads All Lead to Rome........... 208

5.4.   Nothing to Learn........... 211

5.5.   Enormity by Invisibility........... 214

6.   Reality and Duplicity........... 221

Putrid Disregard.. ..........221

Masters of Reality........... 223

The Colossal Juxtaposition........... 223

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PART III, Baby Steps........... 229

7.   Truth........... 231

7.1 Truth Formation........... 234

7.2 Crying, the Perpetuation of Conviction........... 237

7.3  Truth, Self-Centric........... 239

7.4  Truth and Credit.......... 240

7.5  Truth Ephemeral ..........246

7.6  Truth Exposed........... 249

       The Cocoon that Broke the Other Way........... 250

       Fear of Freedom............. 251

       The Unbearable Weight of a Late Invitation........... 252

       The Suspensive Stupefaction of the Naïve........... 253

7.7.  Truth Recognized........... 255

7.8.  Truth and the Homeless Civilization........... 259

7.9.  The Language of Truth Formation........... 261

Poetry. ..........262

7.10.   The Emotional Horizon........... 263

7.11.  Truth and Lope de Vega........... 265

8.   Life, the Personification of Truth........... 267

8.1   Descent and Surrender.......... 269

State of Decoy........... 270

An Inadvertent Winding Descent ..........270

The Open Wound............ 274

Dungeons of Insanity........... 279

Unattached Emotional Intensity........... 285

8.2.   The Strength of Our Individuality........... 286

8.3.  Love is Everything and Nothing........... 286

8.4.  Love in the Days of the Jaguar.......... 288

8.5  The Purpose of Being........... 291

8.6.  A Tale of Three Purposes........... 293

9.  Present Time. ..........297

9.1.  The Echo of the Past.......... 297

9.2.  Elusive Togetherness........... 303

9.3.  Intuition and the Blink of an Eye........... 305

9.4.   Arrival to Present Time........... 310

9.5.  Blossoms that Cling to the Vine........... 316

10.   While Today is Still Forever.......... 320

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PART IV, Addendum............327

A.1.  Unsubstantiated NDE Cases........... 329

A.2.  James 3, Spontaneous Recollection of Past Lives........... 334

A.3.  Joe and the Closing of the American Mind............ 348

Education, Know Thyself.......... 351

Instamatic Philosophy........... 355

Plowing with a Rake........... 358

The Backflow............. 360

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Acknowledgments........... 362

Author Quotes........... 365

Bibliography..........372

Index. ..........383

© 2025 by Romel Rivera.  All rights reserved.

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