#0 · Feb 02, 2005, 08:00 · Gandalf

Some people may be interested to read that the 1st century ce Roman encyclopaedist Pliny the Elder discusses OBE accounts in his Natural History:

'... Among other examples we find that Hermotimus of Clazomenae used to leave his body and wander about, reporting many things from afar that only an observer on the spot could know; meanwhile his body was only half alive. This continued until some enemies, called the Cantharidae, burnt his body and took away the sheath, as it were, from his soul when it returned.
The soul of Aristaeus, also, was seen at Proconnesus flying out of his mouth in the form of a raven; this subsequently gave rise to the invention of many stories.'

Pliny: Natural history : Zoology : Man 174.

Just goes to show there's nothing new under the sun!

Douglas

#1 · Feb 02, 2005, 12:53 · Kodemaster

Thanks for sharing! Pliny was pretty freaking cool. :)

#2 · Feb 02, 2005, 14:29 · Frank

Yeah, that's really interesting, wow and all that time ago as well. Makes me think back to a while ago. Was it you who was saying about diet info on Dead Sea Scrolls, or was that something else? History was never my thing as you know. But fascinating nonetheless.

Yours,
Frank

#3 · Feb 02, 2005, 21:42 · Gandalf

hi Frank, thats right, I did.. The Essenes, who were a Jewish sect around the turn of the first century, time of jesus etc.

The Essenes were nuts to be honest, fundamentalists, but they had some interesting ideas about diet, specifically a complete veggie diet, not to be cooked but eaten raw as this imparted the healthiest properties.. 'as Mother Earth intended' apparantly. Cooking of any kind was out, as was all forms of meat (or even use of animal products like leather) as this was 'an affront to the Earthly Mother'. *Raw fruit and veg was the ideal*.

They appear to have believed that as the Heavenly Father rules above, so the Earthly Mother rules down here, she even has her own angels, specific to her, and she doesnt like you snacking on her animals!

I was just reminded of your diet plans and noticed a slight similarity :wink:

Doug