I do not want to contradict what you all said. I do believe if you can focus so much to meditate, it is good for you. I know it is harder to focus if every 3 seconds your muscle do *tick* *tick*... Anyway, about consciousness, another life, higher state of being after death... Yes, I do not know what happens and what is possible. It is for sure good to have open mind if you are terminally ill for example, it makes things easier for you. So I don't argue about universe, matter and mind. But I do know one thing. If you die, you never come back in this form again. You do not enjoy your family any more, your kind, reading, running, playing. Ok, maybe in some other state of mind, but the second part is undoubtely the truth: If I die today, my wife looses a husband, my son looses a father, my parents looses their son etc. No matter into what my consciusness is transformed for me, it is good for me, but I left my close ones in sadness because we'll never be the family again l?ike we used to.I don't want to argue, I just stated what I think maybe you don't like to hear, but it also happens.About the living ones... my therapist also things we don't know nothing and that almost anything is possible on the subatomic level. Beliefs are so powerfull they make miracles, he tell me. Call me a sceptic, and I am one and I don't believe in miracles. You can heal a psychosomatic wound, get your helt better with many technics, no doubt about it. But take for example my "favourite" three letters: If the mind can be so powerfull to heal and change anything, why is there NOBODY on this world with ALS (I understand not anybody can achieve their mind power) who cured himself, stopped the disease? No matter how strong they are they die. And it is a good example that mind can not allways change the matter. Yes, I understand if cancer has eaten your whole body your mind can not heal it no more, you are "beyond repair". But one has ALS, his hand is weak, that's it. His body is still mostly "intact". Surely among 50.000 patients on the world every year, there should be at least few who managed to stop the thing rom spreading any paralysing the body? Why is there no "miracle" of any kind with ALS patients if mind can do anything as my therapeut told me. I guess the patients are highly motivated to try everything they can...I fear you can not do everything with your mind, and some things are just phisical in nature. If I poison myself to death I will die, it is a chemistry fact.Above all that said from me, I do believe the power of mind, I have witnessed how much damage did fear to my function of the body in the last years, not counting this BFS/pain crap now (nobody knows what it is), but I've had colon/stomach problems that were 90% driven by the fear itself. And I am trying some classes next week of meditation, yoga and relaxation. I do believe it could help me if I let it. I just don't believe the everyone can do anything with it's mind theories.