Billy Fingers Cohen was a New Yorker who was killed at the age of 62 when, in an alcoholic stupor, he ran out in front of a car. The nickname "Fingers" was applied to him because he had lost a portion of a finger in a rumpus when he was a teenager. He later became addicted to heroin and cocaine, and he sold drugs on a small scale to fund his own drug habit.
It is obvious that Billy was by no means a "saint", although he was interested in esoteric matters. His sister, who is about 15 years Billy's junior, was grief-stricken when he died. A few weeks after his death, Billy began speaking to her. She wrote the book "The Afterlife of Billy Fingers". I am half-way through this book and I find it convincing. The ideas seem to be consistent with Seth's teachings.
The following extract seems to be referring to "probable realities", although Billy does not use that term:
"Then it was like someone pressed the start button on a cosmic projector and the ring became a circular movie that's still playing all around me. What I'm looking at is very different from any film I've seen in a theater, though. First of all, I'm suspended in the middle of the Universe, and second, the entire movie is playing all at once and the images are holographic.
There are an uncountable number of multi-dimensional, true-to-life images circling me. It doesn't take long to recognize that I am the star (of the show). When we're alive, there's something inside us, a sort of cosmic computer chip, that records everything we go through. Right now, I'm watching my whole life from my birth to my death. I'm looking here, looking there, fast-forwarding, rewinding, zooming in and out. I see the paths I took, and the ones I didn't. I see where my genius was, and where I might have done better. I don't feel moralistic or judgmental about any of it, though. It all just seems interesting.
What's really great is that this hologram has a very special feature. You know how you sometimes think to yourself, "What if?" For example, when I was alive I often wondered, "What if I had married my first love?" or "What if I had done well in school?" Well, guess what? My hologram is expandable. I can live out the life those "what ifs" would have brought me to. I can follow all the different paths I didn't take when I was alive and see how they would have turned out. What's surprising, though, is that it doesn't seem like one way is more valuable than any other. I don't have a preference. It's all fascinating, and I have no regrets. I know that must seem strange. I did a lot of things that most people would call mistakes, big mistakes. But the way I look at it, I had a great life. It was all great, even the hard parts." (from "The Afterlife of Billy Fingers: Life, Death and Everything Afterwards" by Annie Kagan)
From the Kindle edition: http://amzn.eu/5A0Ni43
https://www.afterlifeofbillyfingers.com/
Hi Sena,
Thanks for sharing this.
I love books like this; books about people who've had NDE's and/or books about people who've been able to psychically relay on to us, information that they've pick up about the afterlife.
I'm going to go see if I can check it out from our local library.
It sounds to me like Billy's describing "probable realities" to me.
In "Seth Speaks", Chapter 11, Sessions 540 and 541, Seth talks about some of the options available to people after death. He does describe how we have an option to review and relive our most previous life, changing conditions that occurred during that life.
Many times, over the course of my life, I have discovered books like this, that, in one way or another, have more or less presented the same basic concepts and ideas that Seth has talked about. To me, this just seems to add to the validity of the Seth information.
-jbseth
Quote from: jbseth (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13427#msg13427)
Many times, over the course of my life, I have discovered books like this, that, in one way or another, have more or less presented the same basic concepts and ideas that Seth has talked about. To me, this just seems to add to the validity of the Seth information.
jbseth, I am reminded of the so-called prophets of Old Testament times, whose message has become distorted down the ages. It's great that we now have a number of experiencers we can compare with one another. It is the scientific principle of validation by replication.
Hi Sena, Hi All,
In the back of the "Billy Fingers" book, there is a photograph and a small paragraph where it talks about the author, Annie Kagan, Billy's sister.
In this paragraph, it mentions that Annie was a songwriter at age 14. At 15, she was signed by Colombia and at 16 she started performing at New York Café's and clubs and did this for 10 years.
Then after this, she returned to college and got her Doctor of Chiropractic and had a successful practice.
Along with this it says she studied yoga and had a deep meditation practice.
Then, after a while, "following her inner voice", she gave up her chiropractic practice and returned to her life as a songwriter.
After joining a writer's workshop, she was in the process of writing her first novel when Billy died.
It sounds like Annie is very familiar with tapping into and using her creative resources. Along with this, she apparently practices meditation and listens to her inner voice. I suspect that these things may have had a part to play, in making her open to the messages that she received from her brother Billy.
-jbseth
Quote from: jbseth (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13429#msg13429)
It sounds like Annie is very familiar with tapping into and using her creative resources. Along with this, she apparently practices meditation and listens to her inner voice. I suspect that these things may have had a part to play, in making her open to the messages that she received from her brother Bil
jbseth, it could well be that meditation helped. My personal view is that one's attitude to life is what is important, and for many people meditation may help in altering their attitude.
Hi Sena,
I'm curious as to what you think about the "Billy Fingers" book.
I've found it very interesting so far (I'm about 1/2 way through). Annie, the author appears to be quite psychic, I'd say.
I'm amazed at how many times, she's picked up some very important messages from Billy that turned out to be very helpful insights to her and her friends. Like the story behind, "There's no sun without the sun".
and the story where Billy told her to tell her friend "Tex" to drink "Green Tea"
I also think that some of the information that Billy shares with her, like the "Soul Tribes" idea, are similar in nature to something that Seth talks about, such as the various "Families of Consciousness".
I'm not necessarily convinced that she's actually communicating with Billy; she could be. On the other hand, she may be just be tapping into her inner self.
I find this book quite interesting so far.
-jbseth
I wonder, how would anybody who "knew the truth' about something could share it with others (eventually the World), be trusted, understood, and make a difference. On any subject there are always conflicting opinions, and the argument is usually won not based on the underlying truth, but on who's better at convincing.
Quote from: inavalan (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13443#msg13443)
I wonder, how would anybody who "knew the truth' about something could share it with others (eventually the World), be trusted, understood, and make a difference. On any subject there are always conflicting opinions, and the argument is usually won not based on the underlying truth, but on who's better at convincing.
Boy you sure nailed that one. And people cling tightly to their beliefs, it would be hard to get through to everyone. Hard to find people open minded enough to look at something that doesn't fit in with what they are already convinced is the truth.
I can say Jane is the one person most trusted by me, mainly because the Seth materials feel so right. But also because Jane did not try to make a killing by selling Seth, charging huge amounts of money for personal readings, selling magical crystals or whatnot like (it seems like) all of the new self-proclaimed "speakers." And the huge amount of information that was provided in the books on an incredibly broad spectrum of subjects—I just don't think any human is capable of knowing about or making up all of that stuff.
I also think there are a lot more people that are Seth readers than we realize and they are spreading the word. This forum is very small, but there are many Seth Groups on Facebook with loads of members and lots of activity. I wanted to have this forum rather than a FB Group because I really wanted to have discussions with other readers that could be found again and FB is "blink and it's gone." I'd love to know how many people are Seth readers now compared to back when Jane was still alive. Seth is international. So the information gets spread, as Seth would say, at our typical donkey-slow rate.
Hi inavalan, Hi All,
That's a good question inavalan.
I wonder if anyone ever "knows the truth" about anything. Maybe All That Is, might.
Even Seth occasionally admitted that there was much that he didn't know.
What was true to me yesterday, isn't necessarily true for me today, and this may not necessarily be true for me tomorrow.
-jbseth
Quote from: jbseth (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13442#msg13442)
Hi Sena,
I'm curious as to what you think about the "Billy Fingers" book.
Hi jbseth, I think it is a useful book, and that Annie Kagan is describing a genuine experience. It is useful to look at the "afterlife" reality from all the different angles - Seth, Gordon Phinn, NDE experiencers etc. I recently came across an instance where someone who had an interesting NDE experience had devalued and ignored that experience. It was related to me my by a lady I met briefly at a party. She is now in her forties. She told me that when was in her late teens and was a passenger in a car, the car crashed and one person was seriously injured. She herself was uninjured, and she remembers being very alert and euphoric. She did not feel any fear. I think it was an NDE, but she did not identify it as such. She has little interest in esoteric matters, but her daughter who is now in her teens has developed an interest in philosophy, which led to our conversation.
Hi Sena,
Thanks for your reply.
As you know, in the Billy Fingers book, at one point Billy told Annie:
"Beliefs are big on earth. People collect them. Some of these beliefs are helpful, but others just keep you running around trying to follow rules that others laid down. They don't have a lot of personal meaning. It's a good idea to sort through your beliefs now and then and throw out the ones that don't sure you."
I found this to be very much in line with what Seth talks about in his book, "The Nature of Personal Reality", where he deals with beliefs.
I can't say that I've come across a lot of material from Psychics or Mediums where the survival personalities have talked about "beliefs" in such a way. I found that interesting.
You say that this woman, who possibly had a NDE, has little interest in esoteric matters. Perhaps this is the reason why she feels it is no big deal to devalue and ignore the experience.
Both my mother and more recently, a close family relative, have had an NDE.
In the case of my relative, while driving home one night, she said that she suddenly felt really horrible and so she pulled off the road and called 911. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, she suddenly found herself completely outside of both her body and her car. She told me that when she looked down she could see herself sitting in the car. She said that it was a very peaceful experience.
After getting to the hospital via an ambulance, the hospital staff discovered that she had an aneurism in her abdominal area and this aneurism ruptured. Later, the hospital staff told her that they were amazed that she survived, because very few people ever survive when this occurs.
It's one thing to read about NDE's but it's much more incredible when you hear about them, first hand, from people you actually know and trust.
- jbseth
Quote from: jbseth (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13453#msg13453)
It's a good idea to sort through your beliefs now and then and throw out the ones that don't sure you."
jbseth, it is now a common belief in the West that there is NO life after death. Those who hold that belief would ignore the NDE experience unless the experience was a very vivid and interesting one. May I ask what sort of belief your relative had before her NDE experience?
Hi Sena,
In your statement above, you said, "it is now a common belief in the West that there is NO life after death. "
If by "common" you mean "predominant", I have to say I'm not sure I agree with you here.
As I understand it, there are still a lot of people in the West who still hold onto Christian beliefs, Christian based beliefs or believe in God, even though they don't necessarily attend church. I suspect that many of these people still do believe in some form of afterlife.
However, since I don't know the actual numbers, I'm also not at all convinced that my conclusion here is correct either.
In regards to my relative, like me, I'm pretty sure that she "wasn't" one of these people who believes that there is "No life" after death.
I'm not sure if she attended any churches or not but I don't think she did on a regular basis. Maybe during a Christmas service or something like that.
We've had a couple of discussions about biblical historical scholarship and I found that her and I were like minded in many ways in this regard.
Many people believe, for example, that the Genesis creation story, (creation of the world in 7 days, Adam & Eve, serpent, partaking of the forbidden fruit, kicked out of Garden of Eden, curse of original sin, etc.) as written in the Bible, was an actual historical event.
She doesn't believe that and neither do I.
She has attended the New Thought church that my wife and I attend, and she seems to like its general philosophy.
You can read about this church here. Don't get me wrong I'm certainly not trying to push this on you or anyone else. I'm just posting this here so that you can see that in many ways their philosophy is similar to Seth's.
http://www.newthoughtcsl.org/
Generally, I suspect that she was probably open to the possibility of NDE experiences, before she ever had one.
-jbseth
Quote from: jbseth (https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?msg=13461#msg13461)
In your statement above, you said, "it is now a common belief in the West that there is NO life after death. "
jbseth, you are correct, belief in life after death is rather widespread even in the West. These are the results of a survey in the UK:
"A survey of 2,060 people showed 53 per cent believe in life after death, 55 per cent believe in heaven and 70 per cent believe in the human soul.
The study carried out between October and November last year for the public theology think tank Theos also showed nearly four in 10, or 39 per cent, believe in ghosts and more than a quarter (27 per cent) believe in reincarnation.
A further 22 per cent believe in astrology or horoscopes and 15 per cent believe in fortune telling or Tarot, the research revealed.
Half of people in London, the highest proportion in the UK, believe in ghosts, the survey showed."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/5144766/Most-people-believe-in-life-after-death-study-finds.html
In the USA, belief in an afterlife is even more widespread:
"A 2005 PSRA/Newsweek poll found that 67% believed that the person's soul goes to heaven or hell, 13% that the soul lives in some sort of spiritual realm, 6% that it's all over, and 5% that the soul is reincarnated. A 2010 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll found that 65% of Americans believed that people go to heaven, hell or purgatory after death, 7% believed they go to another dimension, 6% believed they are reborn on earth, and 2% believed they become ghosts. Just 13% did not believe there is any afterlife, and 7% didn't know. Such questions force a choice between Christian views of the afterlife and alternative possibilities found in other religious traditions or in the realm of superstition. But other polling indicates that beliefs in reincarnation and ghosts are not mutually exclusive with belief in traditional Christian conceptions of life after death. In the most recent poll on the topic, nearly one in five Americans expressed belief in reincarnation, a proportion that has stayed roughly at the same level since the question was first asked in 1968. In the 2011 poll, 15% of Protestants and 24% of Catholics said they believed in reincarnation."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paradise-polled-americans_b_7587538
Hi Sena,
Thanks for your comments on this issue of belief in life after death. Somewhere in the last 5 or so years, I came across something that was talking about religious beliefs in the US verses Europe. As I recall, this article said something about how in the US, something like church attendance or Christian beliefs or something along these lines was much higher than that in France. I don't remember the specifics.
When I think of this issue of belief in life after death, and when I think of the "West", I really have no idea where the people of France and Germany stand on this issue. I haven't seen any specific polls that addresses either of these 2 countries or necessarily include them.
This seems to be a black hole in this data, from what I can tell.
Have you come across anything in this in regards to either the French or Germans?
-jbseth