Quick history:

Egyptian civilisations believed in Ka, that double that survives death, which had to carry a papyrus containing a guide and instruction, intended to this after-life trip, which contains all sort of clues, or tools, or magic formulas, to get thru all sort of gates, being kept by monsters. Anubis was the guy (with a jackal head) driving the souls around through this underworld.

At the end, once they succeed passing all the gates, was the final stage (like in any good seller Nintendo classic game): he places their heart on the Scales of Justice (that's the Judgement...), who succeed can enter eternal realm, thoses who fails are fed to Ammit, the worst monster, the one you can't fight (obviously if you failed).

From my point of view, having listening to documentaries about it, and not having lived it, that was a nice marketing way to sell papirus parchment, which was really expensive, still at a time where more and more people where getting in some kind of "middle class" and can afford a better "underworld trip". But I'm not judging it to be true or false, as I'm shure it has been inspired by guys like you, who bumbep into gate keepers in astral.

Quote Originally Posted by CFTraveler
...Which brings me to the idea that they are either 'astral higher beings' ... I also think that a lot of this has to do with your conscious awareness... Some people believe that these entities are facilitators... Some others go with the idea that these beings are actually self-aspects, perhaps 'future' versions of ourselves...
I'm wondering about the sligth gap where we wonder "How much ruled is the astral reality (compared to our physical plane)" VS "We are driving a etheral body which projects what we can projects, right from our engine". Thinking using a proud "scientific brain" doesn't makes the edge less blurry.

I'm starting to get used to the idea that any religion, or faith in afterlife, or pure-astral, is really related to a mix of "what we expect"+"subconsciouness fuel". In this theory of "you get what you expected, subconsciously" - for instance - one guy not dont believe in anything, after death, may just see that tunnel with the light, as they explained it to be the electricity of the brain being shutted down, as it may fades out and become black, for eternity... OR, no, you dont believe, it doesn't matter, there is supra-physical rules, and you'll get somewhere, where you can't come back, and only ends up in a state where you feel lost because you haven't listen to any of that after-life stuff, remembering only the "If you dont believe, you go to hell", hahaha, that's not funny

It's too late for me, I've heard about it, and somehow my subconscious may expect it someday. I would like to hear from anyone of you who never heard of thoses gate keepers, and bumped into them, THEN went onto forums and websites to figure out...