Jacob Cooper is a Mental Health Therapist, Thought Influencer, Healer, and Near-Death Experiencer who specializes in Past Life Regression Therapy. He is a sought-after speaker on grief, wisdom, and consciousness who mixes his deep spirituality with his knowledge of human psychology to help people uncover their emotional barriers, enjoy improved wellness, and achieve resiliency.

In this incredibly enlightening interview, Jacob and Irene discuss his powerful new book titled The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder, which reveals the many lessons Jacob learned from both his astounding Near Death Experience and out-of-body experiences, why he views death as a rebirth or renewal, how some of our past lives are significant to our current life, and what it means to be the holder of the keys to our own soul. And he challenges us by asking, “Are you stressed because you are living your life for temporary meaning instead of living for eternity?” Tune in for an insightful and interesting conversation about eternal consciousness and its profound impact on our well-being!

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL HEAR ABOUT THINGS LIKE:

• Jacob’s astounding near-death experience when he was 3 years old and what it taught him about past lives, angels, and spirit guides.
• Why death is a rebirth or renewal, not an ending. 
• The difference between a Near Death Experience and an out-of-body experience. 
• Family members are not random occurrences, there is a spiritual lesson tied to our experiences with family. 
• The ways we can operate from a soul level instead of from judgment, especially with children.

SOME QUESTIONS IRENE ASKS JACOB:

• Should we continue to embrace family members who are abusive and cruel or leave the toxic situation? 
• What can we learn from the souls of those who completed suicide?
• What are the different levels of existence for souls on the other side?
• Why do you consider loneliness to be an illusion?   

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Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Jacob Cooper: Are you stressed because you are living your life for temporary meaning instead of living for eternity?

I’m speaking to you from my studio in West Orange, New Jersey. I am beyond delighted to have this opportunity to interview Mental Health Therapist, Influencer, Healer and Near-Death Experiencer Jacob Cooper, who will be speaking to us from Long Island, New York. Jake, who holds a Master of Social Work degree and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is also a Certified Reiki Master and a Certified Hypnotherapist who specializes in past-life regression therapy.

He is a sought-after speaker on grief, wisdom and consciousness. He offers meditation and mindfulness seminars to individuals and groups. He has been a featured guest on both radio and television. Jake mixes his deep spirituality as well as his knowledge of human psychology to help people uncover their emotional barriers, enjoy improved wellness and achieve resiliency. His mission syncs beautifully with the mission of this show, which is to educate, enlighten and provide healing choices that can help us shift our perspectives and enhance our lives.

I interviewed Jake about his near-death experience and his bestselling memoir titled Life After Breath a few years ago. Now, we are going to discuss the important lessons he has gained, both because of and since his near-death experience, which he reveals in his powerful new book titled The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder.

I’m looking forward to talking with Jacob about the astounding near-death experience and out-of-body experiences he has experienced, why he views death as a rebirth or renewal, how some of our past lives are significant to our current life, what it means to be the holder of the keys to our soul and the gateway to it and more. This is surely going to be a fascinating insights-filled and incredibly enlightening interview with a very special guy. Jake, a warm welcome back to the show.

Thank you, Irene. I’m trying to remember the last time I was on your show. It must have been a couple of years ago when my first book came out and so much in the world changed. You and I are here. We’re shifted, but we’re the same. Thank you for having me.

I’m sure you find this because you’re starting to do this too. You resonate with certain people. When I met you, I was like, “What a great guy,” and we had a wonderful interview that first time.

The feeling is mutual. I always say your vibe will attract your tribe. It’s true.

Here we are.

Good vibes.

Let’s bring everyone into our tribe and let’s start to bring them in. By the way, everyone, check out my first interview with Jacob about his first book, which was incredible. We talked about such inspiring things. I recommend that you all check that out. Jake, let’s refresh my memory and your memories. Tell us about that astounding near-death experience you had when you were only three years old and what that taught you about past lives, angels and spirit guides. To this day, I’m amazed that you remember all of this and it happened to you when you were three years old. Tell us about it.

Author to author, there’s a saying called show, don’t tell. When I tell my story, I like to take people with me, just as you were alluding to in the beginning. It’s not just racing off facts but for everyone to join me in this encounter. To me, there is no time. When I go back to my near-death experience, I’m right there. Hopefully, some readers could feel me presently there and they could remember that part of themselves too.

I was just three years old. It was September of 1993. It was right before the high holiday in the Jewish calendar, which is a time when we prepare ourselves to meet the creator, try to rid all our wrongs and try to have a year of abundance and a cleansing moment. Little did I know I was about to meet the creator, but it was beyond my religion and our religion in the Synagogue.

I had, at the time, something called pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough. I went to a playground as a child. I climbed onto a ladder on a slide, and my breathing became belabored, leading to suffocation. After suffocation, it was the scariest, most traumatizing moment of my entire lifetime, hands down. I was able to let go of that pain and that suffering. Letting go, I was able to feel myself start to transition over to the other side.

Do you remember lifting up out of your body?

The analogy that I have is often, like if you’re on a rollercoaster and you’re going some insane speed, higher and higher. You’re feeling the vibrations. You’re feeling this intense euphoria. That was what I was feeling, but this journey was upward. It was also inwards, if that makes sense. It was an inwards journey.

We go inwards, which we ascend and we go upwards. Once my brain was deprived of oxygen and snapped in half, that’s when I was able to enter the light. We have a saying that says, “My brain cracked open and that’s when God came in.” That happened to me. It wasn’t metaphorical. We could talk a little bit about the brain and my theories on it too.

Once I was able to let go of this breath, I surrendered to the breath of eternity, the eternal breath on the other side, which we all are bestowed on, which goes beyond the physical breath within this body. You could take away the physical breath, but you can’t take away the breath of our essence, who we are, which is eternal consciousness, the breath of eternity.

Talking about your soul.

You could take away the physical breath, but you can't take away the breath of our essence, who we are, which is eternal consciousness, the breath of eternity. Click To Tweet

The soul. In the Jewish language, we call it ruacḥ, which means the wind of God, the breath of God. That’s influenced my title, Life After Breath. Once I crossed over, I had all these experiences with all of the beings that are around each and every one of us at all times, always existing no matter what. We forget that they’re there. We may have our blinders on. This experience encompassed myself, seeing my own guardian angels and spirit guides. Being able to see an infinite ray of angels floating in front of me.

What did they look like to you, Jake?

The spirit guides had more so human qualities, but they were the most beautiful beings you could possibly imagine. Imagine this and I know Saul has passed but imagine before you met Saul or even now. You have this incredible crush on this Hollywood celebrity that you feel is on this total other pedestal that there is no way that this person would ever have anything to do with me. I have so much affinity and love for this person.

Imagine that same person that you think about in that regard sees you the same way that you put on this incredible pedestal beyond this world. That’s what I felt the spirit guides when I saw them. I’m like, “Oh my God.” I looked at them in their beauty and their magnificence. They look at each and every one of us the same way. There’s no judgment. They see us for who we are.

All these infinite spiritual beings come from the same place and returning back to the same place. The angels in front of me were different. They were more childlike or infant-like. They were all uniform, where the spirit guides had distinct characteristics. The angels in front of me were very childlike, so I could hear them, see them, but they were like a gold color. They’re floating in the distance right in front of me.

When you cross over to either side, two things could be true at the same time. Your soul is unknowing, but you still adjust and carry over the ego, the personality and your worldview. I was looking at this, I’m like, “God, is this real? Is this happening?” It was all around us. Angels, as you see my background, are among us. They’re not far away.

You take this reality and turn it one slight dial above this. It’s all right around us. We’re very dense in this reality. The vibrations, you turn it up a little bit and they’re all around us at all times. Awareness of people on the other side that we are always connected to and come from is like a theater of life where you have a stage. People play different roles, but we all have different plays in life but the same actors and actresses.

That gave you a clue into past lives also.

I had past lives awareness, which maybe we’ll get into because one particular lifetime was very close to my near-death experience. I believe our past lives influenced current situations in our life. The near-death experience to this day was one of the most profound moments of my last life. Messages are repeated in lessons I embraced. I’ll leave it there.

In our world, we have the term God, but the word is very limiting. It has a lot of religious connotations to it. I say the endless euphoric climax of life where all things emanate from, this endless euphoria of unconditional love where everything is created from and flows from. It’s like this endless apex of reality, where there’s no beginning, no middle, and no end. All of life itself expresses itself through itself and that to me is God.

Now that would also explain why you see death as a rebirth or a renewal and not an ending because we don’t end. We continue on.

I had someone that I interviewed on my podcast. The podcast The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder. He gave a perfect analogy of the yin and the yang. You’re familiar with the yin and yang. It’s like an Eastern symbolism of there’s a darkness, but there’s a white dot. There’s a darkness, and then there’s a light whiteness, then there’s a dark dot. In essence, within death, there’s eternal life. The two go hand in hand, but when you’re looking at death, you’re able to remember that eternity.

Death is true within this reality, but within this reality, you were able to have that spark of remembrance that white dot and that darkness. That yin and yang of eternity. It’s almost funny and I’m friendly with Raymond Moody but if you ask him near death, maybe near-death experience is a term that he coined, but it might not have been the first term.

He had more of an academic preference, but the irony that near-death has a word death because that has nothing to do with death. To me, it’s eternal life experiences. That’s the way that I see or ELE. That’s my term. These are just experiences that have nothing to do with death because death is fiction. Death is true of the human part but not true of the soul. It’s an eternal life experience, is what I’ll say it is.

We continue to go on. Also, please educate people as to you’ve had near-death experiences but you’ve also had spiritually transformative experiences called out-of-body experiences. What is the difference there?

It’s funny, in my household, we had four other siblings. We all had the same food, drank the same water, lived under the same roof and I’m by far the biggest outlier. I questioned why and all these experiences, I think it had something to do with it, but it was a different calling that I had. It’s not better. It’s not worse. I’m my own biggest skeptic. A part of me had this at three years old and I’m like, “I was three years old. Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe I was seeing this.”

I question myself all the time. I get in my head a lot. One day, I remember waking up out of my body. When I try to put the keys to it, the clues to it, I remember the night before laughing hysterically at the top of my lungs. Sometimes we’d laugh, but this wasn’t a manic phase that I deal with my clients. This was laughter where everything inside of me was released like a wet towel and you wring up that wet towel.

What I was cracking up on was the cultural myths that so many of us described to how some things that we have an attachment to or value to are so meaningless in the long-term. Our cars, our houses, what people think of us and how we see ourselves are so many myths that we hold onto in this construct that we know as ego. I looked at that and hysterically started to laugh. Through seeing that, I was able to get out of this illusion of this reality and wake up from the sleep of this dream. That was an awakening. When you wake up from the dream, it’s an awakening.

How old were you when you had that?

Probably my first year of college. I’m bad with time.

You have a near-death experience, you’re three years old and the story continues.

Around two decades later, but this was also in the month of September. Earth, Wind and Fire have a song. Do you remember in September? Yes, I do remember in September, but September in the Jewish calendar is the beginning of the new year. For me, it’s on point. This was new beginnings, new transformations like the lobster, which isn’t too kosher, but you shed your shell and you have a new shell that you have. You can’t look at the world the same ever again. Out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences under the umbrella of NDEs. You have under the umbrella of OBs but not every OB is an NDE. To me, this was a euphoric and enlightening experience. It was just out of my body.

You were sleeping and you just left your body?

I woke up and I was literally beyond my body the next morning. I was out of my body for weeks. When I would talk, I would feel my voice not coming from my vocal cords but it was coming from my gut and my heart. I could feel the vibrational sound emanating. That’s why they say speak from your heart or speak from your gut.

It’s true because most of us are very energetically blocked and we talk from over here. When you’re connected to your source, your voice comes from a much deeper refined place. It’s a stronger foundation. We say the voice of the soul, but this included my third eye exploding. I was able to feel an eyeball that was slowly blinking on and off.

I almost needed to take a towel to dry my heart out because it’s like wet an ocean. I touched it and there was no moisture whatsoever. It speaks to all the stuff that I know now where we have different elements inside of us like fire, water, earth, air and ether. It’s one thing to intellectualize that, but it’s another thing to have the experiential reality. It was fascinating.

We have different elements inside of us, like fire, water, earth, air, and ether. It's one thing to intellectualize that, but it's another thing to have the experiential reality. Click To Tweet

Did people notice that you were different because you were not speaking from your ego? You were speaking from that other part of you and your soul was outside your body. Did anyone say to you, “You’re a little different now, Jake? What’s going on with you?”

I tried to play cool, but my friends would come up to me be like, “You lost a lot of weight. What happened?” That was one of the things, but I was so detached to needing food to feed my emotions or soul. I had happiness emanating from me. In all of my life, to this day, I’m fit but I struggle with food as a comfort or a drug. I was already at the destination. I didn’t need to take those highways to it, but then some people were like, “Why are you so happy? Why are you so glowing all the time?” This light was exploding inside of myself and I wanted to shake people and give it to them.

When did it come back to you?

After a couple of weeks.

Did you call it in or it just happened naturally?

It came back in. It’s like meditations when people go far and go through your crown. It was an enlightening experience. I remember, at the high holiday time again. To me, the high holiday, I didn’t need marijuana to get high off of it. I was already high. It was a real high holiday. Normally, it was never. It was a very low feeling of apathy, judgment, depression and anxiety.

I didn’t enjoy being in a suit and tie in a Synagogue, but I felt my whole body feeling like butter and fluid and so relaxed. I’ve never felt that way before. There was no tension whatsoever in my body, but I was able to look around the room of all the congregants. I saw this silver cord connecting each participant. I saw this one energy and I didn’t try any Timothy Leary stuff. Nothing.

I felt myself leaving my body and I was hovering over my body. I was around what I know now as my animal totem, which was this beautiful bird. I was flying with my bird. I was going around the Synagogue and I saw this one energy. It sounds cool. I want to take the fantasy out of it and understand that this one energy spoke to the oneness that we all have. What I saw was how everyone was in their own box and their own egos and how they weren’t connected to this feeling. They’re more in their left brain versus their soul and their ability to feel this oneness.

They’re more in their left brain versus their soul and their ability to feel this oneness.. Click To Tweet

As we layman would say in Irene speak, they were unconscious. They were in their egos, in their personalities and were not aware of the bigger picture.

I view it as almost like human vegetables. They’re redundant. You’re in, then you’re out. There’s no growth. There’s no progression. They’re stuck with this box of reality and that’s it. That’s where they’re at but it’s a lot of stagnation. A very little expansion past the formality of that box at a certain age.

This conversation we’re having is so great because there are people who are choosing to expand. They’re reading and this is a wonderful illustration to them about how you can do that and how much more there is for you if you take that more universal view. On that note, you have this wonderful new book called The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder. In it, which refers back to what we were talking about because you powerfully reveal illusions that many people carry.

We’re talking about that now. There are three illusions that caught my attention as I was reading your book. First was the illusion of loneliness, suffering and conflict. Now people who are going through these things don’t think they’re illusions. They feel they are lonely, suffering and have conflicts about things. Let’s start with loneliness. How is loneliness and illusion, Jake?

I say two things could be true at the same time. In this reality, all these principles are undeniable, real and true. From the larger macro spiritual reality, they are not. For instance, many of us walk around with the ego and see ourselves as separate from others. We don’t have all these people around us. We feel very worthless many times. We feel disconnected. No matter who you are, no matter what you’re going through, there is an army of loving beings around each and every one of us on the other side.

We are not living this life in a random vacuum. There’s so much support, love and understanding from all those. First of all, we are not the self. That’s the construct of our ego. Our names, our genders, our races are all things that we experience for the soul but are not reflective of the full totality of it. Loneliness, while it could be very much real as a human thing, from a spiritual perspective, isolation is not true. We are all connected and have so much more loving support around us at all times that sometimes we lose sight of it, but just because we don’t remember it does not mean it’s not there. We can think it, but we cannot change that reality.

On a conscious level, when you’re sitting at home at night and you’re feeling like, “I’m very lonely.” You can change that to, “I’m not lonely because I’m surrounded by all these loving energies is on the other side who are trying to help me in my life.”

It’s important, too, to be able to surrender to our emotions and to call out and maybe ask the universe. We’re saying, “I’m feeling very disconnected. Is there a way for you to help me recharge?” The phrasing of the predicaments. Many times, when people want help, they don’t. They want to sabotage help and say, “See, it didn’t work.” For real help, we have to be specific with our attention, focus, and energy and be open to possibilities of receiving that guidance from the other side.

Now, let’s talk about the illusion, and we’re going to talk more about your book. If you want to mention other illusions but these three jumped out at me. Let’s talk about the illusion of suffering. There’s so much suffering on this planet. How do you see that as an illusion?

What’s important is much like my NDE. To be able to look at what we’re viewing, like the yin and yang, to find that white dot within the darkness. Think of anyone who’s transformed. There is a purpose for everything. The purpose of suffering was not suffering itself. I find that everything itself in its nature has a purpose, even suffering.

Everything itself in its nature has a purpose, even suffering.. Click To Tweet

If you look at any of the luminaries on this planet, I guarantee you that at some point, they were able to turn their own suffering into their own purpose. What’s important is to be able to have this wise mind. This isn’t all that there is. This is a temporary experience, but this is not the full totality of things. It’s important for people to understand and be informed by something within this human reality but not enslaved to it.

That will help people to navigate all these difficult waters and to remind themselves that when we die, we don’t carry our burdens, our pain. All these things dissipate. All that is left is the love that we are, the love that we generate and the beauty that we’re able to experience in our lives, some of our enthusiasms, our passions and all that. When people are able to understand what’s real versus what’s an experience, you could find ways to enhance resilience past what comes to you.

It’s also a hard concept to wrap your head around, but I often feel comforted by knowing that in this life, it feels long. From a soul perspective, the suffering we’re going through or what we’re going through is a blink. It’s like part of our past life experiences. This part of our lives and it’s another thing that we’ve experienced.

Many times, people wake up from a dream, like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. We want to have both of our eyes open, awake, mindful, present and living while we are living because so many people are not living.

Now we get to chaos. Jake, why is there so much chaos on this planet? At least, that’s my perception. You say that behind this chaos, there’s a greater sense of order, that this is about the illusion of conflict. Please explain.

Let’s look at nature to help us understand. For instance, I’ll give an example of buffalo. When buffalo sense a storm, they don’t run away from it. They move through it. They move towards it. Now, I’m not saying to go into hurricanes and follow all the guidelines and the steps. I’m talking metaphorically. Not from a physical basis.

In other words, many people, when they have suffering, they suppress it and push it away. They don’t listen to it. You take nature and a hurricane. On the outside of the hurricane, there’s mayhem. On the inside of the hurricane, there is the eye of the hurricane. That’s where that centerpiece of calm where many of the great masters are able to tap into. They’re able to look at the centerpiece of chaos to find brilliance, transformation, wisdom and growth through turbulence. Many people are able to have resilience, aren’t so much wrapped into the externals, but they’re able to tap into that point of wisdom and brilliance with anything that they are faced with.

Are you saying that even in our world now, where so many people feel that there’s so much chaos but above all, you can raise yourself above it to be a witness to it, you might see the kernels of peace that are forming within the chaos?

You certainly can. Chaos could be pivotal. Where would anyone be without listening to that voice? It’s important for people to be more like an animal. Learn how to migrate. Instead of sitting in your same consciousness that’s not working. . Learn how to migrate. Instead of sitting in your same consciousness, that’s not working. If animals don’t have food or are in a famine, they go on to something different. It’s important that maybe physically we can’t do that, but within our mind, we could alter the way that we’re viewing things. We could alter our perceptions. We all are artists of the minds and of the hearts. Our lives are our canvases. How do we want to shape it? How do we want to draw it? We have powerful tools at hand. We have to remember that and cultivate those.

It’s important for people to be more like an animal. Learn how to migrate. Instead of sitting in your same consciousness that’s not working. Click To Tweet

Now keep talking about your metaphorical ladder from your book because you talk about the progression from vague hope to belief, to knowing and you call the knowing stage transformative. Jake, tell us whatever you’d like us to know about the book, any of the other illusions and what you would like to describe. Is there anything you’d like to share? It’s such a wise, interesting and comforting book.

What’s important is the value of the box of reality. Many people live in this box, but the significance of being daring to explore what we don’t know, plenty of times, when people don’t know something, they will judge it, condemn it and ostracize it. That interferes with their ability to know what they don’t know, but this world and I’m not talking about the flat earthers. Where would we be if people didn’t explore that this world was round? That people weren’t daring to go into unfamiliar territory and that’s how they’re able to expand their reality.

Near-death experiences that’s something that happened to me. I hope that readers will be able to find ways to continuously each and every day expand our world because this life is about expanding. It’s about elevating. We want to wake up more evolved and better now than when we went to sleep at night. It’s not a one-way street trajectory. There are hills and valleys, but in general, do we want to grow more growth mind orientation, or do we want a victim stagnation mind? Most of the world lives in victim or stagnation.

This life is about expanding. It’s about elevating. We want to wake up more evolved and better now than when we went to sleep at night. Click To Tweet

I would certainly say reading your book can help people evolve, become much more enlightened, and see life from a different viewpoint. That can be extremely comforting.

I certainly hope, but it’s about becoming more childlike too. For instance, most of us, when we were children, we were happy. Our needs were met but then, at a certain point, we bought into a lot of cultural myths that, “You’re not this. You’re not that. You get this grade. You’re so good,” these transactional dynamics with their identity.

Many people are falling in love with the spotlight now of social media and our impact. More is better and that’s led to a great deal of narcissism within our society. People are more in love with their spotlights than they are with their own inner light. We don’t recognize this. Our inner light is a spotlight. The brighter we shine, the more light we illuminate the world around us. People don’t need to do anything to be something. You are all that you’re seeking.

You need to tap into the you beyond the you. We all have this you that we see ourselves as, but beyond that illusion, there’s even a more expansive view. Most people’s identities are based off of the world creating their minds and their identities. We are so much more loving, expanding, wise and powerful than we could ever imagine. In other words, in order to find yourself, you have to be willing to lose what you’re holding onto and that’s vulnerable. Most people like to hold, but you hold, you grow old, you let go and you grow. Not to stigmatize old. You hold, you go old. When you let grow your consciousness, your spirit will grow.

Jake, I found this poignant when you talk about this in your book, but you say that family is one of the most important lessons we have. That family members are not random occurrences. Readers are saying, “Are you kidding? I chose that to be my parent or whatever?” What is the spiritual lesson that is tied to our experiences with family? Do you want to teach us about that, Jake?

I certainly have had a very much of a rollercoaster ride within my family. I grew up in a Modern Orthodox home where they are more in love with the outer God than the inner God. It was very promoting of OCD, anxiety, fear and everything had to be a specific way. I didn’t vibe with it.

A lot of controlling.

A lot of control and a lot of fear. Everything had to be step 1, step 2, step 3 and step 4. It had to be a certain way. For those I grew up with, that was what brought them sanity. What’s important is that just because you’re tuned in spiritually does not mean that the people in your family are not, but there are common lessons involved. One of those lessons is a good AA lesson where you know what you can control and can’t control and the difference between the two.

We can’t control other people. Sometimes, the lives that we live are educators for us to teach us what not to do. Also, it comes back to the play that we have. We have to remind ourselves that everyone plays different roles. We all are aware, but sometimes people within our lives choose to be maybe less conscious or more into religion and push our buttons while we’re spiritual and they’re not and they judge us. Maybe those people prepare us for the skeptics, the people who come across us. Everyone has a role to prepare us as we venture into the world.

Sometimes, the lives that we live are educators for us to teach us what not to do. Also, it comes back to the play that we have. We have to remind ourselves that everyone plays different roles. Click To Tweet

If your family’s not challenging you in a way, how are you supposed to handle other people who may come to like that? Sometimes, it could keep you grounded too. Ramdas would say, “You think you’re great. Ask your family.” Knows a real raw you and it’s true. That’s why I never allow any family member of mine to attend my stuff because they carry a certain image. Many times, it’s pathologized. They see your worst. That’s what they carry. They don’t see you for the real you many times.

I’ve experienced that. I can relate to that. I want to ask you also, which applies to my life, one of the many challenges you address in your book is family members who are abusive and cruel. You’re with this person. They’re making you crazy and trying to control you in every single way. They’re very punitive.

You asked for this person. You brought them in to learn lessons in this lifetime. Maybe they came from a past experience. What is the best way to practice self-love with a family member like this? Do you detach from them? Do you learn the lesson? Do you try to negotiate? What would you like to tell us about that, Jake? Why do we choose these people anyway?

What’s important is many times, these people will test us, but it’s about tapping into the inner light. It’s the same on a macro basis. Why do challenges happen? Many times, they help us to create, to remember that foundation. It’s like when we lose a loved one, these shake-up periods oftentimes, if we are able to go with the flow, they could awaken us within time. That pain could be led to growth and transformation.

What’s important is to learn to stand our ground but also that we could say no. We don’t have to say yes to every narcissist in our life. What’s important is to be able to understand a lot of these personalities as neurologically damaged people. People think of mental health as, “That person’s crazy.” Narcissists oftentimes lack mirror neurons within the brain leading to a lack of empathy. They often have a lack of a prefrontal cortex.

Is this something you’re born without?

Many times, they’re developed that way, or they don’t know how to look within. The prefrontal cortex, which is related to self-awareness, narcissists lack the ability to look within. They’re more in love with the image that other people have of them than their ability to see and love themselves. These are neurologically damaged people. If we’re able to look at that no differently than some with cancer, while also setting up those boundaries and parameters, setting those people to love and understand they’re on their own journeys. That’s important.

Within this life, people choose everything. Mental health is a part of it too, where maybe people in this life will learn how to live as a schizophrenic or someone’s bipolar disorder or whatever it is. They’re all not random, but what’s important is that when we cross over to the other side, we don’t carry over all these conditions. There’s healing, but it’s all experience of the soul for different subjective reasons that are hard to get into specifically.

I want to ask you, Jake, before I even continue with another question that I have for you, can you tell everyone the kinds of help you give people so that in case anyone reading would like to seek you out? You do so many different things. You do mental health. You help people with mental health through reiki and holistic means and you’re a hypnotherapist. Can you tell us a little bit about your healing practice and how they can get ahold of you?

If anyone’s interested, my website is JacobLCooper.com. I do in-person as well as remote sessions. My work comes back to giving back the eternal life where my life was taken from me. That doesn’t mean they’re giving people CPR, but when people are feeling out of sorts or lifeless, it’s about helping the person that I’m working with, helping them to find that same divine spark within themselves. The work you see is multidimensional because I know we have so many different parts of ourselves.

We can’t ignore any of those parts. We have to be able to nurture and take care of all those facets of ourselves. The work that I do revolves around the brain. As I said, in my near-death experience, when I was suffocated, once my brain snapped in half, that’s when the other side opened. I know the brain is such a pivotal filter in our lives. Now, what I’m understanding is learning and given what’s called psychoeducation, helping people understand also neuroeducation about the brain.

People clearly maximize their own neuro health, which is psychological health. Different small things that people can do, such as meditation, exercise and having good thoughts, those do help out the brain as well too. It’s important for people to develop good behaviors and patterns that are functional. When you think of functional goes to the direct root of an issue instead of maybe popping medication, which filters over the issue and stabilizes but doesn’t treat.

If someone contacts you and they’re having issues, you can help them integrate what’s going on and figure it out.

Small, simple neuro behaviors are great, as well as our diet. Many times we have a lot of inflammation in our diet. Inflammation is directly related to depression, anxiety, anger and difficulty sleeping. Reducing inflammations, you could get that through Omega-3s, drinking water, meditation helps and exercise could help. All these things help to reduce an inflamed brain. It’s interesting the field of psychiatry, it’s the one medical modality that they don’t scan or look at people’s brains.

You go to cardiologists. They look at your heart. You go to a podiatrist, they look at your feet, but psychiatry doesn’t look at what’s going on in your brain, which is fascinating to me. I don’t want to go on the whole can of worms. What’s important is for people to find ways to work with brain scans. You could look at what’s called the Amen Clinic by Dr. Daniel Amen. He’s got clinics out there and they could do brain scans. They may assist with what’s called functional medicine and give you the supplements or nutrients you need to have a more active brain.

You can help people do that too.

Referral sources. Amen Clinics are throughout the United States as well too.

Another thing I like about what you say, Jake, is that you talk about ways we can operate from a soul level instead of from judgment, especially when it comes to raising children. Can you talk to us about that? That’s so important.

What’s important and I think maybe why I had my NDE at such a young age, is to help understand that many times the people who are old are very young. The people who are young are spiritually very old. By that, I mean people who are young are very old in their awareness. People who are old often forget it and they’re very juvenile.

When I was a kid, I would look at old people. Some of them would be like, “I feel older than you because I am more connected.” They’re just old in their body. They’re so connected to the human experience that their soul is not activated in this lifetime. I think what’s important is many parents look at their kids that they have as a blank canvas that this is all there is. For them, the material reduction component of the body and the brain produces our personality, our identity, who we are and that’s what it is.

If you believe in past lives and there is a you beyond this you, you recognize that the kids that we’re looking at are not these bodies. These are infinite souls expressing and experiencing itself in this body. What’s important for people to lose attachments to all these human identities is to be informed by them but not enslaved by them. To look at your kids through loving awareness and observing them versus judging them. Understanding them versus taking yourself understanding and putting yourself under them.

That’s such a better way to parent and there’s no judgment. There’s so much less judgment. The other thing is, I know you have a meaningful story about the afterlife, suicide and a friend of yours. The bottom line to this story is why it’s important to let go of a sense of control and ownership over a loved one.

What’s important, statistics show that it’s around 60% or 70% of support drops with loved ones who have lost family members to completion of suicide. Many people around them may feel judgment. They don’t know what to do. The family around them may feel guilt or judgment. I think what’s important is to look at the language because their language is so important.

We use the word commit suicide. You don’t commit a heart attack, cancer or high blood pressure. These are things that you experience. The criminalization of the behavior is terrible and the judgment of it. What people don’t recognize is people who choose this oftentimes, what we don’t know is that these are the strongest souls on the planet. We don’t know what they’re going through day in and day out and it becomes too much for them.

Many times, we will judge them. We’ll say, “You’re weak. You’re through in the white flag. You gave up.” Not at all. Suicide is not the answer. I’m not certainly Dr. Kevorkian here and promoting it, but I am promoting letting go of judgment and looking at what people who crossover want to remember us by. By that, I mean they want us to remember the lives that they lived and not the burdens that they suffered.

They want us to remember who they are. They want us to live as undeniable proof of their existence. Not holding onto the pain that might have happened in the end. Not that at all. Also, they’re here to help us out, too, because it continues. The work that they maybe did here, they continue over there. At least for myself, I can certainly say that it’s impacted me.

In my NDE, I had a last life lifetime that I remembered in which I did this myself. I had a death by suicide, which there is no death. I remembered the moments when I felt my back was against the wall. There was no hope. I could fully understand the patients that I work with on a daily basis. I remembered after that, my soul ascended and there was no judgment. No, whatever, but my NDE was similar. I was suffocated by life force. I was holding onto that and through the power of surrender, through the power of letting go to the breath of eternity, there was continuity. With anyone who is struggling, it’s about being able to surrender to help. Not trying to do it on your own. Working with hotlines and mental health counselors like myself.

If you’re struggling and you’ve lost someone due to suicide, you’d be a great person to talk to.

I work full-time in the biggest hospital conglomerate in the United States in a psychiatric hospital. My pain in my last life, I’m working out of my karma this lifetime. I’m working with clients on the other side of the alley. Oftentimes people go down this road. Life does not end. There’s transformation just as there’s transformation in death and there’s transformation in suicide as well for souls. They’re able to help continue to guide us from their own perspective. There’s wholeness and healing that eventually does it happen.

Jake, this is another important thing I’ve been looking forward to asking you about because you have learned about what souls do when they’re on the other side and the different levels of existence for souls. For everyone reading, they say, “When I die, I’m crossing over and I’m not going to be in the same place as Aunt Millie over there,” could you explain that?

It’s so funny that you say Aunt Millie because that’s my grandmother’s name who passed away. I told her before she passed away, I said, “I’m writing a book called Jacob’s Ladder.” She goes, “Don’t you mean Jacob’s Bladder?” I go, “That’s a whole other book for another time, another place.” She had the whole Jewish humor.

The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder by Jacob Cooper

There are different levels on the other side. To me, when I crossed over, I was in the light realm. A lot of the levels on the other side, they carry over a lot of this earth energy that we have and the lives that we live. As you ascend, you let go of all that attachment and you become the light itself. A lot of it is denser and more like this reality. From my understanding, when you go high and higher, you’re in the light realm. That’s what I connected to. There are different dimensions.

Depending on the migration, you go to different parts of that light realm. It’s almost like a Law of Attraction where you’re attracted to that.

It’s like when you’re here. You were living in heaven on earth here. You weren’t separated from it. When you go, you ascend even higher. People don’t need to die to remember their eternity. They’re already there. Not that big of a transition inside of you but around you. There’s an incredible elevation in reunification with loved ones, certainly. What’s important is for people not to bypass this life on earth to embrace it.

This is a principle that I utilize a lot of my workshops, which is the concept of enthusiasm. People hear the word, and it’s like, “Sounds like a cool word or whatever.” Enthusiasm comes from the Greek word in enthous, which means the god within, the divine within. When you love what you do, you are connecting to the divine source itself.

What’s important is for each reader to find their passions and to awaken their passions, whatever that is. For me, it’s football, fragrances, eating or whatever. That’s what I’m passionate about. When I die, I’m going to continue probably to do some of that a little bit. The lives that we live here, the good stuff is reflective of what we do over there as well too.

What happens when you get over there? Do we have different jobs there or does it reflect back to what we did in this lifetime? Do people do service on the other side? Are they on vacation on the other side? Are they healing places on the other side?

It’s certainly there. It’s what you want out of it. If you want to have service, great. If you want to feel bliss, your vacation. I think the soul still has intentions. You don’t need to do that. You may be pushed. There’s a school there. There’s everything. It’s not dimensional. It’s multidimensional. There’s a choice. It says it’s not like, “You have to do this.” We’re used to having this reality.

It’s much more fluid.

It’s an endless buffet. If you want the sushi buffet, great. If you want the chicken wings, great. It’s a euphoric buffet. Whatever you want out of it, you can indulge without having our pants break a window while we leave.

Jake, why are some of our past lives significant to this current life? You talk about that in your book also. How does knowing this help in our healing process? What’s your viewpoint about the importance of healing as a mental health and reiki practitioner? Why should people go out of their way to heal? How does past life information inform that and help that healing?

Many of our lives are unconscious. Meaning we are not aware of why we are the way that we are. If you know the why, you can determine the how and the what. How will I get through this and what will I need to move through this? I look at it no differently than psychoanalytic work. When a client comes to me, instead of talking about stuff from the here now, I solution focus. We may go to a maybe earlier moment in time and go to the point of origin behind the pathology behind what they’re going through.

If you believe that the soul is eternal, you can go to the point of origin that may give you some clues or explanations as to why you are the way you are and why you’re going through what you’re going through. It’s important that it’s not pathologized. There are many gifts that could come through this awareness as well as more importantly, the knowing of the soul because you recognize we have many deaths, so we continue this process and there’s eternity. I think that it is very helpful for many people to experience that we don’t die. They’re able to have this from a belief to a knowing and regression therapy that I have.

When you help people to explore their past lives, I’m sure they often find different traumas that happen to them in those past lives. Do those traumas follow them into, say, this life and is that something you help them to heal also?

Your trauma holds itself within the body too. For instance, if I work with clients who might have been choked. They have a hard time swallowing pills or get short on breath. There’s a phenomenon that is very real. It’s called cellular memory. That means that the imprints of other lifetimes are whole with this cell of our bodies. Sometimes we unconsciously continue these patterns.

From a physical basis, some of those traumas could manifest itself and through healing, these people could navigate their needle and move through areas of health, emotional stuff and social dynamics. It’s a great triple-A to get people who might be stuck to unstuck without having to wait for hours on end or all the fees that come with it.

Jake, we’ve talked about how you help people on an individual basis. Do you want to talk to us about your spiritual and empowerment workshops? I know you have lessons of eternal consciousness for practical living. Any special offer you want to make to our audience? Is there anything you’d like to talk about?

I’m going to be in Lily Dale presenting. If you’re not familiar with Lily Dale, that’s the centerpiece of spiritualism and it’s a very historical site. Presidents and world leaders will go there for hundreds of years on our soil here. Also, very big on the women’s rights movements and progressive ideologies, so it’s very historic. I’m going to be presenting there on August 8th, I believe. I’ll be giving a three-hour workshop.

Lily Dale is near Buffalo, New York.

A 30-minute ride from Buffalo, New York. You could fly into there. I’m giving a workshop there. I’m also going to be doing a lot through Helping Parents Heal conferences, just other different online platforms and seminars. I work a lot on an online basis. I work very closely with grief. I work with the Forever Family Foundation.

I’ve had Helping Parents Heal and other parents who have lost kids. I do a lot of speaking engagements for them too. Hopefully, it’s important for people to be able to alter that box of possibility where they’re not under that ground, six feet under and it as a vegetable. That there is a possibility that their loved one continues. Near-death experiencers are living proof of the eternity of life. I try to work very closely with people who have experienced loss in grief.

It certainly changes your perception of what this life is all about. It’s tremendous. What is the Jacob Cooper tip for finding joy in life?

The Jake Cooper tip for finding joy in life is as simple as enthusiasm. Find what you are passionate about. Do not find that 5 or 10-year plan. Stop putting off life. Money could always come and go. Time in this reality cannot. I think what’s important is two things could be true at the same time. We could have that raw, human, vulnerable part of ourselves. We could have this wise mind, the aware mind, the spiritual parts and both things could be true and coexist in this reality. It’s important to work through from the wise mind to the lower mind. It’s all part of working through, not to bypass or avoid that part of ourselves.

Thank you, Jake. Through The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder, you’re teaching people how to see the sacred inside themselves and truly live their lives through open eyes, which is a tremendous gift to all of us. This enlightened quote from your book, “Climbing the rungs on the ladder of life is not the goal of our human experience. The foundation of life and what is eternally important is immaterial. Love is what matters.”

“You are not the sum of acquired wealth and status but instead, your value is how you give and receive love. It is no wonder why so many people are stressed as they are living their life for temporary meaning instead of living for eternity,” which we’ve been talking about. It’s so wise. I thought it was such a beautiful illustration of how people can become inspired by reading your book. For me, Jake, I want to thank you for all you do.

Thank you.

You help people heal and live conscious lives. I thank you from my heart for yet another illuminating and wise interview on the show. Make sure to follow us and like us on social @IreneSWeinberg on Instagram, Facebook and wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube. As I like to say, to be continued. Many blessings. Thank you so much, Jake, and bye for now. Thank you.

Thank you.

Guest Links:

• Visit Jacob Cooper’s Website
• Listen to Jacob’s Podcast
• Jacob’s First Interview on Grief and Rebirth Podcast
• Jacob’s book: Life After Breath and The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder
• Connect with Jacob on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok

Host Links:

• Irene Weinberg on Instagram
• Irene Weinberg on Facebook
• Irene Weinberg on Twitter
• Irene Weinberg – Rebirth, Grief + Healing Podcast on YouTube

About Jacob Cooper

Based on his near-death experience and past life regressions, Jacob L. Cooper, LCSW, shares insight about the mystery of life on the other side of the veil. In addition to peace and euphoria in the afterlife, we also experience these feelings in the physical world; there is so much more to live for, as we are much more resilient than we imagine. Jacob’s experience provides the guidance for others to experience past-life memories by assisting in the development of self-awareness and finding meaning in their experiences.

Jacob holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Reiki Master, Certified Hypnotherapist, and specializes in Past Life Regression Therapy. As a psychotherapist, Jacob works with individuals, groups, and families to uncover emotional barriers, promote improved wellness, and achieve resiliency. Jacob incorporates mindfulness and a spiritual approach to focus on the connection between the mind, body, and spirit. In effect, this teaches individuals how to improve cognitive processing and shift their perspective.

Jacob is a sought-after speaker on grief, wisdom, and consciousness, and offers meditation and mindfulness seminars to individuals and groups, many of whom have been diagnosed with cancer, developmental disabilities, and those experiencing symptoms of aging. Jacob has presented at the Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS), The Forever Family Foundation, Helping Parents Heal, spiritual centers, international universities, and public libraries. He is sought after with major media outlets and has been a featured guest on CBS Television, Coast To Coast Am with George Noory, IANDS Radio, The Dead Life with Allison Dubois and 94.3 The Shark with Jeffery Wands. He has published articles with Huffington Post’s Thrive Global.

Jacob’s seminars promote healing for those grieving, people who seek to understand continuity of consciousness beyond the physical body, and for those with anxiety associated with the fear of life after death. He is the best- selling author of Life After Breath, a memoir on his near-death experience (NDE) published by Waterside Productions, with literary agent is William Gladstone. Jacob resides and practices in Long Island, New York. His latest book The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder, has become a best-seller and well received.

Jacob is the host of “The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder” a profound channel available on YouTube and cross platforms. He provides his own insights from his expertise in working in the mental health field and his profound transformative experiences in his life. He also hosts experts and luminaries on his channel that will help to elevate viewers to higher rungs on their ladder.

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