After I inadvertently revived the nine year old boy (Dylan), that I had hung by the neck until he stopped breathing and let loose his bowels (which commonly occures when lower brain function is lost), the first words he spoke were, “I thought I was in heaven...”
I immediately asked him what he meant. He told me, “I saw a light... I thought it was heaven.” I questioned him more about his obvious near-death experience (NDE) later on, and he told me that the last thing he remembered about being hanged was me pushing his head down so he couldn't breath. The next thing he remembered was floating in a pitch black space, and then he saw a light in the distance that started getting bigger (closer?). He “felt” that the light was heaven. Then the next thing he remembered was that his neck was suddenly really sore and he was laying on his back on the floor (of the cabin) and I was yelling questions at him.
After I saw that he was conscious (moaning and in pain) I started demanding that he tell me his name and how old he was. I did this to see if his higher brain functions were working (I was aware that he could have been brain damaged from lack of oxygen to the brain).
When we spoke later I told Dylan that the light may or may not have been significant. I explained to him that there were different theories about what he experienced, but it was a commonly reported experience from people who nearly die.
After telling him what little I knew about current NDE theories (from heaven to hypoxia), I asked him if he still thought it was heaven that he saw. He shrugged and said he didn't know. I also asked him if he could choose between “there” (the light) and “here” (being alive) which he would choose. With only a slight hesitation he said he'd rather be alive.
Because of Dylan's NDE I decided recently to read up on the latest information about them. Not much has changed since I last read about such things. Everyone seems to think they know what NDEs are, but I'm not convinced by any of them. I don't really have my own theory, but I don't think anyone else has a good theory either.
I don't believe that the OBEs (out of body experiences) that typically go along with NDEs are any more (or less) real than dreams. But I also think that our dreams are perhaps the best clue we have as to the nature and possible significance of the NDE.
In fact, I'm convinced that dreams hold the key to the nature of the universe itself. If we ever come to understand what a dream is then we will also then understand reality itself, not to mention NDEs.
After all “(everything) we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” And that's what I believe (thank you Poe).
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Survival Without Struggle
The principle behind all martial arts is survival without struggle. This principle flows naturally from the knowledge that it is not possible to fail.
This is not the same as saying, “Failure is not an option”, which only invites struggle. Instead, a martial artist says, “Regardless of the outcome, I will not fail.” If I am defeated, then I will become stronger. And if I am victorious, then I will humbly look for a stronger opponent.
There is no anxiety or apprehension. There is no struggle in the conflict; only an exchange of power and a transformation of being.
This is the way of the peaceful warrior. It is the way of the shamman, the Christ, and the Buddha. It is the only way that makes any sense at all.
This is not the same as saying, “Failure is not an option”, which only invites struggle. Instead, a martial artist says, “Regardless of the outcome, I will not fail.” If I am defeated, then I will become stronger. And if I am victorious, then I will humbly look for a stronger opponent.
There is no anxiety or apprehension. There is no struggle in the conflict; only an exchange of power and a transformation of being.
This is the way of the peaceful warrior. It is the way of the shamman, the Christ, and the Buddha. It is the only way that makes any sense at all.
Friday, September 16, 2011
God Is A No-Brainer
As soon as you start to think about whether or not God exist, or even about what God expects from us if He does exist, then you have already completely missed the point.
God is a no-brainer. If you don't have a relationship with Him that does not depend on what you think, then you have not yet realized what your relationship to Him is.
Most people who call themselves agnostic are actually closer to God than most people who call themselves Christian. This should be obvious to anyone who has stopped thinking about God and started knowing Him.
Most agnostics believe in the self as the only arbitrator of their existence. Because of this, without realizing it, they have identified their connection, and hense their real relationship to God.
Just because they don't call it God, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Krishna, or anything at all, does not change what “It” is. Only a person who is caught up in the delusions of the mind would let words inform their relationship to the Universe, God, Self, whatever.
The fly knows as well as I, that God is, and cannot lie.
My brain thinks it knows God too, yet still asks, “Why?” instead of “Who?”
God is a no-brainer. If you don't have a relationship with Him that does not depend on what you think, then you have not yet realized what your relationship to Him is.
Most people who call themselves agnostic are actually closer to God than most people who call themselves Christian. This should be obvious to anyone who has stopped thinking about God and started knowing Him.
Most agnostics believe in the self as the only arbitrator of their existence. Because of this, without realizing it, they have identified their connection, and hense their real relationship to God.
Just because they don't call it God, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Krishna, or anything at all, does not change what “It” is. Only a person who is caught up in the delusions of the mind would let words inform their relationship to the Universe, God, Self, whatever.
The fly knows as well as I, that God is, and cannot lie.
My brain thinks it knows God too, yet still asks, “Why?” instead of “Who?”
Friday, September 9, 2011
Demonstrations Of True Love
I have written a lot about the nature of love, faith, hope, fear, ignorance and many other things, but nothing I have ever written has ever been meant to imply that things should be any different than what they already are.
I have written about our destiny as a world, and about the lessons we have yet to learn before true peace can be known. But that does not mean that things are not already as they should be. In order for us to learn and grow we must make mistakes, even hurt each other and ourselves. So, when I say we must love unconditionally, I do not mean that we are wrong, bad or evil, if we do not love so. The truth is that we do love each other unconditionally already, but only a few of us yet realize it (and even I can not yet say honestly that I am one who realizes).
To say we must love unconditionally is really only saying that we already do. But it takes true faith (which is no more than the complete dominance over fear) in order to realize it. Once we do realize our love for each other then it becomes no longer necessary to demonstrate that love; it becomes pointless to continue pretending to not love each other, which is how we so often attempt to unconsciously demonstrate our love. We pretend to hurt each other for the same reason a child pretends to cut open another child while playing doctor, or even to shoot and kill their best friend while playing at war. It is a game (how can anyone deny that it is a game after honestly observing the silly rules, a.k.a. laws and reasons, that we play these games according to to) that we play as an immature species, in order to learn for ourselves the ways of the much greater Universe that we must some day inherit.
So everything is exactly as it should be, but never as it will always be. Life is change, change means death and rebirth. Life is eternal after all.
I have written about our destiny as a world, and about the lessons we have yet to learn before true peace can be known. But that does not mean that things are not already as they should be. In order for us to learn and grow we must make mistakes, even hurt each other and ourselves. So, when I say we must love unconditionally, I do not mean that we are wrong, bad or evil, if we do not love so. The truth is that we do love each other unconditionally already, but only a few of us yet realize it (and even I can not yet say honestly that I am one who realizes).
To say we must love unconditionally is really only saying that we already do. But it takes true faith (which is no more than the complete dominance over fear) in order to realize it. Once we do realize our love for each other then it becomes no longer necessary to demonstrate that love; it becomes pointless to continue pretending to not love each other, which is how we so often attempt to unconsciously demonstrate our love. We pretend to hurt each other for the same reason a child pretends to cut open another child while playing doctor, or even to shoot and kill their best friend while playing at war. It is a game (how can anyone deny that it is a game after honestly observing the silly rules, a.k.a. laws and reasons, that we play these games according to to) that we play as an immature species, in order to learn for ourselves the ways of the much greater Universe that we must some day inherit.
So everything is exactly as it should be, but never as it will always be. Life is change, change means death and rebirth. Life is eternal after all.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Unemotional Love
Real love is not an emotion. A friend of mine once told me that real love is a choice. I thought I understood at the time, but I didn't. I thought he meant it was a choice to feel love for someone. But now I realize that real love is a choice to make someone else your top priority in life. Even if doing so causes you to feel unloved and forgotten, or any other emotional pain. Real love does not seek emotional pleasure, but finds happiness in suffering. As long as that suffering is for another person.
This can be confusing if it is not understood beyond words. For example, some people confuse masochistic suffering as real love. But in that case they are also confusing emotional pleasure with true happiness. True happiness, like true love, is not an emotion. It is simply a form of knowledge without confusion and doubt. It is knowing your purpose, and your ability to fulfill that purpose. Not a vague or imagined purpose. But a real and clear purpose that makes you smile when you think about it, even if you are in deep pain.
Another common mistake people make is thinking that love must be recipricated. True love is rarely recipricated, at least not in the present world. This is because real love is so rare in this world. The odds of two people being able to genuinely love each other actually meeting is very small. And even when such people do meet, they tend to unconsciously repell each other. Unless they come in close intimate contact. In that case they will lock into each other and become one. But this is extremely rare in the present world, and when it does happen it usually goes unnoticed by all but the two (or even rarer, three) who have become one.
I believe our destiny as a world is for everyone to become locked into each other to form one global “body-mind”. And I'm not the only one who believes this. I believe it because of what I have experienced within myself as reflected in the world. In other words, because of my direct experience, not because of something someone told me, or something I read. I always emphasize, it is not something that can be understood with words. It must be experienced. And so must real love, and real happiness.
Real love is when someone else's happiness is imperative to your own. And enlightenment is when everyone else's happiness is imperative to your own. And we make others the happiest by honestly being who we are.
This can be confusing if it is not understood beyond words. For example, some people confuse masochistic suffering as real love. But in that case they are also confusing emotional pleasure with true happiness. True happiness, like true love, is not an emotion. It is simply a form of knowledge without confusion and doubt. It is knowing your purpose, and your ability to fulfill that purpose. Not a vague or imagined purpose. But a real and clear purpose that makes you smile when you think about it, even if you are in deep pain.
Another common mistake people make is thinking that love must be recipricated. True love is rarely recipricated, at least not in the present world. This is because real love is so rare in this world. The odds of two people being able to genuinely love each other actually meeting is very small. And even when such people do meet, they tend to unconsciously repell each other. Unless they come in close intimate contact. In that case they will lock into each other and become one. But this is extremely rare in the present world, and when it does happen it usually goes unnoticed by all but the two (or even rarer, three) who have become one.
I believe our destiny as a world is for everyone to become locked into each other to form one global “body-mind”. And I'm not the only one who believes this. I believe it because of what I have experienced within myself as reflected in the world. In other words, because of my direct experience, not because of something someone told me, or something I read. I always emphasize, it is not something that can be understood with words. It must be experienced. And so must real love, and real happiness.
Real love is when someone else's happiness is imperative to your own. And enlightenment is when everyone else's happiness is imperative to your own. And we make others the happiest by honestly being who we are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)