Before we start I'd like to give an overview of my website. It asserts that life is a simulation, a VR game where earth's a prison run by a false gaud Demiurge that lures souls to the light to convince us to reincarnate so that archons can feed off our energy. As sovereign Spirits we can manifest our own reality after death via Intention & Will Power. Our soul is composed of translucent liquid light, but we can take any form we want. We don't even need to take a form. Ultimately, we are Awareness playing human roles & need to wake up & remember our true nature to exit this matrix and go to pure realms.
Adam, you sent an email to me with a clip from youTube about something going on in the world, I forget what it was, but you wrote, "I feel like the human race are doomed so what’s our escape method? " So I would like to focus on that question as I feel it is so critical. I just want to say that I am still researching this topic and this is not a permanent, definitive conclusion by any means. I am still receiving very valuable input from others virtually every day.
A very important aspect to know when determining an escape strategy is understanding where we came from and the nature of our cage.
Where we came from or how we got here brings into question the nature of what has been called God and what is the purpose of individual souls or Spirits and how that relates to what has been termed the ego.
I would like to address these issues and also attempt to clear up some misconceptions or points I haven't had time to make in other shows. For example, the question of whether one should go to the Light or not is a bit oversimplified, in my estimation. I don't know if I would characterize the light as a trick so much as we may just be deceiving or keeping "ourselves" from moving beyond to truer, more pure realms and settling for that which is illusion based or a dream. Things are not quite so black and white, in my opinion. There is also a very subjective nature to the afterlife. No two NDEs are exactly alike. In fact, many are quite different. It has also been said that there are varying levels of intensity regarding the light depending upon the purity of one's heart. Some see the light as cloudy or misty. Others describe the light as pure. So we may even be dealing with several lights. The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes a series of lights, appearing in pairs, one as a bright light and the other a soft light. The soft lights are to be avoided. The Tibetan Book of the Dead says to recognize the clear light immediately upon death and to merge with it immediately. So just what exactly is clear light? I will explain what it is later on. There are many near death experiences who report going to a void. Some found it frightening. May others found it extremely peaceful. Once again, one must wonder if there are more than one void and whether the quality of the experience is subjective based upon several factors such as whether one was in a good mood or bad mood during the time of the experience. For example, experiences caused by drug overdoses or suicides tend to be very negative.
Ultimately, I don't pretend to know the meaning of life, i dont think anyone can say for certain. No one who has ever died and remained dead has come back. We oviously don't hear from those who died and stayed on the other side, only from those who have been resuscitated and returned. They are the best resource we have since they have at least glimpsed what it is like on the other side, at least in the initial stages.
So I am going to be quoting a lot of near death experiencers, out of body experiencers and even those who have had spiritually tramsformative experiences via meditation and other methods. Those who have had a wide range of experiences. Hopefully, that will give us a good idea as what to expect at death and what our range of options are.
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Know Thyself?
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Recently, I had been leaning toward the idea that originally there was one being, call that being God or the Monad, but now I am not so sure about it. This being wanted to as the old axiom goes "know thyself" so it split itself into multiple emanations of lower frequency so it could perceive itself from various perspectives. For God to know what God is it had to take a look at the opposite what of God is not. So this lowering of frequency likely resulted in some ignorance and chaos. We are the dreams and thoughts of this God trying to understand itself. Most of us here on Earth have gone so far from the original Source we have forgotten who we originally were. Others of us remember and are trying to wake the others up as to what their true nature is. Frequency is wavelength and the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength. The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelength. So to return to our original zero point where all is one, we need to raise our frequency back and back to the center of the labyrinth. I even found some quotes from near death experiences which had this epiphany of God wanting to know Itself.
From NDERF.org:
Robyn: "During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? Yes Instead of God, I will use the term Source, as it has neither masculine or feminine energy to distort the message. Source is the source, the ONE infinite consciousness. Source has one desire, to know itself. Who am I? Source cannot know itself unless it divides itself into two, thus having another perspective to see itself from. This is where polarity and expansion cycles into eternity."
Hafur: "I only know that everything is eternal, pure consciousness and that we are in a mental dream that is permanently being constructed as a dynamic of consciousness that knows itself and recreates itself through each one of us. That we are the 'point of emptiness' where the void or nothingness of the universe becomes aware of itself... I know that everything I saw originates from thoughts, or the Universal Mind. It is projected in images and events that interact with lucid consciousness as an experience, and that this whole experience is a part the infinitude of that which is real on every plain or level of existence that we want to invent or divide into pieces so that our temporal mind can decipher it despite its limitations. I believe I understood that what we call God is the silence of indescribable life that is in everything, and everything is in it.
What we think or want to think is what is, come what may. In this way, the universe is constructed. It is like a game of consciousness that recognizes itself and recreates itself through each one of us, and at the same time, we are the 'point of nothingness' in which life becomes self-aware. It is difficult to express this. "
I merged into this energy so I know it intimately. Part of the experience of merging into it constituted watching creation of this universe and I experienced creation from two separate perspectives. I experienced it from my own perspective as kind of a witness watching it with, I'm sure you can understand, a lot of fascination. I also experienced it as the energy source of the universe. That's why I call it Source because this energy field that existed before our universe created our universe. And I was inside it enough to experience creation from its perspective...
This energy source existed alone. What I understand of its nature is just a little tiny bit. I'm not sure if that's because it doesn't understand its own nature or because that's all I got or that's all I remember. But my impression was that this energy is part of a greater energy source or a greater species of entities or... it's not the end-all be-all. There's something larger or greater, more powerful than it. But this energy source is definitely what we call God. This energy source was alone experiencing itself.
Like a little baby, it went through its repertoire of behaviors, emotions, sensations getting to know itself. It learned that it's extremely, I mean excruciatingly, loving. We in these bodies cannot even begin to imagine the intensity of the love this being feels for itself and everything that it creates. It realized that it had explored itself to its fullest. It understood its nature and its capabilities and its powers, its emotions, its thoughts, and came to the point where it wanted to experience what it could imagine -- things that it did not have innately, but could imagine. Things like fear. The source energy has no fear, but it can imagine fear. Pain. It feels no pain because it's not physical matter, but it can imagine pain. Hatred. Betrayal. Deprivation. Condescension. A zillion things it could imagine, but couldn't feel or experience or live because it's not its nature. Its nature is loving and kind and giving and curious and creative and wonderful, joyful, but it can imagine not being that way. And it wanted to experience what that felt like. This being was all-knowing just like we've been taught: our God is all-knowing. But knowing something and knowing that exists isn't the same as living it. Just like we can read a book and learn mathematics, but that's not the same as being a number and being part of mathematics. We can read about the stars and the planets, but that's not the same as being on those stars and planets and experiencing them.
So what this energy source did was decide to create a universe -- what we call a universe -- full of imaginings. From its perspective, they're thoughts, creative thoughts. Imagination just like we experience imagination. It wanted this universe to reflect itself, but also all the things that it could imagine that were NOT like itself. It wanted this universe to expand and what I call evolve and by evolve I don't mean higher in terms of a hierarchy. I mean evolve in terms of changing. It wanted the universe to move out away from it, to move all the way from it and then curve back and be absorbed back into it. And what I saw is that all that has happened and we are now back on the backswing. Our universe is headed back to the Source and will dissolve back into the Source. I don't remember how close we are to that.
It wanted the universe to, like itself, have creative processes within it. So Source did not create planets and stars and beings and cars and pigs and dogs and trees and all those things. Source created the processes that would generate those things creatively in an ever changing, ever fascinating creation. So Source created physical matter, but by that I don't mean 'I'm here. Physical matter's there.' It's not creating like we do as a human where we put things that are outside of us together and, viola, we have something new. When Source creates, it manifests and manifesting is focusing attention and intention on something being. So when the Bible says 'Let there be...' that's really sort of a shorthand way for how Source created the universe. Source focused its attention, its energy, its thoughts and willed into being this entire universe within its own mind, within its own energy. " end-quote
In the Beginning, there is The Infinite One. This is the Source of All. Intelligent Infinity. It is the undifferentiated absolute. Within It, is unlimited potential, waiting to 'become'. Think of it as the "uncarved block" of your Taoist traditions.
Infinite Intelligence, becoming 'aware' of Itself, seeks to experience Itself, and The One Infinite Creator is 'born', or 'manifest' (This appears to your 3rd Density comprehension as "Space"). In effect, the 'Creator', is a point of focused Infinite Consciousness or awareness, into Infinite Intelligent Energy. The One Infinite Creator also becoming self aware, seeks too to experience Itself as Creator, and in so doing, begins the next step down in the Creational spiral. The One Infinite Creator, in focusing It's Infinite Intelligence, becomes Intelligent Energy (which you could call the Great Central Sun), and divides Itself into smaller portions of Itself, that can then in turn experience themselves as Creators (or Central Suns). In other words, each Central Sun (or Creator) is a 'step down' in Conscious awareness (or distortion) from the Original 'thought' of Creation. So "In the beginning" was not "The Word", but Thought. The Word, is thought expressed and made manifest as Creator.
There is Unity. Unity is All there is. Infinite Intelligence, and Infinite Energy. The two are One, and within them, is the potental for all Creation. This state of Consciousness could be termed as 'Being'.
Infinite Intelligence does not recognize it's 'potential'. It is the undifferentiated absolute. But Infinite Energy recognizes the potential of 'becoming' all things, in order to bring any desired experience into 'being'.
Intelligent Infinity can be likened to the central 'Heartbeat' of Life, and Infinite Energy as the Spiritual 'Life-blood' (or potential) which 'pumps out' for the Creator to form the Creation...
Creation is based upon the 'Three Primary Distortions of The Infinite One'.
1). Free Will:
In the first Law (or distortion) of Creation, the Creator receives the Free Will to know and experience Itself as an individuated though (paradoxically) unified aspect of The One.
2). Love:
In the second Law of Creation, the initial distortion of Free Will, becomes a focus point of awareness known as Logos, or 'Love' (or The Word in biblical terms). Love, or Logos, using It's Infinite Intelligent Energy, then takes on the role of co-creating a vast array of physical illusions ('thought forms') or Densities (which some call Dimensions) in which according to It's Intelligent design, will best offer the range of 'potential' experiences in which It can know Itself.
In effect, the One Infinite Creator, in dividing Itself into Logos, could be termed in your 3rd Density understanding as a 'Universal Creator'. In other words, Logos, creates on a Universal level of Being. Logos creates physical Universes, in which It and the Creator may experience theirself.
("Let there be Light")
3). Light:
To manifest this Infinite spiritual or 'Life-Force' Energy into a physical thought form of Densities, Logos creates the third distortion, of Light. From the three original Primary distortions of The One into making the Creation, arise myriad hierarchies of other sub-distortions, containing their own specific paradoxes. The goal of the Game is to enter into these in further divions of Creation, and then seek to harmonize the Polarities, in order to once again know Oneself as the Creator of them.
The nature of all such physically manifest Energy, is Light. Wherever thus exists any form of physical 'matter', there is Light, or Divine Intelligent Energy at it's Core or Centre.
Something which is Infinite cannot be 'other than', or 'many', An Infinite Creator knows only Unity. Thus, drawing upon It's Infinite Intelligence, the Infinite Creator designed a blueprint based on the finite principles of Free Will of Awareness and sub-level Creations, which in turn, could become aware of themselves, and seek to experience themselves as Creators. And so the "Russian Doll" style experiment was 'stepped down' and down and down. Levels of Creation within levels of Creation.
The One Infinite Creator (or Great Central Sun) steps down It's Infinite Energy to become Logos. Logos in turn designs vast Universes of Space (as yet unmaterialized), stepping down and splitting Itself again, into Logoi (plural), in other words, into an array of Central Suns which will each become a Logos (or 'co-creator') of It's own Universe, with each unique individualized portion of the One Infinite Creator, containing within It as It's very essence, Intelligent Infinity.
Using the Law of Free Will, each Universal Logos (Central Sun) designs and creates It's own version or perspective of 'physical reality' in which to experience Itself as Creator. Stepping down again, It focuses It's Intelligent Energy and creates the unmanifest form of Galaxies within Itself, and splits Itself into yet further 'co-creator' portions ('Sub-Logos' or Suns) which in turn will then design and manifest their own ideas of physical reality in the form of points of Conscious Awareness that we call Suns Stars and Planets.
A 'planetary entity' (or 'Soul') begins the first Density of experience, into which another individualized portion of The One can incarnate. Just as with all Logos and Sub Logos of Creation, each Soul is yet another smaller unique portion of The Infinite One. At first, the Intelligent Energy of the planet is in a state that you could call 'chaos', meaning that It's Energy is undefined. Then the process begins again. The planetary Energy begins to become aware of Itself (the 1st Density of awareness is 'Consciousness'), and the Planetary Logos (sub-sub-Logos in effect) begins to create other downward steps within Itself, and the internal make up of the planet begins to form; as the raw elements of air and fire combine to 'work on' the Waters and Earth, thus arising conscious awareness of their 'being', and the process of 'evolution' begins, forming the 2nd Density.
2nd Density beings begin to become aware of themselves, as being 'separate', and thus begin to evolve toward the 3rd Density of self-conscious-awareness, (the lowest Density into which a 'human soul' can incarnate).
Humans in turn (or the Souls incarnated within them), seek to 'return to the Light' and Love, from which they came, as they begin the journey of progression, from 3rd Density up to the 8th Density, and the return to The Infinite One-ness..." end-quote
The question is how much of the information is accurate and trustworthy? If it is disinfo it still would need some truth mixed in with the lies to get people to believe it. Now, for the most, part it seems pretty forthcoming.... admitting that it is all just a game and "evil" is just a role they are supposed to play in order for our development, etc. I am sure there must be disinfo in there to mislead souls. After all, it is a game and he has admitted being on the team of the antagonists so I would imagine lying might be allowed. Doesn't seem right or fair, but that is part of warfare here on Earth.
One possibly deceptive message here is he says, "When you can do this, and the next Harvest comes, you will have earned the right to join us, and enjoy your inheritance, as a member of the Galactic Community, and you will sit with us as Brothers and Sisters of The One, around the table of our Galactic Governing Body, the Confederation of Planets." Another is that we need to stay within a "soul group" where we belong and evolve with the same group, and we need to keep incarnating to help others from this group to evolve and be liberated. Buddhism view is totally different. Every one has a complete freedom and not bound by any groups, affiliations, contracts and so on, and every one needs to work primarily on their own liberation (while we could be helping others in the process), but the main goal is to become totally liberated and enlightened. And ONLY THEN we can start helping others by safely projecting our bodies as Boddhisattvas to lower worlds to help other souls. In other words, liberate yourself first of all and then you will have more power to help others and do it safely for yourself.
I guess there are different ways to live and evolve: as soul-groups and as sovereign beings. Both are valid, it's whatever we choose. Hidden Hand was promoting the soul-group scenario.
And regarding souls playing this game Hidden Hand wrote, "All of this (physical life / incarnation), is a very intricate and skillfully designed Game, whereby the One Infinite Creator, plays the game of forgetting who It is, so that It can learn to remember, and in doing so, experience and know Itself as Creator. All the way down to us tiny individuated sparks of the All That Is. Off stage, and between "Lives" (zero-point time / anti-matter Universe) as incarnated "human beings", we, all of us / you (as Souls), are great friends. Brothers and Sisters in The One.
Between 'lives' we all have a great laugh about the parts we have performed in the 'play', and look forward to and have great fun preparing the next chapters to act out...
As for "fighting for the freedom of all souls", remember that ultimately, this is a Game, that we are all playing here. We are actors, playing on the "stage of Life". This 'world' is all illusion, or 'though-form'. No one really "dies", and no one is really hurt. In between incarnations, you know this very well. But the rules of the game ensure that you must forget who you really are, so that you believe it is all 'real' whilst you are playing the game of Life. That is an essential prerequisite when you are making choices. Otherwise, the game would be too easy.
This world is not reality. Though we can express Reality in it, if we so chose.
ATS: OK, so your family and fellow elites might be as entrapped in the Earthly realm as we are, but why actively propagate and aid the forces of enslavement?
HH: Because that is the part we have been contracted to play, in this game. In order to "win" (or more accurately to be successful in) the Game, we must be as Negatively Polarized as possible. Service to Self in the extreme. Violence, War, Hatred, Greed, Control, Enslavement, Genocide, Torture, Moral Degradation, Prostitution, Drugs, all these things and more, they serve our purpose. In the Game. The difference between us and you, in the Game, is that we know that we are "playing". The less you know about the Game, and the less you remember that you're a player, the more "senseless" living becomes. In all these Negative things, we are providing you with tools. But you do not see it. It is not what we do, but how you react to it, that is important. We give you the tools. You have the Free Will choice how you will use them. You have to take responsibility. There is only One of Us here. Understand that, and you will understand the Game....
Remember, always, that this is a beautiful Game that we are playing here and co-creating together, with our Infinite Creator. And that "off stage" (between lives) we are the very best of friends, and that no one really "dies" and no one really "suffers", except in the Game. The Game is not Reality. Reality is Reality, and you have the Power to Express your Reality within the Game, once you have learnt how to do so...
No Soul is terminally corrupted. Every Soul is a beautiful individuated portion of our One Infinite Creator. Souls play characters in the Game of Incarnation. Souls can play some really mean and nasty characters, but underneath the disguise, they will always be beautiful. Remember this, everytime one of these beautiful Souls 'mistreats' you as a part of their storyline. They're just playing their part, like any good actor does whilst on stage. Be thankful to them for their Sacrifice, and learn the lessons they are bringing to you...
HH: Indeed. 'pain' and 'suffering' are just aspects of the Game. They feel extremely real whilst we are playing the Game, and indeed they have to, in order to make you believe that the Game is real. No-one really "dies". But rather, the 'matter' of human form is shed, much like the chrysalis of a caterpillar, when the butterfly emerges. Look upon physical incarnation as the chrysalis in which you may transform.
ATS: I feel as though I am like Shelby, but have lost my way, or I am just so confused and not in-tune with my inner-self that I can not figure out what is my purpose in this game. Is there anything you can shed upon this?
HH: Your purpose in the Game, is to work upon yourself. To grow, develop, and transform yourself into a more positive and loving being. You had certain goals that you planned to achieve before incarnating here, which is a main reason for the veil of forgetfulness being in place, because if you already knew what your goals were, the Game would be too easy...
The object of the Game, is to wake up within the 'dream', and in effect, become a 'Lucid Gamer'. To remember who you really are during the Game, and to then begin working upon the things you came here for. Re-reading this topic, with discernment, will provide you with plenty of clues on how you may choose to go about this. " end-quote
It is very revealing that Hidden Hand has admitted that as an agent of so-called evil he is just playing a role in this game of Hide and Go Seek that we play with ourself. But as in any game it is important to recognize what in his message is disinfo or lies meant to derail us from winning the game. He is pushing the idea of incarnating as soul groups and merging with larger groups or entities versus the idea of being a Sovereign Spirit and becoming liberated individually.
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In Gaud We Trust?
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It seems every area I research and every piece of evidence I come across all keep pointing to the notion that there is a Demiurge, that is afalse god or fallen deity running this show here on Earth. Jurgen Ziewe is one of the most prolific out of body experiencers and lucid dreamers having had over 100 OBEs and written three books. In his book "Multidimensional Man" he recounted a very profound one overing fifteen pages. Here are a few excerpts regarding demiurge type presences.
"I was not alone. There were millions like myself, sparkling orbs, the souls of others, bobbing along on a vast expanse of colored light, attached to sparkling filaments fused to a living counterpart down below in some distant darkness.
... an endless armada of giant thought shapes was drifting in front of me, each vying for my attention. I could pick on any shape at will and its living reality surrounded me on all sides and offered me its inner secret. Some were gigantic structures, alien and complex and of beguiling mystery and beauty.
Their textures, design and character differed tremendously from thought-form to thought-form, as did their colors and sounds. It was only too easy to be seduced by any of these shapes and to apprehend their inner meaning. They liked nothing more than attention and drew their sustenance from it. They were animated by a quest for expansion, grabbing sympathetic energy in their path like greedy exotic sea creatures. They wove their way around alien matter, growing as they grazed on the energy being sent towards them by orbs of light.
Some of them formed colonies covering large territories. I saw the formation of whole ideologies and theories, creating complex worlds within themselves. From up here I could see countless belief systems as incredibly complex shapes. I saw that once immersed in any of those structures the perspective of the world changed for good. The center of the thought felt like the center of the universe itself. It was difficult to argue against them, each vying for space and attention.
How easy it seemed for people to become seduced and ensnared by these grand designs. The sheer pressure of them, how each thought provided refuge, belonging and identity, because beyond them appeared to be nothing but dark and empty space. How many people, I thought, understand that they have the power to rise above and observe these thoughts for what they are: temporary resting places, no more than inventions, giving us the illusion that we are in control. And yet they were as fleeting as clouds. When my interest waned and attention withdrew, they withered away into nothingness.
I was fascinated by this powerful display. The passions and energies invested in them made them shine and stand out like grand edifices, singing the glory of their creators, many of them hypnotized by their beauty and artistic perfection.
Occasionally, majestic structures drifted through my field of vision with great authority, rolling slowly through the vast deep space like gigantic alien star ships, so vast that I could barely see where they finished. Millions of orbs were attached to them, attracted by their sheer size and presence, enjoying the ride and the company of fellow crew members. It was driven by a powerful engine at its center, which was nothing less than a gigantic star, sitting at the top of a magnificent dome for everyone to see. Inside the dome, millions worshipped it like their God.
Another big spaceship caught my attention. This one had the cool beauty of complex geometric ornamentation, joined together skillfully by billions of intricate patterns and shapes like crystals, arranged ingeniously to perfection. When looking for its mode of propulsion, I saw that huge blue orbs of light were its energy source, pulling it along, mining knowledge from the deep mysterious space surrounding it. In its wake it created new geometric shapes, which were harvested eagerly and absorbed into the structure of the gigantic ship. Any other forms it encountered were probed with purpose and curiosity. Occasionally, it unearthed gigantic treasures, which reverberated and reconfigured the ship's design and greatly increased its power. Its great authority was undeniable, because it was multidimensionally expanding, both laterally and vertically, sending its beneficial energies into the worlds below. Awestruck by its precision, its clear-cut beauty and perfect design, I watched its slow, but unrelenting progress and admired the scientific ingenuity of our species to create such grand structures. Its charisma was one of rationality and reason, cool and measured.
There were millions of such shapes. Some small but evolving and growing, others lumbering and fading into the ocean of billions of thoughts that burst into life, clustering around each other like living creatures. This was an enormous world, a whole universe in itself - the creation of man: Gods and creators in our own right.
I felt great freedom in the exploration. Each structure had a reason to be and to exist, just like any other creature in the world; they were products of our species, borne out of need and the desire for knowledge and understanding. They were the songs of our thirsting souls." end-quote
"The higher hierarchy in our universe is the hierarchy related to the so called Primordial Man. The PM, which seems to be – but is not – a giant, a father, the white bearded god. It gives you the impression to be your father, your defender but in reality wants to be your master (in the sense of owner or boss ). Beyond this kind of appearance is hidden his real form which is the form of a fish. A fish-man...
The PM will attach to the Soul component of the person, which is different than the other beings who parasite, who generally only have a mind and spirit component. They attach to mind and/or spirit). The PM will try to keep you coming back lifetime after lifetime unless you willfully disconnect from him in this cyclic process...
They may enter into someones life through some higher being, who tells you that you can ascend now. Or some Ascended Master scheme, playing on your ego, telling you that you are special, more evolved. They may try to lure you to “Come up to us at this level, bla bla”. We at first thought it was LUX doing this. Malanga called them “those from higher dimensions/planes”, like Archangels and Metatron. The ones behind many New Age Ascension thoughts. They are out of this creation on another level of existence."
Q: -Perhaps these are like the Titans or Gods from the Buddhist 6 Realms of Existence definition? In this realm, those from the God Realms must eventually come down to human level in order to evolve... (In other words those who realize they as humans have already descended down from higher levels of creation to earth, places where these so called “Gods” are now and we are on our way back to the Source. The human realm of existence–according to Buddhist cosmology, is the only realm of the six where we can become free from samsara, illusion.)
A: Yes it may be! We can now say we are sure from testimonies of ex-abductees having had the issues with these ones and having recall and experience the journey backwards. We already came down from this level (the alleged higher “Gods” level) to experience and realize the nature of our soul here as humans: Duality is illusion, freedom from samsara, etc. Now, these ascended “God” beings tell you that you deserve to come up to where they are, saying we are at a lower level and to pray, meditate and so forth in order to ascend, etc. They offer us a place in paradise in the 5th dimension. They are trying to lure you back in the net, a golden prison. This can happen in dreams or channeled through someone. They are similar to us in that they have a soul part but are afraid to come down to our level in order to continue their evolutionary process. They are collaborating with Horus-Ra in order to keep us stupid here to maintain this reality. They tend to want to take the ones who are waking up, and then isolate them from others." end-quote
The Primordial Man figure is very similar to the Demiurge concept and in NDEs a powerful being of light keeps sending souls back to learn more (love, knowledge) or perfect themselves / atone for wrongdoings. /and back down they go to suffer (or give away energy). To learn to love or have compassion someone has to suffer so that love or compassion can be shown. Thus, two people are suffering. NDErs say the light is love already and that they knew everything in the universe -- past, present, and future. So why the need to know even more or to grow even more? We've been coming here for thousands, or millions, of years and evidently we still haven't learned enough, even as a collective. When is enough enough? If we are infinite Spirit, then how can you possibly grown or learn more? You are infinite already. Were we created ignorant and without power? The system doesn't seem to be a very good one if it is not working any better than that. Unless, the system is working exactly as intended --- to deceive us and to continually siphon energy from us. They say they knew everything while there, but weren't told why they needed to come back. Seems like some sort of mind control going on.
After trillions of human incarnations they still did not figured it out? To me it looks more like an unending addictive entertainment. They are probably bored there of being in "perfect love" and have a hunger for thrilling experiences. Look at how they come in large numbers to watch the life reviews - it's like watching thriller movies for them. This kind of entertainment they have is rather unhealthy and addictive so to speak. It's similar to a horror movie theater or gambling house here on earth. I think Buddhist cosmology describes this realm of Brahma pretty well: Kamadhatu - "the sphere of passions/desires".
One thing that is still very dishonest is: they (Brahma and his "elite") do not incarnate themselves, they don't want to have the "first-hand" experience of our horrors, they are afraid. But they use us like "gladiators" to go into that thriller virtual reality that they created in order to have those experiences so that they can entertain themselves, sending someone else to live vicariously through because they themselves don't want to endure the suffering firsthand. Reminds me of the generals who send men off to war to die in the front line.
I don't know if it's entirely true, but our miserable conditions here on Earth are definitely favorable for enlightenment. Most people that I know who went through enlightenment experience did it out of suffering.
Buddhism also has many teachings about a Demiurgic figure and the need to liberate oneself from this prison or wheel of samsara or illusion which is a reincarnational trap. According to the Buddha, "From Ignorance spring Fabrications, from Fabrications springs Consciousness, from Consciousness spring Mind and Material Form, from Mind and Material Form, the six Organs of Sense, from the six Organs of Sense, Contact, from Contact, Sensations, from Sensations, Desire, from Desire, Attachment, from Attachment, Becoming, from Becoming, Birth, from Birth spring Decay, Death, Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief and Despair. Thus, the whole mass of suffering originates." So we must overcome desires and attachments especially sensual ones and detach from thoughts.
I'd like to share some insightful thoughts I received over a series of emails from a conversation I had with someone very knowledgeable in this area. He wishes to remain anonymous. He wrote,
"Hello Wayne,
I read your site with great interest. I never had NDE myself but studied a lot of them and also practiced and studied a lot of religious traditions. What you are saying makes a lot of sense to me.
My understanding is that the reality is some sort of "universal consciousness" where we all are personal "centers of awareness" and we all are originally equal parts of this consciousness. Like it is said in Hinduism "Consciousness is all there is". We all equally have free will, the power of manifestation and all have the spiritual energy and ability to manifest reality from our thoughts and desires. But we also have some sort of "soul" made of mental patterns, desires and emotional memories (can call it "karma") and we tend to manifest our reality or get attracted to other realities manifested by other beings or groups of beings that resonate with our own vibrations or satisfy our desires. It's much like in our physical reality where one person is drawn to playing or listening to the classical music and socializing with music lovers while another person is drawn to bars and socializes with alcoholics.
I'm not a Buddhist per se but I think Buddhism has an interesting cosmology describing a great multitudes of worlds where souls reincarnate according to their "karma", i.e. desires, attachments, addictions, interests etc. They describe our material world belonging to "Kamaloka", which means the "sphere of desires/passions". The higher sphere (astral world where the NDErs usually go) is called "Brahmaloka" and was manifested by Brahma, who is actually a fallen soul from even higher spheres. He initially manifested the Brahmaloka according to his desires and later other souls started incarnating or be drawn to his world which made him think that he was the one who created them. Brahma is not considered evil, he wants to keep his world to be a good habitat for his servant souls. The Kamaloka and our so-called "material" world (although there is nothing really "material" here) is controlled by malicious beings like Mara (=Satan/Demiurge) and his servants who have their own agenda and whom Brahma does not control. Below I will describe how I think Brahma, Mara and similar powerful beings get their powers.
I have a suspicion that this consciousness reality has some mechanism of mutual exchange of energy and ability to manifest. If one guest soul enters the creation/manifestation of another host soul and subdues to him agreeing to have a lower role in the host's "reality game", then the guest looses part of his manifesting ability and creative energy which goes to the "host". This mechanism is easy to abuse which I think happens in many worlds.
In some cases (take Brahma for example) the host positions himself as a God that expects love, worship and submission from his servants. He may wish his servants even to "merge" with him while keeping his Master's position in the union. Such host being may not necessarily be evil, he may actually love his servants and care for them and may himself really believe that he is doing a good work creating a good habitat for them, and his servants may share this belief. But by doing that he in fact acquires a part of energy and manifestation power from each of his servants and this is how he becomes powerful and his energetic and manifestation abilities multiply, which only further supports his and his servants belief that he is indeed a "God".
In other cases the host can be more malicious and get the servants to subdue to him by deceiving them, or using their submissive tendencies and desires, or attracting them into his reality game world by using their addictions and passions. This may be how the hellish worlds function and how our world on Earth works.
Mara/Demiurge attracts malicious souls like himself by offering them on the Earth a lot of opportunities to satisfy their passions and addictions. But he also needs "good" souls to do creative and constructive work on the planet, otherwise the addicts will quickly destroy and consume everything. He partly recruit the good ones by deceit, partly by appealing to their unsatisfied desires and passions that they could fulfil on Earth. So to be honest each of us who came here, even the "good" ones, have some darker sides that wanted to live on Earth and have opportunity to satisfy their lower desires. We get here what we actually wanted. So although I understand that this system is controlled by Demiurge, I don't blame him for my sufferings. I got here what I wanted and what I consciously and freely agreed to when I signed my contract and I'm paying the price for that. I was actually amazed to read in your interview that Demiurge has "millions of souls lined up for incarnation on Earth". He is actually a sort of drug seller, but we who buy his drugs are no less guilty than him.
But just like in our human world, I think there is no one in full control in any of the worlds, neither Brahma nor Demiurge, it's just a community where more powerful beings get power by enslaving their servants, just like in human society politicians and business owners get power and wealth by getting other people to support them, subdue to them and work for them. And just like on Earth there are countries with totalitarian regimes and there are more developed democratic countries, but even in democratic ones there is no lack of power games, political and economic manipulation and willful enslavement.
So the bottomline is: we are all Gods, originally equal, free and able to manifest realities. But if we want to avoid being trapped into the world of our own desires/addictions or into the worlds manifested by desires of other beings then we should be really careful about what we want and what we manifest and with whom we socialize. This reality is very powerful but there is a great danger in it - we can easily become victims and slaves of the realities that we create.
So yes, we need to increase your vibration level, purify our souls of low-frequency carnal desires and ascend to higher and purer worlds or manifest our own ones in order to escape the entrapment into this material/astral reality game. We do not need to believe in any Gods or practice any religion for that. Buddhist cosmology talks about highest pure worlds, "worlds of forms" or Rupaloka, where beings have no low-vibrational passions and addictions but live pure and beautiful lives full of unattached love, beauty and creativity. Beings in these world are honest and have pure intensions, they do not have any desire to manipulate, enslave or subdue other beings in order to steal their energy and manifestation powers. It's a free community of equal fellow souls sharing common interests. Buddhists believe that beings in those worlds tend to stay there forever and usually do not reincarnate into lower worlds. However, some beings still can fall from there if they develop lower vibrational desires.
So hope to meet you there in the pure worlds ! :)
Many thanks,..." end-quote
He also told me:
"Buddha said that the origin of souls is unknown to him and the memories of the origin is lost in endless reincarnation cycles. He said that he recalled many of his past lives in many planes and worlds but it has always been just reincarnations one after another. He also said that Brahma (the "creator" of our astral world) falsely believes that he created the whole world and all souls in it (because he is unaware of the existence of higher planes and forgot his previous lives there). Buddha said that Brahma actually fell and reincarnated from higher planes and started manifesting the astral projections, and then other souls started coming (incarnating) and he thought that he created them (because he wanted companions). " end-quote
Brahma was the creator god in Hinduism, and Buddhism subsequently adopted him as a leading god and and heavenly king.
In the Brahma-nimantanika Sutta: The Brahma Invitation, the Buddha faces two antagonists: Baka, a brahma who believes that his brahma-attainment is the highest attainment there is; and Mara, who wants (1) to keep Baka under his power by allowing Baka to maintain his deluded opinion, and (2) to prevent the Buddha from sharing his awakened knowledge with others.
The text says,
"Baka Brahma saw me coming in the distance and, on seeing me, said, 'Come, good sir. You are well-come, good sir. It has been long, good sir, since you arranged to come here — for this, good sir, is constant. This is permanent. This is eternal. This is total. This is not subject to falling away — for here one does not take birth, does not age, does not die, does not fall away, does not reappear. And there is no other, higher escape.'
"When this was said, I told Baka Brahma, 'How immersed in ignorance is Baka Brahma! How immersed in ignorance is Baka Brahma! — in that what is actually inconstant he calls "constant." What is actually impermanent he calls "permanent." What is actually non-eternal he calls "eternal." What is actually partial he calls "total." What is actually subject to falling away he calls "not subject to falling away." Where one takes birth, ages, dies, falls away, and reappears, he says, "For here one does not take birth, does not age, does not die, does not fall away, does not reappear." And there being another, higher escape, he says, "There is no other, higher escape."'
"Then Mara, the Evil One, taking possession of an attendant of the Brahma assembly, said to me, 'Monk! Monk! Don't attack him! Don't attack him! For this Brahma, monk, is the Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Sovereign Lord, the Maker, Creator, Chief, Appointer and Ruler, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be....So I tell you, monk, "Please, good sir, do only as Brahma says. Don't defy the word of Brahma. If you defy the word of Brahma, then — as a man, when the goddess of fortune approaches, chases her away with a stick, or as a man, falling into hell, loses hold of the earth with his hands and feet — that will be what you have accomplished. Please, good sir, do only as Brahma says. Don't defy the word of Brahma. Don't you see that Brahma's assembly has gathered?"' And so Mara the Evil One directed my attention to Brahma's assembly.
"When this was said, I told Mara the Evil One, 'I know you, Evil One. Don't assume, "He doesn't know me." You are Mara, Evil One. And Brahma, and Brahma's assembly, and the attendants of Brahma's assembly have all fallen into your hands. They have all fallen into your power. And you think, "This one, too, has come into my hands, has come under my control." But, Evil One, I have neither come into your hands nor have I come under your control.'
"When this was said, Baka Brahma told me, 'But, good sir, what is actually constant I call "constant." What is actually permanent I call "permanent." What is actually eternal I call "eternal." What is actually total I call "total." What is actually not subject to falling away I call "not subject to falling away." Where one does not take birth, age, die, fall away, or reappear, I say, "For this does not take birth, does not age, does not die, does not fall away, does not reappear." And there being no other, higher escape, I say, "There is no other, higher escape."
"'There were, monk, before your time, brahmans & contemplatives in the world whose ascetic practice lasted as long as your entire life span. They knew, when there was another, higher escape, that there was another, higher escape; or, when there was no other, higher escape, that there was no other, higher escape. So I tell you, monk, both that you will not find another, higher escape, and that, to that extent, you will reap your share of trouble & weariness. Monk, if you relish earth, you will lie close to me, lie within my domain, for me to banish and to do with as I like. You will lie close to me, lie within my domain, for me to banish and to do with as I like.'
"'I, too, know that, brahma. If I relish earth, I will lie close to you, lie within your domain, for you to banish and to do with as you like. If I relish liquid ... fire ... wind ... beings ... devas ... Pajapati ... brahma, I will lie close to you, lie within your domain, for you to banish and to do with as you like. Moreover, I discern your sphere, I discern your splendor: "Baka Brahma has this much great power. Baka Brahma has this much great might. Baka Brahma has this much great influence."' "'That, brahma, is how I discern your sphere, that is how I discern your splendor: "Baka Brahma has this much great power. Baka Brahma has this much great might. Baka Brahma has this much great influence." There are, brahma, bodies other than yours that you don't know, don't see, but that I know, I see. There is, brahma, the body named Abhassara (Radiant/Luminous) from which you fell away & reappeared here.[4] From your having lived here so long, your memory of that has become muddled. That is why you don't know it, don't see it, but I know it, I see it. Thus I am not your mere equal in terms of direct knowing, so how could I be inferior? I am actually superior to you....
..."Then Mara, the Evil One, taking possession of an attendant of the Brahma assembly, said to me, 'If, good sir, this is what you discern, if this is what you have awakened to, do not lead (lay) disciples or those gone forth. Do not teach the Dhamma to (lay) disciples or those gone forth. 'So, monk, I tell you this: Please, good sir, be effortless. Abide committed to a pleasant abiding in the here-&-now — for it is skillful, good sir, that this not be taught. Don't instruct others.
"When this was said, I told Mara the Evil One, 'I know you, Evil One. Don't assume, "He doesn't know me." You are Mara, Evil One. And it's not sympathetic to welfare that you speak thus to me. It's sympathetic to what is not welfare that you speak thus to me....
Buddha then told Kevaddha a story of a certain monk that was pondering where do the four great elements namely the earth element, the water element, the fire element and air element cease without remainder? The monk who had attained such a state of concentration went all the way to the deva realms to ask this question. The devas didn't know and sent him to the Four Great Kings who couldn't answer the question and sent him to the 33 Gods who sent him to their king, Sakka lord of gods, who sent him to the Yama devas who sent him to their king. all the devas and their respective kings did not know the answer. So the monk went to the Brahma world. none of the devas there knew and told him to ask Brahma.
The monk asked the devas where to find Brahma. They replied : "we do not know when or how or why Brahma appears. But, monk, when the signs of his coming appear for example when a light appears and a radiance shines then you will find him." It was not long when the monk met Brahma later and he asked him the same question again. Brahma replied : " I am the Great Brahma, the Supreme, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Controller, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing each to his place, the Ancient of days, the Father of all that is and is to be!" . The monk clarified and said that he did not ask Brahma who he was but rather question on where do the four great elements cease without remainder. Again Brahma gave the same reply. Then the monk asked a third time the question to which he wanted an answer. ?This time the Great Brahma took the monk by the arm, led him aside, and said: "The devas of the retinue of Brahma, believe that there is nothing I cannot see, nothing I have not understood, nothing I have not realized. Therefore I gave no answer and do not speak in their presence. I do not know, monk, where do those four great elements- earth, water, fire, and wind cease without remainder. Therefore you have done and acted wrongly and unwisely by ignoring the Exalted One(Buddha). You have undertaken this long search among others for an answer to this question everywhere. Go now and return to the blessed One, ask him the question, and accept the answer he gives you."
So the monk disappeared from the Brahma world swiftly and appeared before the Buddha. After paying respect to the Buddha, he asked the same question that he had asked multiple times earlier : " Buddha, may I know where do the four great elements- earth element, water element, fire element and air element cease without remainder?" ?Buddha replied : "...monk, you have sought an answer to this question in vain all the way up to the Brahma-world hence you have come back to me. Now monk, you should not have asked the question as you have put it earlier. Instead of asking where the four great elements, cease without remainder, you should have asked:
•Where do earth, water, fire and air no footing find?
Where are long and short, small and great, fair and foul -
Where are “name-and-form” brought to an end?'
Then the answer to this question will be :
•'Where Awareness that is signless, limitless, all-illuminating,
•That's where water, earth, fire, & wind find no footing,
•There long & short, small & large, pleasant & unpleasant -
•There “name-&-form” are all brought to an end (wholly destroyed).
•With the cessation of viñña?a (consciousness) all this is brought to an end.'”
After hearing this, the householder Kevaddha was delighted and rejoiced over his teachings. " end-quote
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LEGGO OF MY EGO
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Buddhism teaches that the ego or sense of self is an illusion and to become enlightened one must transcend the illusion. I would like to share some NDEs that talk about our ego.
John K: ... as days went by, I started noticing a dark shadowy thing down a lone alley or tunnel. I didn't know what it was at first. Then, as it came closer, the more selfish I felt. It was my Ego! When it joined with me, all of the lights went out and I was fully human again.
Henry W: ... in the human body there are two forms of spiritual being.' One is the 'soul', which is the spiritual being that has a symbiotic relationship with the physical body. The second is the being created by the 'biology' of the human body. This being is intelligent and is basically the personality of the individual. Its purpose is to provide for the human needs of food, hunger, survival, and procreation. This concept is very similar to Freud's 'Id, Ego and Superego' The division of mind and personality. The soul provides us with all the things of the individual that separates us from the Animal Kingdom. This is the ability to reason, use logic, or feel awe when seeing a sunset. The soul is the creative side of humankind. The second being is more our animal side and drives us to accomplish or pursue things to satisfy our needs and wants.
Cherie B: "The key message for me was that in this physical reality, we are human, we are form, we do have an ego, and we do have the illusion that we are all separate.
Instead of fighting that and feeling guilty and shameful for not preventing issues that come up, I can now allow myself to be ‘human,’ recognize what energy patterns feel heavy and negative, immediately do something or go somewhere to release and transmute the energy, and keep myself connected to the true loving being that I know I am...
I am always in multiple dimensions at once. It sounds bizarre, but it’s true."
Phoebe O: I saw the nature of humans and other life forms. The selfishness that is pathological, dangerous, and unintelligent in adult humans can be described as an evolutionary remnant of the animal’s healthy drive to survive and reproduce. In humans, it is a form of resistance to life (stress) that frequently disguises itself as a force of good. It is sometimes called the ego and is made of identification with fleeting forms--thoughts, bodies, events, memories, actions, expectations, conceptual identities, wealth and possessions, social status and belonging, titles, roles, relationships, demographics, abilities, knowledge, beliefs, skills, routines, activities, local circumstances, judgments, conflicts, likes and dislikes, should and should nots, fears, emotions, etc. These forms are regarded as absolutely important, when in fact life is infinitely greater than they are and contains them all. The self is seen as limited to the realm of time. Often, the ego pretends to be God, all-knowing, or the center of the universe. It can be identified by its negative and fearful nature. The ego is a false self that can only dominate if it is unconscious—if there is a lack of awareness. It is not who we fundamentally are. It has no foundation in reality. Although some stages of healthy human development are ego-centered, the ego is ultimately an illusion of the mind.
The ego, which we in the modern world know as normal human consciousness, is inherently limited and biased. --
Pamela K: We deny ourselves this great love because we can't believe that we are worthy enough or large enough to hold it. And so, we have been blessed with life in order to unlearn the limitations that our egos use to keep us actively engaged in this maddening game of hide and seek.
Anita Moorjani: There was SO much clarity in that state, but somehow, it did not feel like the clarity came from the mind. It's as if something else was doing the understanding, and that something else was able to identify the mind as being separate, and the mind as being the cause for disconnection from the all that is. It felt like the ego and the mind were one. So in that state, which is beyond the mind, there was no ego and no attachment. And all was one. The connection was felt with EVERYTHING. There was no discrimination and no judgment against ANYONE or ANYTHING. It felt as if suffering was caused by our own mind turning against itself...
Arti: I understood now. The world had all been only in my mind, a thought-and-senses created illusion/delusion. Without the senses, mind and body, there was now no ego to perceive the world illusion! It had all existed and happened only in my mind! Our true reality exists outside of the mind, which is where I was at the present moment. I realized the true vastness of my Being and the minuscule nature of the cage of the earthly body. The roles I had played through the many lifetime dramas with different bodies, flashed again into knowing. I smiled, seeing there was absolutely no attachment whatsoever to any of them! How could I, when it was just a play of mind? I had come to terms with the fact that once I, my ego consciousness, left the body, my mind-created world also disappeared... Universal laws seemed to unfold rapidly and poured into my entire electric-wave body. I realized that the real goal of the mind-created life game was to remove the veil of delusion and ignorance and reach the Ultimate Truth of one's reality in life itself.
Bonnie M: I look at people now and I wish that I could tell them the love that they could possess if they could just understand the illusion. We live in a life of duality, in which the ego keeps us prisoner... We are not this body nor are we the mind as we know it. The egoist mind we know is also an illusion that keeps us from the truth of ourselves...
Robyn: There's no other way out of the prison of our ego than to face its darkness head on. It takes an unbelievable amount of bravery, but it's worth every bit of pain a thousand fold.
Leonardo: I understand the why of many things but I'm still attached to the ego which it's quite hard to detach from, but that's my next step to accomplish before my next life.
Cam: "First came absolute darkness, then a bright orb of light. The light was more than light; it had a hexagonal tessellation of radiant yellow/orange, but mostly white. There it stood, an oval of light, then a line came out from the orb, and it went to the right and up, and then began forming a spiral. Then the line stopped just above it. I was told through the vision and somehow telepathic I understood, this is life. Life begins and life stops, and then begins again. The rebirth. The line began again, with a small gap in the spiral, and again, the spiral began, and stopped. This happened seven more times with gaps between each one, then the last line faded.
I was told this process is never ending until... This is the last message I received, until you become one with... What was it I was told, I feel like I misinterpreted it as God. Nevertheless that's all I had. ... I did more research and my vision of a spiral seemed to coincide with the 'Samsara' Dharmic faiths all follow this, I went to my local Buddhist nun, she had an answer for everything, and how the purpose of life was to 'Escape' the rebirth. This is exactly what I had seen; it was an awakening to the true meaning of life. I asked how to escape the Samsara... I had no knowledge of the Samsara until I received my vision. I don't believe that I was 'supposed' to see it, I think I got there by accident. "
Simmi G: "I learned that what I had experienced is a state called ' Samadhi' in Hinduism, where the individual ego dissolves into all that is, never knowing any separation- The drop returning into the ocean.
I now believe that that is what happens at the moment of death. The consciousness that resides in and animates the body, gets released back into the ocean of infinity and knows its true nature. "
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The Clear Light, The Void, Awareness
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Many near death experiencers do find themselves imnediately in complete darkness or a void like place. One thing I have noticed about the void experiences is that the quality of the experience depends on the state of the individual having it. Most find the void to be very peaceful and pleasant. I estimate that between 2/3 and 3/4 of the void experiences seemed to be pleasant and peaceful. The void is neutrality and is a choice, including the choice of staying in this state or perhaps immediately manifesting any experience one would like.
Some are not prepared to be in such an empty place by themself alone with their consciousness. So some react in fear and manifest an unpleasant experience. So they start in the Void and then, not recognizing the Clear Light of awareness and the illusion of their self, interpret the void as darkness and loneliness. Then the fear and desperation start and evocates their fears. The fears start manifesting into hellish environment. The Tibetan Book of Dead states it clearly:
"May I not fear the bands of Peaceful and Wrathful [Deities], mine own thought-forms.
May I recognize whatever appeareth as being mine own thought-forms,
May I know them to be apparitions in the Intermediate State". In situations like this, going into the Light is actually a better choice for them.
Others immediately look for a light or someone/something external to go to. Most here have been conditioned through religion and culture here to expect to meet their maker and be judged upon death, or to have to come back until they are spiritually perfected. And, of course, with 75-80 years here in adverse conditions everyone will have made plenty mistakes along the way, times when we are under too much duress of the world, antagonized by the archons basically.
The Tibetan Buddhists talk about going to the void and immediately entering or merging with the clear light. Otherwise, there are a series of lights and wrathful deities one must navigate through in the bardo.... soft lights and bright lights... and it says to avoid the smoky white light of hell and to recognize the clear light and to merge with it. But what is meant by clear light? Is that the same as pure white light or more akin to the void?
The clear light is described in the Tibetan book of the Dead in several ways: The Primary Clear Light Seen at the Moment of Death; the fundamental clear light; Clear Light of the natural condition; Clear Light of Reality, which is the Infallible Mind of the Dharma-Kaya; the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality; naturally void, is the very Reality, the All-Good; the Dharma-Kaya state of Perfect Enlightenment; the happy clear light of Samadhi; and the blissful Samadhi of the Clear Light.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying describes the clear light as dawning of the nature of mind, what we call the "Ground Luminosity," at the moment of death; our primordial nature, which is already completely perfect; the luminous emptiness; the pure naked Rigpa; self-originated Clear Light; self-originated Wisdom; a state of minimum distraction," because all the elements, senses, and sense-objects are dissolved. What is important is not to confuse it with the physical light that we know, nor with the experiences of light that will unfold presently in the next bardo; the luminosity that arises at death is the natural radiance of the wisdom of our own Rigpa, "the uncompounded nature present throughout all of samsara and nirvana."
It states, "The dawning of the Ground Luminosity, or Clear Light, at the moment of death is the great opportunity for liberation.' and "only if we have really been introduced to the nature of our mind, our Rigpa, and only if we have established and stabilized it through meditation and integrated it into our life, does the moment of death offer a real opportunity for liberation. Even though the Ground Luminosity presents itself naturally to us all, most of us are totally unprepared for its sheer immensity, the vast and subtle depth of its naked simplicity. The majority of us will simply have no means of recognizing it, because we have not made ourselves familiar with ways of recognizing it in life. What happens, then, is that we tend to react instinctively with all our past fears, habits, and conditioning, all our old reflexes. Though the negative emotions may have died for the luminosity to appear, the habits of lifetimes still remain, hidden in the background of our ordinary mind. Though all our confusion dies in death, instead of surrendering and opening to the luminosity, in our fear and ignorance we withdraw and instinctively hold onto our grasping. " It says, "If at this crucial moment we can recognize the Ground Luminosity, the teachings tell us, we will attain liberation. This is not, however, possible unless you have become acquainted and really familiar with the nature of mind in your lifetime through spiritual practice. And this is why, rather surprisingly, it is said in our tradition that a person who is liberated at the moment of death is considered to be liberated in this lifetime, and not in one of the bardo states after death; for it is within this lifetime that the essential recognition of the Clear Light has taken place and been established... This is called the dawning of the Ground Luminosity, or "Clear Light," where consciousness itself dissolves into the all encompassing space of truth."
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NDEs in the Void
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Here are some interesting experiences of the void that might help shed some more light, no pun intended.
Here is an email I received from a woman who was previously familiar with my web site and later had a coma while in ICU and a peaceful NDE:
She wrote, "I am very engaged in reading your article on the white light trap... I have been reviewing your article on and off for the past year - It changed my perspective on the afterlife immensely. Last year, I had a serious accident . I was in and out of a coma for days having spent two weeks in the intensive care unit. One thing I do remember is when I lost consciousness, plunging into total darkness; no bright light, no deceased family members... As the months passed by, a feeling of absolute love and peace would resonate from within me - still does. Strangers seem to be curious about me. At night, as I am drifting to sleep, internally, my head will start to glow...
I had read your article months before my accident, and so in essence it stayed with me. As I am lying on my hospital bed, I had momentary lucid thoughts which were: not to project any expectations of angels, guides,...etc. I was not going to be lied to which is why I am guessing the immersion into the void. Once I started to regain lucidity, one of the nurses confessed to me that she would often come into my room when I was unconscious because she said the room would fill with a feeling of peacefulness. This woman then went out of her way to take such loving care of me. At times, this divine love within me is so intense I sometimes burst into tears...My happiest moments are spent in solitude, at peace. "
Glenn Parker: "I hit a place where I didn't experience the white light like a lot of people describe. No angels, no devils.
It was a very interesting environment in that it didn't have an environmen. It was no sense of light, no sense of sound.
It was an intuition of a choice.
It said, 'Do you want to continue doing this? Do you want to stop?' ...
But it was a choice. It was literally, if you wanted to give it a label, I'd say 'pure neutrality'.
It wasn't into the light. It wasn't into the darkness.
There was no form. There was no structure. There was no light. There was no sound.
I didn't hear anything.
It was bascially a sense that here's your choice:
Have you had enough? Do you want to play any more? Do you want to stop?"
One’s entire perceptual orientation is turned upside down and inside out…
The problem was that what remained was a single Consciousness which existed in absolute aloneness.
Awakening to the “eternally complete consciousness” isn’t about being in the presence of the One or feeling union with God, both of which assume the existence of two entities, self and Divine. In this experience, one’s personal identity is obliterated. Nothing exists but self-aware Consciousness that knows itself to be the single and whole reality subsuming all space and time. The collapse of the phenomenal world (which doesn’t instantly vanish from view, but is seen to be a stupendous “trick” of the One Mind) is disemboweling to the psyche. This was the most harrowing, soul-shattering, and simultaneously the most illuminating and transcendent experience of my life. For me, the unbearable thing was not that El Collie had vanished; my self-deletion was akin to removing a costume. The problem was that what remained was a single Consciousness which existed in absolute aloneness.
The “eternally complete consciousness,” a. k. a. God/Goddess/Self is the Infinite One proclaimed by mystics from every tradition. Direct knowing of the One Consciousness dissolves the self who would be the “knower.” There is no one standing apart from the One to bear it witness when awakening occurs. Rather, the individual self is understood to be an illusion of a separate identity. All duality ceases to have meaning; there is no opposition or division anywhere. In the deepest sense, no one can awaken to this truth. Becoming Self-Realized is the experience of knowing there never was and never will be anyone to become enlightened, and that nothing but Consciousness IT-Self is eternally real. Mystics throughout the ages have struggled to convey this apparently logic-defying Reality which seems to be saying that nobody is there when satori/samadhi occurs. But that is just it—there is no body, there is only the One Eternal Self, the true Self who we all are. In this highest sense, we do not each have a distinct and separate Atman/Self. Rather, we are individuations, creative expressions of a Single Being. "
Here is the testimony of a man I interviewed who met a Demiurge during his NDE.
"At that point I went into the Darkness and it was dark. I felt like there was a surface and I was standing on it even though I couldn't see a surface. I felt like I was literally in the darkest place you could possibly imagine. I looked around, you know I had a sense of looking around and I knew I didn't want to be there. There was no love there. Okay, love is something that once you know what it really is, you can't fake it and there's no faking it. I mean, I just had my life review. I know what love was because I just saw it, you know what I mean? I know what love is. I just saw my little 10 minutes of love that I had in my 21 years of life, you know what I mean? It wasn't much, you know what I mean? So here I am. I've just seen it, just right before my eyes -- THIS is it. THIS is what love is and now I'm in the darkness and there's none here -- no love here, okay. So I'm looking around there's no love to be found and there's nothing. I mean, people get homesick. What are they homesick for? For those moments.. those little bitty blips of moments we have with our loved ones. Those moments that we had with our special friend... or that time we had with our dog, you know?...
I don't remember actually like landing. I was just there. I was out of my body -- BAM -- I'm in the dark in what I believe is in the bottom of Wherever I am, okay. Some people want to call that place Hell. if it is, it ain't that bad...
I wasn't looking for anything. I'd just died. I hadn't even figured out that I was dead yet. But I did look up , okay, and looked up and behind me so I remember looking up and behind me... So I turned around and looked. And up above me there was this little bitty window of light... like, imagine a window real far away. It wasn't round. It was like a little rectangle, okay, way, way, way far away. And, wow, now THAT reminded me of my little package of Love that I had -- that I had just seen. That was it... my little sum of who I am. And just like Superman I kinda like stuck my arms forward. I didn't see them because it was so dark and then behind me... and I started lifting my chin up... or, granted, I don't see a chin but I felt like I was lifting up my chin and turning towards the light and then I started floating up... not just like really slow, but kind of quickly... I knew I wanted to go THERE, okay, when you're looking around and there's no love whatsoever -- nothing -- and you're thinking 'this is not where I wanna be'...
Later on, he refers to the darkness as sitting on a shelf: "... you just sit on a shelf for the rest, until the end of Time, Is that what you want to do? I don't know, but just to be an observer? And maybe not even that. Maybe you just turn off until the end of Time. "
Betty Eadie, author of Embraced by the Light, on Art Bell's Coast To Coast A.M. radio show: "I was drawn in by this energy into what then appeared to be like a tunnel and I was drawn into this dark space. It was totally black... it was so filled with love, so nurturing and so beautiful that I actually felt that I would prefer this place to any other place that I had ever experienced. And then I felt -- I saw -- a pinpoint of light that pierced this blackness and then I wanted to go to that light. It was my heart's desire to go to that light. And at that point I swirled and began to travel towards that light going feet first. This is when I noticed that I had a spiritual body because I could see then that I had feet and they were out in front of me, but they were of a different kind. " Again she comments about the darkness: "now normally that would have really panicked me It was the love that held me there and the love that comforted me and it was the most beautiful place that I had ever been. It was the most wonderful that I had ever felt. I cannot overemphasize the beauty of that darkness... no pain. It was just beautiful. It was though my body, my spiritual self was going though a healing, a transformation, because everything of the earth dissolved away from me and I was filled with this tremendous love like being held. If you feel the comfort of your father's arms or whatever was your security, if you could just imagine that that is that comfort that you feel, and then just intensify that by 1,000 times. I mean, it was so beautiful."
"But the beauty was yet to be experienced and that was the beauty of following the Light.... After that light pierced the darkness which began as a pinpoint of light, just a speck of light, enough to attract my attention and I knew, Art, that anyone in this dark space with me, anyone of us, if we saw that light and we so desired it, we could all turn and go towards that light, but I also knew there could be spiritual beings who would not be prepared to go there. They would not release what they had here in this comfort and in this beauty, that they would not follow that light. But I wanted to... I think that some of them did not go to the light because they did not trust or believe in it. This may come from a person's belief system, you know, there are some of us that feel the minute we die, we're gonna go straight to Hell."
My priorities lined up, my values came into focus, everything in that void where one would think 'Nothing' existed - the only reason it is called 'Nothing', I believe, is that there is no Time, and existence is purely Being. That was my experience. Perhaps this is what the existentialist philosophers tried so hard to communicate, this 'being-in-the moment', this awareness of self - what they stated was paltry compared to this. What I felt was powerful and intense and life changing. It transcended any mere 'moment'. When I die, if this is what I will feel for all eternity, I await it.
Here is a rather negative experience I received via email from a woman named Stephanie, but she was not really expecting there to be any sort of afterlife so was probably extremely confused and perhaps manifested elements, at least in part, conjured up from her fear and past memories:
I had an atypical NDE earlier this year and came back with totally changed ideas about what is actually true. My belief system prior was no frills Humanist Taoist/Buddhist... Now, I am leaning strongly toward Gnosticism which is about as far from my former austere, minimalistic beliefs as I could get...
I was judged by the demiurge and left to his low-vibrational underlings who tormented me horrifically for what seemed like ages in another dimension that was like an empty void. I was intervened for by The Mother. Isis, Maa, Sophia, Ninhursag all fit. She is purer, loving, compassionate, alien, immense, concerned, dismayed, black like the void of space, powerful, amazing. To say that I never saw Her coming is a vast understatement, as literally nothing in my belief system prepared me for this NDE. It left me with PTSD symptoms for a while and is something I am still trying to fit into my world in some sensible way...
I cannot explain it because it was not part of my belief system at all prior to this, but I believed him to be an archon. I believe the color that flashed was green, though I am not certain of this. I saw and sensed him, and he and everything to do with him was a pinkish-purple so that is probably why that color is at the forefront of this memory of the flash of light that happened at the same time as the cracking sound. I sensed that he was very powerful but absent; he had delegated this to underlings which were terrible, low vibrational beings who hate everything. After the crack and flash of light I was in a void- like colorless grey place. The color that flashed wasnt what he could work with, but I was still in their hands, trapped there. I was floating on my back in that void, surrounded by 7 or more low entities. They tormented me with pain, crushing, taunting, horrible emotional energy attack. Throughout the experience I wanted to flee, resist them, or escape even though there was no way for me to even try do so. They had me. All I could do was suffer and there are no words to describe how terrible this was. In addition to being in horrible torment I felt that it was a complete injustice, that I did not deserve this, that I did not belong there. I felt like these entities were wrong in every possible way and I didn't understand why they had me. I am a good person who genuinely tries to grow and help others...
I believe now that it was primarily that I didn’t accept their torment or judgement as being correct that seemed to eventually stop it.
Howardena P: "Yes It was hard to believe by others as I saw myself or felt I was walking around outside of the car, but also experienced being highly conscious in a dark void, but I was not afraid. Although it was dark, I felt I could see. There was no up, down or sideways - no sense of direction. I was alone; apparently the Buddhists call this the Bardo... A clearly mystical or unearthly realm Bardo or a void. I was told later that Bardo is a Buddhist form of purrgatory where suicides go ...
I am very scared to die as the Bardo, a dark space, is not where I want to end up. "
Ray K described being in a "void" immediately as being a "floating sphere of Awareness" in a "perpetual unfolding of now". He started to get scared of the void because there was nothing there: no color, light, dark, gravity, or sensations. The fear ramped up and he had the thought he had lost his mind and was crazy and that brought peace. So he let go and the confusion stopped and pleasurable sensations began: contentment, peace which ramped up until he was in pure, utter, bliss. Then he saw an intensely bright point of light and he perceived that he had to go there and it sucked him in and it absorbed him. So he then went to the light and had a more typical NDE from there.
The first part of being in the void basically describes how the manifestation works : "that started ramping up and compounding and getting more and more intense". But at the same time the fearful state "totally stopped" after he surrendered. So it's a powerful dream machine, but still possible to keep it under control if you know how to manage it.
Another good point here - you don't need to go to tunnel and Light in order to experience any manifestations. You can manifest and experience any blissful (as well as horrible) states by yourself.
I experienced multi-dimensional vision extending through space and time vs. limited perception of the 3D material world. I didn't see with my eyes but with my whole being: which was everywhere simultaneously... 36 secs
Even when the experience was in, what I consider the ‘lower realms’, I was intimately aware of being inside the minds/bodies/emotions of all beings and experiencing all of their experiences. The experience at the end, in the clear light, was an enlightenment, whereby, I understood everything about reality, the universe, life, as if all of the answers were downloaded so I experienced completeness... The lesson I came away with was that fear and resistance take us to a lower realm of experience, whereas, surrender was an important state to be in to gain access to the realm of what could be called the ‘clear light’...
Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe In the final stage this is what happened, in the ‘clear light’ stage I had complete gnosis...
I had complete gnosis...sadly , I was unable to bring it back with me, it doesn't seem to fit into the human brain.
Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was sky-like but not exactly that. I think of it as what Buddhism calls the ‘clear light’. There was a clarity that went beyond what we think of as light, as if it was the ultimate refinement and source of creation: pure being-ness.
There seemed to be an underlying lesson that our suffering arises from our resistance to what we actually are and our will to define ourselves with boundaries and limitations. Inability to trust "the flow" and surrender to something greater living through... the truth that "love is all" was revealed in an ineffable, transcending way..love isn't an emotion, but the awesome power of the life force itself... Not many changes other than a stronger intent to remember somehow to skip the fear and resistance when I next encounter death and step right into surrender. What fear I still have is that I'll slip back into the fear and miss the opportunity to go right into the ‘clear light’...
I experienced multi-dimensional vision extending through space and time vs. limited perception of the 3D material world. I didn't see with my eyes but with my whole being: which was everywhere simultaneously... Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was sky-like but not exactly that. I think of it as what Buddhism calls the ‘clear light’. There was a clarity that went beyond what we think of as light, as if it was the ultimate refinement and source of creation: pure being-ness...
I felt terror, fear of death until later on when I surrendered and immediately felt a supreme bliss and love... Incredible peace or pleasantness... incredible joy... Everything about the universe In the final stage this is what happened, in the ‘clear light’ stage I had complete gnosis...
Experiences can differ and I think it’s because of our mental conditioning, the mind is able to construct a world for us on the other side, or not, it may just set us loose in the m'lstrom of conditioned existence... I have, at times, re-experienced the ‘clear light’. I have at times, felt like I might be dying, so I was able to practice doing a better job. I never again entered the chaotic realms of ‘oneness’. "
What I experienced was essence. How do I describe essence? I will try, but again this is a very feeble attempt that is only worth mentioning for the sake of wrighting something in this box; Essence: a continuous melting pot of unlimited unmanifested power, capable of becoming anything- ANYTHING!- at the spur of the moment, being aware and knowing at all times everything that ever was, and ever will be possible...
I realized that all true knowledge is a function of the Universe and it can be accessed only through awareness, not consciousness. Consciousness serves to only distort true knowledge because of the sensory perception that knowledge passes through in our everyday lives.
It is are attachment to ilusions that cause our suffering. We are unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. We don't know what the truth is because our consciousness actually precludes us from the realization of what we actually....
During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes Love was the entire experience. It was beyond love...
I was in a state of awareness without perception, thought, or consciousness as we understand it. here...
" end-quote -- Victor C
Hafur: When I entered into the light. I entered into the 'void' and into 'everything' at the same time. I became fused with the light and reality became aware of itself. I realized everything was God and is permanently creating. Nothingness creating nothingness. Truthfully, I do not know how to express or transmit this with words. They limit me.
***'I' includes 'We' and are like a mirror where we perceive the reflection of our reality in its many facets and illusions.
***The 'creator' is eternally creating, and one of the creations is the practice of conscious love. 'One learns to paint by painting'. That's why this 'temporal human illusory creation' exists as though it were a matrix within another matrix and this, within another - multi-dimensionally until we wake up.
***I experienced something that can't be transmitted with words but that can be expressed as 'The Essence of Life is its Total Nothingness’ (please understand 'Nothingness' as something that has no intrinsic substance, but is rather constructed by a multitude of phenomena, which in turn are formed by other untold multitude of phenomena to the point of infinity).
***Consciously living by love is the essence of life itself and is made manifest or materializes in this plane of existence as a cohesive force to recreate itself in multiple forms as a game in which nothingness recreates itself in temporary, illusory events...
I only know that everything is eternal, pure consciousness and that we are in a mental dream that is permanently being constructed as a dynamic of consciousness that knows itself and recreates itself through each one of us. That we are the 'point of emptiness' where the void or nothingness of the universe becomes aware of itself. It is really hard to explain this. I know that everything I saw originates from thoughts, or the Universal Mind. It is projected in images and events that interact with lucid consciousness as an experience, and that this whole experience is a part the infinitude of that which is real on every plain or level of existence that we want to invent or divide into pieces so that our temporal mind can decipher it despite its limitations. I believe I understood that what we call God is the silence of indescribable life that is in everything, and everything is in it.
Beyond the Light, Mellen Thomas Benedict
5. The Void
At this point of my near-death experience, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity. I was in the Void.
I was in pre creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the beginning of time / the First Word/the First vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if I was touching the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness. When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That’s a mind-expanding thought, isn’t it? Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event that created the Universe. I saw during my life after death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.
The ancients knew of this. They said God had periodically created new Universes by breathing out, and recreated other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were called Yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang. I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or Yugas creating and recreating themselves. Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create...
It took me years after I returned from my near-death experience to assimilate any words at all for the Void experience. I can tell you this now: the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything that is! The Void is absolute zero; chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness; much more than even Universal Intelligence. The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical manifestations. The SPACE between atoms and their components. Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They call it Zero point. Whenever they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately. There is more of the zero space in your own body and the Universe than anything else!
What mystics call the Void is not a void. It is so full of energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we are. Everything since the Big Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration. The biblical "I am" really has a question mark after it. "I am -- What am I?" So creation is God exploring God’s Self through every way imaginable, in an ongoing, infinite exploration through every one of us. I began to see during my near-death experience that everything that is, is the Self, literally, your Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the universe. There is God in that, and God in the Void.
As I was exploring the Void during my life after death experience and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space as we know it. In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is about Absolute Pure Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know it. The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre life, before the first vibration. Godhead is about more than Life and Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience in the Universe!
When I realized this I was finished with the Void, and wanted to return to this creation, or Yuga. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back through the second Light, or the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was! The super clusters of galaxies came through me with even more insights. I passed through the center of our galaxy, which is a black hole. Black holes are the great processors or recyclers of the Universe. Do you know what is on the other side of a Black Hole? We are; our galaxy, which has been reprocessed from another Universe. In its total energy configuration, the galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights. All energy this side of the Big Bang is light. Every sub atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness itself is made of light and has a frequency and/or particle. Light is living stuff. Everything is made of light, even stones. So everything is alive. Everything is made from the Light of God; everything is very intelligent.
Leonard:
'All that can be imagined may exist because it originates from universal consciousness (knowledge), thought is creative! Here things occur with a delay, but on the other side they happen instantly. God (us) is a vibration, love and this vibration create light. The more we love, the more we emit light because we vibrate faster!'
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Here is a very interesting NDE account from The Nonduality Highlights yahoo group:
"Briefly, I did not see light. I did not experience love.
This was, initially, a profound shock to me because I have trusted for decades that the ONE was Light Whose singular quality was Love.
I entered an unspeakable Vastness that was not light, nor was it darkness. It was not a something and there was nothing present in this nothingness that was empty of anything at all except boundary-less pristine awareness. Naked infinite awareness inseparable from the absolute living nothingness being experienced.
No thought. No I. Just this no-thing-ness.
After a time, I was aware of something communicating with me without words yet I perfectly understood.
"Stay or go back. But if you stay any longer, you will not be able to go back."
Here is a link to all the relevant NDEs in the void that I could find on nderf.org plus a few others from other sources... about 200 in all: NDEs in the Void
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To Be or Not to Be?
That is the Question.
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I think Intention and Will Power are the keys at death but what should I intend to do? I am a bit torn between the Spirit being a creative energy that wants to experience vs. just being content to be in a void like place where everything exists yet nothing is kind of thing......in the silence with no movement, stillness, peace. I think that sounds pretty good, but a part of me is unsure. It seems like maybe DESIRE is what led to our "fall".... or maybe yearning for love, knowledge, experience etc is needed for growth but misguided desire is not such as greed.
Some quotes from out of body traveler Jurgen Ziewe's web site:
"When we can no longer picture or imagine what it is like to have reunited with the ultimate source of our existence many people often imagine that we merge with the light and God and consequently “dissolve into an amorphous nothingness” by becoming one with our creator. Our imagination leaves us short. Nothing could be further from truth. "
"Indeed there are dimensional levels which are indistinguishable from earth, but for people, whose life has been carried on a positive note, who have lived primarily via a giving heart, will see all of their secret wishes materialising or at least they will been given the opportunity to make their wishes come true. These Astral levels are designed by nature to settle our unfulfilled desires and harmonise our negative energies, but they are by no means the pinnacle of our existence.
Some less informed people imagine that once we step over the threshold of death we will enter immediately into the eternal light of God and unite with our creator by default, regardless of the life we have led or the character we have indulged in. The reality is that all unsettled energies will need to be dealt with, all misdeeds balanced out and understood, all our needs, drives and wishes will need to be addressed and their inner energies exhausted. Even after all this has taken place however there are no guarantees that we will not be attracted to another round into physical flesh or any other part in the material or non material universe.
Countless reports have documented that in reality we will have to accept that “Enlightenment” is not a default state we enter into simply by the act of dying. It happens only as a result of a profound awakening to the reality of the core of our being, a process to be worked for, whether we are dead or alive. Unless we have shed our identification with our ego and have laid all our drives, wishes and needs to rest these luminous states of consciousness will not unfold. Eventually, for all of us, our time will come, when we have severed all our attachments to the lower energies of life. The call to enter our innermost home will then be issued via an invitation coming from a higher, innermost source, in the form of blessing or benediction...
Our imagination of what this state entails is limited because we are dealing with a completely unaccustomed state of consciousness which no longer puts our ego with its self identification at the center. The ego will have to be surrendered in the same way as we untether a hot air balloon if we want to take to the air. Many believe that without our ego we simply dissolve into a state of nothingness, an amorphous cloudy and perhaps infinite sea of light devoid of any features or into a black void. What will become of us after we abandon all our cherished identifications we have worked so hard for and are seemingly absorbed into featureless void? In some way it appears for many of us like death, to be dreaded no less than physical death and therefore it is spoken of as the “Second Death”.
There is plenty of confusion and uncertainty about what it means to enter into our natural ultimate condition, via our second death into our true “Awakened State”, that state we all sprung from in the first place and we will ultimately enter into when we have completed all our self assigned journeys and exhausted all need for identification with external matter.
So how will “I”, this essential Self or Soul, which in its essence is simply pure awareness, experience this home state of being? What is it like?...
Having already recognized that there is no division between the perceiver and the perceived, I hold this perception as mine and as a reality surrounding me and that I am a part of. I no longer travel out of body, I simply harness my awareness to being what I already am. In this core state of perception I have transcended time and space. Everything that appears before me is made of light and formed out of my own essential body and being. I am standing in the light of creation and can experience its fascinating intricate structures and beautiful designs which are in a constant state of flux, forever morphing as my very own body. This tells me that I have entered the forecourt of my true home, the seat of my Soul...
Home is home; there is really nowhere else to go. All my wishes are granted at their core, my deepest desires already fulfilled and laid to rest. Here I live in the absolute fulfilment of my being and all I can do is deal with the abundant blessing and love, letting it flow through me and out into the world...
My environment can be anything I like it to be...
I am simply in a state which can be anything and everything. And everything means everything, but it is not chaos because I reside inside of everything at the highest, the core level, which is manifested by the laws of cosmic order and harmony. I am in concord with the supreme intelligence of creation, at the hub and essence of life. Consequently I can be in anything and experience it from the inside out.
Laid out before me, in absolute freedom and in its essential beingness, this state may be experienced by me as nothing but light and imbued by the most incredible sounds, because I am in my purest state and, simply by an act of focus into the space surrounding me, I can create, visit, experience and become anything I wish to...
The pure ultimate state of being is just that, “Being”. Nothing moves. It is Stillness in essence, which simply does not exist when our focus is firmly fixed on the exclusive worlds of thought, intellect and emotions, where we so easily get trapped. It is a stillness with infinite potential, completely unattached to the dramas of the world and in it’s core state it has no attributes. It is difficult to understand why this is so, when at the same time it is everywhere and everything and expresses itself as pure love throughout?...
It is an illusion to think our life and our opportunities for self expression end when we are done with our personal issues, our attachments, when we enter true reality in enlightenment, our authentic state, our home state. But life only ever just unfolds. Life is not empty, it is full of significance and mystery and we can make it anything we wish. We, the creative outward flow, which is unconditional love, are free to participate in all creation. We don’t waste away in a featureless, empty space, bored out of our wits with bliss, we become co-workers with the creator, in absolute liberation. We are free to choose how to go about it, free to decide where to go, which group of souls to join and what to do. How is this boring?...
We can join communities of kindred spirit, cooperate on unimaginable creative projects and can visit any part of Infinity we wish for or are called to. We are the working army of absolute consciousness, the co-workers of God...
Our awakened consciousness may still experience the pain, but without the suffering. We no longer seek to escape from reality, but instead we begin to appreciate its deeper meaning. Instead of trying to escape from reality in futile distractions we welcome it with an open heart in eager anticipation of what reality will offer and teach us next." -- end-quote
The final Journey
25th August 1980
He closed his eyes and began to meditate, then fell asleep.
In his dream he floated up through a series of dome roofs and punched his way out of the dimension he was in only to discover himself in another dimension with a dome ceiling. He went through several levels.
"... I was no longer a cohesive entity. I was conscious that my body was being unrelentingly pulled apart atom by atom....But in the end it was only my resistance which had to perish. Letting go of my attachment to my novel costume - my body, which I had been wearing for millenia - was in fact a great liberation. This was the individual which had clung to my physical disguises time and time again, exchanged for a new one whenever the old one was worn out. I was keen to take a look at the vast spectrum of these veils - an endless chain of lives, paraded in millions of images in front of my disembodied eyes.
There was no turning back. It was as if I was pulled by invisible strings, all eager to call me home. This was accompanied by a sweet and beckoning sound, which evolved into a choir of enchanting sound, with voices so sweet that there was no way I could have resisted...
. a disembodied soprano voice urged me to plunge my heart and soul into this open ocean.
A gentle voice, which I at first mistook for a song, whispered into my ear and prised me from my contemplation.
"Look upon this playground of the mind. I dare you not to be seduced by it. In all your dreams you won't find greater amusement than this."
This gentle voice was posing a question and was attempting, by its very gentleness, to demolish the world I had begun to admire so much for its sheer grandiosity. The imperfections of what I saw began to lose their power to seduce. I felt sorry for my fellow souls, who were trapped in them, forever seeking comfort and identity. I could see clearly how passionately they would defend their positions, arguing their point of reality - they would even go to war for it. I studied their irreconcilable differences of frequencies and character. Often their authority was taken only from their size, sometimes from the beauty of their design. It was clear that there could be no clear winner. All their passengers were attached to their systems rather than the reality of their own individual being....
The walls of this enormous edifice were cycling through precious materials, casting off energies in the forms of light and patterns of alternating complexities, like a giant exotic sea creature. The temple, if this word is at all appropriate, was alive and was illuminated by countless little orbs like myself. They sparkled in different colors and permutations of expression, some bright, some calm and sedate, but each one individual. Streams of them migrated joyfully through the vast gates to disappear into their heavens. On closer inspection, I saw that most of them were still attached to shapes which they had claimed for themselves in their own worlds, fascinated by their power and drawing strength from them. It were these thought forms they were still attached to, which would determine the nature of the heaven they would enter. It was clear to me that from each orb's point of view they must have felt that they alone formed the center of this sheer endless place, and that their chosen heaven was the true destiny for every other person on Earth. It was easy to see why, because each formed the center from which the cosmic lotus flower radiated out, and each formed the petal of the adjacent one so that the whole merged into an infinite tapestry.
"Humans find their identities here. They spin their webs of philosophies, religions and beliefs. Some get caught in it like a fly in a spider's web; some use it to spin their dreams and spend many lifetimes to unravel and fulfill them." The voice whispered to me.
But my attention had already wandered towards one of those hovering portals. The temptation to explore one of these vistas was overwhelming. The mere thought was enough to overpower me, and I entered one of the irresistible tunnels, which was huge and bright, and lined with impressive columns on either side, and above and below. Peering through the columns as I traveled along, I saw the scenery spread out infinitely and I could have taken any of those side opening pathways and entered a new heaven of staggering diversity and wonder. People here could spend eternity exploring these fantastically heavenly universes, experiencing their never-ending joys and freedoms, not getting tired or bored for a single moment.
I found myself accelerating through the vaulted tunnels. Occasionally, I drifted past hosts of heavenly creatures like schools of fish, rejoicing in song. On all sides new realms opened up like galaxies. I glanced into openings into other worlds, each one as vast as the one I travelled through, promising unimaginable pleasures. I was lured from all sides by fine soprano voices, which combined with all the other joyous songs creating a complete symphony. It was surely here, I mused, that our great Earthly composers received their inspiration.
But I sailed straight on, past all of these temptations, which could not satisfy my hope that there was something more profound than this.
Suddenly there was a pull from another direction. It was I, myself. I realized that I had been seduced by a dream, a mere wish, which was only a thought, a possibility, and that reality was far more than this. I was back in the temple. The voice spoke to me again, softly, gently, as if not to disturb my contemplation.
"You are right. This world is a grand illusion, put in your path to trick you - to keep you fascinated and imprisoned as a limited being. Yet to many people on Earth what you've just seen is the dream of all dreams come true, the heaven of all heavens. And indeed, compared to life on the dense Earth, this truly is paradise, where people spend millenia exploring the vast scope and vistas of heaven and its joys."...
Real ocean waves are made of atoms and light, this ocean was just pure light in essence - as was the sandy beach; and the waves came rolling in towards me as gigantic mountains of crashing light, overwhelming me completely.
But to put it like this is to do it a tremendous injustice, because words cannot describe the transformation which took place inside me as these energies burst into creation and into life, submerging and dissolving me in the process...
There was no fear, because there was only light, and the waves that rolled towards me crashed through me, lifting me into an unknown ecstasy. There was no letting up: wave after wave rolled over me and when I thought I could stand no more a greater joy swallowed me up and carried me with it into lands of bliss.
I didn't realize that everything that had happened was a process of purification of cosmic proportions. When the tide ebbed away there was immense peace. Nothing stirred, nothing interrupted it. Until now I had always been aware in my life of potentiality. This was potential realized to perfection. But there was far far more. All stress, all need and want had gone, everything I had strived for had found fulfillment. Whatever I wanted lay there before me in its absolute essence, in total stillness and emptiness combined. But again, of course, the word emptiness is wrong. I had ceased to be. This was unformed, an unmanifested thrill. Until now I had been bathed in something which could be understood as the cradle or essence of love, but this was far beyond that. It was a super-dimension of choice-less love, which was as clear as crystal. All remotely human feelings had been stripped from it and replenished with utter purity. It was pure intelligence, pure consciousness. It was reality in essence.
I knew everything, because I was everything. No instrument of knowledge was needed, because all instrumentality was my own creation. No creation was necessary.
"I am what I am."
"I am."
Here, stripped of all that I called myself, I was at the heart of nature at its most powerful, most quintessential. I was omniscient, omnipresent and infinite. The instant a question was raised, my universal mind had it answered on a level unheard of, guided by a universal wisdom, purpose and plan...
"What is to become of me, the Creator?"
Just when I thought there could be no answer to my question, I heard new sounds rising from the stillness, like flutes opening a white infinite space before me with shapes and possibilities undefined. An invitation to manifest within realms unknown, with adventure still unrealized and untold...
I can travel no further, because this was my true home. I was rocking gently to and fro to a celestial symphony, resting like a baby in its mother's arms, in total trust and surrender, listening to the heartbeat of creation, which rolled through me in waves of ecstasy. I felt I could take no more and feared that if I stayed on I would surrender my very consciousness and lose myself in the infinite ocean of pure joy.
I did not want this. I had worked for many years to attain Samadhi and when it came I was unprepared. I had to return...
I am. What was this 'I am', separated from its true reality. It was nothing but a thought, a dream, an illusion." - end-quote
======================
AWARENESS...
'I' think, therefore 'I' am?
I AM That I AM
======================
Here is more information from my email exchanges with my Buddhist-minded friend. He wrote,
"Of course all lucid dreams and OBEs are just dreams, as much as the “real” life, but some of them can be quite profound.
The usefulness of these exercises is that they teach you that there is no way to distinguish the “real” world from a dream so you come to the conclusion that the (seemingly) real world where we live is actually just another episode of a universal dream. What’s the point of going from one dream into another and then back? It’s entertaining but pointless. The more important thing is: whichever dream world we happened to be at the moment, we need to find out experientially the root core Reality and then abide in It no matter what kind of dream is unfolding in It. Reality (Awareness) is never affected by the dream illusion unfolding in it, it just does not care.
The thing is: when we read extraordinary experiences like Jurgen’s we tend to think that we need to do something similar and achieve some extraordinary states of consciousness by applying some extraordinary meditation techniques or whatever, but it’s just not true. This attitude puts us in a never-ending search for the truth in extraordinary states of consciousness (and that’s what the majority of spiritual seekers spend their life on), but ALL those states are just another episodes of the Awareness dream.
All there is in the world is just forms of pure awareness/beingness, and it's important to understand and experience it in order not to fall into illusions of separate self and not to have false beliefs in the separate reality of the forms. That is basically it.
But there is a bigger dilemma which you also mentioned in your letter. It's about our constant "hunger for new experiences" and how to deal with it. Different spiritual traditions have very different answers to this dilemma:
In the original Buddha teaching (represented now by Theravada school) Buddha taught that ANY experience is "dukha". Dukha does not literally means "suffering", it is more like "dissatisfaction". According to Buddha, every experience we have, even of the highest grade (like pure love, joy, peace, awakening etc) is non-permanent and unsatisfactory, it eventually fades away and so we are always in a unending search for new and new experiences. Buddha said that even in the pure worlds of Rupaloka (Rupadhatu) and even in formless worlds (Arupadhatu) beings do not stay forever and inevitably reincarnate into lower worlds because basically they get bored there (or in Buddha words, they "run out of good karma"). This is what he called "the wheel of Samsara", the cyclic travelling of souls from higher (pure lands) to lower (hells) and back and all over and over again. He said that it's all pointless and useless and only leads to unending "dukkha" and suffering. So in his opinion THE ONLY way to stop this vicious cycle is to stop any existence as a being, any experience, any mental activity and any hunger for experience whatsoever. He called this state "nibbana", which literally means "total extinguish". In simple words it's a spiritual suicide. NDErs often describe the experience of "void". So nibbana is basically staying in void and stopping any mental activity and desires...
After a few centuries another school in Buddhism developed - Mahayana. In spite of the fact that they still associated themselves with Buddha, their view on the "nibbana" (or they called it "nirvana") was drastically different. Nirvana in Mahayana is not the cessation of perception and mental activity, it's continuation of life, but life in "enlightened" state of consciousness, meaning that an enlightened soul is aware of his true nature (awareness/beingness) and is not trapped into illusion of separate self and reality of forms. Such beings reside in the pure worlds of forms (Rupaloka) and do not reincarnate into lower worlds anymore.
The middle-East traditions like Christianity, Sufism, Gnosticism, are also close to the Mahayana in that respect and talk about perpetual existence in different kinds of pure spiritual states (union with God in love like Christianity/Sufism, abiding in pure worlds of Pleroma in Gnosticism) as a goal and destination of spiritual path.
Now this is the dilemma: was Buddha right saying that it is impossible to stay in those pure states of consciousness forever and it is inevitable to descend, fall and reincarnate into lower worlds again being driven by the boredom and hunger for new experience? Or is it possible to stay there forever?
I do not have a definite answer myself but I have a feeling that it is possible. There is a lot of things one can do (even in this life) to entertain yourself with new experiences but not by means of falling into sensual and lower-vibrational desires and passions. There is a lot of creative pure activity like art and music, mathematics and stuff like that. For example, I play classical music and find it very satisfying and entertaining, I can play for hours and days when I have enough time. Mathematics is also very "pure" discipline, there is nothing human, emotional and passionate in it but it's very beautiful, interesting and entertaining. One can still get bored of it of course and fall into lower desires and worlds, everything is flexible in this reality and we are always free to do anything we want. But I think and hope it is possible not to - once you have enough experience and knowledge of how this whole thing works, once you've been there in lower worlds and had enough suffering, then at some point you just get "enough of it" and get immunity to lower desires and curiosy for exploring any of those lower dangerous realms of consciousness...
There is a state of pure formless awareness-beingness with no mental activity, I experienced it myself. In Advaita they call it Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
In Theravada Buddhism there've been a long dispute about whether the Buddha meant cessation of any awareness in nibbana, or the "awareness of pure awareness" would still continue in that state (so nibbana would be the same as Samadhi). They could not come to an agreement on that.
Basically, I think there is no definite answer to that but there are different options and one can do it either way: you can stop any awareness and mental activity at all, including "awareness of awareness" (total cessation of consciousness), stay in pure awareness with no forms or other mental activity, or, while staying in the "awareness of awareness", allow for certain but only pure mental activity. But anyway, we are only speculating here, there still a lot that we do not know...
I think after death I would not be interested in merging with any Gods in love or staying in the Samadhi state of formless awareness of awareness. I would rather try to find a free community of pure souls that do creative activities like music, mathematics or may be others. No sensational pleasures or emotions, I don't enjoy emotions anymore, even good ones. Well, love is always good too but I don't think I want to be too ecstatic about it, everything is good in moderation. I'm more attracted to the beauty of pure forms like music or mathematical ideas. And there is never any danger in them. I'm sure such communities must exist somewhere in the realms of pure lands. NDErs often talk about visiting higher heavens and describe intense feelings of love and a lot of sensational visual experiences, and I understand their excitement about it, but to me it's still too sensual and emotional.
Anyway, I think in this huge conscious reality there is no such thing as a single "True" path, but there is a big variety of different choices and paths. Some of them, going downwards, lead to suffering and miserable life, others lead to peaceful existence with pure creative activities, others lead to various states of consciousness like union in pure love or staying in pure awareness, others lead to various formless meditation states (Arupadhatu worlds), and there is also a choice of nibbana - cessation of any states of consciousness at all. We are free to choose as long as we are aware of all those choices and had an opportunity to try and explore them.
Regarding the meaning of life, I do not think there is any "pre-existing one. Reality is just a huge consciousness-awareness that has an ability to create and experience various mental forms. There is no meaning in that, it's just what it is. Each of us make up our own meaning of it...
As Buddha explained, there are various states of consciousness on the way of ascending, as he experienced them himself, and the intermediate ones are very joyful and blissful, but then the emotion of joy fades away and what is left is just simple peaceful motionless awareness. In Advaita (Ramana Maharshi or Avadhuta Gita) they also describe Samadhi as a state of emotionless and thoughtless peace of abiding in pure awareness. I mean I have nothing against it and maybe I will also end up there at some point. But at this point I'm leaning more to Mahayana's view of Nirvana - active life in a pure and peaceful state of awakening/enlightment. Mahayanists believe that once you reach spiritual maturity, get to that enlightened state and incarnate in those pure lands of Buddhas, you can stay there forever and never again incarnate in lower worlds.
I've been meditating for long times in the past and once in a while I was able to reach that thoughtless peaceful state of pure awareness but I could never stay there for long. I think while we are in the body it's pretty much impossible for an average man like me. But later in Zen and Mahayana practice I learnt that you don't have to stop all thoughts and mental activity, you just need to stay in awareness of them clearly seeing them as empty forms of pure awareness (meaning empty of separate reality and existence)...
The Tibetian Buddhism is a very eclectic mix of Mahayana Buddhism, Tibetian Shamanism, but there is another jewel in it - Dzogchen which was brought to Tibet by an enlightened person named Padmasambhava and was kept in secret by one of the Tibetian monastic schools until resent times. You can read Padmasambhava "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness" (http://www.fodian.net/world/zzgse.html), this a single most important writing in the whole history of Buddhism IMHO. . So it's important to understand that by "clear light" they mean the "light" your own awareness. It's not really any kind of visual "light", the word "light" is only an analogy here. The point of Dzogchen teaching is: you need to practice all you life to prepare yourself for the moment of dying and it is of the key importance to avoid entering the "intermediate bardo" state (astral reality) and attain liberation just at the moment of death: "When the expiration bath ceased, the vital-force will have sunk into the nerve-centre of Wisdom and the Knower will be experiencing the Clear Light of the natural condition.". But if, however, we still are not liberated at that moment and get trapped in the intermediate bardo (astral world), the rest of the book has instructions on how to at least avoid another reincarnation into the physical world: "Devotees of ordinary wit ought most certainly to be freed thereby; but should they not be freed, then, while in the Intermediate State [during the experiencing] of Reality, they should persevere in the listening to this Great Doctrine of Liberation by Hearing."
Here is the key phrase: "Clear Light of the natural condition" - it's not the light of some other deity, or any visual light, it's the natural "light" of your own awareness.
[Note: Here is a good excerpt from that text:
'When you look upward into the space of the sky outside yourself,
If there are no thoughts occurring that are emanations being projected,
And when you look inward at your own mind inside yourself,
If there exists no projectionist who projects thoughts by thinking them,
Then your own subtle mind will become lucidly clear without anything being projected.
Since the Clear Light of your own intrinsic awareness is empty, it is the Dharmakaya;
and this is like the sun rising in a cloudless illuminated sky.' ]
The book also says, "Self-liberation through seeing nakedly by means of intrinsic awareness is here revealed to you
Since the Clear Light of your own intrinsic awareness is empty, it is the Dharmakaya;
and this is like the sun rising in a cloudless illuminated sky.
Even though this light cannot be said to possess a particular shape or form, nevertheless, it can be fully known.
The meaning of this, whether or not it is understood, is especially significant." and calls this seolf-originated primal awareness: "mind,"; "the nature of the mind" or "mind itself.";the self or "the absence of a self.""the dimension of Reality."; "the basis of everything."; and "Gnosis"
Here are a few more quotes from another source: "
It is then possible to depart to a buddha field straightaway with no intermediate state. If this is not accomplished, then the Bardo of the Absolute Nature, or Dharmata, will arise. At this time the Ground Luminosity of the Dharmakaya will appear. If one can unite the Ground Luminosity (Mother Luminosity) with the Luminosity which one has recognized whilst practising during one’s lifetime (Child Luminosity), then one will be liberated into the Dharmakaya. If one is not liberated at this time, then countless manifestations will appear: sounds, lights and rays. Great fear will arise because of these emanations and visions, but if one is a good practitioner one will realize that there is no point in being afraid. One will know that whatever deities appear, wrathful or peaceful, they are one’s own projections. The recognition of this assures liberation in a sambhogakaya buddha field. But if this is not accomplished, then the Bardo of coming into a new existence will occur. If one practises in the right way at this time one can be liberated into a nirmanakaya buddha field. ...In brief, through the practice of the path of Trekchö and Tögal, one will reach the ultimate realization of the Dharmakaya, the enlightened state of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, within this very lifetime. This is the best case. If not, then one can be freed in the other three Bardos: the Bardos of the moment of death, Dharmata and Becoming. Even if this does not happen, one can still be relieved of suffering and be liberated by the virtues or blessings of the Dzogchen teachings. As a result, one will be liberated into one of the five nirmanakaya buddha fields"
Basically, I think, the "buddha fields" in Dzogchen is the same as Pleroma spheres in Gnosticism. But Dzogchen (and other Mahayana schools) insists that the key importance to attain liberation is to recognize you own "Absolute nature" (same as Buddha's nature, the "nature of mind", or in simple words your own awareness), and recognize that the whole world and all beings (including yourself) do not exist as some independent reality (they are empty of self-existence), they are simply mental forms in the infinite space of universal awareness. Awareness is like a screen on which all forms appear like a movie or matrix, so all forms and all beings are only parts of the movie picture, including our selves. The awareness is not any kind of "God", it has no "Self" of its own, it's simply the Nature of reality, the "nondual substance" which all mental forms are made of and all forms simply appear and disappear in it. We, you and me, are nothing more than mental forms appearing in and made out of the Awareness. This clear vision, when exercised for a long enough time, eventually cleans up all our illusions, fears, passions and attachments/addictions (what's the point to be attached to pictures on the screen that have no existence of their own? what's the point of being afraid of a picture image?) You and me and we all are essentially the same Universal Awareness-Consciousness dreaming all sorts of "movies" in itself. This clear realization for many people is frightening ("what do you mean that I do not exist?!"), but if accepted, it's very liberating. The burden of your illusionary "separate self" just will gradually melt away with all of its ego-related fears and sufferings. But it does not mean that liberated person ceases to exist, the life goes on but only in a liberated way, and after death the soul will move to one of the buddha's fields (Pleroma) where there is still life but no place for illusions, passions, sufferings and reincarnations.
Making a parallel with Gnosticism: in Gnostic teachings there is life and beings in Pleroma, it's not the motionless and thoughtless state. We read in Gnostic gospels about the activity and communications of Aeons. But again, this is life without illusions, passions, fears and sufferings, and this is because Aeons have Gnosis - the knowledge of the "Absolute Reality" - Awareness. Here is how it is described in the Apocryphon of John, here it is somewhat "personalized" but if you read carefully, you can see that it is also beyond any personification. It is quite clear to me that this is a description of universal (as well as your own and my own) Awareness:
'He is the invisible Spirit, of whom it is not right to think of him as a god, or something similar. For he is more than a god, since there is nothing above him, for no one lords it over him. For he does not exist in something inferior to him, since everything exists in him. For it is he who establishes himself... He is invisible, since no one saw him... He is pure, immeasurable mind.'...end quote
Indeed, can you find a place where there is no awareness, or a moment in time in your experience when there were no awareness, or a limit where the awareness ends? So Awareness is called "eternal and limitless". The forms are "seen", experienced as if they are "illuminated" by awareness, that is why it is called "light", but this is only an analogy. It is "pure" because any forms or experiences, good or bad, never affect, alter or spoil it even in a little bit. It's like a clear sky in which all persons, forms and experiences appear and disappear as clouds. Who is that cloud in form of a human person? Nobody, it's just a cloud that "looks" like a person. Look at that tree, where it exists? In the "world", in "space"? No, those things are illusions. If you look carefully without any "interpretation", you will see that the tree appears in awareness only. You don't know if there is a real "tree" somewhere "there". The only thing you TURLY know from your direct experience is that there is a visual perception of a "tree" appearing in your awareness. Wherever you go, whenever or whatever you do you are always aware, or more precisely there is always awareness. It's not "you" who are aware or who has awareness (it's an illusion!), it's the other way around: it's the awareness that is aware of "you" - so "you" are only some mental form that appears in awareness and is being "awared". The awareness is invisible, you cannot see it, touch, feel, or point to it, but yet it is obviously present in our experience. It is actually the most real thing in our experience - all forms, sensations, thought, feelings come and go, but Awareness never changes, you cannot have any feeling or thought or any other experience that you are not aware of (or rather, that is not being "awared"). That is why most people don't even recognize it's presence and existence and do not understand this essential teaching and knowledge/Gnosis...
I think (not sure of course) that the Reality - Awareness, did not intentionally create anything, it has no self or intention or personality of its own, it just has ability to manifest and experience forms, produce "dreams" in itself, and we are all just characters in that universal multi-world dream in the Awareness. It's not a dead matter, it is Consciousness-Awareness, but on the other hand it's not personal and has no self, so the word "God" is not appropriate for it. We also don't exist as separate selves or beings, we are just characters in the dream, and our own awareness is EXACTLY the same universal Awareness, there are no multiple awarenesses because the awareness in all of us has the same nature. So we all by nature ARE the same Awareness. And it's not a mental concept, we can see and directly know it right here and now because each of us has this Awareness in our most direct experience, it's more real to us than anything else, but only if we notice it.
One way to recognize it is the practice of Samadhi, or entering the state of nothingness as in the NDE account above. In this state there are no forms, feelings and thoughts and so no distractions and what is left is pure formless Awareness, so it is easier to recognize and see it in direct experience. Once we know it we don't have to stay in Samadhi, because we will also easily see that all forms and other mental states, end even your "self" (which is no mor than a mental perception of self, an unconscious though, that happens in the same Awareness) are not separate from Awareness and are just forms that Awareness takes. Indeed - any perception or thought is always being "awared" and it is inseparable from its awareness. Can you say - this is a form/perception, and this is awareness of it? No, it is not possible, they are inseparable, it's basically the same "thing". Therefore all there is in the world is Awareness, made of it and takes place "inside" of it.
Regarding this "universal dream" - no one guides or in control of it I believe, there is no universal purpose of it, no one has to "merge with the Source" as a goal etc. All "Gods" are nothing more than other characters in the dream, just like us, they are just look more "powerful" or "important" (possibly because they got more power by getting other characters to subdue to them and work for them). We, being characters in the dream, just eventually able to figure out that some of our ill intentions and illusions lead to suffering, but other pure intentions and lack of illusions liberate from suffering and lead to peaceful and happy life. And we just reincarnate (go to a next dream episode) where we are attracted to according to our desires, interpretations and world views and our level of vibration. But this dream does not only happens randomly on its own, it is also to some extent intentionally manifested by communities of characters - basically we live in the dream and we also manifest/change it according to our intensions...
...there is again a lot of "NDE religion" mumbo-jumbo there about "God" and "heaven" and so on. They interpret the Void as a "bad" place empty of anything. But it's not darkness and not empty there because there is (obviously!) the clarity of Awareness there, which most people still don't notice. (Can anybody find a place empty of Awareness, in other words, find a place but no be aware of it? :))) ... Most people get terrified and feel alone there, not being able to recognize the Awareness and not realizing that they can manifest anything they want there (love, peace, joy, any kind of "world" for themselves) or travel anywhere they want, and then, urged by the desire to find some light and life and other souls "out there", quickly rush through a tunnel toward the light that they see at the end of the tunnel and end up in the astral sphere (intermediate Bardo or Brahmaloka). It seems that nobody and no force can pull us out of the Void against our will, so it's a very safe place! I think it's important to stay in Void, recollect all our knowledge and experiences, past lives if possible, and make a conscious choice on what we want to do next - whether to stay there for as long as we wish or to move to and join some other higher realms (pure lands, Pleroma) by intension and raising our vibration, or perhaps simply manifest a "world" and place to live for ourselves and stay there. I think there is always a choice to stay there in pure Void for good - and that would exactly be Buddha's nibbana or Samadhi (abiding in nothing else than pure formless Awareness)...
Ego cannot be separate from Awareness, nothing can be separated from it, it's the "substance" of which everything is "made of". Love is also made of Awareness, but Awareness by itself is NOT love, it's nothing like anything we can perceive. Look: if you have a feeling of love - you are AWARE of it, right? Love is just a form - a feeling, appearing in your awareness. Whatever you feel you are always aware of it, right? Awareness is not something "out there" that you need to find or experience in some sort of rapture or extraordinary experience. You own ability to be aware of all your perceptions and experiences IS that same Awareness. That is it!...
Basically, every perception, feeling, thought in your direct experience IS awareness because nothing can be separate from it. Awareness is not a byproduct of mental activity, it's the other way around - the mental activity is the product of awareness. And same thing happens in my experience. Awareness is the "stuff", the "substance" which the whole universe is made of. And the most amazing - it's not like the "matter" that materialists think as a substance that no one can see and experience (like superstrings or whatever). The "substance" of the universe is your own awareness and you can see it right here and now in your direct experience! It's the most obvious thing in our experience but almost nobody knows it. Why? Because we always look at forms and perceptions, at things that change, but our awareness never changes and it's not a form or perception...
The point is - if you don't recognize the fundamental nature of your awareness, you will be always looking for some experiences and places, for the "truth", "God", love, rapture, Samadhi, you name it. But those are all forms, they always change, come and go, they are not permanent, they are just what happens in the dream that appears in Awareness. Awareness is THE ONLY thing in your personal experience that never changes, and nothing that happens in the "reality dream" can damage it, diminish it or change it in any way. But once you found the Awareness itself and realize that everything else is only a dream in It, then you just stop caring anymore of what happens in the "dream". Basically this Gnosis - knowledge of your own Nature - liberates you from illusions, fears and sufferings.
Buddhist Awareness is not considered an active intelligence. Whether it's true or not is not known of course but in Buddhism it is just not. Buddhism is very empirical and based on the investigation of our direct experience. Look at your awareness and you will see that it's not intelligence. Intelligence is just one of the forms that the Awareness can take. It can also be in non-intelligent forms, or just be formless.
In Buddhism there is a view of "the wheel of Samsara" where souls travel up and down across the spheres and constantly get reborn, so they basically ascend from lower to higher worlds and then fall back down due to "exhaustion of karma". What does this "exhaustion of karma"really means I'm not sure, possibly the souls get bored and get sick of being in the state of peace, love, joy, ecstasy for too long time and develop desires for some more thrilling and opposite experiences. This is possibly what made Brahma fall because that was exactly what he started doing right away after his fall-rebirth.
Not sure about this theory of "true God wanting to know himself". You don't need to suffer and go through horrors (yourself, or through exploiting other fellows to do that for you) in order to know yourself. There are better ways to do that. The root cause of this is something different -- passions for entertaining and thrilling experiences, I think. You know, the fact that we never die may not be so good after all. Living through eternity must be getting really boring after spending a few eternities. Probably at some point souls get too old and bored and really want to forget the past eternity, and do a fresh start.
So that was the ultimate point of Buddha's teaching: you never escape the sufferings of the wheel of Samsara until you bring it to the only REAL end - total stopping and cessation of all conscious activity and of grasping for new experiences. Of course you can not stop the Awareness, so what will be left in nibbana is pure formless Awareness. I'm still not sure if this is the only inevitable scenario. According to later Buddhism development (Mahayana/Dzogchen) there is a way to live in the enlightened/liberated state without getting bored, developing passions and desires and falling back into the wheel of Samsara, and we can actually start living this way to some extent even while in the body. But myself I still need to work on it, meditate and get deeper understanding of this problem to see what the alternatives are. And it may not be possible to get the full understanding while in the body with too limited abilities. But first of all we definitely need to escape this trap of Brhahmaloka astral domain.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the Buddhist Nirvana and liberation, most people think that it's some sort of "eternal orgasm", but it's really not. It's actually a very sober and disillusioned state. Here is how Buddha himself described it:
"Seeing thus, the instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with fabrications, disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"
Assutava Sutta
“Whatever form, feelings, perceptions, experiences, or consciousness there is, these he sees to be without permanence, as suffering, as ill, as a plague, a boil, a sting, a pain, an affliction, as foreign, as otherness, as empty (suññato), as Selfless (anattato). So he turns his mind and will away from these; therein he gathers his mind/will within the realm of Immortality (amataya dhatuya). This is tranquillity; this is that which is most excellent!” [MN 1.436]
"And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and stress he enters and remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure nor stress. He sits, permeating with a pure, bright awareness. There is nothing of his entire body and mind unpervaded by pure, bright awareness.
Awareness without feature,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of the activity of consciousness
each is here brought to an end."
Kevatta Sutta
I'm not really biased against or in favor of nibbana, I just want to know all alternatives based on my own experience. Buddha was certainly a spiritual genius but he could be mistaken too. My worry is that even eternal nibbana may not work -- after spending googles of eons in the formless state all memories and knowledge will be gone, and, caused by some quantum fluctuation, we may wake up as a fresh-new-born soul with no prior knowledge and memories and start this journey of "wanting to know ourselves" again. I think the safer way is "controlled" nibbana where we stay in nibbana for a while but once in a while wake up, refresh our memories and knowledge, do some neutral mental exercises without developing any desires or addictions (music, math etc) to keep the consciousness in a good shape, and then go back into nibbana. I would definitely be cautious not to be reborn in any worlds or join any communities.
I'm always cautious to join any community. I've been with so many on Earth, including religious, professional etc and there are always some hidden agendas and hierarchies. There might be non-hierarchical communities in Rupaloka spheres with honest and mature souls, no agendas or hierarchies, but we should be very careful. The first thing is always to check when we communicate with any souls or communities here or there is whether they are enlightened or not. Never join any community of unenlightened souls. They are inevitably corrupted in one way or another.
It's safer to stay alone. It may be fine to temporarily visit them to get any further knowledge as long as there is always an exit.
In Tibetian Buddhism there is a belief that the liberated souls abide in the Dharmadhatu (liberated enlightened state of Awareness, not a manifested world) but can "project" themselves into any worlds and appear in those worlds as bodies without actually incarnating in order to help the souls there to get enlightened. When they project in material bodies they are called "Tulku". This is, as they believe, how Boddhisattvas do their helping jobs - they do not actually incarnate. I think it might be possible but we need to develop the psychic skills for that. This is the safe way - even if our projection gets in any unsafe places or traps we will never be entrapped there.
I think we may have a choice - be in a thoughtless blissful state or be in a positive enlightened disembodied non-polar-drama state and we can go back and forth whenever we want. I don't think you can run out of math ever even after eternity because math is also infinite. Music is infinite too. And there is always a lot of challenges in them.
The key thing is to get rid of this addiction to thrilling dramas and sensual desires that keep us attached to this quasi-material world. Addictions are healed by replacement - find non-addictive healthy activities that you enjoy more than addictions. So basically we need to find activities or states of consciousness that do not require the body and that satisfy us more than those thrills and sensual pleasures of the embodied life. Whether it's a practice of thoughtless meditation or any non-material creative activities - doesn't matter, whatever works for us. You don't need hands and paper to do math up there and you don't need musical instruments to create and enjoy music up there (Beethoven composed music even when he was deaf). And I'm sure there are plenty of other creative possibilities up there that we don't even know about.
I've meditated a lot in my life including getting into that peaceful thoughtless state. Often I experience a blissful calm but eventually I always get bored and the feeling of bliss fades away. I can never stay there for longer than a few tens of minutes. So I do not think the thoughtless state is a good alternative to our usual sensually-addictive state of the embodied existence, it just does not have enough "gravitational force" to keep me there forever (at least for me personally). That is why I believe creativity is a better alternative (for me at least). I can spend hours playing music or doing math completely forgetting about time, it's only physical exhaustion that forces me to stop and draws me back to my bodily life.
I think what happens in the disembodied state is that not much is changed in our state of consciousness - the desires, passions, addictions, worldviews, values stay inside us, we carry them over. If we do not develop any positive conscious states while we are here in this body that do not require the body and that can keep us satisfied then we will be drawn back to the material world by our same sensual passions and addictions. I think the alien soul-farm is a quite possible scenario but I don't think they need to try really hard to push or convince us to go back here because we want it ourselves in the first place. As the Demiurge said in that NDE "I have millions of souls lined up to incarnate on Earth". -- end-quote
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GAME OVER?
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In summary, what conclusions can be made from all of this evidence? No one knows for certain what happens after death. It is up to each and every individual to make their own conclusions based on their own intuition and what resonates as truth within the core of their being. i think we all have to find the answers from within and not seek an external authority to tell us what is so. So I strongly encourage everyone to go within.
Most importantly, I think it is important to realize that we have the power to create our own reality using our Intention and Will Power.
Some Spirits enjoy the creative process and having various experiences in life forms. Perhaps they enjoy the challenges and attempting to overcome them. Perhaps they love the adventure. Other Spirits may be tired of all the drama and would prefer to not incarnate for a while, if never again. Those Spirits may be content to be pure awareness or pure energy. Whether that is the same as merging back with Source and becoming God I cannot say for sure. And, if so, does that necessitate a loss of individualism and identity?
It's really difficult to process the meaning of life. What is the purpose of so much suffering here on Earth? Does the sacrifice of coming to Earth somehow serve a greater good for our Spirit? Do we learn from it somehow and grow, becoming stronger? Is it even possible for Infinite Spirit to grow? Growth implies size and size implies space. Space and time supposedly don't exist on the other side. Or is more like strength or power?
For me, I just can't fathom the need for what seems like senseless suffering. Is pain and suffering the only way to learn and grow? Why does a Spirit that is connected to and One with an Infinite, eternal God need to grow even more? Is it not satisfied? Is its desire for power insatiable? How much love or knowledge is necessary? Will it ever be enough? When will it be enough? Something just doesn't seem to add up. Could there be deception at play? After all, it is consistently reported that life here is just an illusion.
It does not matter how we were created - whether we were "split" from One Creator or we appeared as sovereign focus points in the first place. What matters is that if we are really sovereign or whether we are just "trails of thoughts" in the mind of our next-level "Logos". I have a strong reason to believe that we are truly sovereign because we are all independent centers of awareness - this is the experiential fact. I can telepathically know what you are experiencing but I can not have the first-hand awareness of your experiences the way you do. So each of us is an independent center of awareness. But I do not know how this mechanism works in the Awareness, how it is split into multiple centers and whether they can merge back into a single center.
There's a spiritual teacher who says: “Sat Chit Ananda can be defined as beingness aware of itself as consciousness and then overflowing in Ananda.”
I think I like the term Beingness better than awareness. It deals more directly with existence. To be or not to be. The I AM.
And personally I don't have a problem wirh referring to the Awareness or Beingness as god in that I consider god to be something akin to the underlying principle of all existence whatever that may be even if it is impersonal.
Since we have the ability to manifest whatever we want when we die, I guess the question is should we opt for a state of beingness which is infinitely blissful, peaceful, joyful, etc or should we go ahead and go down that rabbit hole of creating things: experiences, adventures, stories etc knowing full well that we could become too immersed in the dream / illusion / fantasy we have created and forget our true nature (which could be what happened here)? Or is there a more moderate, balanced option? I really think this is the biggest decision we will ever make. One should spend many, many hours and days thinking about this, in my opinion. Manifesting objects / stuff could be the trick or trap which leads to imprisonment. The temptation is to just sample it quickly and then move on to something else but our desires can ultimately lead to suffering. If you do choose to create, then what would you create? And here is another question: would what I create be any good? Here on Earth my imagination is pretty woeful... you could give me a blank canvas and I would suck at producing a painting....even in my mind's eye I have a difficult time producing something with beauty and intricate detail. Forget about not being able to sing well or play instruments worth a damn, I don't think I could even reproduce a brilliant song like Bohemian Rhapsody or album like Dark Side of the Moon let alone envision one in my imagination So it could be tempting to join a co-consensual environment which was created by someone else or was a collaborative effort.
Now I know that OBEr who wrote me emails and said we can use superpowers such as teleporting, running like the flash, invisibility, and enacting a protective shield, etc said that we can create and then immediately uncreate anything we mess up so it could just be a matter of practice. But I have to say I think the better option may be to remain in the highest dimension in the Stillness in a blissful state of pure, potential energy and then if we are not satisfied with that state then go to the pure realm to do non sensual activity such as math or music.
He wrote, "when you have a lucid dream or out of body experience is that if your alone in your own world your subconscious will manifest stuff. Places and people so that you have families surroundings or at least some surroundings. Sometimes your in space or just in an empty void. Either way the world is created entirely by you. You can take control of this process and manifest what you want. But if you don't your subconscious will at least manifest something. Unless you find yourself in a consensus reality created by other beings. In that case you will see and interact with the world that they have created. You can change these types of places. But as soon as you stop focusing on the changes they will revert back to the way they were. Whereas if it's just you in your own world you can make it whatever you want it to be. So it seems to me that he was perceiving a whole bunch of these different worlds at the same time. There is another state where all of your sense shut off and your just alone with your own thoughts. This is commonly called the void. You can end up here if your astral body is destroyed. Which doesn't happen that often. When your in the void it's like your the only thing that exists. But when you are seeing and interacting with a world it is just a projection. Whether it's created by you or by other people really doesn't matter that much. The only thing you really need to do is make sure you never come back to this screwed up world. Even the scariest and most hellish worlds I've been to in the astral were paradise compared to this world. So don't come back here."
My friend who met a demiurgic figure during his near death experience says there are many better playgrounds we can choose from and he plans on requesting a better one. However, he was shown that the Demiurge gives up and quits the game and he was shown a "future" version of himself that was rebuilding a paradise on Earth which lasted for over a thousand years. Personally, I don't want to have anything to do with this place anymore and I don't trust the Demiurge.
If we decide to choose a world to live in we should frame our intention in an all-positive manner. Instead of saying I intend to go to a world where there is no hate, no war, no death, no disease, no killing, no ageing, no choice of how we look, no work, no hierarchy, no lack of needs or desires met, etc, we should frame it such that I choose to live in a perfect, all-good world which is all kindness, we have total free will, harmonious, peaceful, friendly with companionship whenever we choose, enjoyable, always interesting, satisfying, fufilling, strong self-sustaining and self-maintained bodies, unlimited energy, unlimited resources, all leisure unless we want to work at something we enjoy doing, we are healthy all the time, we live as long as we choose to, we retain full consciousness and memory of where we came from and why we chose to go there, we can choose any body type or look we desire at any time, we can do whatever we want when we want, where everyone is of equal value and worth, and never ever agree to the deal unless there is 100% probability that it will happen.... or one where it is 99% positive or whatever percentage of light to dark and percentage of happiness or pleasure we choose.
Everything seems to be cells of awareness within greater cells of awareness within even greater cells of awareness. What would you do if the cells of your body refused to cooperate with the commands the cells of your brain are giving? It would be chaotic and we couldn't function as a human being. Also, when humans refuse to cooperate and follow laws, the whole of society at large can suffer. I have heard nders refer to us, the planets, the stars etc as being the cells of God (or the universe). .
But just like the cells of our hand don't have to "merge" with us because they already are a part of us, the larger being, then we don't have to worry about merging with a universal god because we would already be part of "god". Right now we feel like we are cut off, for the most part, from that universal consciousness or Awareness (god) because of the illusion of our separate self (ego) and so the goal is to realizing that we are already and always have been connected with that Awareness (and to avoid connecting with or merging with any being claiming to be true god, in totality, because that would not be true). There is no other "god" that we need to merge with.
The only two things needs to be done here:
- find your own awareness in your own direct experience, not as an idea, but as a fact of experience. This your own awareness IS the universal Awareness.
- realize that all ideas and perceptions of separate self are illusions.
Albert Einstein said, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
He also said, “The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self." (from "The World As I See It", p. 9)
Boredom is certainly a major factor here on Earth. But that may be due to how we were created and our infinite consciousness-imagination crammed into a finite brain. Our body is pleasure-pain based with endorphins and hormones released like dopamine and oxytocin. It is also a function of time, repetition and memory. Time doesn't exist on the other side as you are always in the now and hopefully there is an infinitely variety of things to do or ponder.
If our bodies were engineered bodies were engineered or designed to cause us frustration in order to be fed from, then we might not be able to imagine never being bored or dissatisfied.
Perhaps all that is required is a better body design although I am concerned about taking form. After all, form requires a boundary to contain, a membrane or cell. Maybe one could be made where the spirit is more free to go.
If there is no time on the other side, we might not get bored or dissatisfied.
There is no time on our side too, if you look at the direct experience, it's always NOW. But there is a very persistent illusion of time here.
Yet here and even there the "picture" in the NOW is ever changing.
The problem with creating a form is when we "inhabit" the form, which is also an illusion. If we create/manifest a form and just "project" it into the space of Awareness but do not associate ourselves with it, do not take it as "me", then it's safe.
This is actually our root problem here - we associate our physical bodies and internal mental activity with our "self", hence all our cravings, aversions, sufferings. It's obviously an illusion but it keeps us attached and enslaved to the body and soul forms. Basically, liberation means liberation from the illusion of our association with forms. Liberation does not mean that the forms suddenly disappear. It means that there is no association and attachment anymore. It's like watching a human character in the movie on the screen -- it's not "you" anymore. It does not exist (it's just pixels on the screen forming images) but it's still observed/awared by Awareness. There is no "observer" either. That's another illusion.
Life seems like a sporting event similar to an obstacle course with a maze like path where we don't even know the goal of the game, how to win, or where the starting or finish line is. There are clues here and there to help us out and guide us along the way, but we have opponents trying to distract and knock us off our path. It is a race against time to figure this out and we get more tired and weaker the closer we get.
I think the inherent flaw in supra-consciousness is its desire to experience. How many "plots" have you got sucked into in your life whether movies or tv or books or even songs? When you watch a good TV show, you project yourself into the show, cheer for the protagonist, get sad... or ,say, a fighting scene elicits adrenaline. On and on. We so easily project ourselves into so many non-real situations and it is VERY difficult to stop. Have you ever watched a movie and started to tear up and keep telling yourself it's only a movie? It is like our very nature to project into those things we find interesting. It takes an extraordinary amount of focus to stay dissociated. Once we allow ourselves to buy into the scenario, we are buying into a non-reality. So how difficult do you think it really is to suck someone back into an experience that is not real? While this experiencing awareness is our essential nature, it is flawed by its natural ability to get sucked into anything....
Life's like riding an attraction at an amusement park, a sometimes thrilling rollercoaster ride of ups and downs with twists and turns. At the end you get out of your seats, everybody looks at each other and smiles, and you hear some of them saying “you want to go again”? Some are still thrilled by the ride, but I would like to think there are much more enjoyable rides as options. At some point we get tired of the ride, want to get off and never want to ride it again. We have to remember how most of time we spent here was not so fun at all.... so that we choose to get off the ride...or let someone else play the part if they want as there is probably more of a drama aspect involved with a plot and us playing as characters in a play, movie, virtual reality tv show, storyline. There is an antagonist i.e. villains or shadow archetypes and we as the protagonist must figure out the whodunit mystery and escape and help others to wake up and escape as well.
I don't care so much about Brahma, he is just one of us, we are all alike. There is a bigger problem here. The Awareness exists only NOW and HERE and only "inside" itself. After all those "woo-hoos" of awakening to this very simple fact, if you think about it soberly, it's actually a terrible thing. We all, as part of the same Awareness, are imprisoned in this eternal here-and-now of the Awareness multi-mind. There is nowhere to escape and no way to know/understand who/what we really are other than just Awareness. The "true God" can not understand himself, there is just no way. Yes, it has limitless potential of manifesting dreams and fantasies, so there are unlimited ways to get entertained. But really, what's the point? And, once you understand that it's not possible to "know yourself" (other than realizing that it's all just only Awareness and you just can not go any further), is there anything really meaningful to do for the eternity of endless NOW? Nope, there is not.
So the Awareness is left with either just watching endless dream-movies inside its own mind, or going to the coma of formless state. Or with yet another, more brutal way (but which might be easier to take compared facing the eternal NOW of its own prison): you can erase your knowledge and memories, forget that you are Awareness and fall into confusing illusion of being "someone", a separate being living in one of the limitless fantasy worlds of Samsara. Maybe that's what many of us deliberately choose to do, because that state of the prison of eternal NOW may be too unbearable for many of us. But then at some point we inevitably awaken again, realize that it's all been an illusion, come back to the "enlightened" state and face the same meaningless eternity of NOW again....
So, the same question remains - to be or not to be?
Playing endless roles in endless movies might not be so bad though I imagine it would get boring, but there is infinite variety. But why we would choose such a difficult, mundane role in such a difficult world? Have we gotten bored of easy, fun lives playing the game in god mode and need a difficult challenge? Are we trying to play the most difficult game ever and trying to beat our buddy's high score? Might explain the long line the Demiurge has. If that is the case, then we still have an "ego" or competitive drive to better than someone else.
And, of course, there is the addict angle which could even conceivably explain why there is such suffering in the world. We humans love games like the lottery and betting so we could be rolling the dice with the gene pool and having to play the hand we are dealt. Maybe we raise the stakes and take risks, call bluffs. I was just thinking the other day how we could be daredevils.
Humans willingly subject themselves to all sorts of self-harm, putting ourselves in harm's way even here. People join gangs, go to crack houses, join or mess with the mafia, fight Mike Tyson lol, risk their lives like Harry Houdini or Evil Knievel.
Of course, if all that is true we have a problem if that is what we are willingly choosing to do.
It's a bit like the movie WarGames. The Pentagon supercomputer was running a virtual reality game to simulate Warfae. In the end after all the permutations and calculations had been exhausted it reached a conclusion and said, "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Just like in Monopoly you can use your "get out of jail free" card.
We have to do more than just think outside the box. We have to realize there is no box.
There are parallels between the movies The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The Wizard of Oz features a wizard that is said to be able to take any form and Willy Wonka is a wizard who runs a food factory of chocolate, a sweet addictive candy. In both movies the characters travel through a tunnel or vortex to reach their imginary world. Dorothy and Toto traveled through the cyclone vortex. Willy Wonka took his guests through a scary tunnel of hallucinations or projections with a reaper which led to the Room of Inventions. Both movies have characters similar to the machine elves of DMT reports. The Wizard of Oz has the munchkins and Willy Wonka has the oompa loompas. In both movies the characters triumph by standing up for themselves against the misguided, twisted wizard and by having pure intentions. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy returns home by focusing her imagination and intentions on doing so and she wakes up from her dream safe and sound at home. And in Willy Wonka, Charlie was tested by the Wizard and won because he had no ego and was pure and innocent. The movie ends with Charlie breaking through the roof of the factory and ascending into the heavens above. A reprise of the song Pure Imagination played. "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it, anything you want to, do it, want to MAKE the world? there is nothing to it. There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be"
If we can create our own reality upon death, then we should be able to create one that is all positive. After all, we can create whatever we want.... even something that doesn't make sense from a polarity perspective.... it's all sort of imaginary in a sense any way. Some souls (let's just use this term here) think that they need polarities to experience whatever they want to experience and they manifest or participate in polarized imaginary realities/worlds. It is not necessary. You can manifest for yourself and live a full life with no polarities and suffering. Creativity (art, music, math etc) is so much fun and has endless possibilities so you will never get bored but does not need polarities. I want to live in "pure lands" (whatever it means) with no illusions, lies and polarities, where I can enjoy music, math, art and all sorts of creative activities. As opposed to Buddha's view, I don't believe that the only way to stop suffering is to totally stop living and being consciously active. I believe we can continue and enjoy life without polarities and suffering.
I can be reached via email at waynejbush@gmail.com if you have any comments, suggestions, questions, information or experiences you would like to share.
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