What Was it That Was Leaving Me? An Unusual Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)

Abstract

This paper is a narration of a unique experience, that which is arduous to circumscribe as an out-of-body experience; ambiguously to-be called a fractional out-of-body experience or a partial autoscopy. It was an experience in the presence of observers who were naive of what the individual was experiencing. This experience has surely helped the individual plummet into imagining the existence of an form beyond the body; the existence of a soul; that which is conscious; that which can think like the mind; that which resides within the body and that which can detach from the body when death advances. There is a possibility of it being a neuro-psychological or neuro-parapsychological experience; an experience whose actuality is grim to prove or construct in third person, but certainly subsists for the experiencer; the experiencer being myself.

Key Words 

Out-of-body, Experience, Soul, Consciousness

The experience of being out-of-my body

It was a beautiful day; I was with a few friends sitting on the over-head water tank of my 6 storied building, approximately 90 feet high. This place was our regular hangout, as it always felt great to be up there, as the view till today is always amazing. I was 18, with an eagerness to enjoy and explore life; with an enthusiasm to do things that would defy life, but the least I knew that this day would change my perception of life forever. As we chatted, jokes filled us with joy and play, which somehow lead us into trivial games; games that one should never play. The over-head tank is laden with water-pipes and has a large water-pipe approximately 2 inches thick, that runs along the tank, where one could attempt to balance on it; an insane thing to do at such a height, but definitely gave a feeling of achievement if completed. It was not something new that I was doing, as I had been repeatedly doing it whenever I would go up there and therefore was confident about completing it without tripping over.

Excited and with my adrenaline all pumped up, I challenged my friends that I would complete the walk in one go and I decided to attempt the task, not knowing what I was about to experience. Over-confidence made my strides wider and faster, and with everyone cheering, it heightened my confidence and inadvertently my ego. While balancing on the water pipe, I missed a step and slipped, I lost my balance and at that point I felt my body fall off the water tank; I felt my body being pulled away from the tank and with nothing there to cling on to, I knew that it was the end; I was aware that my body would fall 90 feet to the ground and death was approaching. My confidence and ego was shattered as my legs left the ground and my hands precipitously moved around to grab whatever came my way, but all that I felt was nothingness. That moment resulted in an experience where in a flicker of a second a life review began; my past flashed in front of my eyes and I saw images as one would see it in a personal scrap book; my life story in frames flashing in front of my eyes.

As my life review began, I somehow felt being detached from my body and lost sensation of being within it; a feeling of weightlessness. I felt as if I was rising rather than going down. My life review stopped and I could see myself in a form emanating out of the body from the face till my chest and at that moment I felt someone grab me and pull me to the ground. It was my friend who did this as part of his reflex and therefore I owe my life to him. I was back again in my body when I hit the ground and passed out. All of a sudden my eyes opened and I saw all my friends staring at me, all perplexed. It felt as if I had just woken up after a long night sleep, to see my friends looking at me. The frightful feeling of falling didn’t seem to exist and at that moment I felt a feeling of joy and happiness; a feeling as if I had learned something.

As I woke up, my friends asked me what happened, but I did not know where to begin or rather I could not put it into words; I was confused. I asked them how long did I pass out, and they said that it was just a few minutes, but for me the whole episode seemed to have lasted for almost half an hour. The trip, the fall, the review, the experience of the departing form, all of it happened in just a few minutes, but for me it seemed like a long period. As I narrated this experience to my friends, they laughed and joshed about it. It was a personal experience, a beautiful experience where I defied death. If that was my soul, it was definitely nimbler than my body, and in case I would have fallen, that form would have taken off from my body. It was my experience and I felt no one and neither did I see anyone; all that came as a flash in front of me was my past in the form of images.

It seems that my nimbler form exists within my body and knew the limitations of my body as I felt it ripping out of my body, for it knew that my body would not survive the fall; a mutilated body is definitely no place to reside. The moment I was held and pulled back, it realized that my body is safe and it pulled itself back, putting me into a deep sleep. It is an experience that bought a significant change in me; a change that has made me fearless of death; changed my perception of death. I have been very reluctant to share this experience, but my endeavors to understand the existence of a non-local soul or consciousness or mind has made me more open towards sharing it. The vividity and richness of the experience still persists that only I as the experiencer could experience.

Conclusion

My out-of-body or fractional out-of-body experience fortified the feeling of the presence of a form that resides within me; call it my soul, consciousness or mind. Based on this first experience, it can be said, but not concluded that this form that resides within me is aware, it thinks and sustains. This event could be easily passed-off as a neuro-psychological or neuro-parapsychological event associated with the dysfunctioning of the brain, where the brain in mental shock could possibly result in such an event. But for me as the experiencer this event will always remain phenomenal until proven within the realms of scientific explanation. It is definitely a difficult experience to understand and explore from a scientific perspective, but surely a vivid experience that made me realize the beauty that lies within; for it remains as my experience and therefore is purely my opinion. 

Contzen Pereira, Ph.D. Independent Scholar, Mumbai, India. Email Address: contzen@rediffmail.com, contzen@gmail.com

 

Cadence

Introduction
I have had many meditative experiences.  Some I documented, many I did not.  After my experiences, I have had and probably always will have many questions.  I will share one here that I titled Cadence.  There could be many rational explanations for what I experienced but I choose to keep an open mind rather than judge a thing.  For me, I find that once I have judged a thing, I have limited the scope of its potentiality.  I don't like the idea of limited potential.

Meditative Vision
Into the depths of the darkness of the void I traveled with my consciousness. No sight or sensation to guide me, just this sound that seemed both within me and outside of me. For long moments I drifted with one foot in two worlds. Before long the entirety of the Multi-verse appeared in my field of vision. No longer had I a physical body but rather a strand of energy consciousness that comprised my being. In the heart of the Multi-verse did I appear to be and then with lightning speed, it began to grow distant. So distant, in fact that the Multi-verse itself seemed to be one tiny pinprick of light in a vast canopy of pure darkness.

To the very edge of the Multi-verse I had somehow traveled and within this space of pure darkness all I saw were thin wisps of blue lightning that appeared now and then without any sound. The peace and the stillness were palpable, peaceful and awe inspiring broken by this beautiful cobalt blue streaks of light. A voice spoke with such a richness of tone that reverberated throughout the whole of my being but there were no words to recount. Being so used to using words, I sent out a thought, “Where are we?”

“We are outside of both space and time as you know it,” said my companion in a wave of feeling interpreted by some understanding I had lost touch with.

“Why am I here?” I sent back to my seeming companion still awestruck at the blue light flickering now and then in the pristine darkness of the void.

“You wanted to explore and so you have come,” my unseen but very much felt companion conveyed.
“Who are you?” I asked so very curious.

“I am the Omega or the Alpha but words and names mean nothing here in this place. Be not so concerned with words,” my companion said.

Contemplating the tiny dot of light in my field of vision, I asked, “Are you the Creator of that?” I indicated focusing on the tiny pinpoint of light that was the Multi-verse.

“I am and I am not,” my companion said.

“Well if you are not the creator then who is the creator of the Multi-verse?” I asked still so very curious.

“The Elohim created the Universe that you know and the Multi-verse that houses it,” the presence answered in response feeling sympathetic to my questioning.

Thinking carefully about the fact that if the Elohim created the Universe and the presence referred to the Elohim as separate from it, I assumed he may have had a different creator. I asked then, “Who is your creator and where do you come from?”

My companion said, “Come, I will show you.”

We traveled, I sensed, as I felt a strange movement as in slight changes in barometric pressure on Earth. I asked about the “traveling” and received in response that we were traveling not within a dimension but through dimensions. After a short time the void of pure darkness was replaced with a light. Glowing pink living light filled my field of vision. A sight my mind could not interpret but for the color and a visual beating with the same cadence as a human heart. A slight motion to the right of the pink light was a blue light and again with a visual I could not interpret or put to words but the same beating and cadence. Another turn and there were more colors that I could interpret but the rest I could not. I felt completely at peace but surrounded by these fields of pulsing light. I asked again, still so very curious, “This is your Creator?”

 Instead of a direct response to my question, my companion said, “The time for thinking is done. Notice the beating of your human heart so very far away back on Earth. Notice how the cadence is the same as it is here and feel it. There are no words but there is feeling, so feel it. Tune into the cadence and know the answer to your questions. The time for words and thinking, the time of questioning and answering is done. It is time now to feel,” the presence said again without a single word.

And the rest was lost in translation and I fell from that place in my consciousness. I opened my eyes and saw a single candle flame dancing on an altar. It was my own back on Earth comprised of sacred things to me. I stared at the flame for a time trying to understand and I heard a faint whisper, “There are no words, there is only consciousness.” I blew out the candle.

Conclusion
I can conclude nothing from my vision with certainty.  Perhaps I simply have a very imaginative and creative mind, maybe I connected with something or maybe everything I saw, felt and seemingly "heard," was just symbolic of what was happening at this point in my life.  I note this experience occurred before my kundalini experience.  In fact, I had many of these types of experiences before my kundalini experience.  Maybe they are related?  Honestly, I do not know.  The feeling during the experience was beautiful and peaceful.  So, maybe I just suspend the desire to judge or label it and leave it at that?

 

© 2016 Jaie Hart

Rev. Dr., J.L. Harter, see Bio Section for more information.

The White Hot Light That Burns (without hurting)

Introduction:
I had a personal experience with Kundalini back in February of 2013. Having read about the experiences of others with Kundalini, nothing could have prepared me for my own experience. It occurred unexpectedly and was life changing in ways I am still only discovering. I was skeptical of the experience even though I had read about it. I am a skeptic, no more. The experience is real, the life changes that followed were truly in my best interest and I’m truly grateful to be able to finally recount it in this way. I’m sharing this experience here for others who may be curious.

A Beautiful Memory:
I was never certain that I believed in Kundalini experiences. I've read about them off and on for over 30 years since I took an interest in life before lives, rather than life after life. I guess the journey began for me some time ago with what was termed for me as a "spontaneous past-life memory." That event lead me on a quest for over 30 years. I didn't have a teacher, a guru or spiritual wise one to guide me in my search for answers to all the questions I had about some pretty amazing experiences I can recount over the whole of my life. At some point during my journey, I picked up meditation. I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe it was the promise of peace, calm and even greater self-understanding. Did it bring me that? Yes, I suppose it did. Some 14 years or so after experience an Near-Death-Experience during pregnancy, and following some pretty tiring and trying life experiences, I just started. I started meditating out of desperation to find calm, peace to reconcile disappointment, anxiety, heart-break and this weird sense of knowing that none of the experiences I've ever had were anything to be concerned about.

The Experience:
After about 5 years of nightly meditation of at least 30 minutes, something changed. I began my nightly routine as I usually did. I cleared all of the negative energy from my being merely breathing in each of the colors of light of the rainbow. It began with a deep beautiful purple light extending into the core of my being, followed by blue extending further out to my entire home, then a deep emerald green encompassing the entirety of my city, then a beautiful sunny yellow to encompass all of the united states, then a beautiful brilliant orange to encompass the Earth, a deep magenta/red expanding into our galaxy, I brought in a beautiful golden color when I imagined the entirety of the Galaxy and then beautiful opalescent white I as I extended the light into the void and beyond. I stayed there for the longest time, it seemed. When all thought of my own existence dropped away, I heard a faint pure tone. I could not tell you the key but it was beautiful. I felt then a vibration that seemed to start in the very Earth and move up into my body. I breathed gently and slowly to stave off the thinking part of my mind that prickled with a feeling of something supernatural about to occur. Just then, the vibration seemed to swirl in a clock-wise fashion physically about me. I stayed with the feeling and allowed myself to remain present. Another tone came faintly, at first, into the edges of my consciousness. Another pure tone, I also could not describe by note. It harmonized with the first tone but was higher in pitch. I stayed present with the sensation of swirling, not one tone now but two and then I felt a white hot burning in the very base of my spine. It did not hurt but the more I felt it, the more I felt the swirling, felt the tones vibrating and a hissing sound became apparent. I sat with the feeling not knowing what was happening, trying with all I had in me to keep my thinking mind partitioned. Then the third and final tone, even higher pitched than the other two began and it blended in beautiful harmony. The white hot burning sensation began to move up my spine. It moved slowly to the middle of my back but the higher it rose, the louder the hissing was.

I noticed I felt a sensation of pressure now along with the white-hot burning that did not hurt, the swirling, the hissing and the beautiful tones that I just wanted to become forever lost in. I willed myself gently now to just stay present for the experience and the feeling moved into the space behind my heart. The intensity of feeling, hearing, sensing grew and grew and then the white hot burning moved again to the back of my throat. I involuntarily sat up very straight and aligned my neck because I knew it was going there next. The white hot burning moved into my neck and it stayed there for the longest time. My throat felt warm and tingling and the other sensations continued. The white hot burning moved seemingly into the very center of my brain and I could feel it there and the moment I did, the colors burst into my inner vision like fire works. The most memorable ones where the beautiful purple and orange colors, burgundy and blue, blinding white and golden light. I could feel this light in a way my words will not do justice. It was alive both inside of me and outside of me. I stayed with the feeling enjoying it so much. I could feel the tears falling as I very emotionally began to feel pure joy. The white hot burning sensation began to move again and I thought of the crown of my head and I had an urgent thought to will the crown of my head to open to allow the energy to come all the way through me. The feeling of energy was so intense that this was something I really felt I had to do as if my very life depended upon it. In my mind, with all of these colors flashing, the heat of the white hot burning sensation filling me fully now as if it were 100+ degrees there in my room on a cool February night and finally I could collect the thoughts, OPEN, OPEN, OPEN.

I felt the energy rushing through me like a white hot raging river but it was gentle as much as it was forceful and the colors and feelings just continued to explode. I felt bliss. I felt love. I felt absolutely wonderful. As the last drops of that white hot energy sailed away through the top of my head, I was left in this dreamy, comfortable space of pure peace, calm and silence. I could physically feel the pressure of the energy all around me and I could not stop crying. When my normal and logical senses began to return, the thought occurred to me to just be very grounded. I held a small stone my youngest daughter had given me. A simple rock we found on the beach that had been perfectly tumbled smooth in the waves. I imagined feeling so very connected to the Earth. It helped with the very drunk and giddy feeling the energy left me with. I had to get outside and so made my way down stairs and stood barefoot on the cold concrete just staring up at the stars feeling so very connected. No longer able to fight my logical mind, I thought - is THIS what a Kundalini experience feels like?

The Aftermath:
The weeks that followed brought me frequently interrupted sleep as the energy would often surge at night while I was sleeping, waking me up with that feeling of overheated and swirling or pulsing. It would pass fairly quickly and I'd fall back to sleep, only to be awakened again in an hour with the same sensation. It passed in intensity and still comes at times even though 3 years have passed. The things that followed were interesting. In the physical world, there was recovery to do. Things I thought I wanted no longer worked. I gave up a challenging position I worked long and hard to get that no longer suited me. I changed my perspective on much. I met my life partner after that as well and well, I nearly had a nervous break down. It was not harsh and overly painful but clear...clear in that I felt the impetus of change upon me and new I had to follow my intuition. I had ignored it for far too long.

Conclusion (or New Beginning):
I became much more intuitively sensitive. Things got my attention more clearly than before. The experience of my NDE coupled with a Kundalini experience has left me feeling so strange at times. The things I once loved to do, to strive for and to agonize over just no longer served me. I had to let go of so much because the thought of carrying animosity or even trying to made me sick. I forgave a lot, became much more gratitude focused and all the energy seemed to calm within me. I could feel people differently than before. No matter what they said to me, I could feel the origin of the feeling behind their words at times. It was a bit strange and at times left me feeling both very connected and yet also a bit isolated and sometimes confused. My Kundalini experience occurred in 2013. Following that experience and a near nervous breakdown, I was medicated for a couple of years and that got me through the worst of it. I don't recommend that route though as it is a long and arduous journey out of it. Today, today things are so much better. I am peaceful and accepting and have given up my spiritual quest. I learned that I hold the answers I seek. If my NDE and the Kundalini experience brought me this, well, I'm just grateful. I have enough and I now finally realize, I am enough. For the first time ever, I am comfortable in my own skin even if the bulk of my world and responsibilities feel a bit limiting at time. At some level I realize that I have the life I always wanted, the perfect existence for me and I'm still just so very grateful.

In a way, I am still recovering and discovering exactly what that means. For the rest of my life I will be integrating the experiences of both my NDE and Kundalini experience and I welcome every breath and step with much gratitude.

© 2016 

Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.

Malware in the Conscious Operating System

We’ve all got some form of what I like to call “malware in the conscious operating system.” Malware as I use the term in this context equates to belief, which is like a computer virus or adware that infects a computer system and renders it less than optimal and only partially functioning in many ways. Some of our beliefs are very much like a virus as they are formed and seep into our conscious operating systems unconsciously. To understand this completely, we really need to look at these terms in a little more detail so we can clearly understand what is plainly right in front of us in terms of our daily existence. Until it’s called out, we are unaware of the existence of a thing. Without said awareness, the “malware” so-to-speak, lives on unfettered by understanding creating some interesting challenges for a soul to deal with. That isn’t bad or wrong, I’ll say. Keep in mind this is just a framework for understanding.

When we look at belief alone, we can begin to understand precisely what it means. In fact, dictionary.com defines it as:

noun

1. something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.
2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.
3. confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.
4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.

A belief in a thing does not make it real or a fact. A very quick and simple example of this fact is our common belief for the sake of convenience that the sun rises and sets each day when in fact, it is the Earth that is turning. We might even think the world turns slowly when in fact the truth is that the Earth spins on its axis at the speed near the equator at approximately 1,070 miles per hour according to starryskies.com. So, we can believe the sun rises and sets all we want to or that the Earth turns slowly but we can see from the facts, that these things are not true. The beliefs are not real. We have come to believe the sun rises at sets or that the Earth turns slowly from things that we have read or been told by others who held these beliefs.

There is another term I have often used, “Environmental Psychology.” This term references the things, situations and influence of the outside world upon a person that leads to the forming of belief about one’s self, one’s life or life in general that has more of a psychological nature. Such things might include beliefs that we are worthy or unworthy, gifted or cursed, lucky or unlucky, lovable or unlovable and the list goes on. Again, our environmental psychology has shaped our beliefs about ourselves, other people and the world. But if our beliefs are not true and we’ve built the entirety of our lives upon a false premise in the form of belief or holding unconsciously to a belief created by environmental psychology, how might that affect our experience of life?

So above we have defined how our beliefs are formed. Let us get into the now and sit very comfortably with our new understanding for just a moment. How might this new information assist us in how we live our lives right here and right now? Well, it can help us in a great many of ways but we must first steer clear of any form of blame for the series of beliefs that we hold that limit us in any way. We’re going to start living in the now positively because that puts our power right where it belongs, in our own hands. So, let us be accountable for our beliefs because whether or not they were given to us or we formed them in response to environmental psychology, it is we who decide to continue to hold the belief or not. Right? Give that some thought. No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to hold that thought from your childhood where you overheard Aunt Martha or Uncle Harry say to each other you were a "this kind of child" or a "that kind of child" that left you feeling either bad or good. Belief is not real. It is untested hypothesis.

Moving right along, we can unleash an anti-virus program for the Malware running in the background of our Human Consciousness Operating System in the form of belief given us by environmental psychology. But to do this, you must realize it will take effort, commitment, courage, tenacity and a little bit of reflection and critical analysis. You have to find the malware first before you can remove it. If you do not know it is there, you will never find its source and never be able to remove it successfully and will always resort to behaving as if old beliefs are facts. So, the simple way to find them is to look for them.
 

An easy way to spot them is to think about something that you really want right now in this moment. Go ahead, think about that for a moment. Have you got something in mind? Good. Hold that thought. Now, think about what in your mind prevents you from having what you want? Jot down all the reasons or rationales that have you believing that you cannot or do not have what you want. Continue until you have every possible reason whether real or not real, vetted and noted. Don't judge what you think, just write it down. Now, take a look at your list. I am willing to bet that there will be at least one if not many more life limiting beliefs representing themes of malware that you’ve lived with your entire life staring right back at you hidden quite conveniently in simple thoughts. 

Choose one of those thoughts on your list that you’d like to investigate further. Take that thought and ask yourself is the thought you chose real? Is the belief behind it real? Can you prove that it is real? How can you prove it is real without using an assumption and only dealing with independently verifiable facts that stand up to repeated testing with the same outcome? By critical thinking I mentioned above, I did not mean to think of yourself critically. I meant to start critically analyzing your beliefs with the rigor of a scientific researcher. Is that thought or belief true? How do you know? If you run across a belief on your list that cannot be independently verified as definitive truth or fact, I invite you to introduce yourself to your first piece of malware. Now, if you’d like to eradicate the malware you have to be willing to let go of the belief no matter what that means. Sometimes letting go of a belief can be simple and at other times it can be very difficult. Letting go of the idea of Santa Clause was not easy at first as a child now was it? Letting go of the idea of monsters under the bed also wasn’t easy but getting to the truth and dealing with reality is how we can set ourselves free from malware.  

You see, malware is a prison we commit ourselves to for many very good reasons but mostly due to lack of conscious understanding. You may have full understanding at the spiritual level and any malware you hold may be the very premise from which your greatest life lessons are learned. However, if you find at some point that your beliefs limit you in ways that you no longer desire, you can relinquish the beliefs that don’t bear out under the scrutiny of testing and in so doing you reveal to yourself the hiding place of the key that unlocks the door to your self-made prison cell.  
Do you remember I said earlier there was no right way or wrong way to learn life lessons? In this wonderful piece of wisdom from the Kybalion written by the Three Initiates early on in the last century, the following phrase comes: "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law."--The Kybalion. There is cause and there is effect. Your beliefs create the path from which you learn about your life. If you find your lesson plan enjoyable, proceed without change. If you find it isn’t and you seek greater understanding, then look to your malware, beliefs and environmental psychology. The emerging patterns and themes will be your guide and will help you to understand you. It’s one tiny part of the reason you are here.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little bit of food for thought. If you'd like to learn more about this topic and how the concepts of it can help you remove the obstacles in your life that prevent your growth, let me know. I've got a book and workbook for you that can help you discover more about yourself called Exploring the Conscious Self. With the self-study guide book and work-book, you'll be well on your way to discovering a good many things about you that you may never have given thought to. If you're interested in more details, please contact me at jaiehart@gmail.com.  

  Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.

Tell Me Not About the Weather but How You Perceive It

The quality of light is slightly different at 6:45 am when it’s already 79 degrees Fahrenheit than on a day that has started out at say, maybe, 60 degrees or below, I’ve noticed.  I’m not sure why that is.  Certainly there must be some scientific explanation that might serve as suitable enough a description to satisfy an inquiring mind such as mine? 

Alas, however, I am not a scientist but a philosopher and it is not may way to grab hold of scientific knowledge to tout it about but rather to take it in if and only if it might serve in some way to improve or challenge my understanding of a thing.  To describe my sunny observation of these hot days I have to go into a method of using the words inside of my mind to attempt to convey the richness of the hues, the golden ever so slightly rosy tint of silver everything seems etched in on the early morning of a very hot day and realize this scene and its accompanying set of associated feelings is not something we all notice very often if at all.  I notice it only because I am an early riser and I see this on every very warm day.  Sometimes my perception is accompanied by a neutral nonchalance while at others, a fair bit of trepidation as my mind runs simulations of the days' potential events and future potential resulting feelings.

We’ve been unseasonably hot with much humidity of late in my part of the world but I’m not really here to talk about the weather.  I’m here to talk about the human condition and leading up to that moment when we encounter something we just simply think we can bear not even one more single moment of.  What then do we do?  I suppose our individual environmental psychology might take over then and dictate how we will handle ourselves when the weather is so hot and we’re not used to it.  For many of us, we’re likely to feel quite miserable and no doubt that misery is likely to be shared with all in even remote proximity is some way.  Perhaps we are grumpy and frowning or elated and joyful with the warmth?

Unfortunate or fortunate as that may seem there is something I wish to convey in order for you to consider.  No matter what we face here, life on Earth is tenuous at best. 

Our consciousness however, is not.  Many moons ago on a hot summer day I learned about consciousness in a different way and I’ll never forget what I learned.  The impact that learning had on my awareness has nagged me for nearly 20 years and so it is not so surprising I guess that I’m awake staring into the darkness, noticing the stars and the fact that it is still 79-80 degrees Fahrenheit at precisely 5:38 am and I’ve got a full day of yoga training ahead of me.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the mind is so very powerful as is our ability to perceive and make choices.  Although so much seems so involuntary, it isn’t.  Maybe we can’t instantaneously and miraculously change the weather in an instant but we can choose whether we feel good or horrible about it and in so doing, changing our experience and how the experience is written into the archives of the soul that bears witness to everything we experience here incarnate and beyond.  And through the soul peers the observer that holds nothing other than its drive towards existence in the absence of judgement…a curiosity or knowningness perhaps that regardless of heat or not, the individual is going to be okay no matter how he or she perceives, reacts or does not react to a thing or situation.   

When I look at the day ahead this way, It doesn’t much matter to  me whether it is hot or cold.  It matters to me that I learn to understand the data I take in consciously and sort out that taken in unconsciously and then choose my perceptions and experiences carefully.  I also think it is important that I consider well my own ability to help me see my own way home and I’m talking about the home inside of me no matter where I am or go or exist.  I exist.  Smiling at that, I leave you with wishes for a beautiful day.

  Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.

Pure Consciousness

Photo:  Jaie Hart

Many a philosopher or those with a pioneering spirit from many other disciplines might argue about the concept of what precisely consciousness is.  From each of their individual perspectives and disciplines they may all be right, they might be partially right or they may be all wrong.  To define a bit:

The dictionary meaning of the word consciousness extends through several centuries and associated cognate meanings which have ranged from formal definitions to somewhat more skeptical definitions. One formal definition indicating the range of these cognate meanings is given in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary stating that consciousness is: “(1) a. awareness or perception of an inward psychological or spiritual fact: intuitively perceived knowledge of something in one’s inner self. B. inward awareness of an external object, state, or fact. C: concerned awareness: INTEREST, CONCERN – often used with an attributive noun. (2): the state or activity that is characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, or thought: mind in the broadest possible sense: something in nature that is distinguished from the physical. (3): the totality in psychology of sensations, perceptions, ideas, attitudes and feelings of which an individual or a group is aware at any given time or within a particular time span – compare STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.”

Spend any time researching the topic of consciousness and pretty soon you’ll find yourself half mad with theories, hypotheses and words like qualia and awareness and many philosophical ideas of what consciousness truly means from so many different angles.  Hundreds of papers have been written on consciousness and still we are no closer to pure understanding but maybe pure is part of something we might need to branch off into and along with "pure" add consciousness and create a new term to explore.  

What is pure consciousness?  Well, I believe that it is that state where you experience not one single thing else but consciousness.  There are no thoughts, no sensations, no input no matter what the mind throws up, you let it slip away as rain down the side of a mountain.  Pure consciousness is like a mountain and something far beyond it as it has no limits or boundaries or definition at all.  From a state of pure consciousness, none of this matters, has bearing on or impacts pure consciousness in the slightest. 

Unless you have experienced this state it is a little hard to explain other than as I have.  The only way I know of to get to a state of pure consciousness is through the practice of meditation and it takes much discipline and practice to get to that state of pure consciousness.  To be honest, I first experienced it during an NDE (Near Death Experience - story for another time).  Knowing what it feels like, I took up meditation again out of curiosity and a desire to explore an experience and it took so many years to see it again, I don’t even want to tell you.  But you can learn to get to it.  The question I ask is, even if you get there and even if you find it and become "enlightened" at the finding of it...“And, so?”

Why would we expend so much effort to project ourselves into a physical existence if all we want to do when we get here is spend all of our time in meditation to make this world disappear?  Didn’t we want to be here in the physical for a reason?  So why not then see it through and learn why it has the parameters it does.  Aren’t you at least a little curious why or how you come to be here? There must be a reason and I think that it must be your reason alone. I don’t wish to know the meaning of life right now.  I’m focused instead on the concept simply stated as "I am."  I can’t tell you what it’s for but it relates to a focus on consciousness.  I can point you to a teacher if you are curious (just let me know).  What I teach is part of consciousness but focused more on the day to day stuff but this topic is never ending and all consuming if you let it be that.

I believe that we are consciousness.  We are part of the great unknown…The All of Everything...The Great Mind...the Source…God….Goddess – choose your term but focus as you do on the feeling when you contemplate consciousness and say I Am.  I Am is complete all by itself.  It needs nothing else but I resist it.  I resist it and yet I experience it every night in meditation…a vast nothingness of pure void, black, dark, beautiful, peaceful and wonderful.  It’s funny having experienced a concept and then rejecting it on another hand but only in a way and maybe it is just semantics and there is no resistance at all but instead an alternative angle of understanding present that will morph into some other understanding that might entertain my psyche for a bit.  It doesn’t matter, none of this matters. Being everywhere and nowhere and understanding what that means in terms of consciousness – now that is priceless.

This may make no sense from the outside looking in.  But if you cut off the outside entirely, breathe slowly and deeply, let your thoughts slide away like rain down the side of a mountain, you might understand what I mean.  In the stillness and quiet we taste a bit of who and what we are.  What does that matter?  I don’t know that it does other than to help you understand that you are more than flesh, bones, brain and a bundle of nerves.  You are that too but so much more.  Add emotion and you have the perfect storm of wonder that humanity is.  It’s truly beautiful.  You are truly beautiful.  Our consciousness from whatever angle for whatever purpose we design is amazing regardless of who is right, wrong or somewhere in between.

Source:

 http://dreamintime.blogspot.com/2015/12/pure-consciousness.html

  Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.

Understanding Embodiment: Advancing Towards a Lesser Body and More Soul

Abstract

The nature of the soul is attribute-less and boundless. To experience its true potential, the dimensionless soul manifests itself in the physical dimension as a body. Materialism originates with the creation of the body as it grows around the soul and in the process of forming, enchants the soul with its materialistic conducts. The soul has the ability to materialize and dematerialize into bodily forms as per will, but such an entropic amendment may change the true essence of bodily life. The avarice for materialistic needs mutilates the body physically and mentally, and unshackles the soul; for as we grow in our materialistic conducts, the body and its senses endure this burden, gradually progressing towards a lesser body and more soul.   

Keywords

Body, Soul, Materialism, Disembodiment

   

Positing the Experience of Disembodiment

Disembodiment or dissociation is a state when the body loses consciousness only to experience the limitless true experience in another world; where thoughts flow with no restrictions; for there are no bodily features, but oneness with creation. Conscious disembodiment is the body’s expression of freedom to experience the elusive soul. We are conscious to the limit of our body, beyond which consciousness does not exist; it is a pure energy with forces and senses beyond those that can be only germane to the body.  In the physical world, a material body gives rise to a non-material shadow, but the laws of the other world could be different; hence one can think of the material body as the shadow of the non-material soul. As this bodily attachment grows, our physical desires get deeply rooted within the egotism and sense pleasures of the bodily self, where the compulsion of materialism through our senses overpowers the exquisiteness of the soul.

Soul loves to experience the freedom from the known, so it prefers to impound its own self as the body. The physical body is like a piece of cloth that wraps the soul and is acquired as we develop from a unicellular to multi-cellular being; it’s a cover-up for the true self that resides within us. Death is a mere dropping off of the body that has accumulated over a period of time to release the self. For the survival of the body we need the soul that thinks and collates information processed by organized structures like the brain; which can be retrieved so long it stays connected. We are not what we think we are; for we are beyond the body and its senses. We vibrate not with the body but without the body and through these vibrations we perceive all that is around us; we resonate. Be it the brain or the body, they are mediums that help us understand the meaning of bodily life just like the God’s of the countless religions that act as mediums in spiritual life.

If our true self is what we ultimately are, then why do we procure a body that needs to be shed with age? Why can’t we always be our true selves? Why should the body need to bear pain? Creation abides the laws of nature and so everything needs to be transformed from one form to another. This transformation is what creates the body to shape the soul; for the soul has no shape without the body. Just like egoism, materialism is the price we need to pay for this entropic change which commences with the creation of the body; for the body gathers from the exterior as it grows around the soul and in the process of forming, enchants the soul with its materialistic ways; thus the feeling of death always seems like a loss. A glimpse into what lies beyond death sets in a realization of what we truly are, this can change in our approach towards the death of our bodily self. 
 

We must realize that everything that happens around us is needed, and does not happen without a cause; for we are the cause and pain for our own bodily life. Similarly everything that we are made up of is made for a reason; a small change in this design can result in the loss of the body and liberation of the soul. The body clings to the soul and forms a bond that seems unbreakable; breaking such a bond is difficult for the body but not for the soul. Without the body the soul bears no shape, but with the body the soul takes shape of the body. So long the shape of the body remains intact the shape of the soul retains; for a detached soul will stay alongside a body until the body is completely blemished mentally and physically, which is when the release or dispersal takes place.

The growth of the body depends on what it gathers during its survival, but the soul only sustains itself; for it is unchangeable and unlimited. To experience its true potential, the dimensionless soul manifests itself in the physical dimension as a body. It crafts a phenomenon called the mind to identify and experience itself. Even though the soul knows that the experience is limited by the senses of the body; it craves to perceive its boundless and vast nature from the bounded envelop and glimpse into state of attribute-less through the attributed doorways of the body. Thus the mind is linked to the body, thinks for the body, but when the soul is out of the body, the mind can think no more; for the liberation of the soul is liberation of thoughts created through materialistic needs and beliefs. The soul when with the body vibrates at frequencies that build connections with one another and with the universe. Upon dropping the body, the frequency of the soul blends with the frequency of the universe, making us resonant beings. 

Fate of Being Embodied

In today’s world, the greed for materialist needs has led to the liberation of many souls, but has hurt and mutilated the bodies of many. A body of a child that has partially grown over its soul and with its mind gradually maturing; ready to understand and explore the beauty of this world, can be shattered in no time. The shape of the body can be ruined to a state where even the soul may weep for the body; where being conscious does not feel magical, but feels like a curse.

This 5 year old boy never expected his body to be mutilated in such a manner; he never meant to have memories that cannot be wiped away easily. At the age of 5, his body is growing and so is his brain, this is the age he needs to play, explore, understand, and most importantly smile. But in a flash of a second, an airstrike destroys him within and puts him in a state of shock where he is neither conscious nor unconscious; a state where you don’t know whether to smile or not to smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZw3VpGPqM4   Video credit: News Today’s Trending

“They may torture my body but my soul will stay unhurt; for their materialistic needs cannot last forever; someday these needs will perish to the real"

“There will be a time when my vibrations will be felt and appreciated; my awareness will flow beyond limits; this is when I will truly smile”. 

Why be in a body when being out of it is so beautiful and peaceful? Why is the embodied state so materialistic driven? Is there so much happiness in materialism, that the soul is forgotten? To be embodied in today’s world means to experience pain mentally and physically especially with the ones that hurt the most. The soul watches the body beyond its senses and the bodily limitations of time and space and asks “Why am I in this body?”

“Disembodied, I shall be free of misery that my body is facing; for in this instance my clothes have been torn of my soul and as time goes by they will be ripped further to release my soul.”

Towards Less Body and More Soul

The world is gradually becoming dark with destruction. Death at all stages occurs across the globe as the killing continues and the greed for materialistic needs progresses. Bodies are growing and bodies are perishing. Every now and then, souls are liberated and souls are clothed, and with this change the body is losing its identity, its vigour; for someday the body may be more soul than the body itself. The soul has the ability to materialize and dematerialize into bodily forms as per will; such an irreversible entropic change may change the true existence of life. The avarice for materialistic needs mutilates the body physically and mentally, and unshackles the soul; for as we grow in our materialistic ways, the body and its senses will need to bear this excessive burden as we gradually progress towards a lesser body and more soul.     

---

Dr. Contzen Pereira

Independent Scholar, Mumbai, India

Corresponding Author. Address: Nandadeep, 302, Tarun Bharat Soc, Chakala, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 099, India. Tel: +919819642456, +912266750530 Email Address: contzen@rediffmail.com, contzen@gmail.com

  

J. Shashi Kiran Reddy

jumpal_shashi@yahoo.com (and) jumpalreddy@jncasr.ac.in

M.S (Engg) Research student, EMU, JNCASR, Bangalore.

   

Consciousness As Yet Undefined

I stepped out and away from really big thoughts for quite a while.  I guess I needed a break for a bit.  But, lately consciousness as a topic of thought calls from that precious place I left it some time ago and it tells me I’m not done yet.  Have you any idea the frustration this causes or why?  There have been over 200 papers written on the topic of consciousness and yet, we are still unable to pin point exactly where it begins and ends. The theories are abundant.  Some are very outlandish and some seem so rational and logical.  I cannot help but wonder though, if it remains truly illusive because we are looking for it with the wrong perspective and possibly, the wrong equipment.

What if consciousness is a type of energy field pervasive in its existence to the point it cannot be defined in terms of beginnings and endings?  What if it is such an intrinsic part of this world we experience that we will be unable to differentiate it coming from the mind or soul because both are a part of consciousness?  If we raise ourselves up to the consciousness of spirit and beyond, we still could not define its borders because we cannot get outside of it in order to fully look at it.  We have a word or a concept that carries multiple meanings only because we have no words to define the fullness of the essence of the infinite.

I had to stop looking it this for a while.  I had to cut myself off from thinking about it.  Not because it was a problem I couldn’t solve or it was frustrating or anything like that.  I had to stop looking at it to reconnect with it in a better light.  It has been a stressful year for me in so many ways I just won’t bore you with.  But that stress has been the impetus for my return to aware consciousness.  I think, sometimes, we need something painful to bring us back to the center of our being where there is peace, there is comfort and there is this vast and depthless expanse of pure consciousness we are always engaged with, plugged into and a very focal part of.

I guess in all my inquiry about consciousness, contemplating all the theories, I guess I have to smile and say “Yes” all are not only plausible but likely in some way.  There is no mind over soul over body here in terms of origins.  I think the reality would be much closer to a “yes” to quite possibly all theories.  I have no scientific proof but you see, science cant really measure it from the inside.  It hasn’t got the proper tools or the right perspectives yet to see itself from the inside.  It would be like a fish trying to formulate the existence of the ocean?  What would that be to a fish?  It is in it and so how could it be defined properly?  What framework would the fish use?  You might have to catch glimpses where you could step outside of consciousness but I ask you, how on Earth would you do that?  How in any realm could you do that?

I like to think of us all as interactive processors in a way.  We take in data at various frequencies, process that data and put out a world view that suits us but realize that output is dependent upon our processing equipment.  Not all of us process data in the same manner and even if we are comprised of similar components, the way we were put together creates many and varied ways in which we see, process and output information into the realities that we embrace.  No two processors (humans) are fully alike and each will have his areas of focus based on how he or she was created (and I’m including here genetic memes and psychology as well as environmental psychology and social impact upon our development).  So, within consciousness, how do we see consciousness when we are actually processors of consciousness?  I don’t have the answers.  I, like many others, only have questions. 

At some level, I think I can accept the concept of being conscious, in a sea of consciousness, I consciously interpret to exist within a larger global shared consciousness.  At first this sounded so silly to me but then I stepped back, stopped thinking about it so much and it became more clear to me.  What purpose would it serve for me or anyone to define the indefinable at this point in our human-conscious development?  In this frame and within this plane of existence at this time, I do not think we have yet developed the right equipment, thought processes or perceptive ability to definitively articulate what precisely consciousness is.  Clever as we may be, the best we can hope for, I think, is to define aspects of it and maybe coin some better words to contain the aspects we define…like Spirit, Soul, Sub-Conscious, Latent Consciousness and Awake/Aware Consciousness.  But those are merely points on a spectrum that is really not limited to just the points.  What about the whole plane?  What about the other planes?

I’m more content today knowing I don’t have the tools to do a job I somehow started to take on without realizing it.  Rather than drive myself mad, I am happy to look for the right tools to begin to define component parts, go back to the studies and reread them, go back to the world of rich, beautiful and amazing experiences within the global consciousness and allow what is to manifest to, well, manifest with much greater ease and much less intense thinking on at least this topic in particular.  Because we exist to process and respond to what we both take in and put out, we bring naturally, this space-time continuum into the mix of consciousness.  We are the crossroads or culmination of time and space and the consciousness that keeps these things dimensionaly in tact in our experience.  Hmmm, more thoughts to come.

 

© 2016 JL Harter (Photo: http://www.wallpaperhi.com)

 Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.