There are two transitions a soul goes through in a lifetime. Birth and death. When someone is dying we can really get a glimpse of the soul that we all have within us. The spirit that I call our true self. Looking at death from a different perspective than the usual sadness and grief will allow both you and the person dying some proof of the existence of the true self and what happens to our soul after our body dies. I had an experience yesterday that I wanted to share. It adds more validation that the soul is more than just pretty words.
Geriatric ward doctors and nurses probably have many of these types of stories. There have been lots of books written about near-death experiences and anyone who has had a loved one die can also tell their own stories about witnessing “different” behavior of a loved one close to death.
I got on the bus yesterday and the driver, Kathleen, was there. I had not seen her for a couple of months so I asked her how she was. The last time I had seen her she told me that she visiting her brother in the hospital a lot but never discussed his condition and I didn’t ask. I asked her how her brother was. I don’t usually talk much to any drivers other than hi, bye but Kathleen speaks English so I have spoken to her more. I hit the “on button” when I asked about her brother.
She proceeded to tell me that he had died and then poured out her heart describing the last few days of his life. She loved him very much and would visit him daily, often staying over night to be with him. She told me that a few days before he died he would point his finger to the ceiling and ask if she could see Mama or Uncle Gilles or whoever. All the people he talked about were dead. Kathleen would just calmly tell him that she did not see them.
One morning she got to the hospital and he told her that he had spent the whole night with his cat, Mimille, who he loved dearly and was also not living. He said she slept on his bed with him and he petted her and she purred all night.
Her brother was unable to walk because of his advanced condition or even raise himself out of bed. She described to me that a few hours before he died he started to get very agitated and was trying to get up from the bed. He was very upset with Kathleen saying to her, while pointing up to the ceiling,
Our soul is formless. Our soul is energy and energy can’t die. Having this knowledge sure makes living each day a lot sweeter and easier. We can all live each day with the knowledge that the story never ends.
“Don’t you see them. They are waiting for me. I have to go. Help me up. There standing there in the light.”
Kathleen and the nurse kept trying to settle him down and were holding him in bed as he was struggling to get up. They gave him shots of sedatives that had no effect on him. Finally they gave him enough that he stopped struggling and died 20 minutes later.
A pretty familiar story for anyone who had experience with watching a person die.
With Overlight there is a segment that works with people who are dying. Helping them with the fear that many experience surrounding this transition. I also know that there is one person that we designate before we come into a lifetime that agrees to be there when we pass. They also agree to give us “permission” to leave. It is a sacred contract that we have all made. It can be anyone. A nurse, a son or daughter, or in Kathleen’s case, a sister. Many will fight death until they do receive that “permission.” Permission may sound like weird word to use but that is in essence what happens, even though it may not be spoken that way.
I asked Kathleen if she gave him permission to leave? She stopped talking, looked at me straight in the eye and said,
“Yes, I did.”
She was the only one present when he died. His wife and other family members lived in a nearby town and Kathleen could feel his death was coming but was unable to reach them before he died.
Now that, for me, was very cool stuff. Not only that she opened up to me like that but that her description of her brother’s behavior was another example of us being eternal beings. He knew he had to go. He knew where he was going. Her brother’s soul was fully present for her to connect with and I know she did.
Why do I keep talking about our real self? Like this post or this one about Paul Potts. Because I want to give you some real life examples. Not just flowery words and concepts that sound nice but are too abstract to relate to.
Plus, I love to connect to another’s real self. Heart to heart. Soul to soul. Kathleen gave me that feeling. That connection. I knew that she had also experienced it with her brother. That kind of stuff juices me up.(weird huh? bet you thought it was girls)
I am not sure how anyone can believe that we’re born, we die, end of story. Anyone who has been present during a person’s death and who really opens their eyes to observe what happens can take away from that experience, if they didn’t know already, a belief that there has to be more to the story. Often witnessing the death of a loved one can be a life altering event that opens us up to a wider perspective on life and on who we truly are.
Death is not an end. We are eternal. We are just changing form. We’re leaving our bodies behind and returning to our true state. If we eliminate our ingrained fear of death and know that we are not our bodies but our true self is our soul, then the transition of the soul can be a glorious event. It can be a celebration of our return to home.
Humans have spent centuries trying to separate themselves from the rest of nature. We have lived with the concept that we are above every living thing. That the earth and it’s creatures are there for us to use and we can treat them any way we choose. We’ve done a pretty good job of creating that separation. The results of our dis-connection with nature and each other seems to be coming to a head. It is time to awaken, or really it’s just return, to oneness.
Oneness is not new. Aboriginal cultures have always acknowledged oneness as a basic component of human experience. Even science using quantum physics is recognizing this connection. I have devoted many words on this blog to the concept of unity being a major part of our collective awakening. What will it take for all of us to not only hear these words, or say them ourselves, but to live them?
Mainstream initiatives like Global Oneness Project is one organization that is contributing to the spread of this message. It is a project supported by the Kalliopeia Foundation and is an offshoot from the movie ONE, The Movie. It is a web-based video project where they travel the world interviewing people from all cultures discussing how oneness is expressed for them. They make the videos available on their site for viewing and distribution.
This trailer for the project will to give you a taste of what is on the site.
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi sheikh who in 2000 awoke to the concept of global oneness. The Emerging Consciousness of Oneness.
Here’s his views on our awakening to oneness. Awakening The World.
The Global Oneness Project is one of many that are being formed around this key factor to our awakening. The more we hear this message the better the chance of global consciousness changing. In one of the videos a comment was,
We have to make the structures of society unable to bear separation as a way of approaching things, much like we do of the practice of slavery today.
Now is the time for us to return to the knowing that we are one with not only each other, but with the earth and by extension the universe.
“Remember who we truly are.” WTH does that mean? Many new-agers use this phrase, including me. Whenever I do I ask myself, does anyone know what that means. It’s one of those statements that people make and no one questions it. They just nod their head. Sometimes I see their eyes getting glossy and I’m sure they must be thinking - Yeah - Okay - Whatever. I know what I mean when I use it so let’s see if I can explain it. I’ll start with what we are not and see if the explanation emerges from there.
The mind AKA the ego needs definitions. It works through comparison and labels and needs to put concepts in a box. The ego needs to define who we are. Define a self-image. Define self worth. The ego has the need to constantly be fed. Whether it is to diminish or enhance the image it doesn’t matter. It only needs the blank filled in. I am (fill in the blank). We’ll start with the easy one:
We are not our things - We love to use things to define who we are. Starting with my toys, then my car, my house, etc. The ego loves things because it’s easy to define self using what things we have compared to other people. Evita from Evolving Beings wrote a post this week about David Hoffman, a documentary filmmaker, who just lost all his “things” in a fire. He chose to look at the positive of the event without getting all messed up at the loss of his treasures. Evita discusses the concept about us not being our things.
“Can’t take it with us” is a truism that we all know and describes the place that things hold in our true identity. The things we have or don’t have are definitely not who we truly are.
We are not what we do - I am a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Our education, Our societal “status. The ego needs these labels to makes sense of who we are. I am smart or I am stupid or I am rich or poor. These labels change over time. They are not with us from birth to death therefore how can they be who we truly are. Once again, they are just the box that our mind likes to put us in to give us the illusion of self. Defining our self-worth by designating what we do to who we are. Anything that changes with time cannot be who we are.
We are not our roles - I am a father, mother, husband, wife. I am black, I am Canadian. I am Jewish. I am a Christian I am a victim. These identifications are merely roles. Our mind can attach to these roles and we can believe that they are who we are. Aren’t they just more examples of food for the ego to put us into a form?
We are not our minds - Many like to identify our self with our thoughts. The mind uses the content of our life to define who we are. It uses our past “story,” and it uses what I have mentioned to form the sense of self. It uses our past beliefs to determine who we are. Lots of people have great minds but does that make them who they are? Is that all we are? Are they better human beings because of their minds? Can we think our way through life? Our mind is a great tool for interpreting information. That’s what it is - a tool. Not who we are.
We are not our bodies - When we look in the mirror what do we see? The mind uses the body to form an identity. We are either male or female. Fat or thin. Beautiful or ugly. The physical image we see in the mirror can often be confused with who we are. Many people tie their sense of self worth with the outward appearance of their body, both to enhance or diminish their sense of who they are and their place in society. Society in general does a great job of perpetrating that illusion. Of course these aspects change over time so if we think that we are our body then when that beauty or strength is lost we can also lose our sense of self. This happens to many who believe their outward appearance is who they are. That can’t be who we are.
Our body consists of water and carbon. How can a blob of these elements be who we are. The ritual of dressing up the body at a funeral for all to take one last look at the person makes me laugh. Can that be the person’s true self in that coffin?
My mother passed in 2001. She had lung cancer and had quit chemo. She was basically waiting to die. Her breathing was very labored because of her condition. I was on my way back from Vancouver to be with her when she transitioned. My sister described what happened moments before she died. She said my mother took one deep breath and after that her breathing became even and unimpeded.
I knew that at the moment she took that deep breath was when her true self left her body. Her eternal self moved on.
That’s a clue to the answer of who we truly are.
If we are not our things or what we do or our roles in society or our minds or our bodies then we must be the observer of all these things. Shut off your mind for a minute and feel. Can you feel the core of your being? Can you feel the life force running through your body? Can you stand back and observe that your mind is thinking. That awareness is your true self. Like someone who had an out of body experience or near death give witness to this awareness.
So many names for it. Divine self, god self, higher self, soul. It has no form. When you peel away all the layers it’s what is left at the core.
Your true self has no fear. It is eternal. It has no needs. It has no feelings of separation. It has no limitations or walls. It is your awareness of right now. Not your past. Not your future. It has the inner peace that we all crave because it knows without needing to understand how it knows. It’s what comes to the forefront in times like the death of a loved one or a time of emotional upheaval when the mind steps aside and allows your true self to be in control. When anything that you have identified with as self is lost, like wealth or a job or like David, his things. These times are your opportunity to see your true self. To become aware that you are not those things.
When you open up and see who you really are you are experiencing the awakening I so often talk about. You are recognizing your true self. Once you know who you are you will never feel unworthy or imperfect. You will not be driven or defined by ego. You will be the observer of your human life story. You gain the ability to detach yourself from it and see it for what it truly is. A game of life and you get to play it for a while until you return to your formless self. Only now when we remember who we truly are we can go from doing to be-ing.
Like the story of Moses when he asked God what name should I say when they ask me who you are. His answer was,
I Am That I Am
It can also be said, I will be that I will be. That’s what I mean when I say “true self.” That’s who we are. We are be-ings. We are spiritual be-ings. Our true self is a piece of God.
The continuing story of Falun Gong and the Internet ban in China took an interesting twist. A group of computer experts from the Falun Gong spiritual group are offering free software to break through the firewall put up by the Chinese government to block the flow of information on topics like Falun Gong.
It’s available on Internet Freedom’s site. If you don’t know the history of the persecution of Falun Gong’s practitioners you can download a PDF of it here. As discussed in my last post about Falun Gong, my knowledge of Falun Gong is from a practitioner’s perspective not a political one. It has been my practice of choice for many years. I also know the spiritual teachings that accompany the exercises. The practice is based on the principles of Truth, Benevolence and Forbearance.
I cannot see anything political about this practice any more than Tai Chi or Yoga. The Chinese government’s opinion differs from mine. Wang Baodang. a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., tells
