I was born in and I live in Liverpool, UK. I first came across Tony Peake's extraordinary work when he was recently interviewed on City Talk radio. I found the interview absolutely fascinating, having read works from different authors speaking about similar principles. I will comment on Tony's talk in Liverpool at a later date, suffice to say I found it very interesting and thought provoking. I want to relate three experiences of my own which I hope will make a meaningful contribution to others on this blog.
(1)
In 1986 I was driving on a motorway to Yorkshire. I fell asleep at the wheel. Then I was immediately woken up by music inside my right ear. This music felt unearthly and perhaps the most enchanting music I've ever heard in my entire life. The music only played for about a quarter to half a second and it surely woke me up and otherwise I certainly would have remained asleep and crashed the car.
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(2)
This next experience I will relate very briefly.
In Feb 1992 (about 4 months after my father died the day after a car accident he was in) I had an out of body experience. It was morning and I had woken up earlier in the morning and done a little meditaion and then gone back to sleep. At some point I found myself floating inches from the ceiling of my bedroom. I thought it was odd that I was so close to the artex of the ceiling and that it was crystal clear and vivid as in waking consciousness. I then realised I was out of my body. I was too scared to look down at my body on the bed as I lived alone in the house and the experience of my father dying only recently had shaken me up and challenged my beliefs. I then heard my father speaking clearly from what appeared to be the direction of the upstairs lobby outside my bedroom. At the time, my belief system stated that if my father's spirit was earthbound then he was not being taken care of by the Gurus we followed. This scared me and I consciously said to myself that if he is just roaming about on this earth plane then I don't want to know (I was too afraid to confront such a reality if it was true). I tried to move my body, to no avail. Then later I awoke from my sleep after having had a beautiful enchanting dream in colour. At a later date I was convinced that my father had wanted to communicate with me from what I would have termed the astral plane.
It is interesting that the next day (a Sunday) after spending the day with friends etc I came home late and went to bed at approx 12.30am. As soon as my head was on the pillow, my attention was rivetted in my forehead around the point said to be the third eye. Never in my life had I experienced my attention so rivetted and focused. I knew I was about to leave this plane of existence or that a window of opportunity had opened for me to perceive other dimensions. Again I was too afraid to follow through and I moved myself in order to break my concentration. So many times in my life had I tried and longed for such an experinece in meditation and when I got the chance I was too afraid to follow through.
WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING IS THAT DURING THAT PARTICUALER FEBRUARY (1992) I WAS SPONTANEOUSLY FILLED WITH AN OVERFLOWING LOVE AND PEACE THAT I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE. SO DURING THE ABOVE EXPERIENCE I WAS ALREADY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THAT LOVE FEELING. THE LOVING FEELING LASTED MOST OF THAT FEBRUARY AND STARTED TO FADE AFTER I ALLOWED MYSELF TO GET ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED OVER DISHARMONY WITH OTHER PERSON/PEOPLE.
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(3)
Late 1991 (when I was thirty years of age) about 2 months after my father died, I was in bed alone in my girl friend's home one Saturday morning. She had already awoken and gone downstairs. I was in emotional turmoil because I knew the relationship was coming to an end and she was putting pressure on me to end it as she felt the relationship was going nowhere. As I was feeling this intense pain with my stomach knotted up, in my minds eye while fully awake I saw an open doorway. On the outside of the doorway a big ball of light about 3 feet in diameter went past slowly. As I saw it I was communicated to telepathically (meaning there were no words used by the light but that I had to put into words the message that was conveyed) by the ball of light and it said "Pain is transitory". At that instant my knotted stomach relaxed perfectly and a real deep calm overcame me and I felt a great relief. I felt LOVE and COMFORT come from that ball of light. My ntellect was perplexed that love and comfort could come from this ball of light (likening it sort of to a light bulb). I grew up with an esoteric meditation path and I had read various esoteric literature over the years and had read Dr Raymond Moody's book "Life After Life" etc; but actually experiencing this it still took me by surprise and my intellect could not quite grasp it. The communication from the ball of light immediately penetrated me to a depth that normally only experiences penetrate us. The words "pain is transitiory" just penetrated me as though I had just learned it through experience. The idea that "pain is transitory" stayed with me in relation to other life problems and challenges, but after time it faded and once again the challenges of life purturbed me as they had previous to the experience of the ball of light.
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21 comments:
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing those experiences.
Well, you're not alone in feeling fear when faced with those rare opportunities. I too have several regrets, if its any comfort.
During one lucid dream, I walked out of a house into a thick fog. after walking for a while I turned around to try to find my way back. My feet left the floor and I was floating horizontally in the fog.
Then a voice spoke to me. It was the most powerful, deep, resonant male voice I have ever heard. It boomed, "Welcome".
It frightened me so much that I shouted out , "sh*t!" and I forced myself to leave the dream and wake up. Afterwards I could not sleep, and lay wishing that I had been more brave.
Your reference to feeling an overwhelming love was also so exciting for me to read. So many people I have shared with have dismissed such experiences out of hand. Reading your post has boosted my confidence to speak my truth. Thank you for that.
I have asked many people this simple question, " why do we say I love you with all my heart?"
Why not say " with all my liver!"
or "both my kidneys!". We both know , I think, why we say that. Love is an energy, a beautiful shakti, that sometimes just flows into our hearts.
Om Namah Shivaya.
Hi Mohan
You're first experience sounds startlingly familiar to Tony's experience with music. Maybe in the last run of life that was the point at which you started over(died) but this time it seems you needed to go on and were wakened by your daemon.
The overwhelming feeling I get from the rest of your post is that you are applying a lot of intellect and analysis to your experiences.
It appears to me that these experiences are trying to touch your emotional core and fill you up from that centre. To guide you towards emotional awareness, peace and growth perhaps?
Maybe it is to help you deal with the anger, frustration, bereavement and break up of which you speak. These aren't things that can be coped with intellectually.
MOHAN: Great to have you on board. as JOHAR says I am amazed how similar your experience was to mine. Indeed JOHAR, you may be interested to know that on Tuesday I discussed my M62 experience withthe audience from the Liverpool Holistic Group. MOHAN chatted to me afterwards and clearly has some very interesting observations and experiences to share with us. Yet another potential itladian to join our ever increasing ranks!
Mohan: Welcome indeed.
Thank you for your personal stories, they all fit in with the ITLADic traditions.
I was particularly interested in your third tale and your mention of Dr Raymond Moody. You may be interested to read a recent post on the blog relating to him. I shall place a link to it below:
The PsychoManteum [by Jesamyn]
Hi Moham,
thanks for sharing that
was it Rumi who said, "Suffering is optional, pain is not"?
I think he meant that when we resist pain we are actually holding onto it, trying to separate ourselves from it rather than allowing it to BE. The message of the pain is thus being rejected, and so the pain has to persist, rather like a relentless (and dedicated) postman who cannot stop pounding on our doors until we have signed for his package?!
I am struck also by the possible double meaning of "pain is transitory," the obvious meaning - "this too shall pass" - and the subtler meaning, that pain is a necessary part of a transition process from one state to the next, as in birth and death (and, God knows, romantic break ups!)
JH
Pain is disconnection in this instance from an addiction. What the being was saying that it would pass because all things in this life are transient. Your girlfriend was saying that the relationship had died (reached boredom point) and needed to be released. Your reaction was fear at the thought of this and pain the actual disconnection mechanism at work. Every relationship (connection) starts with fear that you are not going to get what you want, moves onto excitement when you realize you are and finally settles into calm satisfaction before moving on to boredom and disgruntlement as you lose interest in the love object (reject it - find it repulsive as once you found it attractive).
Jason,
I agree with your excellent analogy. Part of transition is accepting the pain, not fighting it. Being in the moment, being in your body allows the experience to fully realise and eventually pass. And I feel one is left with a greater understanding, self awareness and wisdom.
I've often said to people, recall 5 positive events in their lives that have had an impact and 5 negative. More often than not it is the negative or suffering events that they can recall more readily. This tells me that it is those events we have the most opportunity to grow through.
Paige, I agree with most of your comment except the very last part. I hope that any future love I discover will go through the phases you have described but end with the satisfaction and harmony that comes from trust, communication, longevity and a mutual desire to be together. I'm not prepared to believe that all love ends in boredom and disgruntlement. This is a common occurrence, I think, in part, due to the world in which we live in. Society fosters this throw away attitude. Everything has to be immediate. If satisfaction and excitement aren't delivered NOW, the source is discarded and we move on to the next thrill. Somethings broken? Don't bother trying to fix it, get a new one.And so it is with relationships.
I don't live by this view. I work hard at the relationships I have, accept that it's not going to be fun and excitement every second and cherish the ideal of commitment through all the pain and suffering that is thrown at us. These are the views and beliefs that keep me strong and help me through my pain. And this is how I will evolve. Through love, pain, loss and learning.
Jake and Johar:
Jake, I don't know if it was Rumi or otherwise who said "Suffering is optional, pain is not", but whoever said it was plainly deluded and fundamentally wrong.
If suffering is optional then so by logical extension is happiness. Humanity isn't premised on 'opting-in' or out of emotive expression. We emote because we are!
JoJo, I agree yes, but it again comes down to: Is your glass half-full, half-empty or does it depend how thirsty you are?
If you did your '5 positive and 5 negative thoughts' exercise on me, I would find it far easier to complete the 5 positive.
And I am in TOTAL agreement with you re relationships and the rather pessimistic viewpoints of Paige and Jake. We have ALL loved and lost (for 'tis better, after all) BUT I would never enter a new relationship feeling 'fearful' of the impending break-up for this, on a subconscious level, would actually contribute to that being the end result.
And lastly, yes, yes and thrice yes (oh missus!), your evolution cycle is natural.
What I gleaned from Jake's analogy was that by resisting the pain we suffer more.To accept pain as we would happiness the suffering is reduced. Some people have a propensity to resist pain and happiness thus suffering needlessly.
And Paige stated that at the beginning of a relationship we are fearful that we aren't going to get what we want, rather than being fearful of it ending from the beginning. Fear and hope sit side by side, I think, in this case.
I do agree that entering any relationship fearful of it ending is like pressing the self destruct button on that relationship.
Johar: An analogy should require no gleaning! Jake was ascerting, through the words of Rumi or otherwise, that "Suffering is optional", which is what I objected to in my comment. If one suggests that suffering is optional then pain is also optional and thus any transitional phase or coping mechanism is redundant. This is I can't concur with.
re Paige, yes! If you start a relationship fearful that you arent't going to get what you want, then you most likely will NOT get what you want.
I think what I interpreted from the saying was that pain is a normal experiential part of life and needs to be accepted, allowing us to go through the transition and adopt coping mechanisms. To resist pain is to prolong suffering. Therefore suffering is optional, pain is not. That is just my interpretation.
I suggested that fear and hope sit side by side with regards to the start of a relationship because it seems natural to hope for what we want and also fear we may not get it.
Johar: Yes, pain DOES need to be accepted, but how can it if suffering is optional? If we opt-in to suffer we have pain, if we opt-out we do not! Nonsense!
*smile*
Have you not suffered through your loss then Jo? Of course you have, the option was not there!!
Your approach to relationships seem far from natural to me, I'm afraid. If I begin something with someone then I reach for the stars, not for the armour.
I realise now where the quote falls down. If taken in it's literal state, it doesn't make sense. I agree with you Karl that opting-in or out of suffering is not an option because pain and suffering are part and parcel of the experience.
I went beyond the literal meaning and suggested that by resisting pain (and the suffering that goes with it) the transition cannot be made and therefore the suffering lasts longer.
Initially, therefore, suffering isn't an option, as you rightly pointed out. However, by resisting the pain experience there comes a point where it could be said that one is opting to continue suffering.
Johar: Thank You JoJo!
I now fully agree with your last comment (although even pain in certain cases is incapable of being resisted, consciously or otherwise.)
Glad we cleared that up! *smile*
Johar: Yeah, me too.
I'm like a human emollient for soothing out the wrinkles of furrowed brows!!
Or Something.........
*hugs*
......suffering is optoinal.......
From a Buddhist perspective this is true. If a Doctor were to says to true Buddhist , " I'm afraid I have some Bad news....." he would respond "no, you have information to pass on to me. How I react to it - or don't react - will determine it's attributes.
The reaction of the emotional body, and physical body which cuases suffering, is due to the absence of Equanimity. When all bodies are balanced and harmoniuosly working in their proper order then Maya loses.
There is no suffering, "I" dont suffer, because there is no "I" to suffer, there is only ....
Shiva: Surely your example from Buddhism does not show that suffering is optional but instead shows that personal attitudes and coping mechanisms can assist the transition.
Again I fail to express my thoughts correctly Karl! haha.
I wish I had all my books here with me so that I could quote a passage faithfully rather than try to re-state it in my own words- and fail hehe.
Your point is well taken my friend.
*bows respectfully*
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