Paranormality is the New Reality

Have you ever met Bigfoot? Well, neither have I, but not for the lack of trying. When I was a kid, many years ago, my mom took us on a summer adventure searching for Sasquatch (although she denies it now). That was a long time ago – way back before Bigfoot even had an agent.

A lot of things have changed since then. In those days, no one used the term “paranormal” yet, referring to all the crazy stuff that science couldn’t easily explain, like UFOs, ESP, ghosts and evidence of the afterlife, unknown species of hominids, and the possibility of life on other planets. Even alternative energy sources, quantum physics, animal intelligence and all the rest were simply considered to be “koo koo,” with one finger circling your ear.

 Of course, nowadays what we call paranormal is possibly more normal than what we call normal.

“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is opposed. Third, it is regarded as self-evident.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

What does paranormal really mean? The Greek prefix para means “besides; alongside of; or beyond.” As such, paranormal refers to a normality that runs alongside of our usually accepted standards. Geometrically speaking, it “shares a common side, and a common vertex,” or source. So in its basic sense, it is adjoined to what’s normal, and comes from the same point of origin.

To Webster, it’s basically everything that isn’t understandable scientifically. But if you go back (or especially if you stay put) anywhere in human history, that would mean that everything we’ve ever learned (or will learn) scientifically either has been, or currently is, in a way paranormal.

The ascension of the paranormal in our cultural reality isn’t the result of all those ancient alien gods or ghost hunters streaming on your flatscreen. No, those shows are simply symptomatic of the new reality I’m talking about. The real contributors to our change are the rapidly expanding consciousness flooding our world, and the realization of it through our technological global mind, the internet, which simultaneously informs and connects all intelligence on our planet. In short, it’s cause is the spiritual and technological evolution of humankind.

Way back when, the existence of the internet would have been popularly considered a scientific impossibility, but now it’s a functioning metaphor, pointing directly to the foundation of much of what we’ve always considered to be paranormal; that is, a magically interconnected world, where anything that can be imagined is truly possible.

In the wake of quantum physics, and the description of an observer-dependent, wave-based reality where matter realizes itself from the fluid energy alive in the quantum vacuum, crystallized in a musical, extra-dimensional geometry; and then consciousness arises within that matter, connected faster than the speed of light within the “cosmic plenum” or “zero-point field” (the alchemists’ unus mundus), it becomes clear that little is outside the realm of possibility – especially as long as we’re flying around on this planet in outer space. All of that “real” stuff sounds pretty paranormal, doesn’t it?

We used to think that only very particular things could be possible on our planet, which was clearly at the center of the stars revolving around it. Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler were paranormal koo-koos back then. Recently, the space telescope bearing Kepler’s name has discovered it’s one-thousandth earthlike planet. From that we can easily extrapolate the existence of an infinite number of planets like ours, and so too, an infinite array of human-like life forms (many of which, one way or another, possibly visit our little planet).

One of my favorite guys, Dr. Carl Jung, tried to partially describe these concepts of a paranormal cosmic ether or “Akashic Field,” and the “psycho-social” anomalous phenomena of extra-terrestrial travelers in his books, “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle,” and “Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies.” But despite his careful description of an independent, interlocking field of consciousness, and his rational suggestion of an archetypal based kind of mass-illusion at work in the world, there was no real way around the overwhelming scientific evidence, and personal testimony verifying the existence of each of these “new realities.” Like most scientists and academicians, he had to tread lightly, lest he upset the conventional apple cart, and destroy his professional credibility.

In that sense, the “psycho-social,” mass-illusion based theories of skeptical scientists can cut both ways. The same type of group ‘wishful thinking’ that can be applied to the average suggestible Joe can also apply to the traditional scientific community – to their own kind of ‘cognitive dissonance’ (or denial), evidenced by centuries of their membership in a Flat Earth Society of one kind or another. Another of Dr. Jung’s famous quotes comes to mind in this case:

“One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God.”

  I wouldn’t be the first to suggest a similarity between organized religion and the institutions of science, but I may be one of the few people you’ve ever heard say that God is paranormal, and in fact, the very foundations of all our science and religion fit into a paranormal framework, rather than the other way around. What we call paranormal is always finally reached through further evidence of an enhanced reality, permitted by a more balanced, less insistently delusional approach, or by pure faith. There has always been a metaphysical core to the progress of our understanding.

When we simply sidestep conventional, archaic beliefs, and follow the paranormal path (from a common origin) that heads more directly along our spiritual and technological evolution – engaging a sixth sensory potential, you might say – we can start considering our new realities in a much more beneficial, even realistic way. We can even start to consider some of God’s “alternative” work.

Then UFOs are simply real indications of a technology that, being available to other people from the stars, is available to us – based only on the limits of our imaginations. On a personal paranormal note, I’ve witnessed three UFO events myself: “The Phoenix Lights;” a swarm of orbs; and a ‘star’ that zipped away, drawing a huge “Z” across the sky (…and I’m only high on life).

The silhouettes of “stealthy” aircraft, regular documented occurrences of different, “unidentifiable” crafts, the odd coincidence of “The Roswell Incident” with our sudden surge of technological innovation like integrated silicon circuitry, fiber optics, microwave technology, advanced construction materials, and the development of alternative propulsion, power sources, and artificial intelligence all suggest to fascinating new realities, many that are already commonly at use.

We may find the Crystal Skull phenomena kind of silly while we read about it on devices linked instantaneously to the global brain, operating on microscopically programmed crystal circuitry.

It becomes pretty impossible to imagine that some of those intensely elaborate, precisely hewn crop circles appear overnight thanks to techies with boards and rope.

There’s a ton of evidence, conjectural and empirical, for transpersonal communication (formerly ESP) in a human sense – not just in the reliably provable context of quantum non-locality and entanglement.

Reasonable investigation of the literal mountains of alternative archaeology can bring to light an entirely different history of humankind than what ‘s conventionally accepted; and the former science fiction of genetic manipulation and fabrication of species becomes reality, once we’ve mapped the human genome, and regularly manipulate those building blocks ourselves.

The confluence of “conspiracy theory” with the paranormal gets stood on its head by the revelations of whistleblowers, documenting our super hi-tech mass surveillance by ‘secret’ corporate and governmental agencies.

I also happen to be a three time near death survivor, and as such (along with hundreds of thousands of others) can testify to the experience of a broader, enhanced field of consciousness, beyond the limitations of our physical form (and I’m not particularly paranormal). This field of consciousness then could easily contain a profundity of animal intelligence – the understanding of which is being expanded upon by science everyday; as well as ghosts, aliens, and extra-dimensional phenomena of every kind. It could provide the basis of the very “cosmic plenum” that enables and energizes everything we experience as being either normal or “paranormal.”

I’m sorry to have left Bigfoot standing in the corner all this time. He must be feeling neglected – as hard as he is to ignore. But discoveries of “lost peoples,” and samples of early hominids, whose genomic analyses demonstrate relationships to completely unknown species of early man; along with the simple vastness of everything we have yet to discover, have got to make him, at least, not so paranormal after all. “I’m not going to flat out deny their existence,” says Jane Goodall, highly credible primate researcher, I’m sure that they exist.”

Perhaps we’d be better off embracing our paranormality. Or how about this? How about we just simplify all the old definitions, and call it all Reality.

The latest book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor from Llewellyn Worldwide can be ordered direct on this page or online; and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!

Creating Your Landscape with Karma, Intention, and Ego

...let's dance

"Everything...is made by mind. If one speaks or acts with with a pure mind, happiness will follow..." 

 Buddha, The Dhammapada

In the course of our time here as our path takes us towards what some call self-realization, there is a kind of leveling of the landscape of our life, so to speak, as we get more and more accustomed to simply being alive and getting along. That which didn't kill us has not killed us – yet. When we look back at the past, the rough features of that daily existence, which at the time seemed so difficult to maneuver, the power of all those dramas we took part in unconsciously diminish and the landscape our road has taken us over seems to smooth out into a calm, even plain of being. Of what once was, back then. Just as the future arises unpredictably out of nothingness, the past simply returns to the uncreated, only popping up occasionally like a whack-a-mole when we need to re-learn the same lessons we've forgotten. 

 The landmarks left standing behind us are just the ruins of those "great dramas" that shaped us, that changed us. Their matter and mass blow away like sand castles in time-lapse photography. We intuitively understand our quantum reality, the way it builds and deconstructs – packets of energy and information that become real when they react with our consciousness, and one another. Nothing is actually solid. 

 Ahead, the landscape likewise appears even and smooth – except for potential obstacles arising that will only show up as difficult life-events if we invest them with too much of the wrong kind of energy, and turn them into monuments of future drama, future suffering. There are those inevitable sorrows and losses of life – the death of a pet; the loss of a romance; a career disappointment; the passing of a parent. But as we go on, we learn that we can avoid a lot of the difficulty in those obstacles by approaching them a different way, maybe with love this time. We can climb to the top of those monuments to past or potential dramas and put them into perspective. We can energize their becoming real with positivity.

Look out over the views behind and ahead of you, and notice that the landmarks on the geography of your past are the same shape and made of the same stuff as the potential obstacles that lay ahead. Become a geographical detective. What do those patterns mean, and where do they come from? Why are they always so familiar? You know you have built those forms out of potential energies, and going forward you know that you can strongly influence the way something comes about by focusing your energies on it. That's "The Secret."

Once you determine your patterns, you can build your life landscape based on the three great life factors: Karma, Intention, and Ego:

Karma is practically self-explanatory at this point, the average person's consciousness now being evolved enough to almost automatically understand that each soul labors towards it's inherent completion, and the cause and effect generated by one's life or lives determines what's needed to complete the lessons. There are things you need to fix, and things you need to build. Life is the result of cause and effect. You have to do something because you have to learn that. Your life sets itself up with certain conditions, the luck of the draw and the seeds that you plant, so to speak. Life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. It's evidence of the spiritual evolution of our species that this formerly esoteric Eastern concept is now pretty well part of the global mainstream of thought. What goes around gets around.

Intention refers to the fact that we live in that thoroughly plastic, quantum world, where whatever you set the focus of your intention on, and follow the event stream of your life diligently and with passion, you can manifest out of the potentially limitless material field of being. The trick is that you have to show up, keep trying, and believe. There are greater powers at work than meet the eye, and they are quite capable of producing your wildest dream, just as you are quite capable of preventing it by your own resistance and negativity. Which leads to the last of the three, Ego.

Ego is simply the mechanism by which one remains fictitiously attached to the visible, superficial, material aspects of the world. It fears the underlying change, which is life. It's the false self that keeps you out of alignment with The Divine by convincing you that you're separate from it, often because you "don't deserve it," when you naturally deserve to manifest your dreams as much as anyone. If you can put this Ego (judgment and comparison) aside, you'll immediately develop insight to being. Using this insight, life will show you your karma; and then when you focus your intention on following your life, you can take short-cuts along your karma path simply because your soul is learning the lessons it requires for completion. Jung called it Individuation. Some of us tree-huggers call it finding yourself.

"Samsara, the transmigration of life, takes place in one's mind. Let one therefore keep the mind pure, for what a man thinks that he becomes."

 Maitri Upanishad 6. 24

Read about this and much more in: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor  from Llewellyn Worldwide available direct or online. The first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!

Infinite Consciousness and the Finite Me

Explore Infinite Consciousness (and the finite me...) on this latest Gaia article post. It's an excursion deeply within and wildly out there—into everything we know and are! 

The book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is now available everywhere, but ask for it it at your local bookstore!

Explore the Extraordinary! The 2016 International Association of Near Death Studies Conference

Please join me and a bunch of great speakers In Orlando, Florida for the IANDS 2016 Conference, at the Hilton Embassy Suites. Registration is still available here at the conference site. 

I'll be speaking on "The Lessons of Three Near Death Experiences" on Sunday, July 31st, at 10am. Hope to see you there!

The book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is now available everywhere, but ask for it it at your local bookstore!

SITTING IN THE WILDERNESS: How the Buddha and Christ overcame their obstacles in meditation

Read a summer meditation about summer meditation—and what discoveries the Buddha and  Jesus learned by just sitting in "the wilderness." At The Mindful Word.

Read about this and much more in the new book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor, from Llewellyn Worldwide, and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond. Both are available everywhere – but ask for them at your local bookstore!

Don't Be Afraid of Your Fear of Death (An Excerpt)

I talked a little about "scary" stuff back at the beginning, and that darn elephant is no doubt still in the room with us. Did you happen to notice that huge, quivering pink creature in the corner?  It's just our old companion, Fear.  

Fear is like a bad relation who shows up uninvited and moves in with you for an unspecified length of stay. Or just comes walking out of the guest room unexpectedly one morning, scratching his heinie and asking what's for breakfast. You don't want to have to feed him, but it's always hard not to when he moves in like that.  After all, it's only the human thing to do.

If I knew how much time I'd spent in my life fearing things that never happened, I would be stunned, I'm sure. It would be one of those statistics like how much time I've spent stuck in traffic, or what percentage of my life I've slept in total.  

At this point, I've probably spent years fearfully worrying about one thing or another. Yet when I think back on it, a good 98 percent of what I was worried about never came to pass. And if the other two percent did come to pass, it just kept right on passing without too much consequence—or even left me better off than before.

Sometimes, my fears were answered (especially if I was helping them along, as usual) or small fears came out of nowhere and suddenly became unjustifiably huge and seemingly insurmountable. But then even those dark, looming threats turned into something self-imposed and imaginary—not based on anything real. But Fear certainly can feel plenty real, especially when a fearful situation appears on the horizon ahead, or suddenly and unexpectedly seizes you by the neck.

Still, the one thing that has remained true at the end of all those fears is this:  At least now—in this moment—I am still here (as well as can be expected) and things are okay. So I know those fears weren't as real as I am. And if you're with me now, reading this book, you are more real than those fears too. Yet even with this understanding, this wisdom of everything's being just the way it's supposed to be, it's still very difficult not to let fear rent space in my head.

It seems to be even tougher to accept that Fear has almost always been good for me, because it's forced me to take some action that I'd been needing to take for some time. That's actually been the most real aspect of fear in my life. Then, simply recognizing the actions that I needed to take helped deflate the fear, and actually taking those actions gave me relief and renewal, and often took me to a new level of consciousness that I had never expected to find in such a "dark" place.

I imagine I would've been afraid of my Near Death Experiences, if I'd known they were coming. But I didn't. Unless we're very old, or very ill, or find ourselves in a very dangerous place, I don't think we ever see a chance of it coming. In any case, it never serves us to make up scary scenarios about death. Instead, you might try inventing something based on my testimony, as long as we're making things up. Like there's a good chance you may not even know when death is happening, or feel it much when it does; or that it may come quickly, as a pleasant, or even amazing thing.  So, as usual, much of that preliminary fear is not necessary at all.   

Occasionally, however, fear really is necessary—especially if you're being chased by a bear, or, God forbid, by a crocodile. I hate that. Now that's real Fear. But if there isn't a bear chasing you, then what you really fear when it comes to death is probably just the “Great Unknown," and that's understandable too.

What has always been the biggest question when it comes to accepting an unknown? Will it be good or will it be bad—right?  Am I going to be better off after this or not?  I've got a very simple answer when it comes to this one particular unknown: From my personal experience you have nothing at all to fear, except the harsh, but temporary, discomfort we might all have to expect in such a case. In the larger context, your outlook is excellent. If you're in the midst of unpleasantness and pain, the moment immediately after your transition you will instantaneously feel great—completely free of any of the painful physical circumstances that led up to that moment. And, on top of that, if your spiritual condition is already good here, everything will be downright delightful "there." If it isn't, you'll have a chance to improve it, since that is always the nature of the process. So the answer to your big question, "Will I be better off after this?" Is this:  Yes,  you will.

Of course I can only speak from my personal experiences. But keep in mind that thousands and thousands of people have gone on the record on this matter, and report incredibly wonderful things after their transitions. In fact, more often than not they have reported ecstatic releases, joyful reunions, and transcendent surroundings. They have reported experiences of a miraculous nature.  

Yet there are some rather bad reports as well. For example, my third experience was much darker than my first, or my second. But I believe that was because I'd become more and more blocked from Love in my life, and was carrying almost nothing but self-centered fear.  In one way or another, I believe that's the case with anyone who has a dark, or in some way hellish, transition. My experience didn't last long enough for me to delve deeper into that darkness, thank God; but I do understand a little something about Hell, having definitely touched on a bit of it myself. 

If you're living in that kind of self-centered fear in this life that I was, without Love in your heart, you're probably living in a kind of hell already.  Hell, as compared to how nice life can be.  Heaven is an open-hearted world full of Love and light; Hell is a self-centered world without it.  It is always so.


Excerpted from the book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond —now available everywhere, but ask for it it at your local bookstore!

Why Do We Have to Die?

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”  Lao Tzu

I have the dubious distinction of having "died" three times, experiences I definitely don't recommend; and obviously, I didn't really die because I wouldn't be talking to you now. What I did do was to survive three "Near Death Experiences," each one completely different from the other; and since my books about it (and more), How to Survive Life (and Death) and How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying) were published, I've found myself answering a lot of questions about what death is, what it's like to die, and to the point of this piece: Why do we have to die?

Well, apparently I came back to give you some good news, and some bad news, all based on my (painfully obtained) understanding of it. The good news is that we don't really die, spiritually speaking, we only die to this life of flesh and bones and blood (but many of you suspected as much, I'm sure). The bad news is that we do have to die – our souls seem to require it. On top of that, we have to die in a number of different ways, none of which are all that pleasant, and all of which seem designed to accomplish the same thing. Here's what I mean by that:

If you've ever been around a loved one who's dying, or if you've ever been gravely ill or injured yourself, you know that there's no bluster left in your game in those moments. No claim to fame or fortune remains at all relevant in that grounding bubble of unfortunate reality. What's realized then is a state of absolute humility, where there's no longer any external importance attached, no pretense of "winning"–even though you really are, in a way, because you're free. That state of absolute humility is really a state of grace. You are reduced to the simplest condition of egoless selfhood – the state of simply being who you really are.

Counterintuitively, from that point on everything becomes possible, because in a way, you're starting over. In the grand–call it cosmically spiritual–picture, this happens in a big way when you actually physically die (reincarnation-wise, that is). But first, let's look at the other ways, the other "deaths" our souls require. Let's consider the 'living deaths' that also cause us to regenerate a new, unavoidably more authentic life. Let's look at the difficult times that lead us to be "born again" in this life.

When we witness the death of our family or friends. When a lover or spouse has a change of heart, and decides that they have to leave us and move on to their own new life. When a job or serious expectation we have suddenly, unexpectedly vaporizes – these are all "deaths," of a sort, that cause us to reconsider who we thought we were, and to consider anew who we may have to be from here on. Each death of this sort opens us up, strips us down, and makes us teachable about how we can change and improve our lives on that most important spiritual level – unattached to the material definitions and expectations that have failed to make us happy.

When we learn those hardest-of-all lessons – that our material, ego-based outsides aren't what's really important; when we "die" to that superficial sense of ourselves, and let go of who we thought we were, we instantly expand into Consciousness, and it suddenly becomes possible to become who we all authentically are – not as separate, searching individuals – but instead as loving, giving, creative, contributing pieces of a divine wholeness. Expressions of a single, love-based reality.

Now, let's get back to when we actually die physically. According to the Tibetan Buddhist monks (who really do know all about this stuff), if we don't learn these lessons on a spiritual level, and continue behaving like human animals, delusionally feeding from one desire to the next, we'll be reincarnated as a wild beast, most likely. In the meantime, we'll destroy ourselves, each other, and our planet. Quite a setback on either count, you can be sure.

When I had my experiences I lost my earthly body, and I lost my material identity, but I never lost Consciousness. Instead, I was folded into it. In two of my three NDEs, a new life effervescently expanded around me, I was liberated from the constraining limitations of the material life, and seemingly anything became possible. 

So, I'm afraid we do have to die to this difficult form – in a number of difficult ways. That's the deal here, this is a difficult life. But if we, in a way, embrace death – our many "little" deaths and our one "big" one – they will liberate us to our new, unimaginably amazing and wondrous potential, in this life or our next.

And that (I have learned, the hard way) is why we have to die, and have to keep dying. Our souls require it to merge us into our greater life in Love and Consciousness – into a life beyond our wildest dreams.

"Without a dying to the world of the old order, there is no place for renewal, because…it is illusory to hope that growth is but an additive process requiring neither sacrifice nor death. The soul favors the death experience to usher in change."

James Hillman, Suicide and the Soul

So it does appear that our souls "favor," even require, these 'death' experiences to enter the state-of-being that we think of when we think of "Heaven" —you've got to die to go to Heaven, everyone knows that. And everyone has had a taste of "Heaven on Earth" at one time or another in their life, so we know it is possible to find it here and now (in a much easier way...). We look into the guides to getting there in: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), now available from Llewellyn Worldwide.

Read a related article: Suicide and the Superficial Self, at Gaia's "Spiritual Growth."

The latest book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor from Llewellyn Worldwide can be ordered direct on this page or online; and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!

Love as an Energetic Field of Co-Creation A Gaia Link

As we learn more about the true nature of our reality and the presence of a unifying field of being – the Zero Point Field, the Akashic Field, The Planck Field – it can go by many names; but here in my monthly column at Gaia.com, I explore why we should call it what it really is: 
The Field of Love.

Life, Death, and Baby Boomers––an Excerpt

"I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

                                                                    

                                              Woody Allen 

When I mentioned the quote earlier that Life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you, I think that without a doubt the same is true for death. Death doesn't happen to you, it happens for you (unless you are eaten by a crocodile; that could not possibly be for you). We're all part of a much bigger set of ongoing considerations––the big picture I'm asking you to see as the context of your life. 

In particular, we need to escape that one self-centered cultural definition that's leading us so far astray––that death is our obliteration. The sad, absolute cessation of Life. The final chord of a sonata that starts wonderfully well, but ends in a dirge. That idea that we only have "one go-round," "one shot at it," and then "the party's over." There's a selfishness (a "sinfulness") in that definition that prevents us from living well, from showing up for each other with the proper compassionate presence. It's a self-centeredness that insists we should be getting something we want out of it all and each other when, instead, we could be forming true partnerships with one another––an understanding global fellowship of shared human experience––and creating a sane stewardship of life here on Earth. When we can get ourselves over this delusional assumption of self-importance, we can create a much less "sinful," more evolutionarily responsible, way of living.

If we know we're missing the mark with the cultural definition of death––one that leads to the fear of losing what we want to hang on to and the "I've gotta get mine before it's all over" approach––then what is a more realistic definition? What's the proper direction in which to aim our lives? Well, Shakespeare's always good for a few spiritual bull's-eyes, like this one: Death is a consummation most devoutly to be wished! So we can see death as a lifelong goal that we struggle to attain––one that we want to meet with preparation, with humility and honor, and with open-hearted promise. It is our matriculation of sorts.

Speaking from my own experience, death is an expansion into transcendent being, for crying out loud. We need to restore death to it's rightful place as a sacred ritual of passage. Let's get kind of Egyptian with it again. Don't mourn me; send me off with an open heart and a song!  This party is definitely not over.

It's absolutely essential that we show up for each other with this positive, life-affirming definition of death as a continuation of always being present. Contrary to what Woody Allen might request, you must never take a raincheck for anyone's dying. (That's the only "must" in the book.) While we supposedly have much busier lives than ever, that's just an illusion caused by technology. The really important parts of our lives are still what's really important. Put the business aside. What technology is best suited for is efficiently arranging our lives around those important people and occasions, so that we can maintain close contact with the loved ones involved in all of our momentous life events––making the appropriate reservations, booking the trip, and being there; contributing whatever you possibly can; showing up in a way that honors Life's real connections of the heart; bringing Love right up to the surface, front and center where it belongs. Again, it's not about me; it's about we.

Notice how when we're "coming to the end" of our time in this life with someone we love or for ourselves, just how precious and how special that remaining time together suddenly is. How intensely focused our love and appreciation for each other becomes in those few moments that are left. We need to try to treat each other that way all the time, and grow spiritually together in that kind of Love. We need to recognize the eternal in each other, always. That's what's really important here; everything else is a distant second place. These may be lofty ideals, granted, but pursuing them throughout our lives is time well spent, and leads to a sense of fulfillment that can never be matched in any other way.

From the time we reach that more adult perception we start to come upon as teenagers, to the time we lay ourselves down, our essential spirit remains generally young and energetic––especially in pursuing our passion for Life. It's just our bodies that atrophy, that break down and require costly repairs––or that just quit running. Our spirits, our eternal selves, always feel youthful. They're always ready to keep growing upward and onward, and so they do. That essential part of us can only collapse under the weight of selfish self-centeredness and that oppressively off-the-mark definition of death––and the negative effect it can have on the last third of our lives––when we permit those attitudes to define us as limited.

  

The truth is that we always have that unflappable, limitless hope that comes along with youth. Just scratch the surface and, like Love, it's always there. We've also got all that blind faith that we don't hardly notice enough even to take for granted when we're young. And, although it seems somehow harder to come by as we age,  there's also more evidence of that faith as we grow older. Hope, and faith are real working spiritual mechanisms that are always alive, and always will be in all of our lives.  And if you just add grace to those two, then you've got my three favorite names for girls.

Read about this and much more in: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor  from Llewellyn Worldwide available direct on this page or online. The first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!