When I was 18, I met a new friend with a large library of spiritual books. He loaned them to me. I became a ravenous reader of spiritual and occult books. I studied whatever interested me for 13 years…and then I got tired of the search (for truth). I felt with every new book that it was a regurgitation of stuff I had already read. Curiously enough, I had not read anything in non-duality or Advaita…I never bumped into it.

Over the years of practice and study, I had heard about “living in the present moment,” “detachment” and “mindfulness,” as well as all the other common phrases and buzzwords in spirituality. I even thought I knew what was meant and that I was doing it. I thought I was making spiritual progress.

In November 2005, I checked out a copy of the Eckhart Tolle’s DVD, The Flowing of Human Consciousness, from the Ridgedale Public Library. I kept hearing of Tolle and wanted to see a video (not read a book). It spoke of being present…which I thought I was doing, but it taught it in a new way. It taught inhabiting the body. Suddenly, I was feeling the body instead of thinking.

I was truly present for the first time…and my mind slowed down and became still. Then I noticed something about how Eckhart spoke. I could sense something else behind the words. He called it speaking from presence, but I could feel it (even from video). Presence was conveyed. I think I was just ready, but this was the little push I needed to awaken.

It was a “eureka” or “a ha” moment when I saw through the illusion I was taking for reality. It was like seeing the mirage for the mirage it was and not the water I had been thinking it was. I saw, too, that the ego was a mirage. The mirage doesn’t disappear when you see it for what it is…it just no longer fools you and causes confusion and suffering.

It was instantaneous and complete. There was no going back…not that I wanted to. There was nothing to integrate or try to practice. My realization and understanding changed how I saw and acted in the world on a fundamental level. Just as realizing a mirage is a mirage fundamentally changes how you act towards the mirage.

I also realized that all my studies and seeking really had nothing to do with awakening. The spiritual progress I saw was an illusion. I saw clearly that there was nothing that I did to awaken…and that in awakening nothing was gained. Who and what I was could not be any more or less than it was…so gain was impossible.

The only thing that changed was that the mirage was no longer believed to be what it appears to be. I understood it was a mirage all along.

“They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.” – George Orwell in 1984

The Earth is not flat nor is it the center of the Universe nor was it created in seven days nor is there a man in the sky running things! There are some things that are not open to interpretation. Such as, if you physically, mentally or emotionally abuse a child, it will be scarred. It is simply wrong. Period! Here, let’s get this out into the open. Priests that have sex with children should be castrated, hung and/or the whole religion that they represent should be shut down. It is probably a good thing that I am not yet in a position of power, because I have a storehouse of whoopass to deal out. At times I feel like a voice in the wilderness crying, “What the hell are you people doing?”

It doesn’t make sense that people are hungry or that they can’t get health care, when in simple board, role playing or video games we are taught to redistribute resources for the individual and collective. It doesn’t make sense that we gave a Nobel Peace Prize to the president of a country that is still waging war and not finding solutions of peace. I want to create a “No” directive. And here is how it would go. Whenever some company or government, which really is the same thing here in the U.S, decides to do something stupid, I get a call and simply tell the company/government “No“…end of story.

Do I think I am a god or that I should be given a certain amount of power? No. But I am bold enough to say that something is stupid and that we shouldn’t do it. You see, I don’t care if I have been someone else in a different life, or if I descended from the stars, or if some dude’s house has many mansions. Right here, right now, I can point at something and say, “That is wrong!” and not blow smoke up everyone’s butt saying, “There is no right or wrong,” which placates the predators of our times and absolves them of their wrongdoings.

Religions condone suffering to keep its slaves in line; this should not be a world design. The law is crooked because it releases the guilty. Suffering, war and pestilence happens because we are not listening to the obvious. We have all witnessed a gaping hole deep within the Earth spewing oil. The Earth was bleeding and we were not upset at this? In the CERN Laboratories they are smashing particles together, trying to replicate “The Big Bang.” If they are successful, this planet and the space around it could fold in on itself. If they make larger mistakes than they already have, they can open up a black hole right here on our planet with the same results.

What we are saying is that it is perfectly okay to rape the planet, anything or anyone!

So let’s just say, for the hell of it, that we decide to actually deal with what is happening: global warming, world hunger, child abuse, holes spewing oil, war, crime, murder, just to name a few. Then, let’s say, just for kicks, we realize that we are living on a freaking planet that is feeding us. You simply don’t poop where you eat. It is not healthy. Let’s say that we let go of the judgments that separates us from ourselves, each other and this planet. Would that be so bad?

There is so much that our conditioning allows us to gloss over – the obvious human atrocities. What if everyone who has the eyes to see, at every turn, said, “No!” and took a stand when they saw something wrong going on. Obviously I don’t have the space here to voice all that is happening, but you get my drift.

I am sure that there are those who say that if you focus on it, you just make it worse, just like those who ignore the cries of their children so that the family’s name is protected…you know who you are. All I am asking is that you wake up and don’t use culture, religion and spirituality as a veil to blind you and pretend that everything is okay. Speak you mind! Hell, shout it!

We create our reality through our conscious and subconscious thoughts. There are times when many of us live in blame, fear and doubt, uncertain how to change our realities and our lives. What we are doing as a society is avoiding our internal discomfort, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and procrastination and attempting to replace it with external comforts (see Contingency, June 2010). We buy expensive wardrobes, cars and houses. We move at a rapid pace, multitasking and choosing to be continually distracted in our lives with cell phones, music and television. We over-consume food, alcohol, drugs and material possessions.

How can we alter our current reality and step up to the plate? How can we move the focal point of our lives from external physical comfort to internal mental peace? And once we find that internal peace, how can we maintain it?

The biggest step we can take is to slow down and get conscious. Tune out any distractions. Breathe. Relax. Let go of your stress. Clear your mind. Release your tension. Take time throughout your day to shut out the world and connect to nature and your depth. Take time to transition between activities. Take time to enjoy who you are and what you love. And as you begin to learn what you love, learn to love yourself. Get to know your deepest self. Listen to your inherent knowledge. Listen to nature.

You create your reality. If your life is too busy, you are the only one who can slow it down. Eliminate unnecessary activities. Stop creating distractions.

As you begin to slow down your life and minimize distractions, you will hone in on what it is you really want to create in your life and in your world.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I love to do?
• What brings me joy?
• What do I need to do to release any self-sabotaging patterns in my life so that I can honor a life of continual joy?
• What is one specific way I can do this right now?

Before you finish reading the rest of this article, answer those four questions. Get a pen and paper. Write down your most sincere answers. You will gain very little from the next several paragraphs if your only goal is to finish reading this article. Reading is a passive activity. You are not stepping up to the plate by being passive. If you really want to step up, stop reading and start writing.

Pay particular attention to your last answer. What can you do right now to live a life of ultimate joy?

Can you do it? How will you do it?

This may be the point where your fear will erupt and your inner critic will tell you how ridiculous you and your ideas are. This is the point that you tell your fear and your critic to shut up. Shed all fear and all doubt right now. Neither is conducive to a life of joy. They do not serve you in any manner. Throw your fear to the curb and take action. Make a commitment here and now to be consistent in that one action that will free you from stuck, unfulfilling patterns that have kept you from joy and that will now open the channel to a life of joy.

Live with passion.

Make today your day to move toward your ideal reality. Make your move toward continual internal peace. Stop complaining. Stop waiting. Stop talking yourself out of your dreams.

Step up to the plate.

Move deliberately and with awareness. Notice signs. Follow your intuition.

But do not procrastinate. It’s time to step out and begin a new journey in life.

Holy moly, welcome to August already and the on-going, ever-morphing energies of 2009. The late spring and early summer energies were pushy, demanding, relentless, unequivocal and challenging on multiple levels. I hesitate to say were, since plenty of challenges remain, but at least I’m starting to feel like things are moving into my life again. I would say that I’m finally having an energetic thaw in terms of feeling enough energy moving to get me off my recliner, but now that I’m up I tend to space off almost everything as soon as I get distracted by the next loud noise or pretty color.

This is progress? Perhaps the upside is I also space off any memory of the screw-up from the previous spacing off, so at least I have that going for me. I also have noticed that I focus most easily on fun and interesting things (and pretty colors and loud noises), and everything else has reached a new level of drudgery.

As I write this we have only finished one week of July, but our move into summer brings a new phase of our transformation, and we are definitely engaged in the process. One hallmark of the spring phase was a lack of interest in almost anything. Maybe we did what we had to do, but enthusiasm and focus was hard to come by for many of us. A quality of this new phase is feeling like we’re somewhere between worlds with not so much attachment to the old ways, but not much clarity about where we’re headed.

The geek in me would say that we’re installing the beta version of the new operating system, and I’m sure we’ll feel better when the first version is officially is released. Then again, where we’re headed is consciously creative not unconsciously reactive, so we have no need to reference anything beyond the infamous moment. So, time goes away. You may have noticed its recession.

People in the vanguard of this transition continue to do deep work accompanied by some major rewiring. At Lightsmith we’re using the word fusion to describe how various parts are coming together to create new forms. As one example, we see changes and fusion in the chakra system creating new nodes that are part of an operating system “upgrade.” Who knows what is next or what the merged hu-man is to fully become.

In my view, the intention within consciousness has always been to evolve a body in which a more full presence of soul could be merged. This is the essence of metaphors such as the creation of heaven on earth. It has never been about something happening outside us, but is about what we are becoming. I see that merger as the core activity of these times, which leads to our numerous processes of releasing what doesn’t compute in the new system.

We can’t take with us into our new experience anything not belonging to us or not of Essence. All our healing work has been clearing the way for something new to be. As soul and body fuse more deeply, our physical self rises to meet spirit. Some call it ascension, but soul embodiment works as well, since there is also a descending of spirit into form.

I see two realities on earth right now with different operating systems running. One is old and disassembling (just watch the news) and one is new and growing in presence every day, though less visible on the surface. The choice is which one to live within. I have been “politely” told more than once that it is good to have a vision of what can be, but that I must deal with reality. I am dealing with reality, which for me is choosing to participate in the world that is birthing, not the one that is dying. As I see it, the new operating system is established, real and accessible and available for all who choose it. This is The Edge, and that is where we now find ourselves.

When I thought deeper about addiction – beyond drugs, alcohol, sex or food – what came to mind was our addiction to drama. Everyone knows someone who is always in the throes of some emotional drama or another. Some people just don’t feel alive unless things are out of control and they have dramatic stories to tell. Even the smallest thing like a waiter giving poor service can ruin their day. They will go on and on about it for hours and probably tell everyone not to go to that restaurant again, just for a minor infraction that gets blown way out of proportion.

That is an extreme example, but we all do that kind of thing to a certain extent. We like our drama. The media saturates us with it with headlines and sound bites to make even the most benign story seem like something big. We like to have something to talk about and oftentimes we will exaggerate to make it sound more entertaining or more challenging – whatever will get us more attention at the time.

Sometimes we put a funny spin on a story, in a positive way, so we can get a good laugh out of it. But most of the time we jack the drama level up to 11 – and we don’t realize we are doing it or what we are getting out of it.

Just as watching movies or playing video games elicit chemical responses in our brains that make us feel emotions, so do the things we tell ourselves and others about our lives. Like walking down a well-worn path, our minds will take us down familiar paths that lead to some sort of gratification, even if that “gratification” is a negative outcome or emotion. By doing so, we stimulate ourselves with a rush of neuro-chemicals, in response to a positive or negative charge to the event. We become used to having that stimulation. It makes us feel something – and we often don’t take the time to realize the difference between feeling something positive or something negative.

Feeling is feeling. Stimulation is stimulation. We are sometimes like those rats that will starve themselves by pushing the button that gives them pleasure instead of the one that gives them food.

So how do we stop our destructive mental habits? Sometimes I think it starts with what a friend of mine calls “The Cold Wet Fish of Reality” hitting us upside the head. Spirit will always try to guide you gently to what is best for you. But in cases where you just aren’t able to listen, you will get smacked by that fish. It may look like the umpteenth person telling you to quit getting so upset, or another relationship breaking up for the very same reason as all the others, or just a stunning revelation while reading a book that says, “Hey, look at what you are doing!”

You may have heard it dozens of times before, but one day it just hits you hard and you start to think. That’s the fish. You start to realize a lot of your discomfort is because of your behavior and the way you react to things. You start to think perhaps there is a better way to go about your life. You start to wonder about and actively look at ways you can stop doing what you’re doing.

Changing your behavior isn’t always easy, but there are so many resources available to support you – meditation, self-healing, a spiritual practice – and lead you to a more peaceful and balanced mind. The magazine you are reading right now is a great place to start. As they say, “admitting it is the first step.” The next one is up to you.

It’s easy for those interested in consciousness to look at Bush’s legacy disdainfully and wonder how he could have successfully tricked so many people for so long. But while it’s simple to see the consequences of his unrealistic and neo-conservative beliefs regarding economic, environmental, energy and global policies, it’s harder for these same people to realize that their own beliefs about awakening have just as little in common with reality. Yet, the consequences of these beliefs impact them far more.

It’s not just a coincidence that so few people have truly awakened. It’s a direct result of their not being able to abandon widely held misconceptions about the awakening journey – myths that those few who have already awakened try to refute at every opportunity. Often accepted because they appear to be politically correct, these myths serve as both barriers and ready excuses for millions of people to remain stuck in the dream state.

We wish it was easier to wake up. Out of compassion, we wish that you didn’t have to make your freedom your absolute priority; that you didn’t have to be willing to give up all that you think you have (including the story of whomever you think you are); that you didn’t have to go through literal hell at different points in this journey and feel the rug being continually pulled out from under you. It would be so much easier if, as so many people seem to assume, awakening would just “happen” to them – that as “we’re all waking up together,” one after another would truly see the light on a regular basis to enter a place of authentic inner freedom.

We don’t want to program you, but overwhelmingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case from the evidence. And your pretending otherwise doesn’t seem to help – it just makes awakening that much more unattainable. In essence, you can keep your myths or you can wake up. You can’t do both.

Maybe you’ll be different. Maybe you’ll be one of the unique few who awaken gently or spontaneously, as a result of gradually “getting better” – without having to challenge the very foundations of your existence to their core. But if you’re putting all your eggs in that basket, you will probably have about as much luck as you would learning Chinese in your sleep. It might make more sense to follow the advice of those people who’ve already awakened than to keep this fiction intact.

Why aren’t more people willing to recognize what seems obvious – that only a relatively few are actually waking up, despite popular, politically correct beliefs to the contrary? We think it’s because their egos have realized that awakening entails the full and complete reorganizing of their priorities, ultimately dissolving both their identity and the ego itself. So it does everything in its power to trick, deceive and resist you. It loves having you assume that you are well on your way to waking up, which still allows it to maintain its control over your thoughts, emotions and your actions.

With this in mind, we’d like to continue our discussion of widely held awakening beliefs so that those truly interested in waking up can begin to move in a more fruitful direction. While it may seem discouraging to realize that what you thought you were doing is not taking you where you wanted to go, if you can let go of your pride, disappointment and fears you might now begin a new journey that can actually do that.

In the previous article in this series (in February’s Edge Life), we discussed Myth #1, contrasting the great differences between one’s sense of “getting better” and one’s truly “waking up.” Here we take a look at another key myth that continues to delude serious seekers.

Be forewarned – and proceed at your own peril!

Myth # 2: The awakening journey should be relatively gentle.

Numerous commentators have described the awakening journey, and almost none of them have called it “gentle.” That experience is quite rare. While this journey is quite often exciting and even intoxicating, it is just as often lonely, tedious and extremely painful. While incredibly “rewarding” in the end to emerge from the dream state and see and accept things are they are, it is not for the faint of heart!

If we had to choose a word to describe our own experience of this journey, it would be intense. Eric Putkonen, who also serves as a guide in awakening in the Twin Cities, compares it to an apple falling from a tree. As it leaves its former life on the tree, it gradually decomposes and shrivels up – adjectives we don’t usually associate with pleasantries. This dissolution applies to our identity and everything we thought we were, including whatever we previously thought was important. Often you feel like you are dying, sometimes for weeks at a time – and in reality this is true, for your old or former self must die, or burn away, for a new consciousness to take hold.

So we can almost guarantee that if you’re still seeking after pleasant experiences or running from greater levels of intensity, you’re probably looking in the wrong place. And if your experience is consistently gentle or if that’s what you think this journey is all about, you can probably assume that despite the apparent benefits of whatever you may be doing, they’re not waking you up!

Often people say to us, “I want to wake up, but I don’t want to look at certain incidents in my past, because it’s just too painful.” Whatever you need to look at is in your present, and you will call it to you at the appropriate moment. Yet, you need to be fully willing to do whatever it takes. For whatever you deny or avoid constitutes the very areas you most need to look at, areas where you’ve tied up your energy through resistance or avoidance. The experiences where you consistently sell out to your fears or your pain are used by your ego to keep you from moving further.

Those who assume they will eventually find an easy route to avoid this dilemma are very likely deceiving themselves. For the world of the mind is by definition one of illusion that interprets, reacts and resists. Here is Adyashanti writing in his new (and appropriately titled) book, The End of Your World:

“We must give up the pursuit of positive emotional states through spiritual practice. The path of awakening is not about positive emotions. On the contrary, enlightenment may not be easy or positive at all. It is not easy to have our illusions crushed. It is not easy to let go of long-held perceptions…If our orientation is simply to feel better in each moment, then we’ll continue to delude ourselves, because trying to feel better in the moment is exactly how we delude ourselves….

“For most of us, the path to enlightenment is not rosy. We need to acknowledge this, because otherwise we’re only going to let ourselves travel toward that which feels good, that which supports our image of what the path of awakening should be….

“But the real, sincere impulse toward enlightenment is something that goes far beyond the desire to make our dream state better. It is an impulse that is willing to subject itself to whatever is needed in order to wake up…no matter if it turns out to be wonderful or terrible. It is an impulse that puts no conditions on what we have to go through.”

Are you ready? Let the journey begin!

We are participating in an explosion of new age teaching, interest in Eastern
religion, and a general curiosity about the usefulness of everyday spiritual
practice. When you turn on the television, it seems just about every talk show
host is discussing how to maximize human potential and help viewers become a
more advanced version of self.

In our effort to reach higher, spirituality is a major interest in the books we read, the classes we take and the inner peace we want to find. Accordingly, there is growing dialogue concerning differences between traditional religious teaching and a form of spiritual practice termed: everyday spirituality or spirituality of the market place. Interestingly enough, the usefulness of spiritual practice in everyday life is an ancient teaching that lies at the heart of human development systems, such as Sufism in which travelers are taught, through ordinary daily activity, to align with the Higher and make life a prayer.

To help travelers add this practical approach, we will examine the basic difference between traditional religious form and spirituality; offering various "things to know, and things to do" while following a personal spiritual path.Religion
may be compared
To a great river that feeds the land.
The River winds its way as a mighty force
And smaller tributaries are formed
to serve the distant regions.
Some are satisfied
To drink of the small stream
And forget they must travel
The river to its Source.
Beyond the river’s gate
The Ocean is waiting.

Religion & Spirituality

For spiritual travelers, at some point, it becomes clear that New Age and Eastern systems offer techniques that speak to the basic difference between religious form and personal spiritual experience. While all traditional religious systems are based upon spiritual teachings, inner personal experience is not always emphasized and many travelers leave the religion of their birth with a deep, inner hunger that religious form did not completely fill.

In the beginning stages of any learning, adherence to form is essential. As the traveler matures in his or her traditional religious training, a deeper more personal experience may be available. However, many travelers leave for a variety of reasons or get "turned off" long before this happens. One of my spiritual teachers used to say: "After you have studied with me and experienced the Light, you will return to the religion of your birth and become a better Christian, Jew or Muslim."

• External form. In viewing traditional religious teaching and spiritual experience, it is important to discuss the difference between internal and external reality. Most of us are familiar with the external form of religious teaching. Usually this was the presentation offered during our early childhood and emphasized standard prayers, teachings and a social prescription directed at a large segment of humanity. Over the centuries, this is the part that looks different, because it is, and it changes. External form varies depending upon culture, geography, historical context and the changing needs of the receiving community. Because this part is not the same, and is tied to time and place, it confuses people. This is the part that travelers argue and fight about.

• Internal form. Internally, all forms at their highest level are one, united in spirit. The internal or spiritual essence which gives life to the external religious form is a living, vibrant element. This part, termed the Light in some presentations, is the inner core or life current to the external form. This is the part that fuels the updating of the Teaching into a newer presentation, and the grace that enables the living teacher or exemplar to function. This is the spiritual essence that the New Age traveler seeks to embrace, and become one with.

Religion is like a beautiful maiden, who to fit the changing weather, wears an assortment of clothing. Some days, because the weather is cold or sunny, her outer garments are different. If you were to describe her on these days, one day she would be the maiden in the tall woolen hat, scarf across her face and long coat, and on another day, the women in the light, bright, yellow cotton dress. On the first day, not seeing her covered face, some observers might be fooled and argue or disagree about the woman’s identity or description on the second day; not realizing underneath the various clothing, it is the same young woman wearing the light cotton dress.

Things to Know

To help spiritual travelers realize their own inner potential, we will examine some of the postulants or learning statements that must be understood about everyday spirituality.

• You already are spiritual. This is true, and it is an overriding theme of New Age systems and Eastern traditions. We are spiritual beings who have entered the earth phase to learn, experience, serve and be co-creators. When you are ready, no one can stand between you and personal, inner, spiritual experience. However, getting ready to unlock your own experience is the challenge, often requiring learning the right things, in the right order, with the right people.

• Living in the world blocks spiritual experience. For the most part, everyday activity, work and worry block the inner awareness from coming forward. When focusing on daily life, the "noise" or vibration of this activity prevents the inner awareness from being accessed and perceived. With a period of training, travelers can be taught to operate both streams of consciousness simultaneously. However, this is not a static condition. The capacity to tune in and use the higher consciousness, comes and goes, depending upon the traveler’s capacity and higher needs of the situation.

• Consciously, we create our own reality. All life operates through consciousness, which is awareness and energy on multiple physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. Through our soul, which is comprised of a spiritual energy fabric, we create our own multiple level realities, every moment of the day. And because we are both different and the same, we share reality we both agree upon and experience uniquely.

• A completed person adds spiritual awareness. The goal of spiritual paths is to add a measure of conscious, spiritual awareness to the traveler’s individual life and day. This awareness serves as an enriching, enabling element so the traveler can complete daily and higher functions. Each traveler is unique, and as such has an individual life plan that ultimately leads them to join in as co-creator, helping to influence their own and higher destiny of others. Traditionally, in this realm, the completed person is God’s deputy or vicegerent.

• Living exemplars. In many New Age and Eastern traditions, the living teacher or exemplar serves as guide to lead the traveler higher. Through the grace of the path, this person serves higher functions, enabling others to embrace their own latent capacity. This person has a duty to discharge and uses the natural, spiritual laws to help others reach completion. Unfortunately, there are many imitators, and travelers need to be cautious. By tradition, the authentic teacher is the earth’s greatest resource.

• Religion as business. In every age, religion and spirituality have been used as a camouflage and business – a way to gain power, money or satisfy personal emotional needs. Just because something is wrapped in spiritual garb, it does not mean that it will not take from you. In fact, this tendency to use spiritual forms to achieve selfish and harmful ends, historically, has driven many away and thrown one religion against another. In our world today, this is one of the most harmful elements.

• Use your common sense. In selecting a path, if something seems to be too good or easy, it probably is. The traveler needs to be wary of systems that "guarantee success in 10 easy steps." In this endeavor, no one can guarantee anything; your progress along the Path is dependent upon your correct effort and the Grace of God. Also, some Paths prescribe a certain dress, way to look or similarity of action; they are not flexible about this and codes are strictly enforced. If you are uncomfortable with these rules, or there seems to be too much emphasis upon the Master, listen to your inner own voice; it is there to protect you. Remnant sects abound, and your own individual Path should be as natural to you as drinking a fresh, clear glass of water.

• Selecting a path. The reason there are many Paths is that travelers are different, with changing needs. If you are not satisfied with the religion of your birth, ask and petition The Radiances of Truth for a new path to open to you. When it appears, follow it to completion. Remember, in this matter, there are two considerations: What Path seems most natural? What Path reaches out and embraces you?

• Life as Prayer. In some traditions, the goal of the spiritual traveler is to make their life a prayer, through intention and focused energy, to turn every action into an act of remembrance and service for the Higher Destiny. Each of us is familiar with going to work or school and using all of our talents and energy to get ahead so we can personally gain or feel more fulfilled. Similarly, in every action, the spiritual traveler works hard to remember and serve God.

• Diversity of Spiritual Experience. Every traveler has spiritual experience. These experiences are natural and emerge, in part, from our very composition. Many times, these experiences are often not understood as such to be spiritual. They are seemingly mysterious and usually quickly forgotten. Often, they may come in the form of an intuition about something that occurs or a happy, positive energy and sense of being connected to everything. Traditionally, spiritual experiences are given so the traveler can learn and move forward. These are not the goal of the journey; they are foretastes of a higher state of awareness, which is as varied and natural as spiritual travelers themselves. Typically, in time with training, travelers recognize these experiences as spiritual, because they are unlike other forms of mental or emotional consciousness, and they learn to move beyond them.

Things to Do

To help prepare travelers for their own spiritual experience, the following techniques, actions and exercises are offered.

• Quiet, alone time. Daily, each traveler needs to set aside 10-20 minutes to travel inward. This is personal time where the external noise of the world can be turned off and an examination of the many parts of self may be conducted. Even busy mothers or executives must be "selfish" about this and take the time to do something for self. Over time, we must identify the many selves so we can push them aside for a time and unlock what lies beyond daily consciousness. Going inward may be accomplished through prayer, journaling, meditation, or at day’s end, observing the repeating patterns of thought.

• Travel inward. Find a hobby or activity that you enjoy where you can express your inner self. If it is working on a craft, reading uplifting material, gardening, going for a walk, listening to relaxing music, collecting coins or taking a yoga or exercise class. You want to learn to express the many, hidden parts. Each of us has a creative, spiritual potential, and in the beginning you must make time to explore and refine it. Once experienced, the creative expression of the artist or craftsmen, where numerous factors come together, will help expand your daily consciousness and help you begin to perceive what is possible.

• Give to others. Part of healthy, balanced living and ordinary social duty is being part of a family or community, and giving to others. If you have time, volunteer once a week at the local hospital, or nightly help your children do their homework. Perhaps listen to the problems of a neighbor, join the local food pantry or routinely give to your favorite charity. This activity of giving should be entered into freely, without resentment or repeated troubling thoughts like, "People tell me I need to do this." If you cannot do this without displeasure, wait until you can – then observe the many benefits.

• Seek the higher road. Most of us know what the right thing is. We are born with an inner sense of correct action and helping others. In your conversation and daily activity, try to help, not hurt; as a guide, listen to your own inner voice, which is a natural barometer. In the healthy personality, there is a balance between our own needs and the needs of others. It is only when we are fearful, angry or hurt that we seek to do harm. When possible, avoid action when you are feeling this way.

• Pray. As part of our childhood, most of us have been taught specific prayers, some of which become part of our lives and others we leave behind. Usually, specific prayers are different than praying. Prayer is a song that arises from your heart that you wish to share with God. This is a communication that springs from your very essence and cannot be taught; it is already part of you. Daily, spend time talking with God. On a deep inner level, there is a part that is most like God. Experience that part. That is our spiritual center and has traditionally been called "the heart."

• Consciousness-building activity. Daily in the beginning, each traveler needs to add consciousness expanding and focusing activity. One of the most familiar exercises is meditation, because it teaches many things: skills like concentration, focus, and switching attention back to the focus word or object. If you have trouble meditating, try another activity, such as prayer or Reflecting the Light. This type of exercise may be learned from a book, class or a teacher. For many, it is part of the learning required, to still and push aside that which stands in our way. Usually, specific exercises are bridges to something else, and as such, intended for fixed periods.

• Physical exercise / healthy living. Because we are multi-level beings, we must maintain a balance or healthy level of homeostasis so that we can access what lies deep within. When we are in physical or emotional pain, it is very difficult to travel inward. When our muscles are tense and we are experiencing troubling, repeating thoughts, the journey inward is further slowed. That is why often the prescription to make the daily, inner journey is begun with a cleansing of sorts. As a form of readiness, a hot, relaxing shower to clean-off the "dirt" of the day, or a deep breathing exercise to connect with our inner rhythm and bring refreshing air and oxygen into our system, is often suggested. Relaxing, cleansing activity helps tune and make us ready to connect with our inner current.

• Intention. Just about any activity may be done for the Higher Destiny. When we are vacuuming the house, driving our children to school or commuting to work, by offering up this activity to the Higher, the activity becomes something we no longer do for self, but to make the world a little better. When you arise in the morning, who do you go to work for? Are you working solely for self or to help others and yourself? Are you picking up children at the sitters and raising them to be more complete people, or better consumers of all the things they want? Begin to consider your motivation and intention, so you can turn it over to the higher, and travel further.

• Repeating the Holy Name. In some traditions, travelers are taught by very slowly repeating the Holy Name, with love and reverence over and over, throughout the day and their lives, they will reach journey’s end. Attached to this Name there is Light and energy. When you align with the Highest, gradually, you become one with the Highest. Throughout the day, try this simple technique of repeating the Name. See what happens. What do you have to lose?

• Practice gratitude. When you are feeling down, sad or depressed, practice gratitude. When you are at your lowest, take a personal inventory and name those things for which you are grateful. Thank yourself or thank the universe for placing these things, people or events into your life. Do this over and over. By using this repetitive cycle of replacement thought, which recounts the good in your life, you will change your consciousness and the energy being created. This more positive thought pattern has healthy and regenerating energy attached to it. Everyone has many things for which they can be grateful. Think about it.

• Good deeds. Daily, do something positive, generous or helpful for another person. Make a list of good deeds or positive actions that you want to accomplish for others. In performing this positive activity, the good feelings you generate will be your reward and the energy attached to your feelings, gradually, will change you. If you no longer need to do these things to help feel better, then do these things for others and the Higher Destiny. By making your deeds an offering, you will be joining in the Higher Destiny and consciously moving along the Path.

• Take a Class. If you have time, take a class on spirituality or read a new self- improvement book. Challenge yourself to learn something new and examine what is happening in this exciting world. Do not be afraid to critically examine your own or society’s most cherished beliefs, because that is how the journey to personal enlightenment and higher knowledge begin.

Life as PrayerFor the Sufi, daily life and traveling down the highway is potentially a prayer. Every moment is an opportunity to align personal action with the Higher Impulse. Through intention and by temporarily surrendering individual need, the spiritual traveler makes their commute to work a prayer of joyfulness and service.

For further discussion on consciousness-building exercises or to learn more about daily activity as spiritual practice, the reader is referred to Dr. Stewart Bitkoff’s recently published book, A Commuter’s Guide to Enlightenment (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2008). It is available at all book stores, online venues, or linking through www.thedeeganproject.com.

"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality" – Carl Sagan

Summer was in its glory in the Central Valley of California. Leo Kim, who would grow up to become a biochemist and work to find ways to stimulate the body’s own defense system to fight cancer, was only a young boy, a Cub Scout. His best friend, Stanley, was planning to take a ride with his uncle, a crop duster, and Leo was invited. His parents said no, that it was too dangerous. That afternoon, the plane carrying Stanley and his uncle struck a power line. "After learning of the crash," Leo wrote in the preface of his new book, Healing the Rift: Bridging the Gap between Science and Spirituality, "I felt too numb to cry. I also recalled thinking that I, too, could have been in a coffin."

He grew up to become a scientist and biotechnology executive – and a student of spirituality under the tutelage of Deepak Chopra, Bernie Siegel and others – but he never forgot his first brush with death, and he never stopped wondering about what happens when we die and how science has yet to offer an explanation about the ultimate mystery – our existence.

Dr. Kim spoke by phone with Edge Life from his home near San Diego about his new book, a chronicle of recent scientific breakthroughs that led him to the belief that the world is a blending of mind and spirit.

What inspired you to write "Healing the Rift?"
Leo Kim: It was the culmination of a 25-year quest. I spent about two years comparing science and spirituality. The very latest discoveries, starting about 10 years ago and sort of crescendoing in the last five years, have pointed to a totally new paradigm in science. About 10 years ago the foundations of science were rocked, and it has been rocked several times since then.

Regarding quantum physics?
LK: Yes and no, in regard to trying to allow quantum physics and the relativity theory and gravity all to fit together into one coherent universe with one set of laws. They are contradictory.

I’m a scientist by training, but during clinical trials and seeing cancer patients die, I wanted to know if there was a spiritual side. That’s what started me on this journey. Along with keeping up with science, I took up as a very serious avocation studying spirituality.

For whom did you write this book?
LK: I wrote this book for all of those who have felt beaten down by science, that science really holds all the answers. What I discovered about the big questions – how did the universe begin, what is the universe, how did life begin, how does consciousness and mind emerge from body and brain – is that they are totally unanswered by science. What is life? What is death? There are incomplete explanations for all of those questions – and in the case of how life originated, there is not even a theory because there is not enough evidence to support any one assertion.

And the Big Bang theory has been under assault lately, that it’s either incorrect or incomplete.

By whom is that theory under assault?
LK: Mainly by cosmologists and physicists. When the universe began with a Big Bang, the Big Bang started with a singularity or a point in space that simply exploded. There’s a logical question about what happened before that, and how did you get the singularity? That’s been bugging scientists and cosmologists and any lay person who casually reads about the theory. It’s completely unsatisfying.

What has your role been in the scientific community?
LK: In the scientific community, I have been in the biotechnology arena, first with Shell looking for ways to better utilize petroleum, and then they sent me to work in the laboratory of a Nobel prize winner in England, Sir John Cornforth, who led us to understand how enzymes work.. That put me on the biotech path, and upon returning I was asked to help start up a medical biotechnology unit. Along the way I also have been involved with the food industry and the agricultural industry, from a biotechnology perspective. During the last 10 years or so, I have worked very heavily with the pharmaceutical side and nutraceutical side.

My work has always been from the perspective of molecular biology, and then new biologies, but my training is a physical chemist. I’ve always had a deep love for physics, and I’ve always kept up with physics, including its relationship with cosmology.

You write that the rift between science and spirituality disappears when modern concepts of science are compared to ancient spiritual wisdom. Why?
LK: What startled me is as I looked into the spiritual side and the teachings, I found that regardless of which ancient peoples you look at – Meso Americans, the Australian Aborigines, the various cultures in Africa, the American Indians, the Hindu – they all seem to have one theme as to what exists out there, and that is energy. In the book, I include several quotations from Richard Henry, a rather renowned physicist and astronomer, who recently wrote an essay in a very prestigious journal that basically says, yeah, what’s really out there is energy and information, but what brings the energy and information into reality is consciousness. So our universe is really mind and Spirit.

You also write that we live in a false reality. What do you mean by that?
LK: That’s why I wrote a chapter on misperceptions. The brain interprets what’s out there and tries to make it understandable. Just look at the concept of color. There isn’t really color. It’s like the way we illustrate a map with colors to make it more understandable. I’m looking at a map right now, and the United States is green and Canada is sort of a beige color. That isn’t reality, but that helps my brain understand the differences.

The same is true with how our brain works and interprets what’s out there. When we see solid objects, they are not really solid. They are basically energy, but our mind creates that solid image. And the image is reinforced, because if we use our knuckles and we knock on the table, we can hear the sound and we can feel it. But in reality, that is just is energy repulsing energy.

The energy of our body reacting with the energy of the other objects.
LK: Yes, it’s the repulsion of electrons. And in the process we create some airwaves that bounce against our eardrums, which create the "sound" we hear – and that gives us the illusion of it.

Scientists have a tendency to stick to a dogma, and sometimes it sticks for decades. The one that has stuck the longest is materialism, since the 18th century. Materialism is the belief that our world is just materials, just things. Scientists like Richard Henry and many others try to bury the dogma, but other people, like Richard Dawkins when he wrote his book The God Illusion – on the New York Times best-seller list last year for over 40 weeks – keep alive a materialistic assumption, a materialistic dogma. Really, the bottom line is that he’s worshipping a false gospel, and the false gospel is materialism.

Do you feel like there is a need now for a greater education of the general public about the new discoveries in science to maybe erode away some of those 18th century dogmatic ideas?
LK: Absolutely. Unfortunately, I think most scientists are still holding to materialism. Go to any college and you still see these models of the atom. They are still showing DNA and molecules and atoms as little billiard ball-like substances connected by sticks. That is not what it is. It’s energy. And biologists hate mathematics and they hate quantum theory and they hate physics, so it is very difficult for them. Even though they have a reductionist sort of mentality, they will reduce their thinking down to atoms and maybe components of atoms, but they won’t zip down to the quantum level.

How long can they continue to hate these other ideas before they have to embrace them?
LK: I think the tide has turned. In the 21st century, perhaps over the next several years, it’s going to change. It’s starting to already, if you look at some of the recent results from the Fermi lab, which is a particle accelerator. It’s not quite as powerful as the CERN, but the CERN is down right now. It sort of had a meltdown just before our stock market meltdown.

There was one result that does not fit the standard model of physics. Two years before the experiment was done, some physicists published a paper suggesting that if there are hidden dimensions, then the results will be different. Low and behold, when the experiments were done, the results were consistent with the presence of hidden dimensions – not the standard model.

Earlier I mentioned that the foundations of science were rocked about 10 years ago. It was discovered then that in order to make our observations fit with theory, we needed to come up with two concepts: dark matter and dark energy, and together they consist of 96 percent of the universe. So 96 percent of our universe is missing. It isn’t like they misplaced it. Physicists and scientists just can’t find it. Supposedly it’s in you, it’s in me, it’s everywhere. This is highly embarrassing for these scientists, with their finest sophisticated instruments, that they can’t find it.

Now, in addition to that, to try to meld quantum theory with Einstein’s theory with gravity, one needs an infinite number of parallel universes and seven other hidden dimensions. Twenty years ago if somebody would have written something that said our world is deceptive, that 96 percent of it is missing, that there is an infinite number of parallel universes out there and that there are seven other dimensions, it would have sounded like very bad science fiction. But this is where science is. Scientists are scrambling to come up with these seemingly bizarre concepts to make the equations and the theories work.

And yet, I would imagine that 99 percent of the general public does not know that the scientific world has been rocked.
LK: That’s correct. I think a lot of the lay public who maybe glance at a newspaper or magazine have heard that science believes in mysterious dark matter or dark energy or that the CERN is trying to find the God particle, which will help piece together the standard model of physics, or that we’re putting up space probes to try to find anti-matter and maybe some evidence for hidden dimensions. But, the public is getting just bits and pieces – and this includes scientists, because most scientists are highly specialized. And if they are biologists or chemists, they really don’t understand it.

How do these new discoveries relate to the rift between science and spirituality?
LK: I think it contributes to the rift because scientists and the lay public do not realize that the paradigm and the dogma that is currently being held of materialism, that our world is made up of things, really hurts. Let me give you an example. If we live in a materialistic world – this is what a lot of people base their assumptions on – then the brain is just gray matter, and when we die and that gray matter is no longer functional, then that’s it. There can be nothing else. The concept of Spirit is a myth. That is a logical conclusion if you base your core assumptions on materialism. So if scientists are really worshipping a false gospel, one needs to challenge the core beliefs and examine the underlying assumptions. In my opinion, the one dogma that is contributing the greatest to this rift is materialism.

What is the consequence of this rift in our society?
LK: The biggest rift, I think, is the intolerance of spirituality. For more than 100 years now, scientists have been saying a lot of stuff about religion and spirituality, that it’s nonsense, outlandish and just too fairy tale. But, the tables are turned. Scientists are now having to resort to finding missing dark matter, dark energy, parallel universes and hidden dimensions. Why is that less outlandish than people who believe that there is Spirit, that what’s really out there is energy and that it’s really mind and consciousness that’s real.

Let me give you an example. There was dogma in the scientific community that after adolescence the human brain could not be rewired. That existed through the early 1980s. But brain scans by a psychologist at UCLA showed that the brain was actually being rewired in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients who did mindful meditation and thought about something pleasant like sitting in their garden, rather than thinking about washing their hands incessantly. The paradigm of brain creating mind is broken. Now it’s mind that rewires brain.

We also see dogma within religion that has presidential candidates raise their hands and say they don’t believe in the theory of evolution.
LK: That’s correct. The vast majority of rifts in religion are caused by not the original tenets of the religion, but the interpretation of human beings who maybe lived centuries afterwards, maybe in their quest to obtain power or to interpret for their followers something more simple or more palatable. If you do as I did in the book and examine the core beliefs of spiritual and religious teachings, they all go back to energy.

Why did your chance meeting with Doris, a cancer patient, affect your life the way it did?
LK: I guess as a cocky scientist who was feeling at the top of my game, I felt she was just so vibrant, so bouncy, so exuberant, that I just convinced myself that she was going to live. And, coming back a year later and finding her gone really shook me up, and I asked myself why, how can that happen. At the time I was beginning to think about what the mind can do and how the role of attitudes and how a positive attitude and those kinds of things might influence the results, and when that sort of blew me away with the results, I really was reminded of my friend’s death earlier in life, and I asked myself now, what is death, and am I missing, am I missing part of the equation, am I missing part of the picture. It’s almost like the scientists now who are looking for dark matter and dark energy to complete the picture.

How would you say your book is unique among other texts that explore the gap between science and spirituality?
LK: The book that is the most parallel to mine was written in 1975 by Fritjof Capra – The Tao of Physics. He was blown away by the parallels from the particle physics that he was studying and Eastern mysticism. Since 1975, of course, we all know there have been incredible discoveries in science – scores and scores of them – and we have talked about some of them. And yet nobody has really tried to write a similar book as Capra’s. What I tried to do is look at comparisons between all of science and all of spirituality.

Now, there have been people like Francis Collins who try to assert scientific ideas consistent with Christianity, or others who have compared science to Hindu teachings, but what I discovered is at the core they are all saying the same thing.

On the cover of my book, there is an elephant floating in the clouds. That refers to the ancient Hindu parable of the five blind men who are sitting around feeling different parts of an elephant and arguing what they are feeling. To a large extent, that’s what’s happening now: different religions, different spiritual teachings and the scientists are all feeling different parts of the universe and arguing about what’s out there.

What is your feeling of where we go from here? Do you get a sense that our scientific age that we live in will change dramatically in our lifetime?
LK: Yes, I think so. I think it’s going to change on many fronts. The change that I’d like to see rather soon is the healing power of the mind really integrated with health care. We’ve spent billions putting men and women in space and conducting clinical trials for various drugs, but we really have not integrated the power of the mind, which is a powerful source of healing.

Another is that we may have hints of life or even the discovery of life out in space, whether it’s on a moon of Saturn, Titan, or whether it’s on Mars. Wouldn’t that really be interesting? And wouldn’t it be interesting if the basis of life is not even DNA based? That could be super interesting. Discoveries from all of these space probes may force scientists to totally revamp their equations and their theories.

And then there is the CERN, the particle accelerator looking for the God particle, looking for all these new pieces of the universe when you smash them together at ultra-high energies. I think they are going to reveal a lot of things, and I think they will continue to break the paradigm of materialism. I think they will continue to put the scientists in awe as to what our universe is. There are experiments going on to look for more evidence of hidden dimensions, and I think there are ideas on ways to test whether there are parallel universes. Any one of those in the next couple of years will be really outstanding.

What did you discover during the process of writing this book?
LK: I guess the biggest discovery was how much dogma exists in science. We all have heard the dogma of religion. I was shocked by the dogma that science is holding onto. A lot of concepts are very, very difficult to erase and bury.

The final words of your book are: "All there is and all that we truly need is love."
LK: A lot of people have said it a lot of ways, both spiritually and even scientifically. When you really get down to consciousness, what really might be out there is love or a form of what we might call love and compassion. It affects the ability to heal, conventional as well as spiritual, and it seems to be at the core of what people who have had near death experiences report afterward. That was a big revelation to me.

How would you describe love scientifically?
LK: Love would be a feeling of connectiveness, of attachment and affection towards another living thing or about anything. It would be this feeling of attachment, of caring, of empathy. The way I use it in the book, it has no romantic inclinations to it. It’s just a feeling of empathy and caring and concern.

Maybe at some point science can quantify that energy.
LK: Yes, if they can break some of their current paradigms – and, in fact, several quantum physicists have suggested that.

For more information on Dr. Leo Kim and Healing the Rift, visit www.healingtherift.com

An excerpt from Transcendent Dreaming: Stepping into Our Human Potential by Christina Donnell, Ph.D., which is available through Magus Books, 1309 1/2 4th St. SE, Minneapolis, or online at www.transcendentdreaming.com.

The following dream occurred in 1996. By then, although my familiar focus on ambition and activity in the external world had been replaced by exploration of my internal world, I was not yet comfortable with this transformation and had not yet integrated my inner discoveries with the everyday, repetitive events of my life. The dream seemed to reflect an intent to more deeply explore my internal world.

While lying in bed with my eyes closed and my awareness centered between them, image after image appeared in my mind’s eye. Meditation had accustomed me to letting images rise and evaporate without breaking my concentration. Then a heavy, syrupy feeling, which I eventually learned to associate with transcendent dreaming, blanketed me, pulling me into sleep.

Returning from a foreign land

I felt dazed and bewildered, as if returning from a foreign land, but was soothed by the sun shining on my face through the window. My friend Miriam was sitting on the edge of my bed. I tried to lift my arms and hands, but they felt limp and lifeless. And while I could understand every word Miriam spoke, I could not sequence a thought or speak. I learned that I had been in this state for almost 36 hours. I had missed a full day of work and a dinner engagement with her, and when I did not answer the phone in the morning, she had come to check on me.

Eventually I stood up, although my legs felt weak and wobbled beneath me. After a while, exhausted and ill at ease, I went outside for a short walk, thinking it would help me return to normalcy. I soon doubled up from an unbearable heat in my abdomen that rose to my throat, and I felt as if I would vomit fire. I returned to the house and sat on the couch, taking no interest in anything and feeling detached from my surroundings. Miriam spent the day to make sure I was okay, and left in the evening. Retiring early, I slept fitfully, having strange dreams yet aware that a part of myself was watching me sleep.

Around 5 a.m., the same heavy, syrupy feeling descended upon me again, and I awakened in the same dream as the night before. The jaguar was sitting in the same tree, intently watching the jungle below. Again I was pulled into the image, and light pierced my head, filling me with rapture and vitality. As I felt myself dissolve, my consciousness once again expanded in all directions then slowly contracted. When I finally became aware of my body, my heart was racing, there was a metallic taste in my mouth, and my exhaustion was even more pronounced than after the first dream.

I did not feel like the same woman I had been only a few days before. Something intangible and powerful, which I could not grasp or analyze, was happening, and I could not free myself from a sense of apprehension. From that day forward, I would never be my old self again. For the next several years I would live suspended between spirit and matter, between heaven and earth.

Reflections

The days immediately following the dream were a prolonged nightmare. I was aware of an intense internal glow, always in rapid motion. The nights were especially difficult since the stream of light that had pierced my head in both dreams seemed to increase in speed and intensity during the hours of darkness. I could feel my energy increasing, decreasing, and repatterning.

Even more alarming was the fact that my consciousness was not as stable as it had been before but now expanded and contracted, regulated in a mysterious way by the images, making me fearful that a fine line now separated me from insanity.

By March 1997, all these experiences had taken their toll on my body. I suffered from extreme fatigue and simultaneously experienced a weird feeling of exaltation and melancholy.

For a long time, I remained uncertain about the meaning of my condition. From the point of view of my Zen meditation practice, I surmised that I had turned from witnessing the rise and fall of awareness to participating with objects or images in my field of awareness. The amount of energy concentrated in an image, the merging into a participatory exchange with it, and the energy from which the image itself had risen had shifted my perception. My perception had also become rooted in the sensual dimension of experience, born of the body’s natural capacity to resonate with other forms; David Abram, in his work with traditional sorcerers, or DUKUNS, of the Indonesian archipelago, noted a similar anchoring of perception in sensual realities. Thus, what had been considered a distraction in my Zen meditation practice had become a new way for me to engage with the sentient world.

From the point of view of my shamanic training, the dream seemed linked to my encounters with the traditions of Q’ero medicine people of the high Andes of Peru and transmissions associated with them.

The Q’ero Indians are considered masters of the energy realm, which is the primary reality in which they live, and they communicate with nature through energy forces. For instance, they determine where they are in a large geographic area by the energetic feel of the terrain rather than by physical markers. For the Q’ero medicine people, every element of the landscape speaks: any movement may be purposeful, any sound meaningful. The more time I spent with the Q’ero, the more it became second nature to participate in discourse with animate nature and feel my body’s inherent capacity to resonate with the landscape. Furthermore, the Q’ero do not live in linear time, and therefore do not acknowledge an event that just happened or will be occurring. Given that they related to me energetically, did not talk about what they were doing and spoke Quechua, which had to be translated into Spanish and then English, I received most of their transmissions without the benefit of verbal delivery. While struggling to decipher the Q’ero, I began to see and hear in a manner I never had before.

Planes of existence

At the time of this dream, I knew there was evidence for the presence of forces and planes of existence other than those we perceive with our senses. I also realized that when other levels of reality are encountered, they revise the picture of the universe presented by the intellect. But I had no knowledge of the technicalities and implications of encountering different levels of reality other than through my dreaming experiences.

Today, after sixteen years of working with the Q’ero medicine people, I better understand their means of perceiving various levels of reality and their techniques for preserving and transmitting knowledge. Whereas we customarily perceive an object or being, separate our awareness, and label it, the Q’ero merge into an object or being to experience it. They are masterful at entering into a participatory exchange with both seen and unseen sentient forms and forces. For instance, while they are unaware that water breaks down to one oxygen to two hydrogen atoms, they can easily call in the rain by merging with the energy behind and within the rain.

Although I lacked a theoretical framework for understanding these phenomena, they made me acutely aware of the existence of different levels of reality. I realized how we live in at least two worlds within the physical body alone. There is a macroscopic world that we see – our flesh and bones. And there is also a microscopic world of our life force: numberless subatomic fields where matter disappears and only probabilities exist in a vacuum, somehow resulting in an exquisite balance within the body. These two domains are distinct yet complementary. Both are true; they are simply different levels of reality.

Dr. Christina Donnell will present a book talk and signing at 7 p.m. Friday, October 10, at Magus Books, 1309 1/2 4th St. SE, Minneapolis. To learn more about Christina’s upcoming workshops or book events, visit www.wocaassoc.com or www.transcendentdreaming.com. Her new book, Transcendent Dreaming, is distributed at Magus Books and online at www.transcendentdreaming.com, amazon.com or at www.wocaassoc.com.