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Dr. Eben Alexander and Karen Newell return to Dreamland with their amazing breakthrough book Living in a Mindful Universe. Too many of us have come to believe that you need to have an NDE, use ayahuasca or some other substance or engage in long years of meditation to reach the higher state of consciousness that we all aspire to.
Eben and Karen explain why this isn’t true, and how we can journey into the highest states available to man just with our own mind and body. This exceptionally beautiful show is full of great teaching and wonderful wisdom from two masters.
Eben, a neurosurgeon with 25 years of experience at prestigious hospitals, is the author of Proof of Heaven in which he describes how his own powerful near-death experience caused him to realize that consciousness is not a brain function, but rather that the brain functions in consciousness.
Karen is the creator of Sacred Acoustics, a method that uses sound to facilitate the journey into higher states.
They come together in this powerful show, bringing us the great secret of empowerment in consciousness: it’s not hard, you just have to know how!
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as an adoptee myself – this
as an adoptee myself – this blew my mind
Maybe there are different
Maybe there are different types of consciousness, and matter is one of them. This would imply a continuum, however. I suggest that it all comes down to degrees of motion. There may be types of consciousness where no motion whatsoever is experienced. I call this “the Invariant” (that which never varies). The Invariant is poised at the highest level of density and immobility. Above it may lie dark matter, and above that is regular matter. Eventually, energy takes over consciousness and it has lots of momentum as it moves up the speed ladder. Finally, the instantaneous layer, (at the zenith of consciousness) where motion becomes so fast that everything happens simultaneously, outside of time. Thus, matter is an exploration of consciousness, but on a lower level of relative motion (compared to the more ethereal motion of the higher spirit and mind). The chakra energy systems seem to demonstrate this principle of the continuum, with more indolent, fixed energy residing in the root chakra. As one moves up the scale, towards the 7th chakra, energy moves more quickly and is less dense. I submit that there may be levels of consciousness lower than the root chakra (matter, among them) and higher than the 7th chakra. The hard question is therefore “what is the continuum of energy states that comprise consciousness”. With subjective emphasis on physicality, we have mistaken a lower level (the physical brain) for higher levels of consciousness (which lie in vistas above the brain and truly express mind) because we believe the brain is the end point of consciousness. Essentially, this is tantamount to saying that a rock and a laser beam are the same. We are exorbitantly focused on the slow moving physical, and that retards our progress in the investigation of mind and spirit. Consciousness may also relate to differing degrees of awareness, that which is not moving much or at all may have very little sagacity, while consciousness that is mercurial may have greater awareness.
The brain may be a filter (or a dampener), but also may inhabit its own place in the consciousness continuum. It is made of matter and can help the body via nerve impulses to perform executive functions in the physical world. The eyes are apparently filters as well, so its not too far to go to assume the brain may have filtering capabilities as well.
Is Physical matter illusory? No. Density is real, lack of motion is real, darkness is real. When one gets down to the finer microscopic levels, into the quantum, there is a disconnect from density. Quantum particles and light have low density. Macroscopic physical matter is one point of the continuum, with rules that exist there. It is simply a place where a particular type of consciousness exhibits itself. I would hasten to add that in terms of its correspondence to all light, darkness gets subsumed by it. However, this takes place only in the comprehensive, oneness level.
I think that when one arrives near the instantaneous level, there is a great ongoing interaction and exchange between levels of dark and light. In the brain, the interaction between left and right hemispheres is more pronounced when flow is activated and unity is nigh. This integration between light and dark is the ultimate wholistic realm, it accounts for all reality everywhere. It is the final source, where all levels of reality coexist and coincide in a confluence of oneness.
Continuing about
Continuing about density….say you have an atom and crack it open. Pure energy emits from it. Is it more logical to say that the energy is “really the fundamental composition of the atom” (and that the atom itself was an illusion) or that density has changed in the transition to energy, and with it the physics associated with the energy? I suggest that the intact atom is one form of consciousness, pure energy is another. Levels of consciousness. Niches. Light exists on its own. Darkness exists on its own. A commingling of Light and Darkness also exists as an entity. Darkness looks through a slit at the light, darkness lacks much awareness. Light has expanded awareness. Melded together, Light and Darkness comprise all awareness.
This program was so good to
This program was so good to listen to… as usual, Whitley.
Mace, your posts are always interesting and cause me to think …
Thanks for reading my posts,
Thanks for reading my posts, not so much dreamer. I think it makes sense that both darkness and light (and a combination of the two) are aspects of consciousness. Trying to remove darkness from reality and consciousness misses the mark, I believe.
I would add that if we don’t
I would add that if we don’t explore the dark side of our own selves, we are ‘missing the mark’. We are perfect beings embedded in imperfect packaging, driven by our genes and our experiences. Our experiences may include those in this and other realities and timelines. Exploring our dark selves does not mean that we give in to those urges driven by the dark, but that we understand what they are and why they are there so that we can transform them.
Cosmic: if everything is
Cosmic: if everything is connected, and everything is part of consciousness, doesn’t that mean we can never escape the dark completely? I see darkness as something which is meant to be transformed, but also something that acts as an attractor for light. Darkness can be used to attract light, because all things are ultimately connected. Negative energy is the final container for everything. Our Earth’s energy contains a lot of darkness, and this darkness is nurturing and strong. Females may use this energy to act as a beacon for spirits that implant themselves in the womb (and become babies). Sure, we are meant to reach escape velocity and exceed the close attachment to darkness. However, it may remain in quiescence until summoned again, for whatever reason.
Mace, like the dark being
Mace, like the dark being transformed into light, light can probably transform into darkness, and the cycle may start all over again. If you think of the concept of a black hole, it sucks in everything within the event horizon, with no possible escape for whatever gets sucked in. Within the black hole (singularity) the laws of physics disappear. The Universe is thought to have begun as a singularity that exploded into The Big Bang that got it all going. Enter the light into a void of darkness…And it may be deja vu all over again. 🙂
Our Universe is one of duality, and may never change through endless cycles of time. However, if you believe in many dimensions and a ‘Multi-Verse’, there may be places where duality does not exist. If duality does not exist, then time probably doesn’t exist either. A strong, self-directed soul might be able to play around in all universes or dimensions, and maybe live simultaneous ‘lives’ in some or all of them.
So….Darkness is not always a bad thing, meaning there might be different degrees of darkness, or a spectrum, much like light.
The physics we know shows that we should not be able to see dark skies at night on our planet. What we should see is more of a ‘glow’ and diffused light from all the stars, rather than a black background with pinpoints of light. Olber’s Paradox serves some kind of weird purpose for us and our souls, and I often wonder how we would have evolved as a species if we had not been able to look up at night skies, deal with the dark, and also marvel at the stars and planets, and also weave stories and legends around them.
There may be niches where
There may be niches where darkness is cut off from light. It peers through a slit at the rest of reality. Dark matter only interacts gravitationally with matter, and not with light, so this may be an example of that phenomenon—dark matter only sees our reality through a narrow slit. Dark matter may interact with energy through its gravitation, forming matter. Again, I think that mind may access levels of consciousness where these niches may exist as thought forms. Relative degrees of focus and looseness may account for their construction. Darkness may be a thought form, but this does not mean it is unreal. It is as real as anything else. How various thought forms manifest and sustain might be a new branch of reasoning. Dark and light may not be fully aware of each other in this stage of the game in our Universe, so the process of discovery may precipitate a reckoning between darkness and light. New relationships may be established.
Darkness can decide to interface directly with light, and I believe this happens eventually. There may indeed exist levels of being that are amalgams of light and dark, where exchange transpires frequently. Multiverses may support multiple lives, and souls can learn to navigate other dimensions.
I think it is fascinating our planet revolves like it does, moving from darkness to light. Other planets may not experience light and dark, and may be immersed in constant light. How this would change their response to humans would be a great subject to entertain.
“what is it all about?”
Don’t
“what is it all about?”
Don’t all people ask this question? Often as children? Isn’t life focused on this, and we get lost in daily living. We forget or relegate questions of meaning to back burners… unless or until something wakens us from our preoccupations. ( Of course, the philosophers and teachers are an exception- many of whom are not working in educational institutions.)
If we think it is all about “X” and have lots of “X” experiences, we think we have figured it all out. But if it isn’t about “X” and we know this because there is a “Y” experience, and we find out others have “Y” experiences, and some even have “Z” or “M” experiences, we are changed. We cannot go back to sleep the same dream.
So…. consciousness… is our individual awareness part of a single collective? Or are there many collectives? Is consciousness the expansion of a “singularity” into infinite pieces, all containing all that is within the “singularity” but not available until one does certain things/ thinks/ experiences/ etc.???? Is it an experience of “knowing” expansion?
OR is all of the collective experiences, thoughts, etc of everything created (and then some if one perceives God) greater than the sum of it’s parts?
The stories of other’s experiences, do not prepare for the fullness of Consciousness that may be a synonym for a “Oneness” experience. Nor can it be fathomed- just as a blind woman cannot “see” a rainbow or a deaf man “hear” a virtuoso violin performance without using sound. There is that which cannot be explained and anticipated.
There is that which awaits an “opening in which it can be perceived.”
That opening, is created by the perceiver through life…all of life… without any anticipation or preparation specifically for that… save developing awake stillness. Just Be.
Where Consciousness may be experienced… inner silence perhaps, for some… meditation, for others… setting quietly in nature, still others… stillness.. It seems all “traditions” have a way to say this… and so do the sciences – a moment of instantaneous insight. It comes after they are spent… in the way there is rest before inspiration and expiration. a moment of emptiness… a moment where one loses one’s self and just sees… I think everyone comes to it their own way… as their life is their own path…
Not so much dreamer: it’s
Not so much dreamer: it’s time for a radical question. Should we deprive ourselves of some experiences? Do we in the end? What about in terms of multiverse theory? Or, are there other interpretations that may be examined?
I suspect that reading about another’s experience may completely go over one’s head, if one has not experienced something similar. Surely, it may be hard to relate to if one is oblivious of or barely aware of the material. I do exhort people to have their own experiences, because that is the best way to learn.
I think that when one
I think that when one perceives color one perceives it with one’s senses, but also with higher levels of consciousness, which are unknown to Science. Therefore, the veritable impact of the experience is even more difficult to quantify. If one had two brains that were exactly the same physically and tried to view the same situation, the higher souls that lie above those brains would mutate and evolve the experience, making it subjective and distinct for each. Subjective experience is very hard to control, and repetition may be impossible.
I heard from someone that it is possible to close your eyes in the afterlife. This would only make sense if closing one’s eyes was fundamental to consciousness. That one can “see” with a non-corporeal, out of body spirit also means that eyes are also fundamental to consciousness. If seeing is not fundamentally a physiological act, then classifying it as such is not valid. Thus, the experiment with seeing colors for the first time is not valid (not to mention that in previous lifetimes one may have seen color, this also eliminates the pure “black and white” seeing person).
Mace… i kept my above post
Mace… i kept my above post limited, as i tend to wander all over the field. That said, your radical question doesn’t “follow” for me. I did not say anything about what one should or shouldn’t do. I was just raising some questions. As i am limited in many areas/abilities, I can imagine what it’s like for those who do those jobs, have that experience, but do not feel left out because i do not.
“Thought puzzles” or whatever they are called, are often beyond me so i just listen or read. i function in specific and limited ways compared to many others. Be grateful- I am. I do not feel deprived that i cannot do astrophysics, because i can enjoy the videos from NASA and deep space etc. which do not require me to know more than i do. ( Perhaps i have grown old enough to be comfortable in my own skin.) Many men are comfortable (even grateful) they do not get pregnant and give birth…yet truly appreciate the stories women share in this area.
Imagination expands our relationship with reality and limitations. We are blessed to be fully who we are.
Hey, not so much dreamer,
Hey, not so much dreamer, that’s perfectly alright. My question wasn’t completely on topic. If you don’t want to answer it, that’s okay. Thank you for writing what you did. I’m glad you are comfortable in your own skin, skin should be comfortable, I believe 🙂
Thank you, Mace. As always,
Thank you, Mace. As always, you continue to write your ideas and provide space for reflection and consideration of more than i would normally even think about. Are you a teacher?
Isn’t it amazing that we inhabit this space in the ether, and keep expanding that which is being considered? Perfect, isn’t it? And as we grow, it continues to be perfect- for each of us to learn, share, grow, be.
You are welcome. I’m not a
You are welcome. I’m not a teacher. I think it is exhilarating exploring multifarious avenues of thought. Leave no paradox unturned!
I think if we concentrate on ideas, energies and dimensions, rather than cults of personality, this planet will benefit tremendously. I’m all in for growth, compassion, arts and mind expansion. I wish people could break out more, say what they want, and not be apologetic about it.