You Can Meditate!

Posted on October 23, 2015 by marcia

7 Meditation Myths

In5D October 22, 2015

Here are seven of the most common meditation myths dispelled.

In the past forty years, meditation has entered the mainstream of modern Western culture, prescribed by physicians and practiced by everyone from business executives, artists, and scientists to students, teachers, military personnel, and – on a promising note – politicians. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan meditates every morning and has become a major advocate of mindfulness and meditation, as he describes in his book, A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. Despite the growing popularity of meditation, prevailing misconceptions about the practice are a barrier that prevents many people from trying meditation and receiving its profound benefits for the body, mind, and spirit.

Myth #1: Meditation is difficult.

Truth: This myth is rooted in the image of meditation as an esoteric practice reserved only for saints, holy men, and spiritual adepts. In reality, when you receive instruction from an experienced, knowledgeable teacher, meditation is easy and fun to learn. The techniques can be as simple as focusing on the breath or silently repeating a mantra. One reason why meditation may seem difficult is that we try too hard to concentrate, we’re overly attached to results, or we’re not sure we are doing it right. In our experience at the Chopra Center, learning meditation from a qualified teacher is the best way to ensure that the process is enjoyable and you get the most from your practice. A teacher will help you understand what you’re experiencing, move past common roadblocks, and create a nourishing daily practice.

Myth #2: You have to quiet your mind in order to have a successful meditation practice.

Truth: This may be the number one myth about meditation and is the cause of many people giving up in frustration. Meditation isn’t about stopping our thoughts or trying to empty our mind – both of these approaches only create stress and more noisy internal chatter. We can’t stop or control our thoughts, but we can decide how much attention to give them. Although we can’t impose quiet on our mind, through meditation we can find the quiet that already exists in the space between our thoughts. Sometimes referred to as “the gap,” this space between thoughts is pure consciousness, pure silence, and pure peace. When we meditate, we use an object of attention, such as our breath, an image, or a mantra, which allows our mind to relax into this silent stream of awareness. When thoughts arise, as they inevitably will, we don’t need to judge them or try to push them away. Instead, we gently return our attention to our object of attention.In every meditation, there are moments, even if only microseconds, when the mind dips into the gap and experiences the refreshment of pure awareness. As you meditate on a regular basis, you will spend more and more time in this state of expanded awareness and silence.

Be assured that even if it feels like you have been thinking throughout your entire meditation, you are still receiving the benefits of your practice. You haven’t failed or wasted your time. When Chopra Center co-founder Dr. David Simon taught meditation, he would often tell students, “The thought I’m having thoughts may be the most important thought you have ever thought, because before you had that thought, you may not have even known you were having thoughts. You probably thought you were your thoughts.” Simply noticing that you are having thoughts is a breakthrough because it begins to shift your internal reference point from ego mind to witnessing awareness. As you become less identified with your thoughts and stories, you experience greater peace and open to new possibilities.

Myth #3: It takes years of dedicated practice to receive any benefits from meditation.

Truth: The benefits of meditation are both immediate and long-term. You can begin to experience benefits the first time you sit down to meditate and in the first few days of daily practice. Many scientific studies provide evidence that meditation has profound effects on the mind-body physiology within just weeks of practice. For example, a landmark study led by Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital found that as little as eight weeks of meditation not only helped people experience decreased anxiety and greater feelings of calm; it also produced growth in the areas of the brain associated with memory, empathy, sense of self, and stress regulation. At the Chopra Center, we commonly hear from new meditators who are able to sleep soundly for the first time in years after just a few days of daily meditation practice. Other common benefits of meditation include improved concentration, decreased blood pressure, and enhanced immune function.

Myth #4: Meditation is escapism.

Truth: The real purpose of meditation isn’t to tune out and get away from it all but to tune in and get in touch with your true Self – that eternal aspect of yourself that goes beyond all the ever-changing, external circumstances of your life. In meditation you dive below the mind’s churning surface, which tends to be filled with repetitive thoughts about the past and worries about the future, into the still point of pure consciousness. In this state of transcendent awareness, you let go of all the stories you’ve been telling yourself about who you are, what is limiting you, and where you fall short – and you experience the truth that your deepest Self is infinite and unbounded. As you practice on a regular basis, you cleanse the windows of perception and your clarity expands. While some people do try to use meditation as a form of escape – as a way to bypass unresolved emotional issues – this approach runs counter to all of the wisdom teachings about meditation and mindfulness. In fact, there are a variety of meditation techniques specifically developed to identify, mobilize and release stored emotional toxicity. If you are coping with emotional upset or trauma, we recommend that you work with a therapist who can help you safely explore and heal the pain of the past, allowing you to return to your natural state of wholeness and love.

Myth #5: I don’t have enough time to meditate.

Truth: There are busy, productive executives who have not missed a meditation in twenty-five years, and if you make meditation a priority, you will do it. If you feel like your schedule is too full, remember that even just a few minutes of meditation is better than none. We encourage you not to talk yourself out of meditating just because it’s a bit late or you feel too sleepy.

In life’s paradoxical way, when we spend time meditating on a regular basis, we actually have more time. When we meditate, we dip in and out of the timeless, spaceless realm of consciousness . . . the state of pure awareness that is the source of everything that manifests in the universe. Our breathing and heart rate slow down, our blood pressure lowers, and our body decreases the production of stress hormones and other chemicals that speed up the aging process and give us the subjective feeling that we are “running out of time.” In meditation, we are in a state of restful alertness that is extremely refreshing for the body and mind. As people stick with their meditation ritual, they notice that they are able to accomplish more while doing less. Instead of struggling so hard to achieve goals, they spend more and more time “in the flow” – aligned with universal intelligence that orchestrates everything.

Myth #6: Meditation is a spiritual or religious practice.

Truth: Meditation is a practice that takes us beyond the noisy chatter of the mind into a place of stillness and silence. It doesn’t require a specific spiritual belief, and many people of many different religions practice meditation without any conflict with their current religious beliefs. Some meditators have no particular religious beliefs or are atheist or agnostic. They meditate in order to experience inner quiet and the numerous physical and mental health benefits of the practice – including lowered blood pressure, stress reduction, and restful sleep. The original reason that Deepak Chopra began meditating was to help him stop smoking. Meditation helps us to enrich our lives. It enables us to enjoy whatever we do in our lives more fully and happily – whether that is playing sports, taking care of our children, or advancing in our career.

Myth #7: I’m supposed to have transcendent experiences in meditation.

Truth: Some people are disappointed when they don’t experience visions, see colors, levitate, hear a choir of angels, or glimpse enlightenment when they meditate. Although we can have a variety of wonderful experiences when we meditate, including feelings of bliss and oneness, these aren’t the purpose of the practice. The real benefits of meditation are what happens in the other hours of the day when we’re going about our daily lives. When we emerge from our meditation session, we carry some of the stillness and silence of our practice with us, allowing us to be more creative, compassionate, centered, and loving to ourselves and everyone we encounter.

from: http://in5d.com/7-meditation-myths/#sthash.YiDMXj9J.dpbs

On Jumping Timelines

Posted on June 22, 2015 by marcia

What You Should Know When Jumping Timelines

In5D June 22, 2015

by Kim Hutchinson,
Guest writer for In5D.com

Timeline jumping refers to the shifting of awareness from one series of possibilities to another. If you are in one timeline and you do not like how things are unfolding, then you can move to another timeline in which your dreams are more attainable. That’s because life makes use of all possibilities. Simply put, every version of events plays out. The options you didn’t choose in this timeline are being explored in others. The eternal, formless, limitless Being that is your soul knows no Earthly bounds. Your spiritual self is highly adept at the art of multilocation. That means you exist in multiple timelines simultaneously.

For the linear, sequential brain, this concept can be overwhelming. Your soul, however, exists outside space and time. Your expanded consciousness can see all possibilities in all directions of time.

What purpose does this serve?

Your eternal soul requires novelty, along with opportunities to learn and create. The restrictive nature of linear timelines presents a wonderful challenge. Truth is time is artificial. All things happen simultaneously. We simply choose in 3-D to experience them in a linear, sequential fashion. It’s like wandering blindfolded through a maze.

As our 3-D experiment is winding down, our awareness is awakening to the existence of parallel, concurrent creations. The people who are wandering blindly through the maze of life are soon going to be able to see. That will help us to solve the puzzle faster and to move on to other dimensions of creation. Part of our awakening process is remembering how to access parallel timelines.

Examples of Timeline Jumping

You can see this happening in interpersonal connections as well as on the world stage.

Have you ever had an upsetting disagreement with someone, only to have the conversation mysteriously shift in your favor mid conversation? Chances are you shifted timelines in order to reach an agreement.

Do you find your version of past events differ, sometimes radically, from your friends or significant other? We often chalk up these discrepancies to having a faulty memory, but again, it may be that you are recalling events from a different timeline.

We also shift timelines en masse, thanks to collective consciousness. Just look at forecasted world events that did not manifest.

When we are passionate about changing something, for better or worse, we flip into a parallel, but different, timeline. The greater the desire and the need for change, the bigger the leap.

For those of you who are old enough to get the reference, it’s like a scratched record. When the turntable needle hits the scratch, it jumps out of its groove. The larger the scratch, the more the needle will skip.

The advantages to this spiritual practice are obvious.

Manifestation Simplified

If you’re like most people, you have probably struggled to master the art of manifestation. Now, instead of creating your goal from scratch, you can align with a timeline in which your goal is fully manifested. This takes far less time, effort and energy.

Gone is the need to petition higher vibrational beings for help. The power has been in our hands all along. Thanks to the thinning veil, we are beginning to reincorporate many of our forgotten abilities.

This is Nothing New

Did you know that you’ve been jumping timelines all along? The only difference is that we are steadily becoming more conscious of the truth. That means that you can do this. The only thing you need to learn is to jump timelines whenever you wish.

How to (Consciously) Jump Timelines

The first step is to own your power. You must consciously reclaim this ability to jump timelines by recognizing that it is indeed possible.
The next step is to recognize that everything is made of energy. That energy has a signature vibration. Your thoughts, feelings, words, actions and creations must all match your desire in frequency. Every part of you must be focused on your intent.
As your vibration changes, you will automatically shift timelines.
If you like what you experience in the new timeline, hold your vibration by continuing to feel the emotions which aligned you with your desires.
To change timelines, change your thoughts, words, feelings and actions to align with your new goal.

It will probably take more than a few attempts to get it right, but once you experience success, you will be motivated to try again. Eventually, this practice will become second-nature.

Happy jumping!

from: http://in5d.com/jumping-timelines/

Talking Points of Those Awakening

Posted on June 7, 2015 by marcia

This Is What Highly Conscious People Talk About

In5D June 7, 2015

by Gregg Prescott, M.S.
Editor, In5D.com

On In5D, we published an article entitled, “Moving Into 5D, Hidden In Plain Sight,”where Hollywood hid an inspiring message in plain sight regarding humanity moving to its next stage of spiritual evolution. While some may simply call this science fiction, others see how Hollywood lays out events that are about to happen, masking them in under the guise of entertainment and debunking the possibilities of these events coming to fruition as the overactive imagination(s) of the viewer(s).

The following is an excerpt from the movie, “My Dinner With Andre” where once again, an important message is hidden in plain sight. Pay close attention to the part where Andre talks about the pockets of light appearing all around the world because this is happening right now as each person awakens.

And as each person awakens, it changes the outcome of probable timelines in parallel universes and alternate realities. Right now, we are playing out the greatest probability of all possible scenarios in this particular reality, but as more people awaken and change their views on how they see reality, the reality changes with it.

If you’re looking for proof, look no further than events that haven’t happened such as Edgar Cayce’s prediction of Armageddon in 1999, the New World Order coming to fruition by 2000, and the failure of the North American Union to become a reality.

Negative timeline events are fading away quickly, as the ruling elite are very well aware of this. This is why they are ramping up tensions all around the world in a last ditch effort to cultivate as much fear as possible, because through fear, they can control the masses.

WALLY: Well, why…why do you think that is? I mean, why is that? I mean, is it just because people are lazy today? Or they’re bored? I mean, are we just like bored, spoiled children who’ve just been lying in the bathtub all day just playing with their plastic duck and now they’re just thinking: “Well! what can I do?” [Cough in the background.]

ANDRE: Okay! Yes! We’re bored! We’re all bored now! But has it ever occurred to you, Wally, that the process that creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating, unconscious form of brain-washing, created by a world totalitarian government based on money? And that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks? And it’s not just a question of individual survival, Wally, but that somebody who’s bored is asleep, and somebody who’s asleep will not say “no”? See, I keep meeting these people, I mean, uh, just a few days ago I met this man whom I greatly admire, he’s a Swedish physicist, Gustav Björnstrand? And he told me that he no longer watches television, he doesn’t read newspapers and he doesn’t read magazines. He’s completely cut them out of his life, because he really does feel that we’re living in some kind of Orwellian nightmare now, and that everything that you hear now contributes to turning you into a robot!

And when I was at Findhorn, I met this extraordinary English tree expert, who had devoted his life to saving trees. He just got back from Washington, lobbying to save the redwoods? He’s eighty-four years old and he always travels with a back-pack ’cause he never knows where he’s gonna be tomorrow! And when I met him at Findhorn he said to me: “Where are you from?” And I said: “New York.” He said: “Ah, New York! Yes, that’s a very interesting place. Do you know a lot of New Yorkers who keep talking about the fact that they want to leave but never do?” And I said: “Oh, yes!” And he said: “Why do you think they don’t leave?” I gave him different banal theories. He said: “Oh, I don’t think it’s that way at all.” He said: “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing they’ve built, they’ve built their own prison. And so they exist in a state of schizophrenia, where they are both guards and prisoners. And as a result they no longer have, having been lobotomized, the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made, or to even see it as a prison. And then he went into his pocket and he took out a seed for a tree, and he said: “This is a pine tree.” He put it in my hand and he said: “Escape, before it’s too late.”

You see, actually, for two or three years now Chiquita and I have had this very unpleasant feeling that we really should get out. No, we really should feel like Jews in Germany in the late thirties? Get out of here! Of course, the problem is where to go, ’cause it seems quite obvious that the whole world is going in the same direction. You see, I think it’s quite possible that the nineteen-sixties represented the last burst of the human being before he was extinguished. And that this is the beginning of the rest of the future now, and that from now on there’ll simply be all these robots walking around, feeling nothing, thinking nothing. And there’ll be nobody left almost to remind them that there once was a species called a human being, with feelings and thoughts. And that history and memory are right now being erased, and soon nobody will really remember that life existed on the planet!

Now, of course, Björnstrand feels that there’s really almost no hope. And that we’re probably going back to a very savage, lawless, terrifying period. Findhorn people see it a little differently. They’re feeling that there’ll be these “pockets of light” springing up in different parts of the world, and that these will be in a way invisible planets on this planet, and that as we, or the world, grow colder, we can take invisible space journeys to these different planets, refuel for what it is we need to do on the planet itself, and come back. And it’s their feeling that there have to be centers, now, where people can come and reconstruct a new future for the world. And when I was talking to Gustav Björnstrand, he was saying that actually, these centers are growing up everywhere now! And that what they’re trying to do, which is what Findhorn was trying to do, and in a way what I was trying to do…I mean, these things can’t be given names, but in a way, these are all attempts at creating a new kind of school, or a new kind of monastery. And Björnstrand talks about the concept of reserves, islands of safety, where history can be remembered, and the human being can continue to function in order to maintain the species through a dark age.

In other words we’re talking about an underground, which did exist in a different way during the Dark Ages among the mystical orders of the Church. And the purpose of this underground is to find out how to preserve the light, life, the culture. How to keep things living. You see, I keep thinking that what we need is a new language, a language of the heart, languages in the Polish forest where language wasn’t needed. Some kind of language between people that is a new kind of poetry, that’s the poetry of the dancing bee that tells us where the honey is. And I think that in order to create that language, you’re going to have to learn how you can go through a looking glass into another kind of perception, where you have that sense of being united to all things. And suddenly, you understand everything.

For some people, activism is the best way to achieve results because through activism, we see direct results. For others, holding the energy and vibration of love is playing a large role as we are all beacons of light connected to one another through the planetary grid system. Many people, such as myself, will do both.

Regardless of what your choice is, do it in the vibration of love and continue to work on eliminating as much fear as possible. The best way to do that is to not watch TV or read anything that is published by the mainstream media. Connect and ground yourself with nature, even if it’s looking at pictures of nature. Express gratitude and forgive those who have hurt you.

We can literally change the world overnight into something amazing!

from: http://in5d.com/this-is-what-highly-conscious-people-talk-about/

On Brain & Mind

Posted on January 24, 2015 by marcia

The Nature Of Mind And The Holographic Brain

The Mind Unleashed

on 21 January, 2015 at 11:27

By: Brandon West

What is the true nature of mind, and what is the real function of our brains?

The purpose of this article is to provide evidence that strongly indicates that you are not your brain, or your body for that matter, and that the nature of mind, of memory, and of our brains may actually be vastly different than we have been lead to believe.

Since time immemorial, man has been fascinated by the mind, leading great thinkers from Hippocrates to Descartes to ponder the nature of mind with wonder. Fast forward to modern times and observe how the mind is still revered and is dominating our culture. We have a lot of firm beliefs about the nature of mind, and I believe the ego – our limited perception of ourselves – and thus human ignorance, is intricately tied in with these beliefs.

But the truth of the matter is that we only understand a fraction of the minds potential, i.e. it’s capability of rote memorization and other analytically orientated functions, and we use even less.

We know hardly anything about the brain let alone the nature of mind. Is it possible that we are missing crucial aspects of its function and entire areas of development and potential that simply slide under the radar because they are not accepted by modern thought?

In this article we will explore the idea that the brain itself, with its tissue and neurons that we have until now deemed the source of our thoughts and identity, is actually just a tool, a receiver of human intelligence and consciousness, but not its source; and that the human mind is not sourced in the brain any more than the internet can be found in your laptop or your modem.

“My brain is only a receiver. In the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” – Nikola Tesla

Projected Memory on the Screen of Consciousness

To begin I would like to delve into the work of a Canadian neurosurgeon named Wilder Penfield. Through his work with epileptic patients spanning from the 1930′s into the 1970′s he found that “stimulation of the human cerebral cortex with a gentle electrical current sometimes awakens specific memories, at other times dreams.” His work gave him insight into the function of the brain, memory, mind, and the interactions between them.

(This information on Wilder Penfield’s experiments is from his lectures The Mechanism of Memory, and Some Mechanisms of Consciousness Discovered During Electrical Stimulation of the Brain unless otherwise specified.)

During brain surgery once the brain was exposed, he found that by using an electrode that produced a “gentle” electrical current, he could stimulate areas of the brain and get specific, repeatable, intriguing and often times simply fascinating results. The patients were kept conscious throughout the procedure so that the doctors could carry out a conversation throughout the operation and receive immediate feedback on the nature of the experience these electrical currents would produce.

In one case an area he stimulated caused a man to not only hear a piano being played, but also to see the man sitting in front of him playing the piano. In another case a boy reported seeing men sitting on a chair and singing, and in yet another case the patient heard a complete orchestra. In each of these situations the individuals involved didn’t see fleeting shapes of people, or the wisp of a song, but they saw the image as vivid and clear as if they were actually there in the room.

One woman even heard a song, which turned out to not even have been one of her favorite songs, being played when an area of her brain was being stimulated. When stimulated at intervals without her knowledge (because the brain has no tactile sensation), the same song began playing again from the exact same spot.

The sound was so clear and flawless that she mistook a device in the operating room as a musical device that they were stopping and starting at intervals.

In all cases the patients recalled the events not like you would commonly recall a memory, which is usually as a fleeting mental image, but rather in such explicit detail that it was literally like they were reliving the event in question. Some patients literally saw people in front of them, and heard them just as clearly as if they were actually there.

As Dr. Penfield phrased it, it was like the mind was able to “project a memory or a dream upon the screen of consciousness.” Moreover he found that when he stimulated the brains of individuals and they remembered something, an image, or sound, or a feeling, those memories were always accompanied by the thought processes that accompanied them at the time. Therefore our brains record sensory data as a whole unit.

Holographic Memory and the Nature of Mind

In my article the unified field and the illusion of time, we explored some evidence supporting the understanding that all information is encoded directly into the field – the energy density of space/time – all around us (which unfortunately is beyond the scope of this article). But if we apply that understanding to the perception going on in this circumstance when Wilder Penfield stimulated the brains of his patients, what occurred was that his patients seemed to have perfect recall of past events and in visual cases, 3D or holographic memory.

This is not normal perception.

What if the stimulation of the brain itself caused his patients to project their memory onto the field? Or what if that information was already present in a holographic sense meaning that those images, and those songs and memories were encoded within the field, possibly recording directly into the field by the brain itself, and the stimulation by chance allowed them to perceive the memory directly in the field?

This not only suggests the possibility of holographic memory in human beings, but a very different understanding of memory itself (which we shall explore later).

The other thing that is interesting is that the events which were brought back were entirely mundane, meaning they were generally ordinary events of no significance. This suggests that our brains actually record every detail of our lives, even the mundane and ordinary, and that they are accessible to us if we could figure out how to access it, or in other words, how to tap into the full potential of our minds.

Wilder Penfield himself remarked that if the brain was indeed recording all of experience, then it is only natural that when dipping into this massive archive of information and memory that we happen upon ordinary events considering the vast quantity of information recorded in our lifetime (from How To Know God by Deepak Chopra).

In Deepak Chopra’s book How To Know God, he also cites how Wilder Penfield noted that the brain even retains memory while dormant, such as the fact that when patients are under deep anesthesia during surgery, about one percent of the population has a recollection of what the doctors were saying, and even some details of the procedure. It is interesting that…

“Under deep anesthesia, there are practically no higher brain waves at all, making it impossible for the cerebral cortex to accomplish anything so complex as remembering what a surgeon is saying.”(How to Know God, p. 217)

This is one of the reasons why Wilder Penfield concluded after nearly 40 years of research that the mind was an entity separate from the brain, and which did not rely on the brain to function.

Who Is The One Doing The Moving?

Deepak Chopra in his lecture series with Wayne Dyer entitled Living Beyond Miracles tells of another of Wilder Penfield’s experiments where he is stimulating the motor cortex of a patient’s brain which causes the patient to raise their arm in front of them. If we were to ask the man if it is him moving his are, he would reply that ‘No, I AM not.’

But when Penfield asked him to move his arm to the side the patient could move his arm, and he responded with something akin to ‘I AM moving my arm’, or ‘now I AM moving my arm’. Who is this I AM presence who is doing the moving? And why is it not activated when the body is moving on its own?

If our brain is the source of who we are, then any stimulation thereof which resulted in motion should give us the perception that it is us who is moving, but as Deepak Chopra states, because that is not the case this is indicative that our brain is not who we are, that the brain and body is only superficially related to who we are, and that the brain most certainly is not the source of who we are.

Brain Tissue Is Apparently Optional

Removing a hemisphere. Evidence for the holographic brain concept, and that our brain is only a recorder of experience and not the source of the mind can be found in a study done by Johns Hopkins University (J.H.U.) where they worked with brain-damaged children. They found that they could improve their level of intelligence and physical coordination by removing the damaged hemisphere of their brain. In essence, they literally cut out the damaged chunk of the children’s brain.

Within our current understanding of the brain this operation should significantly damage, if not irreparably hinder the child’s ability for memory and cognitive functions. From conventional understanding all of the functions which that hemisphere of the brain took care of would no longer be implemented leaving the child mentally deficient, or fragmented in some form.

If memories are stored in the brain, then after this operation those children should have lost those memories pertaining to the removed portion of their brain … if memories are stored in the brain. Yet the results were astonishing, and once again defied conventional thought.

Dr. Eileen P. G. Vining of J.H.U. studied 54 of the children who underwent the operation and she was simply astounded by the “retention of memory, and by the retention of the child’s personality and sense of humour.” A new version of the study was published in 2003 by John Hopkins University that dealt with 111 kids who had the operation between 1975 and 2003. Out of these 111 children 86% of them were seizure free or no longer needed medication (David Wilcock, The Source Field Investigations).

The mystery of hydrocephalus. For more evidence we move towards the work of Dr. John Lorber who is one of the world’s top experts on the condition known as hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is due to a problem with the flow cerebral spinal fluid which surrounds and cushions the brain, and when there is a blockage in this flow the pressure within the individual’s cranium is increased. Hydrocephalus means literally “water on the brain,” and brain swelling in this case leads to an oftentimes dramatic compression of brain tissue.

Dr. Lorber studied a total of 253 people with this condition. In the most severe cases, the pressure in the brain would increase to such a high level that the brain tissue would be compacted leaving the patient with only a fraction of their original amount of brain tissue. In Dr. Lorber’s study 9 people reached this severity with around only 5% of their total brain tissue left. That means only 5% of their neurons, brain cells, synapses, and so one were available in the patient’s brain.

Amazingly 4 out of 9 of those people with less than 5% of their brain tissue had an IQ over 100, and 2/9 had an IQ greater than 126. In other words 66.6% of them were fine. Given the drastic loss of brain tissue the obvious question is how is this possible? How can someone with almost literally no brain be intelligent at all, let alone above average?

Dr. Lorber was directed to a student at his university by his peers, literally based on the intriguingly large size of his head, they thought he may be of potential interest. This student had an IQ of 126 and had a “first-class honours degree in mathematics, and is socially completely normal.”

A brain scan was done on this individual with surprising results. It was found that out of the normal 4.5 cm of brain tissue, his condition had been compressed to only a few millimeters. In other words his head filled with cerebral spinal fluid, and only a few millimeters of brain tissue, yet he was still high functioning with above average intelligence (David Wilcock, The Source Field Investigations).

I have no technical understanding of how this is even possible except to simply suggest that possibly the conductivity and crystalline nature of water may be a contributing factor. Yet what this should clearly illustrate that we know very little of the true nature of mind, or the brain. Both of these once again demonstrate that the mind is independent of the brain.

The Nature of Mind-Brain Connection

This evidence raises some important questions:

What is the real function of our brains? Is it the brain tissue itself that creates our intelligence, or is it the electrical and conductive nature of the brain that allows us to connect to intelligence? More or less like a sophisticated antennae, just like Nikola Tesla observed of himself early in the 20th century.

All of this information so far creates a lot of friction with the current propagated understanding of the brain, if it doesn’t debunk it altogether. The information that Penfield discovered is suggesting that our brains are independent of our minds, and that all our memories are recorded in their entirety, and with the same detail that we experienced them. From where we do not yet know.

I also suggest that this is evidence that we have the potential for holographic memory. This hypothetically is a possible function of our minds where our memory is projected powerfully onto reality (onto the screen of the universal consciousness) so that we can experience and relive our memories in 3D. After all, this is what Wilder Penfield’s patients experienced.

As Johns Hopkins University, and John Lorber’s research found, it may not be that our brains are really that important. If children can have half their brains removed and retain their memories and personality, and if people can function with less than 5% of their brain tissue with above average intelligence, then what is the true purpose of the brain but as a vehicle for intelligence, not as the source of intelligence?

Like a highly sophisticated bio-technology that we use to experience this level of reality, create reality, and express ourselves. Like in the movie Avatar, maybe we are not actually our bodies but are just operating them.

Is our brain really where memories are stored? There is actually no evidence to support that even our memories are stored in the brain, and never has there been a memory discovered in the brain. This is because our brains are constantly changing and are not fixed structures.

The evidence is finally lining up with ancient spiritual truths from every culture which expressed explicitly that we are divine, and that our true nature is conscious awareness, and that we are merely a fragment of that divine consciousness expressed in physical form.

Conclusion

We may be vastly underestimating the power of our minds, and our true abilities to use them. If our minds can remember entire songs to perfection or orchestral performances that we only heard in passing then what is stopping us from accessing this on a conscious level?

It seems that every single detail of our lives is recorded with our brain, so the question I have is how do we access that information, and from where do we access it?

This evidence provides a truly exciting shift in the way we can view our minds, and more importantly our potential. If an electrode in our brain is able to stimulate such vivid recollection, is it not possibly that we can develop our imagination and our mental abilities to this point naturally so we can use that ability at will?

Is it not possible that there is much more going on during a simple thought process or recollection of an event than we give ourselves credit for? That is exactly what Wilder Penfield found which caused him at the end of his career to see the nature of mind as a field of energy or information which Deepak Chopra (I believe) termed the ‘mind-field’.

What if your essence is not in your brain, or in your body, but in a formless field of energy?

About the Author

Brandon West is the creator of Project Global Awakening. A website dedicated to the research of a variety of scientific and spiritual disciplines, and applying that knowledge to help you live an inspired life and change the world. Follow Project Global Awakening on Facebook, and Twitter.

from: http://themindunleashed.org/2015/01/nature-mind-holographic-brain.html

On Consciousness & What’s Real

Posted on November 18, 2014 by marcia

Choose Your Reality! Connecting to a New Consciousness

14th November 2014

By Lisa Young

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

What would life be like if you could choose between two completely different experiences of reality in every moment?

Just like Neo in the movie “The Matrix” having to choose between taking the red pill or the blue pill; Imagine if each choice moved you into a different consciousness which brought you a vastly different reality.

How would you choose between the two? How would you discern which “reality” you were focused on in any given moment?

This is not just a story line from a cool science fiction movie. It is happening on the Earth right now. It is our planetary reality, a unique cosmic moment in time on our beautiful and beloved planet. TWO realities, TWO paradigms, TWO consciousness’, and in a sense, TWO Earths, are residing simultaneously but in different dimensions and frequencies. And we have the chance to experience it first hand consciously in every second. We are choosing the red or blue pill, or between these 2 realities, constantly, with our thoughts, intentions and where we choose to focus.

What Are These 2 Realities?

Let’s say the “red pill” is the old reality which has been the dominant consciousness on the planet for hundreds of thousands of years. This consciousness is based on frequencies and beliefs of fear, scarcity, competition, unworthiness and greed. We all know it very well and can still watch it express itself in our movies, on the news, in government, business, and in the policies of separation and fear present in all of our outmoded systems and structures of life.

The other “blue pill” we can choose is a new consciousness that is aligned with the entire Universe and the Divine Order of Creation. It is a consciousness of Love, Infinite Abundance, Divine Truth, Compassion for all, and a knowing of our Oneness. It holds the remembrance of who we really are and why we choose to come to this planet at this time. It is the Essence of all Life.

So, how do you discern which reality you are presently living in?

Notice How You Are Feeling

If you are feeling and vibrating in love, gratitude, truth, joy, possibility, and trust, you are in the “new” consciousness. If you find that you feel all is possible more frequently, and that you are supported in being yourself on the planet, you are in the “blue”, Universal Consciousness. If you are finding that you are often in a “Flow” and things seem to align for you with greater ease, you are in the New. If you find you are feeling trust in yourself and trust in the Universe, God to create the life you truly want, you are operating in the “new.

If you are feeling or speaking from fear, lack, worry, lots of stress and limitation, you are aligned with the old consciousness on the planet. This is where still a majority of the collective lives and vibrates, so it has a very strong magnetic and familiar pull to it. And perhaps even a comfortable familiarity in the pain. There is no judgement around where each of us is “living” in any given moment. This is ultimately about
awareness and choice to create every moment of your life as you would like it to be. This is the opportunity to truly harness the new consciousness in a powerful way and become your full, empowered and magnificent Self.

How do you move into this New Reality?

Choose the Reality You Want to Live In

This seems too simplified but it is actually the key. YOU are a creator of your life, and as a creator, your choices determine the direction of your life. In your meditation, prayers, thoughts, consciously choose to align with the new source consciousness that is permeating the planet. Ask your spirit family and guides to assist you in living more in this reality. Find meditations and music, friends and new thought that support you in this new alignment.

Become Conscious of Your Thoughts

Notice if your thoughts are ones taking you into places of hope, excitement, empowerment and love, or into feelings of fear and limitation. Catch your thoughts and ask to shift them into more positive energies and focus. Notice again. Catch and shift the limiting thought into a thought that feels expansive, free, joyful or at least hopeful. Practice shifting thoughts. It is a training and in time your mind begins to move into a new groove. Over time you lay new neural pathways that vibrate in self love, self-trust, possibility, and abundance.

Watch Your Words

Words are incredibly powerful. The old adage from 12 step of “fake it till you make it” works. Say what you want to feel and believe. Even if you are not quite there yet and even if you can’t fully feel it. Say it anyway. For example, rather than talk about the money you do not have, say: “I am opening to the infinite abundance that is flowing towards me now in ways I cannot even imagine.” And take a long, slow deep breath. Say it again. Say it to your friends and family. Watch it open up channels of support you never dreamed possible.

Quiet Your Mind

This is a tricky proposition for most people. The mind has run the show for a LONG time and can put up a bit of a freak show at first. Practice sitting for 10 minutes a day and just breathing very slow, taking long deep breaths. Inhale, “quiet and peace”, exhale out “all thought”. Say this to yourself. Breathe again. And again. Feel your body slow down. As your body settles, your mind will often follow with practice. Put your hand on your heart as you breath. This will help bring your focus out of your mind and into your Heart. Imagine that your hand is breathing.

Connect to Source/Divine Creator/Universe

The new consciousness is pure Source consciousness. We are made of this consciousness and energy. Yet, to align with it in its purest state it helps to connect directly to Source at the Center of the Universe. Depending on whatever word resonates for you, it is connecting directly to God, Divine Creator or the Intelligence of the Universe that is pure, direct and in perfect alignment with You. You may find some helpful guided meditations on my website UniversalSoulSpa.com under the “enlighten” section.

Follow Your Joy and Your Heart

What makes you sing? What inspires you? What makes you feel most like your real self? Alive? Follow wherever this leads. Listen to the whisperings of your Soul for in this lay your purpose and your happiness. This new consciousness aligns perfectly with who you really are and assist you in remembering it.

Move Toward Higher-Frequency People

Once you set the intention to align with the new consciousness, and follow the above steps, you will begin to notice when you are around someone who lives more from this reality as well. You will feel a resonance that is uplifting and possibly even exciting. You may find that you are drawn to certain activities, articles, music, and even movies that seem to be also aligning with and bringing in new expression of this Christ Consciousness. You will begin to recognize it showing itself all over the planet.

It is an extraordinary time to be alive on Earth offering a unique opportunity and experience in a physical form. How often are we alive on a planet that is undergoing massive transformation and upgrade? This time offers unprecedented options for huge consciousness expansion and awakening for all beings.

Somewhere along the way we decided we wanted to be here.

Let’s choose the Reality that allows us to thoroughly enjoy the journey.

With Great Love, Lisa

Experience Source and Raise Your Vibration

Here is a powerful and short musical meditation created by my talented friends, Dominique Lacroix and Frits Evelein, with specific frequencies and visuals to assist you in Connecting to Source and Raising Your Vibration. Relax into it, take some deep breaths and open into a deeper connection with Source and the Divine Creator.

Main image by Ira Ratry.
Video courtesy of Zero Universal.
from: http://wakeup-world.com/2014/11/14/choose-your-reality-connecting-to-a-new-consciousness/

New Study of NDE’s

Posted on October 9, 2014 by marcia

New Study Challenges Common Assumptions About Consciousness and Death

Dr. Kelly Neff

on 9 October, 2014 at 04:13

https://i1.wp.com/themindunleashed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Alex_Grey_dying.jpg?w=584

The problem of studying what happens to consciousness when we die has plagued empiricists for millennia. How do we measure consciousness and how do we observe it once it leaves the body?

Researchers at the University of Southampton, UK, have found one way around this dilemma by examining the experiences of over 300 individuals from the U.S, U.K. and Australia who had undergone cardiac arrest and been declared ‘clinically dead’ before they were resuscitated and brought back to life. According to the study, published this week in the Journal of Resuscitation, nearly 40% of respondents reported some kind of ‘conscious awareness’ during the time that they were clinically dead.

Myth 1: Conscious Ceases to Exist When the Dody Dies

According to study lead investigator Dr. Sam Parnia, the brain can only stay alive for 20-30 seconds once heart stops beating. And yet, some respondents in this study reported conscious awareness that lasted for minutes after they were declared clinically dead, a finding that Dr. Parnia describes as “paradoxcial” when compared to accepted scientific beliefs.

In one particular instance, a 57 year-old male reported rising up out of his body and watching medical staff attempting to resuscitate him for minutes while he was clinically dead. Surprisingly, he recollected the event exactly as it happened, from the attempts of nursing staff to resuscitate him, right down to hearing two beeps from a machine that makes a noise every three minutes. These findings suggests that consciousness may continue to exist for some duration of time even after the heart and brain cease functioning.

Myth 2: Dying is an Instant and Immediate Process

Modern medicine traditionally assumes that death is a quick and immediate process: The heart stops, and within 20-30 seconds, the brain ceases to function and the body follows suit. Without blood pumping oxygen through the veins, a human life is over in only a few minutes.

However, these findings imply that death may be a much more gradual, slower process than scientists had previously considered. The fact that so many respondents continued to maintain conscious awareness after being clinically dead, even after being resuscitated minutes later, suggests that perhaps death does not happen quickly over the course of a few seconds, or even a few minutes. We simply do not know how long it actually takes for consciousness to leave the body after death.

Myth 3: Everyone Experiences Death The Same Way

According to this study, not everyone feels a sense of peace and sees a white light when they die (although some people do!) Respondents reported a wide variety of experiences and sensations while they were deemed ‘clinically dead.’ Twenty percent did feel peaceful, while one third felt that time either slowed down or sped up. Thirteen percent felt dissociated from their bodies, while another thirteen percent felt that their senses were actually heightened. Some respondents did see a bright white light, while others felt like they were drowning or being pulled underwater. It is also possible that other respondents had experiences they could not remember due to the effects of sedative drugs or brain injuries.

The results indicate that the experience of death may be one of the most subjective experiences of all.

Myth 4: The Visions Experienced During Death are Only Hallucinations

When we die, a large amount of Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), one the most powerful psychedelic substances in the known world, is secreted from the pineal gland in our brain. But this does not mean that the visions experienced during death are mere hallucinations, as has typically been assumed by medical doctors.

The case of the man who witnessed with exact clarity the nurses’ attempt to resuscitate him shows us that not every vision that happens during death is an illusion. In this case, the accuracy of the clinically dead man’s report indicates that it may be possible for our senses to continue to perceive reality even when our brain and body has shut off.

Is it possible that conscious awareness can persist even after the body is clinically dead because consciousness resides not within the body, but somewhere outside of it? The implications of this study are far reaching and certainly deserving of further thought and investigation.

Photo Credit: Dying by Alex Grey, Oil on Canvas, 1999

Sources:

Original Article

National Report

Independent UK

from: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/10/new-study-dispels-myths-consciousness-death.html

Neale Donald Walsch on Holy Experience

Posted on March 8, 2013 by marcia

10 Tools Creating The Holy Experience

a message from Neale Donald Walsch

Saturday, 22 September, 2012 (posted 8 March, 2013)

My dear friends…

As you know if you are a regular reader of The Weekly Bulletin, we have been exploring now for many months an encounter with Life that I have called The Holy Experience. Through the years many people have written to me asking about how they might have such an experience.

This week I want to share with you that I seem to have stumbled upon Ten Instruments or tools with which one might build a platform, or an environment, for the Holy Experience. That’s the best way I can answer the question, “How can I have the Holy Experience?” I’ve thought about this a lot, looking at my own journey and the journey of others with whom I am acquainted, and here is what I have come up with:

The Ten Instruments Of The Holy Experience

1. Yearning

2. Willing

3. Exploring

4. Embracing

5. Explaining

6. Resonance

7. Visualization

8. Movement

9. Ritual

10. Service & Discipline

These instruments seem to me to be divided into two types: Physical Tools (1-5 above) and Spiritual Tools (6-10 above). I have called these The Five Tools of Awareness and The Five Tools of Non-Awareness of the world.

I believe that the combination of Complete Awareness-plus-Complete Non-Awareness equals Realization.

It seems to me that when one is Aware and Non-Aware at the same time (that is, when one is Physical and Spiritual simultaneously), one is Fully Realized. This is what I would call the Holy Experience.

Do not worry if you do not understand this. All of this will be explained here. For now, be willing to notice that you are “aware” that you are “not aware” of exactly what this means.

I have discovered that the Ten Instruments above may be taken sequentially or in any order that one chooses. And…the use of these Instruments may also be skipped altogether. The Holy Experience may be had without any of the tools being utilized.

The Instruments are just that. Merely tools. One can travel the terrain of enlightenment without using them, and many people have.

On the other hand, using the tools should in no way indicate a lack of spiritual clarity or power. There are many paths to awakening, and using the Ten Instruments is simply one that I have discovered through my lifelong search for a Way to Higher Consciousness, or Self-Realization. It is neither a superior path, nor an inferior one.

On the path described here, the Physical Tools (steps 1-5) can be used to build an experience or an Awareness of your individual life and all that is around you in the exterior world, while the Spiritual Tools produce the knowing of larger realities, resulting in Non-Awareness of—or detachment from—what is around you in the world. It’s almost as if, for you, the world around you is in many ways simply “not there.”

Used together, these Ten Instruments can produce a combined state that I would call Awareness/Non-Awareness. This is sometimes termed “higher consciousness” or “full self-realization.” You will remember that there is a statement in the Bible about being “in the world, but not of it.” This is what the statement means. It is when you realize Who You Really Are, and who you are choosing to experience your Self as during this particular incarnation.

All of the Ten Instruments of the Holy Experience build a path to this destination: the Ultimate Expression of Who You Really Are, demonstrated through the individualized identity you are living right now. This is the moving through you of you as you.

I really want to get into this deeply, and we will as we continue on our exploration of The Holy Experience in this space next week.

Hugs and love,

Neale

© 2012 ReCreation Foundation – http://www.cwg.org – Neale Donald Walsch is a modern day spiritual messenger whose words continue to touch the world in profound ways. His With God series of books has been translated into 27 languages, touching millions of lives and inspiring important changes in their day-to-day lives.

from: http://spiritlibrary.com/neale-donald-walsch/10-tools-creating-the-holy-experience

Wayne Dyer on Changing How You See Yourself

Posted on May 30, 2012 by marcia

Changing Your Concept of Yourself

a message from Wayne W. Dyer

Friday, 25 May, 2012

“Health, wealth, beauty, and genius are not created; they are only manifested by the arrangement of your mind—that is, by your concept of yourself, and your concept of yourself is all that you accept and consent to as true.”
—NEVILLE

There’s a level of awareness available to you that you are probably unfamiliar with. It extends upward and transcends the ordinary level of consciousness that you’re most accustomed to. At this higher plane of existence, which you and every human being who has ever lived can access at will, the fulfillment of wishes is not only probable—it is guaranteed.

After 18 months in relative seclusion, studying, meditating, and literally experiencing what it’s like to live in this miraculous plane of existence beyond anything that might be labeled “ordinary” or “normal,” I’ve undertaken this joyous task of writing about having wishes fulfilled. I’ve seen firsthand how virtually every wish or desire I’ve placed my attention on has transformed from a mental thought into an objective fact.

However, I’m not proposing memorizing an esoteric formula leading to a theoretical nirvana. My emphasis throughout this book is that manifestation is real and that it occurs when you make a specific decision to change your mind about who you are and what is possible for you to achieve within these parentheses in eternity called your life.

I’m inviting you to be receptive to a radical new idea about yourself. It’s radical because ever since you left your mother’s womb, you’ve been subjected to cultural conditioning designed to help you be content with living a “normal life” at the level of ordinary consciousness, which generally means accepting whatever life hands you. In many ways you’ve been programmed to believe that you do not possess the wisdom or ability to manifest the fulfillment of your wishes and desires.

I am saying as clearly as I know how to say it in these opening pages: There’s a plane of awareness that you can opt to live at, wherein you can, if you are willing to change your concept of yourself as an ordinary being, find yourself fulfilling any and all wishes that you have for yourself. Throughout this book I’ll explore with you what I’ve studied, learned, internalized, practiced, and, yes, lived regarding the powers of manifestation. It begins with changing your concept of yourself.

I would like to offer a few words on these two concepts of ordinary and extraordinary.

Ordinary is, well, so ordinary. It means that you do all of the things that your culture and your family have programmed you to do. It implies that you fit in, study hard, follow the rules, take care of your obligations, fill out the forms, pay your taxes, get a job, and do what every law-abiding citizen does; and then you retire, play with your grandchildren, and ultimately die. I want to emphasize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this scenario—it is perfectly fine—but if it were completely acceptable for you, you wouldn’t be reading this book.

Extraordinary encompasses most of ordinary, since we all live in the same physical world. There will be forms to fill out, rules that demand our obedience, bills to pay, and family obligations to attend to. But extraordinary consciousness is associated with your soul, that invisible, boundaryless energy that looks out from behind your eyeballs and has very different interests than your ordinary self does.

The ideal of your soul, the thing that it yearns for, is not more knowledge. It is not interested in comparison, nor winning, nor light, nor ownership, nor even happiness. The ideal of your soul is space, expansion, and immensity, and the one thing it needs more than anything else is to be free to expand, to reach out and to embrace the infinite. Why? Because your soul is infinity itself. It has no restrictions or limitations—it resists being fenced in—and when you attempt to contain it with rules and obligations, it is miserable.

Your invisible self is extraordinary because it is a fragment of the universal soul, which is infinite. The part of you that knows you have greatness, and is stirred by the idea of you expanding and removing any and all limitations, is what I am addressing in Wishes Fulfilled. This is your new self-concept, one that is inspired by your soul.

~~~~~

An Excerpt from the Book “Wishes Fulfilled“

Wayne W. Dyer, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He’s the author of 30 books, has created many audio and video programs, and has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows. His books Manifest Your Destiny, Wisdom of the Ages, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, and the New York Times bestsellers 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, The Power of Intention, Inspiration and Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life have all been featured as National Public Television specials.

from: http://spiritlibrary.com/wayne-w-dyer/changing-your-concept-of-yourself

Michael Beckwith on Super Wisdom

Posted on May 21, 2012 by marcia

Extended Awareness

by MICHAEL BECKWITH

There is an inner impulsion within the human being which is commonly interpreted as the engine that drives personal success, that earns credentials and accolades which result in magnificent acquisitions—the external more, more, more of which there is never enough to satisfy. For even when we have succeeded in meeting many or most of our outer goals there remains an awareness of an illusive “something,” an emptiness that is yet unfilled.

Is there any validity to this awareness? Is there something woven into the fundamental fabric of our being that urges us to seek fulfillment beyond the offerings of the external world? Affirmative evidence is offered by Andrew Newberg, M.D., in his book on brain science and the biology of belief, Why God Won’t Go Away:

“As Gene and I sifted through mountains of data on religious experience, ritual, and brain science, important pieces of the puzzle came together and meaningful patterns emerged. Gradually, we shaped a hypothesis that suggests that spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology. That biology, in some way, compels the spiritual urge.”

According to both ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions, there is a passageway into an extended awareness of our true nature, that aspect of ourselves that can be accessed when the preoccupations of the conscious mind are quieted. As we enter through this passageway, we lift the veil that hides the inner paradise in which we truly live, move, and have our being. India’s great philosopher, Sri Aurobindo, aptly describes it this way:

“The full delight of being is intrinsic, self-existent, automatic; it cannot be dependent on things outside itself. In the spiritual knowledge of self, the first step is the discovery of the soul, the secret entity, the divine element within us.”

From this wisdom we can conclude that there is no permanent or ultimate fulfillment from anything outside of our essential Self, our soul-self. This leaves little wiggle room for us to postpone seeking out spiritual practices by which we may evolve an extended awareness of our at-onement with First Cause, which some call God, Brahma, Spirit, or no name at all.

Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the rational, time-oriented left side of her brain. Within a four-hour time span she lost the ability to walk, talk, read, or write. Her knowledge of how the brain works allowed her to recognize that she was having a stroke and seek immediate help. At the very outset of her eight-year recovery period, her consciousness shifted into the right brain where she experienced a state of nirvana, what she described as an extended awareness of herself being “at one with the Universe.” Andrew Newberg explains this extended awareness:

“… various key brain structures and the way information is channeled along neural pathways leads us to hypothesize that the brain possesses a neurological mechanism for self-transcendence.”

The degree to which we activate this innate capacity to self-transcend, so do we cultivate an extended awareness of the Self.

As we progress in self-transcendence, the sense of separation or involvement with the personal mind expands into an awareness of the unique emanation that each of us is as an individualized expression of the One Mind that is everywhere in its fullness. That which is happening cosmically begins to happen through us locally. In such a state of awareness the plenitude, beauty, peace, joy, bliss, compassion—these transcendent yet eminent qualities of being are activated within us. It is a process of awakening to our true nature which places us in harmony with the fundamental order of Existence. Modern Zen master Huang Po describes the ultimate state of being he calls One Mind in this way:

“All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but One Mind, beside which nothing exists. Only awake to the One Mind.”

This One Mind is the very life force that animates and sustains existence, the evolutionary impulse within the universe and each individual.

The personal mind—predominantly the left side of the brain—wants to figure out how all of this happens. The demand to know “how” is actually a delay tactic of the ego, a defense mechanism so that our sense of being a separate self doesn’t dissolve right on the spot! Self-transcendence is our birthright. Everything that we need is already within us, announcing itself through the inner impulsion to grow, develop and unfold. How do we cultivate an extended awareness of Self? First by an identity shift which acknowledges our at-onement with the One Mind. We then grow confidence in our capacity to become a fully enlightened being. As an enlightened being, we live from a state of cosmic consciousness, a conscious awareness of our oneness with all life.

When we consider current scientific studies of the brain relative to the field of quantum consciousness, the evolutionary possibilities for the individual and our global family are limitless. A genuine state of cosmic awareness expressing through an individual or a whole nation is distinguishable as scientific knowledge of life, life lived in attunement with cosmic laws. Living from such a state of consciousness holds the potential for governing our world by a kind of super-wisdom which results in cooperation rather than competition, in unity rather than division, in oneness rather than separation.

from: http://ervinlaszlo.com/forum/2010/06/13/extended-awareness/

Leon Lewis on Higher Consciousness

Posted on April 18, 2012 by marcia

Expanding into higher consciousness

By Leon Lewis

In my previous article in the February 2012 edition, I explored the subject ofconsciousness beyond conditioned thought, and emphasized the importance of attuning to the natural environment and honoring universal principles in support of a deeper relationship with all of life. The subject of higher consciousness and the associated realms is infinite and may be interpreted and experienced in as many ways as there are self-aware entities. In this and further articles I aim to draw from the experience of my personal journey with the purpose of inspiring others to reach more deeply into realms beyond the limitations of societal conditioning. The inspiration for my written work comes from aspects of my inner guidance, with no exclusive allegiance to any particular creed or dogma.

‘Expanding into higher consciousness’, briefly stated, describes the process of becoming one with the Source; completing the current evolutionary cycle, having gained experience that contributes to all of life. This journey is about progressively embracing Oneness. It does not necessarily imply that mastery has to be attained within all realms in order to live as a spiritually aware, universal being.

However, as implied in my previous article, the journey of conscious evolution does entail releasing (or healing) the limiting aspects of our conditioned existence, some of which include subconsciously motivated tendencies regarding our attitude and behavior. The journey involves enjoying the gifts and beauty that our earthly experience offers us and embracing the lessons that we receive from our lower nature. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to work with those aspects of the lower nature that might once have served us and now no longer serve, so that they might either be released, or transmuted and integrated – by choice. If not consciously worked with, unexamined tendencies can develop into what might be understood as compulsive behavior, or the creation of comfort zones beyond which it becomes progressively difficult to remain balanced and fulfilled.

Releasing the nature of being conditioned (including the inclination to subscribe to the culture of control) initially creates a vacuum that we are challenged to fill with new experience as we ascend the ‘ladder of awareness’, so that we align with the greater and more expanded aspect of our being – that which I refer to as the higher nature (and which some describe as the higher self). The higher nature (or higher self) is you, but ‘more’ of you.

I use the term ‘higher nature’ to convey the image of the expanded, inclusive self, which is connected to the Source of all of nature. This includes the nature of who it is that we are in this lifetime and beyond; in other words, that which we might describe as the eternal ‘soul self’. Therefore, the experience of the higher nature characterizes the evolving experience of the soul self in its awakened state, as we achieve this connection from our current perspective.

The deepening of the connection between the higher nature and the soul (or super-conscious) realms, and between the lower nature and the dense (or subconscious) realms is part of the goal towards which evolving consciousness aspires – via the bridging nature of the heart, which animates us and allows us to express who we are and aspire to be, with love, joy and dynamism.

Therefore, in becoming a bridge between realms, we are continuously challenged to release ourselves from the shackles created by conditioning that effectively holds many within society in a state of hypnosis. Empowerment involves change, upon change, upon change. That which resists the tide of evolution becomes stagnant and looses momentum – ultimately leading to a state of disempowerment.

The early steps require deliberately and meticulously becoming aware of each aspect of conditioning, and then actively releasing it; in so doing releasing ourselves into a freer and more expansive state of being. This journey, however, involves taking upon ourselves new and higher responsibilities – for freedom and responsibility are intricately linked. We cannot exist within our expanded, eternal state without exercising the choice to love, to care, to understand, to be mindful, and to practice compassion and discernment.

These are some of the contributing attributes that open the portal which beckons us onwards into a broader acceptance and experience of our universal nature; that we might thoroughly immerse ourselves in that which we came to explore as our birthright; in that which each soul has yearned to know – each doing this in their unique way. ‘Uniqueness’ characterizes and motivates the journey within the third dimension, and that very quality is diminished by many of the societal norms which pervade.

The act of embracing this new level of responsibility and experiencing the opening of the portal to ‘the beyond’, signifies the event of the conscious connection with our higher nature – or soul self. This is a significant initiation, a great celebration, experienced and described in different ways within various spiritual traditions. This initiation signifies expansion beyond superficial cultural boundaries. As we release limiting beliefs and reach through this portal into our greater, inclusive self, we remember and begin to experience ourselves as truly universal beings.

The journey through the portal involves the opening of the heart and an amplified experience of love. It also involves an enhanced perception of light and life, beyond that which is generally experienced from the perspective of the third dimension. We recognize that we are of that light and that the light is ‘of us’. This might be described as the light of Soul, the light of balance, or the light of unity. In truth, one of the great miracles of being self-aware lies in discovering the nature of the link between love and light within the context of our lives.

A key to understanding this process is that graduation through the portal is not about leaving something behind. It is about soul development, in which we retain the facilities that have been acquired within our lifetimes. We unite these facilities with those aspects that could not be expressed through us as material beings and therefore had to be left ‘in abeyance’. Thus we ‘re-member’ ourselves as expanded beings, within the sphere of enhanced experience that we have attained.

In recognizing and acknowledging this new experience, it becomes a beacon and progressively replaces our illusory third dimensional beacons. As we recognize the beacons presented to us in the context of our higher consciousness, so we have the opportunity to remember, and to weave their qualities into our every thought, word and deed. Our every-day experience and activities change, of necessity, in order to support this experience of expanded awareness.

We then naturally embrace areas of radical personal change, which includes our various practices and interests. We might choose to dedicate more time to solitude and adopt practices that support the understanding of particular aspects of life more deeply. For, the highest pursuit within the realm of our current experience is its in-depth exploration. Thorough involvement with the universal environment becomes our guiding practice. In exploring density, the subconscious mind and the diverse aspects of life that surround us, we discover who it is that we are as universal spiritual beings.

In taking these progressive steps, we engage opportunities that ultimately lead inwards towards to the attainment of Oneness (or unity consciousness), which is the balance between all things. We become balance. From having been entities who explore and study opposites, we become the resolve, we become the solutio leon.sacredcall@gmail.com.n – we become unity. Unity consciousness surrounds our universe; encompasses our universe. It is therefore available to us, as a parent’s love is available to the child.

In the state of unity consciousness we touch what might at best be referred to as the inner or ‘unspeakable’ realms, from where we are able to bring into our experience the change that we become – our knowing, our increased love, compassion and desire to create.

As we focus again on our outer day-to-day life and apply that which we have acquired, or remembered, our magnetism changes. Our energy changes and our abilities therefore change. Our attitude broadens enormously and thereby brings about a shift in our sense of inclusiveness. We are then also able to infuse many of our activities with conscious love – activities that previously might have been habitual. In doing this, our ‘beingness’ expands far beyond the physical body, so that we radiate as we involve ourselves in that which we recognize as our higher calling.

It is our birthright to be embraced by and embrace higher consciousness and, in so doing, bring forth our essence as universal creator beings.

Leon Lewis

Leon can be reached @

from: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/apr12/expanding_into_higher_consciousness.html