Deepak,

Actually I think I brought up the meme stuff a few blogs ago and posted a informative link on them. I think the concept of memes is being distorted by some people’s projection. It is a very neutral science I have been working with the concept for a decade using the Internet for propagation and it works. I have been working on methods to track memes as they spread through the public mind. The internet is a representation of the collective mind set. Your books are filled quite a collection of beneficial memes. Memes can now travel so fast that there is a great quickening. Those that fear the end of their faulty belief systems are most threatened by new intelligence that destroys ignorance.

My take on the whole issue is opposite Uranius Pelican one does not close there mind to new memes or thoughts, one processes them consciously. I do not identify with my mind it is something I create and is a tool. My belief system which is very trimmed down is also dynamic and I do not cling to any. New information can alter my selection of hosted beliefs. I think the wise man has few beliefs. Beliefs are really mostly fabrication and are not the same as knowing. Do you believe rock is hard or do you know? Ultimately we can do away with probably all beliefs. It is the beliefs systems that are leading to conflict and most are erroneous. I always ask people what beliefs were you born with? Where did they come from? Are they valid?

http://www.intelegen.com/meme/meme.htm

Bad "memes" detrimental to the host and therefore do not last because they destroy the host. So all the war like memes or those hosted by say fundamentalists will eventualy meet their demise with their hosts. The "Peace" memes will survive with their hosts.

Memes can create illusion or destroy it. They can lead to ignorance or enlightenment.

A meme being an information packet that can be kept or discarded.

The idea is to learn to be a programmer of ones own mind and to propagate memes that are beneficial to the collective not destructive to it. Any racist or scarcity memes for example are detrimental. See your self in everyone is beneficial.

Many people are not programmers but amount to being repetitive programs. Programmed by their parents the media or some other entity that had it’s own interests in mind not those that were being programmed.

I don’t memes are about mass hypnosis, it’s more people that simply allow others to create their minds for them.

That is where if we learn to stop thinking and process our thoughts we start to take control of our mind and the programs it runs.

You should read that link above because it lead to quite a bit of insight, how the software of the collective mind works.

I have actually written a few papers on this whole subject. What stays here and is inherited, the belief systems. This is what needs to be changed. We come here pure awareness and leave here pure awareness. Not that it really goes anywhere. That is an Illusion.

I think there is a great deal of truth in the meme theory. There is a certain institutionalized way of looking at things which shapes our ideas, emotions and reactions. Belief in hell would be one example of a meme. This is an idea that has had a powerful hold over people and shaped behavior over the centuries. I dug out an interesting quote from Nietzsche in this context regarding the repetitious use of any given system of representation so that ultimately in the minds of people you can turn black into white just by saying so often enough:

"The reputation, name, and appearance, the usual measure and weight of a thing, what it counts for -- originally almost always wrong and arbitrary -- grows from generation unto generation, merely because people believe in it, until it gradually grows to be a part of the thing and turns into its very body. What at first was appearance becomes in the end, almost invariably, the essence and is effective as such."

Memes can certainly change if one puts in the effort. Hopefully others will give examples of how they turned things around.

Thank you for your continued exploration of the mind and brain. My epiphany happened when in a state of meditation, I felt an energy start to well up at the base of my spine and liquid light rose up through my spine and into my head and all I can say is it exploded into expanded consciousness. I lost all connection with my body and I was inseparable from a sea of thriving, living consciousness in which I was swimming. This led me to explore the phenomenon of the mechanism of Kundalini. Then I knew all is consciousness, and Kundalini was the mechanism in my body which had led me to a transformed state. I understand Kundalini as the super intelligent energy in every human being which is the common denominator which we all share, the source of religious inspiration, the source of genius, our Divine inheritance, the Divine within. Is it true Kundalini science is a lost art in India, and why do consciousness researchers and spiritual leaders for the most part ignore this phenomenon when it seems at the basis of psychic experience, mystical experience, genius, etc.
Deepak, if you were to address this phenomenon, because you are so knowledgeable and concerned for humanity , it would help science move more agreeably in the direction of Kundalini research and also help those of us who have undergone an awakening of the "Serpent Power'. If Kundalini is in every human being, then God has designed the means for us to evolve to greater capabilities through this mechanism so ingeniously planned. From my research, this phenomenon is not that uncommon and people from all walks of life have experienced varying degrees of this energy in their bodies. What happened to me proved that we are spiritual beings and there is so much to the brain and spiritual anatomy that it will take years to unravel and explore. Deepak, can you comment on the phenomenon of Kundalini?
Love, Veritas

´I would be grateful to hear anyone's story about a sudden change in personal reality and how it occurred.´

Sure, here´s mine,
´cognitive dissonance´ story,
wich led to a ´paradigm shift´,

Brought up with a strong notion of solidarity,
must be a Polish thing, and proud of it! ;)

But in a material, ego centred,
let´s quote:
Jerry McGuire´s ´Show me the money´ or
a song; Meja ´It´s all about the money´
Yep, For sure, it´s A Few good men´s quote:
´You can´t handle the truth´

Sure, I can!,
(but that doesn´t mean I like it!)
(or want to play the game with you,)
is my own little conclusion,

for doing ´business´ with people with an anti-spiritual approach for creating and sharing affluence and abundance, not only in material sense,

That, and,
women..men..there´s nothing like a good, old-fashioned, apple pie on Christmas eve, educated, drop dread gorgeous, well mannerd, East-European,
preferably Polish Woman!

There, I´ve said it! (will be ´warm embraced´ by the Dutch population surrounding me, at the moment, but, hey, ´The truth will set you..´
- wich movie..? ;)

Sure, I know the spiritual bleuprint leading to
the ass-whoppin´ I received, so, don´t bother anyone,

and, for closing,
Sometimes,
Getting your ass kicked, is a present too..
(.. afterwards...)

Love, Passion,

So here is an example.

"War on Terror" is a bad meme so I set out to counter it with insight and perspective and supply new ones. I start posting and propagating it in multiple places on the internet I am actually trying to actively engineer our collective mind. I am not trying to force anything on anyone only exposing them such that perhaps gravity will be a factor.

Better than "War on Terror" is ... “Conflict Resolution Movement” “Peace Propagation Effort” The Peace Establishment” “Researching a common understanding” The Empathetic Revolution

The War on Terror – A SHAM - stomping on shadows to make them go away
The phrase “war on terror” is an empty statement that actually creates what it portends to be against. As such it will not lead to a solution; it does not represent an executable plan that would achieve anything of value. It perpetuates Illusion and results in misperception. It is also an irrational statement, propaganda designed to manipulate and actually instill the fear it that is pretends to be against. This phrase is the device of a terrorist, and in it’s use we do their bidding.
Terror has no mind and no will it has no body it does not act and cannot be acted upon. Therefore one cannot have a war on terror. “War on Terror” is a sham statement. Terror meaning intense fear cannot be destroyed because it exists in the mind of individuals and is intangible. Only the source of the fear which is born of ignorance supported by events, spoken intentions and pending consequences resulting from the actions of some, can be eliminated. That which gives rise to the fear needs to be addressed and more specifically the illusions, and ignorance that gives rise to it. Be it scarcity, oppression, control, and loss of freedom. It is the fear in the minds of the so called terrorists that needs to be addressed. It is the anger born of pain and suffering that leads to violence. The terrorists do not need to be destroyed; it is the perceptions in their mind that result in their actions that need to be addressed an if these perceptions and fears are not eliminated then new bodies will come to host them. There will be no end to terrorism. It is conflict that results in destructive actions. We need conflict resolution not war.
Since it is the fear, anger or pain in the minds of the terrorists that is the enemy and it cannot be touched or seen then one cannot go to war against it.
It is the fear in the minds of those who appear to be the enemy that is our target. It is the dissolution of this fear that shall be the object of our intention.
Let truth and compassion be the Way let gravity and not force be the impetus for change. This is not to say we should not apprehend those that are a physical threat, but if we do nothing to eliminate the source of their creation there will be an endless supply.
It is the fear in our minds that is made manifest in the minds of those who might become our enemy.
The proper name for this project should be along the lines of the “Conflict Resolution Movement” “Peace Propagation Effort” The Peace Establishment” “Researching a common understanding” The Empathetic Revolution
There is nothing to war against; it is all about communication, understanding and eliminating the illusions that result in false thinking, leading to negative emotions and erroneous and destructive actions.
SHAM
1. Something false or empty that is purported to be genuine; a spurious imitation.
2. The quality of deceitfulness; empty pretense.
3. One who assumes a false character; an impostor

If one were wishing to engage the light of the sun so their skin would produce vitamin D, that they may avoid lethal cancers later in life, they would dismay if by the movement of the sun they found themselves in the shadow of the tree. Would it make sense to stomp on the shadow and curse the tree? Was it not that the sun itself that moved. So why is it that we do this? Why not simply move into the light and bless the tree? If we were in the heat of the desert would we curse the sun and tell it to flee or would we find the shade of a fig tree?
Do not embrace their Illusions cast them into the pit with the words from your discerning mind.

Dear Divya, three minutes before you posted the above, I left you a message on Mallika's blog, speaking about this and about black and white :D Fun.

Deepak, you want to hear our stories. Mine has to do with you. I knew almost nothing about spirituality when I went to hear you speak in Stockholm one day. I had my version of reality and had never questioned it. You entered the room, I don't think you even opened your mouth and I was projected into another reality. The space inbetween objects became dense, filled with... something. Today I would describe it as light, back then I had no concepts left in my mind, no memes at all :) This state went on for about half a year, and then it gradually faded away. It was then that my real search started, and the journey has been magic. It still is :)

Well, Ladies, Aurora and Divya,
would that constitute as a synchrodestiny-cal expercience?

Aurora,
´It was then that my real search started, and the journey has been magic. It still is :)´

Nice..,
mine led to Intentblog, and the journey on The Path to Love,
the rest is a..(applepie on christmas Eve?)
yep, a piece of cake!
or..?
Peanuts!,
(though how people get stuck on the mems, tribal conditioning thing, social hypnoses, is a facinating ´phenomenon´)

Love, Passion,

To Deepak and Veritas,
Thanks for bringing up Kundalini. This is a great area ripe for research. I have a book in front of me on the subject, called Living with Kundalini and Deepak wrote a blurb for the cover so that tells me Deepak probably knows something about Kundalini and its link to consciousness and transcendental experience. I agree, I would love to hear Deepak address this issue from both an eastern and western perspective. Kundalini is the great secret underlying evolution and the purpose of life. It is a biological fact operating in the human body, albeit subtly, and not so subtly when it leads to an experience of enlightenment such as Veritas described.
Warm regards, Ian

Dearest Deepak,

Okay, here’s the most difficult realization I have had to deal with recently, which has actually been an ongoing process. I have been raised in the South (the Bible Belt) to believe that the only faith was Christianity, even though I have only been to church a hand full of times in my whole life. In reading the Bible a third time (halfway done), Young’s Literal Translation this time, I have come up with several instances where God spoke to people other than the Jewish community and in fact, there are at least two different none Jewish priests to God, Melchezeclek, King of Salem, God Most High, and Balaam, son of Beol. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in Jesus Christ with all my heart and love him very much, but I have expanded. Yep, as you can guess, my anxiety is at an all time high and this is just one realization! Hey, for anxiety, I have found that the most natural herb to help easy discomfort of this type is Kava, which can be ordered via the internet from Hawaii. Oh, and I mediate, pray, exercise, etc. as well to help easy the anxiety.

Well, if I think of anything else, I will post again. Thanks for asking :-D

Love,
Char

PS: Of course, I am still learning and growing as I have a very long way to go ...

To Ian,

7 Spiritual laws of Yoga,
I gave my copy away, before having a good read,
but,
if I may light a small personal..
it´s simple,

You have chakra´s (a lot depending on wich ´philosophy´ you use, 7, 14 up to 42 even with the Aquarius age, some write,

Those chakra´s are your connection with the spiritual world, ic. emotions, thoughts etc,

You can have a slow turning wheel, chakra,
if you are having problems in that specific area,
and thus shows on Aura Kirlian photograpghy and so.

Anyway, you have 1001 ways of ´opening´ up your chakra´s, smells, colors, mantra´s, yantra´s
take your pick, and have fun,

But,
The interesting starts from the fifth chakra,
the divine, and higher,

and so, that leads to the Path to Love,
to transcend and heal all the previous one´s,
or you can play with the first ones for ...
whatever you like,

Love, passion,

PPS: Oh and to answer, how I got here ... Deepak's gentle and loving teachings, the Bible of course, nature's assistance, as well as help from Spirit .. oh and to remember my dear friend Hayra and all those folks on Deepak's Q&A board who put up with me :-D My journey has truly just begun...

PPPS: Oh ... I almost forgot to mention Rumi and Hafiz ... my favorite poets. I’m sure, there are many other influences as well, but I can’t remember them at the moment, so I am done with this part of the answer, how I got here.

Dear Deepak,

After practicing "Sutra Meditation" taught in Seduction of spirit, I had a profound awakening in my heart. When my energy centers was opened after few months of practice specially heart center, everything around me looked alive and beautiful. I used to walk in a place. After this awakening of heart center, the whole place was bright in color, I was able to vividly hear the sounds, smell, sight, felt connected with everything around me. Only after this experience, I realized how I was missing my life sitting in office 14 hours a day working before computer. After this experience, my outlook to life changed forever.

Love,
Venky

Well for me a life transforming change was when about 20 years ago I started working in film production. I had studied large range of philosophy and religious text, and authors Like Alan Watts and Seth with Jane Roberts. So I start working and film and I am meeting people I watched as a kid on TV (Illusion) in reality. I was seeing the behind the scenes of how the Illusion of the movie was created and the reality behind it. This was before they started doing all the behind the scenes stuff on TV. Which I won’t go into now had been like a movie, in other words stuff that you expect to occur only in movies occurred in my life.

Then that whole experience was projected on my Life. I started to see through the Illusion.

So then I have a few of those Kundalini type deals perhaps triggered by this insight and I can no longer watch or enjoy movies on TV. I cannot suspend disbelief. Then it starts to affect my reality, or shall we say the Illusion I experience.

It is quite dramatic. So once reaching the point where it seems it all might dissolve I decided I didn’t want to give it up. The realization that I was the I in everyone destroyed my Ego. I wanted to love and help myself everywhere. So I maintained it. I didn’t want to fully awaken. I also thought I have nothing to fear and no limitations why not enjoy it. This was a major turning point.

My whole focus since then has been to transform the world and create heaven on earth. By the way since then have become totally absorbed in the Illusion again and again only to awaken and realize. All while trying to maintain a well adjusted Ego. I promise it that if it behaves a very good experience.

Infinite Play the Movie by the way is really a memetic engineering project, and the intention is to capture attention and infuse the general audience with insight, intelligence and wisdom. It will make use of Ego bait, such that once exposed the truth becomes self evident.

http://infiniteplaythemovie.com

Here is a powerful meme change that I came up with.

Prisons (Old)

Contemplation Centers (New)

If we stick people in a cell alone with Deepaks books they will eventually read them and therefore become transformed.

You think I am kidding but I am not.

We wouldn't force them to read them but we know how the mind works when there is a void of stimulas.

Okay so we could throw some other great text in there. But you get the drift.

Well … I also had a slow and long drawn out Kundalini.experience, which began about 3 ½ or 4 years ago. I read about Kundalini after it had begun, as I was dealing with all the weird stuff, so at least I didn’t feel too strange or confused. And believe me, it was a ride with much physical discomfort and confusion! If it had moved any quicker, it would have come close to killing me (exaggeration of course, I think) if not destroying my mental state of wellbeing. Anyway, God always provides, so every thing was set up prior to the experience, but I just did not know it at the time.

Dear Dr. Deepak,

After reading your query about: a sudden change in personal reality, I have decided to humbly share my story with you and your audience:-

I was born into a traditional Hindu family in British Guiana ( now called Guyana, but currently living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada). Though my family are staunch devotees of their religion, I, as a young teenager, gravitated towards Christianty and subsequently adopted it as my own.

My absorbent, curious tender mind always sought to find out, unequivocally, what the "truth" is about our universe and of the origin of life, of the stars, etc. As I grew older, I became increasingly more frustrated and suspicious about what the preacher had taught and began to feel doubtful. Many of the stories did not seem to add up and then there were more questions and few real answers.

In the late seventies as a yougnman, now living in Canada, I watched the Cosmos Series on PBS by Carl Sagan and was tremendously fascinated by what he had explained. I then began to read most of Dr. Sagan's books and then work by Robert Jastro, Isaac Asimov, Charles Darwin and so on. I became even more fascinated by the sheer infinite and immense size of the known universe and how little we know about it and the posiibility of extra-terrestrial life forms teeming out there.

I gradually gave up Christianity and became a deep thinker on life, evolution, religion (and how misguided and arrogant they seem), and science. I have now permanently stopped going to church and praying which has promted some to label me : agnostic or atheist (and that's fine with me).

It is my view that going to churches, mosques, temples and tents to pray represents a huge excercise in futilty and a precious waste of time that only serves to perpetuate the myth about creationism while keeping its purveyers rich and powerful.

I also think that praying to a god portrays a negative image of it/him/her. It tells the analytical mind that this god has placed conditions on our existence and that if we do not meet those conditions, there shall be terrible unpleasant consequences. It would then seem that if there were a god, it/he/she would have to be the antithesis of this, magnanimous, loving, and so on, like a parent. Notice: it is humans who are doing all the talking and never a "god". I now firmly think that the parameters of eternity span conception to death, and that heaven and hell are mythical places (like Santa Claus) that exist but in our minds. I could continue, but I realize that I cannot tell the whole story in a space-constrained medium.

Sincerely,

Ron Saywack, with love.

Richard Thomas,
I agree with everything you said. We are programmed by our parents in childhood and as we grow up, by the society that has it’s own interests. As you say, new experiences and information does not stop entering the brain, and it does processes them. The difference between an open mind and a closed my mind is in making judgements and drawing conclusions from those observations. We have a choice: we can make a judgement using a meme stored in the brain (may be good or bad) or not make a judgment at all. An unbiased mind does not make a judgement, although it may remember the new infomation. A meme is stored information pattern including a judgement inside it, is it not? I cannot say it any better than you. "See your self in everyone" is the way to retain the memes that are beneficial to the collective and prevent bad memes to get in.
I did look at your link.

Hello Deepak and Everyone,

I think I have had many, many turning points in my life. I grew up in a very conflicted and chaotic environment. Peace, self-love, acceptance were in very short supply.

In my early 20's I came across a book by Barry Kaufman called SonRise where he describes how he and his wife deal with their son's autisum. Basically, they made the decision to love the challenge they faced and start a program from that perspective instead of starting from a place of fear and rejection. I am really doing this story a disservce..Anyway it really changed how I looked at, dealt with, and faced my life. To think that you could use love to motivate instead of fear, was world changing, for me. Truly, it was a completly new perspective and one I knew instinctively to be true. I am not sure if this is the kind of example you are after...Peace to Everyone

To keep it short, I stopped running from the truth (whatever that is; seems more elusive now than it did before) and embraced it. And here I am.

What´s the deal with the kava kava?
I´ve spoke with a natural healer once,
dis-advised me the herb,

http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/kava/warning.html

A number of countries have restricted the marketing and sales of certain herbal supplements based upon recently disclosed kava kava facts, including information that links kava kava and liver disorders/diseases. The United States Food and Drug Administration released information on potential side effects and other kava kava facts, along with a warning to consumers to educate themselves about the potential health problems related to kava use.

Users of kava-based products should understand the following kava kava facts, in order to educate and protect themselves:

Kava is a plant in the pepper family, indigenous to the South Pacific and used in traditional beverages there
Kava supplements are used widely around the world as a treatment for anxiety, tension, and insomnia
Because kava is classified a supplement, the United States FDA does not hold it to the same standard as either food or drug products
Kava use has been linked to many health problems, primarily involving the liver: cirrhosis, jaundice, hepatitis, and liver failure are all potential side effects of kava use
Kava is frequently listed on ingredient lists under another name, with variations as diverse as gi, intoxicating pepper, and kao
Persons using kava greatly increase their risk for health problems if they are already at risk for liver problems
Consumers can help protect their health by understanding the kava kava facts made available through research in this country and around the world. As more information is gathered, new kava kava facts may be released by the FDA and other government groups. Persons using kava products should discuss recent kava kava facts with their physicians.

February 18th, 2004

"FDA Warns About Kava and Severe Liver Injury"

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory to consumers about the potential risk of severe liver injury resulting from the use of dietary supplements containing kava. A plant indigenous to the South Pacific, kava (also commonly referred to as kava kava; scientific name Piper methysticum ) has been used for many years in preparing traditional beverages. Recently, supplements containing the herbal ingredient kava have come into wide use for treating stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, menopausal symptoms, and other conditions. Because kava is classified as a dietary supplement, the FDA does not regulate claims made by manufacturers/distributors.

Regulatory agencies in countries including Germany, Switzerland, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom have reacted to reports of liver-related injuries through a variety of actions. In some countries, agencies have warned consumers about the potential risks of kava use, while in other places, products containing kava have been removed from the market. To date, there have been more than 25 reports of serious adverse effects from kava use in other countries, including four patients who required liver transplants.

In the United States, the FDA has received a report of a previously health young woman who required a liver transplant, as well as several reports of liver-related injuries. Potential liver problems associated with products containing kava include hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver failure. Given the reports to the FDA, persons with liver disease or liver problems and persons who are taking drugs that can affect the liver should contact a physician prior to using kava-containing products. If consumers who use kava products experience symptoms of liver problems, they should immediately consult a doctor. Symptoms of serious liver disease can include nausea, vomiting, light-colored stools, unusual tiredness, weakness, stomach or abdominal pain, and loss of appetite.

The FDA is urging all consumers and their physicians to report any cases of liver injuries or other health problems that may be related to the use of kava products. Adverse effects should be reported as soon as possible, to aid the FDA in collecting all the possible pertinent information. Report problems from the use of dietary supplements by calling the FDA MedWatch program toll free (1-800-332-1088) or through their web site: www.fda.gov/medwatch.

Hi Char and others...wow, so many kindred spirits and many who have dealt with a more powerful psychic energy unleashed in their systems, Kundalini. I was helped immensely by such books as "Living with Kundalini" and "Kundalini, The evoluiontary energy in Man" by Gopi Krishna. He went through a very hard awakening, which eventually stabilized, and resulted in his living in a perennial state of expanded consciousness. His contribution to the understanding of subtle biological energies is unsurpassed. He really thought a scientific exploration into this area would produce many positive results in the world. From what I see in the world, it wouldn't hurt to heed his call! Many of us undergoing kundalini awakenings are asking science, and consciousness researchers, to look into this phenomenon.
Thank you Char and everyone else for again showing to me that Kundalini is a world-wide and fully human occurrence and experience.
Love, Veritas

Deepak and every body,
I was born and grew up in India. I came to the US when I was in thirties. I was a vegetarian in India and am still one. While in India, I would never go to a non-vegetarian restaurant, not even with friends, because I could not watch somebody else eating non-vegetarian food. After coming here, I worked in Telcom industry. When I accepted a job offer, I knew that I might have to go to group lunches on various occasions and most of my colleagues would be non-vegetarian and I have to eat my food by their side. Skipping every group lunch would be ridiculous. Guess what, during the first week on the job (they gave lunches in those days, not any more), my boss took our group to lunch to welcome me. My colleagues were all eating their choice of non-vegetarian food by my side and I ate my vegetarian food and it did not bother me at all. It is the survival instinct I think. Well, this is not a profound spiritual change that I know you guys are looking for, but it is a sudden change in my worldview. I am not sure whether you can technically call it a change in a meme.

Dear Mark,

Thank you very much for posting that warning on Kava. In my haste, I forgot this very important piece of information. However, to clarify my personal comment regarding Kava, it is much better than the prescription medication that the doctor's gave me, which I tried a pill or two and it sure beats drinking beer all day! ... kind of :D ... but seriously thanks. As a FYI, the sites selling Kava put that warning up as well, so I was not as concerned, but again, I can see that I erred greatly.

Love, Char

Mr. Chopra, Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful reply to my post re: the implications of worldview and filtering. I can see from (my limited exposure) to your writing that you have a powerful analytical mind - yet you also have great respect for human spirituality. That's a wonderful combination to find in anyone and I think that's why I find this site so interesting and stimulating. If only we had a political system that rewarded that.

From reading your reply I can't find much to disagree with in your analysis - except that you seem to think that I approve of closed minds. I'd like to clarify some of my points in that regard.

Re: Closed minds. I was showing instances where closed minds are good - where they are useful to our survival. I believe however, that closing one's mind to new ideas that could be beneficial is just as bad as opening them to destructive ones.

I believe the best way is to be open to new ideas that pass a basic test of reason. The way to do this is to ensure that your worldview is grounded in data that is objectively verifiable. I see worldview not only more expansively than others who may think I'm just talking about religion or politics - I see it as a hierarchy. I see a few key major axioms at the top. And I see the millions of data points below that being consistent with those above it - or cognitive dissonance is the result. (Although I have met many people who seem to have learned how to live with a lot of that ;-)

For example, if at the top of one's worldview is a divine creator, then the data below that can consist of anything a so-called spokesperson for that creator says is true. If however, the top element of one's worldview is a strong respect for reality based assumptions, and a willingness to suspend belief, pro or con, on data that can not be falsified - then what lies below that top level is far more likely to be consistent with objective realty. And it is therfore far more likely to serve that person well as a guide to the thousands of decisions they must make every day to survive and prosper. Wouldn't you agree?

Despite your interpretation of my post I believe we should always be open to new ideas. (I accept the blame for not being clearer ;-) I believe we should always welcome new creative data into our worldview - because that's how we grow. But we should also be very critical of that data and not allow groundless claims to pollute our worldview just because they feel good. Especially when the practice of disguising ugly destructive memes to make them feel good is such a burgeoning industry these days.

I guess I'm saying that always keeping an open mind sounds good - but I'd rather have a discerning mind that is not always open to every garbage meme it is exposed to - while I make a real effort to fairly examine new data and give it every chance to find a comfortable place in my worldview.

Re: Memes. Just because I use the term "meme" - that does not mean that I buy into the field of memetics as you have encapsulated it here. (There are several schools of memetics that keep morphing.) I find a lot of memetic theory to be useful - and some of it to be illogical (it doesn't fit within my worldview very well). On some of it I have suspended my opinion pending further data. I like much of what Susan Blackmore has written (The Meme Machine). I don't like much at all that Richard Brodie has written. But I think the basic definition of a meme as a piece of information that is shared culturally - is quite useful as a concept worthy of examination. In any case, the ideas I was expressing about filters and worldview do not depend on any particular school of memetics. I was just using the term to imply culturally shared information - a definition that seems to be well accepted at this point.

A quibble: You said, "For just as you can't alter the genes you were born with, you are stuck with inherited memes." First, as I understand it memes can not be inherited. They must be passed to you culturally since by definition they are culturally shared. But, do you really believe that we are born with actual ideas? Do you have any evidence for this? I can understand that we are born with needs and dispositions that express themselves at appropriate times during our lives. But ideas require an organized brain structure to hold them. As I understand it we can not hold actual ideas in our minds until mylenation of our neurons occurs (the growth of the insulated covering that electrically separates one neuron from its neighbors) at about 7 months.

Finally, you point out some of my observations about memes that you agree with. Then you say you don't want to get into the implications those have for religious fundamentalism, racism, the war on terror, etc.

If we agree on these observations . . .

--People carry around a personal version of reality in their heads.
--This personal reality is self-created and often irrational.
--It has emotional hooks that keep each of us wedded to our personal reality and make us feel hreatened if it is challenged.
--When new ideas enter the brain (I would prefer to say the mind), the first reaction is to push away the intruder, and this defensive act is accompanied by anxiety and/or anger.
--With all of the above in mind, new ideas cannot become part of a person's reality until the defensive wall is broken down.

. . . looking at the world around us wouldn't you say that those implications are worth considering?

Dear Veritas,

I enjoyed your post. I too wish that more information and research was available on Kundalini, as I had to pretty much rough it out by myself. There is still so very much about Kundalini that I don't understand, so maybe I will get that book. However, I am at the point where my attitude is 'whatever' ... like, I survived it so what could be worse; like, what's next; but I don't know if I want to know. I could not really stop it (but learned to control it) and yet another part of me wanted to get it over with quickly (but I thought I would die) and even another part of me wanted to learn from the experience (even though it was painful). I still have so many mixed emotions about the experience to where I guess I should read a book on it. Hey, thanks. .... I am resting now :-D .... S ...

Love,
Char

To Char,
;), love,
(sure, know what you mean, by, better than a beer...;)

Hey listen up People,

(Maybe I´m not getting the kundalini thing,)
but,
In my understanding,
that is of secondary importance,
(like the topic of today, now ic. getting stuck in New Age conditioning, hypnoses..)

Primary, it is what you do with the Prana!
that matters, and that is for starters, fullfillment of desire,

Maybe an analogy with brainchemistry,
you, can change the brainchemistry in a hartbeat!
Just by changing what you focus on,
From depressed to happy, from fear to love,
from anger to compassion,
and the brainchemistry, follows,

The Prana, Kundalini, thing is just like that,
(if I understand it correctly..)

You receive, (and open up chakra´s accordenly)
Prana,

And then the Seven Spiritual Laws are a fantastic means for the CHANNELING the energy flow,
(instead of focusing on getting more and more,
and not knowing what to do with it...)
(but hey, there are worse things you can do than
play with your chakra´s, Kundalini, and so,)

Love, Passion and understanding

"His basic analogy is that when you are driving down the road and need to pay attention to traffic, it's useful that the brain can shut out the distracting chatter of a passenger. In the same way, shutting out the chatter of the environment is a primary task of the brain, not a limitation."

I have another one that is more basic--I think.

But before I give it I must say I have not read any of the comments to this blog and I hardly read any of the blog itself. In a short week I have tired from much of the speaches given here. I have been following an interesting blog of an english man that travelled from Denmark to India and beyond via land and the silk route (at times illegally) and although surprisingly no where as "spiritual" as this site some how more refreshing at the moment.

My analogy is that at birth a human being is bombarded with a multitude of information on every possible level with little ability to differentiate let alone filter it out. The world is a blur of chaos to a new born. "scientists" have theorized a mechanism that allows the new born and few month old infant to survive. In order to concentrate on eatting and not be overwhelmed and distracted by all the other sensory stimulants the infant simply turns it all off. Survival (food) seems to have the ability to override even the loudest distractions to our psyche.

I`m probably way off the mark in terms of the direction this blog intends to go and if so I apologize but it`s my two cents. Hopefully in the not to distant future I`ll find the inclination to throw myself full force back into the fray and actually read these again as I do find them stimulating.

I'm hungry ...

If Kundalini is indeed the evolutionary energy in humankind, then it has profound significance for the human race. Imagine, an atomic-like energy within the human body that can transform the brain which can used for good versus the atomic energy unleashed in the world which led to development of nuclear weapons. We have reached a point in our development where the intellect can no longer solve all our problems; where can we turn? There is a higher sense emerging in the race...what is our Destiny, what is the target of evolution? Is it cosmic consciousness? An empirically based investigation into Kundalini shouldn't scare any of us, and could help start down the road of discovering those laws which are guiding our spiritual and biological progress. Does this not scare the rationalists and Darwinists? Kundalini energy, remember is known in all cultures; it is inextricably linked up with Chi, Prana, the Holy Spirit, Shekinah, bio-energy, so on. So if if it is a biological fact in our bodies, shouldn't we all know more about it so we can cooperate with our own evolution. Dr. Chopra - weigh in PLEASE.
Warm regards, Ian

Dear Richard ... Just to say, I have been enjoying your posts. Thanks. Love, Char

I have had several times in my life where my reality changed but I'll give just one here.

I was brought up in a strict evangelical, fundamentalist christian home (and school) and was taught that your only way to God was through Jesus - no exceptions. Through my childhood I sometimes met people of different religions and some of them seemed to me to be very spiritual but I was told that they were delusional or liars... it was all the devil's fault, naturally.

When I went to a secular university, I was determined to help people *find the truth* because they needed Jesus. Yes, this is a forshadowing of heavy irony to come ;-) Among the many people I met in my classes, were 3 lovely ladies - a Hindu, a Muslim and an Orthodox Jew. I began to ask them about their religions and faiths (hoping to find an opening to launch into some heavy "witnessing") but all 3 spoke thoughtfully and peacefully. Their faces and eyes glowed and I knew that I was *seeing God* in them. But! This couldn't be! They didn't know or accept Jesus, so how could they be filled with God?

Well, then a wondeful thing happened. I became very ill and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I had to drop out of University and couldn't do much of anything for a few years. Wonderful? Oh yes, it was life changing because I was stuck alone with my thoughts and by the time I was healthy enough to get back to my life, I realized that I had been taught a BIG, FAT LIE.

The light I had seen in the eyes of my 3 friends was indeed an indication of God within them and I no longer believed that they needed Jesus. It was, of course, ME who needed to see the light. I left the church and life has been the most wonderful adventure since then, learning and growing. It has taken many, many years to let go of all of those subtle beliefs... and truth be told, there are probably still a few left lurking but as Frost once famously said,

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

I could tell several stories of spiritual moments of enlightenment but I'll stop while I'm ahead. HTH.

Love, Sheba

From Conversations with God:
(don´t remember wich one)

Neale gets told:

If you ask an eldery person for advise,
for sure you get the answer,

Color outside the lines!,
Break the rules!,

Do what your hart tells you,
and never mind the rest!

as, from the best of my memory,

Love, Passion,

To A Guy In A Dinner,

listen, you have this ´thing´ called RAS,
Reticular activating system,

and, conditioning, social, etc.

and, attention, awareness, point of focus,

and one of the most important life lessons,

´Stand guard at the door of your mind´

What you do with is, is up to you,

But then comes the Ego and the Spirit,
and that´s a whole other story..

Love, Passion

Dear Sheba,

Your post made me ponder as well as other posts, so I wanted to share my own personal thoughts. I do not believe that Jesus Christ is a lie and in the Bible, Jesus said that he came and died for the lost. So if one is not lost, they don’t need to be saved. Personally, I don’t concern myself with it. I pray to God through Jesus Christ because that is the only way I can reach God as I am a rebel and have always been way off the mark. I needed God’s love so very badly when my father shot himself a few months after 9/11. Even if one is lost as I may see it, I personally just do as compelled and don’t worry about it and leave it in Jesus’ hands. I think my initial post was misleading and I apologize as I feel a need to correct the impression I have made, if I was misunderstood. Another item that I wanted to mention is that I was told by Spirit to be a Christian, so that is the path I follow first and then I seek understanding from this starting place. I did not choose my belief, as my faith was chosen for me by God. I was also directed to read the Bible 3 times by heavenly songs as I call them. In the songs, I heard, the angels sing of God and Jesus as if they were one. So as you can see, I can only follow and speak my truth as I try to share it with others with coming off as crazy! :-D … just image how hard it is for me to talk about this stuff and present myself as a fool continually when I share my experiences, faith, and belief.

Love,
Char

To Char,

We all love the honesty, girl, you´re welcome,

The highest thought, is always that thought, wich contains Joy,
The clearest words, are those words,
wich contains Truth,
The grandest feeling, is the feeling,
we all call Love,

whatever religion,

Love, Passion, ans thanks to Neale

Dear Ian,

Interesting as I ponder some more. Okay, here are my initial thoughts based on my experience, subject to change as always as I grow to understand myself. I think it's more like this, when one is willing to give it all up, surrender to God (Love), then I think that is when the energy starts to flow. So really, is anyone prepared for it when they least expect it, especially when they are completely closed off. I don’t think the person who opens up wants the power, but it’s just given to them. So one would assume that once this gift is received, they had better have the capacity (i.e., heart) to use it correctly. This is the intelligence of God. That’s my 2 cents for now …

Love,
Char

PS: I don’t really know where I am on the scale of opening up, even if I am. All I want to do is to know God (all of God, all the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding) and I want his/her/it’s Love more than anything in this world. That's all I really know ... not much I know ...

"The highest thought, is always that thought, wich contains Joy,
The clearest words, are those words,
wich contains Truth,
The grandest feeling, is the feeling,
we all call Love,

whatever religion" ~ Marek

VERY BEAUTIFUL!

Hey, thanks for your kind words and wisdom :-)

Love, Char

And that´s all you need to know, Char,

Now, demonstrate it, in your life,

with the people around you,

and there´s always inspirational reading, from Deepak, Neale, Louise L. Hay, Wayne Dyer, to support you,

Love, passion,
Ps. Do the Path to Love book, audio, Pure Magic!

Kava was mentioned.

There is a big fear game being played by the Pharmaceutical industry. Many of these unpatentable compounds compete with pharmaceutical drugs. The Kava issue with the liver was misrepresented. Basically 25 people that had liver problems happened to be taking Kava. There is no actual link to the liver problem and Kava other than a few of the millions that take it had a liver problem. This is a fabrication using fear to manipulate. Several researchers have taken apart the findings and shown them to be pseudo science misrepresentation just as was done with Vitamin E and C. What you are seeing is a finite game.

Now could Kava be abused and cause damage, well yes. Could preexisiting liver problems be aggravated, probably. So can alcohol so why is it legal? The reason is more profit is made from drugs like Paxil then Kava. Alcohol doesn't have something more profitable then it. Then again Kava can eliminate alcohol cravings so there goes all the profit from this problem.

In some ways I guess this is okay because everybody including the media that gets a cut of the action via drug advertising is going to die from plagues and pandemics in the near future many will experience the death of their body from other ugly diseases all products of their own ignorance and detrimental thought.

Obviously these minds are part of the world’s problem, and by their own choosing, nature is going to eliminate them. There will be those higher minded people that through there own choosing will survive because they will know and be equipped to boost there immune systems. But don’t worry you can’t kill God so it’s no big deal, no one is really going to die, just the body and all the beliefs associated with it.

I have been working to prepare arguments for a 3 trillion dollar class action law suit against the medical industry. When the public comes to understand the truth and all the people that have played a role in the terrible demise of their loved ones, there is going to be heat like you can’t imagine.

Of course I know it was all in divine order. This is true and so will be the collapse of the pharmaceutical industry. It all works out really well, because the media is dependant on the revenue from the drug advertising now, and the media will be taken out in one fell swoop to be replaced by the new independent media. The medical industry as we know it will also be replaced. God is really clever.

Now I suppose if I saw a concerted effort by the government and the medical industry to teach the population how to boost the immune system in the next several weeks, I may decide to work with them and not crush their industries, but I don’t think they will be able to overcome the ignorance and greed that presents a barrier to this.

How many memes can you count in this? Hopefully we can get everyone at the bottom of the pyramid to cooperate with the adoption of the new industries and we can have a pleasant transition with no loss of jobs.

Time is running out for the academics, authorities, and corporations to embrace the truth and put an end to the ignorance killing people every day. If you don’t the divine One is going to do it for you and it will not be pleasant. Let this be a warning to you.

This last part is an excerpt from Infnite Play The Movie, you have to wonder how much it might apply to reality. In the movie the pharmaceutical industry and the media establishment collapse when Shiva learns how to access the Internet and destroy the Illusions Ego has wrought.

Not my words, dear Char, but from an ´introduction´ by Deepak to:

http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/

From an interview:

CHOPRA: I fear the dark side of human nature, that we actually suppress it, and by suppressing it we actually accentuate it, and ultimately it bursts out as your Columbine disasters and all this. So I think we need to understand that the essentially the human experience is one of ambiguity, that if we could get in touch with the sinner and the saint, the sacred and the profane in us, and be comfortable with that, we would be less judgmental of others. You know, Christ said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." And I think we need to all educate ourselves into our ambiguity, our essential nature...

KING: Not easy.

CHOPRA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of opposites. And once we -- you know, we have to start with children. It's the only way.

KING: Because they are the ones that are most open to it.

CHOPRA: Yes. You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), a great Indian poet, said: "Every child that is born is proof that God has not yet given up on humanity." And you're having a child next week, right?

KING: Another one.

CHOPRA: God has not given up on...

KING: Chance will have a little brother.

CHOPRA: That's wonderful. Congratulations.

KING: And that's a gift of God.

CHOPRA: That's a gift of the universe, yes.

KING: Didn't earn that, right?

CHOPRA: It's a privilege.

KING: Deepak Chopra. The book is "How to Know God." You can also connect HowToKnowGod.com or Chopra.com. Stay tuned now for CNN "NEWSSTAND," which is next. I'm Larry King. For Deepak Chopra and Clint Eastwood, thanks for joining us. Good night.

God bless you Char, sorry about your Father, thanks for your comment.

I suppose there is this greater plan unknown to our finite minds but known to our infinite minds. Some things send us searching and this is why they happen.

You know how at the end of a play, all the actors come out to the stage, even the ones that died, and the audiance claps.

Keep that in mind.

Like the ´Titanic´ scene, at the end of the movie,

but then, I think, will it matter?

Love, Passion,

Hi everyone,

Let’s give Richard Dawkins a little credit; he is the one who use the word “meme” the first time in 1976 in his “ The Selfish Gene”.

Here is the best short introduction to, and the text that kicked off, the new science of MEMETICS.

“Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. As N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up an earlier draft of this chapter: `... memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but technically.(3) When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous systems of individual men the world over.”

It would help some of us to know a little more about where we come from before we get too deeply into where we might go. If some of you feel a little empty, spiritually, because something finally convinced you that a book that was translated and copied many times may not be that accurate and maybe we should all keep on “looking”, please read Richard Dawkins “Unweaving the Rainbow”. The first chapter “ The Anaesthetic of Familiarity ” contains some of the most inspiring reading any logical and imaginative mind can have. Many consider Richard Dawkins the one guy who can explain anything about evolution that can be explained today.

I mentioned before, we have Richard Dawkins on one side, Ken Wilber on the other and Deepak somewhere in the middle. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get the three of them sitting down to find out what you can agree on. Remember Ken’s words: “we are all a little bit right” and “nobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time”.

Okay somebody mentioned the reticular activating system. That happens to be in the movie to and in reality. You should see what happens when through the frequncy following effect and the application of binaural beat audio brainwaves synchronize at the Golden Ratio Frequency. But then again perhaps many minds might not be ready for that.

But in case your interested.

This is the Golden Ratio Stuff
http://web-us.com/sleeperdeltaPhi.htm

This is the general stuff
http://web-us.com/binaural.htm

Trauma is an effective way to have a change of world view. I'd say that was my first big one. During the Viet Nam war, which I was convinced was insane and the product of an insane world, I got ahold of some "peace" posters and such, through the mail. I was fourteen. Yes, just a quiet nice fourteen years old boy. When they arrived, my mother opened them and hid them from me (illegal, insane, status quo...) until my alcoholic father got home from work. He had stopped at a bar because his day had gone badly, with a business partner who drove him crazy (status quo). When she showed him the posters, he freaked out. He was a twice wounded WWII veteran and was what I call a "John Wayne" Republican. Hey, he took bullets, twice, for America and got the Japanese to retreat. Four years of infantry combat, made him a pretty flipped out guy. So a huge terrifying episode ensued, and I came very very close to being murdered during my father's rage. He somehow managed to not kill me, but destroyed everything I owned while I watched. So it was basically an act of terror, and he was the terrorist. I would say that it was a psychotic episode, brought about by excess alcohol and the heavy use of diet pills (speed, another insane part of the sixties).
So, my mother had a nervous breakdown, my sisters screamed at me, blaming me for all of it and I was basically exiled from the family from that point forward. I was shunned, scapegoated and never really was a member of that family until very recently, after years of practicing and teaching meditation, therapy, life's trials, two abyssmal marriages and a LOT of work on my inner life. I spent my life on the outside, looking in, an observer but not much of a participant in life. And as a spiritualist, living on the inside, looking out, at this insane world. So, yeah, that was life altering. My father passed away last year, and surprise, I have yet to, and doubt if I ever will shed a tear for the man. We were utter strangers. Talk about setting up a pattern to enter into and live. Is that karma? Well, I entered it and lived it and am amazed by the life it led me through to this point. I lived on the inside, lived in the inner landscape of my life, passionately, and still do. There is a richness that only I know, and I passionately, relentlessly, doggedly, persist in the path of healing and unfoldment. I am as a lotus in the sun, unfolding by the grace of that Sweet Light that I am and that alone is. Namaste

Char - I was just writing my own story as that was what Deepak had asked of us. I didn't have time to read the other comments beforehand and had to go through them all just now to find what you were talking about. Whatever you believe is your belief... and whatever works for you, works for you. But my experience is mine. My story is my story. And it was in no way directed at any comments you may have made.

Peace, Sheba

Well, here's another one, to balance the darkness of the first one I posted. Briefly, I was present and helped the best I could when my son was born. After a day of labor (not me, my wife...) and another eighteen hours in HARD labor, my son appeared and was handed to me. I held him there, in my arms, and was just swept away, in a state of such awe and love and joy for my tiny baby boy. My heart was so pierced! I was instantly changed, and permanently. That bonding, that freefall into a state of love switched me from being solitary, so solipsistic and detached, to being right there, right smack in the middle of life.

He just turned six. I am no longer married and lost custody (this is Texas...) but my fatherhood is a thriving state within me. I let go of my many earthly struggles and play, swim, laugh, read stories, talk, walk, share meals, and tell him stories in the dark, made up from my Papa imagination. This was a great change.

Dear John Wilder, I can't imagine what it was like to be in your shoes. Obviously your father was a man who was in much pain...can you or have you forgiven him? Did you ever try 12 steps/Alanon. At least you did the work on yourself; that is what 12 steps and Alanon is about, a powerful spiritual program, especially for Westerners. It's obvious that you still have unresolved pain over the horrific trauma of your childhood; it will never be fully or truly resolved until you reconcile on whatever plane with your father. It has to be done in your own time though. My mother is alive but has been an alcoholic for many years..she has not been much of a mother to me, benign neglect, but I send her off with love, prayers and blessings every day.
Easy to say; harder to do. Good luck with your son...I hope you get to see him often.

Hi Deepak, and everyone--

Thanks to all of you who gave the tons of useful information on Kundalini and Kava Kava.
I've learned something from almost every comment.

Deepak asks about a sudden change in a person's reality and how it occured.

I don't want to make it a huge long story like it could be but, after years of allowing my power to be taken away from me, mostly from my family, I have nearly all of it back. Still working on it. I felt a change occur in me at the beginning of summer--like a light being turned on. It was like my brain and heart went a-ha! at the same time. Except more like an AAAAAAHHH----HAAAAAAAA! Like a SO THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT -- WHY DIDN'T I GET THIS BEFORE! This ENLIGHTENMENT!

It was awesome. Just awesome.

It's all being taught to me by a handful of spiritual teachers, including Deepak. The knowledge is right there. I just had to take it.

IT BEGINS WHERE IT ENDS--IN NOTHINGNESS.

Deepak,

TURNING POINT

It was a series of syncrodestinies that occured for the past 7 years ago.. that landed me in this place of awareness. It started with my husband having cancer, he survived--- we were granted one miracle child at the time prior to his cancer treatment. We had on moment in time to concieve and we did... Then my husband went into a deep depression after the cancer. I thought I might loose him... at that time he started geting some help from a friend can tap into other realities and is a therapist all in one. She gave us a set of tapes from your friend Wayne Dyer -- "A spiritual solution to every problem" As I listened to his work I was amazed it was a liberating moment all this information and it was so comfortable to me. I went out and bought 20 copies for all my friends and family... At that point those words are what sent my husband and I on a spiritual path together. The new beginning--- then we got pregnant by suprise we thought we would not be able to conceive after his treatments.. The most magical thing happened the baby started talking with me. At first i thought I was making it up but one day before September 11th... she said to me "I have to go I am needed. I will be back." I thought that was a cross over point. I was almost 15 weeks pregnant. The very next day I woke up was phoned about the tragic event and that afternoon I lost the baby. I knew she would be back-- 1 year and exactly 1 month later she was born. And I know from how talkative she is she helped all those who were in shock as they got blasted into another reality. After she was born things were calm for about 1 year and then they found a tumor in my liver the size of a softball. Prior to finding this out I was having a massage in vegas and woman giving me the massage tells me that she has made it her intention that only people that need her help will be her clients. That day my friend and I had booked a massage at the exact same time and I was placed in this woman's hands. She started to tell me of a healing when you go into a meditative state and command to be healed or you can command beliefe or meme's to be changed. I was open I thought it was interesting so I asked her to write it down. Then when I found out I had the tumor. I quickly read the book and started to seek help from a practioner. It was through this experience that I began to see inside myself and others and feel the affects of shifting or fixing beliefs that had been pasted down from generation to generation. The shifts were amazing during this time I realized how much anger I had stored in my liver... I had 2 c-scans and 1 mri all showing the tumor. Then I had an amazing meditation with myself and could see the liver see it growing. I commanded it to stop and repair it. I was ontop of the world. The next week I went in for one more test- they injected my with nuclear radiation and then took images of my liver and 64 sections. The liver tumor was gone all liver functions normal.... I am not telling a lie... The confidence and love and compassion and everything I felt at that time let me drop my fears, drop my rational thinking that this is not possible and enabled me to help myself. It was this and then the loss of another baby at 18 weeks that led me to you... my husband in my hours of grief purchased a soul of healing class for me last February and after learning your primordial sound meditation. I no longer have asthma. I am calm and open. I am at peace and full of compassion. If I had not gone through all of these things and a few other things during the past 7 years I would not be in this place and for that I am forever thankful. Now, when some change occurs I just observe and ask now why is this happening and what am I to do with this information.

Deepak, you mention that should not change meme and this was a big concern I had prior one for fear that ultimately as this became mainstream the diobolic side would use it as mental war tactics but the key is the individual has to give permission... The other fascinating part is watching what your mind can create... I can create wind... I can help calm my child when she or he is upset. It is an amazing thing to tap into and all I can tell you and promise you it is very real as real as what you tap into with your sutras... they are so powerful..I think dismissing the idea that we can change meme's is the wrong thing to do. Because there is a lot of hate and bad habits hanging on from generation to generation. We need to give the collective consiousnes a good colnic and this might be a great way to do it.

I had to go through a lot to find you but it was a road worth traveling.

Love and Peace,
ME

Deepak,

Creating you own truth is a term I had often heard. The question was what is "truth " and how does one create it ?

These and countless other questions about the futility of it all, finally led me to Vippasana

I am sure you are acquainted with the term, and also the technique perhaps . This was the meditative practice through which The Buddha achieved Enlghtenment. It had been lost to India for the last 2500 years. Thanks to the effort of Sayagi U Ba Khin and Sayagi S.N.Goenka it has come back to India and the rest of the world in its original and pure form.

I had gone to the ashram at Igatpuri for a 10 day course . The only details I had was that I would have to observe a Maun {complete silence} and eat once a day. I was not convinced about what this whole exercise was about. The first three days, I hated the whole process. Hated. Strong emotion. Then began the real meditation. For the readers who are not acquainted with the idea of higher state of being, this may not connect. For others ,This may seem like a reaffirmation.

Deepak, its so difficult to explain what I experienced on the 9th day. Guruji had been telling us in his discourses that to some a feeling of "Bhangur' or complete dissolution might occur. And he began explaining . As he spoke, my body went into a state where i could move my consciousness to each pore , inside ,across, horizontally, vertically. as there was just no solidity anywhere. It was as though I was only a being Of energy. A mass of it. Dying and being born millions of times every second.

And then began the mental transformation. This carried On for almost An hour. A deluge of LOVE surged through. The very first thought that came to my mind was.. NOW I KNOW HOW JESUS,SAI BABA AND BUDDHA MUST HAVE FELT .JUST LOVE LOVE AND LOVE.COMPASSION. AND NEED TO JUST SEND OUT HUGE WAVES OF LOVING ENERGY TO ALL. THIS IS WHAT I DID.I didnt want to come out of this state. But the whole idea of vippasana is Anicca or impermanence.The idea was not to get attached to any particular state,but to move on. This was only an important junction in my quest on the road to liberation . It was not the end of the road . And so my quest continues

I feel that the reason of my birth was revealed. I dont any more have questions that plague me. We are a mass of our own thoughts accumulated over aeons. Habits, motives all conditioned over numerous births. We have to chang our whole structure. My present mind, this second is creating the next. All I have to do is be aware and alert. Know Yourself. What are you made up of . The microcosm is the macrocosm. We are just bubbles who can be broken down to the last atom .It is in this atom that the work has to take place.

A lot of writers here on this blog have the makings to be BUDDHAS, HERE AND NOW. MAY THE COSMOS GUIDE THEIR PATH .

http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/deecho/part15.shtml

http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/blog.cfm

Ok I`m back and much sooner then I thought I would be.

In fact directly to you Deepak I would like to state that I happen to be in the middle of a transformational experience. I was born in 1959 which for those that don`t want to do the math puts me at a young 46 years of age. In this short time I have had 3 distinct and powerful life transforming experiences which I would like to share with you. I however will not be spending the next half hour or more here inside this room infront of this computer recounting them as I know that the peak experience does not last. This one has been going on now for the past 15 hours. The past 7 hours have been a linear progression of succesive moments of synchronicity. I wish to return to the outside world and enjoy this while it lasts but I do promise I will return sometime tonight and recount all 3 as well as this one. What it was like before, what happened and what it was like afterwards.

This is a part of what I wrote last night on this blog:

"... I must say I have not read any of the comments to this blog and I hardly read any of the blog itself. In a short week I have tired from much of the speaches given here. I have been following an interesting blog of an english man that travelled from Denmark to India and beyond via land and the silk route (at times illegally) and although surprisingly no where as "spiritual" as this site some how more refreshing at the moment."

Again I must say I am glad I made it back sooner then I though I was going to. After I wrote that I went back to the travel blog. A slight unlocatable nudge led me to return to this blog with in afew minutes after writing that quote and to read the entire entry of Deepak`s. The request at the end of his entry is the direct trigger to what I have been and am experiencing. I look forward to sharing them with you.

Two short things in parting.

1. I believe this quote:

"It feels dangerous and anxiety-provoking. Hence our resistance to new ideas is a form of self-protection. If your database got corrupted with garbage, your whole world would collapse."

Is right on. I might not have used the term garbage to describe new overwhelming input but hey that`s ok. What I want to say though is that it is such a wonderful thing when my world collapses = is blown completely wide open. Expansion is such a great trip and the discoveries beyond the "big bangs" are.....well....out of this world.

2. I am in know way attempting to start competative banter concerning who on these blogs (sounds like they) know the most about these matters. I certainly do not knows much at all. After all I am a guy in a dinner.

Quoting Merek Dariusz Podsiadlo:

"To A Guy In A Dinner,

listen, you have this ´thing´ called RAS,
Reticular activating system,

and, conditioning, social, etc.

and, attention, awareness, point of focus,

and one of the most important life lessons,

´Stand guard at the door of your mind´

What you do with is, is up to you,

But then comes the Ego and the Spirit,
and that´s a whole other story..

Love, Passion"

I really and honestly do not know what you are trying to say. I sence a genuine desire to impart some wisdom hear but with all my studies of both easter and western philosophies, psychologies and religious systems I feel as lost as the infant that really couldn`t care about these issues because truly all he needs is his basic needs met. Even to the extent that he can block out extrememly loud noises. If you could explain your idea to me as though I was a guy in a dinner and drop the cryptic speak I would appreciate getting what it is you are attempring to give.

Thanks all and I look forward.

To Guy in a Dinner: do you mean you are a "guy in a diner" , the last word being a type of informal restaurant? Just wondering if you misspelled your alias. And by the way Merek likes to hear himself talk; he talks babble. Merek refers us to a blog called Neale Donald Walsh. Walsh is a false prophet; any genuine spiritual teacher and tradition would have dismissed this former advertising guy who claimed to be speaking directly with God....all to win a buck! It makes me laugh what passes as spirituality these days.

We are all sleeping
With dreams of "pair"anoia
When all is oneness.

Hi, ya all, and especially A Guy In A Dinner,

This is the guy who loves himself speak, Spamm,
whatever,
Why?
because what ´bugs´ me a little bit, is that,this
being Deepaks Blog and all, 42 books and counting,
but, from ´some´ comments posted, ´some´ don´t even bother to do even basic homework, before ventilating ´an´ opinion, I don´t care, but,..

I grant you the Law of Non-Judgement,
and as for the Law of Giving, an aswer by what I meant, no, not my words, simple COPY PASTE! from
an Blog near you...

And as for Neale..
People... read first, Judge later..
think for your selfs,...

Love Passion and a babysitter giving lectures,
(I´m freakin´stuck in ´groundhog day´!)
(that´s a movie with Bill Murray..;)

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2005/07/deepaks_qa_life.html
Deepak's Q&A: Lifespan and Choices
posted by Deepak Chopra on July 29, 2005 at 01:26 AM

Question:

I understand that our time of death is somehow pre-determined by our soul prior to taking up a physical body and embarking on that life's journey.

If this is the case, how does our free will, dietary and lifestyle choices effect this chosen time, e.g. if one pollutes oneself with harmful food and alcohol etc that somehow causes illness and prematurely shortens that life.

Answer:

The fundamental question being asked here is do we live in a universe of freewill or determinism? The answer is we live in both simultaneously. In the state of avidya (arrogant ignorance) we are functioning in a completely deterministic world. In the state of vidya (enlightened awareness), we have complete freedom.

Our lifespan based on the conditioning and tendencies we come in with is not necessarily determinant in exactly how long we life; it is just a working set of programmed probabilities. The choices we make influence those probabilities and serve to rewrite our lifespan programming. Depending upon the particular karmas associated with the life plan, the decisions we make can affect the length and quality of life we live.

Love,
Deepak

Comments?

In Spirit Awarness you can´t be offended, guys..

And if there are more ´critics´..

I sure don´t need my legal skills to
´dismiss´ some Ego´s! the bigger the better,

So take your best shot, children,
it´s always the same song, story..,

but in the meanwhile, I´ll be doing the Path to Love program,

But a good ass-Ego-whoppin´ is just like an..
apple pie! There´s always room for..;)

(or was it gello?)
never mind, you get my point, Kidz, I hope..for your sake´s..

Love Passion and an Apple Pie!

You realy did read all that?
Kidz! I´m impressed!
well in that case,
an encore..

The Twenty-Five Qualities of the Unified Field

1. Total potential of natural law.
2. Infinite organizing power.
3. Fully awake within itself.
4. Infinite correlation.
5. Perfect orderliness.
6. Infinite dynamism.
7. Infinite creativity.
8. Pure knowledge.
9. unboundedness.
10. Perfect Balance
11. Self-sufficiency.
12. All possibilities.
13. Infinite silence.
14. Harmonizing
15. Evolutionary
16. Self-referral.
17. Invincibility.
18. Immortality.
19. Unmanifest.
20. Nourishing.
21. Integrating.
22. Simplicity
23. Purifying
24. Freedom.
en the most importent
25. Bliss.

From: The Creating Affluence Programm,
read or listen the audiobook for more magic..;)

´.. I feel as lost as the infant that really couldn`t care about these issues because truly all he needs is his basic needs met..´

Nicely put..

Here they are,
the six human needs:

For more info about, or application, Sign up
for A Date with Destiny Seminar, by Anthony Robbins, near you!
(or buy his programms..;)

Need 1:
Certainty (survival instinct)
- Ability to produce, eliminate or avoid stress;
or create, increase, or intensify pleasure

Need 2:
Uncertainty - Variety - Excitement! the spice of life,
- diversity, difference, surprise, challenge,

Need 3:
Significance
- Sense of being needed
- Sense of purpose
- Sense of meanings
- Feeling of importance
- Uniqueness

Need 4:
Connection / Love
- Bonding
- Oneness
- Sharing
- Intimacy
- Feeling a part Of
- At one with

Need 5:
Growth

Need 6:
Contribution

You can meet all of these 6 needs by changing either your:

PERCEPTION (Belief or Appreciation of) or
PROCEDURE (Vehicles or Approach to)

Love, Passion !

Hi Deepak,my personal reality suddenly changed in 1999.That is my perception.May be it is changing everyday,just like apoptosis,old reality dies and new reality forms.

As I have dicussed it before,it is Reiki that changed me.everything else,like the sudden thirst for spiritual knowledge,the wanting to do rajayoga,craving for jnanayoga followed.I have always done Bhaktiyoga.I am trying to do karmayoga.

The Reiki principles are so beautiful.Just for today I will not worry,or be angry,I wll work honestly,I will respect my elders,I will love my neighbors,I will give thanks for my many blessings.

I used to be a lunatic.I was too intense.Everything had to be just right.I used to drive myself crazy, wanting to be the best mother, the best pediatrician, the best home maker,the best cook etc.I used to drive my kids crazy, wanting them to ace everything.I used to drag them to tennis,dance,piano,music,gymnastics,soft ball.I am so thankful that I did not succeed in making them just like me.Once I started Reiki meditation,I started getting grounded.

I owe my serenity to the authors I read. They are my Gurus,my guides in the spiritual quest.You, Dr Deepak Chopra are one of them. Thank you deepak for being a Guru to many, many, people like me.

God bless you .

To Georgia: I am "curious" what makes you say that Neale Donald Walsh is a "false prophet?"

There is a saying by about a famous actress who described her studies of spiritual techniques when she was faced with "life-threatening " challenges.

Essentially, she described her understanding of "prayer and meditation" this way (and many of like this simple model): Prayer is 'talking' to God, and meditation is 'listening' to God!

Sooo....this actress described how, in "talking" to God (praying), she was "seen" as being spiritual!

But she described that if God does indeed "hear you," and responds back--whether in meditation and/or the "synchrodestiny of coincidences" the increase as the "Conversations With.....well, you know!" intensify--in other words, if God "talks back to you," you're called crazy!

Does that then make Evangelists and other "preachers," who hear the "voice of God talking to them," crazy??

Personally, I am not comfortable as being "the Judge" of others who "go out on the limb" that Walsh has--with sooo...many, ones like myself, who have received immense levels of hope from the "playfulness" of the "serious Conversations" Walsh claims to have with "these voices!"

By their "Fruits Ye Shall Know Them!" Like San Francisco then, called to be like a bowl of granola, named after "St. Francis of Assisi"; What ain't "Fruits and Nuts, is Flakes!"

Sooo...which is Walsh again??? Sincerely, Dave

Well, I can't keep up with all the posts, nor read them all, so I scanned for my name so that I could as least respond briefly. Just to say thanks to Richard, Marek, & Sheba.

Hey, Sheba ... that's all I do as well ... when I speak, it is to myself, as I share my understanding.

Love, Char

I am the Light and I am the Darkness.
I am the candle that disturbs the void.

Char: You are a sweet and wonderful candle! Love--The Void

As promised. 4 "Peak Experiences".

But first: Thanks Georgia. I always do that. It's a meme I've carried since my second grade english "teacher" tortured me (literally) during reading circles. It is "A Guy In A Diner". And I thought diner was something we ate.

Also thanks for the heads up. If I'm going to spend time in here I really want it to make a difference to myself and then anyone that might gain something from any "insights" I may have. I will reserve judgment for the time being but as I have been earlier advised, "guard the gates of my blah blah......" Thanks Georgia.

Second: Marek I truly appreciate your attempt to point out something to me. The quote you pasted from Deepak is brilliant. It aligns with something I already employ as a belief concerning free will verses determinism.

But please in your own coherent words, what is it "you" are trying to tell "me"?

As I stated to Georgia, I really do want my time here to be about moving forward and not banter.

If it is just general chatter that is ok. I, however, cannot keep up a dialogue with you if that is the case.

Please let me know and again in your own, calm, thought out, full sentence words what it is you are trying to tell me. Thanks.

And now to my response Deepak.

First and for most I must deeply thank you for stirring something that has been "sleeping" within me for some time. I have had 4 definitive peak experiences. The last one being just yesterday (I am on Zürich Switzerland time) and the jury is still out as to whether it is still occurring.

Secondly I must say that this is for me more then you Deepak. It was your very request to share a moment of awakening that triggered my latest "opening". What has opened up to me I do not want to let close again. I have had these opportunities before and have squandered them. This time I mean to put them to use for the greater good. If anyone else gets something from this all the better but this spuds for me.

I will begin with this latest experience first.

Two nights ago I had been reading a travel blog written by an english man who had traveled, via land, along the silk route from Zurich, Switzerland to Southern India via Tibet. I was absolutely fascinated.

Having traveled extensively for 10 years, India for a six month period, I found myself planning to do the route in my mind over and over and over.

I decided to check out intentblog and when I began to read your comments Deepak I found all motivation drain out of me and decided to make a quick post concerning your first two paragraphs and then "get out of Dodge". I was just to drained by all the negativity and the psycho/religious mumbo jumbo your blogs were eliciting. I really think you have a great thing here. I am that kind of being that is built to read everything. I just don't think it's fair to respond without having all the points of view. They were however zapping me of my energy.

I made a quick post and went back to the travel blog. A part of my conscious mind kept pulling me back to read your blog. To give it a fair trial. I went back and read it (none of the responses) and the last paragraph unknowingly set off the beginnings of a peak experience ripe with hours of continual synchronic moments.

The past few years of my life moving, into the past few months, moving into the past few weeks, moving into the past few days had become ever more depressing, disconnected, in short, miserable. I have been a miserable person to be around and partly as a result of this have chosen to isolate myself for longer and longer periods of time. This isolation while ideally would be of great benefit to me, I have been using to further dig the bottomless hole I have been laboring at for years.

One would think that with all my knowledge of religion and spiritual matters and all my meditation "knowledge" and practice and with all of my involvement with western "pop" enlightenment institutions I would have avoided this position.

The casual observer would think that I was leading an ideal life. Wife (we separated on as good as terms as anyone could this January, we are treating each other as great friends since the separation), a loving, beautiful, brilliant 7 year old daughter, many wonderful adventures (including a career in Hollywood working with some of the most influential and famous people in the business, people I had simply idealized as a child), traveling to remote and "exotic" cultures for an unbroken 10 years and now an American citizen holding a passport and living in Switzerland the richest country in the world per capita.

That would be the appearance.

As I finished reading your entry my mind rushed to locate the three most powerfully transforming events in my short life. I left the blog open on my computer, returned to finish the english mans journey with full intention of returning to respond to you as soon as I was done with him. I was unexplainably excited.

I was watching my daughter as my wife was having a free evening out. The door to the flat opened with such loud, aggressive energy entering into the flat that at first I thought my wife had lost her mind in drunken revelry and decided to bring some guy home to flaunt in my face.

Needless to say I left my computer and went to the door only to find 3 inebriated people, my wife, her best friend and a male work colleague.

I was greeted with, Larry, kick this assholes ass. Huh? Apparently the guy had been harassing my wife's friend, Had stalked her all the way to our flat. Although my wife's true intention was to engage my mediation skills, it's a forte of mine, by the time they got inside and due to the alcohol, they truly and seriously wanted to see his blood.

I told them all that I refused to even enter into a conversation until everyone calmed down. And more then pay lip service to this idea I meant it and they all saw that I did. It took them all of 3 minutes to get themselves into a shape that resembled civility.

Needless to say and to draw this section to a close, with alcohol on the agenda it is near impossible to create any positive resolution to a conflict but at least it ended with everyone talking instead of seething

He went home a bit less drunk (I fed them all a lot of water) and the friend spent the night at my wife's flat as I also did.

More important though I was in no shape to return to this blog. I had calculatingly got right up in his face with the promise to rip his head off if he ever called a woman a f••king b**ch in my presence again. A maneuver I believed would give him a taste of what it feels like to be mortally in fear from a guy. I don't recommend that tactic as it left me feeling empty and I did have to apologize a number of times.

The change had begun. I had been designated someone that could mediate a conflict. In the back of my mind during all of this all I could keep thinking of is how much I wanted to share the three life altering events I had so judiciously buried into my memory banks. They were screaming at me for life. They wanted the light of day and the air of truth. I could literally feel them pressuring me to let them out.

To my surprise a pattern had been broken. Rather then return to the computer and respond to you Deepak, I went to bed. After what had just transpired I was really in know shape for spiritual matters I thought

For the past few years I have surfed the internet until 4:00 or 5:00 am and then woke up miserable and not wanting to face life.

I awoke at 8:00 a.m. instead of my usual 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. or more recent 1:00 p.m.. I felt refreshed. I felt alive. I felt like I should go out into the town and take care of a list of tasks, "critical" to my existence. Tasks that I had been putting off for some time. Nothing to difficult. Just stuff that I didn't even want to look at.

I'm so glad I did. Life yesterday was effortless. Eastern block Kiosk women smiled at me and I realized I was smiling back. Trains consistently stopped with doors at my nose the moment I stepped onto the platform. Swiss bureaucrats said yes, with smiles, again and again and again and most important to me, my heart was smiling back.

I know that in the world yesterday there was much sorrow. Much war, much poverty and much suffering. I know that I am a part of the world. I don't want to get to hocky here but didn't some guy that wasn't just A Guy In A Diner say, "to be in this world but not of this world"? I get it.

Last night I went to bed at 10:00 p.m.. This morning I awoke at 5:00 a.m.. I would have resumed my meditation but I thought this was as important.

All day long, yesterday, I kept thinking about those powerful events that had happened oh so long ago in my life. Powerful transformational experiences. I don't want to and will not allow myself to go back into the dark of my cave and my ignorance. I choose life and light. Thank you Deepak. And to think before Larry King you were just A Guy In A Diner to me.

Experience one:

I am 4 years of age. The world is a much simpler place. I am lost in it. I am unsure of what or who I am. I am the product of a black (Jamaican) father and a white (Swiss) mother. I am living in the beautiful suburbs of Huntington Long Island. Life should be good. It is before the assassinations of Kennedy, King and Malcolm X. Whites and blacks do not except each other in large part. I am a double reminder of the hatred.

On a sunny summer day I walk out of my parents home. I walk down the walkway to the drive way. Just before I step off the walk way it happens.

What it was I have never been able to explain nor have I ever talked about it. Everything becomes perfect. For no apparent reason. For only an instance. Total clarity of mind, vision and purpose and then it is gone. For life.

I don't really want to describe the moment to much. The temperature was not. The green on the leaves were of such a nature that many years latter when I experimented with hallucinogenic substances (and back then on Long Island we were getting the real thing) the vividness of the leaves paled in comparison to what that 4 year old saw. The brilliance of the light was not blinding it was just perfectly clear. That is about as far as I am willing to go in way of a description.

So why do I consider this a peak experience. Because it left me with undeniable hope that there was something more then just trying to get to the end in one piece. It still serves me well. Every few years the moment rushes back as a powerful memory. I don't re-experience it but it is a clear guiding post. I don't will it to come. It seems to come when it is needed and it came back strong two nights ago.

Before I go to peak experience number two I would like to state that I believe the peak experience itself is not what is important. Fine if it feels good but it doesn't always and it isn't the experience itself that matters. Call it what you will. Call it Kundalini, call it trauma, it comes in many forms.

What happens as a result I believe is the key to whether it was a true peak experience. Is there a fundamental change in character, thinking, being? Does it leave "me" with more compassion for my world then before I experienced it? That's my measuring stick.

Experience Two:

I am 21 years old. I hate my life. I hate everything and everybody around me. Even my best friends I am envious of and secretly wish to see them fail. I my self am the biggest failure and yet I hide this from even myself. I blame the world around me for my state and especially my father and more generally my family.

Up until I am 15 I lie awake night after night in tears wishing that all the windows and doors to my families house be sealed shut and they all be consumed in a great fire with me the lone survivor.

Burn the truth of my misery with them. Only then do I have a chance. Needless to say I'm a miserable human being.

Thank the universe ( or my past good merits) for my father. He has been doing work with an organization we are no longer involved with.

(I am not on this blog to discredit or endorse any "way". ALL ways lead eventually to the truth. Some "may" be quicker some "may" take more time if we ever actually do arrive at THE truth is entirely another matter.)

Thank the universe ( or my past good merits) for my father. He has been doing work with an organization we are no longer involved with.

It is called Werner Erhardt and Associates and it is the EST Training. I am sitting in the first day of the training begrudgingly. I am here only because my brother, who is actually more lost then me, has recently done the Training and I have seen a complete transformation in him. I don't want him to know that I have witnessed it but just incase, I enroll. In just a few months I have seen him grow in light years and lord knows I don't want to get left behind.

My secret mission? Stop this Erhardt guy. At just the right moment I will unleash on the entire room of 200 participants my "genius" and then like the pied piper lead them out of this pseudo pop psychological babble and into the light. I will show them all.

The first 6 hours of the Training cover 10 or so ground rules. Could I ever have believed it would take 200 people 6 hours to agree to follow 10 simple rules? What is with these morons? Don't they know we have to get through these quickly so that the Training can begin and I can hatch my devious plan?

The Training has begun. I am the one that is stuck. At one point the "Trainer" makes a statement. He says that in these next 2 weekends we will experience emotions that we only think we have experienced, "Yea right you moron", I think to myself. He tells us that most people only speak there emotions but never really feel them. "Whatever". "Can we just get on with it"? "You are definitely starting to piss me off".

From time to time the Trainer asks the room questions. "How many people have ever experienced what X has just shared"? Like sheep they raise there hands and to my amazement each time the Trainer takes the time out to count each and every hand. He's actually counting there hands. "Where did they get this guy from"?

And then I see my opportunity to strike. The next time he asks a question that needs an individual response I'll raise my hand. He'll pick on me and although it will be about these stupid rules it doesn't matter. Whatever I say I'll show them all that I'm smarter then him except.......

Every time I feel sure I can stump him he doesn't call on me. Many times he looks in my eyes and then calls on someone else. Every time I feel like a fish out of water I raise my hand but so that he can't see it behind the head of the person in front of me. It is at those very times that I know he will pick me.

And now this guys is really starting to piss me off. I am definitely feeling an energy well up in me that I never felt before. I am going to have to kick this guys ass if he doesn't stop F**king with me.

And then it happens. He asks one of those general questions. I raise my hand for the count with the other sheep except this time my middle finger proudly extends to full attention. I am about in the middle of the room. As he begins counting from from my left to my right this unbelievable unbearable heat starts to well up in my abdomen. He's getting closer to me and the heat turns to fierce burning and it now wants to find a path to exit. I can feel it building up pressure. As his eyes meet mine the heat can be contained no more and it shoots like a rocket up and out through the crown of my head..........and he continues his count unfazed by my gesture.

My hand falls into my lap and my head sinks to my chest and I am defeated. I am empty. I am exhausted. As I hear the count proceed past me and to the right I feel as if all my life has been a total waste of time. I want to be no more.

With my head still on my chest staring at my hand limp in my lap I hear him finish the count. And then I hear something else. I hear my name. "I got it Larry" he says. A different kind of comfortable heat enters my entire body as I slowly lift my head to meet his eyes and as we connect he says' "And that's why your life doesn't work" and I find myself confirming his statement with the ever so subtle nod of my head. He continues, "You got it didn't you"? and I must most honestly say yes.

I could have walked out at that moment. For the rest of the two weekend seminar I had a great time watching other people breakthrough situations they had grappled with for years. For me it came only once in the first six hours of the Training of what I can only believe was a "kundalini like" release of something I never want to feel again.

At the first break I called my family and told them how much I loved them and I really did. I realized in that one instance that my whole life was in my hands. It was the greatest turning point in my life and I never looked back at the miserable hater I had been. Oh yes I did rediscover misery but never back to that state. And my relationship with my family has maintained a level of love that still feels like the shift just occurred yesterday.

Peak Three

It is 1995. I am in Switzerland. I am once again lost. I have been managing the hottest music club in the entire country and my ego and the club are one. The owner decides he has had enough and one night takes the cash, boards a plane and disappears along with my ego.

I hate Switzerland and I hate the Swiss. Really I hate myself. I have come from America, a country where if a white woman looks at me with out thinking rapist I'm having a good day, to a country where because of my skin tone I am a commodity for sexual pleasure. Instead of savoring it I am like a kid in a candy shop that knows he doesn't have enough money but can't stop eating cause it's just soooooo goooood!!!!!

My girl friend has left me. I am a womanizer among other things. Something I abhor. So now I have to get out. But where? Taos? No been there to many times. Jamaica? Been getting to hostile. A voice in my head clearly says "India", and I am taken aback.

First of all I don't believe in voices unless I'm sleep deprived or really wasted and second of all I am definitely not ready for India. I have been a thousand times in books and magazines and have always wanted to go but I'm not ready for a land full of short brown people. (By the way I am 5'7" and very brown).

For two weeks this voice does not leave me alone and because misery is driving me to the edge of insanity I succumb. I guess I'm going to India. It will be the first time that I travel alone and with no one to meet me on the other end. "Am I out of my mind"?

Jokingly my friends keep insisting that I am "going to find myself". This really pisses me off because I hate people that have to go anywhere to find themselves. If you can't find yourself where you are you got no business going messing up somebody else's space. If anything I'm trying to lose myself.

The best thing I have ever done is go to India. All the spirituality stuff I've read about in books in New York or any other place in the west, all that fantasizing about gurus and the soul and attaining a perfect peace and and and and. And then to put the books or seminars back on the shelf and walk out the door into our western world. What a crock.

I walked out of the airport in Delhi, the air encompassed my body and for six months my worst moment was ecstasy in comparison to my best moment in the west. It remains true to this day. Spirituality IS in India. It can't be avoided.

Anyway I digress.

By what appeared to be complete chance and at least was in no plan of mine I found myself sitting in a 10 day Vipassana meditation course. I had read a lot through the years concerning meditation but had never sat. I even thought that if you weren't from India you really couldn't get benefit from it. Was I ever wrong.

The peak experience happened at day 7 but to call it a "peak experience is to cheapen it in western terms. In it's simplest description I went somewhere. I don't know how long it occurred and the only reason I know something occurred is because I "came back". I know that sounds a bit unclear. But for a non locatable period of time it was an instant and it was always. Or maybe it just stopped and I was everywhere and I was nowhere. And that's it. And then I was "back".

Two things I would like to say before I close concerning this.

1. When I say everywhere, I don't mean like everywhere in this universe and then there's that place where eternity begins or there was this big bang but before that there was or there is the creator but who created the creator. That's to much mental masturbation for this guy in a diner. I mean everywhere.

2. I was not prepared for it.

Since that day and that course I have not given up on the possibilities for humanity. I have been searching. I now "know" it is possible to escape the misery. It does take work and I did stop working.

Even up to two days ago as I sat in abject misery I sat with a high degree of possibility that it could all turn around and it has.

I thank you for this Deepak and more than that I thank myself for passed paramis.

May you all continue to find the truth that works for you.

To Laurence,

´May you all continue to find the truth that works for you.´

Seven Spiritual laws, that´s what worked for me,
try them, you have been ´doing´ them unconsiously,
so I read,

Love, Passion,

Hey A Guy in a diner,

I took an "hour" to read your novel and emphathizes with your "tragic circumstances." But, I do not think that Dr. Chopra wanted you to write a book about "your personal reality..."

Next time, my brother, try to make your point without puting the reader in "yawn mode!"

Respect, Maan!

Your fellow West Indian! Sort of!