No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.
Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand,
where it gives light to everyone in the house.
This series of posts has to do with my NDE-like experience. For a long time I never shared it with anyone because this sort of thing is embarrassing in today's world. (Why is that?) Then I started telling select friends and family members. I noticed that my experience had made a change in me that I could see was not evident in those that I told. After many years of this, I have finally decided to tell of my experience, and investigate its meaning as fully as possible.
You can read about the experience itself here. Here's a quote:
For me there is one dream that is the touchstone for all the others. The one dream that gave me the message that dreams are not what we think they are; at least, not only that. Not just the random ruminations of our tired minds, working over the problems of the day. They are that too, but the funny thing about dreams is that they can be so many things, at various levels, all at once. Sometimes a dream is like an onion -- you can peel back layer after layer, revealing depths that are unexpected. And then sometimes a dream will be so blatantly obvious you can’t miss the point.Note that the experience was not only a dream. It started that way, and then evolved into something else. But read the post to find out.
The "Lighting the Lamp" series tries to pull some of the inexpressible content out of the experience and communicate it in a meaningful way:
Lighting the Lamp
If I had an NDE-like experience (and I think I did), was that supposed to be for me only? Since it came in the context of my asking for information that I thought would be important, I think it probably is not solely for me. With that in mind, I am going to write a series of posts that try to communicate as clearly as possible what I think I learned through my experience, and the experiences I've had since.Lighting the Lamp pt 2 -- The truth of free will
YOU HAVE FREE WILL.
This is not completely unlimited, obviously. You cannot will the universe to cease existing, for instance. But you have it, and your having it has shaped who you are. Further, you yourself have participated in the choosing and shaping of your own circumstances. You don't remember it, but you freely chose the life that you have now.Lighting the Lamp pt3 -- There are dangers in the search for the truth
I often receive wisdom in the form of dreams. Oddly enough, shortly after composing the last post (this was during the summer of 2010) I got very sleepy. It was the middle of the afternoon, but this sleepiness was quite strong. It crossed my mind that maybe there was a dream coming. So I curled up for a nap and was soon asleep. And I did dream.Lighting the Lamp pt 4 -- The difficulty of love
I already know how many of you read that. I can feel the pang of embarrassment from where I sit. For many of us, these are difficult words to connect to. Unless you are in church, or are devout, it just isn't "cool" to talk like that in public.Lighting the Lamp pt 5 -- The problem of evil; karma; non-humans
As I have said before, I do not believe that we humans are the only intelligent beings that God has created. I am certain that many other kinds of beings were created long before we were.Lighting the Lamp pt 6 -- Is it supposed to be this way?
I am always puzzled when people who believe in God attempt to force other people to do anything. If God wanted to force them to do it, HE WOULD. There may be many things that God does not want us to be able to do, and if there is, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO DO THESE THINGS.Lighting the Lamp pt 7 -- The choice is yours
Again and again in my dreams and inspired writings, I see the issue of "choice" come up. I think this, in essence, is why we come to this earth at all. We have a choice to make.Other related posts:
Extraordinary Truths, or my NDE-ish experience
The truth is the easiest thing in the world to know, if you really want to know it. The truth is simple. It is direct -- it doesn't bend to convention or beat around the bush. It is clear. It isn't hidden in words meant to beguile and confuse. It is patient -- it waits on the periphery until our attention is free of other obligations.What truth isn't -- "cool"
The whole concept of "cool" is antithetical to truth. It is precisely not true that any one of us is better than another. There is no "right" way to be, except for all of us to be ourselves.Learning to know
Several times in this blog I have used the phrase, "learned to know." If you are clever in the ways of reading, you could take this to mean that I have "decided to know x," where x is any random thing that I will now believe as truth.
That's not what I mean at all.
