The Day When the Sky Opened

Our oldest son is going on eight, so when over Thanksgiving we were staying at my in-laws who had just moved close to us and when my wife and I managed steal out for a few hours to watch a movie it occurred to me that this was the literally the first one we have seen together since my wife was pregnant. A symbolic seven year period had just passed.

I was driving on the highway, it was a beautiful fall day in Connecticut and the bright sunshine reflected in my mirror and in the cars that drove by when I suddenly had a satori moment. I became aware of my thinking and I discovered the agenda in every thought and realized that Truth is literally the opposite. Suddenly everything just melted in an 'I Am' experience. Ego is the absence of love and love is the absence of ego. That is all to it. I Am!

On that day the spiritual world opened up to me. It turned out that the movie we had seen was the James Bond movie, Skyfall. Who would have thought that the day when the skies open could be such as a holy experience. Apparently the Mayan prediction was in fact the Age of the Second Coming rather than the the Last Judgement.

Beyond Good and Evil

I once dreamt that I was on vacation with my family and I was walking by myself in a small village when the news broke out that the entire prison population had escaped out of a near-by institution. Immediately my thoughts went to my kids and wife, but I figured that they were at a safe location. There I already saw a small group of convicts walking behind me and heard one saying "hey, look what we have here, fresh meat". I figured that meant that they wanted to rape me so I started running into a house, and they came after me. When I was on the third floor, I felt how one guy grabbed me and all I could think was "this is going to hurt", we fought and we both flew through a window landing on a balcony. I took a close look at him, he was white, had an enormous muscular body and a face like a demon. Despite his massive body, I was able to keep him at arms-length eithout much effort. Then I woke up.

In hindsight I am neither of the two, even though I would love to associate with the protective family father than the escaped convict who runs around raping people. After the dream I felt peaceful because I realized that I had reached an important psychological break-through. My demon was out in the open and I had the power to keep him at arms- length.

Today I experienced a satori moment when I realized that I am beyond good and evil, beyond the ying and yang. At that moment of connectedness with the 'beyond', you just are and that is all. You  have transcended the one you aspire to be, as well as the one you are secretly afraid you might be. You just are and the struggle is over at this special moment.

Bursting Mental Bubbles

Be still and know that I am God, the Bible says in Psalm 46:10, which is a good insight, but pretty meaningless for the many of us who just don't know how to stop thinking. Mental bubbles are rising to the surface all the time, but the Psalm suggests once they stop coming, only then are you able to perceive true reality.

We can use the mental bubble analogy to explain the three paths of yoga. The yoga of meditation or energy focuses on stopping the bubbles via meditation. Your breathing raises the divine energy in your body up your spine and when it reaches your brain, the mental bubbles are crowded out and you experience samadhi. The yoga of wisdom (jnana yoga) is about bursting the mental bubbles right as they come. You immediately distinguish the real thoughts and emotions from the false. Any mental bubble gets burst as it reaches the surface. The yoga of love (bhakti yoga) is about melting the bubbles with your heart. By being in love with your brothers and sisters, as well as your image of God, the unreal you gets burnt up in the process.

Have you experienced a satori, i.e. a moment that captures your breath as well as your mental process. A particular landscape, a moment of beauty with your family or friends that literally stops time and your thinking process. Enjoy your stillness!