Death and dying

How many years have you left? What do you think? 30 years? 10 years? 2 years? When will it be your turn to die?

Will you die in a hospital bed or in a car crash? Will you drown; will you kill yourself with sleeping pills? Will you die from cancer or a brain hemorrhage? Will you suffer tremendously? What do you think?

Do you sometimes wonder what it feels like to die? Do you sometimes wonder what it's like to be dead? Is death like an eternal deep sleep or will you end up in heaven or hell? What do you think?

How many more years has humankind left? Will all life on earth go extinct? Will we all die in a nuclear war or because of the climate change?

What will the universe look like if no one is there to see it? What is the universe made of? Practically nothing; 99,99% empty space? Emptiness between the electrons and the nucleus of the atom?  A few electrons and quarks here and there in the endless void?

What is light made of? What are thoughts made of? Electric fields? What is an electric field? Is an electron a particle or a wave? What do you think?

What is consciousness? You wake up in the morning and falls asleep at night. Is there a switch somewhere in the brain? 

What is all this about?

Bellicosity is not inscribed in our genetic code

If a boy is growing up under difficult conditions, maybe he is regularly abused; maybe the parents are violent criminals; maybe they live in a neighborhood where many people are violent criminals – then it would be strange if he didn't end up in jail, as a violent criminal.

You are born into a world filled to the brim with madness, war, and terror. History is the story of wars and madness. It's a wonder that you're not completely mad. Is it not strange that there are so many friendly people around after all?

Most politicians in the world are assistants to violent gangsters, but they hide their true allegiances behind trustworthy and smiling masks; they are wolves in sheep's clothing. Soldiers in all countries are fooled to believe that war and violence are in our nature and that we have to fight for our rights, that it's a matter of them or us.

But bellicosity is not inscribed in our genes. We are aggressive and violent because of conditioning and adaptation to a violent and criminal environment. The more violent and mad a society is, the more violent and mad people you will meet. The more peaceful and egalitarian a society is, the more friendly and laid back people you will encounter. 

You don't need a scientific degree to understand this.

Decisions

Which part of you is making the decision when you are making a decision?

One part of you decides to quit smoking and never to smoke again. The next morning another part of you lights a cigarette.

One part of you decides to never talk to her again; another part becomes excited when she suddenly calls and happily agrees to have dinner with her.

One part of you says yes; another part says no. One part is getting his way; another part gives in.

Meditation and the monkey mind

The monkey mind is not a big problem. The monkey mind is just stupid thoughts that are hopping around.

The big problem is the beliefs, ideas, and assumptions that motivate your meditation and your actions in daily life.

For example, you may believe that you have to silence your chattering mind.

You may believe that you have to be positive, relaxed and wonderful, that what you feel is wrong.

You may believe that you are stupid, ugly and lazy.

You may believe that life is utterly meaningless.

You may believe that you are an idiot or a jerk, that you are...

What if you're not the one you think you are. Maybe life is not about what you think it is about.

Maybe you have fooled yourself. Maybe you have been deceived.

You have to examine your beliefs, ideas, and assumptions if you want to improve your meditation. The monkey mind is uninteresting. 

Psi

If you experience synchronicities or other psychic phenomena, then you probably have serious psychological problems. Welladjusted, down to earth people, don't experience synchronicities or paranormal oddities.

In normal everyday life, you are always busy. Your calendar is filled, you have endless assignments, duties, and deadlines. You don't have time to think about the mystical part of life. 

But if the rug is suddenly pulled out from under you, maybe the love of your life leave you for someone else, maybe someone near to you dies, maybe you get laid off, then strong synchronicities or other weird things can begin to happen to you.

Or, is it that you now begin to take notice of them because your sensitivity is heightened because you are in a hypersensitive state of mind?

People who come close to death can sometimes experience incredibly strange things.

So, are all these stories about synchronicities, meetings with angels or dead relatives illusions, hallucinations?

Many people pretend that they know about these things. Some of them say that paranormal phenomena are fantasies. Others pretend that their days are filled with synchronicities or messages from angels.

Spirits are real

Many different spirits can take over you: crazy spirits, evil spirits, angry spirits, egotistical spirits.

You have no power over the spirit or the spirits that have taken over you, but sooner or later they will go somewhere else. Depression won't last forever.

You have no power over spirits, but you can invite them. By abusing a child, you are inviting evil spirits; by giving lots of love to a child, you are inviting friendly and relaxed spirits.

By practicing friendliness, even if your childhood was hard, you are also inviting nice and friendly spirits.

Certain medicines can also chase away troublesome spirits.

And, of course, when you die, your spirits have to find a new body. 

Metaphysics

Woodcut from Camille Flammarion's 1888.

What you perceive is just a small part of everything. Your world is just a microscopic part of the creation.

Perhaps this universe is just one among many universes. Maybe there is a God somewhere who is responsible for all the misery and suffering here.

Our world is like a chicken factory farm. 
The chickens have no idea of what's going on outside.

Science deals only with what's going on inside the chicken farm,
the measurable part of the world. Scientists who speculate about what's happening in the unknown world are not considered scientific.

The religions deal with what's going on outside, in the metaphysical world.
But they are not unanimous. 

There are thousands of totally different explanations for what's really going on out there, so many fantastic fantasies.

Something is happening out there. Something is going on in the unknown world.
The question is what.