Waking Up

Why is it that some humans experience major transformations in their consciousness and others simply do not?

Many who have near-death experiences are never the same afterwards. They recall being in a realm of light and love like nothing they have ever known here on Earth--but to find this place of great peace, they had to go through extreme physical distress. After the near-death experience, many times their bodies heal quickly, returning to a state of health and function equal or nearly equal to that which they experienced previously. They do not regret having died because what they have found gives them a level of hope and peace unlike any they might have found otherwise.

Having a shock of some sort, and coming out the other side of it a whole and better person, can be the chance of a lifetime. During these moments, we see that we are so much more than our bodies, and that there are realms invisible to our five senses that are as real and valid as what we experience in this three-dimensional world.

But do we really have to die to fully live? Do we have to go through physical or emotional tragedy to truly connect to what exists beyond the mundane?

The answer, of course, is no. In order to "wake up," we need only accept the truth about our world, our lives, and our capacity to change them both.

When we live in a world of matter, we are controlled by material influences. We don't realize that we are getting the results we get because we expect those very results. We are controlled by the weather, the stock market, our bank accounts, our bosses, and our spouses. We feel good when we experience physical pleasure through food, sex, or societal recognition, and we feel bad when those pleasures don't live up to our expectations, or fulfill us.

This world is meant to test us. The test is not the important thing: it is our reaction to it that counts. We can use each event in our experience as a stepping-stone to freedom. Turning our thoughts away from the material picture helps us know the truth: that harmony, love, peace, health and abundance are the truth, and that their opposites, disharmony, hate, war, sickness and lack, are not real. Knowing this will keep us in a peaceful state where we can operate without stress and confusion.

Waking up is not easy. It is hard work to free ourselves in every area to reach a place where we can say, "I am one with God, and none of this moves me." But living in our Self, the consciousness that is one with God, allows us to operate much more effectively. We live in a mental universe--it is all thought. Matter is the manifestation of our thought in the world we create for ourselves, and therefore we need not change anything but our thoughts to change the world.