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The Force of Life, Love and Essence of Being By Richard Schwartz
Tibetan Buddhist, Sogyal Rinpoche speaks of the phowa practice, which consists of the transfer of consciousness at death to a higher realm of awareness using the techniques of visualizations, mantras and devotion of deep feelings of compassion towards all life, to personal trust in (a) deities or perceptions of higher consciousness that prepare a person for death. In this Sogyal Rinpoche writes: "If the time comes when you cannot practice actively any more, the only really important things for you to do is to relax, as deeply as possible, in the confidence of the View or Rigpa and rest in the nature of mind. (This is the quiet space of mind that exists between thoughts - the Rigpa or ground luminosity). It does not matter whether your body or your brain are still functioning, the nature of your mind is always there, sky-like, radiant, blissful, limitless and unchanging . . . Know that beyond all doubt, and let that knowledge give you the strength to say with carefree abandon to all your pain, however great it is: "Go way now, and leave me alone!" If there is anything that irritates you or makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, don't waste your time trying to change it;' keep returning to the View." "Trust in the nature of your mind, trust it deeply and relax completely. There is nothing new you need to learn or acquire or understand, just allow what you have already been given to blossom in you and open at greater and greater depths." Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, p. 238 Moving aside from the writings of an ancient Judea-Christian society, who base their God as a male patriarchal figure who rules as king, sitting on a throne, the reflection of monarchical human government, is to leave the human attempt at certainty and security to ward of hysteria and trauma, to explain and capture the unexplainable, the essence of mystery. It is to perceive the life force that lives both around us in all living things, and inhabits our beings deep within our silence. This is our force of life, our agape, the very essence of being. It was Plato who coincided with the ancient Indian philosophy, (I think Plato came first and his attempts at achieving glimpses of the higher self were through contemplation, not mind emptying meditation) that of the Upishads, the idea of two worlds, the world as we know of it - that of appearances and the world beyond this one - that of ideas, one demonstrable, one fundamental, one of appearances, one of ultimate reality, one sensual, one supersensual. However it was Nietzsche that rejected such, to that of one world that we continually create. In an uncertain reality, there is not a separate spiritual realm, nor another world, nor are do we arrive into this world from another, nor are we a construction project of this world, only to return back to a separate spiritual world, but here and now live in both worlds at the same time, creating vertically while moving horizontally. As multiple branches exist on one tree, we are all part of one, universal, connected energy, that all life derives itself from, that is, one spirit having no boundaries, no form and no limits. "For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one and the same breath and spirit, so that a man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity." Ecc 3:19 We are a product that grows out of this world. As a tree grows out of this world, it does not come from a separate spiritual world, neither does the fruit that grows upon it, but rather, from unseen waves of intelligent energy, the life force, that enables it to grow from a seed into a large tree. We grow out of this world as a tree grows out of the ground. Wayne Dywer supplies the example of a plumb tree. The plumb tree has it's own unseen life force, it's own predetermined blueprint of mysterious intelligence and actively living qualities that bring forth bark, roots, stems and plumbs. It has its own DNA structure, it's own unique knowledge, with unseen waves of living energy, an invisible life force within that has it's own unparalleled built in foresight, understanding and wisdom. We in turn are also grown from our environment, our world, being unique and different, yet directly part of, intertwined in connectedness, each depending on the one and same life force simultaneously for existence. We are the manifestation of the spirit in material form. The spirit being abundantly limitless, formless and without constraints, as we are the physical distinctions of the spirit, the life force of God, as the one and universal spirit manifests itself in every living thing, the trees, oceans, fish, birds, minerals, vegetables, flowers and us. We are a result of what the universe is doing on a conscious level, as a wave of the ocean has it's own distinction and separately unique foresight, it remains connected to the ocean, the whole. As a plum has its own unequaled wisdom as separate, yet inseparable to the tree, the tree itself being different, yet entirely connected to the earth, the earth being separate and distinct, yet undifferentiated from the universe. We are all uniquely distinct in our variations, yet one and same, universally part of each other. We live as distinctly unique physical beings, yet are simultaneously spiritual beings of one and the same energy of each other, living in both worlds at the same time.
Anotherwards, this is the essence of both life and death. We live as spiritual beings manifested
in flesh, extensions of the environment, the world we live in. We live in both the spiritual and physical realms
simultaneously. When we die, rather then our entering into a separate spiritual realm of active life as some new
creature in a separate spiritual world detached from our environment, we can incur our direction in re-growth and
renewal in both worlds, the seen and the unseen, as we live in both worlds now, simultaneously. We return back
to the earth, that we are both part of, and continue to grow out of. We, like the waves of the ocean, are part
of the whole, yet manifested in distinct form, as a branch of a tree that is an extension of the tree. Imagine
you're a chunk of ice, at death melting in the warm waters of the ocean, back to sea, the whole, to dissipate and
revert back to the earth and become once again, part of the whole, inter connected with the environment. We live
now as one of the peaks of the tide, only to return to the whole, to the form we are part, yet different in aspect.
We return our physical bodies to other tangible forms and our spirit life force cannot die, but simply changes
form, as the unseen intelligence into all other living things. This is the energy, the spirit within us, the divine
life force of God, that is one in all living things. It is with our awareness of this higher self, where we find
God. Our energy, spirit, continues in some type of intelligence. I can not say what type, perhaps peaking again
as blades of grass, trunks of trees, molecules of water, all within the invisible life force of God and unique
wisdom that our environment gives us as we are both part of and grow out of. What is God can be stated as discovering this "isness" within oneself, revealing our oneness with all of life, that there is only one universal soul, and that our personalities are vehicles of the whole. And yet it is more than finding God within ourselves, but in sense loosing ourselves in the whole, seeing the no-self in emptiness, in "void." Forgetting one self's ego-reflexive consciousness into Being itself, into a quiet stillness of peace. For the Christian mystic it is the Christ within and the Zen master, complete emptiness in Sunyata. You cannot divide the infinite. There is no division. This is the awareness we must trust. As we trust our intuitive selves, beyond our intelligence, we trust God. Perhaps this sounds a very frightening prospect, the possibility of losing our unique special human identity, our security and certainty, our very selves as we know it, yet our energy, our life force cannot die but change in form as energy cannot be destroyed. On the contrary, of the thought to be feared, my inner peace tells me it is beautiful, serene, peaceful, blissful and for some strange intuitive reason, I believe this may well be why I feel so connected to nature. Somehow out in the woods, up in the mountains, inside the empty fields of open farm land, a knowing deep inside of returning there, back to the whole, the earth, the environment, back to the peaceful bliss of nature, only to re-grow again, peaking in distinction as another wave of the ocean, peak of a mountain, ravine of a valley, blade of grass. Rather then being an inevitable eventuality to be feared, which is in itself fear of the unknown, it is something beautiful to be welcomed and embraced and somehow in our meditation and contemplation in our silent retreat, is our attempt to leave the human consciousness to achieve a higher awareness of our connection to both God and nature that can only be found within ourselves. We are all separate, but all inseparable, all distinct but all connected, all different yet impossible to be undifferentiated from what we ourselves are part of, the earth, each other, the environment, the universe and the one divine life force, the spirit, of God, the unseen energy of wisdom within us. To see this force all around us, this must be found within ourselves, as close as our very breath. It is our shifting of awareness that allows us this knowing. If you live a life to learn to rise above fear, to walk with courage in spite of the fear, to let mystery and uncertainty of the unknown be your lead then you will loose your fear of death when the day comes. And when that happens you wont fight death. And at the moment of death, you will be calm and be aware for the death experience. The death experience is that of your whole life flashes by like a movie, but it does so in such a way that it only lasts a in a matter of seconds, condensed in form beyond words and explanations, all flashing by at a rapid, yet understandable form. Now, how you leave this world is how you will enter into the next, perhaps reincarnated back here in the womb of a new mother, as the ocean forms a new wave and a tree grows a new branch. Anotherwards, if you go out in fear, clinging to life, your entry will be the same. The energy released at death never dies. Energy does not die, it simply changes form. If our energy is that of fear and unawareness, will it gravitate back to the same fear and unawareness at our new birth? If our energy is calm and aware, without fear, perhaps it will gravitates to the same awareness at our birth? It is in this aspect of the law of karma: We die and so does both our body and our minds. We loose our minds, our brains, much of our memories that are stored in our brain, our intellects, yet our energy and those memories that are made up of thoughts and energy, and energy does not die but change form. The theory is: our rebirth is that of the law of karma, at least in this one respect, certainly not all. The life we live now, how we train our energy, to either be fearful, stressed, unaware and afraid of unknown or that of calm, awareness with the ability to rise above fear and live courageously in insecurity and uncertainty. This is what we will be in our rebirth. The condition are energy is, either of fear and clinging or that of peace and acceptance, that will be the gravitation of energy we will be reborn with. "Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death." -DOGEN, Moon in a Dewdrop There are Buddhists and Hindus alike that believe that it is our last thought at the moment of death, that determines the character of the next incarnation. Anotherwards the pattern of our thinking, the condition of our energy. As the Bardo thodo teaches, so have the Sages of India long taught, that the thought-process of a dying person should be rightly directed, preferable by the dying person if he or she has been initiated or psychically trained to meet death, or, otherwise, by a guru or a friend or relative versed in the science of death. Sri Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita (13: 6) says to Arijuna, "One attaineth whatever state (of being) one thinketh about at the last when relinquishing the body, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof." The teaching here is that our past thinking has determined our present status, and our present thinking will determine our future status; for man is what man thinks. In the words of the opening verse of the Dhammapada, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts, and made up of our thoughts." Likewise did the Hebrew sages teach, as in Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." In relation to the energy, "There are only two energy types, being due to mass and charge. Both are symmetric in action, so that positive masses attract positive masses, and negative masses attract negative masses, the necklace formation being driven by the effect of chasing by different mass-types. Two similar pre-quarks have no effect other than direct impact on each other because their masses attract to the same extent as their charges repel. M J Lawrence, Maldwyn Centre for Theoretical Physics, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom. Look around and see all the people, driving to work, back from work, walking, busy, occupied. Could all people in ancient life be in some way the same people in the modern world? In death are they returning back to the womb to start all over? Each life evolving in small degrees? When we leave this form of life in death in the condition of fear, does our energy attract the same, that is being reborn in fear, in self. Then to leave this form in peace and courage is attract the same, reborn in peace and courage. As positive attracts positive and negative attracts negative. Like the waves of the ocean down we go to rise again and hit the shore. Yet with each passing birth we loose our memory of all our past lives, always born in slight change molded from our immediate past life. Hopefully always evolving to the ultimate goal of living life beyond all material possessions, beyond all religious teachings, beyond the self reliance of a God, to that of self courage with the strength to accept the threat of the unknown in spite of, to transcend all hatred and differences in a life that is devoted to charity, to love of all without attachment - disinterested love - loving not for good or bad, nor emotion, but simply because all exist. I love you just because you exist.
As a glass of water is removed from the ocean, so as it is, a distinct life occurs, only to be poured back out to the whole at death. Yet with water, it dissipates into the whole. Scoop up another glass of water and you will have perhaps a trillionth particle of the original glass of water and a trillion particles of a trillion other scoops of water, all comprising this small distinct amount. If this is the case in the energy of the distinct individual human, whose energy returns back to the whole at death, then the rebirth would comprise an entirely new individual with a mere particle of the former and the trillions of particles of others, or that of the seemingly infinite amount of particles of the entire whole. In theory, this could explain the loss of memory of past lives, as they consist of the lives of the whole and not any one distinct individual. The new rebirth into life then exists as a distinct individual, only to return back to the whole, to be dissipated, meshed in with the whole. The cycle repeats itself, reborn as a new unique individual, consisting of a particle of the former distinction and the undermined amount of particles of the whole. Does the energy of the individual retain its entire distinction
in death and return as so? Or does this energy, as water, dissipate and mesh with the whole, only to return as
a complete new combination? Or is it the same exact distinct mass of energy that reincarnates to a new distinction
with loss of memory of past lives? Or, to make matters more confusing, does the energy of the human life, at death,
blend in and dissipate with the energy of all that includes non-human life? Energy does not die, but changes form.
Yet does it retain any realm of distinction within itself? This presents another speculative thesis. If energy remains in groups, failing to fully dissipate in the whole and then regrouping in clumps forming a new distinction, this could explain, along with the ego, multiple personalities and memories relating to plural histories that conflict with each other. The ego in itself of the distinct human individual creates the illusion of separation from the divine ground of energy that emits life in each being. This alone can contribute to the illusionary division of ego and inner self. Yet with schizophrenia there is the neurosis of mental divisional walls taking on different personalities producing the affect of different histories. Does the formation and nature of energy remain together or dissipate? If so, how much remains attracted to similar particles while repelling others? Just as rivers flow from east and west With all the philosophy of life, death and afterlife, naked truth in objectivity lives only in the present moment. It is only here and now, the eternal nowness, where reality exists. Then there is the science and analysis of antimatter. "Physicists believe antimatter is the mirror image of conventional matter in the universe. For every subatomic particle in the universe, there appears to be another identical in appearance and structure, but with its electric or magnetic properties reversed. Though used fictionally to power the Starship Enterprise, in real life it is extremely difficult to make and even harder to keep because it annihilates on contact with matter. Scientists have been puzzling for years over the disappearance of antimatter. The Big Bang should have created the same amount of matter and antimatter, and in principle the two should have wiped each other out. But somehow there was enough matter left over to create the universe, and antimatter only exists now in cosmic rays and particle accelerators." - CNN - Space and Science
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