spiritual journey
I believe anyone can work through the fear of death by learning religion and accepting the existence of an afterlife. Discovering and experiencing that there is no ultimate separation between self and others is made by a few. Rarely one can experience the true nature or fundamental substance of the universe that is beyond all sensation and cognition.
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The final days of the Rosedales
Moving beyond his robotic behavior, Brad meets the final challenge of fully accepting his humanity. He decides that because he has reached a contented state the mission has been accomplished. He believes from his studies that he could pass on to a higher plane of existence, one with more evolved spiritual evolution. A terrible tragedy takes place – Elly dies in a plane crash returning from Japan. Brad is lost, but makes a final effort to spend his remaining years in service to the good of others. He donates the Elly’s life insurance check to a charity for poor children, and takes a volunteer job doing medical exams in homeless…
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Discoveries about the ultimate reality
In one fluid motion, Cassy shoved her chair back, sprang her lanky frame to its full height, raised her arms above her shoulders, and shouted: “This table is real!” Then she bent forward and swung her forearms down. Bang! The table shook and everyone jumped in their seats. The outburst made Brad’s stomach churn. What did I say to cause that? His medical experience forced him to look at her arms for signs of an injury. No evidence of broken bones. But that must have hurt. Returning to her chair, Cassy looked around at the dozen startled faces. Her eyes were burning like fiery coals, and a tight frown had…
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Enlightenment and the Dark Night of the Soul
Elly’s support for Brad was unconditional, even after he turned the temple trip into a competitive sport. The monks had beaten him at every form of spiritual practice, which made him bitter. “They played me,” he said, as they prepared for the 10 hour flight back to California. “They set me up for the hardest practices, and then laughed at me when I failed.” “Honey, nobody was trying to win anything. And they weren’t laughing at you. They are actually happy! You should try it. How can you expect to beat monks who practice every day for years? They didn’t go to medical school, you wouldn’t expect them to come…
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Wanderers and the Law of Squares
Brad found himself with some free time after giving up his calling to be a health care reform activist. Patient referrals were steady, but not overly busy, and with occasional time to reflect, the old riddle “to become square, square yourself” came back to haunt him. A dream came where he was with the 3 beings who had appeared in a vision when he was 14. There were images of a barren and alien landscape, like another planet. He looked down at himself and saw that his body was blue like theirs. In the dream, he felt lighter, and faster than a human should. They were playing a 3-dimensional game,…
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An Enlightened Guru on the Ganga
John adjusted his glasses and pinched his beard. “Oh yeah, there’s some real good gurus all up and down the river. I’m going to a different one every day. But nobody can make me meditate like Andrew Cohen does, that’s why I’m here at his retreat.” “I need to see a spiritual teacher I can talk to,” said Brad. I have a hundred questions, and Andrew couldn’t give me an answer to the first one!” “Oh!” John replied. “If you want someone who will answer questions, go see ShantiMayi. She might not give the answer that you want to hear though!” John laughed, and a pained expression came across his…
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A ticket to India
An Indian driver speaking perfect English, dropped Brad off at the San Francisco International Airport. Forty hours later, another Indian driver speaking less than perfect English dropped him off near an ashram in northern India. The connecting United Airlines flights halfway around the world, and the all-night drive from Indira Ghandi International airport had him exhausted, but the driver kept him awake with stories about the holy area, including warnings about the monkeys hanging overhead in trees. Embodiments of the god Hanuman, it was forbidden to harm them even when they plundered food from unwary travelers. They had driven by the ashram where the Beatles had their magical mystery tour…
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Finding what is missing – the search for Enlightenment
A gift came after Dr. Sherman helped heal Brad’s traumatized inner child. Gone was the fear of failure that drove him out of bed every morning to work until he would drop late at night. The need to find and conquer an endless series of challenges, a need that had constantly goaded his mind and body, was gone too. It amazed him that he could sit and do nothing, and not feel guilty or worthless. Going to work and taking care of people with aches and pains became a welcomed routine, and getting STAT trauma calls nights and weekends was not missed at all. It didn’t take long for a…
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The Visitation: “To become square, square yourself”
The next eviction notice came after Brad turned 14, which was right before the Christmas holidays. Mo was between jobs, working hustles with his partner Shue. Plays he called them. They would come in all excited in the middle of the night, get drunk, and pass out. Natalie would get some cash for food, beer, cigarettes, and her Astrology magazine. But lately there hadn’t been many good plays and they were 3 months behind on the rent. The Sheriff posted notice and they had to get out. The parent’s options were living in the car, or giving the kids up to foster homes. In desperation, she called her mother Mary…
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Challenged to help humanity
Numan’s encounter with his lovely and radiant mentor from the higher dimension confirmed his decision to be born on Earth. In a strange way he felt he would miss her, knowing his human life would cut him off from any contact. Impulsive by nature, confident that his mental abilities and deep drive to succeed would make his mission as a human a cakewalk, he rushed into the Earth birth protocol. Some members of his local planetary group had incarnated as humans in the past, and not all with good results. A few were stuck there, old souls in human bodies struggling with the task of discovering their purpose in life,…