Spirituality in Man and Spiritual Paths

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Dragos Nicolae

Since time immemorial there have been people who, besides the usual ways of life, started to ask themselves question about themselves and the world they live in.

More or less, all questions revolved around problems like “What is the purpose of existence?”, “Is there anything beyond what can be directly perceived by the senses?”, “Is life more than material existence?”, “If so, how can one have direct experience of higher things?”, “What are the methods for such an enterprise?” and so on…

All of them gathered around the fundamental assertion that “there must be more than “this” “. By “this” we mean the world we live in and the apparent “solid” existence of ours.
It’s very easy to get lost in the maze of theorizing, which, practically speaking is nothing more than mental concepts, offering some solace to some, while for others doing nothing but to prologue the endless cycle of unsolved “mysteries”.

The problem of man and his existence does have some answers and those answers can be found. There have always been advanced souls living among us, who managed to create, explain and show how to put into practice methods and paths to follow in order to reach their elevated state of consciousness. Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Maharshi, Adi Sankara to name just a few.

Unfortunately many of those early advanced souls of humanity were bound to be around people who could not properly understand their message, let alone show others their original teachings in their purest form.

Rigid dogma followed, coupled with institutionalized religions who, instead of illuminating the people have done nothing but contribute to their apparent stagnation. Is this such a bad thing? Not so… If God does not make mistakes, then it follows this is just what people at their level of spiritual development must experience.

The experienced seeker will never be bound by the apparent dogma, who may cover with many layers what every spiritual Master has revealed: the immortality of Spirit, of which each one is inexorably bound.

The goal of every spiritual teaching is one and the same, although called by many names: Kingdom of Heaven, Liberation, Enlightenment, Self Realization, The Egoless State or Samadhi.

There are as many paths as there are different levels of consciousness and it should be clear for any aspirant on the Path that the difference is only apparent. There are many rivers flowing downstream, each with its own variation, but their Essence is one and the same and the final destination is again the same Ocean. This is a simile of course, but the wise aspirant will readily recognize the simple common denominator of apparent “differences” present in religions and spiritual paths.

While some may reach the Final Destination by devout prayer and ascetic lifestyle, others do the same while being engaged in daily life and practicing meditation and self control.
Some are attracted to mantras, while for others chanting and breathing exercises seem more natural. Some simply repeat the name of God with love.

“The man who tries to prove his belief superior to the faith of another, does not know the meaning of religion” says Hazrat Inayat Khan, a pure exemplar of Sufism. Once the aspirant understands this truth, the need to reconcile the “differences”, along with the cruel intolerance which leads only to destruction and suffering cease to exist.
Instead he/she sees only the common denominator: the One, to whom all its children must sooner or later return.

Choose your path, and know that others have also chosen theirs. There are no mistakes! :)

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An Important Money Making Principle

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

 

Although many people regard money as the ultimate evil in this world, I personally choose to be fine with money. Especially since I strongly believe that money is not the root of all evil. Evil thoughts are the root of all evil.

Money is necessary and although I have to admit that the monetary system is not man’s highest invention I am satisfied with human progress so far and choose to cooperate with it rather than be against it.

There are many ways to make money in this world, some highly questionable some highly rewarding. Of course, this article is addressed to people in the latter category. One of the most rewarding ways to make money is by doing something that you truly love, something that adds value to the world. Adding value is the key here, irrespective of you working as a freelancer, having your own business, working for a company or having a “job” as an actor. You can’t even call what you do a “job” if you truly like it. If you add value, it follows logically that you should be well paid for your effort.

Is one thing to work as a robot, is a different thing to add value to the world through what you do. In the first case, you don’t need to use your brainpower too much. In the second one, you really need many qualitites, like creativity, self discipline, endurance, good planning and so on. So adding real value through what you do almost always results in a good financial compensation. Almost, because you still need to master many skills. Even if you are a great actor, without effort, having a vision of yourself, discipline etc you will not reach very far.

When approaching money, probably the worst thing in the world is to start with the mindset “I want to make lots of money”. This is stupid. What does ‘lots of money’ mean in this case? $1,000, $10,000, $1,000,000?!

It’s very important to set specific amounts if you want more efficiency, better planning and ultimately better results.

You should set a specific amount. Decide exactly how much money you would like to make. It sounds very easy but a lot of people skip this important step. They want financial abundance but they never decide what abundance means to them.

If you decide on a specific amount, another principle comes into play: Be realistic, but not too realistic! It’s highly unlikely you will make $100,000 a month if you run a gorcery store(I’m talking about my country, Romania). You probably won’t be a billionaire by selling a highly targeted piece of software. You can’t get over a certain limit of money if you work in an environment where strict rules about compensations apply.

But you can use the “set a specific amount” mindset to improve your results. Here’s how it happens (it all starts with the premise that you are doing something valuable, something that adds value, not a ripp off. You can’t be motivated for too long if you know you ripp people off with your products or services): When you make up your mind on making a realistic but challenging enough amount of money X each month two things will happen. First, you will get more clarity. Then second, your mind will automatically try to find ways to make it happen. If you want to make X amount of money each month your mind will find was to sell more of your products or services, improve those products or services or come up with new ideas. All because now you subconscious mind is satured with the desire to reach the X amount target.

It’s not brain surgery, and it’s a principle already applied by many successful businesses and entrepreneurs, but people who first embark on improving their lives and level of peace by increasing their financial situation often overlook this tiny but powerful principle. The more specific, realistic and challenging your financial goals are the more motivated you will become and the more you will work to make it happen. Adding clarity is vital for financial success and no one has ever reached a stable financial success by simply “wishing to make lots of money”.

Of course there are many variables to ensure a stable and abundant flow of money. Adding value with your products or service, specific targets, discipline, confidence or having a specific vision have already been mentioned. But you can greatly improve your results just by purposely deciding on a certain amount of money you intend to earn.
Don’t overlook this important principle! ;)

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Albert Ellis’ List of Common Irrational Beliefs

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

Albert Ellis was a famous psychologist who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). In short, REBT is a form of psychotherapy that deals with emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and helps people lead happier and more fulfilling lives.

The basic assumptions of REBT (to whom I wholeheartedly subscribe) is that we create our misery(dysfunctional emotions and behaviors) through what we think (beliefs, life philosophies, meanings we create etc…)

You can find all his books here (“A New Guide to Rational Living” being among my favorites)

Ellis identified a list with the most common irrational beliefs people seem to cherish. See if you subscribe to them ;)

1. It is an absolute necessity to have love and approval from others almost all the time.

2. You must be unfailingly competent and perfect in all you undertake.

3. People who harm you or commit misdeeds are evil, wicked, and villainous individuals, and you should severely blame, damn, and punish them.

4. It is horrible, terrible, or catastrophic when things do not go the way you want them to go.

5. External events cause most human misery, and you have little ability to control your feelings or to rid yourself of depression, hostility, and similar feelings.

6. You will find it easier to avoid facing many of life’s difficulties and responsibilities than to undertake some rewarding form of self self-discipline.

7. If something seems dangerous or fearsome, you must become preoccupied with it and upset about it.

8. Your past remains all-important, and just because something once strongly influenced your life, it has to keep determining your feelings and behavior today.

9. People and things should turn out better than they do, and you have to view it as awful and horrible if you do not quickly find good solutions to life’s problems.

10. You can achieve happiness by inertia and inaction or by passively and uncommitedly “Enjoying yourself.”

11. You must have a high degree of order or certainty to feel comfortable.

12. To give yourself a global rating as a human, and your general worth and self-acceptance depend upon the goodness of your performance and the degree that people approve of you.
 

 

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The Meaning of 11:11

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

Introduction

It seems a day like any other day. Nothing special. Your life goes on as usual. Same day at the office, same boss that drives you mad, busy schedule, crazy traffic, a relationship that you feel could be more, money that allows you to survive pretty decently… Satisfying at best.

But today something feels different. You detect a small urge inside yourself to look at you clock. You look, and to your (almost unnoticeable) amazement you see that is 11:11. “Well, just a coincidence”, you think to yourself, although you cannot hide the subtle feeling of joy and comfort you feel for this lucky “coincidence”.

You quickly forget this experience and rush to your daily tasks and chores. However, a few days later the same phenomenon happens. You again see the 11:11. On your watch, computer clock, car number, plate, wall or anything else your eyes drag you to. “Hmmm, that number again…”, this time you begin to feel it may not be just a coincidence. The odds are a bit higher this time. But, then again, your mind quickly labels it as another coincidence and you return to what you have to do that day.

But, as times goes by you start seeing the number more often. Just like a mosquito that never seems to leave you until it gets satisfied, the 11:11 begins to slowly but surely invade your life. When you cannot see it directly you see it as another combinations of numbers or sequences of repeating numbers. It doesn’t take long until you see everywhere 11:11, 74, 28, 83, 23:23, 29:83, 12:21, 222, 444, 555 etc. All originating from the same root, 11.

Now you begin to take notice of it. The more you resist it, the more it happens. Like it wants you to crack to it or something. The more you resist it, the more you think something is wrong with you. Are you going crazy or something? Is it just you imagination? Do you need to see a doctor?

“What is 11:11? Could there be something behind it? Is there something that’s trying to get my attention? What is it?” Now you begin to accept it to a certain degree and even start a small research on the subject. You can’t explain it, but deep down you feel good about it. You’re somehow aware of some future benefit to it and instead of resisting it you invite it more into your life. You’re still partially scared by it but, as you know you can’t make it go away, you begin to cooperate with it. “Let’s see where the rabbit hole goes” becomes your state of mind.

The more you accept and surrender to it the more changes you start to see in your life. At first the changes may take form of small personal “disasters”, like being fired from you job, leaving a relationship, some kind of loss or emotional disturbance. Then, as your surrender and acceptance grows, you begin to see the real intention behind the 11:11. It wants to help you. It wants you to change. It wants the best for you. It loves you. It cares for you. Your life isn’t the fulfilling life you deep down you feel you deserve and you know it. Otherwise the 11:11 wouldn’t have behaved like a stalker. Your life needs to change and the 11:11 knows it. It doesn’t want to startle you, so by annoying you with a number it knows it can’t scare you too much.

As times goes by, you make really good friends with 11:11. You anxiously wait for it to show up, because by now you know that when it gets your attention it actually tells you “you’re on the right track, my dear friend”. You also begin to accept the changes that seem to break your life apart. You feel it’s the best thing that could happen to you and you start to follow it’s lead without question. Your intuition becomes extremely strong.

When the process of change approaches completion, you are amazed on how much your life changes or is still undergoing a process of deep transformation. Things or situations that seem to upset you are seen now in a completely different life. You finances, health, relationships, all begin to “click” and suddenly you become aware of how limited you former view of life was. You can’t even believe all the blessings that start pouring into your life. You feel the Universe is conspiring to give you the best possible life. Peace of mind, happiness and fulfillment become your constant companion. Financial success becomes a child’s play and your life experience is enriched beyond expression.

Relationships flourish, money comes like it’s being made on your printer, you are able to do and have all those things you thought yourself undeserving to have or do. You feel like you’ve been “upgraded”. You suddenly have meaning, purpose, peace, you are happy. You have it all. Wonderful! Truly wonderful!

This is, in short, the experience of 11:11. This article is all about 11:11. It’s all about positive change. It’s all about meaning, purpose and fulfillment. It’s about you and your amazing life. So let’s get started!

What is 11:11?!

11:11 is a signal. At first! Then it becomes a constant companion, like a good friend that wants to best out of you and your life. Then it turns into joy and happiness. Then you look back and you see the whole picture. You cannot see the whole picture now because, at the present, you life is so fragmented that nothing makes much sense.

There’s no feeling of completion and nothing seems to click. You somehow seem to struggle against some enormous odds, and mostly you seems to struggle against something called Life. Your life sucks! Admit it! :) If it hadn’t sucked you wouldn’t have invited the signal into your life. Your life sucks and 11:11 is here to make it straight, to make it work.

11:11 is actually a signal from the Higher Power called by many names God, Consciousness, The Universe, Your Higher Self, the Divine and so on. The label is not important at all. The experience is. And your experience of your Divine nature will unfold as you begin to follow 11:11’s lead.

This Divine nature is not something separate from your very Being. It’s actually you, but you’ve chosen to forget it and exchanged it for mundane pleasures, cravings and desires that do not serve your highest good. You’ve forgotten who you really are and what you should really do with your life, and that’s the reason your life sucks big time right now. So be glad, 11:11 is here to make it all work, to make it all as it should be, to make it complete and fulfilling.

If the Divine would have take some form and showed up in your living room as, for example, one of the Avatars you admire (say Buddha), you would probably freaked out that you’d have thought you really need to see a doctor.

Instead it chose to take you step by step until you become ready to get Its message and guidance. It knows better, so trust it.

So, 11:11 is actually a signal for a better life. A signal for awakening to your true Nature. A signal who, if followed, will give you things, wisdom and experiences beyond your wildest dreams. Once you have entered the Path of 11:11 and accepted its guidance you can never fail. How can the Divine fail, anyway?

It’s true, there will be periods of turmoil and seemingly “disasters” in your life, but that’s a normal part of the Process. The Process is what you have to undergo until the Divine is fully established in your life. The Process can be easy or a painless, depending on your level of surrender to it. But it cannot be stopped! So why not choose to make it painless by completely accepting the changes that have to occur until you become well grounded in your new way of life? Think and make your choice!

As you begin to dive more deeply into the subject you’ll begin to see that 11:11 is actually a global phenomenon. Yes, it’s happening on a global scale. It’s the Divine choosing to help the humankind. Surrender to it and your life will be magically transformed. Resist it and you’ll add more pain and turmoil to what is actually unavoidable.

Humanity has reached a point where, if left unaided, will destroy itself. We’re building more bombs than houses, we’re more entrenched in our selfish desires than ever before. We are blind to the true purpose of our lives, and we don’t even bother to search for it. Actually, many of us don’t even believe there’s a specific purpose for our lives. We mistake then evening news with reality and think we’re living in a meaningless Universe, where everything is random, and only a struck of luck can better our lives.

This is not so, as we shall see. There is no randomness, but a Higher Order that we can choose to align with and consequently live those meaningful lives that were destined to us.

11:11 is my journey as well as yours. The Divine has a plan for you, not necessarily in the sense you were taught by your religious leaders. The plan is to live your best life, a life that is specifically suited to you. No two 11:11 followers will have the exact same life. Each one is unique, so each one has a certain role in this manifestation we call life.

The Process

The Process is the stage you undergo until the Divine is firmly established in your life. You can make it painless just by surrendering to 11:11 and it’s lead.

At first, the Process may seem uncomfortable. It’s only an appearance because it’s very nature is to take you out of your comfort zone and bring you to the new life you were meant to live.

Deep changes can occur to you at this stage. Your very nature of reality will change. Things will be seen form a better, higher perspective. Relationships could fall apart, friends could come and go, jobs may be lost, you may even experience poverty for some time. You may call it the “Dark night of the soul” although I personally don’t like the term because it implies some kind of harsh suffering that is not at all inherent in the Process. It’s more like feeling uncomfortable until its job is done.

You will always be guided by 11’s showing up everywhere, as well as combinations of letters that add to 11, or repeating sequences of numbers like 222, 333 etc.

One thing is to remember: you cannot fail! There is no failure! Once the 11:11 has entered your life, you are already on the Divine’s army, to use a plastic term. Even seeming failures are actually what you need to experience to come out on the other side fresh and new.

Although I purposely chose to omit mentioning the terms God or quote the Bible, because this is not a religious article by any means, the expression “… a new heaven and a new earth” from Revelation, denotes very accurately what this Divine is trying to create at the present time.

You are part of the process, even if you have thought of yourself as a small, insignificant individual living in an austere, meaningless universe.

You are important beyond measure, and the more you follow 11:11 the more it will be revealed to you that this is so. You were mean to do great things, not necessarily in the sense the current term of “success” mean to most people. Your changes, both inside and outside, will influence everyone else.

There’s no need to panic. It’s true that there will be times when you’ll be quite startled of how your life might turn out, but that’s another purpose of the number 11 showing up. To tell you that everything is ok, that everything happens as it should happen.

The Process can take months, many months. It all depends of how entrenched you are in your current way of life. The more layers that need to be discarded, the more time it will take. No need to worry though. In the end all will become clear and you will see how everything worked together to bring you to your new life.

Right at this very moment, my computer clock shows 7:13 AM. Do you think this a coincidence? You know better ;) …

The Process will end when it thinks it’s time to end. You cannot rush it, you cannot stop it. If fact you cannot ‘do’ anything about it. Just let it happen.

If emotional feelings from you past will surface, let them happen so you can heal. If your relationships fall apart let them happen. If you loose money or property let it happen. If anything unpleasant that needs to be healed shows up let it happen. Let everything happen, because the less you resist it the faster will go away and leave you with a sense of deep peace.

Scars will be healed and this is a vital part of the Process. You cannot show up on the other side an emotionally disturbed person, so clearing up anything painful from your past is a very normal part of the Process. Everything you’ve identified with for so long and strongly cherished will have to be discarded eventually. You cannot make the ‘discarding’ happen any faster so, as said before, let it happen when it happens.

The Process can also affect other areas of your life, like health for instance. You eating habits could drastically change, as well as your sleeping patterns. At some times you could find yourself crying for no reason, or feeling blissful at other times. You could literally feel on an emotional rollercoaster. The recipe is simple: just let it happen!

Creative ideas could come to you, and inspiration will be seen everywhere. Follow those ideas that you feel most strongly about even if they seem crazy at first. Don’t do anything that does not align with you internally, that you don’t feel at peace about. You will be guided internally, so you intuition and inner impulses will be your best guide as to what road you should take.

Don’t neglect “small” tasks or things you feel impelled to do even if you cannot foresee any immediate benefit. This does not imply you should follow your every whim and desire. Your intuition cannot fail, and the more you surrender to the Process the stronger it will become.

At some later time you will reach a point of deep clarity and you will know what you have to do and you will deeply understand all the seemingly turmoil you had to go through.

At the end of the road, you new picture of the thing you simply called “world” will have changed dramatically. You will unmistakably understand why you are here and what you have to do externally. You steps will be fully guided and you’ll know that now there’s no room for error anymore. All will become effortless and a deep sense of peace and joy will fill everything that you do. Your life will be magically transformed on all levels. You will truly be part of the “new heaven and the new earth”.

Understanding Your Higher Purpose

Your life has a higher purpose an external purpose. The higher purpose implies your consciousness and state of mind, while the external purpose is what you’ll be guided to do externally. Both are inexorably connected and, at the end of the Process you will clearly see the whole picture.

The higher purpose is always connected to your spiritual development, or, to say it better, to your connection to the Divine. I cannot enter into details, as the Higher Purpose is a deeply personal purpose that only you can understand. People are at different stages of spiritual evolution, so the Higher Purpose will be intimate to each one of us. You will KNOW, and that’s all that can be said by now.

The Higher Purpose will beautifully blend with your worldly life, so there will be no interference between your work on the spiritual and material side of life. All will form a harmonious whole, so harmonious that will be hard to explain it in words. All we know is that the Higher Purpose will beautifully complement and enrich your life.

As far as complex and far fetching these words may seem, all will be crystal clear at the end of the Process.

If in the beginning stages nothing will seem to make sense, at the end of the road there will be no more confusion. Your Higher Purpose will blend with everything and a new level of clarity will mark you present life. What you have to do for all that? Nothing, actually… you just have to surrender and let it happen!

There’s nothing mysterious in the Higher Purpose and you will not become a hermit living in a cave in the Himalayas. The Higher Purpose is always and internal one, and people will not observe any visible signs of it. The 11:11 will guide you through all the changes needed to reach a new level of your spiritual connection until the changes stop and you KNOW what you have to do to maintain and grow stronger in your Higher Purpose.

All mental blocks will be cleared as you let go and let the Higher Purpose do its job. It’s vital to let the Divine establish Itself in you, as you cannot have a New Life without this Divine connection. I dare to say is more vital than any External Purpose, although there cannot be one without the other.

And since we mentioned it let a few words be said about your…

Your External Purpose

Your External Purpose is not and never was your job, or what you may have taken for granted as your purpose in the world. It has nothing to do with being a good mother, raising good kids, or the society’s definition of “success” (although success invariably flows from it).

Your External Purpose will be something deeply meaningful to you, something that will fully align with your core values. All your external life will be aligned to it, so when it will be given to you, you will understand and be grateful for all the stages you had to go through in the Process.

You will simply KNOW what you have to do on an external level, you will be fully guided and all help will be given to you. It will actually be a joy to follow it. Material success will be a side effect of following this External Purpose and for the first time you will feel really fulfilled because you will do what you have to do and you’ll enjoy all the abundance you rightly deserve as a result of doing your Divinely Inspired External Purpose.

Your External Purpose will always serve the highest good of all, whereas you so called purposes until now were mostly in service of your little, greedy ego. (just before I finished writing the word “ego”, I looked at my Word processor, and the bottom left pane showed
“Page 11 Sec 1 11/11 At 5.6’’ Ln 22 ”) ;)

The External Purpose will add another layer of meaning to your life and, for the first time in your life, it will be a real pleasure to wake up early in the morning. Your Mondays will have a feeling of a pleasant anticipation instead of a painful burden.

The feeling that you will make a positive contribution coupled with the deep sense of meaningfulness and satisfaction will make you external actions a sheer joy instead of being something you had to do just to ‘get by’. How will all this happen? Simple: Just let it happen! It will all come of itself if you surrender.

Surrender is the key to the whole 11:11 thing, and since we arrived at it let’s discuss…

Surrender

(by the way, the current page of the document, 12/12, just hit me ;) )…

Surrender is the whole meaning of 11:11. The Process will be done by itself. Actually everything will be done by itself if you just surrender and let the Divine change you internally and externally. That’s all you have to do, surrender. Sound’s simple, isn’t it?! It is, but it requires a vital quality from yourself: the recognition that you are actually powerless to what really needs to happen to make your life work.

This is very contradictory with what you’ve been taught by now. Society taught you to “take matters into your own hands” not recognizing the Universal Intelligence that smoothly runs all things beyond the visible surface.

This is not how 11:11 works. 11:11 will only work when you have fully surrendered. Even if you resist it, it will “crack” you eventually, so-to-speak. So why add to inner turmoil? Be open to change and let everything go as it was intended for you. What’s the point of resisting something that cannot be stopped, something that will give you things (internally and externally) you cannot even dare to imagine at the beginning of the Process.

Surrender is closely related to the present moment, to the Now, so the key is to welcome and accept whatever happens in the Now, no matter how frightening it may seem at first sight.

Surrender is not something taught in school. Your parent, teachers, bosses, politicians, books and TV, all unconsciously teach you to struggle and “claw your way to the top” because this is the only way you can make something out of your life. Is that so? Could there be another way? Could there be an effortless, peaceful, fulfilling way to approach life? YES, THERE IS! And 11:11 is here to teach you just that!

Surrender is the key to add Peace to your life, another attribute of the Divine. Because only from a state of peace you can create something truly meaningful. Only when you have fully surrendered, the Divine will manifest through you and you can easily do what you were meant to do.

Sri Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian sage said in one of his Talks: “God never forsakes one who has surrendered”. Let’s just trust the wisdom of the advanced souls of humanity. They know better!

Living Moment-to-Moment

Another purpose of the number 11 is to draw you into the present moment. As the Process begins to unfold in your life, you will be spending less and less time thinking and worrying about the future.

When you will unmistakably understand that your life is now fully guided and that all will come right in the end, what’s the need to fret about “what will happen”?!

So living Moment-to-Moment will become a tangible reality as time passes by. When you live in the present, fully knowing that every step of the journey is taken care of by a higher power what do you think will happen?! You will become stress-free!

Once most of your unconscious patterns, limiting beliefs and mental roadblocks will be cleared you will be amazed to see that you can actually live your life with a deep sense of peace, detachment, joy and happiness. Life will actually do everything through you and there won’t be any reason to worry about anything or anyone because you will simply KNOW that everything is and happens as it should happen.

Of course these are major insights, insights that can radically change your life and they have to be lived to be properly understood. You cannot make them happen, just as you cannot make the Process run any faster, but it’s always comforting to know in advance what awaits you at the end of the road.

Dropping Your Will

11:11 will break your will. And that’s a very good thing! If you think about it, it was your own will that got you into trouble so far. It was your own will that brought you the job you dislike, the unfulfilling relationship and the constant fretting about lack of abundance in your life.

You may think that having your own will is a vital quality of your life but you will see that it is not quite true.

The only times when you thought your will worked was because your will was aligned to the will of the Divine. When your life sucked it was because your will was against that of the Divine, but of course you had no idea about that. It was the only reason you experienced some moments of peace into your life.

All the mess in our lives is a direct consequence of us “knowing better” what’s good for us. The fact is, we do not know! We only think we do. So 11:11 is here to break our will, or, to put it mildly, to align our will with the will of the Divine, which ultimately leads only to follow the will of the Divine. Replace Divine with Intuition if it makes you feel more comfortable.

Surrender and Dropping your will essentially mean the same thing. You cannot surrender and still follow you whims, obsessions and desires. You will just add more frustration to the Process. You could skip months of the Process if you just let things happen and stop trying to oppose it or follow your intentions.

Learning to drop your will will seem scary at first. “How will I live if I leave aside my intentions?!”. You’ll be quite fine if you ask me.
My life has never been better since I learned to trust the Divine and let It do what It has planned with my life. I can clearly see now how my former intentions have ultimately lead to suffering in my life in some form or another, and the only (rare) moments of peace and fulfillment were those when my intentions were aligned with the intentions of the Divine.

Having your own will is useless, and 11:11 will complete it’s job only when you would have fully surrendered. This has been my experience.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of happiness and peace of fully trusting and following the Divine within yourself. It’s the surest method to make peace with yourself and the world.

At the End of the Road

Reaching the End of the Road, happens when the Process has done its job and your inner side has been completely and radically changed from what you thought to be your “self”.

When the inner work is completed the outer world will arrange itself naturally to follow your newly gained wisdom and power. Your life will tend to get a natural, smooth flow and everything will come to you effortlessly.

As you have completely surrendered by now and fully understood your former will is no longer necessary, life will never cease to amaze you. You just stand by and watch as the beauty of the Divine begins to unfold both internally and externally…

That’s the magic of 11:11! :)

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Free will, an illusion or not?!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

Begin to be calm for a few moments and try to ‘see’ the first thought that passes through your mind. Be it a sentence, feeling-sense or mental image. Try to be aware of it.

Now ask yourself: did you create that thought or it just appeared without any intervention from your part?

Now you may say that even if you observe that the though appeared of itself you have the choice to reject it, or accept it. But look closely… is the idea of rejecting of accepting the thought created by you or, just like the thought, it appeared of itself and you quickly identified with it?

If free will is illusory does the simple belief in this fact bring you peace? Or you have to use this illusory free will until you realize it’s an illusion? When you realize free will is an illusion does the question of free will have any meaning?

Food for thought…

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Hating the ego = More ego

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

You’ve probably read some spiritual literature by now and you clearly understood that the cause of suffering, conflict and negative states of mind is your ego-personality. You may have even detected it many times within yourself and your growing awareness of it may have shown you clearly where the cause of lack of peace of mind and unhappiness lie.

But… if you don’t pay sufficient attention, another trick can lure you into its net: the idea that the ego is something bad to begin with and now you have to ‘get rid’ of it.

Two things here: One, you cannot ‘get rid’ of the ego. The way is to ‘erode’ it so-to-speak. By becoming more and more aware of its tricks (you mind’s tricks actually), slowly but surely it gets dissolved and identifications become harder to maintain. This has been my experience.

And two, the ego is not bad at all. It just is. Just like the sun is. If you wanted to cool yourself and there are 100 ºF outside you’d think the sun is a bad thing. If you wanted to have fun with your friends at the pool you’d think the sun is a good thing. Lastly, if you wanted to spend some time surfing the net reading this article :D , while the air conditioner is on, you wouldn’t give a damn about the sun.

So, can you say beyond any doubt that the sun is bad, good or neutral? The truth is the sun just is and it’s your own mind that makes it good, bad or neutral depending on how it suits it. It’s completely arbitrary and, mostly, an unconscious process. If, on the other hand, you accept the sun because the sun just is, it won’t mentally trouble you anymore.

The same thing happens with the ego. You detected it within yourself a few times, became aware it’s the cause of suffering and now you decide it’s a bad thing. Why is it a bad thing? Who says so? (except you :D ) Like the sun, the ego just is. Could you realize that by deciding the ego is bad, it’s the same ego that makes the decision? And, could you further realize that, while you still have to operate with your ego, you are adding to lack of self acceptance?

I hated my ego for a long time, believing that all I had to do was to ‘get rid’ of it. All I managed to do was to make it stronger by fighting and resisting it, making it harder to accept myself.

The ego isn’t bad. It’s just the stage of evolution we need to experience now. Just like when a ‘bad’ thing happened to you in the past, hated it and resisted it, and later you realized the ‘bad’ thing was bad because you made it so, while the truth was it was actually a blessing in disguise; exactly what you needed to experience to grow and evolve. So it is with the ego :) …

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Is Reality Objective or Subjective?! A Short Introduction…

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

Ok, let me ask you a question: How do you view “reality”? Is your view correct? If so how sure are you? Are you ready for a different perspective? If so, I would like to introduce you to another way of seeing the “world”. I am not saying this is the truth, it’s just a perspective you have the right to accept and reject.

Of course with the change of perspective comes a totally radical change of your life. So here’s the story…

Remember one of your last dreams. Remember a dream you can recall as clearly as possible. Remember the details from your dream. Recall that you interacted with people, saw plants, buildings, animals etc. In the dream, your body was just an avatar of your real self. Your real self (the dreamer) was sleeping in bed and your whole dream world was created by your thoughts.

‘Till know everything sounds sane and clear. But now look around you. What do you see?! You see people, buildings, plants, animals etc. You think this is your reality and what you experienced last night was just a dream. But how do you know this is not just another type of dream with slightly different basic rules, like gravity for example?! That everything is a creation of your thoughts?

While this sounds totally wacko let’s analyze the problem a bit. Almost all people assume reality works this way: I, Dragos, view the world and you John view the world also. And then our “views” mesh together and form our “reality”. We may call this an objective reality, the reality most people take for granted and never stop questioning.

But… this is just a supposition you take for granted! You cannot “enter” in my head and check if I see the world as you do. You just suppose I do!

So, the subjective reality model is inspired from the dream analogy. In a dream your body and personality are just an avatar and the dreamer (the real you) is sleeping in the bed. Everything in the dream world is a projection of yourself and is entirely thought based.

But in the subjective model applied to your current “reality” who are you really? Who is the real you? If you assume the world you live in works like a dream then who are you? You can’t be your body and personality because, following the dream model, they are just an avatar. The real you is Consciousness, Awareness. And everything is a thought based projection in Consciousness. 

In the subjective reality model, the real you is the Consciousness/Awareness in which everything takes place. This should not be confused with the philosophy of solipsism as expounded by Descartes for example. Solipsism states that everything takes place in your mind while in the subjective model everything takes place in Consciousness, which is your real nature anyway.

I am aware this may sound strange and even insane but this perspective has been around for ages, it’s not a new invention. You can check the philosophy of Non-Duality (or Advaita Vedanta as it’s called in the est), Buddhism, and even contemporary sages like Ramana Maharshi or Nisragadatta Maharaj. They all point that our real nature is Consciousness/Awareness and everything your see around you has no substantial reality, resembling a dream. A dream is real but it’s actually not. It existed while you dreamt it but it has no solid ground to take it for real.

Here’s are some quotes by some important exponents of this perspective:

“It is your mind that creates this world” Siddhartha Buddha

“Once you realize that the world is your own projection, you are free of it.
All happens in consciousness. This must be well grasped: the world hangs on the thread of consciousness. No consciousness, no world.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“This world is painted by you on the screen of consciousness and is entirely your own private world.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“You see yourself in the world, while I see the world in myself. To you, you get born and die, while to me the world appears and disappears.” Nisargadatta Maharaj (here “I” is to be understood as the Consciousness, the container)

I highly recommend the book “I am That” by Nisargadatta Maharaj which is a fascinating account of this way of seeing the world.

The best way to get a grasp this perspective is to learn some lucid dreaming or meditate for some time. Once you get a taste of this Consciousness which is the container of all you see you will know first hand what your real nature is and the insight of reality being subjective will come very easy.

Now let’s suppose you accept this view (at least in theory). Your real nature is the Consciousness/Awareness which is the container for everything. It contains everything you see, including what you thought to be yourself (body and personality, ego). Very similar to a dream.

You’ve probably heard the famous phrase “If a tree falls down in the forest and nobody hears it does it make a sound?” Well, does it? “ No it doesn’t! In an objective model it does, but in a subjective model nothing exists outside your awareness. Nothing exists beyond what you can perceive. So the idea of a total world in which you are a small insignificant individual does not apply anymore. There is no total world, only what you can perceive in your awareness. Everything exists in You, the You that equals Consciousness.

Think about it! When you dream do you create a total world or only what you can perceive in your awareness?

You may object to this and say that a friend of yours was in that forest while you were not observing the tree and heard the sound. (In fact two sounds, because the tree fell on him :D ). But how can you verify that he actually saw the tree and heard the sound? And he actually tells you all this right now in your awareness, in what you can perceive Now.
He may even show you his wounds to confirm it was real. But if a dream character shows up in one of your night dreams showing his wounds from a tree fall do you actually believe it happened? Even if you go and see the tree together you are creating everything as you go towards the tree.

The biggest issue and the most important and ethical objection people raise when confronted with this model is this: If I believe the subjective model to be real and that everything resembles a dream it means other people are just projections of myself. Doesn’t this mean I will not give a damn about them and treat them like dirt? After all they are not real, only I am.

Now this is solipsism. It is not Subjective Reality. If you assume only you, John or Dave, are real and everyone is not you are getting further from the topic you are discussing here. In a subjective model you are the Consciousness, the container, in which everything takes place. The little you, the avatar, the John or Dave, is as unreal as everyone else. Or is as “real” as everyone else. In a night dream all characters seem real yet they are not, including your own avatar.

Solipsism can make you depressed while Subjective Reality can make you more compassionate and loving because everything is YOU (the Consciousness, the container). So yes, ALL IS ONE.

The real YOU is eternal, unbroken, continuous. It is immortal. That’s why all religious paths insist on realizing your True Nature as a way of achieving immortality. Your ego is just as ephemeral, misty and with no real solidity as everyone else’s. You can even say that Consciousness is all there is.

I hope this was an interesting read so far. If you would like to understand more about Subjective Reality you can check the following articles by Steve Pavlina (he discusses the subject in depth), the book “I am That” by Nisargadatta or search Non-Duality on Google.

Have fun! :)

Steve Pavlina Articles:

Subjective Reality Q&A

More Subjective Reality Q&A

Subjective Reality Q&A 3

Personal Development and Subjective Reality

People and Subjective Reality

Subjective Reality Analogies

Subjective Reality vs. Solipsism

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Paying Close Attention to Your Feelings

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

Your feelings act like a very powerful guide if you pay attention to them. They can steer you on the right direction if you muster the courage to listen to their inner impulses.

But many times when we get nagging or negative impressions inside ourselves we try to ignore them, or even worse, suppress them hoping that the issues that need to be addresses will solve by themselves. Why do we do that?! Because very often the thing those feelings point to is… CHANGE. Sometimes radical change!

I mean, if your life worked out on all levels you would have positive, uplifting feelings inside ourselves, wouldn’t you? When something sucks, this emotional guiding system gets activated. And (I’m speaking now from a sometimes painful experiences), you had better listened to it!

You may fear change, but the long-run consequences of not embracing it can be more painful than taking decisive action now.

If your relationship stinks what do you think will happen in the long-run if you try to hide those nagging feelings under the carpet? If you hate Mondays and go to work with a dreadful, slightly depressive feeling what does this say about what you truly desire to do with your life? If feelings of frustration is all you get when you evaluate your life so far, don’t you think it’s high time you really decided once and for all what you want to change?

The consequences of not dealing with your persistent negative inner impulses can be more far-reaching than you can imagine and your life can begin to suck big time if you don’t take time to analyze and confront your fears and unfulfillment. And then you spend your days wondering why life seems to be working for everyone else but not for you.

In some cases, not dealing with what this emotional guiding system is trying to tell you can lead to poor self image, lack of self confidence or even a constant depressive, negative mood at the back of your mind. You start feeling that life treats you unfair, when the truth is life wants to help you but it’s you that is not paying attention to it.

As said before, the number one reason we don’t always follow what our feelings try to tell us is CHANGE! Something must change and sometimes the change you’re required to do can be quite dramatic.

It’s not always easy to admit that you’ve been stuck in an unfulfilling relationship for years and now you must break up and start a new life. It takes grit and determination to really see that you’ve chosen a career that is slowly killing the creativity inside yourself and take action to do what you really wanted to do. It’s not even remotely easy to evaluate your health, habits, financial situation, social life, emotional balance and so on and see that you must take a giant leap forward otherwise you will invite more suffering and frustration into your life.

Life is always willing to help you and you’re not here to suffer and struggle. If you suffer and struggle there’s only one thing to blame: YOU!

Start paying attention to your inner impulses, those uncomfortable, nagging feelings that pay you regular visits even if you try your best to suppress them and you will know, as you always did, what you really have to do to make your life work. Don’t die with the music still in you!

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Another Powerful Way to Eliminate Limiting Negative Beliefs

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

A previous post called “A Powerful Way to Eliminate Limiting Negative Beliefs” outlined a method to challenge limiting beliefs that hold you back and cause many negative consequences reflected in your daily life.

This post deals with a similar method with a slight variation. As you probably realized by now, limiting beliefs are statements about the nature of reality you think they are the absolute immovable truth. Statements like “Rich people steal”, “Life is a struggle”, “What I do is not good enough”, “I am not worthy” etc. can run undetected at the back of your mind and cause negative reflections in your day to day life. If you believe that “Life is a struggle” for example, you will unconsciously sabotage yourself and you will indeed perceive life as a struggle, and this very perception will reinforce your belief thus making you accept it as the ultimate, immovable truth.

Of course this is not the absolute immovable truth, because you can easily look around you and see many successful people for whom life is no struggle at all, so this is proof enough that you are wrong in your thinking on this one. A more accurate belief is “Life can be a struggle” or “For some people life seems to be a struggle” or “Life is no struggle (it just seems like that to me)”. But when you say that life is a struggle you are actually trying to act like a god of some sorts demanding to know how reality really works.

When you realize for the first time you’re trying to desperately hold on to your life long cherished beliefs you may be stunned. Fundamental beliefs about the nature of reality you took for granted can reveal themselves the moment you truly want to change your so-called reality. And when you change your beliefs, the outer results will change too.

If you stop believing that life is a struggle, for the first time you may be getting insights and ideas on how to improve your thinking and actions so that life can stop sabotaging yourself.

I am a firm believer in inner change. Trying to forcefully act externally is demanding and tiresome. When you align yourself internally the external will tend to develop a kind a “flow” and you can even get the impression that the universe is conspiring to help you with your plans. “As within so without” says and old maxim. Let’s trust this ancient wisdom… :)

So how can you change these deep rooted beliefs about yourself and the world around you? Here are the steps. (Please do it in writing! You can burn the paper afterwards :D )

1. Identify the belief

2. Ask yourself if you believe it is the absolute immovable truth.

3. Find the least evidence that you may be wrong.

4. Ask yourself if this isn’t a choice you made.

5. Draw the conclusion.

To get a clearer picture let’s take a common belief, say “Life is a struggle” from the above examples. So… the steps:

1. Identify the belief
“Life is a struggle”. After much thinking and frustrated results you realized you hold this belief. Gooood…

2. Ask yourself if you believe it is the absolute immovable truth.
Now really ask yourself if you truly believe that and check for the emotional response inside yourself. If you have persisting negative results in your life and you are frustrated on some level you may indeed feel that “Life is a struggle” and accept it as the absolute immovable truth. After all your life is a struggle, right? Wrong! Because now you have to

3. FIND THE LEAST EVIDENCE THAT YOU MIGHT BE WRONG.
This step is very VERY important to grasp. When you say that something is true, the immediate implication is that this “something” is true under all circumstances and includes all possibilities! There’s no room for error. It must be 100% right.

You agree with me don’t you? When you say that something is the truth it must really be the truth 100% otherwise is not the truth. This is simple logic, but this insight is so important that I’m going to stress it again:

When you say that “Life is a struggle” and deeply believe that this is the truth, it must be a 100% truth and apply to everyone right? Otherwise how the heck can it be the truth? The very word “truth” implies the existence of something absolute, complete, immovable.

So if this truth is only 99,999% truth then you lost because now is not the truth anymore! If you find the least evidence that would break your “truth” then you are dead wrong. Case closed! Got it?!

It’s very easy to find evidence that the sentence “Life is a struggle” is not true. Look around you or think of someone you know that would break this rigid rule you have at the back of your mind. Life doesn’t seem to be a struggle for them, so could it be that you got it wrong? Or, to put it better, do you have the courage to admit that a certain belief you hold is not the truth? Think!

Now let’s…

4. Ask yourself if this isn’t a choice you made.
Isn’t the belief “Life is a struggle” a statement about the nature of reality you choose to believe in, to make it into your identity? Be honest!

5. Draw the conclusion.
The conclusion is clear now. “Life is a struggle” is not the ultimate immovable truth, for the simple reason that there is a percent of the population for which life is not difficult.

A more accurate belief would be “Life may seem to be a struggle for some” or better still “Life is not a struggle, I make it so”! Doesn’t this sound more like truth?!

You can now apply the method to other beliefs you take for granted. Do you think that “What I do is not good enough”? Have you ever done something that was good enough? I bet you did many times. So how can it be the ultimate immovable truth about yourself? Isn’t this something you arbitrary believe?

“I am not worthy” -> Have you felt worthy at least once in your life? So isn’t this an arbitrary selection in your head?

“Rich people are evil” -> Don’t you know rich people that are good?

“I am not important” -> Haven’t there been moments in your life when you felt you were important?

“People have power over me” -> Oh, really? How’bout when you said no to that salesman on the street?!

“What makes me good enough is having people think well of me” -> Haven’t there been times when you felt good enough even without other’s approval?

“Being poor is more spiritual” -> Don’t you know spiritual people who are doing quite well financially?

“Other people are better than me” -> Even if you follow the idea that worthiness is derived from comparison to others you can still find examples when you “were better than others” and see for the first time that this belief is totally arbitrary and exists only in you head.

Fill in the blanks….

Dare to think and challenge what you believe. Trying to mould your external reality while inside you there’s no peace and harmony is not a very smart approach for the simple fact that you’ll often meet an old friend: frustration! Realize and accept that you may be wrong on what you believe and you will open the door for inner and outer change.

It’s an amazing discovery for a human being to see that certain results in his/her life are directly related to the beliefs surrounding them. But it’s a freeing moment. Your beliefs form your reality not the other way around. Once you get the hang of this concept you can use it to your advantage. But if you keep thinking that you are a victim with no power to change you are deluding yourself. And yes, even that is just another belief that can be altered with the process we talked about. (After all, aren’t there people who started out as “victims” and they had the power to change?! :D )

This method may seem simple but it’s  effective. There is however a crucial ingredient you have to take into account: your willingness to challenge what you think and accept as truth and surrender to the fact that your life long cherished beliefs do not serve you anymore. Our beloved ego likes to identify with statements that it accounts for the actual truth and then finds it excruciatingly difficult to let go of them. Seeing the madness of that is enough to steer you on an exciting road to freedom. Let go of the beliefs that make your life suck! And you will see how life will start to change according to your renewed positive thinking…

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What Happens After Death?!

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Dragos Nicolae

You may or may not realize, but the way you consciously answer this question has a great impact on how you choose to live and can influence your life experience in various degrees.

I am not currently dead so I cannot tell you what happens after you pass away. I don’t have the answer so I can only speculate and then make a conscious choice. I advise you to do the same. Is much more empowering to make a conscious choice on this subject than not make a choice at all or borrow one from your environment.

Of course your choice is entirely personal and the “looking for evidence” does not really help here. Because if you believe that nothing happens after death you will find all the evidence there is that this is the truth. If you believe in reincarnation, or in life after death where you will meet all your loved ones, you will again find all the evidence there is. Belief creates your evidence, not the other way around. That’s how religions operate, by the way :P

So, let’s come back to our speculation and explore possible alternatives to what happens after you die (which you will someday, you know that don’t you?!)

 

Nothing happens after death. Ok, so you believe that this physical existence is all there is and you simply cease to exist at the moment of death. If you make a conscious choice and truly, deeply believe this is the truth then there are some complementary deductions you really need to take into account.

For example if at the point of your death you cease to exist, what’s the point of fearing death? Ever thought about that? :) I mean, you simply vanish and there’s nothing left to record any future experience, so what’s so scary about death in this scenario?

Also, with this mindset your focus should naturally be on living the best life possible while the span of your life unfolds. If 70-80 years is all you have, what’s the freaking point of living 80 miserable years? You would naturally push yourself harder and try to live in a manner that would increase you “happiness” (whatever it may mean to you). Of course, beside choosing to develop yourself mentally you would also try to take good care of your body, because that’s your vehicle you have to use until you die, right?

In this scenario it may be harder to accept the loss of your loved ones. Because they cease to exist, just like you will. Or who knows, for some this may mean being more at peace with themselves for at least choosing to know the fate of humans.

Life continues after death. This is a very widespread belief. We tend to unconsciously believe that somehow life will continue after we die. Maybe is deep down in our genetics to provide us with a sense of hope and continuation, who knows? If you want to believe that humans continue to live in other “dimensions” you will find plenty of evidence to support that. Lucid dreaming (which I tried) and astral projection (which I didn’t try) are just two of the things you can try to prove to yourself that you can as easily exist and operate separate from your physical body.

People trying astral projection (consciously leaving your body and entering the astral planes) have reported meeting deceased relatives and loved ones and spoke of multiple “planes” where people continue to live. You can read lots of these accounts in books dedicated to the subject. I haven’t tried astral projection (was never really attracted to this kind of experience) but I think it’s a safe bet to say that your life perspective can change quite dramatically if in one of your travels you meet your deceased grandfather for example.

Going to mediums which act as intermediaries and speaking directly to people who passed away is another way to support this belief.

If life continues after death, we must also think of some possible complementary deductions. If you truly, deeply believe that you will continue to exist after you pass away, and even meet with all your loved ones then, again, what’s the point of fearing death?! Why is death such a horrible thing if, sooner or later, you will continue to live in another dimension and even meet everyone in your life that passed away? Seriously, really think about that!

As I said, this is a very common belief maybe because if provides people with a lot of hope and positive outlook on life (if you truly, deeply believe it of course ;) ) If life continues, then, as in the first scenario, you would also want to live intelligently and make sure you lived a good life, because as far as we know it no one has ever returned from the “other side” to repair his/her mistakes. Again, personal development and focusing on improving your life while still here with an eye focused on the idea of continuation seems like a reasonable choice. You would especially want to focus on acquiring and developing more intangible goods because I don’t think you can manage to take your Ferrari with you once you die. If you take your mind with you then you’d better invest in developing your mind.

You either go to Heaven and Hell. I truly dislike this scenario because I believe it’s such a nonsense, waste of time and really insults the neurons in any rational thinking person’s brain. No intelligent being (which many call “God”) would ever conceive sending some of its creation to any kind of eternal punishment for his masochistic pleasure or for the simple fact of not adhering to a rigid belief structure. It’s truly a primitive belief to conceive such a crazy scenario.

The third scenario is You Reincarnate. Now the situation changes a bit. If you truly, deeply believe in reincarnation then you should really give a very serious thought of how you live your current life. As the belief in reincarnation goes hand in hand with the idea that your actions in this lifetime will affect your next incarnation, you’d better decide to try your best while you’re still alive. If your life sucks big time right now it means you somehow screwed things up pretty badly in your previous life so try to fix it up right now otherwise your future life will suck too! Got it? :D

Again the idea of improving yourself seems like a very reasonable choice with this scenario. Do your best now and you’ll get better conditions in your future reincarnations until you karma will dry up and you will go to the Source for eternal, blissful rest. Or maybe you can seize the opportunity and do that now :P

Another scenario would be You somehow get stuck in a ethereal state, completely aware but not able to do anything. While this sounds like a scenario conceived after smoking serious amounts of ganja is still as valid as the other ones (except the heaven/hell idea :D ) In this scenario the only thing you retain is your consciousness and mind so you had better done something about them while still alive. You don’t want to get yourself stuck for eternity full or regrets, don’t you?

There may be other alternatives and possible scenarios that I can’t think right now (like “I don’t really care, let’s focus on the present moment and see what happens then” ), but that’s not the main point. The main point is this: what you truly, deeply believe will happen after death will have a direct consequence of how you choose to live your life right now. Even if you don’t want to deal with the subject of death you will still make a choice on the matter, albeit an unconscious one. It’s much better to investigate the matter for yourself, form your own conclusions and then choosing to live accordingly.

May you stay forever young! :P

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