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Peggy.
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August 17, 2019 at 12:18 pm #308373
PeggyParticipantI would like to start this post by sharing a poem called “The More I Remember” by Debra Ann White Burch.
The more I remember – The more I feel the separateness fall away and I want to reach out and give to others. For in that giving, I give to myself, and I feel a part of Everything in Me and Me in Everything.
The more I remember – The more I see at least a spark of Light in Everyone. I can no longer look for the darkness, but rather, through love and compassion, I see the Light grow and shine like the brightest star in each and Everyone.
The more I remember – The more I hear only truths touching my ears. Untruths are only fleeting illusions and carry no real substance. While truths are like music to my ears and to which my whole body resonates and dances with joy.
The more I remember – The more I find myself talking to the animals, insects, trees, rocks, stars and seas, and I find they talk to me. Their simple yet wondrous ways spark my memories and they thank me because I listened. I Listen.
The more I remember – The more I can taste the sweet taste of life itself. We all came from the same place and we are all going to the same place. Life is that journey. And then there is no sweeter taste than being fully present in the here and now.
The more I remember – The more I take the time to smell the roses. I learn to appreciate each flower my journey brings me. Yes, even the weeds have beauty and a unique scent. By slowing down, I can see all the details in each life event more clearly.
The more I remember – The more I truly know and understand myself and realize I am not alone – no, not ever – NEVER. For I am at one with myself and in that I am One with All – ALWAYS – ALL WAYS.
I would dearly love to receive your feedback and comments and whether any or all of the above words resonate with your truth and that quest to find the answer as to “Who Am I”.
Peggy
August 17, 2019 at 1:43 pm #308385
MarkParticipantThanks for sharing this Peggy. This harks back to when I read Neale Donald Walsch’s book “Conversations with God” soon after it was published in 1995. The only thing I remember from it was that the only lesson we need to learn is to remember our own perfection.
For me, it is not about remembering but it is about connecting with my heart and my Truth that brings about what Burch is saying.
Burch’s list is still theory for me. The last paragraph is the one I relate to the most and is closer to what I am doing than the other ones.
Mark
August 18, 2019 at 12:35 am #308413PeggyParticipantHi Mark,
I do believe that we are all born in the way that is perfect for our own incarnation with all the different facets that go to make up our character and that character is determined by the position of planets at the time of our birth. ‘Connecting’ is about getting in touch, or back in touch, with who we are, recognizing, accepting and remembering who we are. It’s interesting to note that the heart center is related to the sense of touch as well as being related to the ‘Breath of Life’. I’ve just read some old course notes that have reminded me that just the natural act of inhalation and exhalation moves the air around us which has to make way for us to inhale and exhale, that it is not possible for us to move a part of that air without it having some effect on the whole.
For me, the lesson we need to learn is the lesson of love. Truly loving ourselves is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves and by giving that gift to ourselves, it is so much more readily available to give to others.
Like you, I resonate very strongly with the final verse but also the first two stand out. Then, when I read it again, I notice that the five recognized senses have been incorporated.
Peggy
August 18, 2019 at 7:42 am #308443
AnonymousGuestDear Peggy:
“The more I remember”- to me, this means paying attention to the information we are born with, stored in our genes and bodies, instincts and tendencies, needs and motivations that are true to all living things, which we have in common with all other animals, more so with other social animals.
There is a saying people say: we are all different. I don’t think so, we are so much alike.
“I feel a part of Everything in Me and Me in Everything”- my individual life in this form is a small part of Life at all times and at all places. There is a continuity of life and I am one part of it. I also believe that everything I learn in this part of life that is mine does not live on except for the written word I produce- as long as someone else reads it, and the way I affect others: if I do harm to another, that harm will be passed on.
My form, that is my body, and all that happened in my brain after conception or birth, none of it survives my death.
“The more I remember- The more I hear only truths touching my ears. Untruths are only fleeting illusions”- separating truth and illusions or delusions is critical to learning and seeing more and more of reality, just as it is. The more untruths we peel off from our minds and hearts, the better we feel, there is freedom in it.
“And then there is no sweeter taste than being fully present in the here and now”- and that includes what you shared with me most recently, breathing, letting the body breathe naturally. It is the changing of habits of decades, such as my shallow breathing, that is the most difficult to learn.
“The more I remember- the more I .. realize I am not alone- no, not ever”- there is a lot of comfort in this knowing. Thank you Peggy for being here.
anita
August 18, 2019 at 12:48 pm #308489PeggyParticipantDear Anita,
It is true that we are all so much alike, have many similarities and need the company of others. However, our genetic make-up through DNA can now testify that no two people are exactly the same. We all have our own uniqueness.
Yes, your written words will live on but so will the exchanges you have through interacting with others. Can I be bold enough to suggest that there is always an imprint left behind, a memory. Your physical body cannot survive death but your thought form can. Would you put learning under the category of thought form?
Where does thought exist? During one rare moment of heightened sensitivity, I actually felt a thought travel from my lower spine to my neck which then sent shock waves through my whole body. This was about 10 years before I embarked upon my journey of healing and it’s only now, through research that I’ve been doing for our posts, that I have finally put this into some logic and say that this thought must have been travelling through my nervous system. Mystery solved! This is my truth.
My truth is also that I have been facing my own fears through joining the TB and the Forums, through speaking out in this way, through sharing my own wisdom and knowledge. I am still safe.
The average person takes in the region of 25,000 breaths a day (24 hrs) – it’s worth the effort, don’t you think, to unlearn the bad habit of shallow breathing and replace it with the healthy habit of correct breathing that you once knew how to do instinctively.
Thank you, too, for your very valuable input.
Peggy
August 19, 2019 at 7:43 am #308543AnonymousGuestDear Peggy:
“our genetic make-up through DNA can now testify that no two people are exactly the same. We all have our own uniqueness”- yes, different and unique facial/ body features, likes and dislikes. But our basic needs and motivations are the same: the child always needs the parent’s approval, eager to please (early on at least, before some give up), born loving. Fear, sadness, anger, and a bit later, guilt and shame feel the same to us all. And we all fear aggression in all its forms.
“Can I be bold enough to suggest that there is always an imprint left behind, a memory. Your physical body cannot survive death but your thought form can. Would you put learning under the category of thought form?”- I put learning of the kind that matters to me most (beyond academic learning, that is) in the category of thought and emotion.
And yes, please be bold, Peggy. I am smiling as I type this because the idea of you being bold delights me. Do state your beliefs, be brave, this is what I delight doing myself. As long as we state what we believe respectfully, not trying to defeat another, but to present our thoughts and positions for others’ consideration, if they wish to consider.. then its fair, aimed at win-win interactions.
And so, I will be respectfully bold and state: no, I don’t believe we leave a memory behind when we die (outside our written/typed words, memories living people have of us, work of art left behind, etc.). I believe that the idea that we leave a memory or a thought form behind is a convenient thinking, similar to:
– thinking our bodies will never die and live forever- young (Jehovah Witnesses, a perfect perseverance of Form following Armageddon)
– thinking our dead bodies will be resurrected and live forever (Christians, a temporary loss of form)
– thinking our brains and the image of our bodies will live until resurrection (Christians, a partial form perseverance in heaven… or hell)
– thinking our brain will live forever in another body and then another (Reincarnation)
We people want to live forever. We are afraid of death, we really, really don’t want to lose our Form (our brains, our bodies). So we imagine that in whole or part, death will not happen.
“I actually felt a thought travel from my lower spine to my neck which then sent shock waves through my whole body”- there is a category of thought distortions called “emotional reasoning” (in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy glossary), which means that because we feel something we believe it is true to reality. I believe that what you wrote here is an example of emotional reasoning: a thought didn’t travel outside your brain. Hormones travel through the body via blood, not thoughts.
“My truth is also that I have been facing my own fears through joining the TB and the Forums”- I am glad that you faced your fear, keep facing them, and do express yourself here, confidently, boldly.
Regarding our different thoughts and positions about what is true and what is not true: I have no desire to argue and I will not argue. I don’t want to push or force what I believe on you or on anyone else, and I don’t want others to push what they believe is true on me. And so, we can agree to disagree. You can state your position to a member, I state mine and leave it at that.
“It’s worth the effort, don’t you think, to unlearn the bad habits of shallow breathing”- yes, it is worth any effort to breathe correctly. Thank you for your very valuable input and you are welcome to mine.
anita
August 20, 2019 at 2:25 am #308685PeggyParticipantHello Anita,
That’s a post that requires even more of that blessed stuff called thought.
There is a difference between physical form, brain which is tangible, to thought which has no tangible form. I cannot possibly believe that dense form (body) can survive death.
When I said I felt the thought travel, this thought had words so I felt the words travel. The knowledge that The Cerebrospinal Nervous System has thirty one pairs of nerves emerging from the spinal cord, each nerve having an anterior and posterior branch, makes ‘sense’ of what happened to me when I know that the posterior branch of the nerve is responsible for sensation. My heightened state of sensitivity had created this nervous reaction which pulsated through my whole body. Rare, I know, but nonetheless true, my truth.
I don’t wish to force my opinions on anyone either. It’s better to remain open minded, perhaps through examining our belief systems, and if someone else out there has a ‘light bulb’ moment through something either of us has said, a worthwhile task will have been accomplished.
Peggy
August 20, 2019 at 8:23 am #308725AnonymousGuestDear Peggy:
The thing about remaining open minded: I am closed minded regarding the concepts of heaven and hell for example. I already considered it and I believe literal heaven and hell (after death) do not exist. You too closed your mind to certain things:”I cannot possibly believe that dense form (body) can survive death”, so you see, you are closed minded to the Jehovah Witnesses “truth”.
As we proceed to learn more and more, it is inevitable that we close the doors on certain things that some/ many people say are truths. Otherwise we will be stuck in a mental standstill, not being able to learn more about what is true.
“The more I remember- The more I hear only truths touching my ears. Untruths are only fleeting illusions and carry no real substance. While truths are like music to my ears”.
anita
August 20, 2019 at 8:27 am #308731AnonymousGuest* didn’t reflect under Topics
August 20, 2019 at 10:50 am #308751PeggyParticipantDear Anita,
I was not aware that any religion taught that the physical body can survive death. Cremation would rule that out as would skeletal remains following burial. Have I closed my mind to the possibility or have I applied logic? Religions were created long before science began researching and measuring. Beliefs and truths have their own identity. Beliefs might be formed on the back of misconceptions therefore subject to change whereas truths could perhaps be seen to be established facts (or facts waiting to be established).
I have heard that some people have had experiences of meeting with a physical being during times of “emergency” only to find that once the “emergency” had passed, these physical beings seem to vanish into thin air. Can a guardian angel (if that’s what they are) appear in physical form or can our thoughts be manipulated in just such a way that we perceive them as solid? I don’t know where that came from – I’ll start scaring myself soon.
I have never had the conscious experience of my spirit leaving my body, as some claim to have done – I have however had the experience of my spirit returning to my body (just the once) – accompanied by such a feeling of elation. With my experiences, I can’t fail to believe that there is an existence beyond the earthly plain.
Thank you once again for drawing this out of me. I do not usually share in this way.
Peggy
August 20, 2019 at 1:12 pm #308761AnonymousGuestDear Peggy:
I like this question: “Have I closed my mind to the possibility or have I applied logic?”- I would say you applied logic and closed your mind to an illogical possibility.
(The Jehovah Witness belief is not that the body survives death but it is this: each generation believes that Armageddon will happen in their lifetime and that they will not die at all).
What a pleasure it is for me to read this post. I like your light hearted attitude here and humor and I appreciate you sharing what you don’t usually share.
“I can’t fail to believe that there is an existence beyond the earthly plain”- I am certain that there is. What narrow mindedness it would be to know of the magnitude of the universe, the scientific principle of endless space and time, the planets and stars and the richness of life here on earth, the creativity and intelligence in nature.. and think what we see/hear/sense with our five senses is all that there is.
Of course there is more. Only that this more does not include what religions claim: the preservation of our individual form (individual body, personality, character, etc.).
anita
August 21, 2019 at 12:32 am #308791PeggyParticipantDear Anita,
What a lovely reply. I see my mind more as a giant filing cabinet where the files are only closed until such time as new information appears when I might need to re-examine my earlier thoughts and scrap anything that has outlived its’ usefulness.
The two examples I can give which have happened through these posts are to do with that experience I had forever ago which I have now been able to apply logic to (cerebrospinal nervous system) and I have used the term “solar plexus” so many times thinking of it as a location, but through search engines I am now told that it is a collection of nerves. That information gives me a much better understanding as to why the mere act of placing a hand there acts as therapeutic touch and literally soothes the nerves.
I don’t claim to be religious but I do believe that death is just another state of change and that the spirit lives on – we’ll probably just have to beg to differ on this one.
Peggy
August 21, 2019 at 1:04 am #308801
KevinParticipant“I don’t claim to be religious but I do believe that death is just another state of change and that the spirit lives on – we’ll probably just have to beg to differ on this one.”
I also subscribe to no particular religion, bit I have beliefs …
In my own belief system, I feel that there are many parts to us as human beings. some of those parts are transitory – body, intellect, personlity, ego, all are born, develop, age and die. Other parts are constant. They do not develop, grow, age and die, but still cease to exist when we do (in particular the emotional body).
But there is an eternal element which is a part of that which contains all things, and that which is contained by all things. This is Spirit. In non-human form it is either placed in, or decides to become, human form for a reason. That reason is part of the universal purpose, and that particular spirit which is you, or me, is connected to all other sapirits to be the One, the Source, God or whatever you want to call it.
It is here, in human form, for a reason. Maybe it has lessons to learn, maybe it has things to do, maybe it needs to feel some form of suffering or joy as an experience to bring back to the Source … it is up to us all, as the hosts or protectors of that eternal light, each to find that purpose and fulfil it. From another post on which we corresponded, I think you already know your soul purpose .. your spitit’s reason to be living within you.
And when your earthly bodies are done, that light within you, will fly free, reconnectd to the Source, and share its experiences with all things, before, maybe one day, coming back, fresh and new, with anoyther portose, thing to do or lesson to learn …
Much Love and Light
Kevin
August 21, 2019 at 9:22 am #308849PeggyParticipantDear Kevin,
Thank you for voicing your alignment with some of my beliefs such as we all have a predesignated purpose to fulfill during our incarnation and that there is an ongoing journey through many incarnations which our souls make.
I see ourselves as being an integral part of the Universe governed by universal laws. Eastern traditions give us our seven main energy centers which are responsible for how our bodies flow, each one having it’s own single element of Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Communication, Thought and Belief. These energy centers also follow the colors of the rainbow, red being at the root and resonating with the Earth quality. No matter what our activity – tree climbing, mountaineering, flying – we always gravitate back to Earth. Astrology, movement of planets, our time of birth, gives us our character. My reasoning says that the planets continue to impact on our character throughout our lives, perhaps giving us our challenging times as well as our more peaceful ones.
As I believe that everything that happens to us during our lifetime has an impact on all levels, mind, body, spirit and emotions, I am now exploring in my own mind whether these impressions received by the spirit through our lifetime are the part we take with us.
The idea of flying free really appeals to me.
Love and Light
Peggy
August 21, 2019 at 9:34 am #308853AnonymousGuestDear Peggy:
“the mere act of placing a hand there acts as therapeutic touch and literally soothes the nerves”- touch, gentle touch that is, is therapeutic. We need to be touched. This is one reason it is recommended for ill/ aging people to have pets, the touching of the pet is therapeutic. What was that scientific experiment I read long ago, with monkeys who chose a soft-feeling “mother” (an inanimate item) over a hard-feeling “mother” who provided food. The monkeys preferred touch over food.
“I do believe that death is just another state of change and that spirit lives on”- that may very well be, except that the spirit that lives on after my death is not anita, it doesn’t look like me, it doesn’t contain all that I learned during my life time, what you referred to, if I understand correctly, as a thought pattern left behind.
“we’ll probably just have to beg to differ on this one”- I am okay with… graciously differing on this one.
anita
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Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 