below is a medley of moments gathered from the near-death conference, the open space listserv, and narrative therapy…i’ll merge some pieces of these worlds into thoughts to share with you!
a profound result of my involvement in communities of people who have had near-death experiences and other spiritually transformative experiences is the collective story that emerges about consciousness, connection with spirit/god/the universe/oneness, and most significantly to me, the story concerning how and why we live our lives here on earth. the commonality of transformative experiences, the increasing freedom for individuals to disclose and discuss their experiences, and the corresponding shifts in scientific, research-based perspectives of consciousness and spirituality are all adding to the creation of a “new” social story (that perfectly resembles the old, ancient stories from most religions and indigenous cultures).
the narrative metaphor says that “our sense of reality is organized and maintained through the stories by which we circulate knowledge about ourselves and the world we inhabit” (Goldenberg & Goldenberg). Individuals who have near-death experiences or other spiritually transformative experiences are often forced to re-organize their sense of reality, they have to re-write their personal stories about themselves and the world we inhabit in order to incorporate the reality of that which they have experienced. the old stories no longer hold truth and definitely lack importance. these people’s attention shifts to a new perspective, to greater purpose, to universal connection, towards countless new ways of seeing, being, and believing.
paul everett posted to the open space listserv about attention:
We make something or someone important by giving it/them our attention, our life’s time. The quality of our attention tells how important it is to us. In fact, my guru taught, and I have found this to be true, that ‘attention heals’, in personal relationships. Lack of attention results in distance, diminishment or atrophy…
…Attention is a choice, every moment what you and I are giving our attention to we are making more important than another moment we might have given our attention to but chose not to. So, attention also creates our future because it contains the decision about what to give our life’s time to—the collapse of the wave function in the New Physics. And it is through attention that we become aware, which promotes insight, knowledge, action and results. You can see this, perhaps more clearly, by what you don’t give your attention to and hence, what doesn’t happen.
To begin with, i am always moved by people who give their attention (and life’s time) to their life purpose and their passions.
but on a broader scale, i am moved by the shift of attention that occurs in experiencers, the shift in social acceptance towards such experiences, and the rate of occurrence of such experiences. if i were the kind of person that remembered facts, i’d tell you how many individuals experience cardiac arrest each year. then i’d note that of that population 10-20% have near-death experiences. where my curious mind wanders is to the rapid pace at which this “information” about life and life after death is being shared with our waking, living inhabitants on earth! and with the increase in technology for bringing people back to life (i.e. Automated External Defibrillators and such), it appears this window into another perspective will continue to open for many. it’s almost as if our social, collective attention is being re-directed towards the expanded awareness that these experiences and hearing about other’s accounts of these experiences bring to our collective consciousness… to the social stories that we co-create and believe with one another.
comments:
love this integration ashley! i am fascinated by how people describe having a greater ‘sense of purpose’ after a near death experience. do you think that in our culture we often think of fulfilling purpose as having to do something grander and bigger? whereas the words you are relating here suggest that people are connecting to ‘what already is’…and having more clarity about what they want to give attention to. i just read this from pema chodron last night..con’t in next post…
penny | Email | Homepage | 06.29.04 – 12:03 pm | #
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‘we already are everything that we need…all the trips we lay on ourselves, identities we cling to – never touch our basic wealth. they are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. but all the time, our warmth and brilliance are right here. this is who we really are. we are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake. we are enough. the reason that we’re sometimes not there for others – is that we’re not there for ourselves in each moment. there are parts of ourselves that are clouded and unwanted and whenever they come up, we run away. because we escape, we keep missing being right here, we keep missing the moment we’re in. yet, if we can experience the moment we’re in, we discover that it is unique, precious and completely fresh! one can appreciate and celebrate each moment, there is nothing more sacred, nothing more vast or absolute. in fact, nothing more!
penny | Email | Homepage | 06.29.04 – 12:04 pm | #
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for the third time now, penny, i love these words!
it’s so wonderful to me how those clouded and unwanted parts are really such treasures. we’re so fortunate to have those come up because they give us the opportunity to stay in the moment and heal. in staying with that murky water we discover how unique, precious and completely fresh the terretory actually is, we transcend its murkiness!! and then we get to appreicate and celebrate the moment… it becomes so sacred… us so vast and absolute in our connection to ‘what is’.
ashley | Email | Homepage | 07.02.04 – 2:47 am | #
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