No Black Hole Here

I am a realist, and so I was not too surprised when watching a show on PBS called Supernatural Science (Between Life and Death #104)) about near death experiences. They have proven that the feelings described like the tunnel with light at the end, and leaving your body are brain-orchestrated phenomena. I have suspected this even after having experienced it. I left my body and traveled near the ceiling and was traveling down the hall at the hospital when a nurse called me back to my body. It seems that the brain while in anoxia will be shutting down some items like pain while it develops this imaginary way to deal with an extremely difficult and stressful time. So maybe the Buddhist continuum of spirit may not be the parts of you left to seek attachment in a new life, but in fact, those remnants of you already left in your children or family. Your memories, your ideas, and your life force left to them to be accessed long after you are dead. Now, this is of course, my deduction. Take my idea with a grain of salt, but rest assured your brain will at the very minimum, work hard to overcome the stress of dying. So I will die happy, because what I saw was comforting and even warm. Regardless, this last fact follows quite nicely into the Buddhist teaching of rebirth.

Traveling down a new path

Today, I was treated to a nice reply to an email from a person whom I replied when they said they were questioning life. Whether in person or on the web, I try when I think can get an ear. I use my experience to help expose people to my worse case scenario and what I tried to work on. Part of me wanting to die happy, is the realization that one can always be a better person. I was not awful, but I still could use some work on myself. As a young man exposed to many people, some of whom were Buddhist. I knew I would become one, when I had time. A lame excuse, but it works when you are young and think you have all the time in the world. My near death, quickly put this to rest. Later, my partner being born a Buddhist exposed me to his calmness and seeing how well it worked for him. He makes it very clear that anger has no place in our relationship. My first experience with meditation was with a friend who was a proficient meditator. I so wanted some mental peace, that I was able to do an hour my first time. It really helps to have someone else to do it with during the first year, and will thus enable you to work it into your routine.
A few years later I went to my temple nearby to hear teachings, and I could see where this would answer my questions about being happy, calming your mind down, and finessing the “better person” out of you. Now I don’t want to convert people, but only show them what works well for me. Perhaps later, I can be an inspirational talker…if I can ever talk! But watching some people I have been in contact with, it still seems like everyone progresses once they see their limited time on this earth.