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.

Stuck Nostalgic

Forming your new self after an important re-birth after an extreme close call with death, brings you constantly to who are you. Certainly, I have relaxed the idea of my old self ever returning, but often some nostalgia creeps in life. Watching one film on a famous and now older race driver, John Fitch still continuing at 87. The other was watching Günter Grass interviewed on Charlie Rose about his new book. Peeling the Onion. I can already imagine myself reviewing my life as an old person, and much the same as these two totally different men I watched. I hope this propels to do even more than I do to help others, so my regrets are fewer. I did today go to the hospital to be a peer visitor to new stroke victims. The way I can help is mainly to just be there as a reminder there is life after the hospital. Few words need to be spoken once they see me walk in. Surely, I can tell them some of my personal wisdom, but it seems to me that this comes to people when they are ready to assess their new life. So, I try not to tell them anything difficult unless asked and just smile. After, I felt the need to pick blackberries in the sun and have a beer with my roommate. I like the idea of getting stuck while picking the fruit, so it gives you a sense of accomplishment and makes them taste even better. Something kind of normal for me, and nostalgic.