My father ended up living several more years and dying of congestive heart failure and emphysema from smoking, because his lungs were just blown. But before he died, a memory came back to me of sitting with him in the back yard of our house in Charlotte when I was young, maybe
12 years old. He said, "You know, I really don't want to live much longer, just long enough that you kids are all grown and out of the house." (He was pretty inebriated when he told me this.)
Now, when he had his lung cancer, my little sister was still living at home. And the year after she left, he died. I told my sister, "You know, we do create our own reality." He scripted that. The cancer that should have killed him didn't, but he totally gave up on his life and died as soon as all the children were grown and gone. He did exactly what he said he was going to do, even though I am sure he did not consciously remem- ber saying it.
So, we're much more powerful than we think we are, no matter who we are. And we do create the life that we have.
During this same period of time, I learned that I could be in a state where I could visit people at remote distances. Now, a lot of people say, "Oh, that means you were astrally traveling." I did astral travel as a teenager, but this was different!
What I learned to do was to realize that you don't have to separate the astral body from the physical body, but simply realize that the entirety of creation is folded within each individual. We are truly a quantum holo- gram of the whole creation. When it is said, "Thinkest thyself a puny form when within thee the universe is folded?" a rhetorical question is being asked which illuminates a profound truth: All is folded within the awake mind within.
A relatively primitive way of visiting others through spirit is to actually have an astral projection, where the physical body and the astral body separate and you fly off. But a more developed, simpler and safer way of doing it is to realize that all this is folded within you.
By going into a state of consciousness that is non-local, that is the transcendent state of awake-ness, every point in space and time can be accessed. And when you experience that, then, using your will subtly, you can open up and see a loved one in another place. And this is what I would do with my loved ones.
Just before I went to Israel, I had this shown to me. I had a great aunt who was very sick who had lung cancer, and was dying. She was one of the few members of our family who really did care for us, so I always felt very close to her. And I remember her as being always very sweet and very kind, Aunt Irene.
The day that she passed away, I awakened in my bedroom and she was there. And I saw her as, probably, a 40-year-old woman, instead of a 70-some-year-old woman who'd been very sick with cancer. She was radiant and beautiful. I don't remember anything being said; it was just a beautiful, loving presence and at once a goodbye and a lasting connection. The next day, my twin sister called me and I told her the experience. She said, "Well, I'm calling you because she passed away." I asked, "What time?" And this experience was exactly at the time of her passing.
So, we're always connected through the Oneness of the great Spirit with each other. It's a beautiful thing to realize, because once we do, we realize that time and space are not barriers at all.
I remember one time camping with a friend in the petrified forest in Arizona.
My wife Emily was back at our home in North Carolina.
Suddenly, I sensed that she wanted to be able to know that she could communicate with me, but I was in the wilderness. So as I laid down to go to sleep under a full moon ,I meditated and went into a state of unity consciousness.
I expanded into that peaceful state of awareness and saw Emily in our bedroom. Now, Emily is someone who rarely remembers her dreams. I knew she was sleeping, so I went into the bedroom and connected with her soul. I showed her exactly where I was and what I was doing. I sent the message that anytime she really needs me, I'd be there - that we're always together - that we are one in Spirit.
A few days later, when I came out of the wilderness, I called her. She said, "You wouldn't believe this lucid dream I had! You were in this place... " and she proceeded to described exactly where we were camp- ing! "And you told me this:.." and repeated the message I had given her. It was a beautiful realization and it was reassuring for her and for me. It showed us what we can do and that we're never alone; we're never apart; there is never separation.
When we chose to unlock the box of separation, we have the key. The key is this awake mind within us and the will to use it. You must have a living faith. Yogananda (a famous Vedic teacher) once said that spiritual lassitude and the lack of spiritual adventuresome-ness is why people never grow.
Once you have these experiences begin to unfold and you say it is possible, your certainty that it can happen increases; then you do it more often and it becomes more and more and more powerful. A positive feedback loop is created.
It's like a snowball going downhill. It picks up its own momentum- but you've got to leap over the edge!
One year for our anniversary, Emily and I went to Costa Rica and stayed someplace on the Pacific Coast. One night, after we'd fallen asleep, an amazing thing happened to us.
Emily woke up in the middle of the night and as she looked over towards me she saw a silvery grey form lift up out of my body and fly out the hotel window and leave. And she thought, "Oh, my God. Here I am, stuck in Costa Rica, and we have four kids back home, and Steve just died!"
I was having what I had always called one of my flying lucid dreams, which I've had all my life. I was flying over the jungle and the edge of the ocean. Even though it was the middle of the night; I was seeing with celestial vision, so I could see the gorgeous quality of the water and the jungle, as if it was day time; but everything had its own light from with- in it, as opposed to light coming from the sun. I saw the most beautiful, alive colors and light. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I was flying along in a state of complete freedom and happiness.
All of a sudden, that ended, and I found myself back in the room, thinking I was just waking up from a dream. And I felt Emily looking at me. I looked over, and her eyes were like saucers! She exclaimed, "Thank God, you're back!" And I said, "Back? Where have I been?"
She said, "Well, you left." I said, "I've done no such thing. I've been here the whole time." And she said, "No, I saw you leave your body!" And then she described to me what she had seen. That's when I realized that many of these lucid brilliant dreams are soul travel experiences. Now, Emily normally doesn't have these metaphysical experiences -- she is your quintessential Earth mother and loves every minute of it! But she actually saw my soul fly away, because I think she was in a relaxed state of mind, where her filters were down. And the filters being turned off allowed her to actually see my spirit, lift up out of the physical body and fly away. She saw me as I left to enjoy the deep, spiritual beauty of earth.
I first found divinity through the doorway of the creation that the Divine Being has put here. The highest expression of it, of course, is the Earth around us and the sky around us. It is very Native American: Being part Cherokee and Catawba, I have a deep love for the Earth.
This has a lot to do with the work I'm doing now. My love and pas- sion for nature and Spirit is what moves me. I'm motivated by the future I see of Earth and her children. I see it and know it is possible.
It has been said that the best way to love God is to love his creation. I view it this way: There's the divine, Infinite Mind that's the inner being of God, of the Supreme Being. But the entire creation is equally infinite, and that's the outer robe, or raiment, of God. The creation is the outer expression of the same thing, and it's all one, perfectly one.