I was back in my body, but must have been out long enough to lose conscious connection with all of my neural centers, although my senso- ry input was working. I remember clearly, as if it's today, seeing the maple tree outside the little apartment, moving in the wind against a street light. But I couldn't move! I thought, "Oh, great. Here I am, back in this messed-up body, paralyzed." I truly thought that I had been so dam- aged from this severe infection that I'd been paralyzed from a stroke.
(As it turned out, that was a temporary phenomenon. Today, it is understood that in prolonged near-death experiences it takes some time to be reconnected to the physical body. )
I then felt a being in the room sent there to test my will to live. It was somewhat frightening, but perhaps a necessary experience that forced me to use my willpower to remain here. There was this force that seemed to be pulling me back out. So I would go back out of my body and then return. I had to exercise volition to remain in the physical body and keep my astral body of light and conscious body integrated with it. And after about half a dozen tries, I nailed it and remained here. I then became fully awake and regained my motor skills.
As they say in Britain, I was quite 'gob-smacked'! This experience altered my life like nothing before, changing everything I had been taught - that there was no Divine Being or conscious existence after the death of the body. I now know from direct experience this is false. God does exist, as do His Messengers. For me, nothing would ever be the same. I'd learned that death is not to be feared, that, in fact, there is no death - only a transformation from one state into another.
As I got up and re-integrated with the world, I remained in this state of incredible bliss, a rarefied state of higher consciousness where the unbounded quality of cosmic awareness, was still awake in me. Enclosed in a room, I could be infinitely aware at the same time. The mystics call this cosmic consciousness - a state I continued to experience some time thereafter.
Interestingly, my diseased leg spontaneously healed. I didn't see a doctor or receive antibiotic medication during the entire episode.
CHAPTER 2
q^D
Coming Full Circle
I marked my 18^ birthday by learning a structured form of meditation called Transcendental Meditation or TM. I was hungry for any- thing that would give me an ability to experience higher conscious awareness at will. It appeared that the TM course would be the avenue to take.
I quickly realized that without its ceremonial trappings, TM is a sim- pie process. It consists of sitting with a thought mantra or sound in order to transcend conscious, linear thought and move into unbounded aware- ness.
Sitting next to my teacher, we began the technique. What followed seemed bizarre to him, but felt normal to me. I entered complete tran- scendental consciousness - full samadhi. So I was there once more - in the state of cosmic awareness. It was very beautiful, and the technique worked for me so easily because the channel was already open, due to my near-death episode the previous March.
The teacher looked at me afterward and said, "You went there, didn't you?" I said, "Yes." He said, "On the first time?" And I said, "Well, I'm not so sure it's the first time, but the first time with you!"
I began thereafter to practice the ability to experience cosmic consciousness at will. This opened up an even more extraordinary view of the world and of myself. I could now re-connect to the very pure state of Earth, nature, and divinity that exist untainted by human corruption. I was rediscovering the purity and innocence of that awareness I had as a young boy, but understanding it more fully.
I left the following summer to attend Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. I selected ASU based purely on its wilderness location in my beloved Blue Ridge Mountains, for which I have a deep affinity. I believe this feeling comes from a genetic connection based on my Cherokee heritage.
I wanted to spend every moment possible out in those mountains, in every kind of weather, being totally connected like a spirit walker in nature. I was eager to practice my newly acquired meditation skills and to continue having the experience of connecting with Divinity Thus, at the threshold of my adulthood, I'd gone from growing up in a home with no prayer - not even knowing about it or about the experience of communion with God to experiencing cosmic consciousness. I'd found all of this on my own.
The absence of religious upbringing was actually a blessing in dis- guise. I think there's an inverse relationship between religiosity and spirituality, with only a few rare exceptions. Having been spared the religiosity, I could simply search for the truth, without the baggage of embellished doctrines.
What happened that fall was an extraordinary amplification of that near-death occurrence about six months earlier. I was on Rich's Mountain, about 5,000 feet above the town of Boone. At the top, there was a fire tower at the end of a gravel road that was closed at its base.
One crystal clear afternoon, I decided to go to see the sunset from atop this mountain. I reached the top in time to sit in meditation at sun- set.
Before starting, I glanced towards the southwest and saw an extraterrestrial vehicle. It was some distance away, but was just like the one I had seen as a nine year old. For some reason, my reaction at that moment was, "It's them again" - and I didn't really think much more about it - I simply accepted the fact that they were here. Then the ship winked out, just like the one I'd seen years before.
I then began meditating and had a beautiful, deep experience in unbounded Mind. Afterward, I opened my eyes and it was pitch dark, with the stars all visible. Imagine being at that altitude in the crystal clear dry air, viewing the Milky Way and countless stars! Standing there, suddenly a thought not my own came to mind: "Behold what a beautiful universe God has made."
With that, I went into the exact state of consciousness I had when I died, that God consciousness where I was fully awake, at one with the entire creation, and yet present standing on the mountain. It was magnificent.
When I began the walk down, I noticed a glow off the edge of the mountain and sensed someone was there. Suddenly, on my right, an extraterrestrial biological life form appeared and touched my shoulder so firmly that it was like a strong finger touching me. I looked down and saw the imprint on my jacket: every hair on my head stood on end!
Somewhat childishly, my first thought was, "What does this creature want with me?" I got down close to the ground (I hate to admit this!)in a fetal position, looking up - and he was looking back. Its gender was male. He was quite peaceful and non-threatening, with beautiful, deer- like eyes.
Then I suddenly found myself transported onto the craft. We were just out in space, sitting. I recall that the craft became completely translucent. It felt like I was floating in space with nothing around, as if the whole craft was made of fiber optics, and its shell could disappear. Space was visible all around us.
So I stayed there with these ETs, who were three or four feet tall, all with those appealing eyes. It appeared that we were there for one pur- pose; meditating together. They were interested in me because they wanted contact with a human being experiencing cosmic consciousness as we do, participating with them. At this point I taught them what that state is like for us. We shared it together - an incredible encounter, entire- ly different from stories usually circulated about extraterrestrial contact.
It was a very non-local experience, with time, space, and relativity in a realm unlike what's normal for us. In that state of consciousness sec- onds, hours, or years no longer matter, because time and space have been transcended. This infinite eternity is the true nature of the mind, the awake self within all of us.