The Myopic View of Life that People Hold in Contrast to What the Near Death Experiences Reveal

There is a lot of confusion and lack of care in the world today leading to human unhappiness. Though many explanations are given for that state of affairs, the messages from Near Death Experiences provide a gateway to radical transformation. Human society has been in turmoil for thousands of years in terms of war and violence, gruesome crimes, poverty and lack of care. There have always been a small percentage of people enjoying wealth and comfort but they too have been afflicted by sorrows of different kinds. Again, there is another small percentage of people which works hard at transforming the world into a place of happiness and harmony. One of the main reasons for the present unhappiness of humanity is the myopic view that people hold about life (and death) on this planet. Religions have attempted to expand their view beyond the conventional borders but they too, unfortunately, have failed to take people outside the ego realms. Children born in such a society get wrapped up in limited awareness and are entrenched in the myopic view handed down to them by their forefathers. In spite of many spiritual masters from ancient times, like the Buddha, giving their input to take humanity out of the muck, human beings have mostly remained sunk in it. Under these circumstances, come the redeeming messages from near death experiences (NDEs) that can uplift humanity from the unfortunate state it finds itself in. The messages can help only if people are willing to release themselves from the myopic view they hold based on their social and religious conditioning. We can identify some aspects of the myopic view responsible for the ego-based psychology of human beings. These may be termed as: Individuation, Doer-ship, Sectarian Attitudes and Thought-created Illusion. The following lines elucidate their content. Individuation Human beings function with a strong idea of being individuals based on the ‘I am the body idea’. In other words, the image that one has about oneself is built around the physical form and the mental attributes. Obviously, the feeling that one is a male or female is also centered on it. Though people may state ‘I am not the body but the soul’ based on some religious clichés, they remain unaware that they are functioning from the ‘I am the body’ idea. The idea has its roots at a deep neurological level. That is how the fear of bodily death is also a very deep one. Even if one thinks that one is the soul and not the body, he or she thinks of one as an individual soul having specific identifications. Such individuation is further strengthened by emotional attachment to nationality, religion, language etc. Ego, a functional output of the mind, is a direct derivative of the individuation. As long as the human psychology is governed by this individuation, there will be conflicts and war between groups of differing identification. Doer-ship This word is not in the dictionary. What it means can be clear from the following lines. The human mind has a strong tendency to attribute authorship to all happenings. That is how concepts of God have evolved in human society in order to explain the origin of the universe and life on this planet. The mind cannot think of action flowing through the human being, like a river, due to thousands of causes playing a part before that action. It has to necessarily attribute a ‘Doer-ship’ to somebody with regard to a particular action. For example, someone committing a murder is entirely responsible for that act - the sole ‘Doer’ of it. The same way, megalomania resulting from an applauded act arises from the feeling “I did it” or “I am the Doer”. People would feel that it is such an obvious fact, they would wonder how else can those things be interpreted. It needs a much deeper level of awareness before we understand why this attribution of ‘Doer-ship’ is merely a thought-created illusion. People who go through a NDE are exposed to such deep awareness that, when they return, this neurological habit of attributing ‘doer-ship’ is significantly dissolved in them. They see happenings from a very wide perspective and note how myopic the conventional mind is. In the last chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “In all cases, Arjuna, action is done by the flow of nature but the deluded man thinks he is the doer.” Sectarian Attitudes The tendency of people to group around a concept – the psychological act of identification – is a neurological habit from ancient days, as a result of the self protective instinct. It is based on the demand for security. Such a tendency has resulted, unfortunately, in sectarian attitudes that divide people and bring about conflicts between various groups. In other words, the very security meant to be derived from that approach is shattered by it! This is seen especially in the fields of religion and nationality. When you divide people as the ‘Blessed’ and the ‘Cursed’ or as the ‘Superior‘ and the ‘Inferior’, how can there be any harmony? Ego rides high and is left unnoticed. Again, it is a matter of insufficient awareness. Thought-created Illusion Thought related to practical issues in life is one thing but the thought driven by the ‘I’ is another. The latter is a matter of emotionally conditioned response. Because it is conditioned and driven by self importance, it creates feelings of fear, regret, anger, attachment, resentment etc. Consequently, thought centered in the ‘I’ draws a curtain between oneself others in life. Everything is interpreted by the vision through the curtain. One outcome of this is the duality in everything that we sense – duality as the experiencer and the experienced. It sustains the self-importance of the ‘I’ and its inevitable consequence, namely, fear. Deepening self-awareness can alert us to this illusion creating power of thought and can liberate us from the slavery to it. This is where the messages from NDEs can be significantly helpful. Messages from NDEs When we listen to the promptings from those who go through a NDE, the above four factors being the underlying cause of human unhappiness becomes clear to us. Primarily, what the messages make clear to us is the illusion creating power of thought. As the NDE repeatedly reminds us, we are indeed one with everything in the universe. It is a wonderfully healing spiritual message; helps us understand why unconditional love towards everyone has the healing power to solve all problems in society. One who had the NDE was asked, “Are you more religious after the NDE?” The answer was, “No, maybe more spiritual.” That is the key. Many people treat religion and spirituality as if their contents are the same. In reality, however, there is a world of difference between the two. While religion can be sectarian and divisive, true spirituality is universal and unifying, as made clear by many NDEs. For similar articles, please visit http://spirituality.yolasite.com