It is good to observe how we burden ourselves unknowingly due to the habitual neurology. The fear of life and the fear of death arise due to living with that burden. It is possible to drop that burden and live with freedom. Deepening self-awareness and the non-conformist attitude help us in this regard.

It is possible to meet life with a free flowing psychology and, hence, spread serenity inside and out. This takes place by expanding our awareness onto the non-conventional regions outside the egos’ playground. By the way, one moves into the deeper self.

Out of the Box
The conventional lifestyle on this planet involves having a good family, a job, a belief system to depend on and the general acceptance from one’s family and friends. Somewhat more spirited people apply themselves to their passion and move towards leading an adventurous life. These people are willing to look outside the box and avoid being driven by the herd-mentality. When we talk about free flowing psychology, they get tickled to the point of exploring in that direction. With that spirit of wanting to understand, they spread their wings outside the realm of the habitual neurology. In the process, they discover what lies beyond the apparent and let themselves grow spiritually. Such people remain a source of inspiration to their family and friends and help them strike their own trails towards the unknown.

Human beings are driven by the conventional neurology, irrespective of which part of the world they come from. That kind of neurology usually relies on developing a shield against life by depending on a religious system or, its opposite, by being an agnostic or an atheist. All of those approaches involve emotional attachment to conclusions. Under those circumstances, there will be alienation from life because of the shield brought in by the attachment. The boldness of facing life in an unobstructed way will be denied and the shield makes one part company with life. The fear of life would be sustained and that is what causes the fear of death, though people derive some false security through the belief systems. This is the reason why they would feel deeply shaken when their belief system is questioned and shown to be based on cleverly woven notions of favourable prejudices and not on any perception of the universal Truth. It is strange how belief systems are started from the messages of great Masters but are manipulated to produce ego-satisfying streams, thus corrupting those messages. This is how people belonging to a belief system are in constant conflict with those of other belief systems. Further, such emotional attachment to systems invariably develop shields against life and bring in the ego-based approach to life.

The System Psychology
Belief systems vary from one group to another, each vying to show that its way is the right one. This itself indicates that they are not based on any understanding of the hidden truths of life that usher in unity. The Enlightened Masters were transported to that non-dual state of consciousness through independent paths of expanding inner awareness; they never belonged to any group or belief system.

When we free ourselves from the psychological fabric of society, we also leave behind all belief and anti-belief systems and have the opportunity to fly free. There is a great feeling of being unburdened from the conformity to systems that the surrounding societal influences impose on us. One understands the purity of aloneness. Simultaneously, there is a natural orderliness in one’s life and the eagerness to understand the background consciousness from which the limited mind is produced. This spirit of adventure makes one bring in deepening self-awareness and sense the natural spirituality to which everyone is an heir. Messages from paranormal phenomena help. People who go through a near death experience often report about the vast consciousness of which we remain oblivious while in our bodies. This myopic state is responsible for all our narrow-minded attitudes and inadequate appreciation of life’s sacredness.

The Release
Human beings carry a lot of self-imposed burden because of limited awareness and the conformist attitude. The thought created ‘I’ is also a result of that limited awareness. All these make them live in constant fear and inward conflict. It is necessary to clear the mind of this burden and live in freedom and clarity. This is not easy because people around us are constantly creating a psychological atmosphere that sustains our inner burden. To release ourselves from that trap, we should turn our attention inward and observe how our thought process is driven by the past and future as also how the conformist attitude controls us. Gradually, we will release ourselves from the crowd psychologically and discover the value of aloneness. The inner space will expand and, correspondingly, there will be an intensity to our living. Then, we flow with life and let the self-importance be dissolved.

When we flow with life and sense that we are vortexes in a vast field of consciousness, the whole perspective changes. The self-enclosed attitude and the self-importance ushered in by the habitual neurology begin to dissolve. Abundant feelings flow towards everyone and everything. That makes us live a life of depth in which oneself and others are taken care of, without expecting anything along the lines of ego-demands. There is an effortless detachment from the usual drives for possession, approval and success. One makes bold to explore into the afterlife based on the appreciation of the long journey we are on. There is no pressure to do things (constrained by time) in order that we will land in eternal heaven after death. That pressure-release is a kind of unburdening which helps us fly free.

Related topics are covered in the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com

Author's Bio: 

Gopalakrishnan T. Chandrasekaran was born in Madras (now Chennai), India. He received his doctoral degree in Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978; served on the research and teaching faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, the North Carolina State University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait.

Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic issues of life for the last forty years or so. This led him to the messages of Ramana Maharishi, Lao Tzu, J Krishnamurthy, UG Krishnamurthy, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Marcus Aurelius and similar Masters. His book entitled “In Quest of the Deeper Self” is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others.

Gopalakrishnan is a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies, Durham, NC, USA. He lives in Kodaikanal, a hill town in the southern part of India, with his wife Banumathy. Blog: http://nde-thedeeperself.blogspot.com