Reflective people apply themselves to understanding the vagaries of life and it helps them move into deeper perspectives. Consequently, there is a sensing of the non-apparent aspects of life. They see that shocks in life have a message understanding which the shocks become unnecessary!

When life is based on psychology dominated by self-interest and self-importance, mediocrity in life is inevitable. People have the tendency to make up for it by belonging to a system, religious or otherwise. It gives them the feeling of being somebody, getting somewhere. However, such dependence sustains the fear against which the defense is developed. What is needed is a radical departure from the habitual mindset.

One of the things that can help us release ourselves from that situation is the eagerness to understand the psychological shocks in life. Do they have a message? Do these shocks come to wake us up to something? This is a potent region for exploration because understanding that region can keep us awake without there having to be shocks. It is an active involvement that can put us wise with regard to the hidden currents of life.

We note here that our usual tendency is to develop a shield against life to feel secure. This defensive attitude and the associated dependence on systems or methods to ensure security indicate the unwillingness to face life in its natural form. This is what makes shocks painful to us. The shocks tell us that our disposition towards life is not alright. If we remain awake with no dependence on anything, then we chime in with life and float along. That also helps us perceive the true meaning of life. Eckhart Tolle says in his book “Stillness Speaks”,
“Suffering is necessary to understand that it is unnecessary”. The same thing can be said of shocks in life too.

Now, we look at an interesting item: ‘No challenge’ as a challenge!

On Oct 29, 2005 the Democrat & Chronicle, a newspaper of Rochester, NY, published an article with the headline “Breast Cancer Survivor Shares Encouragement’. A resident of Rochester was diagnosed of breast cancer in 1998. She thought she would die. However, after eight hours of surgery and eight months of chemotherapy, she recovered and the article said, “She is now sitting happy, energetic, fit and grateful at the back of a store where she works part time”. This news item quotes her as saying “The little things in life that are taken for granted mean so much to me now. It is just a gift, a tremendous gift.” The pointer here is that when people go through a shock, they are able to see things in better perspective and sense intrinsic beauty in the ordinary things of life. In other words, we wake up if we are confronted by a challenge. Each shock in our life is a challenge – minor or major. Now, the question here is: Can we wake up without there having to be a shock? Reflection on this makes us appreciate life better. We understand the immaturity behind wallowing in self-pity and getting caught in the quagmire of self-centered activities. It inevitably increases our compassion towards people with whom we interact, our co-passengers on the journey of life.

When life senses that we are already applying ourselves to appreciate its intrinsic beauty, it sees no need to wake us up with a shock. The life tidings become calm helping us appreciate our proximity to Divinity and the beauty of our journey of life. One might ask: What happens to one’s karma in the event of such appreciation of life by us? The karmic momentum does continue but it adjusts itself to be supportive rather than see the need for jolts to wake us up.

People who sense the meaning of the above two paragraphs might say “Waking up under no challenge is the new challenge!”

When we steer clear of all psychological dependencies, the mind enters a zone of peace that is untouched by circumstances. That peace is associated with inward integration and passivity. It is good to note that silence in the mind resonates with the silence in the Universe. Further, it helps us deal with problems in relationships in a broad-minded way. We note here the statement made by the Divine Voice in Conversations with God (Ref. 1). The Voice says that we cannot see the purpose behind relationships when we lose sight of each other as sacred souls on a sacred journey.

People who have a near death experience go through a tremendous shock – of being thrown from the mind to the universal consciousness – but it is a positive one in that it exposes them to the vaster reality which cannot be conceived by the conventional mind. That is how it transforms the life of the experiencer after the event.

Related matters are covered in the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com
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Ref 1. Walsch, Neale Donald. Conversations with God - Book 1
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995.

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 who also received her doctoral degree from the North Carolina State University, in Organic Chemistry. Now they are both retired and currently involved in developing a fruit farm at a village 20 km from their residence. They have a daughter and son who are both married and settled.
Blog: http://nde-thedeeperself.blogspot.com