5 - Understandings

Intentions, rather than deeds or beliefs, are what matters. Deeds have consequences in this dimension; in the primary dimension they matter only insofar as they are the result of intention. When you die, your true intentions, motivations and thoughts from every moment of your life will be known to you. These vibrations will be the measure of your life. Your accomplishments or failures in material terms - or your station in life, from beginning to end - will mean nothing. The events in your life are never rewards or punishments.

Life reviews: the death of "plausible deniability"… By JDBourdon

Ah, plausible deniability… where would we be without it in this world? We’ll find out in the primary dimension.

The phrase "plausible deniability" seemingly had its origin in Watergate-era American politics. You could say you voted against a bill because of this or that provision, when it fact you know you’re re-paying an industry for its support of your career. Or you could invade a country and claim that you feared they’d attack you, or that you invaded with the goal of helping others… it sounds plausible. At best, rationales seem so possible one can even deceive oneself.

The concept, of course, has been around forever. It’s a key part of individual lives lived by the materialist paradigm. It’s a superior defensive device.

Friends get a better job, or achieve acclaim. And you’re genuinely happy for them…somewhat. But you have to deal with the phenomenon known as "compare and despair." Truth be told, part of you is envious, jealous. Why don’t good breaks like that happen to me?

A spouse or friend does or says something that’s hurtful, but you eventually announce you have "forgiven" them. But the anger smoulders - this incident will be used someday to justify one of your failings.

Or my favorite – you do something to "teach" somebody a lesson. Yes, it’s for their own good, you tell yourself. That might even be somewhat true. But really -- and deep down, if you’re perceptive, you know it -- your motivation is that you want to strike back at them. They didn’t behave as you demanded they behave.

"Plausible deniability" strategies might make you feel guilty. Still, it is, after all, plausible deniability – your position is not so absurd as to have people certain of your motives. And you might even have "proof" - I congratulated him; that proves I’m not jealous. Most people can rationalize that their motives were essentially noble.

Who’s going to know otherwise? In the eternal dimension… everyone.

Perhaps the single greatest gift of NDEs to humanity is the life review. Though they happen in a minority of NDEs, they aren’t rare, with some estimates saying 20% of NDEs involve them.

Life reviews are a panoramic, all-at-once crash course about what matters – and doesn’t matter – in life. They are the ultimate MRI of the soul. All is revealed for what it is/was. Every thought, every feeling is naked. Motivations are known. You know what you were thinking, you experience the other person’s thoughts and feelings. You literally feel their pain or joy.

And every other being knows this as well. Ever do something bad or hurtful and walk into a room where everyone knows what you did? Absolutely unbearable. Imagine if every last thought was known to all.

You can’t lie. Furthermore, you know every other being knows exactly what you did and why.

I remember talking to a self-described "bad person" who had a life review. He saw the best – and so often, simple – moments of his life, such as the joy his little sister felt when he pushed her swing.

But the bad times – not measured by actions, but rather the motivations behind the actions – were so awful he found them agonizing.

The mean-spiritness of his life… the judgments of others… the hatred… the jealousy… the pursuit of false values…the self-centeredness… the self-deception. He experienced the essence of what’d he’d been and the effect on others. The universe knew it, and he knew it as well. There were no excuses to be offered, no "plausible" deniability left.

That’s what we all face. Every moment, thought, action, motivation and effect re-experienced with a greater reality and weight than known in this dimension. It is the measure of our life and our mission.

But there is no external judgment of your life – you and you alone will hold yourself accountable. You are met with unconditional love and understanding. You will not be punished or damned – no, not even for the worst thing you ever did.

Of course, you can forgo this. Self-deception, lack of self-knowledge, apartness from god – is your choice. It is a choice that could be made because the reality - revealed in total - is so horrific. But to live isolated from love, apart from god, apart from understanding, apart even from self: that’s what hell is; a place of your own design.

Living the NDE Paradigm – understanding the measure of existence revealed by NDE life reviews - allows one to re-interpret, better yet re-invent, one’s life. It no longer matters what or why someone else does something; all that matters is how you react and why. That is what will exist and be re-experienced. It does not matter whether you are right or wrong, or whether someone else is right or wrong. You will hold yourself accountable – not anyone else. Your mission is your life, period.

I suspect every single person will be shocked by the worst moments of their life review. Coming to terms with the reality of your life and mission now – reassessing all you’ve done, weighing it correctly, taking responsibility for the vibration you’ve been, and knowing that you are loved despite your worst shortcomings – is living in alignment with cosmic consciousness, and is one of the great joys of living the NDE Paradigm.

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refrigerator door... By Marie Taylor, non-experiencer, http://www.onemountainmanypaths.com/

The refrigerator door is the billboard of the home. What is on it not only reveals the interest of the household but what it holds valuable.

When my sons were small the refrigerator door was covered by their school papers, photographs, and artwork held up by magnets. Each star-covered assignment brought home, each picture of the house with a smoking chimney was duly put up and admired.

I have a small wooden chest in my bedroom that now houses many of these early treasures. There is a picture of a zebra that Rob drew that has only the black zebra stripes to show the figure, a battle scene Jason colored with flying saucers and aliens, hand-drawn valentines and several Mother’s Day cards with crooked tulips.

When I see these works of art I do not judge them for what they have accomplished but for what they have intended. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I have come to believe that good intentions have their own value and do not lead to hell but to heaven. But intentions are not the same as resolutions. Resolutions imply will power and results.

We say we are going to go on a diet or stop smoking or be more aware of our temper. However, in the back of our mind that statement is linked with the thought “and then I will be thinner, healthy or kinder.” In other words, we seek to improve our selves, to become better, faster or stronger. These are resolutions

By linking the resolution with a desired result, we are assuming that there is a self that needs improved, a self that can be improved, a self that exists, a self we can coerce into better behavior. In other words, the resolution is used as a lever, or hammer, to change the ego/mind.

The ego, always on the alert for anything that tries to usurp its authority and supremacy, quickly seeks to undermine the resolution. It is almost inevitable that our attempts at self-improvement fail. The “I” says to itself “If only I had more will power, more self control, more whatever… I would be thinner, a non-smoker, more peaceful.” Then begins the self-judgment and condemnation.

Intention is a direction, not a destination. Its origin is in the spirit, not the ego. It has no desired outcome for it lives in the present and outcomes are in the future. They are not linked. The intention does not ‘cause’ the outcome. If it did, we would easily accomplish what we set out to achieve. Intention does not use will power, it uses willingness.

In setting an intention we are setting a direction. We are not dictating how the journey will happen, the path we will take, the destination we will reach. We are simply stating a direction. We may veer off one way or another, but our intention brings us back on course. Through intention we keep correcting our course, we do not condemn the variations.

I have a little prayer card in the meditation book I read each morning. In essence, it says, “Today, I offer everything I think and do and say and feel and experience to God.” Some days, I can keep that thought percolating at the back of mind when I’m working or driving the car or taking a walk. Some days, I may not think of it again until bedtime.

When the parent sees the child’s drawing of a flower, he doesn’t see the colors are wrong or that the stem is crooked, he sees the child’s intention to draw a beautiful flower. I think it is the same with God. He does not see the mistakes or errors we make but our intentions to live a beautiful and truthful life. Our lives are held up by magnets on God’s refrigerator door and all that He sees is good.

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the ball... By Marie Taylor, non-experiencer, http://www.onemountainmanypaths.com/

Emmie is a dog of remarkable character by any measure. She has but one blind spot and that is her tennis ball. It borders on the obsessive. When not chasing or catching it, she is often, on a night filled with network sitcoms or Home & Garden make-overs, sitting on the floor chewing it at a steady and unremitting pace. A glazed look forms in her eyes and any canine anxiety she may have at this enforced stillness is methodically chewed away.

Although very hard of hearing, she has learned to read my lips and when they form b-a-l-l, she knows instantly that a walk is in store. On our afternoon excursions, we typically go to a far end of the field that has a boggy bottom, high hill and further creek and pond. On these treks, Emmie has discovered a four foot depression measuring about two feet deep that is in this rainy spring filled with water.

As soon as we are in the area, Emmie heads to this watering hole with a bounce in her step for she knows that soon her paws will be delightfully squishing in mud and her legs and belly cooled. She glides in, drops the tennis ball which then floats placidly beside her, and laps up some of this tasteful water. After a few minutes she emerges refreshed and muddy.

The other afternoon when we reached Emmie’s pool, she got in, dropped the ball and splashed around. Unfortunately, this was the same tennis ball that she had chewed so assiduously the night before and before you could say 15-love, said ball sank like a rock. When her dip was over, she looked for her ball, at first curiously, and then frantically. It was nowhere to be seen.

A few moments later, a downcast and ball-less Emmie and I walked along the path home. Soon she was chewing on some spring grass, smelling some delightful canine odors along the creek bank and looking for some mischief to get into. It occurred to me then how much freer she was to enjoy our walk once she left the baggage of the ball behind. There was nothing to carry in her mouth and nothing to chase. In losing her ball, she found freedom.

I considered how many tennis balls we carry, all the things we won’t leave home without – the watch or Day Timer, the cigarettes or coffee, the cell phone or briefcase, the agenda of what the day should be or how our lives should be lived.

Possessions while at times enjoyable also need to be taken care of, protected, maintained, serviced, stored. The knick knacks, books, dishes and clothes can become weights not only on our bodies but on our spirits.

If we had to live in one room, what would be the most important to have? If we had to take whatever we needed in our car, what would be left behind? If we had to carry on our back what we loved or needed, what would it be? What is it we will take when we leave this life?

The holy and the beautiful and the good is always characterized by simplicity. Wonder if all we carried was ourselves. What would we have the time to do? Where are the places we would go? What are the lives we would live? What freedom could we discover once we left the perishable behind?

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