Great Throughts Treasury

"I had a "near death experience" and remember thinking, "If only people knew what it was like to die, they wouldn't be afraid." I reached a point at which a voice began to ask me if I thought I'd completed what I'd come to do. was I going to leave my son, then age three, behind? There was no sense of threat or coercion. An absolute acceptance that whatever I did was all right, but pointing out that the moment of choice was now. The relief and release from the fear of dying changed my life. The reminder that "I am not my body" freed me to live my life in a different way. The understanding that no matter what is going on in our bodies, the essence of who we are is unaffected; this wisdom has enabled me to help other see their bodies in a different way. To see the body in illness not as an enemy, but as a faithful fried, programmed by; the soul to react in that exact way. To see illness as a confrontation in the physical of what one is reluctant to confront on the mental or emotional levels. In other words, a message, a communication, a time to listen and therefore a unique and powerful opportunity for transformation."

"One of our greatest fears as human beings is our fear of change - our fear of loss and separation from all that is comfortable and familiar. Our terror of the unknown, especially in the form of death, prevents us from taking risks, daring to be different and living a life full of excitement and joy, independent of the approval or disapproval of those around us. And yet encounters with danger, challenge and change are part of life. From these experiences we can emerge stronger and with a new awareness of life."

"Our world is in a process of metamorphosis - a time of radical change. The earth, the planetary being on which we live, is giving birth to a new age and form. Caught in the limbo between the death of the old and the birth of the new, and experiencing the pains of both, many of us find it hard to cope. Life is not easy and we are pushed to question many facets of it that we have previously taken for granted."

"Since the beginning of the century we have lost 20% of the time we used to have. Most of us, including children, sense time speeding by so fast there is never enough time. It can also induce a sense of loss of control over one's life. Not only are our relationships falling apart, but everything appears to be in chaos from kitchen to office desk. We can no longer keep cupboards and drawers as tidy as we used to. Relationships are increasingly difficult to sustain. Most of us project onto others our own imbalance and then blame others for the mirror reflection we do not accept in ourselves. One of the most important acts we need to do now is to bring into balance both our inner and outer male and female energy. We must become whole within ourselves and not dependent on another to make us feel whole. A relationship is a journey of self-discovery and must begin with self-love and self-acceptance. If I honour myself, I will honour my partner and give us both the space to grow and to be. The acceleration of time causes physical discomfort in the sense of chronic, glandular-fever type tiredness, dizziness, scratchy eyes, 'flu-like symptoms, aches and pains, especially in the back and legs, sore throats and breathlessness."

"I am reminded of the story of the teacher who tears to shreds a map of the world and, thinking it an impossible task, gives it to a recalcitrant student to put together. Within ten minutes the boy is back, the task completed. Astounded, the teacher asks him how he did it. The boy replies: "When I turned the pieces over, I found a torn-up man. I put him together, and when I looked at the other side, the world was whole again.""