Learn from Children

We adults can learn a lot from children if we take the time. We can watch them enjoy the present moment without regret of past or fear of future.

Today Hannah enjoyed just sitting on the beach as the cold sea lapped around her legs. She enjoyed touching the sand and watching the water.

Can you take great pleasure from something so simple? I hope you can :)

Heydon Chapel

Sunday April 9th, 2006

Most Churches and places of worship have a good feel and energy to them. I usually enjoy visiting these places even though I am not religious and do not attend Church services.

One of my favourite places of worship is the Heydon Chapel, I went there yesterday to take some photos getting several paybacks for a single trip (use my new D200 camera, visit Heydon park, afterwards spend a few minutes meditating inside the Chapel.

Here are some of the photos that I took, I hope they reflect the special character of the Chapel.

This shows the front entrance to the Chapel, as you can see the building is small and can only accomodate about 12–15 people at a time. The construction is traditional Bermuda style, a 200 year old hurriance proof design.

This is the side wall, note the small window and strong wall design. Bermuda buildings are designed to keep the inside cool in summer and warmer in winter.

Inside there is a small alter that is well maintained and always trimmed with local plants and flowers. The bible is always open and the whole setup makes everyone feel welcome to this special place.

There are four rows of pews. It is here in the third row that I spent 10 minuted or so in silence. The energy of the Chapel makes it very easy for one the quiet the mind and experience deep peace. In fact the experience was so good that I intend to frequent the Chapel more often.

I think it is important for us to have special places. Places where we can be quiet and find time to contemplate and meditate in silence. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we can literally spend days/weeks/years reacting to lifes events without ever contemplating who we are and where we are going and why we are going there.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of Heydon Chapel and if you are ever in Bermuda make sure to visit this Trust Estate.

Till next time.

Out of Body Experiences

musical notes
Originally uploaded by gjdent.

I had my first OBE (out of body experience) when I was about 8 years old. I was in my bedroom asleep and when I woke up – I was floating on my ceiling – like a helium balloon – staring at the texture on the ceiling from six inches away. I turned to look down at myself still in my bed and suddenly started spinning and dropped back into my body.

I thought it was some sort of weird dream and did not bother telling anyone about it.

Move forward about twenty years. I spent my mid to late twenties interested in metaphysics, meditation, etc. I read about astral projection and determined to learn how to do this and control this. It took me two year of on/off practicing and then one night it happened.

I meditated and did some preparation exercises and then went to sleep (more about how to later). My consciousness then woke up while my physical body remained asleep. I could feel surges of electric like waves running through my body and I literally rocked out of my body and fell onto the floor tiles next to my bed. It was quite a shock and I remember crouching on all fours trying to control my breathing and remain clam. I slipped back into the body pretty quickly due to fear of the unknown I suspect.

These sessions continued until I could control myself out of body and learn to walk/see/jump/fly etc. The problem was I did not have a plan or really think about what I was doing so the OBE’s did not progress me at all – I was attracted the circus like nature of the event rather than using the experience to progress my self.

For whatever reason(s) I stopped doing OBE’s around 29/30 year of age and then lost the ability for a number of years.

I am now interested in this experience as one tool for further exploring the nature of self and consciousness. It has taken a little while but I am just starting to experience lucid dreams and OBEs again. This time they seem more natural and last night I just slipped out of body with hardly any effort at all.

I also met ‘others’ for the first time. One person seems to be lost and frightened and tried to cling to me. I assume this person had died but did not know it. I could not help him and had to leave by literally flying through the wall and away. I also sensed/saw some sort of deity/advanced being. I was a little concerned over this and the concern pushed my back in body. Interestingly, I was able to slip back out within a minute or so. It used to me that once back in body I would fully wake and not be able to get out again. Last night I left my body three times.

Is this dreaming and imagined. I am not sure. I know that whatever is happening I am fully conscious and it is my consciousness that is controlling the event. I perceive this to be real for me and therefore it must be real. It is certainly a positive experience – felling yourself as yourself out of your body. I think it helps me to have a clearer understanding of who I am and who I am not. I know now that : -

• I am not my body
• I am not my emotions
• I am not my mind
• I am the self
• The self is all there is

Enough for now !