From the dawn of our birth until the sunset of death, we breathe, always and everywhere. Indeed, breath defines our life and supports us body and spirit. Besides being central to life, ever-present, and connected to the spirit, breathing involves an easily noticeable complex of physical sensations. Thus, the practice of breath awareness was widely embraced by our ancestors in the spiritual pursuit. The Buddha was engaged in breath awareness as his primary practice at the time of his enlightenment. The Christian Desert Fathers, Hindu Yogis, and Islamic Sufis employed variations of breath awareness.

Breath awareness forms a subclass of the more general awareness of bodily sensations. Because the breath always moves, the sensations of the bodily movements associated with breathing remain with us continually from birth to death. The more subtle sensations of the air moving through our nasal and oral passageways also stay with us. To powerfully anchor ourselves to the present, we need only abide in the sensations of each breath, one after another without a break. Since we always breathe, we have the potential to practice breath awareness at any and every waking moment.

A word of caution, though, at the outset: in practicing breath awareness we make no change whatsoever to the physical movement of the breath. We do not attempt to slow it down, speed it up, or alter it any way. We only bring our attention and awareness to the sensations of breathing, as they are, without imposing any changes on the breath. We do not interfere with the vital function of breathing. We simply ease into awareness of it and ride along to stay present.

Such relaxed and continuous awareness of the sensations of breathing creates a sturdy and effective basis for the path of spiritual transformation. This simple method entails a direct attention to, and consciousness of, the actual physical sensations associated with breathing. We might focus on the sensations in the nostrils, the air movement across the upper lip, or the rise and fall of the abdomen and rib cage. Or we might prefer to work with awareness of all of them at once in a more global view of breathing. Each has its advantages. The abdominal region offers relatively large movements, with obvious physical sensations that we can readily engage and follow. The nostrils and upper lip present a small, subtle, and very focused region. The narrow focus can be more difficult to acquire and maintain but enables us to quickly build up a sharp and strong attention. Global bodily awareness of breath readily supports a conscious backdrop to common daily activities. Our situation and state can guide us to the most appropriate style of practice in any given moment.

In meditation on the breath, we allow the breath to breathe itself. We do not interpose ourselves as doing the breathing, as being the one who is breathing. Consciously letting the breath breathe itself can lead to the shocking realization that our usual concept of our self is wrong, that the self we believe ourselves to be is just a collection of patterns and memories with nothing at its core. Putting this in another way: we go about our day doing many things, believing we are the doer. When we come to sitting meditation, nothing much seems to be happening other than breathing. So always believing ourselves to be the doer, we think we are the one who is breathing. But if we let the breath breathe itself, we see that there is no doer. And that insight can puncture our illusion of ego, liberating us from the notion that we are a permanent, separate self.

From ancient times until today, conscious breathing remains among the most powerful, effective, and natural methods for centering ourselves in presence and preparing our being for opening to the spirit.

​A man I know is dependent on a machine to breathe. The machine cycles his inhalations and exhalations at a steady, unchanging pace. Ordinarily, his emotions would alter his breathing, but he cannot change how he breathes, and the conflict between his natural rhythms and the machine sets off the alarm. If he were not attended to promptly, it would be life threatening.

Human society and individual habits are like a breathing machine, fixing all who are on it to an unnatural style of living which may begin with the alarm clock and go through the day with schedules, appointments, fitting in with rules and regulations, being too long in cars, on cell phones and laptop computers (ahem!)

It is no wonder that homo sapiens, although a biological organism of Nature, is a species far removed from her beauty and balance. The rigid, habitual (unaware) lifestyle of modern humans has devastating consequences.

As Xan Maranya wrote in the CE discussion which began with the question, 'What makes this a better world?', 

... suffering is the effect of losing awareness of what is truly perfect in our essence of being. There is a need for awakening....

The question of this discussion is, 'What practices support greater awareness?' — whether it is Christian contemplation, Buddhist meditation, Yoga, working with plant spirits, or any other. I have explored many practices and am currently experimenting with a synthesis of what has been most effective and efficient for me. I call it Heart Space Breathing. Are there any who would experiment and practice this for a few days, then write how it feels to you?

Anja van Loon 
Just "being" and "feeling" grateful.

Gary R. Smith
 ... and breathing?

Anja van Loon 
Is that not a subconscious thing to breathe? Being grateful something to be conscious of? Something to combine? Air in gratefulness out?

Gary R. Smith
Yes, 'The subconscious mind is also responsible for all physiological functions of the body; we don't regulate our heart rate, breathing, kidney function or digestion with our conscious mind.' - cellularwisdom.com

Yet, we *can* breathe consciously. We can also bring our awareness to our breathing. It is incredibly powerful to observe our breathing and change our emotional state through this awareness. Totally self-empowering. Gratefulness is always good.

Rod MacKinnon 
Hi Gary R. Smith... always great to read and think about your posts...Thanks for the acknowledgement...I was also quoting from a poem by Sam Hunt...a Kiwi poet and friend...I'd like to take some time to re-read and think about your thoughts...I've followed a personal daily practice of meditation, breathing and movement for around forty-something years and (I think) due to my good fortune, growing through my formative years in a remote and beautiful region of NZ close to ocean, rivers, forests and mountains and daily interaction with animals, I've been gifted with an inner awareness/acceptance/sense of integration with, what people refer to as, "nature". It fits me like a skin....It isn't just the physical environment...it's a resonance....always present...

Martin Frank 
I have found that the process known as Nonviolent Communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, is a very practical way to begin 'deschooling' from what I know as the 'judgement' thought and speech that I have experienced as the foundation of the 'domination cultures' strategies for maintaining control by separation. Check it out.

Xan Maranya 
Heart Space Breathing. I like it.

Xan Maranya
Conscious Breathing.

Gary R. Smith 
Xan Maranya, evolution is on-going and experimentation with Heart Space Breathing is part of the fun. I like it, too!

Joseph Naft from Inner Frontier writes on the page you linked, 'A word of caution, though, at the outset: in practicing breath awareness we make no change whatsoever to the physical movement of the breath.'

When I observe my breath, the act of observation influences it. I find my breath changes without my forcing it. 

I downloaded the Kindle version of one of Joseph's books and started browsing. This type of material is good for those who need structure to start. I question some of his statements, such as about goal setting. If the idea is to live from awareness rather than from the conditioned mind, there is no goal setting from what I see. Overall, the article on Conscious Breathing you linked is excellent, and I have written to Joseph for permission to post it on the Whole Human blog. Thank you again.

Xan Maranya 
Changing our breathing pattern deliberately is quite different from the natural effects of becoming conscious in it. Both can be useful.

Summary of the discussion in the Collective Evolution Group on Facebook which started with the question, 'What makes this a better world?'

​

• Words do not count for anything. Only actions matter.
• The quality of each action — the motives, emotional/psychological energy and consciousness behind the action — also matters.
• The greater the awareness or higher the consciousness behind the action, the more effective it will be towards making a better world.
• Feeling the larger picture — that all is perfect as it is and knowing the greater design brings balance  — can give a person a sense of equanimity and non-separation, which makes the action more peaceful, fluid, connecting and efficient.
• Feeling the open silence space of being, the source of light within the heart, can also expand awareness and guide actions from a higher wisdom
• Saving the cat is not always the highest best in the larger picture. Inner wisdom knows.
• Stressing over the woes of the world or striving to make it better are counter-productive.
• There are times of choice and times of yielding to a feeling in the heart.

One can simply act in the moment from kindness and compassion without further thought,

or

One can live from the first plus feel the open silence space of being within and be guided by it beyond the capacity of the mind,

or 

One can live from either or both of the first two plus feel the larger picture and the beauty and perfection of the grand design, staying in peace and trust throughout all actions of the day.

:::::

Xan Maranya 
Compassion arises from our silent essence of being.

Onodi XiongNu Laslo 
I also find it liberating, no matter the discomfort. For me, I take comfort in knowing the truth, and knowing that my actions will one way or another lead me down a proper path, and contribute to someone else's well being, or our collective well being.

Rod MacKinnon 
Actually DO something in your community today... If you can't see opportunities in your own neighborhood to make the world better you're missing the point... it's all just smoke...

Adalbert Kallo 
Nothing makes this world better than ourselves. It comes with desire to learn, to learn how to change and to learn to live with that change.

Marcel B 
....And the world is always perfect as it is because consciousness invited it.... Instances of chaos at lower levels of magnification are perfect order at higher levels of magnification.... If we are aware of the above, then we understand there is no need to make the world better. It already is better. If we are unaware of the above, then we will strive to make changes and create symptomatic relief in a perceived effort to better something than is already perfect as it is.

Xan Maranya 
... suffering [is] the effect of losing awareness of what is truly perfect in our essence of being. There is need for the awakening in this, which is rapidly increasing these days.

Marcel B 
... a balanced equation that needs two sides to evolve.

Marcel B 
... separation was not only invited but necessary to complete the balance of the equation to ascend at this time. We have gone so deep here people. So far into complete and total destruction of this planet that I don't think people can appreciate how far we really came. This has struck a compassionate chord on the upswing so intense, so strong, that it has rippled across the multiverse. Do you think you can get that kind of power from pure nature hearted goodness in human beings? No, you need the otherside of that. The other side of that was us doing it to bring that forward.

Marcel B 
.... Whether it be the human body or mind or other life birthing, the result of what we perceive as pain and suffering has a complement frequency that is so powerful, it is unmatched by anything in existence. And that is compassion. It's stronger than the love frequency, it's stronger than anything that can be imagined. That's what we are dealing with on this planet and its working for us....

And the best way to broadcast that frequency and receive heightened levels of it is to put yourself in a position of the highest perspective so that you can see the play field from a far and the total game unfolding before your very eyes, or you can go and try and save that cat down the street that's being chased by dog. Your choice.

... Not having to change the things yourself that you know must change takes wisdom and patience and knowing where to apply your energy. 

Gary R Smith
Perhaps maintain the highest perspective whilst saving the cat when so guided by the open silence space of being within.

Xan Maranya 
When you experience yourself as compassion there really is no choice as that purity of love directs your thoughts and actions beyond the mind's ideas.

Marcel B 
... those who explore the highest levels of compassion must truly be beyond both sympathy and empathy. They must choose compassion because it is deep rooted within the human system, and it changes the game. It's love in action and we choose it above all other scenarios beyond the context of suffering and pain. That's the difference. The one who strikes compassion is the one whose heart rises above the rest in a way where they choose love above all else. And that takes practice and lot of breaking down the barriers of judgement to come down to the oneness that is humanity.

Rod MacKinnon 
Gary R. Smith asked "What makes a better world?" which drew the ubiquitous "love, truth, trust, faith, etc." abstract responses plus a cluster of lofty dissertations on metaphysics. The thing is, it's not what we think or say that changes situations but what we do in the tangible relativistic world. We can talk about "shifts of consciousness" but just as Gary pointed out with regard to all the organizations claiming they're doing great work...don't tell me...show me. The only thing we can do is to trust in our own authenticity, our own sense of ethics and accept responsibility for our own actions in the day-to-day world ... not as exciting as magic but our own naturalness can be trusted to guide us in our daily life and this, I believe, helps to create the best world possible.

Josh Sorenson 
Great post Gary R. Smith. Very insightful. These are the types of questions we should be asking.

G. - .... and acting upon from wisdom and highest perspective.

​On a 1200 km trek across India from New Delhi to Jamnagar, the train passed fields of hovels — pieces of tin leaning against each other — and the humans who survived in them. Children ran naked, adults urinated openly, and from all appearances there was great suffering.

When we arrived in Jamnagar, in the home of a guru/teacher, I asked why the government doesn't do more to help the people. He replied, 'It is because of religion. The people want to suffer, because they believe their suffering here will benefit them in the afterlife.'

Working as a light touch energy healer in Spain, I learned that some people choose to be sick and dependent. When one client realized she could be free from her illness, she stopped the sessions because being healed would mean losing her financial support. Others in my experience as a therapeutic couple with my wife wanted to be sick to get attention or to be in a position to control others.

How can people be helped if they want to suffer? Clearly, they cannot. The choice to be healed or not comes only from within. Neither can one person empower another, as the same applies.

However, except in emergencies, whatever aid is offered will be highly more effective in the larger picture if at the same time new, supportive thought patterns are impartially introduced by those who are already living from them.

In these days, people and organizations claiming to offer a better world are popping up like mushrooms after a rain. Some focus on housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick or for threatened animal species. Others promote new and innovative technologies for solving problems of pollution, inadequate water or energy supplies, and so on. Some propose whole new systems to replace currency and traditional governance. Those all have positive qualities or potential for bringing some betterment, but they will not in themselves make a better world as a whole.

'We're making a better world,' some say, 'with more freedom and equality for everyone.' Yet they limit their new world by making themselves important, exclusive, and competitive. People and organizations making such pronouncements often use words like 'equality' and 'respect' — which are realized only in slogans rather than actions.

'We're modeling a new paradigm,' they claim, 'come get your spot before your neighbor does.' They are doing nothing more than regurgitating the old paradigm of exclusiveness, competition, greed and fear for survival. A new gift-wrapping does not change what is inside.

A quick Google search brought up this example, 'The Better World Campaign (BWC) works to foster a strong partnership between the United States and the United Nations to promote core American interests.' My question, without looking further into what the BWC is or what it does, is, 'how does promoting the interests of one people, one country, make a better world?' In general, would doing so not inevitably be against the interests of some other country or people? 

We are either one humanity or we are nothing. I would be in alignment with and supportive of a mission to promote the interests of the earth and her inhabitants in service to the source of life.

I know my ideas will not suit everyone reading this, and that is okay. Nature loves diversity and so do I. My feeling is that unless the psycho-spiritual evolution of the individual is central, nothing else will make a better world in the long run. 

In the Collective Evolution discussion which began with the question, 'What is your highest potential?', Xan Maranya wrote, 'If we anticipate the future effects of discovering our silent essence we will keep ourselves involved in the mind rather than truly investigating the open silence space of being.' Such comments (with my on-going practice) help me evolve past my old paradigm of living mostly in a mental world. 

One thing which *will* make a better world is more people living from their open silence space of being. On the carton of Good Karma Flax Milk, it says, 'Just as great nutrition can start with a small yet powerful flax seed, we believe we can create a better world with the tiny but mighty choices we make every day.' Now, that has something.

What are your feelings about this? What to you makes a better world?

Posted for discussion in the Collective Evolution Facebook Group.

In response to the posted question in the Collective Evolution Facebook Group, '​What is Your Highest Potential?', Xan and I had this conversation:

Xan Maranya 
If you think you know it can't be your highest, as that is necessarily beyond your current imagination.

Gary R. Smith 
The highest is beyond your imagination.... yes. Still, can one not imagine as far as their capacity allows, and be at least in the direction of the actual highest potential? Is there not value and benefit in such imagining?

If one has a clearly formed picture of their imagined highest potential, and has a practice which supports, at least in the imagination, the realization of that potential, would that not give the person a better chance of fulfilling it in this lifetime? I am thinking of my own 'known', imagined, highest potential and feel it is so in this case.

Xan Maranya
Imagination is creative as well as destructive, and is limited by the mind. Our greatest potential comes from beyond the mind.

Gary R. Smith 
I had not considered that imagination is limited by the mind, but of course that is true. Do you mean our greatest potential comes from the center of awareness in each of us?

Xan Maranya 
Our individual potential comes from the same source as everything in form, in the universe. This source can be experienced and known directly within ourselves as our own essence of being. We can find out what we really are beyond the mind and any ideas. We may investigate for ourselves.

Gary R. Smith 
How do you know and experience the source? How may one find out and investigate? Do you know of a practice which supports those? You wrote,

'This source can be experienced and known directly within ourselves as our own essence of being. We can find out what we really are beyond the mind and any ideas. We may investigate for ourselves.'

Xan Maranya 
It is simply a matter of noticing the open quiet space that is already and always here. For some it is that simple, for others some meditation method is necessary... for me it's conscious breathing.

Gary R. Smith 
Do you follow a specific technique?

Xan Maranya 
I bring my attention down, away from the head where we are overly involved in thinking, and in my natural breathing. Relaxing in this the mind automatically slows down and allows space for noticing the silence. BTW...:-) The truth - our source and essence - is silent.

Gary R. Smith 
Would you say our source and essence is, or has qualities of, unconditional live? Would people who practice this conscious breathing tend to become kinder, more warm and open? Would they tend to have more inner peace? Though our source and essence is silent, does it have influence? Does it communicate through intuition? Do you feel that adding thoughts can make conscious breathing a more potent meditation?

Xan Maranya 
If we anticipate the future effects of discovering our silent essence we will keep ourselves involved in the mind rather than truly investigating the open silence space of being.

It is the same for adding words to meditation (although there may be use for this at some periods) if our aim is to discover what we are beyond all ideas and words of the mind.

​Gary R. Smith
Does the silence relate to:

the DAO,
Quiescence,
Stillness,
the Void,
the field of potentiality,
the Divine Feminine?

{{The DAO that can be expressed
is not the eternal DAO.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.

“Non-existence” I call the beginning of Heaven and Earth.
“Existence” I call the mother of individual beings. - Lao Tzu}}

{{From the Void, from the Absolute nothing, from the absence of all, there is motion. But that motion is balanced with quiescence. When quiescence reaches a limit, it becomes motion. This is an expression of an ever-existent, wave-like reality.... - 'Tao and T'ai Chi Kung' by Robert C. Sohn}}

On one hand, I do not need to know the details. Intellectualizing can prevent experiencing. But I feel that clear understanding will make my experience more profound.

There is nothing I long for more than to live from awareness rather than from the mind. The mind is strong. How can I make the shift?

Thank you for the permission to include your comments on the Whole Human blog.

Xan Maranya 
Some mental understanding can be helpful but intellectualizing does stand in the way of direct knowing. 

If you're expecting a "profound" experience that will also get in the way. For one thing, expectations distract from present awareness, which is the only time of truth/silence/Dao. For another, the experience in awakening is a lightness the mind knows nothing of... clear and utterly natural like wide open space.

We make the shift through self-awareness, observing our familiar mind patterns. Then... recognizing we do have an alternative to automatically following them... to stop, let go, and shift attention into the breath or the silence or the heart, for instance. 

Awakening glimpses come spontaneously when the soil of persistent practice is prepared.

Gary R. Smith 
Beautiful! You wrote earlier, 'so many others who have awakened and become aware in the truth of being say the same in different words.' 

Where are the awakened? Who are they? Do you know of any living in community and with commitment to further awakening and helping others who want to awaken?

​
Deep, slow breathing is central to the practice of growing in awareness, yet until recently it has been a point of resistance in me. 

When I focused on it, I found my breathing was fast, short and shallow. It was difficult to make smooth, longer inhalations and exhalations. 

Then, I started using an inversion table to alleviate pinched nerves in the upper cervical and lower lumbar and started smoking cannabis to lesson the pain. When I smoked and then inverted, my body wisdom took over and I began naturally breathing deep into the diaphragm, filling to the top of the lungs, exhaling like a pinched balloon slowly released, and pressing the stomach to the spine. 

'Breathe Deep, Fly High' refers to the health benefits of deep breathing, not to my special method. This is from the health article:

Instant relaxation

"Relaxation is inextricably bound up with the parasympathetic part of your nervous system, the so called “rest and digest”. It belongs to the self-propelled autonomic nervous sys­tem, but by actively focusing on your breath and the movements of your diaphragm, you can influence the system enormously through the vagus nerve that spreads from your brain to your lungs, heart and other or­gans.

"Try to activate your own vagus nerve. Simply breathe out very slowly. Can you feel how your heart rate drops and your mind relaxes instantly!"

I no longer have to smoke and invert to breath deep and long, and appreciate this heightened ability, as it is at the core of my 'Synthesis of Personal Practice,' on which to build meditations such as this:

Inhalation
'I am this moment.'

Exhalation
'This moment is all there is.'

March 23, 2017

In the Collective Evolution group discussion which started with my question, 'What is your highest potential?', Rod MacKinnon wrote, 'Now, now, now, now.'

I see the point. My highest potential can only be lived by living fully in the moment.

So then, there is no point in envisioning what my highest potential looks like or considering it at all.

Besides, as Xan Maranya wrote, 'If you think you know, it can't be your highest — as that is necessarily beyond your current imagination.' and 'Imagination is creative as well as destructive, and is limited by the mind. Our greatest potential comes from beyond the mind.'

Then, no matter how large is my vision, it will never be as great as the actual. The mind-generated imagination could hinder rather than support the fulfillment of highest potential.

I thought that having a well-formed idea of highest potential could enable one to be a directing principle in their own life, but see it now as an un-needed complication.

It is, as Rod has been trying to tell me, much simpler.

Still, I like to lift my idea to the 'universe' like a balloon and release it without attachment. Perhaps my 'highest potential' is rather a longing of the heart:

'.... to have a direct experience with the primal source of all that is, to be a co-creator with it in service to life, and to be fully aware of who I am, really, before exiting the body.'

Xan also commented,

'Our individual potential comes from the same source as everything in form, in the universe. This source can be experienced and known directly within ourselves as our own essence of being. We can find out what we really are beyond the mind and any ideas. We may investigate for ourselves.'

In search of a practice to support the actualization of my highest potential, I found a yoga meditation and experimented with it. In the Isha Kriya of Sadhguru, the practitioner breathes with the specified thoughts:

Inhalation
'I am not the body.'

Exhalation
'I am not even the mind.'

I practiced this meditation over the past few days and experienced it as separating and contracting rather than merging and expanding. Asking within, I replaced those thoughts with:​

Inhalation
'I am this moment.'

Exhalation
'This moment is all there is.'

This is part of my on-going exploration, experimentation and evolution. Thank you to any who take time to read.

​In search of a practice to support the actualization of my highest potential, I found a yoga meditation and experimented with it. In the Isha Kriya of Sadhguru, the practitioner breathes with the specified thoughts:

Inhalation
'I am not the body.'

Exhalation
'I am not even the mind.'

I practiced this meditation over the past few days and experienced it as separating and contracting rather than merging and expanding. Asking within, I replaced those thoughts with:

Inhalation
'I am this moment.'

Exhalation
'This moment is all there is.'

This is part of my on-going exploration, experimentation and evolution.
​

Living in a '3D' world means, among other things, living with Danger, Deception and Deliverance.

A person can hang onto their boat, crashing from one rock to the next in crisis mode, capsizing, going over waterfalls, sputtering, screaming, and nearly drowning (it's called survival) — or...

They can be master of their craft, gliding easily around obstacles, taking the rapids with confidence, and soaking up the sun and sights and sounds of nature with pleasure and appreciation.

Which would you choose?

Looking around, how do you see people living?

Our world has been geared from the beginning for danger and deception, for existing and surviving but not fully living. Even those who accumulate wealth or live on the edge or have thousands of adoring fans — are they really fully alive?

​How many spiritual leaders, for example, are spiritual egos who capitalize on a single aha! moment to create a 'comfortable' life for themselves? Are they self aware, honest and responsible? I don't know and don't judge. My sense, though, is that none living are living fully their potential.

Aliveness to me begins with awareness, aware first of my inner life and how it is reflected in my daily experience. It is the most essential yet the least mentioned. Public education and human society, so far as I know, teach skills for survival in the world, but not skills for living.

How can one go through life in anything more than survival mode?

And there IS more, much more. But the 'more' is hidden from view to almost everyone. Some have glimpses there could be more, some actually embody more. They are the rare few.

In these days, people and organizations claiming to offer 'more' are popping up like mushrooms after a rain. 

'We're making a better world,' they say, 'with more freedom and equality for everyone.' Yet they limit their new world by making themselves important, exclusive, and competitive. And words like 'equality' and 'respect' tend in organizations — making such pronouncements — to be realized in slogans rather than actions.

'We're modeling a new paradigm,' they claim, 'come get your spot before your neighbor does.' They are doing nothing more than regurgitating the old paradigm of exclusiveness, competition, greed and fear for survival. A new gift-wrapping does not change what is inside.

Deception includes self-deception, and many who deceive others are not aware they are controlling and manipulating. Wherever there is hierarchy, the smell of control can be detected. Consider the teacher and student, practitioner and patient/client, employer and employee, leader and follower. Not all of course are deceptive or dangerous, and much is well-intentioned and seemingly beneficial. The danger to the deceived is in giving their power away. It happens subtly. To avoid being a perpetrator or one who is perpetrated against, for starters,

'Don't allow yourself to be needy, greedy, seedy or bleedy (a victim or a taker.)'

The deliverance from this situation by the student, patient or follower is by accepting the gifts offered by the moment with gratitude, staying centered in one's own power throughout it, and moving on (not getting stuck) from it when the moment is complete. That will vary some from one person and situation to the next, but means in general to listen to what others say then listen deeply within before acting.

Also recommended is developing a Practice of Personal Synthesis to help manifest one's highest potential.

​The Collective Evolution group on Facebook engaged in a lively discussion of the 'Why do people believe in God?' quote (Death blog post,) which questions the continuation of a person's consciousness after death. Some of the comments follow:

Kendall Katze 
Once you experience the presence of God..there is no longer a need for atheist rhetoric about fear of death. Seek a true master, and prepare to evolve. Or stay in the dark. You are free to choose. ( my experience came in Siddha Yoga. Gurumayi gave me Shaktipat..the awakening of the Kundalini that leads to God realization. The Dalí Lama is also a realized being currently on the planet)

Kendall Katze 
Faith is something that grows from direct experience. It is not an external, mental concept. Each person evolves in their own way..and if they have the good fortune to percieve Grace..it is the most valuable treasure the human soul can experience... A gift..like Life.

Omar Guzman 
According to this quote "....consciousness ends with our deaths...." how do you explain spirits or ghosts then? How do you explain the lingering spirits in a "haunted" building? It has been proved by science that such things do exist.

Gary R. Smith 
Yes, I wrote this story into the Whole Human blog post as part of my response to the quote: 

When I was fifteen, dad and I flew by bush pilot into the remote wilderness of Idaho where he had done Bighorn Sheep studies. He flew out, and I stayed with my dog friend Kiche. She and I hiked the river trails for a summer. Thirty-three years later, shortly after Kati and I met, we hiked together into the River of No Return wilderness.

Late one afternoon, on the way back to our camp by the river, I heard the inner voice say, 'be alert.' That night, Kati experienced terror in her tent. We worked through it together, and the next morning asked our inner guides what it was about. We both felt that earthbound souls had contacted us and wanted to be released. Following intuition, we 'released' them. 

Of course, it could be called a subjective imaginary experience. Two days later we hiked another 30 miles into the wilderness, to what had been the Taylor Ranch in my summer as a boy. Now it is a research center of the University of Idaho. Normally they do not accept guests, but they had a copy of my dad's book on Bighorn Sheep on their shelf, and invited us to stay.

In conversation it came out that where we set up our base camp had been the site of a battle between the native people who had lived in the river canyons for centuries, and the U.S. military.

The couple was well-informed about the history of the region and the peaceful tribe who called themselves ‘tukudika’ or 'People of the Sun'. These Shoshoni-speakers had long remained mysterious and were referred to as Idaho’s shadowy people, the Sheep Eater Indians. During the period of the gold rush in America, the U.S. military waged a campaign against the ‘tukudika’ and destroyed their way of life. 

When I was a boy in 1968, little was known about the People of the Sun. Had their earthbound souls really called upon us? Had we actually released them?

Omar Guzman 
What does your consciousness tell you?

Gary R. Smith 
Omar Guzman, that the experience was an objective reality, as much as there can be one. There is a distinction between 'my' local, differentiated consciousness and pure, non-local, undifferentiated consciousness. The latter, the unmoved mover, the great observer, is the only actuality. It observes all that is. How it distinguishes my experience with earthbound souls from imagination, hallucination, dreams or what we call waking life, I do not know. But to me, the experience was as real as it gets.

Kendall Katze 
I recently had an experience with a rather aggressive ghost in Rome.
People have been experiencing her for years. Quite a fascinating story.

Allen Fitzner 
My wife's uncle died, during minutes following his death I heard a message in my mind that stated, "It is not what I thought it was going to be." He had studied the world religions and was sure his beliefs were correct.

Michael J Ross 
"God" is the consciousness of everything on a multidimensional level. God is not something apart from us. God is part of everything and everything is a part of God. All aspects of physical reality are different ways in which God learns to know his/her self.

Kendall Katze 
Which came first? People believing in God..or the Gods believing in people?

Gary R. Smith 
My speculation is that the idea of humankind on earth was formed in undifferentiated consciousness as a blueprint which would develop in time and space. Pure Consciousness, known by many names, does not 'believe.' Since the One Being does not perceive through our physical five senses, I wonder how it does perceive us? Are we to it ever changing frequency patterns?

Michael J Ross 
There are many dimensional levels of reality. Each level up has consciousness become more more complex and further removed from our physical reality. What we perceive as "angels", the afterlife and such are one level up entities. This is the level of consciousness that interacts the most with physical reality. 

What we would call "God on high" is so far removed from or reality there is little awareness of us. Compare it to how much WE are "aware" of the experiences of the atoms and subatomic particles in our bodies.

Gary R Smith
​Michael, what you are saying is right in a sense:

What we would call "God on high" is so far removed from or reality there is little awareness of us. Compare it to how much WE are "aware" of the experiences of the atoms and subatomic particles in our bodies.

Well, let me ask you this - can you imagine humans evolving to a stage where we ARE aware of the experiences of the atoms and subatomic particles in our bodies? Can you imagine humans evolving to be able to meet 'God on high' halfway - to have direct experience with the primal source of all that is? I can, and feel the 'Quantum Human' is not so far away, as I wrote in the blog post by the same name.

Kendall Katze 
We are all part of the Play of Consciousness

Tim Seamans 
Thanks for the share Gary. :) I am one who is completely intellectually honest with myself and now not fearful of my ultimate expiration from this existence. :) My personal opinion is that we just might be "wired" on a global level to believe in a God or Gods because he/she/it/them created us with that capability. It also could be part of the evolutionary development of humans and our cultures, but to me personally that seems more fanciful. Perhaps "it" all ends with death, but if not, as I believe, this could just be one of many great adventures and trials. Meditation and entheogens as well as a near death experience can provide great insight and knowledge that can't possibly be gained through others' shared experiences. "Time" ,that may just be a mental construct, will tell what is "real" for us all. ;) After our final breath is breathed here, it will quickly become readily apparent if there is more or less. ;) lol

Tim Seamans 
No matter what the case, our "current" lives really do go by in the blink of an eye. We could, in my opinion, waste a HUUUGE and valuable portion of it philosophizing about what comes after it. We were meant to be (in my personal opinion again) mostly experiential beings and use all of our senses to really see, feel and love the beauty of everything around us to the best of our ability. I think that if we miss the opportunity to do that each day we are given then we are missing the real point of it all, ;)

Marcel B 
Love the "Unfortunately" part. :D. The consciousness of the author comes through clearly with the first word. Consciousness never ends with death. It just is. It can't end or be destroyed like any energy. Once it exists it can't not exist. And abolishing beliefs is not only related to being intellectually honest. In fact, Intellectualism and logic is the basis of all consciousness that leads to fear. So it really depends on the belief itself. While I appreciate the perspective, it is one of fragmentation and separation, rather than unity and integration.

Kari Dequine Harden 
I really loved this: “I choose rather to be motivated by my love for the beauty of life's design, which can be experienced to the fullest only by being present in the moment.”

As an atheist and a humanist, the fear of eternal damnation as a life guide has never appealed me. Nor has the reward of eternal bliss. 

I think it a bit arrogant for humans to claim to know what happens after death, as scary as the uncertainty can be.

Gary R. Smith 
It can be scary to think of, unless one comes to love the mystery of life. Then, trusting deeply in the design, whether or not there is a designer, one can blissfully surrender to the unknown.

Wikipedia says of Ayya Khema, author of 'Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path,'

"According to Ayya Khema's own admission, she had been suffering from breast cancer since 1983. In 1993 after it started giving her trouble she underwent a mastectomy operation in Germany. During a five-week recovery period in the hospital she almost died, but her condition was expeditiously stabilized by the medics. In an interview she expressed a positive opinion of that experience.

“There were two days in the hospital, when I had that feeling, that the energy was leaving, through the feet actually. There was a collapse of the whole system... Losing one's life energy is actually a very pleasant state, because there's less self-assertion, I mean you haven't got the energy to assert yourself. So things are more acceptable, everything is acceptable, it's fine the way it is... One could say that action of dying, if there's no resistance, is extremely pleasant... That seemed to be less and less life energy within the body, and I just was relaxing into that. I was perfectly willing to let it happen, but then these doctors came round... My blood pressure just went way down, waaay down, I mean like almost not happening, and that's when you lose all your energy... It was a very interesting experience and now I can see it's extremely pleasant. It's just letting go and disappearing, and it's very nice."

Andrew Barker 
"To fear death is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils."
Plato

Pete Kelly 
Maybe what you believe in is what happens to you ....as a dharmist ( Buddha Dhamma ) I expect no after life , a propulsion of some concomitant perhaps , and the result of that pending my last thoughts and accumulative cause and effect , but how much of that will be "me" I don't know .. Buddha teaches the art of dying and that your fina moment may come anytime so live life accordingly.. It's beautiful and liberating.. I love Buddhas teachings

Gary R. Smith
Pete, you wrote '... what you believe in, is what happens to you' -- and that is what I have felt for some time. There is no proof, of course. But is it fair to say there is at least a 50/50 chance that there is an afterlife? Then, what makes sense to me is to live *not* according to 'that your final moment may come anytime,' as you wrote, but according to 'how I live (such as how aware and neutral an observer I become, how unselfishly giving I am,) will affect what I experience in the afterlife.' It is self-serving of course, but also serving the plan and play of undifferentiated consciousness, aka Source, One Being, etc.

Michael J Ross 
Some believe that we are in a transitional stage post 2012. The human psyche is shifting from a materialistic focused existence to a more spiritually focused one. Part of this process includes the a change in awareness from our present 4D to a 5D one. While this would be a significant paradigm shift, I do not feel that this would enable us to comprehend what God really is.

In the book Flatland, a 3D sphere visits a 2D reality. All the inhabitants there can see of the sphere is the 2D circle that is where the two intersect. The sphere has a difficult time explaining the reality that exists "above" and "below" the plane of their existence. Presently, while WE do have much evidence of things that are of a non-physical nature, many of us have a hard time accepting/understanding a reality that exists "above" and "below" our 3D plane.

So, I still remain doubtful that we can gain the ability to have direct experience with a God who is many levels removed from where we are now. One step at a time, with no shortcuts to the finish line you might say.

Gary R. Smith
What prevents us from having the direct experience, other than our minds? How many scientific discoveries were 'not possible' until pioneers shifted their perspectives to explore beyond what was unthinkable to the masses? I respect your perspective and continue my exploration, one step at a time. Though it is not a competition, the tortoise may reach the finish line before the doubtful hare.

Carolyn Anderson 
There could be life after death or not. To claim you know there is not, is equally ignorant as someone claiming they know there is.

Kendall Katze 
To reiterate what has already been extremely well stated, it's all about how we live..the personal ego may dissolve at death, but the Self goes back to the infinite Self..just as a river merges back into the sea.. If we are evolved enough, it becomes a Divine celebration.