In l972 I made two trips a week to see my guru/friend/teacher Alan. The trip took an average of forty minutes each way. This was going to be the strangest trip of my life.
On this particular evening I was bouncing up the San Diego freeway in my Volkswagen bug listening to my tape deck, when I noticed the volume had died down. I turned it up, but soon it faded to nothingness. This went on and on until the knob was at full volume, but still no sound escaped the speakers.
It was at that moment I felt a hand grasp my left shoulder. I froze, not knowing what to think. I quickly looked in the rear view mirror. Nothing. My heart was beating so hard I could feel it through my coat. Suddenly I heard a voice as plain as day say to me, “We’re going to show you what the other side is like”. I didn’t have time to think or argue about it, my consciousness was pulled quickly up through my crown chakra.
At the time this happened, I was 19 years old. I had been studying metaphysics, theosophy, etc.. for about five years at this point, so I was aware of other realms through astral traveling, and lucid dreaming. But nothing I had read prepared me for the feeling I was about to experience.
The next ten minutes were, up to that time in my life, the most wonderful ones I’d ever experienced. I was taken to and left in a place/vibration/state of consciousness that was truly indescribable, but I will try to convey what I felt. The first thing I noticed was the absence of any shadows, and an intense white light that seemed to have no source. I soon began to feel a tingle and then an expansion, until my consciousness literally included ALL. Any question I mentally asked, I received the answer, It was as though there was no delay, no difference between the asking and the answer, I had become both. I truly felt connected through love, to everything and everyone.
This was my second glimpse of how large the scale of ‘reality’ is, so the initial shock soon was gone. To us it appears to flow along an endless timeline. As our consciousness expands we realize there truly is no such thing as time. With every step into less dense vibrations, one’s reality encompasses more, and one’s sense of time coalesces into the eternal NOW. Since that day, I’ve come to learn that the NOW should be the main focal point of ones’ attention, because YOU ARE YOUR ATTENTION. If you’re focusing it on the NOW, it can encompass everything! Why limit yourself? It was many years later that I finally got around to studying Zen. They had it right all along.
I was left alone the whole time. I was allowed to get as much out of it as I could. Only our level of fear and imagination limits us, and at that time I had little of the former and a lot of the latter. Without sounding too egotistical, during that beautiful time I felt I knew what it must feel like to be GOD. Going back to my physical body was going to be a shock.
My stay in the ‘other side’ lasted ten minutes. I knew this because I (or someone else) had driven 10 miles on the freeway. When I re-entered my body it was a rude awakening. It seems my tape deck was not broken after all, and my music was blaring full blast. I had blown out my speakers and not even heard a thing! My guess is that ‘they’ had slowly changed my vibration to enable an easier transition.
After I hurriedly turned off the now broken stereo I realized my face was covered with tears of joy. I find it strange that though the consciousness was gone, the body still cried. The ‘feeling’ was still with me. A feeling of serenity and all knowledge. With the all knowingness came wisdom, a wisdom not to ever misuse the blessing. It simply wasn’t an option. I felt no vanity attached to all this. I was doing the work I was intended to do. I truly knew that everything was in the right place, doing what it had to do to grow and learn. There were no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ experiences, only experiences.
As I sat enjoying this feeling I began to notice small white streams of intense light emanating from every pore in my body. The streaks of light would shoot straight out, hit the interior of the car and bounce unendingly around the inside. It swelled very quickly, and within three seconds the whole car was enveloped in this pure white glow. The illumination was so bright I could see nothing, but something continued to drive to my friends’ house for me.
I was still in a blissful trance, as I walked to Alan’s’ door. The light was still spilling out, and hitting everything around me. When Alan swung open the door he yelled, “Oh my God, what happened to you?” Alan being very sensitive could see auras perfectly well. He said to hold on while he got his sunglasses.
I walked into his apartment, filled it with light, and sat down for my lesson. Whatever he may have taught me that evening has gone the way of most memories, but the ten minutes I saw what “the other side is like” remains forever a part of me. This feeling slowly diminished over the next three days, until only an essence of it remained. Since this time I have had many equally wonderful moments, but you never forget your first cosmic love.
