The Fragrance of Being
He told me he had a near death experience when he was a child and nearly drowned….He said that as he died, he became aware that we as humans “know everything” but we are “designed to forget.” He said, “This life isn’t real, it is like a dream. But we forget who we are.” He said this life is like the Matrix, and there are forces of good that pull you to being kind and loving, which is who you truly are, and forces that pull you towards darkness. A kind of game. And we are pulled into this reality due to our curiosity. We want to know what it’s like in this realm. He said that who we really are, the beings we truly are, are loving, kind, brilliant beings, amazing beings, and we need to tell ourselves that everyday. That each and everyone of us is an amazing, brilliant being. And we are meant to be happy. So we have to remember each day to tell ourselves how incredibly amazing we are. To remember every single day. John had never meditated or studied Buddhism. He had been a Marine.
— Nina Wise
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Without a symbolic foundation we are in danger of pursuing make-believe lives based on the cultural ideas of “the good life” or other people’s definitions of how we should live. We are in danger of becoming alienated from our gifts and from our life’s purpose. When our personal and collective lives are hollow in this sense, the door to evil is opened on many levels.
