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Transformations of Consciousness
As one woman who had been diagnosed with cancer said (several years after the cancer was in remission), “I’m just so, so fortunate to be alive on this planet . . . I just feel so privileged to be on this Earth and to have been given this awareness.” A recovering alcoholic told me, “It’s very comforting and very empowering, and it makes you feel very safe . . . It’s a knowing that you are a part of something far more wonderful, far more mysterious.” One woman who was seriously injured — and almost died — in the 2005 terrorist attack in London said, “From the moment I was given the option of choosing life, I made a vow: that if I survived, I would live a full life, a good and rich life. I vowed that I would never take anything — all that I have — for granted again…”
Another person who almost died through drowning described how he now had “a great sense of appreciation for the little things — not just the spectacular beauty of a flowering tree, but the beauty of even the most insignificant objects, even inanimate objects.” One person addressed the topic of meaning specifically, describing how “my goals changed from wanting to have as much money as possible to wishing to be the best person possible, and to have as large of a helpful impact on the world as I can do. Before, I would say, I didn’t really have any sense of a meaning of life. However, after, I feel the meaning of life is to…
