Each human life is an applied course within the curriculum for the soul. It can be likened to a holographic training program designed to offer a variety of life lessons. It is not who we are. It is a set of experiences created for the edification of our spirit. Our human form is the sensor and processor of these experiences.
Distinguishing Between the Course and Its Participant
Violet shuddered beneath the attacking allegations; closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and re-centered; as the corners of her mouth began to rise. “This is just an illusion,” she thought to herself, “in this curriculum for the soul we call life; so gimme what ya got and watch me shine!” As Violet shifted from her human interpretation to a spiritual perspective, her worries fell away. When she remembered that her human life is just a training program within the curriculum for the soul; despite the human war declared upon her, she was free to smile again!
If the material world is illusion, and the spiritual world truth, then who are we? If we identify with and become the temporal bio-garment providing access to the curriculum, then how will we ever learn from its experiences? Are we the sleek, smooth body of our iPhone or Android, along with its video camera, microphone, and internal processor; or are we that which is operating it and perceiving what it senses and computes? Believing that our human form is our identity is just as absurd as believing that we are, in fact, our iPhone.
As technology accelerates at warp speed, and as those things that enhance human senses and cognition become increasingly machine-based (electronic augmentations/replacements of/for senses and cognition); how are we defining who we are? Consider video games. How many, after playing a video game for hours, seem to temporarily lose sight of who they are and behave differently? How many school shootings, or other acts of violence, have been influenced by people identifying with characters in a dark electronic story? And what about the perpetual Tik-Tokers, who literally spend every spare moment creating, sending, and watching short music video clips of themselves and their friends; and then act lost if something interrupts their obsession? Do you think such electronic fixations could, at least temporarily, alter their perception of who they are, or what is real?
And please consider the virtual assistants, industrial robots, and satellite-based driving/viewing/decision making applications. As extensions of or replacements for human senses and cognition, such things may make it easier to understand how our vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell; along with the thoughts that process these senses and our life experiences; could simply be their organic equivalents, existing solely for the purpose of allowing us to sense and process those things occurring in our applied coursework.
Where will our use of technology to artificially expand the scope and power of our human senses and cognition, to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the material world, eventually lead us? Are we investing more comprehensively in the physical/material illusion rather than finding its parallel in the spiritual/non-material truth? If so, then isn’t this identifying with illusion, strengthening its precepts, and taking us further from the truth? And how do we know? Aren’t those things that lead to increased spiritual awareness (e.g. meditation, prayer, yoga, NDEs, etc.) purely natural and organic?
Where Does Material Stop and Non-Material Start?
Some who have lived through a Near-Death Experience (NDE), have perceived and remembered things from a state of full cardiac arrest and with no brain activity. . Some argue that this is proof that the mind can operate independently of the brain, others discount NDEs altogether, and some suggest that this is evidence of the conscious awareness of spirit. For a compelling discussion on the subject, please check out this NPR interview, “Decoding the Mystery of Near-Death Experiences.” Whether referred to as “mind” or “spirit,” something is perceiving occurrences accurately, including sensory information, when the heart has stopped and brain shows no activity. Some researchers believe that the brains of those experiencing NDEs are permanently altered by the experience. “And it seems that these people have a different sort of brain,” Beauregard says in his soft French accent. “It’s like there’s a shift in their brain, and this shift will allow these people to stay in touch with the spiritual world more easily, on a daily basis.” (quote from above-referenced NPR interview) I consider such experiences, whatever their origin, spiritual/non-material, and the perceiver spirit. Since words can get in the way, I believe what matters most is understanding the concepts, processes, and possibilities suggested herein.
From reading about this single NDE, along with the research it inspired, it may become easier to distinguish between those things representing spiritual/non-material and those representing physical/material. The clarity of this distinction can help us differentiate between our human life as a course in the curriculum for the soul and our spirit as its student. And experiencing an NDE in our curriculum could have the effect of catalyzing our ability to consciously perceive the divine while in human form, showing us what to look for when we regain human consciousness, and altering our brain in a way that makes it easier to access the spiritual world.
Perhaps such an experience could be viewed as an advanced life lesson in the curriculum for the soul. And going through such an experience, or learning from someone who has gained this continuous access to God, the Universe, Supreme Consciousness, could help us bypass lifetimes of learning. From my experience, once you’ve tasted it, there’s no turning back.
For a more comprehensive review of the historical and research-based support for the existence of non-material consciousness, in various forms and as consciously perceived by people and animals; please consult Chapter 1 of my free ebook, “Consciousness Is Everything.”
Each human life is an applied course within the curriculum for the soul. It can be likened to a holographic training program designed to offer a variety of life lessons. It is not who we are. It is a set of experiences created for the edification of our spirit. Our human form is the sensor and processor of these experiences.
Photo by Pascal van de Vendel
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