After I retired abruptly from my career due to illness in February 1988, I started to explore various forms of New Age spirituality. For about a year I attended a study group run by a man prominent among the Spiritualist movement in Melbourne, John Stone. This involved lectures, discussions, meditation and channeling, in particular through a colleague of his called Maureen, whom among other things, channeled an "entity" called "Mr. Wong".
During that time I had engaged in deep meditations, including one of two hours duration with the Ian Gawler Foundation, a group focussed on healing cancer through diet and meditation. As I had studied and used hypnosis extensively in my late teenage years, I knew the power of trance and meditative experiences, and had very deep experiences involving these techniques. I penned these lines after a group meditation one night; they illustrate the profound feelings of unity with the cosmos that can arise from these practices, which I can relate to my experiences in my early teens when I fell heavily under the influence of a fundamentalist Christian church where I was "saved", and spoke with "tongues" in their services.
On Tuesday, May 15, 1990, Maureen led us for a meditation where the whole group was touching physically. This is what I experienced...
I see water in a little harbour. It is dusk, and the water is dark. Little ripply zones of phosphorescent indigo blue start to appear, like a special effect on television. The harbour is unknown, but something special. From past experience I know that when I feel fear or anxiety in a meditation, I should take courage and go in further. So I dive in. I merge smoothly in and through the water. Swimming around anxiously, I explore the harbour bottom, and sometimes bump into a little sea creature or two. There are lurking unknowns, too.
And then I know...
The harbour is me, and I am exploring myself. I am the buildings, the boats, the water and the creatures. There is much that is unknown, but it is all me. Suddenly I realize that outside the harbour is the sea, and that is me too. Tentatively I swim through the harbour mouth into the open water. A breathtaking surge of wonder and freedom floods through me. This is exhilarating! This is exciting!
And then I know...
I am the whole ocean that covers the earth. I explore parts that are shallow, warm and sunny, and parts that are deep, cold and black. Some parts are still and stagnant; others are sparkling and crystal clear. There are huge, stormy waves, and there are flat sheets of calm. And it is neither good nor bad, but just IS.
And then I know...
There are others swimming in the ocean with me; all the other souls that ever were are there with me. We are one. We are not separate, but only seem to be so. They are all me, and I am the ocean. I realize that there is only the I Am.
And then I know...
I am more than the ocean. I don't stop at the shore, nor at the sky. It is simple. Beyond this blue Earth I expand to the planets and the sun; beyond, to the stars; beyond to the end of time and space. There is only Is-ness. It is simple.