Tag Archives | mind

No Limits

By on April 6, 2012 in inspiration, nature, philosophy, random thoughts, spirituality, Uncategorized

A human being is part of a whole – called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited to time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. 

~ Albert Einstein

image: Leonardo Da Vinci

I recently posted this to Facebook, where a friend commented that it’s a difficult task to be limitless. Yet I think in some ways this is the very thing we most, in the deepest recesses of being, want for ourselves. It almost feels like an imperative, driven from a need to yearn for limitlessness, like the Universe possessing a longing to express itself through all its life forms (we humans likely being the most recalcitrant when it comes to a reception of that nature).

And what is it that makes us perceive ourselves separate from, say, the snail? Many agree it’s because humans alone possess a rational mind from which springs thought. Reflection. Emotion. I love my mind; thrill at its accomplishments – how I can, for example, pick up a set of pastels after having put them down over twenty years ago and render a decent portrait.

I love crafting words into sentences – tweaking this and cutting and pasting that. I love that birds can fly and have such an expanded view of the sky and the forest and sea – but I wouldn’t actually wish to be a bird. Instead if I could, I would project my consciousness into that creature enough that I could experience flight without distressing it in any way. But as a bird, I would be exposed to a great deal of uncertainty as well as having too short a life span to grow beyond my species’ limitations.

The human mind can rule a person to such an extent that some of us truly do forget quite easily (thus the optical delusion of consciousness). We forget where we placed our keys, but also we have difficulty in connecting with our primal origins, which is another form of forgetting, perhaps a kinesthetic one. To free the mind, I must be willing to release that which I once felt supported me. The walls of personhood begin to crumble, and who am I, if not my history, my heartbreaks, my victories? Yet these are the same walls preventing me from granting a greater power more direct access. Ironically, relinquishing walls gifts me with a wider freedom and ease. But it can be alarmingly unfamiliar too, and I have a built-in resistance to change that must be DNA-deep (though I work to soften it daily).

As I open and relax into expansiveness, I discover other, deeper layers that begin to soften as well. Yet words and concepts are one thing. Actually embodying this sort of magnitude of change takes practice. But as it becomes more familiar, it feels right, somehow. I begin glimpsing how my own life works. Conversely, I notice the underpinnings of others – their pain and suffering at living illusion and making it real. I know. I’ve been there. Now I can wish for them to awaken to that spacious beauty within, just like the trees and the ocean and the wind. The forest becomes my home, as does the sea (and, when I fly in an airplane or in dreams, the sky). This home is sacred. Thus I seek balance – not just for myself, because I do not exist outside the cosmos. What is personal extends beyond boundaries to all of life – for we are all dancers in this great cosmic experiment.

image: homeinteriordesignthemes.com

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The Highly Sensitive Person

By on March 14, 2012 in health, inspiration, people, philosophy, relationships, Uncategorized

Are you a sensitive person? Perhaps you’re familiar with the saying, “Be in the world, not of the world.” It can be very difficult for a sensitive, open person to participate in the reality most human beings seem comfortable with. For if we honor our senses, if we approach others with openness and honesty, one of two things might happen. We could experience another person respecting our willingness to be fully authentic and present with them, or we might be taken advantage of. How do we interact with others, then – how do we strive for authenticity while remaining on guard? How can a sensitive person learn to function in a society which, in effect, asks us to “toughen up and get over it?”

Elaine Aron, in The Highly Sensitive Person, asks not that we get over our sensitivities, but, in effect, to get with them and learn to honor ourselves just as we are. A general trait of highly sensitive people is that we have no control over stimulation. And though some of us can get used to certain stimulations, overstimulation still depletes us. When we feel depleted, it seems to me that some of us retreat into ourselves and others lash out (as if to say Leave me alone! without quite knowing how to ask). Waiting until we are grossly over-stimulated can create several unpleasant scenarios. One might be that we unintentionally hurt others. Then we are bound to feel badly about ourselves.

Society and many of our family members do not like it when we seem to require special treatment (thus we need to learn to treat ourselves with care). Another consequence of failing to honor our needs is that we push ourselves until we become ill. In both cases, we can learn to appreciate our sensitivities and set guidelines to help us cope. This begins with more fully exploring who we are and what we are made of, so that we might better understand what our needs might be.

When my children were young, we lived out in the country. Coming from a large family myself, I didn’t get a lot of one-on-one time with my parents while growing up. After bringing my daughters into the world, I was determined to give them what I felt I did not get enough of, including time and parental attention. As young girls, they wanted to interact with others and to experience the world outside familiar surroundings. One of the only ways for them to do this, given where we lived and the lack of structured youth activities, was by visiting a distant city or even the mall! No matter when they asked to go somewhere, I would drop what I was doing and arrange a trip. After all, they didn’t ask very often and I was their only mode of transportation. But at certain times, I felt so overwhelmed that, during our drive, I would blurt out in frustration, “I just can’t do this one more time! Can’t you just be satisfied being home?” and so on. Taken aback, one of them would invariably respond, “Well, Mom, why didn’t you just say ‘no’?” 

Though saying ‘no’ seems simple to me now, at the time it seemed absurd. As a highly sensitive person, I recognized the incredible gift I was given in mothering my daughters. I wanted them to be exposed to art, music, culture, friends. I wanted them to have all I could provide, putting myself last on the list. If you are a parent, perhaps you know what I mean. However when we put ourselves last, we invariably grow to resent it. We can’t draw water from a dry well. No matter how much we love those we are here to serve, we need to serve ourselves first, in a profound way. This doesn’t mean we are selfish. It does mean we learn to honor our need for rest, introspection and regrouping. As we do this, we set a healthy example for others to follow, including our children.

We live in a very driven culture, and increasingly, a driven world. Sensitive or not, we all need to stop and refuel. Yet the sensitive person needs down-time. If you are one of “us,” please stop waiting for someone to give you permission to live your life. Stop simply hoping others will treat you kindly, the way you would treat them. You might be waiting a very long time. Start with honoring your own feelings, treating yourself with respect. (If you have trouble doing this, honor yourself enough to get help.) Learn to ask for what you need and stick with it. Don’t backdoor your needs by trying to earn others’ approval first. As Rick Nelson sang in Garden Party, “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

 

image: Scott Parrish

 

And to view Rick Nelson performing Garden Party:

watch?v=fxdiraVxwkI

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Tricks of the Brain (repost from Natural News)

By on March 6, 2012 in consumption, health, inspiration, lifestyles, Uncategorized

Seven tricks your brain is playing on you

by Mike Bundrant (images added by Bela Johnson)

We all want to believe we are tough to fool. The problem is, even if you are not so gullible, your brain still works a certain way, making associations that create vulnerability to being easily fooled, or fooling yourself. It takes work to release yourself from these natural assumptions that are presumed to originate from a mix of hard wiring and cultural conditioning. Getting beyond them is surely a worthwhile thing to do, however.

Here are seven common assumptions that a lot of brains simply can’t resist.

1. Any reason will do

Did you know that people who use the word because when making a request dramatically increase their chances of getting the favor?

Social psychologist Ellen Langer performed an experiment in which she asked to cut in line to use a copy machine. She tested three different ways of asking, and recorded the results:

Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?
60% said OK.

Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?
94% said OK.

Using because I’m in a rush yielded a huge approval boost. Even more impressive was the next trial:

Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?
93% said OK.

Using the word because is more important than the ensuing reason. It seems that just having a reason is enough, regardless of what that reason may be, even if it doesn’t make much sense or actually justify the special request. Think about it. 93% of people responded positively to because I have to make some copies.

image: bu.edu

2. People who have education, money or popularity must be credible

Even though people have been lied to, disappointed, ripped off and even murdered by those who came “highly recommended” by popular sources, we still think whoever manages to make it into the spotlight must have something important to say.

If Oprah recommends a book, by gum it must be worth reading. What if she recommends a friendly book by someone who turns out to be a cold-hearted killer with a sociopathic god complex? She did! And he was convicted. He didn’t even write the book with his name on it. He just managed to get some publicity from sources people think are credible because they managed to get some publicity, too.

Are you smart if you graduated Yale? Not necessarily (George W. Bush). Are you a person of integrity if you preach the word of God? That doesn’t quite do it (Jimmy Swaggart). Do you care about others just because you have a foundation? Hardly. (Bill Gates).

image: boston.com

3. If popular people are doing it, it must be cool

For the classic example here we must return to the father of spin, Edward Bernays. In the 1920s, doing PR for the American Tobacco Company, he positioned some young models to march in the New York City parade. He then told the press that a group of women’s rights marchers would be lighting “torches of freedom.” On his signal, the models lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. The New York Times (1 April 1929) printed: Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom. This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public.

Are you modeling any popular, cool people? Why?

image: tobaccocontrol.bgm.com

4. You’d be happier if you were living a life of leisure

It is easy to imagine a life of leisure and fool ourselves into thinking this would make us happy. Get rich quick schemes portray a lifestyle that is full of vacations and downtime, as if these were the keys to fulfillment. Many people obviously agree. The lazy man’s dream!

The truth is that a lack of things to do most leads to boredom and depression. Humans are industrious and creative by nature. We need challenge and accomplishment. We need to be passionately engaged in something purposeful. Leisure is important, but only in the context of a productive life.

image: ourvanity.com

5. If someone tells you something that is true, the next thing they say must also be true

Hypnotists rely on this one to lure you into a trance. This is the structure of the pocket watch technique. They dangle the watch in front of you and begin. You are sitting there in the chair….noticing the gold watch….yes, it is ok to blink…..and your eyes are beginning to get heavy. Say a couple of things that are true to build credibility, followed by one thing the hypnotist – and the subject – want to become true. The hypnotist repeats this pattern over and over as the subject follows him right down the rabbit hole. Eventually, the mind opens to all kinds of suggestions.

No successful scammer got away with anything that didn’t sound credible. The most successful scammer gurus teach all kinds of useful things before they take people for loads of cash in exchange for a few more useful things.

image: parasearcher.blogspot.com

6. You’d be happier if you had more money, recognition or fame

Actually, you’d are more likely to be less happy and sicker. A study by three University of Rochester researchers showed that reaching materialistic and image oriented goals actually fosters ill-being. In spite of their accomplishments, people tend to have more negative emotions like shame and anger and more physical such as anxiety, headaches, stomachaches, and loss of energy.
On the other hand, individuals who focus on personal growth, relationships, community involvement and physical wellness tend to be more satisfied as they succeed in those areas. They also show fewer signs of stress and greater overall fulfillment.

image: inmagine.com

7. Someday…

Ah, magical thinking. It’s so nice to sit back and wait for great things to start to happen. We often hold an image of an idealistic future in our head, hoping that it will come to pass. It may be comforting to believe you will become healthier and wealthier just because time is passing and it is nice to be optimistic, but daydreams don’t include the real, day-to-day decisions, actions and sacrifices that go along with achieving something worthwhile.

Let’s sink some teeth into our future plans by getting real, creating a strategy, working hard and making adjustments to life’s feedback along the way.

image: mannahattamamma.com

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Monkey Mind

By on January 4, 2012 in inspiration, life, philosophy, spirituality, Uncategorized

Each day from the time I open eyes on the world, I strive to stay in the moment. Reining in the mind is the single most difficult task I face here on earth.

When I was young, structured religion confused me – memorizing archaic texts that were open to interpretation by human beings, themselves fallible, soon lost its appeal. When I noticed my elders saying one thing and clearly doing another, my mother reminded me that it was not the people I should pay attention to but the teachings. Yet to a child’s mind – or to any thinking, vital mind at all – it has always been the living examples of truth that inspire one to explore and examine belief systems, changing them as needed to embrace a larger, more meaningful truth.

Most religions call for faith, and I give faith its due. However getting me through life’s challenges requires I examine what my thoughts create in every moment. Prayer is an effective way of communicating with the divine, but it is the act of contemplative sitting or movement that encourages me to calm the inner turmoil that all the faith in the world fails to quell. It is that monkey mind that is my greatest nemesis – and paradoxically, my greatest ally – if I can rein it in and master it constructively.

As soon as I sit with my thoughts, off my mind goes running – over the same glittering fields I have wandered in the past, as well as those I plan to explore in the future. This fixation on past/future is the ultimate mind game – preventing me from seizing the potential inherent in this moment. Anyone knows we can’t change the past. And none of us knows the future. A second from now, an earthquake could shake the foundation of my house and my life – and has!

Nothing is predictable, and this is what makes life anxiety provoking for so many people. Controlling runaway thoughts may not make me appear productive, but it grounds me in sanity; returning me repeatedly to all that is real and renewable in this, the present moment.

 

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Enter the Dream

By on December 27, 2011 in inspiration, philosophy, random thoughts, spirituality, Uncategorized

We all possess the capacity to imagine and to conjure images, whether asleep or awake. Humans speak in words, but our creative impulses originate from imagery that comes alive each night in our dreams. In such incubative spaces, we often receive inspiration to try something different or new. As we reflect, our intuition opens up. We are carried into a place of immense possibility. This state of expanded awareness is where we may rediscover our own innate creativity.

Albert Einstein, who purportedly slept very little but credited the unseen worlds with his ability to imagine and thus invent, offered that Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Many of us remember daydreaming as kids, but at some point we learn to become practical in order to interface with the everyday world. Consequently, many of us do not grant ourselves nearly enough down-time in which to balance our right and left brain activities. Time spent in nature is restorative and imperative if we are to calm the monkey mind enough to relax into the magic of the moment. The rhythms of the natural world place our bodies back in touch with an inherent wisdom.

Many spend their entire lives in fear, and though it may be difficult to understand, fear is a state of mind. Our mental outlook can be changed through such practices as mindfulness. From Wikipedia:

Enlightenment is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion have been overcome, abandoned and are absent from the mind. Mindfulness, which, among other things, is an attentive awareness of the reality of things (especially of the present moment) is an antidote to delusion and is considered as such a ‘power.’ This faculty becomes a power in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place.

The Buddha advocated that one should establish mindfulness in one’s day-to-day life maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of one’s bodily functions, sensations (feelings), objects of consciousness (thoughts and perceptions), and consciousness itself. The practice of mindfulness supports analysis resulting in the arising of wisdom. A key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative stabilisation must be combined with liberating discernment.

Mindfulness gives us insight into the nature of our doubts and fears. Moving beyond fear, even during the briefest moments of clarity, allows us to access our intuitive, creative potential.

If we feel we have lost our ability to To reactivate this potential, we have only to begin anew. The power to create afresh exists within every one of us, in every moment.

 

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metaphysics for your mind

By on December 14, 2011 in health, philosophy, psychology, Uncategorized

Excerpted from mythoughtcoach.com:

Scientists are beginning to prove more and more convincingly that thoughts are powerful things. Goal setting, the “law of attraction” and “positive thinking” all work, regardless of whether you look at them from a metaphysical or a scientific perspective. Whatever you have been thinking about, picturing in your mind repeatedly on a daily basis, and putting emotional energy towards is what you are now experiencing.

Scientists have identified specific parts of the brain, such as the reticular activating system (RAS), which works with the visual parts of our brain to call our conscious attention to those things that have been focused on, and to filter out other things that have not. The RAS is activated by “programming” thoughts, phrases and images into our sub-conscious minds. Our sub conscious mind is the “power center” and this is the mechanism that explains why visualization and positive thinking are now being accepted as scientific methods for change.

We are discovering that our brain is cybernetic in nature, which means that it is literally like a computer, waiting for a program to be installed. Here’s the kicker – the subconscious is completely neutral and impartial. It will carry out any instructions you give it. Unfortunately, many of us are still running negative programs we picked up from others as children when our non-conscious minds were totally open and impressionable, or which we developed over the years as a result of repetition of our own negative thinking.

As it turns out, our own thoughts, repeated daily, are one of the
primary ways that our “mental computer” is programmed on a sub-conscious level, which is the level of beliefs, habits and automatic behavior.

Neuroscientists have discovered that you have the capacity to create an almost infinite number of new neural connections in your brain when you run new thought patterns. Old neural pathways are like grooves in a record, and if you are struggling with your health related behaviors or behaviors in any other area of your life, you have been playing these “old records” over and over again. If you were to carve a new groove into that record, it would never play the same way again. The old pattern would weaken and the new one would take over. Brand new positive thoughts, feelings and images begin to create new neural patterns—new grooves.

Psychologists estimate that it takes 21 to 30 days to establish a new pattern in your brain. During this time, the focus of sticking with your practice and repeating your new thought patterns is critical. This isn’t always easy. In fact, controlling your thinking and keeping it constructive may be one of the most difficult challenges you have ever faced.

 

image: Memory Tapes "Player Piano"

 

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Storm: Journal Entry ’09

By on December 5, 2011 in inspiration, life, nature, philosophy, random thoughts, Uncategorized

I don’t think any of us could deny that a pull between good and evil exists. But I feel it within, not as some external force doing something to me. At times it even feels like I lack the will or even the power to change my inner landscape. Yet it seems polarity is part of the grander scheme of creation – perhaps the only part, aside from the physical senses themselves, best explored here on earth.

Why do we fear the dark shadows? In avoiding something, anything, do we not grant it all the more power over us? By holding back such a force, do we not give it a strange and perilous momentum where, in some random circumstance, it possesses the strength to overtake all our best intentions? Yet remaining open, always open to all the corners of experience can be uncomfortable. Constantly striving to integrate all that is human must be the greatest work we can do, not only for ourselves, but for the collective of humanity.

Like it or not, here I am today, shaky and in a state of inner unrest. Just a few days ago, I was feeling grounded in myself, solid – like, ahhh, finally at this point in my life I can begin to experience a measure of this! And it felt good. The way I’m feeling today does not exactly feel evil, but it certainly is not enjoyable, and my potential to do harm to myself or others is much greater in this unsettled place. And I can clearly see the temptation to numb it out, though many years ago I learned that this is never really an option.

What we resist persists.

One thing I can be sure of, however, even in times of distress, is that this feeling will not remain – nothing does – and I know this now as never before. I do not like this place I’m in, or part of me is not yet in harmony with that truth. Finding there is little movement out of discomfort, I know enough to seek healing in the soil of mother earth. I walk out in the garden and begin to prune and weed. In doing so, I find my breathing deeper, more regular. My eyes seek the vast expanse of field and sky and shoreline. I notice the small green mejiro birds, darting in and out of the brilliant orange honeysuckle. I hear the drone of insects, the cries and melodies struck by the wind as a bow to violin. My place in nature’s scheme becomes clear, if not to my mind, than to my core. More and more I return to a kind of home base within. Then I am ready to engage in something creative like writing or playing with images. Then I am ready to rejoin the world.

 

Sun breaking through the clouds - Hawi, HI

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Woman’s Guide to Everything: Sex and the Brain

By on November 16, 2011 in health, lifestyles, love, philosophy, psychology, relationships, Uncategorized

This article is reposted from chezgigi.com

image: the incomparable Alex Grey

Sex and the brain continues with a look at obsession, and the physiological responses to heartache. There is a reason the loss of love hurts so much. When someone has left us in a puddle of grief and desperation, or we have left someone with a cheery ‘ta-ta!’ and no backward glance, there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It doesn’t just affect the brain either; intense emotional distress, according to the September 2011 Prevention issue, taps into the same neural pathways as physical pain. For a heartache, they suggest taking acetaminophen. It may or may not help, but at least it may head off that hangover when you decide to drink your heartache into oblivion. This actually works best for men, and is only a short-term solution, so don’t get too excited.

The physical ramifications of a broken heart are very real. They can leave scars on the psyche as real as any gained through an accident. The wounds linger for years, whereas the pain from physical wounds are forgotten. If they weren’t, no doubt most children would be only children.

There is actually a name for the condition of longing for a love object.  It is called ‘limerence.’ Whether your affection is returned or not, nothing can satiate the longing for emotional reciprocation. I’ve been through this; a million years ago, as a schoolgirl, I can remember having a hopeless crush on some boy or other at school. Oh, how I loved him, while I loved him! Fortunately, these episodes were short-lived, and I was able to move on to the next grade, and the next boy, but there are some people afflicted by this hapless emotion for sixty years!

The beginning of a relationship is the ‘honeymoon,’ when both parties are smitten, and a volatile mix of chemicals are coursing through their veins, making sure they bond, and fall in love, and continue the human race. If it seems good to stay together, this period wears off in about six months, and hormones balance out. For those stuck in the limerence stage, there are heart palpitations, shortness of breath, loss of sleep, and an aching in the chest or abdomen. So, you are either having a panic attack, catching the flu, or you are obsessed. Generally, a person will fixate on someone for three to five years, and then transfer their affections to someone else.

Like those brain worms you get when a song is stuck in your head, obsessive thoughts and longing for your love object originate in your brain. Scientists are studying which parts of the brain are affected by limerence, but in the meantime, there are twelve-step programs, and cognitive behavioral therapy. All these options for treatment sounds as if therapists view it as being suffered mainly by women, which if true, is just plain stupid. How many men do we hear of every day, who are hopelessly obsessed with someone? Usually restraining orders have to be taken out, though.

In 1869, when Freud was still a teenager, women with this condition were treated with pelvic massage, administered by a big, steam-powered vibrator. This no doubt gave them orgasms, which women were probably not allowed to have many of, but if administered by a doctor, were probably viewed as morally proper, and for medicinal purposes only. This treatment, while fun, did not, and does not ‘cure’ the person. It merely makes the time go by faster.

When we love someone, they actually take up residence in our brains. They reside in the nerve-cell pathways, and the neurons and synapses of our minds. When we lose them, through death, divorce, or break up, our brains become confused and disoriented. We expect to be able to see, hear, and touch them. Death especially, feels disorienting, as if the person is just around the corner, as if we can turn and speak to them.

In Sex and the Brain by Daniel G. Amen, he writes that overactivity in the limbic brain has been associated with depression, and low serotonin levels, which is why we have trouble sleeping, and lose our appetite. This part of the brain actually becomes inflamed like a physical wound when we experience the loss of a loved one. There is a corresponding deficit in endorphins, which may be responsible for the physical pain we feel after a break up or loss. That makes it doubly important to take care of physical needs, such as exercising.  At least, you can create endorphins that way. It never hurts to write out your feelings, either. And while you’re at it, write out your beloved’s faults. Focusing on their bad points can help you move on.

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Where Do We Go When We Die?

By on November 10, 2011 in culture, health, life, nature, random thoughts, spirituality, Uncategorized

There are numerous answers to this question. Still, nobody really knows until they go through the gate, so to speak. And death brings up so much fear in our culture. This is not necessarily so in other cultures.

Tibetan Buddhists have studied the path of souls through life and death for hundreds of years. The Tibetan Book of the Dead was brought to the west by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. And now it has an even greater audience in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a documentary film narrated by Leonard Cohen. The visual aspects of this film are stunning – from humble monks attending upon the dead and dying to the striking animation of souls in transition. No matter your religious belief or persuasion, this film is a must see by everyone possible. For you never know, it may pave the way out of suffering in the world beyond. Keep an open mind.

Some say this sacred Tibetan knowledge should have been kept secret. But most, I think, agree it is amazing that we have this kind of guide through the world of the afterlife. No other people I know of have a process of collective prayer for 49 days following the death of one’s physical body – assisting the dead through the various bardos, or stages. How remarkable this kind of support exists, so foreign to our death-phobic culture.

You can rent the dvd from Netflix or watch the entire documentary here:

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Excerpted from that website:

Death is real, it comes without warning and it cannot be escaped. An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening two-part series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.

Part 1: A Way of Life reveals the history of The Tibetan Book of the Dead and examines its traditional use in northern India, as well as its acceptance in Western hospices. Shot over a four-month period, the film contains footage of the rites and liturgies for a deceased Ladakhi elder and includes an interview with the Dalai Lama, who shares his views on the book’s meaning and importance.

Part 2: The Great Liberation follows an old lama and his novice monk as they guide a Himalayan villager into the afterlife using readings from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The soul’s 49-day journey towards rebirth is envisioned through actual photography of rarely seen Buddhist rituals, interwoven with groundbreaking animation by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ishu Patel.

 

image of original Tibetan Book of the Dead: records.photodharma.net

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