Make me one with everything

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

~ Buddha

My husband often shares the joke about the Buddhist monk and the hot dog vendor.

To keep it short, the monk, who understands the interconnectedness of all things, asks the hot dog vendor to make him one with everything.

I aspire to become one with everything.

Learning about near-death experiences

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

~ Buddha

I often listen to podcasts on YouTube. To keep me watching, the algorithm feeds me content I have shown interest in in the past.

Lately, I have been targeted by videos about near-death experiences (NDE’s).

NDE’s are profound personal experiences reported by individuals approaching, or temporarily undergoing, clinical death. The commonalities of NDE’s include:

• Feeling detached from the physical body

• experiencing a profound sense of peace and painlessness

• bathing in a brilliant white or golden light that is described as unconditionally loving or radiant

• undergoing a panoramic review of life events, reliving memories with heightened clarity and often gaining an empathetic understanding of how our actions impact others

• meeting deceased relatives, religious figures, or unknown entities, often characterized by mind-to-mind communication and unconditional love, and

• feeling compelled to return to the body upon realizing one's soul contract has not yet been fulfilled.

Research indicates a striking similarity between Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and trips induced by the psychedelic DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine).

A landmark 2018 study by Imperial College London found that healthy volunteers administered DMT scored significantly higher on NDE scales than those given a placebo, reporting shared features such as out-of-body experiences, entering an unearthly realm, encountering sentient beings, and experiencing a profound sense of inner peace or being at one with everything.

Divine guidance

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

~ Buddha

In some ways, this YouTube prompted exposure to near-death experiences, feels like divine guidance.

I learn from others. As a second-born, I learned early not to repeat my older sibling’s mistakes.

In the afternoon of my life, I have come to appreciate the impact that my thoughts, words, and behaviours have on me and others.

In fact, according to the Buddha’s teachings, I have come to observe that every human being, including me, is the author of their own health or dis-ease.

For my benefit and the benefit of those around me, I intend to live the rest of my life helping to overcome fear and division and loving unconditionally to reduce human suffering.