|
by Keith Varnum
An old joke goes, “How do angels fly?” The answer is, “They
take themselves lightly.”
One evening I uncovered the core of truth in this joke. Little
did I imagine that the joke was being totally literal.
I was attending a lecture of Michio Kushi, one of my spiritual
mentors, when he became very frustrated with his Los Angeles
audience of several hundred metaphysical seekers. He was attempting
to convey to us an understanding of the physics of life, the
fundamental mechanism of creation and transformation in life
processes. Sensing he wasn’t getting his message across, Michio
decided to get more simple and basic. He emphasized the fact that
the core nature of all life is energy, declaring, "The world is
all energy. Everything is energy. And if you understand that, you
can understand the real dynamics behind how things happen the way
they do in the ‘so-called’ physical universe."
The audience was comprised of bright, curious people of all ages
and backgrounds. However, few of us were understanding Michio on the
fundamental level he was trying to communicate. Exasperated, he
switched to an experiential tack, announcing abruptly and
emphatically, "All right. I'll demonstrate what I’m talking
about."
Michio knelt down in the traditional Japanese manner on his
knees, put his hands together in a prayer-like position, closed his
eyes and sat very still. After several minutes, his body began to
slowly lift off the ground to a height of about three feet. There he
remained for ten minutes, suspended in the air several feet above
the floor. Now he had my attention!
I was astonished, of course. Then I impulsively did something
that, in retrospect, seems very irrational and even humorous. But at
the time, the maneuver made sense to me.
My mind’s orderly framework of reality was being severely
challenged by Michio’s airborne body. I needed to do something to
psychologically feel more in control. If I was being forced to
expand my belief in what is humanly possible on this earth, I was
going to make sure the phenomenon was authentic. I had to do
something that would give the apparent impossibility I was
witnessing some sense of validity.
In a childlike way, I felt the levitation would be more real for
me if I knew firsthand that nothing was underneath his body. I was
sitting in the front row of the audience. I reached underneath
Michio’s hovering body, pretending my only intention was to grab a
notebook behind him. I discovered Michio was, indeed, floating in
midair! There was only empty space underneath him. Inserting myself
physically into the incomprehensible picture before me made the
whole scene more authentic for me.
After about ten minutes, Michio’s body gently descended to the
floor. He opened his eyes and shared offhandedly, “Levitation is
very easy. It is a natural, simple process. You all can do it.”
Then he proceeded to tell us how to levitate. He spoke casually,
as if he were describing how to ride a bicycle, “You simply empty
your mind and clear your consciousness. Eliminate yourself of ego
and self-absorption. When you are completely purged of awareness of
the small self, of identifying with the personality, you are free to
move with the natural rhythm of the universe. You are no longer
weighted down with self-concern and limiting beliefs. You are then
able to utilize the electro-magnetic wave energy that moves between
the earth and the sun, moon, planets and all the heavenly bodies in
the universe.”
Sensing that he was losing his audience again, he paused and then
elaborated, “On a hot day, you can actually see the wave motion of
this universal energy as it undulates the air over hot pavement. You
can measure the powerful effect of this energy on the ocean: this
invisible force causes the sea to rise and fall, creating the ocean
tides. You can see this pattern of universal pulsation in the
rolling of the ocean waves, the rhythm of rock strata in canyons and
the formation of sand dunes in the desert. This universal,
undulating motion creates all the spiral patterns you find in nature—from
whirls in sea shells, twirling plant growth, twisted tree trunks and
swirling ocean currents to water funnels going down the drain. The
natural flow of life is an energy wave motion, up and down, in and
out. All the wavelike patterns and spiral formations you find in
nature exist because natural elements are fluid and flexible enough
to flow with the natural wave energy current of life. When you
become light enough, clear enough of ego-concern, you can let this
wave energy move you as well. That's all levitation is.” Sensing
his audience was close to grasping his meaning, Michio tossed out
examples for them to identify with. “Observe children, dogs and
wild animals tap into this universally available energy source. To
them, it’s natural. Haven’t you seen children and dogs in a park
or on a beach as they run and jump all day without getting tired? If
a child or dog feels especially happy and carefree, you’ll see
them jumping two or three times higher than they normally can. We
all know wild animals have extraordinary abilities to jump and leap,
as well as run long distances very fast and long. Indigenous, tribal
natives who retain their childlike innocence and openness in
adulthood can run 100 miles in a single day without being tired.
This is because they are light and empty enough to flow with
universal energy. They allow the natural energy pulsation between
the earth and other bodies to propel them. That is what the Star
Wars screenwriter meant when he said, “May the Force be with you.”
His characters had learned how to surf the Force. When you become
fluid and malleable, you also can ride this energy and float."
Immediately after the lecture, I ran up to Michio, voicing my
excitement over what I witnessed. He turned to me and smiled one of
those accepting smiles I came to love.
“Most will not remember the levitation, Keit.” I protested,
exclaiming that, of course, they’d remember such a fantastic
display of levitation, not to mention actual instructions on how
anyone could do it. He simply shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe some.
But very few.”
Determined to prove him wrong, I joined the attendees milling
about the lecture hall and questioned small pockets of people about
what they witnessed. To my astonishment, the majority of the
audience didn’t see Michio levitate; they perceived him simply
kneeling in meditation!
A minority of the audience did witness the levitation. Yet, of
the people who stated that evening that they saw his body float,
only a handful stuck by their statement the following day. The rest
of the witnesses could no longer remember having seen the body
levitate!
I reminded these witnesses that they had admitted seeing the feat
just the evening before. But they took back their words—and their
experience. As one observer replied incredulously, "Oh, no. I
never said that. I never saw that. All I saw was Michio kneeling on
the floor." They changed their story and their memory by the
next morning!
What an awakening for me! I was forced to recognize how
strenuously we humans hold onto our current, familiar, thus
comfortable, views of reality.
On three other occasions, I observed Michio suspend his body in
midair for ten minutes in front of several hundred people. After
each demonstration, I questioned people in the same way I did after
the first levitation. The same pattern played out: admission on the
day of the event followed by a retraction the next day! Seeing, then
denying. When I followed up the next day with professed witnesses of
the event, most of them changed their story. Overnight, the fact of
a fascinating levitation was demoted to a memory of mere grounded
meditation. Only a few of the witnesses retained the experience of
the levitation from the evening it happened until the next morning!
Furthermore, with the passage of time, even the few people who
remembered the levitation the morning after, began to reinterpret,
invalidate or completely forget they ever witnessed Michio float in
the air. In other words, the further in time we got from the actual
miracle, the fewer people remembered seeing it. The only witnesses
who remembered over time that they witnessed Michio levitate were
people who saw him—or another gifted being—levitate on more than
one occasion.
What’s going on here? I asked myself. What a lesson in the
filtering power of our programmed preconceptions. We only see what
we’re conditioned to see. We only perceive what we expect to
perceive!
Over the years, I’ve found this perceptual filtering often goes
along with the witnessing of supernormal abilities. I call it “spiritual
amnesia.” The mind works fast to cover up any evidence that
contradicts its own rigid perimeters regarding what is possible in
its world. This malady is like a 24-hour flu virus. It’s easy to
catch in our culture. The effects of the syndrome last just long
enough to wipe out any memory of an unusual event that doesn’t fit
into our expected range of possibilities! By the next day, the
extraordinary event is either made ordinary by the mind and memory,
or forgotten altogether.
In my career as a journalist covering natural disasters and
crisis situations, I’ve encountered the invalidating effect of
spiritual amnesia after every major superhuman feat that was out of
the box—beyond the envelop or scope of what most people believe is
possible. A prime example is the seemingly extraordinary ability of
people to lift and keep aloft heavy vehicles until a loved one or
stranger is rescued from danger. In the making of a documentary on
the subject, I found out this act of extra-normal strength has
occurred at least once in practically every community in the
country! And, as with levitation, it’s usually only those people
who have witnessed this extraordinary human ability more than once
who are able and willing to remember that it occurred at all.
Later that same year, I fell victim to the insidious power of
spiritual amnesia in my own psyche. Until a friend at work mentioned
levitation one day, I never considered attempting this skill myself.
Recounting Michio’s floating feat to my co-worker, I got so
re-invigorated about the subject that I decided to try to levitate
when I got home from work that very evening. I planned to use Michio’s
technique of tapping into universal wave energy. Yet, by the time I
got home that evening, I totally forgot about my intentions to
levitate!
It was months later that some reference in my environment again
triggered my memory of wanting to levitate. Again, I forgot my plans
by the time I was in a suitable situation to act on them. The same
lapse of memory and carry-through concerning my notions to levitate
occurred many times over the following years. I usually remembered
my objective to levitate when I was at work during the day, only to
forget again by the time I got home in the evening. It ultimately
took writing down the levitation plans on paper during the day for
me to remember it in the evening!
When the auspicious event finally occurred, it took me several
hours to empty myself of self-absorption and quiet my mind enough to
successfully tap into the electro-magnetic energy force field Michio
mentioned in his lectures. Finally, I felt very clear and calm. My
kneeling body started to lift off the floor! I felt my body rising.
I opened my eyes, looked down and saw I was about a foot off the
ground. As soon as I saw that startling reality, my whole body was
immediately filled with the thunderous sound of "NNNOOOOO!!!!”
This heavy, loud “NO!” filled every cell of my body, and I came
crashing to the floor.
It took me years to recover psychologically from that “NO!” I
felt very guilty, as if I had done something wrong and prohibited—like
I’d committed some crime against nature. Several years passed
before I tried levitation again. The same thing happened. I started
lifting off the floor. I noticed that I had the thought, I'm
levitating. I'm rising. And as soon as the reality of the floating
hit my awareness, again, immediately, this loud, forceful, heavy “NO!”
pervaded my body. It came from every cell in my body, and from deep
within myself. I crashed to the floor.
Not one to give up on something I really want, I tried levitation
again years later. This time I attempted my experiment with two
friends, Giana and Steve. During an evening of intimate, honest
conversation, I told them the story of Michio’s levitation.
"Let's try it," they exclaimed in unison. Giana and Steve
were the first people with whom I shared his story who were
motivated to try to levitate themselves.
With all our excitement and expectation, it took hours of
meditation for us to get quiet and clear our minds. When we finally
did empty our minds, we all began to rise at the same time. I saw
their bodies lifting off the floor. However, as soon as Giana and
Steve noticed they were a foot above the floor, they came crashing
down together. Watching their descent triggered me into “thinking.”
I came right down after them.
Like me, Giana and Steve felt a strong sensation of shame and
guilt—like they had done something wrong or prohibited. That
night, we talked about our levitation experiment at length. But the
next morning the “spiritual amnesia” had already set in and we
all went off to work without mentioning the miraculous occurrence of
the previous evening. And none of the three of us ever referred to
that evening’s adventure again in the following years of
acquaintance. I have since lost touch with both friends.
I often wonder if I could entice Giana and Steve to remember the
evening we explored the wonder of surfing the waves of the universe.
I often wonder if I could entice myself to fly again. With
considerable embarrassment, I must admit I haven’t made another
attempt to levitate since my exploits with Giana and Steve. I’m
waiting for the right moment and situation. It hasn’t felt
intuitively right for me to re-attempt flight. I haven’t gotten
the impetus or clearance from my inner coach to undertake another
experiment in expanding my known universe in this way.
My reluctance can be further explained through the inherent
meaning of the word experiment. When we take a look at the Latin
components, we discover the source of the word’s meaning: Ex-to go
out of, beyond. Periment-perimeter, boundary, border, periphery.
Experiment-to go beyond the boundary. According to Webster’s,
another Latin root of the word contributes to a deeper
understanding: pericul-danger, trial, test. Thus, experiment-danger
in going beyond the boundaries—which is what a lot of us feel when
we test the borders of our known world.
Through much exploration, I’ve learned the wisdom of waiting
for intuitive guidance as to when, how far and under what
circumstances I venture into new, uncharted territory. The perils
are considerable in barging ahead heedless of one’s inner compass.
Someday soon, I hope to get the go-ahead again from my inner coach
that I am strong and clear enough to go beyond my old, known borders
to enjoy “the incredible lightness of being.”
|
