Book Review: The Reconnection by DR. Eric Pearl

Hi Damon,

I’m going to be a little more direct–perhaps
less tactful–to cut through the jargon and more
clearly illustrate my feelings. Hopefully I
won’t piss anyone off in the process 🙂

>>>There is a parallel to life as in space and time,
>>>where as the more present you are to the moment
>>>the more you are eternally aware.
>>>Another wards being more deeply aware of the
>>>present pierces though the concept of time
>>>(which gives you the sense that you are going
>>>to die physical) In a sense we are already beyond
>>>this physical life and can validate that feeling
>>>though a deeper awareness of the moment.

I don’t really agree with this at all.
And this is part of the disagreement between myself
and bagua.

This type of argument (to me) is like Eckhart Tolle-ism
taken to the extreme to whitewash what is really going on.

Let me ask you/bagua this. Are you aware of the present
moment when you fall asleep at night? Do you have
continuous awareness as you shift into sleep? I don’t
know about you, but I lose awareness as I lose consciousness.
I go from having awareness to nothingness–periodically
punctuated by dreams–then a return to awareness as I wake up.
And here I haven’t died, I’ve just gone to sleep–my body is
still alive.

So how much more so results upon death?
Stop and think about it.

Really!
Stop and think about it!

To me, it seems like it would be the sleep thing times infinity.

If you really look at the “going to sleep” analogy, you’ll
realize the “power of now” concept doesn’t apply. If it can’t
hold water for something simple like going to sleep, why should
I believe anything even more extreme–as in physical death.

As far as physical death is concerned, applying this “power
of now” business is about as useful as the Christian fairy
tales given in the Bible. It’s a convenient trick to
distract you/make you feel better about the inevitable.
To me, it looks like buying into some dogma to avoid thinking
about a potentially scary topic. If it helps you live your
life now in a more free and enjoyable way, then fine. But
at least admit that’s what you are doing.

As far as how to live one’s life, and how to enjoy every
single moment in one’s life and how to not attach outside influences,
emotions, etc. to your identity, I couldn’t agree more with
bagua. Too many people let feelings, outside actions,
judgements, etc. affect them and take that on as their identity;
rather than realizing that they are not their identity–they
are just part of the ebb and flow of life is spinning around
the core essential part of yourself. So on all of this, I
completely agree.

But trying to apply it to physical death, seems a little like
nonsense to me (sorry).

Best,
Steven

Hi Steven:

“Are you aware of the present moment when you fall asleep at night? Do you have
continuous awareness as you shift into sleep? I don’t know about you, but I lose awareness as I lose consciousness. I go from having awareness to nothingness–periodically punctuated by dreams–then a return to awareness as I wake up.
And here I haven’t died, I’ve just gone to sleep–my body is
still alive.
*********************************
Exactly.
You have little control of much of your life, but your life lives on, because your awaken consciousness if not your essence or true self. You are the life force that sleeps, awakens and functions.

Being aware of present awareness is the method to know you are not solely your thoughts, your emotions, your dreams, your fantasies, your decoctions. It is the way to directly experience that which is creation itself. This is the essence of taoist cultivation in my experience.

Intellect or ego is not capable of understanding your true nature, you need to access other aspects of your self.

“Stop and think about it.”
Really!
Stop and think about it!”
***************************
This is the essence of the condition. Thinking will not bring the answer. You must use other aspects of you to perceive your nature, not your intellect, not your thoughts. Get to know that part of you that exists before thinking, which also exists during thinking. When you see this clearly it will change how you understand your thoughts, your thinking faculty.

You may want to read lao zi, tao teh ching, chapters 5, 7, 10 amd 25. I think these clearly express this reality.

bagua

Hi bagua,

S: “Are you aware of the present moment when you fall asleep at night? Do you have
continuous awareness as you shift into sleep? I don’t know about you, but I lose awareness as I lose consciousness. I go from having awareness to nothingness–periodically punctuated by dreams–then a return to awareness as I wake up.
And here I haven’t died, I’ve just gone to sleep–my body is
still alive.
*********************************
B:
Exactly.
You have little control of much of your life, but your life lives on, because your awaken consciousness if not your essence or true self. You are the life force that sleeps, awakens and functions.

———————————————-

If I am asleep, and you are awake, I don’t have the awareness you have.
Thus the part of the lifeforce that is me is not the same as the part of
the lifeforce that is you. Right?

Is there any awareness of “the part that is me” after death?
And if not, can that be changed?
I think these are reasonable questions to ask.

>>>Being aware of present awareness is the method
>>>to know you are not solely your thoughts, your
>>>emotions, your dreams, your fantasies, your decoctions.
>>>It is the way to directly experience that which
>>>is creation itself. This is the essence of taoist
>>>cultivation in my experience.

I agree that this a way to live from a freer more
open space and experience the joy of life, but I do not
see how it addresses the question of physical death.

I similarly respond to the rest of your post, as I see
how it applies to living here in the now, but fail to
see its relevance to my question.

This is why–at least as of now–I tend to agree more
with Michael Winn’s view of the afterlife, as he’s providing
some kind of map of what he believes happens to the
individual.

I don’t yet see a map sourcing from your philosophy–maybe
I missed it–which is why I feel it to be incomplete. If there
is a map, please clarify as I’m not seeing one currently.

Do you know what I’m talking about? 🙂

Smiling and enjoying the moment;
and hoping you are enjoying the debate,
Steven

Hi bagua:

S:If I am asleep, and you are awake, I don’t have the awareness you have.
Thus the part of the lifeforce that is me is not the same as the part of
the lifeforce that is you. Right?
****************
B:How would you know?

————————

OK, I suppose I could rephrase in another context as:
If we are both awake, I don’t have the same awareness you have.
Thus the part of the lifeforce that is me is not the same as the part
of the lifeforce that is you. Right?

S: Is there any awareness of “the part that is me” after death?
And if not, can that be changed?
I think these are reasonable questions to ask.
*****************************************
B:: Why is this important, who is this important to? Is it just your ego, which is incapable of understanding a non-dual state? An ego or intellect that any theory can never satisfy it?

———————————————–

Because I enjoy being alive, and see no reason why I should
let it end, if I don’t have to. This party’s fun, and would
like to continue partying if possible. If you are at an
amusement park that closes at 9pm, it doesn’t hurt to ask if
you could continue past 9. You might not be allowed to, but
what’s the harm in asking? Doesn’t hurt anything. If you
get lucky and figure out a way, then great. Nothing ventured,
nothing gained. Moreover, you don’t have to let asking the question
wreck your fun while it’s open.

>>>Does a baby worry about death? After life? Why?

I don’t really know; can’t communicate with one 🙂

Who knows–a baby might worry about it a good deal, being
helpless and all 🙂 Babies sure cry a lot. 🙂

>>>There is no mapping of afterlife, there is no theoretical
>>>explanation of it. Which is a good thing, as speculation,
>>>imagination and theories is not what taoist cultivation is
>>>about, not some new age / atlantean channeling taoist hybrid theory.
>>>Mapping our this life seems to be challenging enough
>>>for most people and they will create all kinds of
>>>things they think are important to avoid with the
>>>here and now and the reality of their life.

Fair enough.

I respect this answer, as I feel you’ve now addressed my question.

Thanks for the exchange,
Steven

From my experience as an alchemist, I am not having any issue being present, in fact the practice of nei dan is a very embodied way of experiencing the constant birth and death, the arrival and return of the present moment from the dao throught the wuji, and formless planes into the present physical plane and back again (and yes, I feel it as a connected continuum). The fact that lao Zi doesn’t really go into detail on any of the intermediary planes doesn’t bother me in the slightest…have you ever read the book “Nei Yeh (Inner Training)” as translated by Harold Roth? I believe I have asked you this before. It is thought to be a precursor to the dao de jing, meaning that focuses mainly on qi cultivation rather than political astuteness.

The modern interpretation of ancient books is really a question of interpretation and trying to get an absolute meaning is the game that religious fanatics have been at for millenia. Far better in my opinion to look at the modern practice that is being done here and now, and how its been passed down, and the process that its gone through,and better yet the effect it has on a person (practice of anything always involves interpretation and innovation as it is a living process). Dao alchemists do read the dao de jing, and the question here is not so much whether we practice the wisdom in the dao de jing, but what our actual spiritual practices are.

To be clear, you are looking to the dao de jing as your sole source of daoist practice, and we are looking at a wide range of practitioners both before and after the dao de jing (and including it), and even looking at methods of spiritual refinement from outside china that correspond to and clarify the present practices that we have.

This issue has been discussed at length but it is in poor language that we keep replaying the same discussion, although interesting points do come out in the process.

You are free to keep saying that you believe solely in the practice of the dao de jing, but please be clear about it, because when you also say that you agree with alchemists or that you practice alchemy but then constantly imply that it is unnecessary, there is something contradictory happening that I am unsure you are aware of.

Chris

We do have different interpretations of alchemy…I have often asked you to explain what your view on it is, but you usually go off on your tangent of talking about the dao de jing.

Do you see the difficulty here? There is no interaction, either it is a barrier of language or two people just railroading over the other with their own description of what they do. This is a free and open site so I see no reason why i shouldn’t respond to your posts, in fact I feel compelled to do so because the views you present seem very one sided, so i am here to present the other side.

I’ll start the discussion on the Nei Yeh by pasting some of the posts I had in a previous discussions with chan buddhists on this site. I don’t ever recall you saying that you’d like to discuss that book, and again its just a book, not a practice that people can evaluate effects from so it is only open to intellectual discussion and as such, different interpretations.

Note: the authour translates terms in the following way:

Jing – Vital essence
Qi – Vital breath
Shen – Numinous

“Te” or virtue has always been historically associated with the vital Jing Shen (the organs) through classical chinese medicine, thus cultivation of virtue is body cultivation, although only semi local as the shen are on a different vibrational frequency.

One

1. The vital jing of all things:
2. It is this that brings them to life.
3. It generates the five grains below
4. And becomes the constellated stars above.
5. When flowing amid the heavens and the earth
6. We call it ghostly and spirit (shen).
7. When stored within the chests of human beings,
8. We call them sages.

(note: if it is stored in the chests of human beings, it is semi-local, and how does it get there? through cultivation!)