near death experience
Ascension, Assumptions, and The Saint James
James the Just is referred to as many different things in the Bible. It is a known fact that he was one of the twelve apostles, a half brother of Jesus, who became the leader of the Christian movement after Jesus was crucified to accomplish the reconciliation of God and humanity, which had separated itself from God through sin.
Thus, setting the stage for the Sacrament of Penance where the faithful obtain divine mercy for their sins committed against God and neighbor, which are then reconciled through forgiveness and grace.
The word “sin” is defined as the act of violating God’s will, or doing anything that violates the ideal relationship between an individual and God, acting against another soul’s Earthly purpose, with some sin regarded as greater than others, from minor errors to deadly misdeeds that are considered more destructive and lead to greater consequences according to the Seven Deadly Sins.
Open to interpretation of these sins are wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Assuming you know the difference of accurately judging what is a sin against your own natural being, and what is a sin against the well being of another, is simply being critical at best.
For example, James the Just was stoned to death after The High Priest Ananus ben Ananus took advantage of the lack of oversight to assemble a council of judges who condemned James on the charge of breaking the law.
Widely viewed as little more than a judicial murder, it offended a number of those who were the most fair minded people in the city, strict in their observance of the law, when the attempt to reconcile said account of criminal activity finally led to the cause of the Roman siege in Jerusalem.
What had happened was, when the same people finally understood what was really going on they proceeded with the assumption of power from such a corrupt system at that time.
Before James died the scribes and Pharisees went to him for help to say something, anything to restrain the people who had gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, going to James as if he were Christ, knowing James was partial to none, elevating him to a summit on the temple where he could be clearly seen and heard.
The recorded account says James boldly testified that Christ himself sat in heaven, at the right hand of the great power of God and shall come again on the clouds of heaven.
The Just Man, James, was a true witness to both the Jews and the Greeks that Jesus is indeed Christ The Savior.
The scribes and Pharisees looked at each other and soon realized their plan had backfired, they decided to go up the summit and throw James down so the crowd of witnesses would be afraid and not believe him. According to the scribes and Pharisees they threw down the just man and began to stone him because he did not die in the fall.
James turned and kneeled and said, “I beseech Thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
While they were stoning him to death one of the Priests began to cry out, saying, “Cease, what do ye? The just man is praying for US.” Then one of the fullers took his staff and hurled it at the head of the just man and killed him with a final blow. It was the senseless killing of yet another messenger. They buried James in the same spot where he took his last breath, where a pillar erected in his memory still remains, close by the temple.
Saint James the Just is now considered a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and was eventually canonized as a Saint after his death.
That is usually how it works, though. Long after the life review of what becomes fact over fiction in the initial assumptions we make of people who are different, people who are different than most of the madding crowd of crucifixion, when the fear of something we do not understand overrides one of the greatest commandments of all of time.
Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like unto this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
The only problem with this kind of love is when you do not love yourself enough, the projection of who you really are becomes the lens by which you view and attract others by your wrath, by your greed, by your sloth, in your pride, in your lust, in your envy, and even in your gluttonous acts of excess when all of these options become infinite possibilities in the realm of saint versus sinner. The likeminded.
The crowd that gathered for the crucifixion of Jesus, and James, were led to believe something that was simply not true in hindsight. I mean, can you imagine how it made them feel when the people of that era turned on them for speaking their truth about faith? Do you think they were a little confused? Do you think they cried? Do you think they had some conflicting beliefs about the people they once trusted with their life, who turned their backs, when the going got tough? Do you think they might have been a little angry, even just a little confused about their purpose when all of these messages of UNITY ended in such an outcome of total betrayal?
James and Jesus, all of The Apostles for that matter, were only human after all, so these kinds of questions are not too far off from assuming they might have felt something, even when these kinds of questions may have seemed extreme coming from people who were reportedly preaching about the all encompassing law of unconditional love. Agape love.
And I AM telling you from experience, in times of adversity you quickly find out who your friends really are. So you must love the sinner, forgive the sin, and let God handle all of the rest.
© Reuben Garza
Thank You
The waves of life remind me to persevere and tread through the rough waters so I can appreciate the calmer seas. A time where hope and salvation will take root and feed on this foundation to supply the nutrients needed to form a new branch growing from an otherwise dead tree, a place where life looks dead and new life is being transformed through the ashes of an old life flaking off of the heat when the winds of change bellow through the sands of time.
The simple things seem so amazing; eating right, getting as much exercise as I can, and engaging life as it is right now is humbling to say the very least. I am grateful for so much. Getting back in touch with society and learning who people are, learning where they are in this very moment helps me realize what they all represent in my life. Some represent doubt, greed, fear, judgment and reckless abandonment. And others represent joy, love, compassion and understanding.
Along the way I am convinced we teach each other things as we ride along in our own kind of lifeboats, sometimes drifting along hoping to connect to someone or something which makes life a little easier on this journey, when all along we are connected by the deeds in our lives, how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves when all hope seems lost.
I did not wake up from my coma thinking about the things I had or what others perceived me as being, I woke up wondering ‘who am I’, and what eventually got me to this point in my life where I had to start completely over, completely over in order to understand what I had been trying so desperately to shove out of my life since I was a little kid, searching for these very important answers to my authentic-self even back then but running away from my truth for reasons that are now so obvious.
Since then, in every waking moment now, I began to notice people for what they did versus who they claimed to be. In most cases it helped me realize I needed to trust but verify as I rely on my new life to take shape while learning who you all really are by having the chance to look at the reflection of myself staring back at me through the company I am keeping and by the morals and values each of us represent.
These are simple judgments of what some people think I should be in order to have any kind value or worth in my life.
The question of who I am is riddled with so many peaks and valleys of who I was versus what I will become as I face the biggest challenge(s) I have ever known. But, something in my truth has given me the chance to do this all over again.
These lessons are shaping me into the person I am becoming and what some people think of me does not matter, because my hope is to honor this second chance with a joy I have never known before, too. To have a Joie de Vivre and not worry about the things that will have no meaning in the end anyway, even when these thoughts become destructive with words or deeds.
So I want to say thank you for love, and for the hate. Thank you for misunderstanding, and thank you for changing the rules, at times, mid-steam, which force me to realize so much more than I actually bargained for.
This may be my journey but your free will is your own. We are free to choose but we are never free from the consequences of our choice, in this life or in the afterlife.
Waking up from absolute death with no memory or motor function is much like being born all over again, except, every memory humbles me into believing some of these actions have not always been so honorable or with good intentions. I must forgive them and remember that I am having an incredibly unique experience as well.
There is nothing wrong with me. I know that.
It will never be enough, though, no matter how much I try to explain my near-death experience or these abilities if their minds are already made up. Everybody’s world is filled with their own neurotic and narcissistic idiosyncrasies to value our experiences, and this usually comes from a bias or it is based on existing core values and beliefs.
It really has nothing to do with me at all. However, it is my belief that everybody’s so called “normal” is different, which simply means my life is just as valuable as anybody else’s no matter how great the illusion of separation is in this physical world.
As I began to remember more, some of my experiences play out over again and again in my mind, some memories I can actually feel all over again, cascading through my body when I have them. Some are good and some are bad, some I yearn to have again, and some I am grateful are not in this moment because it all seems so real when I have to fight my way back into the present reality of today.
Today, I choose to walk with deliberate intention and a knowing that I am worthy because, I AM “normal” after all. And all is well in my world.
This is my new life and with this new family, other near-death experiencer’s like me, I will ride the waves of this journey in spite of all of these “simple misunderstanding’s”.
I owe that to myself by the innate lessons I have already learned which gives me the strength to find and anchor my own lifeboat so I can offer that safe harbor in return. Not just as a thank you for saving my life but for being a part it.
I am thankful for the kindness and the safety of your friendship since it gives me a chance to contemplate my life while I muscle my way back to the safety of dry land, where I know even though I am flawed, I will never walk alone.
Eye See
They are often viewed as an occurrence that is unique, and yet, they still exist in every way you can possibly imagine. From the stars in the heavens to all of the biological processes down here on Earth, it is their originality that makes them noticeable in the areas they universally inhabit.
Regardless of this fact, they exist in these so called “normal” venues even though they may seem out of place because they are so different than most.
Often, the universal forces of nature are telling them they should not exist this way, but, if they exist outside of who and what they are truly meant to be, in this case beautifully different, they will disappear into the same quantum vortex from which they have been duly manifested into creation.
Some can be destructive, like a hedonistic black hole indiscriminately devouring everything in its path, and others can be undisruptive, like a remnant of upholstery folded and stitched to the bottom of a frame by its designer, in order to make the entire sum of its parts detailed to absolute perfection.
The power to create or destroy is not Science Fiction by any stretch of imagination. All of the good, bad, ugly, indifferent, angry, and self-righteous people along the way have been here to teach me a thing or two about who I am, and trust me, it has not been easy realizing your own kind will do or say just about anything to change you because they also fear what they do not understand.
Does this sound familiar to anybody else?
Someone once asked, “How did I discover these abilities?” And, that is a very good question indeed. In retrospect, it seems to have all happened by accident. But I know everything happens for a reason. Much like the mistakes I have been making in the progression of understanding myself, and how I have come to realize there is perfection in all things that often seem broken, flawed, or odd at first sight.
The best news about all of this is when you touch the other side, and get to cheat death like I did, everything that is really important suddenly becomes very real, and there is an opportunity to do something bigger by fully acknowledging and accepting these abilities.
My special friends have been encouraging me to come out with it, again now, and own up to my destiny once and for all.
Since we really are a rainbow of people, the best thing I have learned is that being different is not such a bad thing after all. I still cry when I must, laugh at my mistakes when they happen, and hope for a better day whenever a tough day seemingly gets the best of me, (don’t we all) because there have been many, many days that I have questioned my place in this world since I woke up from being in a coma with absolutely no memory or motor function, whatsoever.
Hum?! Come to think of it, this must be what it feels like to come out.
As you have probably said to those who have judged you for being who you are, this is only part of what makes me who I am. When I put everything together it makes a lot sense for me to claim this as my own. Especially when these universal forces of good, bad, ugly, indifferent, angry, and self-righteous judgments pull on me, sometimes even push me into a direction that goes hand in hand with feeling the need to come out of the broom closet, again.
I had a near-death experience and have been given these special gifts by God/Source/Universe/Big Daddy. (whatever you choose to call it) And there are a lot of other people like me in this world, too. By some estimates there are one billion of us coming from every region on the Planet, every race, every color, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, etc.
The most important thing about this experience has helped me realize that everything is connected in one way or another, much like a combination to a lock, this holds the key to my future.
Here is some more truth; all of this bullying nonsense is not going to stop me. You can tell by my photo I wholeheartedly accept these diverse parts of who I am, as facts. There have been way too many validated experiences to label it as something else. (I have references) Recently, I have discovered the sure fire way to take your power back is to fully own every part of who you are with honor and pride. And as you can see, it just keeps getting better.
Here are some more interesting facts for those who question whether or not these gifts come from God.
Romans 12:6 – We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying then prophesy in accordance to your faith.
Yes, that is real scripture.
The word faith means to believe in something that is not based on proof, have confidence or trust in a person or thing, believing in the unseen. A knowing.
Prophesy means to teach religious studies, making inspired declarations of what is to come, teaching religious subjects. To preach.
Cycle Somatic
It’s the somatic cell that divides into specialized cells, which forms all of the internal organs, skin, bones, blood, and connective tissues, making them very important to keep regulated with the kind of synchronicity that keeps everything equally balanced.
And, this can get very technical for the lay person to understand, such as you and I, so all of the scientific babble that is involved in actually explaining something like this in layman’s terms is difficult to describe, at best.
The most important thing to remember is the somatic cells works to regulate the outer walls of the body of an organism and not the inner workings. Honestly, as I start writing everything down this seems to metaphorically represent these types of cells are actually the tissue of the organ itself, helping it do its job.
So, as far as any of this being all in your head is concerned, it actually originates in the outer walls of the body, which is really what I am talking about here; keeping your body balanced.
Harnessing time, or at least trying to, is probably one of the most sought after pieces of information the scientific world would like to get their hands on: This finding may provide a cure for many of the diseases out there by isolating a frequency. I think it has something to do with the way a signal is manipulated by an AM or FM radio wave, or by the way a signal is actually transmitted by a sinusoidal wave to the small vessels of any organ tissue, but,what do I know.
Thinking about anything as complicated as trying to figure this formula out in my head, how this will all work when you put it together, it just gives me a headache to think about for too long. And rightly so! It really does sound simple enough though, doesn’t it, keeping everything balanced?
From what I understand from those that know a little something about wanting to achieve this sort of thing, this is also complicated because it really depends on many variables as well. Anyone who has lived will tell you it is very normal to feel strange things during odd times like these, that you will not fully understand at the time until much later.
You have probably heard these called many things before like; having a bad day, feeling completely drained before and after work, not having energy like you use to, or just being completely stressed out from doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out without any kind of enjoyment from a well planned routine that has now seen its better days.
There is no doubt in my mind what will happen to the body with too many years of celebrating like there is no tomorrow finally kick you in the head, and then you are suddenly faced with the reality that you just can’t do the same things you use to do before. Age has finally caught up to you and age has definitely won. It’s just a matter of time before you have to start eating prunes or pears to stay regular. Then the inevitable will happen and you will eventually lose your bowel movements altogether in a dramatic end to the excessive punishment you wind up putting your body through in the process of living before you die.
Hey, the thought of this sounds a little hokey to me, too. But, I am just the messenger who also has his doubts. And doubt is another odd thing I find interesting now that I am here again, questioning everything after cheating death another time. Two times to be exact now. Which is why I probably have so many questions about the best way to live life, again. Being able to actually achieve this said balance is on everybody’s mind it seems, I am not the onlyone who has been stuck in a rut, here lately.
The truth of the matter is that a person never knows how long they have before they transcend to the spirit realm, to leave their physical body in death. It is a part of the circle of life. Just like anything in life, it is the time between birth and death that really matters in the long run. When it comes down to it, it is how you treat your body during this time that will have its beginnings and ends too; this is known as a cycle.
That must mean there is a period of time when everything in motion has a symmetrical point, which also means everything in motion must have a fixed point to stay balanced.
Something Knew
Before I knew it I was is a crowded room of total strangers knowing more than I ever wanted, or even ever expected to know just by casually observing the energy in the room. For many, like me, the desire for acceptance comes with the duality of wanting anonymity, but, having one without the other is a bit of a contradiction now. My closest friends are always supportive with my decisions, yet, I am beginning to wonder if it is really about choice when such circumstances choose you.
Much like the fictional character who writes a column for a big newspaper, I find myself constantly examining my motives while navigating this human condition called life. With humility, in observance of another chance to live, being given another chance I’m simply not worthy of, it is in awe that I stand on the threshold of my own authenticity.
Waking up to all of these possibilities, I can’t help but question my own path. All of the teachers in this lifetime tell me what I am going through is relatively normal, considering.
Still, these gifts are amazing and scary all at the same time.
Frankly put, if I were not afraid of this uncertainly, I would consider myself crazy. In another time and another place life would be much easier than it has been, and in the face of this uncertainty there is no choice but to live. Yet, understanding human nature is confusing, complicated, and complex, because, we are all after the pursuit of some kind of bliss in one form or another, and, as odd as this may sound, I am comforted to know that I am not alone.
Whether it is in a committed relationship, or in a one night stand, we are all looking for acceptance and understanding, somewhere to belong in life’s seemingly endless possibilities of chance and circumstance. And looking for love in an empty promise is a hopeless cause, indeed.
In the games we play with each other, there is something we inherently know, we are a broken people and our body tends to speak for itself, because, we all have something to say in the disease of this existence with gestures that have more to say in mere body language, than words themselves. The need to control any situation is usually out of the need to fulfill a desire to be noticed, for some.
Still, as I sit in the crowded room lost in thought with this new meaning, I see reflections of who I am mirroring back the loneliness of others that are searching for a place to belong, too.
To be young and fully engaged in the dance of life is intriguing to the casual observer, like me. But to me, searching for something new has been worth the pain, even when the medicine only masks the pain for just a little while.
Much like the little pieces in a long game of chess, some may even be hoping to be used in order to have some kind of purpose to their meaningless cycle of existence that takes most to the end of total inhalation, at times, because in the end of this kind of life, the only one left standing is usually left standing alone.
I am told having confidence in playing the game is usually described as having a certain knowing of the outcome, to actually win. The absolute truth about all of this is that I really know nothing about humanity itself, I am just the messenger, but, it was in my search for happiness that I realized this venue, having the ability to write about things that are way beyond my simple comprehension, is where I fit.
Now, wide awake to this kind of understanding, I know the human experience is ultimately about experiencing the up’s and down’s that makes us all human. All of the good, all of the bad, and all of the so very ugly.
Order In The Court
The Knights of the Foramen Hall have been seeing this coming for a while now; it’s really no surprise with all of the information being presented in such a rushed fashioned, that some kind of answer is needed to balance all of the changes going on in the kingdom at the present time. Even so, all of the solutions continue to evolve as the offerings are tithed to the Kingdom for freedom from all of the restrictions it has been experiencing for so many years, even before the Great War.
With all of this gaining and losing ground, this battle has always seemed like it is never ending. Without a doubt, I am also confused about my fate. But, I must accept my path, because, I fight for peace and understanding in the Great Foramen Hall.
You see, the Kingdom has seen its share of hypocrisy and in order to yield to the Higher Power of the Foramen Throne’s command, I humbly accept the chance to live again, and answer this call of duty that humbles me like no other time before.
As I sharpen the edge of my sword to prepare for another round before I deploy, I admit it is all still so new, so different, and sometimes even confusing. One thing is certain; I know the enemy is out there, ready to bear arms, or fight hand to hand if necessary.
So, I sit silence to consider all of my choices that are presented by the King of Kings, knowing that I must consider my path before I choose my weapons.
As I ready arms, a white winged-feather, of a very large bird, floats down my brow and gently lands to my side.
And I weep.
In anatomy, a foramen (pl. foramina) is any opening. Foramina inside the body of humans and other animals typically allow muscles, nerves, arteries, veins, or other structures to connect one part of the body with another….Wikipedia
A Fixed Point 