---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Orme-Johnson <davi...@earthlink.net> Date: Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 2:53 PM Subject: My experience on the Invincible America Assembly
Dear Family and Friends, I feel so lucky to have had some role to play in pioneering scientific research on the technologies of enlightenment that Maharishi has brought into the modern world, but even luckier to have had the opportunity to do subjective research on enlightenment. Although I have written a lot about the scientific research, I haven’t written much at all about my subjective experiences. So here is something on it. Rhoda and I have spent the last four summers in Fairfield attending the Invincible America Assembly, which has been a continuous group of 1,000 to 2,000 meditators and Vedic Pundits doing long TM and TM-Sidhi programs every day since 2006, with the purpose of culturing enlightenment for us individually and invincibility for America. Invincibility means a shield of coherence in collective consciousness for America. The Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge. I sit over to the right front. We sit on foam and stacks of foam for Yogic Flying. An inspiring part of the daily program is reading of experiences by course participants, which Maharishi would comment on, and which is now expertly done by Dr. Bevan Morris and Dr. Doug Birx, bringing out fine details of the mechanics of how enlightenment evolves, elucidating the criteria and milestones in that evolutionary process, and putting the experiences into the context of the Vedic literature, verifying how our personal experiences correspond to descriptions in the classical texts of enlightenment. Here is my experience, read out today. Experiences of the Invincible America Assembly, August 29, 2014 David W. Orme-Johnson, Ph.D. Vessel of Bliss. My main experience during program these days is of my body being a hollow vessel filled with the self-effulgent light and bliss. When I look for a boundary to it, I don’t find any distinct edge. It seems to extend indefinitely, although it seems to be located mostly within about arm’s length around my body, a kind of fuzzy cloud of bliss that is accompanied by soft pulsating tones in my ears. When I try to follow my bliss-field away from my body I have the sense that I am enlivening it. I think it is always faintly there at any distance, and that it becomes much more present wherever I put attention on it. I think that to find oneself far in the distance one has to put one’s attention at a distance, but then it is no longer at a distance, it is Here. Yogic flying is what pumps up the bliss. When I sit on the stacks to fly and begin to settle, almost immediately a flash of bliss as if propels me into the air, my body shaking and twisting as my spine reorganizes itself into a more perfect configuration. What I experience is not the stress going out but the bliss coming in. Each twist and turn creates a delightful feeling of transparency and health throughout my spine and body, akin to how one feels during a good stretch, only much more intense. During flying I become aware of two things coexisting, the activity of the bubbling bliss from the hopping and a contrasting non-active underlying silent continuum of non-changing consciousness. As the hopping continues, I become aware that the non-active continuum becomes more salient-- how to say it--louder, of greater amplitude, a veritable inner roar of the hum of the universe. “Silent” doesn’t do it justice. It is a heatless, self-effulgent rolling boil. Sometimes I find that I have not moved for some time, absorbed in it, hardly breathing, with each faint breath creating an ebb and flow of the most profound soul-grounding sense of well-being. All the synonyms of “bliss” apply: ecstasy, heaven, paradise, enjoyment, happiness, delight, pleasure, harmony, but none of these do it justice. It is simpler, more profound, a superbly grounded feeling, Mother is at home. Sometimes there are not two things but only the single continuum of the bliss with me hopping within it. Is it active? Is it silence?--I just AM. I am so happy to be here, so happy that this is me, my Self, and so so grateful to Maharishi and Guru Dev. Intellectually, I know that my body is a bag filled with organs, tissues, blood vessels, etc. and I asked myself how does this objective reality correspond to the subjective experience that the body is a hollow vessel filled with the continuum of consciousness? The answer that occurred to me is that consciousness is primary, and that it projects all the tissues and organs of the body as an individual by which universal consciousness can be experienced itself as a localized person. I think that is one of the main points of Dr. Nader’s book Human Physiology - Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature. Surrender to Innocence. I have a lot of plans, projects, and activities, and if there could be 10 of me, or even 100, I could keep them all busy following up on all my desires and ideas. However, I have become increasingly aware that I do not have to decide what to do next, or worry how things will turn out. I see that my mind is like a swell of a big wave in the ocean that is made of all my desires and karma, and that as it settles back onto the unbounded ocean, all my concerns are automatically being worked out by the all-encompassing power of natural law. I just have to surrender to innocence, let go of trying to figure things out, and just do the program innocently. Big changes are happening in my life, big problems being solved, big goals being worked out and accomplished. Just surrender to innocence during program and them come out and see what there is to do. Walking at the speed of enlightenment. One day after program I was walking home fast trying to get there as quickly as possible, when I recalled that Maharishi always walked at a royal pace. Then I remembered that he once admonished us “Now that the Age of Enlightenment has dawned we should walk at the pace of an elephant, not run about like rabbits.” He explained it was necessary to run like rabbits in the early days, but now in the Age of Enlightenment we should slow down and walk at a royal pace. As I slowed down, a celestial glory surrounding me zoomed forth, stopping me in my tracks. I saw the trees against the sky as a tapestry of an endless variety of shapes and colors, the air filled with bird songs, the sweet smells of an Iowa summer, the wind touching my face. It was like stepping into a favorite IMAX movie. I whipped out my iPhone to try to catch the moment and made a video of a picket fence fading into galaxies of Queen Ann’s lace and seed pods floating through the universe. I wanted to cuddle and snuggle a cute furry bunny who was chewing down stems of dandelions, sucking them in like pieces of spaghetti, letting me get quite close but keeping a watchful eyes on me. Every sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell resonates with my inner bliss. The other day when I was sitting at my computer and Rhoda walked in to tell me something. When I turned to look at her I was struck to see that she was a celestial being, made out of a very soft effusion of self-effulgent light, beautiful, glowing. I said excitedly “I see you as a celestial being, you’re glowing!” She looked at me a little quizzically, said her thing, smiled and left. I am feeling good and I have spring in my step. My biological age, tested on cognitive flexibility, came out to be 45, whereas my chronological age is 73. I am so proud of myself that we are doing the IAA. Old friends comment on how good I look and ask me what I am doing. “I’m on the Invincible America Assembly” I say. “Oh, I should do that” they say. “Yes you should” I say, “yes you should.” For those interested, a book of experience is available at this website. Invincible America Assembly Experiences of Higher States of Consciousness All the best, David David W. Orme-Johnson, PhD --------------------------------- >From October to April 191 Dalton Dr., Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 32459 >From May to September 1100 University Manor Dr., # 15B, Fairfield, Iowa, 52556 (850) 231-2866 (Home) (850) 830-5847 (Mobile) Skype: davidoj108 davi...@earthlink.net www.TruthAboutTM.com www.Orme-JohnsonPaintings.com
