The inability to identify any physical location of memory in the brain is one of the greatest clues that materialism is a failed worldview.
The idea that memories are stored in the brain is so ingrained in our culture that it seems to have become a popular “fact” for many, but truthfully, it is merely an assumption. The neuroscientific community has been searching for the physical location of memories in the brain for over half a century, to no avail.
While some memories might be correlated with a particular section of brain tissue, if that part is removed, the memories are still retrievable. Whatever atoms and molecules in the brain were involved in the initial encoding of a given memory years ago (even more than half a century ago), they have since been replaced numerous times, yet memories from such distant epochs have been retained.
Neurosurgeons have never found any broad patterns of memory loss following major resections (removal) of neocortex, implying that memories are not actively stored in those regions.
In particular, the memories of near-death experiences, as compared to typical dreams or hallucinations, have an ultra-real quality that sets them apart. The question remains for some, are these experiences happening within the brain? A deeper explanation is required.
Studies reveal that NDE memories should be considered to have far more robust origins than merely imagined events. Their degree of detail and emotional power are more similar to memories of real events than dreams or other similar imagined events. Likewise, their resilience and stability over decades, as well as their life-changing power, make them extraordinary.
PRACTICE
During your contemplative practice, recall a memory from your childhood. Close your eyes and let that recollection return fully to repaint the experience for you. Marvel at the mind’s ability to revive such moments and make note of any insights in your journal.
RESOURCES
The Mystery of the Mind by Wilder Penfield
I found one good memory and could only find few details. Was left feeling despondent not being able to grasp all of it. So I settled into the haze of blankness suppressed by other not so pleasant memories I have chosen to suppress.
I am. 87 year old and conscious of approaching the winding down, recently meditating (it was not a dream). I was walking along a country rough surface lane then turned and descended into the roadside ditch. I was going to leave this mind set but pressed in. I walked up out of the ditch and into a field of like bull rushes, continuing walking and the pressing-in lessened I continued and saw a small thatched cottage in the distance. Adjacent to the cottage was a large field full of red poppies and playing in the field were three of my past pet dogs. Looking over beside the cottage I saw my deceased parents approaching me and welcoming me to the cottage. They were laughing and full of joy..
If anyone starts to have a mind event like this then keep the focus and press in. Jesus said ‘ I will prepare a place for you ‘ ….
Is this going to be my place this thatched cottage and field of poppies ?
What’s interesting are those who have had some kind of organ transplants and they end up having memories from the donors. This really brought it home for me that memories are not from the brain, but may or are stored in every cell of our body.
I just discovered your work researching for a book I am helping a person (who wishes to remain anonymous) to write on Immortality. I own a small media company and met them supposedly accidentally and it opened a whole new world of exploration, certainly for me. They are not an adept writer but the information is powerful beyond words…and a whole different take on the topic that, frankly astounded me. Your work coincides with this person’s experiences and versions of eternal consciousness that has nothing to do with religion. [As described, “spirituality begins where religion leaves off” – more accurately, religion is an attempt to package spirituality, sort of a Reader’s Digest version. There “was” spirituality, then religion, then spirituality again, as if spirituality was painted over for a portion of bodily existence, i.e., spirituality is always there under the paint.] I thought I understood most of what there was to understand. Frankly, I knew a grain of sand on a beach…but it did bring me to this point – meeting them and you. I am excited for this part of the journey. Thank you!
Since memory is reconstructive, it is often said that you remember the last time you remembered something, rather than the original instance itself. How does one get around that to actually get into the primal memory, and not something that has been reconstructed/updated through various recallings?
I’ve just watched Reconnect the movie where I guy takes ayahuasca and has deep vivid childhood memories, disconnected from the ego.
Thanks for the tip James! I’ve never heard of this movie. I’ll have to check it out. I am fascinated with plants and plant medicine. Thanks again –
Wow just wow, just had a similar experience as when I was at a hypnosis session, went back to sweet childhood memorys, did not think I could do that,
Eben, This reminds me of Eileen McKusik’s work with biofield tuning. She uses tuning forks in the biofield (aura) around the body to harmonize and move stuck energy. Through her experience with this modality she has come to believe that all our memories are stored in standing waves in the electro-magnetic field around the body, and not in the brain.
This part of life is all very new and exciting for me. It came at the perfect time.
Thank you Eben and Karen for making it all possible!
Blessings
I am so happy that my friend Anne told me about this 33 day challenge. It’s helping me to recover and deepen my spiritual connections.
I don’t believe in coincidences, I believe in divine intervention. This 33-day program was sent to me from God. Thank you, God of our universe.
When I saw that quote at the beginning of Day 3, I started reviewing certain things I remembered about brain structures involved in memory, such as the hippocampus. Actually, that’s all they are, it seems; just involved. I heard during a anatomy/physiology lecture in the ’70s that there was no center for consciousness in the brain. How is it we hear such earth-shaking conclusions, but make nothing of it? I suppose it just wasn’t the right time for me!
Dear Friends,
I find that befriending memories – both beautiful &joyful, and challenging& negative are wonderful ways to celebrate the abundance of experiences we have in this manifestation These reflections can help us to grow in our understanding and compassion for others and also can be integral to fully healing ourselves. As I have been pondering childhood memories, I also began thinking about my mother. She is 91 years old and has dementia. She has almost no short term memory yet is able to recall special pleasurable childhood memories. Since our consciousness is not in the brain, what may be interfering with her memory? Is there any way to help her?
Thank you, Cynthia
Dear Cynthia
I was told by a natural healer long ago that there were diets & other prescriptions that could help heal the brain. I had told her about my mother’s difficulties w/ memory, concentration, & so on following ECT when she was in her teens. Also, Dr. Kenneth Ring has done work on “terminal lucidity” (I believe that’s the term) for the surprising return to full mental function of some persons as they approach death; maybe he can steer you in a helpful direction. At this point in my return to actively exploring inner reality, I really don’t see it’s impossible for your mom to be reconnected fully. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Look up Dr Dale Bredesen’s work on reversing cognitive decline with diet and lifestyle.
Dear Cynthia, your query is immensely moving. I lost my beloved partner last year to Parkinson’s Disease-related multiple organ failure, after he had already progressively lost much cognitive function to that dreadful disease. I must tell you that in his prime he had an exceptional IQ of 170 and had a splendid memory, which made his illness all the more poignant. So where did all that knowledge and skill go? It was only while I was grieving over his decline that it dawned on me: He was not only his body, and his thinking and memory were not dependent on his brain.
If you think of the brain as a FILTER instead of a STORE – in other words, as an organ that functions as a diffuser/sieve/weakening and limited retention ‘valve’ that diminishes the amazing impact of a person’s true Conscious as it becomes compromised by time and disease, then as its tissues are damaged or destroyed by accident or Alzheimers or Parkinson’s (etc), of course the filter is bound to become less effective, such that the ‘messages’ and memories we all possess in our Higher Selves are also progressively lost in this life.
But how wonderful to realise, then, that this phenomenon does NOT mean the real person – the essential person whose ‘presence’ on this terrestrial level is being undermined by their failing body – is in any way damaged or diminished. They continue in all their wonderful richness and beauty, and their memories are all there, intact, in their undamaged, Conscious Presence beyond the body, beyond the grave.
I have been grieving so much for my lost husband (with whom my bond was so complete that for all our 42 years of marriage we both felt sure we were actually two halves of ONE entity) that at times I wished I could slip away from life myself, and only the thought of my children kept me here. But this insight, which I have gained from reading Eben’s amazing books as well as those of Deepak Chopra and a host of other writers on NDE, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc has turned into a source of enormous comfort and hope. And I do hope it will for you, too. I have faith that beyond this terrestrial realm your mother will forever be the vibrant, intelligent and fully functioning Consciousness you knew.
I also recommend a wonderful little book by the brilliant 19th Century German philosopher, poet and spiritualist Gotthold Fechner: “The Little Book of Life After Death”. In it he says that each person will arise from his/her Second Birth into the Afterlife (which is what he calls Death) a perfect, fully formed and restored individual who retains his/her identity even as s/he is able to integrate perfectly with all the other individuals in that higher reality, and with the Creator/Moving Force from which everything flows. This, and the realisation that every time I think of my Beloved he is with me, is diminishing my despair at his physical absence. I wish you the same solace.
Re brains and memory – As a young teacher at a school for the partially sighted in Liverpool many years ago a Doctor who was treating two boys with Hydro Cephallus asked me about their overall demeanor and behaviour, which I could report fine and fairly normal although their sight was impaired to different degrees, they concentrated well their lessons were consistent and there efforts steady and they played soccer and softball cricket with some success in the playground with all the other kids. He asked about their memory, both were fine, they knew most of the times tables and their reading was coming on fine. He then said to my amazement that that really shouldn’t be the case at all as the pressure of spinal fluids in both boys since birth had devastated the structure of their brains and that in parts they had a millimetres of brain tissue crammed against the inside of their skulls; and yet beyond the limits of their visual impairment they had performed, talked, played, learnt and remembered just as all the other children.
Remarkable…. thanks for sharing….
Day 3 Memory… This one was a bit complex for me! I had chosen an experience that I wanted to focus on, but my mind began to jump from one memory to another to another. I just could not initially fully concentrate on any one memory, so I focused on several childhood memories. The most vivid was of being with my Dad when I was almost four years old. My Parents had just separated. My Dad had asked my Mom if he could take me and my Brother, aged 10 back to his apartment for a day or two. It was right after my older Sister’s Wedding reception. My Mom agreed to a three day stay. Little did I know that my Dad had plans to take me and my Brother permanently!
Well anyways, back to my recollection of events. My Dad had taken us for about three months or so. My Mom eventually got us back through the Courts, but the particulars of those proceedings I was not part of. My Brother was talked to by the Judge, but that is not part of my memory. Living with my Father was a totally different experience from living with my Mother! For one the location and residences were like not and day! At my Mom’s I had my own bedroom and it was a nicer house and neighborhood with spaces between the houses with plenty of kids! My Dad was living in a two bedroom apartment over a laundromat in a city. The buildings were all attached and it was on a street with many stores on it. Quite frankly, I didn’t like living in this city at all! The only good thing was being able to go down to the soda machine and get a bottle of coke. On this memory trip, I couldn’t remember who watched us if anyone during night. My Dad worked the midnight shift. For all I know, my Brother watched me at night, but now I will have to ask him as this memory has now been re-awoken. I remember my Brother going off to school during the day and staying with my Dad, except on those occasions that he went to the store and left me by myself to watch a small B&W television set.
One memory that sprang up was of an early morning when my Brother had left for school. My Dad bathed me at the kitchen sink. I sat alongside the sink and he took my undershirt off. It was a cloudy morning and the sun was low in the sky over NYC out the kitchen window. As I said, the sun was out, but it was snowing lightly. I was amazed at the sight of the sun being out while it was snowing! I guess that was why the memory was so engrained in my head. Another memory that came up in the same kitchen was my Dad making me a liverwurst sandwich. I had never eaten liverwurst before and I asked him if he had baloney and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. He told me that if I was hungry enough that I would eat it. Little did he know that I wasn’t going to eat it. I ate the crusts of the bread and stuffed the rest of the sandwich behind the hot radiator. I remember that it was hot because I had to wrap it in a napkin and carefully place both behind the hissing radiator without burning myself! I don’t know if my Dad ever found htat sandwich, but I am sure that he did. That is where the memory started to shift to another childhood memory, which time does not allow me to share right now.
This was an enjoyable trip down memory lane, which I will most definitely do again! I am quite interested in buying the book by Dr. Eben Alexander, as it has peaked my curiosity into what other memories that could be tapped into! ……………………………………….. Looking forward to Day 4…..
What fascinates me are state-specific memories. My sisters calls them “cracks.” Some of you will know what I mean: they happen in very expanded meditation states or lucid dreams or out of body states—we retrieve memories of things that occurred previously in those states. We think: Oh, wow, how could I have ever forgotten that!!! But we did because we were unable to bring that specific memory back with us through the filter of the brain. The event occurred under nonordinary conditions and remained in those conditions, out there in the expanded field, and we couldn’t remember them till we were out there again.
I remember twice going out of body as a baby and looking down at the body—I didn’t think of it as “my” body yet. It was a curiosity. I just loved the sensory experiences it allowed me, though.
Good morning everyone. The practice of remembering is already a routine in my last 20 years (I have 70). But I never got past the three-year barrier. This practice, for example, made me see that a book I wrote at age 60 answered a question asked by a high school classmate when I was 16, and that I could not explain (why trees are important?). From my retirement with 58, I am devoting myself more to researching how to make real the insistent counsel of Jesus (seek first of all for the kingdom of God), and after much research I came to the meditation in silence. For this question I asked God the Father (I remember that I always asked God the Father to help me and guide me, unconsciously, since He is always by our side and it is we who usually avoid Him, and that many events in my life, many incredible and almost impossible by normal means, occurred by his intervention, or other sad moments for not having followed his directions, I see this recalling the cases after the recent reading of texts about it. The most explanatory text I could find was the letters of Christ (I recommend it, for it describes the spiritual world from a point of view of those who are in the higher spheres, but I had to read three times to understand: http://www.elementalgracealliance.com/Christ's%20Letters_Articles_Messages%202007%202014%20Latest%20Edition%20August%202017.pdf, whose text I could better clarify with complementary readings of Amit Goswami (Indian ex-atheist physicist who relates spiritual life to quantum physics), Osho, Dadashri, listen to Axel Burkart (of the German Anthroposophical Society, and who adviced me to the work of Eben Alexander: excellent and that led me to 33 days), and Roberto Martinez with his practices of self-healing, also using self-hypnosis to eliminate traumas of the subconscious (a Spaniard who lives in Germany). But incredible as it may seem, in these 14 months that I try the meditation of silence, I have not found the path of silence yet. I hope that in these 33 days I´ll get results. Persistence, patience and self-discipline is what everyone commends. And a recent text warns against avoiding shock attempts to enter the spirit world (as some gurus promise, but it can do harm to mental health), but to do conscious and progressive work that can take months, as Christ writes. According to Him, we need first to purify our consciousness and mind of all low energy, material, selfish (read on Hawkins scale) thoughts and emotions related to our ego struggling for the survival of the physical body. We need to change our way of acting and react to the practice of more energetic, spiritual, altruistic, fraternal thoughts and emotions. According to Christ, our mission in life is to express God the Father, and I am consciously seeking to relate to Him now. Good luck to everyone on this walk. Many thanks Eben and Karen.
Odo….. One thing you may want to try to help with meditation regarding the “Path of Silence” is to put earplugs in. It muffles the sounds of the outside world and allows one to achieve better concentration when meditating. I am not nearly as advanced in meditation techniques. as yourself. However I have found that putting earplugs in is quite helpful! Good Luck and tread cautiously as some techniques can be dangerous if not done properly!
snips of many memories, found that after the contemplative session even more memories flooded in 2 pages worth, about 50 in all…the one that stands out to me; I’m standing in front of the mirror in the hall bathroom, my mother is combing tangles out of my wet hair. She’s complaining about how my hair is so fine and there’s nothing that can be done about it, it tangles. I like the attention, her being behind me but I don’t care for the complaining, that me or my hair must seem such a task. I think, it’s just hair after all.
This was powerful. Remembered the day my brother died. I was 10, he was 20. After some tears and the remembrance of amazing detail, I came to peace and knowledge that he is and has always been with me, as have all the others who have passed. Thank you Eben & Karen for all you are doing.
I actually thought that memories are stored essentially in the hippocampus, but other research has shown that memories are stored all over the brain. If memories are not stored in the brain, where are they stored
Thank you
Josephine
In the field … in Sanskrit, it is called the “akasha,” which means “subtle space,” but is often translated as “primordial matter, radiance, ground luminosity.” This field is within and without everything; it is everywhere and every when. And everything throughout time and space is impressed upon this field. I wrote a detailed article on this for a remote viewing magazine, and it is on my website under Siddhis (which are human abilities listed in raja yoga), or https://www.lifeenergypowers.com/ingo-swan-biosuperpowers.html .
What a lovely practice! After meditating my childhood memories I was so grateful to my parents that I called my mother to thank her. My father is already an energetic being beyond, but I think he knows. I feel I was a free child, there were no religious, political or other limitations ristricting me. How lucky I have been!
Hello Everybody
I had an experience swimming in a pool in Switzerland. I was about 7 yeaiold. It was raining with thunder and lightning. I went underwater. It was so quiet there..
No one ever came to take me out of the water during the storm.
I also had flashbacks of earlier childhood. I felt a lot of restrictions. No you can’t go there, don’t do that. Suddenly my legs start to move involuntary for several times. It feels like releasing old blocked energy. Didn’t realize it there.
I think the brain is only an instrument of our senses(both physical and non-physical) that creates the illusion of memory. I explain it this way: when a person feels with the help of his feelings some phenomenon(for example, sees something), the whole complex of personal known and unknown to us feelings creates neural connections(electrical, chemical,and maybe others) that correspond to this phenomenon. We have no idea how many senses and neurons are involved in this process. And, if we pay attention only to the visual image, it does not mean that a huge number of non-visual senses and neurons are not involved at this moment. Almost the entire human body is involved. This is the process of “memorization”.
At any other moment, when it becomes possible to use all of our senses again to use a significant part of the neurons involved in the “memorization” of our picture, the resonance of the connections between the neurons can emerge in our minds the original picture or something similar to it( depending on the number of involved neural connections). The more such neural connections our feelings use, the stronger the resonance between them and the more accurately you can reproduce the original image. Therefore, even the removal of significant parts of the brain may not affect the process of remembering some phenomenon, because this process is associated with our whole body and all(known and unknown) personal feelings of each person.
So then are memories real?
I have read that the brain runs the body functions. Mind is in the aura or energy body that surrounds us and comes to us through the heart, hence opening or blocking the heart affects us so strongly. The heart, third eye and brain work together to function the whole (the triad). What we experience as information coming to us is received through the “mind/aura” field. I’ve read that a few times and it feels reasonable to me. Other can agree or disagree but when we think about how a quadriplegic, say, who loses bodily function of limbs, the organs still work, but how? Because the brain still functions to work the body. Thoughts are available to those in comas. I have a friend that could remember conversations people were having while she was in a coma. That, to me, is the mind functioning. I believe mind and brain are separate and connect in very different ways because they have totally different functions but work together. And I believe there is a quantum field that we connect with that we use to function on this plane. Finally, I was excited to hear Eben’s talk at Emergence2018 where he mentioned that science is now agreeing that “junk” DNA is not junk at all but the hidden information to our genes. I believe this “junk” DNA is our “spiritual” link and connects to the quantum field. Science will find out more as we show ourselves capable of handling this “high” information.
I would like to know how memory loss through Alzheimers fits into the picture if memories are not stored in the brain.
If memories were stored in the brain, then one would never see examples of terminal lucidity, where very demented patients come back to life, with restoration of memory and active, lively communication with loved ones at the bedside, usually within 7 days of their leaving the physical world. Such “terminal lucidity” occurs in 5-10% of Alzheimer’s patients, and truly calls into question the materialist model of the brain “producing” consciousness. The modern scientific view replacing that production model of consciousness is filter theory, where the brain serves as a filter to allow primordial and eternal consciousness into our form of conscious awareness. Damaging the filter (as in Alzheimers) often leads to muddling of mental processes and lapses in memory, but the fact that such damage reverses to allow inexplicable mental processes towards the end of life in so many patients (5-10%) is the remarkable aspect of the whole process, and suggests that consciousness and memory are not resident in the physical brain.
What about people who remember everything in acute detail? I wonder how their brains vary, if they do, from those who don’t have that trait. I am thinking of those who can tell you the day, time, and other details of their memories.
To my mind, the really salient question, regarding the 5-10% of alzheimers patients who display terminal lucidity is, why don’t the other 90-95%, and why not pervasive, constant lucidity? Why display alzheimers symptoms in the first place, if lucidity is an option? I believe the answers to those questions may present a key to what we really are, and why.
Both of my wife’s grandparents had lucidity experiences just before. Grandmother had Alzheimers and had been in a coma, woke up smiled at her daughter with big bright blue eyes (not that typical foggy look) and fell back on the pillow and passed over. The grandfather was in a coma, expected to die any second. All the family there in the hospital. Several of us went to the cafeteria for dinner and his other granddaughter came running in saying, “He’s awake!” We were all thinking, “What??? He can’t be, he is brain dead!” We rushed to his room and I could hear him talking and laughing. There were like 12 of us in the room. He was so jovial, and then pointed at each person and recounted a specific personal experience with them. Then closed his eyes after lying back on the pillow and went back into the coma and left shortly after that. It got rather eerie, when the one daughter said, “You realize he didn’t have his glasses on?” He couldn’t see 3 feet without his glasses, but he identified every person including those 15 feet away without a miss. Go figure that one out. 😉 How can perfect vision reoccur in the ordinary sense?
You would have to be able to get into the mind of someone with Alzheimers BE THEM to be able to know. I believe if you were able to do that you would seem to be perfectly normal from their viewpoint but the people watching would see the person functioning with Alzheimers . I realize that seems weird
but doesn’t many things that have to do with the mind and quantum physics! My mother had the disease if thats what you call it and I knew at times or sensed it that she was (all there) but for some reason unable to communicate that to me!
Thanks so much Eben & Karen for this opportunity, so glad I found you. 4 weeks ago I had a stroke, an MRI scan revealed quite a big bleed – quite a shock! My consultant said I was very lucky- I think so too, insofar as I’m alive and unimpaired, apart from slightly fuzzy vision in the left eye…Anyway, as a long-time meditator, I got to pondering about the link between the brain & consciousness etc – then out of the blue as I was on youtube, up came Eben’s video about his journey through the afterlife- what a gift! I’m also most of the way
through Proof of Heaven’ I must say for quite a few months before the stroke, I was having feelings of meaninglessness & emptiness, that my meditation practice wouldn’t seem to shift – Friends have reminded me that I said, Something’s gotta give!’ -ouch. I had been listening to music, feeling that it was healing for the brain, so finding Sacred Acoustics is another gift…I guess it’s time to move on with my practice and feel very supported by your work. Did I have to have a stroke to move me on…hmmm. I have another MRI scan tomorrow to see how things are progressing – I so want to stay alive for this next stage of the journey.! Thanks once more
Jan,
Good luck with your upcoming MRI.
Maybe your weren’t listening to the whispering, so they needed yell really really loud? Like you said, ouch…
: )
Dear Eben
If the memory is NOT stored in the brain – WHAT is it then the persons with dementia is losing?
Sincerely
Mette Oerum-Nielsen
copenhagenyoga.com
If memories were stored in the brain, then one would never see examples of terminal lucidity, where very demented patients come back to life, with restoration of memory and active, lively communication with loved ones at the bedside, usually within 7 days of their leaving the physical world. Such “terminal lucidity” occurs in 5-10% of Alzheimer’s patients, and truly calls into question the materialist model of the brain “producing” consciousness. The modern scientific view replacing that production model of consciousness is filter theory, where the brain serves as a filter to allow primordial and eternal consciousness into our form of conscious awareness. Damaging the filter (as in Alzheimers) often leads to muddling of mental processes and lapses in memory, but the fact that such damage reverses to allow inexplicable mental processes towards the end of life in so many patients (5-10%) is the remarkable aspect of the whole process, and suggests that consciousness and memory are not resident in the physical brain.
The equipment to access memory in the field is lost. But any thought, word, or action, is stored in the field and can be accessed with the right equipment, intent, and consciousness.
I’m 82 years old, a long time meditator who used to have a fantastic memory. Now, it’s like a sieve, especially for names. I live in Israel and would like to add more words to my Hebrew vocabulary, but it’s very difficult to retain a new word. So, something has changed. If it’s not my brain, what could it be?
Miriam,
You might want to look at your diet. There are 2 books I recommend. I gave them to my hairdresser for her mom. They are about reversing Alzheimer’s with diet and a few supplements. I am not saying you have Alzheimer’s, but the two books/diets below can reduce and even reverse it. :O
1. https://www.amazon.com/End-Alzheimers-Program-Prevent-Cognitive/dp/0735216207
2. https://www.amazon.com/Alzheimers-Solution-Breakthrough-Symptoms-Cognitive/dp/0062666479/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=70W4D3MSPQMCD87SAM9Y
: )
Good point ….. specially since you are a seasoned meditator ! It cannot be disputed that Dementia destroys memory
It is a wondrous Blessing that you have given us this miraculous chance of the 33 day Journey, Karen and Dr. Eben Alexander. I would never have thought of that time, and I really feel so blessed, because I am the last member of my family.
My sister Virginia was the one I was talking about and she passed about 5 years ago, at 90. She was the sweetest person and sister anyone could have. I just found a picture of the 2 of us at her 50th High School Reunion in our small home town of Thomson. What a great memory, this is. Thank you for this beautiful moment in time. Blessings All. .
I recall when I was 2, my sister 15 years my elder, made a couple of outfits for me in her home-economics class in
High School. She took me to school with her to finish them off, and I was with her all the time. When they were done there was a Fashion Show and many people came to see everyone’s accomplishments. We had to parade across the stage,
but my sister wasn’t there to hold my hand as we went across, I was by myself. I didn’t know anyone else and my sister wasn’t there, I was terrified and started crying and crying until she came and got me. I was so afraid I lost her, and didn’t
stop crying until we got home. She was so sorry, she didn’t mean to frighten me and she let me fall asleep in her arms
that night. Mother worked, so my sister watched me most of the time, if my father or other siblings couldn’t.
Another flashback memory from a previous life: – I recalled being in a large open area with a group of other men and involved in some sort of ritualistic activity. Approximately a decade or so ago, at an appointment I had with the psychic, she told me I was a Druid in early Britain in a previous life.
(I never remember dreams).
The same fine psychic, at another appointment I had with her, told me (information she is given by the spirit world, ie Heaven, usually from my deceased parents or ancestors or relatives) that I would in future be sitting down at a table at a town in Alberta (Canada) and being served some coffee by a blonde lady with the first name starting with “P” (Pam, or Pat?). Last October 2017, while I was on a vacation in Alberta (I lived & worked there when younger), I was at a shopping mall in a southern Alberta town one day, did a little shopping, then noticed a cafe’ in the mall, so went in for a snack & cup of coffee. After I finished a delicious big date square, I had some coffee, and when it was nearly finished (in the cup), the blonde lady proprietor at the order counter (“Mrs. P.”) came over to my table, asked me if I wanted more coffee, and I replied yes please, so she poured some more into my cup, give me more cream, and I thanked her very kindly. Later, after I had left, I realized that this was exactly the incident previously told to the psychic & to me from the spirits.
I have also had other confirmations of information told to the psychic to me from other spirits, eg my maternal grandfather leaving pennies or coins in front of me or my path where I go, and my paternal grandfather flicking on a light switch in my house. and my maternal grandma appearing as white dove in my back yard, and my mother leaving a heart shaped leaf at the side of my driveway. My deceased father pointed out spots where mice were getting into my house, & advised me to plug them with steel wool: – I did so.
“Proof of Heaven” !!!!
The spirit world is very real, not far away physically (but another dimension, higher frequency ?).
Flashbacks or memories from previous lives: – I have had a few flashbacks from previous lives: – 1st in childhood (early 1950s) I saw ocean creatures incl whales swimming around in my bedroom; Decades later, a psychic told me I was a resident of Atlantis, which sank into the Atlantic Ocean. Another flashback decades later (young adult) I recalled piloting an aircraft & experiencing useless control levers. Later, approx. a decade & a half ago, sleeping overnight in bed, I became aware that a lovely brunette lady in her prime was lying in bed beside me (I was/am single, alone, divorced), & I reached out a hand to touch her & asked her who she is, but she hugged & kissed me then vanished without replying verbally that I was aware of: – later, at an appointment I had with the psychic, that brunette lady contacted the psychic & told her that she is/was Janet, my wife in that previous life when I was piloting the aircraft with defective control levers & was killed, & it was the early 1900s.
Incidentally, I had a ladder fall accident in July 2000 (age 53), semi-conscious at first lying on the ground, then coma for 1 week, gradually regaining conciousness in hospital, & gradually back to normal, without loss a long term memory, although short term memory slightly affected. I had no NDE that I am aware of (while in coma), but it did change me somewhat (more spiritual after, certainty of God, Jesus, Heaven).
What does it mean if I am not able to recall any particular childhood memory…? As I sit here am am drawing a blank on it! I recall bits and pieces at-best. Perhaps I can meditate on that: Ask the question- why don’t I have a memorable childhood?
Same with me. I remember certain little bits but not a full memory of an event that I could sit and thinking about
Memories for me are of 2 kinds, mystical and spiritual ones and day to day memories. The latter fade and become like flickering shadows no matter how intense they were at the time while the former retain their impact and intensity always, as with Don at 6 years old. It is almost as if spiritual experiences are recorded at a deeper level and/or in every cell of our bodies……………?………………….it also seems true that spiritual awakenings appear to clean and clear the system and physiology of past negative impressions eg Eben does not appear to remember the pain and suffering of his meningitis and recovery to the extent that he does the beauty and wonder of the Spiritual World.
For the sufis it is said that one must “die before you die” to experience Reality and the Spiritual realm which is what happened to Eben but I guess it also means letting go of who we think we are on the surface and all our superficial preconceptions about life and ourselves.
Wow how freeing, as soon as i understtod i am not my mind, I then fi nally understood what Ive read so many times. I am part of the whole universe. I closed my eyes to relax into this new discovery and for the first time ever, I was free of my body. There was no physical barrier i felt weightless, not me. I felt no solid matter. In this state i guess it was a “thought” that i wanted to be one with my beloved deceased sister and i immediately felt overwhelming love be part of me. It was so overflowing i was like mumbling/crying, but no tears? Im thinking it was just my physical body reacting to the sensation. All this with one paragraph at the begining of day 3. I am not my mind, my mind is not me, its not housed in this physical body, I AM NOT this physical body. Of course Ive read about this before, but today i escaped my brain!!! If this is what meditation means, I will look forward to “being one” with the universe.
In case some of you don’t know, the practice of the DHAMMAKAYA MEDITATION, one of the oldest ones, and believed to be the one developed and practiced the most by the first Buddha, and practiced today mostly by the Theravada Buddhists, the basic concept to understand is that we have to place our mind in the center of our body, in preparation for deep meditation, since that is the door to many intense experiences, once you become an experienced and disciplined meditator. The fact that the Center is “The home of the Mind”, gives additional evidence that many conscious processes are not physically located in the brain tissue.
I’m learning Love is the key. Love of self, others, God, the Universe. Still having difficulty getting to a deeper level but, I’ve only just started going within. Patience is important. This session I remembered my time on the old family farm as a kid of 4 or 5 years of age. (I’m now 68) I thought of my time climbing a stack of hay and preaching to the farm animals. I remember my red shirt and blue jeans. Sometimes I would just lay down in the hay and look at the vivid blue sky. So relaxing. Good exercise.
Hello. If memory is not a physical location in the brain, what happens with Alzheimers, where memory is lost when neurons are lost? Thank you for sharing all your insights.
I agree from my own experience that memories from my experiences in my body seem to be different than memories of experiences that I have had out of body. The out of body experiences have a real quality that have stood over time and imprinted on my being. I especially recall the time at age 8, weeping in my bed, after losing half of my family and also my only close friend, that I felt so alone. I was in a blink of an eye swept up and found some part of the self looking down at the earth. I cannot say that I experienced anything auditory, visual but the “feeling” that came to me in an instant (no sense of time in this experience) was that this experience was incredibly small, and that I as a being was incredibly small, and the only sensation that I had was that I was as a grain of sand that was part of a “whole” that could only be described as a never ending beach of sand. I was more than I… I was attached to an unfathomable expansive massive “whole”. And then I found myself back in bed… in the blink of an eye. These types of experiences (and I’ve had others), beyond usual earthly memories as described here by Dr. Alexander. I have kept these experiences to myself most of my life, but am glad that there is a venue for many of us to share similar “memories”.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this. It reminded me that I, too, had a very similar experience when my life was falling apart and I could see no way of continuing. At a point when I was in terrible despair, it occurred to me to go TOWARD my fear/terror instead of resisting it…and I was suddenly sent into space where I could see earth below. I was safe and surrounded in peace. From this distant peaceful vantage point, I was able to see how small and fleeting my earthly worries were and that I was grateful to be like a grain of sand in the universe that would ride the currents of energy endlessly. I found much needed serenity. It was a profound experience. I was able to emotionally detach from the “crisis” that had been consuming me. I was then able to heal and regain a healthier balance in my life.
I really like the discussion in the book that the brain acts as a filter for the soul, this makes eminent sense to me and explains that when the brains filtering capability is reduced or removed we are able to access other aspects of our whole self – also as we change our brainwave patterns, as in meditation or sleep, the filtering capability of the brain changes to allow a different experience for us. There is nothing supernatural about this – break down the word – super nature – this is a natural process.
Could it be that memories are stored in the heart? Heart transplant patients often report experiences such as new food preferences, unusual memories that don’t belong to them, and more that have been discovered to belong to the deceased donor.
Going down childhood “memory lane” is a favourite pastime of mine. I am very lucky to remember huge chunks of situations from early childhood, not as many from teenage years. I have vivid memories from when I was anything in between 2-6 months and I am sure they are that early because my dear father confirmed that that situation could only have happened during that particular period: I remember being carried and I remembered a sort of a lullaby being chanted to me, rhythmically coinciding with short periods of darkness, followed by a similar period of light, that would intercalate each other like slowly counting from 1 to 8 in darkness and then counting from 1 to 8 in light. This was accompanied by a certain song, in fact a rythmical sequence of sounds which I recognised as a certain song more than 30 years later, when my father explained it all: between the age of 2-8 months I used to cry a lot during the night. My mom was quite sick at that time, she badly needed to sleep during the night, or at least lie down in bed, so it was my dad who was pacing the room up and down with me in his arms, whispering a soft repetitive sequence of a well known Romanian song. The light/dark sequence was simply that while he was walking towards the window, the light from a street lamp was filtered through our bedroom window and as he turned his back to the window and headed to the other side of the room, I could not see the light so everything was dark…. Such a mysterious, wonderful, precious memory…. Then I have many other memories that go back to when I was 1 year and a half, 2, 3 and 4 years, all very well traceable in time because they were connected to certain family events. It’s been wonderful to see all your shared comments. I am looking forward to the next 30 days of my life and the rest of the years to come. I am on a journey that I have consciously started two years ago. Many thanks to Karen and Eben for this well thought and documented approach.
Every time, have a session of meditation, I always fall asleep. It’s just something I’m missing?
Falling asleep is not unusual when first starting a meditative routine. It can be useful to experiment with different body postures and times of day. For example, select a time when you’re not sleepy, such as first thing in the morning. Try sitting in a straight back chair without leaning back into it. As you gain more practice, you will find the ideal circumstances for more effective sessions.
Did practiced this, this morning. I was able to remain awake throughout the 20 minutes of meditation. Thank-you, Karen.
When I was about 2 (1963), I walked in front of a kid swinging on a wooden seat on a swing in Wisconsin and got whacked in the forehead by the wooden seat about 2 inches above my 3rd eye. Screaming, hospital, stitches I was told my Mom. Page 35 of Living in a Mindful Universe – Pim van Lommel’s comment about Karen having a NDE hit home with me, my experiences in life are similar to Karen’s, the middle paragraph “As we discussed…Timaaeus and Critias)” is exactly the same for me, just different names for the religions and teachings. I’m going to ask my Mom for more details about my scar on my forehead, I think I may have had a NDE at 2. Thank you Dr. Alexander and Karen for this book and this course.
I also have a memory when I was 5, having my tonsils out… I recalled later when I woke, looking down on a steel table at my body, with people standing around. Then I seemed to float into another room and was looking down on my mother and father who were standing at the time. I suspect that children are more amenable to these kinds of experiences. I too am grateful for this venue to share our experiences with dimensions that are beyond the physical world we live in.
Thank you for the opportunity to come along on the 33 day journey.
I’ve just started 3 days ago. Better late than never! This is very interesting to me , as I have been on sifting through my past to better understand a life long struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. Some how I knew that the memories, the trauma is stored in every cell of our bodies. I’m believing that one day I will learn how to be free. Blessings All
Tricia,
you might check out the resources that Dr. Kelly Brogan, a holistic psychiatrist,offers free to help those of us challenged with anxiety to empower ourselves and restore our nervous systems without drugs. I have found her guidance to be sound…I just watched her free videos and am taking steps to introduce her suggestions. http://www.kellybroganmd.com
Dear Friends,
Thank You for this wonderful opportunity to share and experience !
What I learned with our exercise today is the importance of the emotional atmosphere and sensory memories.
I chose to remember a “positive” childhood experience and was amazed at the strentgh of the sensory memories (the smell of the earth revealed by the warmth of the sun, the color, smell and texture of the fruit in my mouth, the sweet and soft breeze on my skin, the perception of the vastness of the sky and surrounding lanscape) ;
and in the underlying exquisite reality of the emotional quality of the protagonists of the scene : the love and generosity of the abricot tree for me, as I was in front of it and eating its ripest fruits with delight, at age 11 approximately.
When memory is not stored in the brain, is it possible, that a genius like Mozart grows over several lifs? Learning might be an important thing. But language seams to be gone. So it might be better to learn to play an instrument instead of other brain-jogging methods. When I was a child I invented together with other children a secret-language but we didn’t have a genius amoung us and we choosed words wich were far too similar. So we always needed an piece of paper to look what was meant. The reason was, we were playing on an apple-tree – it was our aeroplane – one branch the cockpit, one for passengers and I was stewardess offering imagined drinks and food. The trouble was, there was a policeman who got angry, when he saw 6 children on only one tree. So we thought it helps to have a secret language to warn each other when the policeman was comming round the corner. But because we always needed a piece of paper to look at, it would have been much quicker to shout – policeman. Well not all people are Mozarts and language seams to be gone anyway.
Very meaningful going through this 33 day Journey again. Especially after attending Eben and Karen’s lecture and all -day seminar in London 10 days ago.
Hi, sometimes I “smell” smells from my kindergarden and differents – for excample, meat smell from a restorant sometimes remaind me a smell in the kindergarden corridors. And is stange that I dont do something to rememeber it but it happen suddenly, I dont know a reson why.
Day three. I only did this one for 10 minutes. I did not have a pleasant childhood and could not bring up one memory that was good. I tried changing the memory but just wanted out. I’m also a day late on this one…
I also have that same problem. I don’t see a lot of good trying to resurrect these memories. I tried really hard in any case to search for memories that would be uplifting but failed miserably. The conclusion I came to was, although my childhood past is not great, at least I know I have moved on and I’m in a much better place now. Personally, I’ll be making every effort to ensure my (2) children will have a healthy and vibrant childhood. …And so far, I think I’m doing ok on that front.
As a child who grew up in a Mormon family of 58 children, I tried to recall a pleasant memory from my childhood. Many came to mind but they were all tainted with the realization that I was a tolerated child, not a wanted one. My existence was a burden to my parents. I was a product of their religious obligation. At times my mother felt extreme guilt or sorrow for the situation that I was brought up in, Knowing that my presence was overwhelming to her. My father avoided thinking of such things by keeping his thoughts and awareness focused on what he deemed to be his calling from God. To him I was a body to be counted, I was one of a number that enhanced his own glorification. He never sought to know me as a person, but saw me as a person who filled a slot in his kingdom. Recalling these memories brought a fever like heat into my body and it was very unpleasant to visit that period of my life.
Johnathan
That’s a lot of children, however you somehow found this 33 day journey : ) and you are more than a number…
The first day of learning how to meditate, my ears became very, very, very warm.
I think it’s a sign of clearing channels that have shut down.???.
Good luck on your journey
What I find interesting is that the generations that have grown up with devices to remember for them, are losing their ability to recollect information from the past. Even over the age of 50, I can remember my first phone number and address. When I asked the younger generations, they have no idea what it was. I feel that their neurons are being rewired differently now.
I vividly remember being an observer as a child. Even thought I was active in my school, I always felt like I needed to observe people and situations before making a decision. My Aunt came up to me one day, ( I was 7) and she said ” Still waters run deep little girl”. I had no idea until years later what that meant, but it always stayed with me.
I remember a lot of my childhood starting around 6 first grade. Recently, my sister who was born 12 years later saw a picture I took of her at 9 happy as a lark under a christmas tree holding a barbie doll gift at my apartment near my university and she didn’t remember any of it. I was born in 1961 and she in 1973, I can only imagine how much more of childhood memories are completely forgotten by kidz born after 1973. Only difference was my parents divorce when I was 18, she was 6, which could have contributed to the difference in memory retainage.
I remember our family of 11 children with both my parents going to JFK on 2/7/64 so the Long Island Press can take a group photo of us. I specifically remember the group photo and after the pilot of the plane invited me to sit in the co-pilot cockpit… remember the cool looking dashboard with all the electronics. My family’s story with the photo never made it into the newspaper because the Beatles landed at JFK for their first US visit that same day.
It’s not the memories i like to share, but rather 2 important aspects i never realized in my life until yesterday. I realized that i see myself as part of the scene in a memory. A memory, i guess, should be what i witnessed and not a short movie like moment where i am one of the actors. I also realize that my memories are – i think – never continuous. They are connected “moments” and maybe every moment represents an emotion and the emotion maybe even redresses the memory.
I wonder whether it is unusual to experience your memories like i just described or that it is unusual I never realized these 2 important aspects.
Wow.. nice observation! My memories appear sort of ’filmed’ most of the time too, with me viewing myself as well. And yet another observation is that a lot of the time- When I’m dreaming I see the dream looking threw my eyes view point.
Could that be a past life memory, and at that point I would not recognize myself- in the ‘film’?
After I watched “The Truman Show” starring Jim Carrey, I felt I felt I was living my own Truman Show, I think this was in the 1980s, I had so many coincidences that I stopped being surprised when I discovered them, I just started thinking here we go again. In 2018, I realize I am living a Truman Show, I constantly feel like I am being “watched”, and everyone is living their own Truman Show. The key for me is writing down coicidences, and names of important people in my life, I see the same names over and over and over…
I meditated Days 1 and 2 sitting up, using the Sacred Acoustics Ahm sound recording. The “into” sound helped settle me down and with the first Ahm I felt I was going into real meditation, though feeling uncomfortable sitting up. When I began to hear the wave sounds near the end, I started to slowly come out of the meditation. The individual sounds were like a guide. Very pleasant. No real progress going within yet. I so hope to re-experience my own NDE, which happened over 30 years ago, and perhaps learn much more than I have been able to without this course. I know there is much more. Going to meditate tonight Day 3 lying down and without the recording to see it the change helps. Health and happiness to all.
My grandparents on my dad’s side were Nono (male) and Nana (female) and I drink Noni juice which I feel heals me. Have you tried Yoga? Prayer eventually leads you to God, but is very slow, and can take more than 1 lifetime. Kriya Yoga is the airplane route to God according to my Guru, P.Y. of Self Realization Fellowship. For me, Karma Yoga was the spaceship route to God, and I can go within easily now and receive answers to my questions, as my third eye is wide open.
I am 68 years old. I have vivid memories still from my childhood. I remember many situations when I was in my crib. For example, I can recall viewing a passing thunderstorm out a back door from a bedroom at my parents house. I was amazed at the power of the thunder and lightning. I remember sitting in the classroom at my school marveling that it was the year 1959 already. I was 10 years old. I have so many memories from my early childhood. I remember going to my grandparents on the holidays. I recall a dangerous thunderstorm that rained down hail the size of baseballs. The main street was flooded……I remember attending local fairs or carnivals, picnics with my relatives. I remember so much….
My memories were all over the place. Not sure what that means. All different ages. Hard to control because it kept switching. Some popped up that I completely forgot. about
I often feel that every peak experience which takes me out of myself for a nanosecond is tied to childhood experience which is a pure now experience unclouded by the rambling thoughts and associations which we have more and more as we get older. I try to grab that but it is elusive.
I’ve been fascinated with the mind and memory since high school when I did a science fair paper on it. Now, after being both an EE, and an angel communicator, and having several adventures in consciousness outside of this reality, it still fascinates me. Time does as well. If I stand on the North pole, I am in all time zones at once. Isn’t time just a measure of our unique point of focus traveling through the infinite? And if so, isn’t our memory just a shift in focus on another parallel point in the infinite time/space matrix – a when and a where, that really exists right now?
For example, if I recall myself as a child sitting three stories up in the pine tree a block away from home, I can see, feel, and smell it. When I focus strongly on it, I feel as if I’m in that moment. When I come back to my present day focus, I feel like the pine tree was a “memory.” Do you think perhaps memories are just a shift in focus that happens so quickly we don’t feel like we’ve “been there and come back?” Doesn’t she/me, then/there, sitting in that pine, exist right now in Divine mind? Quantum musings….
I sat on my meditation cushion and settled in. Childhood memories came streaming in, bouncing around between ages and various moments with varied emotions attached to them. Some happy, some sad, mostly there was a sense of my insecurities and strong need for life to slow down, everything happened too fast for me to process or understand. I let the memories flow and did not feel too strongly attached to the emotions. I noted parallel thought patterns between me as a child and now as an adult, very interesting exercise.
I cannot even begin to express my heart joy after reading Eben’s NDE experience. This series is a gift of stimulation to my brain as I face aging changes to my mind and memory. Wish I could start life all over again and start with study in this field of the mind and the brain. I try to make others aware of Eben Alexander and his life-changing experience. What mental stimulation.
According to esoteric teachings memory is stored in the etheric body. Also called the life force body or vital body. It can be seen as a light white glow that is a few inches around the physical body. Its characteristics is the opposite of the physical, where the physical body wants to expat the etheric will contract. As the physical body grows older the etheric body grows younger.
The life review of a NDE is when the memory (etheric body) gets ‘rolled’ our in-front of the soul to view the etheric body across time. Thoughts also happen in the etheric body and what is seen in the physical brain is the “bringing down” of these thoughts to human consciousness.
Hi All from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Thank You Eben and Karen for your sharing. It is great to read everybody’s comments.
How lovely to know another fellow Hobartian is sharing this experience!
Also – I thought memory RNA and/or other proteins are involved in memory storage, which can happen outside of the brain.
I brought up an early memory of sitting on the kitchen floor sorting dried beans. With lots of kids, this was mom’s way of keeping us busy and letting us think we were helping her out. I seem to have a small bank of early memories and this is one that came up. It seemed more like a brain narrative, maybe because it’s one of a small handful of memories that i am conscious of. It was neutral, and I just went back to watching my breathing.
I’m having a hard time with the exercise. I thought meditation is “being in the present moment”. Thinking about a distant memory takes me out of the present moment. How do I resolve this conflict in meditation?
Being in the present moment is certainly a goal of meditation. That “now” state can also be a starting point for further exploration within consciousness. An expanded state of mind allows you to explore beyond the present moment to different aspects of space and time. The relevance of this will become more clear as you proceed through the 33 Days.
My earliest memories weren’t good memories and I do remember my father saying you’ll never amount to anything.
I don’t really have fond childhood memories.
Is there going to be a CD to listen to what we do these meditations. I do like listening to the OM
You are not allone, my father always said you are too stupid for every thing. My question would be how to get that out of my mind, but maybe we have to live with it. Now he is dead and I read a lot about NDE’s and I hope he has chanced his mind, but I still can’t get free of it. I think we should love ourselves more despite of it, but it is not as easy as it sounds.
I too had similar experience with my father, but nothing compared to my first girlfriend who was molested by her blood father when she was 10. We still keep in touch, and she now has 12 grandchildren and radiates happiness. Her motto is Live, laugh, love. Life is short…love truly, laugh uncontrollably, forgive quickly. My dad passed 10 years ago, and after I formally forgave him after his passing by writing it down with my left hand (I am right handed) and then burning the paper, I feel I helped him rest in peace, and he has contacted me subsequently in 2 dreams since his passing with loving words. The first of the 3 dreams in total (before I forgave him) was the night of his transition when his message was “AMRAK” (KARMA backwards).
Maria,
I think our memories will always be there; some are trigger points while others seemingly roll off our backs. I feel a sense of relief when the sting of the memory is removed. meditation is a great way to help resolve these tender spots. Pay attention to your breathing, when a physical discomfort arises, give it no more attention than. letting it go. It could be a twitch or a tickle or bigger, let it go. When a mental discomfort arises, same – let it go. Do the same for good or happy memories too, note them just enough to let them go. Don’t hang on to either good or bad and you will remove the sting of your father’s words. Blessings, Susan
I did not like the memory that popped up because it was my father saying you’ll never amount to anything
I have a similar issue with reviewing the past–the negative messages and trauma makes revisiting very painful. Sometimes I am able to look at things I am truly grateful for in my past–but too often, the past is a frightening place in which to dwell. I prefer the present. <3
I am actually on day 5 but I see nowhere to leave a message. Any way I have a question. I have been listening to the twenty minute recording that was featured on Dr Oz in 2012. Nothing spectacular has happened yet but I got to wondering. Should I be listening to anything during my meditation?
Thanks, Melvin
We are one day away from introducing the sound element, so like some others, you have a bit of a head start! On later days, we’ll be introducing other ways to explore within consciousness, with or without the sound.
And, we have corrected the issue with Days 4 and 5 not allowing your replies. You may now leave your comments there as well.
Thank you for your reply. I do so much better with listing through head phones because of the noisy environment I live in. I really hope I can progress better than my last attempt at meditation. I just couldn’t get any thing to happen.
My earliest recollection, I was 2.5 and I was on the side of the house playing in the dirt/ sand, having a good time. The house was located at the beach and I must have caused a commotion as my grandmother and mother were terrified I was in the water. To this day, I love the ocean and don’t like to get out of the water. Another memory I had was when I would go over my friends house and she had a tree house with a twin bed, windows, door, lights and rugs. We had such a sense of privacy, freedom and fun reading and talking. Sleeping over was so much fun and I even got to feed the pet squirrel out of my hand! As an older adult, I had a traumatic event happen to me and to this day, I can remember the events up to the critical moment, but after much work I can’t remember during or after. I did have a head injury that must have had an impacted on my memory as even with a hypnotist, I could not access the information. She had told me the brain was protecting me as I was not able to process /accept, or was ready to handle the event that had occurred.
I love reading about all of your experiences..this time about early memories. It all adds to my day and projects me in a loving direction! Thanks for sharing everyone!
The memory of my childhood . It was that time and time again I used to go to my bedroom to ‘float’. I used to go up to the ceiling, sometimes very small, sometimes as big as the room, and be in absolute bliss. Not sure when this began but I stopped at age 14 when I realised that no one else did this or mentioned it.
Any comments please.?
Megan, very interesting to me; when my children were young, I went into my bedroom for a quick power rest, and got so relaxed, that I felt the floating up; however, it frightened me, and all returned to normal when I opened my eyes. I also had a standing separation from the physical body one night, when as a result my son was healed from having grand maul seizures multiple times a week, and I saw a portal of heavenly angelic figures slowing moving upward and forward towards our Creator, while singing the most beautiful indescribable harmony of praises. Standing over my son’s bed, I backed into my physical body, when my husband opened the door.
My first out of body experience was at 18, floated up to the ceiling, then towards the window, but a noise caused me to slam back down into my body.
I have had such experiences since I was small as well and we do tend to stop, it seems ,when puberty sets in. But as a small child the memories I have now are so distinct that people often wonder at them. They are distinct, I believe , because I was conscious of my consciousness as an observer. I feel that my floating to the ceiling and walking around and flying over the neighborhood or being deep in the ocean and swimming with whales are things that my spirit actually was able to do and I and blessed by grace to retain and recall this.
Your description, and yours too Megan, are beautiful examples of how as children we are much closer to the unseen realms. You are certainly blessed to have retained these memories and such activities can be cultivated to experience again, as an adult (like you Bette), especially with a reference point of your memories.
The entry which was before your message triggered a memory of what I had dreamed last night. It was that I had floated up to the ceiling of my room and it amazed me. I stopped to write down the memory of last night so I wouldn’t forget it and looked at your message which was about floating to the ceiling of your room. Wow. What a case of synchronicity.
It is so good to know that we are more than our bodies and that this part of existence is only a tiny part of a great ocean of the miracle called life.
Have read the two books with great pleasure and look forward to hopefully get the third book in German translation soon as well.
When I look at my memories I realize that I am separated from them by something-time? Space? Every look at my memory is a layered recollection that carries with it the full force of every experience/memory that came after it. Time has a way of muting both sorrow and happiness. Memories seem to have a fluid, unattainable quality to them as if they are saying, “I’m not ‘here’…I’m everywhere.”
Blessings be upon all, all that is and is not, and let Eben and Karen’s work and words add push to all love and efforts apace to lift humanity in maturity and awareness and bring peace compassion connection and respect for all right round this precious globe upon which we all live. Maurice – from far eastern OZ. Namaste.
I had 8 brothers and 2 sisters and I remember my Mother Grace bathing me at 2 years old in the sink… we only had one bathroom and my Mother inventively utilized the sink… I remember how incredibly loving and devoted She was and how sparkling fresh we were after
(my) Childhood memories are mostly buried, though forgiveness given. A curious seeker of answers/things unexplained for most of my adult life, however, have produced incredible memories and those came forward in Day 3 meditation – thanks much to SacredAcoustics. ♥ Enjoying this process.
Think of something beautiful, open my heart, mind and hands. Sitting quiet in that mode and feel how it starts: a tickling power through my whole body. That so called ‘healing stream’ is a source evocable wherever you are. Today I did ‘einstellen’ while memorizing childhood pictures. Tough moments of pain came up and it was good to release them immediately. Exactly that moment an email from the Hay House newsletter came in. The last sentence of Mr. Tracey’s letter says: ‘Letting go of outcomes is hard but necessary, because all life is change. There are so many things in our lives that we simply can’t do anything about, so why spend so much time obsessing over them. My goal is to recognize these thought patterns early and change them before the stress affects me and I get stuck dwelling on them.’
This confuses me. What about dementia and short term memory loss vs long term memory loss? I was taught short and long term memories were stored in different places of the brain. That is why you can loose the ability to learn something new, but continue to do something you learned decades ago, such as driving.
Dementia and short term memory loss should be viewed as problems with the receiver function of the brain — access to memory has been impaired by various forms of brain damage. The mistake is in believing the memories are physically stored in the brain. The conversion of short term to long term memories depends on structures in the medial temporal lobe (notably hippocampus) a discovery made in 1953. However, no actual site of long-term memory storage has ever been found in the human brain, and the experience of neurosurgeons broadly over the last century or so (through extensive removal of all parts of the neocortex through all eight lobes of the brain, without broad swathes of identifiable memory loss) exposes the falsehood of the assumption that memory engrams are physically stored in the neocortex. Damaging the receiver deteriorates memory quality in some settings (enhances in others, i.e. terminal lucidity and some cases of acquired savant syndromes), even though the memories are not actually stored there.
Eben, Are you suggesting that memory is stored in places such as the physical body, energetic body and perhaps thru access to higher realms of consciousness ? Personally, that has been my experience.
I remember, when I was 5 and My Grandpa got a Stroke and I wanted to visit Him in the hospital, but my Parents said: “You’re too little to see Him, You shouldn’t visit Him in this heavy situation!” I was very sad, I loved Him so much, We had very nice common experiences. I couldn’t say goodbye to Him, just at the funeral. I gave to Him kisses, when I said goodbye to Him. This is my first Motivation in my Life and Profession: stand by sick People and support Them in Their crisis and trauma.
Day 3 – More mind chatter to pass through before coming to a passable stillness. Memory from the first house I lived in, making me three or less as we moved from it when I was three. A troubling memory. I still cannot remember what the older child whispered in my ear to set my actions into play. I’ve been told by someone whose council I respected that it must have been a dream. He didn’t believe it was a real memory. My mother, the only other person who could verify my memory, is dead. I but know, I know, it is a memory. If I could only remember what the older child whispered.
Feelings of thankfulness entered my mind! brings Peace and comfort!
I can not remember when I was a baby or from 1-5. I pick up on bits and pieces of events and that’s it. I remember when I had an out of body experience at the age of 7 and how peaceful it was and wish it would happen again. At that age I knew nothing about this.
A first emotional response, Day 3: I’m deeply grateful and fascinated by the fact (truth) that I’m now learning – and, collectively, as a human race we’re now learnin – with a scientific mind about existence. This scientific exploration into the topic is confirming religious knowledge. Thank you very, very much for putting this program together for the masses.
Surrounded like on day 2 with third chakra and shortly after crown chakra colors. Then those colors were replaced with heart chakra green color. Overheard conversations in Polish but couldn’t engage in any. Someone was pleading Peter not to behave silly. Tried to connect with Peter unsuccessfully.
One of my earliest memory is when I was not older than 2 years. I was in my crib and I was furious because I was trapped. I remember thinking it’s not right and they should let me out. I screamed for so long that my father took out one piece so I could move easily. I was a very calm child but I hated being trapped.
I felt the same way… 2 years old I lifted the foam from the playpen and discovered the trap door… I lifted the door and crawled under the narrow opening and pushed the whole playpen up… that explains the hernia surgery at 3 years old
Why is it that a memory often lacks emotional impact? Is it because traumatic memories cause a split in consciousness, so that the body is not retraumatized every time a trauma is remembered? I can remember events of my childhood but they are as if I am watching them happen to someone else.
I’ve heard of traumatic childhood events being split off in this way. Sometimes shunted aside and entirely sealed off. Sometimes the sense of it happening to someone else becomes so intense that the “someone else” is given a name and a personality of his/her own. Later in life, it may start to come back, and things you could not deal with as a child perhaps need to be dealt with as an adult. Painful–sometimes extremely painful–but probably part of one’s spiritual journey thru life.
In March of 2015 I joined a Oneness Meditation group that met every Monday evening at a wonderful couples house near Phoenix. They both facilitated the meetings and had both been educated in Oneness Meditation at the Oneness University in India.
The very first night that we met they instructed us to close our eyes and to ask our spirit guides to provide us with a personal, single word or short mantra to assist us on our journey inward. They said we would use this mantra to repeat silently if needed whenever we entered our private place as we together conducted a group meditated.
I will never forget when I closed my eyes and asked my spirit guide for help. Almost immediately, in my minds eye, a vision of Dr. Alexander appeared and he so clearly said “All Is Well”. I still use this as my mantra to this day.
That is so interesting Bill, that you saw dr, Eban. I foot is also in Oneness Meditation in Providence Rhode Island. What happened to that oneness university I will have to investigate but what ever happened many of us here throughout the world were connected with each other and to the end of a unified consciousness of peace and understanding. The blessing through the eyes is something I will never forget, and practice to this day.
I , too…
Good evening everyone. My earliest memory would have been, about the age of 18 months. I was born in the February of 1940 and as was the habit in those days, baby was put out in the pram on a warm day in the garden. Reined in for safety, I was able to sit up and observe. I recollect birds singing, the branches of the Lilac tree above rustling in the breeze, with little faces peering at me with smiles on their faces. I also noticed that standing up against the fence of next door’s garden were Sunflowers. Of course, I didn’t know the name then, but I did notice that they seemed to face the sun following it as it moved across the sky. Plus when clouds might have persisted then they seemed to be downcast. They have remained my favourite flowers ever since. I remember too sitting in the high chair and throwing my bread crusts over the tray onto the floor. Mum said, “You will lose your curls if you don’t eat your crusts” In 1963, after delivering a daughter, because of a haemorrhage, I found myself up on the ceiling watching the panic below. I didn’t go any further than that, but I was not at all perturbed by what I witnessed. Love and Blessings to all.
I recall my rebellion as a 6-year-old against forced church attendance. The long services waere boring and incomprehensible to me and my frustrated parents stayed home from church one July Sunday just to avoid the scene I created. Delighted, I rode my tricycle up and down the sidewalk. A block from my house, my imagination was suddenly captivated by the bright reflection on the blue tailfins of the new Chevy owned by the shoe store proprietor. Fascinated, I rode my tricycle back repeatedly to recapture my sense of awe. On one return, I felt prompted to gaze at a patch of blue sky near the sun. When I did so, wave after wave of liquid love surged through my being and, for the first time, I realized I was intensely loved by something transcendent.
My parents tell me that neighbors approached them and celebrated my testimony to my experience of God’s love with their children, my playmates. I have no memory of this and have often wondered what inisghts my 6-year-old self might have shared. . That patch of blue sky near the sun served as the catalyst of a lifelong burning spiritual quest and was the first of many unexpected transcendent experiences that helped me stave off my natural tendency to embrace materialistic skepticism.
Dan this is indeed a great blessing to hear of yours and so many others early experiences with the All in All. What ever we name God there is a force so intrinsic so archetypical , that it cannot be denied. This divine knowledge is placed her in the universal and within us and is easily summoned up from the moment of however, until we slowly I made to un-learn,often by fear and organized religions.
I also LOVE this story and it is a perfect example of how we can directly experience the divine, just beautiful. And might I add, that “rational” thinking and ridicule of spiritual experiences is another source of how our modern culture has contributed to unlearning our true nature.
When I heard Eben in London, and everything he had gone through after his coma experience, he said ‘ that after my work as a neuroscientist I realized we knew nothiing’. That was so profound.