The Life Within

Mukul Sharma

A lot of us react with wideeyed wonder at those rare and apparently other-worldly phenomenon like out-of-body and near-death-experiences that some people have when they’re very ill, seriously injured or close to dying. We then talk in awed tones about the possibility of our cosmic origins and endings. 

However, in doing so, we tend to overlook two equally uncommon and mysterious — though vastly underrated — phenomena: in-the-body and full-life-experiences. Psychologist Abraham Maslow called such sudden transient states of intense existence “peak experiences” — high points when the individual is in harmony with himself and his surroundings. 

Significantly, while studying such states, Maslow concentrated only on people who were supremely healthy in mind, something that others hadn’t till then. In people with no serious psychological issues, an inthe-body or full-life-experience can be triggered by something as simple as a sunset or complicated as a quadratic solution. They are profound moments of understanding, happiness or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient and yet a part of the world and aware of truth, justice and goodness. 

The point is, what’s more important — waiting for some possible liberation event to happen after dying or living an illuminated life now? Going by historical precedent, it seems that none of humanity’s wisest men and women ever waited for death to see the light. When they did get enlightened it was while they were living.

Courtesy: Cosmic Uplink / ET