WHAT'S TO FEAR?

See more blog posts at https://digitalbloggers.com/articles/elysiumspassage 

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself 

American President Franklin D Roosevelt during his campaign in 1932  

But why should we fear fear since this too is fear? Maybe it would have been better to use some other word rather than fear, but I can’t think of anything quite as catchy. Saying the only thing we have to be concerned about is worry doesn't do it... and so Roosevelt made his point most convincingly.

We often make more of what's happening with the sensationalized fear we read in the daily paper or see on television. After all, bad news and analysis are what the media does best to maximize viewership... when we seem to be drawn to the flame like a moth. 

In fact, we don't even have to look for fear when worrisome thoughts have a way of finding their way to us whether we want them or not. Sometimes, we feel these are justified like when repacking our parachute over and over again or timidly ramping up on the freeway for the first time. I suppose if we were always blissed out, we may not be so mindful of potential dangers such as crossing the street without first looking both ways.

But how many of our fears are actually necessary? Overall, I would say very few or perhaps none at all. Just think of all the things we worry about that are relatively meaningless because we think we are alone and separate. And is it not also true that we seem to have a way of attracting whatever fear we dwell on. And think about what stress can do to your body while fearing a disease. Does fear make your body more resilient or vulnerable?

I sometimes think of how my mother responded to her cancer at the age of 82. It seemed the doctor took a perverse delight in telling her after the operation that she only had a 15% chance of survival. (I still don't understand why they think it's necessary to do that. Maybe they don't know better. So what else don't they know?) But she didn't believe any of it... not for a moment. She just smiled and went on to live a very healthy life, even today at the age of 96.

She now looks forward to moving on towards something that's more interesting than what this mortal plane of existence has to offer. There is no concern about death, but mostly joy, which can be a bit of a problem when such detachment from fear keeps her strong, holding her back from transitioning to where she wants to go.  

When feeling vulnerable at timeS I sometimes wish I could feel as detached from fearful thoughts. While writing the Elysium’s Passage series over these last five years, I've been confronted by the Headless Horseman in many forms. This mainly was because there was no time or energy left to earn an income while composing these all-consuming novels. I still have no way of knowing what might happen as I continue my quest to publish the books since I‘ve never done this before. And so I find it's very easy to fret and worry about whether anyone will want to read my books.

Also, I get a little concerned when I think of how, based on my past earnings, I’ve probably lost well over a half-million dollars (net) by not continuing my work in commercial real estate over these last years while writing. And then, added to that, during this time I've had certain real estate investments taking huge loses due to the government reneging on a project. And so my peace of mind has often been jolted in the middle of the night when the Headless Horseman enters, brandishing his sword. I suspect many or most of us have experienced our share of these attacks as we toss through the night when we should be soundly sleeping. 

And yet I was once told by a prophetic source, even before I thought of writing a novel that "there are more readers waiting for your words than you can even imagine. This has not been shown to you as there is some concern of your doubt as to whether you are the one to do this." (But that's another story you can read about in my eBook, How It Came.)

I realize my perceived problems can be rather petty compared to the circumstances of many. Indeed, I have much to be grateful for in life... I just need to remind myself of that. Yet my fears can feel just as real as anyone else's when I let my guard down and don't trust the spiritual resources that are available to all of us.

So is there a way to not fear these Headless Horsemen that we keep imagining? As I've sought to rise above fear, sometimes with success and sometimes with failure, I’ve come to understand and experience more about the nature of fear and love which I've sought to share through my novels. Perhaps these experiences will make my novels more authentic in portraying the angst the world feels, including my hero James, who at times feels trapped between two worlds. 

Whenever we experience fear, it is wise to remember: Perfect love casts out fear. Fear and love really are polarities; fear being the darkness of love's absence, while love is the presence of light. Actually, there's no comparison. Fear is nothing, love is everything. Fear is a result of believing in the illusion of separation from our divine connection; love results from being in union with our divine Christ. Only love is real -- quite the contrary to how the world operates in the illusion of its fears -- or should I say how the ego operates in its deceitful self-authenticating delusions.

Where we position ourselves on this continuum of darkness and light is largely up to us, once we become aware that with practice and the grace of God, we are able to choose what thoughts we allow to take residence in our minds. The question is, do I want to indulge and tolerate these fearful thoughts or do I wish to displace them with feelings of gratitude and appreciation for all life has to offer? Do I prefer to be a victim by occupying myself with dark fears of disempowerment or do I turn to happy thoughts that lighten my spirit? Believe me, I understand it's not always that easy to do... until it is.

Though I don’t agree with Roosevelt that we must fear fear, I understand we must guard against it the only good thing about fear is that it gives us the contrast we need to surrender to the power of love and that if we stand up to fear, we find there never was much to be concerned about once we realize we live in a Benevolent Universe whether we live or die. To do such, though, we must live from our hearts as we practise gratitude and appreciation rather than allowing the fears of our minds to torment us. 

Perhaps that’s what Joseph Campbell meant when he said, The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. By facing our fears of being eaten alive by what's lurking within the dark cave, we enter in with the light of gratitude and the wonderment of adventure. In doing this, we are able to change our reality by discovering what treasures await us within the dark cave. I know... easier said than done.  

This is what I wish to find as I continue with the series. So far I have found several miracles within the cave that at times feel stranger and more exciting than the fiction I write. Though the cave at times seems rather scary inside, especially when I forget to bring my light, still I have found many treasures there, one being my book Elysium's Passage.

But I've also found several other treasures inside that I regard as miracles, perhaps too unbelievable for many to accept. In fact, I'd like to believe I have discovered in the cave some of what Nietzsche spoke of in Thus Spake Zarathustra: Of all that is written, I love only what a man hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit.

But rather than ramble on more, since I don't want this to be just about me, I’d prefer to examine this topic from the perspective of a few passages I’ve selected from the second unpublished book. 

Although I've barely scraped the surface of this topic, I trust you will find something in these few short dialogues below that is helpful if you are confronted by your own Headless Horsemen.

These excerpts are taken from Book Two of the Elysium's Passage series: Surreal Adventures.

‘I’m sorry, I said, ‘but I’m not sure I understood that last part.’

‘Then let me put it this way,’ Mo continued, ‘feelings that emerge from thoughts of guilt, shame and fear in the world have very low calibrations of conscious awareness. If one doesn’t remain vigilant on the earth plane, the separated ego-mind will foist whatever suffering it can use to poison the soul. That’s how the ego survives; so the only thing that can hurt us is our thoughts. They are what keep us trapped in the illusions of our nightmares. What you think imprisons you may not be what imprisons you at all. What you think is what imprisons you.[1]

'That’s why the mind always needs the divine firewall of the heart. Pain can have no meaning, import or relevance in the higher realms of consciousness as the soul moves towards the pure awareness of its divine Source which knows only love. Any experience that replaces fear with love moves in the direction of the divine Source.

'In other words, any thought, sensation or experience that takes you towards healing and wholeness is infused by love and light as it becomes progressively embellished with ever-expanding depths of divine awareness.’

‘Even when there’s great material abundance,' Eli said, 'still the fear of scarcity haunts even the wealthiest, robbing them of their peace and happiness. That’s why so many seem to think they need just a little bit more, even after acquiring great wealth, as did John D. Rockefeller who always wanted just a little bit more.[2] Do you think it was because he was greedy or afraid he might not have enough? This helps demonstrate that true wealth is not external to the soul, but of the soul.’

[1] From A Course of Love
[2] John D. Rockefeller, considered the richest man in the world in the early 1900s, was once asked by a reporter, ‘How much money is enough?’ His response: ‘Just a little bit more.’

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‘To suggest our lives are simply determined by what we have caused ourselves to think sounds rather deterministic to me,’ I said. ‘The Skinnerian behaviourists and determinists in our psychology department would most eagerly agree with you on that.'

‘Except that there’s another crucial step to this,’ Mo said, 'that being the prior affections you have chosen to assimilate into your being. That’s why you always have a choice because your thoughts are a reflection of these affections and all you have chosen to embrace. What you think about isn’t predetermined when you are aware of the thoughts you have consciously chosen to entertain or reject. The thoughts you allow will express themselves through your words and deeds.’

‘But what most on earth often don’t seem to realize,' Eli said, ‘is that you can change what you think about by examining what you believe and so you might become aware of why you believe it. Then you may reconsider what you chose to base your decisions upon. Did they come from the wellspring of love or fear? Are these thoughts about giving or getting; about building or tearing down; about esteeming or being esteemed; about serving or being served? Each decision consolidates the soul into what it's becoming, for better or worse.’

‘I’m not sure many give a lot of thought to their thoughts,’ I said. 'To me, it seems that thoughts just happen.’

‘And that’s why,’ he said, ‘it’s so important that one becomes conscious of what thoughts happen and take responsibility for which one to embrace and which to ignore. But that can only happen when you realize that you have a choice, even if you think you are a determinist. Without this awareness, there is little control over one’s thought, or even understanding why one thinks as they do.

‘As we often mention,’ Mo said, ‘the higher cosmic realms are not so much a place or material condition as an aggregation of thoughts. And yet, in principle, the earth is no different, just experienced within the dense limitations of three dimensions. All that seems to be outwardly experienced in these states of consciousness are actually vibratory patterns of manifested thoughts. So whatever is seen and perceived is a projection of the inward thoughts that create one’s experience of reality, even in a wildflower. Speaking of which, William Blake wrote:                                                 

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

‘If the kingdom of heaven is within you, then even in a wildflower you will see a heaven. Or again, in the words of the fabled Hermesianex: as within, so without. What you have created within is what you experience outwardly when it’s projected as a thought. The principle applies on all levels, from the heavens to the hells.'

‘So if I understand what Blake was trying to say in his own inimitable way,' I said, ‘everything we experience is a projection of the inner state we have constituted for ourselves. Even a wildflower, when fully appreciated, can make heaven visible to the soul.’

‘That would be another excellent expression of what Blake possibly had in mind,’ Mo said. 'However, what he said also applies to the lower domains, where there must be a hell or more correctly, a state of hell, as long as man continues to create these fearful states within his being.’

‘So if this principle is true,’ I said, ‘Dante may not have been far off with the insights he expressed in the metaphor of his epic Inferno.’

'As we keep saying, James, you must come to know yourself,’ Mo said, ‘or always remain in the darkness of your fears. To do this you will have to first confront and conquer this fear that prevents you from finding the doorway to your heart’s true desire. Let me remind you again of what Aquinas said: "Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient." In other words, what you perceive is perceived in accordance with your own internal state of being. 

‘That’s why a state of heaven and a state of hell exist. It just naturally flows out from the affections we create within. All densities exist as collective manifestations of whatever inward qualities have been projected onto our screen of reality. The capacity for heaven or hell is latent within each soul, giving expression to whatever affections it wills to manifest.

'Wherever we go in the world, what we see has been projected from within. Do we see through the eyes of heaven or hell? That will create the reality we have manifested for ourselves. And so, when the soul departs earth, it adheres to the reality it created for itself.’

‘Which is why,’ Eli said, ‘it’s important we make a choice to affix our heart to what’s most worthwhile. As the Proverb says, guard your heart more than any treasure, for it is the source of all life.’

‘"Source of all life" – that’s a rather sobering thought,’ I said. ‘All my life I’ve been more concerned about guarding my mind rather than my heart. I’m careful not to get taken in with specious arguments, which is why I gave you such a hard time when I first got here.’ 

‘And yet you eventually changed your mind,’ Mo said. ‘It’s very empowering when you understood you can change your mind’s reality by choosing what to think.

'Though it may take some conscious effort to climb out of the illusory hell the ego-mind wishes to create,’ Eli said, ‘it can be done by practising thoughts of love and gratitude, rather than fear and hate. For example, you caught glimmerings of the Mountain even back in the Lowlands when you started to change your old thought patterns. It may have taken a number of years, but once your vision began to work its magic, it was only a matter of time before you were on your way up here.’

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This blog is devoted to the Elysium's Passage book series and various ideas that relate to the content of the series. For more information see this blog's first introductory post: WELCOME TO ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE. 

THE ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE SERIES

The Summit is the first in a series of five Elysium’s Passage narrations regarding a young British philosopher named James Phillips who finds himself living in an altered state of reality while still remaining on earth.  

After experiencing a near-fatal fall while climbing to the summit of a remote mountain in the Andes, James awakens in a new dimension. He soon encounters two mysterious beings who provide him with a very different perspective on the nature of his existence. Over the next year, before his body recovers from the coma, he is challenged to re-examine his understanding about life’s meaning and purpose far beyond anything he previously believed or could believe. 

An engaging and sometime surreal adventure with intimations of impending romance, the narrative explores the most important questions about life, death, reality and our ultimate destiny.

The Plains of Elysium (Champs-Élysées) was described by Homer, Hesiod, Virgil and many other poets as the paradisiac afterlife realm reserved for heroes. As the title suggests, this is about a journey through a passage that leads towards Elysium’s exciting realm of existence.

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PENDING PUBLICATION OF ELYSIUM’S PASSAGE SERIES

                                          Amazon in 2024

 

THE ASCENT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE SUMMIT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

QUANTUM LEAPS: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

SURREAL ADVENTURES: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

MYSTICAL ROMANCE: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE ELIXIR: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE RETURN: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

 

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1. The Ascent is the first novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage that’s foundational to everything that happens in the following narratives that embark on an adventure that will surprise and delight the reader like no other book.

It all begins with an extreme adventure of climbing a remote and challenging mountain somewhere in the Andean Mountains. Just as James, the protagonist, is about to reach the mountain summit, he falls into an abyss that leaves him in a coma for almost a year.

After being airlifted by a forestry helicopter and flown back to London, where his body remains for almost a year. Eventually, he learns it was not him but his body that was rescued. Several days later, without understanding what happened, he continues to climb to the summit in an alternate dimension of higher consciousness.

Fortuitously, he meets two adventurers on the summit ridge who are no longer of this world. After that, his surreal life leads him to several new adventures in the subsequent chronicles that include a rich mix of adventure, romance, and fantasy, along with profound discussions of philosophy, spirituality and the afterlife.

 
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2. The  Summit, the second novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, carries on where James, the narrator and protagonist, is taught more about a multidimensional reality that he finds difficult to comprehend.

Not only does he find he’s not as clever as he imagined, but his off-world companions on the summit demonstrate that much of what he believed about life was not just parochial but wrong. At first, he finds this difficult to comprehend since their teachings are contrary to his limited understanding of non-material reality.

After being tricked into teleporting off a ledge where he was trapped, James becomes aware of the new reality that makes him capable of far more adventures than could have ever been experienced previously in his physical body back home.

Now, if only he would win over the only woman in this life who matters, the nurse on the other side of the veil, who continually demonstrates her unconditional love toward his healing.

Warning: This book may also open the reader’s eyes to a much vaster reality than most might be aware. As with the other Chronicles, there are discussions of philosophy, the spiritual afterlife and what might seem like fantasy.

 
 

3. Quantum Leaps is the third novel in Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, where James, the philosopher-protagonist, teleports back to London to visit his body and make contact with the special nurse taking care of it in his absence. Immediately, he feels an inexplicable spiritual bond with her for reasons he remains unaware of.

Now aroused by a renewed interest in matters of love, the beginnings of a relationship begin to emerge as he attempts to reach across the chasm of their worlds. But it’s not until the fifth novel, Mystical Romance, that he encounters her in a way that he finds difficult to believe.

However, before that can happen, there is much about his failed relationships that must be resolved before he is ready to move forward in his new life in Elysium’s Passage. It is during this time he christens his comatose body as the fall guy since it took the fall for him down the abyss so he could learn the lessons he’s now learning.

That will be the next focus of his life, where in his next Surreal Adventures, he is given virtual lessons to release many of his past beliefs about life.

 
 

4. Surreal Adventures is the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, which finds James, the protagonist and narrator, escorted by his companions to a remote South Pacific Island, where he is left to reflect on what he’s learned.

During the next forty days, he battles the demons of his past as he works through some rather painful issues from his early youth. Here, in a tropical storm, he encounters an eery suspended spectre of the one he loved yet still resents for abandoning him as a child.

After this, he achieves peace of mind and is ready to return to his lodge to join his off-world companions on the Andes summit. However, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any stranger, a sixteenth-century sea captain sails his ancient ‘ghost’ ship onto the beach. Together, they sail off on a mystical ocean voyage to a couple of virtual islands supposedly in the South Pacific, where he witnesses and, at times, participates in several important life lessons.

Near the end, these encounters help prepare him for a new challenge within the interior of a mountain, where he falls deep into a dark tomb of fear. After being rescued by a mysterious stranger wielding his Excaliber, he continues on to where his life is about to be transformed in the following chronicle, Mystical Romance.

 
 

5. Mystical Romance is the fifth chronicle in Elysium’s Passage, which will surprise the reader with a romantic twist of how love is expressed in higher realms. From this lofty perspective, everything about intimacy is understood as within, so without.

After escaping his tomb, James, the narrator and protagonist, makes his way through a maze of tunnels until he arrives at a large oak door, which he opens with the golden key he had been given. There, he steps into Elysium’s Passage’s Great Hall, where his life and recent achievements are celebrated now that his eyes have been opened to perceive a fascinating interior world of wonderment… and romance.

To say more might risk diminishing the multitude of delightful surprises as circumstances begin to open to The Elixir, where James is about to re-enter his earthly body’s existence.

 
 

6. The Elixir is the sixth chronicle of the Elysium’s Passage series that prepares James, the narrator-protagonist, to awaken and return to his body in London. Before that can happen, however, his off-worlder friend presents a mysterious equation enshrouded with a light code frequency that will stimulate multidimensional DNA strands within him.

Much of this narration is centred in London, where his nurse unknowingly becomes involved in how the Elixir’s equation finds its way from a taxi cab driver to higher echelons of science. There are many twists in how she unwittingly brings the Elixir to the attention of mathematicians and physicists, after which they eventually discover how to code the equation into a laser ray to stimulate his fall-guy body into full consciousness.

Ostensibly a new Adam, he is destined to return humanity to a higher multidimensional existence. How this happens is filled with intrigue, as is his shocking return to his earthly body.

 
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7. The Return is the seventh and last chronicle in the series where James, the narrator and protagonist, has re-emerged from Elysium’s Passage as he readjusts to life in the third dimension. Many of the events experienced in the previous novels are tied together in an exciting, fast-moving, action-packed narrative over several countries.

 At first, it seems all memories have been lost, with his fall guy’s brain not being aware of what happened to him while in his coma. As a consequence, it takes a while for him to be convinced he had been out of his earthly body for almost a year.

Through some rather unexpected events and evidence, along with his girlfriend’s urging, he is brought to an awareness of much of what occurred. It takes a while for his mind to catch up with the changes made in his heart during his stay in the alternate realm. But after experiencing several harsh realities, he discovers what he became within while out of his body. Gradually, he comes to understand the many challenges that lie ahead for him in fulfilling his future mission on Earth.

This book is filled with adventure, romance and personal intrigue that ties together all six previous narratives of the Elysium’s Passage series.

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READER REVIEWS

The following comments are among the first Amazon reviews of Elysium’s Passage: The Summit. All are Five Stars! Others reader reviews are included below, along with excerpts from two professional reviews. To read full reviews, go to READER REVIEWS on www.elysiumspassage.com

"Quietly, gently, and without imposition, the Author unfolds the pages, creating an intricate, interlocking bridge spanning the chasm between mind and heart. Renewing, refreshing, restoring. In my bereavement, it was vigil and light…"

"A delightful mix of fantasy, reality, conjecture and humour; Mr Meyers draws the reader into the story with a gentle narrative that captures the imagination, leaving one anxious to get to the next page drawing you into his exceptional world.”

“Excellently written with an exceedingly deep understanding of this world and the next. The characters are very well written and engaging. I can't wait to complete this book!"

“Takes the reader on both a philosophical and spiritual journey, a journey that at times is both disquieting and tranquil. James, a British Philosopher can be irreverent and caustic, traits that should have left me cringing, but instead made me laugh out loud. Elysium’s Passage is a fun, enlightening and remarkable book.”

“This is a masterful fantasy, becoming a real possibility, as the reader is drawn into the story. The Summit leaves you anxious for the next book in the series, yet also leaves you totally satisfied with the world you have just visited. Genius! An exciting, yet calming, experience that is not to be missed."

"There was hardly a page on which I did not find at least one sentence worthy of hi-lighting for future reference. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the main character, James, whose personality and passionate verbal exchanges with the other characters, kept me coming back for more. I am reading the book for a second time while I wait for the next one in this series to be made available."

 “N.G. Meyers has clearly put a great deal of research and thought into what the afterlife may look like and I like his perspective. It’s an altogether welcoming and exciting vision. The book gives one a great deal to think about and a reassuring confidence that the end of our lives is truly the beginning of life in the next. I highly recommend it."

“The humour interjected into a serious discussion makes me laugh out loud. Totally unexpected....l may be in the presence of at least a master, if not a genius. A fair ride into reality... seeking that which is unseen, yet absolutely real.”

“An engaging story of adventure embracing man's deepest desire to search for meaning and purpose, N.G. Meyers takes the reader on an adventurous thought provoking journey. This book has substance. It is a perfect blend of adventure and fantasy combined with spiritual philosophy. It ignited my imagination. The author magically weaves a good story laced with wit and humor together with deep philosophical wisdom. This book has it all!”

“An evolution in thought is triggered by many fresh philosophical themes which could inspire readers to re-think their reality and former ideologies that have dictated their lives… the author fires readers’ imaginations to view what could be possible when spirit vacates the body.”

“This is the book spiritual seekers have been waiting for. For me, it granted a great read as well as increased inspiration to live every day with a heightened sense of purpose. I highly recommend it.

“The Summit is capable of hooking readers and luring them to search for Book 2 to discover more about Dr. Philip’s surreal trek into the mysterious unknown universe. This thick book is well worth the read and to share…”

“Mind-blowing statements and speculation (‘…everyone is a non-physical thought form conceived in the Mind of God, preserved for all eternity because God’s thoughts never die…’). Many will find Meyers’ journey up the Mountain intriguing—and possibly even life-changing.” (BLUEINK REVIEW)

“In its effort to grapple with fundamental questions about the meaning of life, it raises questions that have echoed throughout the ages, including about where we come from, where we are going, who we are.”  (CLARION REVIEW)

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CONTACT INFORMATION

WEBSITE: www.elysiumspassage.com 

FACEBOOK: Elysium's Passage Novel Series, Elysium's Passage Public Group page, Elysium's Passage Author's Page, or to my personal page Neil Meyers

TWITTER: N.G.Meyers@neil1113 

EMAIL: nmeyers@shaw.ca 

BLOG POSTINGS: https://digitalbloggers.com/articles/elysiumspassage or the Elysium's Passage website

Sample press review: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm 

BE AT PEACE AND FEAR NOT