UNION OF HEART AND MIND

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UNION OF THE HEART AND MIND


 

Before examining the topic of the union of Heart and Mind, I've included a brief dialogue from ELYSIUM’S PASSAGE: SURREAL ADVENTURES. (The fourth (yet unpublished) Book of the seven-part series.)

After this discussion taken from an excerpt in Chapter Nine, I have highlighted certain concepts about the heart and mind and the problems of the ego's emergence when the mind separates itself from the heart. Many of these perspectives are inspired by A COURSE IN MIRACLES and A COURSE OF LOVE.

From Chapter 9: A Crazy Little Thing called Love

‘But what if I don’t wish to be authentic?' I asked. 'You know… unless it suits me.'

‘Then don’t be authentic,’ Mo said with some irritation, ‘that’s your choice; be whatever you wish to be, you have the freedom to be even less than you are. All we’re trying to get you to understand is that there’s more to life than what you’ve experienced in your past.’

‘How do you know what I’ve experienced in my past? I said

‘Trust us, James, we’re not trying to take anything away from you, but rather take what you have and make it into something far better than you could ever imagine. But if you want to hold on to your old limitations, that’s your choice. Be an underachiever if you think that’s what you are.’

Oh my god, I thought, Mo’s up to his old body slams again. I really didn’t want to take any more of these. He could be brutal... albeit effective.  

‘I agree,’ Eli said, ‘it is your choice. But as you indicated a while ago, you already sensed this from your times together with Sister Máire; it’s just that you still had no clue what genuine love meant way back then, even after that brief tryst with her in your university dormitory room.'

'Right… when I got her into trouble with Rome. Her sister superiors really did have her on a short leash. I still feel bad about that for her… and for myself,' I snickered. ‘I still haven't figured out how she was able to cast that spell on me like no other woman.'

'It’s not always easy for the mind to understand something it has never encountered before,' Eli said. 'Not that you can’t understand, you can… but not with your mind… which is why you still need to discover the limitations of your mind's scope. Whenever the mind isolates itself from the heart to go its own way, which seems to be most of the time, it finds it's not as smart as it thought. In fact, when the ego illusion takes over and refuses to listen to the heart, the mind becomes insane.'

'Insane? I think you might be slightly overstating things, Eli.'

'Not really. For one thing, the insane mind doesn't recognize its insane. That’s when it is most insane, and why it’s so important to remember, in the words of Pascal, the heart has its reasons that reason does not know. Perhaps he should have said, cannot know.

‘Remember, when you rely on only your mind, you think you know, but you don’t... not really. Without experiencing your heart's wisdom, you will likely draw inaccurate and distorted conclusions based on your mind's belief patterns.

'The mind and heart really need to work together, or you will remain confused like the rest of your colleagues who don't seem to know much about the implicit mysteries of the heart. As it states in that book we gave you last week: "Philosophy applies thought to mystery and that is why philosophy becomes such a muddle of words." (A Course of Love)

‘I haven’t looked at it yet, but that’s rather amusing how it describes philosophy as a muddle of words. Though I'm a professional philosopher, I’d say that’s a rather astute observation - probably the same conclusion Ludwig Wittgenstein came to when he took a U-turn from the reductionist edifice he created to mysticism.' 

‘Indeed, it is a profound insight,' Mo said; 'the heart is obviously much more than a biomechanical device. As we’ve said before, think of it metaphorically as a divine receptacle, the conduit through which life flows. All life remains connected to the divine. It’s the divine centre of who you are and has no spatial location since it’s beyond this world's space/time continuum.

‘That’s why old delusions dissolve like morning mists in the sun’s warm rays when you feel genuine love. The heart is the door to all life, affecting every fibre of your body… whether spiritual or physical.

‘As the Jewish proverb states: “Guard your heart more than any treasure, for it is the source of all life.” I hope you remember this when you return. It will be more important than ever for you to be aware that the source of all life is accessed from the divine portal of your heart and not your mind alone. This is the divine effluence of God's Spirit that animates earth and all the multiverses that forever coalesce in dimensions far beyond realms of space and time.’

‘I realize it might seem difficult at times for you to see past the outward reflections of physicality,' Eli said. ‘It took me a while too, to see through the dark glass of my old perceptions. And even after my ship sailed across the great ocean onto Elysium’s golden shores, I still had difficulty in understanding how it's Spirit, not matter that gives loving cohesion to the universe. But I now know it is, which is why, when you get right down to it, everything is united in a spiritual relationship, beginning with the heart and mind.'

'Well, when my ship comes in or goes out, as the case may be, I look forward to finding union in some of these relationships.’ 

‘I’m sure,’ Mo said, ‘but remember, there’s only one way to find union with Elysium. Yet the way has many passages made by each decision of the heart.’

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What was being communicated to James in the above exchange is that the Self is the union of the heart and mind. We must understand the mind can only be whole when it's joined with the heart, just as the heart can only be whole when it's joined with the mind.

When this union occurs, we become more than just heart and mind, but something more. When oxygen and hydrogen atoms bond, they become a molecule known as water. It’s not a perfect analogy, but this is something like what happens when our mind and heart bond... we become something new. More than just that, we come to know who we are, the divine Self that we were created to be.

Believe it or not, we are nothing less than gods manifesting in human flesh. That may sound extreme, especially when you take a look at the world. And yet, when you think about it, how could we be otherwise when it’s understood that we’re extensions of the Source’s divine essence?

When accused of blasphemy for claiming to be the son of God: Jesus quoted the Pharisees a verse from the Old Testament: “Is it not written in your Law: 'I have said you are gods'” (John 10:34). The full verse he quoted was from Psalms 82:6, which says: “I have said, you are gods, and all of you are the sons of the Most High.” They didn’t know what to do with that… as many theologians still don’t. (But that’s another subject).

Lest this quote be misunderstood, let me be clear that Jesus was not suggesting we are God. How could we be when we first had to be created? We might say, however, we were conceived as a thought in the Mind of God, making us the children of God.

So why do so few know anything about the divine essence of their birthright?

According to A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and its sequel, A Course of Love (ACOL), it’s because the mind is confused. And not just a little confused, but a lot confused. For one thing, it often thinks it is the material brain, nothing more than three and a half pounds of exceptional flesh that thoughts somehow waft out of. After all, that’s what we’ve always been educated to believe.

On its own, the mind represents the outward analytical processes of the material world. That’s fine; we live in what appears to be a material world. But when the mind is disconnected from the heart, it is lost to the higher spiritual reality from which it is derived.

That’s because the heart represents the centre of our being, our portal to the divine Spirit that speaks to us when we listen. We might say the heart is the essence of our being. Yet essence requires form to give it undefinedexpression, which is why the heart needs the mind to give coherence to what it feels.

Unfortunately, what generally happens after childhood is that we learn to think and listen to only our mind while ignoring the wisdom of our heart. Without the heart, the mind creates an illusory persona as its pseudo-identity. For lack of a better word, we might call this the ego, although not necessarily with the same shade of meaning that Freud might have intended. The word simply means the ‘I’ from the German it is derived.

The ego is the phantom mind that withdraws from the heart then gags it into silence if need be. It believes it is sovereign in a universe of its own creation, interpreting reality according to the distortions of its fears. Without the engagement of the heart, the mind will not admit to any evidence of the heart. In spite of this, our heart knows who we are with its consociation with the divine Spirit.

To be clear, let me restate what this means. Firstly, the ego is not you. And though it is just a phantom, it remains your worst enemy, inflicting enough damage and confusion to prevent you from knowing the divine Self you are. As ACOL states: “Without dislodging your believe in your ego as yourself, you will never realize your true identity.” (p 189)

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  

Likewise, Rousseau stated: “Trust your heart rather than your head. Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.”

In other words, without the heart’s engagement, the ego-mind remains confused, never knowing who or what it is. How could it? It is nothing but the delusionary self we have created in the absence of knowing our true Self. As such, it becomes our pseudo-identity, causing us nothing but trouble, and not just for us, but for everyone it encounters.

So if the ego-self is not who we are or what we think we are, then the question is; who are we? That’s something every human needs to ask because if we don’t, we'll remain lost to our divine identity.

If we are to become free, we must first recognize the delusion we have created for ourselves. Of course, the ego will do anything it can to prevent us from waking up because it knows the gig is up when we discover who we truly are. The innumerable concerns that take over our life serve it well by keeping our minds distracted. And so, after a while, the ego's delusions become so entrenched in our psyche, we forget that we were born for much more than what our fears have come to accept.

That’s what happens when the mind refuses to engage with the heart. Obviously, if it is not listening, it can’t hear what the heart is saying and so has no way of hearing the divine call.

From the ancient of days, we have been implored to KNOW THYSELF. These words were inscribed on the walls of the forecourt of the Greek temple in Delphi, also known as the Oracle of Delphi. Prior to that, it was written in Egypt’s Corpus Hermeticum and then posted above the entrance to each temple and lodge that served as an academic learning centre.  

If humanity is to evolve its conscious awareness, it needs to reacquaint itself with its divinity. The good news is that the heart already knows this if we would but listen. The ego-mind, however, in its need to survive, refuses to accept the inward understanding of the heart. 

Until we get our ego-mind under control with all its chatter about nothing, we won’t hear the inner voice of the divine whispering to us from the heart. This is the purpose of meditation; to ignore the mind’s raucous cacophony and listen silently to what the Spirit has to say from within our heart.

If we do not give proper awareness and focus to the voice of our inward Self, the ego-mind will continue to project its sham reality upon us. But if we become aware of its intrusion, our will has the power and authority to usurp this imposter by directing the mind to reunite with the heart that it may be one with our Self's divine Mind. That's when it's all over for the ego... at least until next time.

How do we do this? There are many spiritual disciplines, but when you get right down to it, it’s a function of God’s grace working in response to our willingness to become whole, or as it is written, “putting on the mind of Christ.” Depending on how much control we relinquished to our ego-mind, it may require us much time and willingness to become tempered in the crucible of life before we can wake up to who we really are.  

But if we do not have the desire or will to silence the ego-mind, it will be difficult for us to ever communicate with our true Self, the Christ, the Atman… that which we call the divine Spirit dwelling within. 

Every vice known to humanity has its origins in the unhinged ego-mind that has separated itself from the heart’s divine portal, while every known virtue emanates from the fullhearted union of mind and heart.

Our mind is not meant to be split off from the Divine Mind. But when it separates itself from the heart, it becomes a prisoner to our narrow walls, having alienated itself from its infinite Source. And so, there, the ego-mind remains… locked inside its insane kingdom.

Rousseau stated, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” As within, so within… if there is no freedom within, there is no freedom without.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the meaning of the fall in the creation myth. What if it wasn’t a mistake but a way for humanity to express its freedom to not be free that we might eventually come to discover what freedom truly means. We are always free to incarcerate ourselves, and there are no better means to do this than divide our heart from our mind.

Perhaps we can only come to recognize the light of freedom by experiencing the darkness of our illusory bondage. As William Blake espoused, we must pass from innocence through the fires of experience. Only then wemay one day emerge into our "higher innocence" to achieve awareness of our divine Self.

In sum, the separated ego-mind is a projection of what's opposite to what is real. However, when our heart and mind are united as one, we become known to ourselves. Only then do we experience who we are; divine beings united with all that is through the Source of all that is.

Nelson Mandela stated in well. “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” And so they are... when in divine union.

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SUMMARY OF THE ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE SERIES
 

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The Elysium Passage series involves seven novels about 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.

To read a sample press review, go to https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm 

   

 
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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.



 
VIDEO INTRODUCTION OF SERIES (ATTEMPT)

 

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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 this blog. 

"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.”

"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…"

“Excellently written with an exceedingly deep understanding of this world and the next. The characters are very well written and engaging that 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."

"I am really enjoying your book, it’s fantastic! It is so incredible and diversified that I can’t really explain it to other people, so what I say is just read this book. Thank you so much for the blessings that you’ve given the world!"

“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 humour 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…”

“The Elysium’s Passage series challenges and excites the reader while taking him into parallel quests for truth with the hero, James. It can be a fast fantasy read or a longer deliberation about what is reality or illusion; veracity or platitude. Take the journey!”

“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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SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACT INFORMATION

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EMAIL: nmeyers@shaw.ca        

WEBSITE: www.elysiumspassage.com        

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LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-meyers         

BLOG POSTINGS: https://digitalbloggers.com/articles/elysiumspassage or by way of website

YOUTUBE ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE CHANNEL

PRESS REVIEW: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm        

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