Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind and More of My Ranting

I just read this article and had to laugh. Of course scientists can't figure out the answers to some of these questions. While there are physiological reasons and scientific explanations to questions such as why we sleep, there are also spiritual aspects to the brain/mind. The answers to these questions are accessible to those who pray, study and and ponder, or meditate, on them and on the meaning of our lives. Asking why we dream is actually very similar, if not the same, as the last mystery that the article brings up: what is consciousness? These are questions of a spiritual, mystical, esoteric nature and perhaps the answer from the most common of people a thousand years ago would provide us with more insight than a doctor of psychology could today even with all of her learning and scientific understanding. Perhaps I might be accused of being anachronistic, but I'm starting to feel more and more that that's OK.

In this, the modern age (the age of information as we proudly declare it to be) we continually layer on falsities and pride so that the true nature of our own consciousness becomes a mystery to us. I want to join the ranks of those disciples who sincerely want to strip away or "unlearn" much of what we've been taught either consciously or unconsciously in this life. In Matthew 10:39 the Master and Lord Jesus declared: "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (This is similarly said in Matthew 16:25 and Luke 9:24.) In Luke 17:33, Jesus said, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." We must remember that the person/thing we think of as ourselves is just a shell. The further we can move beyond, or transcend, what we take for granted as oursleves, or our lives, we begin to see that much of what is considered real is just an illusion. For example, I have asked myself the question, "Who am I? What am I? Am I the body I see in the mirror? Am I the thoughts I think in my head? Am I the emotions I feel, such as anger, love, sadness, or fear? Or am I something beyond all of this?"

The skeptic, or he that has not been initiated into even the simplest of mysteries, might be baffled by this. "You're a human being man! Get a hold of yourself!" But what is human being? Then there is the next level of understanding: "You're a son (or daughter) or God." Now this is true and it is so simple even a child can undertand this "mystery" if we may call it that. But as we grow older this statement can lose it's meaning or, perhaps better stated, it can lose it's gravity. So, if I'm a child of God, what now? The answer is that we must shed the ego, or lusts or desires of this world and begin seeking after a higher level of being. If we seek out the principles of a higher, or more noble nature, and live those principles or laws, we begin to prepare oursleves to enter into a higher state or dimension. Although we must wait until we shed this mortal coil to move to the next level, our eyes, or our understanding, begins to open and we begin to see things for what they really are. As we shed the ego, the desire, we begin to make room for holy things to enter our temple, or body/mind, and we cast out the, spirits of lust, envy, anger, greed and so forth.

Now these are not just words or thoughts. These are truths. One can actually DO this, but it is work. It requires focus every day, every hour, indeed every moment. I find myself being sucked back into the illusion when I get angry, or I see someone gaining great wealth, and I begin to feed the desires of this world that abide within me. This is why daily study, prayer/meditation is so important. Within our families we have the chance to do service, to show love, to sacrifice, everyday but we often think of service as something we do primarily to strangers, in a soup kitchen, etc. but I believe that the greatest moments of potential spriritual growth happen in every moment and most of our "moments" are at home and work. So THE work is to be done NOW and when we fall short, we slip, we lose focus, we pray to God, our Father in Heaven, in the name of the Son, to forgive us and we can begin the work again and slowly, but surely, begin to work out our salvation by weeding out those aspects of ourselves that are not truly us and move closer to our true self. Where is the Kingdom of God? Christ said it is within us. The more I ponder that statement the less fear I have about where I will eventually end up but, simultaneously, the more I realize that the process is work and must be done and there's no such thing as waiting for something, such as death, to bring it on. Thanks to the Savior, though, I am allowed to "mess up" as long as I do my very best and that, my friends, is the hard part. So, let's work at doing our best in every moment.

WHY DO WE SLEEP?
This is a very superficial and, obviously, brief treatise on the subject of why we sleep, and while I may not agree with all of the semantics, it's a good place to start if you've never delved into the subject. It might seem strange, or funny, or like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but remember that all things are related and that EVERY aspect of reality is spiritual. How can the physical world, for example, not be spiritual when all things were created spiritually? How can sleep not be spiritual when us, our lives, our bodies, are all spiritual? What's the point of separating things as being physical or spiritual? Of course when we use the term "spiritual" we do so to refer to things that cannot be seen, or of a religous nature, but the more we separate ourselves from spirituality the more we risk believing the false doctrine that certain things aren't as important as others because they're not spiritual. Watching TV, for example, is a spiritual experience, but what kind of spiritual experience? Negative, evil, nuetral, positive/uplifting? Hmmmm...kind of makes me wonder how much time I'm utterly wasting of my finite life in this world OK, enough rambling:

What Happens While We Sleep: A Spiritual Perspective

The human body [bodies] has never truly been separated from the higher realms of light, despite one's waking experience. At night, this body rejoins its higher counterparts that are the non-physical energy bodies, and a more seamless union of different aspects of one's being takes place than can normally occur during daytime functioning.

The body is a miracle of organization and intelligence in which life is continually renewed and energy continually replenished so that the total organism can continue to live. Sleeping involves part of this renewal, and is a process through which the higher vibrations of light are permitted greater access to the physical body because the emotional and mental components of personality that are often limiting factors in the awake state are no longer present while one sleeps. Although dreaming produces mental and emotional content and therefore creates emotional states, the content of these is part of the sleep state itself and not a barrier to the energies that would restore, heal, and rejuvenate.

The quality of sleeping has a great deal to do with the amount of restoration that can take place. Deep sleep produces not only different brainwave patterns, but also permits a greater influx of light energy into the cells and tissues so that toxins can be removed and greater energy can be infused on a cellular level. This does not happen in any kind of conscious way although one can become conscious of it as well as every other act the consciousness partakes in while the physical body slumbers.