The Field of Love

I've been fascinated by Near Death Experiences or NDE's for awhile. The latest person I read about was Nancy Rynes. My ears perked up when she said she studied geology and art and had worked as an archaeological artist on digs. That combination of science and art intrigued me. Anyway, as she was riding her bicycle to do some errands, she was T-boned by a car in a traffic circle and dragged underneath the car resulting in over a hundred fractures. As she was being operated on, she had her NDE.

She relates she was standing on a hillside surrounded by flowers in a kind of in-between place. Surprisingly it felt familiar, like home. A voice rippled through her body communicating, "This is your home." Suddenly, she remembered everything before and after she was born. She had the sense that the world we call 'real' is the illusion, but it feels real while we're here on Earth. Ultimately she knew the in-between place she found herself standing in was reality and she didn't want to leave.

That Divine Love is really at the structural level of our reality whether we realize it or not. I didn't really understand, at that point, how integral it was to our life here on this planet, in this reality. … We're all connected through that field of love. I call it the field of love. Some people call it the Divine Matrix or the Akashic Field, whatever you want to call it …. It is the core of the energy of the Universe. (A Near Death Transformation, Nancy Rynes, 51:20.)

While she was 'home', she was being shown her life. Other people who experience NDE's call it a life review. In our human world, our accomplishments or traumas would be considered major events and would define how we think about ourselves. In the world in-between, she was shown small vignettes of her life. Her awareness of everything she'd accomplished and who she was deepened and expanded to include even seemingly small events that had huge repercussions in the world around her. She was being shown how, at 15, she lashed out in frustration at her sister. It was like being inside herself and her sister at the same time as they interacted. She felt both her frustration and the devastation her sister felt and was shown that what we say, do and feel at the spiritual level has a much bigger impact than we think. Before anyone reading this gets sucked into guilt, remorse or self-flagellation for past incidents, that's not the point. It's not about punishment or shame. Everything we say, do and feel, good or bad, can be a lesson for growth and well-being, in other words, an opportunity for change.

This is the core message of the book I've written. Things happen and our reactions to them are golden possibilities to learn, expand and grow. I also don't believe it helps to react to everything so personally. I struggled with this and had to ask, am I deeply connected to myself and that Divine love or do I take every incident I don't like as a personal affront? A car is a little too slow turning a corner. A pedestrian slows my morning commute. The coffee wasn't made fast enough. Oh, the negative mudslinging we do without even thinking. I do it; we all do it.

At this point I was feeling a little claustrophobic, like I couldn't say or do anything without thinking first of the affect it had on others. Perhaps I needed to redefine what I thought about freedom. Truthfully, the only freedom we have, when it comes right down to the big picture, is our freedom to choose. If every action and reaction begins ripples of consequences like the proverbial stone in a pond, does it not follow that showing up with awareness in every moment is a deeply intimate act? Who am I when I show up? How do I show up? Should our freedom infringe on another's freedom just because we want something different or we feel frustrated or angry?

My mind was spinning. My definition of being present in the moment was definitely expanding. Nancy's experience was expanding my understanding of power, too. The definition of power on Earth is much different than power in the in-between place. Our everyday negative and positive words, actions and thoughts impact others in a much more powerful way than we think. Everything, all of life is impacted, our planet, animals, plants, fish, trees. Our interactions with all life forms are fodder for becoming aware of the power we have and the opportunities for change.

If the energy of the Universe is a field of love, then it must permeate all of us. It must move through and around and with the Creator of all that is. I believe Divine love is the most powerful force that exists. I also believe we don't fully understand its nature. I do know understanding that kind of love starts with loving ourselves, even the shadow parts that lurk in our subconscious. How can we be present in the moment with those we don't like if we can't love the parts we hate or fear in ourselves? Does love ask for perfection? Not at all! Love doesn't play favourites. Love just is and we have the freedom to choose to accept it.

Until I learned to love myself I couldn't understand who I was nor find my purpose despite so many lessons pointing me in that direction. Perhaps our job while we're here is to experience challenges, learn from them and change ourselves. Our learning and changes then ripple out and will indeed affect others. The most common questions Nancy says she's asked when she gives her talk on what happened to her is whether that Divine Love, that grace is really at the center of the Universe. She says again that it's at the structural level of reality, in other words, integral to the existence of reality. Another questions she is often asked is what can people do to help make this world a better place? Nancy replies clean up your own life, help those close to you, and then if you feel like it … help as many people as you can.

Nancy Rynes' story is relayed in her interview with Carolyn Myss. If you're interested, here's the link again: A Near Death Transformation.