12 June 2010

David Narby - Chapter 2 - The Work Begins

I got back on the empty bus and wondered what I was going to do now. I walked toward the back of the bus. About half way down I saw a letter sitting on one of the window seats. I looked at the letter and realised that it was addressed to me. I opened it and with a quick scan I saw that it was from Mi-Li-Sam. My heart began to pound as I read it.


Dear David,


We will come into your life from time to time in physical form. You will carry us with you all of your life. Sometimes you will think clearly about us, but mostly, you will keep us buried somewhere in the back of your mind. At times you will doubt that the last three days (Yes, David, it was three days) ever happened. You will ask yourself whether you were dreaming, hallucinating, or even that we were figments of your imagination. Remember, we are real and your experience was real, the most real experience you have ever had.


Shortly you will meet your new teacher, or guide if you prefer to think of him that way. He is twenty years older than you, but he looks younger. His experience of life has been somewhat similar to yours but from a completely different perspective. While you have been working mainly with the ruling class, he has spent his life with the lower classes. While you have been very successful, even famous, he has never achieved any recognition for his work. He regards himself as a very successful failure.


Don't let his initial approach fool you. He has tried many different styles to get his message across. His preferred one at this stage is 'The Fool'. He finds that with this style people can take him or leave him. He is sure of his message and speaks in a totally confident way. He puts a smile on his face, pretends that he is lying or telling tall tales and tells you the absolute truth. This allows him to be direct.


He has spent his life studying people. He knows that when he meets someone for the first time he will only get three seconds of their full attention. After those three seconds, if he hasn't hooked the person, he moves on. He never engages in idle chatter.


He knows nearly as much as we do but, whereas we will tell you directly, he will get you to figure it out for yourself. He will want you to learn your own lessons. He will help you, but he will not carry you.


On a practical note, no one will recognise you as the famous reporter. Rather than going home to America, your guide will help you set up your new home in Ireland. In ancient times Ireland was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars. Now, however, they are rushing headlong into a materialistic culture. Despite this they are still a spiritual people with a very high tolerance. Even though you will introduce yourself as David Narby, and bear a striking resemblance to him, you will not be recognised as him. This will bother you a bit in the beginning, but later you'll really appreciate the freedom it gives you to be yourself.
Yours, in love, light, life, always,
Sam-Li-Mi

PS. Your new guide is not 'the older man' you met in St. Peter's Square.




The bus was beginning to fill up again. I sat down on the seat where the letter had been. I read it over and over. A deep feeling of sadness came over me. Tears started rolling down my cheeks. I didn't care who was looking at me. Sam-Li-Mi was gone. Would I ever know such total peace and acceptance again.


"Hello, my name is Ruishk"


I looked up to see a smiling face with his hand outstretched in greeting.


"Hello, my name is Ruishk"


What did he want me to do. Couldn't he see the state I was in.


"Hello, my name is Ruishk"


He was still standing there, smiling, waiting. I realised that he was introducing himself.


I said, "Hello, my name is David," and shook his hand.


"I see that you have met the Holy Trinity" he said, as he sat down beside me with a big smile on his face and nodded in the direction of the letter.


I didn't know how to react or what to say. Was he being blasphemous or was he referring to Mi-Li-Sam?


"Yes, David Narby, you are my next assignment," and he laughed. "I met the Three Witches after they left you and they directed me here."


"So, you are my new guide?"


"Well, we'll see about that", he said as he handed me my notebooks and pens. "I picked those up for you on my way here. The other stuff I left behind as you won't be needing it any more. There's a few things we need to get straight. Take a while to define your world view, how you see what's going on in the world."


I began to think and listed the following premises in my notebook.
  • The world is objective. No matter how you look at it, it remains the same.
  • The world is black and white, us and them, leaders and followers. If you are not with us then you are against us. It is very important to join up with the right company.
  • There are only right answers. Even though they may be wrong those with the most authority decide “right”. Those who have the best “defence system” determine authority.
  • Right and wrong, good and evil do not sit side by side; they are poles apart. All concepts have to be placed at either extreme.
  • People have to be lead; otherwise nothing will get done. Strong authority figures are essential for maintaining the system.
  • The best form of defence is attack. If you know that you are not going to win the argument, then get angry and make your opponent back down. If your antagonist does not back down keep getting more aggressive. In the extreme, be prepared to use violence to get your way.
  • Death is real. The only way to get into Heaven is to die. The prerequisite for entry is to have lived a good life in accordance with the prevailing rules for “good”. Not complying with the rules means that you are sent to Hell. Heaven and God are very far away, and not really relevant in a day-to-day existence.
  • Approval is required from others, especially from family and friends, and to a lesser extent from society at large.
  • Not only can you teach others lessons, you must. You have a moral obligation to point out other’s faults and teach them what the right behaviour or thought pattern is.

I showed my list to Ruishk and he nodded saying, "Yea, that about sums up the dominant world-view. There is another view, and the key question becomes 'Is it useful?' Not 'Is it right or wrong?'” With that he listed out what he regarded as the premises:
  • The world is what we make it. It is totally subjective and depends entirely on what we think we are looking for.
  • The person doing the deciding can only decide how useful anything is. There are no right or wrong answers.
  • What you seek you find! What you see is what you get! Look for injustice and you will find it, it is everywhere in this world. Look for peace and you will find it, it is everywhere.
  • There are no extremes; everything is beside everything else. We are all in this together. There is no right or wrong, there is no good or evil.
  • Mind is everywhere, the still silent source at the back of it all. The ego is that part of mind that believes it is separate, and that it's limits are the limits of the body. Spirit is the activating agent of mind. Soul is ego after we drop the body, if we haven’t dissolved the ego before then.
  • God and Heaven are in, around and with us all the time. They are all-inclusive, but cannot interfere with our decision to exclude ourselves from them.
  • There is no death, but there is a belief in death. The body is immortal and can be dropped at any time, either temporarily or permanently.
  • There is no disease, no problem, no sin, no karma. There are people learning lessons, and learning to become free of the set of limitations we have imposed on ourselves.
  • There is only one commandment – “Love Yourself!” Unless you love yourself, you cannot love anyone else. You can only give what you’ve got. Lessons can be shared, but you cannot teach anyone else their lessons. Ideas are reinforced by giving them away.


As I read through his list I thought, this guy is crazy. And then I remembered that Mi-Li-Sam said that my new guide would come across as a fool.


I looked up at him and he was smiling as he said, "Quite a difference there, Davy boy. There's no sense in us trying to decide who is right and who is wrong. That will only get us bogged down in conflict. Let's just accept that they are two world views. You don't have to accept mine and I don't have to accept yours. But ask yourself one question 'Are you happy and in peace?' And there is no need to tell me your answer."


I remained silent for a while. And then he continued:


"Anyway, we need to get you thinking and having some new experiences. Mi-Li-Sam told you that your real work is just beginning. How do you define work?"


"Work," I said. "Is a job you go to, and get paid for."


He replied, "And pay taxes on your earnings. You used to work as a journalist. What did your father and mother think of that decision?"


I had to think about this for a while. Our family had long been land owners, and the first son always got the land. I, being the second son, like previous generations of second sons, was expected to get a leadership position in church or state. My decision had not sat well with my parents, particularly my father. And my mother would have loved me to have gone for the church.


"My father was very angry and my mother supported him," I said. "Even though my father read the paper cover to cover every day of his life, he did not like journalists. He regarded them as a bunch of drunken, lazy bastards that sat around all day making up lies. When I asked him why he read the paper he said that he needed to keep an eye on what was going on and how it might affect our business."


Ruishk asked, "So, why did you become a journalist?"


I replied. "Mainly, because I wanted to travel and see the world and meet lots of different and interesting people. And all my life I had watched the workers on our land coming to work as if they were going to be executed, and the worshippers going to church as if they were going to be damned. I did not want to spend the rest of it either managing or leading them."


"But you did see managing or leading people as work?" He asked.


"Of course it's work, very hard work. It isn't physical labour, there is a lot of stress, and it takes a lot of energy," I said


"But how do you think the workers see your type of work?" He asked.


"They see us as sitting around, doing nothing, while they break their backs working," I said.


"So they think they are working, and you think you are working, but you are both doing totally different types of work."


And then he asked. "Did you play sports when you were younger?"


I replied, "Yes, I played all kinds of sports and really enjoyed them. I loved football and was tempted to become professional."


He asked, "Did you regard sports as work?"


I said, "Of course not, they were fun."


"And if you had become a professional footballer, would that have been work?" He asked.


"Well, Yes" I said.


"What was fun when you were younger, becomes work as a professional. What's the difference?" he said.


"Because I'd have been paid as a pro," I said.


"But the only difference is that you are getting money. So you see work as something you get paid for." And then he continued:


"We need to expand this quite a bit. You are always working. Even when you are asleep you are working. Your body is always working. In fact, if any of the major organs of the body stop working, you are out of here. You are always thinking and we regard this as work. When you are asleep you are either dreaming or thinking. No matter what you are doing some part of your body is working. And, of course, your mind is always working."


This Ruishk was getting really hard to take. He started talking to someone in the seat next to him, and I began to wonder if there was any sense in what he was saying. After a while, I began to realise that he might be right. When he turned back, I asked him,


"So, if  we are always working when do we get time to relax and enjoy ourselves?"


He said, "We don't. But then we don't have to. Work as you have known it, has always been stressful and made you tired. We enjoy the work we do, and having accepted that we are always working, we are always enjoying ourselves. Really, it boils down to the purpose of the work you do, and whether you see yourself as being used by someone else or see the work as beneficial to you."


And then, out of the blue, he asked. "Did you ever want to be an astronaut?"


I replied. "In college I went through a barrage of tests, but I didn't meet NASA's stringent requirements, so I couldn't become an astronaut."


There was a debate back in the beginning of the space age whether it would be better to send people into space or to send probes that sent back information. In retrospect, both approaches were adopted. I had interviewed many people about this but all I could remember was the following story:


"At the beginning of the space shuttle era, I had interviewed a senior executive of Spar Aerospace, Edmonton; the Canadian company that made the arm for the shuttle. The interesting thing about the arm was the delivery. Four forty-foot articulated trucks were used to bring the arm from Spar to NASA. The first one contained the arm, the following three contained the paperwork history of every component that was used in it's construction. I later interviewed a Director of Aerospatiale, in Toulouse, France and he told me a similar story but with a completely different ending. Their product (classified) was delivered to Russia with only one sheet of paper. This sheet stated that everything was in perfect working order and was signed by the Director. I asked him what happened if anything went wrong. He didn't say anything but mouthed what looked like KGB as he swiped his hand across his throat."


Ruishk laughed his head off and I asked him what is so funny? He said,


"I like the French approach better than the American one. But I'm laughing because your story has another deeper meaning that you may not be aware of."


"And what might that be?" I asked a little irritated. Did he take anything seriously?


Ruishk replied, "You look like you are carrying three articulated trucks of baggage behind you. You'll have your work cut out for you in sorting it all out. We accumulate truck loads of memory that may be true or false. These have to be reviewed and verified to make sure we have the right interpretations."


He asked again "Did you ever want to be an astronaut?"


Of course I had wanted to be an astronaut. Every kid I knew wanted to fly into space.


He asked again "Would you like to fly into space?"


Was he reading my mind? I said. "I'd love to fly into space. But I can't because I don't meet the physical, mental and emotional requirements for an astronaut."


He said. "That was the trouble with that debate, they only looked at two options, bodies or probes. There was, and still is, a third option."


"Really!" I said. "A third option, I'm sure, with all the Space Companies around the world, that they have explored all the options for getting us into space."


Ruishk replied. "They have explored all the options for getting bodies into space. But they haven't explored any of the options for getting us into space."


I felt like cursing and swearing. This guy was really crazy. But I calmed down and very slowly and deliberately asked him.


"What is the difference between 'getting bodies into space' and 'getting us into space'?"


He said. "Well done, David, you have asked the right question at last. We have super-intelligent bodies, but we are not bodies. We are mind. As mind we can go anywhere we want. So, now I am going to help you make your own personal tiny little 'space-ship'."


I decided to play along and said "OK, beam me up, Ruishk"


He explained. "Around each of us there is an energy field that manifests as a sphere. I want you to imagine yourself taking an almost infinitesimal part of this energy and make it into a bubble, a very small bubble, so small you would need to magnify it a billion times to even see it as a tiny dot. So now, close your eyes and put your awareness into the bubble. And let go. But before you go, if you find your self in difficulty, just say 'home' and you will be back here in your body."


At first nothing happened, and then I found myself flying. Over trees, fields, lakes, rivers and mountains I found myself moving until I came to a beautiful valley. I stopped and watched. There were clear blue skies, but as time went by the clouds steadily built. They heaped on top of each other getting ready for a wild stormy shower.  The wind was quite strong and all the trees were being blown about, swaying to and fro in a happy dance in appreciation of the coming rain.  The sea was a pensive grey, reflecting the emotions of the sky.  It was amazing to be looking down on the world. I felt myself moving toward the storm and then from somewhere I heard the word 'home'. I was back in my body, on the bus.


Ruishk said, "I called you 'home' because I don't thing you are ready yet to take on that storm."


I said, "If this is work, let the work begin."