How an out-of-this-world experience created and enhanced my online course called Being Paradise.
Okay, I’ve got quite the story for you. An experience that has forever altered my view of life and directly impacted my online course Being Paradise. I don’t tell this story lightly because it’s literally out of this world. Honestly, it's quite unbelievable and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself.
Some people who read this will have no room for it in their lives. And that’s okay, I respect that. For others, maybe you, life isn’t all figured out. There’s plenty of room for possibility, perhaps even things that appear magical or mystical.
Interestingly, it's the ideas in my course that have allowed for more incredible happenings and experiences similar to this one. Whether through dreams, meditations or occasionally happenings like I'm about to tell you.
First of all, let me just say that I consider myself to be a pretty down-to-earth person when it comes to transcend-life thoughts and ideas. I just made up that term, and consider transcend-life to mean “spiritual” without all the historical and religious baggage.
By down to earth I mean, I’m not one to look for signs, read tea leaves or turn over picture cards to figure out where I’m going, who I am or where I’ve been. I don’t mean to cast aspersions on people who take part in these things. They’re just not for me. I see life as our creation.
I remember oh so long ago as a high school student riding the school bus home one afternoon. The kids in the back of the bus were the ones more confident and authoritative about their lives. One of them brought up the topic of the meaning of life. This began a discussion throughout half of the bus.
I craned my neck backwards to hear the conversation. I don’t remember specifically what was said, but I do recall wanting to hear a definitive answer. As I allude to in Being Paradise my teen years were a blur of teenage angst, made even more so by family turmoil. I badly wanted some answer to that question about life’s meaning. Finding it would make my life better, right? I don’t think I was going to find the answer I was looking for, on that busload of teenagers that day.
Does life have meaning, intrinsically? Within itself? I’ve come to the conclusion: NO… life has no meaning. Right now that statement may be pushing your mind into the negative territory of nihilistic thoughts. But why? Why does life intrinsically being meaningless necessarily lead to dismal and negative thoughts and feelings?
Honestly, since I’ve arrived at this idea, this mindset of a meaning-free life, my life has improved, very much. I’m happier, and I enjoy a more peaceful existence. Why? Because I am the creator, inventor, and generator of the meaning in my life, not events around me. Life stopped being a confusing “meaning puzzle” that I suffered through, trying to put it all together and understand. It became an open sky of creativity and possibility. Who wouldn’t want that?
A closely related idea to the life/meaning question is: “Things happen for a reason.” I’m sure you’ve heard this statement. As I thought about it, I realized what it was implying: Life events happen for a reason. Therefore, the reason comes first, prior to the event. The reason informs the events. This may be the case, but it is knowledge that is beyond us mere mortals. It’s knowledge of the gods, so to speak. How else do you explain two different people deriving two different meanings from the same event? Once again, this is our freedom to create!
The reason for sharing this with you is two-fold. First, we are better served by seeing ourselves as life creators rather than life-meaning detectives. From my experience, this mindset is what has empowered this other-worldly event I’m about to share with you. Secondly, this story illustrates that you can find out the reasons for life. Not through guesswork, but by going to the source of life itself. Or more accurately, if your mind is clear enough that source will show up!
This out-of-this-world event I experienced is about an OBE I experienced. You may be familiar with that term. It means “out of body.” These experiences have happened to me, on and off, since I was a kid. Back then they seemed to be merely dreams that were very real, but the actuality and realism of them has grown as I grew.
At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “How do you know this OBE wasn’t a dream? Do you have any proof it took place?” No, I don’t have proof but then again I don’t have or require, scientific proof for some of the most beautiful experiences in my life. When my kids threw their arms around me and declared their love, of course, I didn’t require proof of their love. I just went with it.
As for the question of these experiences being dreams, well I have been alive for more decades than choose to admit. In that time I’ve done my fair share of sleeping and dreaming. I know what it is to be conscious compared to sleeping. I’ll leave it at that.
So, here we go…enjoy the ride!
One morning, probably a Saturday, mid-summer 2021 I got up, grabbed my phone off the nightstand, pulled the headphones off my ears and placed them around my neck. As I tell you in my course, I’ve been doing subconscious work for years with incredible results. This work involved nightly affirmations listening through my phone and using headphones.
For some reason, I headed down to the couch in our basement. I’ve never actually done this before so I don’t know why I did it on that morning. I laid down, put my headphones back on and turned on a YouTube channel called “Sleep Tube.” I was planning on just going back to sleep.
Within moments…I was heading up into the sky.
I knew I was having an out-of-body experience. There were many times when faced with a similar situation I would be fearful and pull myself out of the experience. This time, it was different. I was fully conscious and accepting of my current situation.
As I ascended I asked a question of no particular person or being because I wasn’t completely sure what was going on or where I was going. “Can I go back?” I asked non-verbally. Of course, I was referring to the life that I was leaving. Was this the end for me? I didn’t know.
What happened in response to my question was incredibly fascinating. Imagine, wherever you are right now, you ask a yes or no question. Then reality around you, the entire scene you're living in, the room, the view outside etc, is like one big head that nods yes! See I told you this was a crazy experience, the entire realm I was in nodded yes to my question.
This was a bigger, higher being than my lowly human self. More than that though, I had the sense that somehow it was me. I’m not surprised by this. In the Being Paradise course, I speak of the super-consciousness we all have. I’ve sensed a greater me in different dreams or spiritual experiences that were there guiding this little earthly being that I am. That’s right, me guiding me.
I reference the stories of Einstein and other great thinkers and creators who acknowledge something greater than themselves at work in their creative endeavours. I don’t compare myself to these creative greats, I compare you and me to them. We all have a super-consciousness. Was I meeting mine in the out-of-the-world journey I was on? It seems so.
Having confirmed I would indeed be going back to my middle-aged, bald dude life, I could relax. I then looked to my right and was surprised to see a “man” floating up into the sky with me. He was holding onto my forearm guiding me upward, much like someone who would guide a blind person across the street…great metaphor!
The conscious William had no idea who he was. However, there was a deeper part of me that recognized him as an old friend. I tapped the top of his hand with my hand three times, just as you’d affectionately do if you were blind, suddenly gained sight and saw a close lifelong friend assisting you across the street. I tapped his hand three more times. We were both smiling at the connection we had just made.
I was so happy to see him that I tapped his hand another three times. Instantly, the human part of me was embarrassed. I felt like I had over-tapped in my excitement. He felt my embarrassment and look down for a moment.
This is funny, I remember clearly what he looked like, or whom he looked like. In the movie Shrek 2 the green ogre Shrek becomes human. This apparent ancient friend of mine looked a lot like the human Shrek. Only instead of flowing curly locks of hair, he had short straight hair.
My other-worldly embarrassment soon became unimportant because as I looked up I saw some blue and white lights that also appeared to be cloud or fog-like. I thought: “I want to go in there.” Somehow, I knew what they were and I quickly flew into them. At this point, as I entered them, I lost my everyday conscious awareness. All I remember is that at the last moment of awareness as I entered, I felt so good. I was literally, lost in joy as I flew through those lighted clouds.
Finally, I came out of them and spoke/thought: “I want to see God.” Immediately I was standing on a pathway. There was grass on both sides of the path and lining the path were small box hedges. A little way down the path was a group of people. They were walking away from me down the path as it turned to the right and continued down a hillside.
“This is it?!” I remarked, as my human self, unimpressed that this scene was the result of my desire to experience the divine. This was God?!
“Hold on,” I was reassured by that all-encompassing larger being. Once all those people on the pathway were out of sight I found myself amongst them at their destination. It was like a little courtyard. They were standing around mingling and some were seated at tables in conversation. Everyone seemed to know each other and all were in a boisterous good mood.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about what took place there. That’s because as I stood in this group I was introduced to a woman. I was told she was there out of body as well. She was an Asian woman and I was told she was a doctor in life. I asked for a way that I could possibly know her or reach out to her back in my earthly life. After some consultation, I was told I would know her by the number 4290.
I want to keep the details of that gathering to myself because I thought at the very slight possibility that I might meet Miss 4290, her story might corroborate the entire thing. Listen, I did tell you this is a crazy story! As I’ll get to in a moment, it’s the solid perceptual reality of it that keeps my fingers going on this keyboard telling you of it all.
I will say that while I was with this group there was a kind, matriarchal woman. A mother-like person who helped me out and exuded caring. I miss her. And who were all these people?
Well, I neither believe nor disbelieve in reincarnation but I wonder if they are my brothers and sisters in that higher, guiding being. Multiple human lives experienced by that being? I don’t know, this is just conjecture. They seemed like a very nice community though. I wouldn’t mind having a group of friends like that here. People who are not so subject to time, distance, busy-ness and workload.
I left this group of people and headed along the path in another direction. A little ways away I was all alone. I decided I wanted to fly again so I had the thought: “I want to fly.” I threw my hands up into the air like Superman but nothing happened, I stayed firmly on the ground.
However, there was a strong tugging on my arms. Each one was abruptly pulled up as if I were a puppet. It was like unseen strings were tied around my wrist and I was yanked from above.
I looked up to see the source of this and the clouds above me began to part like Venetian blinds. Through the rows of clouds, I could see two ancient bearded beings. The one on the left had my invisible strings in his hands and was controlling me with them.
Finally, my involuntary puppet show was over and I had the sense that so was my time in this realm of the gods. So that I can explain what happened next, I need you to imagine that you’re standing on an acre of land. It's adjacent to another acre of land. Both acres have their distinct climates.
When you step across the border of those two acres simply go from one climate to the other. That was my experience going from that realm back into the land of the living…here. Once again I’ve had plenty of experience sleeping and waking up and this was not the same as that.
When we awake we leave the darkness in a groggy state. Dreams are a distant fog until they come back to mind. What I was experiencing that morning on the couch in my basement was pure clear awareness. I was standing in that other realm, I opened my eyes and then I was laying in this one.
I sat up and was still for a moment collecting my thought about what I just went through. It took me days to process it all and its impact has never left me. It’s been a true gift in so many ways.
The big question: What did it all mean? Was there some grand purpose to it all? There is so much to unpack here, but yes, there was definitely an over-arching lesson to be had. It was all about those invisible strings on my arms that were being controlled by that ancient bearded fellow above the clouds.
When I began my course I was quite anxious to get it done, as soon as possible. There were numerous stops and starts. I wasn’t satisfied with my videos and I was bothered by the fact that it wasn’t going well. I had given my daughter, my editor, things to work on, only to come back and give her revisions of what I had already done.
What this OBE event told me was to simply relax. That our free will is free, and it's our will, but it’s backed up by a super-determinism beyond our everyday knowledge. It was instructions to me to let go and enjoy the ride. Once I did this, my course began to flourish!
I’d go down to the lake to watch the sunrise with a coffee and a notebook or sit under a tree in the park. With my mind released and open my course grew, by leaps and bounds. New thoughts and ideas just came to me, things I would have missed out on if continued to be worried or concerned. Things I would have missed out on had I not taken my instructional journey to the great beyond. It has been a glorious creative experience…in so many ways!
And what about God? Am I supposed to believe that God is two old men in the clouds? Yeah I know, I was disappointed by that as well. I was expecting some grand beacon of all-encompassing and loving light! Then I thought about it. I remember when I was hanging around with Christians. They had a saying about God. He is “the same yesterday, today, forever.” Well, that makes no sense.
How much of the universe do you know? If you’re like me you’d say one billionth of a fraction of knowledge. Could you honestly say anything about the universe in an objective sense? It’s like standing in one spot in Oklahoma looking over the border into Texas and thinking you now know enough about Texas to say it's the same yesterday, today, always. My mind can comprehend that infinite…entity, but it can comprehend the tiny minute sliver of “Him” I was given.
What I saw that morning when I asked to see God was as much as I needed to know, in my life at that point, about that Source Of All Things we label “God,” and it was plenty. Also, I don’t think that that Source is a couple of ancient humanoid dudes in the clouds. Once again, it was all shown to me on a need-to-know basis.
As with you, I’ve had many dreams in my sleeping world. My memory of them is sketchy to nonexistent. Heck, my memory of yesterday is quite sketchy. Yet, my memory of my entire flight and walk through the land and sky of the gods are very much intact. It’s as clear in my mind now as the world around me is now.
The takeaway for you from this experience? Well, as I say in the Being Paradise program, I’m no one special. I’m just a regular guy of average intelligence. If instructive dreams and even out-of-this-world events can happen to me they can happen to anyone! All you need to do is clear the clutter from your mind, let go of your perceptions of control of your life and world, have gratitude for your life and then simply ask and live in wonderment. It’s just that easy.
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