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Image by Alp Cem


Narrated by Marie T. Russell.

Watch video version here


John Muir in Gentle Wilderness: The Sierra Nevada remarked,

“One is constantly reminded of the infinite lavishness of nature; no particle of her material is wasted or worn out. It is eternally flowering from use to use and beauty to yet higher beauty.”

The miracle of what transpires from the fusion of egg and sperm captures the sacred imagination of both scientist and mystic alike. But what happens before cells multiply and evolve is of the highest importance, and we must rely on ancient wisdom to delve into the mystery of such phenomena.

Plato and Ultimate Reality

Plato, in his book The Republic taught that the physical world that we live in is but a shadow of the real world or ultimate reality and that pure reality exists beyond all physicality. His belief was that the physical world is forever changing, always in a state of evolving but not evolved so is therefore imperfect or as Louise B. Young would suggest, “not finished yet!”

So it is not difficult to believe that there exists a field of consciousness that is of a higher vibration and higher frequency than the material world, and because it is not subject to our laws of human existence is also beyond suffering and extinction. For, all that has been created must obey the laws of earthing. Only that which has earthed can go through decay and death or transformation and rebirth.


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The Auric Body

It seems there is an energetic field that surrounds the internal organs and all physicality. We see that this energetic or auric body is what sustains and supports the physical. When the auric body is not strong in its energy system the physical body collapses. We can therefore deduce that dis-ease begins in the gradual reduction of life force. When our thoughts, which are living organisms, do not uphold a positive vibrancy and sink into depression or lethargy, this affects the physical.

So there is a field that is alive with life force, healing in and of itself and when we encounter and get to the source of it, we are imbued with pure energy and filled with good health. I believe that the Universal Heart, the unconditional cosmic energy, is the perfect template of the human heart and is continuously surrounding it with what we call love or harmony. Equilibrium. Unfortunately because of our hearts’ woundings, and the unhealed feelings we hold in our physical hearts, we cannot always access this grace. But it is the Universal Heart that imbues us with a self-accepting love and a more altruistic love for humanity and creation in general.

Rupert Sheldrake talks about the morphic field or field of resonance. It is an energy field within and around all living organisms. In the Bible we read:

In it
We live
And move
And have our being.

This life force tunes in to our morphic field so that the organism develops in the way suggested by the internal template. This is interesting from the point of view of how we resonate with our own bodies. We talk about resonance with other organisms, but for me it is important to have resonance with my own internal states of being.

For instance when someone has a headache, they can usually stop whatever they are doing, go inside and see what the internal chatter is about and what future or past events are filling their subconscious mind at that time. The dear body might register this disquiet as a headache.

Others will find a resonance with their stomachs or other parts of their body. It is as if the body is in sympathy with, and is the messenger of, thoughts. And the thoughts register as either happiness or stress and the physical responds with a disturbance in the biology.

Learning To Resonate with Our Own Body and Mind

Unfortunately we have not had any education on how to resonate with our own body and minds. What a difference it would have made had we been taught that our thoughts affect our physicality. What a difference it might have made in our lives had we been taught that we are the breath of life itself affecting our whole being.

If we had learnt at an early age that the healer is in the breath, perhaps our experiences would have been more congruent and authentic, leading to self-honouring, self-monitoring health processes and less possessiveness and judgements of others. And yet we had to learn through not knowing. This is the challenge our souls offered our personalities!

I often forget that whilst I do not possess life, I am fully responsible for my thoughts which produce actions and reactions. I belong with life but it does not belong to me. I have the privilege to be allowed to live it in each breath.

My purpose is to experience as fully as I can the amazing grace that each individual breath affords me here and now. This thought challenges me daily and I am not finished yet, but instead am forever in the flow of integral spiritual evolution.

Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Findhorn Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions Intl..

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The Last Ecstasy of Life: Celtic Mysteries of Death and Dying
by Phyllida Anam-Áire

cover art: The Last Ecstasy of Life: Celtic Mysteries of Death and Dying by Phyllida Anam-ÁireIn the Celtic tradition dying is considered an act of birthing, of our consciousness passing from this life to the next. Informed by an early near-death experience, spiritual midwife and former nun Phyllida Anam-Áire offers an intimate overview of the sacred stages of the dying process seen through the lens of her Celtic heritage. Compassionately describing the final dissolution of the elements, she emphasizes how important it is to resolve and integrate our psycho-spiritual shadows and wounds in this lifetime. 

For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.

About the Author

photo of: Phyllida Anam-ÁirePhyllida Anam-Áire, a former Irish nun, as well as grandmother and therapist who trained with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, has worked extensively with the sick and dying. She offers Conscious Living, Conscious Dying retreats in Europe and gives talks on children and dying to nurses and palliative care workers. Also a songwriter, she teaches Celtic Gutha or Caoineadh, Irish songs or sounds of mourning. She is the author of A Celtic Book of Dying

More books by this Author.