Luminous Life. Jacob Israel Liberman

me to a large audience at the 2011 ISSSEEM conference — one was my daughter and the other a close friend. I then proceeded to deliver the presidential address, after which I received a standing ovation.

      A couple months after the dream my daughter called and asked if I thought her partner at the time could submit a proposal to speak at the 2011 conference. I agreed, but since he led safaris in Africa I could not imagine what he would present that would be pertinent to the focus of the group.

      In early October the Program Committee met in California to finalize their list of presenters. When we began discussing applicants, my colleagues were excited about a proposal from this fellow who wanted to discuss conscious human contact with animals in the African wild. I listened quietly. Within minutes the committee had agreed to invite him to speak. I had never told them that he was my daughter’s boyfriend.

      As it turned out, my daughter attended the 2011 conference with her partner. When a former ISSSEEM president who was slated to introduce me became ill at the last moment, my daughter and close friend Brian ended up doing it, and following my presentation there was indeed an ovation. I had not been dreaming after all.

      This experience was fascinating for many reasons, including the fact that everything I had previously learned about sleep described deep, dreamless sleep as unconsciousness. Yet consciousness was obviously awake and aware, pointing to the ever-present nature of awareness.

      As an example, a 2013 study published in the journal PLOS ONE found that experienced meditators who claim to be aware during deep sleep exhibit brain activity typically seen during waking consciousness. To further confirm this, a recent meta-analysis published in the December 2016 issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences suggests that consciousness does not turn off when one enters deep sleep. According to Evan Thompson, professor at the University of British Columbia and one of the paper’s authors, “Consciousness, in the sense of sheer awareness or feeling of being or existing, continues in deep sleep, even when ordinary mental activity (thoughts, emotions, mental images) has quieted down or stopped.” The evidence presented in these studies along with my direct experience led me to believe that, like light, consciousness is all-pervasive.

      An Ocean in a Drop

      Years ago while spiritual teacher Ram Dass was visiting Maui, I invited him to sit in with a men’s group I had been part of for many years. During our sharing, one of the members asked Ram Dass to speak about presence.

      “Presence,” he said, “is like baklava — it includes everything. . . the nuts, the honey, the phyllo dough.”

      It was a funny way to describe presence. Yet it was so true. Presence is pure awareness and includes everything, even those times we do not think we are being present. Most of us think of being present in relation to others, our feelings, or a specific situation. But that is based on the idea that we are living life separately from one another rather than recognizing that we are life, inextricably linked to every living thing.

      In any given moment everything and everyone is intimately connected to and collaborating with everything else. The same force that moves the tides and changes the seasons also animates the beating of our heart. So when an insight or a feeling suddenly imprints on our awareness, it is not an accident. The intelligence of life is looking for us, effortlessly directing us toward the next step on our journey. There is nothing to think about, consider, or choose. Just observe, and we will be guided to where we need to be and what we need to do.

      Awareness and experience are seamlessly linked. When that becomes clear, the drop that we think of as our individual self merges with the ocean of oneness, creating waves of presence that expand infinitely in all directions. When the light within us merges with the light illuminating our awareness, we are effortlessly moved toward our source, in the same way that a flower is moved toward the sun.

       CHAPTER THREE

       Living on Light

       All the energy which we take into our bodies is derived from the sun.

       — ALBERT SZENT-GYORGYI

      In 1896 Wilbur Atwater and Francis Benedict conducted a series of metabolic experiments that suggested that the human body’s production of heat and physiological activities corresponded to the caloric value of the nutrients ingested. Their findings became the basis of the calorie theory.

      Based on Atwater’s findings, Francis Benedict and James Harris developed the Harris-Benedict equation in 1919, making it possible to determine one’s basal metabolic rate or how many calories the human body requires at rest.

      This theory stood unchallenged for over fifty years. Then, beginning in 1972, a team of research scientists headed by Dr. Paul Webb conducted a series of studies using state-of-the-art technology in an attempt to replicate Atwater and Benedict’s results. Webb’s findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, uncovered a significant discrepancy between the theoretical amounts of energy produced by metabolism versus the actual amount of energy produced by the body. This difference, referred to as “unmeasured energy,” indicates that as much as 23 percent of the energy produced by the human body could not be attributed to one’s caloric intake.

      To further corroborate his discoveries, Webb reviewed all scientific studies related to the subject and found that they not only confirmed his findings but also demonstrated that the more precise the study, the clearer the evidence that a significant amount of energy could not be scientifically explained.

      Confronted with the fact that there was energy that could not be accounted for, Webb introduced a new variable that he referred to as Qx into the calculation of energy balance. This variable represented energy that originated from an unknown source, or energy derived from what some call nothingness.

      Although the idea of energy derived from “nothingness” may seem strange from a Western perspective, Eastern cultures have been aware of this mysterious life-force energy for thousands of years. In China it is called chi, in India prana, and renowned Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich referred to it as orgone.

      Webb’s research not only exposed the shortcomings of the calorie theory but also demonstrated that the human body receives energy (or life force) from an unknown source. The research also discovered that the greater the food deficit, the larger the unmeasured energy. In other words, the body appears to receive a significant amount of energy from an unknown source, and the less we eat the more energy it receives.

      Webb’s discovery seems to be verified by the case of yogi Prahlad Jani, who claims to have lived without food or water since 1940. Although this sounds unbelievable, this Indian yogi was evaluated twice under the most stringent of controlled scientific conditions, and each time he was deemed physiologically normal.

      In 2003 Prahlad Jani first underwent a rigorous ten-day evaluation at Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, India. During the study Jani was evaluated by dozens of medical experts, and all pertinent tests, including daily blood cell counts and CT scans of the body, were administered. In addition, he was under around-the-clock surveillance in a locked room with no access to food or water; the bathroom was sealed off, his clothes and sheets were scrutinized for any traces of urine, and mobile cameras filmed him whenever clinic personnel escorted him from his locked room to an office or laboratory for medical evaluation.

      Dr. Urman Dhruv, who supervised and approved the study protocol, stated that Jani did not consume anything orally, including fluids of any type or food during the ten-day study. He also did not pass any urine or stool during that period. In the words of Dr. Sudhir Shah, the initiator of the study, “We are all scientifically educated and research-orientated doctors. . . .And our entire knowledge has been shaken to the core.”

      Under ideal circumstances, it is conceivable that humans can live ten to fifteen