Dying to be Me. Incredible!

Marcus T Anthony's new web site and blog can be found at: is www.mind-futures.com.

The universe works in mysterious ways. 

Last week I was out and about with my wife in the IFC Mall, one of Hong Kong's more pricey shopping establishments. Walking around on the third floor, I stumbled across a book shop and went in. There, right on top of a pile of books on a table near the front of the bookshop was a certain volume which caught my eye: Dying to be Me, by Anita Moorjani. I picked it up and did what I always do when deciding whether or not to buy a book: I stilled myself, bringing my mind fully present, then felt the book. My intuition told me that the book was for me, so I went straight to the counter and bought it.

I wasn't disappointed. The author, I found out, is a Hong Kong woman of Indian decent. Several years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. The book details her experience with the disease, and her remarkable visit to death's door. To cut a long story short, Anita describes how her condition gradually deteriorated, until she was admitted to hospital in a coma. Her doctor's had basically given up on her, and her organs had begun to shut down. One of the doctor's wrote down that her family should be informed of her true condition, meaning that he was convinced that she was about to die.

The author then describes the miracle that happened next. She had a classic near death experience where she was able to hear not only what was being said by doctors who were treating her, but she could also see into the minds of her close relatives, including a brother who was on  plane, rushing to see her. She saw her current life in a grand spiritual context, witnessed her past lives, and experienced an expanded state of mind which transcended time and space. This is mental state is what I call a classic experience of Integrated Intelligence (INI), as I outline in my book Discover Your Soul Template, INI is the experience of mind which extends out from the body and interacts with other people, places and even other times.

Anita Moorjani shares her wonderful spiritual insights with the reader. The message is clear. We spend too much of our lives denying our own magnificence, living for some future goal, or just believing that we are inadequate. It is these beliefs and attitudes that the author sees as being central to her becoming sick. Her cancer was an expression of a greater dis-ease in her mind. The genuine miracle occurred when Anita awakened from her coma. Within two weeks her cancers had reduced dramatically in size, and soon they had vanished from her body without a trace.

I love the book. In fact, as I read it I realised that I had a strong connection with its message. Although I have never had a near death experience, I have experienced many non-ordinary states of consciousness and had many spiritual experiences where I received insights that mirror those of Anita Moorjani.

As I was reading the book, I texted one of my good friends in the consciousnesses movement here in Hong Kong, transpersonal psychologist Doug Seiddon, and told him he should read the book. He texted me back saying that he had met Anita two years previously at the Hong Kong Consciousness Festival. He said she was a very nice woman. I felt rather envious.

What I will relate next is actually true, even though it may seem rather incredulous. I was seriously considering contacting the author, as we live in the same city. A scenario kept popping into my head during the first few days after I purchased the book. 

I am sitting in a public space. Suddenly I realise that Anita Moorjani is sitting right beside me. I walk over to her and say "Are you Anita Moorjani?" I point to her book, which I am holding.

In fact this scenario came to me just yesterday when I was travelling on public transport. It was as if I could feel Anita very close to my physically. There definitely felt like a connection.

So today, Sunday, I went out in the afternoon to the Pacific Coffee place in Discovery Bay, not far from my apartment. I sat down and began to do a little writing on my computer. Suddenly a woman's voice caught my attention. I looked up to see three people of Indian heritage sitting just a metre away from me at the next table. The woman, who was turned away from me, was talking about her publicist. I realised that she must be a writer. The idea immediately came to me that this woman was Anita Moorjani. I couldn't see her face clearly, but I could see a distinguishing facial feature on her right cheek. So I opened my copy of Dying to Be Me (which I had on the table) and turned to the author page. Sure enough, the woman sitting a metre away from me had the same feature in exactly the same spot on her face. I checked her energy intuitively, and saw that she had a soft and very feminine energy, and was very relaxed in her body. It was a perfect match!

I was just thinking about how I might interrupt their conversation (as I am not a natural extrovert) when suddenly the Indian man chatting to the woman got up and walked over to me. "Is that book any good?" he asked. He was smiling. 

"Yes! Is this Anita?" I asked indicating to the woman. They were all smiling.

Sure enough it was her. I kindly invited myself over for a chat with them! The man was Danny, Anita's amiable husband. We chatted for about twenty minutes or so, and I was delighted to discover that Anita was as genuine as her book suggests. But the synchronicity didn't end there. I discovered that the couple live in Discovery Bay too. But even more incredibly, we found out that we had both lived in the same tiny village of a few hundred people in Hong Kong's New Territories at the same time (2008) - at opposite ends of the village. They knew several of my friends in the village. The odds of that must be astronomical. I honestly can't remember seeing Anita or Danny there, but I must have seen them at some time, because the village is quite isolated, with only one mini-bus which takes about 25 minutes to get to the nearest train station.

 

Anita and Danny

What a wonderful series of synchronicities! 

Even better, if you go to Amazon.com you'll see Anita's book has become an instant best seller. I have to be honest and say I have read some spiritual best sellers which I would describe as simply awful - where I intuitively sensed that the author was not capable of walking the talk. Happily with Dying to be Me, this is not the case. I give it five stars out of five.

(* I have written a little more about the aftermath to this incident and a profound vision I had the next day in the following blog post)

Blessings,

Marcus

Sohail Inayatullah: Leader-Sage

Today's post is an interview with futurist Sohail Inayatullah. Sohail is one of the most influential futurists in the Futures Studies field. He has worked with governments and organsiations all around the world, and his thinking has greatly infuenced futurists everywhere (including me!). Incidentally, Sohail was the supervisor for my doctoral thesis, which I completed with the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia in 2007. Here I ask him about the idea of the leader-sage.

Sohail was born in Pakistan, but moved to the United States at the age of six. He did his PhD at the University of Hawaii, and spent several years there before emigrating to Australia, where he now lives on Queensland's beautiful Sunshine Coast with his wife, futurist Ivana Milojevic, and their two children.

1.    Did you feel drawn to your current position as a leader? Was it a rational or intuitive decision?

I don’t think I am a leader in the conventional sense. My metaphor is that of planting seeds, and nurturing and nourishing them, ensuring that there is an ecology of possibility for every seed.

I don’t think this was rational, it was more of a calling. As a teenager, I was drawn to two areas of life – spirituality and social change, the latter through an understanding of how the future was being changed and how we can enhance our agency by using the future more wisely.

The work in both areas took decades of being an apprentice, and now I feel that my main work is not the theory or methods of social change – as a speaker or as a writer – but about being mindful, about being authentic in every situation.

I find if I have fun then the audience has fun. I see planting seeds as that of not teaching others but working with others to discover deeper aspects. Most people can smell pedagogy, when then are being forced to learn or when there is a situation of dominator hierarchy, which differs from functional hierarchy.

The leadership aspect is emerging as I take my own authority, ie plant the seeds but also have the courage to protect the young seeds and to remove that which may threaten the eco system, ie work with the predators to see other possibilities.

2.    Do you use intuition in making professional decisions? Can you give one or two solid examples?

All the time – moving to Australia was intuitive – however, again, it was almost obvious, that is, there was a new stream emerging, it made rational sense to go on this stream, and I was almost pushed into it. Other choices had for all practical purposes disappeared.

Meeting my wife to be in Andorra and falling in love, flying to Serbia from Hawaii, those were all intuitive – a new path emerged and I went with it.

3.    What’s the biggest professional decision you ever made using your intuition, and what was the outcome?

Certainly moving to Australia and getting married are big ones. I think becoming involved in futures studies was also intuitive, I was drawn to the work and energy of Professor Dator. Others truly mocked me, and suggested I go to law school or do something more serious, but I felt all along this was the right path.

There have been many job offers or possibilities from around the world, and in each case, it did not seem right – and each time later I could see I had made the right decision. Though possibly if I had gone, things too would have worked out.

I guess at a deeper level, it is not about right or wrong intuition but what Carlos Castenada said – find a path with heart.

I would also like to see intuition being a hypothesis, even as we are drawn, called, in particular directions.

Intuition and the rigour of the intellect go hand in hand.

I often, when perplexed, ask my future self, for assistance, asking ok, from the viewpoint of the 80 year old self, what should I do now, what is right.

When I go against my intuition, problems do arise. Once in a job interview, rationally I should have taken the job, but half way through, I had to get out of it, I did not know why, but I knew I did. The interviewer was puzzled but compassionate and I escaped.

4.    Do you have any sense of higher agency in your life? Is it personal (e.g. God, spirit guides), impersonal (For example, a general universal consciousness)?

Yes, it has two dimensions – an impersonal one, and for me, a personal agency – the inner god self if you will. Both for me are required, the one is more important rationally, and the other for our more tender emotional self.

5.    Do you think more conscious leadership is important for the future? Why?

I work with hundreds of organizations and I find that mindful, spiritual leadership is a likely new emergent river. It is being present to all of one’s selves, to engage in watching the mind, but also it is about ensuring alignment with our multiple selves and desires toward to greater purpose – toward the way we wish the world to be.

6.       Who do you consider to be a genuine or even great leader-sage, and why?

-          Someone you have worked with;

Certainly, my own professor, Jim Dator, I would see like that – while an atheist, he always demonstrated the spiritual qualities of deep inclusion. He also knew what was right for each student. It was tailored. Johan Galtung also exhibited similar traits.

-          Someone from history or current affairs.

My own spiritual teacher, guide, P.R. Sarkar, to me is certainly a sage-leader. He imagined a different future, developed ways and organizations to realize it, and was fearless and full of humor. Being in his presence created bliss in me and others.

6.    Do you use any specific decision-making tools or processes which incorporate the intuitive mind? What are they?

I use the CLA model or causal layered analysis, and focus on helping individuals develop their inner stories, and especially to challenge the conflicted story. This requires intuition and insight.

One teacher I worked with recently changed her narrative from mother goose, taking care of others to Charlie’s Angels, that is, an angel that can kick-ass. She still takes care of others but now is working on boundaries and thus taking care of herself and others, and not allowing rubbish to get in the way.

Visioning the future also requires intuition as one goes to a different self and imagines what one truly wishes.

7.    Finally, have you had any defining life experiences that have shaped who you are today, and that contained some kind of spiritual or intuitive aspect?

Certainly learning meditation was defining –it wasa peaceful, direct intuitive experience of the infinite in the now: a gentle and deep silence where everything is fine.

Sohail Inayatullah and Ivana Milojevic's web site is www.metafuture.org.