Preface
A writer who writes genuine mythology does so because he repeatedly encounters experiences that no previous system of interpretation can explain. This is what Homer was doing in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer saw that human beings are not just passive in relation to the gods. The gods and humanity interact dynamically, and the decisions of human beings are of great consequence.
And this is what Vyasa was doing when he wrote the great Hindu epic Mahabarata. He was saying that the gods of heaven and human beings are not separate. The gods are not necessarily encountered through rituals. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, the lords of creation, come down to earth the way a cloud descends and rolls across the ground—the cloud’s moisture appears as fog that you exhale on a cold day. For Vyasa, the gods are inside of us and present in every choice we make.
In a similar vein, I regularly interview individuals who possess nearly superhuman powers of perception and feeling. Some can instantly unite with the soul of anyone on earth. They can be inside of others and feel what they feel as if the others’ feelings and memories are their own. This is not the result of some rigorous spiritual or magical training. These individuals are hardwired with these gifts from the moment they are born.
Though previous world teachers on occasion demonstrated these abilities, they did not do on a global level with this degree of perception and inner union. Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna; John, the disciple of Christ; and Joshua, who assumed command after Moses—they knew nothing of such abilities. Yeshe Tsogyal, the consort and disciple of Padma Sambahva, or any of Buddha’s disciples, could not do what these individuals can do. Even the great prophets of the Old Testament—Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Elijah—would have been unable to integrate
such abilities into their personalities. They would not have had the faintest idea of how to flow love of this depth through their souls.
At the same time, there is no user’s manual lying next to a crib when a child like this is born. If you think about it, if a mermaid “wants a human experience,” it would serve no purpose for her to know in advance that she is not like other human beings. Otherwise, when she has to deal with a difficult situation, it would be easy for her to think, “The choices I make do not matter. I am a mermaid. I am not a human being. I do not have to take any of this seriously.”
No, that would simply not do. It would defeat the entire purpose of incarnation, which is this: to be thrown into life and have to make the best of it using only the resources that you have on hand like anyone else. We are all dealt a set of cards when we are born. We have to work with what we have been given, for the essence of human experience is that we define who we are through our choices.
I try to account for what I am observing—to come up with an explanation. It is very clear from interviews and studying these individuals’ lives and auras that they have astonishing abilities. Consequently, I have to answer these questions: From what source do their abilities arise? Is it of nature or divine? For what purpose have they entered our world? What are we to learn from them and what is it like to be their friends?
And so I offer you these fairy tales and accounts by way of explanation. I have journeyed to the Other Side and from that place of inspiration I create a mythological landscape so as to invite and entice your imagination—walk along beside me and taste the wonder of these mysteries. MsSVig
A writer who writes genuine mythology does so because he repeatedly encounters experiences that no previous system of interpretation can explain. This is what Homer was doing in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer saw that human beings are not just passive in relation to the gods. The gods and humanity interact dynamically, and the decisions of human beings are of great consequence.
And this is what Vyasa was doing when he wrote the great Hindu epic Mahabarata. He was saying that the gods of heaven and human beings are not separate. The gods are not necessarily encountered through rituals. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, the lords of creation, come down to earth the way a cloud descends and rolls across the ground—the cloud’s moisture appears as fog that you exhale on a cold day. For Vyasa, the gods are inside of us and present in every choice we make.
In a similar vein, I regularly interview individuals who possess nearly superhuman powers of perception and feeling. Some can instantly unite with the soul of anyone on earth. They can be inside of others and feel what they feel as if the others’ feelings and memories are their own. This is not the result of some rigorous spiritual or magical training. These individuals are hardwired with these gifts from the moment they are born.
Though previous world teachers on occasion demonstrated these abilities, they did not do on a global level with this degree of perception and inner union. Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna; John, the disciple of Christ; and Joshua, who assumed command after Moses—they knew nothing of such abilities. Yeshe Tsogyal, the consort and disciple of Padma Sambahva, or any of Buddha’s disciples, could not do what these individuals can do. Even the great prophets of the Old Testament—Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Elijah—would have been unable to integrate
such abilities into their personalities. They would not have had the faintest idea of how to flow love of this depth through their souls.
At the same time, there is no user’s manual lying next to a crib when a child like this is born. If you think about it, if a mermaid “wants a human experience,” it would serve no purpose for her to know in advance that she is not like other human beings. Otherwise, when she has to deal with a difficult situation, it would be easy for her to think, “The choices I make do not matter. I am a mermaid. I am not a human being. I do not have to take any of this seriously.”
No, that would simply not do. It would defeat the entire purpose of incarnation, which is this: to be thrown into life and have to make the best of it using only the resources that you have on hand like anyone else. We are all dealt a set of cards when we are born. We have to work with what we have been given, for the essence of human experience is that we define who we are through our choices.
I try to account for what I am observing—to come up with an explanation. It is very clear from interviews and studying these individuals’ lives and auras that they have astonishing abilities. Consequently, I have to answer these questions: From what source do their abilities arise? Is it of nature or divine? For what purpose have they entered our world? What are we to learn from them and what is it like to be their friends?
And so I offer you these fairy tales and accounts by way of explanation. I have journeyed to the Other Side and from that place of inspiration I create a mythological landscape so as to invite and entice your imagination—walk along beside me and taste the wonder of these mysteries. MsSVig