Sometimes, fantasy stories are not that far-fetched at all

I love the Tree of Souls in Pandora. I love how the Dals in the David Eddings' Mallorean series share a collective consciousness. Every thought, action, experience that is experienced by an individual is experienced by the entire species. Wow!

(gosh... i suddenly realised there's a cat curled up in our closet -_-)

I've always thought it would be such a wonderful thing if we could somehow record every lesson, every achievement, every insight and experience that the human race has ever encountered and have it stored somewhere for our easy access when needed.

Ok, I suppose the geeks would say - wikipedia! Hmm.

But what is also true is that the people who touch us, DO stay with us. The experiences they share ARE recorded within us, for easy access when we need it.

We are, each and every one of us, a branch of the Tree of Souls. Every encounter with the people in our lives are stored within us.

Whenever I'm cooking or doing anything around the home, I hear mom's voice guiding me. Everything she has learnt about cooking, and sewing, and family, and life, lives on through me. They make me who I am.

Whenever I'm at work, everything I've learnt from my previous bosses, mentors, colleagues, comes back to guide me. Things that worked as well as things that didn't work, they all form a kind of collective wisdom within me. There are many moments when I ask myself - what would Peter in all his benevolent wisdom do? How would Agnes move us out of a rut? What outrageous ideas would TL come up with? What would Neil French say? Rob Speechley? Steve Matthews? Kim Fernando? Ai Shih? They all come back to me, when I need them. Either showing me what to do, or what not to do, as I make my own decisions.

In crisis as well as in random quiet moments, the teachings of Master Choa Kok Sui, Bettie Sprueil, Isis, Shyalpa Rinpoche, Paolo Coelho, Neale Donald Walsch, all surface to guide me.

These are the individuals who have touched me directly. Now expand this a little farther... the lessons of Hitler, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Donald Trump, hahaha... even the Top Chef Masters and some of the Project Runway designers, are within me too.

So maybe this is the ultimate purpose of all our lives : to experience and learn as much as we possibly can, and add to the collective consciousness of humanity. Maybe that's why our lives take such different turns. People have such different paths to walk... because their mission is to contribute that particular experience to our pool.

So we must share. If not, our experiences are not added to the pool. We must share so that the collective consciousness grows.

(it's getting hard to type cos Wabi has crawled into my arms and is sucking on my t-shirt - he's a heavy cat!)

It's no point trying to live someone else's life - that would be duplicating the experience that someone else has already contributed to the collective pool. Nothing new is added, the collective pool doesn't grow.

We must direct the course of our own lives. Draw on the collective wisdom to make our own choices - this is how we create new experiences. And when we share, we enrich humanity.

Lately, i've thought it would be nice to have a daughter to pass mom's wisdom to. Mom's wisdom combined with mine. The way mom looked after grandma in her last days was a kinda subconscious guide to how I looked after mom when her own time came.

I was not even conscious of it at that time - it just seemed like the right thing to do. It is only now as I write that I am recalling Mom's long days and nights at the hospital and how she completed the mother-daughter journey with her mom. Mine was different yet has similarities.

How did I know I had to stop sleeping by her side, stop being the one to hold her hand, so that she can take her leave? Grandma's moment of passing came when mom stepped out of the hospital room and onto the balcony for a breath of air. Just as grandma couldn't leave while mom was in the room, I knew mom couldn't leave as long as I was sleeping by her side, holding her hand.

And yet, I created a completely new experience : I was out of her room for most of the last day. When I was in the room, we were all laughing and joking. There was distance. There was a 'letting go'. And yet, I was there when she stopped breathing. I was talking to her, monitoring her pulse and when I said the words 'Goodbye mom' her pulse suddenly stopped. It was perfect.

So I believe that sometimes we spontaneously know what to do because at some level we are tapping into the collective consciousness of all of humankind's experiences. It is all there within us, regardless of whether we are aware of it or not.

I don't have a daughter, but Maxine and Mellissa were there taking turns to hold mom's hand, so I know that one day, they will add their own experiences to this. I hope they will share it as I am sharing mine, so that someone somewhere can access it when it is needed.

Whoever you are, whatever you have experienced, please share.