Death, dying, and forbidden knowledge are everywhere. In the western culture these subjects have been carefully measured, plotted, and planned against. As a way to highlight these "dark" arenas of western thought, I will base this article on forbidden knowledge with special interest towards soul transcendence and travel upon death. This entry is inspired by my learning of bardo (“intermediate phase”), which are highlighted in the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

In understanding what the Buddhist community describes as bardo, I begin to understand that which is lost in the west, as most of our understanding is based on this life rather than reincarnation. I have an understanding that philosophers in the 1960s made the commentary that culturally, genetically, and societally, that Westerners weren't as developed psychically as Easterners were.

In a recent lecture, Alan Watts commented that Easterners, due to the nature of their meditation practices, were better suited for things such as yoga and past and future life studies. I think that this commentary is in the process of being dated, thus implying that Westerners will be caught up in psychic development as a product of the 2012 shift. Alan Watts was also implying that the Westerner has no business practicing yoga, which I think is becoming more and more disproven by the West's (especially the USA) ability to pick yoga and run with it in a way that out-numbers Indians practicing yoga. (Yes, more yoga is practiced in the West than India, although I still think that meditation is still more prevalent in the East.)

With all phases in life and death being represented by a bardo, my research leads me to discuss the bardo of death in which a soul/mental apparition lingers translucently in this dimension. Buddhists believe that the thought form representing the recently-passed individual was around the body or at least around familiar people, places, and things for at least three weeks. (I felt that presence and experienced the thought forms of my recently-passed friend George Delgado, especially when I traveled to his family's home and the cemetery.)

During this time of unincarnated beingness, an individual's friends, family, or tribe can take an active role in helping the being/deceased move into the next life or incarnation. (Not everyone reincarnates.) It is for these belief-based reasons that many Asian cultures observe offerings for the dead or ancestors. Even in Mexico there is the Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead, a festival for offering the deceased friends and family guidance or blessings in the afterward of earthly human life.

Much research has recently come into societal focus regarding contact with the dead and this research will only stand to be more concrete as technology is improved. Things that weren't considered science yesterday are considered science today. So that which society might consider to be witchery today may be proven science tomorrow.

Furthermore, bardo is experienced in near-death experiences as well, as your body reacts to the situation with a rushing release of chemicals, producing trances, psychedelic dream states, or enlightenment awareness. Yoga is a way for the individual to reach and practice for the bardo of death and transformation safely, without going anywhere or doing anything.

Within the practice of yoga meditation and the states that lead to Samadhi (oneness or bliss through meditation), there are experiences that we can choose to have that act and recreate the situations described by the Buddhists in the texts and lectures concerning bardo. It may be difficult to fathom but yoga meditation can generate an experience for the mind that allows it to slow time and lengthen the experience of dreams, live life and death, and be reborn even before Savasana (corpse pose meditation) is complete (three to ten minutes).

One way that people are "born again" or saved from learning disabilities or mental disorders is through meditation or lucid dreaming. I personally encourage every parent to teach their children how to lucid dream by the age of 12. I know that when I learned to meditate and to lucid dream around the age of 12, it fostered freedom and functionality that allowed me to cope and thrive with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

To quote and encourage the experience:
"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi." (From Wikipedia article)

This article is part of an ongoing series of essays entitled "Yoga as Preparation for Death and Dying" Check out other articles and leave comments at http://wakingwithin.blogspot.com)