My uber driver

I was on holiday in Cape Town. Life had sent me some financial curveballs and was I feeling a little distrustful about its benevolence. I got an Uber to Mum and Mike.  Without me mentioning my life or predicament at all, my Uber driver told me how a couple of years ago he was financially destitute.  Being God intoxicated, he prayed for help.  Then suddenly he was contacted by a Joburg company who offered him the chance to rent a car and end up owning it.  It just felt right so he spent his last remaining money to get there.  When he arrived at the dealership, he was gobsmacked to discover that his tshirt was exactly the same colour as the ribbon on his new car.  "It was a clear sign and it gave me the most extraordinary sense of trust and gratitude" he told me.  He drove the car home and used it to generate income as an Uber driver.  "It has brought me so much financial prosperity" he said.  "Life is good.  God is good."

The story brought tears to my eyes.  It reminded me of the exquisite benefits of trusting Life and surrendering to it.  There is an Infinite Intelligence running the show and I am loved and cared for.  Life is not meant to make us happy but to wake us up.  So not all will always go to plan.  But ultimately all is as it is meant to be and all is unfolding for the ultimate benefit of The All.  There is nothing but The All.  Life is inherently good.

Below is the photo of him getting the car.  He was delighted that he had inspired me and I wanted a copy of it.

Moments of synchronicity (2023)

 Two wonderful synchronicities on the same day:

Trying to understand is like chasing a butterfly

In the car, on the way to our weekend away near Ceres, I asked Heather, Russell's mum, a whole lot of questions about her belief in God. Eventually, she exclaimed "You need to get out of your head. God is not an intellectual thing. God is an intuitive experience."  We arrived at our destination,  at The Fynbos Farm.  As we drove to our cottage on the farm, we drove past a large poster that said "Trying to understand with intellect is like chasing a butterfly. Sit quietly and understanding will alight on you."

The five green apples

In the kitchen of our cottage, there was a painting on the wall of 5 green apples. In a bowl, on the counter, were five identical green apples; the apples that Russell had brought for us to eat on the weekend.

Moments of synchronicity (2022)

Meeting James at La Perouse

I was hiking at La Perouse with Gavin, Srini and Elna.  As we walked, we spoke of Gavin's friend, James, who I knew well and liked very much.  Gavin said he had asked James to come hiking with us that day, but that he had decided he wanted to do a solitary hike to sort some things out in his head.  Half an hour later. we walked out onto an isolated headland to have some lunch.  Suddenly who should appear but James!  He said he had never hiked at La Perouse before but had decided to explore it on a whim.  The chances of us doing the same hike and then meeting in this isolatied spot was mind boggling.

The NRMA service van

A few months later, I went birding at Barton Park near Botany Bay. I parked at an isolated parking spot well off the main road and walked into the park.  After a couple of hours, as I walked back to the car, I remembered I had switched on my car lights on my early morning drive to the park and had forgotten to switch them off. I made mental peace with it as I returned to the car. When I reached the car, what should I discover, but an NRMA van parked right next to my car. There were no other car in the parking lot. The NRMA driver had parked there to have a short break. I asked him for a jump start and he willingly obliged.

Synchronicity: "It's like a movie, right?"

I was walking to the post office in North Sydney.  As I walked down the Princes Highway, my mind turned to my favourite metaphor; "Life is God's movie." I had some beautiful thoughts about how relevant this metaphor is and how life feels just like a movie."

As I neared the post office, a man and a woman walked past me.  At the very moment they passed me, I heard the guys saying "It's like a movie, right?"   There is absolutely no way I imagined this.   I heard it so very clearly. 

A sense of wonder at the synchronicity arose in me.  Life felt dream-like and pregnant with meaning.

Synchronicity: Life is God's movie

In 2016, I woke up in a very elevated state similar in some ways with my elevated states of consciousness that I experienced during my "enlightened mania" experience in 2015.  The strong sense came over me again that life is unfolding perfectly and is a movie created, directed and experienced by God through each of us.  Life is God's movie and it is already in the can. I felt a wonderful sense of peaceful bliss at the thought.

I got out of bed, dressed and got onto a bus to go to the Spit Bridge to join some friends for a hike.  As I was driving, I received an email from Sharon giving me a link to online information about one of her favourite spiritual gurus; Paramahansa Yogananda. I explored the link to discover that "Life is God's movie" is one of his favourite metaphors.  

Later that day, I listened to a teaching by Mooji. In the talk, he too used the metaphor.  He said something along the lines of "It's all a movie. It's all just happening. Consciousness (God) is the great movie maker."

An hour or two later, an email arrived with a teaching from Scott Kiloby. In this teaching, Scott too used up the metaphor that life is a movie.

The next day, Sharon send me an email with a quote from Barry Long, a spiritual guru she admires. In it, he too used the metaphor that life is God's movie.

A couple of days later, I mentioned the "Life is God's movie" metaphor.  Yogi said "Wow, I've just read a book that contains that metaphor." He lent me the book by Merlyn Swan. She uses the metaphor including the quote: "The film of life is already in the can and all I can do is view one frame at a time. I have no choice or free will. I am a character playing a role, dancing the divine dance, the way God wants. Independence and volition are part of the illusion."  Merlyn Swan is a relatively unknown author and the chances for Yogi to be reading that book is very slim.

So, in short, I woke up with the express feeling and thought "Life is God's movie." Then in the space of only a few days, I came across this metaphor used expressly by 5 different spiritual teachers.  There was an immense sense of wonder at the synchronicity. It felt very meaningful.

Since, then, I have researched this metaphor extensively and as of 2022, I am writing a book about it.

Related

• Life is God's movie (on Wisdom Trove)

Synchronicity: Here Now

I was driving home after a weekend away. As I drove, the mind became active and I got lost in rumination.  Suddenly the insight arose, "Be Here Now"  I immediately became present and a beautiful sense of peace came over me.  At that exact moment, I looked up and saw an enormous billboard on a building.  Emblazened on it were the words "Here Now".  The full set of worlds was "Here Now: the  new Samsung Galaxy" but the words "Here Now" were in bold and caught my attention.  A beautiful sense of wonder arose in me at the extraordinary synchronicity. It felt like the divine was winking at me.

Synchronicity: "Experience field"

 In 2015, I had a deep insight that life is a kind of "experience field" for God.  God is experiencing being each of us.  In other world, I am God within an "experience field" that filters out all knowing except the knowing relevant to being me. This explains why an omnipotent universal mind (God) can have the experience of being a "separate self."  I am not sure where this insight came from.  It was either a kind of cosmic download or inspired by reading "The Mystery Experience" by Tim Freke.  In any case, it felt like a very profound realisation when it arose.  

A few days later, I listened to a random Youtube video about a wildlife park in South Africa. It was kind of an advertisement for the park.  The first thing the narrator said is "Come to our wonderful wildlife reserve. It is an extraordinary "field of experience."  I had never heard this expression said before and have not since.  It felt very significant as if Life was saying to me, "Take note. This insight that life is an experience field for God is highly relevant."

Relevant link

• God as a unified field and us as localised experience fields within it (Wisdom Trove)

Synchronicity: The swifts

I discovered that Dani, my ex girlfriend who I broke up with in 2013, was in a long term relationship with a beautiful man (Paul) who she met a few months after our relationship ended.  There was some inevitable pain in the discovery as I was still in love with her but I was also deeply happy that she had met someone special.  

Several times, while out doing my mindful walking, my mind would turn to Dani and I'd wish her well.  She really wanted a child. I wished and prayed to the universe that she be able to have a child with Paul despite her being in her 40's. 

Then, on one weekend, I went camping. I lay alone next to a beautiful river and wished Dani and her relationship well and hoped with all my heart that she be able to have a family.  As I did so, a huge flock of swifts and starlings suddenly swirled and swooped above me.  Swifts for me have deep spiritual significance ever since a mystical experience I had in India in 1997.  I took it as a sign from the universe that Dani was well and that she was being taken care of.

I later discovered that Paul already had a young son, and as time went on, I thought that maybe this was the universe's way of blessing Dani with a family as she was getting too old to have a child of her own.  The thought gave me comfort.

In 2019, on Facebook, Dani, at the age of 47,  announced the birth of a beautiful little girl called Zoe.  I will never forget the surge of joy and gratitude I felt.

Synchronicity: Shooting stars

I was at The Breede River in South Africa with Russell and some other friends.  Late in the evening, when it was dark, I went outside for some alone time and I lay on the grass and looked up at the wondrous night sky.  My thoughts turned to Dani, my beautiful ex-girlfriend who I had broken up with in mid 2013.  I felt a powerful feeling of love for her and I wished with all my heart that she was well and happy.  As these feelings and wishes arose, a shooting star suddenly shot out across the sky and then another and then another.  I have never seen anything like it: 3 shooting stars in immediate succession.  I was filled with awe and wonder and gratitude.  It felt like the universe was saying to me "Dani is being taken care of.  All is well."