The Entity: A Short Story

I awoke in familiar surroundings. It was pitch black darkness, my eyes could see no conceivable images, but I knew instinctively I was in my bed at home. Suddenly I was overcome with terror. I realized that I could not breathe. There was a crushing weight on my chest, like someone had put hundreds of pounds on top of me. The panic and terror welled up as I realized I was incapacitated, helpless. A million quick explanations ran through my head, each one implausible and unimportant for the moment. I tried to get up again and again until my mind screamed "Oh my God, my limbs, I cannot move my limbs!" I had no power. Some unseen force was pushing me down, forcing me to stay down. My head was so lightheaded and dizzy. I tried to vocalize my thoughts, to speak, but it was if my chords were paralyzed. My terror was trapped inside of me.

In my head I started the Lord's Prayer, stumbling through the words. The feeling lessened to the point I could get up. I staggered to my feet, in the darkness slowly but effortlessly over the terrain. I got all the way to the door and then suddenly something grabbed me. I held onto the door frame for dear life, clinging as if my life depended on it for deep inside I knew it did. The unseen entity kept pulling with more and more veracity. I felt like Dorthy getting caught in a tornado in Kansas, helpless to a force that was more powerful than me. I finally vocalized one last scream "Help me! Help me!" But no one came. The entity sucked me in.

I woke up then, screaming.

Looking Beyond the Veil of Illusion

In many eastern schools of thought, the world is nothing more than illusion. Ignorance is

believing the illusion and to stop ignorance you have to look beyond. How do you look beyond the veil of illusion? Do we even want to look beyond the veil of illusion?

Everyone individual was born unique. We all have a unique perspective that are different from anyone else. We share opinions in common but you see the world, uniquely, through your eyes. We make choices based on our perspective many a times. But our perspective is innately flawed because we are the only one who sees that way. So what should a person base their views on? If you can't count on your preception what can you count on?

In Buddhism, it is compassion that leads to enlightenment, and helps you overcome that ignorance. Everything is rooted in compassion. If you view everyone, yourself, your friends, your enemies and strangers with nuetrality with equal compassion then you take a step towards overcoming ignorance. Why should you love your enemies? Because your enemies are ignorant and should be pitied for doing harmful actions and accumulating bad karma. With the idea of reincarnation, you never know how your enemy could pop up in your next life. (mother, brother, sister) Good or bad actions accumulate karma. Accumulated karma is what gives you a favorable or unfavorable birth in your next life. It is through love and compassion, in stopping the suffering of others, that you truly break through the veil if ignorance. (Altruism)

So why are we born as we are, unique individuals with these unique perspectives? According to Buddhism again, we are born into a life of what karma we accumulated in the last. Past-life karma creates your position. We are continually reborn until we can transcend karma and try to attain Buddahood. Buddahood from my perspective is not becoming a God, which some would disagree, but is the highest goal of attainment for a human being. Buddha represents the highest transcendence of a human being.

We seem to spend a lot of time in life on ourselves and ego. We are naturally egocentric but has that ever brought you happiness? The more we focus on self, the tighter we wrap ourselves in the blanket of ignorance. We must transcend that ignorance if we wish to be happy.

Old Man in a Chair

Old man in a chair

Sitting silent with a cold stare

Watching the window to the outside

Seeing life going, flying right by

Day to Night, Night to Day

Losing all sense of time

The clock continually ticking away

Life circles completed, nothing stays

From youthful glow, to wrinkled grey

From having lots, to very little to say

So goes the passing of an age

Like little specks of dirt, flying away