“Get to the Heart of the Matter”–Part Three–A

Not Brad, he’ll keep going for as long as he wants…

Having reached the ripe old age of 88, some might expect I’m not anxious to pass from life unto death.

Some might even suspect that fear of death is the prime motivator for writing a series on reverse aging, but …if we step back into part two for just a quick glance, what got me beyond fearing death was not finding a purpose worth dying for, but finding a purpose worth living for, a magnificent obsession, if you will.

There were actually a series of 3 catalysts, widely separated, causing explosions in the laboratory of my life within and each of which rearranged things significantly and put me on the path I call eternal life NOW.  

The first catalyst was a panic attack from overdosing on caffeine and Benzedrine to overcome the effects of sleep deprivation and drinking too much alcohol, better known as a severe hangover.

I was afraid I was literally slipping over the edge into insanity after rapidly drinking two pots of coffee and taking two Benzedrine tablets.

Sometimes adding to your natural state can lead you to unexpected places.

At the time, I was an avowed Agnostic …someone has quipped that an Agnostic is the Greek equivalent to the Latin, Ignoramus – both simply mean you don’t know.

I had armed myself with all sorts of intellectual arguments to prove that such a stance was highly intelligent and all the foregoing makes for a meaningful backdrop to demonstrate the seemingly incongruent significance of what I did to overcome the panic attack.

What I did could even be called a direct contradiction, a denial to the agnosticism in which I thought I so thoroughly believed!

I yelled, “Jesus, if you’re real, take over my life, I need help!” …a rather strange thing to do for somebody that had rejected all religion on the philosophical basis that it’s impossible to know and, thus not too smart to believe otherwise.

However, desperately calling upon Jesus to take over my life, proved to be the perfect antidote to BOTH the hangover AND the ridiculous remedy of Benzedrine and caffeine I used to overcome it; as I now felt blanketed by an overwhelming sense of peace and purpose.

Brad had a hangover that led him to Jesus

As best as I can pinpoint it, this first catalyst took place in 1957 …9 years prior to the 2nd catalyst described in the previous article (Part Two) in the series, that of being awakened to an unconscious fear of death by the words and actions of MLK, Jr. in Chicago.

The reason it took 9 years to get to that second catalyst was because within about six weeks after I yelled for Jesus to take over my life, and was overtaken by a deep sense of peace and purpose, I started thinking I needed to learn more about Jesus historically and what better place to discover that than in a Christian church?

It would be many years before I would learn from Jesus himself that I had been seduced into referring to myself as a Christian and had become indoctrinated with all sorts of things that were in conflict with the most dramatic incident in my life to that point – Jesus alive within me and becoming my closest friend and confidante.

Next up, in Part Three – B, I will share the reason I came to believe Christianity is purposeful obfuscation, that is, deliberately disseminated bullshit, for the purpose of confusing, distracting and leading humanity away from what Jesus said–is saying right now, was his primary purpose for becoming a man.




In Freedom,

Brad

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“Get to the Heart of the Matter” – Part Two

I remember the first time the fear of death really jolted me.

Is there really something to fear?

It was from reading a magazine interview of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the time he and his family were living in a slum apartment in Chicago in 1966 and his reason for doing so.

The quote that stirred my fear came about when the reporter asked King if all the threats he was receiving as a result of what he was doing in Chicago didn’t make him fearful of being killed . . .

“A man who doesn’t know what he’d die for isn’t fit to live”

It wasn’t until I understood my purpose for living that my fear of death became inconsequential; because my focus went from death to life and this meant needing to live in order to fulfill my purpose.

This made understanding another of King’s quotes more conformational rather than confrontational and disruptive to my peace of mind.

Living excited book
Living with clarity can be exciting.

  “There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual      bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”

One of the questions repeated over and over in the previous reverse aging series was, “what is the point of living longer if you don’t know your purpose for living?”

The purpose for writing this new series is not to convince anyone that my purpose for living should be their purpose, NO!

The purpose of writing this series is to clarify my own beliefs, for me, and to share those beliefs with those who are willing to look at BOTH living AND dying, but from a far different standpoint than that held by the vast majority of humanity.

The following is a quote from a course, Believing 101, I wrote several years ago:

Do we really know what death is?

Introducing: The Radical Revolution against Aging and Death, HINT: It’s all about not only extending this life while entering the “kingdom of heaven within” NOW and without dying – EVER!”

In Part Three of, Get to the Heart of the Matter, we’ll explore the catalyst that can propel anyone to the place from where they can see this view and decide which, if any, parts they may want to adopt into their own purpose(s).

See you there!




In Freedom,

Brad

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“Get to the Heart of the Matter” – Part One

Let’s get to it…

A Brand New Brad Cullen Series, by Doug Ferguson, the same OLD author . . .

Yesterday morning around 10 am I received a call from St. Augustine about 350 miles north of here, “Hi Grandpa.”

It was the mother of my 25 year old great-grandson, the potential progenitor of my first great-great-grandchild …since he’s the only great-grandchild so far. She told me that she and her husband were driving down to Key West and wanted to know if we could meet for lunch in Fort Lauderdale around 2:00.

Something painful happened. A picture was taken and I look well over 100 years old! My most recent driver’s license and passport photos were a bad enough shock to my system, but this picture along with losing my balance for a couple seconds led me to some deep introspection.

On the thirty minute drive back to home and office, I also felt driven to ask quietly, “Was this a wakeup call to be busy about what I’m meant to be doing? And which received the answer in the title …“Get to the Heart of the Matter.”

Let’s get to it…

At 88 I’m currently the CEO of an advertising agency helping local businesses recover from one of the worst years for small businesses since the Great Depression of the 1930s; and my partner, the founder of the agency and Chairman of the Board of the parent company, is also in his eighties, just not in so deeply.  

A profound peace came over me as I uttered the “prayer” that always gets me back on and to the purpose for my being here …”I want YOUR will unto the death of every other ambition.”

I was assured it wasn’t a matter of either or, but of BOTH this AND that.

“This” being continue to work with my close friend and partner of over 50 years and “that” also being busy about something I started by writing the 11-part, Brad Cullen series on reverse aging (link below). Do I ever need to get serious about doing some of the things that I’ve researched and are in the medical literature with peer review scientific research to be found in such prestigious places as New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard Medical Review, Mayo clinic and others.

Let’s get to it…

Making the turn into our street, getting tensed up and ready to get back to an agency project – I heard, “Don’t get ahead of me;” oops, what now?

I immediately knew what the “heart of the matter is.” FEAR! Come back to Heart of the Matter Part two …and I’ll tell you all about it. The links to Reverse Aging series:

1. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1230 2. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1242

3. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1252  4. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1262

5. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1274  6. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1344

7. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1358  8. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1369

9. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1386  10. http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1400

Conclusion: http://spiritualhealingsource.com/?p=1414

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Posted in Perspective by Ryan Bruce. No Comments