Welcome to Brandt Morgan's Online Community

It’s Your Choice: The Inspiring Conclusion
of Brandt's Book, Vision Walk

Before I leave you to your practice, I want to say a few more things about choice. In a way, choice is what the Vision Walk is all about. Until we find the truth in our hearts, we really don’t have much choice. We’re mostly at the whim of our beliefs and programming. We’re acting on automatic. The Vision Walk starts to make real choice possible by helping you change your point of view.

From the point of view of the conditioned mind, the world is a very scary place—a place where you need to protect and defend yourself from danger and death. The choices you make from that fear-based perspective will probably be very limited and constricting. From the perspective of the heart, which knows you are eternal and connected to all things, your choices—based in love—will tend to be much more expansive.

By now you know from firsthand experience that you can see new ways of looking at life by going to the source of who you really are. But what lies beyond this life? Is it possible to change your deep-seated beliefs and fears about death? The truth of that, too, is inside you. When you see it, it can change your perspective forever, not to mention your day-to-day choices about life.

In 1998 I had a near-death experience. (No, I hasten to say, it was not the result of a Vision Walk.) The circumstances don’t matter much now, except to say that my heart was beating about 220. Other than that, I was lying peacefully under a tree, looking up at the stars and the moon through a canopy of leaves. Miguel, who fortunately is also a medical doctor, was kneeling by my side. He had already listened to my heart and quickly decided what needed to be done.

“Close your eyes and take a deep breath,” he said.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As I lay quietly beneath the tree seeing nothing but darkness, Miguel pushed his thumbs against my eyeballs. In that moment, the quality of my experience changed. I found myself floating in the blackness of empty space. In the far distance was a tiny star—a pinprick of light that grew quickly larger and brighter. As the light approached, it exploded with life, radiating sparks brighter than the blaze from an acetylene torch.

Just as I was marveling that it was possible to look directly at the sparks without going blind, they engulfed me, and I went blasting through a tunnel of light. The entire tunnel was composed of magnificent little sparks, each one sentient, intelligent, alive. Speeding past me in the opposite direction like stars in hyperspace, each one knew and loved me intimately, and I knew and loved them back. Somehow I knew they were rushing out from the void to have experiences in the world—to become trees, rocks, people, mosquitoes, whales, wildflowers—and I was rushing back to merge with the source of all things.

I was in utter ecstasy. “Oh, my God, Miguel!” I exclaimed. “Is this where you go?” Curiously, my talking to Miguel seemed perfectly normal. As normal as switching channels on a TV set. One moment I was tuned to Channel 7, looking up at the moon through the tree branches, the next I was on Channel 13, rushing through hyperspace in the Starship Enterprise.

Miguel’s response to my question was blunt and matter-of-fact: “Now you know what it is like to die.”

No, it can’t be! I thought. I’ve never felt more alive! Like a drop of water that suddenly remembers it is part of the sea, all I wanted to do was rush down that pulsating river and merge with the unfathomable ocean of love at the other end.

Miguel did not buy my enthusiasm. “I’m talking with the archangels,” he said firmly, “and they’re telling me that if you go, you’re not coming back! Take another breath.”

As I took another breath, Miguel pushed back on my eyeballs again, and I went racing even further into the tunnel. I pleaded with him to come with me, insisting that we could travel all the way to the source and come back to tell about it.

“If you don’t listen to me, you’re gonna be a goner,” he warned.

Four times Miguel pushed back on my eyeballs, and four times I sped further through the tunnel, as oblivious to danger as a stone plummeting to the earth from a 40-story building. The gravitational pull of love was too powerful to resist.

Finally Miguel interrupted my near-fatal reverie with a quick whack of his fist on my chest. I returned involuntarily, and half an hour later I was lying on a comfortable bed chatting with Miguel about the experience.

“That was pretty amazing,” I said, “but the most amazing thing was how powerful the pull was. I know you go through that tunnel all the time. How do you ever get back?”

Miguel smiled. “I love to visit God,” he said. “Each time I visit, I ask him, ‘Can I stay with you this time?’ And he says, “Mmm, not yet. I have some more messages for you to deliver. After you deliver them, you come back again and we’ll see.”

“You mean you’re like some kind of cosmic mailman?” I asked.

“You could put it that way,” Miguel said. “Now get some sleep.”

After a good night’s sleep, I was hardly the worse for wear. But after my journey I was never the same, and neither was my world. My perspective had changed dramatically. Colors were brighter. Faces were more radiant. Life was more miraculous and inviting. The invisible world had become visible, palpable, almost tangible. The joy of consciousness emanated from everything—even from chairs, rocks, and refrigerators.

For weeks afterward, my heart felt like a glowing coal. I watched birds tumbling in the trees and felt their heartbeats as my own. I gazed into people’s faces and saw myself as in a magic mirror. I listened to music and heard playful sparks of light singing messages of love and communion.

For months I tried to make sense of my experience. Years later, it is still a great mystery, but repeatedly it tells me this: The tunnel of light is not out there; it’s inside. God is in every cell, and every cell rejoices at the memory of its maker. We all came from the light, and we’re all going back to it. In fact, we never left it. It’s as present as the air we breathe.

If that is true, then why not live it? Why not be the light? The answer to that question is in our beliefs and choices.

Back in Santa Fe a few weeks after my encounter with death (a word that to me seems laughable because even the most brilliant radiance of this life pales in comparison), Miguel asked me to recount my experience to the rest of his apprentices. I rambled on for over an hour. When I was done, Miguel added some comments of his own. I would like to include some of them here because they are so inspiring and so pertinent to the ultimate purpose of the Vision Walk and this book: to help you discover and experience the real you, to help you make wiser and more courageous choices, to help you live with joy instead of fear.

With that, I invite you to join Miguel’s circle of apprentices. Just imagine that you are seated in the spacious, light-filled living room of a beautiful ranch house near Santa Fe, New Mexico, glimpsing through the window the fantastic rock formations that give this place the name, “The Garden of the Goddess.” Imagine, as you read Miguel’s words, that you can hear the rhythmic cadence of his voice and feel the truthful, loving energy of his heart. Imagine he is speaking directly to you.

Here is what he said: I wanted Brandt to share his experience for one reason: for you guys to know the truth about what is in that place we call the “other side.” It is something that is so obvious, but with all our intelligence we try to explain and justify. We complicate everything.

The truth is that there is only one living being in the entire universe, only one living being. The name is not important, but we call it God. There is only one. It is in everything, and it’s obvious. We don’t need to search for God. There is nothing to search for. We don’t need for someone to take us to God, because everything you can perceive, sooner or later, is going back to God. More than that, everything is already with God. It’s obvious: Everything and everybody is going back to God—even if you don’t want to.

And if you don’t need to work so hard looking for God, what is left for you? Isn’t it obvious what is left? To be alive. To be happy. To do the best you can to enjoy the journey.

You can enjoy your life, or you can be miserable; it’s your choice. You can beat yourself up and be abusive with yourself. You can create all those dramas around you. Or you can enjoy life. You can be nice—sharing, giving, receiving. Or you can be selfish and make everybody hate you. You can hurt people and get hurt. All that is just choices. Either way, you’re going back to God.

Nobody is condemned. What you do during the journey is up to you. You can create your own hell right here. But it is your creation; it’s you. And it all depends on what you believe. Whatever you believe is not true anyway. You can believe the worst about yourself, or you can believe the best about yourself. Either way, it’s not the truth. It’s just a dream. It’s just a world of illusion. It’s just a program that is put in the computer of your mind.

What is true is that you can choose how to play. You can choose to believe that you are the worst, or you can choose to believe that you are the best. Neither is true, but what do you enjoy? You can choose to play, or you can choose to be always serious. You can choose to judge everybody and make everybody wrong so you can be right. Or you can just relax and let the world be what it is. You can try to be in charge, to be responsible for everybody around you and suffer because they are not responsible. Or you can choose just to allow them to be, to love them the way they are, and have the best in every relationship you have.

You can choose to have all those resentments against your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters. You can choose to be in conflict with them. You can choose to feel victimized for the way they guided you. You can choose to judge them and find them guilty and try to punish them. You can choose to play God, or you can choose just to love them, to forgive, to enjoy them before they die—or before you die. It’s just choices.

You can choose to have a conflict with your partner in life. You can choose to make his or her life miserable and make yours miserable, too. You can choose to be so controlling that you create a nightmare in every relationship you have. Or you can choose to enjoy it, to be free, to love, to give, to share, to receive.

You can choose to live your life being afraid of every step you take. You can choose to create all those demons around you with your fears and be afraid to be what you are. Or you can choose to ignore them, not believe in them, to create all those angels who take care of you and enjoy them. It is your choice.

You can see that you are trapped in your own beliefs. You believe something is wrong. You believe something is not possible. You believe that you don’t have the courage. Then, thy will be done. But it’s your belief. If you believe that you’re victimized, then you are victimized. If you believe that you cannot be happy, then you cannot be happy. It’s about what you believe.

But if you know that your beliefs are not true, and that all those lies were ruling your life for all those years, perhaps you can be free of your own beliefs. You don’t have to believe yourself anymore when you tell yourself that you’re not good enough, not strong enough, not beautiful enough. You don’t have to believe yourself when you tell yourself that you cannot make it. You don’t have to believe yourself when you believe that nobody understands you and nobody loves you. You don’t have to believe yourself when you believe that nobody cares about you, that everybody hates you. You don’t have to believe any of that. It’s just a concept, just a point of view.

To believe that you can be happy, to believe that you can love, to believe that you deserve love, joy, happiness, everything—it’s just choices. Either way it’s a world of illusion, the world of the human mind. Everything has meaning only because all of us agree. We agree on the meaning of every word in the language we use. We agree on all those concepts that rule society. We agree how things should be. But we invented it, we created it. All those concepts, all those beliefs, all those rules. We did it. Who says it’s real? No, it is not real; it is not the truth.

What is not true needs to be believed. What is true doesn’t need to be believed. It is what it is. And that is the power of the vision that Brandt had when he was dying. He saw what it is with no explanation.

Believe it or not, your body is made of atoms. You don’t need to believe it, but it’s made by atoms. Believe it or not, the sun is right there. You don’t have to believe it; it is what it is. But for you to say, “I’m not worthy,” you need to believe it. You have to believe it in order for it to become real. If you don’t believe it, it means nothing; it’s just a concept. It’s a lie.

Lies need to be believed by you in order to exist. All your limitations need to be believed in order to be real. If you don’t believe them, there are no limitations. They are gone, just like snapping your fingers. Then everything becomes just a choice. And that choice is true power.

Miguel always talks about beliefs and choices. And with good reason: beliefs and choices are what determine our thoughts, feelings, actions, and destinies. What are your beliefs, and what are your choices?

From my point of view, the most powerful choices we can make are to find the truth of who we are and live our greatest dreams. The Creator is speaking to us all the time. We all have access to the word of God, every moment, right in the recesses of our own hearts. That is the central message of all great sages and spiritual paths. For followers of different religions to argue about which one is right or wrong is like two branches of the same tree arguing about which one is attached to the trunk. Beyond words, beyond books, beyond our wildest imaginings, the simple truth is staring us in the face every moment: You are one with all that is, and you are here to enjoy this life.

So let me conclude with a simple suggestion: Trust your own inner voice. By whatever means your spirit directs you, find your own truth, your own light, and let it shine. Discover your dream and live it, with no excuses. Take stock of your beliefs. Keep the ones that work, and throw the others in the trash. Make choices that will benefit yourself and everyone around you. Travel in good company, sharing your life and your dream with the ones you love. Along the way, stay as present as you can. And don’t regret or worry about a thing.

The only moment that matters is now. And if you still can’t bring yourself to believe it, maybe it’s time to take a walk. . . .

Vision Walk is now available both in CD and book form.

To purchase Vision Walk, click here.