Awakening to Oneness: My Realization of First Principle Thinking
At 3 a.m. on July 15th. I was lingering in the hypnagogic state of consciousness, the liminal space, the area of tranquil calm and peace, separating wakefulness and sleep, when the peaceful silence was disturbed by a non-alarming, clear male voice that said, ‘July 31st is the day’. My eyes were dry, and I struggled to open them, the lashes seemingly tangled together. I could sense my wife lying beside me, sleeping soundly.
I sat with this message for the next 48 hours. What did it mean? What did it reference? I sought clarity in numerous meditations. My final understanding of the phrase? July 31st was my last day. In forty-five days, my time here in this body was over.
Years ago, during a moment of meditative silence, I whispered a prayer: ‘May I be blessed to easily perceive and understand the messages being shared with me.’ After this impromptu prayer, the voice, this voice, made its presence known, offering guidance and direction in my life. When I chose to listen, my life flowed effortlessly, as if grace itself was orchestrating my journey. I came to recognize this voice as the verbalized echo of my Soul. Its declaration, ‘July 31st is the day,’ resonated deeply, compelling me to listen and subsequently wonder.
The Power of Belief & Reflection
Over the course of the next week, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my life. I treasured all moments with a refined sense of wonderment and gratitude while embodying presence and awareness. It seemed nothing slipped by unnoticed. The flowers, trees, and grass beckoned me into their silent inner worlds as I evaluated and investigated each moment for the next month of my life. Travel? A bucket list? Regrets?
Tears flowed as I realized a profound truth: How I spend my time is how I spend my life.
The last two weeks of reflection allowed me to understand I was living perfectly. I lived in an embodied space of forgiveness and love for myself and those closest to me. This understanding brought me an overwhelming sense of peace.
On the 4th of July, I received an email from the Vipassana shala in Wisconsin, reminding me of a ten-day silent meditation for which I had signed up five months earlier, at the behest of the voice no less. Examining the details of the retreat revealed its end date, July 31st. I shared this with my wife.
“July 31st is the day! It’s your day of awakening,” she said.
The concept of ‘awakening’ is multifaceted and open to interpretation. Based on my experience, I interpret it as Turiya, Illumination, or the Beatific Vision, the state of pure consciousness experienced when someone has the immediate knowledge and experience of God and of their divine nature.
With this new understanding of the message, I chose to go to Wisconsin.
My Vipassana Experience
Four hours into the eight-hour drive, I felt a pencil-sized stream of energy above my head, as though Vicks Vapor Rub were there. This crisp energy continued into the morning of the 5th day of Vipassana. A hundred hours of silence and nearly forty hours of sitting resulted in a mind racing and a body in agony. Contrary to our instruction, I decided to open my eyes, and my gaze immediately fell upon the sharp contrast of a jet-black screw sticking out of an alabaster wall in front of me.
I was startled as I realized seeing was occurring through me, not by me. The me that ‘I’ was used to vanished, resulting in a profound experience of seeing that enveloped and included all senses. I was not a body. I was awareness experiencing a body experiencing seeing.
All of this happened in an instant, and in that instant, a powerful energy seemed to explode from the top of my head toward the sky. My spine was afire. What was looking was one with what was being seen. I was confused and disoriented like a dog chasing its tail. My body was electric, my vision crystal clear as though a 100-year-old dilapidated farmhouse window was suddenly removed. My experience slowed, and all parts of reality became overwhelmingly informational. It was the 25th of July.
For the next few days, during lunch breaks, I found peace in a nearby sand cove surrounded by trees. It felt like I had transcended time, noticing the vibrations of a bird’s chirp on my skin before the sound reached my ears or feeling the scent of a flower on my skin before its smell reached my nostrils. I was both the observer and the observed.
I realized we are perfection propelled through perfection, discovering perfection along the way. It was the 30th of July.
On Sunday morning, July 31st, the day I was to leave and head home, I awoke at 2 a.m. to a sharp ringing in my ears. I sat upright in bed, crossed my legs, and felt a stillness arrive, followed by the eruption of a white light that engulfed me. The energy was galactic, universal, all-powerful, and all-knowing. It was powerful enough to move the entire earth across the universe instantly. I was bathed in light, immersed in it. It was July 31st.
Time was a blur. Had minutes passed or hours? I couldn’t tell. Eventually, the thought, “What next?” arose. After a week’s worth of deep meditation, I remembered, “Just open your eyes,” So I did.
Realizing First Principle As Our Experience of Life
This profound personal experience has not only changed my perspective on life but also greatly influenced my professional practice. As a Principal Architect, I now apply the concept of first principle thinking in my work on a daily basis whether I am designing technical systems and solutions, business processes, or reference frameworks. In addition to my professional work, I am also a mentor, a father, and a friend. Even after seven years, the insights gained from my vipassana experience continue to profoundly impact my daily life and work. I have come to understand the blessing of realizing the first and most fundamental principle - Oneness.
According to Aristotle, the first basis from which a thing is known is known as the first principle ^ 1. First principle thinking, which is gaining visibility now due to the likes of Elon Musk, who references it often as the way he’s transformed the industries of elective vehicles and space travel, seeks to identify the essence or essential nature of what exists. I’ve realized that through Vipassana, I transcended understanding first principle. I now realize first principle thinking as an experience.
The essence of my experience begins with me, being. All meaning, belief, perspective, creation, and knowledge occurring through or realized by me are derivative of this phenomenon.
Join me as I seek to expand on the power of integrating first principle thinking into your business, your designs, and your life.
I am currently a Principal Security Architect working for H&R Block. Feel free to follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram @chuckj67 or @yourareheldinlove