Although I studied anatomy and biology as a clinical pathology major in college, it was through my personal experiences that I came to understand my brain. The greatest lesson came during my desperate search for the meaning of my life, when I engaged in a twenty-one-day sleep-deprived fast on a remote mountain in South Korea.
As you might have experienced, Ilchi lee says that, going without sleep is much more difficult than going without food. After three days without sleep, I started muttering to myself; after five days, I was not able to control my body or mind. In fact, I really went out of my mind. It was in that nearly delirious state, however, that I learned to peer into that “place beyond thought.” I had to go to the very edge of conscious awareness. Only then can one access what has been called universal consciousness. Even a tiny bit of “self”" consciousness can block a person from experiencing this realm fully.
When I couldn’t stand any longer, I gave up in the most absolute and utter sense of the word. At that very moment, a voice rang out loud within me: “My body is not me but mine.” Therefore, it followed that it was not me who was hurting; it was just my body that was in pain. It was so unbearable that I was about to give up my body. It was at that very moment, with a lightening realization, that I became aware that my body is not me but mine. I heard the sound of a huge explosion inside my head. Suddenly, my consciousness became very clear, and everything became clear.
