Best of Friends

By Don Dahlstrom

When an asteroid threatens Earth, five college age boyswho remember each other from a violent past lifeare brought together in the 21st Century to work on a spiritual solution to averting this disaster. This spiritual journey introduces the young men to the precepts of the spiritual leaders of our time such as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle. It inspires them to action with the life stories of such spiritual greats as Indra Devi, John Dear and Sri Daya Mata. Along the way they learn the power that meditation can have on the world around them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462032365

Don Dahlstrom

In this debut novel, Don Dahlstrom highlights the power of intuition and the wisdom gleaned from past lives as catalysts for remarkable change.

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Copyright © 2011 by Don Dahlstrom

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4620-3235-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-3236-5 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 09/07/2011

Contents

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

DON Dahlstrom’s Biography

Dedicated To:

Paramahansa Yogananda

"There is only one difference between you and a Yogananda.

I made the effort; now, you have to make the effort!"*

PREFACE

1024px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg

This is Mother Earth. She is our home. She is designed to take care of us. She provides us with food and water and everything we need to sustain life. We should appreciate her, but instead we assault her with pesticides and pollution. We cut down her rain forests and threaten her very existence with nuclear weapons and wars. But there is something each one of us can do. That is the message of this story.

—Don

Picture Reprinted, with permission of the publisher, from COSMIC CONVERSATIONS: DIALOGUES ON THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE SEARCH FOR REALITY (C) 2010 Stephen Martin. Published by New Page Books a division of Career Press, Pompton Plains, NJ 800-227-3371. All rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest gratitude to those who encouraged me to

Keep on keeping on in this writing effort

EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE FROM:

Linda Nicholas

David Olson

Janet Turner

Steve Rosell

Michelle Torchin

Ada Taylor

Mario Teruel

Evelyn Teich

Bob Krieger

Cheryl Anne Woodard

ENCOURAGEMENT FROM:

Eduardo Vier

Philip Bird

Rhonda & Jordi Caballero

Karen Ahlman

Laurie Baum

Rob Brigham

Theresa Curtin

Diane Eardley

Joe Mansour

And many others…

CHAPTER 1

It was about 9:30 p.m. in a modest single story home in Los Angeles, California. It had two bedrooms, two baths, a living room dining room combination, a small den library, a kitchen with a breakfast area and a small laundry room off the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley were sound asleep in their bedroom. Mr. Kingsley’s motto was early to bed early to rise, so he could take the best care of the family tree trimming business. He was very dedicated to the work. His clients were pleased with his service and were repeat customers year after year. Mary took care of the home and did the bookkeeping for their business. Their son, Bill, was just dropping off to sleep in his bedroom. About an hour passed, and he began to toss and turn. His movements were becoming more vigorous every moment. Reaching a pinnacle of violent thrashing around in his sleep, he bolted upright in a sweat. Breathing hard, Bill then calmed down, pulled the covers up tight and fell back to his pillow and off to a more restful sleep.

The following morning it took cold water on his face to bring Bill back to earth consciousness. Then he went downstairs for a full breakfast prepared by his mom. After breakfast, Bill gave her a big hug, thanked her, and then bolted out the door for the fifteen minute walk to school. He was in his first semester of college. Bill was 5 feet 9 inches tall, had a medium sized build, brown hair, and blue eyes. After his last class of the day, Bill talked with a classmate friend Mary Ann Thompson.

Mary Ann, you are so calm. You are always in control of yourself. Maybe you can help me understand a couple of problems I am having. I seldom speak of it to anyone. I sometimes get very angry inside over a difficult situation. The anger just builds up and boils inside. Also, at night I have recurring nightmares of flames, smoke, calamity, and I wake up in a sweat. Have you ever had any problems of this nature?

Mary Ann responded, No, but I solve problems by meditation. Do you meditate, Bill?

No.

Then it’s about time you start. I’ll lend you some books so you can start meditating.

The next day at lunch break Mary Ann handed Bill a book about yoga meditation. She said, The essential principle of yoga meditation is very simple and clear when viewed scientifically. She explained, All of our physical instruments—the brain, heart, muscles, organs, senses, everything—are operated by energy, and the Yogis teach that where the energy is, there is the consciousness. She continued, Ordinarily, that life energy goes out into all of the body parts; and so our consciousness becomes identified exclusively with the body and with outer experiences. As a result, we think we are this mortal body and this mortal mind. The yogis point out, if we can learn through the science of yoga meditation to direct the flow of energy inward into the centers of divine awareness in the spine and brain, then we will realize that we really are souls, children of God, one with our Father as ever existing, ever conscious, ever-new joy, or bliss consciousness.

Bill went home, delved into the books and started to learn the techniques. He sat on a straight back chair keeping his spine as straight as possible. He kept the body completely still lifting the gaze to the spiritual eye, the point between the eyebrows. Then he watched the breath in a very detached way, like watching waves flow on the seashore or like a fire dancing in a fireplace. In the days that followed, at first Bill felt his heart beat slow and finally his mind slowed down too. As the days turned into weeks he felt like a tranquil mountain lake. The books said that this was meant that the soul was present. Bill started to also notice a boundless peace, an expansive love, and ever-new joy come over him during these periods of meditation.

After two months of steady progress there suddenly was a big change.

It was about 9:00 p.m. The house was quiet; a night-light shined in the kitchen, and a golden colored kitten was entertaining itself playing with a rubber ball. Now and then the kitten pounced on the rolling ball as though it was a mouse trying to escape.

Another night-light was on in the library room. Bill was practicing his nightly routine of yoga meditation. Bill had been meditating for two months. Now he was having visions.

The following day as they left the classroom and walked by the volleyball courts Bill exclaimed with some excitement, Mary Ann, I had a vision last night, a vision of the planet Mars. The planet was having a violent earthquake. The whole top of a mountain exploded and formed a ball of molten material and then fired it into space.

Watch out Bill! exclaimed Mary Ann, just then a volleyball hit Bill on the head and they both laughed.

After they grew serious again, Bill looked at her and said, Mary Ann, I know this all sounds funny, but what does it mean?

Mary Ann explained, "As you develop your meditation sometimes the subconscious mind, acting as a projectionist, is guided by the super-conscious to forecast coming events. In fact, with continued practice you can become a developed yogi who can concentrate upon a single thought and produce consciously a true vision of a future event.

Bill was worried and asked, If this could be a future event, what do I do about it?

Well, you might call a government space agency and see if they have any information that would relate to your vision. Also, I think you need to meditate deeply on your vision and ask for the action you should take.

The following day Bill called NASA and talked to one of the information officers. He told him about his vision and asked if there was any research to confirm the idea of large objects hurtling through space from Mars.

Young man, what have you been drinking?

I haven’t been drinking anything. It’s just that I had a vision and I want to check and see if it has any validity.

The agent realized how earnest Bill was and reluctantly agreed. All right, give me the details and your phone number and I will check it out and let you know.

A day later, Bill got a phone call from the agent at NASA. He informed Bill that NASA had no record of any objects between here and Mars headed towards Earth.

Bill thanked the agent for his effort and hung up the phone. But he still was not satisfied. He decided to take Mary Ann’s advice and meditate more deeply on this Mars vision.

That evening Bill meditated. Again he had a vision of Mars.