Zombies are real

Yes!  Zombies are real.  I’ve seen them.  The walking dead are among us.
Eyes glued to the idiot tube, I saw one gorging on fried chicken, followed by buffalo wings, washing it down with an extra large container with liquid sugar and an abomination called high fructose corn syrup.  Getting fatter by the minute.
A nervous and agitated one, bolted out at night on November 26, 2014. Drove out in its four wheeler, rushing through the streets, not stopping at stop signs, in a frenzy, towards a large set of concrete structures.  Finding a spot to stop its conveyance, this one ran towards the entrance, only to see there were hundreds of other crazies in front.  Reluctantly this one moved to the back for fear of being beaten up.  “Black Friday Sale”, the banner announced.  And then the doors opened, and the feeding frenzy began.  Trampling over one another this lunatic crowd beat path into the structure, grabbing at all manner of gadgets, clothes, shoes.  Shoving, pushing, yelling, grabbing, injuring others, the nervous one was an warrior on a mission, to consume.
Sitting in front of a pair of big computer screens, in a swanky high rise in New York City was this tired but determined one.  Lights flashing on the screen, lines on charts moving up and down.  This one is hungry, and it is 3pm and it hadn’t eaten.  But it was glued with its hands on the keyboard and mouse.  Clicking, clacking. Jumping up in elation one moment. Angry and swearing the next. “Real-time trading station”, the screens showed at the top. 
Twitching and crouching in a corner was this big built one.  Anxiously looking over the window to the outside.  Nervously glancing at the back.  Beads of sweat running down its temples.  Over and over and over.  Hours passed.  Nothing really happened in the room or around it.  But this one continued to indulge in its drama.  Clearly, this one was afraid.  Who was coming?  To do what?  Did anyone even care what this one did or didn’t do?  Did it matter to this one?
A suit clad one opens the door to the home, and announces, “Honey!  I’m home”.  Puts its suitcase away.  Loosens its shirt.  Hungry, it shouts out “Honey!  What are dinner plans?”.  Silence.  Another one appears, distraught, in sheer rage. “You just don’t care. All your ever think is about food.  Yourself. And food.  Did you know what a lousy day I had?  The car broke down. Had to take it to service. Missed picking up Joey. Had to call a sitter to pick him up. Missed the dental appointment. Had to reschedule. Picked up groceries. But the bag tore. Everything went wrong. You don’t care. All you want is dinner”, this one ranted and raved, swearing with cuss words.  The suit was aghast, pale. Its hunger was clearly gone.
This one was in a uniform.  Carried a gun.  Walking in the park, it sees another one, a colored one.  Going up to it, the uniformed one demands the colored one to show its pockets. Getting agitated, the uniformed one yells, shouts.  The colored one runs away in fear. Taking its gun out, the uniformed one shoots the colored one it is back many times.  Ooops, the uniformed realizes, it has killed the other one.  It handcuffs the dead one, and lies to its group, about why the colored one got shot.
Vote for me.  I am for family values, this preachy one tells a group.  I care about children.  It gets recognition. It is popular with some others.  It gets powerful.  And then one day, it is caught with its pants down when it is found that this one actually molested children when it was younger.  
We need to go to war, declared these set of of powerful ones.  And the half of everyone else cheered.  Let us bomb this country.  And the other one.  And yet another one.  Let us send our young ones to war.  Send them with marching orders. To go kill others.  Get killed.  Or get maimed.  Return home to where people will give the honorable ones, just the honorable sounding words, but no honorable behavior.  The war mongering ones go on going on war mongering.  And the unthinking ones go on cheering, egging them on.
Mindless millions are right here, living with us, amidst us.
You see, zombies of all kinds live alongside us, now.  Angry ones, Fearful ones.  Greedy ones.  Gluttonous ones.  Hoarding ones.  Violent ones.  Lying ones.  Cheating ones.  Killer ones.  War mongering ones.  Raping ones.  Molesting ones. Thieving ones. Hating ones.  Brutal ones.  Endless kinds of zombies are in our midst.  Walking our landscapes.  Living like “normal” ones.  
You know them.  
You can see them, if you notice carefully, the crazy things they do, you see they seem to be caught in a trance.  Much of their actions and reactions seem as if they are automated.  Happening as it were, in one who is not conscious, not aware.  Like the animated dead.  Zombies.
Geez!  Why are so many people like zombies?
One day I looked in the mirror, and I found one close to home.  A zombie was right here too.  It was me.  Holy crap!

I was the angry one.  The fearful one.  The gluttonous one.  The greedy one.  The lying one.  The judgmental one.  Sure, I wasn’t the killing, or hating, or thieving kind.  But a zombie I still was.

Who am I?  I asked the one in the mirror.  Why did I behave in the ways that I did?  Why was I living unconsciously?  Why was I being a zombie?
There was a clearance in the inside.  
The question went deeper.  Who am I?
Not the body.  The body has been changing on me every day, and yet I have not been changing.
Not the mind.  The mind in only a set of thoughts, and images.  They’ve been coming and going, and yet I have not been coming and going with them.
Not my possessions. Even just a year ago, I didn’t have half the crap I do now.  Was I half of me a year ago.  Clearly not.
Not my name.  I can change my name in court tomorrow.  But I am still I, me.
Not my family.  Sadly, that too can change, and I still would be me.
Not my feelings, emotions.  They shift and change all the time.  I can’t feel the say way as I did just an hour ago.  Still there I doesn’t change.
Not my beliefs.  Well!  Even these come and go, and have changed over the years. And I don’t even know all the things I believe in or don’t believe in.  Yet, there is still a firm “I” here though.  
If these I’m not, then what is the “I” that seems to be bringing forth the zombie behavior, AND the “I” that is asking these questions to the one in the mirror?
It is logical that, in my perception, there is something that makes me behave like a zombie, AND something that is not that.  When the zombie self is not active, like when I’m taking in a breathtaking scene in nature, or an exhilarating piece of music, or the smile of my child, I feel peace, love, happiness.  When the zombie self is active, I’m all tight, and feeling small, greedy, worried, miserable, unhappy, angry.  
Logically to me, just based on the way it makes me feel, and how I am with the world around me and the people around me, the non-zombie aspect of myself is wonderful, and the zombie aspect sucks.
This, the sages and the awakened masters, say, are the “false self” (“illusory self”, “the lower self”, “the separate self” — the zombie self as we’ve referred to it here), and the “true self” (“higher self”, “real self”, “true self”, “the one”, “the great bright light” — the non-zombie self) in
us.
If we don’t like our zombie self, we need to learn and practice to let it go, so we can be the true self that is also here, now.
How can that be done?
The system of Reiki shows the way, starting with the precepts of Usui san.  Practicing the precepts is a powerful way to practice being our real self, the “great bright light”.  Free from anger. Free from worry.  Humble. Authentic. Compassionate. Peaceful. Happy.
And when we do undertake this practice, get adept at it, abide in and as our true self, we’ll one day see that this whole zombie bit, this wasn’t even there in the first place.  Never existed.  It wasn’t even real.
Until then, my friends, Zombies are real.  We are them. 
Do we want to mindlessly wander through this lifescape?  Or mindfully embrace our true self, and be that?  That choice is ours.