If you ever went on a planned adventure, you always took one last little
pause to ask yourself, do I have everything I need? ... water,
flashlight, etc. In that spirit, be sure to tuck this thought into
a handy pocket: Remember, it's not the
stories themselves that are important. It's the 
value we derive from them and what comes to live in us as a
result. What lasting impact
does the event have on the life of the experiencer?
Similarly, how might such events lastingly influence the lives of those
who hear
or read about them? Notice how it feels to imagine the
difference if you never encountered others' experiences of this
nature. What if we never shared them? What if
you never knew such possibilities could exist? Or what if
someone's or your type of experience showed up in the Physician's Desk
Reference as if it were a type of pathological aberration? How
would that feel different to you than the perception of such events
being inherently normal, healthy, healing, wholeness-making, uplifting,
connecting and validating of the pervading Larger Life?
As many alive today remember, before the 1990s it was very rare even for
close family and friends, at least in the United States, to share their
unusual or spiritual experiences. With regard to my family's
stories, only after a young brother's passing did I hear of any such
events -- in 1985, and that was likely because I asked. One was shared with my mother on a grandmother's
deathbed years before, which I did not hear of till not long before
my own mother's passing in 2001.
And I'm willing to bet my life my grandmother did not tell one other soul during
the roughly 50 years that had lapsed since that wondrous moment. Another
involving much younger brothers and my parents and that same
grandparent was
never mentioned to me until my brother's 'death',
a dozen years after it took place. Yet each person who witnessed
these wondrous events, most likely considered these to be surely among
the most significant of their lives.
Their stories have so enriched me and my experience of my family and of life in
general. They have given me insight into those who had the experiences
and reinforced my own spiritual beliefs in a way that, short of my own
experiences, nothing else could. They also deeply validated my
inner experiences the way nothing else could. They gave me hope
for all of us and life on this Earth, that we can be so touched by
Spirit, directly, experientially, that Spirit would so grace us,
any-to-all of us as simply members of the Human Family, that such things don't just belong
to the time of ancient religious origins, don't just occur among a
spiritual elite or any given religious group, nor are they merely myths or
fantasies or psychoses. They have left me with a sense of
continuity and caring and "roots" that feel good and that are
clearly sourced in other than our physical world. They have strengthened my sense of hope and faith in humankind and in
Spirit. I saw my
family/friends as if with new eyes [and heart]. Their experiences
fed my own evolving spiritual life and being, including altering basic
values and life priorities to reflect more of the positive and loving
outlook characterized by the
aftereffects you see mentioned all over this website.
All this
because of their willingness to share their own very personal and
sacred, life-enhancing experiences. If I had never heard them, all
this would be lacking. I had had experiences not unlike these, yet
had almost never talked with others who had also and in a way that we
could mutually substantiate each other's occurrences of this nature. Learning that such things had
also happened to members of my family, very normal, every-day folks like
me and whom I knew I could trust without question was one of the most
powerful things that had ever happened to me. All this Light from
their own experiences flooded and reinvented
my world.
In A Book of
Angels [by Sophy Burnham] a man, Professor
S. R. Harlow, describes an incident where he and his wife both
witnessed angels. He says, "We
frequently took walks in the country, and we especially loved the spring
after a hard New England winter, for it is then that the fields and
woods are radiaint and calm yet show new life bursting from the
earth. This day we were especially happy and peaceful; we chatted
sporadically, with great gaps of satisfying silence between our
sentences." It was in this mood of great contentment
that they both first heard the approach as from a distance of a group of
others in animated discussion, who then overtook them. Harlow
continues, "Then we perceived that the sounds
were not only behind us but above us, and we looked up. How can I describe what we felt? Is it possible to tell of the surge of
exaltation that ran through us? Is it possible to record this
phenomenon in objective accuracy and yet be credible? For about
ten feet above us, ... was a floating group of glorious, beautiful
creatures that glowed with spiritual beauty. We stopped and stared
as they passed above us. There were six of them, young beautiful
women dressed in flowing white garments and engaged in earnest
conversation. If they were aware of our existence they gave no
indication of it. Their faces were perfectly clear to us ..."
[After they pass, he and his wife Marion exchange a look of utter
stupefaction. He asks her to tell him in detail what she
experienced, and it exactly matched his own observations.
Professor Harlow says, "[E]ven
as I record it I know how incredible it sounds. Perhaps
I can claim no more for it than that it has had a deep affect on our own
lives. For this experience of almost thirty years ago greatly
altered our thinking."
An example of one outcome of these corroborative events that certainly
altered my thinking is this: If family and friends had
not been willing to entrust me with their sacred stories, I most likely
would not have ever imagined undertaking something like this web
project. This work comes straight out of my ongoing journey of continuing to grow and
expand my understanding and assumptions about life as a result. The
breadcrumbs of stories and insights, growth spurts and plateaus continue
to carry me forward into an ever-more expansive, enthralled awareness of
Life-Writ-Large.
These personal stories, I hope, will greatly encourage you to
turn to your own family and other loved ones, to open up and share, and
so bless each other with the great gifting of meaning and deepening,
renewing your sense of purpose and direction, as well as communal
connection with yourself, within community, and with Spirit.
It is a sacred privilege to be told such a story firsthand, as is
being invited to share your own heart's treasures with others, when it
feels right to you to do so.
If these types of stories, touch you, you can bet they will have
similar impact on others, and that is important, because they help us to
validate each other’s experiences, and thus, they are to each of us
spiritual superfood. They
encourage a certain bent of mind, heart, and soul, you could say; they
open us up directly to The Ineffable in our everyday lives; they bring
us closer to who and what we truly are as spirit beings and as spirit ..
being, if we allow them to. This
is most powerfully experienced, though, when they are your stories and
those of people whom you know well, love well, and know to trust.
May the collective amalgam of 'yours, mine, and ours' contribute
to that Shift within you toward always becoming more of your Great Self
... and the Great Self we all are. May this growing personal and
collective confidence in and awareness of this Larger Life Reality and
our being sourced within it in turn reflect ever more fully in our
relationships and in our concern for our Earth. It is just this
kind of "greatly altered thinking" that can and will and IS
making enough of a Difference to assure continuance and greater quality
of life for our children and their children ...
Please share your Experiences especially with the children and so,
corroborate their own experiences of this nature. Give them the
continued hope and confidence they will need to heal the enormous damage
of our lesser knowing.
