Natalie and I don't like to refer to what we do as a gift. The word gift implies status. That what we do is somehow special, or privileged. All awareness when it incarnates into physical form is open and aware. All awareness has different levels of shared abilities. This is why the world of a child is filled with wonder and magic. For the first five to eight years of a child's life the veil between the worlds is still open and fluid. As we instill the concepts of a solid and fixed reality into children the world becomes more and more defined and the veil eventually closes. There are things that can keep the curtain open. Sustained and prolonged illness. Trauma. Malnutrition. Abuse. I was sick a lot as a kid. For me the veil never really closed and I grew into my world thinking that everyone had the same strong sense of empathy. That everyone was as intuitive. That everyone could see and hear and feel what I saw and heard and felt. As happens with children when you are in a group and one is different I eventually found out that this was not the case. The fear of exposure and the fear of some of what I saw and encountered eventually lead me to my path of inward discovery, exploration and constant infinite curiosity. My desire has always been to get to the core truth. The essence in it's simplest most stripped down and bare boned version. My spiritual path has been serpentine and varied but in hindsight each and every step along the way has lead me to be exactly where I was always intended to be. In July of 2008 after five days of teaching with HH the 14th Dalai Lama I was honored to sit in ceremony, along with Natalie, her Mom and the other participants and take the vow of The Bodhisattva. That is to say, I dedicated myself to help ease suffering in all beings with awareness. Not too shabby of an aspiration. |
