Angels in the Moment

At fourteen I hiked Mount Humbug alone. At one point the path narrowed and I lost my footing. As I slid off the edge four arms lifted me to safety. It was a couple in their sixties. I wanted to ask them if they were angels but they were gone. 

If I had gotten to ask they would likely have said that, no, they were definitely not angels, but a mere retired couple hiking the Pacific Northwest. 

I wouldn't have believed them.

Fast forward sixteen years. It's a crisp morning around the turn of the century. I drive my beat up Ford Escort out of our apartment complex into our otherwise affluent neighborhood.

On the street I see a parked van with a man walking behind it and a woman running towards my car. My Jersey brain kicks in high gear. They want to run a scam on me. Better beat it outta here, fast. But her eyes stop my car cold. No, she isn't with this guy. That's primal fear in those eyes.  She's fleeing him.

I lunge onto the passenger side lock, push the door open and yell, "Get in!".

We round the van and I burn his license plate number into my eye sockets.

This would be abductee in the pink hat (I'll never forget that pink hat) hysterically tells me she is visiting her father from out of state. She went out for a morning run when this van pulled over and that guy tried to throw her in it. She grew up here. How could this happen here?

"Then I saw you", she says.

She leans sideways, viewing me in full and asks, "Are you an angel?".

"No", I chuckle, "I'm just a girl on her way to work".

I don't think she believes me.

----------------

White Stone, Burning Bowl

Unity is a bit unconventional and not especially ritualistic. We don't do communion and rarely conduct baptisms. And while the rest of Christendom prepares the Eucharist, we can be found meditating amid our Sunday services.

But there are two rituals we do each year that I eagerly anticipate: The Burning Bowl and White Stone Ceremonies. 

Burning Bowl

Burning Bowl is the first Sunday after New Year's Day. During a guided meditation we write on flash paper things from the previous year that we'd like to release. It could be anything from old hurts and regrets to finished relationships or job transitions. Letting go creates a vacuum that is filled with whatever we  invoke for the New Year during White Stone.   

I'm told the first year our church had this burning garbage can that got so out of control it had to be hosed down out back. These days we just incinerate our sorrows in a single, flickering flame. Poof! Gone. Just like that.


My son also seared away the hardships of 2011. Our minister, who could seriously do stand up in her spare time, wondered what in the world these little ones could possibly be letting go? Then she told us a priest once said listening to children confess is like being stoned to death with popcorn.

White Stone

Within a few weeks of Burning Bowl is The White Stone Ceremony. That morning we are each given a white stone quarried from Israel.

This ritual is inspired by Revelations 2:17, "To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."

When prisoners back in the day were released they were issued a white stone with a new name on it, symbolizing a fresh start. Our White Stone Ceremony reaches across time, anchoring this ancient metaphor in modern hearts when our new names, so to speak, are revealed in meditation. It could be a quality one wants to cultivate in the new year such as compassion, Christ-like, focus, forgiving. Or, maybe it reflects a dream held dear - motherhood, author, graduate. It could even be the same word from last year, no one would know anyhow since it is between ourselves and The Source. This rectangular white rock quarried from The Holy Land, then, becomes  a talisman, a physical reminder of what matters most to us.

This year I wrote five, count em', FIVE words on my white stone, because I could, but I'm not going to say what they are, because I'm just superstitious enough to think that I shouldn't.

Further Information:

White Stone and Burning Bowl by Rev. Carla Golden

Unity

Unity on Wikipedia



Tags: White Stone and Burning Bowl

Review of Dr. Gregg Korbon's Book Beyond Reason: Lessons from the Loss of a Gifted Child

In May I began having reoccurring nightmares that my son was mangled in horrific accidents, then he got up and walked away, as if nothing happened. Once he drove a truck off a cliff and emerged without a scratch. Another time I watched in horror as he fell off a several story balcony onto concrete. He lay motionless and contorted for a while, then stood up and walked off.


Okay, so we all know goofy, out of sequence things happen in dreams that seem normal until we wake up and say, "What the...?". One second you're cleaning the kitchen sink and the next you're partying in Paris. Not this time. Even in the dream state I knew I'd witnessed a miracle - when he rose I actually put my hand on my heart and breathlessly whispered, "wow".


Since my reoccurring dreams occasionally foreshadow future events, I was seized by a vague terror I could neither name or shake. Continual cross-currents of denial and knowing rendered me a river of uncontrollable sobs, running in both directions yet getting nowhere. Would something unfortunate befall my son? Nah. They're just nightmares. Forget it. But I knew. In my heart I knew something was imminent. And that was the problem.


During my darkest hour I heard Dr. Gregg Korbon's interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM. Gregg spoke of his healthy son, Brian, who knew he would not "make it to double digits". Brian told his parents he did not want a birthday party because it would bring him closer to his death. And he did die, after scoring the first run of his little league career, just before his tenth birthday. Upon returning home later that day Brain's parents found a note on his bedroom door that read, "Brian's on a trip. Do not worry about me."


The perpetual pummel of my emotional cross-currents hit full crest when I sobbed uncontrollably during most of the interview. And yet, here was this guy who suffered every parent's worst nightmare and he seemed okay. Genuinely okay.  Brian's death left Gregg with profound emptiness, to be sure, but trying to avoid or fill that emptiness just drained his ability to cope. Only in entering that emptiness could Gregg find strength, and eventually, peace. This moved me profoundly, for I too feared the well of emptiness, yet fear stalked me anyhow. What did I have to lose? So I collapsed into emptiness then rose decisive - come what may; we'd get through it.


A week later a tumor was found on my son's hip.


The x-ray suggested the tumor was benign but an MRI was scheduled to be sure. I knew in my heart it was benign but what explained his odd limp? This wasn't over. I knew it wasn't over. The dreams foretold serious spinal impact and complete recovery. The cross-currents wanted to whip me into a frenzy again. Oh forget that. They're just nightmares. Who do you think you are, Sylvia Browne?  No, enter the emptiness and hold on. Yes - THAT. So I held on, sensing something larger at play.


The MRI revealed my son's spinal cord was significantly tethered.

Without surgery the cord would stretch as he grew, to terrible result. Episodes of worry overcame me but for the most part, no panic. Instead I held the emptiness and a vision of my son rising, like in those dreams. Had Dr. Korbon not inspired me to enter my fears I'm not sure how I would have coped. I had to read this guy's book!


Gregg wrote Beyond Reason to honor Brian's bravery and the mystical strands that his life and death continue to weave in the hearts of those he left behind. Yes, it is amazing that Brian knew when he would die. It is uncanny that two days before his death Brian told his mother it was time for his trip and that he must not be wimp. And it is beyond reason that Brian lived his last day joyously despite knowing his time had come. This child was a clinic in how to face the inevitable fate that awaits us all.

But I find Gregg's journey through the grief process equally compelling. He could have stalled in sorrow for the rest of his life and that would have been totally understandable. Yet, from day one Gregg had flashes of deeper meaning that he gave a seat at the table, right alongside his grief.


After being driven by a friend back to the little league field to get his car a few hours after Brian's death Gregg was stopped in his tracks.

"I reached up to wipe a tear from my eye, and the sour smell of Brian's vomit on my hands blended with the sweet smell of honeysuckle. At that moment, my vision became clear and the colors, sounds, and smells became stronger and brighter than I had ever experienced - and I knew I was at the center of life. The worst thing that I could imagine had just happened, and yet, I felt peace. Everything was as it should be. Brian had died a happy boy. He conquered his fears, which is more than most of us do. In my heart, I knew that if I could bring him back, it would be for me - not for him. Brian finished his work here."

When I read that paragraph on page fifteen I knew this man would be fine, that his life would be full,  because he has the ability to pierce through the dense fog of sorrow and perceive that which it obscures.

Before Brian's death it seemed to me Gregg had a well choreographed life. He was an Anesthesiologist, had the wife, two children. The American Dream really. Yet he describes the pre-grief-stricken Gregg as "The Tin Man" - an accomplished and cleaver guy who avoided vulnerability. After living his own loss, though, Gregg found that giving grief support, even to strangers, came naturally to him. Holding that space with others opened his heart to vulnerability. The book goes on like this; page after page witnesses a man becoming. To me, it reads more like a sacred text than an autobiography.

As for my own son, he had tethered cord surgery on October 13th. When he rose from that bed and walked two days later my heart whispered a breathless "wow", just like in the dreams. Those dreams, I now see, were a gift from my subconscious, who somehow saw into the future to assure me everything would be alright, just as Brain's mystical experiences were a gift from his.

I recommend Beyond Reason to anyone who has ever grieved anything, not just the loss of a child. Though my son is with me, I have lost some of him over the years. He was a healthy baby who developed a particularly regressive form of Autism and intractable Petite Mal Epilepsy. So high functioning was he at three that his therapists said he was a genius. By six he was severely Autistic, functionally non-verbal, and struggled with basic academics. The worst part is his continuous suffering. Beyond Reason has inspired me to find ways to let even this make me a better person.  Thank you, Dr. Korbon, for sharing your story.









Further Reading

A Son's Premonition and a Final Baseball Game - NPR

Dr. Korbon's Website

Dr. Gregg Korbon's interview on Coast to Coast AM

Med Mobs: Evolving Consciousness, One Flash Mob at a Time

I never thought I'd use the words meditation and flash mob in the same sentence but it is happening. In cities across the world bands of peaceful meditators are sitting together at Occupy events, capital domes, and even on the Washington Mall. Their purpose is not protest, but the elevation of consciousness.

This might sound to some like hippie-dippy woo, but is it really? Dozens of controlled studies find that areas occupied by trained meditators have significant reductions in violent crime. Reports have even been published in peer reviewed journals such as Yale's Journal of Conflict Resolution and The Journal of Crime and Justice. The Med Mobsters might be onto something after all.

There is a map on the Med Mob website identifying current flash mob active cities and contact information for those interested in organizing in their own areas. 

Med Mob in Austin Capital Dome:




Med Mob Meditation on the Mall Easter Sunday - The Washington Times

Update: Louisville, Kentucky Med Mob now has its own Facebook Page

The 11-1-11 Next Leap in Evolutionary Consciousness Worldwide Meditation

The morning of September 11, 2001 random numbers generators from sixty-five locations around the world started acting peculiar. Instead of recording the usual chain of random sequences, the computational hub at Princeton University's Global Consciousness Project registered major coherence spikes that began fifteen minutes before the first plane made impact.






Since the generators measured fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field these spikes had researchers scratching their heads in amazement. They suspected that changes in the earth's magnetic field can impact humans but could the reverse also happen? These data seemed to suggest that wide-spread, cohesive emotional responses from humans might impact the earth's magnetic field.

This outcome sparked renewed interest in mind-over-matter research. Suddenly researchers and lay folk wondered what we might accomplish with collective intention. When journalist Lynne McTaggart organized collective intention research designed by scientists from Princeton University, University of Arizona and other prestigious research institutions we joined them by the thousands. And when the Global Coherence Initiative set up twelve sensors around the world to scientifically observe a potential symbiotic relationship between collective human emotions, earth changes, and the planet's magnetic field many of us wanted in. Now is our chance.

THE 11-1-11 GLOBAL COHERENCE MEDITATION 

At 11:11 a.m. Pacific Time on 11-1-11 the Global Coherence Initiative and Evolutionary Leaders will co-sponsor a world-wide meditation for planetary healing and conscious awareness. Thousands of us across the world will collectively hold the following intention:

"Our intention is to transcend superficial differences that divide us – race, religion, politics, beliefs, culture – to acknowledge, experience and honor the essential bond that unites us all as one interdependent organism. We also intend to evolve in both consciousness and action so that each of us learns to perceive the whole, relate to others in wholeness, widen our definition of ‘we’ to be all inclusive and become evolutionary leaders for a peaceful, holistic, sustainable world."

Those interested can register at the Evolutionary Leaders website. Use The Time Zone converter to adjust Pacific Time to where you live. If you can't participate at the appointed time here is what I am doing:  Since I am unavailable at 11:11 a.m Pacific Time I will do the meditation that evening and project the intention back to 11:11. If Einstein is correct that past, present, and future are just stubbornly held illusions it shouldn't matter, right?

More Information:

Tags: Global Coherence Initiative, Evolutionary Leaders, Institute of Heartmath,  11-1-11 Worldwide Meditation, The Next Evolutionary Leap in Consciousness, meditation for peace, heart coherence meditation

 

911 Global Peace Intention Experiment

Article by Lynne McTaggart



"I’m back from holiday and with fabulous news. The 9/11 Global Peace Intention Experiment has mushroomed into an extraordinary and enormous event. Every day, more organizations are offering to work together to make the anniversary of 9/11 into a day of unity, evolution and peace.

Tens of thousands of Arabs and Americans are joining together for the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack on New York’s Twin Towers for a remarkable experiment: to discover whether their collective intention can bring greater peace to an area of conflict.

The experiment is being monitored and measured by a team of scientists from the Universities of California, Arizona and Princeton.

I am partnering with dozens of peace groups, including the remarkable One: The Event (www.onetheevent.org), and three-day live event in Seattle to mark the anniversary, and many other organizations who enlisting tens of thousands of participants in the US and other Western countries and Arab cities in a symbolic gesture of peace in remembrance of the Twin Towers tragedy.

What’s also exciting news is that the eight-day experiment will be broadcast over the web every day. So we will be sending out more news about how to see our LIVE broadcasts next week.

For the experiment, I have partnered with Dr. Salah Al-Rashed, a Western-educated peace activist in the Arab World, whose Salam (Peace) Group has an enormous following throughout the Middle East.

This is a joining of hands between East and West so that the tragedy of yesterday creates a joyous occasion for the future.

The 9/11 Peace Intention Experiment will take place in a 20-minute period every day for eight days. As such it will replicate our 2008 Peace Intention Experiment, carried out on Sri Lanka, which showed a 74 per cent reduction of violence after the experiment and a demonstrable effect when studied through statistical time analysis.
Monitoring the effects will be a scientific team comprising University of Arizona psychologist Dr. Gary Schwartz, University of St. Petersburg State University physicist Dr. Konstantin Korotkov, Dr. Roger Nelson, a psychologist formerly of Princeton University and director of the Global Consciousness Project, and Jessica Utts, a professor of statistics at the University of California at Irvine, widely regarded as an expert on statistical analysis of consciousness research.

The 9/11 Intention Experiment marks the latest of 23 scientifically controlled, web-based experiments carried out by The Intention Expeirment to test the power of thought to change the physical world. Thousands of volunteers from 90 countries around the world have participated in rigorous, laboratory-controlled experiments.

Twenty of these experiments carried out under rigorous laboratory conditions have shown significant positive results. Psychologist Dr. Gary Schwartz and his team at the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health at the University of Arizona reported the results of six experiments in a scientific paper presented at a recent Society for Scientific Exploration conference.

The 9/11 Peace Intention Experiment is part of a larger collaboration between One: The Event, a three day live event in Seattle, and many other global organizations to promote peace and unity in the wake of the Twin Towers tragedy, which will be LIVE broadcast around the world."

--------------------------------------

In the YouTube video below Lynne explains how The Intention Experiments are scientifically controlled. Sign up to join tens of thousands of us from around the world on September 11th as we hold positive intentions for peace at: www.intentionexperiment911.com





Links to data on previous successful collective Intention Experiments:

The Leaf Intention Experiment

The Germination Intention Experiment

The First Korotkov Water Experiment

The Second Korotkov Water Experiment

The Roy Water Experiment

The Water Germination Experiments

The Peace Intention Experiment