Acts of Energy Conversion

Ribs

Images

Racks

Roots

Skeletons

Christmas trees

Fish bones

Symbols

Raiment

Garment racks

Hanging

Radiation

Emanation

Expression

Sky

Light

Water

Wait

Be

Love

Fun means so much more when the Mind is Fed with the Truth of Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

“We can experience memory of past lives, future lives, and Earth in its evolution. We can see the levels of growth in ourself and others as clearly as we can see the steps of a stairway that we climb. Spirit energy is loving energy.  There is no fear, judgement, or blame to be heard or seen when we listen to our spirit self. In listening to our soul energy of past lives, we view the experience from our spirit energy, which is only once again loving and truthful energy that will clarify our soul lessons if we are open to listening.” (Love, Truth & Perception,245)

What does it mean to “grow and change”? I met Kathy Oddenino in 1990 or 1991, in Annapolis, Maryland, pestered by a friend until I agreed to go to a book class held at Kathy’s home. Kathy had written three books at that time. When I walked into her basement where the class was being held, a big group of people was already mingling and excited. Then, I usually preferred to stay quiet in a group until or unless I felt a security of “being free.”  (What does “being free, safe, protected” mean?) When I met Kathy minutes later, she reached her hand towards me and smiled with her mouth, her twinkling piercing eyes, and everything about her energy presence. I remember the moment vividly. I had never experienced that particular sensation before, though I didn’t have any words or much understanding of what such feelings meant. I began to read Kathy’s books, and when she asked me to work with her as she continued producing more books, I was surprised, grateful, and eager. Working with Kathy’s books was a perfect invitation for me to learn to free myself from old iron-clad beliefs and perceptions about myself and about life.

Love, Truth & Perception was the first book we worked on, and I have continued to read it over the years. I read it again over the last few months. Twenty years later, this brings me back to what does it mean to grow and change? What does it mean to teach growth and change? Watching the news last night and this morning about the beautiful and talented Whitney Houston, I think of this. As I listen to the stories about our human and American failures and successes, our excesses and struggles, our collective motivation to change and meet the systemic needs of our educational system, I think of this. I watch teachers of all kinds gather support, infuse enthusiasm into learning and “going beyond where we have gone before,” and I think of my beginnings of “learning.” Our mother taught us at home (in Nigeria) for first and second grades, before we went to public school in Memphis for a year. I learned, got through school, graduate school, taught English for a short time, and still am always interested in our collective perception of knowledge and what it means to “learn, grow and change.” I was not taught, until I began studying Spiritual Philosophy, that our greatest addiction is fear. Whitney Houston knew that her greatest “demon” was herself. Where does “growth and change” fit into our education? Our greatest challenge, invitation, and gift is to Know Thyself. How do we apply the knowledge we gather?

The other night I watched the tv show A Gifted Man, a recent favorite. In this episode, a mother crazed with grief and anger because of the death of her young daughter, blames neurosurgeon Michael Holt for the fact that his testimony is responsible for the young arsonist going free. High drama ensues at the free clinic (previously run by Holt’s ex-wife, family physician and now ghost who “haunts” him), and at a critical moment Holt calms the woman by saying something like, what if what happens when we die is not what we think? What if those we love are around us, watching us? If your daughter was watching you, what would you want her to see, watching a man die or doing the right thing? The distraught woman begins to cry, overcome by the thought, the sadness, and her anger melts away. The plot turns. As I watched this scene play out, I thought about the moment that Michael Holt chose to say words he had probably not thought many times, and I imagine never said aloud. That moment is the moment we change our world, our internal world opens a little more, because we change our thinking.

“Our magnification of energy allows us to become aware of the spirit realms within us and to consciously use this power within our life.” (220)

Recently I attended my niece’s wedding in Texas. A full day or two - a beautiful wedding and wonderful reception (great food, celebration, dancing with my siblings, my cutting-edge young cousins, my niece – four years old and flower girl, beautiful in her navy blue party dress and in constant motion on the dance floor, spinning on hands and patent leather shoes, dizzy in the flashing lights and parquet floor, and all the joyful bodies doing their thing as we do on such happy occasions. I got the last seat on the charter bus back to the hotel. Beside me was one of the groomsmen, whom I had not met. We struck up a conversation, beginning with, and how did you meet the groom?  Quickly, we spoke about love, marriage, commitment, honesty, friendship – the stuff of life. In the short bus ride (20 minutes?), we spoke honestly about what it means to make choices, and to live with consequences. He said he’d married 30 days ago; he said he and the groom, friends since college, are both honest, straightforward people, and they both appreciate what it means to be friends, to keep friendship alive. Arrival at the hotel meant the end of our conversation, yet the moments are memorable, imprinted in my brain – because it’s such a pleasure to celebrate the joy of unions and families and friends being together, and to meet thinking minds that so easily and directly acknowledge the heart of life, what relationships mean to us, what love is.  Each moment matters.

Love, Truth & Perception refreshes my mind screen with this fact-  and getting to the heart of my thoughts, feelings, and memories of all I have lived, what I have learned as I’ve lived. The patterns of the Ethical Values of our Spirit, the soul energy of mind and emotions and experiences that make us who we are, our physical body which is the joy of our spirit in action as we honor what it means to be alive as energy beings. The book is a guide to what it means to grow and change, and offers constant ways to explore the infinite internal frontiers of our internal energy.  “Single” as I am in life, a triplet by birth, I understand more clearly than ever the ladder-rungs of love and the designer-lessons within each of us primarily because of Kathy’s books. Fun means so much more when the mind is fed the truth of internal love – when we are hungry for it. We can consciously enjoy and explore those patterns as we interact with each other, first with and in love. Communicating is an art that must not be lost, and we must read such books (as Love, Truth & Perception) to honor and expand ourselves as we learn to love. If you are curious about our Spiritual Heritage (beyond our religious traditions), and feel the real urge to honor all you are as a whole being guided as a Soul by your Spirit self – read Kathy’s books! Join forces as seekers of knowledge, and let’s keep the dance going!

The Click of Stop-Time

The watch fob,

The click of stop-time –

Each moment matters.

Flick the crimson ascot,

A hint of peach scent

And cream, sharp sweet

Punch of cognac swirl-

Watch the clock wind and unwind.

How I remember the breeze

Through that window

Beneath the big oak trees.

You know what I mean,

Cool rain and the great umbrella

Dripping long after

We kissed beside the

Blooming gardenia with the

Fountain full of angels.