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I did finish reading this book and as I suspected it was one that I devoured. I'm pretty certain that it is a true story but Blum chose to veil that because the content can be challenging for the more average reader but not for most Gaians.
It is a love story. Actually the story of losing his dear finance to an accident involving a drunk driver. It is the story of how Blum works through that pain and loss. He is aided by a “walk-in” and the passes through a variety of healing modalities - absorbing moon energy, a constellation (a kind of role playing clarification of reality), a soul retrieval through a bit of Native American healing, of connecting with ancestors, of chanting rituals, of attacks by dark entities and the healing of that, of the protective effect of white light, of lucid dreaming and of venturing into the spirit realm. It is inexpensive and entertaining to read, even if for simply a well written and absorbing piece of spiritual literature.
I will share with you now, just a few of my favorite passages from the book.
On manifestation -
The homeless man (the walk-in) had a cardboard sign that read: “I want an orange. What do you want?” Scott buys and then tosses an orange at the man. He asks with a smirk “So you can help me get what I want?”. The homeless man answers “Of course I can”.
The homeless man tells Scott - “You can manifest anything you want.” Scott says “Oh, really? Why don't you do it?”. The homeless man answers that he does it everyday. ”Then why are you still homeless?”. The walk-in answers “Why do you think I'm homeless?” (actually, he's not, he lives in a teepee in a field). The walk-in (who's name is Robert) uses receiving the orange to prove his success at manifesting.
Scott asks “So if I want a million dollars, all I have to do is make a sign that says 'Give me a million dollars' and someone will just give it to me?” Robert answers “Do you believe that will happen?” Scott answers “Of course not! There's no way some guy is going to see a sign and give me a million bucks!” Robert confirms “Then you answered your own question.”. Scott takes this as proof that he can not manifest anything he wants.
Robert explains “No. I simply agree you don't believe that's the right way to manifest a million dollars. Manifesting isn't about making a halfhearted effort and then failing. Manifesting is about aligning your goals and your destiny so they become one. You have to believe without a doubt and act without pause, or else you're wasting your time. Do you really want a million dollars?”.
Scott says “Of course I do.” to which Robert answers “I don't believe you.”
On spirituality and wisdom -
As we continued to walk up into the hills above the town center, I finally realized why Robert was being so nice. He was evidently a religious fanatic trying to convert me.
“So what religion are you?” I thought that it was time to get it out into the open.
“Religion? I'm not religious!” he answered indignantly. ”Who said anything about religion? Spirituality and religion are two very different things.”
“Sorry, I just thought -”
“Religion is the knowledge of truth,” he interrupted, “and spirituality is the wisdom of truth.”
“Are you saying that religious people aren't spiritual?” I was confused.
“Of course not.” His voice became much softer and more understanding as he explained further: ”There are lots of religious people who are very spiritual. Religion is just one of the many paths to spiritual awakening. Memorizing passages, practicing rituals, or studying the science of the universe all do the same thing: they keep the mind occupied with knowledge until one has enough life experience to know what to do with it. And that is wisdom. Wisdom = Knowledge + Experience.”
“But if religion is the knowledge of truth, how can so many religious books contradict each other?” My agnostic upbringing was starting to show.
“There is a single underlying truth that ties everyone together, whether it's written or not. And although they try, words always fall short of capturing the essence of truth, and contradiction is one of their first traps.”
On environmental activism -
I didn't like to think about environmental issues at all because they were so depressing. And they seemed too big for me to do anything about.
Robert continued and seemed to address my concerns: “Not everyone has to be an activist to make a difference. Just doing what we did tonight (deb's note - they were out in the moonlight in the forest with the tree fairies, who took the form of dragonflies) can make a huge impact by our becoming part of the cycle of nature and reclaiming what has been ignored. Nature is a living, breathing thing, which is no different than you or me. When we feel loved, we have more energy to heal ourselves when sick. And when we're feeling ignored or unloved, we find it harder to recover from whatever ails us. By celebrating nature's cycles, we show it our love and it can begin to heal itself. It's not the only thing that needs to be done, but it's something we can all do as part of our everyday lives. And with the power of billions of souls on this planet, a massive healing can be done in a relatively short time.”
I wasn't convinced that we could solve all the world's problems by simply celebrating nature's cycles. But I could definitely feel the energy of the moon inside me and thought that if it made me feel that good, I could probably make another living thing feel good if I tried. I filed that under “It couldn't hurt” and vowed to spend a couple minutes every day sending the planet good wishes.
On letting a soul go, after it has passed from Earthly life -
His finance Cheryl had been killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Scott was invited to a “constellation” (a kind of role playing) for healing and to connect him with his ancestors. The first thing that was addressed was Scott's feelings toward the drunk driver. He admitted to being angry. The person playing the role of the drunk driver said to Scott “I am sorry for taking Cheryl away from this world. It is my burden, and I alone will suffer the consequences”. Scott's role player was instructed to say back to the drunk driver “I wronged you by taking on your burden. Cheryl's death is not my responsibility. It is your burden to carry.” and to add “I return your burden to you, and leave you in peace.”
The players move around and “Scott” is asked how he is feeling “I feel alone. Like nobody wants to be with me” his role player said for him. The facilitator, Hans, says “That's because you are supposed to be dead. You were supposed to die with Cheryl.” Scott had thought that a million times. Hans continued “Ususally destiny works hand in hand with free choice, but on occasion one can overtake the other, as it did in your case. Probably because you have a developed sense of intuition, you were able to sense that getting in the car didn't feel right. But the universe is a finely tuned machine, made up of billions of living things, all predetermined to move on a particular path, weaving in and out, without interfering with each other. When someone dies, traditionally that path is freed up for another living being to travel on. In your case, the universe expects you to be dead, and the paths you are walking on are interfering with the paths from other souls' destinies. It's as if an old side road has continued to be used after a new freeway has been built right through it. It's very likely there will be run-ins because the side road is no longer supposed to be used.”
Scott begins to think that his run of bad luck is related to what he was hearing. Synchronicities that had happened for him before his finance's death, no longer occured (finding a parking space, waiting in line, willing friends). Sometimes he literally bumped into other people. It was at though most people could not see him or didn't know he existed.
The facilitator explains that the reason he had been holding on to his finance so intently was because he had been destined to die with her. However, he wasn't dead and needed to be reintegrated with the living and that Cheryl needed to be allowed to move on. The role player who was Cheryl was told to say “It was simply my time to go. I will see you again, although not for a while. I love you, but you need to let me go.
The facilitator explained that because Scott was “no longer on (his) natural path, (he) hadn't been able to draw from the strength and support of (his) ancestors.”
On community,
When Scott is invited to a kirtan (music & chanting in a park), he describes a sense of belonging that reminds me of how I feel about the Gaian community. He said “It was a sense of belonging I hadn't felt before with people I'd just met, and I enjoyed the unconditional feeling of community.”
Describing the flute music at the kirtan, Scott says “I had never heard music like that before, but it released something deep inside that had always been within me. His flute told a story of love and devotion, and tears of pure joy began to stream down my face. I had never cried for happiness before, but it felt so right that I decided it must be the best use of my tears.”
On the Shadow -
“What do you mean by 'shadow'?” I felt like I should probably already know what Martika was talking about, but she made me feel comfortable about asking questions that Robert would find annoying.
“Within everyone is both our dark side and our light side. We can't be fully integrated and balanced without accepting that both are important aspects of being human. People who ignore or try to hide their dark side from themselves or others become quite depressed, or in some cases, much worse. When their darkness finally bubbles up to the surface after it can no longer be contained, some very extreme things can happen.”
I let my mind reflect on the nightly news, and I wondered how many tragedies could be averted if people weren't trying to subvert their shadows.
“And the gift you've been given,” Martika continued, “is to realize that humanity has a collective light side and a collective shadow side that we are all a part of. We are all connected, and you were shown a literal example of this. Yes, your love of Cheryl is a given. But you are also the drunk driver who killed her. And so am I. We are all love, and we are all hate. We are one, with all of our colors.”
Why goose bumps are actually truth bumps -
Lisa continued. ”I totally got truth bumps when he said that. You know, goose bumps, goose flesh, chills - whatever you call it. When the hair stands up on the back of your neck. They happen when the connection to your spirit is stronger than the connection to your body.”
(deb's note - later in the book, I actually got truth bumps as I read something I won't give away here. If you read the book and get them too, write me and we'll compare and see if it was at the same part of the book.)
On Evil -
“Do you believe in evil?” I was still trying to come to terms with what seemed like a simple idea, but it became more complicated the more I thought about it. ”I'm not sure if I believe we are all good and evil, or if evil is outside of me. I guess if we were all one, then I wouldn't need protection, right?”
“Not necessarily. The truth lies somewhere in between. Yes, it's true we are all one, but it's also about relative power. Relative strength. For example, if a negative force is drawing from all the negative energy of humanity and you are drawing only from your own positive energy, it's likely you would be overpowered. Eventually, you will learn to harness like energy from other souls that are in solidarity with you.” (deb's note - this harnessing of positive energy is what we are able to do by coming together at Gaia. At times, we are able to harness the positive energy of each other and it becomes a collective, to do important work that each of us might not have enough power to do on our own.)
I end this sharing, with a beautiful little poem that is referred to as a Jisei, or Death Poem, in the book -
Winter's snowy shawl That covered the trees in white Is water again
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