Do you believe in angels? Are there forces working behind the scenes to help us get what we need to live a more purpose-filled life? 18 days before resignation day I have a strong sense that forces are working over-time to help me manifest my dreams. These forces include deceased loved ones, angels, shamans and guides. I know none of this can be proven nor do I feel like I consciously need to know. The key is to stay open to the extra-ordinary in seemingly ordinary moments. I believe this is what it means to be on the conscious path; noticing, becoming aware, being awakened. I am noticing more and more when energy shifts in a room, or when a call for assistance that sounds to most like a normal request is actually a cry for help. Such a call came from a co-worker today.
The 42 year old man who has three daughters and was in an intensive care unit a few weeks ago was just sent home to die. My daughter has been including him in her nightly prayers for two years now (every day-without exception) and it seems like this last battle will bring him home. I will be spending time connecting with his higher self in the days to come and I know he is ready. Is his family ready? I have only met him twice in the past two years. The first time was when I received the request to join a prayer group for him when he was first diagnosed. He had a very healthy lifestyle and was a loving father and husband. He had a strong faith and did not take life too seriously. So why did he develop cancer? It made no sense. As soon as I saw the email request from his aunt, my co-worker, I immediately said yes. I have never joined a prayer group before and I did not know this man but that did not matter. I was being moved by unseen forces. The weekly prayers in front of a grotto at the university lasted months. This is when my eldest daughter began to regularly say at bedtime: “God, please help him get better and let me have great dreams and great thoughts. Amen.”
The second time was at a wedding a year later. He had gone into remission and was doing great. We spoke of the power of positive thinking to overcome impossible odds. He is a model for all fathers. A few weeks ago I heard he had been hospitalized with multiple blood clots and an extremely low white blood cell count. While I was in my nine day period of prayer, it was made clear that his time had not yet come. The prayers for the dying were not for him. Now I am being told that the two year battle with cancer may be coming to an end. I promised my co-worker that I will spend time in his honor. I don’t know if his three daughters will have their daddy for the holidays.
I know at times it is easier to believe that events in our lives are random and there is no order to them. This helps us deal with tragedies and uncertainties in life. I choose to believe that there is an appointed time for everything. Just like our bodies have a perfect wisdom and timing for breathing, digestion, blood flow, healing and a host of other visceral functions, we live in a universe that if observed from a wide enough prospective, reveals an intricate order. This order is designed to bring balance to the whole. To the naked eye, it seems unfair, incomplete, tragic and chaotic. If you want a glimpse of this order, first believe that it exists.
Recently I saw an independent film called Ink. It is about good and evil forces infiltrating our sleep to change the trajectory of our lives. Sounds like a winner, I know. Truly, it is a good film that illustrates these unseen forces I write about. A scene in the movie is worth the price of admission. It depicts a spirit whose sole purpose is to alter the rhythm of life and set off a “chain reaction” that leads to events designed to bring redemption, forgiveness and balance. These events can take the shape of a crisis moment or a chance encounter that changes everything.
In the scene, an arrogant man who put his work above all else and lost custody of his daughter, must be interrupted by a car accident if he is to stop and see his daughter who is in a coma. A dollar bill blows in the wind, lands in front of a man in a wheelchair who stops for it and spills groceries. A can of soup rolls away and trips a woman who falls to the ground. The man next to her who is carrying a four foot long box gets turned around and the side of the box hits a man smoking a cigarette. The cigarette goes flying onto a wind shield of another woman’s car in motion. The woman activates her windshield wipers and sends the cigarette butt flying which hits a man in the face who drops some flowers. Another woman attempts to pick up the flowers. A boy sees the woman and thinks of helping but instead bumps into a pizza delivery guy who drops five pies of pizza. A car drives by and the man driving runs over a pizza carton while taking a sip of coffee. The coffee spills on his lap. He looks down and he runs a red light. At the exact moment, the arrogant man who refuses to see his daughter who is in a coma drives by and is hit by the car. He is taken to the same hospital that his daughter is in. Redemption is now possible.
“The downward spiral is essentially a chain reaction. They’re all reactions. One thing begets the next. A man has a weakness, he’s flawed. That flaw leads him to guilt. The guilt leads him to shame. The shame he compensates with pride and vanity. And when pride fails, despair takes over and they all lead to his destruction. What will become his fate? Something’s got to stop the flow.”- Ink
I continue to think about the line from the Alchemist: The whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true.”
If we only knew how much is going on behind the scenes, it would be much easier to trust. If we are willing to search for meaning in suffering, we will find it. This search for meaning in suffering is what I am after when I say that I am connecting with the higher self of the 42 year old man. This is my work. At least for tonight.
“Nothing is more likely to help a person overcome or endure than the consciousness of having a task in life- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
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