Lyrics: I see trees of green, red roses too/ I see them bloom for me and you/ And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
The speaker asked the audience to raise their hands if they had had an experience that took them into an encounter with God or by whatever name you call the Big Mystery, and all but one raised their hand. With few exceptions, this was a group of elders who had come to hear a series of lectures that weekend by a Scottish activist on social, environmental and spiritual issues. How about you? Have you had an “other worldly” encounter and I’m not talking here about a Close Encounter of a Third Kind. If you have you know exactly what I’m talking about. The next question is, how many people in your life have you shared your story? Most people, at least in the past, kept those kind of stories to themselves for fear that others would questions their sanity.
Loren McIntyre was one such person. A highly respected photographer/journalist and explorer for the National Geographic, he came upon a tribe, the “cat people” in the Amazon thought to be extinct. He was captured and as he was being taken into their village he heard or sensed a voice telling him he wouldn’t be hurt. The voice belonged to the tribe’s headman and for the next three weeks they communicated telepathically, without words. He was released unharmed and never shared the experience for fear it would damage his credibility and reputation. (Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu.)
Apollo 14 astronaut, Edgar Mitchell, wasn’t in this world when he had his out-of-the-world experience. Approaching earth as he journeyed back from space, he was filled with an inner conviction, as certain as any mathematical equation he’d ever solved,” that earth was part of a living system and that we all participate in “a universe of consciousness.” Unlike others, he was willing to risk his scientific credibility and reputation and why not? He’d already walked on the moon and how many can top that? Mitchell shared his experience and founded IONS, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, devoting his life to the exploration of the mind, physics and paranormal mysteries. Dr. Mitchell passed away last week at age 85.
The point our speaker, Alastair McIntosh, made so convincingly this weekend, is that the solution to climate change is to be found on a spiritual level using the core light within each one of us to guide the science and economical decisions and adaptations necessary for survival of this planet. One has to wonder if political conservatives, those deniers of climate change, haven’t turned off their inner lights because of heavy financial investments in oil.
It’s been an unseasonably warm winter so far (climate change?) calling for an early pruning of the Rose Man’s roses. There are still a few old rose buds hanging on but lots
of new growth as well. And isn’t that just the perfect metaphor for age-ing!
Lyrics: I see skies of blue and clouds of white/ The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night/ And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Louis Armstrong. Songwriters: George David Weiss, George Douglas, Bob Thiele.
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