AUTISM - A STORY OF LOVE BETWEEN SOULS ("I'll Be Running By The Time I'm Seven")

Maryann, a Seattle-based spiritual counselor, recently worked with the family of a severely autistic six-year old boy named Joey.

Joey's parents had adopted an attitude of optimism and faith, unshaken by the relentless needs of their son. Through the years, Maryann developed a close friendship with the mother, Laura and her son Joey. Despite Joey’s inability to speak, it was clear to Maryann that the boy was a spiritually evolved soul. The spiritual counselor did important healing work with Joey, and facilitated communications between the boy and his mother.

A week ago, Joey was placed in critical care after an unexplainable heart failure. Desperate, Laura phoned Maryann stating, “We cannot lose him. Our family doesn't work without Joey.”

Maryann immediately sensed the boy was brain-dead, though it was not until the next day that tests verified his grave condition.

The spiritual counselor was able to connect with the comatose boy’s spirit, sensing Joey’s strong desire to leave his physical body. Maryann received the boy's message: “I am done. I want a new life. I am tired of people doing things for me. Please let me make this one decision for myself and tell my mother and father I love them.”

Maryann faced the task of telling an extraordinarily dedicated mother that her son had no intention of returning to his damaged body.

Laura was crushed. Yet days later found the courage and wisdom to accept her son’s wishes.

On January 7, 2010, critical care physicians in a Bermuda hospital announced that Joey was expected to live only a few more days.

Knowing that these were the precious last moments of her son’s life, Laura (with Maryann) spent a great deal of time pondering a persistent new message, “Mommy, you know why I’m doing this” then began reflecting on another message that had begun a year ago. “I’ll be running by the time I’m seven.”

With her son dependent on the help of life-support, Laura confided in Maryann. She explained she was in love with another man and that she wished to have another child with him and start a new family.

Laura's marriage had been arranged around Joey. As love began to fade, Joey’s care seemed to be all that was holding the family together. On a soul-level, Joey knew that his mother had placed his own care above her own needs, and that his own neediness prevented her from being with the love of her life.

Years ago, in Maryann's first communication with Joey, a message was received revealing "the plan.” Maryann believed this referred to a type of deep commitment between Laura and Joey. The other often-repeated message was “I’ll be running by the time I’m seven.”

When Joey passed on, Laura was released from a marriage based solely upon the needs of an autistic child. The mother was now free to create a new life with the man she truly loved. Too, she would be able to live her ultimate dream of having a second child and creating a new family.

Days before Joey’s heart stopped, Laura hoped to connect with her child one last time. Laura asked Maryann to pose the question: “Would you be willing to come back as my next child?”

Maryann was apprehensive, thinking this could be too much, too soon for Joey. Also, the spiritual counselor realized the mother was dealing with an overwhelming personal crisis and may not be able to handle an answer she did not want to hear.

Nevertheless, Maryann asked the question of Joey. His answer was an explosion of warm light. The boy wished to return to Laura in a healthy body.

It seems “the plan” had been to live with Laura as an autistic child, providing his mother with lessons in unconditional love, patience and commitment.

Over time, the messages communicated through Maryann seemed to make more sense. Joey was to enter this world with a crippled mind and body. By leaving his body, Joey would free his mother from the failed marriage and allowing her to create a new life with the man she loved.

On January 9, 2010, six-year old Joey left this world. Though they continue to ponder "the plan" and the messages like "mommy knows why I’m doing this,” Laura and Maryann believe they have participated in a story interwoven with divine symmetry. After all, Joey may be running by the time he is seven.

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Joey's family resides in Bermuda. Maryann contributed a great deal of her time during this time of transition, accepted NO money, and expressed very little interest in a story documenting these events. Because the story involves private information, the spiritual counselor has not posted this article to her own website or in blogs containing her real name.




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THICH NHAT HANH - (poem) Call Me By My True Names

This is my favorite poem ever. I'll let the Buddhist Monk writer Thich Nhat Hanh introduce it:

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After a long meditation, I wrote this poem. In it, there are three people: the twelve-year-old girl, the pirate, and me. Can we look at each other and recognize ourselves in each other? The tide of the poem is "Please Call Me by My True Names," because I have so many names. When I hear one of the of these names, I have to say, "Yes."

CALL ME BY MY TRUE NAMES

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow

because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second

to be a bud on a spring branch,

to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,

learning to sing in my new nest,

to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,

to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,

in order to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and

death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,

and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time

to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,

and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,

feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,

my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,

and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,

who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,

and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,

and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my people,

dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring,

so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.

My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,

so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,

so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,

so I can wake up,

and so the door of my heart can be left open,

the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh






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THE STORY OF MY HERO, THICH NHAT HANH

This is a story about my hero, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk.

Thich Nhat Hanh grew up amidst the Vietnam War, an endless and bloody battle between "North Vietnam” and “South Vietnam.”

Raised Buddhist, he placed a high value on compassion for all beings regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Thich Nhat Hanh refused to engage in the politics of war by choosing between the "North" or "South," responding to the atrocities surrounding him by demonstrating "love in action," and forgiveness. "

During the Vietnam war, those with political agendas often went as far as to involve children or elders, or pose as members of the Red Cross, or even nuns. Everyone was looking over their shoulder. The killing and paranoia seemed to feed an unstoppable river of blood.

Thich Nhat Hanh founded a group called School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), whose mission was to simply lessen the suffering of all. SYSS hoped to demonstrate the power of universal compassion and unconditional love to all people of Vietnam and the world.

This was a time when even an unconfirmed rumor of an affiliation with the "North" or "South" would result in death or torture within hours.

The work of SYSS included recovering the remains of young villagers caught in the line of gunfire, offering comfort and prayers as a land mine victim lay dying, rebuilding bombed villages, setting up schools, establishing medical centers, and resettling families left homeless.

On several occasions, members of Thich Hanh Hahn’s group (often teenagers or men or women in their early twenties) were executed based on suspicions that SYSS had an ulterior political agenda.

At one point, a platoon of US soldiers was near Thich Nhat Hanh’s home village. All but one of eleven young Americans were gunned down in an ambush. Consumed with the desire for revenge, the surviving soldier rigged candy with explosives, and placed the candy on a trail traveled by children each day.

Many babies and children were killed. Thich Nhat Hanh and his associates recovered parts of their small bodies, returning the remains to mourning mothers and fathers. For a man deeply committed to non-violence, compassion and love, this was a nearly unbearable task.

After capturing the attention of world media, Thich Hanh Hanh was exiled from Vietnam by the Vietnamese government. Consider the irony: Most of the men and women living in his village were either too frightened to leave their homes, or had been lured into the politics of the war and violence. Thich considered all of Vietnam, and all of it’s people to be sacred, and refused to withdraw his assertion that there is a non-violent solution.

As a result of his decisions and the creation of School of Youth for Social Service, many of Hanh's young friends and co-workers were killed execution-style. Choosing a path of peace placed him near battlefields and minefields where he collected body parts and the remains of children. With this behind him, he is then forcibly deported from his homeland, once beautiful, now a slaughter ground.

In the following years, Hanh was haunted by memories of the brave young men and women who had worked alongside him. More than that, he struggled to maintain a heart that can forgive and remain open while living with the memory of the children and the candy-bombs.

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote books about Buddhism and the virtues of peace, compassion and "listening deeply." He founded Plum Village in France, where he created a community exemplifying these values.

He traveled the world helping those suffering because of war. This included trips to the U.S., where he often received death threats and false accusations.

One day in the United States, while donating time to help Vietnam vets heal from war-related trauma, a man approached him. “I cannot bear to be in a room with children.”

In tears, the man explained that after watching all of his buddies die in an ambush, he became consumed by the desire for revenge. Unaware of the common threads in their past, the veteran continued, confessing that he laced candy with explosives, resulting in the death of Vietnamese children. Since that day, looking into the eyes of a child makes the war veteran suffer from uncontrollable shakes, nausea and unbearable anxiety.

When Thich Nhat Hanh realized this was the US soldier who had killed the small children in his village, he invited the man to kneel with him and pray.

Tormented by depression, nightmares, and thoughts of suicide for more than a decade, the man didn’t think he could go on. Thich Nhat Hanh responded. “Do not make yourself suffer because of the past. There are 60,000 starving children in the world right now. By leaving the past behind and making your home in the present moment, we can help children now. It is never too late to water the seeds of love.”

Thich Nhat Hanh demonstrates a saint-like ability to love and forgive beyond inconceivable pain and cruelty. After the horrific loss of those children, he went on to teach about the beauty of even the tiniest flower, emphasizing the importance of a single smile and the transformative healing power of "listening with your heart."

He could have given up on hope and love, or allowed himself to become cynical. But because Thich Nhat Hanh remained firm in his courage to "be love," the world is a better place. To me, this story teaches that each of us possesses the resilience to move beyond unimaginable hardship. Moreover, that with such a story behind us, we can offer the world an even more powerful example of love's transformative power.

In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize.





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The Truth About Enemies

We need enemies. They are a rite of passage.

Seeing others as enemies is part of our spiritual evolution. Enemies are a way to get through life when we are not yet able to take responsibility for our own experiences.

Just like people, countries can engage in this type of consciousness. One country can declare another country to be an enemy. “You are the reason we have so many problems.” In the business world, companies can participate in "enemy-thinking.”

Enemy-thinking is always a form of denial.

As we accept our role as creator of our experiences, the need to blame and point fingers at enemies falls away. If someone truly engages in hurtful behavior, we can use the situation to our benefit 1) Identify the parts within ourselves that are not yet able to forgive ourselves or others, 2) See the situation as an opportunity to forgive. 3) Recognize the situation as an opportunity to teach by example.

Those who engage in enemy-thinking have a birthright to happiness and love just like you or I.

The flipside of this is not so easy. If we can forgive ourselves for thinking in terms of enemies, can we go as far as forgiving others for their enemy-thinking? What about if it is me who is targeted as an enemy? Will I be clear enough to identify the parts of me that are not yet able to forgive? Will I be able to observe how I “buy in” to this type of behavior, “agreeing” on some level that I deserve less?

When accuses me, or claims I am the reason they are hurting, my defenses go up. My kneejerk reaction is to make them “wrong.” But I’ve found that by taking a step back, and reminding myself that just as with me, this person has the "right” to see people as “enemies.” Just as there is nothing inherently wrong with me when I think this way, others have the same right.

While enemy-thinking may not be fun, it is a necessary part of growth. Enemy-thinking in ourselves or others is always an opportunity to grow and move beyond self-imposed barriers.

When I think of seeing life in terms of "enemies," I am reminded of a gentle saint who once said, "Eventually, even suffering loses its charm.”