It must have been about 15 years, in my early 50s, since I
read Anatomy of the spirit, Sacred Contracts and Invisible Acts of power by
Caroline Myss. I didn’t take them out from the box when we shifted house last
April, thinking I would not be interested to revisit them. Unpredictable as
life is, 2 months ago I chanced upon her lectures and workshops on Youtube, and
have been listening to her almost daily.
Written by a scholar on theology and spirituality, the books
were exciting. One of the few medical
intuitives around too. It was the first time that I learned about the human
energy centres, how they are related to our health and their connection to crystals.
I discovered crystals. Like the other books by philosophers and new age gurus
that I tended to read during low periods in my life or when I was going through
some kind of crisis, their perspectives on life are written in a manner that I
found entertaining and inspiring. From Deepak Chopra to Eckhart Tolle, Osho to Don
Miguel Ruiz, they basically spoke about the same things, only articulated
differently against different cultural and religious or secular background. I found solace and inspiration in their
thoughts, humanity and celebration of life. Maybe it was also escapism. I’ve
forgotten most of what I’ve read and looking at some of them today, like those
by Krishnamurthy, I find it hard to believe that I actually lost myself in them
during those days. Their principle ideas and teachings are not at all far from
those of my own religion, hence I connected easily. Manners of worship and
prayer may differ but the themes and contents are similar.
I find Caroline’s offerings more substantial. She has
evolved as a medical intuitive to become a spiritual director who teaches about
spirituality and mysticism, intuition, health and healing. She incorporates
prayers in her work. She opens and closes each of her lectures and workshops
with a prayer from a saint, the psalms or other mystics. Beautiful verses in
the English language. I pray and speak to God in my own language, as I have
been trained to do since childhood. I know God understands all languages, but I
feel somewhat awkward to speak to Him in English though it is the language that
I express myself best in speaking or writing. Perhaps that is why I find vicarious
pleasure in listening to Caroline’s prayers, brief and simple but read with
love and grace. They do not waver from what my religion stands for. She refers
to the Buddha often with reverence and speaks with conviction and fearlessness
against religious dogmas that she finds to be obsolete and degenerating. I have
not found her anywhere referring to Islam, except in acknowledging the sanctity
of the fundamental religions and saying that mosques are among the houses of
worship that are always full.
Caroline can be brutally honest in rationalizing on the solutions
she offers to members of the audience who seek advice for their personal
problems. She is a tough cookie, so to speak. I do not always agree with her.
Nevertheless, I enjoy listening to her opinions and I admire her guts.
Underneath it all, Caroline emphasizes on our sense of
personal honour to attain health in our mind and bodies, forgiveness for the
sake of healing and faith in order to ‘row
with our life’ and love it with all its bad
days and times. I notice that members of her audience are mostly women in
matured years. Perhaps, like me, they have all played their multiple roles,
rowed and arrived with pieces yet to pick up and hurts to heal. I am not sure
if our journeys would have been easier if we had known her before we started,
but it is a blessing that she has come into our lives now to help us pick up
the pieces and heal the hurts. It is not as though our own faiths and wisdom
have not guided us thus far, but for me she is there to alert me should I
falter and she reminds me to be sensitive to the grace of God which I sometimes
take for granted. Listening to her succinct reminders on our intuitive power to
connect with the universe, is almost therapeutic. She expounds on the theory of
archetypes in reinventing ourselves with academic content and mystical fervour.
Caroline urges us to be contemplative, to reserve time for a
daily reflection of our lives, to do “holy listening” for that “pebble
(falling) in the well”. I will borrow her mantra, “This day will never come
again”.
I look forward to listening to her each time and I like
looking at the crystals on her wrists, neck and over her pullover. They are
usually red and orange hues. One of them must be carnelian, which I don’t have
in my collection. Time to have fun again with my crystals.
Writing is therapeutic for me and this time, Myss has sent
me back to my blog. Tied up with daily routines, I need to be inspired enough
to do that. Perhaps this is also a
timely return to Caroline Myss as I am
about to go back to school to study Counseling in a masters program.
Caroline says she is able to be the person she is now because
of the way she lives. It appears to be more solitary than normal, her office is
full of books and she has been studying and teaching for decades. This probably
has given her the ability to look at life from afar, unlike those of us who
have been rowing through the rivers of our lives often with excess baggage on
our backs, unable to pause, let alone contemplate, long enough to consider with clarity the important choices
we have to make. There comes a time when we need someone to help us get that clarity
through sharing their knowledge and experience. A friend and a wise companion on
our soul searching journey which never ends. At least for me, it doesn’t.
