| Edited by HENRY REED, Ph.D. |
January 23, 2009
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I am a skeptic, a vocal one. I approached Henry Reed's "A School for Prophets: Envisioning 2012 and Beyond" conference with a lot of trepidation, and Henry Reed approached my being there with about equal amounts, not sure if I would find it worthwhile or, worse, if I would challenge everything to the point of spoiling the experience for the others present. In fact, when I first heard of this particular conference, and the sorts of activities that had been part of the previous year's "warm up" conference, my reaction had been, literally, "Yuck!" However, the conference opened new chapters for me, new ways of looking at Self, Others, and Mystery. I was not the same person by the time we had our "Thanksgiving" dinner and concluded our gathering. I was prepared to not fit in, to find the other participants either "way out there" or so very authentically evolved and enlightened that, either way, I would find it impossible to bond with the group. Still, some inner urging kept convincing me to attend, so I did, with equal amounts of hesitation and expectation. At worst, it would be a week in the mountains away from everyday life, at best, I might learn a little something. Or so I thought. As it turns out, I had no idea of what would happen for me. Not even close. To my surprise, all the other participants were normal people (!) and I actually bonded particularly well with one young woman from the very first night. As I got to know each of the others, their stories, experiences, expectations, it was as if we'd all been pre-selected by some Celestial e-Harmony to make up the "Perfect Group", which was just the beginning of the synchronicities that would characterize the entire week. It is true that, from the start, I was pushed outside my personal comfort zone. On the first day, trying to sit still for 20 minutes of meditation was almost unbearable. Having to "dance or move to music" on the porch was acutely uncomfortable psychologically (I was the nerdy girl growing up and have never done any dancing; as a teen I was studying when my friends were practicing the Twist and the Pony and the Swim in their mirrors!), but I shut my eyes, went off to a far corner and just rocked back and forth from side to side, hugging myself tightly and pretended I was alone. I had to say grace one night when I showed up late for dinner, and prayer is not in my usual routine anywhere. What is also true is that, by the end of the conference, I had learned that it was okay to meditate standing up and found that it passed too rapidly, as I felt so very connected to the others in the group as we went around and intentionally tried to gather each of those present into our heart, one at a time. On the last day, I was having a blast doing faux-ballet all over the porch to the Blue Danube, eyes opened, shocked that some of the others present (the guys, actually) were still even less comfortable than I had been! And while I still did not pray at meals, other's prayers, and the silent Quaker prayers, flowed around me comfortably and it felt good to be in the presence of prayer, all of which represented huge attitude adjustments for me. The food was wonderful and the Big House was wonderful, as were Sandy and John LaPrelle, our hosts. The conference material was thoroughly researched out and presented, mostly through experiential exercises that didn't try to convince us of anything, but let the material and the exercises speak for themselves. I came away after the week was (sadly) over with a whole new appreciation of what all this 2012 business was about, having come from expecting to be presented with something literal that I would not be able to "believe", to believing in something spiritual that I was not able to rationally explain. And that was the real miracle of the week. As for the experiential learning in which I participated....well, let's just say that so much happened that my rational "scientist brain" could not encompass that I had to turn in my official skeptic card. I had a healing dream for another participant without knowing what the issue was for which she sought our dreams. I had another member do an awake "finding me a guide" exercise that confirmed the feelings that brought me to the conference in the first place. Instead of scoffing at a video of Crop Circles, I found myself spontaneously writing a lovely poem that showed me what I needed to understand about this phenomenon without necessarily disbelieving that they are man-created. I came to appreciate them at a whole different level of awareness that shocked me.
Meditation on Crop Circles
There is within all sacred shapes a resonance of Bigger things. We know, but know not what we know, But only that we recognize the form, The call, the Music of our Soul Exposed without.
Snowflakes of the Psyche, Mathematics of the Heart, The neverending patterns fall in place Eternally And name their Fractal Forms with Ancient Words we did not know we knew, But, Oh, we know.
The knowing calls us out And lifts us up And holds our thoughts in awe-filled, silent space Beyond our eyes and into senses we have not defined by Words, and yet, We feel. We know. We recognize the Song.
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