Our world is comprised of the experience of disconnection and loneliness. Having reveled in his creation of technology, humanity has now lost something in the process. We have become disenchanted and have lost meaningful connections, with our past and our future. Because of this loss, we seem to be stuck in the present, and are experiencing a paralysis of sorts, where nothing seems important.
Our problem is not that the future holds a new danger, but that there might be no future at all.
In today’s world, the path of a healer requires that she be fully aware of the reality facing human beings, and be prepared to take action, as a mystical revolutionary, to affect the paradigm. This is accomplished through an internal awareness of her own humanity, wounds, and through some external action. Through awareness, the healer bears witness to his own humanity and through her action of attention to others, testifies to the humanity of others.
To bear witness means to be aware of one’s wounds, avoiding the busyness one creates to evade self-observation. To testify or take action for others means to be completely present in the moment or to pay attention without intention.
A healer evokes this process in himself and others through the expression of compassion. Compassion begins by first addressing one’s own internal state of being. This involves understanding and embracing humanity, one’s wounds and the many paradoxes we embody relating to life and death, love and apathy and mind and body.
To heal others, our whole being must engage in the experience. A healer must be authentic, whole. As healers, we must recognize we are not just a spiritual being but a human one, with both our divine spark and our human wounds. This is the ultimate paradox one must embrace in order to fully connect with who we are, and with others.
Not too long ago, I came face to face with the opportunity to embrace a wound and create healing. From the time I was very young, I was very sensitive to animals. The mere idea of an animal suffering, or being abused was enough to cause shortness of breath and panic attacks. It is a part of being who I am, even to this day.
A psychic reading once revealed to me that I was apparently present as a Native American during the slaying of the Buffalo, causing me great trauma. On a cold Sunday evening, I came face to face with a wound, challenging me to bear witness to that wound, despite many years of my avoidance.
My family and I could not find one of our eight cats one Sunday night. My husband found her, and this was made known to me only by the screams from his soul, which seemed to shake the windows of my house. As he rounded the corner from the door to the basement, all I saw was Vanessa’s shaking body in his arms. Every cell in my body wanted to run out the door and run up and down the streets as I screamed uncontrollably.
Yet, something else happened.
In the pause between my inhalation and exhalation, time stopped. In one moment, I was every person I have ever been with this wound. In the silence of that pause came an invitation to bear the weight of that wound. My love for my family compelled me to accept. By the grace of God, we were able to gather fortitude to find a trauma center and drive the 20 miles. As I held her in my arms in the car and recited the Our Father and Hail Mary continuously in the calm center of that wound, the Spirit of God was able to shine within me. It was from my embracing of this wound, that the spirit of God was able to heal me, so that my husband could be healed and function (during the trauma itself).
On that Sunday evening, by bearing witness to my wound, I was able to testify or be in the moment. I was able to allow spirit to enter. On that Sunday night, I heard the calling of a healer.
