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Spiritual Bio
When I was a small child I saw auras. I told my great-uncle, James van der Veldt, Ph.D.s, who was at the Vatican, and he said, "no big deal, lots of people in history have seen auras make sure you stay surrounded by honest people." That was huge, it kept me humble and kept me honest. James was a Franciscan, the best friend of the "good" Pope John, XXIII, and with the Devil's Advocate's office, so, I was exceptionally lucky to have had a spiritual and insightful great-uncle.
While meditating, at 22, while reading Paramhansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, my third eye lit up and I saw a star. Fifty pages later, Yogananda described the star and has a picture of the star I've just seen. It scares the **** out of me! I slam the book shut and went to work in the corporate world 70 hours a week and shot up the career ladder (was offered law school and a potential board of directors seat at the very first LAN company, Ungermann-Bass).
Later, I was diagnosed terminally ill, and was given six months to live. Went in search of mind-body physician, here in DC there was one physician, Elliott Dacher, M.D., at that time, who later wrote PsychoNeuroImmunology, an internal medicine physician, Harvard Medical school, I was his first patient, and I think 'lovely.'
He said, "you can meditate and get off that 90-hour a week treadmill or you can die of something soon." I meditate, get complete health in three weeks.
Okay now the meditation starts seriously, interesting how almost dying will do that, eh? I stay at the meditation, and eventually, I've run into a few different Kabbalah teachers, some well-known, some not, and I have quite a few experiences.
In meditation one day I see the Pentagon hit in a vision. I tell a few people including Gerry Eitner who runs www.communitiesofpeace.org. They think I'm crazy, I think I'm crazy. It is 18 August 1999. The US has never been hit on its continguous states. I am totally blissed out and trying to raise a son. I cannot find anyone who can help me ground. I am working with the teacher of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, metaphysicist, Samten, in North Italy by telepathic communication (we emailed first at the insistence of a friend, another story) and Chief Oscar, Snake Medicine of the Lakota, and the head of the Sufis. And, the head of the Sufis says, "look you are where no one has been yet, you've blown through the ninth gate." I do not know what the heck he is talking about, all I know is I'm blissed out and I can't get to ground! I have since learned a few meditations for grounding and had a very healthy energetic treatment from Joey Klein who is here on this site.
After the vision, I quit meditating for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is difficult to find a good Teacher who is local and people with whom I can communicate who understand.
I return to the corporate world and, of course, yet again, I get sick and land in the ER on Christmas Eve. My life has been many things, boring has not been one of them.
So, February 2007, I say to God, "look if you want me to stay with this corporate thang, make it work. If not, I'm going to start meditating again and make THAT work." And, immediately we have a snow storm and I'm locked in for two weeks. So, meditating is an option. Because I have already been there, I now want instant awakeness. Laughing! Apologies, I'm impatient -- my astrological signature is not loaded with patient planets, I confess. I do work on it, I do get lessons on it.
One awakened soul can light up a stadium full of souls, it's important!
So, forget about the neighbors, just keep going! Believe me, when I first told a very few select people I had a mystic vision, they definitely did not say, "oh how wonderful!" Instead they looked at me and wondered if I needed the men in little white coats to come and take me away. I really still am so grateful that I had my great-uncle, and my father who was so beautifully honest and frankly, I think would have also been a mystic given half a chance, his life was far too rigid to have allowed for meditation or mysticism.
He did have a Neptune - Sun conjunction which does lend itself to meditation. Enjoy the journey and do find a good teacher, they are worth their weight in gold and it is almost impossible to progress properly without a real Teacher, one here on the Earth plane.
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