Body and Soul Reconnection

I would like to introduce Kim Hunter as a guest Blogger. I met Kim at a Speaking Circle workshop.  Her lovely spirit and life experiences struck me.  I asked her to share some of her stories with my readers.  This is the first of a few to come.

“Jesus Man” by Kim Hunter – Guest blogger

In 1986 I walked with hundreds of people on the Great Peace March across the United States.  We started in Los Angeles, heading for Washington D.C.  The 9 month odyssey was an opportunity for me to see the country, meet people, and talk about ways to resolve the cold war.

From the first day we left, we had many supporters who cheered us along.  However, there was one individual who had different notions.  Carl drove a white van, and painted across the sides of the vehicle, were tortured people suffering in bright red flames, with the devil smiling down at them, pitchfork in hand.  From a megaphone Carl yelled, “The only way to peace and salvation is through Jesus Christ!  Without Christ as your savior, you’ll all burn in hell!”  Carl followed us every day for weeks.  Skinny, with sunken eyes and a scruffy beard, he looked like an angry Jesus in blue jeans.  Despite my desire to be accepting and tolerant, he was starting to get on my nerves.  I wished he’d go away.

About half way across California, we were at a campsite, resting after a long day of walking.  It was hot, and many people were sitting at picnic tables in the shade.  Among our group was a young man who resembled a nomad.  Marlon wore layers of dark clothing, cinched up with a wide belt, and carried, among other things, a live mouse in the folds of his clothing.  He was kind, and approachable, especially to the children.  I would sometimes see him with his long black hair, practicing Tai Chi at rest stops, his dark eyes so focused; he seemed to be in another world.

That particular day, Marlon took out a floppy hat and passed it around for donations.  He said he was collecting money for Carl, to help pay for his gas.  I was appalled, but said nothing, refusing to donate. Eventually, about $7 was collected.

Later that day, Marlon approached Carl, offering him the money.  “What is this?” Carl said.  “We took a collection to help you pay for your gasoline.”  With an astonished look, Carl replied, “I cannot accept this.  Give it back.”  “I can’t,” said Marlon, “they were anonymous donors.”  Carl paused and said, “Then I donate it to your Peace March.”  The donation was accepted, and from that day on, we never saw Carl again.

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I asked Kim to share what she learned from this.  Her reply, “My “aha” moment was realizing that Carl wasn’t going to come back after Marlon did something so magnanimous; counter intuitive to what I wanted to do!”

In my opinion the interaction which transpired between Marlon and Carl occurred in order to demonstrate how the “higher” energy vibration of Love can confuse the “lower” energy vibration of Fear.  In other words, the “energy” of love in action (Marlon allowing and supporting Carl “to be”) conquered the “energy” of  fear (Carl not allowing others “to be”) and this “love act” possibly shifted Carl’s energy to “humility” and “respect”.

Kim’s experience reminded me of an incident I also experienced about 20 years ago.  I was standing in a very long line at the U.S. Immigration Department in San Francisco.   All who were in line (from different nationalities and speaking different languages) were filing paperwork for the Citizen Naturalization process.  An immigration representative, a woman about 50 years old, was going around to each person standing in line and checking for proper documentation and paperwork.  She was in a very bad mood and getting more and more frustrated as she reached each person who needed to be told how to correct their paperwork or fill it out.  Many of the filers did not speak sufficient English and occasionally she had to repeat herself.  Each time she was getting louder, more frustrated and bordering and being rude.

As she was getting closer to me, I could feel my stomach getting tighter because I didn’t want to experience her mounting anger and impatience.  Standing two people before me was a Santa Claus type looking man.  When the immigration representative was about to address him he quickly said to her “My that’s a beautiful scarf you are wearing.  You look very nice.”  It stopped the woman in her tracks.  For a second there was silence.  She didn’t know what hit her.  She finally got the words out “Thank you.”  She spoke these  two words in a soft and much lower voice.  Her energy shifted to a much calmer and composed manner.  From that point on her treatment towards the rest of us was a 360 degree turn.  Internally, I thanked this man profusely (I’m sure the others did the same)!

Kindness (a sub-category of Love) did the job.  Also, this man did not allow himself to get caught up in her “stuff”.  What wisdom.

Do you have any thoughts to add?  Please comment.

It’s ALL good people.