Soul's Code

In Japan, a death toll approaching 10,000; tens of thousands of fatal US car crashes every year; more than 100 million babies born in the world every year

BY DAVID RICKEY — A snippet of one of Dylan Thomas‘s great poems has been popping into my mind a fair amount recently:

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees 
is my destroyer.

To me it’s about the “life force” that will also eventually bring about my end. In some spiritualities, like Hinduism, there is a “god” for both creation and destruction (Brahma and Shiva). I prefer to think of it as one force.

Michelle (right) with her father and sister by the Muskoka River

What’s the difference between praying for something and crossing your fingers? Is ‘going for the jackpot’ spiritually incorrect?

BY MICHELLE MORRA-CARLISLE – With $100 I can buy a lottery ticket that could win me a car, a big house in the city or a lakeside mansion in cottage country. I can’t afford the ticket, but have been known to buy one anyway because I badly want a lakefront cottage.

How else will I get one except through luck or a miracle? Luck might make it happen, but would it be spiritually enlightening?

How I survived a near-death road trip with my hillbilly Zen Master

BY AUGUST TURAK – I was 21 years old. And for the first and only time in my life, I was sure I was about to die. I was in the passenger seat of my 1963 day-glo green Ford Econoline van with a bubble-shaped skylight on the roof and a madman behind the wheel – a West Virginia hillbilly who happened to be my Zen Master. We had been on our way out West when he’d gotten news that his son was in trouble back in Wheeling, and now he was barreling home with me in tow to do what he could.

The trip had started out two days before on an almost comical note. On a cold dark morning at 5:30, his usual starting time, I was coming up his front steps to pick him up. My van was parked across the street and according to his careful instructions, was full of enough tools, extra tires, and spare parts to rebuild it on the fly if necessary. And because of the Arab oil embargo that year, it was stocked with fifteen gallons of spare gasoline in three five-gallon cans.

After surviving thyroid cancer, Reiki revealed a deeper dimension to my life

ANONYMOUS — Throughout my life, I’ve received many messages from the Spirit World and, as a child, had a spontaneous out-of-body experience. But there is one specific spiritual event in my adulthood that has profoundly changed my life.

Many years ago, I had cancer, which started in my thyroid and quickly spread to my esophagus and vocal cords. I had two surgeries and nine months of radiation, followed by another year of recovery for me to regain my full strength.

To this day, I have a scar across my throat that looks like a smile. But I  have grown to love that scar because, to me, it represents life.

A Vietnam vet’s journey from a “19 year old hippy kid” to a life coach

GUEST COLUMN: OSCAR TRUITT — When I was drafted into the army in 1969, I was a 19 year-old hippy kid who believed in the concepts of peace and brotherly love.  When I went to Vietnam, I had the idea that I would never shoot my weapon at anyone.

But the first time out in the field, the guy walking behind me was hit by sniper fire.  Everyone started shooting. I did too — to protect him, and the others.

Firing a weapon became an act of group consciousness, not individualism. It was not done from selfishness, but from a concept of brotherly love that I had thought I believed in, but had never understood until that moment.  I discovered that I didn’t know what I believed in, and didn’t know who I was.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Terminal illness can make it tempting to skip the pain and rush death. But there is another way — other than assisted suicide — to give those last moments some meaning and detach from the suffering.

BY DAVID RICKEY — Nagui Morcos witnessed the slow, agonizing death of his father from Huntington’s disease. So when he, too got the diagnosis, he knew he preferred to die with dignity. The disease hasn’t quite caught up with his ability to speak yet, so he recently shared his views on Canadian radio.

Nagui, a man in his mid-fifties, knows he will reach a point where he will want to end his own life, before his brain disorder destroys his movements, speech and emotions — and before his wife or another decision maker is forced to “play god” for him.

Scientists at the Human Consciousness Project are studying what happens when we die. It’s not as bad as you might expect

BY DAVID RICKEY — When Time magazine wants to engage with its readers, they do articles like, “What Happens When We Die? Their take:

A fellow at New York’s Weill Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Sam Parnia … and his colleagues at the Human Consciousness Project announced their first major undertaking: a 3-year exploration of the biology behind “out-of-body” experiences.

The Soul’s Code take:  please don’t ignore the spirit.

A doctor of life coaching for women discovers the art of letting go

GUEST COLUMN: DR. JEANINE AUSTIN — Part of my job as the Department Head of Social Services when I worked for a skilled nursing facility was to have regular client contact. One morning, I stopped by to see how Mr. and Mrs. Carol (not their real names) were doing.

As soon as I stepped in the room I felt I was entering into a combat zone.  The couple was sparring loudly about which television program they were going to watch:  People’s Court or Sally Jesse Raphael.

Not five seconds into the debate,  I watched in horror as a cup of hot tea, launched by Mr. Carol, flew past my head, only narrowly missing Mrs. Carol, his bride of more than 60 years.

Reincarnation is dictated by a code called karma, and it comes in four different types — not “one size fits all”

GUEST COLUMN: ALAN ANNAND — Woody Allen famously joked, “I believe in karma and reincarnation, because nothing else explains how I could get so far behind in just one life.”

But seriously folks, a full half the world’s population believes in reincarnation, which obliges us to be reborn again and again, working on our soul’s multiple-life lessons, like some poor kid who can’t get his college degree until he passes Ethics and Morality 101.

Karma and reincarnation are linked.

From down and out to pin-up: How a burnt-out fitness trainer was voted Playgirl’s ”Man of the Year,” and discovered that true beauty isn’t skin deep

GUEST COLUMN: KEVIN TALLEY — While some may debate whether angels or spirit guides really exist, from my life experiences I can state categorically that I am a “true believer.”

As a counselor, fitness trainer and motivational speaker, what helps me to aid people with their own life struggles are the tough times that I have gone through, and the lessons I have learned on how to overcome adversity.

Guides have played a huge role in my life, beginning when I was nine years old — and reoccurring when I was in my early 30’s and nearly committed suicide.