Most everyone has heard the phrase “In the beginning was the word, and the word was God.”, but few have any idea what it means. Here is a story that may illustrate the deeper meaning. This story begins in Berlin, a city that has taken a leap into the new world paradigm and represents the seeds of another way to be in the world – one where control is replaced with trust.
I had wanted to visit Berlin for some time as I keep getting messages, (those quirky, elusive, pervasive, wonderful) nudges from the universe that something of interest to me is there. One friend invited me a year ago, but I turned that one down. Just before leaving Frankfurt, I got a new phone card (before mobile phones) from the post and the picture on it was the day the Berlin wall came down. Yes, I was going to Berlin.
The final impetus was an opportunity to see Reshad Feild and attend a lecture and seminar he was giving there. I later found out that in the last few years Reshad has only given one public lecture, which happened to also be in Berlin. On Friday morning I was helping to clean the space for Reshads talk that night when a young man comes up and begins talking to a couple of people. They are all speaking in German, which I do not speak, but can sometimes understand.
It turns out that this man was standing downstairs outside the bookstore window, which is sponsoring Reshads new book signing on Saturday, and as he is looking at the poster of the talk that evening, he asked himself if he should attend. Just then he turns around and standing there is Reshad with his wife Barbara and another woman who is telling him that this is the place where he will be lecturing tonight. At that moment the young man decides this is a very strong sign and he will attend the evening lecture. Now he must decide whether to attend the seminar on Saturday. So there he was standing among a couple of dozen people who had volunteered to clean asking what would happen during the seminar. The general response was that Reshad is most unpredictable and there was no way to really know.
I heard something and injected it into the conversation that I could tell him what would happen on Saturday. With big eyes from the young man and a few others standing within earshot leaned forward, I went on to say what I knew. I stated that the way I experience Reshad was first of all feeling a big dose of love. Then my heart opens. Then I am holding my heart in my hands. Then I am asked to give something (sacrifice) in service. And finally, somehow, it all turns out fine. The young man was astonished, delighted, and excited about attending such a seminar with the onlookers mostly shaking their heads in agreement, with no one having any idea what I actually meant including me!
The special energetic cleaning went well the rest of the morning and then was replaced by another cleaning crew after lunch. A good friend of mine, the one who first suggested we could travel to Berlin, invited me for lunch. He had spent time living in this city when he was at university studying to become a doctor. We go to a huge department store in the middle of town called the Hertie. There is also a Hertie in Frankfurt near where I live, it is one of my favorite stores, so was delighted to be going someplace familiar. In Frankfurt, they were in the middle of a month-long celebration of Italian food, culture, products, fashions, style, and more.
We ride the escalator up five floors to the restaurant at the top for a nice meal, some delightful conversation, and a good time together. After lunch, we begin heading down and were soon being serenaded by two people in bright costumes at the bottom of the third-floor escalator. The month-long Italian celebration was happening at this store too. Well with all the musical notes going up and the escalator going down, things were beginning to stir. Feeling the festive and fun atmosphere I opened to the flow at the moment – and away we went, my friend and I, and a small crowd of interested shoppers followed the two singers.
The singing woman takes my hand and still singing escorts me to a seat by a stage, yes a small but real stage in the middle of the third floor of this huge department store. The entire area was filled with costumes, masks, props, and excitement. Other people also attracted by the singing and action, began coming into the area, just as the singing woman, joined by the singing man, wearing a mask, leap onto the stage and begin an operatic play with some parts in Italian and English but mostly in German.
As the story on stage progresses, my German friend later tells me, the woman wants a husband so she does not have to work anymore. She meets this man and tries to get him interested. After some back and forth antics, he gets the idea to offer her his heart. So he carefully peels back a small opening in his chest and removes his heart. Holding it in both hands he offers it to the woman. After some more wrestling with love, she also removes her heart, holding it in her hand, and then they exchange hearts.
Towards the end of the play, the singing woman takes my hand and brings me onto the stage and the man gets a woman from the audience and also brings her onto the stage. The four of us now are part of a wedding, with dancing, singing, and much gaiety. It all ends with a big fanfare and half the floor of the department store stopped to watch the performance with the two amateurs. It was great fun and quite a powerful experience to be a part of this play where one’s heart ends up in one’s hand, and it all turns out fine in the end. Only a few hours before I had spoken those very words to explain to the man what Reshad did during his seminar.
Not the end of the story, for as the ripples go out from the point where the object impacts the lake, so the sound of our words, carried by the waves of intention, radiate out on the smooth surface of purity and clarity.
Some months later, my friend Christina, an actress with whom I shared an apartment in Heidelberg, was in Frankfurt staring in a short film shot entirely at a museum. The basic story consists of this woman and a man walking around looking at the statues and exchanging glances. Finally, they meet in a dream-like sequence where Christina pulls a knife from her dress and cuts out the man’s heart. The idea is that the man is offering it and she takes it. When the filming was finished Christina was now ready to go home to Heidelberg, she just needed change for the S-Bahn. She goes to a small kiosk at the Bahnhof and handed the cashier a ten-mark note. She was informed that she had to buy something. The clerk grabbed an item sitting on the counter and suggested it. Christina without hesitation agrees since it did not cost much and she was in a hurry to catch her train. When she gets home she gives me this red glass heart as a present. Wow, my own heart, red and shiny, to hold in my own hand. Not the end of the story.
The next day I received a postcard in the mail from a student in the Level 1 teacher training. She had purchased 20 cards identical which she mailed to every person in the class. On each card was a spiritual quote. On the front, however, was a marvelous drawing of a red heart jumping out of a window and running away. Hummm!
One year later, my friend Gabriele’s parents came to visit for the day, actually to bring some furniture that Gabriele and her father had restored. In a few days, he was going into the hospital for a hernia operation. I felt that I wanted to give him something to take with him to the hospital to remember that we were thinking of him, but I could not find the right object.
They arrived and we unloaded the furniture, and then we were walking about the flat talking about other things we could do and then, blam, I saw it and knew. So without hesitation I picked up the red glass heart and offered it to him, saying that it was a special healing heart to help have a successful operation and speedy recovery. He took it without hesitation warmly thanking me and cherishing this simple item even without knowing the story – in words.
That night I was thinking how glad I was to be able to give him this special gift and delighted in the fact that I had no time to think about it, but only acted in the moment. I will miss that heart. Then the phone rang, it was after eleven in the evening and mostly, people don’t call so late. It was a close friend of Gabriele who I am beginning to know. She was calling about some back pain and so forth. I invited her to join us for yoga in the morning, at 6.00. She agreed and asked us to call her to wake her.
The next morning she arrives and promptly hands me a red heart! This red heart with gold trim is actually a metal tin filled with delicious roasted coffee beans covered in milk, white and dark Belgium chocolate. Less than 24 hours after giving away one red heart, a red heart was handed to me with much thanks and gratitude. Wow! This obviously is not the end of the story, but time will have to unfold to reveal the rest.
The story takes place from 1997 to 1999.
