On April 21, 1967, I had a profound spiritual experience that changed my life. This happened when I encountered a Sacred Tablet. That night, in this spiritual intensity, I wrote this prayer and gave it to my beloved mother, who was very worried about her son, who was in the depth of pain and addiction. She kept it in a special box of my writing, letters, and cards I had written and shared with her since I could write.
As a direct result, I arrived in Bolivia on March 21, 1970. I witnessed the fulfillment of the Prophecy of the Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle on July 9, 1971, at the Island of the Sun, the Island of the Moon, and the Royal Court of the Incas, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.
I had never read or used words I expressed in my prayer during this spiritual experience. I never used the term, God when speaking with others for many years because I associated it with genocide.
This life-changing experience happened like this. I came to see an older friend for some guidance. As I waited for him in his library of countless books. For some reason, my eyes fell on on small book with a red cover. I reached out, and I picked the book up. Then I started to flip through the pages randomly. Then my eyes fell upon a page that stopped me. As soon as I read the words on this page, my whole being, inner and outer, was on fire.
When I returned to our home along Mill Creek, I was compelled to pick up a pen and write this prayer. Once I put the pen on the paper, it never stopped moving until the prayer was complete. The words flowed through me like water, with the rest of my being burning like fire.
I mentioned the following day I gave it to my mother, as she was very worried about my very dire emotional and spiritual condition. Even my handwriting was different!
This spiritual fire burned within me for some days, and when it finished, I was in a different state of consciousness. That fire ignited a spiritual fire within me. Although it has been very dim and almost extinguished many times, this fire ignited on April 21, 1970, more than 53 years ago, continues to burn.
One thing that has become very clear to me is that if we say we believe, we will be tested! The Buddha said we would be tested by death, sickness, poverty, and our senses. And I found these tests will come in different and surprising ways. Primarily, we should judge another, for none of us knows what our end will be!
These spiritual teachings have proved to be very true and sometimes very painful to learn, especially when you can be very stubborn and resistant at times.
"Be careful what you pray for; the Creator will always answer your prayers. Sometimes the answer will come in ways we don't expect, but the Creator will never give us a test we can't pass as long as we keep praying and remain faithful."
The only one who can teach the person with the whip what true love and forgiveness are about is the person being whipped."
When we ask the Creator for strength, we will receive tests and difficulties to strengthen us. When we ask for wisdom, the Creator will give us many problems to solve. When we ask for great courage, the Creator will provide us with heroic obstacles to overcome.
How would the courageous be distinguished from the cowardly if it were not for tests and difficulltied? How would the precious diamond be distinguished from the worthless pebble without tests? We can only be good leaders of spiritual warriors if we have been in front of the fiercest battles and received the deepest wounds.
Our wise spiritual leaders have always taught us, "Do you think you can say you believe in the Creator and will not be tested? For when the cry of truth is raised, so is the cry of denial."
This morning I happened upon one of these "memory boxes" and reencountered this prayer that flowed out of me that night. As it was handwritten, my beloved son Tiger typed it up for me.
As I reread the prayer I wrote in 1967, there was no way, at 22, with my dire spiritual condition, I could have understood or conceptualized what I had written. And I was a jock, not an intellect, at that time, especially about God. In fact, I could not, fluidly or unfluidly, write a prayer like this today!
Shunkmanu He Me Yedo! Chanupa Sapa He Me Yedo!