Beyond the Veil

By: Gayle Gregory

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.  Anais Nin

Have you ever seen a ghost? I have. It wasn’t at all what one might expect – not a sprite and certainly not a howling demon. What could have been a startling experience revealed a surreal ordinariness that added new understanding to what it means to be alive. Watching not one, but many ghost-like presences, I felt as if I had passed through the veil of one world into another dimension.

It began as a normal day, well as normal as my world gets. I returned home from a delicious spiritual retreat New Year’s Day. I had been gone for a week, frolicking in the essence of ten amazing beings. To say I was open would be putting it mildly. As I looked into the refrigerator it was quickly obvious that a trip to the store was in order if I wanted to eat anything resembling real food. I jumped in the car with my sweetheart and off to the grocery we went.

As we walked through the aisles, the energy in the store seemed off. It wasn’t the building as much as the people. They were practically in slow motion. The shoppers seemed pixilated, fractured – just like the energy. I mentioned it to Ken and asked what he noticed. He smiled and said, “They aren’t really here, are they?” The word ghosts came in a rush of understanding.  While the store was full of people, no one was there. They were all inside their heads, wishing they were somewhere else, or much the same, absolutely absent, just going through the motions. They weren’t present, and I realized, they also weren’t quite alive.

As the word ghosts settled into awareness I saw the many levels on which we exist visually. The color continuum seemed to range from a one-dimensional, grayish, washed-out tone to a high-definition techni-color well beyond anything I had ever witnessed. As we stir from the dream, or nightmare, we awaken from a black and white existence into full color aliveness.

Have you seen a ghost? Perchance a more important question is, “Are you a ghost?” Are you going through the motions, but not really here? Would you rather be somewhere else, living a different life? I thought I was here. My heart was open. I was connected to God. Information flowed through my veins and appeared when I needed it.  A sense of peace and freedom accompanied me. Connecting to others had become easy and unforced.  And, yet I learned, I wasn’t here, at least not entirely.

Many upon the spiritual path are connected to Divine presence and have begun bringing that presence to earth, embodying the light. Last night after watching a B grade sci-fi movie I was compelled to sit down and meditate. In the act of sitting, before my seat hit the cushion, all of what I deemed impossible flowed out of my awareness and as effortlessly reentered the eternal flow.  As I sat, wholly entered into this body, anchored physically in form – here, and committed to this moment –  now, the plump acceptance of this holy instant flowed into this body and like a strong wind, swept through, exiting through the empty space that had been my back only moments before.

In that moment I knew anything was possible, that impossibility existed only within the confines of an errant mind. I am on board the tail of a mind-blowing comet and riding for all its worth, reveling in the mystery teachings of here and now. So simple, yet so profound!

Today is your day to dance lightly with life.
Sing wild songs of adventure.
Invite rainbows & butterflies out to play.
Soar your spirit and unfurl your joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie