Ask the Author: Question & Response
What do you feel was your most transformative life event or experience which boosted your “remembering”?
– Jaya, Hawaii, USA
In college, I remember asking myself: “What is truth?” “Why are we here?” “What’s the whole point of life?” I asked myself these and other questions. After about 10 minutes, when I received no satisfactory answers, I decided that the only people who probably had answers to these questions, and understood what truth was, lived in caves somewhere in the Himalayan mountains. I then chose to put those questions aside, and picked up the nice, cold beer in front of me.
There are quite a few “transformative experiences” that I share in You Have Chosen to Remember and There is Another Way. I will talk about one specifically. It was the month after graduating from college. I had decided to go to Europe for a few months before starting my “real life.” An uncle of mine had an apartment in Paris where I spent a few weekends of my stay. During one of those weekends, a friend of my uncle, Olaf Halverson, from Miami, came to Paris and stayed in that apartment. He was celebrating a second honeymoon with his wife, Mirianne. One night, he invited me to dinner.
When the teacher is ready, the student will appear. Equally so, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. During those couple of hours, I just heard something different. I listened to and understood concepts that I previously, in my 23 years of life, had believed were unavailable to mortal man. He spoke of concepts such as forgiveness, peace, love, religion, death and God in such a simple and nonjudgmental manner that I was truly in awe. Even though I was in awe, somewhere within, I understood that everything he was saying was something I already knew. It was more like a memory re-awakening than a lesson being taught. There and then, I said to myself, “I don’t know what this man is reading or what he is doing, but I am going to find out, copy every single thing he has done, and read every single book he has read.”
A month passed and I was headed to Venezuela to start my working life. Before heading south to Venezuela, I stopped by his house in Miami, Florida. I did not really share how grateful I was for his presence in Paris, but I made an excuse to go and visit him. We talked in the living room for a while, and I noticed that he was reading a big blue book. I figured it was the Bible. Again, I did not ask about what he was reading, but as soon as he went into the kitchen, I ran to the couch where he was previously sitting. I picked up the book and read the title, A Course in Miracles. He had mentioned this book a couple of times.
After leaving his house, I went directly to the bookstore. I bought the book, put it in my suitcase, and headed to the airport. As I started my life in Venezuela, I also began to read the book. It was the first “spiritual” book I had ever read. I could not put it down. With every page, I felt so thankful to know that I was not alone. Every page seemed to reawaken a memory of who I really was. I was not crazy for thinking this way. After 23 years, I finally found a partner who agreed with me. This partner did not think I was crazy, strange, different or alien.
I have since read a great number of beautiful books. But A Course in Miracles will always be my first love. And now that I live in Miami, I see Olaf on a monthly basis.
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