Finding peace
His parents and two sisters immigrated to Canada two years before he was born In Toronto. Being the youngest child and the only son, he got a tremendous amount of attention. He had quite a happy childhood with lots of love. He was far more interested in hanging out with the older friends of his sisters than playing with children of his own age.
When he was 12 years old, one of his older friends gave him a book by Herman Hesse called Siddhartha, the life story of Gautama Buddha. Close to the end of the book there's a section that describes the Buddha's state of oneness with all that there is. A brilliantly written piece that touched him deeply in two ways, first was a longing for the experience itself, and second was a memory of the experience itself. This was when his spiritual search began.
He started with the occult, but after a couple of years, it got a bit scary. By his late teens he’d read from the Bible, King James Version, the Bhagavad Gita, Tantric mysticism from Tibet, Zen Buddhism and had started the Urantia book. He attended various courses and workshops about holistic healing, different forms of meditation and several forms of energy work. He went to many spiritual and religious meetings and attended diverse groups. He saw the commonality in all of these and was still searching for his path.
At the age of 23 he experienced a profound mystical or spiritual state that lasted about 3 weeks and both delighted and terrified him. Later that same year he was introduced for the first time to A Course in Miracles, by one of his elder sisters. He wasn't ready for it and decided instead to continue practicing holistic and distance healing and started studying tarots and astrology. For the next 15 years he did only “spirituality light”, staying away from any deep or protracted discipline or study. It wasn't until he was 38 that his interest and fascination in spirituality and Truth, emerged again in the form of meetings and small groups.
It was at one of these small groups that someone asked him, “What is your purpose for being here on this planet in this body at this time?” Although it took a few minutes, he answered quickly with, “my purpose is to learn teach and demonstrate unconditional love in all my relations, to heal my mind and benefit the planet.” It was just a few weeks later that someone gave him the teachers manual of A Course in Miracles. He read it in a day and 1/2 and thought, here is everything I ever wanted to teach and everything I ever wanted to learn, and someone's written it down in less than 100 pages, how is that even possible? He knew immediately that this was his path. Two months later he attended his first experiential workshop based on the principles of ACIM and its practical application. He went further, faster and deeper in intellectual and emotional healing and spiritual understanding in three days, than he had in his entire life up to that point. This got his full attention. He'd found his passion and he felt driven to pursue it. He now had all his three P’s in a row. (Purpose, Path and Passion)
Fast forward 32 years. There have been countless adventures in healing himself and others using various experiential processes picked up along the way from several disciplines and master teachers. 4 major personal relationships, a son that’s already 29, 2 grandchildren, 9 and 11. The creation of several spiritual communities based on the practical application of A Course in Miracles, in Canada and the Netherlands as well as contact with other existing course communities in various parts of the world.
It most certainly was no smooth road as he came across many speed bumps and potholes. Yet, it was always consistent with its intent and purpose. That was to share the principle of A Couse in Miracles with as many people as possible, around the world. He did this with much joy and enthusiasm, along with his life partner and co-teacher of 27 years, Jane Tipping.
From one of his most recent, personal processes, where he finally acknowledged and overcame his addiction to being driven to follow his passion, came an unexpected bonus. What came over him was a deep sense of gratitude, appreciation, satisfaction and fulfilment. Turns out, all the love, compassion and patience he had been giving to all his relationships, past and present, had all been practice for, finally, giving that to himself, waiting for his acceptance. Real Peace is a choice. Heaven is here, there is no other place, Heaven is now, there is no other time.
