In the words of Blaise Pascal, “I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

I felt obliged to write at this length because of two events.

I go to bed an hour before Vicki does. When she comes to bed, there is a slight noise and a movement of the mattress. If I am still awake, I turn to look at her. Last night, I experienced her arrival several times, and found no one there. Was it my muse? Some deceased relative? Edgar Cayce?

The other event was time, spent in my dream state, composing this essay. Despite conscious thoughts of “later,” it would not go away.

This is not automatic writing as I understand it; simply thoughts I feel obliged to share. I hope it comes across as considered, rather than stream of consciousness.

A longtime doctor friend of mine listened to Last Lie at my request. Then he sent along a link to this Cayce documentary.

I want to share some thoughts about serendipity, the truth of Cayce’s predictions, and how I am (slightly) living the life.

Serendipity

YouTube generally offers videos using an algorithm based on what you just watched. It can’t understand the lyrics, so it goes with the title, category, notes and author. Normally, when someone listens to one of my songs, automated offerings include another song of mine, someone else’s love song, or sometimes the theme to Schindler’s List. Offering the Cayce documentary is unprecedented. Perhaps coincidence doesn’t exist. Serendipity? Vicki prefers synchronicity.

True Predictions

Cayce talks about how reincarnated souls will meet and work together. I met Vicki by looking for the tallest woman in the room; what happened next seems to have no other explanation than reincarnation. Our first rodeo clearly took place a long time ago.

I once placed Cayce in a class with Nostradamus, but I now know his predictions are quite specific, and guaranteed not post facto.

Vicki gifted me a Cayce book years ago. I couldn’t get through it. Watching the documentary proves, once again, that some works become more comprehensible when read out loud.

The Seer predicted a lot of healers would incarnate in the 20^th century. My doctor friend chose to incarnate during my lifetime and to restart his practice, as a healer who happened to an M.D. and not the other way around.

Cayce was clearly right about America undergoing a spirituality crisis.

He said good things (by implication) about the Hindu saint Vicki follows: Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma, the hugging saint). By Cayce’s definition, she is an actual spiritual leader. He warned about religions which ask for money. As a nominal Episcopalian, I know from passing the plate. The Ananda Ashram in Ashland, Oregon, also passes the plate. Amma never does.

I know Cayce meant the big money, but still, it’s the thought that counts.

Then we come to my favorite subject, me. I have been told numerous times (and not just by relatives) that I have been spreading joy since birth. I was invited to parties in college because I “lit up the room.”

In one of my many (unfortunately frequent) stints in the hospital recently, a doctor (following the script to feign bedside manner) said, “Can I answer any more questions?”

My smart alec response, “Yes, what is the meaning of life?” did not draw the usual shrug. I should have noted her name, so I could thank her. In my mind I can see her over to the right, next to the wall, turn to look at me and say, “What do you think it is,” making a joke into a serious question. “Spreading joy and loving kindness.” I had never said it so clearly and succinctly. Cayce said we would be confused until we understood out spiritual journey.

I now deliver it daily. I do try, but at the same time, try not to try. These things should come naturally. I am not asking for a pat on the back from you or anyone else. This is for me. If what goes around comes around, that’s fine. But I do it for other people, not me.

So many opportunities present themselves:

* I try to be nice in traffic at least five times a day. Being nice doesn’t cost any more. Let them in. Let them merge. Stop to facilitate their left turn (although this often confuses people), or to make it easier for them to back out.

* Be nice to employees at the supermarket. I joke with the manager¹, bring my favorite checker a ginger molasses cookie from the farmers market each Sunday, and smile at, joke with, and otherwise engage with the other checkers. I buy chives every Sunday morning; if the slot is empty, the produce department head disappears into the back and brings them out without asking. I thank her.

* When possible, I overtip.

* Vendors at the Farmers Market light up and smile when I approach, they hand me my usual order without asking. When my two-year-old daughter saw this, she asked, “Why is everyone so friendly with Abba?” I told her people are nice to you if you are nice to them.

* I shop locally when possible. In one week, two shopkeepers said to me, in roughly the same words “You’re so happy, this place seems more cheerful when you come in.” I told one of them I thought I was ebullient. He wrote the word down ‘for future use,” then said, “Probably not much occasion to use it.”

* Whenever I visit a hospital or doctor’s office, I endeavor to evoke a smile, a chuckle, or laughter from everyone I interact with. A major-league batting average of .333 satisfies me. When I hit .500, I celebrate being better then Derek Jeeter. Sometimes I bat 1.000. I did that on the day of my hip operation. While on the gurney outside the operating room, I was chatting with the prep nurse and told her I wrote love songs. She asked me to sing one. By the time I sang my third, a crowd of nurses had gathered. Without a doubt, I spread loving kindness that day.

1. I have been ragging her for years about “15 items or less,” which I think should be fewer. That I discovered that Merriam Webster (descriptive)  thinks I am a prescriptive  old fart, and that less is now perfectly acceptable. The week I discovered this, I apologized to to the manager. She thanked me and said apologies usually go the other way in her job. I still don’t think anyone ever asks for fewer water in their glass. ↩︎