Out Of My Body

When you have a young family with three active children, you are always busy. 1972 was one of these years. There are so many things that need to be attended to, like cooking and cleaning. I even gave the boys their hair cuts and mowed the lawn. (My husband mowed once and all the neighbors came out to see if I was all right.)

One evening I was at the sink doing the dishes while my husband was sitting on the patio under the mulberry tree reading or figuring out something. He was a Realtor and liked to figure out the best way for buyers. The kids were in the tree house and on the swings. It was a beautiful day. Everyone seemed to be happy. The sky was somewhat clouded over but because it was after supper, the sun was just low enough to send rays under the clouds at a wonderful angle. The back yard looked like a paradise. Everything was glowing in the light of this sunset.

I remember looking out of the window. Everything was so beautiful. The flowers that I had lovingly planted and watered were all smiling at the sunshine. The bushes that formed a five-foot hedge around the whole property looked great. I had been trimming them and making a wonderful enclosure with them. The Cherry tree was in blossom. The Plum tree was in blossom and even the Magnolia, as small as it still was, had one large white flower smiling at me. I had worked very hard to create this garden and it was just the way I wanted it. I found myself filled with love for everything that I saw. My cup runneth over.

In the next instant, I was about 6 feet behind me. I knew that I was looking at the back of me because I had long blonde hair and a white blouse on with blue slacks. I got so frightened in that moment that in the next instant, I was looking down at my hands in the dishwater.

Wow, what had just happened? Things like this just don’t happen in my world. I don’t think I have ever heard my friends mention anything like this. What had I done to create this? I must have been doing something to make this weird thing happen? (This turned out to be one of the first unordinary things to happen in my world and I wasn’t used to it yet.)

Let’s back track. What had I been doing? I had been loving my back yard with the same kind of love that one reserves for people. Can we love things that way? I had been loving the trees and the bushes and the patio and the flowers...everything. OK, so is that what Jesus meant when he said that there was only one kind of love? (I don’t know if he really said that or not but this is what I was telling myself at that time.) I remembered something from church about three kinds of love but I don’t believe that anymore. I can love a tree the same way I love my child. I can love a flower the same way that I love my husband. There is only one kind of love. This is big stuff!

I had to digest this for a while. A few days later I decided to see if I could create that situation again. Could I duplicate that intense love and pop me out of my body again?

It took a lot of thinking to figure out just how to feel, the intensity and the kind of love that I had created. I tried it and yes, I could leave my body and watch me doing things like talking or cleaning or relating to other people or listening to them. I had to bring this love from deep inside of me and send it out through my eyes. It has to be very intense, but it can be done.

One time I wanted to see if a camera could pick this up. As I worked on getting the intensity just right, the photographer asked me if something was wrong. I guess I do look strange but when that picture was developed, there were comments about it that weren’t usual. One person many years my junior, asked the owner of the picture if that person was married. Could one really send this love in picture form?

Many times after that I would do this. I would leave and go to another part of the room and watch how I was relating to whom ever I was near. Sometimes I found myself near the ceiling but not all the time. I would study what was happening, what was my body language and what was theirs. It was a very interesting study. It felt like flying and swimming at the same time only with thoughts instead of movements. After a while it didn’t seem to be accomplishing anything and it wasn’t as much fun so I decided to not do it anymore.

What did I learn? Love is very powerful when used right. We haven’t even scratched the surface of this yet. There are so many possibilities to explore. Look out world, here I come.