I am a married man in my mid fifties living in rural Canada, just outside of a small town of about 900 people. Up until about 5 years ago I would have considered my life and my journey relatively normal and benign.
Like every life, it’s had its ups and downs. I had a traumatic childhood and I ended up leaving home at the age of 15 to live on the streets. At first I attempted to continue my schooling, I had been a gifted student, but it was impossible due to survival pressures. My formal education ended halfway through grade 10 and I worked full-time, sometimes two jobs in order to afford to live. I was effectively homeless until I was 16 because legally I could not sign a rental agreement. So I slept in apartment lobbies, sometimes at friend’s houses, pretty much anywhere I could find a place to lay my head.
Despite the rough start, I managed to make something of this life with no education. I worked pretty steady until my mid twenties, and then I started my own business on the side and grew it until I stopped working for other people and became self-employed. I built and ran that business for 25 years, sold it, attempted to retire and became very bored so I started a new business. In 2010 I sold my home in the city and moved to rural Canada about 2 hours away from where I lived all my life.
I would have been the last person you would ever have expected to have a spiritual awakening. This was not something I was interested in, or even aware of. My life was business, chasing women, chasing thrills, riding and racing motorcycles, shooting guns. I was a firearms instructor for about 20 years and a national competitor in shooting sports. My business had made me locally famous, I was in the entertainment business as both an entertainer and a business owner. I have spent a lot of time on stages all over the country. To all outward appearances I was happy and successful.
Underneath the veneer of happiness lurked deep trauma from my childhood that I managed to successfully suppress for the majority of my life. I had developed multiple sleep disorders, suffered from anxiety but didn’t really know it, and was slowly falling apart inside. I have been living in a constant state of anxiety and sleep deprivation for close to 20 years and had masked it the entire time. Everyone thought the dark circles under my eyes was just how I looked. I was in chronic pain from multiple injuries suffered both through work and play. I had bad knees and a bad back. I was suffering recurrent episodes of diverticulitis and nearly had to have my bowels removed. I’ve had multiple surgeries for various injuries, hernias and other physical structural issues. All of this I carried around like a gigantic backpack not understanding nor aware of how much it was weighing me down until it all fell apart at once.
About 5 years ago I was hurt in a workplace accident. A serious of unfortunate circumstances led to my eventual temporary physical death and a near-death experience which started my journey towards Unity consciousness.
This is the story of that Journey.
I will go into more detail about pertinent information and events of my life as they come up in the telling of the story. They will be relevant in the context as it unfolds.