sky to heaven - the invisible life.

Once, a friend of mine asked me to open a counseling center with her. (I think she must have been a little crazy at the time, for I am nowhere near to being a good counselor.) She would supply the capital and set up the office, and I would only have to work there.

But I said no, I didn’t want to help other people for money. “What?” she exclaimed. I said, “The price of healing should be as close to zero as possible.””What???” she said again.

Let’s assume for a moment that I have helped you. If I’ve helped you in any way, and if you have received anything valuable from me, then that is my gift to you. If I had requested and received payment from you, then it would no longer be a gift – it’d just be a trade.

If my mother was in great need of help and I helped her, I wouldn’t accept payment from her. The same goes for my best friend, my lover, and my children - I wouldn’t accept payment from any of them. I wouldn’t say to them, “Now that I’ve helped you – it is your turn to pay me back.” I don’t think you would say that, either. And why not? Because of love. We don’t accept payment from those we love, because true love is not about giving something in order to get something back. True love is not about trading.

I believe that the easing of suffering should not have to come at a great price to the sufferer. Those who request help already live within suffering and pain, and to demand that they pay a further price to be delivered from such pain, is not the kind of healer I would wish to be. If a person is suffering on the street and is calling for help, I could not say, “I can only help you if you pay me. If you do not pay me, then I cannot help you.”

When those we love suffer, then we suffer, too, and we try to release them from their suffering. And when we suffer, those who love us suffer as well, and they try to release us from our suffering. And they do not say, as you do not say, “I will try to make you feel better – only if you give me money.” Most of us would hesitate to take money from those we love, but we would gladly take it from those we do not love. But just because the person is a stranger, does not mean that we should take payment - “You have to pay me because I do not love you.” Because whether they are friend or stranger, they still suffer.

And there is so much suffering everywhere in the hearts and lives of human beings. Suffering inflicts a heavy price on our economies, societies, the earth, and ourselves. All of us agree that the suffering is there, but we are not necessarily aware of it in our day-to-day lives. In fact, most of us need to close ourselves off from the suffering of others in order to continue just living.

So if I succeed in easing the suffering of a stranger, then I have succeeded in easing the suffering of one small part of the world. If there is one less suffering in the world, that benefits the sufferer - but it also benefits me as well. If the world is a better place, that benefits me – and also my children, my family, my friends, all those I love, and all those I know and do not know. If the world is a worse place filled with suffering, then all of us will be affected - for even when we close off our minds & shut down our hearts to avoid the suffering of others, we all pay a price for that - I believe we lose a part of our humanity, and we also lose an opportunity to become better than we are now. So if my children and those I love can live in a more peaceful world, where more people are happier and wiser, less confused and lost, more confident and capable, then I am benefited, and my family is benefited – and you and your family are benefited, too. All of us are benefited, which is why when one person suffers, eventually we will all suffer and pay a price..

So you do not need to pay me, for I have already been rewarded. And if you do pay me, then my reward is actually lessened. And you will also still believe that money is still the measure of value for all things. You will continue to believe that no healing can occur, and no good thing in life can be received, unless you have money – which I fervently believe is not true. And such thoughts as this are the ones that trap people in the cycle of money – the very cycle that helps to create so much suffering in the world. So my only request would be that you help others, if possible – then I would be doubly rewarded. For as the world suffers less, then I and those I love will suffer less also.

There have been some who have said, “Thank you.” And yet, although thanks are very much appreciated, I give thanks to them also. For without their thanks, I would not know that I was doing was right or true, for many times I have done what was wrong or false. So while it may seem as if I have helped them only, but it is true that they have helped me also. The more I see, the more I learn, the more I grow – and that would not be possible without a person first requesting aid. So I always feel it is an honor and a privilege to “help” another human being. In reality, I believe we have both helped each other.

And in truth, there is no need even to give me thanks – for I could not have helped you if you had not first desired to help yourself. I teach English language part-time and I’ve had many students - but those who have succeeded the most are always the ones who put their hearts and minds into their work. They should thank themselves - not the teacher. And so it is with healing: you can only be healed if you wish to be healed. In the end, I actually do not really help anyone at all – I only help others help themselves. You do most of the work – not me; so you deserve the credit, and not me. The healer is only a catalyst - in the end, it is you who heal yourself. And this is why the person you should thank the most is not anyone else, but yourself.