Love is the Only Answer
And why a blind man doesn't want his sight back
I’ve always had a very naïve and simplistic view of life and the world.
I used to say, ironically, when I’m Queen of the World … no-one will go hungry, everyone will have what they need. Plus countless other proclamations.
Our world has become increasingly complex. I don’t believe it has to be this way or that our lives were intended to evolve like this.
I contemplate possible solutions but I have no idea how they might be implemented. And, anyway, how does one person change the world?
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
I’ve been working on a project called the Essence Map for a long time. A couple of decades. It started out as a route map that guides us through difficult times and demonstrates that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
I discovered that my map was not dissimilar to the Hero’s Journey. Mine was about uncovering our truth through life experiences, and peeling back a new layer of our essence each time we navigated a challenge.
I’d hit a brick wall and not know how to take the project any further. I’d go off and live some more life, and another element would eventually reveal itself.
The Essence Map is good for individuals but also for the collective. As we journey this moment in time, we might find it discombobulating or stressful. It may appear that nothing will ever change. As my Dad often said, nothing lasts forever, neither the good nor the bad.
My map takes us from Endings, into a Void, through a resurgence of Creativity and on to a new Beginning. Along the way, we see our Essence or truth more clearly. If we want to be woo woo, there are other paths that take us to our Cosmic and Universal selves and, most importantly, Oneness.
The journey iterates. Not round and round in ever decreasing circles, but in an upward and expanding spiral.
In 2015, I met Chris. A year later we got together. Opportunities popped up for Chris to share his story. I told him about the Essence Map and the Hero’s Journey, and we used both as a way for him to speak in public.
This is what Chris’ story looks like.
The End
Chris woke up one morning, severely visually impaired. Over the next four weeks, he lost his sight altogether.
The Void
For a year, he got on with life until, one day, at a cookery class for the blind, he had his first panic attack. He was taken home. This was the beginning of four years of debilitating anxiety, hallucinations, muscle spasms, insomnia, and other side effects. He struggled to go out, even with a carer.
During this period, he had 12 sessions of bereavement counselling with the RNIB which was one of the catalysts that helped him move forward.
Creativity
Chris decided he wanted a vampire stake! A huge horror film fan, he held Hallowe’en haunts at his house every year. This was Hallowe’en on a big scale with front garden graveyard, electric chair, plus a vampire in a coffin, among other things.
He began researching woodturning. He found videos on YouTube, and spent his days listening to woodturners. Chris got in touch with some of them and asked them to do more audio description, which they did.
After around 600 hours of YouTube tuition, Chris bought himself a woodturning lathe and, a month later, he had his vampire stake.
The Beginning
The vampire stake was the start. Chris began turning other items - bowls, pens, goblets, and launched his own YouTube channel.
In 2017, we began travelling the UK giving public woodturning demonstrations. This evolved into speaking at events, sharing Chris’ story, appearing on TV programmes, and being filmed by Google.
Chris became the first completely blind Woodturner to be accepted on to the Register of Professional Turners.
Essence
Chris will tell you that he doesn’t want his sight back. This astounds a lot of people. He believes being a blind Woodturner is who he was meant to be. It has led to him having experiences that wouldn’t have happened had he not lost his sight. He and I wouldn’t have met. He wouldn’t have become a Woodturner. He wouldn’t have been asked to be the Patron of a UK charity.
We share the message that, despite what life throws at you, there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and even from the most traumatic experience, something good will emerge. And, as Chris likes to say, keep on turning.
I came across Dr David Hawkins as I researched and explored the Essence Map. He wrote about the Map of Consciousness. It’s a scale of our range of emotions as they relate to frequency. The basic premise is that the more we can raise our vibration and focus on positive emotions, the more positive our experience of life will be.
I believe in the Butterfly Effect that suggests the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in the UK could have an impact in Japan. Cause and effect.
By the same token, we change the world, one day at a time, one person at a time.
And this is where love comes in.
Not the romantic love although, of course, that’s a part of it. But the emotion and energy of love. The love on David Hawkins’ scale.
The more we love, the more we make a difference.
Even if you’re not in love, there will be something or someone you love. Everyone in the world loves. Everyone. Even if it’s just a little glimmer.
What would happen if we all put our focus on what we love? Our children, our partner, our families, our friends, our pets. The rising sun. Seasonal flowers. A friendly robin. A creative practice or hobby.
The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”
I do believe that love is the key. So does Albert Einstein.
If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.
Albert Einstein