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Naomi Levy wrote something in To Begin Again that confirmed an experience of my own. She said, “There is a Jewish tradition that a single visit to someone’s deathbed takes away 1/60 of their illness. The ancient sages understood that just being in the presence of another human being can lift a person up.” This is exactly the reason Jesus emphasized over and over the importance of loving one another. We need the love energy of others. We literally perish without it. Sometimes we perish in a few months, as my father did when mother died and sometimes we wither away slowly and tortuously like an earthworm laid on a rock on a hot day. Our need for love from a specific person can be so great that nothing can completely take the place of that person but in such a time of need the presence md love energy of friends and family can save us from emotional death. It does not feed us in those deep places like the love we crave from that special person but it gives us the soul food we need to keep living. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows the elementary fact that we are energy brings. Some of the most revealing things I have ever seen were the Kirlian energy photographs of people when they entered the presence of others in many different moods. When a happy person entered the presence of an unhappy person, the dark and disturbed field of the unhappy person began to change and be transformed into gorgeous pastel colors. When two angry persons met, disturbed patterns of red and black intensified. When two happy people met, the beautiful colors became even more vibrant. It reminded me of Jesus’ saying, “Where two or more are gathered together in my name (name means nature in the Aramaic language) the Christ energy is actually present.” That may be the Dalton Roberts Translation but I am confident it is accurate. Nothing – absolutely nothing – can change our ability to deal with people and situations more skillfully and satisfactorily than to start seeing all things as energy. This is particularly true of people. We cannot find a better tool for managing people and situations. We are never managing people and situations. We are always managing energy. When we are most vulnerable is the time we actually need the presence of others. I learned this when my mother spent 16 days in the hospital in her final illness. I was too numb with pain to recall all I had learned about managing energy. But I do remember vividly how much it helped me for people to just walk in the room. Any relief from suffering that we receive at such a time is never forgotten. Those memories are as real to me today as the day they happened. One thing I noted at the time was that a person did not have to be religious for it to help. We must not deceive ourselves into thinking religious means helpful. Some religious people are so judgmental and prone to attitudes of spiritual superiority that their energy is not helpful. I do recall a young Wesleyan minister, Alan Morgan, whose prayer lifted me dramatically but I also was lifted by those who just came with hearts full of love and friendship. Some people do not see themselves as “spiritual” so they do not visit people in their down times, feeling that their presence will not be helpful. Please know that good energy is good energy no matter what the source may be. I have agnostic friends who bring great energy into my life because of the advanced quality of their friendship with me. You don’t have to pray and witness to be a source of healing. You just have to be you. When you are authentically you, you will always lift people up
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