A Glorious Living Milestone: THIS Is How It Can and Will Be

A glorious living milestone just came with “THIS is how it can and will be!” as wordless subtext I´ll draw out here.

My son Sam, named for the first prophet in the West, just got married to Jacqui, living together partners of the last few years.

When he asked me to speak at the dinner to be held the night before the wedding I asked, “Tell me what this event means to you?”

“It’s sacred, Dad. I am continuously amazed to live with someone whose empathy inspires me daily to grow mine.”

This from a man who, while touring the world for a year on his own after college, spent a month in India and went on his first Vipassana retreat, and has gone for 10 day refreshers every year in the decade and a half since.

He recently explained to me that he uses those times to live into his name by drawing closer to God.

“Sam,” I responded, after waving my hands a bit to check Jaqui’s energies (distant readings have been easy for me as master energy healer this last decade and a half), “She’s a great soul!”

“Wow, Dad, that’s not what you said years back when we first got together.”

So, I checked in more detail, then and now, and observed, “Gee, Sam, she seems to have grown enormously these last years.”

“Well,” he said after a pause, “this relationship has been amazing for both of us.”

Then I realized I had to ask similar questions of Jacqui, so we set up a call.

Her first, spontaneous remark: “Lots of nerve-wracking things about arranging a wedding for this many people, but one thing I’m completely at peace with is the prospect of walking down that aisle, looking Sam in the eyes, and promising to dedicate my life to being his wife.”

After a “wow!” and taking that in I shared with her the exchange with Sam when I noted how much she has grown and his response.

“Sam and I both know the potential for growth is infinite, and we’re dedicated to supporting each other’s growth. We’ve seen couples get together and expect things to stay the same, and then things don’t work out. That’s not us.”

In my remarks the night before their marriage I shared these snippets. And then noted that the people gathered include both near relatives and friends on both sides, cherished souls accumulated over both of their lifetimes.

Literally, chums from childhood, teen years, college, and in Sam’s case law school, almost all of whom know each other from various gatherings each has organized over the years.

Jacqui and Sam have created, quite organically, over decades, an interwoven community, long before announcing their wedding that would bring us all together as never before.

How to honor this birthing of communal love, and do justice to the way these two people are giving new and unique expression to some sublime sources of inspiration?

Officiating at the ceremony would be a buddy of Sam’s from college, Diego Perez, now a widely followed spiritual teacher on Instagram, Yung Pueblo.

During his vows, Sam would acknowledge choosing Jacqui as an act as natural and as complete as having found, after a very varied intellectual journey, the practice and teaching of emptiness in Buddhism.

At the end of the ceremony, he would smash the wineglass in keeping with his Jewish roots, and they would be married under a chuppa, also a Jewish tradition, one constructed by Jacqui’s father, who raised his two daughters in what Jacqui called “Golden Rule Catholicism,” or “the heart without the dogma.”

Contemplating this unusually gracious, welcoming couple and their gathering of scores of equally unusual, loving souls (I couldn´t help reading the vast energetic gifts of other guests I met during our initial mingling) brought me to this:

Western spirituality originates with a man named with the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, AB, which spell the word for “father.”

Abraham is revered at least in spirit not only by Jews, Christians, and Muslims but also by all who champion universal human rights — all can trace their lineages to Abraham, and to his cousin-wife, Sarah, also known as a greatly loving, wise, and hugely hospitable soul.

The story of Abraham recalls that he had a revelation and calling to revere ultimate mystery as most deserving of devotion, and after smashing the idols in his father’s house was called to “go forth,” to embark on a journey and open himself to being guided by highest knowing.

He and Sarah sojourned, spreading devotion to ultimate mystery among people they met wherever they went, becoming known far and wide for their generous, and inclusive hospitality.

So, originated the devotion to embracing one human family, under one ultimate mystery, here to love and live in peace and justice.

This inspiration comes down to us through Moses, prophets, Jesus, Mohammed, saints, humanitarians of all stripes, and contemporary calls for world healing.

Jacqui and Sam get this, live this, and carefully crafted a sacred ceremony to consecrate the rest of their lives to furthering this by bringing together all of us they most deeply love in this spirit.

And so, this wedding will live for us to as an occasion to renew along with them our vows to live ever after in undying devotion to our highest human calling.

And as Sam’s father, I will forever be nourished by an experience at once –

— personal, in witnessing a son stand on my shoulders to peer into and explore realms beyond those opened so far in my life

— widely human, basking in deep and glorious shared communing that draws on timeless inspiration and gives the sweetest foretaste of the future we, humans everywhere, are growing into together.

Amen, Om, Aho

Loving blessings,

Artie