Betsy Otter Thompson is the author of a few books, including The Mirror Theory: The Way to Inner Peace, Resolution, and Transformation; Loveparent: How To Be The Parent You Hope To Be; and Lovehuman: How To Be Who You Love.
To visit her website, and/or to order a copy, visit Betsy’s website: http:www.betsythompson.com
In part one of this book excerpt, the Preface to the book was published. In this excerpt, we give you the first part of chapter 18. Next time we’ll have the concluding segment of the chapter.
Chapter 18
Identities
What is our real identity?
NAMES, TITLES, AND PLACES
LOSE THEIR VALIDITY AS SOON AS
YOU LEAVE THE HUMAN PLANE.
THE EMOTION BEHIND THEM
LASTS FOREVER.
Names, titles, and places were a part of your experience, though, weren’t they, Jesus?
Part of my illusionary experience, yes, but they didn’t reveal my inner journey, or the search for my reality.
Don’t we know more about your inner journey through the many stories told?
We know more about the inner journeys of the many different story-tellers, since each had a history of individual clarity.
Can those stories be trusted?
Why must they be? Only the love in those stories makes them relevant to you.
Was there an incident that was especially important to you?
There was one that involved a soldier by the name of Vrotskuv, who entered my life to confirm my faith in goodness.
Did Vrotskuv have any faith in you?
He gained more faith as he sensed my faith in him; he was the soldier responsible for delivering prisoners to the sites of their crucifixions. When the people lined the streets that day in loving support of me, they took up a chant to let me know of their presence. Vrotskuv got uneasy. Rightly or wrongly he saw them a threat. One voice inside his head urged him to hurt the heretic if he wanted to feel in charge. The other voice urged him to feel in charge by honoring the heretic.
Brushing the latter voice aside, he looked for an easy insult to show the crowd that he was the one in charge here. His opportunity came when I stopped to assist a fellow prisoner struggling under the weight of his heavy cross.
In the process of helping him to regain his balance, the robe padding my shoulder fell to the ground. Vrotskuv picked it up and stood there, daring me to defy him. Instead of seeing the anger he expected, he saw only love.
Startled, he couldn’t believe the message he was receiving: We are all in charge of ourselves in the love of God forever. Intellectually, it didn’t compute; emotionally, it impacted deeply, so deeply that Vrotskuv was determined to feel it again.
Because he wanted to cherish himself or because he wanted to cherish you?
Somehow they seemed like one and the same. Instead of seeing the thief who lived in Vrotskuv, I saw the God who lived in Vrotskuv and, then, he saw it too. That moment was so powerfully felt that it took a burst of chanting to get him back to the task. For the rest of the day, he thought about that encounter. What had he seen in my eyes that had stirred his emotions so deeply? Irritated that he couldn’t explain it, he grabbed the robe and set out to give it back, hoping a second encounter would clarify the previous one.
As he laid the robe at the foot of the cross and looked in my eyes again, the feeling returned. It deepened into a vision, revealing to him all that he had lived and all that he could live; an all-inclusive moment, neither human nor ethereal, but a feeling merging the two. Factored in time it equaled seconds; factored in emotion, eons.
It came to him, not as a payback for the past but as a blueprint for the future, whether that future was here or elsewhere, now or later, conscious or unconscious. After the vision ended, no words were shared but the message was clear: Welcome home. From that moment forth, everything Vrotskuv did was to keep that moment alive in whatever else he was doing.
In the weeks that followed, he located many of my friends, hoping that one of them would see him as I had. None did, but inadvertently he discovered why. I had accepted him unconditionally, knowing full well who he was and the job he was there to do. My friends accepted him grudgingly; fearful of what would happen to them if they didn’t. But even in the presence of fear and animosity, Vrotskuv courted their acquaintance, willing to endure any rudeness in order to find some answers.
Many introductions later, Vrotskuv convinced Peter to invite him to one of his meetings. It didn’t take long for Vrotskuv to notice a theme that kept recurring: We always find ourselves in the people we face. Pondering what that meant in terms of his interaction with me, he concluded that his heart had merged with mine, and to live that merger again, he had to live that merger with others. He found that union by asking how he’d feel if, every time he looked into the eyes of another, he felt my heart again. Naturally, as he told himself that I was in the every heart he faced, he couldn’t wait to find me there.
Did Vrotskuv feel terrible after stealing the robe?
He felt terrible when his mirror showed up to remind him of his behavior. He only stopped stealing when he knew himself as the person stolen from.
Would he have stopped stealing had he thought his behavior known?
Had he understood that others reacted accordingly, yes. Vrotskuv wanted honest people in his life. In the end, high-minded motives didn’t change his life; his desire to receive the honorable in others did. To stay mindful of his goal, he said to himself as he gave to others, Here is a gift to myself.
When his mirror was insecure, was Vrotskuv insecure?
Until he was honest about it; then honesty replaced insecurity.
Even if that honesty was horrible?
Honesty wasn’t horrible or wonderful; honesty simply was.
What did Vrotskuv learn about prosperity in this lifetime?
He learned that prosperity had more to do with abundance within than abundance without. But if Vrotskuv needed funds for his evolution, funds were made available.
Did he do something wrong if funds were not available?
Not if the right in his life was honored.
Did money come when Vrotskuv did what he loved?
Fulfillment came when he did what he loved. Fulfillment didn’t have any requisite look, only a requisite feeling.
What incentives did Vrotskuv need in order to live more wisely?
Incentives varied. They were anything from a new friend, to a new day, to a new lifetime, depending on what was needed.