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OPEN HEART SURGERY, by Gail Gupton

Two weeks ago my husband told me, "You're not ready to live until you're ready to die".  He said that upon leaving the hospital after open heart surgery following a heart attack.

It was Sunday, April 7, when my husband, Bob, encountered for the third time within one week severe chest pains.

Ever since our auto accident in 1982, all during our growing spiritual awareness of our true identity, a family doctor has been part of our experience. On that Sunday evening, Bob calmly requested I call him.

There was no fear and no panic in either of us as I drove my husband to a hospital emergency room 45 minutes from our home. During the drive, we both silently knew God is where ever we are. Life is not in the person - the person is in Life.

They kept Bob overnight for tests the following morning, and when a cardiologist called me that afternoon informing me Bob would need a triple bypass surgical procedure the very next day, I remained calm. I remember the doctor asking me if I was all right and if there was someone who could drive me down to the hospital. I replied, "God is with me - and God is with my husband, too."

To some correspondents, I wrote that God was being the hands of the surgeon (who expertly cut open the breast bone, spreading it apart to reveal the chest cavity, who delicately took veins from the leg and grafted them around the heart and who skillfully sewed everything back together again) and that God was being the intelligence of the staff (who maintained their attention, care, and professionalism in performing required assistance). After all, God is being All things, at All times. Not even a seeming serious condition such as what was described to me would shake my knowing the truth of God's existence. In spite of the appearance, God is omnipresent.

Tuesday morning, April 9, from 7:30 to 10:30 EST, Bob was in the operating room. And, when the surgeon came out to tell me everything went perfectly, I peacefully told him that was exactly what I expected.

The human form is but an instrument for the cognitive manifestation of God. God is supreme love and supreme intelligence. God is being all form - animal, vegetable, mineral - for we have no life of our own. Body is the essence of God. God is "I". And because God is omniaction, God is the very heartbeat itself.

Bob understands Life as God. And in our earthly human existence, something more is recognizable beyond the human sense of things.

As one travels along this human realm with its problems and struggles, lacks and limitations, one may imagine God has left him. But, it is impossible for God to ever be separated from Himself. As a human form, the world becomes obsessed with material pleasures and entertainment. They become mesmerized with news and social suggestions. They forget their identities. They become lost from spirituality.

The light of Truth opens one's eyes - inner eyes - to a greater understanding of one's identity as being one with God. We have a hard time finding our way in the dark. A flashlight has a beam of light but obscures the peripheral view, while full light provides 360 degrees of perception. The majority of people prefer to carry a flashlight through life. Their batteries get weak and they can no longer see the way. Their light is obscured.

While in the hospital, Bob maintained his light and pleasant demeanor. His positive and willing co-operation brought smiles to other faces. The truth of Being is always before us.

My husband came home  4 days after surgery with a "new" life. Things that were before important now seem unimportant.

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Heb 13:2)

Someone, somewhere in that hospital, needed to have Bob in their presence this month. Bob's light shines. Someone needed that light - some nurse, some doctor, some other patient, some stranger. Angels are silent messengers. Angels are spiritual thoughts from one to another. Angels are God being an answer to someone's concern. Someone needed an angel, unaware.

Recovery is underway.

Blessings to you.