Coming Home

Coming Home

The words "spiritual teacher" in the brochure caught my attention. He was the guest speaker at

a metaphysical center I attended in the late 1970's. When he walked into the conference room, I saw a gentle man with a round face and wavy shoulder length yellow hair. He'd come to talk about his book, "Coming Home - The Experience of Enlightenment in Spiritual Traditions." The title was scholarly, shedding light on his PhD background in Comparative Religion. His name was Lex Hixon.

At the end of his presentation, the audience rushed to meet him carrying their copies of the book "Coming Home" for him to sign. I watched from my seat as one after another shook hands with him, or engaged in brief conversation. As the swell of people diminished I got up to leave. But something stopped me. Turning around I went back towards him wondering, "Why are you doing this and what do you plan to say to him?" In fact, I had nothing to say, but when I stood in front of him, the words, "You are a friend of my soul" came tumbling out of my mouth. As I heard the strange words I thought to myself, "What are you saying to this stranger?"

He took my hand in his and looked into my eyes. The words I'd just said felt like they were taking form. He said, "I know those words. You too are a friend of my soul." Then he asked, "Would you come to my home in NYC tomorrow?" and I, without knowing this stranger, or what I was agreeing to said, "Yes." He gave me his home address in Riverdale overlooking the Hudson and told me to come at 9 a.m.

Continuing this strange meeting, and completely out of character, I told no one where I was going that Saturday morning. On the drive into NYC I kept asking myself, "Are you crazy - No one knows where you're going - You could be meeting an axe-murderer." Yet I kept going arriving at his high rise apartment off the Henry Hudson Parkway exactly at nine. He greeted me at the door in a Buddhist robe, asked me to remove my shoes, then ushered me into a very sparsely decorated Zen home. He then asked me if I knew why I was there. I said no, but was compelled to come. He asked me if I knew how to meditate. I said yes.

Next, he asked if I knew who Kali was. I didn't at the time. So he took me into another room where a large bronze Kali was sitting on a small table with incense, a candle and an altar cloth. There were no furnishings in that room other than a cushion in front of Kali. He asked me if I had a meditation shawl. I said no. He left the room, returning with a long white shawl with maroon borders. He placed it over my shoulders, lit the candle and incense, and told me to sit with Kali and come out when I felt ready. Then he left.

I sat with Kali for almost two hours. I studied her ferocious face and many arms. I meditated. I
thought about the surreal day I was spending. I meditated some more. Eventually the candle and incense burned down and my legs had grown numb so I got up and came out of the "Kali room." He was nowhere around. So I went into an adjoining room I concluded was his library as it was filled with books on every religious topic. He came in to find me holding a large book, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He said, "Ah, you've found Sri Ramakrishna. You need that book and the Works of Vivekananda." He added, "You should also study The Way of Zen."

We talked a while into mid-afternoon. Then by some unspoken agreement it was time for me to go. I removed the shawl still around my shoulders, folded it, and handed it back to him. He said, "No, that shawl is now yours. I received it from a sage in India and now I give it to you. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is also yours to keep." He walked me to the door, bowed to me and we said goodbye.

Though my time with him was only several hours long, he turned out to be one of the greatest catalysts on my journey on the esoteric path. Though when we met I had no idea who he was or how he would later influence me. You see, Lex Hixon was a mystic who immersed himself in the major religions of the world which he called "parallel sacred worlds." He was a disciple of Swami Nikhilananda of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in NYC, a well known and respected Sufi master. As host of New York City's WBAI In The Spirit, he regularly interviewed the leading spiritual and religious teachers of the 20th century. This gentle unassuming man was also an artist, musician, scholar, and spiritual author.

His last words to me on that Saturday in New Jersey were, "Wherever you are, be at home!" Little did I know that I'd never see him again for Lex died at age 53. I still have the shawl he gave me, along with The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and The Works of Vivekananda. I read The Way of Zen many times. Each time I fondly remembered that Saturday with Lex Hixon. 

Though I never saw him again, I knew our connection was real when, 35 years later, on a spiritual retreat, my teacher wanted me to memorize The Heart Sutra. He handed me three different translations and told me to choose one. When I got to page two of the translation I'd chosen tears welled up. It had been translated by none other than Lex Hixon. Lex was right when he told me, "Wherever you are, be at home!" In the briefest moment in time, he was the guide who directed me on the path of Coming Home!

                                                                                           Jo Mooy - August 2017  

Seeing the Soul

There's a traditional view of reincarnation that most of us subscribe to.  We're born as a baby, go through life, get old and then die.  Then after death we're told our soul goes somewhere.  The "somewhere" depends on the religion or belief system we were born into.  After a period of time, we come back or reincarnate into another body and do the same thing all over again.

But what exactly comes back into incarnation each time?  That question was the focus of  my esoteric studies for many years.  Reincarnation is a key tenet in many Eastern religions.  The Gnostic scrolls, unearthed in the last 60 years, point to the unmistakable teachings of reincarnation that were taught by Jesus.  It's clear in the scrolls that one's fate is determined by one's current life.  But what about the soul?  Where does it go?  What does it look like?  Does it come back?

Reincarnation has become part of the mass consciousness in the last 50 years.  Highly regarded researchers like Dr. Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia used scientific protocols to exhaustively research over 3,000 cases of children worldwide who claim to have reincarnated.  But another phenomenon causing scientific interest is called Near-Death Experiences or NDEs.

Dr. Kenneth Ring is Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut and one of the leading scholars on NDEs.  In one of his documented cases a girl who nearly drowned at the age of 7 reported seeing two adults "waiting to be born."  In another case, an individual stated she got information from a group milling around as "they were all waiting for reincarnation."  Again the questions came - who or what was waiting to be born.

My own research took me to the most ancient religious writings of India.  The Hindu Vedas said the soul reincarnated.  The Yoga Sutras say the same thing.  The Buddhist teachings state the "soul is reborn."  That sounded good enough.  The NDEs said people were waiting to be born, but what did the soul look like?

I turned again to the individual stories of those who had Near-Death Experiences.  One said, "I became a ball of light."  Another said, "spiritual beings were observing me inside a crystal sphere."  A young man described "A shimmering, luminescent sphere enveloped me, making me feel as if I had stepped into a crystal globe."  And in a well documented case, a young woman said, "I was there with this glowing orb."

Looking to back up the NDEs with the teachings of the mystics, I went to the Eastern texts.  The Hindu Vedas describe the soul as a "gossamer light" and more telling,  "a bubble of light."  The Sufi mystic teacher Inayat Khan said the soul was "a sphere of light."  With those definitions, the connection was instantaneous.  Orbs are images of the soul or spirits.

With the advent of digital photography a phenomenon called Orbs began to appear in photographs.  Orbs are spherical and transparent bodies of light that superimpose themselves in the photo.  Orbs appear most frequently in nature photos or during highly charged emotional events like parties, funerals, or children playing.  Sometimes the Orbs are stationary, other times they're in motion, leaving a trail of light behind them like a comet. 

Some claim that orbs are simply dust, pollen, or atmospheric conditions that occur due to the reflection of light in the camera.  Others dispute that theory as do I.  Why?  Because, though I've seen Orbs in my photographs since 2003, I've also seen Orbs without a camera and witnessed them "powering up" when spoken to.  The most remarkable occurrence was two days after the death of my neighbor.  The lights in my house began to flicker on and off.  When I ventured into the living room I saw two very large Orbs near the ceiling.  Realizing Kathy had just passed I asked, "Is that you, Kathy?"  At that moment, one of the Orbs powered up brightly and stayed that way for about ten seconds.  Knowing Kathy wanted to be with her mother who had previously passed over, I asked "Is that your mother with you?"  And the second Orb powered up.  Eventually, they both faded from view, but not before being documented by two people in the house.

The mystical interpretations offered by the Hindu Vedas, Inayat Khan, Edgar Cayce  and the many Near-Death Experiencers do point to a common definition of what the soul looks like.  The soul is an Orb or an iridescent Sphere of Light.  And now the technology is available to see the soul with our digital cameras.  And yes, we can even communicate with it.  The next time you photograph an event, look for the Orbs in the viewfinder.  If you don't see them, feel them.  If you can't feel them, speak to them and invite them to appear.  They will!  I've done it for ten years.

Jo Mooy - April 2013