In his best-selling book Greenlights, actor Matthew McConaughey introduces the reader to his concept of the greenlight, being an event that paves the way for a person to live into a better version of who they are. When I read his book, these happenings resonated strongly with me as I looked back over the journey of my life, and one story in particular stood out as being quite pivotal to where I am now. Below is the extract from my diary that captures this circumstance and my learnings about where it has led me:
When the student is ready, the teacher appears. This pearl of Buddhist wisdom captures a truth that I experienced first-hand in my early twenties when I had my curiosity piqued by a friend who articulated to me his fascination with the spiritual dimension of life and the works which conveyed its wisdom. Perhaps sensing my desire for a deeper experience of life, he drew my attention to the book, The Celestine Prophecies, which he found to be an enthralling read. Urging me to take its learnings in, he told me enthusiastically about some of the teachings in the book and how they had helped him see his life in a more expansive and positive light. Wanting this for myself, I took the light from his eyes and made it my own, making a commitment to myself to get my hands on the book to learn whatever I could from it.
As I drove the short distance home from his place, I can remember worrying about how difficult the book would be to source (this was prior to on-line booksellers like Amazon being the go to for book purchases). Being naive to its immense popularity and status as a bestseller, I questioned which bookstores would stock this jewel of a work, but I was soon to find out that my futile questioning was not necessary.
When I arrived home, I went straight to my mother’s room and asked her if she had ever heard of the book that my friend claimed was life changing. “Indeed”, she said buoyantly, “It is an interesting and very insightful book. You should be able to find it on the bookshelf in the study.” “What!?” I exclaimed. “We have this book in the house?” “Yes”, she calmly replied. “I have many of those types of books in my collection. I bought them over the years to help deal with your father’s death, and to grow as a person.” “Okay”, I said perplexedly, “but why didn’t you bring them to my attention earlier? They could have been beneficial to my development.” At this she retorted, “True, but Christian, you had never shown any interest in these books until now, and I wasn’t going to force them on you as there would have been no benefit to that. Your journey is your journey, and I just figured that if and when the time came for you to explore the spiritual path, I would direct you to them.” ‘Good response’, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t argue with that.’ My mother’s reply here was so typical of the love and respect that she has for me as a son and a person. What she knew so well from her own journey was that meaningful learning which can penetrate the soul of a person must be voluntary and not compelled. In this, she was an advocate of the wise saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.”
I cannot really describe to you what I felt as I walked into the study that day. I had walked into that room a thousand times previously, but with my eyes closed to the marvels of what it contained. Today I walked in there anew, with an openness that had eluded me in my prolonged habitual stupor. All I can say is that it was a feeling which truly captured the possibility that I was going to meet with something that was going to profoundly shape my life course. As I looked searchingly at the rows of literature held by that large antique wooden bookshelf, I felt a shiver of exultation that I had not felt in a long time. One by one, I would become acquainted with the titles that I would share my time with in the succeeding months and years. In that collection was A Course in Miracles and books by Wayne Dyer, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale and Deepak Chopra. Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life was also there, as was The Celestine Prophesies. To have these works at my fingertips was truly awesome and I felt so blessed to have come to this treasure that was right under my nose. While I thought to commence with the book that had brought me to this collection, something else that I had found called out to me, so with that I would start my journey of transformation.
Dr. L. Christian Duperouzel 