Soul Seeker: Reflections on a Spiritual Journey from Darkness to the Light

By Perspectus

A 2020 International Book Awards’ winning finalist in the spiritualism category, Soul Seeker: Reflections on a Spiritual Journey from Darkness to the Light, shares the author’s reflections on his true story from constant pain and suicidal thoughts to healing, redemption, and spirituality.

The author’s reflections, shared through his prose, poetry and photography, begin with him trapped in a deep depression, resulting from a five-year battle with constant pain from an autoimmune disorder. Feeling hopeless and powerless, he hits the “darkest night of his soul” and decides to end his life. But this book is not about suicide, but rather, redemption.

It begins with an awakening, visionary experience that leads to his healing and fills him with a permanent sense of well-being and an appreciation for life and living happily in the light. But in the end, he is confronted and tested with the moral dilemma of the shocking results of a half-century-old murder case.  It dramatically reinforces the importance of not backsliding into the “dark night of his soul” and the belief “that without darkness, we will never find or know the true value of the light.” This story transcends one man’s journey to spiritual awakening and connection to a Higher Power and includes such things as mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, the soul, purpose and faith, messages of Mother Earth, love, truth, peace, blessings and sorrows, enlightenment, and very much more.  

The book also serves as an inspirational guide for others seeking their purpose in life and the meaning to existence. With clear language, well-explained concepts, this work is agile, easy to read, and full of wisdom from spiritual and metaphysical thinkers of the past two centuries. Perspectus’ reflections look at: humanity’s connection to the consciousness, energy, power, and matter in the universe; that each of our souls make up an even larger godlike consciousness or soul that is and always will be; the presence of a Higher Power within and outside of each of us; the existence of an eternal source of love, compassion, and redemption; and to never give up hope. Proceeds from the profits of this book will be used to fund a college scholarship program for economically disadvantaged students to shine eternal light on a good man struck down by the darkness of another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jan 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781982220334

Perspectus

PERSPECTUS is the pen name of a veteran international communication and public relations professional, with nearly 50 years’ experience, who currently resides in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. In addition, he is a published journalist, author, poet, blogger and cartoonist. He maintains a sense of anonymity, so he can be candid and sincere in sharing his perspective on the spiritual journey he has undertaken in the hope that in some small way his reflections might help others.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 Perspectus.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Interior Graphics/Art Credit: Perspectus

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-2032-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-2034-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-2033-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019900742

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/26/2019

Dedicated to my wife and family. A special thanks to my Higher Power, whom I understand to be God, for guiding me on this spiritual journey and to Stacy McMahon, John Schneider, Sagebrush, Jose A. and all my brothers and sisters at the Twilight Zone.

Cover Design

Timothy M. Howard

Cover Photo

Val Pond Photography

https://www.facebook.com/valpondphotography/

Contents

■   Preface

■    Darkness To Light

■    My Vision

■    The Path

■    The Soul

■    Mindfulness

■    Messages Of Mother Earth

■    Purpose And Faith

■    Blessings And Sorrows

■    Love, Truth, And Peace

■    Afterword

■    About The Author

■    Notes

Preface

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              I am Perspectus, and this is my story.

              I set out on a journey to find

              health, but instead I found God’s glory

              and quietly left all my pain behind.

Imagine yourself on the balcony of a luxurious cruise ship sailing to the Caribbean on a moonlit night, with the only sound you hear being the splash of the ocean against the sides of the ship. So relaxing and calm. Inside the cabin your spouse sleeps soundly. A warm wind softly slaps against your face. I would imagine you might think, What a beautiful moment this sounds like, and how grateful you might be to experience such a serene moment.

But on a winter night in 2014, when I stood in that exact situation, I wasn’t thinking about gratitude. I was finalizing my plans for my suicide. In my hand was a bottle of Percocet. The plan was to take the pills and drink some vodka. This would make be groggy enough to ensure that I wouldn’t have any last-minute thoughts of survival. It was so simple. I’d step up, jump over the rail, and plummet to the ocean below.

But thanks to my higher power, this story is about not suicide but rather a spiritual journey from the dark night of my soul to the dawning of a new day of light and hope.

Soul Seeker is about my reflections on a spiritual journey I have taken. It begins with an awakening experience that filled me with a permanent sense of well-being and an appreciation for life. As a result, I believe I have a permanent heightened awareness and what Steve Taylor, author of Out of the Darkness, calls a sense of connection to nature or the cosmos as a whole, a sense of meaning and purpose and a permanent inner well-being, free of worry or anxiety.¹

I was raised in an organized religion and believed in God and the teachings of Jesus Christ, but I had serious doubts and questions. I could see the hand of humankind in all religions, writing, interpreting, distorting, and shaping the presence of our higher power into human perceptions and assumptions.

Years ago, I had a lighthearted conversation with a priest about my spiritual beliefs. I told him I was not very religious. I said that I felt like maybe there might be a God but that I doubted that it was some old guy sitting on a throne in the clouds. I told him I believed that the Bible and any other religions’ holy doctrines were written by humans, subject to their interpretation, bias, and misunderstanding.

Jokingly, I told him that if it turned out I was wrong, I had a fallback position. I figured I could get into heaven on a frequent-flier companion fare. I said my wife was such a good person and member of the church that a benevolent God would have to bring me along because she didn’t deserve to be punished for my moral failings. Obviously, the priest was less than convinced of the feasibility or existence of any such religious tenet.

However, as I will discuss later, two miraculous things happened to me. One was a vision that opened my eyes to the metaphysical world, and the second was the disappearance of the disease that had plagued me for nearly six years.

As a natural-born skeptic, I started seeking answers and rational explanations for how my disease had disappeared. I started sharing my thoughts in verse and prose on Facebook in 2016, and to my surprise many users began to follow my page.

As I became more awake, people also began coming into my life who share my same interest and desire to know life’s purpose and our role and to understand a universe where we are all connected, all part of a universal energy that creates, controls, and guides our existence on earth.

When I look at the physical and biological structure of a human, I see a sophisticated system of living cells, muscles, nerves, and brain, all designed to work together as one and to evolve. Further, it started to make sense to me that there must be a power beyond the realm of our understanding and comprehension that is responsible for this complex design.

When I consider all the species of plants, insects, animals, and all other living entities that make up the unique natural environment of Spaceship Earth, I know that we are not the result of some cosmic joke. I believe we are all here for a purpose. I also feel that all the diverse religions of our world lead to the same goal but by way of different paths.

While the truth is still unknown to me and may never be known, I am beginning to awake. With this awakening, I believe, will come enlightenment and hopefully the answers I seek.

Soul Seeker: Reflections on a Spiritual Journey from Darkness to the Light embodies my reflections on such things as mindfulness, spirituality, the soul, faith, and enlightenment as I travel forward on my search for spiritual truth and purpose. I hope that my journey and words will help you, and others, to find your true way as well.

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Reflection

When I look back at my life,

what do I see?

Nothing special.

Nothing grand.

Really, no fame.

No glory.

No splendid wealth.

And to be very honest,

I don’t even see good health.

In my material life,

I have experienced some

adventures and success.

But it wasn’t until I became

mindful and aware

of my soul and spiritual

purpose that I began

to consider myself an

extraordinary ordinary man.

My ordinary became

extraordinary when

I surrendered my will

to a higher power and

started to work to help

bring peace, comfort, love,

and a helping hand

to those who are suffering

and who need

hope and goodwill.

DARKNESS

TO LIGHT

As I age, I recognize that life, like