“When my mom was killed, I was catapulted into a spiritual perspective. I had this deep knowing that we exist after we die. I felt her forgiveness for me, for all the confusions and mistakes I had made. And I felt forgiveness for the person who killed her – whoever he was.
I have since learned about the function of our human energy system from my mentor Ellen Tadd. When our third eye chakra is engaged, there is a sense of wisdom, of seeing the consequences of our thoughts and our words and our actions. I was in that wise zone for months after her death. There are a lot of decisions when someone dies, and I never felt flustered or fearful.
It was almost 17 years later when they found somebody in prison whose DNA matched the scene of my mother’s death. When I learned more about his life story, I recognized that he had suffered great traumas. He was born into an impoverished family. He had grown up in a violent home. His own mother had killed his father. He had been in foster care. Underlying all of this was his feeling of low esteem.
The third eye chakra also gives a feeling of seeing somebody else in their completeness. I could see the difference between this man’s actions and his essential self. I had the chance to speak to him, and I said, “I know that you’re good. I forgive you and I know my mother forgives you too.” He was allowed at the end of the arraignment to turn around, and he said that he had grown up in an eye-for-an-eye world and that he had “never experienced this kind of compassion.” But he said, “I know you’re right. There is good in me because I’ve regretted what I did every day since I did it. And, if I could, I would trade my life for your mother’s.”
I imagine the fear in somebody who is taking another person’s life, and I imagine the need to heal that fear for violence to no longer be an impulse. I feel love and forgiveness for the man who killed my mother. I am almost 60. I too struggle with this fear that I am not valuable enough. How is it possible that it has taken me so long to show that same love, forgiveness, and healing for myself?
But I know that fear starts to transform when we view it from the third eye. My homework assignment is to better engage in that process with myself.” – Maureen Burford, Thetford, VT
