Getting High in the Merchant Marine
Frank’s Story
During my years in Austin, Texas, one of my clients was a quiet and melancholy man named Frank. Frank had been in the Merchant Marine for nearly forty years. At the time of our meeting, he was the second mate on a large cargo ship and had traveled all over the world in his time at sea.
When Frank started to work with me, he was in a pretty bad way. His third wife had recently left him while he had been away at sea. She had drained his bank accounts, sold his car, coin collection, and home furnishings, and headed north to Indiana. When Frank came home from his voyage, all he had left was the house. There was virtually nothing in it.
Getting High
Despite Frank’s cool and non-emotional exterior, his underlying bitterness was quite apparent. We soon worked out a routine. When he was between voyages, he would come up to Austin from his home in Houston and work several times a week with me. At first, little happened in those initial sessions. Frank just soaked up the energy and felt great. He got to thinking that all he had to do was lie on my table and he’d feel light and happy for days.
I told him that with any luck, his experience of getting high would soon go away. He thought I was kidding. Why would I want him to feel any different from the way he was now feeling? Wasn’t the goal of healing to feel better? Sure, I replied, but to feel better on a long-term basis, you have to confront and clear your toxicity. Otherwise, all you’re doing is getting a temporary energy high and becoming addicted to being with me so you can get that high. That’s not the goal here.
“What is the goal then?” he asked.
“The goal is to transform your toxicity, become clear and whole, and outgrow your need of me.”
A Category Three
Then I told him that only people who were not connected to their toxic content got high at first. In my terminology, he was a category the and Bakeree. When he got wired to his pain and shame all that would change. If he kept coming, he would soon begin to feel all the dense and sluggish energy that was stuffed inside his body. Then he wouldn’t feel so good, but not to worry, I continued. That was real progress.
Shake and Bake
He gave me a funny look when I said that. I don’t think he knew whether to believe me or not. The following week, after one of his daily sessions, Frank was standing in line at the supermarket when his body began to vibrate without prior warning. He had no idea what was going on, but he was smart enough to get back to his motel room as soon as he could. By the time he got to his room, Frank was really shaking. Nothing remotely like that had ever happened to him before. Little did he know that the toxic energy in his system was becoming mobile. That’s what his shaking was about. He was about to burst. He just didn’t know it. He collapsed on his bed, fell asleep immediately, and slept for two hours.
To be continued tomorrow, January 22.
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