In early December 2010, I was asked to address a group of about 50 students who were graduating from Film School. Two months earlier, I had started the first HIVEX treatment centre in Durban in South Africa. HIVEX uses targeted electromagnetic frequencies to damage the proteins in HIV, making viral replication stop as well as preventing the virus from being able to heal itself, thus ensuring that this treatment is once-off and therefore permanent.
The group of film students was lively and engaging and an opportunity to inform them of the important work we were doing. It was also a chance to encourage them to protect themselves from potential HIV infection and if already infected, to do something positive to alter the course of their lives.
The day after this address, a young girl who had been sitting directly in front of me came to the treatment centre. She asked if I knew who she was and I immediately recognised her from that meeting. Looking at her in the audience, I got a strong intuitive feeling that she was HIV+ and her sudden appearance at the treatment centre was no surprise.
This young woman said she needed treatment but being a student, could not afford to be treated. We treated her at no charge as life is more valuable than the small donation we usually ask patients to make. It was a joy to see her visibly change in the most positive way over the twelve days of treatment. To witness significant healing is a priceless experience!
Yesterday, as I left a small restaurant having met a friend for a small year end celebration, I was stopped by a young woman with a bright smiling face. "Do you remember me?" she asked.
Through my several meetings related to HIVEX every week, I tend to meet hundreds of people making it difficult to remember every person whose path I cross. Some hear me speak to large audiences and I never get the chance to personally engage every member of the audience. HIV is an emotionally charged topic and some prefer to avoid direct contact for fear that others might deem them to be HIV+.
The young lady seated near the entrance of the restaurant told me she had been in the group of film students whom I had addressed just over a year ago. She asked about progress and I reported that we had treated approximately 1200 HIV+ people. I mentioned that we were seeing an increasing number of patients as word was spreading as to the efficacy of this HIVEX treatment. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising as it carries an endorsement which is strongly loaded. Satisfied clients are the building blocks for future triumph.
This young woman then told me she had sent her HIV+ mother for treatment after having heard me talk to her fellow alumni. It is always fascinating to see the sphere of influence that generates from our actions. A positive intention that is brought into reality by our focused actions is likely to yield significant results, often long after the work is done.
I asked how her mother was doing since having undergone a HIVEX treatment. Her face took on an added glow as she proudly announced: "She is now 100%!" That has to be one of the more meaningful recent moments in my life. It was like an unexpected action replay of something that was already tucked deeply into the reservoir of memory.
Nothing is more valuable than the awareness of having been a positive influence in someone's life. It brings a dimension of meaning to one's own existence that is priceless. This unspeakable joy can never be intentionally harvested. It comes from doing something substantial for others without ever seeking recognition or reward.
I do not engage in the exchange of gifts at Christmas. I find the commercialism of this special time to be repugnant and would rather use this time to connect significantly with those people who have real meaning in my life.
Meeting the young lady as I was about to leave the restaurant is probably the highlight of my Christmas. This was a gift of considerable proportion and coming just before the turn of another year, made me realise that all the hard work in 2011 was to be the building block for even better times ahead.
My prayer going forward is for an acceleration of what has now been seeded. I have witnessed scores of lives that have benefited and changed in sublimely positive ways through the HIVEX process. It feels like a revolution has begun that is likely to change the face of a suffering humanity.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
CHRISTMAS 2011
Here is a beautiful short piece that really touched me a few days ago. Its message is powerful for all of us.
"Something universal in the human spirit is rising at this time to celebrate the light that defiantly, brightly shines - even now, in what is (in the Northern Hemisphere) the darkest time of the year. While the lights sparkle and rich aromas and melodies rise up, the cold bites and the body yearns to hibernate.
It can be one of the most wonderful, and paradoxically, one of the most difficult times of the whole year. We are made to notice light and fullness, but also darkness and emptiness; we are reminded of our connectedness, but also of our aloneness.
Every person we love (including every person, alive now or not, who we have ever loved) awakens our recognition of the Universal Beloved, that which is the essence of all that is lovable and loving, the One from which we can never be separated.
Giving gifts is a way to remind ourselves of love, to enact our gratitude, to express the spirit of generosity that is our only sanity.
And yet so is being quiet and still, and noticing the stillness that is always already present.
And so, of course, life requires us to choose again. To find our heart's "yes" in both light and darkness. To find a way to walk with love in this still only half-made world, this place where love is yet to fully take its hold.
In the community where I grew up, our neighbours stepped over boundaries by gathering for a Hannukah party one night and singing Christmas carols through the neighbourhood the next. Together, these rituals healed something in us, individually and collectively.
May your heart find a way to practice this holiday season. May you find a way to notice the light in the darkness in every single body, to notice the non-separation that lets you reach across the gaps that face you!"
Sadly, I do not know the author of this wonderful message in order to give acknowledgement to where it is rightly due. But I remain grateful for being enriched by its wisdom.
Bless you all at this special time of year. May your introspections be fulfilling and a preparation for the quest to be MORE in 2012.
With my love
Clive
"Something universal in the human spirit is rising at this time to celebrate the light that defiantly, brightly shines - even now, in what is (in the Northern Hemisphere) the darkest time of the year. While the lights sparkle and rich aromas and melodies rise up, the cold bites and the body yearns to hibernate.
It can be one of the most wonderful, and paradoxically, one of the most difficult times of the whole year. We are made to notice light and fullness, but also darkness and emptiness; we are reminded of our connectedness, but also of our aloneness.
Every person we love (including every person, alive now or not, who we have ever loved) awakens our recognition of the Universal Beloved, that which is the essence of all that is lovable and loving, the One from which we can never be separated.
Giving gifts is a way to remind ourselves of love, to enact our gratitude, to express the spirit of generosity that is our only sanity.
And yet so is being quiet and still, and noticing the stillness that is always already present.
And so, of course, life requires us to choose again. To find our heart's "yes" in both light and darkness. To find a way to walk with love in this still only half-made world, this place where love is yet to fully take its hold.
In the community where I grew up, our neighbours stepped over boundaries by gathering for a Hannukah party one night and singing Christmas carols through the neighbourhood the next. Together, these rituals healed something in us, individually and collectively.
May your heart find a way to practice this holiday season. May you find a way to notice the light in the darkness in every single body, to notice the non-separation that lets you reach across the gaps that face you!"
Sadly, I do not know the author of this wonderful message in order to give acknowledgement to where it is rightly due. But I remain grateful for being enriched by its wisdom.
Bless you all at this special time of year. May your introspections be fulfilling and a preparation for the quest to be MORE in 2012.
With my love
Clive
Thursday, December 15, 2011
PROFOUND CHOICE
The thing we call adversity is in fact a chance to become MORE! Life is about profound choice.
When we refuse to be victims, right in the very core of our minds, that is when seeming pain transcends into a meaningful joy!
When we refuse to be victims, right in the very core of our minds, that is when seeming pain transcends into a meaningful joy!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM HIV - WORLD AIDS DAY 2011
Few things have expanded my existence more than HIV. Practically every boundary of my being has been challenged by this controversial disease and I have been forced to grow beyond my wildest dreams.
Firstly, Aids gave me the opportunity to come face to face with death, to really understand that the life that I know will not last forever. In those moments of feeling the life force draining from my being, my connection with the Infinite became intensely real. This was not driven by the fear of death, but rather from an experience of knowing the perpetual closeness of our Creator, when the very sophistications of life had been replaced by stark simplicity. To visit our mortality and to then rebound into life, builds a meaningful gratitude for the absolute essence of life.
HIV has taken me into the deep reservoirs of my being, to show me aspects of myself I had never met before. On this extraordinary journey, I visited both the light and dark aspects of who I am and suddenly understood that both were equally important. Without the privilege of understanding my darkness, how could I ever appreciate my light?
Few things engender more fear than HIV. The fear of death, the fear of rejection, the fear of dreams being imploded and the intense fear of irreversible change. Each of these fears represented another mountain of personal challenge and as I have attempted to climb them, I get breathless by the excitement of slaying dragons and learning the self-imposed limitation of unconquered fear. Transcending fear becomes a milestone on the journey to becoming MORE.
Shocked by the diagnosis of HIV, I visited a solitary personal space to internalise this harsh news. A few months later, I decided that to remain a victim of HIV was to entirely abdicate the remainder of my life. In those early days I tried to understand stigma and soon realised that stigma began with me. Stigma was not something others imposed on me; stigma was encouraged or invited by the state of my own thinking.
To choose empowering thoughts above my crushing fear of rejection was an opportunity to manage my ego and to refuse to be a slave to it. When my face was covered in unsightly sores and looked gaunt and drawn from the impact of this illness, I refused to closet myself away from society. When people stared, I chose to smile back to remind them that I was also a fragile human trying to make the most of the cards I had been dealt. In those moments, people got my measure and accepted me fully, because mysteriously they realised that I had accepted myself just as I was.
In the formative part of my life, I became drawn to counselling and healing. In those early times, I was probably motivated by the need to rescue people from their pain. This work always brought a bounty of immeasurable joy. More recently, life took me right into the vortex of healing, working with African people struggling with this life changing virus. This work has shown me that I am no longer motivated by the need to rescue. As I interact with this sea of hurting humanity, my role is to show them love and respect and to help them help themselves, as they, like me try to make sense of extreme adversity. I delight as I watch seemingly unsophisticated people transcend their challenges and begin to ascend the opportunity of becoming MORE.
HIV/Aids has become a huge, widely politicised business. This multi-billion dollar industry jealously guards its territory, preventing the possibility of the emergence of a cure. I am saddened at how relatively innocent people are used to lobby for the maintenance of the status quo, without ever thinking that there might be something more profound. I currently work with cutting-edge technology developed over twenty years ago. The progress of this treatment remains thwarted by pressure from those who aim to preserve their own privileged position.
I now clearly understand that my contracting HIV was not only part of my own necessary development as a human being, but it has placed me at a critical juncture to facilitate healing for so many others. As we move beyond the short-term discomfort of challenge to try to understand how it may support our life's purpose, our opened consciousness suddenly allows us to see light in seeming darkness and to benefit all from our enlightened experience.
May this World Aids Day herald significant shifts in thinking around this illness. May we begin to discern how we need to react in the most appropriate ways for the upliftment of ourselves and humanity in general. Life is difficult, but it is through adversity that we are always given a sublime opportunity to become MORE!
Firstly, Aids gave me the opportunity to come face to face with death, to really understand that the life that I know will not last forever. In those moments of feeling the life force draining from my being, my connection with the Infinite became intensely real. This was not driven by the fear of death, but rather from an experience of knowing the perpetual closeness of our Creator, when the very sophistications of life had been replaced by stark simplicity. To visit our mortality and to then rebound into life, builds a meaningful gratitude for the absolute essence of life.
HIV has taken me into the deep reservoirs of my being, to show me aspects of myself I had never met before. On this extraordinary journey, I visited both the light and dark aspects of who I am and suddenly understood that both were equally important. Without the privilege of understanding my darkness, how could I ever appreciate my light?
Few things engender more fear than HIV. The fear of death, the fear of rejection, the fear of dreams being imploded and the intense fear of irreversible change. Each of these fears represented another mountain of personal challenge and as I have attempted to climb them, I get breathless by the excitement of slaying dragons and learning the self-imposed limitation of unconquered fear. Transcending fear becomes a milestone on the journey to becoming MORE.
Shocked by the diagnosis of HIV, I visited a solitary personal space to internalise this harsh news. A few months later, I decided that to remain a victim of HIV was to entirely abdicate the remainder of my life. In those early days I tried to understand stigma and soon realised that stigma began with me. Stigma was not something others imposed on me; stigma was encouraged or invited by the state of my own thinking.
To choose empowering thoughts above my crushing fear of rejection was an opportunity to manage my ego and to refuse to be a slave to it. When my face was covered in unsightly sores and looked gaunt and drawn from the impact of this illness, I refused to closet myself away from society. When people stared, I chose to smile back to remind them that I was also a fragile human trying to make the most of the cards I had been dealt. In those moments, people got my measure and accepted me fully, because mysteriously they realised that I had accepted myself just as I was.
In the formative part of my life, I became drawn to counselling and healing. In those early times, I was probably motivated by the need to rescue people from their pain. This work always brought a bounty of immeasurable joy. More recently, life took me right into the vortex of healing, working with African people struggling with this life changing virus. This work has shown me that I am no longer motivated by the need to rescue. As I interact with this sea of hurting humanity, my role is to show them love and respect and to help them help themselves, as they, like me try to make sense of extreme adversity. I delight as I watch seemingly unsophisticated people transcend their challenges and begin to ascend the opportunity of becoming MORE.
HIV/Aids has become a huge, widely politicised business. This multi-billion dollar industry jealously guards its territory, preventing the possibility of the emergence of a cure. I am saddened at how relatively innocent people are used to lobby for the maintenance of the status quo, without ever thinking that there might be something more profound. I currently work with cutting-edge technology developed over twenty years ago. The progress of this treatment remains thwarted by pressure from those who aim to preserve their own privileged position.
I now clearly understand that my contracting HIV was not only part of my own necessary development as a human being, but it has placed me at a critical juncture to facilitate healing for so many others. As we move beyond the short-term discomfort of challenge to try to understand how it may support our life's purpose, our opened consciousness suddenly allows us to see light in seeming darkness and to benefit all from our enlightened experience.
May this World Aids Day herald significant shifts in thinking around this illness. May we begin to discern how we need to react in the most appropriate ways for the upliftment of ourselves and humanity in general. Life is difficult, but it is through adversity that we are always given a sublime opportunity to become MORE!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
BE VIGILANT OF HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF
By inadvertently communicating and behaving like victims, we are immediately withdrawing from the potential bounty of life. To be a victim is to believe that you don't deserve.
Choose to be MORE!
Choose to be MORE!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
GOING IN
To find the still space at the centre of our being is to find our guiding light. Without it, life becomes chaotic and we wander aimlessly from our given path.
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