Chapter 4: Rich - Learning To Let Go

Rich and Hassi, with Baby Grace

Rich was diagnosed in 1990 with ALS (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”). Four-and-half years later, on January 8, 1995, at the age of forty-four, Rich passed away.

Death is a vehicle of G.O.D. (the “Great Om Dimension”) that will carry me away from this plane. It’s the few months before that which will prove to be the most powerful time of transition for the whole family. I often wonder how to teach people not to take their body and life so much for granted; many others have already tried! Thank God for the soul.

(Written by Rich one year before his passing.)

“I Prayed and It Helped”

MOST OF THE TIME, Rich was extraordinarily positive. Where did his inner strength come from? He wrote to Hassi, “When I’m in pain, physical or mental, I first complain to Master; then I offer it up to God.” After a particularly difficult episode, he wrote these words:

I have to sit in my wheelchair seat uncomfortably for maybe 40 percent of the day, but there’s nothing I can do about it. On Saturday I was not able to watch the video I wanted. I rolled all the way up to the TV, but couldn’t turn any knob; then I yelled, but no one could hear. Finally I prayed and it helped. So you see, for the most part I have one [great] channel left to deal with frustration—meditation.

Another time, he wrote:

I must realize that this body is still temporarily a temple: the external structure may be a bit weakened, yet there is still plenty of heart and soul. I know that the muscles in this body are able to work less effectively every month. Fear enters as a shadow, then leaves with the practice of Hong-Sau [a meditation technique].

Rich was very grateful for the computer program that enabled him to communicate with his family and friends. At the end of a short letter, he wrote, “This note took me two hours to finish, but it was worth it. It’s nice that the guru still allows me to share my thoughts and feelings with my dearest friends.”