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April-June, 2009

On Publishing The Book ON, and More…

Robert & Mary Stoelting Interview John Hutkin and Rev. Mary Gerard Lenihan

Note from Robert and Mary Stoelting:
John Hutkin and Rev. Mary Gerard Lenihan are the publishers of the remarkable newly published The Book ON… and Jesus answers. In the following interview they share with us about how they came across the scribed book, The Mirror on Still Water and how this led to their working with the scribe Joel Wright to get The Book ON ready for publication.

They also share about how Mary Gerard Lenihan received the inspiring book Visions of Illumination and how Jesus is leading both John and Mary to teach through demonstration by handing over all judgments to the Holy Spirit to see everything differently. They also share about an upcoming workshop WNYHOO (The World Needs Your Help One-to-One NOW)

Robert:  How did you find out about Joel Wright and his work?

John Hutkin: About 10 years ago I contacted Saul Steinberg regarding an out of print book he had published. After that, Saul started sending me much of the material that he was printing. Ten years later Mary found the book The Mirror On Still Water on my bookshelf.

Mary Gerard Lenihan: In my perpetual spiritual search, I was perusing all of the books on John’s bookshelf. My eye caught on The Mirror On Still Water. I pulled it down off the shelf and started reading it. I was immediately taken in. I thought, “Boy this person is really listening.” I immediately felt that this was Jesus that he was hearing. I remember reading it for two hours because, in the process of him answering other people’s personal questions, they were answering questions I had as well about my life and how to approach problems and every day situations.

I remember going to John and asking, “Where did you get this book and who is this guy?” John looked at the book and didn’t recall ever seeing it. So we really didn’t know where the book came from. He started reading it himself and thought the same thing: “This guy is really listening to Jesus.” To this day we don’t know how that book showed up on John’s bookshelf. Then John began to investigate who published it.

John: I saw no way to contact Joel Wright, who was the scribe. At this point Saul Steinberg had died, so I didn’t know how to get in touch with any of his family. Through Internet search and telephone calls, I learned that Joel had written that book while he actually was in prison in California. I do know that he had a substance abuse problem and his incarceration may have had something to do with that. I got the impression that Joel was happy to sit down and be quiet to hear these answers. He felt that it was his life’s mission to do this.

I got the phone number of a gentleman named Thorton. I called him and told him,  “I love this material. It’s very helpful. I hear the clarity in it. I would like to help publish another book if he has one or help with getting this material out if he is going to continue to do it.” He said he would call Joel. He said he thought this must be a gift from Heaven because actually Joel was working on a new book. His only desire was that it be published. Thorton was choked up and he said that it was bringing tears to his eyes that this was happening. There had seemed to be no way that the new book could be published because Joel had no means to do it.

I called Joel. He was appreciative and taken aback. He also felt that this was a miracle that it was showing up at the time when he had completed most of the work for The Book ON and it was ready for something to happen. So I said I would provide the means to get the book edited and published.

I know he was married and had one child and that there was a divorce. He then became quite depressed with the break up. He talked about that but he seemed to find comfort in doing The Book ON. It brought much comfort to him. Joel received some kind of a disability or government money, and this is what he lived on. He was not working. He did have side jobs from time to time. He lived at a place in California with a roommate which included room and board for like $700-800 a month. He always had the concern that his next stop was homelessness.

But no matter what his concerns were, he was very open to doing this work. If I asked him, he would become very focused and do the work or go back and re-look at it. If I told him a section seemed like some of his personal thoughts had crept into it, he would say, “If you’re telling me that, I know that can happen. I want to have only Jesus speaking. I do not want to overlay it with my own thoughts.” He was open to taking anything I thought that needed to be redone back to Jesus for clarification. He was completely open without any resistance or defending what he had written.

This process of preparing the book for publication went on for a year and a half. He got everything rewritten on his own except for global warming. No matter how many times we attempted it, there was some blame being laid. And I think it was his personal thoughts about global warming. So I asked Mary, which is in the book, to scribe for it. She said, “I’m not the one to write on global warming because I don’t know anything about it.” I said, “Well that’s perfect. That means Jesus will have to write it.” In the end, we came to what Jesus wanted to get to us.

Joel was always extremely appreciative. I actually assisted him financially to make up the difference between his disability income and his basic needs. His sister too, was always trying to help Joel. The book was dedicated to his sister. At a personal level I had a little conflict. Should I be doing this? Should I not be doing that? Every time I would ask, I would hear very clearly to keep helping Joel. It’s helping me and it’s helping everyone. There would be no question in my mind. In fact when I asked Jesus I was told, “Take off the limits and just ask Me.” I absolutely felt connected that not only was Joel scribing what Jesus wanted to share with us, but it was also bringing me closer to Jesus by working with Joel. Jesus was reassuring me and I was getting direction which I felt absolute confidence in as I became quiet and listened. So he assisted me in many, many ways.

Joel had always been very focused on A Course in Miracles. He was devoted to it. He felt that the Course was where his peace and safety lay and basically followed its direction. He appreciated me reminding him, “Let’s give it to Holy Spirit.” It’s the kind of direction I always get from you, Robert and Mary. I always find that reinforcement to be very helpful.

I felt that it was important that Joel come to a place of peace because of the judgments he had and his issues in the world. I asked, “What are your concerns? What is it about your judgment, about the things that are unhealed in your mind?” Over three weeks we developed the questions together and he would then ask Jesus. He would write the answers without even knowing what was written until after it was written. One of the answers is at the front of the book and three are at the rear of the book. They were very, very helpful. It is really everybody’s questions about their fear of living in this world. They are answered so honestly and Jesus really comes forward with Joel on a very personal level. Yet the answers are universal, even though they were totally personal to Joel’s life, his understanding of what was happening and his concerns about his life.

We finally finished the book and were getting ready to print it when I didn’t hear from him for three days. I couldn’t get a hold of him. I talked to his sister and she said that Joel had passed away! He died of a heart attack in his sleep, peacefully. He was 53. It felt like he had just completed his mission and now he had turned it over to us, which I feel includes Pathways of Light. We’ve done our part and I feel like you and your organization are very responsible for it taking its next step. And that Jesus has arranged for those who would take it are in line to do it and are willing to help Jesus with this to take his word about our world into the world.

Mary S: Yes. As we have had conversations between us, the energy that comes with it is very strong. I feel Jesus has a whole series of steps happening here. The Book ON is phase one, Visions of Illumination is phase two and WNYHOO — NOW is the next stage. Mary Lenihan, could you share your experience in being a scribe for Visions of Illumination?

Mary Lenihan:  John and I are both seeing now that Jesus — Holy Spirit — has had a plan from the very beginning, going back to before I even wrote The Mentor Within because it is an interesting progression from one piece of writing to the next.

John: The Mentor Within is where Mary is asking her own questions from the first step on the ladder as we are using the ladder metaphor. At that point she began to ask and received answers back from the Wisdom within — Holy Spirit. The next step was The Mentor Within, Let Your Self Be Seen. The wisdom that comes through really demonstrates that it is available to everyone. When I read the material, I was taken by it and wanted to support Mary in any way to write and complete this book. What she was receiving was just what A Course in Miracles had been talking about: That Holy Spirit is there to be our Guide. And this was a book for anyone asking for help to assure them that the Holy Spirit is there to guide them.

Mary was always asking, “What am I going to do in the world?” She would come up with ideas about doing this or that. We were in Jamaica and Mary was going through the list of other things she could do. I said, “Mary, your gift is the Mentor Within because you are hearing the Holy Spirit. The Mentor Within is the Holy Spirit. So it will come through that somehow.” Mary posed that question to the Holy Spirit, the Mentor Within.

Mary Lenihan: We were in a situation where we were meeting a lot of new people. And of course, the common question we all ask one another is, “What’s your name, where are you from and what do you do?” And I was getting really sick of being asked that question. I hated those questions anyway. The focus is always on your career, your job and what you do to make money.

I was not very successful in that area of my life and so I started having a conversation, just walking on the beach, with the Mentor. I really actually felt the presence of Holy Spirit walking with me. I said, “What do I do and how do I answer this question when people ask me what do I do? What’s the answer to that question?”

The Mentor Within answered, “Okay Mary. Let’s have a seat.” We had reached our little balcony and I sat down. There was another empty chair and I felt Holy Spirit sitting there. Holy Spirit said, “Okay let’s have this conversation. Pretend that I am someone that you have just met here at the resort. I’ve just walked up to you and said, ‘Hi, my name is so-in so. Nice to meet you.’ I said Okay and then I introduced myself. “Hi, I’m Mary and its nice to meet you.” “Where are you from?” I say, “We are from St. Louis.” Then Holy Spirit asks, “What do you do?” Immediately out of my mouth came the words, “Oh I run a mission for the Mentor Within. And we inspire the dispirited now.” This just came out of my mouth without any thought whatsoever. As soon as I heard the words, my mouth just dropped open. It was like, “Oh, that’s what I do! Holy Spirit gave me my answer.” And the Holy Spirit immediately responded to me, “Yes Mary, that’s what you do.”

I felt really full of joy that there was such clarity and I resonated so much with it. This makes so much sense to me, now, too because what was the whole purpose of writing The Mentor Within and asking all those questions and listening for all those answers? What do I do with it now? What meaning does it have for me now? I was being told that the only meaning that it would to have for you is if you extend it, if you share it with others, which is the inspiring the dispirited part. The only way that I can really inspire the dispirited is by being inspired myself. The only way I can truly be inspired myself is by walking through the world, practicing forgiveness, releasing my judgments in the moment as they are occurring.

I thought Okay, I’m really going to do this. We have all these conversations with the Mentor Within, but now its time for me to walk it, time for me to walk the talk, because that is how I will teach it, by experiencing it myself and being a demonstration of it in the world. I began doing this, handing over all my judgments. That is how Visions of Illumination began, because it is a series of stories of me walking through my everyday life and sharing what I was experiencing at the ego level with a particular situation, sharing the process of giving it over to the Holy Spirit and asking, “How can I see this differently?”

John: Many chapters of the book were formed as Mary came into certain circumstances and then demonstrated through application by asking to see it differently with Spirit. There were other chapters where I found myself in cahoots with the Mentor Within.  All of a sudden I would hear the Mentor Within say, “Ask Mary this.” I was about to ask her something else, but He changed it. He said, “Just tell Mary she doesn’t love God.” So I said, “Mary, you don’t love God.” Mary did not defend that, knowing that she absolutely loved God and that she would check with the Mentor and the Mentor would reprimand me for making such a statement to Mary.

Mary Lenihan:  I was expecting the Mentor Within to validate me because I felt very much that I loved God. I thought the Mentor Within would validate me so I said sure, I will ask the Mentor Within.

John: The Mentor Within surprised Mary by saying, “You are right. Mary, you don’t love God. You are in love with images of God.” That became a chapter. At other times we’d be sitting on the beach and I would start interviewing Mary. I asked her questions that would get her to delve into the truth in that moment. Those became some of the chapters. A lot of chapters are her interaction with people, places and events and how she took those circumstances to Spirit.

Mary Lenihan: I cannot be an instrument of Holy Spirit for inspiring others if I myself am not inspired. And so I can see now how Visions of Illumination was a precursor to WNYHOO — NOW! (The World Needs Your Help One-to-One — NOW!)

John: I’d like to talk about WNYHOO—NOW for just a moment. I had this vision of a wide bridge that the many can cross. For example, right now we are going to do another WNYHOO—NOW presentation in St. Louis. 20 people are registered and none of them have anything to do with A Course in Miracles. I’m not even sure any of them have a spiritual pursuit that they are pursuing. I think there will be 30-40 people that are doctors, lawyers, accountants and bankers and the people who work in our company and people who work for the building and there will be janitors and doormen — everybody. As Mary says from the top down and from the bottom up. Everyone I share with is interested.

Mary Lenihan: Everyone is willing to be inspired.

John: This is a wide bridge and many can get on and feel comfortable taking the walk. And if you want to be inspired while doing A Course in Miracles you can be inspired while reading A Course in Miracles. You can be inspired while you are doing Christian Science or whatever it is because you are bringing Spirit to wherever you are. It could be on your job. I feel like this has opened something for me as a Course student. One of the biggest obstacles with the Course that I’ve experienced is that I feel like I am going to sacrifice something. Now as I look at it I am just going into my Inspiring Self Mind and practicing the Course. When I do this I’m not as concerned or frightened or feel the sacrifice. If I am inspired and I lose interest in something, then its just my Inspiring Self Mind and it’s not like something is being taken away from me. I find this very helpful being a Course student.

I also see it is helpful to my brother in relating to people in doing business. I really think he is sharing Holy Spirit and the Course even though he doesn’t have the book. He is demonstrating sharing Love through Holy Spirit, whether he wants to recognize that it or not. He is using the words Inspiring Self Mind or inspiration. He used it in a meeting with the chairman of the board and president of a major bank. In his presentation he used words like, “We are here to be truly helpful. We are really inspired to serve and we are going to work from our Inspiring Self Mind. The president of the company told me that the chairman was more impressed with this meeting than he has ever been. That is how universally it seems to work. You don’t have to be showing up at the party thinking that you are here for a spiritual party. It’s just reawakening, no matter what we think you are there for.

Mary Lenihan:  WNYHOO—NOW  came as I was writing out a meditation for Visions of Illumination. In the midst of working on that, I just happened to be sitting outside a restaurant. I saw a waitress working at this restaurant and I just happened to notice how she could have been more helpful. But instead of having my usual judgments about it and sort of bantering in negativity, instead I just noticed, “Hmm. She just missed an opportunity to be helpful.” And then I heard the thought, “Someone needs to help these people.” I saw that we all need training in how to be truly helpful.

I immediately stopped writing about the meditation and went to the other side of the paper and wrote down, “Inspired to serve.” I started writing about how we are all customers. So at first in my mind I was thinking that this was just a basic customer service business-oriented program. As I continued to write, it seemed like it kept expanding and growing. It was moving out of the box and it was getting bigger and bigger. I asked Holy Spirit and I heard that, no, this is a program for the world and that we are all customers in the business of living in the world. And we are here to be truly helpful.

I was initially disturbed by the non-spiritual language. I said, “Holy Spirit, what am I supposed to do with this? You are not letting me talk about God, Holy Spirit or Jesus and that is what I want to do.” I heard, “Mary it’s time to take God out from behind the pulpit, off the altar, out of the church and into the business of the world.” I immediately knew this was an answer to a question about how more people are going to experience the Love of God if they have so many grievances or blocks and obstacles around the spiritual language or the different forms in which God is presented.

I would always tell my Shiatsu students, “Just make sure that at some point before you lay this body down that you stay open to an experience of God because that is the only reason that we all are here.” I wondered how this was going to happen for all the people who did not resonate in the ways that I did with spirituality. I saw WNYHOO—NOW as the answer. This is one of the ways that people are going to open to an experience of love, peace and joy that God is, without having the language get in their way.

Mary S.: It sounds like this is the Holy Spirit’s way of broadening the celestial speedup. Broadening it for people who wouldn’t necessarily open up A Course in Miracles, but like you say, our experience of God is what we all really want. I see that this could be helpful for many people.

Mary Lenihan: I have had people e-mail me and speak to me after the WNYHOO—NOW sessions who have said, “Thank you so much for bringing something that either was helpful to them or that they personally could now go share with friends and family, who couldn’t even stand the word forgiveness. Any spiritual language was blocking them and their grievances about that language was blocking them from having an experience of God. So many people have already come to me and said, “Thank you. That spiritual language is a real block for me and now I feel like I can have something that can take me there without that language.”
 
Mary S.: How do you see this reaching people? I imagine that a lot of people are going to be interested in the WNYHOO—NOW workshop. Will it stay a workshop or will it be in a book?

John: We are going to videotape a little presentation of it so its out there. I see it coming in books. Somebody came the other day and said they want to do it in an online animation. I also see it in a children’s book form. I see it in a retreat where we are going to be doing it in St. Louis in mid November and we are talking about doing it in Orlando, Florida with Pathways of Light. It could certainly be in all these formats because it is inspiring to everybody. It can bring people to become motivated to come into their spiritual awareness by doing just their everyday activities. And their everyday activities could bring them peace. I know it motivates me when I use it in my everyday activities to want to come into the awareness of my spiritual Being.

I am so motivated with this. I have not seen anything, a format that I see has this kind of potential where everybody could make a decision to come into their Inspiring Self Mind. I feel the Course, once you are really into it, will be the path ultimately everyone will take in one form or another where you are going to Holy Spirit through forgiveness to be healed. At the same time I just feel this offers this wide, wide bridge for everybody to be Okay coming on to.

It can be helpful for the healing of the world. It’s for the many. And that is what The Book ON is talking about, this is for the many. Even more so, this is for the many more because it doesn’t use any of the terminology that all of us have images of, even people who have images of Jesus and a lot of times he ends up on a pedestal and then people defend the pedestal and feel that if anybody says anything that isn’t in line with how they visualize it, they take it as an attack upon them, versus the opposite of what Jesus’ real message is — that everything is to be a blessing to your brother. And this Inspiring Self Mind doesn’t bring any of these images.

It is an answer also to my prayer that I have something to do to be helpful. I think its Mary’s prayer and I think its really the prayer of many, whether they know it or not.

Mary Lenihan:  In The Song of Prayer, under Forgiveness for Salvation, paragraph 5, it says, “What should I do for him, your holy son should be the only thing you ever ask when help is needed and forgiveness sought.” This is the basis of WNYHOO—NOW: How can I be truly helpful?

Mary S.: We want to do everything we can to help all these stages that Holy Spirit is unfolding, preparing us step by step on our return to Love. These are beautiful vehicles that the Holy Spirit is unfolding right before our eyes, right now. And it’s very exciting to see it happening and to participate, to actually walk together, hand in hand, all helping each other with the goal of waking up to our true Identity. With WNYHOO, anyone can walk into this and apply it with the simple question, “How can I serve? How can I open to my Inspiring Self Mind?

Mary Lenihan: So the rest is in Holy Spirit’s hands. I don’t have to be concerned about, “Well, are they going to find God through this?” I’ve been assured by Holy Spirit that its all going to be taken care of.

Mary S.:  We are very enthusiastic about the WNYHOO—NOW workshop and we are glad that you are coming to Orlando. People can bring friends that wouldn’t necessarily be on an official spiritual journey. We will let people know the details as soon as it comes together.

John:  I think that with The Mentor Within, Visions of Illumination, The Book ON and WNYHOO—NOW, I feel that the train is in motion, we are on it and we are inviting everyone to join in union, join in Spirit. I feel in my heart that this is really opening the opportunity to recognize that we are joined in Spirit.

Mary Lenihan:  I’m grateful that all this is happening and may we continue to move forward with Holy Spirit and walk the talk and be grateful to do it together. That is the big message that I’m getting from WNYHOO, that we don’t have to walk the walk alone and in fact that we cannot walk it alone. WNYHOO is supporting that we do this together, that we are healed one-to-one.

Mary and Robert: Thank you John and Mary for spending this time with us.

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