We Can Be The Christmas Gift

I talk about the reasons for writing my new book The Christmas Gift, which is a mystical look at Christmas.
I also include a song from the album I did with Stephen Melillo, the Joy of the Angels. We go into the deeper meaning of Christmas and the universal elements of the light coming to the darkest time of the year.

Transcript

I'm really happy to have in the studio a friend of mine,

Cindy Schumacher,

From the Maui,

Well actually two hats you wear,

Lahaina News and also the Maui News,

Right?

Well,

I don't work for the Maui News.

I am the journalist for Maui Economic Development Board and I write their weekly,

Published every Wednesday,

Column called Focus Maui Nui in the Maui News.

I love that one too.

It's a lot of fun because I get to interview people in the community and see all the great things that this Maui community is doing and that's good news.

I really like good news.

And I love the people you interview.

Actually,

I need to call my friend Tom Vendetti.

I know you've done articles about Tom and his wonderful projects and my friend George Cajamoco.

We love George.

And Tom should now be back from that trip that was funded by the fundraiser at the MAC.

That's right.

Right before the violin.

Which is wonderful.

And Keola Beamer.

Keola.

Absolutely wonderful.

Well,

Today it's a little different.

We're kind of going to switch tables or interview interviewee.

I'm not going to talk about something that I don't usually talk about.

I'm going to talk about myself a little bit and this new book I have out.

And it's really an interesting thing.

It's called The Christmas Gift,

When Heaven Merges with Earth.

And it's out on Amazon.

Well,

I have it as Kindle and I have it softcover here and I have a hardcover as well.

And I also have the CD that kind of was based around an album that came out first.

And I want to say that it's a great time for you to have this out right before Thanksgiving.

And as we go into the holiday season.

And by the way,

We were here with Uncle George last Thanksgiving.

That's right.

And he sang for us.

Do you remember?

It was wonderful.

It was wonderful.

I've got to have him do that again.

I just love that.

But anyways,

I want to know about this book and I want you to share with the community this great gift that is given at Christmas that you wrote about.

That most people don't realize.

Go on.

Well,

As you know,

I've been meditating all my life.

I started when I was about 13 years old.

But I do.

Meditations become so popular now.

I mean,

Really,

So many people meditate.

And there's you're finally in.

Well,

There's the mindfulness meditation,

So many kinds.

But when I started,

It was really more of a mystical or metaphysical style meditation,

Which means you just go inside and you connect with your higher self and then you go to the source of all.

And it takes some patience and takes time.

But for me,

It's always worked very well.

And having followed that mystic path,

The metaphysical path all my life,

I really wanted to get back to the roots of what I feel in all my studies are the real elements of Christmas that are so inspiring and uplifting.

Because,

Cindy,

We need absolutely more than ever,

More than ever.

We need to get back to bringing the light forth from the darkness and we need to be inspired.

And,

You know,

It's fine to celebrate.

And in fact,

In the book,

I even have a few chapters about all the different meanings behind the celebration,

A little bit of the roots of what where those meanings.

And there's a lot of symbol symbolism in the Christmas gifts,

Et cetera.

But the thing is that people forget and as we get more politically correct,

I mean,

Some people aren't even wanting to express what the spirit of Christmas is about.

Right.

And I love that you especially want to spread kindness and love in our world.

And well,

We got a reflection of that in this book.

Oh,

Yeah.

Oh,

Yeah.

Because I believe all of the teachings of Christ and Mary really come right down to that.

And I think all of the teachings of all of the many celebrations that happen at Christmas,

And I have a chapter on that as well,

Are about bringing more light into the world.

If we get to the roots of all religions,

The base of all religions really are at the time,

At this time of year when we see the darkness coming in,

It's always been a celebration of more light.

Going back to the druids,

Of course,

Before Christmas and the Celtics.

And always it was a matter of lighting that yule log,

Bringing more light in.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So so so you how would you put this meaning of unity and diversity for this season?

Well,

Like you mentioned,

Kindness.

But also,

I really think if we look at the true meaning,

And you know,

I have a deep love for Mother Mary.

I had a wonderful connection with her with the visitation and and through all that realized,

Of course,

That she also in this time.

You know,

It's interesting.

I was predicted before even the Me Too movement.

I was told by her that we would get more of the true power of women.

And the true power of women is embodying,

Of course,

The mother aspect is that kindness,

Is that love,

Is that compassion.

In my book,

Mystical Mother Mary,

I talk about the power of forgiveness and I talk about the power of compassion.

And all of that feminine aspect is what brought forth the Christ.

All that wonderful divine love that she was able to experience brought back into earth the delivery of the Christ.

And so it's always based on kindness.

It's always based on compassion.

It's always based on love.

If you look at the major teachings,

All of the major teachings of how Christ decided to go out into the world,

It was about so many basic aspects of just turning the other cheek,

Of always giving and always understanding with compassion.

And it's the basis of all the teachings.

Of all the teachings,

Right.

It underlies everything.

It does,

Absolutely.

A little out of season,

But I'm reminded something that Meister Eckhart said,

And I remember it usually on Mother's Day.

He says that we're all male and female mothers because we all have to give birth to Christ within.

I love that.

I just love that as well.

And that is,

I talk about that a lot.

I'm so glad you brought that up because there is in the meaning of Christmas being born that light within.

In mysticism,

The outer and the inner are experienced.

You experience the inner and of course as we experience the inner,

It's projected outward as well.

Absolutely.

I mean in psychology and everything,

We see that what we are experiencing inside ourselves is projected outward.

So if you're taking time to meditate,

If you're even sitting Zen,

I've actually taken my Zen precepts and I did that in 1986.

When you're sitting in silent meditation,

What you have within,

Even psychological,

Will come out and will come out.

So we sit to actually be able to clear all the issues we have within ourselves and then we find that inner light once we get past the darkness and the shadows.

And once we experience that birth of that light within,

Then comes the hard part,

Living it.

Well that's basically the two main commandments,

To love God and then once you're there,

To treat your neighbor as yourself and that's all of it.

And that's a hard thing to do.

And it sounds easy.

Only two.

It's a hard thing to do.

And it's so interesting that you can take a lifetime.

For me it's not hard to love God.

I have loved God very deeply and that's what I experience in meditation all the time.

And that makes you responsible.

When you have that relationship,

You're just responsible for treating others kindly,

With loving kindness and good will.

You just don't hurt anybody else because you don't want to be treated that way.

So it's just natural really.

I'm glad you brought up good will.

I actually have a chapter on good will and a chapter on peace.

I just made my own Christmas cards and I do have peace on earth and good will to all.

Because I didn't want to say good will to men.

So I thought,

OK,

I can say all.

Not politically correct anymore.

But I'm glad because it should be all.

And that good will is the intent again.

Same thing we were just talking about.

It's that intent we have.

And again,

Look at the word intent.

It's looking inside and it's the tension.

Tension,

Ten,

Is very much the same beginning.

Teachers and Zen are called Tenzen.

TEN is a Buddhist term,

Tenzen.

How many teachers do you know are Tenzen?

Right.

But the intent to at least have that good will,

That changes your attitude.

And to me,

Of course,

That's a lot like Aloha.

That sharing of the intent to have good and to see the good.

Not to see the bad,

But see the good.

I think that in my deep love of Christ that I have was that he was able to see the soul of another person.

Absolutely.

He was the true meaning of Aloha.

And he was able to let them see their own soul.

And that brought about the healings.

And if we were trying to look at it these days,

Basically what he was doing was he was going viral when he was able to do healings,

When he was able to create miracles.

What he was doing was drawing people by the outer,

What we call tricks.

It's not tricks,

But basically people didn't know that that could happen at that time.

But then he always said,

Which we can never forget,

All these things you should be able to do and more.

But this is what I think has been missing and I talk about in the Christmas gift is we need to embody all of those things.

It's not something we should dismiss easily.

We can embody those things more than ever.

We have more people now meditating.

We have so many people who know about love and the power of love.

My album Love Conquers All.

And I see you have a chapter here.

I was just going to bring that up.

Love Conquers All.

And really and truly,

It's that simple.

So why is it hard?

It's that simple and it's that hard because it is that love we were just talking about.

It's a love that really,

Truly transforms you.

Absolutely.

It's a love that changes your eyes,

Changes your heart.

And lets you forgive.

And lets you forgive.

Because so many people can't experience that.

As you know,

I wrote a book called The Inner Peace Manual,

Which was talking about making peace with yourself.

If you can't go inside yourself and make inner peace,

How again,

If you can't find it within,

How can you live it without?

Living in the outer world is not easy if you don't have it within.

So love is the gift.

Love is the greatest gift.

In fact,

That's one of the songs I wrote on the new thing.

I have Love Conquers All is a song and then I have a children's choir of 36 children singing Love Conquers All the Gift.

And it was recorded beautifully.

Where are these children from?

Smithfield School in Virginia.

Oh wow.

Brought in a wonderful engineer from Germany with 80 mics to mic it.

And it was done at the school where bells were ringing and there were announcements in the hallways.

When did you do this?

This was done,

The album has been out since May or June and we recorded this May.

Oh,

So it's new.

Fairly new.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Oh,

I can't wait to hear it.

And it was that album that kind of,

I was trying to write a libretto,

Which is about,

In classical music,

Is what the description of what the music and the making of it is about.

And there was so much there.

I have it on thisloveconquersall.

Com.

But there was so much in the libretto,

I said,

You know,

I had this amazing composer I worked with and he said,

You've got to write the libretto.

I said,

This isn't going to be enough.

I need to write more explaining what it means.

You know,

There needs to be the basis.

If you do an opera,

You have a character.

You know,

Okay,

Here's the character of Mary,

Here's the character of Jesus,

Here's the character of the wise men.

And I go into the stars,

And I know your husband loves the stars,

And I bring forth the stars and how important the magi were.

They were the astronomers who were looking for answers in their mind.

They wanted the answers to what was going on with what they were seeing.

But at some point,

It went beyond what they were seeing.

And when they experienced that birth of Christ,

They were then brought to that love inside the heart because it was beyond the mind to figure out.

Yes,

I guess that would be being reborn,

Sort of,

The spiritual rebirth.

Well,

And of course,

There's that magic.

If you think of all the albums that talk about,

All the songs,

Star of Wonder,

Star of Light,

You know,

That Oh Holy Night,

The stars.

I love that one.

You know,

All of that,

You know,

Angels We Have Heard on High,

They talk about that wonderful star.

We can't forget that because now with the James Webb telescope and seeing how we're expanding our mind is expanding as the cosmos and our ability to see that there's more out there.

And that star cannot be underestimated as the power of that light coming to Earth.

So where would somebody go to find all of these things that you've done?

How would someone?

Well,

I have it all on CindyParlos.

Com.

Okay.

Okay.

So someone would just type that in.

Yeah,

But it's also the books,

Of course,

Are on Amazon.

And I'm trying to set up a book signing with Barnes and Noble,

But it's not as easy as it used to be.

Really?

No,

No,

You got to go through this whole thing,

You know,

And it's got to go through.

But I probably will do something at Unity Church or something.

And I'm working on trying to get something set up for the Friends of the Library as well.

Because there is a story behind it.

You know that.

You understand what I'm talking about,

I know.

But it's that,

You know,

When you really get past some of the definitions of the religion that separate us.

Well,

That's what separates us and some people can't cross that bridge.

And that's very difficult.

Hence all the religious wars,

Etc.

And plus people not even wanting to say Merry Christmas anymore.

If we just went back and said love,

You know.

Merry love.

Merry love.

Happy love,

You know.

Happy celebrations.

And wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just go back to the love that's behind it all.

Well,

How do we get that through to our next generation?

You know,

I think that we are in such a crisis point,

Cindy,

In our whole world of survival.

And that's what I can't forget,

That there are so many beautifully enlightened young people.

There are so many people who are young that are understanding the need to go back to the basics.

There are so many people now in kids doing yoga and meditating.

There are so many that are understanding some of these keys.

If we can take away some of the outer illusion around what we make to sell it,

To sell that story.

And get back to the heart of the matter.

If we can get back to what it's about and really feel that love and to experience that light that is that light of the Christ light in you.

If we can experience and recognize how powerful the feminine image was in Mother Mary without demeaning her.

If we can understand how beautiful the story of the masters,

The magi.

You know,

More than ever we should be able to experience,

Wow,

Look at these wonderful masters,

These magicians who came and knew that something was happening.

Two thousand years ago and still we're experiencing how people are exploring the stars for answers,

Right?

And still.

And still.

And still.

And still.

And so this is going to be obviously two thousand years of this and we still are working on this,

You know.

But if we can get past just the commercialism and find the true,

That's why I call it the Christmas gift,

The true gift.

It's called the Christmas gift when heaven merges with earth.

And that was,

You know,

A little bit more about that.

My friend Mary Olmwick was a unity minister.

She passed away a couple of years ago.

Very dear friend.

She made that the unity.

You always have a goal,

You know,

A mission goal.

And that was her mission goal that she created for Unity Church.

Heaven,

Bringing heaven to earth.

And I had to meditate on that a lot.

You know,

I absolutely love the experience of heaven.

I've had a chance to experience it in meditation.

And I think it's fantastic.

But there is and there was and there's still that need of bringing the lower self to the light.

And earth at the time,

Two thousand years ago,

Was a lot of crises going on,

Just like now.

But there was a lot of terrible things happening.

And I have to believe and I do believe that Jesus Christ knew what was going to happen in his life.

And there was a decision made.

There was a deep decision made that this there had to be a teacher coming to earth.

Absolutely.

That there had to be someone that would show how you do it.

Because look at the sacrifice.

Yeah.

Oh,

My gosh.

And knowing the courage and knowing the sacrifice.

And I think he and Mary both knew exactly what was going to happen.

But they knew that this had to be done so people could find that you can overcome the lower body,

The lower self and the darkness by being in the light.

And when you do and as he did,

We can learn as well that,

Yes,

Indeed,

Heaven not only can merge with earth,

I believe it did merge with earth when he brought that highest energy,

The highest frequency,

The highest light into earth.

There was a true frequency change that happened on earth.

Well,

He said the kingdom of heaven is within.

That's right.

That's true.

And that it's very near.

So that means it is now as well.

It is.

And we sometimes don't want to believe that because we see what we see in the world outside and say,

How is this possible?

How is this heaven?

Well,

There's a veil.

There's a veil that has to get pulled.

And you can see with enough light.

You can see past that veil.

You can experience heaven.

Which is what we love about this season.

Yes.

Because it does.

It's all about the light and the light for your mind and your heart that shines and,

You know,

Explains it all to us.

And I love how everybody is around the holidays.

So it's right.

It's about cheer,

Good season.

And of course,

We've gone into Makahiki and everything.

It's a time that you stick back and you go when you step back,

Going within because it is darker and it's darker at night.

And as you go within,

You know,

Think of this wonderful need to have these experiences of the light of whether it's Hanukkah,

The festival of the lights.

The festival of lights with that miracle.

Or the other experiences that are always done in all religions.

It's about more light.

And the thing is that that light at the heart of the matter is always the same light.

We can put it in different terms so people can see whatever way their own beliefs may be the way they were taught in their race.

But at the heart of it,

If you're going inside,

There's nothing out there that's giving you anything else except what you're getting from inside.

Yeah,

I would like to say that if anybody's down or depressed or whatever,

That's the light that lifts you up.

And the love.

And the love.

That conquers all.

We go after it,

You know,

Society in many different ways through drugs,

Alcohol.

But this is what they're looking for.

Nothing will fill it like the love of God and sharing it.

And I bring that up in the beginning chapters about it's so sad when we see people getting depressed at Christmas.

That people are drinking more and they're having more anger and fights that happen and people spend more Christmas.

And all of that is,

You know,

Like that you don't need to do all that if you really are experiencing the love at Christmas and able to share a little more light and love.

I love when people can hear Christmas carols,

You know,

That people can sing.

They're uplifting.

They are uplifting.

You can experience joy when you hear the music.

And that's what I was going after in my album.

But all the Christmas carols are joyful carols.

I mean,

They all are talking about love.

They're all talking about the light,

You know.

And they've been around some of them hundreds of years,

You know.

And they still carry that wonderful karmic energy of like celebrating Christmas time,

Right?

Yes.

Yes.

I'm looking at some of these praises for this book and they're just amazing.

Alan Cohen says that you're the voice for love and healing and your dedication to this service is impeccable.

And I agree you are the real deal.

Wayne Dyer said that.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Thank God bless.

You know,

It's been my life.

I'm not good.

I don't have an agent.

I'm not good at marketing myself.

When I do the shows and everything,

I don't usually talk anything about what I'm writing.

This is,

I think,

The 13th book.

Wow.

Wow.

I'm sorry,

It's the ninth book.

I have 13 albums and nine books.

Yeah.

But,

You know,

This is something I do,

Which again,

It's my way of when I meditate,

I write always after.

So you have in this book subjects and then I have the poems that I.

.

.

And you wrote poetry.

Yeah.

And I love that because it says you look up to the stars and you see poetry.

I do.

I hear it.

I see poetry.

I hear it.

With the album,

You know,

I speak it on the album.

I have spoken word and music because that's how I translate the words.

You know,

For me it comes that way.

And I was told by someone once who studies angels that the way I do my poetry is an angelic way of actually speaking,

Which I'd never heard before.

But she said,

Oh,

Look at the pattern you're using.

That's what's used by these angels.

And I don't know.

I'm just writing it down what comes to me through spirit,

You know.

And then I have to figure out what to do with it.

It's fabulous that you are dedicated to sharing that.

You recorded a song on one of your albums called Calling All Angels.

I love to drive to that.

I'm just driving and calling all angels.

I love that.

That's such a beautiful song that was actually written by a wonderful lady.

That wasn't me that wrote that,

But it's such a song that speaks to me.

It goes with all your angel songs?

Well,

It does because,

You know what,

We need to not be afraid and realize,

I mean,

I have so many guardian angels and guides that I have,

You know.

Someone said,

Well,

Why do you even need the angels?

I said,

Well,

Because,

You know,

Some of them are really there to help us and guide us in our life and why not embrace them and thank them and recognize them for the work they do,

You know.

There's so many miracles that happen in life,

Cindy.

My next album I think I'm going to do on miracles because there's so many miracles in life.

Yeah,

Well,

I kind of think the sun setting and rising is one of them.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I totally agree.

I just did a poem called The Magnificent and the Mundane the other day and I think I'll include that because we have this unbelievable,

We can see a sunset or we can see the beauty,

But then we have the mundane we've got to deal with.

Just the same as we were talking about.

It's not only going it and getting it inside,

It's bringing it outside into our life.

There's this magnificence,

But then we have to remember that.

How do you bring that into the details?

Don't forget it.

Yeah.

The details of your life,

Stuff you don't necessarily like as much as magnificent,

You still have to bring that energy into it,

Right?

Yes,

Absolutely.

Well,

There was a book I came across a long,

Long time ago about Brother Lawrence wrote this book about even when he's doing mundane things like washing dishes,

Whatever,

He's singing praises.

He's,

You know,

And I think that's what we have to do.

We have to bring that magnificence into every moment.

It's a Zen practice,

By the way.

Oh,

Really?

It's called,

Yeah,

Bringing the mat where you're sitting into your everyday life.

Yeah.

You shouldn't have a difference between where you're meditating and what you're doing in your life,

But you know,

We do.

But again,

That's the aloha.

You know,

This is where when you're driving down the road,

You don't lose your temper if someone cuts you off or you let someone go first or if you do something kind,

You know.

Same thing.

That's the same thing.

Just a smile.

Yeah,

Just a smile.

Just a smile.

That's really good.

Yeah.

And you definitely did a great job to get us going for this holiday season in joy and loving kindness that we could share with everybody.

And that's a gift right there.

I'll play a song,

Too,

That I did off this because there is so much of that that I always hope some people take the moment.

You know,

It used to be sometimes hearing Willie Kay sing,

Oh,

Holy Night,

You know.

There's some moments that you have to have when you stop and you pause and you feel the magic and the wonder and the love of Christmas.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And you keep that.

The goal is to keep that all year long.

Yeah.

Well,

There's some songs written like that,

Too.

Why can't every day be Christmas,

You know?

Oh,

I like that.

Yeah,

That's a great idea.

And do you have a project you're working on now,

A new project?

Yeah,

Well,

I started this.

I have a song I wrote called The Miracles in You.

And it's for a friend who overcame breast cancer,

Double mastectomy.

She had two relatives die of it,

And she did.

So that's going to be to bring awareness that you can have miracles happen.

I think that'll be what I'm going to be doing with a new album.

And I'm doing artwork now.

I found some people like my art,

So now I'm having artwork.

That's wonderful.

Yeah,

I'm going to be.

I actually ordered some art prints from what I've done.

So that's coming in.

Are you painting?

Yeah,

Actually they're photographs and enhanced and then made into art,

You know.

Oh,

That's wonderful.

So,

Yeah,

That's my new thing,

Too.

So I'm spending some time doing that,

And I'm hoping to have an art show maybe at Wailuku Coffee Company or somewhere,

You know,

Where I can have that artwork shown.

Always good at a company like that.

Yeah.

I found just one,

Two,

Three,

Four lines.

This book is so filled with wonderful chapters and poetry,

But I just found this,

So I'm just going to say these four lines.

Okay.

Listen,

Listen to the song of God.

Let your heart sing the words of love.

Let your eyes see the glory of the beauty that is the robe of the earth's soul.

That's just beautiful.

Thank you.

Those are all coming from spirit.

It's not me.

All of that has come through spirit.

I'm just a rather poor vessel being dyslexic and also have bad eyesight.

It's really hard sometimes getting it out there,

Right,

So,

You know,

But then thank God there's God that gets it through somehow.

Well,

He's certainly working through you,

And I'm so thrilled to know you and that you share all of these happenings with us in so many different ways.

And now art,

I'm very excited to see that.

Well,

Thank you for being able to be open to that.

I really do appreciate you,

Cindy,

And it's nice to have another Cindy that I can relate to.

Exactly.

Cindy P.

And Cindy S.

And a big aloha to you and should we wish everyone Merry Christmas?

Absolutely.

Happy holidays,

Merry Christmas,

And everything.

Yeah,

Merry everything.

May the light and love always shine to you.

Come then angels of the morn and bring the love of God to reach us here on earth.

Sing in celebration of the truth of truths that enlightens us with this holy birth.

As the angels welcome him,

And the choir in heaven sings a song of welcoming,

A hymn to the King of Kings.

There is a magic that star brings,

While the angels spread their wings and celebrate the blessings of the eternal life it brings.

Songs ring out,

Our souls are touched,

And the Christ is born,

Form to Spirit,

Spirit to God,

To live forevermore.

Hear the angels from their home on high,

So sweetly singing as they bring,

The Queen of Angels' crown of glory.

With that gift of the Holy Presence,

Here on earth to be seen.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

The Holy Ghost is the most powerful and powerful thing in the world.

Amen.

Reviews

Aloha Cindy! Congrats on this book snd sharing all that you do. 🌊🪬💫💕🙏