Episode Sixty-Seven: The Byte - Jeffrey Gould

Jeffrey is a born storyteller - but it is his special relationship with the Virgin Mary that has reminded him, time and again, that that powerful force, that of LOVE and total acceptance, is out there and ever-present.

Transcript

Welcome to Episode 67 of Bite-Sized Blessings.

In this episode,

I get to interview Jeffrey Gould.

If you go to his Facebook page,

You'll see that he studied at Brooklyn College and studied anthropology and philosophy at the New School for Social Research.

After that,

He worked for the New York City Department of Education.

But as with all lives and all stories,

The truth is far more complex.

In my far-ranging conversation with Jeffrey,

It became very clear that most of all,

He is a storyteller.

I was enchanted and delighted by the stories of his ancestors,

Stories that are by turns triumphant as well as tragic.

This episode touches on many different subjects,

But the one that has stayed with me is Jeffrey's stories of his ancestors and how they've been forced off their lands time and time again simply because of their religion.

With what is happening in Ukraine right now,

With untold millions of people being forced to flee their lands,

Their houses,

Their cities,

Essentially leaving their identities behind,

It begs the question which is haunting me.

And watch out because I'm going to get on a little bit of a soapbox here.

When are we truly going to be good to one another?

When is that going to become our default?

When are we going to start looking at strangers and enveloping them with kindness,

With no judgment?

When are we going to start looking at people and just see their insides,

Not see their affluence or their poverty,

What kind of clothes they're wearing and how that defines them,

What kind of job they have and how that defines them?

When are we going to start looking at people and see the multitudes that they contain?

That's the magic in the miracle that I hope for one day.

That we look at people,

We know that inside them are universes of potential,

And if we operate in this way,

That truly the future for human beings and our relationships with each other and with the planet,

It can only be a good thing.

And so that's one of the miracles I wish for and that I hope this podcast can remind people that we all can strive for that.

Okay,

Soapbox finished.

And now,

Episode 67 of Bite-Sized Blessings.

I looked at all of the tubes that were keeping him alive,

The intravenous tubes,

The electrical tubes,

Everything,

And I finally said,

No,

No more,

Because he'd been in a coma for a very long time and he'd been in and out of the hospital many times anyway.

And this was a Catholic hospital,

So I went down to the chapel where they had a plaster cast of the Virgin Mary,

A typical plaster cast painted blue with flesh tones,

Typical thing you see,

And I dropped on my knees in front of her and I said,

It's enough,

Take him.

And there was suddenly an incredible seizing of me after a moment,

And it's only later that I heard the words,

But I know what the words were,

And the words were,

Behind the noise there is silence,

Beyond the tumult there is peace.

And then two days later he died.

And I say,

My attitude towards her is not so much as the Mother of Christ,

But the Mother,

The Mother,

The Holy Mother who envelops us all,

Who will accept all of us no matter what we bring,

And will say to us,

You are okay,

I forgive,

I don't even have to forgive you,

You are okay to begin with.

Here,

Here is my love,

Take it.

That's what that became to me,

That image of the Virgin became this universal image of acceptance,

The feminine part of the world.

There were several other instances when I,

Christos had been hospitalized in Greece for AIDS,

And there was an icon in the hospital who became very important to me as well.

The most important part was in America when he was in the American hospital and he was dying,

And I was told by the nurse,

The doctors aren't telling you,

But he's dying,

I've seen this,

I know he's on his way out.

She actually took me into a,

Dear hearted nurse,

She actually took me into a storeroom where they stored all of the gauze and the band-aids,

And we both lit up cigarettes in the hospital,

In the storeroom,

And smoked.

And she said,

Because I need to tell you the truth,

Here's a cigarette.

And she said,

He's dying,

You need to know.

And so I went back to the room and a day or two passed,

And then I noticed that I looked at all of the tubes that were keeping him alive,

The intravenous tubes,

The electrical tubes,

Everything,

And I finally said,

No,

No more.

Because he'd been in a coma for a very long time,

And he'd been in and out of the hospital many times anyway.

And this was a Catholic hospital,

So I went down to the chapel where they had a plaster cast of the Virgin Mary,

A typical plaster cast painted blue with flesh tones,

Typical thing you see,

And I dropped on my knees in front of her,

And I said,

It's enough,

Take him.

And there was suddenly an incredible seizing of me after a moment.

I was exhausted,

I was very strung out,

I was at my wits end,

I was very open to whatever.

And so something seized me,

And it's only later that I heard the words,

But I know what the words were,

And the words were,

Behind the noise there is silence,

Beyond the tumult there is peace.

Those words came to me later,

And then two days later he died.

And so,

Yes,

In a more concrete way,

I have experienced a miracle of communion with the Holy Lady,

The Holy Lady of the sky and of the earth and of the world,

The Holy Embrace.

Yes,

She took me in too,

And said to me,

Yes,

This is going to happen,

But beyond that all,

There is still peace.

I love your kind of description and depiction of her as being kind of beyond the Catholic idea of just Mary,

The mother of Jesus,

The Virgin Mary,

That she's a more expansive and abundant mother,

You know,

Mother to everybody,

No matter who you are or what you've done,

And that there's total acceptance and love there.

And at the end of everyone's life,

A gathering of yourself and your soul into this,

What I imagine is an abundant realm of love,

And just acceptance,

And it's going to be okay,

And you're safe.

At least that's what I'm hearing you say.

Yes,

It's going to be okay if one needs an answer,

If one needs some kind of,

That there is one,

But the answer is not something that you can be told,

Something you have to feel.

It's something that will come in a holistic way.

It's not going to be a theology or a line of,

It's going to be something that is felt and understood and accepted.

And it's only an acceptance by opening up and accepting that you'll find out what the answer is.

And at that moment,

That's all I could do was just be there,

You know,

On my knees in front of her.

There's no more abject position to be than that.

And I was alone.

It was midnight.

You know,

There was nobody else around.

The chapel was essentially a small chapel.

I remember going down there in the elevator,

Opened the door,

Went in myself.

You know,

There was nobody there,

Closed,

And just fell because I needed her to do something for me,

Which was to let him go.

And essentially she told me in a roundabout way,

I will.

I don't think many people are aware,

But at least I have had the experience of having a veneration for the Virgin Mary and,

You know,

Visiting a Catholic church.

It's called the Grotto in Portland.

Have you been there?

No,

I have not.

It's actually a fabulous place.

It's carved into the side of a cliff.

It's in Northeast Portland.

For quite a long time,

I am not Catholic,

But I did date a gentleman who was Catholic and the Grotto is just so peaceful and lovely.

And I would go and sit in the church and pray to the Virgin Mary.

And she listens.

She listens.

And it was one of the few times in my life praying to a deity or making supplications that I felt heard.

And she,

You know,

I was in the middle of feeling sorry for myself and crying and feeling sorry for myself if I didn't mention that the first time.

And all of a sudden I heard this voice,

A female voice said to me,

For every time there is a season.

And I just looked around and,

You know,

There's maybe four other people in this chapel because I would go during the week and I thought,

What is going on?

I am losing my mind.

I don't know what that was.

And then I thought,

What does that mean?

And I thought,

OK,

I don't know what just happened here,

But I'm going to just I mean,

I stopped crying.

I stopped feeling sorry for myself.

I was shocked and I just kind of left.

I thought,

I think that's from the Bible,

I think.

And so I did.

I found the passage where.

But then but also internally,

I thought,

OK,

I know exactly what you're saying to me and I need to chill out.

She's telling me that whatever is going to happen is going to come and I need to chill.

So I attempted to chill with varying degrees of success,

But she is a powerful,

Powerful force.

If you start praying to her,

You have to make sure that you're going to be OK with whatever answer comes.

It's true.

It's true.

Thank you so much for listening to Episode 67 of Bite Sized Blessings,

The podcast all about the magic and spirit that surrounds us and Jeffrey.

As long as we open our eyes to it,

I need to thank my gracious and generous guest for sharing all of his stories with me,

His own life and his ancestors as well,

As well as the creators of the music used.

Sasha End,

Alex Productions,

Frank Schroeder,

Music Al Vials,

Dream Heaven,

Alexander Nakarada and Lyran.

Without these musical creators,

These episodes would not be as fabulous as they are for complete attribution.

Please see the Bite Sized Blessings website at bite sized blessings dot com.

On the website,

You'll find links to books,

Artists,

Change makers,

And I've included a link to the book by Dr.

Emanuel Ravisi.

You can click on it,

See what all the fuss in the hubbub was about.

It was quite a groundbreaking scientist who studied at the Pasteur Institute.

But apparently his views,

Studies and findings did not line up with the American Medical Association.

And so he was banned.

He was blackballed and he was called a kook.

I'm going to provide a link to his website and the book that he wrote.

You yourself,

Dear listener,

Can make those determinations yourself.

I have great confidence in your ability to discern what is right for you.

But in the meantime,

Let's live with the idea and in the magic that cancer can be cured,

That it can be eradicated,

And that it's the people on the edges that have the ability to move in those spaces where they can investigate things that are different from what conventional medicines determines and has determined is the truth with a capital T.

So ends another episode of Bite Sized Blessings.

Thank you for listening.

And here's my one request.

Be like Jeffrey.

Live with your ancestors.

Live with the resilience,

Their bravery,

The determination,

And then carry those traits forward in your own life.

Remember,

We are each of us a universe.

We each of us contain multitudes.

We are each our own miracle.

And each of us every day is creating our own story.

Reviews

Thank you 🙏