Message In A Storm by Ernie Vecchio, Licensed Counseling Psychologist (pocket ebook reader txt) 📖

long as Satan doesn’t attack Job physically.”
“It is a bet, isn’t it?” I exclaimed. “How could we possibly know that these events really happened?”
“It gets better. Keep in mind that Job is unaware that his life is being played with like this. Oh, he does stay devoted to God, but guess what happens next?”
“What?” I asked.
“Satan argues that since Job’s health was preserved, he has not really been tested. And, if God would allow such a test, Job would certainly curse God then.”
“So, Satan raises the stakes?” I replied.
“Yes,” he said. “And, God takes the bet as long as Job isn’t killed.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “So God is a gambler. What does this have to do with Sodom and Gomorrah?” I asked.
“Well,” he said. “I met a spiritual teacher that heard about me questioning the significance of the Book of Job. He chooses to stay anonymous but agreed to let me bounce my ideas off him. He confirmed that an ancient writing describing Job’s experience as a dream has been discovered! Also, that the messages revealed are profound and fitting of modern times.”
He paused for a moment, as if waiting for some reaction. I was awestruck; I didn’t have one.
“The spiritual teacher said when Job’s experience took place is still of great debate.” He continued. “It was before Moses or 1500 B.C., at the time of Solomon 900 B.C., and possibly as late as 600 B.C. The best we can say is that it appears The Book of Job was written near the end of the Old Testament period, but we cannot be more precise than that. We are not sure of the age of the dream document either.”
Pieta takes a drink of coffee, resets the cup and continues. “Okay, so here goes. It is being revealed in this new document that Job is speaking about the human heart. In particular, that the heart can be convinced of truth and when this occurs, we should not doubt it. Imagine ... the Book of Job may represent the birth of feelings. Remember, feelings are different than emotions. Feelings are a reaction to the present moment, and the organ of perception is the heart. Emotions are a re-enactment of a previous experience, tied to memory, and involve the brain. The recent discovery of Job’s experience as a dream is bringing us a lost message - about feelings.”
“Now?” I asked.Pieta nodded. “Are you surprised with all the ‘buzz’ of spiritual transformation?” he asked.
“Today?”
“Now you know why I am excited!”
“The transformation everyone is speaking of involves a renewed respect for the intelligence of the heart. Job’s desire 3600 years ago was to trust his heart’s perspective about what was happening to him. He is convinced it knows the truth.”
“What is the heart convinced about? What truth?” I asked.
His eyes glazed with the sheen of unshed tears. “The spiritual teacher told me that the message enters our awareness when we begin to realize that Job’s story was actually taking place inside of him—as a dream. The message is spiritually profound even in contemporary times. It is suggesting that the conversation taking place in the biblical story is not between God and Satan. Nor is the advice or judgments coming from Job’s personal friends. Instead, it is an internal experience brought on by an outside event—a storm. In fact, the teacher said that this three thousand year old unknown author is ‘pleading’ for his words to be interpreted and shared with the world. The wish is that it be put in a book to teach us something specific — there is an ethical way to suffer and the heart knows this. This is concisely what Oswald Chambers said in the 1890s. That is, that the Job story was showing us how to suffer.”
I dropped my eye contact for a moment and questioned. “Are you sure about this?’
As Pieta started to answer, I interrupted.
“Have you seen the news lately,” I asked, pointing to the television in the corner. “Do we look like a society that wants to learn something new about suffering? Most of us are convinced we are all destined to be a victim, don’t you think?”
Just as I said this, CNN broke in and reported the earthquake in Chile. “Death toll in Chile reaches 708 after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hits the country. Local police are battling looters and using tear gas for crowd control.” Everyone in the lodge was captivated by the scenes of rubble and shock. One woman got angry because someone was blocking her view of the television.
“Would you get out of the damn way,” she yelled. “Some of us what to see what is going on! Are you deaf? Jesus Christ!” She took a drink of her coffee and appeared quite proud of her public display.
The poor puppy, shocked by the volume of the lady’s voice, jumped from the box and ran towards the door. The puppy’s owner ran after it, replying angrily, “I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home to see what happened. Thanks a lot lady!”
Pieta and I are in disbelief that just as we were just talking about human suffering, it was on the news. Finally Pieta looked away from the tragedy and said, “It seems we don’t get to choose if we suffer … but these teachings say we can choose how.”
“What does that mean?” I was still shaken by the images of destruction of Mother Nature on Chile and its people.

“Consciousness will rise with this discovery,” he said. “And, according to the spiritual teacher, the connection to our heart was forced out of our awareness initially by a deep feeling of injustice.”
“What do you mean ‘injustice’,” I asked. “Do you mean a feeling that something was done to us?”
“Yes, and that’s the rub!” he replies. “Many of us may never figure it out. Viewing the Book of Job as a dream, we begin to get a glimpse of what happened — our story actually is driven by the human spirit. The human spirit is defined as that which is -around and through- all that is. The teacher says that essentially what happened is that our ability to cultivate the higher self was stolen. We have our first experience with anger, which then attacks and leaves us passive and dependent. Then, we are introduced to the human shadow, which uses its powers to rob our ability to handle life in general. It’s a lot of stuff!”
“Do you think this injustice is behind that woman’s angry outburst?” I joked.
“Yes, we are all walking around angry and we don’t know why. We’re all looking for meaning and purpose in our lives and with this anger there is a sense of entitlement. Our anger is because we are afraid and, we’ve lost the capacity to distinguish between real and imagined fear. It has become the source of our paranoia and its affecting everyone.”
He looks at the crowd watching the television. “And when it comes to suffering, we’re just glad it’s happening to someone else and not us.”
His perspective made me remember my work with severe trauma. So few of my patients took their adversity and used it to grow spiritually. I have always been amazed by the human spirit when it comes to life challenges. Distracted by my thoughts for a moment, Pieta waited for me to respond.
“What exactly is this injustice that we’re feeling?” I asked
“I spoke with this spiritual teacher often about this,” he replied. “He said it has to do with lost potential and ability to nourish ourselves. Losing this gift in the beginning leaves many of us barren, lonely, feeling isolated and hopeless. It weakens our very foundation.”
The discussion was really hitting home. Most of us never reach our potential because of the treatment we receive from significant family members or life circumstances. When we do have opportunities, so few of us are prepared to reach out and grab them. We are so busy surviving our lives that we rarely go after our dreams.
“Because our spirit is broken early,” Pieta continues, “the ancient dream says we will find it very difficult to trust our feelings again.”
“That doesn’t sound like a very good truth,” I said.
“That was my reaction as well,” he replied. “The teacher said to remember that most of the culture never realizes that the human spirit influences our emotional suffering, and sometimes it seems without reason. In truth, moment by moment we emotionally sacrifice our lives to preserve our ego and its attachments. But, with the help of this new interpretation of the Book of Job as a dream, we have some evidence that there is a reason.”
“Okay,” I said. “What is the truth our heart is convinced about? What is the circumstance that feels like an injustice has happened?”
He hesitated, pulling his thoughts together.
“This is where it gets a little confusing,” he said. “But the spiritual teacher put it this way. We began as human beings full of passion. Our view of life was innocent, sincere and humble. We never questioned our fears. At our disposal were the potential for mental perfection, healing, wholeness and the attainment of a higher state of consciousness. Essentially, we had access to an inner ability to feel whole. Eastern philosophy would say humans possessed the secret of a middle path — in a conflicting world of right and wrong or good and evil.”
“Wow!” I said. “If that person were alive today, he would be considered evolved and self-contained by everyone who knew him.”
“Yes, one would think that such an existence would be good reason for celebration.” He replied. “But, in ancient times when we attempted to rejoice, we received an inner warning: the injustice is that we are to never forget the fear and judgment of ego. Sadly, the teacher says, this situation was intended to follow us for the whole of our lives. Imagine ... we can change that now!”
I thought a moment. “Because the emotional reaction to fear is introversion,” I responded. “Was this the start of our inner journey?”
He leans toward me. “That’s exactly right! Have you ever paid attention to the voices in your head? Do you have a sense of what they are? Ever wondered about their function in your daily life? Is soul and spirit clear in your mind as uniquely human gifts? When life takes over, do you get distracted from them, and suddenly think they disappear?”
“Well,” he continued, “according to this teacher, the voices serve the ego but not necessarily the heart. Their chatter affects our every thought and creates ideas that are negative and sometimes even repulsive.”
“The ancient dream suggests that this is when we should ask the question: Do we humbly serve this chatter and allow ourselves to spiritually die?”
He looked at me as if I had an answer, question, but I didn’t.
“Don’t you see?” he asked. “The human spirit … that which is around and through all that is…actually influences the ego to cause our initial suffering. Had that not happened, we would never have understood our feelings, nor would we spiritually mature. But, we are not supposed to serve the ego!”
The excitement in Pieta’s voice and his passion is intoxicating.
“You are really captivated by this, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Is this not related to your desire to connect people to their divine purpose?” he asked.
My interest in the soul’s intent as the organizing intelligence that guides a human life had consumed my career. I certainly knew that many of my clients during the