The following testimonies are edited extracts from the book “Experiences on the Threshold with Silo’s Message” (Ediciones Urbanas, Rosario, Argentina.)
Rodolfo
I decided to go to the Park of Study and Reflection at Punta de Vacas when I found out about a celebration there. I had a few days of vacation and it seemed like a very good idea to use them for this trip.
I wanted to see old friends again whom I had not seen for more than two decades. How would they be? What would have happened with their lives? So my interest in this trip was very clear: to meet those people with whom, at one time, I had shared ideals. And so it was that I left with fifty other new friends on the bus for Parque Punta de Vacas.
When we got to the mountains, I began to look for those friends, whose faces I remembered… suddenly I found myself in front the monolith. I saw my face reflected in it, in that shining surface that also reflected the light of the sun… and I realized that I had arrived there to find myself.
It was necessary to go the whole distance between Buenos Aires and Punta de Vacas, motivated by an illusion, to understand that I wanted to see my old friends, but above all, I wanted, I needed, to re-encounter myself.
Mariángeles
…at that time, in the environment my son was moving in, there was a very violent atmosphere being generated, which was unbalancing all of us. It was because of him and his decision to travel with “the humanist guys” that I packed my backpack and asked for time off from my job in order to travel by bus to the Park in the mountains near Punta de Vacas.
…when we entered the Meditation Hall, my emotions overflowed; I felt that the Force was there acting by itself. My joy grew that afternoon, when I met those friends whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. And I met and listened to Silo…
Afterwards there was a ceremony of Protection for my son, for the sons and daughters of others who were there, … and I felt a deep respect and gratitude for the spiritual gift that I received. It was that day that I understood that I had not gone there for a picnic with friends, I had not gone to feed my physical body – I had gone to enrich and to feed my spirit!
When I returned home, all my non-humanist friends asked me: And...? How was it?… And I told them that I could not express in words what I felt... that what I felt in that place, at that time, can not be described in words.
Raquel
Extract from a Letter to Mario Rodriguez (Silo) and his response:
Dear Mario…
I am venturing to write to you with some concerns I have about how to act with people who are near death. What is the best way to proceed?
The following experience inspired my question…
Yesterday Miguel and I went, as we do every week, to see a dear friend who is very ill, sister Vicenta. She seems almost unconscious, she doesn’t speak and is lying in bed or sitting in a wheel chair at best, always dependent on a nurse.
After asking ourselves how we could help sister Vicenta given her situation, we decided to read her something from the book of Silo’s Message. After doing a brief ceremony of well-being for her, I read her the chapter on the Guide to the Inner Road. It was striking the way, as I read this chapter, her eyes watched me attentively, even when her strength seemed to have abandoned her… Little by little her eyes grew brighter, with such radiance that you couldn’t miss it... her face was illuminated!!!...
When I finished reading the text, I asked if she wanted me to read her another paragraph almost certain she would remain silent, as she had so often done in response to my questions. How surprised I was when, after I had barely finished asking, she said, with great effort and with her eyes open wide, “Yes!” – as if thirsting for the message, starving for it, as if she had been waiting for it…
I felt a knot in my throat and my eyes filled with tears of emotion! She had heard, had understood, and the Message had resonated with this moment in her life…
What a great, comforting experience we were privileged to have with Vicenta! This experience with her is giving me an important answer to the questions I’ve formulated… But I keep meditating on the questions and I would like to know something more about such experiences…
How to proceed in cases where people are near death and sometimes unconscious, to help them to awaken that sacred dimension of their being? Is it possible that in desperate situations in their lives, they can find the path that brings them to spiritual awakening? What is the best thing we can ask for them, when we know that their life is about to be extinguished?
Silo’s answer:
Dear Raquel,
Thank you very much for your letter. The story you tell of the visit to sister Vicenta is very beautiful, and above all, inspiring. I will tell you what I believe: the example of what happened with Vicenta orients us concerning the help that we can lend. In any case, great things can happen if one’s Faith is awakened at the moment when one is trying to help someone. As for the Asking “when it is known that that this life is about to be extinguished,” strong compassion and the warm desire for the other to move to another plane with unity; the warm desire for them to surpass all the contradictions that might have accompanied them.
As for the interchange and commentaries about these anecdotes that are so positive, the time has come for these things to be known... many will receive them with gratitude.
I take advantage of this letter to send you a big hug.
Mario
