BODHI BILL, DMin, BCC-ret.
Artist, Writer, Songsmith, Buddhist, Citizen Activist, Friend to the Living & Dying.
In the beginning
I WAS BORN artistic and imaginative, my creativity fueled by undiagnosed ADHD—which was otherwise not helpful. While art, music and writing came easy, practical life was a challenge.
Also, my natural affinity for Eastern spirituality didn’t help much either, residing in ashrams in California and India. Eventually, I made my living in graphic design and media production. Interesting work, but at odds with my spiritual inclinations.
A turning point
In midlife, I had a profound mystical experience at the bedside of a dying family friend who was deeply distraught. Intuitively, I was able to gently untangle his despair. He died peacefully the next morning.
Stunned by this, I volunteered for hospice to learn more and discovered chaplaincy—and that, to my amazement, it was a calling. I studied and trained nearly a decade to become a board-certified chaplain, then spent the next dozen years working with the dying in a large regional hospital. A deeply fulfilling time.
A mysterious opening
Around the same time, a mysterious channel began to open—whenever it wanted—first sending down captivating new songs. However, midlife didn’t seem an optimal time break into showbiz, especially in the midst of another major career transition, so I set all that aside for another day.
My legacy project
Now retired, I am gathering together the best of those songs, musings, and whatnot, jotted in notebooks along the way, and offering them to whomever might find comfort, joy and meaning in them.
If that’s you, then it’s all been worth it.
Postscript
Like Gandhi and King, I hold spirituality as a foundation for addressing the increasing cruelty and injustice in this world—not as an escape. Without it, as engaged citizens, we risk either burning out and giving up or succumbing to what we resist.
What I offer is a respite, not a retreat. Breathe. Be kind. Namaste.
