The White Heart
A Process of Creative Incubation
by
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The White Heart is the true account of a woman's spiritual journey. Shirley Lyons was visited by an apparition on the seventh day of the seventh month in 1967 when she was 37 years old. The apparition that appeared to her was a portrait of a dark-haired, dark-eyed man who seemed foreign to her. The apparition spoke to her: "Don't be afraid, the agony of your life is over." She did not recognize him. She said to herself: "This can't be a religious vision because if it were, it would be Jesus who would come to me." She spent years searching in books stores and everywhere else, looking for a picture of the man in the portrait. She never found an answer untilcircumstances while living in Uganda, East Africa led her to an shram in sputhern India. On a visit to this ashram, she met the great spiritual leader known as the Mother, and also found a portrait of the man who had appeared to her. She was informed that he had passed away seventeen years earlier. He was none other than Sri Aurobindo - another great spiritual leader. Shirley has lived in Auroville, India (the city of Dawn), off and on, for the past seven years. This book is her account of finding the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, because in finding them she found herself.
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About the Book
This book is my account of finding a mystery man for four years. His name is Sri Aurobindo, a great spiritual leader. I found a portrait of him in an Ashram in India and in finding him I found myself.
“I looked up and there in the corner of my bedroom, blinking off and on for some time as if it were on a poster size, black and white television screen was the portrait of a man. Sitting up in bed, slightly slapping my face to make sure I was awake, the words, "Who is this man?" came into my head. Answering myself, sprang the words, " I don't know who he is, but I think he is a philosopher who lived in the eighteen hundreds.”
“While watching in wonderment, I realized three normal human reactions: intense heat, hearing a voice, and seeing a face. I knew I wasn't crazy, just dumbfounded. This was an apparition! Are they really real? Who would believe me? And what if anything did it mean? “
About the Author
Shirley Lyons is a retired school teacher who holds an MFA and was the first recipient of the Michigan Migrant Teacher of the Year Award in 1985. She is an International educator, she has traveled the world from Europe to Africa, the USA to India. Having experienced the deaths of her father, her brother and her first born, Shirley searched in her travels for the meaning of life and death. In 1967 a singular event changed the course of her life. An apparition appeared to her in the portrait of a man she did not recognize. It said to her "Don't be afraid, the agony of your life is over." Shirley spent four years looking for the man that appeared to her, and she found a portrait of him in an Ashram in India. He was a great spiritual leader. This book is her account of finding him, because in finding him she found herself. Shirley lives in South Palm Beach, Fl. Her yearly travels include: Barcelona, Abu Dhabi and Auroville, India. Four months a year she teaches English at an Indian Village school ( Isai Ambalam) in Auroville. Shirley has experienced the pleasure of following the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother since 1972.