Beyond The Wall

A Letter of Hope From Tom!

11-17-07

Enclosed is a message for the BLOG readers. One of the many things I’m looking forward to when I’m released from here is to be able to interact with the readers and most especially, with you who have put this BLOG together. I feel somewhat disconnected from the energy of “Beyond the Wall”, but I try to make up for it by expressing an extra amount of joy and compassion.

All I can offer are words and if we love words, as you and I do, we get to approach the Divine through words. Whatever we love is our path. You and I happen to love words, so that is where we see the beautiful, and this is, of course, the beauty parlor that we’re sitting in! We love lively language wherever it occurs, and we like to feel it flowing through us. As writers, we can adore the inspired moments.

As I sit here on my bed writing these words, I’m reminded that I never really know what words are going to come out of this pen or what the next moment will bring. So living fully in this moment is the only constantly reappearing option for happiness. Just being alive is a mysterious and precarious thing. That life is happening at all – that words are coming out of this pen – is truly a miracle.

Sending you a bountiful overflowing amount of joyful thoughts and loving energy!
Tom

Dear Friends,
Thanks to your prayers and support, an attorney is now working on my case and is optimistic of the outcome. There is a possibility that this willb e my last holiday season in prison, and I find the thought of finally getting out of here exciting, overwhelming, scary – all of that. It leaves me with mixed thoughts and feelings. A part of me wonders “where will I live?” “What will I do?” “How will I survive?” But then another part of me assures me that it will all be perfect, and all I need to do is trust at a deeper level.

These years in here have certainly been transformative ones. In many ways, it leaves me “out of touch” with the fast pace of the outside world. However, I’m more “in touch” with my inside world and that will see me through whatever challenges lie ahead.

One of the things that will mean the most to me in being free of prison will be interacting with you. What a joy that will be!

As many of you know, I have an imaginary dog named Ralphie who makes “smart remarks” and tells bad puns. I’ve often wondered what I ever did in the past that would result in my having Ralphie in my life. I must have done something really weird.

I asked Ralphie what kind of holiday greeting he would like to give you, and he said he would like to cover all bases. He gives us this greeting –

“Merry Christmas”
“Happy Hanukah”
“Joyous Kwanzaa”
“Peace filled Ramadan”
“Festive New Year”
“Glorious Festivus”
“Nice Weekend”
“Happy Everything”

Yes, he certainly does try to cover all bases.

My message to you is a gift from the heart. In spite of what advertisers want us to believe, our most precious gifts to each other don’t come in fancy wrappings. Unlike material gifts that can wear out, go out of style, or are simply set aside and forgotten, gifts from the heart, from the Spirit, have transforming power. They soften calloused hearts, restore broken dreams, renew abandoned hopes, and infuse life with a new vitality.

May you rejoice in the spirit of this season, in its peace, its hope, its love. And more than ever before, may you feel the love that you are.

With boundless blessings,
Tom

...Ah!

By Charles “Tom” Brown

The young girl sat alone at a table next to mine in the prison visitation room. Her inmate boyfriend had been notified that he had a visitor. However, it finally became evident that he was not coming out. After several hours of waiting, she sadly walked out.

Later, I found out who had refused to see her. I asked him why, and he replied, “Because of what she did, I have fallen out of love with her.”

I thought to myself, “How could that be?” There is no “out of Love”. It’s what we are, deeper and richer than all the spiritual promises and far more ordinary and real. We don’t “fall in or out of love” because we are permanently in the flow of love itself.

Love is the way we are meant to live; love is the measure of the meaning of life. Without it life is a bare existence; with it, life comes alive. It’s the difference that gives life meaning. When we touch life with love, it grows warm and shines down the corridors of the mind with a light that does not fade but grows brighter and more beautiful with the years.

When love is present nothing is the same. Even the drab gray walls of this prison begin to glow. It’s as if we are transported into a different world, love’s world. Then things are seen through love’s eyes. Then the pain may turn into a poem, and the sorrow may blossom as a ministry.

Love is what shines from our eyes, beats from our heart, speaks with our voice, and meets itself everywhere.

Sooner or later, love will reclaim us all. But to let that happen now, to die into love now, before the body dies…

…“Ah!”