It’s been two years since I first posted about the crash (this link provides a detailed description my initial experience with this crash). Until now, I have just shared what happened on November 26 and 27, 1974. On that evening and night of November 26, I had been injured and had been in significant pain, but the central experience was solidarity. In those moments, I began to have visions of a disaster on a mountainside. Slowly, I began to understand that I was witnessing a plane crash. I was suffering with the people and our hearts were joined.
The next morning, November 27, 1974, I saw the note I had written to myself during the night (not that I needed reminding): “Is there a plane crash?” The 7:00 A.M. news was about to start and I fully expected to hear news of the plane crash. But there was no news. I continued to check the news each hour throughout the day. It wasn’t until 3:00 P.M. of that day that I heard something like the following on the radio:
There was a plane crash last night in Virginia. The plane had departed from Ohio and was en route to Washington, D.C. The plane was flying in dense fog and the pilot did not see the mountain in front of it. So the plane crashed into the mountain without warning. The reason this was not announced earlier is because the plane crashed into a site of a secret White House used in the event of a nuclear war.
The announcement above is not a quote; it’s just reflective of what I remember. Also I’m not sure the announcement said “last night” but I presumed “last night” because that was when I experienced the crash. Also I’m not sure if the announcement I heard said Virginia or West Virginia. Additionally, the announcement to the best of my recollection did not mention the departing airport location in Ohio but I felt that it was very local to me. At the time, I was in Worthington, Ohio, a town within Columbus, Ohio.
This Egyptian painting is reminiscent of Pharaoh’s dream of seven fat cows followed by seven lean cows. Joseph interpreted the cows as representing seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Much can be saved when we pay attention to such visions. – Painting from the tomb of Nefeteri, wife of Ramesses II, ca. 1250 BC, Thebes. Photo from Associates of Biblical Research.
When I heard this news, I felt a deep sense of completion and was very satisfied just knowing that I had been with the people in this crash, in their hour of need, when few others knew of their suffering. Because of this sense of completion, I did not at that time feel the need to follow up and learn more about this event.
Three years later, as a college senior, in the fall of 1977, I was inspired to vigorously research human suffering. The research was not for a class, and at the time I was not thinking about the crash at all. I was just driven to use my spare time to read and take notes on injustice, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, the Holocaust, prejudice and civil rights, oppression, human divisions everywhere, various wars, the threat of nuclear war and other human-made catastrophes, … I kept this up for weeks and weeks until one night, with pages upon pages of personal notes all around me, I got up from my study table and began to pace around the room. Then, like the evening of November 26, 1974, I felt that God was coming. I stopped walking, stood in front of my notes, and kind of cleared my thoughts in anticipation of what was coming. At that moment, a rush of commanding insights began to flow powerfully through me:
The plane … we’re all in it! The whole world’s in it, everybody, all of us! We’re flying blind. Much of the blinding fog is our fixation on our own security. Despite being in the same plane, we can’t see each other! The plane … shaped like a cross … is our cross! We think things are ok, but we’re heading straight toward our mountain of security! We don’t know it, we think things are basically ok, but we’re going to crash! All of us!
Sobering, mind-numbing insights for a 21 year-old like me at the time or for anyone at any time. Oh my, oh, oh, oh … my heart was beginning to get it, all the suffering of all those people I was researching, far-away people, people removed from me in one way or another, other people too who most of the time simply fell through the cracks of my consciousness … but now a new reality … all people … the “fortunate” and the “unfortunate” … suffering was not so far off … ALL OF US … FELLOW PASSENGERS … approaching a shared crash …
But the powerful insights were still coming, more encouraging, hopeful ones now, just as mind-blowing, just as hard to accept:
God will be with us when we crash! Suffering with us! Comforting and healing us! God’s Heart joining ours! Generous, loving revolutions of the heart! And on the third day, there will be victory for all, a renewed and whole human family, joyously giving thanks!
I was shocked at it all, but, oh wow, I was getting it, we can win together! All this again brought a deep sense of completion, and that experience marked the end of that research effort and I returned to “normal” college work.
As my life progressed over the years, I realized that this future crash is not our predetermined destiny, but it is our current flight path. This sight into our future, like the similar visions of others, akin to the prophesy of Jonah, are warnings of what will be if we do not soon wake up, open our eyes, understand what happening around us, and do what is needed so that we can make a safe landing.
Yes, fellow passengers, the lively efforts of all of us are needed! We don’t have to crash! Practical, generous, all-inclusive love is such a preferable option! Let’s change our course before it’s too late! Time is generous but time is short!
Post notes:
- The crash is one of the most significant, revelatory events of my life. It is a core message that is part of who I am and what I need to do. It is also deeply remorseful and troubling. I still feel the pain but also the hope of those in that crash of 1974. Another event helps to balance this event in my life: the “key story” which centers on the love of God and the rebirth that is possible when we experience the love of God.
- Not unlike Jesus’ disciples, I do not understand the meaning of the “third day,” but the third day from November 26, 1974 was Thanksgiving Day, and I am confident that on our third day (whatever that means) of this shared crash, there will be an incredible victory for the whole human family by God’s healing where we will rejoice together. For a small glimpse into this, see this post about a dream I had concerning this great awakening that can occur with or without the crash.
- Today is the 38th anniversary of my hearing radio announcement concerning the plane crash. Such news reports on November 27, 1974 do not, however, seem to exist. I will discuss this and more in upcoming posts.