Every once in a while a great book comes along that opens the floodgates of the heart.


Today it is Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived.
Modoc was born in a German forest on the same day and hour as Bram, the child of an elephant trainer who used love, instead of fear, to motivate and train his elephants. As a result, he learned and taught his son a great secret: the unspoken bond between human and animal, the telepathic heart connection that makes them one.
Today, Hilary Clinton has conceded the nomination and pledged her support to “unity” for the Democrats. This is very inspiring for some, very disturbing to others. By the time this post reaches press, it will be old news. Will anything remain of the call to unity, and what purpose does it really serve beyond helping a particular party or candidate?
Votes are surely important, but there is another kind of unity, and if Hilary or some other politician is to truly lead, rather than follow the mass voice, perhaps they will read about this other kind of unity and take direction from it.
Here is Ralph Helfer, author of Modoc, putting the mystical in terms a child could understand, and an adult even can surely absorb. It comes after Modoc has helped rescue people at sea from drowning after a hurricane, and the little boy, finds himself with Modoc in India. He meets another elephant, Atoul, whose large black eyes lead him to an unmediated encounter with the numinous. Bram has an out of body experience that the maharajah’s trainer deeply understands, as he explains:

‘But just as there are many rivers that lead to the same ocean, so there are many paths that lead to God….’
‘Nature hears one voice and obeys it,’ Jagrat continued.’ That is why ten or ten thousand birds may rise from the surface of a lake at the same time and yet never touch one another. Man hears only his own voice. He constantly bumps into another. Even his voice mirrors his erratic walk, jealousy, hate, ego, pride, lying, cheating. he m akes his own judgments and falls prey to greed.’ Jagrat smiled, a twinkle in his eye. ‘Remember, the moon is reflected in one drop of water as is the entire ocean–in a grain of sand as the entire shore, one star as the whole universe. Each animal as in all creatures.
‘I end by telling you to listen and hear the vibration, the song of nature. The sounds of nature are its music, its lyrics, and it comes from all living things. The subtle violin whispers of the wind in the pine forest, the clarinet of the birds, the drum of the earthquakes and volcanoes, the cymbals of lightning and thunder, the harp of the oceans, together they play God’s song… the harmony, the medloy are perfect and are always there to here….To listen to the sounds of nature is to hear Creation at its beginning, middle, and end at the same time, together and apart.’

Through Jagrat, the Indian trainer, and the legendary Atoul, Bram deepens his mystical understanding that he can hear the cosmic unity by tuning in to nature, and that his beloved companion Modoc, the elephant, is the doorway to self-realization. Enter into the Modoc experience and vote for unity with the whole of being.