Delay in writing:  The reason for the delay in these words is principally because he has never felt writing to be his calling, nor had it ever been his intention until the closing years of his long association with his Teacher: Unexpectedly one morning (during Satsang* in India) Appa* turned to him and said “Patrick I give you permission to say ‘Appa said’”. This came after he had shared a vision with Him relating to the difference between human sentience and Consciousness* and more specifically to Consciousness and it’s 3 arenas of human awareness* (the subject matter of a possible book). Appa had replied at the time… “Yes Patrick that is your sign”. This was later to become known as the way of AnD – a precursor to both his experience in the abyss* as well as to the Heart of AND that followed.

The prompt:  During the last 2 decades there had been the thought of putting pen to paper as had been hinted at, but because it related to his very private life it never materialised. Then quite unexpectedly, and in the midst of several extraordinary events * that were taking place on PeLoHa during the 2^nd week of lockdown he was given the final nudge: It was the ‘chance’ reading of what the apostle Thomas had said in his gnostic writings … “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” 

A devotional aspect:  Although born into a Christian family, ‘God’ only became meaningful to him in his teens after seeing the effects of prayer through Nicol Campbell *, the founder of the School of Truth:  While at primary school he was deeply impressed by 2 life-saving miracles, one relating to his younger brother and the other to his cousin.  Specialists at the time had declared both cases to be incurable, yet both went on to lead normal healthy married lives with children:  His mother and aunt had approached Nicol Campbell requesting that the names of their sons be added to their daily prayer list. The devotion that this evoked in Patrick remained with him until a year or two into his tertiary studies.  

An intellectual aspect:  The aptitude tests that were undertaken in his final year at Durban High School suggested that he become (in descending order of priority) a game ranger/nature conservationist, a guide on a hunting expedition, a meteorologist and finally a dentist. The first choice resonated to some degree as he had envisaged becoming a marine biologist but was advised that there would be virtually no scope for employment after graduation.

Initial confusion:  Not understanding how such ‘multiple choice tests’ could have extracted him from the ‘African bush’ and place him in a dental practice in the city centre in just ‘3 moves’ he chose to ignore the results.  Instead he enrolled at the Natal University in the Electrical Engineering faculty; embarking on a training and professional career that was to gradually move God into the background again. The rekindling of his earlier devotion came more than a decade later with the tragic loss of a very dear friend.

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