Angel Gibson, Nathaniel Sharratt, Vincent Dupont and his wife Marilyn, and I were in Chicago taking some publishing and marketing classes and preparing for the Book Expo of America, where Mandeville Press had a booth and we all had plans for more learning and growing.
We knew that John-Roger’s book “Divine Essence” was a finalist for a Benjamin Franklin Award; we wouldn’t find out who won until Thursday evening’s award ceremony, which all of us attended. Missing were J-R, and David Sand, who had designed the book cover and interior.
We were dressed in our best and enjoying the evening. Unlike Nathaniel, who was absolutely alight with excitement, I was extremely calm. Angel shared this strangely peaceful experience with me.
This was fun. The books up for awards would be displayed on a huge screen behind the announcer on stage; the winning book then took the screen while the award was given and thank yous said. We pretended we were at the Oscars!
On occasion, a team rather than an individual accepted the award. One of my favorite moments was an award-winning group going on stage; their grandmother was part of the team, and took a little extra time to get up those stairs. The audience cheered them even more for their loving partnership. Something started working inside me, seeing that group of shining faces, hearing them say, “It takes a team.”
I was scheduled to accept the award, should we win, since I had nursed this project through before Vincent, Nathaniel or Angel joined the Mandeville Press team. However, now we were all busy dong this work together, and I was so impressed with the joy of a group accepting the award that I whispered to everyone, “I think we should all go up on stage if we win.” Instant consensus. Instant teamwork figuring out who would take photos, video, “make the speech.”
And then—WOW. What a moment.
As we continue on with new book projects, I am hoping for more of the close partnership with Spirit that I experienced while working on “Divine Essence”. This was an all-out, “as above, so below,” success. So many rich memories during this book’s creation gently flowed through my mind in the hours and days after receiving the award. The prevailing sense that Spirit’s hand was involved with this project is what I loved best: coming out of spiritual exercises one morning with a vision for how to work with the title and text; David Sand creating a cover that matched and surpassed a vision I’d had. Angel seeing the request for submissions for the Benjamin Franklin Awards and choosing to send Divine Essence in for the category that it won. All of the people who helped with creating the original book. Everyone who helped with transcribing, editing, proofing, printing, finding a copy of the original book. Teamwork, visible and invisible, all along the way. It fit the definition of the word “Baraka” that J-R gives: “… taking from above and giving to above, taking from below and giving to above, taking from above and giving to below, and taking from below and giving to below. So as you receive, you give; as you give, you receive. Both actions exist simultaneously in a constant flow.”
Receiving this award was a moment of satisfaction and fulfillment, and also of wonder at the way Spirit works.
Baruch Bashan.
“Divine Essence” is available in all bookstores, at Amazon.com, and through MSIA. ISBN 1-893020-04-5
