A SENSE OF HEAVEN

By David Shuch

Could heaven be something more than a concept of where our soul or spirit might end up after life on earth? Could heaven be as close as right now and right here? Could it be a new way of experiencing life than something hoped for, far away?

...This is the aura surrounding a new book, The Charm Carver, by writer and dentist David Shuch. Shuch, well versed in the alternative medicine community (his first book, Doctor, Be Well: Integrating the Spirit of Healing with Scientific Medicine is being used by the Mayo Clinic’s Program on Integrative Medicine), has spent over two decades searching out the roots of healing and the paths to awakening. According to Shuch, these are, in fact, the same things. In all of his work he has come to understand that gaining a sense of heaven is not anything that can be communicated through the giving of facts or steps in a process; rather it must come about through ‘Aha’ moments that link up our mind, our body, and our feelings. In this way, at least for an instant, we are more inwardly unified and, like a finely tuned instrument, we can commune with finer vibrations. This, according to Shuch, is where healing occurs and how we can each come to sense heaven here and now.

...This book is a lyrical tale meant to be read on different levels. On one level it is a simple story of a traveling craftsman and how he influences the lives of those he comes in contact with; on another level, especially when read aloud, it creates a heart-opening mood; on a third level it paints an allegorical picture of a system of healing applicable to any healing art; on a fourth level, it chronicles the passing of wisdom from a teacher to a student. This layered structure, where words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, chapters and the book itself all seem to resonate to an unspoken, higher principle, creates a remarkably unifying effect and many ‘Aha’ moments in the experience of a reader willing to peer beneath the surface of the words.

...The book opens with Madeline, a wise, old woman and the narrator of the tale, reflecting on the influence that Simon, the charm carver who she met when she was young, had on her life. The rhythm of the prose is hypnotic and consistent throughout the book. It begins:

...Now I sit as the sun goes down and winter calls my name. But I recall the time in my youth that set the tone and the course of my days. I went to the shore in the mornings. There by the sea, facing east, with my toes gripping the stones, I watched the sky and the clouds take turns with the colors of the dawn. When I first saw him, the glimmer of his boat seemed a play between the light and my dreams. But then a moment came when I saw the rhythm of his oars and at once I knew what was real. Simon was old, but his gaze was gently warming and his walk was full of purpose. He told me he was a tradesman, a charm carver from across the sea. He kneeled before me and spoke my name. How he knew it remains to this day a mystery to me. “Ah, Madeline,” he said, “if only every soul had the patience of your gaze, I would not have been called to these shores.” I asked if I might watch him work, for I had not met a charm carver before. “Come,” he said, “and I shall fill you with wonder.” And in the days that followed he filled me with the wonder of his world, and answered questions that rose in me like steam from a simmering pot. And when he had carved his last and rowed back out to sea, my eyes saw then a different world and my soul became filled with new beginnings.

...A central theme is that of the ‘inner wish’, a kind of deep yearning for a life in tune with one’s heart, mind and the Universe; free of egotistical urges. Simon teaches through examples and stories that to hold an inner wish takes a certain kind of strength; a strength that oftentimes our daily life simply drains away.

... This book requires a kind of work on the part of the reader; an effort to listen and reflect with an open mind and to ponder with an open heart. The book can be read through in less than two hours, but is best read vignette by vignette, with time between to savor the layers. For this reason, the book’s attached silk page marker proves to be a help.

David Shuch is a writer and a dentist. In practice 22 years, he runs The Center for Integrative Dentistry in northwestern New Jersey. The Charm Carver is available by calling 1-800-431-1579.