A Testimonial from Paul Collier

– intended for GSUW.org

Gross generalizations, I’m thinking, may prove to be helpful if they allow us to grasp much larger truths than we are normally comfortable approaching. These are some Gross Generalizations about the Life of Paul Collier before meeting Frantisek Strouhal and Chantal Robert in April 2024…

A 40 year career of being married to my job—loving my professional life so much that I felt incapable of truly loving and supporting my wife and family. Supporting them in material ways seemed sufficient at the time. It wasn’t.
15 years of retirement—winters spent in Calgary, summers in West Kootenay Wonderland – becoming increasingly aware there was MORE to Life than stories told in my 2015 autobiography “Exploring: The Adventures of Paul Collier”. A naturally Curious person, grounded in Earth, Life sciences, was plodding his way towards Glimpses of Bigger Pictures—especially those derived from researched integrations of History, Philosophy, Biology and Psychology. I also came to recognize that my whole life had been punctuated with a series of ‘low-grade paranormal experiences’ – some verging on the mystical – and that there still might be MORE Adventures to Explore. I started to write about my personal Glimpses of Bigger Pictures in 2016.
I ‘met’ Frantisek, Chantal through the Tapestry pages of the Nelson Star. Each Thursday brought another ‘Truth’—the same Truths which I’d been plodding towards in my own logical way. But ‘their’ Truths were clearly grounded in deep personal intuitions, and then expressed in beautifully powerful words. Mine weren’t.

As a Curious Explorer, I knew I should talk to the sources of such powerful wisdom. After meeting Frantisek, Chantal, by phone, I sent these words on May 11, 2024.

Hello Frantisek and Chantal,

I felt that In the arms of Love and The significance of narratives were beautifully and truthfully written. Congratulations!

Your prose material was new to me. It connected seamlessly -- in terms of my feelings, intuitions

and logic—with each underlying poem extracted from Illuminations.

Key favourite phrases?

1. In the arms of Love

"Love is a source we can all draw from, even though we may approach it differently"

[Ancient Greek folk used at least 6 different words to describe their different approaches to

Love.]

"... this affectionate essence is not holy. It's pragmatic. It's realistic..."

[Perhaps you chuckled when writing these words? You've just written 400 words on Tapestry about sharing the gift of Love with all Humanity, and you haven't used the words 'God', 'Religion' or 'Church' even once!]

The significance of narratives

"... without a compelling storyline or impactful visuals that shape our identity and give our lives purpose and direction, we cannot achieve happiness,"

"Together we can embrace a better story that has the power to bring about positive change."

"When we have a deep belief that life, divinity, and humanity are all inherently good, we embark on thrilling and imaginative endeavours..."

[These wordsTransferred Feelings, Thoughts & Information to me -- connecting to The voice of my soul.

3. 'Gratitude'

A daily prompter of 'what I need to give thanks for.'

The Art of Listening'

So appropriate to the dynamic between Johanna & myself.

It would create an interlude of discerning 'unresolved relationship business'.

Blessings to you both in your future work.

Nelson will be a better place for it!

—Paul

Writing in March 2025…

I’ve since recognized a sense of natural [predestined?] inter-connectedness which continues to evolve from Frantisek & Chantal’s caring friendship. ‘Everything is connected’ is expressed face to face, during summer-time, at the Mirage Studio; and it is reinforced, during winter-time, through GSUW.org transfer of visual art, illuminated through wisdom prose and poetry.

Several visits to Mirage Studio during the summer of 2024 confirmed for me that their poem Lift the Veils precisely depicts the set & setting of Frantisek & Chantal’s Nature Healing ministry.