The eyes tell the story about this couple.
Just one look into each of their eyes, and you know!
The TRUTH.
These are people who are serious about life... about truth...about
the way they treat others.
Then you see them look at each other, and again, the eyes
tell the story: they are serious about love for each other!
It is rare to encounter people who are so direct in their purpose
and their Spirit for the world to see.
But that's what you get with this beautiful couple, Dr. & Mrs. Ed Dodge of Inverness, Florida.
Everything about them is straightforwardly simple. It's really...all Black and White.
Like with most people who wind up in such a good place, the journey
getting there took some effort.
For Ed Dodge, his journey began as the son of missionaries.
His life, indeed, really did begin with the stark contrast of the lives of those who are "black and white." Ed spent the first years of his life in Africa.
His parents, Ralph and Eunice, were sent on a mission to Angola when he was only three months old.
In Angola, he was called "Tim," though Ralph Edward Dodge, Jr. was his real name. "Tim" literally had a life in those early years that represented the culture of blacks and whites at the time.
He was brought up by a black nanny, Julia, who "carried Tim swaddled on her back while she did housework, just as all Angolan mothers carried their babies."
Julia was a member of the Kimbundu tribe and spoke both Kimbundu and Portuguese. Tim's first language then was Portuguese.
English came more slowly.
His early life in Luanda, the capital city of Angola, certainly established a path for developing an interest in medicine and an openness to life.
Tim fought off the effects of mercury poisoning from the wrong chewable tablets he was given to treat malaria. He then had fights with insects, especially an army of ants that attacked more than half of his lower body one day. So in those early years, he also learned much about perseverance and survival.
Tim's story is told in a book of the same name that Ed Dodge published in 2005.
Upon returning to the United States at age five, the young boy known as "Tim" became known as Ed. But the lasting effects of those early years could never be erased in a heart that was opened to the richness of Spirit, diversity of life and cultures beyond just those of Blacks and Whites.
Ed obtained his medical degree from Indiana University and his master of Public Health from John Hopkins University. He taught Public Health in Ethiopia for two years, then returned to the States and became a public health director in the rural United States.
Ed completed his medical career as a family physician, and over those years of practicing medicine he learned that in order to treat a person, the "whole person must be embraced...body, mind and spirit."
In his retirement from medicine, Ed has gone on to doing just that with his "Wellness Explorations." He's established this program specifically to empower people to take control of their inner health and overall wellness, not just a physical ailment.
You then pair Ed with Carol Fitzgerald, born in Barnum, Iowa,(with a population of a whooping 150 people!!!). What you get is a combustion of goodness and light, shining the way for so many others.
(The next two photos are of Barnum, Iowa.)
Carol says,"Ed and I are committed to being all we can be as individuals. We support each other's goals. We see our marriage as an opportunity to share the experience with a partner by often inviting each other to participate in the creations."
That participation in creation will soon take the couple to a new life in San Antonio, Texas, within the next few months. This is where Carol plans to establish herself as an Avatar© Master with training she gained through Star's Edge Inc., Orlando. Ever open to change, her practice, like Ed's is called, "Avatar Explorations."
Ed and Carol met at Unity Village in May 1999. They actually met at a "Sacred Silent Retreat." Since they could not talk, their communications were all in the eyes...and yes, Ed did pass Carol a couple of notes, "since we weren't supposed to be talking," she says.
The couple were married a few short months later on December 17, 1999 at the Fillmore Chapel at Unity Village. Life since then has been a continuing journey of growth, exceeding their wildest expectations.
Both Carol and Ed graduated from Unity's Spiritual Enrichment and Enlightenment program in 1998. Ed continued on to become a licensed Unity Teacher. Carol said she wanted something else.
"I reached a point in my life where I knew I'd read enough books, attended enough churches, retreats, lectures and seminars. In order to experience enlightenment, I had to go beyond the mind."
"Two days later, an Avatar© Journal arrived in the mail. I followed that lead and life has not been the same since."
Carol Dodge is a woman of power within her own right.
Before meeting Ed in 1999, Carol spent approximately 25 years in San Antonio, Texas. With a master's degree in Education, Carol for many years taught every grade from K-12 and some college graduate level courses. Because of her caring nature, she also found a way to focus on "at-risk" learners and literacy in the Language Arts area. She also was a curriculum specialist and before retiring in 2007 for many years she was a consultant, traveling around the United States giving seminars and workng in classrooms to help teachers and students experienc success with current research based techniques.
Carol always has searched for TRUTH.
Growing up Catholic in Barnum, Carol as a teenager came to a crisis point in her faith, when she questioned the practices she was taught to follow. She became even more confused when the practices she'd been taught also began to shift.
"It became that St. Christopher, on the dash of the car, whom we always prayed to for a safe journey suddenly became suspect, as there didn't seem to be enough evidence to support him being a saint. It was all very confusing. It felt like alot of things that made us Catholic were being pulled out from under us."
"Finding Unity in 1986," she says, "was like a breath of fresh air!"
Today, Carol says,"Through the Avatar© courses, I am learning to look at the patterns in my life. I'm examining my beliefs about everything and exploring the different identities I've adopted. It's amazing to realize that I can discover so much about myself that I didn't realize. Most exhilarating of all, she says, is to find out that I can eliminate the beliefs and identities that haven't been working for me and to replace them with new ones that do work. I'm finding I'm less defined and rigid...and DEFINITELY HAPPIER."
As an Avatar© Master, Carol says she's learned how the mind really works and has reset her personal filter to "I am happy now."
It used to be, she says, that she piled things into one of two piles: "the good and the bad." But now she's gotten in touch with that transparent identity, "which was victimhood," she says.
"I was always picking out what someone was doing to me, or not doing for me," she says. "I was not taking responsibility for my own happiness and holding my happiness off until this person changed his or her behavior or that situation changed. Not anymore!
"Looking back over my life, I can see where every single event had to happen in order for me to experience this moment with true inner peace and gratitude. I am no longer fearful of bad things happening in my life. I have a huge set of effective tools and a network of support that's always available."
Carol's personal philosophy is this: "Life is about evolving in every area. It doesn't matter so much what one chooses to do. Life is about BEING. Obviously, we should select something that taps into our talents and makes our heart sing. But more importantly, we should be open to the lessons that each moment brings us to learn about ourselves and about life, to evolve from what we are to what we can become."
She also has a new understanding of enlightenment. What?
She does not share it outright.
But this should give you a clue.
About God, Carol says,
"God is impossible to define. But I see God as everything that is seen and unseen. God is LIFE. I also realize that as God, LIFE JUST IS! I am the Source of the script that gets wrriten around the events of my life. That is empowering."
While Carol has been getting ready for the move to San Antonio, Texas, Ed meanwhile was gone for most of the month of January. He was on a special mission in Ethopia as part of "Project Mercy" of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He spent his month there teaching youth and others Literacy, Basic Arithmetic, Nutrition and Primary Health Care (hygiene, sanitation and Disease Awareness).
To view exciting photos of Ed's recent trip with Project Mercy in Ethiopia, cut/paste this link:
http://projectmercyinethiopia2009.shutterfly.com/ One of the photos documents Ed and an aged Ethopia hermit. This is a precious sight!
(Ed's second book, Dan's Story, was published in summer 2008)
Matthew 6: 22"The light of the body is the eye.
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be filled with light."
Ed and Carol Dodge have only just begun to put their single-mindedness to work, serving the common good. The path they will establish will bless the way for more than the four children and 12 grandchildren they have between them. Ed has two sons and a daughter and 10 grandchildren; Carol has one son and two grandchildren.
One of the principal reasons for their moving to San Antonio is that Carol's grandchildren, located there, are only two years and five years old. Five of Ed's grandkids in Inverness are at middle and high school levels, thus now have evolved into activities that keep them away from home: sports, church and friendships.
The light being shone by Ed and Carol Dodge will illuminate the lives of many throughout the world, as they stay busy traveling, spending time with friends and family and "never being at a loss when it comes to keeping life interesting." Carol says.
Namaste',
Che'
NOTE: You may access Ed Dodge's Website at: http://passionforhealth.info. A quicker way is to click on the link on the side under "Wholeness for everyday!" Because of the move to Texas, Carol Dodge's Website has been delayed. You can contact her through Ed, for now, if you need to reach her.
I met both Carol and Ed, at separate times, during classes at Unity
Village in 1998. We have stayed in touch over the years.
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