Falun Gong brings new life to man without hope
By Dzifa Amoa
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/opinion/trading-up-miracles-top-resolutions-172323.html
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| Craig Richter said his live changed nearly miraculously after he began to practice Falun Gong (Photo courtesy of Craig Richter) |
Whatever the answer might be, Craig Richter, a 40-year-old man in Melbourne, Australia says that when he wanted to turn his life around six years ago, it took a miracle. “It’s almost like it happened itself … It was a very positive turn in my life… It’s almost like I was picked up, turned around 180 degrees, and set walking in the opposite direction.”
Richter said, “I was homeless. I hadn’t had a cent in my pocket for about three months. No money whatsoever, no unemployment or anything like that, and nowhere to live for that time. I was sitting in King George Square, which is in Queensland. And there was a gentleman doing the exercises. And I watched him and I thought to myself, you know that really looks interesting. You know, and I’d like to try that.”
That man was practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that involves doing five meditative exercises and following the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
Richter’s problems started a long time ago in a small city in the south of Australia called Port Pirie. He was born and raised there, spending his first 25 years in this port of about 15,000 people. His relationship with drugs began when he was 14. He began with marijuana, moved on to LSD, and, after an array of other drugs, settled on meth (methamphetamine) in a big way.
After a brief respite at 25, Richter went back to meth. He said he remembers using meth and Ecstasy everyday because it gave him such “a positive, stimulating, and euphoric feeling.”
Richter said that at age 30, to support his habit he got involved with “some very serious people” who stopped at nothing to get what they wanted. Between the ages of 32 and 35, he found himself homeless off and on.
He tried to kick the habit many times, and often succeeded for a couple of months and then went back to it. It was impossible for him to hold down a job. Life became so miserable that, “a lot of the time I could’ve just laid down there and died and it wouldn’t have bothered me.”
He said anytime he used meth, he felt invisible insects crawling on his body. He heard voices, thought that people were using listening devices to record him, and saw things that weren’t there. He fell into a pattern of not using for a few weeks at a time, and then going back to using because he thought the drugs wouldn’t cause the symptoms anymore. Each time, they did.
While caught in that pattern, lying on a park bench, he saw the man exercising and offering free meditation classes.
After a lot of back and forth with himself, Richter asked the man to teach him the exercises. “I felt huge changes … My thoughts just changed. They became positive, especially while I was doing the exercises, and that just continued from there.”
He said that by the second time he did the exercises, he felt calmer and stronger internally, and then things just grew from there. Within a month he was living in a house and working.
Richter met the Falun Gong practitioner every morning for two weeks to do the exercises, and he also exercised by himself. During this time, he read the introductory book to the Falun Gong teachings, “Falun Gong” by Mr. Li Hongzhi.
“It’s almost like it happened itself. I know it might sound a little bit strange. It’s almost like all of a sudden I was contacted for an interview at a job place, and they just arranged the job and the accommodation for me,” Richter said. The Salvation Army Job Network arranged an interview for a job and put him up in a place.
Richter said that in retrospect, with the perspective gained through Falun Dafa, he sees that his drug use and subsequent homelessness were due to his inability to accept the bad feelings in life, and also due to the fact that his morals had become almost nonexistent.
He said that studying Falun Dafa principles and doing the exercises restored to him what was lacking. From there he was able to make the right choices and decisions and was able to discern right from wrong. He said he feels optimistic about the future and wants to encourage all people who are going through similar challenges to take it easy on themselves, because there’s hope.
Richter said that they should try and not make life too hard for themselves. Speaking of how he has kept from relapsing, Richter laughed and said: “It’s the responsibility that I have to myself, to not create problems for myself anymore … because I was the instigator of my own problems. I have a responsibility to look after myself and not to make things so difficult for myself.”
Dzifa Amoa is a Sound of Hope Radio correspondent based in Atlanta, Georgia.
