by Joe Vitale: I personally knew, worked with and loved Jerry Hicks, of Abraham fame. When I learned he passed away on November 18th, I felt the sadness of losing a friend, but the joy of knowing he transitioned into what Abraham and Esther Hicks call The Vortex.

When I lived in Houston decades ago, Jerry and Esther were coming out with their books and audio cassettes. Their first book was typewritten and self-published. I helped them promote it, and later wrote full-page ads for them.

After that, I helped them get their website up by introducing them to my webmaster at the time, and later promoted their site for them. I sent out news releases and contacted the media.

I was an evangelist for Abraham. Jerry sometimes called and asked for advice about publishing or marketing. I loved our chats. And almost two decades ago I wrote the introduction to the first edition of their book, Sara and the Foreverness of Friends of a Feather.

Years ago, when I updated and published a long lost book by Genevieve Behrend, called Attaining Your Desires, Jerry wrote me a long letter praising it. He also went through the first edition, found typos, and listed them for me to correct (which I did). He never charged me, and was happy to help.

Like Esther, Jerry was always upbeat, joyful, and a delight to talk to. I always looked forward to our calls and meetings.

I have rarely met anyone so committed to his mission of getting out the word of Abraham. Jerry didn’t struggle or worry, but simply offered Abraham’s words to those ready to hear them. He never seemed to tire. He never got bored. He never wanted to stop. He was just as enthusiastic over the most recent Abraham seminars as he was over the very first ones.

I drifted away from Jerry and Esther when I realized Abraham’s feel good formula was missing a step. That’s when I began writing about “getting clear” as an essential ingredient to attracting what you wanted. I wrote about this in my book, The Attractor Factor, and spoke about it in my audio program, The Missing Secret. It’s the core of my Miracles Coaching program.

I never stopped loving Jerry and Esther, of course. I’ve always called them two of the most loving people I’ve ever met, a true joy to be around. They are beacons of light.

Jerry was always the picture of fitness and health. Every time I saw him, he radiated wellness. He looked like he could do circus gymnastics at the drop of a hat. As far as I could tell, he would live forever.

I was wrong.

Sometimes fans of the Law of Attraction think they can escape reality. I’ve been teaching for years that you can’t argue with reality. That’s why surrender is such an important step in awakening, and why I wrote about it in my book, The Awakening Course. The Law of Attraction is only one law. As a healer I know once announced, “At some point you’re just gonna die.”

Of course, a handful of teachers think death is just a belief. I even questioned death in my book, Life’s Missing Instruction Manual. Maybe we attract it because we believe and expect it. Maybe it’s further proof of the Law of Attraction. I don’t really know.

Some people criticized Jerry and Esther for accepting chemotherapy to fight his cancer. Some critics took that as a sign the Law of Attraction doesn’t really work when push comes to shove.

I find that odd. I remember some of the early dialogues with Abraham, where Esther said when you use the Law of Attraction, you will be guided to use whatever means might help. When you have a headache and you intend to attract relief, you might attract or create a natural healing method, or you might attract aspirin.

After all, when you consciously intend to attract something, where do you think it is going to come from?

Jerry wasn’t Abraham. Jerry was human. Like each of us, he had life challenges. A song I wrote on my forthcoming singer-songwriter album says, “Everybody’s goin’ through somethin’.” The point is for us to do our best to awaken. Our unconscious programs are running the show. We may or may not clear them all this time around. That’s why it behooves us to reflect on what is behind what we are attracting. Books such as Louise Hay’s Heal Your Body and Daniel Condron’s Permanent Healing can be useful. They can shed light on the unconscious reasons for physical ailments.

Don’t use Jerry’s illness or death as an excuse to become a victim.

Abraham taught you’d always have challenges. As soon as you resolved one issue, you’d attract another. Welcome to the human experience. This doesn’t mean the Law of Attraction doesn’t work. It means it does work. You always get what youunconsciously believe and expect. (Re-read that.) Jerry once told Esther he’d probably depart before her, which proves he had a belief in dying, and maybe a belief in a particular way of passing on.

I wasn’t with Jerry when he grew ill, so I can’t say what he was thinking. I don’t know why he attracted cancer, or why he chose the modern medicine path to remove it. But if he accepted conventional medicine as a treatment, than he must have felt he attracted it as a possible solution. He was probably reaching for the thought that felt best to him at the time.

The fact that he got ill and passed on doesn’t mean anything more than he got ill and passed on. Everything else is simply our projecting our beliefs onto his situation.

If you have thoughts, fears, doubts, beliefs and expectations surfacing — triggered by Jerry’s illness and passing — that’s what you want to clear. What you are experiencing is your unconscious coming to the surface. You are discovering what you really believe.

Jerry’s situation is revealing your unconscious belief system. He’s a mirror. Whatever you say about Jerry reflects your own beliefs. That’s all. And that’s wonderful. He left you a great gift. Here’s your chance to break free.

Death isn’t a bad thing. It’s not failure. Jerry and Esther, via Abraham, taught that death is simply walking from one room into another.

“Make fun of death. We are as dead as it gets, and we are fully aware of this joyous experience. We are with you every time you allow it. We are in every singing bird and in every joyful child. We are part of every delicious pulsing in your environment. We are not dead, and neither will you ever be. You will just get up one day, and get out of the movie.” – Abraham (Esther Hicks)

Jerry exited stage right.

I loved him.

I’ll miss him.

As Abraham would say, “You are loved. All is well.”