Reviews: Angel's At Work

J. Vaughn Boone is a bone-fide national treasure, although I am certain that he would be very uncomfortable with that designation. You see, like many people whose roots spring from southern soil, he’s as humble as apple pie and as unassuming as a home grown tomato. To hear him tell it, he’s just a simple country boy who’s been lucky enough to witness many miracles. That he played a part in the creation of these miracles is beside the point. According to him, he was only fortunate enough to often be a conduit for God’s energy.

For year’s now, Boone has been a regular teacher at the Southeastern Conference and other spiritually based events around the country. He teaches the Huna system for healing, which is the understanding of spirituality and prayer that was developed by the native Hawaiians. His classes are so enjoyable that many people attend them over and over, year after year. To be sure, they come to learn something about Huna, but mostly they come to hear him tell his stories of the events he has witnessed.

Over the years he has witnessed plenty. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1916, his father an employee at the Cone Mills textile factory. Like most southerners of that era, he was raised with a deep Christian faith which he has never abandoned, a fact which he makes clear whenever teaching Huna. His understanding is that Huna, Buddhism and the like contain many spiritual truths that can easily be adapted into a Christian framework. He thinks it’s important that Christians understand the truths to be found in other systems and that they use these truths to deepen their own faith.

I have a feeling that this is the purpose behind his book (co-written by Phyllis W. Corwin) called Angels At Work. The book is a deceptively simple collection of anecdotes of the many healings of mind, body and spirit that he has witnessed over his long life. Between the lines, however, he attempts to tell the secrets behind many of these miracles, to let his readers know that they too can heal their friends, loved ones and (most of all) themselves.

To those of us like myself, who grew up in North Carolina, the book is also a living history of the area, a glimpse of this part of the world before most of us were born. He often writes about going to Burlington, driving through Morganton or stopping for the night in Black Mountain with the casual abandon than only a native to the area can offer. And he writes of experiences that are probably unimaginable to those who are now in their twenties and who grew up in this age of technology - like seeing an airplane fly for the first time.

“I recall seeing my first vapor trail of an airplane,” he writes. “In fact, I stopped my car, stood outside and watched it for quite awhile. My natural humor prompted me to think that if my grand-dad, who was quite a Bible scholar, saw this he would fall to his knees and start praying. He might say, ‘Lord, I know you wrote on the walls of King Nebuchadnezzar’s chamber with a mighty hand, I know you are writing a message for me in the sky. But would you please write in smaller letters so I can read it.”

Egoless good humor is found throughout the book, often used to illustrate the fact that listening without ego-involvement is often the best way to help somebody through their problems. Like the story of an angry woman who accosted him after a lecture. He writes that she said, “‘Vaughn Boone, I don’t like you and furthermore I don’t like your music either.’

“I was somewhat surprised and did not lose my cool. I replied, ‘If I have done anything to upset you, I am sorry.’

“She then said, ‘I don’t want anyone to hug me, and you asked the people to give their neighbor a big hug, and I resented it a lot.’

“‘You are right. I did allow others to feel free to hug you. I allowed them to invade your space and I am truly sorry.’

“‘Aren’t you angry with me for telling you that?’”

“‘No. Indeed you have done me a big favor for calling it to my attention. I thank you.’”

Because he was able to push his own ego aside to hear and validate her concerns he was able to help her. By the time this episode ended, the woman had figured-out (with Boone’s help) the reasons behind the disharmony in her family.

“We became great friends,” Boone writes. “She not only hugged me but everyone else as well. She even said she liked my music. A subsequent letter told me of happiness and joy in the family.”

The stories in this book run the gamut from ghosts, those spirits who have remained earthbound instead of going to the divine light, to seemingly miraculous healings of those who were at death’s door. The common theme is that even the direst of circumstances can be changed by calling upon spirit.

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