Recently, Gavilan Hills Church hosted a remarkable guest speaker
at its 10 a.m. worship service. His name is Ed Carlson, but he is
better known as
”
The Waver.
”
Recently, Gavilan Hills Church hosted a remarkable guest speaker at its 10 a.m. worship service. His name is Ed Carlson, but he is better known as “The Waver.”
More than 30 years ago Carlson was a professional actor preparing to play a blind man in a Montana theater. He thought about hitchhiking across the United States while blindfolded to discover what being blind is like, but abandoned the idea as impractical.
When his wife left him five years later, taking along their children, he was devastated. Suddenly, his mind returned to that thought of years before, and he realized it was something he had to do.
Putting aside his fears, Carlson purchased eye patches and set out hitchhiking from Boston to California, a journey of nine days which “expanded his senses.” He was treated with kindness, caring and concern by everyone he met.
Several months later, while fasting in the Angeles Crest Mountains, he “felt a great bliss” and realized he was “experiencing God.” An inner voice said, “Start walking and be love, and no matter what anyone does, send them love.”
Since then, he has walked and hitchhiked more than 200,000 miles, waving to everyone he met as an expression of his love. While he walks, he recites: “All love and understanding fills my heart as he inhales; “all love and understanding shines throughout the world,” as he exhales.
Within three years he added chanting because “It’s such a wonderful way to still my mind and let me listen to my heart.”
During his talk at Gavilan Hills Church, Carlson shared many experiences from his 31 years of walking, which he says would have taken him “Nine times around the world.”
Many of his encounters in the early days were with police who arrested him for having no identification upon his person (a violation which has since been ruled unconstitutional by the courts).
In Utah, a judge threatened to fine him $110 or keep him in jail for 10 days. When Carlson said, “I can do what I’m doing in jail as well as free,” the judge said, “I forgive you” and set him free.
For six years, a man he passed on the street regularly greeted him with an obscene gesture. Finally he told Carlson, “If I knew I was going to die, I’d kill you today,” and punched him while Carlson chanted softly. A few days later someone told Carlson his attacker had died, and Carlson replied that it must have been from “Don’t Mess with the Waver Disease.”
Carlson has a Web site, www.thewaver.com, with excerpts from his book, “I Walked to the Moon and Everybody Waved,” dealing with forgiveness, healing, unlikely teachers, life lessons, and related topics. He currently lives in Reno, Nev., but spends time in Santa Cruz and Sedona, Ariz., when not walking the highways. His Web site also sells his book and CDs of his chanting.
Gavilan Hills Church is a “New Thought Community” with a long history of serving South County residents. Currently it is located in San Martin at 13055 Monterey Road. For more information call 686-0335 or check the Internet at www.ghchurch.org.
