Transcribing this session it struck me that Whitney was a bit taciturn. I’m not sure if she’s naturally that was or if she’s just adjusting to her new environment.
Me: What insights did you gain when you crossed over?
Jamie: She’s talking about Jesus being a real person.
Me: Um hm. So you’ve met him?
Whitney: Yes.
Me: Oh, wonderful! Did you doubt that before?
Whitney: No, I always knew he was real that his presence in my life was very intimate and very strong. I just didn’t know that he was such a casual and “real” person.
Me: Okay. Can you share a life that most influenced your life as Whitney Houston?
(Pause)
Jamie: Erik’s explaining it to her.
Me: Okay.
Whitney: I was a boy, probably about 9, 10 years old. I had white skin and white skin—total lack of color like an albino.
Jamie: She’s telling me that, yes, she had some sort of pigment disease. I asked her to show me on a map where she was, so I go to France.
Me: Okay. Was she African American at that time? Was she black?
Jamie (to Whitney): Were you?
Whitney: No.
Me: Okay.
Whitney: It was a life I had just before coming into this one. Turn of the century, early 1900s. I’d say around 1920s. I lived to my mid 30s.
Me: Oh goodness.
Whitney: I couldn’t marry because no one would have me. In that life, I was viewed, physically, as someone who was unacceptable whereas my insides were very much accepted. And then I thought, ‘what would it be like to have the tables turned and be very accepted on the outside—glorified, almost, to some degree anyway but my insides would be so awful.”
Me: Aw.
Whitney: Only Jesus could love me.
Jamie (Whitney): I’m sorry. Could I ask you what you believe in?
(Pause)
Jamie: Well, what your base religion is.
Whitney: I grew up Baptist.
Jamie: She talks to freely about Jesus. That’s rare, and we really haven’t had that in any of our readings except Chris Farley who wondered if Jesus “ever took a shit.”
Jamie and I laugh hard.
Jamie: But the way she talks about it is she’s had a relationship with Jesus all her life. It’s something she thought about.
Whitney: The Bible was comforting to me. I liked knowing that after my life I’d be embraced. That life (pause) I don’t know if it comforted me—the life in France—but it showed me how to be invisible and how it is now to be very, very visible.
Me: Okay. Any messages or advice for us—for humanity?
(Long pause)
Jamie (chuckling): She kind of giggles. It’s funny, because Erik will—he’s talking, but he’s doing it in a way where I can’t hear him. He’s whispering. He’s more pacifying and intimate with her.
Me: Okay. Well he really loved her in her movie, The Bodyguard. Maybe he had a tender spot in his heart for her.
Jamie: Um, she’s very poised, but when she giggles, her body posture loosens and kind of follows her laughter.
Me: Okay.
Jamie: But when the laughter is over, she straightens up.
Whitney: I want everybody to be happy. I don’t want anybody to hurt anymore.
Me: Yeah. That’s a tall order for many people though, Whitney.
Whitney: If I had to leave words behind, I would want everybody to know that Earth is not the end of us. It’s what we do to ourselves. That’s the biggest—
Jamie: Oh gosh. I can’t look at her when she talks.
Whitney: That’s the biggest death of all—when we hurt ourselves while we’re living.
Me: Okay. Sometimes when you talk, it sounds like part of your songs like “that’s the biggest death of all” or “that’s the greatest love of all.”
Jamie: Wow, I didn’t even think about that!
Me: Yeah. Erik, do you have any questions for Ms. Houston?
Erik: No thank you.
Me: Okay, well thank you so much for your time, Whitney. Are you orienting yourself and settling in well to your new surroundings?
Whitney: Yes, as much as I can. I’m balancing how it feels to be healthy with how it feels to carry the weight of everyone who’s mourning me.
Me: Oh yeah. I can imagine. Okay. Well, again, thank you so much.
Jamie: Yeah, Erik was very gracious. He was thanking her for her time. Um, she’s got really tall boots on, you know the kind that come up to the knee.
Me: Oh, yeah, um hm.
Jamie: Cream leather. And she is. She’s wearing all kinds of white or cream. Not all solid. She’s saying thank you. She’s waving.
Me: Okay.
Jamie: She’s gone.
Enjoy Whitney in what I think is another one of her showcase performances. There’s a short advertisement first.
http://youtu.be/FxYw0XPEoKE
Last but not least. Please pray for my family. I can’t say why. All I can say is that we need your prayers desperately.
