Robert Patton

Board Chair

Born in west-central Ohio, Robert came to Vermont in 1971.  His relationship with Spirit Hollow began in 2000 when he became a member of the first Seeing With the Heart class.

“I remember standing in the kitchen of the dome with my classmate Teresa; we were both looking out the window down the driveway.  I had a strong sense of cars, several cars coming up the drive, when Teresa said out loud, ‘I see hundreds of people coming here.’ I have held that dream ever since and watched as Spirit Hollow manifested that simple revelation over these past twenty-two—approaching twenty-three—years. I have been allowed to bear witness to people stepping into spiritual authority over their own lives as Spirit Hollow provided a matrix of unconditional love in which their consciousness could transform.” 

Robert began assisting with teaching the Seeing With the Heart course in 2004 and has served on the Board since Spirit Hollow’s incorporation as a non-profit that year.  Tracey and he have developed a strong bond, shepherding Spirit Hollow through its growth pangs and spurts over the years. Of his shamanic training, he notes:

“At some point in my journeying, it struck me that ‘God doesn’t care.’ We humans label and place values and judgments on all sorts of things. Spirit doesn’t care about any of that.  The soul is here to experience; it is a spark of the Infinite, engaged in an exploration of Its own vastness, Its own Incomprehensible (to the human mind) Self through its interaction with other sparks engaged in their own exploration of that same Great Mystery.  As we do our unique ‘dance’ of being that only we can do in this lifetime, Spirit holds us all in Unconditional Love and provides whatever the soul might need to do that mysterious dance well.” 

Robert has retired after forty-three years of employment and service with the State of Vermont.  He continues to explore world mythology and legend  and has begun, in his own life, to explore the mystery of Elderhood.