Daniel
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Suburban Philadelphia (Wayne)
He's giving a talk in Straford Pa, next Tuesday 3/20 at the treddyfryn public library, 6:30 pm. See his bio below..
Stephen Redding's Story
Stephen Redding’s story began on a chicken farm outside Gettysburg as he was raised one of 15 children. To observers, it was the perfect setting for an ordinary existence brimming with the daily activities of farm life. No one could have foreseen how extraordinary his life would become.
On a summer day in 1951 at the young age of four, Stephen ran to alert small animals who may be in the path as his father trailed behind on the tractor harvesting hay in the fields. In a tragic accident, Stephen became crushed under the tractor wheels.
Life should have passed from him as his father, older brothers, and sister looked upon what was left of his small body. Incredibly, during the frantic drive to Gettysburg Hospital, his mother watched his Jello-like body firm up on her lap. Four days later, Stephen was back on the farm as though this death-defying accident had never happened. Yet the event irrevocably altered the way Stephen would view life.
At age 8, Stephen’s strength would be tested again during an early March blizzard. After missing the bus, Stephen set out for home on foot. The blizzard obscured his path and he became lost in winter’s wrath. Haven fallen through thin ice while traversing a stream, his drenched clothes soon matched the icy surface and stopped him in his tracks. A farmer discovered his small body frozen to a fence.
In what would become his second incredible edge experience, this event introduced him to a phantom realm adjacent to this world of earth. Once again Stephen’s return from apparent death could not be explained but was satisfied by his mother assurance that he had received some protection.
As he moved beyond these dramatic events, Stephen saw things differently and learned to raise the curtain between realities. His perceptions led to a childhood spent in solitude, with much social discomfort, some of which came from his siblings.
Stephen left the chicken farm at age eighteen to spend the next 10 years of his life at a Philadelphia university. Living within the impoverished neighborhoods surrounding the university, Stephen learned much about life both in and out of the classroom.
After finishing his undergraduate studies, he entered the PhD program in Child and Developmental Psychology. Along with his graduate studies, Stephen taught as a graduate assistant in the disciplines of psychology, criminology, and sociology. Stephen left the university setting in 1975 in the grip of a cocaine addiction to return “home” to a more natural setting among the trees. With the university behind him, Stephen entered the field of arboriculture. By changing the picture, Stephen replaced his chemical addiction and embraced the wonder of the trees as an arborist.
Stephen soon developed a keen sense of what the life of trees could teach us about managing our lives. He became an advocate for the trees, expressing a strong voice for their protection. It was on one such occasion in 1990 when a civil disobedience charge was brought against him resulting in incarceration. Stephen embarked on a fast which drew national and international attention. After fasting for fifty days, the authorities agreed to preserve the grand stand of virgin white oaks. Within a year, Stephen would fight for the trees once again.
In the days following a devastating auto injury, Stephen was informed that the authorities disregarded the hard-fought treaty of preservation for the trees. Despite having just come out of a coma, he was secretly taken from the hospital bed. Immobile, he was lifted upon a wooden platform 60 feet above the forest floor by some arborist friends. He would lie there for 10 days without food until a more permanent resolution was reached to publicly verify the protection of those trees.
Over the course of his six decades of living upon the earth, Stephen has been “protected” every four or five years when another incredible experience of death carried him beyond the edge of this world, into others, then back again. In addition to the tractor accident and blizzard incident, Stephen has experienced life beyond the veil during other occasions. He drowned in the Delaware River, was struck by lightning not once but twice, survived car accidents, and was stung by a swarm of yellow jackets.
While in the midst of these experiences, Stephen groped for understanding. Today, he has summoned the courage to share his many insights creating a mosaic that suggests that there is more life and we are entitled to know of it. In Stephen’s experience, leaving here certainly can mean living on.
Today, Stephen lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife Kathy, sons Shetlinn, Orrian, Jaeilyn and daughter Meurcie.
Stephen shares his insight about what his many deaths have taught him about life as the author of two books, Something More and More or Less. The content projects messages of hope, inspiration, the personal value of the longer and broader view of life and our place in it.
Without it we go nowhere from here. With a well world there is a wide and beckoning horizon before us!
StephenRedding.cominfo@StephenRedding.com
Stephen Redding's Story
Stephen Redding’s story began on a chicken farm outside Gettysburg as he was raised one of 15 children. To observers, it was the perfect setting for an ordinary existence brimming with the daily activities of farm life. No one could have foreseen how extraordinary his life would become.
On a summer day in 1951 at the young age of four, Stephen ran to alert small animals who may be in the path as his father trailed behind on the tractor harvesting hay in the fields. In a tragic accident, Stephen became crushed under the tractor wheels.
Life should have passed from him as his father, older brothers, and sister looked upon what was left of his small body. Incredibly, during the frantic drive to Gettysburg Hospital, his mother watched his Jello-like body firm up on her lap. Four days later, Stephen was back on the farm as though this death-defying accident had never happened. Yet the event irrevocably altered the way Stephen would view life.
At age 8, Stephen’s strength would be tested again during an early March blizzard. After missing the bus, Stephen set out for home on foot. The blizzard obscured his path and he became lost in winter’s wrath. Haven fallen through thin ice while traversing a stream, his drenched clothes soon matched the icy surface and stopped him in his tracks. A farmer discovered his small body frozen to a fence.
In what would become his second incredible edge experience, this event introduced him to a phantom realm adjacent to this world of earth. Once again Stephen’s return from apparent death could not be explained but was satisfied by his mother assurance that he had received some protection.
As he moved beyond these dramatic events, Stephen saw things differently and learned to raise the curtain between realities. His perceptions led to a childhood spent in solitude, with much social discomfort, some of which came from his siblings.
Stephen left the chicken farm at age eighteen to spend the next 10 years of his life at a Philadelphia university. Living within the impoverished neighborhoods surrounding the university, Stephen learned much about life both in and out of the classroom.
After finishing his undergraduate studies, he entered the PhD program in Child and Developmental Psychology. Along with his graduate studies, Stephen taught as a graduate assistant in the disciplines of psychology, criminology, and sociology. Stephen left the university setting in 1975 in the grip of a cocaine addiction to return “home” to a more natural setting among the trees. With the university behind him, Stephen entered the field of arboriculture. By changing the picture, Stephen replaced his chemical addiction and embraced the wonder of the trees as an arborist.
Stephen soon developed a keen sense of what the life of trees could teach us about managing our lives. He became an advocate for the trees, expressing a strong voice for their protection. It was on one such occasion in 1990 when a civil disobedience charge was brought against him resulting in incarceration. Stephen embarked on a fast which drew national and international attention. After fasting for fifty days, the authorities agreed to preserve the grand stand of virgin white oaks. Within a year, Stephen would fight for the trees once again.
In the days following a devastating auto injury, Stephen was informed that the authorities disregarded the hard-fought treaty of preservation for the trees. Despite having just come out of a coma, he was secretly taken from the hospital bed. Immobile, he was lifted upon a wooden platform 60 feet above the forest floor by some arborist friends. He would lie there for 10 days without food until a more permanent resolution was reached to publicly verify the protection of those trees.
Over the course of his six decades of living upon the earth, Stephen has been “protected” every four or five years when another incredible experience of death carried him beyond the edge of this world, into others, then back again. In addition to the tractor accident and blizzard incident, Stephen has experienced life beyond the veil during other occasions. He drowned in the Delaware River, was struck by lightning not once but twice, survived car accidents, and was stung by a swarm of yellow jackets.
While in the midst of these experiences, Stephen groped for understanding. Today, he has summoned the courage to share his many insights creating a mosaic that suggests that there is more life and we are entitled to know of it. In Stephen’s experience, leaving here certainly can mean living on.
Today, Stephen lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife Kathy, sons Shetlinn, Orrian, Jaeilyn and daughter Meurcie.
Stephen shares his insight about what his many deaths have taught him about life as the author of two books, Something More and More or Less. The content projects messages of hope, inspiration, the personal value of the longer and broader view of life and our place in it.
Without it we go nowhere from here. With a well world there is a wide and beckoning horizon before us!
StephenRedding.cominfo@StephenRedding.com
