Sunday was kicked off as Oprah spoke with Jonas Elrod, the director and star of the documentary “Wake Up”. He shared his phenomenal experience with Oprah and the world.  Most people start to pray away the onset of mid-life crisis as they enter their thirties, but Jonas was hit with an entirely different crisis….one of spirituality. It all began when Jonas wrapped a long day of work and headed back to his hotel room in San Francisco. Working on the bed, he felt the room grow cold and spied a light coming from the corner of the room. Soon a steady flow of shapes and lights poured from the corner of the room showing him things and visions, some of which he didn’t understand.  The spirits created different forms and shapes. Within a couple of hours, color accompanied the lights. It went on for 11 hours. It was both gorgeous and terrifying at the same time. Some of what he saw was light and beautiful however he also encountered darkness which prompted him to grab the bible. He was alone. The phones and television wouldn’t work at all and when he tried to leave the room, it followed him.

As he spoke of the event, Oprah asked if he had been drinking, doing drugs, was he tired or if he thought he had been hallucinating or dreaming. He hadn’t. He was working and it happened out of nowhere. She then asked about what the dark, low frequencies looked like. He did his best to describe the dark energies as looking like shadows and black flying trash bags. With each question I could see a small smirk. I had to wonder if he was thinking how nuts it all sounded. The crazy thing is…it didn’t. Jonas went on to share that after a few days, he started seeing auras, although he had no idea what they were. His fear of not being able to stop this became more intense. How does someone even begin to try to function in their everyday life and job with the constant distraction? Not only are you exhausted but your head must be spinning.

Oprah then went on to share an incredible story she had covered – a man who had survived a horrific plane crash. “As he was exiting, this was a person who was not a religious person at all, and he said he turned to look back at the fuselage and everybody was buckled in their seatbelts and all on fire because he happened to be in first class. But he saw the auras rising from their bodies, the light rising from the burning bodies and what he realized was some were brighter than others, he said. And he said I’m not a religious man, but I made a decision after I got out that I want to live so that my aura burns brightly”.

What an amazing story. So deeply profound…to live so that my aura burns brightly. I try to live my life so that my spirit is strong. With each negative act or comment I make, I believe a piece of me is damaged. It is repairable, but the karma is out there and you can’t take that back. I am not always great at this, especially on days where I have trouble pulling myself up, but I try. Now, I can visualize that with my own aura – a way to strengthen my power within.

Jonas considered himself a “seeker” and followed the basic works of Christ; however he didn’t consider himself overly religious. He was an ordinary guy who suddenly found himself witnessing something that made him question everything. In their messages, the spirits told him to share what he was experiencing with the world, but Jonas feared what others would think. Unsure of what to make of it all, he set out to understand the purpose and confided in only one person, his best friend since childhood, Rob. Although Rob was agnostic, they spent months talking about the changes. Long discussions of life and beliefs flowed for three months. As they sat and spoke, Jonas watched a light fly out of Rob’s chest. They talked about how odd it was and moved on. The next morning as Rob was on his way to see him on set, he was in a motorcycle accident that ended up taking his life. Later in the film he disclosed how he realized that it was Rob’s heart chakra that he has seen. Rob had given him two gifts. One was a confirmation that this was real. The second was by bringing Jonas and Mara together at his funeral. Love at first sight – Jonas is convinced Rob brought him his soul mate.

When Oprah wonders why he thinks he is having this experience and not others, Jonas notes that women’s intuition is the similar, the difference is that his is visual. He searched for years to find why him, but now he doesn’t care. After asking what he sees, Jonas informed Oprah that he could see her aura. Nervously she asked, “Is it a good aura?” I always get nervous when people ask questions they don’t know the answer to…especially on national TV. But he told her it was great – it was violet. He then went on revealed that he had seen her at an event honoring Spike Lee. With all the works she had he “wanted to believe that you were great person and when I saw this wall of beautiful just energy come out, I was like ‘Oh great!’” It was such a surreal moment for him. “I think people are more curious now than ever because the systems that we have are falling apart. People are suffering. People are looking. So for me, documentaries are a way to get out information”. No longer is Jonas concerned with people believing him, he could care less. Instead he hopes to encourage us all to explore our own paths. Following the interview, “Wake Up” was shown for the first time on television.

Once the film was over, Oprah took a few minutes to talk with Mara, Jonas’ girlfriend. Realizing that this impacted her life in a huge way, Mara was doing her best to help him and still find some normalcy. In part, she had hoped to be able to go through the journey with him. Worried that she would look badly in the film, Oprah reassured her that her skepticism helped to add credibility to the film. When Oprah asked Mara what this experience had done for her, she shared “it has taught me that your wake up experience doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s”.