SYMBOL OF AMERICAN UNITY - ELVIS WOULD BE 86 TODAY

His mother was Jewish. His DNA reveals a strong stream of Native American. His father's side was Scots-Irish. A family legend spoke of Black blood (he joked to a friend, "where do you think I got these famous lips?"). Raised in the deep South as "white trash" so poor that they lived in the black section of Tupelo, Elvis Presley grew up playing with black kids - possibly one reason he was so remarkably free of race prejudice, and a good reason why he would grow up to be the most revolutionary artist of the 20th century, merging black and white culture, and defying his tyrannical manager to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on national television just months after King's assassination.

If there is one American artist/entertainer who is universally beloved (globally as well as at home) it is still 'the King' - an American icon who embodied the best in us, and who (it turns out) actually carried all of us in his very bloodstream.

Not merely a great entertainer, he was (as I and many others are convinced) a great soul, an ardent seeker of Spirit, who cherished his Christian Gospel roots (to those who called him 'King' he would say, "there's only one King - Jesus") but also studied the wisdom of the East and became a disciple of the teachings of the great yoga Master, Paramahansa Yogananda.

There are too many accounts of his healing powers, his appearances after death to those in need, and his clairvoyant and psycho-kinetic abilities to dismiss. Did he slip out the back door on August 16th, 1977 to escape the trap of life as 'The King." I can't entirely rule it out. One thing is certain - Elvis is alive in hearts around the world. 86 years ago in Tupelo, Mississippi, witnesses spoke of a strange blue light that shone on the humble shack where he was the surviving twin to his stillborn brother Jesse. Make of it what you will.

Happy Birthday, Elvis!