This column’s founder, who died July 21, consistently told readers: ‘Go beyond your ego, and you will be free and you will find peace’

By Richard Carey

“If you can drop your judgments and change your mind, you are choosing peace — right on the spot! To have peace, exclude no one from the compassion, understanding, and kindness in your heart.”

— From “The Gift of the Great Rays, Inner Peace Essays” by Sally McKirgan

As some of you may have heard, Sally McKirgan passed away on Sunday, July 21, at the age of 82. Though I knew her for only a relatively short period of time, I count that acquaintance as a stroke of good fortune in my life. She lived the philosophy of love and inclusion that she taught, and she brought it to everyone she knew.

Sally conceived the idea of the Inner Peace column in December of 2008. She persuaded Myles Murphy, editor of the Ashland Tidings newspaper at that time, to include the column as a regular feature. The first column appeared in January of 2009 and continued to run in the Tidings for 13 years.

I had submitted a couple of articles in 2022, and Sally, discovering that I had some editorial experience, recruited me to succeed her as facilitator for the column before she left Ashland to relocate in Olympia, Washington. Though not sure that I was worthy of the honor, I couldn’t say no to Sally. However, even after she left Ashland, she continued to contribute articles and correspondence. She was working on another article before she died.

Sally felt the column was perfect for her beloved Ashland, with its “many gifted spiritual teachers and seekers.” She gave her heart to it for over a decade. But of course, there is much more to Sally’s story.

Born in 1941, a member of what social historians call the “Silent Generation,” a descriptor that would never suit Sally, her path to spiritual awakening and inner peace was not an easy one. Poverty, domestic violence, social unrest and personal struggles came into her life from the start but would never defeat her spirit. Early on, she began to believe in and look for greater truths. In the early ‘60s, Sally, now with a husband and two children, explored transcendental meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, Theosophy and other metaphysical credos.

As she tried to find her way, there would be other struggles and losses, but Sally would eventually find her spiritual haven in Christianity, coming full circle to the faith of her childhood. (She would want it noted here that hers was a progressive Christian faith, rejecting hate and bigotry in all its forms.) In 1987, she discovered Helen Schucman’s book, “A Course in Miracles,” published in 1976. She became a vigorous devotee and advocate of Schucman’s philosophy, which emphasizes love as a miraculous presence in human life, and remained so for the rest or her own life.

Throughout many of Sally’s own Inner Peace articles, she casts egoism as the greatest obstacle to inner peace. The ego, untempered by grace and humility, can love only itself. Always feeling threatened, it is preoccupied with self-defense and cannot embrace the greater presence, universal love. Sally tells us, “Go beyond your ego, and you will be free and you will find peace.”

Sally is survived by her son, Scott McKirgan, who lives in Olympia. Please save a place for him in your thoughts and prayers. He intends to host a memorial service later this summer but has not settled on a date. Those who might wish to contribute something for this can do so by sending a donation or personal condolences to: Scott McKirgan, 2903 Haig Drive SE, Olympia, WA 98501.

Finally, one of our IP readers made a suggestion that I heartily endorse. It would be wonderful if writers who’ve contributed to this column over the years, as well as community members who’ve read it and found some peace, could write their thoughts about how Sally affected them. So if you have a story to share, please send it to rcarey009@gmail.com.

Richard Carey lives contentedly in Ashland, studying the Zen of idleness, playing pickleball and scribbling out the occasional poem.

Want to contribute? Send 600- to 700-word articles on all aspects of inner peace to Richard Carey (rcarey009@gmail.com).

July 26: Corrected spelling of Myles Murphy.