In 1998, my awarding-winning journalist husband, Benjamin, interviewed Dr. Wayne W. Dyer for Cleveland Life, an African-American magazine published in Cleveland, Ohio. In light of Mr. Dyer’s passing, I thought reprinting the piece would be a touching tribute to a man who helped so many of us – and went far too soon.

A Moment With… DR. Wayne W. Dyer

Q: Why are you so well-received in the African American community?

Dyer: I don’t know. I think of people, not races. There’s just one race: The human race. When I hear people talk about the "black community," then I know we’ve still got a long way to go. The kinds of things I talk about aren’t unique to any race or regional group. Put simply, we all have the power to attract the kind of life we want to live. It’s common sense. I don’t proselytize; I talk of health and well-being. You are a product of the choices you’ve made in your life.

Q: Isn’t cultural pride a good thing?

Dyer: You should honor the body you showed up in, not the color of your body.Cars don’t care what color the garages they stay in are painted. We have to learn to leave behind our tribal consciousness, and be independent of those in our immediate surroundings who tell us how to act. We’re people of soul and spirit. When we stop looking at each other as races, cultures and religions, then our racial distinctions will disappear.

But you were born white. Might you think differently if you were born black and experienced racism, or if you were denied admission to college because the playing field wasn’t level?

Maybe you’re right. I often wonder if I would be able to say these things had I been born differently.

How would I view life if I was a Jew in a concentration camp? There’s an enormous number of people who have been abused, but I still believe that what matters is we’re all one people, and we need to realize this so we don’t return to previous self-destructive behaviors. See, we have a tendency to go back to things we want to avoid. It’s like yelling at your kids to get them to stop yelling. We need to practice more love, kindness and spiritual forgiveness.

Q: What holds us back from achieving that goal?

Dyer: Laws, for one thing. Laws make discrimination possible. I’m so irritated when people talk about what’s going on with the President and they say it’s wrong because "We’re a nation of laws." You don’t just follow laws. Look at Rosa Parks. She had such a visionary consciousness. When she said, "I won’t sit in the back of the bus," so many movements were born – civil rights, feminism, ecology, consciousness enlightenment. Everything grew out of that particular moment, because she refused to follow an unjust law.

Q: With all your notoriety, how do you stay humble?

Dyer: (Laughs.) I have eight kids and they don’t listen to a thing I say. To them, I’m just daddy. Nobility is being better than you used to be, not being better than anyone else. I always forget that I’m famous, which surprises me when someone recognizes me in a restaurant and asks for an autograph.

Q: What is your guilty pleasure?

Dyer: I like the pleasure I get from listening to shock jocks like Howard Stern. And I love Chris Rock – he puts me on the floor. I enjoyed the movie There’s Something About Mary and my mother-in-law was horrified. I’m a peaceful man. But I also like bathroom humor, I guess. I don’t take myself too seriously.