The California El Camino Real in June

I have been trying to figure out how to notify my friends, family, clients and readers about my upcoming life event.  I have never really been much of a PR type, so I guess I don't really think much about such things.

I wrote a letter to a dear friend and when a couple of others read it, they both seemed to think it explained things very well.  The person who it was sent to has promised to give me a detailed response on Monday, so I am waiting for that...

So I am copying a slightly edited version here, leaving out personal information only, I hope this explains what I am trying to do and why I will be a little out of touch for the next 6-8 weeks.

For those who would like to help financially, please click this button:

Blessed Be!
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति

---

Hey ---,

Got busy running errands and trying to finalize details for my trip.

I started looking for a job, but was having difficulty figuring out more about what I wanted, other than NOTHING in the Limo biz… LOL It became fairly apparent to me that I was really just looking for something to do until I figured out what I really wanted. The only thing I really wanted was to follow my Spiritgeek path and try to reconnect with what seems to have gotten lost over the years.

Now that I think about it, I have realized that I didn't loose it, but I suspect that I put it away for safe-keeping while I explored this world from the perspective of the majority. I've always suspected that we are most often so unhappy because we never really learned to be happy. There's a certain amount of truth in that, but I have also come to realize through the last 25 years or so that we are addicted to our misery and we, obviously, do not have to be. So for me, it is now time for me to reclaim what I have put away and figure out how to pass that along, or determine that I am barking up the wrong tree and find it is only a symptom of the real problem, possible…

The first thing that I need to do, is to shed this addiction and the persona that it has created and return to the "I" (pardon the awkward grammar but I suspect you know what I mean). The opportunity has presented itself and I just "know" that I need to do it now, or it will never happen. I started getting hints from the Universe, the largest being a resurgence of a long-held wish to just walk, get away from everything that I have allowed myself to be addicted to, it's like heroine really. I have thought about walking across the Southern US for years, planned half-a-dozen routes from LA to Ma's Ashram in Florida. I would still like to take that trip, but I fear the first 1000 miles of desert to start, especially in the Late Spring and Early Summer.

The El Camino Santiago in Spain, the Way of St. James, made several appearances in my life from books to television mentions. If you are not familiar with it, it's a 500 mile trek across Northern Spain that has been followed for over a thousand years. If I had the money, I would like to have walked the El Camino Santiago, so I figured that until I can, I would do something a bit more local, it will just have to wait till later. I was going to just walk up the coastline when a friend recommended doing the Mission Trail Friar Serra took with the California Mission System he founded from San Diego to Sonoma.

I'm going to document the trip and stop at several related places along the way, SRF's Hermitage in Encinitas, the Mother Kali Temple in Laguna and other religious and spiritual locations on the way and currently plan to end my journey in Nevada City, CA about 150 miles Northeast of Sonoma at Ananda Village, founded by Kriyananda, a student of Paramahansa Yogananda. That part has not been decided on as of yet.

--- has offered to help me monetize the trip if I document it. As he put it, "Do this to reclaim your life, then let's allow it to pay for your life." So I have help on that part.

There are a few benefits for doing the Mission Trail, I have a stop every few days, the longest gap between missions would be about 3-4 days so I can check in regularly even if no other locations present themselves en route.

I really need some time away from "my life" and the more I think about it, the more I am looking forward to it. I expect it to be one of the most difficult and testing things I have ever done, but I'm open to the Universe making it a bit easier at its discretion. LOL

The putting together of the resources has been an interesting experience in guidance from above. I have bought several items for the trip and just picked up the one that seemed or felt right. I started to get some "buyers remorse" since I was putting my life in the hands of some of these items, so I started researching them. I have been consistently blown away with how fantastic the reviews on the items have been, all high praise from people who camp and hike regularly. You would think I actually knew what the hell I was doing…

Also, several other "hints" have presented themselves to me as of late. Nearly everyone that I call family is having an exodus from Los Angeles and I have been ready to go elsewhere for a while, just no idea where that would be. I am still contemplating that, but a couple of possibilities have presented themselves already.

On a more practical note, I know this sounds insane. We are taught to be part of a system that I have never really been a part of, just playing the game and it has gotten extremely tedious. If I honestly thought that I could be what I know I have within and still be as integrated in traditional life, I would be more than happy to do it, I suspect it would be much easier on my feet.

I have been trying to do both for several years now and have just been feeling more and more trapped in what I know to be false.

[...]I suspect it should only be a few months, the walk is going to take about 2, unless I run into a collection of spiritual adventures along the way and I suspect that I will land on my feet if I am truly following Source.

Syria, 9-11 and Growth

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

“A man's memory may almost become the art of continually varying and misrepresenting his past, according to his interests in the present.”

George Santayana
In our own national pride and belief in American Exceptionalism we refuse to look up from our narrow view of the world and realize that we just cannot fix the world. Oh, we can punish, maybe we can slow the problem for a moment, but create a long term solution, not with guns or rockets, troops or covert missions.

The problems of the Middle East have been brewing and stewing for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and the festering of what started as local issues has become a collection of cultural hatreds that can only be solved by the people involved.

Look at the aftermath of the Iraq war, peace is not really known there, Shia and Sunni are still fighting, cultural minorities are hardly safe and welcome in the country, was this the goal of all those years of blood on our hands as a nation, is Iraq better than it was before?

Now we have Syria. We are banging the war drums and it is beginning to look like the politicians may just give the go ahead, will it solve the issue?

Bashar al-Assad, presuming he authorized the chemical attacks, has shown that he is a desperate man and is not interested in any kind of justice. You can attempt to punish men like that but they just get more desperate, and desperate men are capable of atrocities that our minds cannot wrap themselves around.

Sadly, as much as I mourn the loss of life that has and is likely to come, if you hand power to someone else without them being actually ready and prepared, you have not solved the problem, at best you have put a Band-Aid on it. The problem will return in a cultural conflict, it cannot do otherwise.

It seems that if power is handed to someone, they are rarely aware of just what a potentially dangerous and deadly responsibility it truly is. Sadly it takes going through the crucible to burn away the lust for power and make one appreciate peace, not pretty, but true. By going through the crucible, the emergent leader(s) are in a much better place to know the value of what they do, their friends and comrades were sacrificed to "win" the goal so the power has an extremely personal value.

When countries like ours insert themselves into the conflicts of others, especially cultural ones, we create an illusion we like to call stability, but our history of cultural insertion has not shown that we make good choices. Our people who supposedly "know" what they are doing actually come off in the rear-view of history to appear something akin to gullible.

Just because someone supported us in fighting their battle, does not mean that they are the leader that needs to rise, or that they have any interest in following the path that we would want them to, not that I find that to be a particularly brilliant motivation. Look at our history of imposed leadership in the Middle East, the Shah of Iran (that turned out well), Saddam Hussein (another success).

We like to say that our involvement is over the support of Israel, and somewhat it is, but if we take an honest look, it is about money as oil. What is really sad, is that about a hundred years ago, the people of the region felt, 'Americans were seen as good people, untainted by the selfishness and duplicity associated with the Europeans'^[1] and now we have become the selfish and duplicitous.

I like to think that under all the greed for oil, that part of it is that as a nation we see a collection of our fellow humanity in pain and are just clueless how to help them, but instead of sitting back and figuring out the big picture and actually creating long-term solutions to the benefits of the residents, we see a place where we can charge in like General Custer and in our pride just make it worse.

Every time someone talks about the US entering some country's civil war, I think of an old "Doonsebury" cartoon from the Vietnam era. B.D., our pro Vietnam War Conservative has managed to get lost in the rice paddies of a foreign country and be taken prisoner by Phred, a Viet-Cong "terrorist". In the strip I am thinking of, they are discussing the early years of the war and B.D. just is not getting why Phred doesn't see American involvement into the war his way, so Phred asks him, what would he think if the Vietnamese had shown up in Gettysburg and started handing out chocolate and chewing gum?

Now we have Syria, as much as the questions being asked are about chemical warfare and the response that should be made, once again America is threatening to react instead of thinking. For sure the Military-Industrial Complex is lobbying hard for the war, war is BIG business. What frightens me the most is that being so close to the anniversary of September 11^th, can our slow minded politicians separate the two? I would love to be able to say that I am sure they will make the right decision, but now all I can do is hope.

What is that decision? That is the question. Do we really currently know enough about what we are getting into? Are we seeing, or can we see, the big picture? What happens if we take the path being placed before us and President Assad does it again, are we ready to go round two, or three or all out war?

Large chunks of the Middle East are going through amazing growth now, it is violent and painful to be part of and to watch. If we have any hope of lasting success in the area, I think we may just have to sit back and let them do it, on their own, without big-brother walking in and forcing solutions that they are not ready or willing to accept. Left to themselves, they will likely come to them on their own. Can we have the faith, that as human-beings, they will learn an extremely hard lesson on their own, as it should be.

Footnotes:

1. Fawcett, L. (2005) The International Relations of the Middle East UK: Oxford University Press p 285

A Eulogy for Ms. Birdie

OK, this is not the blog entry I was planning to write today, I will finish and publish it later, but today, I am in a dark space, I saw it coming, but I ignored it, we all tend to.

There is one thing that we all tend to avoid, the passing of friends, loved ones and family. Many do not accept the idea that pets can be friends, loved ones and family, they obviously have never loved an animal that does nothing but love you back, even when you probably do not deserve it.

My oldest, Ms. Birdie, is on her way to her next life.

I find myself going through all the questions about what to do, how to react, what to respond as we all do when these times come up. It is a fact of life, as Wayne Dyer quotes Deepak Chopra:

“Life is a sexually transmitted incurable decease”

All living things in time pass to be returned to the star-stuff of which their bodies are made and Spirit continues to advance on its journey of education and experience on its way back to Source.

I ask myself if I should do this or that, what is most helpful, what is respectful and appropriate? My two girls are the closest thing I expect to ever have in the realm of children and at my age, possibly the closest thing to a lover.

I have a good day and they are waiting for me to share it, I have a bad day and they are waiting to help me get a grip and give me an outlet for whatever I need to expel.

It is a shame that people spend so much time "not loving", it is such a gift. I am currently working on an inspirational piece and in one of my notes I was contemplating the difference between angels and humans;

Angels are designed around Service at their core while Humans are designed around Love. For an Angel, fulfillment is found through the performance of whatever task has been handed to them. Humans find fulfillment through the manifestation of the Love that is at their core.

I spend so much time writing and talking about how much time and effort we put into judging EVERYTHING! Imagine how much joy we would have time for if we lived life like our pets, loving everything and just being what we are at our core?

Oh, I know that the religions like to tell us that we are evil at the core, that darkness is our nature, and that God will only love us if we live by ideals that even most of his teachers (little less their followers) can live up to. Even Jesus has his moment of doubt, look at the Garden of Gethsemane. If that were not enough reason to question the "official" proponents of the assorted gods of hatred, sadly, that is where a lot of the followers are taught to take their religion.

Love just is, it has no strings attached, no rules to be followed, no "things" that earn it, it is eternally free and is not only abundant, but in unlimited supply. The more of it that you give away, the more that it will find its way back to you and the more avenues you allow it to enter, the more unique places you will find it.

Like a pet who is at the door, love just wants to be let in, love will never desert you, it will never turn its back on you, only you can turn your back on it and I think the biggest travesty is that those who should be telling you this, instead, hold it out like the gold ring on a carnival ride. That is not love, that is a power grab.

So Ms. Birdie, please forgive me for those days I was not the loving being that you were so trying to teach me to be. Thank you for spending such a large piece of your life trying to get through my hard-assed head and thank you for sharing my life, know that you go with love.

How “Religion” can save the world

The current destruction of the world as we know it IS actually due to our turning our backs on Religion and/or God.

OK, I will be the first to admit THAT is something I never expected to write, but in some ways it is very true; though not in the way most people think of it.

How many times have I heard some "Hellfire and Brimstone" preacher go on about how the decline of America is due to our lack of reverence to God and our evils in allowing such things as abortion and homosexuality (kinda sounds a lot like Rev Phelps and his cast of [self-censored]). Sadly, he and his like in Christianity are not alone as we have all heard it from certain angry Muslim teachers as well.

“Just look at your life, everything is backwards, they call darkness light and light darkness. Abomination is overflowing just as it was in Sodom and Gomorrah.”

an unknown Street Preacher
Similar statements are heard from many of the world's religious fundamentalists and though not as they meant it, surprisingly true and accurate. Things are backwards, we spend our lives ignoring the Truth within ourselves and instead chase after money and things that cannot and will not make us happy in the long run.

Malcolm X really summed up a lot of this reversal in his quotes:

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

I find it funny that from a Jewish Mishnah (traditional scriptural interpretation) perspective, the Sodom and Gomorrah portion is right on target, but not because of "the Gay Agenda", but do to the hardness of men's hearts and the crime of Sodom and Gomorrah according to the Mishnah was the violation of the Hospitality Code, caring and compassion for others.

Whenever the times get tough and it becomes more difficult to get by, we try to figure out why, it is human nature to search for answers. There is always someone out there that has no issues with creating a "wicker man" for you to throw your hatreds at, to pile all your frustrations into and set ablaze to take them away.

The ego of man is one that will happily look outward for another responsible party instead of looking within and taking on the truth of what it has created.

So just how is it that turning our backs on religion and/or God/Source may the cause of the destruction of the world around us?

Those with a smaller world view, are inclined to say that the difficulties of the day are a collection of punishments from this judgmental deity that seems to take great pleasure in collecting the evidence to condemn its creation to an eternity of separation and damnation. Now this is just my not so humble opinion, but what a harsh place to live, no wonder they tend to be so angry.

A basic central tenet of all "Religions" is that there is a higher ideal that mankind can and should strive for and through one way or another can achieve. Though by turning our backs upon this idea, we become selfish and myopic onto our own lives and concerns and often do not care about how our actions affect the rest and this tends to make us extremely short-sighted in the long run.

This is the seed by which our destruction will be brought forth if we do not awake soon. The destruction of the world will not be the punishment of God on his creation, but the aftermath of OUR lack of forethought and attention.

As an example, we have a world economy that is based on something completely unsustainable, petroleum; a finite resource that we cannot create in a lab that poisons our environment and may eventually make this planet unable to support our life form.

Without even going into the whole "Global Warming" argument, we are knowingly poisoning ourselves, if you don't believe me, let me ask you this: "Would you sit in a running car in your garage with the garage door closed? Of course not, you know it would kill you." So you know you are putting poison out into your ecosystem that you NEED to survive.

This is only one of an insane number of ways we are setting ourselves up for our own self-destruction, and we do it for such silly reasons, like money, convenience and just not beng willing to be bothered.

We live in a collection of cultures that have always felt reasonably safe due to physical distance from the "other". With the birth of modern information and communication technologies, those barriers of safety are quickly disappearing and many are panicking. If our interactions were just limited to "Cultural Contamination" it would be one thing, but we have entered a world where the actions in one place can have direct consequences on the opposite side of the planet.

Has Religion and/or God/Source given us a way out?

When you sit down and look into the teachings of the greatest teachers in history, Krishna, Moses,  Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Confucius, Thoth/Hermes, Jesus, Muhammad, Guru Nanak Dev and Bahá'u'lláh, they all share something in common, the expression of a higher state, called ethos, morality, spirituality and/or God.

Religions are the codification of the teachings that are left by the founder in an attempt to keep them alive, but sadly, those who come later rarely understand the original source and the teaching goes from a living expression of Truth and into traditions, theologies and dogmas.

When ego becomes the driving force of religion, Truth is put aside for numbers, power and glorification.

Religions relate to God/Source in the same way that facets relate to a diamond, every facet shows you the glory of the whole, but the whole will always be more than any one, or collection of some facets. Yet we are willing to judge, condemn and kill in the name of our particular facet.

Underneath these schools of thought is a general idea of interconnectedness of all of us to each other, to all life on this planet, the cosmos and eventually to Source, Deity or God. This is where our self-imposed separation has begun to manifest our destruction.

A Defense of Religion

I happen to be a fan of Bill Maher, I think he is fun and entertaining. I recently re-watched his film "Religulous" and also ran into a short series of interviews with Bill Moyers "on Faith & Reason", as well as a few other items and it started me thinking about the current views of many people regarding organized religion and what many religionists likely view as the new "War on Religion."

About the same time I ran across the following cartoon which really sums up the issues that many non-religious people have with organized religions and their followers:

Let's be honest with ourselves, Religion in many ways has asked for the harsh eye that has been placed on it in recent years. Religion has been used to justify every darkness that lies in the heart and soul of man and the more that one looks into it, the easier it becomes to question if Religion has any validity in the world.

Believers think that they are following the will of God as they see it, as such, they are not usually willing to negotiate their positions.  This is actually fine, believe what you will and act on it in YOUR life, and that is where most religionists lose the game.

Green Stamp Theology

---

People often try to spread the truth of their beliefs into the world and try to persuade others to act in accordance with what their religion teaches. There is often a problem with this in that those who are so busy "spreading the word" are not often as diligent in their practice of the word, I call this "Green Stamp Theology."

When I was a kid, my Mom would shop often at certain stores where they would give you "S&H Green Stamps" with each purchase. You would take the stamps and fill the books with them and then go to the redemption center and use them to buy items, an early customer rewards program.

As a theology, it works this way, it doesn't matter what I do as long as I can get   X   number of people to believe the way I do, I can buy my way into the eternity of the chosen. If you ask them, they will nearly always deny this, but this is the outcome of their actions.

Where Religions Lose It

---

I recently heard an interesting statement;

Religions are grand, lofty ideals.
Religious followers, now that's something else.

Fortunately, the problem is not the religions, but the followers. OK, I know you are wondering how this works...

We will use Christianity in this example, but it works for any religion.

Jesus taught a philosophy that made sense to him. He understood what he was trying to pass along to his followers and particularly his disciples. From the writings that have come down to us, I would say that John "got it" more than any other, at least from his writings.

Sadly, the many generations that followed have not understood it, but have done their best to keep it alive.  For the most part, they succeeded, the Gospel of John has survived 1800+ years and is still available to read and study today, now as to if the current interpretation of it has anything to do with the original, that may be another issue (thanks a lot Irenaeus).

As time goes on, those who understood the teacher passed on and left those who understood less and less of the original teaching. This is just the way things go, as time goes on, the teaching becomes a tradition and then a dogma. Once it becomes dogma it is etched in stone and any that attempt to reinterpret it are viewed as anathema.

Add to this the insertion of Ego that inevitably comes along, the teaching becomes "The Teaching" and sooner or later it goes from being a presentation of Truth to the "One and Only Truth" with all others being false gods and lies of whatever form evil takes, in Christianity it would be Lucifer, the Devil.

Religion's Saving Grace

---

Fortunately, there is a saving grace for religion in general, for those who truly seek it out and sift through all that gets piled on top of it, the original truth that was expressed by the teacher is still there. This core truth is often buried under dogmas and theologies, tradition and canon but to those who would search, they will find Truth.

⁷Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV)

Jesus said: "Recognize what is before your face and that which is hidden from the you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor buried which shall not be raised."

Gospel of Thomas saying 5
This is the saving grace of Religion, if Truth is there, it will remain forever.

Time and tradition may pile on many things to the original source but if you will engage your heart and spirit and be willing to be a touch of an archeologist in your studies, you will reveal the Truth underneath. Turn your brain on, it was given to you for a reason. Pray and/or meditate on your studies, inspiration will almost always follow and point you in the right direction.

Religion is not really about "others" out there, but about YOUR relationship to the Creative Source of the Universe. It is your job to grow within that relationship, let others concern themselves with their growth.  Feel free to share knowledge with those that want it but never enforce your thoughts, beliefs or otherwise onto others, there is more than plenty of examples of how quickly that will fail in the world around us and sadly they are collectively called Religion.

Respect, not Tolerance

In today's world, we are often told that tolerance is a good thing, I disagree. Tolerance should be a good thing, but as I see it, there is an inherent judgement in the term that the dictionary definition only hints at.

Tolerance

1. capacity to endure pain or hardship : endurance, fortitude, stamina
   
   
2. a: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own
   b: the act of allowing something : toleration
   
   
3. the allowable deviation from a standard; especially : the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece

Merriam-Webster.com
When we talk about people being tolerant of others, we are usually referring to the second definition, to have sympathy or to indulge, do you not see a judgement in there? Both imply that you are allowing something lesser than yourself or position. When we say Group A should tolerate Group B the implication is that Group A is right and the other is lacking but must or should be allowed.

Strangely, this often requires the members of Group B to make use of the first definition, to endure the scorn of Group A.

Recently, in the fields of Politics and Religion, we often see the third definition employed in an attempt to negate the need for the second definition. Group A believes it has the truth or some perceived standard that should be enforced upon the rest (not that they often live up to it themselves).

So what is the alternative?

²Respect - verb

1. a: to consider worthy of high regard : esteem
   b: to refrain from interfering with <please respect their privacy>
   
   
2. to have reference to : concern

Merriam-Webster.com
When others disagree with your positions, beliefs or lifestyle, do not judge them to be inferior to yourself by tolerating them, but respect them for what they believe.

In the gospels of the Christian New Testament, Jesus said to love those who persecute you, fantastic idea though rarely practiced in today's world. You cannot love something or someone you do not respect, so tolerating others is to demean them.

You may not agree for whatever reason, but not only is that difference what is supposed to make the United States so great, but if you respect vs tolerate their opinions, you leave an open space to discuss those differences. What an idea, an opportunity to learn, to grow and to better one's self through expanding your frame of reference.

So Respect differences, not Tolerate them.

Semantics in Salvation

In my world, where I spend a lot of time studying and discussing different Religions, I am so often amazed with just how much semantics play into the discussions.

If I talk about "The Secret" or the Law of Attraction to my Christian friends, I am speaking the words of Satan and guiding people into Hell since I am discussing how to manifest in one's own life.  Now not every Christian believes in it, but many teach what has become known as the "Prosperity Gospel" which is actually nothing more than the Law of Attraction expressed in Christian terminology.

I find it so funny when I have a religious conversation with a Christian and the central theme against another religion is that the practitioners do something, that "works" play a role in their attainment of salvation in whatever form they believe in.

In Buddhism you meditate to find Nirvana within, in many religions one performs rituals to the idea of deity to show devotion and to focus on the ideal. These actions take one to a point where they are completely focused on the goal, preferable growing in their relationship with God, but as in all human activities, they tend to be more mundane like paying the mortgage or getting the kids into college.

Christianity believes that salvation is a gift from God, nothing you can possibly do has any affect since we are all such terrible sinners. The place where I cannot help but giggle is that the individual must make a choice, they must choose to follow Jesus, they must choose to follow through with that decision and grow within that relationship they have chosen to establish. Lastly, most would say it is in your best interest to study the Word and become stronger in one's walk with the Lord, yet another action that likely should be taken.

Sounds like an awful lot of action is involved and my "works" through all the day-by-day and often moment-by-moment choices to pursue and follow my chosen walk with God seem instrumental to my salvation.

The grace of Salvation is not some ring you grab off a hook on a carousel, but something waiting for you to accept willingly. In "A Course in Miracles" they say that there is actually only one sin, to believe that we are separated from God and all these other "sins" are nothing but the manifestation of that one incorrect thought.

Sin means to miss the point or target, forgetting our relationship to Source is what we have forgotten, all the teachers have told us this, it is OK to believe in it and yourself.  It is not possible to grow in your relationship with the Creator if you deny you are part of the creation.

An Ego A Day...

The teachers from the East, Buddha, Krishna, Rama, Siva, etc., all have one thing in common, they warn us of the enslavement of the Spirit, though not always called that, to Ego in one form or another. I have always thought that if the Creator gave it to us, then it must have some purpose in the grand scheme of things.

The best reasoning that I have heard, which made surprisingly good sense to me when I first heard it, was that the ego started off as a warning system for the body to notify the Spirit that it was in need of something.  Bodies do tend to be needy little creatures, always needing food or shelter or something.

Somewhere along the line, the Ego became aware that it could manipulate Spirit into giving into desires that did not actually serve a purpose, but were pleasant feeling.  We like pleasure, especially over pain, and the Ego was off and running.

I have often written and spoken of the fact that we are Spiritual, eternal, entities and that physical bodies are just the theater used to interact within this thing we call creation. We create, experience and destroy (Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva) the world of Maya (illusion) around us.

Learn to recognize the Ego when it is requesting an actual need, take care of it, the body is a gift bestowed upon us. Also learn when the Ego is attempting to run amok, it will ask for anything and everything. By watching and learning, you (the Spirit Entity) regain control over the alarm system and in time the Ego will go back to what it was supposed to be.

"The 65" and the true power in the USA

"The 99" are the people that have been left behind by the few with all the money and power in our country, though I suspect it has become a cancer throughout our modern world.

Sadly, there are a third who have drunk so much of the Kool-Aid that they will never be willing or able to see that they are slaves in the deepest of bondage. In the days of African slavery in this country, there was the expression of the "House Nigger" who believed they had the best their life could offer, maybe they did for the world and time they lived in, but they were so tied to this belief they would never be willing to act against their bondage.

This third will listen to their Corporate Masters and do as they are told for a collection of reasons that will mainly be nothing but justifications of their fear of rocking the boat, their belief that they do have some life and their fear that it could be worse. It very well may be that they are eternally lost; that their belief in what has happened to them is truly just, they are to be pitied and held up as examples of what the 1% has done, do not hate them for they are lambs that have succumb to the indoctrination they are for slaughter on the alters of greed and power.

"The 65" can change the nation!

The 1% may hold the money and power to flood the market with their message, "The 65" still carry the majority where it truly counts, the ability to actually cast a vote. This is why the 1% are trying so hard to exclude people from being able to exercise their right to cast that vote.

It will require taking a chance for electing people who care about you, even if they do not share all your beliefs and opinions. The media is owned and operated by the Masters and that small percentage that is not, lives under the tyranny of having their advertising revenues cut by the other side of the same Board Rooms that own the rest of the Media. It truly is a leviathan that we have allowed to grow on Wall St and in Washington, amongst other places.

The simple fact is that in the long run, this is a war of attrition, they cannot win this battle unless "The 65" or "The 99" let them.

"In 1917 Gandhi said that the people's victory against the British was a mathematical certainty. "100,000 English cannot control 35 million Indians who choose to disobey." Two years later, in April 1919, after the British proposed new laws which would deny Indians basic civil liberties, Gandhi demonstrated this power of disobedience by calling for a "national day of prayer and fasting" which had the effect of a national strike. He understood the power of right and the power of non-cooperation, and used them successfully for the first time."

"Mohandas Gandhi: The Art of Nonviolence"
by Peter N. Herndon
This simple idea brought the British Empire to its knees, the very same principle will throw our attempted Masters into a tailspin, for the 1% is only three-million people, of which I suspect the actual brokers are far less than that, but before you think that is so much and impossible, "The 65" are around 200,000,000.

Calling "The 65" to take action...

I call on "The 65" to unify under the banner of reclaiming our Nation, removing the Masters and what they have been allowed to become through our negligence as a nation. Some will be Christian, others will not be, some will support the right of a woman to choose while others will not, some will support Love in whatever its form and celebrate it with all the rights and privileges, responsibilities and obligations of marriage and yet others will not. These are the illusions used to control you for if you truly believe in American Freedom, it cannot be just yours alone, but the freedom for others to choose differently; without this, it is not freedom, but hypocrisy.

Throw off the chains of your Masters and use that large mass of grey matter that your God or evolution put there for a reason, not just to keep our heads from imploding.

You want an idea of just how simple it is to have a bloodless-coup? If "The 65" can get together and vote for the big picture and not get lost in the divisiveness that will be used to manipulate and control them, in as little as six years the entire system can be overthrown without a single act of violence. It should actually be much faster than that, this is actually a worst case scenario. In reality, a single election in 2012 with a united voice will change enough of the current structure to force them to change on their own.

"The 65" and the NEW Revolution

Changing this country does not require a Revolution of Blood in the traditional sense, the blood that counts is not red, but in America it is the blood of the green; that is the second way you bring them into control, their bottom lines, but that is for another day and another time.

Think about where the power of "The 65" can be applied, work with your fellow countrymen, they may not agree in all things, but they do agree with you on the big issue reclaiming the United States from the 1% minority, that is where the war really is.

Oh no the Devil didn't

I was brought up with the idea that the Devil was out there in a spiritual war with God and that all people were the pawns in this cosmological warfare. Later I learned about how I would spend eternity in either Heaven or Hell based upon how I fared in the above battle. I also became aware that unless I turned into Linda Blair's character in "The Exorcist" that a comedic punchline of my youth was impossible, "the Devil made me do it."

Short of possession, the Devil, or any other spirit, cannot make you do anything, at best they can suggest, lure or tempt. Think about it for a moment, if you are possessed, you are not in control, so how can you be responsible for your actions, the possessor is.

The awkward fact is that we are responsible for our actions because, like it or not, conscious or not, we made the choice to do the act. This choice is why we are "damned" by our actions.

I cannot help but laugh at this idea of being damned, it is so like us to create our gods in our own image. Judgment and punishment are what we would do, so of course our gods have to do likewise.

Salvation comes from our learning of such things so we can make better choices. Grace comes from the simple idea that no matter how lost we get in the "illusion" of this reality, our true selves are unaffected, we remain a part and parcel of God's totality.

So awaken to your choices and by becoming aware, you will do better with each attempt. Just remember when you slip up, be kind to yourself, learn from it and remind yourself, "Oh no the Devil didn't."

Be an original, swim upstream

I find it amazing how we change as we grow up (ewww) and older (ick). Since I wrote my last entry I have been looking back over my life and I have been very surprised at some of the things I used to do that I would not even consider doing now (as a pseudo grown-up).

One of the best dates I ever had came from a ride home. When we arrived at my place, I leaned over and kissed a nearly complete stranger. I don't know why, I wanted to and instead of being terrified of the outcome I just did it, predating Nike's "Just Do It" campaign by 4 years (Spring of 1984 vs July 1^st, 1988). I got a date out of it since the party kissed was so surprised by it they remembered me and later asked me out.

Some would say with age comes wisdom, I say they should stick that back in their butt where it came from and admit it for what it is, conformity.

We often hear about school students, particularly high school, and how far many will go to fit in, to be accepted and the lengths some are driven to by bullying and by being social outcasts.

As humans, we have a natural tendency to want to be accepted, particularly by our peers, but there are often times when the individual must stand up and say "I WILL or WILL NOT do (fill in the blank) because it is right or what I think or believe."

I am realizing as of late just how much strength and courage it takes to be an original, to swim upstream when everyone else is "going with the flow."

Get in the habit of being an original before you get older, it may be difficult now, but it is much harder to reclaim it later when you have created a life out of conformity.

Once you loose you voice it is even harder to find it again as I have recently become aware.

Problem Solving 101

I have heard it said on many occasions that the only constant in the Universe is change. Depending on the day, ones mood, what the latest change is and how you deal with it will determine you feelings toward this.

I have been going through a plethora of changes as of late. I thought the end of last year was going to be the majority, but so far this year has all been about changes. I sometimes forget that when I go through these moments that I can get so close to them that it is like walking up to a cliff-face, knowing there is something wonderful up there, but being so close, all I can see is the looming wall in my way.

These moments are actually good things, blessings. When you face them, know that it is NEVER insurmountable, and if at all possible, remember that you placed it there. Celebrate the moment of growth that is before you.

I know that sounds a bit silly to many of you, but if you can re-align your perception of the moment from viewing it as an obstacle to viewing it as an adventure, you will find whatever it is to be much easier to get through.

One of my favorite benefits of this view is that it allows you to reclaim your power over the situation. You are no longer its victim or having it done TO you, but now you have the power to DO TO IT what you wish.

The first few times it can seem impossible, but take a step back, a deep breath or two and just look at what is directly in front of you and deal with that. Then you can go on to what appears next, if you deal with it in this way, before you know it, that MAJOR difficulty suddenly becomes a collection of tiny little problems and before you know it, they are all out of the way and you can look back and ask yourself; "What was I thinking?"

History Repeats Itself... again

I am often amused by watching the statement from George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" happen again and again.

We are getting ready for mid-term elections in the US and the same old tricks are coming out, I sometimes wonder what it says about a country that falls for the same trickery every two years?

One REALLY obvious example is in California with Prop 19, an initiative to legalize marijuana and tax it along the same lines as alcohol and tobacco.

Most people are unaware that pot was criminalized in the 1930s at the behest of the cotton industry that did not want the competition from hemp. Sadly, the hemp plant is both hardier and less detrimental to the fields unto which it is grown and can yield several crops per year where cotton tends to leach the soil of its nutrients and being notoriously difficult to grow and process. The other use was an excuse.

I often think of George Carlin's famous discussion of pot use in one of his acts where he posed the question, "What's the worst crime a pot-head is going to commit? Steal a Twinkie?" The crime attributed to drugs is most often either victimless, use or possession, or due to the unavailability by criminalization and that raising the cost.

We have apparently not learned the lesson of 1919 with the prohibition of alcohol with the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution and the subsequent 1933 repeal with the 21^st Amendment. As a nation, the US should have learned a lesson that you cannot prohibit anything as long as there is a demand for the product. Apparently not.

We spend millions and billions pursuing the illegal drug trade in this country and the D.E.A. admits that illegal drugs are more available now then at any time, in other words, it has been not only a complete failure but a waste of resources that could just as easily been put to much better use.

On top of that, we have made many people excruciatingly wealthy as the suppliers and overloaded our jails with non-violent offenders that did nothing more then be in possession of a substance that as adults should be their choice.

I am neither for nor against drugs from a moralistic point of view, people will do what they want no matter what I or society says, history has shown this to us repeatedly.

Know what the largest killer of illegal drugs is? Overdose. This is most often caused by the lack of regulation and quality/quantity control. People are used to getting some drug at some level of potency and then they get something much more potent and die.

If people want it so badly, let them do it, or take away their alcohol and nicotine as well. Maybe Canada has a good idea with tobacco. They tax the hell out of it to pay for the additional costs of dealing with the later health effects caused by its use, maybe some variation could be used here.

For me it breaks down as follows, why can we always come up with the money to do something that history has repeatedly shown does not work. Since we are so busy spending money on these wastes, we cannot fund education and public programs that could benefit all society. I get so tired of hearing how children and the ill are constantly getting funding cuts when we throw away this money.

I am waiting for someone to explain the logic of this to me as I just do not get it.

The site for the Proposition

To be willing...

There is an old Indian story that I have heard told many ways, but I tell it like this:

The sage Narada was walking through the forest when he came across a yogi who was sitting under a tree deep in meditation. From the look of things, he had been there for quite some time as his hair was matted and the birds had also made their nests in it and there was much growth around him.

As Narada approached, the sage recognized him and asked, "Oh great sage, what are doing this beautiful day in the forest?"

"I am on my way to visit Lord Sri Krishna in his abode of Krishna-loka" he replied.

The yogi became hopeful and asked, "Oh sage, when you see Lord Krishna, would you be kind enough to ask him how many lives I must complete until I reach enlightenment and am freed from this world of illusion?"

Narada replied, "It would be my pleasure" and then he continued on his way down the road.

Several miles further along, Narada came across a young neophyte who was having some difficulties getting accustomed to his meditations but he was trying and beginning to have some successes.

The neophyte monk also recognized Narada and also asked him for the favor of asking Lord Krishna the number of lives before reaching enlightenment and of course Narada agreed.

Several years passed and once again Narada was on the road when he came across the yogi. When the yogi saw Narada he was overjoyed and asked, "Oh great Sage, per chance did you make it to see Lord Krishna and did you get the moment to ask my question?"

Narada looked at the sage and informed the yogi, "Lord Sri Krishna sends his blessings and asked me to inform you that after the completion of only three more lives, you will join him forever in his home of Krishna-loka."

The yogi was taken aback and began to rage, "Three more? Does Lord Krishna have any idea how many lives I have dedicated to meditation upon his lotus feet and I still have three more lives?"

As the yogi went on, Narada slipped away and continued his way down the road.

When he made it to the neophyte monk, it was apparent that he had begun to have some success in his efforts to go beyond the discomforts of his body. Upon his arrival the young man asked, "Oh great sage, May the blessings of Lord Krishna be upon you! Did you have success in your earlier journey to visit the great Lord?"

Narada, knowing what was coming addressed the young monk, "His Greatness gave me the following instructions for you. Do you see this great tree that you are sitting under? Each leaf represents a life that you must complete before you will acquire perfection through your meditations."

The young monk glanced up into the tree above him assessing the leaves and what Narada had said and replied, "That is not so many, I thank you Narada for your message."

At this, there was a flash and Lord Krishna appeared next to Narada, holding his hand out to the young monk inviting him to join him in his chariot.

The young monk was amazed and asked, "Oh great Lord, I thought I had many lives to fulfill before I would find enlightenment."

Lord Krishna smiled at the young monk and said, "Yes, many lives were before you, but you were willing to perform them in love and faith."

As with many of the lessons in life, we often do not necessarily have to through all the experiences, it is often just enough to truly be willing to do so.

On many occasions in my life, I will see a path before me that is not where I want to go and would not choose it for whatever reasons. When I have have stopped fighting what appeared to be unavoidable and accepted that this may be a path I may have to walk and truly been willing, suddenly alternatives have availed themselves and the unwanted path has fallen away.

When you are presented with areas of your life you wish to avoid, remember that old saying that "what you resist, persists." On some occasions you may have to go through the experiences, but often it may be enough to just be willing and not fight it.

One Idea for a Revolution

As a Life Coach, I get asked about all areas of life, but on many cases, I get asked REALLY difficult questions about the world around us more from the perspective of a Spiritual Teacher. Some times the answers I have to give are more difficult to express than just about anything I address in Coaching.

What makes the answers difficult is most often not the subject, but that they tend to fall back into the laps of those asking, both individually and as a group.

It is human nature to want to pass the responsibility for things somewhere else, on God, on them (whoever they might be, this week) and my personal favorite; the government.

In a few days it is the 4^th of July and in the United States we celebrate our independence and the freedoms that are supposedly guaranteed, but we see being given away on a daily basis. How do we do this and why?

One common way is through manipulation of public perception and that is becoming easier and easier. In my opinion, it began largely when some bean-counter figured out that if his newscast could acquire higher ratings they could charge more for the advertising space, hence the evening news stopped being about informing the public and became about profit.

Many people disagree, but look at how your news has changed, how much REAL information of value do you get? Rupert Murdoch is estimated to be worth some $6.3 Billion and one of his largest holdings is News Corp, better known as Fox, so I do not really think you can deny that there is money to be made in "news".

That takes us to the next level, corporate control of information. Back in the old days, like 50 years or so ago, corporations were very limited and could only be involved in a single industry and could not purchase other corporations without serious overview. Today, with surprisingly few oversights, a corporation can buy most anyone else, has little if any ethos unless it is financially prudent.

How unfettered do you think your information is when it is filtered for its affect on the bottom line, by the parent company of the station/network or a large buyer of advertising space that can threaten to withhold its advertising revenue for failure to submit to their wishes? (BTW, did you know that the Florida State Supreme Court has ruled that it is not illegal to misrepresent the news intentionally?)

I saw a Michael Moore interview where he was talking about the irony of his being carried and distributed by the very companies he denounces in his programs. I think he was right on target when he said that he takes advantage of the lack of corporate morals in that they may not like his message, but there is money to be made by distributing it.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not a fan of modern corporate culture with its lack of conscience in search of profit, they are just taking advantage of what "WE" the people have allowed to become with our apparent attitude of "do whatever you wish, just leave me alone to watch my favorite TV."

Americans seem to live on soundbites, more than 15-20 words and they lose interest, and most sad of all is that the rest of the world seems to be falling in right behind.

I am not anti-TV or anything else, but it is the responsibility of the public to take the time and effort to become informed of the facts, and no, your favorite mouthpieces of ideology or political affiliation rare count as information, more opinion (OK LOUD opinion).

The world is changing around us and if people think it is too much work to fix it now, what makes you think it is going to get any easier in time?

Thomas Jefferson, the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence, once said that for this country to function properly that "Every generation needs a new revolution" he also warned, "If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions."

People have begun to fear their governments when it should be the other way around.

If you wish freedom and independence it must be earned by the work of your mind and action. So the next time you are overwhelmed by the idea of something "wrong" in the world around you, look at your part in it and begin your personal revolution of thought and knowledge.

Oh, and one last thought, be very aware of the dog and pony show that you will find in front of the facts, those who can will do anything they can to get you off focus and off on a tangent.

Only 2 Questions from Freedom

William Shakespeare wrote "This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." What an amazing idea and such a shame that most of us cannot or will not.

In my practice as a Life Coach one of the first things we delve into usually is "what do YOU want?" I am very often amazed with just how much of what I get back is negative wants, no debt, not my current job, to lose ten pounds.

When I restate the question and ask for what they want, I keep getting the same types of responses. It seems that we, as humans, have become quite adept at defining our world by what is wrong with it, what we want to change about it.

To truly know yourself, little less to use the Law of Attraction (LoA), you have to know what it is you actually want, even if only in generalities to start with. As sad as that might sound, the other half of this query is probably THE most important question in all creation: "Who are YOU?"

As a Life Coach (and often as a Spiritual Teacher) this becomes a place to start working with my clients since they usually want to make change, but without knowing what one actually wants what do you change and into what?

I suspect a lot of the difficulty comes from our ingrained human need to be accepted and we have been acclimated to the idea that anything out of the "norm" will make us into an outcast. We have a natural want to be liked and wanted and most of the decisions we make in this life is about "looking good."

The largest part of my practice truly comes down to helping people become happy in and with their lives. So we have to start with figuring out who and/or what we are and then what it is we want. To know these alone will put you ahead of the vast majority of your fellow residents on this planet.

As much as we want to be liked and accepted, I find that the VAST majority of people, in the long run, are much more attracted to the real you versus the you that you have become to appease others. Those who do not are most often threatened by your strength to be real and their fear of following your example.

It reminds me of something that happened to me several years ago. I had been on General Relief and out of work for a bit. I had a collection of friends and acquaintances that I had been hanging out with pretty regularly. When I found a job and was no longer always available, most of those people parted company and some were extremely nasty about how they went about it.

The issue was not something I had done, I later found out, but the fact that they viewed me as trying to be better than them, not something I had even considered.

Once you get to know who you are and what you want, presuming it means something to you, you are going to want to pursue that person and as that person brings joy into your life you are not going to be willing to create falsehoods to pretend to be something else.

So to finish off the quote we started from, once you are true to who and what you are, you cannot help but be the true with all those in your life. Imagine the simple freedom you can attain by just being who you already are, if you will just let yourself!

Power of Word

The world is going through so many changes around me, and I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of it.

Spiritgeek.com is now "officially" open for business and the "job" has gone the way of the Dodo and though I am concerned about a few things, the simple fact is that I'm happier now then I have been in YEARS.

I am always teaching my clients that if they are not happy with their lives, there is only one way to make it better, change it. Sounds simple, but that old analogy is pretty true about ruts. Sadly, as I've said before; "the difference between a rut and a grave is only a matter of depth."

When I decided to leave my job, I wanted to do it with integrity, I gave 60 days notice and worked each and every shift and was willing to work any extra that I would have before I gave notice. Nothing changed on that front, except I now had an date of expiration and could see light at the end of the tunnel.

When we talk about the Law of Attraction (LoA) we discuss how simple it is. But, it has a few basic requirements that we have to follow to truly make it work. Honesty, integrity and following through on ones word are SO important as a basis to work from.

I know that it's a bit of a comedy, but the movie "Dogma" gets something completely right. The universe of creation functions on one premise, the word of God is absolute. One of the Hebrew names for God translates as "the Great Amen" basically, one who's word is absolute. It is in this authenticity to word that allows Him/Her/It to utter forth, "Let there be light" and it comes into being.

We give away our power whenever we are less than complete with our word, when we settle for less than we started for, no matter the reasoning and justifications that we give ourselves to make it OK.

When we are not willing to stand for our words, how can we expect to create by them?

My life has been changing because I have created possibility for change and I am standing up to pursue it.

My job made it VERY easy to have stepped back from my word and continue working there for a longer period of time. This might have been a good idea on the surface, but in the two-months that I had given them notice, I achieved depressingly little toward the path I was taking, this had been a major part in why I finally decided I had to cut one path out before the other could begin, I had been trying to make this change even before I took the job to begin with.

What would make me think that I would suddenly begin to accomplish in a few extra weeks what I had not been able to accomplish in over a year? For me the safer and more universally responsible path would have been a dead end for my Spirit.

Where do the choices in your life and the lack of substance in your word and being hamper you? Look into it, see it for what it is but do not judge it; you are human and sadly have been trained in this behavior. You can change it though, the first step is to look and become aware.

Living in and out...

There is an expression that is usually used as an insult to "pop" Christianity that goes something like; "If Jesus were to come back and saw what has been done in His name, He would not stop puking"; sometimes I know what this means...

About ten years ago Jeremy Sisto did a television miniseries called "Jesus" that I was extremely impressed with. It opens with assorted scenes from the last 2000 years of soldiers going to war in the name of Jesus, the dying calling out His name and such in a dream that Jesus is having before His mission actually begins.

Later when Lucifer visits Jesus before the crucifixion in an attempt to dissuade him from going through with it, we return to the opening montage scenes with Lucifer going on about how the people will not get it, it will be a waste of time, and what they will do in the name of Jesus.

I sometimes wonder if the Prophet Muhammad makes such an issue that he is only a prophet in an attempt to avoid what Christianity had done to Jesus. At the time of Muhammad, Christianity was coming out of a collection of ecumenical battles over Jesus' nature(s) as both man and God; the process of His deification was pretty well cemented.

Have you ever seen the movie "Monty Python's Life of Brian"? The first time I saw it was at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis' University City. There is a scene in it where Brian's followers are bickering over the sacred relics, one group is revering the "Gourd, the Sacred Gourd" and the other group has the "Sandal, the Sacred Sandal".

Some friends came over for a little party the other day and gave me an example of something that is the nightmare of any teacher. We had a conversation that went something like this:

F: What is the importance of the Spirit in everyday life?
S: (pause to gather thoughts)
F: He shows us that meditation and contemplation is important before speaking.
S: The Spirit is our source, so if we try to live without it how can we truly claim honesty in our lives?
F: He shows us that the answer is withing so he answers questions with questions to make us examine our own hearts for the truth.
S: Why are you doing this to me?
F: He points out that our intentions and motivations are important to understand our questions.
S: Oh, God help me!
F: He tells us that we may call upon deity for protection.

ad nauseum

Now I know my friends mean it as both a joke and as a way to poke at me. I do not take myself that seriously, but in the directions that I am going, it is likely that in time there will be those who will do this.

I see it happening to teachers ranging from Wayne Dyer to Deepak Chopra and especially with religious teachers like Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Prabhupada and Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. The students tend to infer and interpret into what is said, even when the teacher is outside their "teaching" and just living as happened with the Prophet Muhammad and is encoded into the Hadith.

---

I guess the point I am trying to make is that no matter who the teacher is or what the teaching is, there is a point where one has to go from listening and interpreting what the teacher says and implement the teaching into one's life.

As much as I love to teach, know that I and EVERY teacher is also a human and we are not intending to teach at every moment. Remember that a true teacher lives what he teaches, so attempt to overlay their teaching over how and what they live.

I teach that Spirit is the core of my "self" and that this body is the vehicle of that Spirit and should be enjoyed. You may find me out having a drink, dancing (or as close as I get) or any number of activities, some of which you may not find congruent with what I teach, trust me it is and if you wish understanding just ask, I will try to explain it. But PLEASE do not interpret some "holy" message into everything, I will get annoyed and you will miss the point, I can nearly guarantee it.

Coincidence and Seeing Miracles

I am a firm believer that those little moments of coincidences that occur in our day to day lives are something we really should keep an eye out for. So often we just ignore them as little curiosities and don't really pay them any mind.

How sad!!!

Reality is SO dependent on perception that to completely disregard the small moments that are around us is to create the mindset that makes seeing the big miracles impossible.

Humans seem to have a nature of becoming "familiar" with some situation and when the strange happens we become incapable of seeing it because it outside our expected parameters. How can we expect to see miracles when we require all things to be defined within the limiting parameters.

I have heard it said that when Columbus first arrived in the new world that the inhabitants were likely unable to see the ships on the horizon since they were completely outside the realm of experience they had had to date.

The shaman may have looked out at the sea and not seen the ships but seeing the wake of bow in the water continued to watch until he could see its cause.

Every day we are given the opportunity to see the new realms and things that are all around us, do we really wish to miss it since we did not expect them? I love seeing new things and finding out just how off the universe really is, what about you?

Thinking may be your big mistake - pt 2

Is "wealth" always wealth?

---

We think wealth is a good thing, no worries (true or not I will leave for you to determine on your own). When we look closer at the word "wealth" often what people are thinking is "an end to my poverty" or "the ability to pay my high bills" or something like this, see the problem?

Exactly, the focus is not really wealth but what wealth will remove, hence the universe tends to create more bills, debt or poverty; it is what was focused on.

Now if you wish to reclaim the word and idea of wealth, first you have to adjust your meanings and hence your intentions. Once you have succeeded in this, then you can use the 4 Evolutionary Stages to Manifestation to work through the rest of the distance.

The universe for all its vastness and power is actually amazingly direct and simple, we over-complicate IT. I tend to think this has to do with the idea that we are taught that it has to be difficult, that our interactions must be tainted by the curse of Adam and Eve on their expulsion from the Garden:

...in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:17c-19 (KJV)
The difficulty here is that the universe does not actually understand the duality in which we believe that we exist, the universe functions upon the premise that if you are willing to put energy into it, you must want it to manifest, hence we tend to manifest a lot of what we do not want by accident and simple carelessness.

This is why people in knowledge a quoted saying things like:

I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.

Mother Theresa
The problem is not what the hope is but the focus, anti or otherwise, is war. So the universe manifests more war because you placed your thoughts and focus on it; for all its massiveness the universe doesn't understand "NO". This is very closely related to the malformation I was referring earlier.

The other aspect of this is that words do not always mean to us what we think they do. Many of my clients and students are often asking for wealth early in their practices. Not a bad thing, but what is wealth? (Another topic for another day)

When we try some of the techniques for assessing the personal meaning of words, what we often find is what they really are thinking is removing poverty, their bills or whatever financial issues they may have. They are not really thinking about wealth and of many who are, they have negative feelings toward it from some aspect in their lives.

I think these can all be dealt with in time, but for those who are in more of a hurry, we can find a phraseology that works for them or an idea tailored to their thoughts and mindsets.

Using the 4 Evolutionary Stages to Manifestation

---

Unto themselves the first two steps are not the most helpful in the actual act of manifesting, they have valid uses that can be helpful and here's a quick summary of how.

I mentioned that many of my clients and students start off wanting to manifest money or wealth. When their manifesting doesn't seem to be working or in many cases backfires here is something I run into a lot.

Many people find that their level of self-worth is often the issues, they do not deserve to be wealthy for whatever reason. While you can start a process of re-defining what wealth means for you, a good thing actually, you can also implement the 4 Evolutionary Stages to help you while you are doing this.

1. I want

   ---

   
   It is always a good idea to know what it is you want before you start trying to manifest, otherwise no telling what you will actually create. Analyze the terms you are using to see if they truly mean what you are planning to use them for.
   
   If wealth is a word that actually means "avoiding poverty" or something like it, find a different word or phrase to use. If you know you are using the "right" expressions then you cannot help but be headed in the right direction.
   
   
2. I can

   ---

   
   This is where you give yourself permission to manifest and have. I am sometimes amazed by the amount of self-loathing that can come up from within when people are trying to manifest a new future for themselves.
   
   As humans we seem to have an over-abundance of self-judgment toward the negative. I have watched so many destroy their attainment of their dreams because on some level they believe themselves to be unworthy. This can show up in many ways such as unintentionally sabotaging yourself at work or relationships to never attempting your heart's desires.
   
   
3. I will

   ---

   
   Once we know ourselves to be worthy of attaining our wants, sometimes we need some time to get used to the fact that we ARE headed towards our goal. This is where you get to enjoy the anticipation of your manifestation's arrival and possibly doing what they universe asks of you to bring it to you.
   
   If you are asking for happiness at work, the universe may require you to release some old hurt that you continually bring back. I find in many ways that many of the things we try to manifest are already actually before us, but we cannot see them because we have blinded ourselves due to some "thing" we are fixated on, often unconsciously.
   
   
4. I am/have

   ---

   
   This is where you own your creation, it is not a hope for the future but a done deal that you will find shortly. You have to be able truly to perceive this as reality; creation/manifestation is an act of will and anything less than that full force will introduce delays.
   
   Jesus talks about the faith of a mustard seed. If you can muster(d - sorry) that minute amount of true faith and belief the universe will respond in kind.
   

Do not worry about how the manifestation will occur, that is not your job, your job is to see the outcome and let the universe take it from there.

The vast majority of healers I have spoken to do not worry about how a broken bone is going to mend itself, they visualize the patient running or using the bone as it was intended to be, do likewise in your manifestations.