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So much to do, so many decisions to make and questions about it all. What to do next, what direction to take, which road is the one I want to be on and is it what it appears to be?

This is my current place in life, I expected it, I think I actually wanted it and now I have it, woo-hoo!

Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining about it, much, but one thing I realized on my trip was the answer for a question that I have been asking for many years and I often hear from friends, family and clients, "What am I supposed to be doing, what direction should I be going in?" Personally, I tend to throw in the "G" card as if it makes it a more valued question and not just the bigger excuse it really is.

A friend of mine posted an article on his Facebook page earlier about how the self-proclaimed caliphate Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is beheading Christian children.

Sadly the article's source was from a "Don't Tread On Me" website, so I am not sure just how accurate the "Christian" part is as these groups often marginalize the facts to make it more offensive to their audience. Groups like ISIS are usually nondiscriminatory in which infidels, anyone who doesn't believe the same way they do, they assault and kill.

Another friend who has become quite anti-religious due to behaviors like these and others in the name of the local "god" has often asked if maybe we should abolish religion in general as it seems to be the cause of so many of these atrocities in the world today.

It has been awhile since I sat down and wrote a blog entry. It takes time and energy to write a blog entry and after you have hiked 12-17 miles with a 45 lb pack on your back, energy is something you just do not have. This trip has been exhausting, but one of the best things I think I have ever done and I am within about 100 miles of completing it.

I have seriously been blown away with some of the experiences and people that I have met while doing the hike up the state of California. I have had complete strangers open their homes to me and gave one man in Santa Barbara County his first hitchhiker he had ever picked up.

I was so wiped last night when I arrived at Carpinteria State Beach. They told me that they were full on the Hike and Bike and I was just crushed, of course it was the 4th of July and EVERYONE and their brother was out. Fortunately, when we went to double check, there was plenty of space, so I got to tent and sleep for the night. See the 2014/07/04 video for just how bad I looked (not sure what the hell happened to the audio).

Yesterday was definitely California Wildlife Day... I saw enough lizards and some amazing birds, but the large snake sleeping on the path I was on and trying to get around without bothering him, that put me on edge for a bit.

I have been keeping a collection of maps of my routes for later reference, but yesterdays is totally screwed, thanks Google Maps. Some of the bike paths are not listed on Google and when it put me into "Map Editor" I could not make heads or tails out of it, so I did the best I could and made notes for myself.

OK, lets start with the down side of the last two days...

1. San Fernando Rd from Burbank to Mission Hills
   What a desolate road to walk along. If you were to call Central Casting and ask for the most boring piece of road in the history of the planet, I suspect San Fernando Road would definitely get a call back. With the right angles, you could cast this street as any lonely highway through the desert.
   
   
2. Devonshire St across the Valley
   Mostly residential and mainly middle to upper-middle class, there is just no life to this street and on a warm Valley day, well it could give Dracula a run on it's ability to suck the life out of living beings (of course it may just be that I don't like the Valley, Fer Shuure).

I have people who want me to write more while I am on this trip, I am trying, but the simple fact is that after you have trudged 12-15 miles while carrying 45 pounds of "stuff" in your pack and, strangely, there have not been that many places to plug in and get online near my daily stops, it is hard to write, little less get it out.

I am trying some new things, my blog has an app, why does that scare me?

Most of my writing has been in a little journal app on my iPhone.

The other part is that this first two weeks has been extremely tough and painful and I don't want to come off as a whiny child (trust me, I have been one a LOT this week).  My feet hurt, well duh! I have noticed that my legs and butt are looking amazing, too bad that I now have too much skin on them, maybe it will tighten up (please please please).  The rest of my weight loss is out of my face and my gut seems to be about normal for me (DAMN! LOL).

OK, what can you say about Mission San Juan Capistrano?

Well, it's being restored beautifully and the entrance made me think more of a hotel than a historical sight. Well my guide book did say they were "public ready" so I guess I should have expected it.

I didn't get to take the tour, just to tired to do all the walking and I needed to start working on the next leg of my trip, four to five days walking across Orange County to get to San Gabriel.

Yesterday I finally made it out of the house and finished the last of the details. Of course I had to forget something, this time it was the hat, a major no-no for 2 months of hiking in the California sun.  I managed to pick it up and make it to the new, to me at least, Culver City Expo Line Station looking like this...

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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.

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I found this in my drafts folder, from several months ago, like last October. Well, it seems that I had not learned my lesson as of yet, it was a disaster, but before we get into that, look at how it started...

I know, I am running a bit late with this posting, but I wanted to let the Universe finish what it was doing for me before I started spreading around too much of the energy into the world, a friend calls it the Law of Silence.

So, if you read my posts (see "Blessings in Disaster" post, Sept 16, 2013), you know that I and my former employer were not having a great time and I "officially" got fired on September 13th, a Friday (see, it IS a lucky day). I cannot say that I was particularly upset, I was pretty sure I was on my way out the door shortly anyway and it actually did save me that "talk" where you give notice and spend two-weeks in that awkward place of being at work, but on the way out.

I was watching older episodes of "Super Soul Sunday" that I had recorded and started thinking about a collection of things today.  The first was a two-part interview with Dr. Maya Angelou and then Dr. Brian Weiss on reincarnation.

I find one thing I like to do when I watch these interviews, is listen to the question and then pause the viewing so that I can answer for myself and then press play and see what the guest had to say.

Oprah always asks such meaty questions that I use it to help figure out ways of presenting the concepts in my life and also to learn how to speak in something shorter than my usual tendency to fill in too much detail, or at least that is what some friends have alluded to, ok came right out and said (I have been told that Thucydides was much briefer in his "History of the Peloponnesian War" and its eight leather clad volumes, so I am trying...). I do find though, that a 45 minute show, after you fast-forward through the commercials, can often take up to two or three hours to get through, partly because my ADD based nature kicks in (oh look, a butterfly).

In today's world we see many anti-religious sentiments, like Bill Maher's "Religulous" amongst many others, and as much as those on the receiving end like to bitch about it, can anyone really blame the detractors of (so-called) Organized Religion? Religion, by definition, is about "re-linking with God/Deity/Source" and becoming better people for it, but most seem to use it as a justification of their general antisocial behavior to anyone or anything differing with their way of doing things.

I ran across this on Facebook and thought it was an excellent example of why I am perceived as tough on organized religion. Sadly, this is not limited to Christianity, I see similar trends in Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.

I find the basic concepts of evolution to have some interesting aspects, especially when it comes to certain behavior patterns of Homo sapiens. Yes, I could use the term "Humans", but to my mind, Human or humanity is a state of mind and being, not a scientific classification of species (did that piss you off? Good, act human and earn the name).

So, I guess I should start with an explanation of what the difference is between Humans and Homo sapiens, since it is easier to discuss genus Homo and species sapiens, let us start there.

Scientifically, genus Homo, Latin for man (gender-neutral), includes several descendants of the Australopithecine, predominantly separated from one another by the size of the skull's brain cavity. Modern man, specifically species sapiens, Latin for wise, has been quite the evolutionary success, well, at least until recently...

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

As citizens, we often look at the documents of the founding of our country as if they are not part of the world that we live in, they are separate from our day-to-day lives. Yet, it is the direct and simple truths of many of them that make them so special in the annuls of time and writing.

Recently I have been going through a life lesson that has been a direct assault on some of my personal biggest fears. I saw it coming, I knew I was going to need to deal with it, and yet, I put myself through two years of, probably, unnecessary pain and anguish.

Sorry for the delay, I was working on my post for Monday and it suddenly hit a brick wall. Sometimes that happens, I get writing something and it just fades into the darkness, sometimes permanently, other times just for the moment. I find it most often means that I have something else to do first. So, I will put the entry on the back burner and come back to it at another time.

So what is it that I want to write about today? What has been on my mind all day has been that tomorrow is Wednesday, September 11^th, the anniversary of the "terrorist attacks" on New York City and Washington.

I think that such days, while important to remember so that we do not repeat them, are often used for their emotional attachments in attempts to manipulate the populace to a particular perspective or ideology, not necessarily in their own best interest.

“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.”

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.

Monday, my usual day off, but it is also one of those Monday holidays, Labor Day (sorry Phyllis, it has nothing to do with childbirth), so I figured my schedule would get trumped, so far no, strange events are afoot!

I have five or six partial blog entries I could finish up and make a quick and easy dash to the beach having finished my Monday duties of finishing and publishing an entry on Monday. I guess I could postpone the entry till Tuesday since it is technically a Federal Holiday in the States. Ha...

It has been a very intriguing week, I have been so humbled by what a reminder that the Universe will take care of us if we will just give it the opportunity and stay the "f" out of its way.

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.

Not long ago, while DOMA and California's Prop. 8 were being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, there was also a collection of stories in the news from around the world, same-sex marriage bans, criminalization of saying anything pro-gay and in some places, the possibility of being imprisoned for life for being honest about it in one's own life. Russia has since declared open season on gay men.

About the same time, I saw a collection of stories that asked the question, "Is Gay the new Black?" The population of Americans of African Ancestry sometimes come across as if they hold some unique history of suffering in their past, similar to speaking with Jews about the Holocaust, as if only 6 million Jews were killed and not 5-6 million non-Jews as well. We really seem to love and take pride in our pain.

“You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.”

It has been an ongoing discussion that probably the hardest part of following the pathway back to Source or allowing the Law of Attraction to work in our life is the lesson that WE are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in our lives. We either caused it, or chose it. Since we live in a state of self-induced amnesia, we usually do not remember these choices, actually it is our avoidance of this fact as to WHY we live in that state.

I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church on the northern edge of the Bible Belt, St. Louis, Missouri. Sometime in the late 70's, I was introduced to the Christian Apocalypse films and then in '81 the Jack Chick tracks and comics (I still read "The Crusaders" series on occasion), and the "End of Days" writings of authors like Hal Lindsey with his "The Late, Great Planet Earth" and other such media.

What is the Christian Apocalypse?

The basic theology of the Christian Apocalypse is that the prophesies of the books of "Daniel" and "The Book of Revelation" with a spattering of other verses from around the Bible that foretell the end of the world and the beginning of the new kingdom of Jesus for a thousand years.

Today is the 4^th of July, also known as Independence Day.

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Sadly, as the years have gone by and the dumbing-down of the masses has continued, Independence Day is quickly becoming the American equivalent to "Cinco de Mayo" with bar-b-ques and fireworks. Yes, I do know that Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Day of Independence, but in the U.S. it has become the Mexican equivalent St. Patrick's Day, basically a reason to get plastered, but since it is a federal holiday many get holiday pay for it.

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.

I saw the following picture on the Facebook page for the church I grew up in.

Below is what started as a response to the page...

I had a chance to make it to Lake Shrine today, for those who live in Los Angeles, it really is a spiritual treat not to be missed.

I was sitting in the chapel meditating when I heard a mother and her kids outside. The young boy was apparently interested in entering the chapel since "it's not labeled private." Mom dissuaded him with the fact that it was a quiet place.

The following scene played itself out in my mind; I'm asked why the chapel is a quiet place and I say, "because we all hear so much all of the time. Listen for a moment to the world around you, the cars on the street, the birds chirping, the water in the lake.

I haven't been writing much, well publishing at least, lately. I have been writing several pieces but never actually felt they were ready for the world. That, is a cop-out, they are ready, to a degree, but I have not been sure I want to put them out. Some are extremely personal, others are kind of dark, seeing the horizon is not always a happy-joy-joy thing.

So, with a little editing, I will likely put them out eventually, but lets start with this one from September 2nd, as I think it sums up a lot of what has been happening with me as of late.

I often wonder what it is with those of us from Christian cultural backgrounds and our apparent obsession with apocalyptic scenarios?

When I was a kid, Hal Lindsey was writing books and making films like "The Late Great Planet Earth" about how the Last Days of the Bible were upon us. I was enamored with reading Jack Chick's tract comics and in particular, his "Crusaders" series (which I still have and read on occasion. What... they are fun reading).

Christians had started making inroads into making their own films, some better than others, but other than Billy Graham's "The Hiding Place," my favorites were always the after Rapture movies. Years later the "Left Behind" books would become quite popular and Cloud 10 Pictures would make their "Apocalypse" series of films (my personal favorite, "Judgment" with Corbin Bernsen, I kind of like the creative story idea  of God being put on trial for his crimes against his creation, by his creation).

To the nations of the "Arab Spring," you have a lesson before you that may be tough to accept and learn;

You can be authoritarian and dictatorial and make sure that such offensive expressions are not made, at least publicly, or you can have the Freedom to use your own judgment, knowing that their will always be those out there who will misuse and abuse those Freedoms.

This balance just comes with the territory of Freedom, I find ALL good things can be misused.

As Americans, we walk a fine line between freedoms and responsibilities. This fine line is not easily understood by us, little less by those who are not Americans and definitely not those with an axe to grind.

When I watch television or read the news, I am so often saddened to see just what a judgmental people we have become. Sure, we have always judged one another, but as of late we seem to be seriously more vicious in our attacks.

We judge one another on a wide range of areas, race, gender, orientation, religion, financial status, education, clothing, speech, body-language, etc...

I take a lot of heat from my Christian friends (yes, I still have some, the ones that know its not personal). I am often accused of being anti-Christian, I am not. I tend to ride them tough since they are the dominant religious group in the United States. Riding Muslims hard would work if I lived in Saudi Arabia or some place that is an Islamic state, but in today's America the point would be completely missed by most.

In recent months, there has been an increase in the number of people asking how traditional religion and scripture can have any relevance in their lives since it has so many archaic ideas that do not translate into their day-to-day lives, the one most often asked of me is slavery.

This is the answer I gave on Facebook in a discussion on this exact topic, thanks to Chris DeMarco for starting and hosting this thread:

As a student of Comparative Religion and having read many scripture of many differing religions, including the Bible and Quran, one of the things that becomes obvious is that scripture must be placed into the context of the cultures in which they were written.

There has recently been a resurgence of the argument between those of a Religious bent and those who are more Secularist.  When I was a kid it was purely a Science vs. Religion argument of Evolution vs Creationism, in recent years, the moderate religionists have re-framed the argument as Evolution vs Intelligent Design.

As far as I can tell, Intelligent Design is basically Creationism expressed in such a way as not to refer to a specific religious character, the God of Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed.

This is hardly a new concept in the ongoing battle of Science vs Religion.  In the Christian world, this has been going on since the Second Century with Tertullian vs. Origen.  At some point it was decided; that which could be seen or studied would be in the realm of Science and that which could not would be the realm of Spirit and by default the Church.

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:

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

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.

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.

I really have no interest in writing about politics, as far as I'm concerned George Carlin got it right years ago;

Poli: Latin for many
Tics: Small blood sucking creatures

In today's world though, politics and religion have become so intertwined that to talk about the one requires thinking of the other (just where did Separation of Church and State go?!?).

In some ways, I guess the current religio-political nightmare has shown some improvement; in the election of John F. Kennedy it was wondered about electing a Catholic and now we have a Mormon running and making it through the "Christian Litmus Test" (that may have more to do with the Mormons being overwhelmingly Republican and voting in line with the Christian Right than with Christian acceptance).

The Creation of the Modern Neo-Conservative Republican/Christian Alliance

"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!

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 reread my last blog entry and I realized that it expressed some of my frustrations with the world of 21^st Century America (the rest of the world is jumping onto the bandwagon as well), but I did not really express why I was putting them out into the world.

For all the altruistic reasons that I can think of, the simple fact is that there were (and are) only three reasons.

1. Those items are some of my personal favorite facepalm moments. We are supposedly an intelligent species, I keep wondering when we will begin acting like one.
   
   
2. A warning of things to come.
   
   
3. I had a plate of cheese and crackers nearby and wanted to have a bit of a wine fest, so I let it rip (next time I will just stick with a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, a better buzz).

I hear people complain about what they see as wrong with the world (I am amazed how much of this time is spent with the dog-and-pony show presented by the media), but the vast majority are not willing to actually DO anything, they would rather go hang with there friends at the club or watch TV until their brains turn into something with the consistency of tapioca.

If we continue our current path of apparently shortsighted and selfishness as a people, what does that say about us and where will it take us?  So I hereby place a few of the most obvious (to me at least) political/cultural oxymorons of our time;

1. How have we convinced people that their children do not need an education while at the same time discussing the dumbing down of the nation and its inability to raise children who cannot compete in the global marketplace?

As a student of Spirit, little less as a teacher, I am often asked about the concept of sin. The more I think about it, the more I find the preoccupation with sin to be sadder and sadder.

One of my favorite films, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", has an amazing line in it where young Francesco has just explained to Pope Innocent III what he wants, to find the joy and peace he sees in the animals around him. Pope Innocent III replies that "In our obsession of original sin, we too often forget original innocence."

I often wonder if our apparent obsession with others sins is more an attempt to elevate ourselves, especially those in positions of celebrity and fame (this would explain all the tabloid journalism at the grocery checkout).

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.

Someone once said something along the lines of "The true fear is not that the Universe is unjust, but that it is truly just." This idea can strike fear into the heart of the stoutest human and cause the Earth to tremble on its foundations.

Religion, Philosophy, Theology and (sadly) Politics fall into the same vein.

The Orthodoxy is in the business of keeping the status quo and I have recently realized that much of the work I have done in the last few months has been very dissatisfying because I have neglected being authentic to myself and the way I express.  Instead, I have been trying to not "rock the boat" when what I want to do is tip it over and make everyone swim for a bit, even if only to awaken them a little.

Inside this Issue:

Several years ago, I went to some Sales and Business Opportunity Seminars. For the most part, they were free, except for time, parking and an expensive lunch in or near the hotel. I heard many things at these seminars, but one of the few things I heard several times that stuck with me was the use of the word FEAR as an acronym for False Education Appearing Real.

I was reading an article awhile back that really brought this to mind. The article claimed that human children are born with only two natural fears, falling and sudden loud noises.

January was a very tough month for me as I spent it becoming intimately acquainted with my fears on several levels. As difficult as it was, I really learned a lot from it.

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.

I am SO hoping that someone will channel Mark Twain to get his opinions on the lasted round of ”Political Correctness” going around. I would pay to hear his thoughts on this...

I was so saddened to hear that there is soon to be a “sanitized” version of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” available for the general public. Twain scholar Judith Lee believes that you, the general public, are too stupid to handle Twain's use of certain words that by the standards of today may offend.

She [Judith Lee] argued that Twain's use of racial epithets was meant to be read ironically but that an appreciation of irony was an “advanced interpretive skill.” For a “general audience,” Lee said, a bowdlerized version will do.

Inside this Issue:

First off, welcome to 2011 with all the joy and hopes of your heart! May the New Year bring Peace and Happiness to you and yours! May your life always show you blessings on your path home to Source.

I have been doing a lot of thinking as of late, yeah, better late than never. LOL

I have recently decided to close the Life-Coaching aspect of Spiritgeek, at least as the central object of its operation, I was feeling a bit mercenary about it. I love doing the coaching, but Spiritgeek was never really about making a living for myself but as an outlet for an awakening of Spirit for those it touches.

About a year ago, I went to a weekend seminar called "The Forum" as part of the Landmark Education Series. I really enjoyed the seminar and left with many interesting insights into the workings of the mind, defined by the context of the Forum as the bio-chemical brain, I define this as the part that acts as a signal processor from the physical world to the Spiritual one, a communications interface between the Physical and Astral bodies.

One of the areas the went into is the idea of "Authenticity" and how most people are inauthentic in their day-to-day lives. I understand this perspective, it is the same one that makes people like Bill Maher feel that all Religion is sheer foolishness and dangerous. When you judge something by the external representations given by men, it is amazingly obvious that many people would feel this way.

I think though, that Landmark and many others are looking in the wrong place for their perspective. The question is not if people are authentic, but WHAT they are authentic to? Simply put, EVERYONE is always authentic to something, but are the aware and/or honest about what it is they are being authentic to?

I am so amazed with Ryan Murphy's show "Glee." Every time I think he has done something that is going to be impossible to surpass, he surprises me. My first amazement was his "The Power of Madonna" show and then he blew me away with his Lady Gaga "Theatricality" episode. I was watching this weeks episode from last night and good luck topping tonight's.

Now I will admit freely that part of the difficulty Ryan's going to have is he hit a topic close to my heart and just completely full of memories; The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The first time I went to see Rocky Horror, I didn't care for it; the audience was constantly screaming, I couldn't hear half the story or the numbers, people were throwing stuff and what I could make out of it did not make ANY sense to me, I never expected to go back.

I was reading a personal ad earlier by a young man looking for a partner in life and he wants to have children. He comes from a more traditional background and spent part of his ad discussing his beliefs in child-rearing and specifically mentioned the following;

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

There seems to be an assumption in today's world that this, and other similar verses, are a justification for spanking, hitting or beating children, it is not.

One of the things we forget about in trying to understand the scriptures of the world is often to put them into cultural context so that we can make heads-or-tails of the metaphors that are used. In the case of the Hebrews the predominate metaphor is that of a shepherd and his flock.

Introduction

Religion and Philosophy in truth have the same purpose, to try to answer the question of the meaning of life.

In philosophy the question is addressed through the “general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.”^[1]

In religion there is usually the discussion of deity or deities and the ways to appease them. Sadly, these ideas are not actually what religion is about when you read most of the founders. They usually refer to the idea of finding deity within ourselves and bringing it into manifestation.

In this context, religion takes on the Latin origin of re-ligare^[2] which means to relink or rejoin. I have always found it interesting that this definition for religion is nearly the same as the word "yoga" (Sanskrit, P?li: ??? yóga) which means to rejoin.^[3]

Inside this Issue:

• Coexist           (an excerpt)

  ---

  Here in Los Angeles, I have begun to see more and more of the “Coexist” bumper stickers. If you have not seen them, they spell it out in the symbols of major religions. I do not know who originally thought of it, but bravo!

  

  The other day I was on Facebook surfing through one of their applications called Flair. “Flair” are electronic buttons and I have been collecting buttons for a while, electronic and otherwise actually. I came across this one to the right.

  It really saddened me at first since it really displays the hard-core divisions that have become so prevalent in this day and age. We have become a world of “you're either with us, or against us” with no grey areas in between and little to no interest in cooperation or negotiation, no wonder change has become so slow.

• An Exercise
• Mastery through Judgment, sort of…
• Quotations
• Calendar & Announcements

I get asked about evil a lot, I guess it is one of the hazards of the job since I do not believe in evil.

Before you start to give me all the reasons and examples (please no references to Adolph Hitler or Jeffrey Dahmer please) take a moment to ponder the idea that I do not believe in evil since that makes evil an actual thing.

Evil is the lack of compassion and the ultimate of egoistic selfishness. Evil is not something unto itself, but the lack of what we "judge" to be the opposite. So, evil is not a thing unto itself, but a name that we give to avoid something we as humans tend to avoid.

With nearly 30 years of personal practice and instructing others how to make the Law of Attraction (The Secret™) work in their lives, Robert has recognized several places that are the most common stumbling blocks in creating and manifesting the life of one's dreams.

"10 Secrets to the Secret" is a guidebook for practitioners, both old and new, to make the strides in their lives they could scarcely dream of before.

The rewrite of the last couple of chapters is almost finished and then I just need to finish the final edit before it goes out to the editors. I will be glad to have someone else read it with a critical eye, I'm getting a bit blurry on a few chapters since I have been over them SO many times that I am likely blind to some obvious things.

On a side note, I am not sure exactly when the next "Club Inspire U" will be happening, but I think the release party will still be at the next even. I'll let you know as soon as I do.