Perspectives

I’ve read many articles about promising developments in clean energy that give me some hope that we won’t necessarily crash. One trend is solar power going down in price and up in efficiency, and not depending on direct sunshine. The Chinese are actively pursuing mass-produced solar. Walmart is installing solar panels on its stores.I would love to live in a community of like-minded people if I still had my own space and not too many rules or demands on my time. Before my last move in 2005, I visited a co-housing community in Chico, California, which I liked, although I didn’t care for Chico. Unfortunately, land is very expensive in coastal Southern California, so it’s hard to do co-housing (or purchasing housing, period) here.

Mormons promote having a year’s supply of food. A Mormon-owned company, http://waltonfeed.com/, offers hermetically sealed grains, beans, seeds, etc. that can be stored up to 30 years if you have a cool, dry place. I don’t; otherwise, I’d consider stocking up. Many can be sprouted and provide high nutrition. The prices are reasonable, but freight is expensive unless you buy a lot.

There’s no question that the bigger the organization (company, government, etc.), the harder it is for it to be nimble, and the more often “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” However, the bigger problem isn’t size, but simply bad management–there are plenty of poorly run small organizations, too. Every time I deal with a company that has screwed up something, I’m struck by how little most of them seem to prize the opportunity to improve by analyzing what went wrong and making systemic changes. Feedback is gold, but there seems to be little mechanism for making use of it and responding. The soldiers on the front lines often know what the problems are, but they have little authority. In my experience, big government is no worse than big business–both are pretty awful. There’s a dearth of creative problem-solving. But, then, as Michael says, we humans are in a “waking sleep,” so it’s not surprising.

Government can be a mediating force for good; people tend to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The real question is how to bring more intelligence into it. There needs to be better routine ways of challenging rules and procedures that have unintended consequences, without having to resort to expensive lawsuits.

It’s often the case that what we complain about isn’t actually what is bothering us. If Tea Bag Party members could become more conscious of what they’re unhappy about and bring those issues to light, they would be much more effective than simply being obstructionistic.

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I’m a few weeks away (I hope!) from finalizing the text of “Enlightenment for Nitwits: The Complete Guide to 2012 & Beyond!” and having some prepublication copies available for sale at

 

http://enlightenmentfornitwits.com/

 

Geoffrey Roth is creating a great new design for site, which we’ll launch at that point. The mugs and t-shirts just arrived and are beautiful. They’ll be available there, too.

 

I also have a Facebook page devoted to the book:

 

http://www.facebook.com/EnlightenmentforNitwits

 

If you click “Like,” my daily humorous blurbs will show up on your wall, a bit expanded from the Twitter feed @EnlightenNitwit.

 

Below is a humorous piece excerpted from two posts I wrote for the Michael teachings Yahoo group as part of a discussion about the passing of Osama bin Laden. You can join it at

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MichaelTeachings

 

***

 

Personally, I’m sorry to see him go. We were Facebook friends, and I got a terrific quote from him for the cover of my upcoming book, “Enlightenment for Nitwits”:

 

“That filthy homosexual Zionist infidel swine Shepherd Hoodwin caused me to laugh so hard it almost made me want to forsake being a servant of Allah and become a comedian. May Allah punish him when he dies by greeting him with seventy-two voluptuous virgins–it would serve him right.”

–Osama bin Laden, leading terrorist

 

Now I have to change it! I’m sure the CIA knew that this was in the works from their wiretapping my phone and monitoring my emails. It’s just plain spiteful that they went after him now, as I’m going to press, but, sigh, I guess it’s better now than after printing 5000 copies. Fortunately, I was able to get a couple more celebrity blurbs to replace it:

 

“Wickedly funny. Something to offend everyone!”

–SATAN, Prince of Darkness and leading cable news producer

 

“Every star in rehab wants a copy. Hotter than the iPad combined!”

–LONDON HILTON, celebrity/hotel

 

(Incidentally, a couple people didn’t get the “London Hilton” joke. I’m thinking about keeping most of the bin Laden quote on the cover but attributing it to his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri. What do you think?)

 

Also, I have to say that I’m disappointed that Prince William didn’t choose his bride the proper way, on a reality show. Britain is supposedly a democracy–the people should have a vote, as long, of course, as there are celebrity judges to guide them. Just my tuppence worth.

 

At least the CIA didn’t ruin *his* moment.

 

—

 

Bin Laden’s death was the second one recently that created a need for me to rewrite. Sai Baba died on April 24th, and I had to change a reference to him.

 

I mention Dick Cheney in the book five times, more than any other celebrity. One reference is to a satanic cult called ”The Daughters of Cheney” that sacrifices babies and eats their brains, the issue being what condiment they should use.

 

After Sai Baba died, I told my editor, Stan, that I was worried Cheney would die after publication. It would be just like him to do that–a real buzz killer! Then, bin Laden was killed. I noticed at that point that I had described him as a ”Leading Terrorist”; it should have been lower case. I know that God didn’t want me to go to press with a typo on the cover, so I guess his days were numbered.

 

With Cheney’s heart condition, he could be next, but so far, I have been unable to think of a replacement for him–nothing says “diabolical” quite like “Cheney.” But I’m a gambling (not to mention rambling) man, and I’m betting Cheney survives 2012. I guess I win either way, but please pray for his health. I know that Lynne, Liz, and Mary join me in thanking you.

 

Andy Borowitz (http://www.borowitzreport.com/) is one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read, but most of his work is topical, with a very short shelf life. I feel for him. As I’ve worked on the book, I’ve already had to cut a lot of stuff that hasn’t aged well, or won’t. You can find some of it here:

 

http://summerjoy.com/PoliticalHumor.html

 

When I finally get a follow-up written to “The Journey of Your Soul,” it will also have an appendix for Michael teachings humor. A client was concerned that having humor in the first book would compromise my reputation as a serious channel, and wanted me to have the appendix removed. However, I’m willing to take that chance.

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Something must be in the air. Recently, I rather suddenly felt strongly drawn back into getting new books out. I actually finished three other manuscripts at the same time as “Loving from Your Soul” but never published them when my distributor went bankrupt and I lost a lot of money–I couldn’t afford to do them, but people also seemed to be losing interest. New age/spiritual books had their heyday from about 1986-1996 (after “Out on a Limb,” by Shirley MacLaine), but other than bestsellers, since then people have seemed more interested in the internet. Now, ebooks are catching fire and becoming a viable option, and people want books on their phones, ebook readers, and laptops. Plus, it’s virtually free to publish them. Also, it’s possible to make them available in paper as well via “printing on demand” without having to do a large print run and warehouse them. They’re much more expensive per unit that way, but POD makes small runs viable.

 

I am almost finished with my humor book, “Enlightenment for Nitwits,” and that will go into ebook formats as well as paper and audiobook. Meanwhile, I am re-editing “The Journey of Your Soul,” expanding it a bit, for ebook. It’s a huge project, at about 180,000 words now. Then, I’ll do ebook versions of my other two previous books (”Meditations for Self-Discovery” is the other). Next will come the three I never published: “Growing Through Joy,” “Being in the World,” and “Opening to Healing Energy.” Granted, other than “Journey,” these are not about the technical Michael teachings, but all are from channeling.

 

I have saved everything substantial that I’ve written on this list, emails, and articles since I’ve been online, and I have several hundred thousand words each both for a follow-up to “Journey” and for a general book of my own writing about personal growth and spirituality, which I’ve tentatively entitled, “Divine Innervention: How God Stops the Bad Guys Without Ruining Her Hair.” In addition, several smaller things I’ve written that weren’t viable to publish before now become possible via ebooks, such as a fairy tale, “Sabina and the Angels’ Golden Crystals.” Plus, for years, people have been telling me to write down my kitchen creations and insights about food and holistic health, so I’m making notes for that, likely another ebook.

 

You’re probably exhausted just reading this! I’m aware that I have to be careful to avoid sage-in-hyper-expression burnout (James Franco comes to mind) by taking one step at a time and making focused choices. It will take me years to polish this material even without generating any new stuff. What many don’t realize is how much time it takes to edit even relatively clean channeling to make it readable, well-organized, non-repetitive, etc. A just-adequate edit of one two-hour channeling can take me about three days–the last one was 8000 words before editing. An average non-fiction book is 70,000, so 8000 is a lot of words. You might think that the channels should just put the material out there raw, but you would probably not want to read much of it without good editing. I love to write and I’m a good editor. I’ve also had some excellent editorial and proofing assistance, including from some list members. Not all the channels have the time or inclination to take that on.

 

In addition to completed manuscripts, I estimate that I have about a million and a half words of raw book material on my computer, including over a hundred channeled lectures that I’ve had transcribed from the years before the online chats. My three published books took me about seven years, on and off, to complete. I’m reminded of the quote from the playwright George S. Kaufman, who asked a Hollywood producer, “Do you want it Tuesday, or do you want it good?” My biggest task is to cull out repetition. With my follow-up to “Journey,” I don’t want to just restate what I’ve said before, yet it has to be clear for new readers. I also don’t want to repeat what’s in other books, which means revisiting those, too.

 

Echoing Nancy’s comment, the vast bulk of my channeling over the years has been for personal questions, or to groups that were not Michael study groups and didn’t necessarily know the basics, so I don’t have a great deal to contribute to new technical material. But once I comb through the private session transcripts I have (I don’t have transcripts of most of them) and written channeling I’ve done, I will no doubt come up with some interesting additions. JP has pioneered far more new material. I don’t know her plans, but I don’t underestimate the task it would be for her to get it transcribed and into a well-written form. It’s certainly a worthy task if she chooses to undertake it.

 

Jane Roberts’ Seth books famously were published verbatim as channeled. It seemed to me that Seth had already “written them”; the channeling was dictation. That is not the norm. Michael sessions are interactive. Yarbro edited and organized the material in her books somewhat. As great as it is, I feel it could have benefited from more editing, as there are a number of cryptic or unclear passages. However, since it was channeled in writing, at least the editing did not have go through translation from the spoken word, which is a different medium (no pun intended). It would be wonderful if she’d release her treasure troves, but it’s her choice, of course.

 

***

 

I’ve been pondering the issue of students becoming bored with the material. Since, as a typical sage, I generally get bored easily, I am always surprised to notice that the teachings have never gotten old for me. However, I am in a privileged position as a witness to all the sessions I do–I always learn things. And I’ve also accompanied a lot of people through validating their charts. Having real-world experience with this material is invaluable. I think that those who have attended my workshops, especially in person, would say that the material came alive for them like never before because of the 3D validation with ten or twenty other people. Otherwise, it’s easy for this to become more theoretical. New books will be helpful, but even better in this regard would be more accurate, real-world teaching, which I realize isn’t an option for everyone. I hope the online workshops I’ve done at least helped.

 

To me, the greatest online contribution to learning the teachings is Dave’s Role Photos Database:

 

http://www.michaelteachings.com/overleaves_database.html

 

The Celebrity Overleaves page is also helpful, despite the controversies:

 

http://www.michaelteachings.com/celebrities.html

 

I had dinner last week with a couple who have been on this list. One of them attended a Michael gathering, at which some long-time members of the community asserted strongly that he’s a priest because of intensity they saw in him. It is obvious to both him and his wife that he’s a scholar. How did this happen? Of course, they didn’t really know him. What they were actually picking up was very high male energy, a different kind of intensity. This sort of thing happens all the time: people jumping to conclusions based on surface evidence without not having an accurate real-world sense of what even the roles look and feel like, and nothing is more basic than roles in the teachings.

 

One Michael student attending a workshop I did is a gregarious, sociable scholar; because of her outgoing personality, some assumed she had to be a sage. Similarly, shy, reserved sages are guessed to be servers or scholars. There is often an inability to go deeper to see the real energies.

 

Sarah Chambers and I were friends for a couple years, and she was dismayed by her sense that even another Michael channel had gotten her own role wrong.

 

New technical material is great. So is getting clearer on the basics. There’s room for both. It’s been almost 25 years for me as a channel, and I am still getting “aha” moments about my own chart, as well as through observing others. I still think this stuff is really fun. However, each of us knows what we’re hungry for. There may be other teachers we need in order to take us to our next step. It’s all good. There’s a lot of valuable cross-polination from studying widely. I certainly understand the Michael teachings better because of insights I’ve gained elsewhere.

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RHONDA:

 

In that tape, Michael said that his purpose for that meditation was to teach us to think in a healing way, because our thoughts would lead us to the afterlife our thoughts thought we chose.  In that, he said that if a person believes they deserve hell, they will go to hell.  If the person believes they deserve good, they will receive good.

 

SHEPHERD:

 

It is easy for people misunderstand what they read or hear based on their preconceptions or when their understanding is limited.

 

The principal at work here is that Essence wants to make the initial transition as smooth as possible. If one were to see something totally different from what one expected, there would likely be disorientation. So if one fully expects “hell,” there will temporarily be a mock-up of “hell.” However, that only lasts as long as it needs to in order for the person to process through his guilt, etc., usually with the help of his/her guides. When the person is ready, the curtain is drawn and s/he can see that it was just a show for his/her benefit. Those who get stuck there are those who cannot allow themselves to let go of their self-judgment, who fervently believe in their need to be punished. At that point, it is their choice to stay in their self-created hell (just as it is on the physical plane).

 

If a person’s beliefs about the afterlife are superficial, without a lot of investment, generally one will experience a more realistic transition. Most experience a euphoric, or at least pleasant, transition, because it’s so much easier to not to deal with physical bodies, etc., that, as Michael puts it, it’s like throwing off too-tight shoes at the end of a hard work day. It’s a vacation, or “recess” from school.

 

The main people who cross over heavily are those who have incurred serious karmic debts. They are suddenly aware of the burden they have created for themselves. The 9/11 terrorists crossed over having been promised virgins in paradise, but instead felt a crushing weight. It falls into that common human category, “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but….” One suddenly becomes aware of the enormity of repaying the debt. Of course, there will be much growth in it, but it is not pretty.

 

People who have mostly lived a decent life and have done the best they knew how to do will have a glorious crossing. Most get a party (if they’re more secular) or the reward their religion promised (whether the pearly gates or the girly gates.)

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My favorite things to write are humor and songs. I think I’ve been contributing humor pieces to this list almost since it began. Some were inspired by discussions on the list itself.

 

A few years ago, a friend (a scholar, natch) asked me if I’d considered collecting them into a dedicated book (instead of just the Michael humor appendix at the end of “The Journey of Your Soul”). A lightbulb went off in my head, and I immediately decided to do it. I innocently thought it would be quick and easy, since I had already accumulated a lot of material. Now, maybe five years later, I’m thrilled to announce that I have a publication date of October 15 for “Enlightenment for Nitwits: The Complete Guide to 2012 & Beyond!”

 

One chapter, “Lurkers’ Rights,” discusses the list and gives its link. However, the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Michael fans will notice some subtle references to the teachings, such as in “Breatharians & Sun Gazers,” where I mention the chief obstacles.

 

I have a new site for the book:

 

http://enlightenmentfornitwits.com/

 

You can see the cover there. It was designed by Melody Cassen, who did my previous covers. I spent countless hours searching stock photo sites (for both the cover images and photos to start out each chapter). I’m delighted with how it turned out. I’m going to have mugs, t-shirts, etc., made displaying it. I even took a new headshot of myself for it. I was going to use one of Brad Pitt’s old ones, but he threatened to sue (he wasn’t using it anymore!) so I broke down and took one of myself. Actually, it took me thirteen years because I was holding out for a good one. I finally gave up.

 

At the site, you can sign up for a newsletter about the book; I’ll occasionally send out excerpts from it as well as news on its progress. (You can sign up for my channeling newsletter, Perspectives, at my main site: http://summerjoy.com.)

 

I was privileged to receive some wonderful celebrity cover blurbs:

 

“Funniest book in the last two billion years! Frankly, I enjoyed it more than the Bible.”–God, Creator of the Universe

 

“Heck of a job, Hoodie! Of course, I didn’t need this book because I was already enlightened, but I’m sure it will help a lot of other people. Keep up the good work!”–George W. Bush, former owner, Texas Rangers

 

“That filthy homosexual Zionist infidel swine Shepherd Hoodwin caused me to laugh so hard it almost made me want to forsake being a servant of Allah and become a comedian. May Allah punish him when he dies by greeting him with seventy-two voluptuous virgins–it would serve him right.”–Osama bin Laden, Leading Terrorist

 

“We are not amused. However, Prince Harry laughed his arse off.”–Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

 

I just started Tweeting quotes from the book from @EnlightenNitwit. I’m hoping for it to go viral and be vaccine resistant. I’m calling its followers “TwitWits.” My first two:

 

“I don’t mean to brag, but I have SO gotten rid of my ego.”

 

“The Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. You’re going to need a new calendar.”

 

Writing in under 140 characters is the new haiku.

 

(I also have a personal Twitter account @ShepherdH, as well as a Faceboot page, which is a social networking site for sadomasochists.)

 

There will be some print-on-demand copies on sale in April. (There may be some minor changes in the text before the regular printing in September.) I’m inviting readers to submit funny testimonials. The best ones will go inside the front cover. I have these two so far:

 

“Shepherd’s book made me see God.  I never would have guessed She wore so much makeup.”

–JB, California

 

“I peed in my pants.”

–MB, Massachusetts

 

That’s a classic that never goes out of style.

 

Incidentally, I posted a collection of political humor first seen on this list on my main site:

 

http://summerjoy.com/PoliticalHumor.html

 

As you know, the field of metaphysical/self-help humor is brutally competitive, but I feel up to the challenge.

 

All the best,

Shepherd

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In my mind, happiness is different from joy.

 

Happiness is the well-being of the body and emotions, or lower self: it feels good because life force is moving freely. There are plenty of endorphins (the body’s feel-good hormones) and a reasonable amount of satisfaction of needs and appetites.

 

Joy is the well-being of the mind and spirit, or higher self: it feels good because energy flows freely. Its beliefs are reasonably harmonious; there is gratitude and a sense of connection with the universal forces of love, truth, and beauty.

 

It’s possible to have one without the other, although, obviously, both are highly desirable. Incidentally, “higher” and “lower” selves are not value judgements: they are two halves of one whole. We need both. Those terms relate to their relative speeds of vibration. You could substitute “inner” and “outer.”

 

The happiest people I’ve observed are often people who exercise a lot (like two hours a day). A healer, extolling the virtues of heavy gym workouts and breaking a sweat, told me her observation that a way evil people manage to avoid being overwhelmed by their own negativity is by hard workouts that move out psychic debris, something we can all use, especially those of us who are highly sensitive. (I’ve never had the energy or discipline for that, unfortunately, although I do walk briskly most days, which doesn’t quite do the job.)

 

Our bodies are designed to move. A lot. When you hear about elderly indigenous people running hundreds of miles, you get an idea of how far away we are from the natural state, and why it’s so hard to feel good. However, we are experiencing other things that indigenous people are not, such as high-speed internet access.

 

In many ways, it’s harder to achieve happiness in the modern world, with rampant pollution of many kinds (chemical, electromagnetic, etc.) and being bombarded with complexities and stresses that our ancestors could not have imagined. Human cruelty is probably not greater than it has been before, but technologies multiply its effect. On the other hand, getting enough food and avoiding infectious diseases is easier today, and we have many more comforts and options. Surely the world is more interesting and stimulating than ever before. The trick to happiness is to stay in balance, not to lose touch with what our bodies need to thrive (and, obviously, to avoid destructive forces whenever possible).

 

Other contributors to happiness include high nutrition, a satisfying sex and touch life, enough refreshing sleep, good genes, and a pleasant, supportive environment. Some of these things are more under our direct control than others.

 

In terms of the Michael teachings, certain overleaves make happiness easier. (Overleaves are of the lower self because they are part of our hard-wiring, even the attitudes–they are intellectual, in a sense, but not conscious.)

 

Half the body types are positive-charged: saturnian, venusian, jovial, and solar. Having a body with a majority of those influences makes one predisposed to look on the bright side and ignore negative things. That can lead to slamming into walls one didn’t see ahead, so it’s not necessarily preferable to have positive body types, but they tend to be more comfortable. The negative types are more sensitive, like the Princess and the Pea. (My body type is 90% negative, so I have to work harder to feel happy.)

 

An example is the pair of opposites jovial and mercurial, on the expression axis. Both are known for wit, but jovials emphasize expansive enjoyment, whereas mercurials can be sarcastic.

 

In a different way, male bodies are positive (energy moves out) and female, negative (receptive), which is why men (speaking very generally) can be more oblivious to the environment. However, we are each complex. For example, men with a lunar body (the most feminine type) are more sensitive than they would otherwise be, and vice versa for saturnian women.

 

“Positive/negative” here relative both to body type and gender do not mean “constructive/destructive”; they refer to charges, like the two sides of a magnet. Positive charges make happiness easier because they don’t absorb from the environment, so if the environment is less than wonderful, coping is easier; stress more easily slides off one’s back. On the other hand, a negative-charged sensitive body is a plus for happiness in a beautiful environment, such as in nature; there is more of an orientation to receive, either way.

 

Of the overleaves, the cynic attitude especially has a problem keeping an upbeat attitude, but not expecting much, that doesn’t especially bother cynics. It reminds me of a quote from Barbara Streisand (I don’t think she’s a cynic, but, as a warrior, it is her “natural” attitude). Shortly after she shot to huge fame and success, an interviewer asked her if she was happy now. She replied, “Happy!? If I were happy, I’d be miserable!” However, even cynics can be happy. They test everything around them for water-tightness, and if things pass, they can relax.

 

Although some overleaves are more easygoing than others, they can all contribute to happiness in their positive poles, and unhappiness in their negative. Idealists, for example, are cheerful optimists, but they are also the most easily disappointed of the attitudes (how often do things live up to high ideals?) In the positive pole, they tend to bounce back, especially when they see what works; “coalescence” is pulling things together in a way that improves them.

 

Joy, being of the higher self, is less dependent on our body’s experience of the physical plane, and is more about what we bring to it. Joy can occur even when our body suffers if our spirit feels liberated because our essence is blossoming through it. Joy is a function of living in the present moment, a la Eckhart Tolle. “Now” is the gateway to the eternal; it transcends. One can be happy even with one’s mind chattering away, but joy springs from stillness. Joy comes from engaging with our senses, being present to our body, seeing out of our eyes, feeling our breath, really tasting, etc. In the present, we tap into the gratitude that is the natural state for all being experiencing its connection with the rest of being. The majesty of a forest is the gratitude that nature cannot help but experience in undisturbed oneness. Joy is essence contact, from mild to earthshaking, whether just internally or shared with others.

 

Meditation is an example of a practice that can increase both happiness and joy. Tibetan monks who meditate several hours a day were tested by scientists and found to have high endorphins. (There’s no way I’m going to live on one bowl of rice a day or sit in anything but a recliner for that long, but I’m sure that I have that kind of discipline in several parallel universes.) In some meditation techniques, you zone out and leave your body, which has its pluses for happiness–a mini-vacation–but I’d think that the techniques especially good at promoting joy would be those that bring us more into our body, such as Vipassana.

 

We expand our capacities for joy and happiness through practice. A sudden increase can be stressful or even overwhelming. Being happy and joyful isn’t the same thing as being comfortable. The status quo and false personality (ego) are threatened by more joy and happiness.

 

On the Michael teachings List, we’ve been discussing Michael’s contention that we can learn to grow more through joy and less through pain. Growing dominantly through joy would be easier if there were cultural and energetic support for doing that. Humanity has so much negativity that it’s hard to remember what it would be like without that heavy burden. Maybe in this “new age,” we’ll collectively get lighter and more joyous.

 

However, growing through joy is, finally, an individual choice, an awakening. And if we can do it when it’s hard to do, we’ve really got it down. As that Kander and Ebb song says (the one about earth’s physical plane, immortalized by Liza Minnelli): “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.”

 

The shift to growing through joy isn’t accomplished overnight, or even necessarily in one lifetime. Most of us have a lot of old habits of thinking, feeling, and living that work against it; changing them is a gradual, daily practice, more like a stream wearing down a rock than simply turning on a lightbulb. Any improvement we can produce is worth the effort. No one will perfectly achieve growing through joy while the world we live in is still only half sane; our work on ourselves does help change the world, though.

 

One element of growing through joy is making more conscious choices. Automatic pilot tends to take us into disasters, so staying out of trouble is a good first step. (For me as a sage, better learning to keep my mouth shut when that’s warranted has reduced my stress.) However, actually embracing joy through our choices rather than just avoiding hitches can mean putting ourselves into situations where our comfort levels with our current joy (and happiness) might be tested. It means being willing to wake up to the the beauty of now when part of us would rather stay asleep. As many beginning meditators have found, now can seem boring to our busy minds. Now is always here; our work on ourselves does not create it–we can awaken to it anytime. We work on ourselves to better establish the habit of remembering to be in it and to remove obstacles to it, such as shrink-wrapping beliefs and blocked emotions.

 

I certainly don’t have either joy or happiness down, but I’m working on it. Neither are required: we can “graduate” from the physical plane without them, but why not learn to have as much as possible? That is what the spiritual path offers us: in exchange for some hard work, we get to eventually feel better, at least on some levels, because we become more harmonious with the whole. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.

 

Joy is the greatest mark of spiritual advancement. Happiness is great, but it is more fleeting. You can’t take it with you, but joy endures.

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Here are excerpts from some recent posts I wrote for the Michael teachings Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MichaelTeachings). This thread began in response to a comment on my essay, “Compassion for Evil” (http://summerjoy.com/evil.html).

 

***

 

I used to believe that I created everything. At first, that was a step up for me. I looked for the symbolism and lessons in everything that happened. I learned a lot. However, then I started to think it was simply my many personal defects that prevented me from having my version of perfection. The idea that I created everything had helped me feel in control, but it wasn’t working. In time, I realized that I was being unrealistic about how the physical plane works. It was a relief to accept the lack of perfection here, and to be less invested in the results I’m getting. Imperfection is not “the end of the world”–it *is* the world. Our school books get tattered, and eventually recycled, but we keep the learning.

 

For example, I’ve never had great health. Maybe I’m still unconsciously creating that, despite my doing every kind of work I know how to do about it. Or maybe it’s just part of the package I signed up for, or maybe things haven’t gone as planned (which is what I think). In any case, it is what it is, and my task is to deal with it as constructively as I can without judging it. I’m willing to see any negative beliefs I still hold, but I don’t think my beliefs are going to become perfect in this lifetime, either. Not that I’m holding a limiting belief about that! I’m totally willing to become a bilocating, levitating breatharian ascended master, but I’d settle for having a waistline.

 

I still look for how I might have created something; I just don’t assume that I did.

 

We can’t assume that a particular misfortune was a choice–each case is individual. Some who died in the Holocaust chose it on a soul level (karma, lessons, or whatever) and some didn’t.

 

Beliefs are just models we use to see the world; they’re made up of words and concepts. Truth itself is not words. Beliefs are positive if they help us expand into greater joy, and negative if they hem us in. A belief can start positive and turn negative over time, which means we might be ready to find a more expansive view. I don’t knock what works for someone else (which is up to each person to decide). I just know what works for me.

 

***

 

Sometimes, what we learn from bad experiences helps us prevent even worse things later.

 

I once had several boxes of cassettes stolen from my unlocked car parked in my driveway, and the person also entered my living room (without taking anything) through sliding glass doors that were open because it was a hot night. I felt quite violated, but it did make me much more careful about locking things.

 

Another time, three high school guys who had helped my neighbors move in saw how easy it would be to break into my apartment through the front window. They came the next Sunday afternoon (I was almost always home, but I happened to be gone that day). They cut the screen, slid open the window, opened the door, and were about to move my valuables out into a pickup when my roommate came home and scared them off. Now, I have an alarm on that window (the only vulnerable one) and a stick in the slider.

 

***

 

Self-karma a broad term encompassing karmic-like charges/energy imbalances that are not specifically with other people, but internal. As example might be chronic low self-esteem focused on a particular issue, such as one’s waist.

 

***

 

Losses are harsh regardless of how they are interpreted, and grieving hurts like hell–there’s no way around it. We *can* make it worse if we have baggage around it, such as blaming ourselves OR God. What works best is to just feel the feelings with love until they shift.

 

For some, it would be harder to hear that it was the soul’s plan to make them suffer so; for others, the idea of just having been in the wrong place at the wrong time seems more cruel. I would never assume that something was either accidental or planned; I would get channeling or a deep intuitive reading on it if I really wanted to know, since every circumstance is unique.

 

***

 

I’ve read some Jane Roberts Seth and Abraham Hicks books, and thought they were excellent. Like much of the best channeled material, reading them can draw one into a higher-centered experience beyond the words. But even above the physical plane, souls have their own beliefs, their own ways of framing reality. Our spirit guides, for instance, may be full of love, but they may hold beliefs that we find don’t entirely work for us. Plus, we are all evolving our understanding together. What was state-of-the-art a couple decades ago may no longer be.

 

An example is that our collective understanding of sexuality has grown a great deal recently; older channeled or other spiritual material may now look homophobic through our eyes. Guides are learning, too.

 

Seth believed at the time of a channeling that we create everything we experience; maybe he still believes that, maybe he doesn’t. There’s no question that anyone serious about the spiritual path will want to become more aware of his beliefs and work to align them more with love. Our beliefs are crucial–they are our software. However, to say that they literally create everything seems off to me–the way I’d put it is that they create the *climate* for everything we experience.

 

That particular point is a relatively minor matter of dogma that doesn’t much matter to me. If I just created a zit because of a pus-filled belief of which I am unaware, well–it’s just a zit. If I created that driver who didn’t look and almost hit me, all I can say is, “Damn! I’m good!” What concerns me much more is the way that the mass-market versions of YCYOR (”You create your own reality”) promise the moon.

 

To be fair, the version of YCYOR channeled from Abraham is more subtle than the version publicized in “The Secret,” which the Abraham channel disavowed. “The Secret” and variations going back to other self-help books such as “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Power of Positive Thinking” are about getting what you want (or think you want), whereas the Abraham material, as I understand it, is more about surrendering to your higher good.

 

I know a lot of spiritual/new age people, and I have yet to meet one who has managed to create a home run in every area: relationships, health, wealth, etc., or who has defeated aging and other challenges of the physical plane. Is there currently alive even one human being in perfect health?

 

I’ve heard about some guru types, mostly in India, who seem to have transcended their bodies, and I have no trouble believing that that’s possible. In fact, I believe that just about anything is possible. Not having met one, I reserve judgement, but if it’s true as advertised, that is very cool, but those rare individuals are playing a different game than most of us. I love the Michael teachings’ emphasis that our lives are worthwhile just the way they are. We don’t have to transcend them; it’s just about living them well and growing as much as we can. That’s practical for all of us who are not called to meditate several hours a day or undertake other strenuous spiritual practices. We can awaken wherever we are.

 

I was part of a group called Emissaries of Divine Light. One of their tenets is “Let love radiate without concern for results.” I’ve never heard a better summation of the spiritual path. If any of us is able to create wonderful things through intention, too (a great relationship, health, a hit daytime talk show, etc.), that’s terrific. You go, girl! But if, like Job, we are able to keep loving even when things aren’t going so well, then we’re truly free. Our results can give us useful feedback, especially if we observe repetitive patterns, but insisting they be a certain way is a trap. If we just keep doing our best, and then let go, things will go about as well as they can. There will probably be some suffering included in the package, but perhaps we can keep it to a minimum. If we expect perfection, though, it will hit us harder than if we can take it in stride.

 

The Emissaries also taught that if we’re fully paying attention to our own choices, we don’t have any time left over to judge other people’s. We have some instinctive hardwiring that makes us want to mind other people’s business–another trick for keeping unruly tribe members in line–but that’s one of those evolutionary traits, like vengeance, best left behind. Even baby souls can respect other people’s right to choose, especially if they have role models for that. Although community expectations weigh heavily at that point, how that manifests has a lot to do with the local culture. Baby souls who believe in reincarnation look different from baby souls who believe in hell and damnation or those who don’t have religious beliefs.

 

***

 

I have long been fascinated by the symbolism in our lives. It’s easier for me to think that a single event is happenstance, but when there are repeating patterns, that gets my attention. However, even then, we can’t assume that there is a larger meaning. Sometimes three cigars are just three cigars.

 

Since March, my car (which can represent one’s body) has been having trouble starting. I’d just been given some guidance about the need to jumpstart my body. First, an old, defective car alarm was removed. That rich symbolism was not lost on me: letting go of being unduly alarmed, overreacting (as car alarms tend to do) with fear would help me move forward. However, two months later, the car wasn’t starting again. Not sure what to do, my mechanic put in a new starter, and it again worked right for a while. A new starter also sounded like a good thing for my body. However, shortly thereafter, another problem with starting started. I had to fiddle with the steering wheel until it locked in before it would start. Then, it wouldn’t start at all; it needed a new electrical switch. Our nervous system is our body’s electrical system, and mine probably needs a new switch, too. I’ve been working with a healer, an old artisan, who thinks about the energy body in these kinds of structural terms. For example, she installed a new pranic tube, and I really felt a difference.

 

However, when I asked Essence if all this symbolism is correct, if I was creating the car problems or if they are reflecting my issues. I got a clear “no”: It’s simply a 16-year-old car, and eventually, things wear out. One item wearing out probably put stress on the others, so they happened roughly together.

 

Too bad! Were it symbolic, it would be a much juicier story. However, maybe essence is wrong. In any case, there’s no harm in seeing it as reflecting that I’m making progress with my body. On the other hand, if I decided to get a new car, that could indicate that I’m about to die and reincarnate. Maybe I’ll just stick with the “old car” theory.

 

***

 

RANDOMNESS

 

I googled for Einstein’s famous quote, often paraphrased as “God does not play dice with the universe,” and found this great page, full of his insights:

 

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

 

Incidentally, it includes a link to a marvelous photograph of him and Rabindranath Tagore:

 

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/File:Einstein_and_Tagore_Berlin_14_July_1930.jpg

 

The word “random” can conjure different connotations. To me, it means “spontaneous” or “unplanned in advance.” In my view, this is some randomness in the universe. I could go with the idea that nothing is random if, by that, you mean “totally without cause or intent.” The latter is impossible–there’s always a cause (often multi-pronged).

 

It’s like trying to answer that question, “Do you believe in God?” Let’s say that five billion people believe in God. However, in each person, that conjures up at least a slightly different set of connotations, so there are five billion different versions of “God.” A simple “yes” answer doesn’t tell us much without knowing what the word actually represents to someone.

 

Anyway, I just asked God about this, and She told me that she actually does enjoy a good game of craps occasionally. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” She is fond of saying.

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August 27, 2010

Despite the kerfuffle about the “mosque” at Ground Zero, there are some positive signs of religious tolerance in the United States. In May, an Arab-American was crowned Miss USA. Rima Fakih, of Dearborn, Michigan, was born in Lebanon and raised in a Christian/Muslim household in New York. The lovely and talented Fakih (a young artisan with a goal of world dominance, according to Michael) won both the swimsuit and burqa competitions, bringing innocent sex appeal to each. Her ankle-length burqa by Israel Mizrahi was fuscia silk lace over lilac satin, with a delicate floral niqab. Her lemon bikini was accented with lime tassels and minaret sunglasses. In her spare time, Ms. Fakih enjoys playing video games, pole dancing, and destroying infidels.

 

Perhaps Ms. Fakih will bring America together in ways that President Obama, whose story resembles hers, has not yet been able, although he is certainly equally hot in a swimsuit.

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August 17, 2010

We can’t function intellectually without some core beliefs. It’s like a computer needing an operating system. The best OS’s are those that promote our growth and don’t get in our way. They are a foundation for a well-lived life. They grow with us, receiving regular system updates with new features and bug fixes.

Opinions are more surface-level beliefs, like specific applications running on top of the OS. The types of applications that will run depend somewhat on the system we are running. If we have a good basic OS and it is working well, it will run a lot of interesting and useful applications that can also be updated regularly.

We are better off holding opinions lightly, without a lot of attachment, so that they can change in light of new information. We all have opinions, just as we all have core beliefs. They let us try on different perceptions about the world. However, when we really don’t know, or when it’s none of our business, or when we can’t do anything about the object of our opinions, they can distract from our real work here on the physical plane. Most of these applications usually don’t matter much in our day-to-day lives as long as we can do basic things like surf the web of humanity, listen to the music of life, get our i-mail messages, and occasionally Photoshop our self-image with a larger penis or breasts.

A computer in sleep mode cannot be updated. Dogma, in religion, politics, or the Michael teachings, comes from the sleeping mind of a person who resists updates, running old software ad nauseam. Probably none of us are able to keep our computers awake all the time, but many wake theirs up only long enough to forward mail full of urban legends that snopes.com long ago showed to be false, yet are so full of >>>s that you can hardly read them and that often bear the modifications of previous forwarders. Worse, many computers have been completely taken over to robotically spam others with scams that promote false hopes while planting malicious viruses or even stealing identities. When the computer system of Self is cleaned up, we are better able to forward only messages that genuinely contribute to the well-being of others.

We are eternal souls being educated and having our rough edges rubbed off in order to develop a greater ability to love. If we truly believe that on a core level, our values will be aligned with it: we will make choices based on our best current understanding of love, truth, and beauty. As a result, our understanding will grow and mature, our OS will become more refined, and our opinions will also be updated. If we say we believe that but actually believe something else, or have contradictory core beliefs, it can result in a frozen system that keep delivering the same error messages. Sometimes malware is installed in our system without our conscious knowledge from corrupted sites we visit or malicious mail we receive. It is important to be as aware as possible of our software and choose it carefully. If we’re not sure what software we’re running, monitoring our system’s performance can give us clues. No computer runs flawlessly all the time, but sound software runs pretty well most of the time. Frequent glitches suggest a need for cleaning and updates.

 

On rare occasions, updates crash a computer, especially after a person has neglected several minor updates. However, after rebooting, they usually result in a better-running system. If not, there’s always reincarnation–a whole new system.

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NOTICE:

Due to circumstances beyond our control, 2012 has been rescheduled. Therefore, the order of years shall be as follows:

2011

2013

2014

2015

2016

2012

2017

2018

Further alterations may be required by unexpected sunspots, meteorites, or Supreme Court appointments. If you already registered for the Crystalline Ascension, your deposit will be automatically applied to the new December 21, 2012. However, if you wish, you can request a refund at refund@mayancalendarcommittee.org. Be sure to include your full birth information and your spiritual name. If you want to check first to see whether you’ll still be alive in 2012, contact us at death@mayancalendarcommittee.org. If you are concerned about passing the time until 2012 arrives, there are some adorable kitten and puppy videos at youtube.com.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

We have received a number of inquiries as to whether 2012 will be the dawn of a new age of enlightenment and bliss, or the end of life as we know it. All the signs clearly point to one answer: yes and no.

To stay apprised of further 2012 developments, sign up for our newsletter by writing us atinfo@mayancalendarcommittee.org. You may also receive occasional emails from our specially chosen marketing partners, such as the Great Black White & Red All Over Brotherhood; Ascended Masters “R” Us; and Ayahuasca N’ Stuff.

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