An excerpt from Chapter One...

Many philosophers, teachers, shaman, religious leaders and certainly many texts, both ancient and modern share the idea that creation is not the sole domain of God or the universe. They believe that creation is a never ending process that we are all engaged in all the time. Every choice we are faced with is an opportunity to create and learn and we will engage in this process regardless of whether we are consciously aware of it or not. Every time we choose, we create. We collapse the quantum possibilities into  but one, the one of our choosing. If we are in fact conscious of this, then we tend to create what we want. If we are not, then we are at the mercy of whatever frequency we happen to be on at that particular moment.

 For example, let’s say you are returning home from work and as you approach your driveway you see that your path is blocked by your children’s toys that you have repeatedly asked them not to leave there. You are immediately faced with a choice, several actually. You could exit your vehicle, remove the toys from your path, park the car, go inside, hug your children and leave it at that. You could run over the toys and then explain to your crying children that had they not left their toys in the driveway, they would not have been reduced to rubbish. Each of these choices is available to you equally. Each will produce a dramatically different outcome for both you and your kids. If you are not consciously determining which option you will choose then you will most likely choose based solely upon the mood (frequency) you happen to be in at that moment. If you are in a negative state because of some occurrence at work, you will tend toward the negative response and vice versa. It is only by becoming consciously aware that you even have a choice that you will choose the outcome you want to create but you will, no matter what, create. We are only slaves to our emotions when we fail to realize we have choices and fail to exercise those choices.

Many people believe that we are all in “Earth School”.  That we all possess infinite and unlimited creative power and our time on earth is designed to give us the opportunity to learn how to use that awesome power with love for ourselves and our fellow beings. When considered thoroughly, it makes a great deal of sense. The Christian Bible says we are all made in the image of God. I imagine that doesn’t much mean that we look like God but that we function in a way similar to God, as loving, creative beings. Think of it this way; at some point Michelangelo held a rock in his young hands and started chipping away at it. I suspect he was quite proud of the first lump he crafted and eagerly declared it to be a frog or a bird. I also suspect that his mother marveled at it and declared to him that it was beautiful then encouraged the young creator to go forth and continue creating. This is the sort of path that leads to a piece of art as magnificent as the statue of David.  We have a choice in our time here. The choice is to consciously choose what we create or to create by default. Therein lays the difference.

We all know people whose lives are joyous, healthful, abundant, loving and beautiful. Conversely, we probably know far more people who continually struggle through all manner of difficulty… financial, health, relationships and a host of others. What’s the difference? How is it that life seems so easy for some yet so incredibly difficult for others? Is it because, “Life’s not fair”? because “Life is hard”? Very true IF that’s what you choose to believe. Is it because they had a bad childhood, bad parents, bad teachers, no advantages? Here is the difference that makes the difference…it is what they habitually think about. The quality of one’s thoughts becomes the quality of one’s life. Focus all your attention on the negative aspects of your life and what you don’t want and that is exactly what you will create…every time. To illustrate, try this…don’t think of a blue horse. See what I mean? Neither the universe nor your unconscious mind takes notice of negative modifiers such as “don’t”. It only responds to blue horse. It can be no other way.  If you are using the Law of Attraction to manifest, for example, wealth and your constant focus is on a lack of money, guess what? Right, you will manifest a lack of money. If on the other hand your focus is on abundance, that is what you will create…, it’s that simple.

Next let’s consider the powerful belief that everything happens exactly as it should; that there is meaning for us in every event and circumstance of our lives. No problem comes to us that we did not draw to ourselves. Every perceived problem carries for us a gift for us in its hands…the opportunity to choose and learn. The ancient Hawaiian philosophy of Huna teaches this and St. Paul, while sitting in a Roman prison said, “Count it all joy” when referring to trials and problems. Our entire experience is simply what we perceive, not what “is”. There is no such thing as objective experience, there is only subjectivity. It is for this reason that several people can witness an accident and give utterly different accounts. Each of them is processing through the filters they have accumulated from a lifetime of experiences. Each of them has their own distinct reality. None is right, none is wrong, they just “are”.  Once we come to understand this, we can begin to understand that everything has meaning for us. We will dig into this in more detail a bit later in the book.

The last concept I’d like to introduce in this chapter is duality. There are two very distinct and usually opposing parts of your humanity; your personality and your soul. This may at first seem peculiar to your sensibilities so allow me explain. Your soul is your true self. It is the very essence of your eternal being. Your soul is that part of you that is only concerned with love. To it, that is all there is. Your personality, on the other hand, is that portion of your earth bound physical self that strives to protect your ego which is merely an illusion. Every negative aspect of your life experience is a function of that personality and its ongoing mission to preserve the ego. ALL negativity we experience is the result of the personality manifesting fear of something…loss, abandonment, poverty, rejection, illness, and ultimately dying or annihilation.  It is fear that drives all human conflict; between partners in intimate relationships as well as between tribes and nations.

 For example, let’s say your spouse arrives home somewhat later than you anticipated without calling to inform you. When he or she finally does arrive, the hostilities erupt. Why? Why are you not simply content in the joy of their safe arrival? Why do you feel compelled to react with anger, to make the other person feel badly, to punish them in some way?  It is fear at work in you; fear of loss, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment and the like. What takes place is the fearful parts of your personality take over; you literally become possessed by them and you believe that you have no choice in your behavioral response and therein, you err. As we saw earlier, you always have a choice but only in as much as you realize that you do. In order to consistently exercise choice that supports the intention of your soul, you must become the silent “watcher” of your feelings, emotions and reactions. This is the beginning of enlightenment. When you master the ability to recognize the fearful parts of your personality attempting to take you over and you challenge and reject them in favor of the intentions of your soul, you are on the path to true peace; the kind of peace that can only come when the intentions of your personality are aligned with the intentions of your soul. This state is not something that happens overnight or without vigilance and practice. You are, after all, attempting to overcome a lifetime of operating by default or on auto-pilot however, with time and patience, it most certainly can be achieved. The bottom line here is we all have choice, even in the circumstances that seem to demand only one response. We simply have to wake up to that fact and choose. When the Buddha was asked how he wanted to be remembered he replied simply, “As one who woke up.”