Get your own Free Home PageMonday, January 30, 2006 12:57:21 AM Last Wednesday Margaret and I visited the Golden Gate Spiritualist Church. The NSAC Declaration of Principles they read were compatible with those of Religious Science: 1. We believe in Infinite Intelligence. 2. We believe that the phenomena of nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence. 3. We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith, constitute true religion. 4. We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death. 5. We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism. 6. We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." 7. We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals, and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature's physical and spiritual laws. 8. We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul here or hereafter. 9. We affirm that the Precepts of Prophecy and Healing are divine attributes proven through Mediumship. Although they are compatible, the NSAC Principles do not appear to me to have the scope of that the Principles of Religious Science have. Nevertheless, the phenomena of Spiritualism appear to be real. During the service, Janice Foote gave a sermonette on "The Best Day of My Life." In it she presented the same optimism and self-determination that we honor in Religious Science. Janice Foote approached me with a message from one of my ancestors. He was a dairy farmer, with vast holdings of land. He noted that I had recently changed paths, and that I was on the right one for this time. He encouraged me to stick to it, even though there were people I knew who would try to persuade me to take another path, a path that they thought was right for me. What was interesting to me about this message was that I had recently changed careers from system administration to direct sales. All week recruiters had been calling me with opportunities in San Francisco, even as I devoted my time to learning as quickly as possible my new art. Also, at the national sales training convention on the 21st, I was encouraged with the words, "consistency and persistence," as keys to success in this new career. My horoscope last week also pointed to consistency and persistence, and to growing in a field of new information regardless of distractions from people I knew. I give credence to synchronicity. All the Universe is changing to support my declaration. I am financially free. I am spiritually growing. I am divinely alive. We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding. We believe in our own soul, our own spirit, and our own destiny, for we understand that the Life we live is God. -- Ernest Holmes, "Declaration of Principles" of Religious Science
Friday, January 20, 2006 12:29:16 PM What a fun weekend this promises to be! In the early morning hours we were picked up by our limousine, and we recognized our driver as the one who had taken us to the airport for our Honolulu trip. Our now-familiar chauffeur whisked us easily and effortlessly to the airport in 20 minutes. The first leg of our flight, to Dallas-Fort Worth, was on a remarkably quiet and comfortable aircraft called the S80, apparently a Saab. It had its engines mounted on the hull at the rear, like a 727, and it also featured an emergency exit in the tail, like the Caravelles of old. The quiet was amazing, as we could talk to each other in conversational tones. This was much better than the larger aircraft to which I had become accustomed. I looked out the windows and saw the ground at unfamiliar angles, and I realized the pilot was guiding the plane through 30-degree turns as smoothly as the chauffeur had guided the Town Car down the freeway. As I slept, a tune from the Religious Science Financial Freedom class returned to my mind, "God is the love that I am." I looked forward eagerly to meeting associates from the company, whom I had only met on the phone or only known through video training courses. The prospect of social networking was as exciting to me as that of the training we were about to receive! On the second leg of our flight Magaret shared a passage from Michael Oliver's How to Sell Network Marketing, in which he notes that active listening involves neither judgement nor supposition. If a person were to share themselves with me, they would need a clear, unobstructed channel through which to share. I realized I still had much to learn.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 7:18:01 PM Monday I started a new job. Yes, started -- it didn't exist last week. Margaret decided that in order to answer my questions and to resolve her ideas of what I was thinking about the programs offered by Liberty League International, the best thing to do would be to put me on a free conference call. After I heard the whole package, I realized that this was the perfect time to start my own home-based business. I was out of contract. I had hit a glass ceiling in my system administration career, and many of the alternatives I was being offered looked like I would have been marching backwards. Employers seemed reluctant to move me into new areas with better growth prospects, because I had no prior experience that showed up brightly on my resume. I started my own business immediately. Here's the funny part, which shows that the Universe moves to support us once we have made our declaration. I knew the only way to succeed in this business was to give it 100%. I am an independent businessman now, and nothing that I have done in the past can limit what I will do in the future. As soon as I made my declaration, two companies that had scheduled interviews with me called to reschedule. A third company that had interviewed me twice and looked like a sure thing decided not to hire anyone at all. There's even more: since Margaret had already been in the business a while, she had set up all the infrastructure. I took a job that was all set up and ready to go -- my ideal situation! I have high expectations. I expect to be working, so the time that I spent between jobs was just 30 days. I expect a regular cash flow, so associates will come to me easily and effortlessly. I expect to change the world with our products, so everyone who is drawn to this business will be positive and motivated as well. Today Margaret and I had lunch together after my regular shift, and I felt perfectly at ease. I have a job that lets me set my own hours, lets me set my own goals, and lets me reach as high as I want! I see what Bijan means about doing whatever brings you joy, and about spending time in the gym. This afternoon, while Margaret was using the office, I went down to the gym and ran the full workout routine. I feel fulfilled, happy, and productive! I also have a new technique that makes the time fly quickly and easily during the workout. I dedicate each set to a different person. I have four weight training exercises, which I do for three sets each. Then I have 30 minutes on the treadmill. It's easy to think of 13 people to whom I dedicate my exercise, and the result is that I feel reconnected to all of them, and through them connected to the Universe!
Sunday, January 08, 2006 9:20:41 PM Update on my life: The job search is going quite well. Now that I have declared that my next job will be in San Francisco, I have interviews all over town. Yes, there are opportunities in the Valley and in the East Bay, but I refer them to other contractors who live in those locales. My focus is on the City, and the City has plenty to offer. Margaret has convinced me to try yoga, and I have been going irregularly to a few yoga classes. I see them as another way of shaping up, as well as a form of meditation. They are supplemental to, not a substitute for, my weight training. Of course the cardio is mandatory, and all of it is good. It's a lifestyle, not a program. Now that I know a few yoga students, my life is filled with beautiful people. As long as I stay cool and let them be themselves, I will have a fulfilling time interacting with them. I have discovered once again that strength is not reflected in body shape, so I'll be working on both dimensions. Long live health, fitness, love, passion, and friendship. Along another line, I recognize that the Universe does have a sense of humor. Witness the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree. He was an enlightened teacher, as well as a fully aware manifestation of the Living God, so the story of the fig tree doesn't make sense on its own. Jesus was also a man, and we have quite a few anecdotes of his anger and frustration coming forth in public. I can imagine that, when there were no figs on the tree, Jesus declared it barren in frustration. After all, the tree was supposed to be bearing fruit at the time, and it must have been a disappointment. As the tree was already dying, the disciples would have noticed its dry skeleton when they passed it again a few days later. "Hey, look," they would have said, "Jesus is such a master he killed a tree!" They would have teased him about it at the dinner table, as he talked about Life and how he was here to bring Life Everlasting. "Yes, Master, but remember the fig tree," they would tease. Forty years later, as the disciples related their memoirs, the tree would be remembered as a testimonial to Jesus' miraculous power, and the whole incident's significance would be a paradox for later generations of religious scholars. Jesus and God are probably laughing along with the disciples.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006 10:04:59 PM I didn't want to work out tonight. My biceps were sore. I was tired. Then I remembered my first summer as a gardener. Even though my arms were blazing with pain (RSI was not known then), I went ahead and did the job anyway. Nike's motto, as declared in their advertising, is "Just do it." I remembered many years ago I would just go to the gym and work the treadmill, even if I skipped the weight training. So I went. After the 30 minutes on the treadmill I felt much better. I even felt like lifting the weights. Finally I did some sit-ups. A decent exercise routine, when I had felt like skipping it all before I started.
Monday, January 02, 2006 10:28:37 PM I am not who I was ten years ago. I am not who I was a year ago. I am not even who I was three days ago. Life is change, and I am constantly changing. I looked in last year's appointment calendar, and all the events that I attended made me wonder, "Was this only one year?" So much happened, yet at times it felt like nothing was happening. I felt like I was running in dry sand. It was a year of complexity, a year of transition. I feel that this year things will move forward again. I met a woman at a New Years' party. She was stunningly beautiful. She said, "How fortunate that we should meet at this time, on the first day of a new year." It's a new beginning for all of us. She and I paid complete attention to her for a while, forgetting all of the other people at the party. She had a talent for intimacy; when I told her this, she said that meant a lot to her in many ways. Then she returned to her boyfriend and I to my wife, but that moment has given me a new perspective. I thought the party was in many ways like a workshop. On reflection, however, I decided it must be the other way around. A workshop is like a party, one in which we are invited to notice what we do. The exercises are like the cocktail conversation and games, but we reflect upon our actions and our words, to discover more of how we tick. A man at the party said he had noticed I was paying attention to him, had paid attention to him for several years. He said he would like to meet me at a workshop, talk with me, and find out who I was. I said I would welcome the opportunity. We may have that opportunity this year. When Margaret and I went to Honolulu for Christmas, it seemed more like a workshop than a vacation. When we were alone we had the most idyllic, prosperous, and pleasurable time together. When we were with other people we had to adjust to their world views, and that could pull us off balance. Ultimately we learned that in order to have a good vacation we need to keep in mind that we are on a vacation, and not a social junket. That said, all the people with whom we interacted were people we loved, and in retrospect it was all fulfilling. Another aspect of the vacation was that the block where we lived became a construction zone in the daytime. It was only after we were back on the mainland that we realized we could have chosen to move to another block at any time! We had unconsciously set an expectation, and under stress we didn't realize all the choices we had made, and all the choices that we could make, in every moment. I used to say "Life's a workshop!" Well, that has become my reality, and I am reminding myself that being in a workshop does not mean I actually have to do anything I would call "work."
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