Money and spirit can be a delicate balancing act. It can be difficult at any time to reoncile the two. And no time have I seen this more than I have in the last few weeks.
I have always heard - and been told emphatically - do what you love, follow your passion. When you do what you are meant to do, the money will follow. etc... A few weeks ago, I was doing my usual marketing thing, looking into presenting, showing at trade shows, etc. - both to promote my business and to reach close encounter experiencers. I do this to get my message out, bringing my healing work to as many people as possible, while also learning as much as possible about the unexplained realms through which my path travels.
Well, I inquired into working at one particular trade show and learned that another hypnotherapist was already booked to work a booth there. The person there is a dear friend of mine, and in my view, he was a perfect fit for the show. So in my view, great. It's his territory, let him have it. Time to move on. No problem, right? wrong....
A few weeks later, as I was tossing back a brew with him, I suddenly found out it actually wasn't 'no problem' - he was really pissed, but had never told me so. That evening, he suddenly looked at me with a sense of betrayal in his eyes. How could I...? I asked him what his issue was, and he told me that he saw an unwritten rule, peoples' geographic territories are sacrosanct. I told him that, now that I knew he felt that way, I would respect his wishes. Once he was mollified, the evening continued with business networking and social chit-chat. But the exchange left a metaphorical bad taste in my mouth. If he's doing what he loves, then why did he view me as competition. He had long ago told me that he felt there was enough business for everyone, and neither of us were hurting for clients from that segment of society, so what was he concerned about? I have seince let the matter pass, yet for me the quetion remains
Time passed. Good fences make good neighbors. We're still good friends. Then, a few months later, another event, with a totally different person, networking group and economic theatre got me to thinking the same questions once more. This time, in a particular networking organization where the rules are that once in, you have that market niche, somebody on the board of the organization decided that one of my self-hypnosis CD offerings stepped on the toes of someone else's business. While that was certainly not my intent, I can understand how one could conclude this. I agreed and again, good fences make good neighbors.
I wish both of the friends well. What they are doing is great and the last thing I want to do is step on their toes. Still, I was struck by the delicate balance between the world of business, money and economic competion, and the world of spirituality, healing and compassion. I try to live in the latter world. Each of us has our strengths, physically, spiritually and economically and I can live with that. Yet it so often brings us to a reality check where we find ourselves bumping into that wall, experiencing those flint-and-steel sparks as two peoples' paths unexpectedly and unintentionally collide..
Probably, the best advice I've heard is simply to proceed with the best of intentions. Try to do the right thing, for the right reasons. Ultimately, we are physical humans - spiritual beings living in a material realm. While we can be like the lillies of the fiels and trust in God, we still have to travel our paths, actively pursue our passions. These won't come to us while we sit on a log and wait. We have to actively pursue them. God helps people who help themselves. We just need to make sure we stay in integrity. If sparks fly for some reason, we just have to deal with whatever issues have come up.
Combining the spiritual and pragmatic sides is never easy. It's a delicate balancing act, this business of healing and spirit.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Thoughts on a long-neglected journal
This evening, as I was doing some internet research on another topic, I stumbled across Whitley's Journal, the semi-regular writings of Whitley Strieber on www.unknowncountry.com. I used to follow his column regularly - back when I lived in CubeWorld, and was frequently looking for a mental outlet from the world of corporate America. Now, since I am on my, own, a number of regular news columns dropped off the edge of the radar. Whitley's Journal was among them.
Whitley always has some powerful things to say. As I went back and read some of his writings over the last few months, I saw his commentaries on the election, the environmental tipping point, and related current events. To my relief, he did not endorse any candidate for president, or for any other office. Yet one comment he made was telling - and that was to point out one of the most critical decision factors. What will the current president do when push comes to shove in Iran?
He pointed out that confrontation with Persia has in many ways been a defining factor in the development of western civilization - from the Greco-Persian wars, to the wars fought between the Roman and Parthian empires, to the medieval battles between the Eurpoeans and the Muslim powers of the near east, to the travails of today. And now, as the west loses its nuclear monopoly, the conflict will only intensify. How will the president handle it?
As I write this, the election has come and gone. The result is decided - President Obama won re-election. Whether this is good or bad depends upon your point of view. But my own belief is that he will (and must) have a decisive role to play in the coming conflict - most likely for the better. Still, that is a guess. I'm not much of a prophet, so take that guess with a really big grain of salt.
Iran aside, we are at the tipping point in a multitude of other ways, as well. As another article in Whitley's Journal, Superstorm Sandy and the Future, pointed out, the drift toward the coming environmental change has now passed the point of no return. We spent too many years on meaningless debate on the reality of global warming - years when we should have been acting to address the issues. Now it's too late. The best we can do is to prepare for the consequences and try to minimize them as best we can.
To be fair, I've heard a number of commentaries on Whitley Strieber's writings over the years. A number of rationalist friends of mine have used rather non-positive adjectives. Many such objections have been around since the days Communion was first published. They are old, and to me, most don't hold a whole lot of merit. Still, each of us needs to exercise our own discernment. Each of us will believe what we will. But that belief needs to be tempered by the evidence behind what the articles I am describing have to say. We are now at the critical point.
There were several other articles in the backlog that I read this evening, but I thought the ones mentioned above were the most telling. Again, none of us can see the future, but Whitley has been pretty accurate on a number of things, and my guess is that this is probably in that league. Unfortunately, it is not a pleasant set of predictions. They are indeed, some of the darker thoughts in this particular long-neglected journal collection.
Whitley always has some powerful things to say. As I went back and read some of his writings over the last few months, I saw his commentaries on the election, the environmental tipping point, and related current events. To my relief, he did not endorse any candidate for president, or for any other office. Yet one comment he made was telling - and that was to point out one of the most critical decision factors. What will the current president do when push comes to shove in Iran?
He pointed out that confrontation with Persia has in many ways been a defining factor in the development of western civilization - from the Greco-Persian wars, to the wars fought between the Roman and Parthian empires, to the medieval battles between the Eurpoeans and the Muslim powers of the near east, to the travails of today. And now, as the west loses its nuclear monopoly, the conflict will only intensify. How will the president handle it?
As I write this, the election has come and gone. The result is decided - President Obama won re-election. Whether this is good or bad depends upon your point of view. But my own belief is that he will (and must) have a decisive role to play in the coming conflict - most likely for the better. Still, that is a guess. I'm not much of a prophet, so take that guess with a really big grain of salt.
Iran aside, we are at the tipping point in a multitude of other ways, as well. As another article in Whitley's Journal, Superstorm Sandy and the Future, pointed out, the drift toward the coming environmental change has now passed the point of no return. We spent too many years on meaningless debate on the reality of global warming - years when we should have been acting to address the issues. Now it's too late. The best we can do is to prepare for the consequences and try to minimize them as best we can.
To be fair, I've heard a number of commentaries on Whitley Strieber's writings over the years. A number of rationalist friends of mine have used rather non-positive adjectives. Many such objections have been around since the days Communion was first published. They are old, and to me, most don't hold a whole lot of merit. Still, each of us needs to exercise our own discernment. Each of us will believe what we will. But that belief needs to be tempered by the evidence behind what the articles I am describing have to say. We are now at the critical point.
There were several other articles in the backlog that I read this evening, but I thought the ones mentioned above were the most telling. Again, none of us can see the future, but Whitley has been pretty accurate on a number of things, and my guess is that this is probably in that league. Unfortunately, it is not a pleasant set of predictions. They are indeed, some of the darker thoughts in this particular long-neglected journal collection.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Catching up
Thanksgiving weekend. It's been nice to get away from home - and business, since they are pretty much the same thing - and spend some time just reading. It's given me a chance to read several of the books I've bought in the last couple of months, at the Paradigm symposium, on-line, and various forays to the local Barnes & Noble. But mostly, I've been buried in the Kindle app on my laptop.
A couple of days ago, as we were driving to Gwyn's mom's home for the family Thanksgiving celebration, the weather was gorgeous. Warm, sunny, it was a day more like September than late November. Today, that's all changed. As I sit here blogging, I can hear the wind whip around the corners of the house, a chill and lonely sound that makes me enjoy curling up with a book - or a laptop - in a warm room. It was a day to wake up late, a day to catch up.
Some things I have gotten interested in lately have been more on the geeky side. As I've studied reports of close encounters, UFO sightings, etc., I've again found myself wondering about the physics of it all. As I've heard the words 'quantum' and 'nonlocal' bandied about, I've wondered - where does all that come from? Where does the zero point field come from, the unified field, the idea of the holographic universe, etc. etc. etc.? So I decided to find a couple of books that would re-introduce me to the topic (I studied this a fair amount in undergrad - about thirty years ago).
One thing led to another and, before I know it, I pulled out a couple of books on quantum physics. In the process, I discovered I have forgotten a lot in the time since I studied physics in undergrad (the field has also advanced considerably in three decades), so I have had to re-learn a lot of material. As I read through one (inexpensive) book I bought on Kindle - 'Understanding Quantum Physics' - I discovered that I don't. The book was written at the PhD-plus level, and assumes that you thoroughly know the topic already. After only about twenty pages I fell off the mathematical train. So I went back on to the Kindle store and got the earlier book in the series (Introduction to Quantum Physics).
'Introduction to' appears to only assume that you have an advanced undergrad level of mathematical sophistication. But in that, it's a firebath and I found myself recalling a lot of the mathematics I learned in college. I guess I got what I was looking for, an intermediate level primer. And now we'll see just how 'intermediate' it really is. I have a lot of catching up to do.
There is a lot of other catching up to do as well. A lot of MUFON and business stuff still undone. Meanwhile I can hear the wind outside. Work can wait until I get home.
It's a chill November day, a good day to sit inside and curl up with a book. The math only holds my attention for so long. So for now, I'm setting the serious material aside and picking up a novel (yes, reading one, not writing one). I seldom have time for recreational reading, and I had started reading this one several months before, and then set it aside as I got busy with my business stuff. Now, I decided it was time to resume that.
As for the rest of the stuff, it's time to do some serious ignoring. I need to catch up on doing nothing, and I have a lot of work to do.
Monday, November 12, 2012
A new location
The studio location travels continue.
I have now made arrangements to see clients at a new location, north of the cities at:
This is about 1/2 hour north of the cities on I35 (north of where 35E and 35W come together).
I hope to hold classes there in the future on self hypnosis, stress management, past-life and Akashic record exploration, spirituality, meditation, etc.
Check out my ever-improving locations at: www.explore-with-hypnosis.com/location.html as I add additional locations to better serve my hypnotherapy clients.
I have now made arrangements to see clients at a new location, north of the cities at:
Joanie's Metaphysical,
26789 Forest Blvd (US Hwy 61).
Wyoming, MN.
This is about 1/2 hour north of the cities on I35 (north of where 35E and 35W come together).
I hope to hold classes there in the future on self hypnosis, stress management, past-life and Akashic record exploration, spirituality, meditation, etc.
Check out my ever-improving locations at: www.explore-with-hypnosis.com/location.html as I add additional locations to better serve my hypnotherapy clients.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
A gathering of experiencers
One of the most enjoyable aspects of attending any conference, symposium, meeting, etc., is the networking that gets done in the halls and at the bar in the evening. The October 2012 Paradigm Symposium was no exception. This was the first of these conferences and based upon the popularity of this one, I imagine there will be many more. It was a gathering of like-minded people, minds open to the idea that we are being visited. Something from out there is visiting us, and has been here for a long time. I suspect that most of the people at the symposium had experienced their fair share of encounters with the unexplained, and at least half had likely had at least one UFO close encounter. Thus, it was no surprise that I heard quite a few stories of encounters.
I spent a chunk of time (and money) in the vendor room, looking at books, CDs, DVDs, etc. And in the process, I got to talking with quite a few people there. It turns out I had corresponded with a few of them by e-mail over the last few years. A few others remembered my name from this newsletter, a radio broadcast, a past symposium, etc. So more than once, I ended up talking with someone unexpectedly, and usually the person had a fascinating story to tell.
Later that evening, after Linda Moulton Howe's talk, I ended up conversing with a few of these same experiencers. Several had had classic abductions, yet most also described non-abduction contact experiences and information downloads. All of them had grown up with psychic abilities, several of them sensitive enough to do readings professionally. Most had family histories of strong psychic abilities - mother, grandmother, etc. Several had children who were psychic, empathic, etc., classic indigo children.
While meeting experiencers was a common occurrence over the weekend, I did note one unusual thing this time - something I had not seen before this. Most of the experiencers I talked with seemed more at home with the phenomenon in their lives. While still carrying the burden of mystery, and in some cases fear, the degree of acceptance I sensed was remarkable.
Perhaps it was the comfort level of the social setting. It was safe to talk in this group. There was no danger of ridicule here. Yet in some of the people I talked with, I sensed a stronger degree of resolution, extending beyond the safety of this group. Many of them had been aware of their unique life experiences for a long time. Many had already explored them and now had reached some degree of integration.
The overall result was that a growing core of experiencers appears to be increasingly comfortable with who they are. They are becoming a Cosmic Bridge between the normal work-a-day world and the world of the extraordinary. I suspect that as others become aware of their experiences, or as more people begin to have overt sightings and/or encounters, this aware core will continue to grow. And perhaps they can begin to provide a level of comfort to those who remain isolated, alone and afraid.
The conversations in the bar frequently make up the highlight of a conference and this one was no exception. And on this particular evening, it was neat to see so many people together with so many interesting stories to tell. This was a unique group of sympathetic, like minded people, a rare, delightful - and safe - gathering of experiencers.
I spent a chunk of time (and money) in the vendor room, looking at books, CDs, DVDs, etc. And in the process, I got to talking with quite a few people there. It turns out I had corresponded with a few of them by e-mail over the last few years. A few others remembered my name from this newsletter, a radio broadcast, a past symposium, etc. So more than once, I ended up talking with someone unexpectedly, and usually the person had a fascinating story to tell.
Later that evening, after Linda Moulton Howe's talk, I ended up conversing with a few of these same experiencers. Several had had classic abductions, yet most also described non-abduction contact experiences and information downloads. All of them had grown up with psychic abilities, several of them sensitive enough to do readings professionally. Most had family histories of strong psychic abilities - mother, grandmother, etc. Several had children who were psychic, empathic, etc., classic indigo children.
While meeting experiencers was a common occurrence over the weekend, I did note one unusual thing this time - something I had not seen before this. Most of the experiencers I talked with seemed more at home with the phenomenon in their lives. While still carrying the burden of mystery, and in some cases fear, the degree of acceptance I sensed was remarkable.
Perhaps it was the comfort level of the social setting. It was safe to talk in this group. There was no danger of ridicule here. Yet in some of the people I talked with, I sensed a stronger degree of resolution, extending beyond the safety of this group. Many of them had been aware of their unique life experiences for a long time. Many had already explored them and now had reached some degree of integration.
The overall result was that a growing core of experiencers appears to be increasingly comfortable with who they are. They are becoming a Cosmic Bridge between the normal work-a-day world and the world of the extraordinary. I suspect that as others become aware of their experiences, or as more people begin to have overt sightings and/or encounters, this aware core will continue to grow. And perhaps they can begin to provide a level of comfort to those who remain isolated, alone and afraid.
The conversations in the bar frequently make up the highlight of a conference and this one was no exception. And on this particular evening, it was neat to see so many people together with so many interesting stories to tell. This was a unique group of sympathetic, like minded people, a rare, delightful - and safe - gathering of experiencers.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Ancient aliens, quantum holograms, and another day on Earth
It's a warm fall day and after a weekend in the stratosphere, now I'm home raking leaves and taking care of business-related stuff (including this blog entry). It's another day on Earth.
As I write this article, it is the first day after the Paradigm conference. The last few days have been filled with talks, presentations, panel discussions and perhaps most important, conversations in the bar on the topic of the weekend - the unexplained, both ancient and modern. I met a lot of researchers and writers working in the areas of the paranormal, archaeology, UFO studies and ET contact. This was a weekend where I was among my own. There was little need to justify my interest in the extraordinary - does this stuff exist, is it real, etc. Instead the focus was on what does it mean, how long has it been with us, and what does it imply for our future.
To be fair, I did hear a lot of things I didn't believe. But the beauty of events like this is that you can try on ideas, see if they square with your own discernment, and then move on to another. In each case, the result is a lot of provocative questions - and perhaps new ideas.
The first talk was on Thursday evening, put on by Linda Moulton Howe. She always puts on a good talk, and this time was no exception. I had heard some of the material she presented at the MUFON conference in 2011. But there was a lot of new information within it, as well. The most interesting of this was on the ruins of Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey.
I'm not an archaeology expert, so I don't have a lot of ability to evaluate what I heard as would an expert in the field. Yet apparently, the ruins were from over 12,000 years ago. This flies in the face of the idea that civilization began only 5000 years (or so) ago. In addition, the ruins were apparently deliberately buried, for reasons unknown. Only a small amount of the area has been excavated, but apparently, it is a large ceremonial site.
At that time, Earth was still in the ice age. The Mediterranean seabed was dry and the area (now desert) was a temperate and fertile. It would have made a good location for a civilization. She build a good case for the idea that this was part of an earlier cycle of civilization, one that somehow came to a big crashing halt some time around 10 to 12 thousand years ago.
Linda does a great job of tying together a lot of rather disparate topics into one bundle of mystery. In this case, she related a number of previous topics (such as the self-activating technology she talked about in 2011) with paleoarchaeology sites. She talked more about the photos of dragonfly drones, observed extensively in about 2007, or so (several photo analysts have since declared the photos to be fakes using photoshop). She related this to the CARET documents, purportedly leaked documents describing eforts to replicate and commercialize alien technology.
The biggest piece of information, at least for me, was the idea, in which a set of symbols seemed to comprise some form "software" that would execute on its own, without the need of a computer to execute it. According to "Isaac" the pseudonym of the person who apparently leaked the documents to Linda, it executed when exposed to some type of field - perhaps a consciousness/quantum field, perhaps an EM field, etc. (use your imagination). At first, the thought ran square into my discernment filter - leaving me cold until a bit later when I got a chance to think about it a bit more. Then I began to wonder - could this be similar to the budding technology of 3D printing, where they can manufacture parts directly using 3D imaging? The idea was intriguing.
Usually, at conferences, the real science gets done at the bar, often after a few glasses of wine, and Thursday evening was no exception. I ended up talking with Linda and a couple of other people about this idea. What if, rather than being some kind of executable "software" as we would think of it, the symbols formed a kind of holographic encoding. Apparently, the symbols were mounted on a seemingly-inert substrate, something like glass or crystal. So what if the symbols, when exposed to some kind of field, would generate a 3D hologram within the material. Like a 3D printer, the projected image would contain information that would cause the material to change its properties in a way that would make it functional.
There are plenty of examples of material changing in response to fields, including lenses that darken when exposed to sunlight and LCDs, in which the material changes properties in response to an electric field. Also, integrated circuit technology such as the gate array, does a similar thing, taking on functional properties based upon information input. So the idea of a holographically encoded field that, when decoded using some type of reference beam or field, contains functional information causing an otherwise inert material to take on functional properties, might not be as far fetched as it seems. There is a lot of work to be done there. And I'm betting that in some R&D lab in some solid state electronics company, somewhere, this very thing is being done.
But how does this relate to paleo-archaeology and the ruins of Gobekli Tepe? To me, that was a bit of a stretch. She stated there were a number of symbols that loosely matched those shown in the CARET documents. Thus, she speculated that perhaps there was a similar function associated (in some way) with the ruins. Indeed, from a larger perspective such as a satellite view, the ruins appear to have a symbolic nature to them. So she speculates that perhaps the site, itself, has some type of functionality. While interesting, I found this a bit of a stretch - yet this was a weekend for stretches - and questions.
I thought Linda's was probably the best of the talks, but others were intensely fascinating. Most of the talks were on closely related topics along the ancient-aliens theme. This included presentations by Georgio Tsoukalos, Eric Von Daniken, and several more. There were a lot of references to Zachsaria Sitchin's writings and the idea that most religions were, at least in part, influenced by ET contact.
The upshot of the collected talks at the symposium was that we are not alone. We never have been alone. We have been visited all along. Visitation has left its mark on our history as well as on the present. Whether you believe any particular assertion, or even whether you accept any of the idea of paleo-archaeology, ancient ET contact, etc., each gives us food for thought. There are a number of fascinating archaeology anomalies coming to light, and they challenge our present models of human history.
As we got into the final day or two of the conference, I overheard a couple of people describing feelings of loss, primarily over the notion that after Sunday, they were going to have to return home to the same old thing. It's difficult to get into the daily routine after having spent the weekend on topics like human history, Armageddon prophecy, alien contact, etc. The quarterly sales report doesn't seem very fascinating. It's hard to get back into calculating store inventory, or whatever other work-a-day elements one's life might contain. Yet Sunday finally ended, and I drove home (only a few miles), as quite a few others caught airplanes (or began long drives) back to their respective homes.
It was time to return from a world of ET contact, ancient aliens and quantum holograms to another day on Earth.
As I write this article, it is the first day after the Paradigm conference. The last few days have been filled with talks, presentations, panel discussions and perhaps most important, conversations in the bar on the topic of the weekend - the unexplained, both ancient and modern. I met a lot of researchers and writers working in the areas of the paranormal, archaeology, UFO studies and ET contact. This was a weekend where I was among my own. There was little need to justify my interest in the extraordinary - does this stuff exist, is it real, etc. Instead the focus was on what does it mean, how long has it been with us, and what does it imply for our future.
To be fair, I did hear a lot of things I didn't believe. But the beauty of events like this is that you can try on ideas, see if they square with your own discernment, and then move on to another. In each case, the result is a lot of provocative questions - and perhaps new ideas.
The first talk was on Thursday evening, put on by Linda Moulton Howe. She always puts on a good talk, and this time was no exception. I had heard some of the material she presented at the MUFON conference in 2011. But there was a lot of new information within it, as well. The most interesting of this was on the ruins of Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey.
I'm not an archaeology expert, so I don't have a lot of ability to evaluate what I heard as would an expert in the field. Yet apparently, the ruins were from over 12,000 years ago. This flies in the face of the idea that civilization began only 5000 years (or so) ago. In addition, the ruins were apparently deliberately buried, for reasons unknown. Only a small amount of the area has been excavated, but apparently, it is a large ceremonial site.
At that time, Earth was still in the ice age. The Mediterranean seabed was dry and the area (now desert) was a temperate and fertile. It would have made a good location for a civilization. She build a good case for the idea that this was part of an earlier cycle of civilization, one that somehow came to a big crashing halt some time around 10 to 12 thousand years ago.
Linda does a great job of tying together a lot of rather disparate topics into one bundle of mystery. In this case, she related a number of previous topics (such as the self-activating technology she talked about in 2011) with paleoarchaeology sites. She talked more about the photos of dragonfly drones, observed extensively in about 2007, or so (several photo analysts have since declared the photos to be fakes using photoshop). She related this to the CARET documents, purportedly leaked documents describing eforts to replicate and commercialize alien technology.
The biggest piece of information, at least for me, was the idea, in which a set of symbols seemed to comprise some form "software" that would execute on its own, without the need of a computer to execute it. According to "Isaac" the pseudonym of the person who apparently leaked the documents to Linda, it executed when exposed to some type of field - perhaps a consciousness/quantum field, perhaps an EM field, etc. (use your imagination). At first, the thought ran square into my discernment filter - leaving me cold until a bit later when I got a chance to think about it a bit more. Then I began to wonder - could this be similar to the budding technology of 3D printing, where they can manufacture parts directly using 3D imaging? The idea was intriguing.
Usually, at conferences, the real science gets done at the bar, often after a few glasses of wine, and Thursday evening was no exception. I ended up talking with Linda and a couple of other people about this idea. What if, rather than being some kind of executable "software" as we would think of it, the symbols formed a kind of holographic encoding. Apparently, the symbols were mounted on a seemingly-inert substrate, something like glass or crystal. So what if the symbols, when exposed to some kind of field, would generate a 3D hologram within the material. Like a 3D printer, the projected image would contain information that would cause the material to change its properties in a way that would make it functional.
There are plenty of examples of material changing in response to fields, including lenses that darken when exposed to sunlight and LCDs, in which the material changes properties in response to an electric field. Also, integrated circuit technology such as the gate array, does a similar thing, taking on functional properties based upon information input. So the idea of a holographically encoded field that, when decoded using some type of reference beam or field, contains functional information causing an otherwise inert material to take on functional properties, might not be as far fetched as it seems. There is a lot of work to be done there. And I'm betting that in some R&D lab in some solid state electronics company, somewhere, this very thing is being done.
But how does this relate to paleo-archaeology and the ruins of Gobekli Tepe? To me, that was a bit of a stretch. She stated there were a number of symbols that loosely matched those shown in the CARET documents. Thus, she speculated that perhaps there was a similar function associated (in some way) with the ruins. Indeed, from a larger perspective such as a satellite view, the ruins appear to have a symbolic nature to them. So she speculates that perhaps the site, itself, has some type of functionality. While interesting, I found this a bit of a stretch - yet this was a weekend for stretches - and questions.
I thought Linda's was probably the best of the talks, but others were intensely fascinating. Most of the talks were on closely related topics along the ancient-aliens theme. This included presentations by Georgio Tsoukalos, Eric Von Daniken, and several more. There were a lot of references to Zachsaria Sitchin's writings and the idea that most religions were, at least in part, influenced by ET contact.
The upshot of the collected talks at the symposium was that we are not alone. We never have been alone. We have been visited all along. Visitation has left its mark on our history as well as on the present. Whether you believe any particular assertion, or even whether you accept any of the idea of paleo-archaeology, ancient ET contact, etc., each gives us food for thought. There are a number of fascinating archaeology anomalies coming to light, and they challenge our present models of human history.
As we got into the final day or two of the conference, I overheard a couple of people describing feelings of loss, primarily over the notion that after Sunday, they were going to have to return home to the same old thing. It's difficult to get into the daily routine after having spent the weekend on topics like human history, Armageddon prophecy, alien contact, etc. The quarterly sales report doesn't seem very fascinating. It's hard to get back into calculating store inventory, or whatever other work-a-day elements one's life might contain. Yet Sunday finally ended, and I drove home (only a few miles), as quite a few others caught airplanes (or began long drives) back to their respective homes.
It was time to return from a world of ET contact, ancient aliens and quantum holograms to another day on Earth.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Paths, doors and unexpected walls
In my last post, I wrote about how when one door closes, another door opens. For myself and for quite a few other people I know, this has been a week of possible new paths, of doors opening and closing, and of walking into unexpected brick walls. Sometimes, it seems, that open door leads nowhere.
In my own life, I have gotten discouraging news and responses as I've tried to find a new location. Since the Healing Loft closed, I have been looking for a group of complimentary healers with whom I could hook up, part time. A couple of the places I have looked at have indicated they were not interested in having a part time sublease or contracting practitioner. One person, another therapist said her life was already too chaotic to have another person associated with her studio. Another group said that things were too uncertain, etc.
The most recent disappointment was from a possibility I had really hoped would pan out. It was with a group located in the community center near my home. It was a very professional looking venue and it looked like it would really work - No Such Luck. I still have some more options to look at, none of them as ideal as the ones I had hoped would materialize. Beyond that, I'm not sure where the footpath is leading me. In short, the responses I have gotten have been rather discouraging. So, what's the lesson here? What is the take-away message from all of this?
One of them, I see as being the difference between hopes and intentions. Steven Covey describes in his Seven Habits book series, the difference between the circle of influence and the circle of concern. The circle of concern is the set of things you care about. These are the external factors in your life, in which you are, in some way, a stakeholder.
Meanwhile, the circle of influence is the set of those things you can control or at least influence. Ideally, it is best to have the two circles be as close together as possible. Or in Saint Francis's prayer, "to change the things I can, accept the things I can't."
The other lesson I see is to actually learn the right lesson from whatever is happening. As I felt totally disappointed by the response I got yesterday I was tempted to slam the door on everything. It was a very reactive response. I often see this response in people when they get disappointing news.
In actuality, when something like this happens, one needs to count to ten - to step back and take stock of what's going on. The best thing we can do is to let the reaction pass. Sleep on it and look at it again in the morning. What's the big picture? What are the implications of whatever decision you make? It's at times like this when we need to take some time to put on the thinking cap.
In the last few weeks (months, actually), many of the people I know have had significant challenges.
Several have had financial or health reverses, including the place where I had previously practiced, The Healing Loft. The suddenness of the closing took me by surprise, but in the context of the things I have seen since approximately mid August, abrupt changes like this make sense. More than one friend of mine has described sudden relationship problems, sudden financial problems, and unexpected health problems, many of these in combination to create a 'perfect storm' of challenge. And all seem to have the same major theme - the events were largely unexpected.
So where is this going? I'm still not sure. For myself and for many others, it looks like there are more paths and more doors. Some of the doors seem to be open. Do they actually lead to new paths? Or like so many around me in the past few weeks, do we find that the doors and paths lead smack into an unexpected wall?
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