The Real Talk World Library

Response to Jon Rappoport on “Clarifying My Work” Article

by Pete on 11/17/2010

Jon,

This letter is in response to the latest post Jon sent me, entitled, Clarifying My Work. His website is: http://www.nomorefakenews.com.

Why can’t we value our oneness and individuality at the same time? Why can’t we appreciate that we are both the product of creation and creation itself, simultaneously? Do all things have to be a matter of either, or? Why do governments, businesses and people become “corrupt”? How can we move beyond superficial cleverness if we refuse to question beliefs that underlie our behavior? Who are we? What is “reality”? What is the purpose of life?

Here are some unrelated questions I just released into the electronic aether. They emerged from discussions regarding a question on my Facebook Page. The question was: do you think it’s possible to create a moneyless society with the proper set of ideas?

Can love (love of creation) be as strong a motivator as fear (fear of suffering and death)? In other words, can love (internal motivation, natural passion) compete with fear (external threat) in enabling us to cooperate in creating the kind of world we want to live in, in being the kind of person we want to be? Will we do for love the things we do for money?

What gives us greater freedom and autonomy, love or fear? Inspired by love, what are the limits of creation; what are the limits of imagination?

Regards,

Pete -http://realtalkworld.com

Afterthoughts: While preparing to share this letter on my blog, the relationship between love and fear became more apparent. Love (curiosity and passion; the love of creation) is our gas peddle and natural fear (recognition of immediate danger) is our brake. We need both to survive in biological terms whereas, in dreams or inner reality, we die and get up again. The problem arises when unnatural fear enters the human equation. Unnatural fear results from scaring ourselves with thoughts of possible danger. Carried to extremes, unnatural fear or imagined threats, paralyze us in one way or another.

Like greed, imagined threats can serve as an excuse for warring with those around us as well as with ourselves. As many of us know, unnatural fear can manifest itself in countless ways!

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

How we define ourselves, and the world around us, forms our intent, which, in turn, forms our reality.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are responsible and accountable for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Email to Ellen Brown at: www.webofdebt.com

by Pete on 11/15/2010

Hi Ellen,

The article, The Trouble with Money, is now online.

One of the assumptions I base my writing on is that money is the material equivalent of energy, both of which we shape into matter and experience by thought. Do you think it’s possible to create a moneyless society with the proper set of ideas?

From We Create Our Own Reality:

The purpose, or challenge, of life is to learn how to use thought in its various forms to shape energy into a pleasing reality. The prize is a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of a job well done. And, like learning to walk or talk, it is a personal, subjective endeavor that requires creative aggression. It is a great balancing act, where one must accept falling down in the course of learning how to stand up.

Remember:

Thoughts are “things” with a reality of their own and you, an artist. With thoughts in the forms of belief, attitude, value and expectation, you paint the landscape of your life. Create a great day!

In my last email to you, I included the following paragraph:

The reality we create and then experience is a projection of two Primal Motives or Impulses. As self-aware and mortal emotional beings, we all strike a unique balance between the Will to Be (love of creation) and the Will to Survive (fear of dying), being vs. not being. It is the same for all societies and cultures (arguably, all beings). This suggests that to change ourselves for the better, we must first find a healthy balance between our love of creation and fear of dying.

Placing too much emphasis on our fear of suffering explains why money systems are inherently unstable. No one wants to suffer physical discomfort or inconvenience. For many of us, money, and lots of it, represents the solution to this problem. We think by being rich, we can avoid suffering and inconvenience. It is a very simple and powerful meme though poorly thought out.

I agree with your Foreclosuregate article on nationalizing our banking system but think, it too, is a temporary solution in light of our current level of thinking. There is much more we need to understand about who we are and what reality is. I also visited your forum and think you’re asking many great questions.

Continue to seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good!

Roger “Pete” Peterson – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are responsible (accountable) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

The Trouble With Money

by Pete on 11/11/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Money, in and of itself, is not bad. Like any form of power, it is all in how we use it.

Pure energy, like money, its material equivalent, is shaped into matter and experience by thought. It can be used to lift up or smash down, to build character or destroy character, to express love or express hate, to beautify or make ugly. (From: We Create Our Own Reality)

Coin and paper money gradually replaced cattle and other bartering goods because it establishes uniform value and is easier to transport. It simplifies the process of exchanging goods and services and makes it easier for us to settle debt and invest in our future. It is a brilliant idea that not only facilitates human interactivity, it stimulates growth and creativity! However, when we allow any form of power or pleasure to become more important to us than life itself, it corrupts and destabilizes relationships between individuals, nations, humanity and nature.

When nutrient rich blood circulates smoothly throughout the body there is health, growth and vitality for all parts. However, when the circulatory system breaks down through abuse and neglect, parts of the body begin to suffer and die before their time. At first, we rebel and attempt corrective action. If that fails, our affected parts weaken further and die. Eventually, our entire body dies earlier than necessary from the growing imbalance and dysfunction.

The same holds true for societies. If those in banking manipulate and hoard money for personal gain, if competing interests render government dysfunctional, if we sacrifice food quality for quantity and profit, if the wealthy reserve healthcare for themselves and businesses value profit more than service, society begins to fail before its time. This is what we see happening today, not only in America, but also around the world. It comes back to understanding and intent. We either accept we are both one and separate, which generates love, collaboration and cohesion or we continue to insist we are separate only and life is about survival of the fittest; it’s eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, which, as we know, generates fear, competition, distrust and violence.

FREE ENTERPRISE – NO!

In life and business, how many of us ask if what we are doing is good? Do our actions improve the quality of life or undermine it? Do they increase humanity’s chances for survival or threaten it? (From: Blueprint for Change)

When you hear or think about the phrase, free enterprise, what does it mean to you? Does it mean that anything goes in business, that we should be free to make money without restriction or responsibility, that we should not concern ourselves with the consequences of our actions so long as they are profitable in the moment? The way many of us talk and behave, you would think so!

When we lose sight of money’s important role in keeping society and the world healthy, when we make money itself “God”, service and foresight automatically take a back seat. How can we trust bankers or investment brokers with our money when their primary concern is personal wealth? How can we entrust health and pharmaceutical companies with our health needs when they write into “law” that maximizing profits for themselves and their investors is more important than the quality of the goods or services they provide? How can we trust food producers and handlers to safeguard our food supply when their primary goal is maximizing production to increase profit? How can we trust government representatives when, far too often, their primary concern is keeping their jobs, which requires them to serve powerful special interest groups whose only concern is themselves? How can we trust ourselves when our own bottom line is money, power and privilege instead of love, truth and joy?

Can we survive in a world disconnected from one another and our surroundings? Is it safe to say we have lost or corrupted the meaning of money? If so, how can we trust ourselves, or one another? What will we not do for money?

During the course of everyday events, we often forget the role of thoughts in the forging of our material reality. We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge. (From: We Create Our Own Reality)

RESPONSIBLE ENTERPRISE – YES!

Instead of creating a world of predators and victims by letting thoughts of fear, separation and competition (what’s going to work best for ME?) dominate our thinking, why not ask:

What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms? (Ask yourself, what is the best way for me to fulfill my own unique potential in support of the world AND myself? Balance the question, what can the world do for me with the question, what can I do for the world. Ask yourself questions and find your own answers!)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of business? (What is the best way for us to maintain the health and well-being of the planet and humanity? The earth is the larger body of which we are a part. How we treat it and others is how we treat ourselves.)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of education? (What is the best way for us to learn and grow? What are the most important things for us to learn?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of the environment? (What is the best and most sustainable way for us to relate to nature and the earth?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of peace? (What is the best way for us to treat each other as individuals and nations?)

When we ask the question, what’s going to work best for ALL of us, we automatically create a world based on oneness, love, trust, collaboration and sharing. By asking ourselves questions like, what is the best way for us to treat each other and what is the best way for us to treat ourselves, we engage our imaginations as well as our intellects in creating better selves, better lives and a better world. By rejecting old, settled beliefs and asking new questions, we empower ourselves immeasurably!

We are not only the product of creation (blank slates to write on; empty sponges to fill; computers to program) we are creation itself!

Accumulating wealth is too often an obsession driven by fear, masked as intelligence and forethought. We fear poverty, we fear starvation, we fear homelessness, we fear loneliness and we fear dying, among other things – all concerns of our outer self or ego. As a result of the anxious attention we pay to the external details of our lives, constantly responding to the demands and expectations of waking reality, many of us go through life blind to the divine nature of our own being and that of all things. Afraid to fall behind in the material struggle for survival, we let our outer ego self remain in charge, forsaking the voice of our inner self or soul. When we speak from the ego instead of the soul, the head instead of the heart, we lose ourselves in a world of fear, competition and “survival of the fittest”, never realizing it is a world of our own creation.

Remember:

The Solution

In other words, determine the qualities of life and being you value most, your ideals, and actualize them to the best of your ability! Did you know that by seven or eight, we have experienced almost every aspect of waking reality? We develop reaction patterns and form opinions based on our earliest life experiences, all of which become stored in our subconscious for quick reference, hard-wired into our nervous system. In most cases, we don’t have to consciously think about what we’re saying or doing in the moment. Like muscular reflexes, old patterns of thought and behavior automatically express themselves and will continue to do so until we decide to examine and change them. Some psychologists believe as much as 80% of our thoughts and actions originate from this cache of encoded memories. Haven’t you ever wondered why we keep repeating the same arguments and making the same mistakes? This is it!

Fear creates irrational thought and behavior while love creates calm and clarity. Fear blinds us to higher awareness and greater understanding. Love opens us up to it. Fear makes us favor money, power and privilege. Love makes us favor love, truth and joy. When we make money more important than relationships and the survival of humanity, we deny our connection to the divine and, in the process, lose touch with morality.

Fear wants to defend, predict and control while love wants to nurture, expand and appreciate. As physical beings subject to pain, hunger, loneliness, illness, accident and death, natural fear and love are both essential to our well-being. Finding a good balance is always a challenge. With more love and less fear, we can do it!

Money, in and of itself, is not the problem. It is our belief that everything has a price, including human life. In our over-exuberant desire to put a price on everything we have devalued all life and turned ourselves into commodities. This makes money and our material lives more important than the spiritual consciousness and energy that creates life.

Money, like consciousness, is a form of energy. We can use it to create anything – good or bad. It is how we define ourselves and use this form of energy that creates problems, or solves them. As Pogo, an old comic strip character created by Walt Kelly, once said: “We have met the enemy (and our savior, I might add)… and he is us.”

Roger “Pete” Peterson – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

How we define ourselves, and the world around us, forms our intent, which, in turn, forms our reality.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are responsible and accountable for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Seth: Every Day is a Psychic Rebirth

by Pete on 10/22/2010

Posted by: “Oceanside Rick” on Seth Practicing Idealist, Wed, Oct. 20, 2010. Thank you, Rick!

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Session 334, April 12, 1967

“Now. If you paint a picture, its overall quality comes from the inner atmosphere of your being.

In the same manner, you create your physical image and your world. If anything in that physical image or world needs changing, the change must first be made in the atmosphere of the inner self.

For this projection of inner into outer is automatic. Understanding the processes involved is of great benefit. The physical self seems to react to physical stimuli.

Actually, of course, it is reacting to its own reality, projected outward.

The objects in the physical universe are but symbols to express other realities existing within private realms.

The inner will always be projected outward within your system.

If, for example, a letter comes to you bearing good news, and you react to the letter with high spirits, then you should understand that the high spirits existed first, and created the materialization of the letter within the physical systems, through the multilayered and complicated reactions that bind together the physical system.

If an annoying letter arrives and you react to it negatively, the negative quality preceded the letter and caused it to materialize in your system. Now you do not force someone to write such a letter, you see. You broadcast the negative feelings, which were then picked up by whomever was ready to receive them, for their own purposes.

I cannot emphasize too strongly that this is automatic. I do not want to put it in such a way that it is oversimplified. Neither do I want it to get too involved in too many complications.

The intensity of the inner feeling is the dominating factor here. A sudden but intense feeling of hatred or resentment or fear may cause tragic physical circumstances, for example.

A sudden and intense exaltation, however, will have the same immediate and literally astounding but opposite physical effect. That is, pure joy, even of brief duration, can literally change the direction of a life.

Between these extremes lie all the other colors and hues of inner feeling.

A variety of poor or negative feelings, however, of fairly low intensity, can add up to a general negative emotional climate, which projects itself outward into physical reality.

These negative feelings will be translated in physical terms. It does you littlie good to know that physical symptoms or inadequate physical surroundings are symbolic unless you realize that the inner situation can be changed.

Now it appears to you that a difference is worked when you exchange a poor physical symbol for a constructive one. The change of course comes before this in the inner self.

The physical being simply uses the physical system as a checking board.

It must be realized that the physical conditions are not permanent, but ever-changing.

To imagine otherwise is to become hypnotized by the physical symbols. Each day should be considered a new day. Ruburt should not think for example: “I have had these symptoms for such and such a time.”

This reinforces the idea of permanency.

The day should be considered as a psychic rebirth.”

Thank you Laurel Davies-Butts for letting Real Talk World reprint excerpts from the Seth/Jane Roberts/Robert Butts material! Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Roger “Pete” Peterson – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

I See You and I Love You

by Pete on 10/08/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Yesterday, Thursday, 10/07/2010, I delivered my old computer to an aging and lonely friend. He was happy, not only because he had never had one, but also because it represents a new way for him to connect to the world while learning how to use this popular technology. Having a computer gives him the opportunity to take classes and communicate with others. He can now email his friends, and if he wants to learn something about anything, he can Google it. John is also an artist and I think having the opportunity to digitize his art and share it with others over the Internet will renew his interest in drawing.

However, that is not the main reason I write this note. Delivering my old computer to John provided me with an opportunity to wear my newest and, perhaps, most controversial t-shirt design out in public: I see you and I love you. Most of us wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a message like this in public because we know we don’t love everyone. We would be afraid of attracting attention and feeling self-conscious with this message boldly emblazoned across our chest. We would worry what others think about us. After all, how can any human being be capable of loving others without judgment? Who would want to?

Contrary to these expectations, as I ate lunch with John and his friend, Tom, in a busy Berkeley restaurant, and drove on the freeway to and from Santa Rosa, I found myself looking at people differently. Instead of being self-conscious, I felt great and looked at everyone through the eyes of love, appreciation, understanding and forgiveness, which is the essence of unconditional love. I found myself mentally repeating and projecting the message on my t-shirt to everyone around me. Though it is not a belief I am fully able to embrace yet, unconditional love is a state of consciousness I aspire to because of my own experience with it (see: Encounter with the Energy of Unconditional Love).

By wearing this loving message on a t-shirt, I was able to disrupt negative thought and emotional patterns that normally haunt me when I go out in public, robotic programming I find almost impervious to change or disruption. By outwardly proclaiming my belief in the energy of unconditional love and the good it can bring to the world, I was able to bring change to myself in a grand way.

Did it bring change to others? I don’t know. But what will happen if large numbers of us support the love, appreciation, understanding and forgiveness contained in the words: I see you and I love you? Do you want to change yourself, and the world, for the better? Do you want to bring love, truth and joy into the world, instead of fear, separation, judgment and competition? If you do, share this message with others on t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, hoodies and more from The LifeSong Store. We can do more than project mental intentions into the world; we can project physical intentions into the world with words and images on clothing, with behavior. This level of commitment will change us, and the world, for the better!

As we think, we create. Change what we think, and we change what we create. We are not only the product of creation; we are creation itself!

Roger Peterson – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Five Beliefs That Will Change the World for the Better

by Pete on 09/19/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us. If we do not consciously choose our own beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.
We are both one AND separate. What you do to me, you do to you. What I do to you, I do to me. What you do to you, you do to me. What I do to me, I do to you. This largely intuitive knowledge is what gives substance and meaning to the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Is the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in our troops and the guilt we feel when we harm others, or ourselves, the soul’s way of telling us to “stop” doing these things?)
We are not only the product of creation; we are creation itself! In the dynamic dance of life, sometimes we lead and sometimes we follow. Sometimes we do both simultaneously.
ALL life is sacred. You are one face of God. I am another. God is All That Is and All That Is, is God!
EVIL does not exist in reality. Consciousness (Energetic Awareness, Awareized Energy) or God wants to know itself in all ways. It seeks pleasure, not pain! However, to tell one from the other, to have the power of choice, Consciousness must know both. To know hot, we must know cold, to know happy, we must know sad, to know love, we must know fear.

Responsibility (response-ability, accountability, creativity and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival. We can view life as a burdensome journey of pain and suffering or a creative opportunity to learn and grow. In either case, we get what we concentrate on. As creative beings our ultimate challenge is to see where we are, decide where we want to be, and get from here to there, safely and responsibly.

The 21^st Century serves as a natural timeframe for building a dream, a vehicle for life in the New Millennium that will help transport mankind through the next 1,000 years in peace and safety.

Pete – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Letter to School Administrators, Teachers, Parents and Students

by Pete on 09/04/2010

Dear School Administrator, Teacher, Parent or Student,

On August 19, 2010, my wife, Sandra and I sent President Obama a letter on education with the subject line: Project-Centered Education versus Program-Centered Education. As parents, grandparents and as former members (I was Chairman) of the parent/teacher committee at our children’s elementary school in San Francisco, we think education should be as much about raising consciousness as it is about raising money.

Instead of letting fear and competition, (what’s going to work best for ME?) dominate our thinking and create a world of predators and victims, why not ask:

What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms? (What is the best way to fulfill our own unique potential in support of the world and ourselves?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of business? (What is the best way for us to maintain the health and well-being of our planet and humanity?
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of education? (What is the best way for us to learn and grow? What are the most important things for us to learn?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of the environment? (What is the best and most sustainable way for us to relate to nature and the earth?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of peace? (What is the best way for us to treat each other as individuals and nations?)

We are not only the product of creation (blank slates to write on, empty sponges to fill or computers to program) we are creation itself! By asking ourselves questions like, what is the best way for us to treat each other and what is the best way for us to treat ourselves, we engage our imaginations as well as our intellects in creating better selves, better lives and a better world. By accepting this response-ability, we empower ourselves! Learning to read, write and do arithmetic is fun when we do it for our own reasons, when we do it to better express our own ideals.

What can be more exciting or worth doing than changing ourselves, and the world, for the better? What can stimulate our natural passion more than striving to be the person we love to be, doing what we love to do?

We encourage you to read our Education Letter to Obama. Every school administrator, every teacher, every parent and every student should have the opportunity to read, evaluate, share and discuss these transformational ideas.

Active and thoughtful participation in the creation of our reality is the change we are waiting for!

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Please continue to seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good!

Roger and Sandra Peterson

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Education Letter to Obama

by Pete on 08/19/2010

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

SUBJECT: Project-Centered Education versus Program-Centered Education. Limitation of mind can produce great suffering. Education should be as much about raising consciousness as it is about raising money. It should be as much about serving the needs of the individual as it is about serving the needs of all.

All beings harbor within their consciousness the ideals, seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good, but few have the courage or wisdom to express them to any significant degree under the overwhelming pressure to survive and gain acceptance in the world as it is. As an individual, you seem to have actualized these values very successfully. I suspect, in addition to love, they represent your highest goals in life or you would not be as bright or insightful as you are. Imagine what America would be like, what life would be like, if these values played a significant role in our lives, if they were consciously present in the mind of every person and written above the entrance of every school and institution. Imagine that the role of every teacher is to help every student achieve these goals to the world’s and the student’s greatest benefit and satisfaction.

Open-ended, unassuming values like these open our hearts and minds and keep them open over a lifetime. However, our current belief/education systems often close our minds and imaginations. They distort and limit our powers of observation and discernment instead of expanding them. Here is why I say this: when I started catechism class in Catholic school in 1947, a nun told the entire class that all humans are sinful (born in sin) because Adam and Eve ate an apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil against God’s command. The nun also added emphatically, “And you can’t trust the flesh because it will always betray you” – her personal belief, I suspect. In one awful moment, every student in that class was told you’re bad and you can’t trust yourself. There was a third message hidden in these words as well – trust us (the church) and do as we say, we know what’s best for you. Loudly protesting these damning ideas, I was told, “Be quiet!”

The next morning, as we stood in line outside her classroom, the nun appeared and pulled me out of line. She looked down and asked, “Are you going to learn your catechism today?” Looking her in the eye, I said No! She immediately pulled a heavy wooden ruler out of her habit, grabbed my right wrist and started beating my knuckles as hard as she could until I cried out in pain and humiliation. It was as if by using torture she could force me to submit to the church’s teachings.

That entire period, I sat with my back to her, facing the rear wall of the classroom. The next day, after walking the two miles to school with my older brother Dicky, I refused to enter. On the way to school, I had made up my mind never to go there again. I said I would wait in the woods behind the church until he got out so we could walk home together.

That afternoon I told my mother what happened and repeated that I would never go back there again. Angry herself, the next morning she enrolled Dicky and me in public school. When my new teacher asked me to stand up and introduce myself, I used the opportunity to tell him how the catholic school treated its students. I then asked him how public schools treated theirs. He shouted, “Sit down, shut up and do as I tell you because I’m the teacher and I know what’s best for you!”

I had struck a nerve and under the veneer of politeness and concern, the message was loud and clear. The dominant cultural belief was, and still is, that children are the ward of the state. At its worst, the rationale goes, it is in the best interest of competition and survival to sift the chaff from the wheat, skim the cream from the top. At best, we want children to grow up so they can replace us in the work force, become financially independent, good consumers and start replacement families of their own. It is no wonder many children feel alienated, become angry and act out or go underground with their thoughts and feelings. We prepare them to fit into life, as it is, not to question and improve it, not to stretch and grow in response to his or her experience, curiosity, impulses and inclinations; it is to accept the established teachings of institutional authorities without question. If it wasn’t for the whispered encouragement of our souls, the promise of love and a fear of dying, mankind would have been toast long ago.

We are now reaping the rewards of this flawed system in an unprecedented breakdown of relationships and society. We are a society at war with itself. Government does not trust the people and the people do not trust the government. Fear and greed supersede love and sharing in our relationships.

How can we change direction? Instead of limiting ourselves to the question, what’s going to work best for “ME”, as many of us now do, we can start asking:

What’s going to work best for ALL of us in personal terms? (What is the best way to fulfill our own unique potential in support of the world and ourselves?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of business? (What is the best way to maintain the health and well-being of the planet and humanity?
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of education? (What is the best way for us to learn and grow? What are the most important things for us to learn?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of the environment? (What is the best and most sustainable way for us to relate to nature and the earth?)
What’s going to work best for ALL of us in terms of peace? (What is the best way for us to relate to each other as individuals and nations?)

Make the Jump from the Value Judgment World to the Value Fulfillment World

Humanity has faced serious challenges to its existence before. We are facing one now. More than ever, we must be still and “know”, not melt down in fear and become reactionary, which only makes matters worse. We must open our hearts and minds to new ideas, new ways to see ourselves, and the world around us. We must think with new clarity and boldness. We must explore, discuss, collaborate and share. We must grow beyond our current limitations of thought and being.

First, consider there are two major value systems that serve as models for human behavior and two value systems that serve as measures of success. Life as we know it plays itself out within the matrix of these ideas. These core concepts, and how we relate to them, determine how we think and act in life. They give us the option of creating a Value Judgment World or a Value Fulfillment World. In a fear-based Value Judgment World, we manipulate and control each other with external values. We make value judgments of right and wrong, good and bad, smart and stupid, strong and weak, guilt and punishment. In a love-based Value Fulfillment World, individuals live by value fulfillment and practice idealism. In other words, they consciously determine the values of life and being they value most, their ideals, and actualize them to the best of their ability. They figure out what works for them and what doesn’t, what makes them happy and what doesn’t.

Models of Behavior

1. Law of the Jungle – The Law of the Jungle is fear-based and tells us that life is about separation, scarcity, competition and survival of the fittest. Some interpret this to mean that every man is an island, it’s eat or be eaten, kill or be killed.

2. Law of the Body – The Law of the Body is love-based and tells us that life is about oneness AND separation, interdependence, collaboration, sharing, creativity and cooperation. We know unconsciously, if not consciously, the lessons our bodies teach us, or life would be short and brutal indeed!

Measures of Success

1. Money, Power and Privilege – money, power and privilege are objective, material measures of success. Providing food, shelter and safety for our families and ourselves is essential while we exist in material form. For most, this is by far the dominant measure of success in our lives.

2. Love, Truth and Joy – love, truth and joy are subjective, emotional measures of success. For some, love, truth and joy are just as important and life giving as money, power and privilege, if not more so.

Whichever set of core beliefs we identify with most has the greatest influence on our surface thoughts, feelings and behavior. If we find the Law of the Jungle and the idea of money, power and privilege more appealing, we become more fearful, predatory and materially oriented. If we find the Law of the Body and love, truth and joy more appealing, we become more peaceful, loving and thought-conscious or spiritual. Evidence suggests, as a whole, we are closer to the material end of the spectrum than the spiritual end – if this is not so in numbers of people, it certainly is so in the impact of materialism on our lives.

Change Begins Within

The reality we create and then experience is a projection of two Primal Motives or Urges. As human beings, each one of us relates to the Will to Be (love of creation) and the Will to Survive (fear of dying), differently. It is the same for societies and cultures; they too strike a unique balance between these two Primal Motives. As individuals, and societies, this suggests that to change ourselves for the better, we must first determine a healthy balance between our love of creation and fear of dying. It is far simpler, cheaper and less time-consuming to change ourselves from within than it is to change ourselves from without, for where do we begin and how much will it cost?

Many of us think life, as we know it, is failing or unsustainable because, as a culture, we make money, power and privilege more important than love, truth and joy. As a result, we live with more fear than love. Our thinking is more material than spiritual. It is compartmentalized, specialized and limited. As a society, we overtly and covertly place many areas of inquiry and exploration off limits, which results in feelings of oppression and selective perception. The challenge for each of us is to figure out what balance of ideas will work best for us as individuals and as a world. It is time to ask questions, not accept “official” answers without question.

The growing collapse of our economic and social system – increases in population, people in jail, homelessness, joblessness, food shortages, disease, wars, global warming, unsustainable growth and the loss of wealth, can be laid at the feet of putting fear, individuality and self-interest (ego) ahead of love, oneness and the common good. A similar imbalance occurs when we put the common good ahead of self-interest. We are capable of creating a system that values both equally. By giving equal value to both our oneness and individuality, we make it possible to cooperate, not compete, with one another. In addition, by asking questions that include ALL of us, we not only acknowledge our oneness and individuality, we acknowledge our individual and collective roles, and responsibility, in co-creating our shared reality.

Five Beliefs That Will Change the World for the Better

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us. In other words, how we define ourselves, and the world around us, forms our intent, which in turn forms our reality.

We are both one AND separate. What you do to me, you do to you. What I do to you, I do to me. What you do to you, you do to me. What I do to me, I do to you. This largely intuitive knowledge is what gives substance and meaning to the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Is the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in our troops and the guilt we feel when we harm others, as well as ourselves, the soul’s way of telling us to stop doing these things?)

We are not only the product of creation; we are creation itself! In the dynamic dance of life, sometimes we lead and sometimes we follow. Sometimes we do both simultaneously.

ALL life is sacred. You are one face of God. I am another. God is All That Is and All That Is, is God!

EVIL does not exist in reality. Consciousness (Energetic Awareness, Awareized Energy) or God wants to know itself in all ways. It seeks pleasure, not pain! However, to tell one from the other, to have the power of choice, Consciousness must know both. To know hot, we must know cold, to know happy, we must know sad, to know love, we must know fear.

The 21^st Century serves as a natural timeframe for building a dream, a vehicle for life in the New Millennium that will help transport mankind through the next 1,000 years in peace and safety.

Project-Centered Education versus Program-Centered Education

Program-Centered Education: Normally, as adults, we see children as thinking, feeling and creative beings. So why do we settle for an “official” view that defines them as anything less? Many of us sense children are newly arrived souls launched on a journey of self-discovery and reawakening. When we see a truth and ignore it, we are guilty of false loyalty, whether it is to a beloved individual or a sacred belief. In doing so, we are saying that loyalty to people and beliefs, even when they do us serious harm, is more important than life itself.

Program-Centered Education treats children as property – as resources or commodities to develop, harness and exploit for personal and social gain. Seldom does it encourage students to develop their own beliefs and values or question and challenge established ones. (See, My Recurring Superman Nightmare for an example of how the system works.)

In life and business, how many of us ask if what we’re doing is good? Does it improve the quality of life and increase humanity’s chances for survival or does it undermine it? In many cases, we do what we think works best for us, giving little or no thought to how it works for others. To create a society based solely on the Will to Survive, which many of us interpret to mean – survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten, kill or be killed – is a recipe for disaster. We need to include the Will to Be for the expansion of consciousness and balance. It is what makes us feel love and care about our future.

Project-Centered Education sees us as both one AND separate. We are both the product of creation and creation itself. The “project” in Project-Centered Education is to create better versions of reality and ourselves. Starting with what’s going to work best for ALL of us, in personal terms and in terms of business, education, the environment and peace, teachers and students can develop projects that help them discover greater understanding and serve the highest good. By encouraging children to ask questions, we not only engage them in creating their own reality and shaping their own future, we enlist them as partners in co-creating our shared reality.

When seek the greatest understanding and serve the highest good is our primary goal we have a purpose for living and learning, and buried within these ideals is the promise of love, truth and joy. We are not bad; it is our ideas about who we are and what reality is that limit and distort our human expression.

“Education” includes doing for ourselves what others will not or cannot do for us.

Active and thoughtful participation in the creation of our reality is the change we have been waiting for. Public education is an excellent place to start.

Evolution, not Revolution – it’s time for God’s “Children” to grow up.

What can we do today for the selves we’ll be tomorrow?

Roger and Sandra Peterson

CC:

Vice President Joe BidenEd. Secretary Arne DuncanSenate Speaker Harry ReidHouse Speaker Nancy PelosiSenator Tom HarkinSenator Bernie Sanders

Senator Sharrod Brown

Senator Al FrankenSenator Dianne FeinsteinSenator Barbara BoxerRepresentative Dale KildeeRepresentative Dennis KucinichRepresentative Lynne Woolsey

Representative Alan Grayson

Oprah Winfrey

Bill & Melinda GatesSteven SpielbergBill MoyersThom & Louise HartmannAmy GoodmanEd Shultz

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

CA Ed. Super. Jack O’Connell

We Create Our Own Reality

During the course of everyday events we often forget the role of thoughts in the forging of our material reality. We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge.

Pure energy like money, its material equivalent, is shaped into matter and experience by thought. It can be used to lift up or smash down, to build character or destroy character, to express love or express hate, to beautify or make ugly.

Remember:

Thoughts are “things” with a reality of their own and you an artist. With thoughts in the forms of belief, attitude, value and expectation, you paint the landscape of your life.

Visit The Real Talk World Library (http://realtalklibrary.com). It contains many first-hand accounts of extraordinary experiences like Encounter with the Energy of Unconditional Love, Ask Value Questions and Listen for Intuitive Answers, Inside Ivy, What I Learned in Catholic School, Dreams of My Unborn Grandson, A Healing Meditation Surprise, Pete’s Creation Dreams (includes the Genesis Dream), The “Suckface” Incident and The Ball of Light – a (Lucid) Dream about the Nature of Consciousness and Being. These experiences and others describe a much larger picture of who we are, what reality is and what we can all do when we let ourselves go gladly into the nature of creativity and not hold back.

Pete – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Seth on Violence and Love

by Pete on 08/18/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

“There is never any justification for violence. There is no justification for hatred. There is no justification for murder. Those who indulge in violence for any reason are themselves changed, and the purity of their purpose adulterated.

I have told you that if you do not like the state of your world, it is yourselves that you must change, individually and en masse. This is the only way that change will be effected. If your generation or any generation effects a change, this is the only way it will be done. What I am telling you has been said before through the centuries. It is up to you whether or not you will listen.

It is wrong to curse a flower and wrong to curse a man [or woman]. It is wrong not to hold any man in honor, and it is wrong to ridicule any man. You must honor yourselves and see within yourselves the spirit of eternal vitality. If you do not do this, then you destroy what you touch. And you must honor each other individual also, because in him is the spark of eternal vitality.

When you curse yourself, you curse yourselves, and the curse returns to you. When you are violent, the violence returns… I speak to you because yours is the opportunity [to better world conditions] and yours is the time. Do not fall into the old ways that will lead you precisely into the world that you fear.

When every young man refuses to go to war, you will have peace. As long as you fight for gain and greed, there will be no peace. As long as one person commits acts of violence for the sake of peace, you will have war. Unfortunately, it is difficult to imagine that all the young men in all the countries will refuse to go to war at the same time. And so, you must work out the violence that violence has wrought. Within the next 100 years that time may come. Remember, you do not defend any idea with violence.

There is no man who hates but that that hatred is reflected outward and made physical. And there is no man who loves but that that love is reflected outward and made physical.”

(Excerpt from end of Chapter 18, The Seth Material by Jane Roberts and Robert Butts. Copyright material reprinted with permission.)

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Seth – How Individuals and Nations Compound Problems

by Pete on 08/18/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Seth: “Your whole civilization is (convinced) that the way to solve a problem –any problem, private or worldwide– is to exaggerate it, see its worst projection; and this, then, is supposed to make you take proper action. The approach unfortunately solves no problems, and only compounds them whether the nation is trying to solve problems of energy, or social problems, or whether an individual is trying to overcome a dilemma.

You (Seth talking to Jane and Rob) are so immersed in that method of problem solving, however, that it comes back to haunt you. At least you can be aware of it and alert. I will give you the answers to your questions, but they are not the way to solve your problem–and against all conventional knowledge, reviewing the mistakes of the past does not lead to wisdom.

When you become so worried, of course, you concentrate even further on the problem–how bad it is, and what will happen if it becomes worse in the future. The problem is, therefore, compounded to whatever degree–and when I give you both such reasons, then sometimes you use them, the two of you to ADD TO your private and joint self-disapproval. The belief is that if you frighten yourself badly enough through imagined projections, you will be frightened enough to change–but the nation or the individual following that method does not change for the better. Instead, they compound the original condition by concentrating upon it until it looms larger than before. Such methods cause panic, national or individual.

To solve a problem you begin to minimize its characteristics, diminish its importance, rob it of your attention and refuse it your energy.

The method is the opposite, of course, of what you are taught. That is why it seems to be so impractical. I have said this so many times–and I do realize it is difficult for you–but you cannot concentrate upon two things at once. Therefore, to the extent you concentrate upon your pleasures, your accomplishments, and to the extent you relate to the PSYCHIC AND BIOLOGICAL MOMENT, you are refreshing yourselves. You are not projecting negatively, and you are allowing the problem to un-wrinkle, un-knot. You are denying it the energy of your attention that keeps it going.

You do not spend time thinking that you have not used your abilities properly. You take it for granted that you ARE using them properly, and that allows them to fully develop.”

Seth: Session 08/14/78, The Personal Sessions, Book 4 by Jane Roberts and Robert Butts, pgs 332-334. (Copyright material reprinted with permission.)

Thank you “Oceanside Rick” for supplying this excerpt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seth_Practicing_Idealists/

(Slight editing for clarity – Pete)

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Guided Imagination: Healing by Fire

by Pete on 03/16/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! - Pete

In guided imagination one person acts as the storyteller or guide while the other participants lie down, relax, and close their eyes. Once the participants are fully relaxed, usually through a series of relaxation exercises, the storyteller constructs an imaginary scene and offers suggestions to focus, guide, and stimulate the participants’ creative abilities, just like thoughts and emotions stimulate our creative abilities in dreams. The results depend on each person’s ability to relax and get out of the way of his or her consciousness so it can flesh out the story line and allow the scene to take on a life of its own!

HEALING BY FIRE

The first Guided Imagination Exercises I participated in involved the spirits of Earth, Wind (air), Water and Fire. Our group met once a week and each week, for a month, we used one of these basic elements to build a story around. My favorite was the Fire Exercise.

After conducting a relaxation exercise, the storyteller describes a scene with trees, green grass and wild flowers. He encourages us to enter the scene. Because I am so relaxed and these scenic elements are so pleasant and non-threatening, I find it easy to fully enter into the scene. He encourages us to explore our surroundings, to tumble in the grass, smell the flowers, or float up into the trees if we want. I follow (actualize) the suggestion to float up into the trees to smell the blossoms and after several minutes, the storyteller tells us to “see the pathway that winds through the trees.” He instructs us to follow the path. We can walk, run, float, roll, tumble, or fly, whatever suits our fancy. I choose to float, and after some initial difficulty, do so quite successfully. As we approach an open field, we’re told to see a fire burning off to one side of the path. Again, several suggestions are offered to stimulate our imagination. A roaring bonfire is one suggestion and a burning house, another. Once we see our fire of choice, we’re instructed to enter it. I choose a burning house for my experience.

The house is a short distance off the path to my left. It is nearly burned to the ground but there’s still some debris burning around the sides and in the middle of the house. Walking now, my fear of being burned grows as I approach the flames. Before actually stepping into them, I remind myself that I’m not in my physical body and that the flames can’t hurt my astral form. Without further thought, I step into the flames. They feel cool and breezy against my skin as they lap up around my legs. Delighted, I walk to the center of the house to be among the tallest flames. As I revel in these wonderful new sensations, a large column of flame rises up in front of me and huddles against my chest. As I look at it, an arm-like extension of flame reaches out from the right side of its body and penetrates my left side. Before I can react, I feel something like a hand wrap around my heart and begin to knead it gently and lovingly.

Somehow, in this alternate reality, a doorway for healing has been opened. For many years I’ve sensed a growing hardness in my heart from being so angry at myself and the world for not being perfect. As the Fire Being or Spirit continues to knead my heart, strong feelings of love and compassion are released in me. With a great sigh of relief, I completely relax into the experience.

Soon, the storyteller speaks again and gently suggests we bring our fire experience to an end. As his suggestion slowly filters through my mind, the Flame Spirit withdraws its fiery hand from inside my chest. Growing an additional appendage from the left side of its body, it reaches up over my right shoulder and around the back of my neck. Supporting itself with its left appendage, it leans back and looks up into my face. With the fiery hand it had used to massage my heart, it reaches toward me and gently brushes the left side of my face with the back side of its hand, like a mother expressing love and sadness before parting. After one final hug, it slowly lets go of me and sinks down into the flames still burning around my legs. With great sadness, I turn and walk out of the burning house and back up the pathway. As I retrace my steps to the beginning of this journey and waking reality, I mentally relive my experience with the Fire Being and marvel at the magic and wonder of it all. It was a profound, maybe even a life-saving healing experience for me!

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Who Are You?

by Pete on 03/06/2010

The Inner Journey - Open to new possibilities!

higher awareness home . share the inner journey with friends . contact us

“Please… tell me who you are and what you want. And if you think those are simple questions, keep in mind that most people live their entire lives without arriving at an answer.”

– Gary Zukav

How deeply can you answer this question? Please realize that you are the only one who can answer it. No one else can tell you who you are. You must discover this for yourself. And the challenge of knowing ourselves is no easy task.

We hope this question excites rather than intimidates you. There’s so much more to you than you know at present! Isn’t this intriguing? Perhaps it’s time to go exploring….

“Mysterious and intimidating to contemplate, the human brain is the most complex thing there is and the most difficult task it can undertake is to understand itself.”

– David Noonan

“I don’t think God cares where we were graduated or what we did for a living. God wants to know who we are. Discovering this is the work of the soul – it is our true life’s work.”

– Bernie Siegel

Know Yourself – An adventure in self discovery! Become aware of your subconscious limitations, your character strengths, weaknesses and potentials, your life challenges, gifts, talents, and your deepest desires and aspirations. Take the Know Yourself online workbook now. Join Higher Awareness.

The Inner Journey is brought to you by John & Patrice Robson of HigherAwareness.com. We invite you to take the awareness and consciousness journey to know & grow yourself.

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Skin Sensing on Marijuana

by Pete on 02/23/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! - Pete

The next day, I asked Sandra why she left so abruptly. She said she could feel the energy I was directing at her and it scared her. A few nights later I smoked the last of the three joints. For some reason I decided to move my chair into the middle of the living room directly off the end of the hallway. The walls in our townhouse were white so I had installed a red light bulb in the hallway for effect. After smoking my joint I closed my eyes and started to meditate. Noticing that I could see the red glow from the hallway light, I shut my eyelids tighter. I could still see the red glow of the hallway light. After more attempts to block out the red light, I was forced to come to the conclusion that I was seeing it through my skin!

Years later, I read a magazine article about an elementary school teacher in South America who conducted experiments with his students. Blindfolded, they would run their hands over images of colorful ads in magazines selected by the teacher and then draw pictures of what they had seen with their hands. According to the article, test results were amazingly accurate. It was evident the students were seeing objects through their skin, the teacher concluded. A quick Google search turned up a website article entitled: Seeing Through the Skin, which describes a study of skin viewing being conducted by Prof. Leonid Yaroslavsky at Tel Aviv University, in Israel. You can visit the website by clicking on the link above.

Even though I’m sharing my drug-related experience with you, I don’t advocate drug use. In many cases they’re considered illegal. Personally, I prefer a clear mind when I explore the nature of my own consciousness. It makes me a better observer. In fact, my most profound experiences in altered states happen when my mind is clearest. Openness, fearlessness and curiosity also play a vital role in experiencing altered states of consciousness.

Many of us have been convinced that looking inward on our own is dangerous. It’s not if we refuse to be frightened by it. Like everything else, it’s best to start with baby steps. When we really want to know something it’s as if the entire universe cooperates in bringing us knowledge. In other words, we get what we concentrate on whether it’s by design or default. There are no accidents so it’s up to us to be clear on what we want.

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves, and the world.

Blessings of love and understanding be to us all.

Change yourself, and the world, for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Channeling Energy and Seeing Transformations on Marijuana

by Pete on 02/23/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of your experience. Look for them! - Pete

I smoked marijuana twice while we lived in San Francisco and once in Santa Rosa (we moved to Santa Rosa in 1980). A friend from Sonoma County gave me three joints while visiting me in San Francisco. It was called Acapulco Gold and he said it was really good stuff. By that I mean it was supposed to provide me with heightened sensory awareness and hallucinatory experiences. The first time I tried it I smoked two joints back to back. Almost instantly it kicked in and, on impulse, I began to send energy to Sandra through the palms of my hands. She sat at the other end of the couch from me and had refused my offer to share a joint with me.

At that time in my life I meditated regularly and had developed the habit of channeling energy through the palms of my hands as they rested palm up on my lap. I would visualize a continuous loop of energy rising out of my hands and going down through the top of my head before flowing down my arms and out through my hands again. It was part experiment and part practice in control. I discovered this practice had a soothing affect on me.

The energy coming out of my hands felt like solid columns and as I directed energy over Sandra’s body it almost felt like I was touching her skin. After several minutes she began to fidget and look uncomfortable. Suddenly, she stood up and announced she was going to bed. We said good night and she left.

Alone, with no one to talk to except Cindy, our hamster in the cage at the end of the couch, I focused my attention on the lamp sitting on the nearby table. As I looked at it, it flew up into the air and started flipping end over end while transforming itself into other objects, including a glass ashtray. several minutes later, my daughter, Crystal, came downstairs to give me a goodnight kiss. As she walked away, just before she disappeared around the corner of the hallway wall, she turned into a bright golden ball of light. Who are we? What’s reality? What’s the purpose of life?

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. - Seth

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves, and the world.

Blessings of love and understanding be to us all!

Change yourself, and the world, for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Insight and Laughter on LSD

by Pete on 02/23/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of your experience. Look for them! – Pete

The first time I took LSD was early 1974. We were living in San Francisco at the time and a friend who lived with us for a while asked if I had ever tried LSD. I said, no. He then asked me if I wanted to try some. Having read accounts of LSD experiences in school made me curious so I said, yes.

Since it was my first time, he broke a small piece off a transparent square (usually considered a single dose) of Window Pane, pure LSD. It took about a half hour for the drug to have an affect on me. Sitting quietly, I began to notice that as I thought about something, an idea or concept, I could see it from almost an infinite number of angles or viewpoints. I could even get inside ideas and see them from the inside out. Exploring this newfound ability, I discovered I could travel from one idea to another as if there were no separation between them. Without realizing it, I was seeing the oneness of everything. Unlike my normal state of consciousness, nothing was truly separate and nothing was closed to question and understanding.

As my euphoric bliss grew, I began to find humor in everything. I started laughing out loud and my wife, Sandra, who had refused to take LSD, asked me why I was laughing. Since I had already shared with her most of the experiences I was now laughing about, I began to share my thoughts with her. Infected by my humor, she began to laugh too. Before long we were both laughing so hard our guts ached. In bed, I continued to share my thoughts with her and point out what was so funny about them. I was seeing things in ways that made it impossible not to laugh. Finally, as the effects of the LSD wore off and exhaustion claimed us, we fell asleep.

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves, and the world.

Blessings of love and understanding be to us all.

Change yourself, and the world, for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Shape Shifting on LSD

by Pete on 02/23/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! - Pete

In late 1980, I took LSD for the second time. This time it was in the form of a small white tablet. When it kicked in I stripped naked and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. It was daytime and I was home alone. On impulse, I began to Tone, saying, ohm, out loud. Immediately, ornate tattoos began to appear on my neck, starting at the top and growing down. As they spread over my shoulders and started down my chest, I became uncomfortable as I began to think that I might have been an Aztec Priest in another lifetime, one who participated in human sacrifice. At the thought of seeing myself actually kill someone so I could cut out their heart, I grew nauseous. When the tattoos reached the bottom of my rib cage they stopped growing and turned into feathers. I was was now half man and half bird.

I marveled at this unique form until another impulse (?) urged me to raise the pitch of my Tone. When I did, my body transformed into that of a Minotaur. I was now half man and half bull. Not particularly pleased with this form, I intentionally raised the pitch of my Tone again and became a Centaur. I really liked this form and turned sideways to see it better in the mirror. My centaur arms and torso were shorter than my human arms and torso but much more muscular. My blond centaur hair hugged my scalp in tight ringlets. Excitedly, I wiggled my rear and stamped my hooves repeatedly while flexing the muscles in my centaur arms and shoulders. Both my human and centaur bodies were visible in the mirror.

Thinking about this experience later I wondered what would make it possible for me to have an experience like this? The best idea I could come up with was cellular memory. I thought, by toning, I was able to access and control the expression of my body’s cellular memory, cellular memories of other lifetimes in other forms. Over the course of the next two years I took the last two tablets of LSD but nothing of significance happened. I guess I had learned everything I wanted to learn from drug-induced, altered states of consciousness.

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves, and the world.

Blessings of love and understanding be to us all.

Change yourself, and the world, for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Evolution of a Dream

by Pete on 02/20/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Mule Team Dream Revisited

The following dream occurred January 11, 1991 around 4 AM. It was long and complex, containing a lucid dream section about mules and creation, magic and an out-of- body experience. Several days ago, after publishing the Mule Team Dream (the part of the dream about mules and creation) on my website and submitting it for publication to Lucid Dream Exchange magazine, I went back and reread the original notes to make sure my facts were straight. It was then I discovered glaring differences between my living memory of the dream and the notes I had written in 1991, as sketchy and poorly written as they were. How could that be, I thought, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach?

Honesty and integrity are important to me. I have no wish to mislead or bamboozle anyone in any way.

So, what happened between the time I had the dream and when I decided to share it with others nineteen years later? I was certain I remembered the details with exquisite clarity. Somehow, without my conscious knowledge, the memory of this dream changed over time. Newer memories replaced older ones, not unlike past memories of shared experiences between siblings and friends. Just like we as individuals change over time, our memories change over time.

Evidently, as I relived this experience in my imagination and dreams over time, as I tried to do a better job of understanding and describing it, it evolved! Instead of a little white box showing a man kissing a mule and turning him into a human being, as happened in the original dream, for example, it became a framed portrait with the white mule’s head coming to life and winking at me. This is the clearest memory I have of this part of my experience.

Like other important experiences in my life, I didn’t record seeing the two mules standing belly to belly, staring back at me the next day on Starr Road. I was driving a county bus and figured I could do it when I got home. If it didn’t get recorded in my journal, that was okay too, I thought. It was such a profound experience, how could I not remember it? Suffice it to say, this information never did get recorded in my journal, only my consciousness, until now. I was so excited at the time, though, I pointed to the the two mules and shared the story of my dream with nearby passengers.

In the current version of the Mule Team Dream, instead of:

I was in a car, driving… speeding down a road with ducks and birds scattering ahead of me. The setting was country (rural CA) but when I came upon this bridge with ducks and birds, it was heavy vegetation and steaming – a jungle, swampy type feeling,

I wrote the following:

I wake up behind the steering wheel of a car driving at high speed down an empty highway. An arched concrete bridge looms ahead, which is littered with tall weeds growing out of dirt and gravel accumulated from years of disuse. Anxious to reach my destination, wherever that may be, I continue driving at high speed. When I notice ducks foraging for food in the dirt and weeds on the bridge, an alarm goes off. Slamming on the brakes, I come to a screeching halt in a cloud of exploding dust and squawking ducks. Leaving the car parked sideways, I walk to the top of the bridge. A large section in the middle is missing. If I had kept going, I would have driven off the edge and crashed into the water and concrete below. Looking into the distance, I see my destination. It’s a lone farmhouse several miles down the road.

I remember the mules and standing on the edge of the broken bridge with exquisite clarity, perhaps from a later version of this dream. Similarly, I remember the framed portrait of the white horse winking at me. Do dreams, like people and ideas, or the memories of them, change over time as we relive them in our imagination and dreams? Are they alive like people? Do they have a reality of their own? At first, I felt bad about the differences between the living memory of my dream and the original version described in my journal. I thought it was a bad thing. But now, I’m not so sure. Maybe it provides us with new insight into the nature of consciousness and being.

January 11, 1991, 4:10 AM, Dream Journal, Volume 8, Page 120, Original notes from dream, grammar and all:

Keep in mind, “original” dream notes are sketchy at best. Like a good idea, you hurry to sketch out the highlights before it evaporates into thin air. Once you record the essence of an idea or dream in your waking consciousness then you go back and sort out the details.

To be true to yourself, you must resist any temptation to embellish, exaggerate or distort your experiences if you want to share them with others, but be prepared to see them change or evolve naturally over time as you relive them through your imagination and dreams. Everything, being created by and composed of consciousness and energy, evolves. It’s the nature of consciousness and being.

Woke up at 3:00 am and went to bathroom. Came back to bed and couldn’t get back to sleep. Tossed and turned and finally I was in a car, driving…speeding down a road with ducks and birds scattering ahead of me. The setting was country (rural California) but when I came upon this bridge with ducks and birds, it was heavy vegetation and steaming – a jungle, swampy type feeling.

After the duck and bird scattering the road came to an end at a cliff. Ahead was a body of water. At this point I began to notice that whatever I needed began to appear. For example, I decided I needed to continue on, which meant getting past the body of water. As I thought this, trees appeared which seemed to be there all the time and which would provide me with a way down to the water. Actually they seemed to be growing out of the water. I jumped or climbed…I’m not sure which, it was so easy. As I hung in the branches of the tree out over the water, I remembered that I was in a dream or out of body and that I should be able to fly. I tried and, instead, I started to drop into the water. Falling, I thought I didn’t want to swim through that stuff and wouldn’t it be nice to have something to carry me through it.

As I thought this, two mules appeared below me who, once I saw them, appeared to have been there all the time when I looked hard. I floated down to the water and put an arm around each mule’s neck. The one on my right I gave a nice kiss on the side of his neck in appreciation for the gift of their presence. After that I gave the one on my left a kiss but more on top or in back of the neck. I did it as an afterthought so as not to offend the mule on my left. It seems I gave most of my true regard to the mule on the right and kissed the mule on my left so it wouldn’t feel slighted. Anyway, as I kissed the mule on my left, both mules turned human and I found myself with my arms around the necks of two humans. When (after) kissing the mule on my left and having him turn into a human, I playfully projected up in(to) the air in front of me, a little white box with a diagram inside showing a human kissing a mule on the side of the neck, with the caption below saying: “How to Kiss a Mule”(,) appeared.

At this point I found myself back in bed, starting to sing out of happiness and playfulness. I remember monitoring my singing because I (k)new I was at a level of consciousness close to waking. As I continued to sing I tried to figure out if my body was singing out loud or not. It didn’t seem to be but out of concern for Sandra I rolled over in my bed so I could look town the hall towards her room to see if I had awakened her. As I looked at her door something shiny, which I associated with her somehow, was flexing (membrane?) on her door in response to my singing. As I looked at this I realized things were different from our house in Santa Rosa. I could see her room door down this long hall when in our Santa Rosa house; her door is off to the right of mine, across the hall and out of my line of vision. Besides, my bedroom door is kept closed. In the dream or OOB (out of body), it was open.

I decided to check strings out. As I left my room and started moving (floating) down the hallway I began to hear noise and see people. As a matter of fact, a short way down I encountered an open door with sound coming out of it. I looked in and saw a theater screen and people watching a movie. As I kept moving forward I encountered one or two more doors into the theater and off to my left were groups of several people smoking, drinking and standing around in conversation. I looked at this and continued forward to find a cafeteria. At this point I became fully aware that I was either dreaming or out of body. As I walked into the cafeteria, I decided to play with these people. Once I was well inside and standing near the serving line, I said “hello” to the people next to me and announced that I was a ghost. As they looked at me with growing skepticism and a little fear/annoyance? I said “see?” and started to rise up into the air.

As I floated above them, they all started reacting by covering their mouths, pointing to me to confirm if other people were seeing the same thing etc. I floated back down and then my eye was caught by a beautiful woman sitting in a chair at a table next to where I landed. She had on these beautiful earrings with bright colors. All of a sudden she got up and, as she walked away, her earrings disappeared and she became a man with a regular hair cut. I clapped my hands in glee even though a little bit disappointed. As I looked passed (past) her/him walking away towards the exit, I noticed all these new people in the cafeteria looking at me. I got excited and thought/said? that “news travels fast”. Anyway, I greeted them and then hesitated again, pointing out the fact that I was a ghost, – “see?” I floated (backwards) through the cafeteria and out the door where a couple of young boys were. As I floated down the hall with people watching from the cafeteria I rose higher and stuck my head into the ceiling to show them how I could move through matter as well. I did the same with a large pipe hanging under the ceiling. My head going through it made a funny sound (it gave me a headache). At this point I slowly entered my body on the bed and heard the noise of our heater turning on.

Also remember good sex dream but I’ll keep that to myself (now, 2010, I don’t remember what it was – so sad!).

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. - Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Mule Team Dream

by Pete on 02/20/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

A Lucid Creation Dream, First Recorded 1/11/1991 at 4:10 AM

This dream differs in some ways from the original version I described in 1991. Memories of events change over time as we relive them in our dreams and imagination. New dreams and new recollections reshape the memory of our past as if trying to flesh them out or redefine them. What you read here is the fleshed out, refined version of the lucid dream I had January 11, 1991. You can compare this to the original version at: Evolution of a Dream. Enjoy it and take from it what you will.

I wake up behind the steering wheel of a car driving at high speed down an empty highway. An arched concrete bridge looms ahead, which is littered with tall weeds growing out of dirt and gravel accumulated from years of disuse. Anxious to reach my destination, wherever that may be, I continue driving at high speed. When I notice ducks foraging for food in the dirt and weeds on the bridge, an alarm goes off. Slamming on the brakes, I come to a screeching halt in a cloud of exploding dust and squawking ducks. Leaving the car parked sideways, I walk to the top of the bridge. A large section in the middle is missing. If I had kept going, I would have driven off the edge and crashed into the water and concrete below. Looking into the distance, I see my destination. It’s a lone farmhouse several miles down the road.

Determined to complete my journey, I leave the bridge and walk to the edge of the sheer cliff above the waterway. The creek or river bank is thirty to forty feet below. Short of jumping, I don’t see any way down. Desperate, I resort to wishful thinking and long for a way down the cliff – a tree, a rope, a ladder, anything will do. Suddenly, there it is, a tree is standing right in front of me! It’s just the right size and type to climb down. Reverting back to non-magical, earthbound thinking, I wonder how I could have missed it? Jumping across a small gap to a sturdy limb, I climb down the tree, thinking: I know this wasn’t here before or I would have seen it!

The water is dirty, muddy and smelly giving me second thoughts about wading or swimming to the other side. Resorting to magical thinking again, I long for another way to cross, one that will keep me clean and dry. As this wishful thought fades, I behold another “miracle”. Two mules are standing in the water right in front of me where none had stood before. One is white and the other black. They look like the two mules I pass every day in my bus on Starr Road in Windsor. Thrilled by such good fortune, I strip and bundle my clothes to keep them dry. Turning around in the water, the mules make it easier for me to mount them. To stay dry, I straddle the backs of both mules, stomach down, with an arm around each neck and a leg thrown over each broad back.

Walking side by side, belly to belly, the two mules carry me across the stream as I hug them in appreciation. On the other side, I jump down and hug them both again, still thinking they’re the same two mules I pass every day on Starr Road. After dressing, I say my goodbyes and leave for the farmhouse.

Just before I end the dream, I feel compelled to turn around. There, floating in the air a few feet away, is a magnificent framed portrait of the white mule’s head. It shows his left profile, ears pricked up as he thoughtfully looks into the distance. Suddenly, his head comes to life and he turns to face me. After giving me a big conspiratorial wink, he becomes a still life portrait once again. He looked so real, I found myself looking for the rest of his body beyond the frame, but to no avail. Such magic!

Driving north through Windsor the following day, I can’t wait to see the two mules on Starr Road. Usually they’re grazing peacefully, seemingly unaware of each other and their surroundings. But today, they stare at me intently and stand belly to belly, just as they did in my dream!

What a profound spiritual moment! Could these two mules have actually been in my dream with me? Is it possible for such real connections to exist between dreams and waking reality? Their behavior now says, yes! Wow, the memory of this experience still sends chills through me after all these years.

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. - Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Live and Let Live

by Pete on 02/13/2010

A Revealing Snake Dream During a Time of War

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! - Pete

I had this dream in 2002 right after a major clash between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the dream, I live in a large undeveloped rural area with few houses, large fields and woods in every direction.

As I walk from the house to my pickup truck in the driveway, I feel loss and sadness. I’ve just been told that the plans for developing the land behind my home have been approved. It was recently bought by a developer with ambitious plans and strong political ties. His Plan calls for thousands of new homes with industry to support them. In essence, he plans to build a new town. Feeling the stone and gravel in the driveway shift and crunch under my boots, I open the door of my beat-up old truck and swing up into the seat behind the steering wheel.

The evening light is dimming as I start the truck’s engine. Pulling out of the driveway, I turn left onto the narrow country road going nowhere in particular. Thinking about the coming changes to the wild land behind my house, I imagine what the future will look like. In my mind’s eye, I see homes, city lights, streets with moving traffic and belching industrial chimneys. It’s a testament to not only man’s ingenuity but his blind ambition, greed and unbridled reproduction.

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a rattling sound. Leaning forward to see over the edge of the seat, I’m confronted by a large rattlesnake on the floor near my right leg. How it got there, I have no idea but it looks like it’s about to strike me. Angry and frightened at the same time, I react by raising my foot and smashing it down on the head of the snake again and again until it lies dead at my feet.

As relief washes over me another rattle signals an angry warning, then another, and another. Suddenly I’m fighting for my life with both legs alternately rising and falling with all my might to crush the deadly invasion. How can this be? Where are they coming from? Soon they’re on the seat next me, some in my lap. There are far too many to defeat! First one, and then another strikes me, injecting venom deep into my arms and legs. I fight back even more ferociously until it dawns on me that the harder I fight, the more snakes I kill, the more there are attacking me.

Knowing I’m about die, I stop fighting and begin to think about my experience. What is it trying to tell me? What does it mean? After killing the first rattlesnake, more appeared and attacked me. The more I killed, the more there were until the inside of my truck was filled with writhing angry snakes, all wanting to sink their fangs into me. Why didn’t I stop the truck and slowly get out to let the first rattlesnake go in peace? Instead I reacted with mindless fear and a sense of ownership. This truck is mine and you have no business being here!, I thought. In my fear and outrage, I simply attacked without considering other alternatives.

Quietly, I look at life from the snake’s perspective. In my mind it’s now the symbol for every other form of life on Earth. We, humankind, have been invading and taking habitat away from other life forms for eons. In our pursuit of new territory and “ownership” we have invaded the homeland of countless other species to claim it as our own. We don’t ask permission, we’re unwilling to share – we just take whatever we want and drive out who or whatever lives there! What right do we have to do that? Doesn’t every living thing have a right to life and being?

Overcome by the enormity of humanity’s transgression, my heart goes out to the snakes in my truck and all the other creatures affected by man’s often thoughtless, self-centered behavior. A feeling of sorrow and understanding washes over me and the snakes begin to disappear as magically as they appeared, until there is only one snake left in the truck. I know it’s the first snake I thought I killed. It’s alive and fully intact as it lies on the seat next to me, its head resting on my lap. Gently, I stroke it with the backs of my fingers. In my newfound love and understanding, I can see we’re both one and separate, both healed and friends.

(After writing this piece, I couldn’t help but think about the bipolar opposite of “ Live and let live.” It’s, “kill or be killed!” Pull these two beliefs apart and you create a continuum. Life as we know it takes place between these two extremes. A few of us reside at one end of the continuum or the other most of the time while the majority of us live somewhere in between the two. We unconsciously move back and forth between the two extremes as our thoughts and experiences in the moment dictate.

What do you think will work best for you, an attitude of live and let live or, kill or be killed? What attitude do you think will work best for ALL of us?)

Pete – http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. - Seth

Change the world for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

Chest Cavity Blues – A Role for Marijuana in Therapy?

by Pete on 02/12/2010

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of your experience. Look for them! - Pete

(Excerpt from Pete’s Drug Related Experiences.)

My final experience with marijuana came in the Summer of 1981. One of our magazine subscribers, C, from Pennsylvania, came to visit us for several days. I can’t remember whether it had anything to do with the fact I had missed publishing deadlines or not.

At the time, I was depressed and suffering from psoriatic or roving arthritis. Joints all over my body, including the toes and bones of my right foot, were swollen and sore. For a whole year I limped around with the middle finger of my left hand locked in a straight position. Whenever I closed my hand, it looked like I was giving someone the finger. When C realized I was depressed, she asked me if I wanted to share a joint with her. Surprised by her request, I said, no. When she asked if she could smoke one, I said, yes.

The next day as Sandra, C and I sat around the kitchen table discussing different metaphysical concepts and magazine articles, I told her we were thinking about discontinuing Coordinate Point. She said she expected as much and again asked me if I wanted to share a joint with her. Since the cat was out of the bag about the magazine and I felt even more depressed, I said, okay.

After a couple of hits (Sandra refused to partake), C started asking me questions. She wanted to know how I felt about myself and the magazine. Even though her questions seemed really personal, I decided to go along for the ride. Suddenly I was Ralph Bellamy (the actor who was still alive at the time) talking with that distinct gravely voice of his. I was telling C, I’m tired and I don’t want to do this anymore (publish the magazine). I’ve worked long enough and hard enough in my life; all I want to do is retire and be left alone.

As Ralph continued to complain to C, another part of me shifted focus, materializing as a shaft of light in the middle of a hollow chest cavity (my own?). Jutting out from the chest walls around me were shadow boxes, which reminded me of the Hollywood Squares show on television. Each contained an old person (I was 39 years old at the time). Some people sat against the side wall of their box while others faced straight out with their legs dangling over the edge. Some of the women wore short cotton summer dresses with their nylon stockings rolled down around their ankles while others wore bathrobes and muumuus. The men were in retirement-home garb too. Some wore bathrobes and others wore pajamas or sweats. Some people looked like they were suffering from strokes while others appeared to be suffering from dementia. Many were drooling. Most looked distant, as they waited to die. They looked tired, done with life. Did this scene, these people, represent the state of my psyche?

Numb with shock, I continued to rotate and absorb the full impact of this depressing scene. On each turn, I began to notice a dark shadowy figure moving back and forth behind the rear wall of my chest cavity. His large hands rested against my chest cavity wall as he moved his head back and forth from one side of my backbone to the other. He wanted to see inside. As I continued to observe him, the back wall of my chest cavity grew less opaque. Finally, it revealed a large, powerful young man who reminded me of the comic book character, Hulk. More than see inside, he wanted to get inside. Before leaving this vision, I popped outside my chest cavity to help him get in.

Summoned back outside at this point, Ralph is just finishing up his rant. The effect of the marijuana was wearing off and my heightened sense of awareness was fading. Despite Ralph’s depressing mood and the nursing home state of my psyche, I began to feel a glimmer of hope. Something inside me was changing.

Although I suspect C was performing therapy on me, I didn’t ask her if it was intentional or spontaneous. Whatever it was, it gave me insight into my current situation and hope for the future. At this time in my life, both physically and mentally, I was in terrible shape. After C left for the airport later in the day, I realized I didn’t know much about her other than she emigrated from Germany and since moving to the United States, she had lived in Florida and Pennsylvania.

The next morning, after Sandra and the kids left for work and school, my thoughts returned to the amazing experience of the day before. In my imagination, I rejoined the powerful young man behind my backbone as he struggled to break into my chest cavity/psyche. Together, we broke through, which visibly disturbed the old people. Before I knew what was happening, the young man grew much larger and in one swift motion raised his arms, sweeping away every last one of the old people.

Just like that it was the dawning of a new day. I had a new canvas to write on! I decided to stop publishing my money-losing magazine and get a regular job. I knew that if I wanted to be healthy and live a long life, I was going to have to change my attitude, exercise regularly and improve my diet. I would just have to do my idealistic stuff in my spare time. Right now, I had an economic future to think about.

For days and weeks afterward, whenever I was at home alone, I would flex my muscles like a body builder and growl with the energy and power of the Hulk (I still do it now sometimes). I knew this was my road back to health and happiness in life. Thirty years later I still exercise regularly and eat well, not because I’m afraid of dying but because I love looking good and feeling great! I also do it because I love my family and this world, and still think there is more I can contribute.

Even though I’m sharing my drug-related experiences with you, I don’t advocate their use. In many cases they’re considered illegal. Personally, I prefer a clear mind when I explore the nature of my own consciousness. It makes me a better observer. In fact, my most profound experiences in altered states happen when my mind is clearest. Openness, fearlessness and curiosity also play a vital role in experiencing altered states of consciousness.

Many of us have been convinced that looking inward on our own is dangerous. It is not if we refuse to be frightened by it. Like everything else, it’s best to start with baby steps. When we really want to know something it’s as if the entire universe cooperates to make it happen. In other words, we get what we concentrate on whether it’s by design or default. There are no accidents so it’s up to us to be clear on what we want.

- Pete, http://realtalkworld.com

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.

If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.

If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?

How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. - Seth

The more we love and understand ourselves, the better we treat ourselves, and the world.

Blessings of love and understanding be to us all.

Change yourself, and the world, for the better with Philosophy On T-Shirts! (POTS)

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