A Noble Life, A Noble Death

This is the shortest post I am ever going to make, but this is truly worth sharing. It's a video made by an 18 year old boy named Ben Breedlove. Ben died on Christmas Day from a chronic heart condition. This is a video he made before he died. It's something really worth watching, and sharing. No need to write more, as Ben says it all. (Part one is at the bottom, part two appears first).

Many blesssings for the New Year.

Marcus

Light, Chapter 29: The First Time

Light, Chapter 29: The First Time

You can read the rest of the chapter here: Here's a short extract.

“Can you acknowledge any of that, Greg?” Julie smiled.       

I sighed. “Sure. I’m a wimp and I know it.”       

“Don’t beat yourself up. We are simply being transparent here. It’s important not to take this personally.” She smiled gently at me. She then addressed the group.

“Each of us is here on earth at this time to take absolute responsibility for our energy. That’s part of the deal. That is what God is asking us to do, and it’s part of what Journey of Light is all about.” Then she turned to me again. “I’d just like to thank you for coming today, Greg.” Her smile was soft, her face suddenly taking on the look of a young woman, and quite a pretty one at that. “It isn’t easy to do this kind of work. It really does take guts.” I looked at her, and then around the room. Everyone was looking at me, but the faces were soft, smiling. They accepted me. The sense of fear that had possessed me ever since I had entered the room began to abate.

Intuitive Profiles: Vaclav Havel

More intuitive profiles and intuitive reviews can be found here.

 

More than any other human being in the modern age, playwright, human-rights activist and former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel was a Leader-Sage. A Leader-Sage leads not merely from the fragmented ego state, but is able to tap into a greater, transcendent intelligence, an Integrated Intelligence.

Havel epitomised three vital aspects of the human archetype: conscience, courage and compassion. These are three qualities that are badly needed in today’s world, in today’s leaders.

Vaclan Havel spent five years in jail under the Communist regime in his home country. As a playwright, his plays were not only banned, he was forbidden to leave the country. His ideas and ideals played a key role in the collapse of Communism in Europe.  He received more honours and awards than I could possibly mention here, mostly associated with his work related to human rights. He was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Vaclav Havel is revered also by the small clique of dissidents and democracy activists in China today. He nominated jailed Chinese human rights campaigner and democracy activist Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Prize, which he subsequently won. For this reason, Beijing was not Havel’s greatest fan. Notable was the contrasting reaction by Beijing at the recent deaths of two world leaders. They expressed deep sadness at the passing of North Koreas’ Kim Jong Il, calling him “a great leader”. They were utterly silent at the passing of Havel.

My admiration for Havel, however, is not merely in relation to his political and social work. It was his deep understanding of this unique moment in history that stands out above all, in my mind. He understood well that the modernist (scientific) and postmodern (relativistic) visions of world and cosmos are both flawed and impoverished. They do not address the true depth of human experience.  This is best stated by Havel himself, in a talk he gave in 1995, and which was published in the Futurist, the World Future Society’s magazine.

The Intuitive Profiles: Christopher Hitchens

More intuitive profiles and intuitive reviews can be found here.

Author and social commentator Christopher Hitchens passed away on December 15th. As an intuitive I found him to be very interesting individual (besides being a futurist I am also a spiritual counselor). He represents a character archetype of the modern age: the fractured man. I saw an interview with him last night on BBC World news, and so was able to gain a stronger sense of who he was. I am going to share some of the insights I gleaned from his psyche, and why I think they are important to appreciate. You might note that I use the present tense when I write about his psyche. That is because death does not extinguish the record of that energy, and as far as I can tell it survives death.

Although he had a long career as an author and journalist, Hitchens became well known in recent years for his book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. The book both attacks religion and champions science-based reason. It also rejects Eastern mystical traditions like Buddhism. Hitchens was a witty and often virulent rhetorician who made no attempt to steer down the middle road of political correctness.

The most notable feature of Hitchens’ consciousness is his bloody-minded refusal to surrender. The human impulse to fight is biologically wired into us. One of the unfortunate side effects of this is that it manifests in a negative way when it comes to transcending ego-based consciousness. The machinations of the ego tend to get projected out onto the world, and very strongly in Hitchens’ case. The essence of it is as follows.

No! I’m not going to do it surrender.. I am in control! You will not destroy me! I will destroy you! I am right! I know best. I am right, and you are wrong. I am the One! I am God! You are primitive! (to Muslims and fundamentalists). We have to fight! Fight them! Wipe them out! We cannot relax until they are all gone. Never let them win. This is a fight for reason, for freedom, for truth over lies! Fuck them!

The Transhuman Agenda

Last weekend I attended the Humanity Plus conference in Hong Kong. This was essentially a conference for transhumanists, although it also featured a good diversity of other presenters. The organisers of the conference were well intentioned, and many share similar ideas about mind and consciousness to my own. This post is not about them, so the following observations are not directed at them. But many of the invited speakers, who came from all over the world, were of an entirely different ilk.

Put simply, transhumanism is the idea that we will one day (hopefully soon) be able to upload our minds onto computers and live forever. Perhaps the most famous exponent of this idea is Ray Kurzweil, who in his book The Singularity is Near maintains that we will be able to reverse engineer the brain to create conscious machines; and then we can merge with them. Kurzweil was not at the conference, but there were a large number of other such transhumanists present.

I came away from the conference with my perspective on transhumanism largely unchanged. There are both technical and psycho-spiritual issues I have with the movement.

Light Ch 28: The Journey of Light

Light. Chapter 28: The Journey of Light

 
I describe my online novel Light as “semi-autobiographical”. Many of the 'paranormal' things in the book actually happened to me. The one described in this latest chapter is one of those real events.

Not everything described in the novel  happened literally, but many ‘events’ occurred in a general sense, or alternatively in psychic space. For example, in Chapter 15 the main character, Greg Marks, is struck by lightning, and has a near death experience.  I have never had a near death experience. But I have had many dreams of being struck by lightning, and it represents a blast of spiritual energy or light passing into the body, which I definitely have experienced many times. The account of leaving the body, as described in the chapter, is taken from many out of body experiences I have had over many years. Further, quite a few of the images that Greg witnesses in this chapter are quite literally visionary images which I have experienced during meditation or dreaming. For example, the image of tornadoes is a recurring one, and they represent a convergence of dark, powerful, destructive psychic energies. The hearing of the voice from a disembodied being is also a common one I have experienced many times.

In short, I am not just making all this up, and it is constructed from realities which are very real for me.

The book is fictional in the sense that most of the trivial conversational details did not occur. It also packs about twenty years of life experiences into a short time frame. I did work with a spiritual group, similar to the one depicted in the novel, but details are changed to protect the privacy of the said individuals. 

The main character is not me precisely, but is probably more me than not. I’m a bit too boring to use as the protagonist! 

The encounter with the spiritual guide, as described in this latest chapter, is pretty much word for word accurate of such an experience I had, only at the age of about 26. I referred to this incident in Discover Your Soul Template.

Here’s a short extract from the chapter.

Blessings,

Marcus

I don’t think I had been asleep more than a few minutes when I became aware of her standing there. She was a woman of youngish appearance, with long flowing dark hair. She was standing beside the bed, looking at me intently. I say I ‘saw’ her, but it was not with my eyes that I was looking. After all, I was asleep - or almost asleep - and my eyes were closed. I could feel her gentle hands moving above me, gentle, caressing me. They were softer, more motherly than any mother I had ever known in my childhood. There was a soft light emerging from her head, arms and body. An energy of tender love filled the room. She began to speak, not so much with words, as with thoughts.

“There is much hurt in you, although you do not know it yet. There is much healing for you to do.”

I listened. There was nothing to say, nothing I should say. Nothing I could say. There was merely her grace, and I was not required to respond. That is something that I just knew. She continued to move her hands above my body, centering around my chest and abdomen. I knew that she was helping me heal.

“You are only using three per cent of your mind at present.”

There were no more words than that, but there came the understanding that there was much more that I could do to expand my mind, my consciousness. I lay there, allowing her peaceful energy to fill me. There was peace.

The World Party is Over

Two days ago I awoke in the morning, and as often happens, an image of a newspaper headline came into my mind’s eye. The hynogogic state, between sleeping and waking, is the perfect time for the mind to communicate deeper consciousness. Many images are from spiritual sources - including spiritual guides, information from the mind’s of other people, and collectives of people. Such knowledge claims are anathema in mainstream circles, but this merely reflects how far twenty-first century understandings of consciousness have devolved.

The headline was simple.

World Party is Over

In the context of the world’s precarious economic - and increasingly social and political - crisis, there are no prizes for guessing what the message meant. The recent resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi epitomises the end perfectly. Let’s call a spade a spade here. Berlusconi is a political dinosaur: a bloated, sexist, womanising, corrupt narcissist. Power, hedonism and self-interest define his personality construct. And when pushed out, he blamed the other. Sadly, he is the archetypical expression of the crony capitalism which has diseased the world.

The planet owes us nothing. Pond algae may overrun a pond for a short while, as its volume increases exponentially. But eventually it chokes on itself as it consumes all resources and destroys the other life forms in the pond. Then the pond starts afresh. Will this be the fate of humanity?

I like to call the human being who has lost the innate connection with Spirit “Alienated Man”. In turn Alienated Man exists with an expression of mind I call the Alienated Mind. This is mind which exists trapped in the blindness of the ego state, fighting to maintain the delusion that its fundamental nature is separation and specialness. It is appropriate to use the un-PC masculine term “man”” as this is all about an unbalanced expression of masculine power. Men are not intrinsically evil, despite what some unbalanced feminine critiques might prefer to believe. There is both a responsible (balanced) and irresponsible (imbalanced) expression of male power.

Balanced male power is a beautiful thing. It is nothing to be frightened of. It is all of empowered, nurturing, wise and compassionate. Sadly, it is also a rare thing in this world. Finding it in positions of power and influence is very, very rare.

There are many people who argue that the West in decline. However I think the question needs to be changed to, "Is western-style materialism finished?" The problem that many “Decline of The West”-type critiques fail to address is that “The West” is no longer merely in The West. Asia - especially India and China. These nations are now driving the world's economy, but their vision of development remains locked into a deeply imbalanced, patriarchal, Western, GDP/growth-centric view of “economy”, and of the world. The core expression of these nations retain the delusions of the Alienated Man, while largely denying the fundamental uniqueness of their own civilisational knowledge and values. I challenge anyone to come to Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai, and tell me that the “Western” vision is expanding in any meaningful way. It is not.

China, the driver of the world economy, is just spreading the disease wider. Let me put it bluntly: China and America are fundamentally the same: hyper-capitalist, hyper-individualistic societies where money, status and power are the prime values. A greater problem is that I cannot see the Chinese boom lasting, and there is evidence that it is rapidly coming to an end. The world party is over. Who is going to offer something different that works? And more to the point, will anybody listen?

Human beings carry with them the innate wisdom and the profound language of Spirit. Sadly it is almost a forgotten language.

One essential problem is that it is difficult to communicate the wisdom of the Spirit in a way that makes sense to mainstream science and academia. This is basically what I have been trying to do for years, unsuccessfully. I recently received yet another rejection slip for an academic job which confirmed this in very definite terms. The University of the Sunshine Coast, which gave me my PhD in Futures Studies, currently have four research positions in Futures Studies going. I could not even get an interview there despite a decade of research and publications in the field. I emailed them and asked for feedback as to why my application was declined. I have not received any response.

At the heart of modern science lies a profound poverty of vision which mirrors that same impoverishment in education and ultimately society itself. The material cannot sustain us. We have become like narcissus, staring into our reflection - not in the water, but in the material substrate of the cosmos, and confusing it for who we are. The love affair with the material has produced collective neurosis. Amusement, entertainment and pleasure will not free us.  The infatuation with with the machine (technology) has reached the point of obsession too. But this will not resolve the essential problem that we have lost our connection with Spirit. It is time to acknowledge the truth.

The world party is over.

The Mind Reader

Light, Chapter 27: The Mind Reader

Below, you will find an excerpt of this chapter of my online novel. To read the rest of the chapter click here.

"There are certain requirements that we need to address before we accept people into the Journey of Light", Julie said. We are not a car club."

"Yes. Yes. Of course. I understand."

"Do you?" She looked at me in a way that made me shift uncomfortably. She didn't speak for what seemed like half a minute, though it was probably just a few seconds. What was she talking about? Was there going to be some weird initiation ceremony or something?

"The first thing we need to determine is where are you sitting currently on your spiritual journey? Where are you right now?” She turned round, picked up a marker and drew a long horizontal line across the whiteboard. “This line, this continuum, represents human consciousness evolution. This left side of the line represents zero, and the far right one hundred per cent of full consciousness. So, where are you on this line right now?" She then placed a finger on the line, and quickly moved it from left to right. Unfortunately for me her finger didn't go very far. In fact it came to a stop right near the beginning. Near the zero point. "This is where you are right now." She drew a short horizontal mark at the relevant point on the line. It was definitely less than five per cent or so.

"And this is where I am." Julie then did the same thing again, only this time her finger went much further along the line. She made a mark at about the half way point along the line.

I looked at my humble placing near the zero point, and hers at around the fifty per cent mark. I flinched. Who the hell did this woman think she was? Did she think I was a moron or something? A guy who just walked in off the street and who didn’t know anything about human consciousness?  I had been studying the subject in my own time for months, and the Awakening had given me abilities which most people could only dream of!

“I see’” I said. What I really wanted to do was tell her to go screw herself. The sheer arrogance of the woman! It was obvious that I already knew all the kind of  stuff she had been going on about; and had even worked it out on my own without needing some cult to brainwash me. And I certainly didn’t need some female Jesus wannabe with an inflated ego to tell me what to think. I would have walked out right then and there, if not for what happened next. And what happened next shocked my very soul in a way that nothing I’d ever experienced had.

Julie looked at me blankly. She was not smiling now, although she did not look displeased either. “I’m just going to channel your ego towards me right now, just to let you see it more clearly for yourself.” Before I’d even had time to work out what she meant by that, she stood up, and moved to the centre of the room. Suddenly her entire demenour changed from that of  a relaxed new age lady guru to one of angry agitation. Her voice became terse, abrupt. The sudden shift was shocking.

“Do you know who I am! I already know all this stuff!” She was pacing back and forward like a caged animal. Her entire body had become tense, her breathing shallow, her voice raspy. It was a frightening transformation. “I know more than you do! I can see, I can. I can see! I know this already! I know it.”

I was looking at her, and I could hear what was going on. But I could barely look, barely listen. The woman had ripped open something from within me, something very personal, very secret. She was reading my mind. And not just any part of my mind. She was reading the nasty part. There was more.

“So don’t tell me what to think you stupid bitch! I know more than you do! I’m special! I can see more than anyone! I’m superior to you! So fuck off. I’m out of here!”

At this point, mercifully, she stopped. From the hot feeling on my face I knew my cheeks had turned red, flushed. For a few seconds I sat there in denial. This was not me she had just mind read. No. This was somebody else, somebody dark. Somebody arrogant, angry and judgmental. Somebody else. But weren’t these the very thoughts that had been circulating through my mind just a minute or two before? I just wanted to run away. I felt, ashamed. Terrified. Naked.

So this was mind reading. I had always supposed that if it was real that it would be exciting and fun. A game played by children who believed in flying carpets, magical kingdoms, and fairies. Instead it was terrifying.

"Light", Chapter 25: FF

Light, Chapter 25: FF
 To read the rest of the chapter (or novel), click on the chapter title, above. There's a short extract below.

Professor Forsen picked up the creased piece of paper from the manilla folder, and put on his reading glasses.
    “I note that you failed the Philosophy 3A exam, where you attempted to answer only one question, and even in that you were awarded a zero grade by the marker. You wrote – and, um, I do quote here: “Western science is a deluded mishmash of forced extrapolations violently extracted from a cosmos that it does not understand, let alone feel. Newtonian science is the violent, rapacious organ of patriarchy, pillaging and violating all that stands before it. Universities have prostituted themselves, selling their souls to the phallus of dissociated patriarchy. Any academic moron who had done the slightest amount of introspection would know this.”
    He removed the glasses, and sat there looking at me.
    “Oh, and one of your blank answer sheets was folded into the shape of a jet aeroplane.”
    “Yes, I believe that is correct, Sir.”

The Fall

Light, Chapter 24: The Fall

A short extract from the chapter can be found below. Go to www.lightmysterious.com to read the rest of Marcus' new online novel.

The exams came. I’d pretty much given up on them to be honest. For my Philosophy exam I just sat there for an hour before I began to write a rant against the “retardation of the western mind”. That took me about fifteen minutes, and after spewing that out of my system I just went cold. A dark cloud descended upon me, and I fell asleep right there in the exam room. I only awoke when I felt a hand shaking my shoulder. I looked up, unsure for a moment where I was.

“Your paper?”

Groggy, I handed it to the examiner. She looked at it, and handed it back.

“Your name?”

She was pointing to the front page. I’d forgotten to write it.

“Oh?” I took it back, picked up my pen. But for the life of me I couldn’t remember my own name. My mind was completely blank. My breath caught in my chest, and for a moment a wave of panic almost overcame me.

“Um, sorry, this pen isn’t working. Wait a moment.” I shook the pen violently, then began rummaging through my bag.

The woman went off to the front of the room. That gave me time.

So what was it? James? No, that was my bother. Paul, no he was my friend. It was, it was…

           I sat there, barely able to contain my panic. This was the end. I had gone insane, lost it, my life over. I was a man who didn’t even know who he was.

New Cosmos, New Wisdom?

 Home: The Milky way and its 100 billion stars

A review of:

The New Universe and the Human Future How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World. Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack

The New Universe and the Human Future is a wonderful book, and I encourage everyone who has a passion for understanding both the human future and humanity’s place in the cosmos read it. The authors are veteran cosmologists, and they have taken the time to bring together the latest research and information about the universe we live in, and put it all in one short and readable volume. Today I am going to provide a very general overview of the book, and make one specific points about it. I may write another post commenting on other aspects of the book soon.

Abrams and Primack’s thesis is simple. Currently there is no universal human mythology which provides a big picture map of the cosmos or our place in it. The maps of yore, mostly religious in nature, are not only in disagreement, they are woefully inaccurate in terms of their depiction of the cosmos. Without a common “coherent, meaningful” map, humanity cannot work together as a united whole to face the huge problems that are upon us in this moment in history. What is it that can provide that unified map? It is, the author’s believe, a knowledge of the science of cosmology, and how our universe is put together. As I shall write below, I believe their aim is noble and necessary, but in itself is not enough to achieve its vision. Nonetheless the book is such a wonderful excursion through space and time in all its cosmic vastness, that I give it a definite five star rating. It admirably achieves one of its prime aims, to share with the reader the reality that we live in a cosmos of literally unimaginable size, wonder, beauty and complexity.

"Busted": Chapter 23 of "Light"

Chapter 23: Busted  

This is the latest chapter of my online novel, "Light" (Click to read full chapter). Here's a short extract. 

Marcus

Amanda pushed the note towards my face. I could see the words. Angela must have written them on the other side of the paper after giving me her phone number.

“So you won’t mind if I call this number then?” She started to dial.

“No!” I jumped up and lunged at the phone, missed it, and slipped on the floor. Before I knew it I was lying flat on my butt, with one mighty pissed off girlfriend standing over me. It was like a scene from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

“F… you!”

Before I could say another word she was laying into me with fist and foot, screaming. “Get out, you piece of shit!” She started dragging me, then kicking me towards the front door of the apartment. Amanda’s final push saw me flailing into space only to land face forward on the cold, grey concrete floor of the corridor.

“Now f.. off!” The raging hurricane slammed the door shut with a huge bang. I stood up, shaking.

“Sorry.”

I don’t know if she heard me. I doubt it, because it was spoken by the voice of a little boy.

"Oh Wow"! The End of Steve Jobs and the End of Life?

“Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.” By now you will have ‘heard’ these words, the final utterances of Steve Jobs before he passed away. Job’s sister, Mona, revealed as much while giving a public eulogy. The words made headlines around the world, which can be put down to both the fascination with Steve Jobs the man, and the natural human fascination with - or oftentimes terror of - death.

Yet there was something else in those headlines, wasn’t there? It was something silent, implicit, almost - but not quite - written. Ironically, that silence spoke of the forbidden country where few in modern mainstream media dare to venture: the spirituality of death. No doubt most of the general public were thinking exactly what I was thinking when I read the words. What is it that Jobs was feeling, perceiving, seeing in those final moments of his earthly existence? Was it something transcendental, spiritual, or dare I say, divine?

Most importantly why is it that newspapers could not bring themselves to allow this aspect of Steve Job’s death bed utterances to be openly discussed? How has it come to this point where the spiritual has become so denied, so absolutely taboo, even where it is so blatantly, poignantly present?

"Light", Chapter 22: Dinner and Whine

To read more of Light, go to http://www.lightmysterious.com/

 

It wasn’t the best weekend I’d ever had. Closer to the worst, actually. I spent most of it in my room playing music to drown out the numb feeling that had overtaken me. I tried ringing Amada three times on Saturday morning, but she didn’t answer. What the hell is it with women anyway? Can’t they just get pissed off and get it out of their system like men do? I think I mentioned the bit about me being a sexist bastard. That was one more thing to beat myself up about as I lay there staring at the ceiling.

'Light', Ch 21: Songs and Demons

To read more of the online novel, Light, click here.

Chapter 21: Songs and Demons

When I got back to my room I turned off my mobile, curled up in bed and slept for two days. This is not an exaggeration. I felt so utterly disgusted with myself that I couldn’t face the prospect of getting out of bed and looking at myself in the mirror. It was as if a great hand has inserted itself inside my chest and was pulling at some great musical string that existed there. And the tune that it was playing was self-loathing, on a droning, never-ending loop.

Of course it wasn’t all about the shame of having slept with some stray hussy from the bar just days after having started going out with Amanda. It was also the fact that sheer physical exhaustion had caught up with me. Just two weeks before I lain on Merewether Beach half dead, and I had not even stopped to let the enormity of that event sink in. I was on high-octane fast-forward and now I had completely burnt out.

As I lay there I tried my best to block everything out of my mind, but the messages just kept coming through into my dull head. On the first day, the words to one very annoying Depeche Mode song played over and over and over in my mind.

I just can’t get, I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough…

Bright Lights in the Sky

 No, this is not the actual image (I didn't have a camera at the time)

I know some people who have read my books will have heard this story before. But it has never appeared on this blog, so I re-tell it here. Marcus

Some people ask me how I got interested in knowledge that might be considered "alternative" in some circles. Here is a little story about an extraordinary experience that certainly helped me along my way! So here goes my story, and one hundred per cent true.

In 1996 I was living in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, a small coastal town. One day I was walking along the street downtown, and I saw a sign which read: "Psychic readings, $10". I had never had a psychic reading up till that time, and curiosity got the better of me. So I went inside and met a woman named Lesley who gave me a "reading." The reading itself was nothing particularly special. But what followed certainly was.

To cut a long story short, I ended up going to one of Lesley's talk/meditation evenings a few weeks later. At the end of the talk she told everyone present that she had had lots of dreams about UFOs the previous night.

"Whenever I have these dreams there are lots of UFO sightings around," she said. "So if you go out tonight you may see something. I feel that about two in the morning would be the right time."

Now, being the gullible fool that I am, I decided to take up the offer. I went to bed at about 11 p.m., but set my alarm for 1.45.

When the alarm rang, I managed to drag myself out of bed. I stumbled around my house for 15 minutes, and then headed outside at 2.00 a.m. sharp.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I swung the door open and looked up at the sky. For flying right in front of me in the clear night sky was something I had never seen before. I can only describe it as a large ball of luminous white light, about a third the size of a full moon. The thing was probably a few hundred metres in the air, and was floating eastwards at about 90 degrees above the horizon. There was absolutely no sound, and it seemed to be gliding on air. I can only describe it as eerily unearthly. I ran out onto the road, and watched it disappear over the neighbours' houses. In total it was in view about 30 seconds.

"Light" Ch 20: The Mistake

This is Chapter 20 of Marcus T Anthony's online novel Light. To read the rest of the novel, to date, go to http://www.lightmysterious.com/

The Mistake

She was thin, almost gaunt. She looked at me with big eyes, They were a little too hollow to be beautiful. But I could feel them inviting me in, along with the pull of her arms.

“Would you like to dance?”

“Um, yeah, why not?”

Why not? One decent reason might have been because I had a beautiful new girlfriend who was just a couple of suburbs away. But like I said, the beer was talking, not me.

We were at the far end of the dance floor away from the lights, where it was dark. I had to  force myself to keep my eyes wide, because I was having trouble focusing. That was on  account of my drunkenness. It was an effort not to slur my words.

“You’re a good dancer.”

“Me?” Giraffes on roller skates dance better than I do.

She twirled around a few times, and started dancing closer. The strange thing is that she  didn’t smile. She didn’t even look that happy. But I could see something, feel something  within her. She wanted me. And there was something good about that.

“Buy me a drink.” She said. She dragged me over to the bar like a dog on a leash.

The Gratitude of Being

Emmanuel Kelly: A powerful teacher indeed

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. 

So began Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, written 150 years ago. But how can a single time be both good and bad? The answer is provided, in part, by another giant of English literature, William Shakespeare. In Hamlet the protagonist declares that, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." It is the judgments that we pass on things that colour our experience. Judgments take us out of presence. Judgment blinds us to the divinity within the people we meet. It strips the day of its God-given glory.

I have always gotten a lot of spiritual guidance. I suspect that this is because I need more than most people, being a bit daft. Songs often pop into my head just when I am facing a problem, or getting caught up in the illusory world of thought and projection. One of the songs that often comes to me as guidance is The Streets of London, which was originally sung by Ralph McTell in the 1970s. It is a song about homeless people in England's largest city. The last verse and the chorus, go like this.

And have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal, ribbons that he wears.
In our winter city,
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

Chorus:

So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

I remember singing that song in primary School. Mrs Marks, our music teacher, had the wisdom to teach it to us. Even as a youngster, I remember being moved by the simple and profound message. Above all The Streets of London implores us to give thanks for what we have, and not to focus upon what is missing. Take a look around and you will see many people who have it worse than you. Much worse. 

There is so much to appreciate in every day. This is why it is so important to not to allow your thoughts of unfulfilled hopes and dreams destroy the pure, simple abundance that lies at your feet this very moment.

The reason I write this short post today is that I recently saw a YouTube video which reminded me of this profound truth. It comes from the Australian talent show The X Factor, which is basically the Aussie version of American Idol. There is no need for me to say much about this video, and the wonderful and moving story that lies at the heart of it. It is the story of Emmanuel Kelly, the young man whose image fills the top of this page. He is a very special human being indeed. 

Simply watch and feel.

Blessings,

Marcus

Soul Templates

Here's a few promotional images I put together for my book Discover Your Soul Template, which comes out on November 15th. Regular visitors of this bog will probably know that this is the new edition and retitled version of my self-published book Sage of Synchronicity. The images contain direct quotes from the book. I mostly made these for social media websites like FaceBook. I thought they were a better and more creative way of communicating the ideas than mere direct quotes. You might like to think of them as Soul Templates :-).

Blessings,

Marcus

For this next quote I have to give thanks to Leonard Jacobson, who taught me this concept.