Landmark Pre-Advanced Course

As I review my two posts in January it's extrodinary that I had this incredible conceptual understanding of life, but didn't have the tools to create what I had been searching for. I am so, so grateful to Landmark Education for not only providing the tools to really get what I had been writing about at the beginning of January but also providing the tools to share this with the people in my life. My commitment have clarified. I see now that why I wrote the blog back in Jauary was to share something extrodinary everyone in my life. What's interesting is that what I thought would make the diference were the material possestions that will now easily flow into my life. What I get now is that what will primarily make the diference is who I'm being for other people and who they are being for me. I began with a poem this morning:

Draw a line in the sand, and pull your friends across.

Draw a line in the sand, or your families lost.

Draw a line is the sand and get present to the cost.

Draw a line.

Step up every second, every moment, every day.

Let your limiting beliefs fade away.

Open your mind to something totally new,

Step up.

Stand up, be real, life is after all

One big game, one big test, so make the call.

It's your choice, it's your will, so who are you gonna be?

As you face disaster, when you face disease.

You'll face poverty, politics and policy

It will be there, for some time yeah, yes that guarenteed

We can move it, it will shift, first in us then the rest.

Into nothing, then to everything then to all as their best!

Spirtual Presence

I have been aware of a deeper level of existence for some time now. Although this awareness has arising in me on some level, the status quo of society and of egoic patterning makes temporarily forgetting this truth inevitable. Listening to Eckart Tolle in my car for 6-8 hours yesterday while making sales calls brought to my attention the constant ping pong of emotional states which follow mental patterns of separation.

You see we all have created an identity for our self out of an image and belief system based on past experiences that we present to the world. This identity is what separates us from other people. This is our ego. This is attachment to form. I've never written about this before and find it a challenge for all words are also form. From the context that these words can only act as pointers to the truth I will proceed with this understanding.

Our identity needs separation from the whole of humanity to exist. This comes to fruition in two forms: superiority, inferiority. If you go into a superiority mind pattern you perceive your success in any category in comparison to other people as a means to inflate your ego. This is theoretically the concept of pushing the next man down so you can stand on his shoulders. Ex: I'm better looking than... have more money than... are smarter than... are funnier than... are more spiritually evolved than... ect. Really any time you analyze or interrupt the circumstances of your life as a means to feel good about yourself you are removing yourself from the world of experience. It may make you feel good temporarily, but it is a fleeting high. The opposite perceived experience is one created by coveting the circumstance or experience of others. Ex: I am less pretty... have less money... am less righteous... am less than. This is any thought pattern that you use to create a victim identity or judge yourself in relation to others leads to self-angst.

When you look at the examples above a resonable comment is: Can this be the meaning of life? Bouncing back and forth between these emotions. Striving for more on the former while denying the latter. Noooo! This is not what your life is about. Your life is about connection, not separation. It basically means that any time you are interperating your life an you feel a sense of separation with the whole you must realize this is not your true self. This is not the self that can laugh with your friends, revel in the beauty of nature or totally engross yourself in the flow of life. This is only an interpretation of who you think you are filtered through years of social conditioning and past experience.

But how to I find my true self? You might ask. Your true self is already there... here right now in the experience... WAIT... not the thoughts your having about this experience, but the experience itself. Your true self is always there... it is just frequenly being covered up by thought. Live the present moment as it is... with no thoughts or interpretation of the experience and you will feel a bliss, a presence, a peace beyond which you could ever imagine. WAIT... now your trying to feel this bliss... just let it happen... WAIT... now you feel your superior because you are living in the moment... just let it all go. Come back to the present moment. Ahhhh.

Ready, Set Go!

Starting at the very beginning is not an option.  I'm now 29 years old.  It is the first day of 2009.  The insights I've been able to offer in my life are numerous but unless the surface layer of who I am aligns with those core principles, how can my understanding of the world be trusted.  

Thus this seems like an appropriate time to begin some chronicles.  Poised on the threshold of massive positive change it should become very apparent quickly whether the resources I've channeled lead to the results that are universally accepted as success.

In my life the categories for success include: emotional, spiritual, financial, social and physical.  The first two are challenging to measure but often are the undercurrent of success in the last 3 categories. In fact, the last 3 categories have very simple socially acceptable standards for measurement.  (Note:  My only competition in life is myself and although there are metrics by which society judges excellence, I'm here to the best person I can be and act as a lighthouse for inspiration to all I know.)  Although my criteria for excellence is much more complicated than these 3 buckets, it serves our purpose as one means for measuring progress.

If this was a proper experiment I would mark my current status in those categories.  This might include a financial statement, a summary of my current social life and photos of my current physical size with measurement.  This seems a bit like being put under the microscope.  Instead I will reference changes and growth in comparison with any previous state.

This first blog is very general as it means to just provide a basic context for which the resources I mention and the adventures that I experience.  One thing is for certain that 2009 will be the best year ever, holding myself to higher standards and living every moment to its fullest.  Life is a gift and it is my responsibility not to squander the beauty that is easily accessible.  To do this take focused steps and find mentors in all categories who have achieved goals that I too seek.  As I learn from experts I will begin to gain insights through personal experience.  I want to share these as a means for others to live life with the same enthusiasm, passion and love that I've begun to more fully understand.  The joy and potential that we all have is unlimited and I plan to be one of the many amazing people I've met or learned from who devote their life to make the world a better place.