Month: September 2007

There’s a book that’s been in bookstores for decades and it seems to click with many people. It’s a book that doesn’t stay in my possession very long. It’s replaced when I find one in a used bookshop. I love used bookshops because they’re full of wonderful surprises. My newest purchase of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind indicates that in 1987 it was in its thirty-ninth printing.

Writers of these kind of books tell readers to first read the book without highlighting, underlining or feeling a need to comment in any way. Let the mind relax and absorb the words. Don’t try to understand it if it’s your first reading. Then read it again and again. Many times we read a book similar to The Power of Your Subconscious Mind and a passage that went unnoticed for a long time suddenly pops out at us. Often it’s at a time when we most need to read these words and when we’re ready to absorb their meaning.

There are always those people who will say, nah, I don’t believe in that stuff, and they go along their way continuing to inflict pain and suffering on themselves, and others. The thing about Life is that if you never try, and just stay the same, you’ll never know. . . . That makes perfect sense. Doesn’t it?

In this book is a wonderful chapter called “Your Subconscious MInd and Marital Problems”. If this particular subject is a concern in any way in your life, this chapter can clarify many misconceptions we’ve managed to accumulate through the years regarding marriage. However, you don’t want to go directly into reading this chapter without first reading and understanding what comes before it.

“But as we rise to higher levels of consciousness-as we attain higher viewpoints of life, then the very laws of nature tend to change. Also the electrical phenomena of life change. The energies of life are different. The norm of living changes. The actual realities of life are different. The limitations become fewer. The very “facts of life” change as we rise in consciousness! This is why miracles are possible. They are manifestations of higher laws which become available to higher levels of consciousness.” -THE ADVENT OF THE COSMIC VIEWPOINT -Bryant Reeve

People are looking at my present rental apartment at all hours of the day. I’m moving and I try to be in the apartment because, as strange as this seems, some realtors don’t always lock the door when they leave. I’m sure they’re not trying to be mischevious; simply put, they are, at times, preoccupied and feeling stressed.

I’m learning that those who ask the most questions and seem the most interested are not the ones who will eventually occupy the apartment. From my experiences in Manhattan, I understand that many people see viewing apartments as entertainment. I guess that’s okay as long as both sides are aware of this.

Some potential renters who ask a lot of questions seem also to be piecing their lives together and are in some sort of transition. You can always tell when this is so-they stray from questions about the apartment to questions about their work, or the town they want to live in, or where they’ve been.

When some people come into my apartment their eyes light up. Okay, let me explain-it’s not because it’s sumptuous in any way; it’s uncluttered-I’m a minimalist-they can breathe, there’s space to think and I try for things that soothe and are beautiful.

I have a feeling about people and places, and this feeling says that there’s a right person, for whatever reason, who is suppose to live in a certain place, and when that person shows up, no more waiting; it’s easily rented, smoothly sold. Done. Until that time, it’s a waiting game. See it as that.

“I don’t want to hurry it, that itself is a twentieth century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on with other things.” -Robert M. Pirsing, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“Dare yourself to play games with your day; watch, wait, listen; allow things to happen.” -Rolf Potts

“you succeed by harmonizing yourself with forces that are more powerful than you are, rather than by trying to force them to your will.” -Tom O’Reilly, Knowing When to Let Go

“In the universe there is an unmeasurable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link.” -Carlos Castaneda

Once upon a time at Quest Bookstore in Manhattan, I discovered the writings of Manly P. Hall. In those days, Quest carried only his booklets and in them he wrote about specific topics. The booklets, writing style, and information were, well, I’ll just say, wonderful. Manly P. Hall was a searcher. He spent a lifetime in the libraries of the world.

I have his book, THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES, next to me. In the front of the book are these words, “This book is dedicated to the Rational Soul of the World.” The back of the book notes, “Manly P. Hall (1901-1990), widely regarded as a sage and teacher steeped in the wisdom of antiquity, was one of the leading esoteric scholars of the twentieth century.” He founded The Philosophical Research Library in Los Angeles, www.prs.org. It has the most extensive alchemical libraries.

In the Forward, Henry L. Drake writes, “This volume reveals that the lore and legendry of the world, the scriptures and sacred books and the great philosophical systems all tell the same story. Human ambition may produce the tyrant; divine aspiration will produce the adept.” And in the Preface, Manly P. Hall writes, “To avoid a future of war, crime, and bankruptcy, the individual must begin to plan his own destiny, and the best source of the necessary information comes down to us through the writings of the ancients.”

How does one describe a book that offers the reader so much? Maybe one shouldn’t even try-only say that learning about the ancient teachings is crucial to our “soul, mind, and body.” In my heart I’ve always felt that it is our inherent nature to soar, if we’d simply agree with ourselves to do so, and move forward in that direction.