Introducing the author side of your Transformational Life Coach.
“I believe we are far more capable of doing things beyond our imagination than we give ourselves credit. In fact, the simple act of making a step toward achieving a dream brings many worlds into order and available for support.” Author Zen Benefiel
Conversations that matter involve many dimensions of reality; having them are the first step to creating meaningful relationships in the world. My transformational life coaching practice has proven that people are for more capable of great things than they believe themselves to be. It just takes some adjustments as to how we think, which often determines how we feel. We take an opposite approach based on indigenous traditions and proven process that engage the mind/body/spirit in practical ways.
Author Zen Benefiel
As an author, my works have largely been explorations of self and the processes for rising to a new living awareness that incorporates best practices across a plethora of fields and industries. You’ll notice in the interview that my background is quite extensive in personal experience of transcending tragedy and professional endeavors involving hundreds of people and millions of dollars.
In an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove, for New Thinking Allowed YouTube Channel, Jeff mentions the unique ability I have to experience, observe and report on even the most subjective events. Being able to see ourselves without criticisms or convoluted emotional attachments is imperative in personal growth and professional achievement. Perhaps you’ll find some tasty tidbits in the interview that offer you new insight and understanding from author Zen Benefiel.
In this episode of the Indie Beacon Show, hostess Dr. Keitha Story-Stephenson talks with Zen Benefiel to learn how he uses the quote above in his life and service to others.
“Remember when you were young?” brings certain thoughts to mind, though maturation isn’t one of them. My mind connects music usually, especially with some life events. ‘You shone like the sun… Shine on you crazy diamond,’ comes to mind with that question. If music is the language of the soul, perhaps that is a reminder and Pink Floyd just happened to be the vehicle. Music carries feeling for many and in the consideration that reality is all vibration, perhaps feeling our way though it is most appropriate.
Maturation – Early Onset and Recognition
When we’re young, during our teens and twenties, immaturity is usually not a consideration. If fact, we often think we know more than our elders, right? At that point in our lives we don’t realize that the maturation process ahead of us is led by experience and time; neither of which we had then. It’s frustrating when that kind of behavior inhibits the ability to ask questions and listen. It’s more about telling. There are exceptions, though they are rare.
In our late 20s stage of maturation we develop careers and families, or most of us do, and figure out whether we can really get along with our partner or not. Right now, according to statistics, it’s a coin toss. That ought to be disturbing, though it’s actually declined over the last couple of decades. If we cannot get along at home, how can we expect to get along in the world? The reciprocal applies; if we cannot get along in the world, how can we expect to get along at home. It’s the same personality in both places, right?
Those that are a bit more serious will look for help in some way. Our deepest desire is to love and to be loved. What makes that happen? We certainly cannot force it. As we continue developing in our 30s, that question leads to answers of faith, love and trust. Our integrity, or lack of it, helps or hinders the faith, love and trust to evolve in a relationship. We tend to trust without reason when we’re younger. Our faith is tested when we realize our choices might not have been the best. There’s no fault in that; we’re maturing and making mistakes is part of the learning.
By our forties we’re locked in careers, or at least we were, and our children are approaching graduation and perhaps going off to college. At least they are preparing to leave the nest and fend for themselves. This brings up another test for many. What’s next? Because our attention and effort toward raising children, as single or dual-income households, absorbed attention and time, we’re now feeling a sense of emptiness and maybe a lack of fulfillment. That’s how it was up until this last year.
Now there is a new set of circumstances as we come out of masked sequestration. Those previous maturation process are now in question because we’re all having to face the same challenges in socialization and working relationships. What kind of unspoken and unfulfilled expectations will we have of others who feel differently than we do about moving forward. This is what Klaus Schwab meant, I believe, in his question regarding recovery. Will we be able to be caring and compassionate toward one another? Can we avoid splitting apart because of a narrative that is questionable, yet has millions in line? What about the other millions?
Age of Wisdom?
In my early 30s I hosted a television show called One World. Our aim was to interview people from all walks of society and find out some basic stuff, that revealed sense made common. We asked about inner and outer promptings that caused choices and grew maturation. We asked about fears and how they overcame them. We asked about how they saw those same patterns in the world around them; in their communities, cities, nations and the global community. It was an amazing opportunity for me, having an insatiable curiosity about life, others and how we learn to work together.
Willy Whitefeather [RIP] was my one of my first guests. He was a mixed-blood Cherokee with a penchant for storytelling. I’d met him through another friend, Merel Bregante. Merel was working with another friend, Shayla, in creating a stage presentation for a kind of ecstatic dance. They performed it at the Mesa Amphitheater later that year. Willy was living in a teepee at the Goldfield Ghost Town at the time, accompanied by a rattlesnake that joined him in the tent at night occasionally. It was really strange, though he was fine with it and didn’t feel threatened, knowing it was just seeking warmth. Few of us could handle that, I’m sure.
I had some other involvement with First Nations through the Phoenix Indian School Preservation Coalition that had formed to address the design of the coming of what would be called the Steele Indian School Park. One of my other guests invited me to be their scribe and co-present their desires to the Mayor and City Council of Phoenix. 18 of 21 Tribes were represented and I had several years of wonderful, though sometimes heart-wrenching, experiences with them. I later spent time on the Hopi reservation when my oldest daughter set me up with her Hopi friend’s mother, a daughter of a past tribal president.
Willy and I lost touch as we both went different directions and the temporary relationship built from the interest in the show waned. He still made a big impact on my life and a couple of decades later I felt the need to reach out to him for some reason. I looked up his book, Outdoor Survival Handbook for Kids, online and found a website. I reached out to the webmaster, not really knowing who it was, to see if somehow they had contact info for Willy. It turned out to be Merel’s wife and a week or so later I get a phone call… ‘Osiyo, Brother!’ was Willy’s voice on the other end.
Now I was in my mid-forties then and after some catching up, Willy paused and said, ‘There’s something you need to know now. In our tradition you cannot form or join your own council until you are 51.’ That struck me solidly. We’d been talking about world events and the changes in humanity necessary for our continued survival. He had referenced many prophecies on the show about how these times were going to roll out. Women cutting their hair, putting on war paint and going to battle with men was one of them. I knew even then that women truly held the strength of sustainability and that the feminine energy is what has been missing in the Patriarchal-driven world. I paid a lot of attention to the next few years.
Waxing and Waning – The Tipping Point
I have to admit I’ve been pushing boundaries and exploring beyond this world for most of my life. No matter, I think part of the wisdom that turning 51 brought was the fact that none of that matters if we don’t have practical ways of applying our wisdom, let alone our knowledge. I’ve been involved with consciousness studies for several decades, curious of the questions necessary to reveal the prudent path, the practical and pragmatic applications that make a difference in the world.
When we understand ourselves intimately, going beyond the questions of maturation to the experience of the answers and letting that sink in, we naturally learn better ways of living, working and making the world better. Be Here Now provided some early recognition of the path ahead, though it gave no specific directions. It just acknowledged the journey would be wild and wonder-ful.
I met Jose Arguelles in 1997, whom I’d hoped to encounter after first reading his interpretation of the Mayan Calendar’s End/Beginning of Time; which just meant a new cycle, not a destruction. Much like the ‘apocalypse,’ an uncovering or unveiling of great knowledge and information was taking place. He explained that, according to his understanding, we were accelerating in developing awareness like no other time on Earth that parallel the information curve. Evidence was plentiful with all the books, CDs, movies and TV shows that explored many concepts and worlds.
So what happens on the other side of the Tipping Point, which was supposed to be the Winter Solstice of 2012? The answer is pretty simple and yet we all seem to be missing it: Implementing the awareness of our connectedness back into the existing systems we’ve built. Admittedly, they aren’t the best at serving the needs of humanity as there are still wars over resources and territory, still homelessness and poverty. On a universal picture, that’s just not acceptable.
My work focuses on turning that awareness, the insight and intuition that others garner as they question the Great Reset and what they can do, into actionable plans. The magnitude of those plans isn’t the issue. They might even be so small that others might think them inconsequential, yet they make all the difference in the world to the fulfillment of the individual. That’s where the caring and compassion comes in. It doesn’t matter the station in life or the activity of achieving goals and objectives, as long as one recognizes its value to the whole as well as the individual. New models of behavior begin to replace old ones and the systems change over time.
Will maturation ever be complete? Doubtful… we’ve got several types of Civilizations to advance toward according to Kardashev.
Just so I set this up properly. This question seems worth sharing. “What if god cannot be Understood only realized. Is that still god?” This piece is an exploration of that question. The following was my response to the question on a social media platform, expanded a little, and I think it might spark some deeper thinking in contemplating your next move. We’re in process of the ‘new normal,’ right? At least it will provide for some interesting reading….
Do you want to know what truth is? By that I mean truth about our nature, our Being. I hope so. It seems most folks don’t care. They like being guided by external forces they believe they can trust. The real truth can truly set you free to explore your world without constraint because it comes from inside us. What? Yes.
I’m going to share something and hope those who see it as incredulous will open their minds a little. The considerations are from experience and not theory, although some are contained therein. I’m sure it will raise some questions and perhaps provide some points to consider further. I trust my gut (first brain) in sharing poignant pieces.
As you’re about to see, my inquiry into self started as a kind of right of passage. It was unique for a teenager which made it challenging to be understood by adults. Is it normal to pray to know truth, be willing to die for it and really mean it? As a transformational coach now, that commitment led me into a rare and transcendent life on the inside. Few go there, which is why my clients really love the process of tapping into their own inner worlds. I open a lot of doors for them and its tough to encapsulate that in a review.
Passage… is it a right?
In 1975 I’d retuned to college after quarter break, heart-broken and seeking solace beyond this world. I hit my knees and prayed to know truth and a willing to literally give up my life to know it; God understood and realized. The impact of ‘be careful what you ask for’ hit hard. The event instilled an understanding that we, human beings, are cosmic consciousness condensed into form.
This individuation from the Great Light of infinite intelligence and formative capacity condenses into a single point of individuated and purposeful consciousness. It’s still connected, though so distantly we are usually unaware unless something ignites our desire for self-awareness. Google ‘Messy Antic Complex’ for full report.
Over a decade later and after another heart-breaking experience, 1989 to be specific, I was introduced to a technique called ‘Multi-level Awareness’ (William Swygard 1950s) where a facilitator leads the session with prompts to explore various realms within. I’d done several sessions prior.
Although I had no intention specifically to address a question about the origins of the ‘trinity’ strewn across our religions and society; apparently it was time for the reveal. Funny what emotional trauma will prompt in our growth and questions about the reality we think we know. Our vulnerability is a key witness.
In those prior sessions I’d corroborated what I though could be possible, that there are processes that assist entering one’s deeper experience to a more connected network of intelligence. It relates to that question above and if one were prone to the fear, guilt, blame and shame game, could be self-damaging instead of rewarding. It isn’t a question of sanity, it’s a question of experience and vulnerability.
The final piece is trusting your experience and the intuitive prompts that come. In indigenous traditions, they call it the ‘First Brain,’ where creation connects vibrationally in our solar plexus. I think it’s misspelled and should be ‘soular’ plexus and a source for God to be understood and realized within.
Nowhere to Now Here
We began the session with the standard self-hypnosis technique of creating a light body and projecting my consciousness into it for travel, with no expectations as to where. One of the key components is learning how to set the analytical mind aside and just experience the moment. We tend to over-analyze strange things instead of engaging or experiencing them without concern or fear.
The safety and security of the environment allows this for some; to explore without analysis. In the final moments of the preparation process, my ‘guide’ (whom I’d known since just after the 1975 event) showed up unexpectedly on the inner screen and invited me to ‘come’ with him with a wave of his hand. So I did.
Just to clarify and reference, I was reading a lot of material after my experience. Mom taught Evelyn Wood speed reading so I learned it early and was able to devour a lot in a short time. Castaneda’s works were among them, which is where I first learned of ‘guides.’ After Zephyr’s beckoning and immediately sensing we were in motion, his astral image changed from human to a ball of light with his face profiled on the front of it.
He had a nose like Jimmy Durante. I had no idea where we were going and, after asking and being told to just ‘wait and see’ we had a recap conversation about the years in between our last conversation. Before I knew it we arrived at our destination. I felt like Ellie seeing the universe laying before her, an awe that opens one to near tears of joy.
In front of me was a three-sun system with about a dozen bright green and much smaller planets in orbit, much like our solar system. The sight was so amazing it was caught up in the awe of the moment. Next thing I ‘hear’ are at least three voices as one: “We are not only your forefathers, we are also the forefathers of your solar system.”
I started to ask questions and was halted by my guide with, “That’s all you get. You’ll figure it out.” Figure what out? Now I had more questions than answers. I don’t know about you. I love to have questions. It unleashes the insatiable curiosity within me, still; to know truth.
Back we came engaged in a deeper level of conversation about my personal progress of aligning with my perfected form, fit and function in the world, and still with no direct answers about how what had just happened fit in the process. What I did know is that the trip there and back took the same amount of time, so there was consistency. How we went was somehow connected to some kind of hyper-drive that took us across the universe. Where we went seemed like the center of creation.
God Realized Understood
My research and paying attention to the facts that are shown before me gave me some insight that this experience built upon. I mused over one of the models with a three-fold flame representing our core essence. I thought about the symbol I’d been shown, a hexagram with a 666 in the upper triangle and a 999 in the lower one.
The thought also brought up the notion of a ‘trinitized’ body; one that was somehow energized by the open connection to ‘Source,’ if you will. I needed a scientific model and with the question came the image of an atom, with a proton, electron and neutron. The infinite intelligence driving the bus was in the space, the ‘dark matter’ we know is there and cannot see, yet.
My first question was regarding how the macro-model fit into the micro-model, as I knew fractals are embedded everywhere. I knew the 666 as the ‘number of man’ and it seemed to point to the carbon atom as proof. If this ‘trinitized’ form existed, would it naturally reveal our ‘perfected’ form, fit and function in the world? Hmmm… Do we even consider that question in our daily lives or professional endeavors or relationships?
So how does this answer the original question: “What if god cannot be Understood only realized. Is that still god?”
It would seem that the combination of self-actualization (form) and self-realization (consciousness) gives an experience of a near-godlike quality, at least. like we are truly connected to reality in ways we cannot imagine yet. Some say we are gods and goddesses in embryo, children as it were. I personally think the term ‘God’ gets folks confused and continues a separative notion that doesn’t belong, in my opinion. We need to question our beliefs, potentially finding solace in the truth.
Preponderance of Evidence
Think of the thousands if not millions of years of evolution, both biological and in consciousness (perhaps spiritual) that it would take to develop that depth of awareness and actually live in it. The growth in self-awareness and quantum sciences reflect very similar patterns and that, perhaps, we live in God as God lives in us. We just can’t grok it, yet. One of my clients expressed that I was like a master puzzle maker:
The dynamics and potentialities of positive outcomes defy logic. Logic even mathematicians and philosophers have long pondered. Something even Richard Feynman didn’t have enough time and still needed to examine, Quantum Love. What would it be like to meet the actual FUTURE puzzle makers themselves? This is what it is like to meet with Zen and his work.
And to that end, I created a couple of videos that sum the evidence up succinctly, I think. The first part came months ago as I was pondering how to assist the ‘new normal’ evolving in our world after the pandemic. The second, after being introduced to Wilbert Smith’s book, The New Science, and the inclusion of ‘nothingness’ mentioned by people from elsewhere. The book contains incomplete memoirs published in 1964, a couple of years after his death. I can only say the material, even incomplete, is profound. Here’s the video of the combined pieces if you’re interested.
Great question, by the way, “What if god cannot be Understood only realized. Is that still god?” God understood realized, our future puzzle.
In life we need to be effective. What are best practices in 2021? Doing the same thing over and over and not getting the results we want is certainly not effective, is it? Why do we do it then? Changing our habits is the solution. Change is a scary word to most people, yet look what we’ve been through in the last year and we’re still here, right? When we eventually unmask and reveal our true identity, how will you show up? Will you be trapped in the problems or freed in the future solutions?
One of our greatest and most successful guides in the last century is probably Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. Of course we don’t need to have the desire to a highly successful person, just one that can negotiate the path we’re on well and build on it for a successful future, right? What do we need to know and how can we practice that knowledge so that it benefits our lives?
Steven Covey’s 7 Habits – Best Practices in 2021
Let’s begin with taking a look at those 7 Habits and just ponder them as you go down the list. No doubt you’ll have an inner essay going on, comparing and contrasting your current habits with those that are offered. I’d highly recommend getting the audio book if you don’t have it, and if you do have it, revisit it often. The seven habits are as follows:
Be proactive
Begin with the end in mind
Put first things first
Think win/win
Seek to understand first, before making yourself understood
Learn to synergize
Sharpen the saw
Being proactive means you want to take action toward upcoming events in your life, whether it is simply creating a mental map or actually doing something doesn’t matter. It’s making the step toward anticipation and away from anxiety. Having an insatiable curiosity and asking the right questions lead to greater results than just meeting things as they come, which is what most of us do. We’re reactionary instead of proactive.
Beginning with the end in mind gives us a mental picture of where we desire to be or to achieve. I think it was Napoleon Hill who brought the statement, ‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.’ Knowing where you want to be allows the questions of how to get there to emerge; the more we put our attention on the goal, and keep it there, the more easily the steps emerge.
Putting first things first is about priorities. Most of us have priorities that don’t match our vision when it comes to serving the mission of our life. What do feel is most important? Is it really? What else might be more important? How are you structuring those priorities with your daily activity? Do they match? Where do you need to adjust?
Thinking win/win means there is mutual gain in any transaction. Every interaction you have with another is a transaction in communication, at least. There is a mutual understanding of each other, hopefully. In approaching the activity of building resources, both human and material, how can you offer something in return or even make a random act of kindness toward another in your supply chain?
Seeking to understand first and then be understood is probably one of the greatest challenges we’ll have. Why? Because it involves communication; effective communication. If you ask any leader of a company or organization what their greatest challenge is, 9 our of 10 will probably say – communication. Conflicts and misunderstandings come from not understanding the dictionary each speaks from, the trigger words inherent in it as well as the words that create safe space and understanding. One of the best means of effective communication is using active listening.
I’ve pulled some basics from VeryWellMind to use here:
Features of Active Listening – Best Practice of 2021
Active listening involves more than just hearing someone speak. When you practice active listening, you are fully concentrating on what is being said. You listen with all of your senses and give your full attention to the person speaking.
Below are some features of active listening:
Neutral and nonjudgmental
Patient (periods of silence are not “filled”)
Verbal and nonverbal feedback to show signs of listening (e.g., smiling, eye contact, leaning in, mirroring)
Asking questions
Reflecting back what is said
Asking for clarification
Summarizing
In this way, active listening is the opposite of passive hearing. It’s truly a best practice for 2021 to establish the best communication.
Active listening serves the purpose of earning the trust of others and helping you to understand their situations. Active listening comprises both a desire to comprehend as well as to offer support and empathy to the speaker.
It differs from critical listening, in that you are not evaluating the message of the other person with the goal of offering your own opinion. Rather, the goal is simply for the other person to be heard, and perhaps to solve their own problems.
Active listening means not engaging in unhelpful listening habits such as the following:
Being stuck in your own head
Not showing respect for the speaker
Only hearing superficial meaning (not hearing underlying meaning)
Interrupting
Not making eye contact
Rushing the speaker
Becoming distracted
“Topping” the story (saying “that reminds me of the time…”)
Forgetting what was said in the past
Asking about unimportant details
Focusing too much on details and missing the big picture
Ignoring what you don’t understand
Daydreaming
Only pretending to pay attention
If you can practice better communication, your life will change dramatically for the better. Don’t try to be perfect, just be better with each attempt. It’s a practice, just like any discipline. The more you practice, the better you get. Your life may depend on it someday.
Learning to synergize is a challenge for most of us. We have so many deadlines and details, as well as commitments, floating around in our heads it’s a wonder we get anything done sometimes. It isn’t that difficult to learn how to synergize. Step back and take a look at everything on your plate, all of it. See the big picture, begin with the end in mind, and look for the natural patterns of how things fit together. There is a natural order that makes the best use of your energy and time, like a time management expert.
Sharpening the saw means making you the best you you can be – YOU are the ONE. It’s not selfish or self-centered, it’s honoring your BEing. It entails having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Applying yourself in each area enhances them all synergistically.
Another option as a best practice in 2021… Back at the beginning of the sideways movement of society in 2020, it occurred to me that perhaps a reflection on how to look around fearlessly and engage a better attitude toward each other might actually help us all. It’s a short video that you may find some value in as well. If you’d like to schedule a call to see how I can serve you, click here.
I’ve always been an idealist, a change agent with the ability to challenge the status quo with intelligence and practicality. It hasn’t always been pleasant in my experience. Boat rockers are generally thrown overboard. That happened to me in the 80s while working for an aerospace company and being a top performer in our production control department. The aptitude and attitude brought accolades and inquiries, yet had the opposite effect on my peers. My success was solely based on interpersonal skills and treating people with care, honesty and respect.
As you might guess, or even experienced yourself, most businesses (and especially DOD funded ones) operate with a command and control complex. Don’t ever question the status quo, but if you can show a better way by providing results, then management might listen. The problem is, the behavior that provided great success was the opposite of how the company was actually ran at the time. Several years after I left I ran into the Purchasing Director’s secretary while grocery shopping. She was pleased to let me know the company finally instituted interpersonal skills classes company-wide.
In my short tenure of success and as a result of having the ear of management, I suggested interpersonal skills classes. I did so in a departmental meeting and got shunned by nearly everyone in the 35-person department for a week or so. A year later, another departmental meeting took place and the request for a consultant was given to me. I found one with credentials and recommendations that were impeccable, brought them in for a meeting and found myself demoted a few weeks later; the same week my divorce was final. I’d given my best effort in both worlds and in my church; within a three-month period all three became disappointments.
The tumultuous transformation was replete with a new living awareness that I chose to engage and never to look back. I’d attempted to live on the advice of Elders, friends, family and management with miserable results. My personal ethics questioned the integrity of those around me in church and work, let alone in my marriage. They were tough lessons, though in choosing not to let my own integrity suffer I grew stronger than I’d ever realized I could be in spite of the trials and tribulations.
A few years later I’d completed an MBA program and earned the letters. I went on to get a Secondary Teaching certification and taught school for nearly a decade, finding the same kind of environment I’d experienced in the corporate world. Customers and students were secondary, it was the fiefdoms that mattered. I decided to get a second Masters in Organizational Management. I was going to find my way, learn the ropes and change the world. In the process, we had to write a personal ethics statement.
I will to do good for all, desiring to serve humanity in the highest and best use of my mind/body/spirit complex, in the facilitation of a new world order of harmony among people and planet through the development of a state-of-the-art model community and website that promotes this endeavor.
Early Development
Expressing one’s personal take on ethics and life may not always be understood in the context of the world at large. Belief systems are established early on though environments of home, church, school, and social gatherings, which help to form these beliefs. Most of these beliefs and patterns of behavior are established through the unconscious observations and experiences of childhood in the aforementioned environments. These I refer to as ‘outer’ experiences. For me, I knew that I was adopted by the time I was five.
My adoptive parents were ideal by some standards, demonstrating honesty, integrity, and willingness to address conflict with style and grace, even in the most difficult of situations. Dad was a tool and die machinist, building plastic injection molds for General Motors optical division, and a 32nd Degree Mason. Mom was an educator, with masters in Music and English, and taught middle school English and Literature. They were a formidable team for an adolescent with growing pains. My adoptive parents taught me that honesty was the best policy, even when the details may not be too favorable.
I became aware of my adoption just before I met my sister, who also was adopted. I also began having metaphysical experiences just around my 5th birthday. I refer to these as ‘inner’ experiences. For most, the internal experience is often ignored because of the lack external acceptance or validation. There was a disparity with my parents due to no frame of reference for them regarding my metaphysical meanderings, which often caused me to question my own reality, by the way. Consequently, the balance toward trusting others was often weighted by desire rather than discernment. The discernment came later as I began to understand that not all people were like my parents and especially not like me.
Others’ motives were not always utilitarian. They were often misplaced personal libertarian expressions of selfishness without regard to personal boundaries. What I learned was that the inner life I was leading provided more concrete understanding of the nature of the outer reality and the actions of others. Whether it changed those actions or not varied from situation to situation depending on my ability to question congruency, the awareness of connectivity, verbally. That, too, changed, as I got older and more experienced with introducing interrogatives.
In my teens, the greatest influence came through the Order of DeMolay. I was Master Councilor at fifteen and at 17, competed at the State Conclave through a speech on filial love and in one-meter springboard diving. I was a lifeguard during he summers and thought the diving competition was going to be from a 3-meter board, so I practiced during breaks as well as between afternoon and evening sessions. I had to completely change my routine for the one-meter event. I came in third against several AAU divers which gave me a great sense of accomplishment and realization of being able to shift on the fly and still do well.
Receiving the International DeMolay Medal for Saving a Human Life was another significant emotional event at the Conclave. I’d witnessed an event that put a swimmer in peril and immediately responded, another swimmer had gone off the diving board before the area cleared underneath them. He landed on top of a young girl and knocked her unconscious. I was in the water before he landed and reached her in time before she inhaled much water and got her to safety. Her parents petitioned the local newspaper to praise my efforts. I was just attentive and responsive to the event, I thought, and it was no big deal. It reached the ears of our Chapter Dad and, unbeknownst to me he submitted my name for the award.
Beyond the personal achievements, I learned the value of teamwork in school through clubs, group projects and sports – football (varsity team 4 years) and individual participation in support of the team through baseball, golf, and track. I played third base as well as any, was medalist (golf) my senior year and ran sprints and hurdles in track (11.1 second 100-yard dash). I graduated 10th in my class of 300, though my classroom shenanigans in my freshman year cost me salutatorian status. On dares I filled the shop class with smoke from putting too much oil on a lathe and stuck a piece of gum between a substitute teachers glasses and eyebrow from the back of the room in Biology class. A bit mischievous, I was bored in school.
College Prep to Personal Plight
I entered college on a Pre-Med program, testing out of 5 quarters of general education studies. My second quarter in college started off with a real bang. I’d been dating a girl since my sophomore year in high school, ‘breaking up’ with her upon entering college because I was not sure I would be able to maintain monogamy. Well, after the first quarter I went back to ask her to marry me only to find out she was already married. My heart sunk and I returned to school determined to give my life to something with meaning. In respect of this, I knelt in prayer and asked to know truth, and was willing to die for it if necessary. It was the most intense prayer I’d ever made.
A week later, while in meditation listening to Journey’s first album, I heard a voice after the lyrics of the song. It said, “Bruce, are you willing to die for what you believe in?” I paused for a moment, checking my beliefs. My first thought was Christ Consciousness, though it felt a little empty still. My second was Cosmic Consciousness and I replied, “Yes.” Immediately I felt a tug at my solar plexus. It felt like I let go of my body, rose up and turned to see my body as I was moving away from it. O.B.Es were not unfamiliar, as I’d been having them for some time. This felt different, yet familiar enough to have no fear.
Before I could fully turn to look where I was going, I was engulfed by white light. It was only missing tactile sensations, and as an impetuous teen, I asked if there was more. I felt another sensation of movement and found myself in the center of a sphere of pinpoints of light. After recognizing them as points of consciousness, whether in body or not I was not sure as I sure as heck was not, the voice resumed. I got my marching orders, so to speak. I returned to my body with a rush of energy and a gasp for air, leaving my eyes closed temporarily. Returning to my body was in itself a significant emotional event, let alone the previous few moments.
I felt my question was answered and I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, told my parents, and found myself talking with a psychiatrist a week later. A blessing in disguise, my tenure with the psychiatrist helped me to begin to balance my inner and outer experiences, and to find order in my life. After a brief conversation on my third visit, he let expressed his concern, though he stated I wasn’t crazy and had gone through a ‘spiritual awakening’ at a young age. He said most people go through [it] in their mid-40s, if they ever do. We adjourned to the second story of his converted historic home. I had my first tarot card reading, which edified all we had discussed and more. HIs advice was not to talk about it until much older. It would be too much for people to handle.
Forty years later, I delivered a couple of signed copies of my books. He didn’t remember me. We had a peer to peer conversation, though, that was quite rewarding. What plagued me then and does to this day – How was this ‘facilitation’ all going to come to fruition? What did I need to do to prepare? I moved to Phoenix from a rural Indiana town four years later and within a year found myself working at the aerospace company I mentioned earlier, only as a machinist. I carried on my quest and over the next few years, as professional opportunities presented themselves and we got involved with church for our children I still felt empty inside. It wasn’t until I could read the writing on the walls that I realized how things were going to work, outside of my control.
Rising Above the Situation
The only thing I could control was my response to betrayal, fallacious remarks and an immature workforce, and use it to transform my life toward fulfillment. I was finishing my Bachelor’s degree and in the midst of using a business case at work for a final project. We spent a weekend in northern Arizona during the Harmonic Convergence, where another, night-long, experience gave me direction. I knew I had to change my project. I began to conceptualize an environment that would demonstrate leading edge technologies in all fields and how they would work together in harmony with people and planet. It had to include every best practice and element of a global community on a micro community scale.
There were no existing financials for such a community, and only a few even remotely close in the world at the time. Eventually, the plan began to develop with enough detail that I could at least write an overview of the project. It was just under 60 pages and received a D. Four years later (1991) I had a conference with a founder of Valley National Bank, as I’d refined the plan and knew he’d be a straight shooter. He was 91 and still had an office. He loved the plan and told me my next step was to find all the pieces, which he encouraged me to do so. Then, the conversation took an unexpected twist and the importance of trusting, what I’ve grown to call psychospiritual technologies, was edified.
After acknowledging the validity of the project, he spent the next hour talking about the psychic gifts that his wife had used to help him in his business career. He said he relied on her ‘readings’ as a critical part of his decision-making process. I was completely taken by surprise that one at his station in life would rely on the psychospiritual technologies his wife used. Cards and readings were a small part of them. Carl and his two brothers were responsible for bringing nearly 70% of the business to the Phoenix area through the Valley National Bank, which they had founded. Carl was 91 at the time and still had an office in the VNB building downtown. He died a few years later.
I began my MBA in 1994 to begin the process of finding the pieces and knowing what to do with them when I did. Now, in my second masters program, I seek to continue the plan and assemble an organizational plan, including all necessary policy development, organizational duties and responsibilities, and management philosophy that will empower the assemblage of a team of dedicated professionals to take the plan to the next level of development. I realized early on it was too big for the time I had for the program. I’d been teaching high school and saw how a model community and school could emulate the essence of the larger scope and provide a duplicable model.
The concept became Spectrum Academy. It included a variety of leading-edge philosophies for holistic education (mind, body, spirit) as well as critical education that I had not found in public or charter schools – understanding natural rhythms and cycles of personal and planetary design. It included a 13-moon process for achieving goals and objectives tied to their housing arrangement; moving every new-moon through 13 dwellings and, upon achievement, became voting members of a peer community council designed to manage the on-going responsibilities of administration, with help from adult advisors. The areas of study included educational, environmental and social development.
The business plan met all the criteria for the program as well as serving as a working document to go for support in the community. My first stop was the Director of Education for Arizona Child Protective Services. Again, loved the plan though he couldn’t see how the state would ever grow to that level of educational environment. He though it was years, perhaps decades, ahead of its time. Although we were not able to move it forward then, I built a website that housed the basics, concept and rationale, with the option of requesting the business plan. The information needed to be made available for those who might find ways to implement even parts of it in their own programs. A few have reached out and some have found some worth over the years.
Nature’s Way of Refinement
In spite of the ability to materialize the concept as of yet, the tenacity of the idea has once again come to the surface. At the beginning of the ‘transcendent event’ the world is experiencing with the threat of a virus and social distancing making business as usual nearly impossible, I paused and reflected on the progress of my good in the world. I was ready to step up to a different role after cohosting a small business radio show, building a transformational coaching practice, facilitating pre-construction team building sessions, building a number of website and writing a bunch of books – all but the cohosting is still in play. I prayed for an opening in the non-profit sector and serving the community better, with little detail as to the specifics.
Within a month and through a series of synchronous events, an old friend reached out with a story that was just too horrific to ignore. Over 70% of youth aging our of foster care in Arizona are homeless, incarcerated, sex trafficked or chronically jobless. That is just unacceptable to me. He had an idea to change that after working with a non-profit for nearly a year and now fundraising events were saddled by the lockdowns and social distancing mandates.
The timing for me was impeccable and we’ll be launching the effort officially in January 2021. Perhaps others will see opportunity in participating in Arizona and, if elsewhere, either participating in their own state’s programs or initiating legislation to get tax credits approved if none are available. The effort addresses the ineffective distribution of funds through State authorities and will greatly impact the lives of thousands of youth aging our of foster care across the country in the next few years.
We’re a world in fear right now, perhaps rightfully so with the trends of conditions we feel helpless to change. It is a polarity paradigm, full of suffering. Is it by design or negligence in our own development? Is there a cross-over in fields of study, a synergy of discoveries and knowledge that we’ve missed somehow? Conversely, is there a happiness paradigm? The author’s opinion is there is indeed a virtue in contact that can impact our future in positive ways.
Our world has a convoluted past and severely limited present with the kinds of information that keeps us from moving beyond the separative notions that seem to keep us afraid, angry, ignorant and immobile in unifying our efforts toward a virtuous path. For some, it is obvious that this virtuous path does indeed exist and has been either ignored or purposefully obfuscated by those who are still in the command and control paradigm.
So many ‘experts’ are caught up in conspiracy and phenomena, leading us away from a concerted effort to become more self-aware and fearless toward our future. The concerns for our planet and people are real yet many, if not most, feel powerless to change our current course. “Be The Change,” still echoes in the memes and themes across the Internet.
Being the Change
How do we ‘be the change’ in the face of the relentless onslaught of misinformation and intentional distraction from a collaborative and cooperative movement toward harmony among people and planet? Too many feel the ‘harmony among people and planet’ is an incredulous notion we will never be able to manifest as human beings on Earth. To the contrary, there have been statements and inspired presentations of a ‘new age of enlightenment’ for decades.
One of my hobbies is Ufology, the study of the phenomena of UFOs. I’m curious about things that happen beyond our scope of understanding. Ufology has been an environment where the would-be soothsayers seem to just want to ignore real people with events, arguing instead over whether ‘disclosure’ will happen, and not being really clear about what ‘disclosure’ means. Interest was hidden for years and with the latest NY Times article, a new realm of questions and unknown realities emerge. What’s next?
In spite of the known issues in Ufology, countless folks have attempted to enter the fray with open hearts and genuine intention of serving a greater cause, which includes becoming part of a universal order amongst the stars as we evolve into a planetary civilization worthy of such. That just seems downright logical and sounds like being a good neighbor in the cosmos. Would that lead to a happiness paradigm? Sounds pretty inclusive. Instead of rallying around a common enemy, which is what one side of the field would like, we might consider advanced races way to evolved to stoop to malevolent behavior of any kind.
In a fairly recent interview, the Sociology of Ufology, we discussed the history of Ufology and the path it has taken via the promoters and presenters within the community. The same themes are regurgitated with different personalities over time, nearly all of which leave a skewed view of the reality many face. Very rarely are ethics, morals and values we aspire to even discussed. Conversations are often, but not always, steeped in fear of the unknown rather than embracing opportunities to learn more about ourselves, our neighbors and the universe. It’s a prime example of the human reticence to explore.
Happiness Paradigm
I use Ufology as an example of addressing fact or fiction and the fear that emerges with the unknown. Perhaps it is a bit intensified in the ‘abduction’ experience, as noted in most TV shows depicting abductions. Is it really so? Is it just our imagination, running away with us? Extra points for hearing the Temptations in your head. Most of our fears are self-created and never come to pass. So, if there is really nothing to fear, why not put your attention on what makes you happy? Work with that, contemplate what that might be like in your life.
Talking in abstracts and theories delight some, though there is an objective reality for each of us. It is the one of our choice that we observe. The notion that attention, intention and action formulate the equation for how we experience reality is true. Where we put our attention, our intention feeds regardless of the focus. When we put our attention on what makes us happy, it doesn’t matter the environment or scenario, it is a practical choice. So, why not put your attention on what makes you happy, intend to follow through and take action toward that end? Experiment…
Of course if you have challenges in adjusting your mindset, that’s what a coach can help do. Specifically, a transformational coach assists in making the process enjoyable and practical. Many think there are secrets to self-awareness and personal growth. There is no panacea or secret, though we do keep things hidden because we aren’t thinking well. A conversation with a transformational coach, especially me, will expand your horizons and free your mind to experience greater happiness, without any extraterrestrial involvement.