Moving Mountains

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Contents

Dedication......................................................................viiAcknowledgements................................................................ixForeword by Howard Falco........................................................xiPreface.........................................................................xiiiIntroduction: Sisyphus..........................................................xvChapter One: The Sacred and The Profane.........................................1Chapter Two: What in the "Hell".................................................24Chapter Three: Get the "Hell" Out—Move that mountain!.....................43Chapter Four: What In The Heaven?...............................................99Chapter Five: Living the Life You Are Meant to Live.............................120Chapter Six: Practically Perfect?...............................................152Chapter Seven: Carnegie Hall?...................................................167Chapter Eight: What Now? Chop Wood Carry Water..................................186Chapter Nine: Mountain or Molehill..............................................198Chapter Ten: The Creator is You.................................................209Chapter Eleven: Divine Orchestra................................................215Chapter Twelve: My Story........................................................223About the Author:...............................................................267Appendix: Workbook exercises....................................................273Bibliography:...................................................................299Further Reading:................................................................303

Chapter One

"Can you get the hell out of my way?" as I mentioned in the preface is a phrase that many of us have heard if not uttered ourselves at one time or another. I remember one time, after having started studying acting, when I heard the phrase and a totally different meaning came into my mind. Let me explain something I learned about acting which will make my explanation much clearer. In acting when going over a script we are taught to be mindful of the words as written and how those words or the meaning behind those words can change based upon where we place our emphasis. For example the phrase, I said no elicits a different kind of feeling when you emphasize the "I" ... I said no. Same if you emphasize "said" ... I said no. And lastly, "no" ... I said no. Each of these seemingly minor changes colors the emotional expression differently. So here I was one day at the mall I think and I heard someone say, "can you get the hell out of my way?" actually I think he said "could you get the hell out of my way?" either way, my point is the same. At first, it sounded like the person was telling someone to move out of their way via this pointed question. Upon closer examination of how I heard it, it sounded like he was asking the person to help him move something almost as if he were saying, "could you move the table out of my way?" The hell then became an obstacle, a tangible something that he wanted help moving. I then had an interesting realization; we often want others to move our obstacles for us when in fact it is only we who can get "the hell," the obstacles, the mountains out of our own way.

Then it dawned on me again that there is a third possible meaning to the phrase when the emphasis is changed again. It becomes a question asking if the person can, is able to get the hell, move the hell, remove the obstacle from the person's path. In other words suppose I said, "Can you move the car?" I could be asking one of two things: I could be asking you to move the car or I could be asking if you are able to move the car. So here we return to the can you get the hell out of my way phrase and we have a phrase of anger and frustration being sent out into the world. Secondly we have a question where the person is asking you to move the obstacle, in this case the hell, out of their way. Lastly, we have the question where they are asking is it possible for you to move the obstacle for them. To which I once again say no. The only one who can move my obstacles is me! With that in mind, I want to address this idea of hell and how the concept of it shapes the lives each of us lives and creates builds the obstacles we perceive.

Hell ... The word itself conjures a vast array of ideas and images in one's mind depending on what you have chosen to believe about hell. For some, hell is simply a difficult period in one's life, a struggle or period of tribulations. For others, it represents an actual location where a damned soul will suffer for all eternity. Still for others, it represents a state of consciousness in which one believes in separation, scarcity, duality, pain, sin, and evil ... it is in essence a belief in an impotent God.

The idea of hell is built upon the idea of duality between that which is sacred and that which is profane; two very important words intertwined by the thread of race consciousness. The Buddha once said, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become." In the Bible, Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7, "as a man thinketh in his heart so he is." These words are mirrored around the world and throughout the universe by the enlightened ones. Their words and teachings are written on walls, stone tablets, scrolls, and parchments around the world. And despite the truth encapsulated in their words, many people do not live their lives knowing these truths. Many people, still living in the illusion, prefer to complain about "what the hell is in their way;" not taking the time to realize that they are the ones in their own way and that the hell they are going through is of their own creation. The Spiritual Warrior, the man, woman, or child who puts on the full armor of God, goes forward in truth, knowing that empowerment and healing are not only possible but are inevitable. These spiritual adepts are people who make lasting empowered changes by being willing to take an honest look at the truth and once knowing the truth have the courage to live from their new awareness.

It is far easier for people to live the life or the "lie" that they have agreed to live. These agreed upon lies are based upon what Don Miguel Ruiz refers to as Domestication.

"During our early life we began making agreements. Our parents rewarded us when we did what they wanted and they punished us when we didn't. We also learned behaviors and habits in school, church, and from other adults, and children on the playground. The tools of reward and punishment were often emotional and sometimes physical. The impact of other people's opinions and reactions to us became a very strong force in the habits we created. In this process we created agreements in our mind of who we should be, what we shouldn't be, who we were, and who we were not. Over time we learned to live our life based on the agreements in our own mind. We learned to live according to the agreements that came from the opinion of others. In this process of domestication it turns out that the choices we make and the life we live is more driven by the opinions we learned from others than one we would choose on our own (Van Warmerdam).

The human mind or consciousness is...