Hello Everybody,
Last month Sheryl mentioned that she was looking to publish a book and asked people to forward her publishing proposal and writing sample around the internet in the hopes of connecting with a publisher and/or literary agent through the power of community. It worked! Someone on this list suggested she contact an old teacher of hers. He recommended an author colleague back in Santa Cruz and that person encouraged Sheryl to contact her publisher and gave us his name. A few days later another person on this list forwarded the newsletter to someone else who forwarded it to yet another person. That person is another author who wholeheartedly recommended his literary agent and the SAME publisher the first person recommended! Interesting, huh?
At this point proposals and sample chapters have been sent to more than one publisher and several literary agents. Publishing is a BIG waiting game and you never have any real idea of how and when (or if) a book will be accepted. But the game is in play and this community has been a big help in that. Thank you very much! We'll, of course, let you know how it turns out.
An interesting set of spiritual issues that presented itself to us this month is the role of environment or context in terms of what we perceive and how we form our points of view. If you're reading this online take a look at the graphic at the top of the page. It's an optical illusion—the blue in the graphic is exactly the same color as the green. Don't believe us? It's all about context. The color is actually a blue-green. When seen next to orange our brains interpret the color as green. In the context of the magenta stripes the color looks like blue.
We could write an entire volume of books on this topic alone—how the environments we live in color our perceptions. Trust me, there's a world of difference in the experience of those who live in vibrant diverse communities next to the Pacific Ocean vs the homogeneous community in the plain arid Arizona desert we find ourselves in now! But we'll simply address a single application of this or two. At least for now. . .
Be well,
Sheryl and Paul
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IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTEXT (AND POINT OF VIEW)
by Sheryl Karas
A lot of our oldest clients think we are "psychics." We ask for guidance, get information that we could not possibly know any other way. On rare occasions we get insights about the future, read people's energy fields, even hear guidance from departed loved ones and helpers from the other side. All things a psychic giving a "reading" might be expected to do.
Fortunately for us we don't see ourselves that way. . . or, to be honest, we wouldn't be able to do this work at all anymore. We don't believe that psychic work per se is healthy or unhealthy. It's all a matter of context. Many spiritual leaders say that psychic or spiritual powers in general are a significant trap on the trail of spiritual development. Others—evangelical healers for example—consider guidance from God and the healing that occurs in that instance as the highest form of service they ever do.
We think that way, too, but context is the key. We believe that excessive dependency on psychic guidance -- what's going to happen? what is so and so is thinking about me? what should I do next? -- is the antithesis of what spiritual counseling and healing work is all about. Sure, it can make all the difference— a single phrase that I receive in a session repeated out loud at just the right moment can break things wide open— but the point is healing and spiritual development and not the phrase in itself.
Spiritual growth and development in the context of living well is the motto we used on our website and in our ads for a long time. We probably chose the phrase "in the context of living a great life" but I've developed a different attitude about that now. Living a great life connotes riches to some people, power and glory to others. But when life hands you oranges when you want something more . . . oranges look like lemons. Living well isn't really hard at all, it's just hard to perceive at times. Sometimes that's what people need: a little bit of help in seeing the value in it all. . . and living well regardless of the nature of what we receive. To put a positive spin on it isn't necessary. I'm referring to a deepening of our ability to receive. To revel in life's tiny moments is something important. An apple on a tree can be something you don't consider a gift at all. But in other circumstances it can be a very sweet thing or even a matter of life or death. When we can revel in the gifts we receive they become that much more. And we can receive more readily.
May I be more specific? A few weeks ago I was given a gift and said to myself "Wow, that's really nice. Too bad I wanted something else." I took the gift, put it down for awhile and proceeded to spend enormous amounts of energy trying to have something I thought was better. And I got very very sick in the process. That got my attention. :-( By the next morning I made a new decision: that original gift was looking pretty special to me now! How could I not have noticed?
The great prophet Mick Jagger has been known to say "You can't always get what you want. But you get what you need!" Thank God, thank Goddess for that!
And that's my "sermon" for today. Be thankful for all we receive. Be well, be happy. Use our help, as you feel the need, for that!
;-) Amen
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SPIRIT IN CONTEXT
by Paul Hood
The other day I discovered that there are a few biblical quotes all falling within the same passage which have had an influence on me. An old movie by Frank Capra called "You Can't Take it With You" contains the quote "Consider the Lillies of the field, they toil not, neither do they spin. . ." Later on, there's the well known "Oh ye of little faith." I use that one on Sheryl from time to time, usually when she's criticizing my driving, because if you drive with me, really, you better pray.
Eventually the passage comes around to "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." After college when I was looking for a place to land, I was decidedly pointed towards a tiny little canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador: Quaerite primum regnum dei (Latin, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God"). I took note of the motto, and didn't head straight for Newfoundland, though I hear the seal flipper pie is to die for.
Context: what do all those tiny quotes mean out of context, and why would it come up lately? What it means for me is that, like it or not there is a further re-ordering of priorities going on. We've all got our material lives, but of course there is the transcendent as well; all those higher ideals which we cherish, which make us human, really. The kingdom is within. Take care of that, and the rest will work itself out. The passage seems to promise that your earthly needs will be taken care of if you just get right with God, but if you read it in context it goes much further than that, you might even say that it's self contradictory. You can't really expect any spiritual text to place the material above the spiritual-- ain't gonna happen. So you just have to deal-- but it won't ignore the material either. These are two aspects of God, the transcendent and the immanent. And when I say God, of course I mean you, me all of us, all the stars, the earth, the air--- as material and as divine stuff.
Who and what you are in the moment, matters. If you lose all your stuff, what still matters is who and what you are. It often takes hard times for people to get spiritual. Losing your stuff, or being disappointed, not getting what you want when you want it, it can get your attention and attention: our consciousness is the only thing we do own, unfolding moment by moment. Losing your stuff is also a great opportunity to appreciate other people; who they are and what they do, and to be grateful for that. Why ? Is that an order ? Do you have to be grateful ? No, it's just a suggestion because being ungrateful feels like crap. That's the thing, no matter how spiritual books may seem to emphasize the spiritual over the material, it's all very practical in the context of the human beings reading it all: we're made of spirit, and the material world obeys the edicts of the collective soul.
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MORE WRITING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Paul's Blog
Sheryl's Blog
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