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The Cookie Thief - by Valerie Cox
Read by Wayne Dyer

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene

She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking “If I wasn’t so nice I’d blacken his eye”

With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he’d do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half

He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought “Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude”

She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes

“If mine are here” she moaned with despair
“Then the others were his and he tried to share”
“Too late to apologize she realized with grief”
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief

Not too long ago a little movie came out, you may have heard of it.

It was called “The Secret”

It kind of took the world by storm and became a little phenomenon in its own right…

This was a basic introduction to a small subset of one of the general laws of metaphysics called the “Law of Attraction”.

Its basic premise is that you attract (or manifest) into your experience that which you focus (think or visualize) on.

The Secret brought to the general population a sort of “Metaphysics 101” on just one of its most fundamental (but major) laws.

Does it work?

Yes and No.

In the simplest way I can describe, it works in that our internal state of affairs (karma) will be manifested outward for a greater purpose than to just grant the wishes of our egos.

It doesn’t work in the very simple way it has been communicated to the masses – which is just by thinking about a thing will bring that thing into ones experience.

At least this is not how it works for me.

The Law of Attraction (LOA) is *not* a new concept to many people.

I would describe myself as having been a believer in, and practicing student (I say that loosely) of, some of the more practical aspects of metaphysics since about the mid to late 80’s – when I was in my mid-teens.

I was brought into this mysterious world when I was at the library looking for books on psychology.

(Note: I was looking for books on psychology because I believed, even at that time, that understanding/mastery of the mind to be one of the most important skills one can have.  So, in a way, even before coming to learn about this field called “metaphysics” I was unknowingly looking for it)

If you know the Dewey Decimal System, you know that books on psychology are placed right next to books on “Parapsychology” which was the term given to this field of pseudo science.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology

As I wandered into this section, I was floored at the books and topics available to me.

For some reason, I felt that I had uncovered some hidden treasure trove of the all the collected secret wisdom of the ages.  I devoured everything I could get my hands on.

As this was prior to the Internet, my only access to this information was the library.  But I soon ended up on all kinds of esoteric mailing lists and started receiving catalogs of the most bizarre books and manuals.

As I mentioned, this was in the mid to late 80’s – and due to the weirdness of it all, I didn’t share my new found interest with anyone.  It became a hidden pursuit that I have had till this day.

I felt like some sort of “in the closet” sorcerers apprentice.

I had covered at least learning about all the great mystery traditions:
(Alchemy, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, etc…)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_mystery_tradition

I started to learn about the eastern religions and philosophies:
(Bhuddism, Zen, Hinduism)

I gathered every bit of channeled material and NDE (Near Death Experiences) I could get my hands on.

I started to see the light of eternal Enlightenment as the common thread between all that I read…

For me it was all very highly seductive

I had (and still have) a burning desire to see how all of this could fit together into a cohesive model that I could apply to my own life.  And as a Christian, I also needed to see how this fit together with the mystical aspects of my own faith.  It is something that I still very passionate about to this day.

Well, I won’t go into it all – but you can get serious information overload.  And since, by the very nature of it, dealing with things outside of the realm of verifiable science – and with things that can corrupt your mind or even your very soul – it can get dark and scary pretty fast.

I backed off of anything that wasn’t directly related to how the mind/thinking related to our outward experience.  And since I was a Christian, I had to be careful of what I chose to read, do and believe in.

So, back to the thread topic.  Does the LOA work.  Yes.  But it can take lifetimes to understand and apply effectively in ones life.  I am still learning and am only beginning to see how my thoughts affect my life and how the seeds I planted yesterday take root today, and can see the vision of what they will be tomorrow.

As I mentioned, not in the way The Secret has shared it with the world, but rather by knowing that my thoughts have had a direct impact on my outer world and in how I experience it – a Definite Yes!

There is no question to this.

In the past years, I am re-focusing on what I believe to be the most important thing: how our mind and consciousness are our real realities and how by working with that which animates them can improve ones experience.

I have learned wonderful things in how all of this works.  And if you are serious about it, its time to learn not what The Secret teaches, but some of the fundamental truths of how, not just our thinking, but EVERYTHING that is in our sub-conscious makeup makes up our outward experience.

I want to share what I have found with anyone who wants to listen.  I will do so via this blog in future posts to come.

But that’s it for now – be sure to subscribe to the blog via the RSS feed icon on the top.

As soon as I can get my thoughts straight I will start to lay it out…

Until then, take care…

What does Expanded Consciousness mean?

For most people the spectrum of conscious awareness is very small.

Think about this – a child (or an adult) that sits in front of a TV and becomes mesmerized has a very limited span of awareness.  By focusing his/her attention on a single point (the TV), he/she is excluding the awareness of other things (from one’s immediate physical surroundings and other mental activity).

This is why we as humans love to be entertained.  It allows us to drown out everything else that may force us to become aware of the things we would rather not have to deal with.

Smaller consciousness = easily amused, but lives life without much control (responding to subconscious programming)

To expand ones conscious means to be able to be simultaneously aware of more.  Not just more of what is around us, but (more importantly) more of what is happening at the mental level.

It also means to broaden the gap between the normal awakened mind and the closed off subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind is where our demons live.  It is where we store those programs and conditions that drive us.

Think of it this way.  The relationship of our conscious mind (everyday awareness or top level thoughts and experiences) and our subconscious mind (memories, beliefs, the things we suppress and repress) has been likened to an iceberg.  An iceberg only has 10% exposed above the water (what we can see and deal with), and 90% lies beneath the water (what we can’t directly see or deal with).

To further help illustrate:  A person who has had any negative or traumatic experiences such as being bitten by a dog or being made fun of as a child has developed negative associations to protect them from the same type of future harm.  As an adult, this person lives controlled by these conditions.  Whenever a person sees a dog, they become fearful and feel the need to leave the situation.  They may not know consciously why.  They just do.  This is living by reactive conditioning that they have no control over.

This is why one would want to expand their consciousness.

The more conscious awareness you have, the more prone you will be to living a life under conscious control.

You can easily eliminate the haunting past conditioning that quietly eats you up inside or drives you to do the things you really don’t want to do such as uncontrollably acting out your addictions and compulsions.

You can do this because as these conditions become exposed you can easily eliminate them by dealing with them face to face (in the Light of Consciousness as the mystics say).

The smaller your consciousness is, the more likely you will miss out on all this life has to offer.

Liken this to having an annoying itch that you can’t seem to scratch while walking through the most beautiful garden in the world – you will not be able to appreciate all that the garden has to offer because this tiny little nagging itch monopolizes all of your (narrow) attention.

To have an expanded consciousness means you are more “conscious” of what was once sub conscious, as well as what is all around you.

To have an expanded consciousness means you are more likely to be pro-active and less likely to be re-active.  Those who are re-active are operating based on past conditioning.

Expanded consciousness = not re-acting to programming, more at peace, more aware of surroundings and internal conditions (and exercising control over them).

And most importantly, metaphysically speaking, any deep seated beliefs can prevent you from all the “having, being and doing” that you want in life.  In order to maximize and quicken the LOA (law of attraction) it is imperative to clean out all that is blocking you from what you are trying to attract into your life.

Let’s take the iceberg analogy and change it up.  Visualize now an iceberg that is 50% above water and 50% below water.  You can see how the once repressed memory of a dog bite has controlled you and you can now over rule that condition with better logic.

With this new image – do you see why you would want to expand your consciousness?

So how do you expand your consciousness?

The simple answer is meditation and practicing the art of mindfulness.  Both of these, if practiced everyday, will have a profound and positive impact on your life.

But understand it can take a long time get the hang of it.  The more you practice and commit yourself to it, the faster you will see results.

Also be prepared for some house cleaning.   Just like cleaning out your closet or weed filled garden can be messy at first – so is cleaning out your subconscious mind.

This post completely over-simplifies a topic of immense complexity and one of the most daring endeavors a human being can undertake.  But we have to start somewhere and I wanted to introduce the basic concepts to those who may be unfamiliar with the role it can play in their life.

It takes complete dedication on your part and may even require the help of those above you (spiritually speaking).

But know this – nothing could be more worth the effort!

Stay tuned for more posts about meditation and other techniques such a releasing and hypnosis – and most importantly prayer to start the process.

- Ciao

What is our purpose?

I think this is one of the greatest questions that one can ask in life.  And not just to ask it, but to actually seek out the answer to it.

We come to this place deaf, dumb and blind as to what our purpose is.  We have no universally acceptable answer in this regard.  Yet it is a question that has been asked since the dawn of time, continues to be asked to this day and will probably continue to be asked long after we have moved on.

The fact that we don’t know, and have not yet found out, tells us something very important about it.

We can say one thing for sure: “We are not exactly sure what our purpose is.”  Many have and will continue to argue about this and as you can imagine, the answers are as diferent as the people who have pondered this topic.

The reason for this is that the answers could never be universally justified by each and every intellect out there.  Intellects will always be individual.  Absolute truth could never reside in such a place as an individual mind – which is subject to ones personal conditioning.

The reason for a lack of a universally acceptable answer is because the answer to this question comes from a place beyond our intellects – a place that most never bother to go, a place that most don’t even believe exists.

Due to the fact that we don’t know and that we want to know, I personally believe that part of our purpose is to determine what our purpose is.

And I believe that the only way to find this answer is to go beyond the limitations of what our minds and intellects can do – and go to the place where truth is constant and shared between all beings.

I believe that we are called to take on the grand adventure to rise above those parts of ourselves that have limitations to the place where we are at one with the all of creation.

I believe it is here where we find out who we are and why we are here.

The catch is that the truth of this will never come in a way that works in a way the intellect is used to.  I do not believe the answer will come in the form of knowledge that can be assimilated by the mind.  Rather, I believe it to be a state of being where you are at one with the absolute truth of the universe.

This is why those who operate entirely from a point of intellect will never understand, nor come to the universal truth of, things that are beyond it.

This is what every great Saint and Sage has pointed to.

These are the brave individuals who have taken the inner journey and found that the greatest liberation and the greatest joy comes from within - and only from within.

No one can take you there, no one else can be responsible for your liberation; they can only point the way, they can only help you to find it within yourself.

No one can claim ownership of the truth or the path to it.  Only you are the gateway to it.

It is up to each individual to take the step.

It’s easy, and we will learn how to take that step right here and now…