Conscious Living Foundation Newsletter No. 99

Welcome to Conscious Living, our newsletter designed to share our current activities and growth, along with articles and information that we hope will be supportive and encouraging in your efforts to live each moment with more joy and satisfaction.

It has been several months since we last issued a newsletter. Unfortunately our database containing our subscriber list crashed and the backups were only partially helpful. we have spent this time reconstructing the database and affiliating with a new Internet Service Provider so that our newsletters will be easier and quicker to download and our database more protected in the event of problems.

One aspect of these changes is the new format of our newsletter. Over the years our newsletter has continued to grow in length and size due to more and more articles and the increased use of graphics. The last few issues have been difficult for some subscribers to download and view through their email system. In addition to the length and size of the newsletter, because it has contained so many graphics and links to our website, many email systems identify it as spam and automatically block delivery.

So, we are experimenting with different ways of delivering the newsletter to you. For this issue, we will email only this introductory article and our table of contents. By clicking the included link, you will be taken to our newsletter which now resides on our website.

This allows us to continue to offer you an ever expanding range of articles and even more graphics! We hope you like the new format. Your comments are always welcome. We need your thoughts and guidance in order to provide the newsletter you want.

Our newsletter begins and ends with thoughts about serenity. Our first article is by James Allen, the famous author of "As A Man Thinketh". We end our newsletter with the Serenity Prayer. Both emphasize how essential a sense of inner peace is to the cultivation of all other spiritual qualities which we seek to manifest in our lives. We're certain you'll find both the article and the prayer worthwhile.

We continue with our collection of essays by Ernest Holmes, with his thoughts on "What and Why is Man" in which he expresses his views on the essential nature of humankind and our integrated relationship with our Creator. As always, Dr. Holmes' thoughts are empowering and encouraging.

In addition, we offer two unique perspectives on the spiritual life - first, Emilie Cady's article "Heirs to the Kingdom" and Wallace D. Wattles perhaps controversial thoughts on "The Right to be Rich". For those of us who think money is the root of all evil, this article may stimulate new thinking.

In addition to an affirmation for health, you'll find a new spiritual poem, this one entitled, "Tomorrow".

Finally, our newsletter also includes an article by one of our most popular writers, Steve Roberts and his new essay, "Family of the Heart" in which he explores the connections that exist between us all through a thoughtful review of the life of artist Robert Rauschenberg.

As always, we are so grateful to all of you who visit our website, and contribute through your generous donations, purchases, emails and article submissions. Thank you for letting us share this issue of our newsletter with you.

William Simpson
Director

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I love to make new acquaintances after they’re dead. I’m an obituary man. My favorites are those that leave me feeling some long-lost brother or sister has left their body before we learned we were related and had a chance to compare notes. Such is my response to the recent New York Times obituary of Robert Rauschenberg. His presence in my family of the heart reminds me how agreeably vast and assorted this family is. I wouldn’t bet against it including you.

I think a friend of mine once told me he went to college with “Chris Rauschenberg, the son of the artist.” That’s about as close as I’ve come to knowing anything about the man (by name, anyway) until I read the Times’ death narrative. Since it mentioned a 44 year-old London Sunday Telegram story hailing Mr. Rauschenberg as “the most important American artist since Jackson Pollock,” I’m sure I’ve seen plenty of his work; I just can’t say what or where. My enchantment with art is the same as my enchantment with anything else—the flight and sounds of birds I’ll likely never know the name of, for instance. Just the other night I saw one of the most beautiful films about big love I’ve ever watched, and you could bribe me with a hundred foot massages and I still couldn’t come up with the title. It’s a wonder I can tell you Grandma Moses painted the Mona Lisa.

Obviously love of art is not knowledge of art. The kinship I enjoy with Mr. Rauschenberg, therefore, emanates solely from whatever perspective we share that transcends our worldly activities. And my understanding of that perspective is limited to the contents of a single obituary discovered during my regular scan of notables who’ve shed their need for pockets. It’s rather fitting when you think about it. Mr. Rauschenberg himself was a master of conjuring beauty out of what art wonks call “found objects.” Why, if he’d been a chef we’d be calling him the czar of Lazarian Cuisine (i.e., the magic of resurrecting leftovers, named after the guy Jesus brought back to life). I, meanwhile, say we can find the meaning of life in a grain of sand or The Nosepickers’ Ballet just as surely as we might find it in scripture or the pearls of a saint…if we’re willing to abandon all preconceptions and look deeply enough within ourselves.

Here’s a grain of sand I found in Mr. Rauschenberg’s obituary: a quote attributed to him that begins, “Anything you do will be an abuse of someone else aesthetics….”

I feel my own myriad scars; I think of the leaders, wizards and Pooh-Bahs I’ve met or heard tell of; heck, I reflect on anybody with whom I’ve shared more than a handshake and it just seems that understanding and acting on the implications of that statement defines our peace of mind and our role in the world as much as any other single factor.

Person, family, business, nation—it’s all the same so far as I can tell. Living begins when we start our endless love affair with life’s number one question: “Who will I/we be or die trying?” Its marrow is fire, the sacred passion deep within us to embrace the essential: Who will I be regardless of the chattering judgmental voices in my head and their cousins, the voices of society, including the people I revere the most…and fear the most?

Nietzsche said, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear with almost any ‘how’.” The truth of this statement is amply proven by stories from concentration camps. But it also applies to those of us who journey only through so-called ordinary life. What other than “purpose” or “meaning” keeps adversity in any of its countless forms from overwhelming us from time to time? (One might say our nation’s choice after 9/11 to not mobilize around the question “Who will we be or die trying?” or more simply, “What does it mean to be an American?” is a big reason why U.S. behavior has caused our moral leadership to take a hit in the world community.) Viktor Frankel, psychiatrist and Auschwitz survivor who wrote the classic ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ said, “…a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy….”

And not someone else’s reason, but our own. Which is why the ticket to misery is making choices that follow any voice other than the voice of our own inner heart. Learning to hear and be guided by that voice just may be the essence of life. Paramahansa Yogananda, in his ‘Autobiography of a Yogi,’ one of the best-selling spiritual books of the past 100 years, writes that every life circumstance can be addressed effectively with the judicious use of a single question: Who am I? Buddhist tradition defines a “warrior” as one who has the courage to know oneself. Tibetan tradition calls a “warrior” one who faces his or her fears. Indeed, without a warrior’s perseverance, quieting the small-self buzzings of limitation (those voices threatened, or “abused,” by our innate passion for meaning) can feel like trying to hear a cricket at a Rolling Stones concert.

My professional history has caused me to be asked on occasion, “What will it take for us to communicate effectively with the world?” Over the years, the first words out of my mouth have become, “Learn to manage fear.”

Eyebrows have been known to hit the skylight in response—“fear” being the most despised four-letter word in American business, if not everywhere.

So I explain.

For individuals and institutions alike, the more we understand who we are committed to being, and the more clearly and powerfully we communicate that identity to the world, the easier it is for some people to reject us, having realized that what we’re proffering is too rich or scary or just plain unappealing to them. Now, for the healthy company or person, this is good news. Marketing is the art and science of establishing a heart-and-mind rapport with those one can actually serve, the exquisite fit of offer and need. Excellent communication, a component of marketing, is respectful of its entire audience, helping those who shouldn’t be customers to say “No thanks,” just as easily as it helps those we can truly serve to say, “I want to know more.” For an unhealthy company or person—one where the fear of rejection holds sway—such arresting, emotionally powerful, meaningful and memorable communication is impossible to create. It’s not a mystery why so much of every kind of man-made expression deadens the soul, from TV ads to sermons.

And it’s no mystery why so much of Robert Rauschenberg’s work does the opposite, likened as it is to a St. Bernard: uninhibited and mostly good natured. He seems to have been generally unfettered about offending anyone’s esthetics, even his own. His perspective included:

§ “Screwing things up is a virtue.”

§ “Being correct is never the point.”

§ “Being right can stop all the momentum of a very interesting idea.”

§ And, “…knowing more only encourages your limitations,” a healthy take on the deadly human tendency of being attached to what we know and the effort we put in to learn it.

From the snapshot of Mr. Rauschenberg’s obituary, I’d say there are lots of us all over the world who are related to him (and to one another) by a measure much more compelling than DNA. Ours is that family of the heart composed of warriors from every walk of life aspiring to live with optimism and generosity of spirit. And if, at our next reunion, each of us were wearing a sandwich board stating one view we hold about ourselves, we’d recognize Mr. Rauschenberg because his would say something like, “A lot of people try to think up ideas. I’m not one. I’d rather accept the irresistible possibilities of what I can’t ignore.”

To find out more about Steve, see examples of his stone sculptures or read a chapter from his book, click Here.

Steve Roberts is the author of Cool Mind Warm Heart, a collection of essays, stories, and photographs of stone sculptures he builds on his Vermont farm. He can be found on the web at CoolMindWarmHeart.com and at TheHeartOfTheEarth.com.

If you enjoy our inspirational stories and articles, be sure to visit our website for more:
Articles on Personal Growth, Health and Positive Change - Click Here.
Inspiring Stories - Click Here.

In our attempt to offer new products and services which support your efforts at personal and spiritual growth,

The Conscious Living Foundation is now offering for the first time, a greatly expanded catalog of products. We hope, once you see our low prices, that you'll think of us as your first source for all your needs.

In addition to our Inspirational Products, we also now offer many other products which we all tend to

purchase as part of our daily living. We now make available almost everything you can imagine – from candles,

incense, wind chimes, bird houses and angels to clocks, jewelry, kitchen supplies, tools and telephones.

It is our hope that you will consider our product catalog as your first source for these other purchases. Even if the product is not specifically inspirational, your purchase from us helps tremendously in our ability to remain in existence and continue to offer our other, more spiritually directed products and

services.

To find our new catalog, just click the red “Products” button at the top of most pages of our website, or to explore the wide gamut of new products right now, just click Here.

Tens of thousands of people visit The Conscious Living Foundation website. Married or single, male or female, youth or senior, we all appreciate having friends who share our common interest in personal and spiritual growth. As we learn and mature, many of us have realized that relationships are an important part of creating and maintaining a harmonious and uplifting life.

To that end, The Conscious Living Foundation is pleased to announce the formal launch of the Conscious Friends section of our website, in the hope that we all can find new like-minded friends, develop deeper relationships and work together to enhance our world.

Conscious Friends offers several excellent features designed to help us communicate with each other, including access to custom created profiles of spiritually oriented people, a wide range of stimulating and thought-provoking forums, public and private chat rooms, instant messaging and our own private and confidential internal email system.

However, the most valuable assets within Conscious Friends are the people who create the community. Even in its infancy, we have members from Croatia, Great Britain, Switzerland, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Portugal, Oman and Norway, as well as all over the United States. And, our membership continues to grow every day. Don't miss this great opportunity to discover how wide-spread, optimistic and hopeful our global spiritual community really is.

Joined together we can create a world-wide Spirit village, a global community of high-minded individuals who can help uplift and serve each other and all our brothers and sisters hungry for a deeper meaning in their lives.

Membership is free, so we invite you to visit Conscious Friends and discover for yourself the great opportunities which await you - just click Here.

The Conscious Living Foundation's only source of income is your donations and purchase of our products. If you enjoy our newsletter and website, if you receive inspiration and encouragement from our efforts, we urge you to make a donation to help sustain and grow this work.

By helping us, you are supporting the spiritual growth of the tens of thousands of people from all over the world, who regularly visit our website.

If you're considering buying a gift for a friend or loved one, why not select gifts that can genuinely make a difference in their lives? This time, give books, candle holders, incense, hand made soaps, videos, spoken word CDs and a huge variety of other products that will continue to inspire and encourage throughout the year. To view our entire catalog of products, click Here.

We make buying even easier with our Special Product discounts. We have collected together some of our most popular spoken word audio CDs at tremendous savings. Click Here to see our great selection of best sellers and favorites. They include audio versions of your all time favorites, perfect to listen to while driving or exercising.

Deepen your practice of the techniques that bring new joy and hope into your life - and give the gift of a deeper spiritual life and increased personal growth.

For a collection of affirmations, click Here.
For a large variety of inspiring quotations, click Here.

Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
joy, wisdom, love and the means to increase them in our lives.
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