 Well, thank you for inviting me to your group. So, so much of a pleasure to come together in the present moment. It's a very dedicated purpose to come to this state of mind and this presence. Been traveling around the country to sharing this peaceful presence. And also a very openness so that in discussion groups questions can arise into taking a look at any kind of blocks or interferences to that presence living in the now. So that's really what this is for me. It's I go around the country and I have been for the last 12 years just sharing this experience of this presence. And there's not really talks or sermons or anything of the like. It's more just to come together with the joy of the spirit and let the spirit orchestrate the gathering because everyone has the answer. And it's just been layers of concepts and beliefs of dualism, of past thoughts and projections and the future that just try to distract away. Distract the mind away from the present moment. So I'm just feeling very grateful to come together in this precious time and just share insights and share the experience of the now and anything that seems to be a deterrent or something that covers it over. We can expose that and just see what it is. So I teach that enlightenment is just a state of mind that's here and now that there really are no problems and that if there are problems that seem to be coming up in your thought about anything involving health, body, finances, relationships and so on and so forth. But this opportunity is a chance to see the falsity of those thoughts. The falsity of anything that would try to detract you and take you away from the present moment experience. So I live a life of joy where I go around with these gatherings and literally say there are no problems, there are no real problems. And anything that seems to be a problem that is arising is just really an opportunity to bring your mind back to the now. Come back to the present moment and experience the I Am Presence that is real, that is true and experience the joy of that where you can flow along and feel in the flow with the divine. Do you feel the I Am? The I Am Presence, yes. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. Okay. That's it. That's it. That's good. But it's not a him or her because it's spirit doesn't have any gender. And so it's really, it's the point of awareness, the I Am Presence, to transcend the dualistic concepts of this world, including male, female or masculine, feminine, you know, there's all the different traits that seem to involve dualistic opposites, pairs of opposites are part of the defense or the distraction against the I Am Presence and here and now, including past and future, another pair you could go on and on and on. So really what enlightenment is is really when you've emptied your mind of all the concepts, right, wrong, good, bad, you know, all the dualistic concepts, what you're left with is what is, what is forever true. It's very much like Zen Buddhism where they talk about this emptying the mind, empty your mind of everything you think, you think, you think, you think, you know, and come into a state of clarity, of happiness, of joy. So I feel like my experience of it is just the greatest job in the world because there's no one to convince you, you can go around and just shine your light, there's no, there's no debates, there's no issues, there's nothing to confront in the sense that I have no one to confront. I have no, there's no organization to it so it can't be made political because you can't organize the present moment. There's nothing there to organize. It's a state of joy, a state of being and what you do is when you go, when you surrender into it, you really realize that's where the peace comes in, that you aren't trying to cling to something that's make-believe because that's where defenses seem to come in when there has to be defenses or protectiveness or whatever, you're getting into protecting illusions but the spirit doesn't need protection and who you are is spirit. So that's really what enlightenment is about is starting to see that you identify with the spirit and you dis-identify from the time-space concepts including the body. It's just a temporal device that can be used along the way but in the end you, you know, you cross a river, you don't have to carry the boat with you and you've crossed the river, you know, you are the very point, you are the very destination of the whole journey. So when we come together like this, this is a real precious time to, as I was saying earlier today and earlier gathering, to just, just be still and enjoy the silence and enjoy the peace and that if anything seems to come up, any questions or curiosities start to burble up into consciousness, let them come, you know, that's, that's how we can go into the now in a very respectful, reverent, friendly way is just to see if there's anything that comes up, questions, concerns, issues that seem like a distraction in your mind, distracting you away from the stillness and the peace. Then this gathering we have here could be a gathering of illumination, a gathering of seeing the simplicity as a present moment and that to live in the present you don't really have to give up anything. There's nothing real to be given up. It's just being convinced that, that the present moment is real and that everything that involves the past and the future has been a distraction from the present moment. I used to be in psychology and, you know, we would learn about defense mechanisms, denial, repression, projection, sublimation, all these different things. And it dawned on me at one point that, that the past and future were defenses as well. So when the mind gets often to be concerned about its past regrets and rehashing the past, trying to go over it and over it, or it projects out a future with worries and fears and concerns, it's just guarding against the acceptance of the present moment. So in a real practical way that's what this is about, is about letting go of thoughts of past and future. And I'd be happy to share the experiences I've had in my life and experiences that I've had in coming, coming to that experience. That's what I was doing earlier today, was sharing a lot of experiences in how I seem to be guided moment by moment and how to lay down the charade of, you know, planning for the future and rehashing the past. Could you tell us about your river boat experience, what did that mean? The river boat experience, what was that? Oh, this time. When you were running down and you went to the Bible teaching class in ten minutes and then you went to this boat. Yes, that was back around 1991. I was just in hell to travel. I've felt so much joy, almost like an explosion of joy and I was impelled to start traveling without anything that the ego mind would have considered important, without money or financial support in terms of organizational support or, you know, something to help me in my travels. I just was glad to take off. And the night you're describing was the second night. The first night out, I was at a church and somebody gave me the Eurantia book. Some of you might have heard of that. It's a big, big spiritual book. But the second night out, I was driving on I-44 down towards Oklahoma. And I came in in the morning time into Tulsa. And I had a list with me of different course of miracles groups and I knew that there was one at this church. It was a Sunday morning. So I went, but it was the last five minutes of the course of miracles group. And I, so I just let go of the thoughts and any kind of thoughts of judgments about walking in, if you like, popping out on a power of now group or something on the last five minutes of the group in a city that you've never been to. I just popped in. They were having a big discussion on sexuality and all the implications and how do you apply spirituality with sexuality and all this stuff. And so I just listened to the conversation and then introduced myself and they were kind of embarrassed about, you know, we don't always talk about this at this group every week. We really down in everything. And I said, fine, fine. And then this gentleman invited me out to lunch. And then I went out to lunch with a group of people from the group. Then I was invited to his apartment and he said, can we have a gathering? Can we explore these topics and go deeper into the discussion? I have a houseboat and why don't we have a potluck and he started calling all kinds of people. And that evening we just the second night out, we had a discussion on the top of his houseboat as we cruise out on this lake and we were, oh, had a potluck and had watermelon and we're spitting the seeds out on the side. And I was just like looking up at the sky with all the stars twinkling and the moon and glimmering off the lake and this warm lake at Tulsa on a Sunday evening. And we were just having this deep discussion and it was just so orchestrated. It was so spontaneous. There was, I had never been into Tulsa. I had never been to that church. I had never met any of these people. And there we were under the moonlight just going into this stuff real deep and feeling the presence of God and spitting the watermelon seeds over the side and just like I've known him forever. And when we finally did pull in the port, the gentleman said, well, I have to go to work tomorrow and all of us have to go to work tomorrow. But you're welcome to stay on the houseboat for as long as you like. And that was just like an experience of like, is this what it's like to serve God? I mean, is this the way that it's going to be? And God was saying, yeah, this is it. You'll shine the joy if you'll just be a witness for love. I'll take care of everything in ways that you can't even imagine. And that was quite a dramatic second night out on the road experience because it just showed that I was just willing to show up and I didn't plan on doing anything. Didn't plan on doing a seminar or having a discussion or anything. And it just unfolded so effortlessly. And that first trip lasted for about five and a half weeks. It was just traveling around, much like Luda would go around with his begging bowl. I didn't even have a begging bowl. I was just out gallivanting around like the apostles. Jesus and the apostles really were on the move a lot. They just really like have a base. And that was the first trip out in 1991. And it continues that way. I mean, that was just the first of many trips that sometimes would last six weeks, sometimes three, four weeks. And so it was just one flowing movement, one thing leading to the next. And over the years, there have also been hermitage experiences, times going to the woods alone and just, you know, facing the thoughts that would come up of fear or loneliness or, you know, all of the emotions that seem to be part of time. What preceded that first? What was your path? Can you share that with us how you came to this process of living in the now? Where did you come from? Yeah, I began, I think, to honestly seek for some kind of awakening or peace probably back when I was in college. And I was in college for ten years, so I got a couple degrees and I was kind of the right kind of man who goes around and I touched on all aspects of the university. So there really wasn't any aspect of the whole university of Cincinnati that I didn't go into, from art history, conservatory of music to calculus, chemistry, social sciences, anthropology, you know. I was in urban planning for five years, so it was very eclectic and it was interdisciplinary, so they let me explore around the university. But I spent a lot of time in the library in psychology, philosophy, and religion looking at the deeper nature thing or the deeper oncological questions of what is existence and what is reality. And also I could see, as I shared this morning, that from studying all the disciplines and talking to the professors, I could see that none of the disciplines had any agreement that they had different worldviews and different views of reality. So it helped me start to see that there had to be something, an absolute truth that was beyond the opinions and the theories that was an actual experience and that the conflict that I was perceiving when I was in college was really the conflict of my own mind. That's what the spirit told me, that it's not a problem between the disciplines or anything, it's just you're seeing a distorted world because you're not in the present moment and you're not clear, so you're seeing distortion in different angles. So that got me started thinking, well there must be an absolute truth, an experience and I must find this, that this is the only point of life for living. But I'm sure all of us have come to that at some point, in some way where it launches you into reading metaphysical books and traveling around to meet the teachers and gurus and I'd say for me too, it did that, but as well it got me questioning my own unconscious belief system. Because I was in anthropology and looking at some of these different like a recultural social script and I said, what is the script that I'm playing? And I didn't particularly like the idea of playing out a script but I wasn't even aware of what was underneath there that was dictating the script. So that got me into, well let me find the roots, I don't like the idea that I'm like a puppet acting out a script based on unconscious beliefs and that I don't have a choice in my state of mind that is unconscious. So the latter part of those ten years of college was in psychology and some philosophy and then after that I realized that my whole academic career was part of a wheel, like I was on a wheel of academia but that wasn't it either. I was never going to find the answer by learning that I really had to unlearn or peel the onion and get down to the bottom of consciousness. And then I had an experience where I stepped off the wheel and just said, okay, what's next? And then of course miracles came into my life at that point which was really just a reflection of my desire because it said to learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. I was out in California at a humanistic psychology convention and some of you may have heard of Carl Rogers, Virginia Satir. I found that humanistic psychology was resonating with me more than any other aspects of psychology and then as I went out and got deeper into it I found that transpersonal psychology was resonating more than anything and I saw Carl Rogers right before he seemed to die and everyone just stood up and they had so much love for this man that the whole auditorium just stood up and just roared and applauded and applauded because of all this love that they had experienced through this man and I was so touched to be there and then that was probably the last public appearance that Carl had and while I was there, that's how I was introduced to the course was I went down where everybody was selling their books and their tapes and there was two students of a Course in Miracles teacher, Tara Singh, that were down there and so I came across the book and I watched the videotape and I felt like things were being spoken about that I hadn't even verbalized yet that I was aware were in me and then when I picked up in the book I just felt waves of love kind of just gushing over me like I was grateful for the nuggets of truth that I had found so many places but this was like hitting a vein of gold or something it's like wow, this is just waves of love and kind of an experience of like having your breath taken away who wrote this book, kind of feeling and I knew at that point my love would never be the same and I was guided to go up to where Tara Singh had his center and I, when I walked into the little house that they have up there it felt like that show on TV, This Is Your Life where you know they have all these memories from the past Is this the one in Los Angeles? Yes, in Los Angeles, Portland on the south burnside they still be there pictures of Mother Teresa, Ramana Maharishi, things on the walls, people coming up and hugging you and smiling it just seemed like it was in slow motion like I was just, it was that TV show, This Is Your Life and now here's Mother Teresa to say here's Ramana Maharishi and all these people coming up and hugging me and I just thought, yeah, this is my life this is, people talk about deja vu and recognition I just felt like this, my life will never be the same it was just so intense, everything slowed down so that's what started it, that was the initial thing and then after that I came to go at it with such passion that I was feeling... I would breathe it for probably eight hours a day until the resistance would come to my eyes would come down and get heavy and then I would take a walk or smile First thing you brought up was I in presence Have you studied Elizabeth, Mark Prophet and all that? Along the way, yeah, it's amazing I've read all those books a long time ago I was wondering if that was one of the first things you said Yeah, that was one of the early symbols that was along the way where I am presence I never hear anybody talk about that though Yeah, I think it was a good stepping stone idea and good reflection and the deeper I got into it the more I started to realize it was really a walk of trust and faith because to hang with this and to really let go of the past and the future just takes a lot of faith and trust because all the conditioning is lined up to say you have to do certain things to survive and you have to believe certain things and think certain things and the deeper I got into it the more I saw that there was just a bunch of assumptions that this whole world was just based on assumptions like layers of assumptions Sensationalism Yeah, right, and coming to producing the Five Senses I would tell people that ego is in cahoots with the Five Senses because the Five Senses just seem to witness to duality and fragmentation and multiplicity and the experience that we've all had in the past of that glimmer of the oneness just is completely beyond that sense of looking through the Five Senses literally transcends that and so that was my experience with it was I just said I really have to learn to trust my intuition and to really listen within because what my Five Senses are showing me is not reliable they're showing me differences in fragmentation and by the time we got around to the force of miracles we had already read Clara and Prophet so did you see a relationship I mean in terms of this writing style or in terms of the message it's almost like they were the same the same message not only the same message but almost delivered by the same messenger did you feel that? I felt like not only with that but with a lot of books even in humanistic and transpersonal psychology I would find my heart just I had like a little tickle in my heart chamber and it wasn't intellectual I could tell that I would pick up certain books in the library I would just kind of be running up and down the aisles and just grab any old book and just pop it open and go wow I would feel a little tickle then I would run to another aisle and just reach out to any book not even look at the titles and pop it open and go ah because it was kind of I had been trained in kind of the linear way you know you read books from beginning to end and very analytical almost in that so this spontaneous sense of just popping books open and feeling the tickle was I just said I'll let the tickle lead because it is joy and I want to let joy lead so that's how I found a lot of those books was I would just be in used bookstores or libraries or whatever and just start popping them open and of course there's no accidents you can't you know it can't have a coincidence or an accident by grabbing a book and popping it open but I just heard that you were just saying the world is so structured it's structured beginning the end and this is build on build on build on build on and actually now I have no structure and now has no structure whatsoever and that's and it takes there's no right and wrong way in the map there's no right and wrong way it's just a moment of acceptance what you start to see is in the now moment you you include everything in in other words perception through the ego's lens involves rejection what is what lights and dislikes what's acceptable what's unacceptable is the way that the ego operates and ego is always in the past or the future it's never just now now moment is the point of stillness in which there is no ego it's just pure I am presence it took a lot of faith as I would go deeper and deeper into it was just noticing that that all concepts of dualism and judgments that involve the past and the future didn't bring me any peace and I took like leaps of faith just follow the prompts about what I was to say where I was to go what I was to do and just feel the joy it came from listening and following to that little small voice that was in there guiding and that tickle initially in the early years it wasn't so much even a voice at that point it was just like the tickle I would follow the tickle because that was authentic and it was joyful and gleeful but I said this is not an intellect or this is not an analytical mind trying to figure it out it's just this pure like almost like childlike sense of wonder and joy question this one tickle was kind of like a fruit spirit angelic spirit what makes people do bad things is there evil spirits running around the world or is that part of the structure yeah evil evil and error are really synonyms so you might just say that the spirit is just pure love pure goodness and that you could say that synonymous so evil is just you might say ignorance or error or just ego is another way of putting it and the ego doesn't have any of reality except that if a mind believes in it and has faith in it it seems to give reality to that which has no reality so that's where illusion arises we're trying to give some faith and power and strength to something that has no existence that has no meaning the ego is analogous to error in the sense that it's just this idea that it's a belief that you can separate from your source is really what the ego is and that's what the evil is the beliefs that you can separate from your source but the source is spirit so that's why there are no evil spirits because that would be a contradiction in terms but that error can seem to take on life of its own and can seem to involve destruction and pain and guilt and fear and all these things when you give a powerful mind to something that is crazy you marry something powerful with something that's insane then that's what seems to be the cosmos in which there's duality, multiplicity and destruction and so forth I have a question you say it seems to be our physical reality is that we are hurting each other as a people as a people as people on the planet what reality is that? well, what I came to understand was that reality was eternal and changeless, pure love, pure innocence and that what seemed to be physical with that reality was a projection of the error was a projection of the belief that you can separate from your source so the world is kind of like in the bible they talked about Adam and Eve and they talked about feeling ashamed and covering themselves with a fig leaf the cosmos of time and space is like a cosmic fig leaf for the mind that thinks that it could separate from its source it is a giant distracted device and it is a giant cover to try to cover over something that is believed to be very horrible the belief that you could split your mind apart from your creator and rip it apart is what the cosmos was made to cover but spirituality comes along and says that small voice is coming down with me into your mind it may seem like there is a lot of dark caverns down there and everything we go to the core you will recognize that the error that seems to make this cosmos has been corrected and that beneath the error is the life and love of creation is reality so the journey seems to be a journey of faith when the temptation comes to say I am going to look out on the world and I see people killing each other I see nations going against each other and I see people shooting and killing and it is a world of violence of scarcity of conflict in any direction it takes the faith to start to say maybe I am not perceiving the world correctly maybe I have a distorted perception of things that is what I did I had to come to the first of the realization that even though I was seeing the world, that I wasn't seeing the world clearly I was seeing the world through a lens of judgment and that was what was producing the distortion and that I had to have faith and trust to let go of that judgment and let the world be shown to me anew by the spirit so that is what I did