Albert Einstein

"He came, he went, nobody blinked" was going to be the inscription on my gravestone. In December 1991, something happened. That path that I trudged for so many years made an abrupt turn. It was so abrupt that I almost wandered off into the weeds.

Many other sharp turns would appear later, but now at least I walked with head up and eyes focused on the path rather down at my feet. I started Spiritually evolving.

Up to December 1991, I was a greedy, egotistical, self-centered, lying jerk living in fear of everyday life. That was ten years ago. In the intervening time, I learned to love myself, trust in the Universe, honor the Earth, and to manifest what I truly desired in life. It was simple, really, but not easy. What transformed my life was a set of tools that I call 9 Understandings. This book is about how I discovered and learned to use them. You can too.

I am a simple person now. But I have not always been that way. Much of my life centered on striving for personal and professional achievement in a complex world. Although I "mastered" that world in terms of most definitions of success, fulfillment eluded me. No matter how much I had of money, relationship, health, success, it was never enough.

I believed that I was always near bankruptcy in every aspect of my life. I knew I wanted to transform who I was being, but I did not know how. I went to seminars and classes, read books, had readings, was counseled, and I learned a lot; nothing really changed until I began to understand.

This book is about understanding, about going beyond knowledge, and thereby finding the key to transformation.

For me, a self-confessed left-brained, linear thinking person, having a definable method or means to achieving a goal is highly desirable. Spiritual evolution is no exception. In my past life, I would have laid out the task, gotten the tools and resources, and then started working. That would have been nice to have in my awakening process. It was not to be that way. There is an expression something to the effect that life gives the test first, then the lesson. My awakening was like that. I got the tests first, and then the tools to work the test came later.

Anyone reading this book has already been tested. 9 Understandings provides tools to use for tests when they reappear – and they will.

9 Understandings are a different approach to this sticky problem of how to Spiritually evolve. For they are not about what you should (or should not) do. 9 Understandings are a simple, yet powerful, set of tools that can be applied to any situation, whenever and however you need them. 9 Understandings are so effective they can transform your life in more ways than you can begin to imagine.

Let me explain. Consider, for example, the following list of everyday common household tools:

None of these tools is unusual. We all know what they are. When I go into one of these rooms, I don’t stop to take inventory of all of the items that are supposed to be there. Neither do I need to waste time thinking about how I can use them - of course not! My point is, when I go into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and a piece of toast, I simply find the tools I need and immediately put them to use. In accomplishing this task, I don’t think about the other hundred or so tools that are there.

Of course, I did need to learn the basic operation of each tool. But after that, I quickly learned that they all had many other uses. For example, think of all of the things that a hammer can be used for: it can drive nails, it can act as a doorstop, a lever, a nutcracker, a paint chipper, a weapon… and so on. There are only two basic requirements for enabling a tool’s use:

possessing the tool and knowing its capabilities. After that, it’s just a simple matter of application – fitting the tool to the situation.

9 Understandings are, then, a set of tools for everyday living. Just like any other tool, the results you will get from them depend on how you use them. A perfect example is a pocketknife. Used by one person, it results in a beautiful woodcarving. Used by another, it peels and slices an apple – same tool, different results.

I found myself one December evening in 1991, a Thursday, sitting in a large room with about a hundred other people. Most of us apprehensive about what was going to happen that evening, not that any of us had a clue. It was a long time coming. I was 51, almost 52. What followed in that evening and the next, and then the weekend set me on a course that would forever change my life.

The event was a seminar conducted by a company called PSI, a personal growth and development company that sprang up in the latter half of the 20th century. I really did not know too much about it except that a former co-worker went to a series of PSI seminars and programs, and really transformed herself. I was looking for something like that. I did not realize that I was going to find an answer except at first I did not know the question that it addressed, but I would eventually.

I cannot recount all of the exercises, discussion, sharing, and knowledge that flowed over that weekend. Most of it rolled off my duck’s back of decades of indifference and conditioning. There was, however, an exception.

It happened on Saturday. An exercise, called the Red and Black Game, divided the seminar participants into two teams. The exercise simply involved each team giving the other team a color, red or black, in each of several rounds. Depending on the specific colors exchanged, each team received a score. The object appeared to be scoring the more points. I had played this game several years earlier in a management class. In the PSI version, anyone having prior knowledge of the game was excused to the sideline as an observer.

Excusing myself from the game, I watched it unfold. As the exercise progressed, I found myself gloating over the mistakes and misinterpretations of both groups. If they could only see themselves from my perspective, how foolish they would feel. I knew what they did not. Suddenly, I realized that I wanted them to fail; I wanted them to look foolish. For when they did, I experienced a rush of smug superiority. It mattered not that I once sat in their places. I paid my dues, and now I could feel superior to them.

I wanted them to fail, people that I barely knew if it all. I had nothing to gain from their failure, yet for them to fail made me feel GOOD. The rest of the exercise went by unnoticed by me as I chewed on this amazing realization about myself. This was the first time that I had awareness of how important others’ failures were to me. Why? I didn’t know then, but from this moment, I would never be the same.

1. Choice is unique to human beings and is the centerpiece of Spiritual evolution.

2. Karma defines each person’s "way" to Spiritual evolution.

3. Choice is the mechanism that creates and releases karma.

4. Life is the game of "Choice and Consequences."

5. There are two types of choices: major and subsequent.

6. Using choice as a life mastery tool is the major "choice."  

Here is the knowledge I gained about choice, the results of the experiences I had applying the knowledge, and the understanding that made choice a tool for me.

Much of my life I operated on automatic. I did this, I went there, I thought a certain way. I had accumulated a lot of knowledge, and none of it was necessarily the "truth." I simply learned to react to the events that happened around me. Underneath all of this reactive behavior was a "fact."

The "fact" is that in everything I did, I had choices even if, at the time, I was not conscious of them. The "fact of the choice" was always clear if I took the trouble to think about it. Pick any action that you have taken, look at it carefully, and find the choices that were available. They are always there.

For me, choice was the doorway to transformation.

Many people complain that there is no opportunity available to them, that they are locked into a job, a geographic area, a relationship, or even an ethnicity or sexual preference. None of these have to be the case.

Granted that someone can't choose his or her race or perhaps a predilection for sexual practices, we can choose how we express and relate to those characteristics and every other characteristic of human experience. Awareness of choice is the way to exercise proactive behavior instead of reactive.

Reactive behavior simply means that a person waits for a particular stimulus (event) to take place and then responds with a conditioned (learned) reflex. Pavlov taught his dogs to salivate when the dinner bell rang even when food was not present. The dogs had no choice. We do.

Choice is unique to human beings and is the centerpiece of Spiritual evolution.

Humans have a highly developed sense of choice that is a Divine gift that each of us has without respect to situation and ability, from the mighty to the weak, from the rich to the poor, and from the wise to the stupid. Choice enabled us to build civilizations, to create a wondrous technology, to wage war, to commit genocide, to nurture a Hitler and a Gandhi, to do all of the things that our fellow creatures on the Earth cannot do. It is given to us not only to create our physical existence but also to enable us to evolve Spiritually, to reconnect with the Divinity that is within all of us – simple choice. A or B, choose.

Because we have cognition, the ability to process information, we can choose our destinies. No other creature on the planet can do this. Yes, we can invent television and jet aircraft. We can also evolve

Spiritually, to seek and find who each of us truly is, a Divine being having a human experience. Choice enables all of this.

Every aspect of Spiritual evolution involves awareness of the available choices. Let’s look at how…

Karma works through choice. Karma defines my "way" or path for Spiritual evolution. Karma is the unique set of personal lessons I prepared prior to coming into this life that, when learned, will enable me to reconnect with our Divinity, to literally find Spirit, God within myself.

Karma is patient.

The same lesson will be presented over and over until I choose to learn from it. Karma is unrelenting. What is not learned in one lifetime will carry forward to the next. Karma is accumulative. I not only carry karma from past lives, I also accumulate karma in this life.

"Karmic moments" tip us off when a lesson is available…

I am given many opportunities daily to choose to learn my karmic lessons. Whenever an event occurs that is not to my "liking," I can be sure that it is a "karmic moment." Even small things, like becoming upset with someone, are karmic moments. The lesson is not the upset; the lesson is how I choose to handle the upset. If I choose to release more upset, then this lesson is not learned, and karma is increased (just to help the lesson appear more obvious next time). If I choose to simply accept the upset without judgment of self or others, the lesson is learned, and karma is released. Thank goodness – at last, I was getting really tired of that one!

Increase karma or release karma, choose.

Life is a game of "Choice and Consequences." Sound like a TV quiz show? Choice and consequences is the way that we move through our lives. Human life is measured in moments, the constantly occurring NOW. Each moment has choices associated with it. I can choose this or something else. Even when not conscious of having choice, the choice is there.

Every choice has consequence(s) associated with it. Choices are usually made because of the consequence. The consequences selected are usually those of the material or emotional. What I choose to "do" comes from how I am "being" in the moment.

Consequences are potential responsibilities. Every choice has consequences, and every consequence carries a responsibility with it. For example, if I choose to speed through a red traffic signal, then the consequences are: a ticket, an accident (and maybe a ticket), or I make it across safely. Whatever the outcome, I have responsibility for that outcome. If I get the ticket or have an accident, it does no good (under the laws of karma) to blame someone else. We do reap what we sow. Believing that I am a victim or a martyr does not move me forward in my evolution.

Not taking responsibility for the consequences of my actions creates karma. (Does it ever end? Well, stay tuned.)

When I choose to manipulate my world or other humans, my "being" is self-centered and greedy. If the choice I make is a charitable one, I am actually "being" Divine, or unconditionally loving and accepting. What does this take?

It takes an awareness of all of the consequences of a choice inasmuch as I know them at the time. The important thing is to have awareness that there are consequences. Finding the consequence that reflects our Divinity, the willingness to unconditionally love and accept, points out the choice that releases karma.

This brings us to the two types of choices. The first is major choices that set a direction, intention, or goal. They are defining moments in a lifetime. Examples are the choice of career, partner, where to live, friends, and so forth. Once a major choice is made and acted upon, a person’s path takes a definite direction, and other similar major choices are unavailable for some time, if ever again. The choice to take mind-altering drugs is an example. Once that choice is made, one can never have the choice to take drugs for the first time.

Once a major choice is made, then the major choice is sustained or eroded via the second type, subsequent choices that are enabled by a major choice. Once the major choice is made to take mind-altering drugs, the variety and frequency of taking drugs are subsequent choices that did not exist before the major choice was made. A major decision warrants careful consideration of the consequences of the choices and choosing from a Divine perspective with unconditionally love and acceptance.

Once a major choice is made, then subsequent choices take over and run the show.

Subsequent choices also have a great importance for they determine the actual course of a life. The selection of where to go is not as important as the journey that takes one in that direction. Subsequent choices are the journey that never ends even when and if the major choice is canceled.

An example is an intimate relationship - the choice of another human with whom to share life. That is a major choice. Years of subsequent choices define how that relationship is experienced, and it may endure until the passing of one of the parties, or one or both may decide to end the relationship and go their separate ways.

Even still there are many more related, subsequent choices to make even if the two are not together. Each thought or word concerning the other person is a subsequent choice, charitable or not. Just try to not think (or talk) about a former partner without judgment! It’s not easy, and each time you do is a "karmic moment."

So even if a major choice is discarded, subsequent choices relating to can endure for a lifetime.

Using choice as a life mastery tool is the major "choice" in evolving Spiritually. The use of choice as a tool for life mastery begins with the awareness that there always is choice. Some choices may not be acceptable, but the awareness that there are choices is very powerful.

I use choice when I experience frustration, anger, sadness, abandonment, helplessness, or other similar emotions. I open my awareness and assess the situation. I find the Divine choice, the one embodying unconditionally love and acceptance and then discover a way to implement that choice.

I remember that I am having a "karmic moment" and that I can resolve to release karma rather than increase it.

I really started to become aware of choice in the PSI seminar realizing that I could transform myself. Before then, I was really locked into who I thought I was and that I could not change. From that point forward, choice like Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket "conscience," sat on my shoulder and whispered in my ear that I did indeed have the power of choice. I have not always listened, but it was there, and I knew it.

The more I used the awareness of choice, the more control I had over my life. There were other factors, other understandings that contributed to the conscious shaping of events that came forth. Nonetheless, choice enabled me to use the other understandings to do so. Without the awareness that I did have choice, I could not have taken the path of Spiritual evolution.

Moreover, the awareness of choice led me to question everything. This is really powerful in two ways. The first is that without choice, there is no realization that something could be different than the way it is presented.

Second, once the door is opened to the possibility that something could be different, what are the possibilities? Those possibilities become the available choices. I can choose to be in action to have the next moment be different. Since multiples of moments are minutes, hours, days, and so forth, choices for actions can span long periods of time.

For example, someone might say, "If there is a God, surely He would not allow small children to be abused or die." If I can unconditionally accept that statement and agree or disagree with it then I can then in a state of non-judgment question the statement regardless of whether I agreed or disagreed. The questioning then sets up a number of choices:

• I can choose to agree with the statement.

• I can choose to disagree with the statement.

• I can choose to ask others about the statement.

• I can seek inner guidance about the statement and so on.

Clearly if I simply, unconditionally accept the statement without questioning, I will not have the awareness that there are choices surrounding my acceptance. Questioning creates choices; awareness allows me to access those choices. Choices enable me to shape my lives in my highest and best interest.

Now that I had the very powerful tool of choice, the question arose for me about how to make the best choices? Along comes Understanding 2: Discernment.

In his epic work, Dune, science-fiction writer Frank Herbert wrote, "Fear is the mind killer." More accurately, I think that it is the Spirit "killer." Now, you know that Spirit cannot be killed or created - Spirit simply is. Nonetheless, fear acts to block our awareness of Spirit and thus places us in a state of darkness that in the moment seems to be devoid of Spirit.

When in the grip of fear, all we are conscious of is fear or one of its attendant emotions: anger, frustration, helplessness, rage, depression, and so on - there are many. At the same time as fear blocks us from the awareness of Spirit, it is placing our greatest lessons at our feet. Here is the essence of fear as derived in my pursuit of understanding this most powerful teacher.

1. Fear is the servant of karma and as such is your teacher.

2. Choice gives you the ability to learn the lesson by moving from the state of fear to the state of love in three-steps.

3. Before the three steps, you must have the awareness that you are in state of fear.

4. Releasing your emotion(s) that reflect fear is the first step.

5. Acknowledging what remains is the second step.

6. Accepting what remains as simply the fact(s) of the matter is the third step.

7. Experiencing the state of love is the automatic result.

Karmic "moments" signal that a lesson is present…

In Understanding 1, Choice, I talked about a karmic moment occurring whenever something is not to your liking. The "not to your liking" part has its basis in fear. Fear is a multifaceted teacher. Sometimes it is very evident (nearly having a head-on collision) or very subtle (experiencing a mild irritation because you cannot find your keys) with a myriad of variations in between.

Whatever the cause and the degree of severity, the undesired emotion tells me that I am in the state of fear. Where else could I be? Why, I could be in a state of love, of unconditional acceptance. Choice.

It's not the issue; it's how you relate to the issue that is the key to a lesson.

People often think of karma as punishment or retribution for some past deed, and that the karma must be endured as payback. Karma simply presents a situation that stirs our fear, and it is in how we relate to the fear that enables us to release karma - or not. The way to relate to fear in order to release karma is to have the awareness that fear is present in the form of some undesired emotion, then choosing to switch to the state of acceptance and love.

Nothing can change until this awareness is present. Gaining this awareness is the hardest part of releasing karma and the fear that created it. Whenever you are in a state of fear, you create karma. When you are in state of love, you release karma. Awareness enables us to choose the state of love instead of fear. Once chosen, love is accessed through a three-step process: release, acknowledge, and accept.

Often we are told, "Bottle that emotion. Have a stiff upper lip." Men are especially likely to learn this model. The problem is that "bottling" the emotion is also bottling more karma. The emotional energy is still there and unexpressed.

As I talk to people, attend seminars, and answer e-mails, I find that there are so many more women than men searching for their paths and Spiritual evolution. It is not surprising at a seminar or talk about Spirituality to see an audience of over 90% women. I mention this phenomenon to encourage men reading this article to take a careful look at how fear may be ruling their lives.

As for the women reading this, I suggest that for the men in your life, their reactions to fear are at the root of many male behaviors that women have difficulty in handling. Think about it.

Releasing means to really let go. Pretending or faking simply does not get the job done.

If through awareness, you choose to shift to the acceptance and love state, remember that in the moment of choice, you are still in the fear state. It is a delicate position. Doubt may assail you and anger may assert itself even more powerfully. It is the ego doing its finest work.

The first step is to immediately (or as soon as you can) begin to release the emotion. There are no tried and true methods of emotional release, and releasing emotions is absolutely necessary for you to move forward in the process.

Hanging onto the emotion will never provide you with the clarity you need to shift your state from fear to love. The universal answer to how to release emotion is: whatever works for you (as long as no one or no thing is injured in doing so). Cry, yell, scream, sob, shake, glare, punch a pillow, stomp, shake your fist - do whatever that bleeds off the emotional energy. When the energy is gone, you will feel spent and a bit listless. Perfect.

"Just the facts, mam," was police Sergeant Joe Friday's request to countless witnesses in a 1950's American TV show called Dragnet. Joe was a no nonsense kind of guy who wanted to quickly get to the bottom of everything.

His request still serves us well as step two of the shifting process: after the emotion is released, simply acknowledge what is left of the "issue" - the facts. The fact is that I almost had a head-on collision. The fact is that I cannot find my keys. There is no universal conspiracy to screw up my life. I am not being punished by providence for shoplifting that candy bar when I was nine. I am not a victim or martyr. No one is to blame including me.

I can only see the actual facts after I have released the emotions that I associated with the facts. When in the fear state, emotions and facts merge to be the same thing, and they are not. Through emotions, the ego wants us to hold others responsible for the issues that confront us. Once the emotions are released, so is the ego's control.

It's not the issue; it's how you relate to the issue that is the key to a lesson… and the release of karma. (Yes, I know that I already said it, and it merits repeating - now.)

How do we relate to that darned issue? Simply. In step three of the shifting process, simply accept the facts without judgment. When I do that, I am in the state of love where I can accept whatever happened (the facts) unconditionally without judgment. In that moment, I experience my Divinity, for this is the state in which Spirit holds us in every moment.

The lesson of all lessons is that you can, as a matter of free will and choice, unconditionally accept anything that comes your way - to see your life as perfect just the way it is even if you are on the verge of death.

In this state of love, of Divine connection, considerations and expectations fade to a distant chatter of the ego that diminishes to a faint whisper of the wind before the total, perfect stillness. I have been there for periods of time, and my intent is to be there for as long as I can. There, my heart blends with the beat of the Universe, the sound that is not heard, only felt.

This is my personal understanding of the state of love. You will have your own, and it will be equally wondrous, only different. On a personal basis, I spent so many decades of this life in a state of fear that I had forgotten there was another way to be. It was not until I experienced an awakening to the possibility that my life could be something far grander than what I was experiencing that I seriously began to seek my path. I found it and walk a distance every day, some days further than others but forward. I would not, cannot go back, nor do I have any desire to do so. I wish you the best in your journey.

The series continues with Understanding 4, harmony - a life mastery tool that opens the way to manifesting our yearnings.

Karma is neither good, bad, judgmental, punitive, nor a reward. It just is.

I wrote quite a bit about karma in the preceding understandings. A brief recap now is all that is needed to talk about harmony. Karma is the vehicle for lesson. The "mother" of all lessons is simply to accept whatever is occurring without judgment or consideration. The "form" of karma is really immaterial whether it is a hangnail or cancer. I know that may be difficult. It is an idea worth considering carefully for it can lead to transforming your life. Karma is fear based. To be an effective manifester, what you desire to manifest must be free of fear. Achieving harmony releases fear.

Harmony has five parts. In terms of the "tool" analogy that I am using for 9 Understandings, harmony is like a screwdriver handle that has five different sizes and types of attachments, and only one attachment is used at a time. The same is true for harmony. The five parts consist of:

1. Love - accepting everything and everybody without reservation or judgment.

2. Compassion - recognizing that everyone is on his or her own Spiritual journey.

3. Humility - realizing that you are no better or worse than everyone else and at the same time you are also unique.

4. Integrity - speaking your truth.

5. Courage - taking responsibility for your actions.

The French have an expression, "L'amour toujours l'amour!" - "love always love" and so it is but perhaps not the way the French meant it. We commonly limit love to the notion of romantic love.

In the Spiritual sense, love possesses a far greater breadth of application than romance. If someone asked you to define "how" we humans can best relate to our world and each other, what would you say? You might reply…"Unconditional acceptance without reservation or intent to change." That for me is the definition of love.

Now there are many shadings that we give to love that restrict love to romantic, parental, platonic, tough, ancestral, and so on. The fact that we need adjectives to specify the kind of love that we are referring to tells us that "love" as a fundamental concept is too vague to use by itself.

If I say I love my dog, and then say I really loved the last movie that I saw, do I mean the same thing in each case? I don't think so. I leave it to the listener to fill in the blanks - a dangerous assumption as many of us have found out at one time or another.

The Beatles said it, "All you need is love…"

If you really get the concept of love as, "Unconditional acceptance without reservation or intent to change," then the other four parts of harmony easily fall into place.

If you don't, then the other four parts help you to see through fear and pave the way to finding love - and manifestation. Before moving on to them, I have one last thought for you to mull over. What greater honor or appreciation of someone could you express than total acceptance of who that person is - without your fine-tuning or makeover of him or her? Personally, I can think of no greater expression.

Compassion is not sympathy.

Compassion is about recognizing that we are all on our individual journey to wherever. Every person is somewhere on his or her own path - it may not be where we "think" they should be. Recall harmony part one - love - unconditional acceptance.

Having compassion means that when someone is acting like jerk (a judgment), then try and see that "jerkiness" as a pothole along his path. It is not personal to you - it may look that way, but it is not. It is his path, not yours. Sometimes being compassionate means doing nothing except accepting where someone (or yourself) is at the moment. Sometimes compassion means doing something for someone. Let your discernment lead you.

Humility is one of my personal favorites since I have so many opportunities to practice it.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

Integrity is speaking your truth. Say what you mean and mean what you say. I am not counseling you to say spiteful or harmful things. Integrity means being honest with other people so that they know what is in your heart.

It is having love of yourself so that you unconditionally accept who and what you are in the moment. When we do not speak our truth, we speak out of fear of what others will think about us if we say what is in our hearts. The key to speaking your mind is to say only that which is about you and not someone else. For example, there is a huge difference in saying, "How you are behaving is making it difficult for me to relate to you," versus, "You are really being a jerk!"

The first example is not a judgment. It is an evaluation of the situation and making a request that will forward the interaction. Evaluations are free of emotional shading. The second is pure judgment and is likely to further erode the interaction. Judgments are based in fear and carry emotional content. If you have difficulty in distinguishing between judgment and evaluation recall harmony part one - love - unconditional acceptance. Evaluation is always based in acceptance.

Courage is taking responsibility for your actions. Being heroic is optional.

By taking responsibility for my actions, I automatically recognize who I am being in the moment. Fear will motivate me to lie and conceal what I have done and who I am being. Karma records our fear-based actions and sets up more lessons. Do we really want to keep on piling up the karma?

By having courage, I take responsibility for me. It is unlikely that anyone else is going to, and even if someone does, I still get the karma. By recalling harmony part one - love - unconditional acceptance - this time of myself, I can take responsibility for my actions without plastering them with self-blame.

Remember that fear blocks harmony. If you are not experiencing harmony, fear is present. Lack of harmony prevents manifesting what we desire. We will manifest, but the manifestation will be fear based, not what we desire. I find these questions useful for diagnosing why I am not in harmony in the moment and then restoring it:

I finally got that I am Divine… and so are you.

It is easy to "say" that; it is not so easy to develop an understanding around the statement itself. Remember that an understanding results from taking knowledge (I am Divine) and putting it into action so that a personal truth occurs for each person. Many people before me have made this same allegation. I am only one more in a long line. My intention in this article is to present a different way of "building the case" for you as a Divine being (funny that we need convincing that we possess such a wonderful characteristic, isn't it? - that is where we begin).

There are two parts to this article. The first is to demonstrate through my own experience and, hence, understanding, that I am Divine, and through extension, you are too. The second part is to explain why realizing our Divinity is necessary for manifesting what we truly desire. This is the second of 9 Understandings that explain manifesting (harmony, last month, was the first).

To begin with, to demonstrate our Divinity I once more call on my two favorite human operating principles, karma and fear. Karma is about learning unconditional acceptance.

Life is a series of moments bound by birth and death. In every one of my waking moments I am either in a state of fear or a state of love. I can transform fear into love through awareness and process, and as a result, release karma. I can remain in the state of fear and create more karma. Karma is nothing more than a Spiritual accounting mechanism.

As I began to release karma (what a relief!), I saw more clearly that fear had blocked my ability to see who I really am - a pretty great person who thought for years that he was not good enough and unworthy of having what he truly desired. Yes, I read a lot of Spiritual material, have done many seminars and workshops, been rebirthed, accumulated sacred objects and received many "readings."

It was all good, but external. The defining moment occurred when I finally screwed my courage to the sticking place and went inside myself. That journey is another story. You each have your own journey that has happened, is happening, or is in the future. I call it the "process."

We all know that the speaker does not really mean that he or she would literally give anything for the cold drink, but we are left with wondering what the speaker actually would give for a cold drink? We don't know because of the speaker's imprecise languaging. A related aspect is that the power of speech and the written word is considerable with respect to creation and manifesting. To say, "I am so embarrassed I wish I were dead," may manifest, so be careful what you say… languaging.

Understand energy and all else is clear.

"Energetics" is a collective word for the principles around how energy affects every aspect of the Universe (and that by definition includes us in our many forms).

The principles are:

1. Everything in the Universe is composed of energy.

2. Energy is expressed as vibrations of different frequencies.

3. The vibrational "signature" of energy determines its function.

4. The human body is one component of an Energetic Body that includes all aspects (Soul, Higher Self, and self) of the entity that each of us is.

5. Our Energetic Bodies contain a finite amount of energy.

6. We release energy from our Energetic Bodies through thoughts, emotions, words, and actions.

7. Our Energetic Bodies demand equilibrium.

8. As we release energy, our Energetic Bodies seek a return of complementary (like) energy.

9. Awareness allows us to change the vibrational signature of the energy that returns to our Energetic Bodies.

I realize that the principles may appear a bit technical, even esoteric. In the presentation of this Understanding, I give intent to provide a degree of clarity that makes the principles usable in everyday life, even moment to moment.

This principle derives from modern physics.

As physicists delve deeper into the nature of matter beyond sub-atomic structures, the inevitable conclusion occurs that in the final breakdown, there is nothing but energy. Even in the far reaches of supposedly "empty" space there is energy present. The logical extension of this research is that our world and we are ultimately composed of energy. Understand energy and all else is clear.

Energy shapes itself into what appear as different substances (as aspects of "matter") based on the frequency at which it vibrates. An atom of oxygen vibrates at a different frequency than an atom of uranium.

Our bodies are composed of a lot of different vibrations. The rate of vibration (or its "signature") determines function. For humans living in what we perceive as a "physical" world, there must be a high degree of stability and predictability about the matter that surrounds us.

For example, for our hearts to suddenly change their rates of vibrations and become hunks of lead would be a shock.

There is an important subtlety here. What keeps a particular energy consistently vibrating at the same frequency? What keeps my heart in the frequency and function of a heart instead of arbitrarily turning into lead?

The answer is intelligence, not the cognitive type of intelligence possessed by our brains, but a specialized type of intelligence for each vibrational frequency of energy. A heart is a heart because it has an intelligence that wills it to be a heart. It will remain a heart until a higher vibrational energy directs it to be something else. I know that this description may spawn many questions, but we need to move on. Please accept this principle for the time being.

Question: Which came first, consciousness or awareness?

Answer: Consciousness came first.

The signature left in the EB by a release of energy can be changed.

The highest vibration of energy is Light, not the light that comes from the sun (that is really a combination of different vibrations including the visible light spectrum). "Light" energy is the highest form of intelligence that exists. It is the prime mover and shaper of the Universe, and we can carry it within us. Isn't that great! The primeval Andeans of South American and other past cultures called themselves children of the Light and with good reason. We are. It's just that many people lose this awareness.

What does all of this have to do with manifestation?

Since "some" manifestation is "acceptable," why not more?

Who says that manifestation must always take the form of the material? Isn't manifesting non-material desires as important if not more so than the physical ones? We are incredible creators and manifesters in our own right. Everything that we have, everything that we are, we manifested. Perhaps most of that manifestation occurs at a level less than conscious, and perhaps some of what we manifested is not what we wanted to manifest; nonetheless, we manifest it all, every scrap.

It stands to reason that if we are manifesting machines, isn't it time to understand the mechanism of manifesting so that we are at cause in the matter of having what we desire instead of being at the effect of a phenomenon that we don't understand and can't seem to manage? Having been on both sides of the question, I choose understanding and managing.

The mechanism for manifesting is called intention.

Before I discuss intention, there is a word used earlier that needs some work before moving on to understanding intention. The word is "desire," as in manifesting what you desire. Desire is a loaded word having many connotations, many of which have to do with greed, lust, and so on.

Understanding 4 was about harmony, or creating a state of mind where the ego is absent. Understanding 5 explained Divinity and connection with the Universe where all manifestation occurs. Understanding 6 - Energetics - presented a primer on the concepts of energy that are the stuff that makes up manifestations, material and non-material.

First, let's look at stating an "object."

The more precise I am about describing the object of my intention, the more likely that I will eventually manifest exactly what I desire… and it may take longer because of all of the requirements that need to be satisfied.

Thus, defining an object is a sliding scale of requirements versus the time before the object is manifested. For example, let's say that I want to manifest a new place to live.

My requirements are:

• Within walking distance of a sandy, ocean beach
• Have a mountain view
• Have a minimum of five acres
• Three bedrooms 
• A great room with a stone fireplace
• Gourmet kitchen
• Three car garage
• Sauna
• Jacuzzi
• Room for a flotation tank
• Office (overlooking the mountains)
• Old shade trees
• Safe for pets
• Isolated but near a town with shopping facilities
• Have an airport within a thirty minute drive

What a great place! I think that if I set the stage (harmony, Divinity, and Energetics) and I follow the operating principles, then I could manifest this house.

It might take twenty years for all of the requirements to come together, but I could manifest it. The more that I ask for, the more Spirit needs to do in order to satisfy my requirements.

For example, say only one house fits my requirements, and it is not available. Spirit will not "force" the current occupants to leave so that I can move in. I will have to wait until they choose to leave; hence, the twenty year lapse between giving intent and the manifestation.

Where I place my intention on the "requirements versus time" sliding scale is my choice. Remember that Spirit's concept of time is far different than our own, so twenty years or twenty seconds is irrelevant. The requirements are what make the difference.

What do I do next?

When I described the parts of an intention (subject, object, and processes), I mentioned that it was not up to me to describe the processes by which the object is manifested, and that there was a critical role for me to play with respect to processes.

That role is to be in action in the matter of my intention. "Being in action" is not about directly causing the manifestation but to do things that contribute (even in a small way) to the manifestation.

It is somewhat like, "God helps those who help themselves." It is tough (not impossible) to win the lottery without buying a ticket.

Doing so accomplishes two things. First, I am releasing energy that holds the signature of what I desire to be manifested. I know that when I release energy, I will attract like energy back to me (unless I otherwise direct through awareness) so I am attracting my object to me.

Second, being in action gives Spirit something to work with and decreases the amount of time between stating the intention and its manifestation.

Using my dream house as an example, if I actively search for such a house, I am in action in the matter of my intention. If I tell people that I am looking for that house, I am in action in the matter of my intention… and so on.

One of the most powerful post intention tools is creating and using an "ideal scene." An ideal scene is a listing of my requirements placing me in the manifestation as if it already exists (which it does - I simply have not caught up with it yet).

The only structure for the ideal scene is that it is written, all of the statements are in the present tense, and I need to appear in some (or all of the statements). For example, restating some of my house requirements in ideal scene format looks like:

• I am walking to the nearby sandy, ocean beach.

• I am looking at the mountains from my office window.

• I am sitting in the great room enjoying a fire in the stone fireplace.

• I am taking a Jacuzzi… and so on.

Once I write an ideal scene, I place it somewhere so that I will see and read it every day. (I often use my bathroom mirror.) I keep reading it daily until my ideal scene manifests.

One last thought about intentions - I focus my intentions and avoid placing multiple "objects" in one intention. I keep them and their corresponding ideal scenes separate. Otherwise, I end up with a list like a small child's Christmas list for Santa Claus.

This finishes the four Understandings around manifesting what you desire, but we are not done with all nine. Next, Understanding 8 is about Consistency, a life mastery tool that enables us to evolve and transform.

That is a comment that someone could well ask. Let me say this about it...

None of the other Understandings will ever help you to transform and evolve without consistency. It is truly wonderful to learn something new, find value in its use, and see its potential and personal benefits.

Congratulations, you have taken step one - that's the good news. The other news is that there are many more steps to take. They are the same step taken over and over. Performing one action one time does not an expert make. No one becomes a talented artist after the first brush stroke or a brilliant writer after the first word. Mastery lies in using and practicing what is learned until the fourth step of the transformational model, transformation itself, occurs.

In the Introduction to 9 Understandings (the first article of the series), I described the four steps of the transformational model as: knowledge - experience - understanding - transformation. The transformation step consists of applying an understanding over and over until it becomes "unconscious competency" - second nature. There is no need to "think" about it. The understanding is now a part of my actions and me.

How come I resist something that I know is in my highest and best interest?

A modest tale of abandoned love and Divine connection…

I am at the food market in a long checkout line. I finally get to the clerk; she has a scowl on her face, and is being abrupt. In that moment my ego tells me that she is behaving that way because she "knows" that I am unworthy of receiving pleasant behavior.

Mr. Ego goes on to tell me that I should be nasty and mean - show her that I really am worthy and that she picked on the wrong person. Here is a choice point, a karmic moment. Suddenly, I remember that I do not have to obey my ego; I have a choice (Understanding 1) as to how I respond to this fellow human; why, I could practice compassion (Understanding 4)!

I look into the eyes of the clerk and find frustration, bitterness, and fatigue. "It's been a rough day, hasn't it?"

She looks into my eyes for the first time. "You don't know the half of it."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"I, uh, it's just that I broke up with my boyfriend this morning - he found someone else..."

"That has to really hurt - and you know, I think that you're a lovely woman, and if he doesn't see that, you're better off. You will find someone who truly appreciates you."

Her eyes cloud up for a moment, and then she smiles. "Thank you."

Okay, perhaps it was a bit melodramatic. The point is that something like this actually happened to me a while ago. I think that what I said to the clerk at the time actually helped her switch from helpless victim to seeing possibility for herself. It was great to see that happen.

On a personal level, what was even greater was how I felt about myself - really good - not just because I did something for her but because of experiencing my own Divinity by choosing harmony over fear and retaliation. For a brief time, she and I were connected, a part of the Universe. I shared her pain, she shared my compassion, and in that union we both connected with our Divinity.

Consistency enables transformation through reward, not fear.

The point of the story is that when I experience reward through practicing 9 Understandings, I want to do more and more. Eventually, the practice becomes a reflex and transformation takes place. Why would I not want to do this all of the time, to be consistent?

Fear. If I am to transform 9 Understandings, I must look at the fears that my ego creates to convince me that such actions like 9 Understandings are not "good" for me. My ego uses beliefs, opinions, and judgments to redirect my behavior.

Awareness that my ego is working against my highest and best interest empowers me to look at what is really happening and choose to process the fear that feeds my ego.

How to be consistent?

There are only six steps to consistency. Let's take a look:

1. Choose an Understanding that appeals to you.

2. Try practicing the Understanding and closely monitor your emotions as you do. There are step-by-step explanations of how to practice each Understanding in its respective article.

3. If you are resisting practicing the Understanding, process the resistance and find the fear in which the resistance is rooted. Understanding 5 - Divinity explains the process in detail.

Once the fear is released, start practicing again. If resistance is still there, repeat step 3 until the resistance is gone. Resistance is the ego's signal that there is still fear around practicing the Understanding.

5. Once resistance is gone, each time you practice the Understanding, open yourself to experiencing your Divinity because it will be present. It is a sense of connectedness, fulfillment, and peace in that moment. It may fade in the next moment and you can bring it back and back... and there will be times when you don't even think to practice the Understanding.

6. If you forget (or choose not) to practice, please don't beat yourself (or anyone else) up. Accept that you did not practice this time and give intent (Understanding 7) to have the awareness to practice next time.

Using these steps, I found that the practice of an Understanding was easier and easier, even addictive in terms of experiencing my Divinity, who I really am. I didn't even need to think about consistency. It simply happened. Next, choose another Understanding and apply the same six steps.

Over time, I found that as I transformed more Understandings, the easier it got. Each one made the next one faster and simpler, for there are only so many basic fears that I had. As I released a fear, it was no longer available to feed my ego. The result is that I essentially became "fear-less."

No, I don't leap off ten-story buildings or swim in bloody waters with sharks. We all need to be mindful of the risks of living in our bodies in a physical world. What it does mean is that the fears that I created out of abandonment, and the consequent perceived need to "earn" love, are released and my Energetic Body holds more light.

The lighter my Energetic Body, the more fulfilled I am and the greater the sense of peace that I experience in everyday life. I believe that each of us can achieve this state if we have the intention and commitment.

The last question before us, then, is how do I know what kind of progress I am making towards achieving fulfillment and personal peace? Like the old country and western song, some days are diamonds and some days are coal. Everyday life is full of ups and downs. Some of my moments are Divine and some are not. How do I know where I stand?

Next month, the last Understanding, 9, is about Partnership, a life mastery tool that measures the progress of growth and Spiritual evolution through interactions with people and the world.

Understanding 8 - Consistency concluded with the following, "…how do I know what kind of progress I am making towards achieving fulfillment and personal peace?

Like the old Country and Western song, some days are diamonds and some days are coal. Everyday life is full of ups and downs. Some of my moments are Divine diamonds and some are not. How do I know how well I am progressing on my path of Spiritual evolution?"

When I started having awareness around Spiritual evolution, I did a lot of things, seminars, meditation, books, readings, re-birthing, and so on, yet had an uncomfortable feeling that I was really not moving, not evolving.

Sure, I learned a lot and attempted to put the learning into practice, and yet still did not know if progress was really occurring. Frustrated and beginning to think that I would never really get anywhere, the answer actually loomed in front of me everywhere. Finally it was clear.

Relationships reflect the progress of Spiritual evolution.

I am using "relationships" in the broadest term. A relationship exists anytime that I interact with any person or thing. Relationships define my existence in the outer world, and also with myself. A relationship exists any time that I connect with any thing.

Remember from Understanding 3 - Fear, "It's not the issue; it's how you relate to the issue that is the key to a lesson?" Guess where issues come from?

Relate-tionships. That's a mouthful, because relationships abound in everyday life. I have a relationship with my computer as I sit here writing. I have relationships with the market clerk, the postman, my dogs, and on and on.

The quality of my relationships is definable and measurable.

"The name of this understanding is 'partnership.' All that you have talked about so far is relationship. What gives?"

The distinction between relationship and partnership has to do with acceptance. A partnership also involves acceptance, so partnership is of a higher order than relationship, which is about interaction, not necessarily acceptance. Partnership is a special case of relationship in which there is acceptance without expectations.

To better understand partnership, let's take a look at the four types of relationships.

The types of relationship roles are:

• dominating
• submitting
• avoiding
• partnering

When someone plays a dominating role, his expectations are to control the other person so that the dominant receives whatever he needs to bolster his self-esteem.

The submissive is also bolstering his self-esteem by allowing the dominant to control him, and thereby being whomever he thinks he needs to be in order to be accepted.

The avoider's self-esteem is so fragile that he wants to avoid responsibility for either dominating someone or submitting to someone. The avoider is so concerned with doing it "right," that he chooses to not do it at all.

Partnering, on the other hand, is a relationship in which there is no expectation of what I get from the other party, and there is unconditional acceptance of the other party (who, as we shall see, may or may not be a partner).

There is always a release/receipt of energy (Understanding 6 - Energetics) in any relationship; the question becomes, what kind of energy?

If I direct the release of energy to someone who is receptive to it, and he does the same for me, then we have "bonded" in that exchange. On the other hand, if one of us releases energy to the other that is not what he wants, then we have an "issue" and the relationship falls apart, if not then, eventually.

To illustrate a commonly occurring relationship: if a dominant and a submissive are paired, then the desires of both are met, and a relationship is established. It cannot be a partnership because each party has expectations of the other; thus, there is not unconditional acceptance.

It can, however, be sustained because fulfillment of expectation is occurring for both parties. If either one's expectation changes, and fulfillment does not, or if the nature of the fulfillment changes, then the relationship will eventually disintegrate.

If the relationship is of a dominant and an avoider (or of two dominants or of two submissives), neither party's expectations are met, this relationship will not be sustainable, and will eventually disintegrate.

The table appearing below describes all of the possible combinations of roles within a relationship. In the column labeled "Dynamic," the 1 and 2 numbers (when used) refer to Party 1 and Party 2.

The underlying principal is that the more partnerships I have, the further I have come. As I release fear, connect with our Divinity, and manifest what I truly desire, the more progress I make along my path. The first eight Understandings provide the tools to move forward. Building partnerships along the way is a by-product. If you want to measure your progress, simply do this:

1. List the most important relationships that you have in the major areas of your life: public, private, and professional (work related).

2. Determine which roles you and the other person play: dominant, submissive, avoider, or partner.

3. For any relationship in which you are not a partner, look at what prevents you from being a partner (hint: use fear as a means of inquiry).

4. For any relationship in which the other person is not a partner, ask yourself if staying in that partnership is beneficial to your Spiritual evolution.

5. Do this assessment from time to time and determine if your partner/partner relationships are increasing, and the other relationships are falling away. If not… why? This is the way to mark your progress.

In summary, 9 Understandings described how to use:

Choice to create the opportunity for growth by having the awareness that there is always more than one alternative.

Discernment to enable choosing wisely through the awareness of what is in the best and highest interest of the chooser.

Fear as the greatest teacher.

Harmony to release fear so that the choice can be manifested.

Divinity to connect us with the Universe where manifestation actually occurs.

Energetics to explain the physics, the "Tao," of manifestation.

Intention to initiate manifesting a choice in reality.

Consistency to enable transformation.

Partnership to measure the progress of growth through interactions with people and the world.