Many Paths, One Mountain

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I'm sitting in a motel room in Jacksonville Florida. In a couple of hours I'll drive three hours up to Quincy to pick up Jason, who has apparently been having a great time with his grandma and grandpa. Then we'll drive to Tallehasse to fly home. Friday I teach three classes at the L.A. Screenwriting Expo. Nicki's mom Toni will come down Saturday, and we'll have a theater party probably Saturday afternoon to see QUANTUM OF SOLACE, for which I just can't wait. I'll probably be meeting with Vin Diesel some time in the next week about Hannibal (the first voice tracks have been laid down, and they sound great!) and next week I'm up in Oregon for Orycon. I'll be having a room party Saturday night for friends I don't have time to sit down and nosh with. Then back to L.A...

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Lots going on. And at the center of it is a sense of quiet joy. Forty years ago, somehow I knew the world would change in my mid-fifties. I'm 56, and have just witnessed what may be the single greatest event in the history of black people on this planet. How the fuck did I know? Don't know. But it makes me re-evaluate a number of things.

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Was it a Freudian slip when I said Obama's election was "the greatest event in the history of mankind"? Hey, maybe. But I know that would be absurd. My real thought about the "greatest event in the history of black people" would probably be the invention of fire. But that gets into arguments about what a "black person" is, as well as the fact that we have no idea when and where it happened--and at least one definition of "event" includes "a shared experience." In other words, landing on the moon was important as a technological achievement even if no one knew about it. But the fact that an entire country pooled resources and talents, and then the action itself was witnessed by a gigantic proportion of the human race--THAT made it even more significant. I know of no single, volitional accomplishment/event in black history that has more personal, national, or global implications than this one. Yep, he stood on many, many shoulders: but that's part of the point. It's not about him: it's about US. As a country. As a people. As human beings on every corner of this planet. It validated everything I've ever believed about the nature of humanity and consciousness itself. Of COURSE there are still problems--and will always be. This country will never be any better than its citizens. I don't see perfection in MY mirror. Do you in yours? Unless you do, get over it. We're doing the best we can as little bits of protoplasm, and that's pretty damned good.

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First, I no longer believe that I have to concern myself with the negative consequences of destroying my ego shell, of actually achieving sustained non-dualistic awareness. I used to worry that I couldn't be certain that I would be a good father to Jason. Yes, plenty of people said I needn't worry. But I couldn't take the chance. Now I know there is no threat. I am what I am, and have been since childhood. I love my family, I love my life, and there is nothing to fear. Love is at the core of me. The road before me is far clearer than it has ever been. I see, quite clearly, the contribution I can make to the world in the next decade. This time, this moment, is what I have prepared for my whole life.

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Seeing a thing, and watching people that I love floundering in their lives, blinded with pain and fear, and wondering how in the living hell I could help them...that has led me down some strange paths, to the point where I see this thing that I give lots of different names: "Lifewriting", "I.D.E.A", "The 101 Program"--and so forth. All doorways to the same place.

I am aware of the limitations of any path, or any label. There are genuine risks is walking the path between life and death, and those risks are minimized by managing the intermediate steps and providing balance. A few thoughts:

1) I am obsessive about balance. Without balance, the obsession necessary to achieve excellence can tear your life to pieces.

2) I assume that people are lying if they say they don't want money, a romantic/sexual partner, and a smokin' hot body. I know DAMNED well that these three don't actually apply to 100% of human beings...but frankly, I think they apply to better than 99%, and that's good enough for me. My apologies to those who have genuinely grown beyond the desire for these things...but then, if you've genuinely grown beyond them, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and my intentions. If my statement about what everyone wants causes any emotion save mild amusement, take a closer look.

3) Enlightenment is the door of perception that opens at the moment of death...only you open it before you get there.

4) Enlightenment has no practical value--however, the precursive stages "awakeness" and "human adulthood" are about as useful as anything you can possibly imagine. Every one of us should aspire to these two things.

5) The doorway to adulthood is sometimes called "the point of conation"--a word of relatively recent origin that relates to will, drive, and the ability to take responsibility for who and what you are and do.

6) There are many paths, but only one mountain.

7) My path of awakening is to take TOTAL responsibility for every action you take, and every result you have in the arenas of physical health/fitness, personal relationships, and career. On a Newtonian level, yes, the universe affects us. But how much? Impossible to say. I suggest that you assume that you are co-creating your life with the Universe, take responsibility, and go for it. No excuses...but retain compassion for the child you were. At every moment of your life, you have done the best you can with the resources you have.

8) The core components, boiled down to the simplest components I can find, are:

a) A time frame of at least 6 weeks. We use 101 days.

b) Intermittent Fasting (or eating ONLY fresh fruits and vegetables every other day) during this time frame: to increase energy, free time, and force contact with core emotional truths.

c) The Soulmate Process--looking at relationships as a mirror. And the relationship you yearn for most deeply as a mirror of your own idealized or corrupted self.

d) The Five Tibetans. As a simple, basic "False Physiological Profile" or "Perfect Template" technique, it's the best I've found in terms of accessibility. Anyone who can knock off 21 reps easily doesn't NEED it, that is absolutely true. But for an investment of ten minutes, with free information on performance available all over the internet, the Tibetans are hard, hard to beat.

I use Scott Sonnon's "Be Breathed" technique inside the Tibetans--which creates a doorway to stress management on a grand scale. And if you confront the demons in your life without ever letting stress become strain, you are going to grow at your maximum rate, without ever hurting yourself.

e) Triangle Goal setting. Five times a day, at every hour divisible by a three, you stop and breathe for sixty seconds, while visualizing a triangle. In the middle of the triangle you visualize the end point of your three major goals (body, mind, relationship) that you want in 101 days. If visualization is a challenge, "feel" or "hear" the end points.

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And the nifty thing is that I can talk to someone on the phone, or over the internet, and ask them what's going on with their Tibetans, fasting, and meditation/goals and get a snapshot of EXACTLY where they are in the process of their lives. Unbelievable diagnostic tool. I honestly don't know how to make this more available, or simpler.

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Can any of you? As a doorway to actually owning your own life--with FULL acknowledgement that there is more we can add to this...have I made it too complicated? Is there anything non-essential here, in creating a human being who makes the world safer and better for our next generation of children? Can you see any dead weight?

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I'm listening.