submitted by Daphne Bramlett

It occurs to me that the world can use a refresher on what love is and what love does. The deeper I open to love I find that it demands more of itself in feeling, knowing and action. It seeks itself out in the next most powerful way and true way. It will take the lead of our experience if we let it.

Love opens, explores, delves deeper, is not satisfied with assumptions and can turn everything inside out—mind, heart and body—in a moment of deeper recognition. Love wants nothing, is utterly free and can be completely relied upon.

True love between people means “no matter what.” Whatever comes, whatever thought, feeling or action trips along our path, we know that we are together in holding it—together. This kind of unconditional love is definitely what changes the world–powerfully, magically and instantly… As we hold this kind of love for and with each other we are changing the world one incredible moment at a time.

My heart is devastated with love, broken free again and again with the wonder of this love that I have within me, and the deeper that I let it run through me with other people, no matter what, the more intense and awe-inspiring my life becomes and the more free it is truly in the arms of God.

I notice that the “no matter what” part is the most incredible in its ecstatic remembrance. Things come up, but as I stretch deeply into a place that knows no wrong for this situation my heart opens and my thoughts move in alignment with that love, making creation possible in a situation that would otherwise have been a stopping point of some kind. Breakthroughs like this, when the world seems to be telling you that you can’t love in this situation and you say, “Yes I will, yes I am loving no matter what,” are portals for a cosmic design to enter in all at once.

Unconditional love that comes from an ever deeper place in me is the means by which I know that I am a magical instrument of transmutation and creation in this sphere of things. This takes real attention on where love is finding its focus in my life. What am I looking at and what are my energies moving toward? Is it coming together or is it random in emergence? True love is not a surprise; it is a marvelous and astonishingly beautiful foundation in my life that finds itself ever directed at its focus for greatest manifestation. True love only wants to manifest truly and abundantly in my experience. It wants to come together in truth, in reality, not just in imagination. It wants this humanity to know its magic and creative potential.

Daphne provides oversight for Sunrise Ranch Program Development, Guest Services and Human Resources and is a member of the Sunrise Ranch Executive Group. She loves speaking, singing, writing and coaching about the opportunity that we have in each moment to deepen our awareness of our own true Presence and create a world that reflects that pristine inner beauty.

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By Gary Goodhue

I have been interested for some time in living in an intentional community. I now do, in an event and conference center and intentional spiritual community called Sunrise Ranch, in Loveland, Colorado. Living in community, I find that almost all of my basic needs are met, and many of them are met with greater abundance than I would have imagined. We have an organic farm and garden program, as well as a farm-to-table culinary academy. Because we are an event and conference center, many people from a variety of walks of life come to visit and stay with us. We have a commercial-size kitchen that will often feed over 100 people per meal. Our head chef and director of the culinary academy used to be the executive chef at a Whole Foods and regularly prepares amazingly healthy and delicious cuisine for the community and guests to enjoy. The type of food that I eat on a daily basis would be very expensive to buy and prepare if I had to go out to eat or buy from a grocery store on a regular basis. For some reason, in today’s world, it is more expensive to eat good, healthy food than the processed and pre-packaged type of meals that I used to live off of as a modern-day bachelor.

On top of the generous availability of food that I experience, my housing accommodations, utilities, laundry facilities, and Internet are all provided for and included within the work-trade program. For the most part, I have been able to let go of the rat race world of making a paycheck in order to pay bills and live a comfortable life. This has freed me up to be able to focus on the things that are most important to me—like personal and spiritual development and discovering my passion and purpose in life. There are a number of options for work-type services that I can choose to engage in. Whether cooking in the kitchen, doing maintenance and landscaping, childcare, growing in the garden, stewarding the land and animals on the farm, taking care of guests and the events business, marketing and sales, program development, outreach, publications, financials, or overall community operations, there are many areas for a person to participate in and explore their individual passion.

Another huge benefit of living in community, as I do, is that I live and work in the same place. I do not have to deal with commuting or traffic or gas expenses. I get more time in my day because it only takes me a few minutes to walk to work from my home, and I have the opportunity to engage in different activities through multiple work duties. Sometimes I might be helping take care of the children of families that live in the community; sometimes I might be cooking in the kitchen or working on a new building project or editing a website. This availability allows me to be diverse and keeps me from getting stressed or burned out from doing the same thing all the time, day in and day out. And because we are surrounded by beautiful nature settings, I get to enjoy hiking and interacting with plants, animals and the natural world that I formerly had to drive to different locations to enjoy; here they’re within a couple minutes’ walk.

While living in the city, I had to be self-reliant and could rarely depend on others to help me out with areas of life that I would have difficulty with. In community living, people are there for each other, and it is known that we are stronger existing together as a whole than individually and separate. It is almost like living inside of a large extended family, where people actually care for each other and will go out of their way to help one another when they are in need. This doesn’t mean that it is a virtual utopia, where everything is perfect and everyone is always happy all the time. People are still people everywhere you go, and we are all growing and learning in our own individual areas of life; however, there is a greater encompassment and support for each other than I have ever known in any other type of lifestyle.

One of the challenges in such an environment is that it is similar to living in a very small village, where everyone knows everybody else. Sometimes it can be like living in a fish bowl, where everyone seems to know your business. Often that is not the case but sometimes that is what it feels like. Maybe that is because it is common to think that, just because my world revolves around me, other people are paying as much attention to my experiences as I am. Usually they are not, but still the fact remains that many people hear what I say and see what I do. That can become a problem if the two do not match. The up-side to this is that, if you allow it, others can help to hold you accountable and it can be a type of support for a person to become more transparent. This means releasing the lies and sneakiness and general incongruences within your character. This is a good thing to be moving toward. However, until you get there, it might feel frustrating as the old ways of being are no longer working the same as they used to and outdated selfish behaviors can no longer be kept in the shadows.

Some people might think then that living in an intentional community could be boring, in such close proximity to your neighbors and without many varied experiences. This might be true in some situations, but not here on Sunrise Ranch. We always have something going on because this place also serves as a conscious event and conference center. There are dances, drumming circles, musical jam sessions, workshops and classes, healers’ gatherings, spiritual and inspirational services, harvest and garden parties, game nights, outdoor group sports, activities, and much more that happen on a fairly consistent basis. I can choose to involve myself in these options or not, depending on my range of availability; and most of them are free and easy to participate in. Often there are new people who come to visit and interact with us, and the ones that I live, work and play with on a daily basis are like family; I know who I am spending my time with and they know me.

All in all, living in an intentional-community environment has been a rich and fulfilling experience and is my favorite among the lifestyles I have known. I believe that this is a model for the type of living that the world as a whole is moving toward. Imagine trading money focus, self-centeredness and separation for shared abundance, service consciousness and interconnected living. I am blessed to be in such a supportive and abundant environment.

Gary Goodhue is an author, actor, poet and has been a seeker of universal truth and spiritual awakenings his entire adult life. He studied at the School of Metaphysics, where he taught classes and directed one of their school centers. He was involved with a spiritual community called Community of Light for two years and was introduced to intentional communal living. He pursued community living for a number of years after that, even planning how to start his own with friends. He currently resides at Sunrise Ranch, headquarters for Emissaries of Divine Light, and one of the oldest continual intentional communities in the United States.

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Spring does bring regeneration as nature calls forth for birth and growth and new life cycles begin
And reminds us of a life once lived as love incarnate, that transcended death around to life again
I honor and celebrate that life example greatly given and embodied some few short millennia ago
Preserved and anchored into the grid so as to know what the spirit of humanity would one day show
Regeneration, resurrection, re-creation and unlimited, beautiful and creative forms of life being born
Happens in the empty, receptive space following death, dissolution and all attachments being shorn
Cracking the shell and melting the hardness, breaking through and opening space to let and to allow
The most heavenly and finest frequencies of love and life, existing in the moment eternally here now
Can begin once again to move right in, set up shop, become comfortable and make a home in the mind
Gently infiltrating dissonant patterns and perceptions until the spirit of creation is all the mind can find
As nature very gracefully shows… to release, dissolve and surrender clears the path and calls into play
The spirit of resurrection, fueled by Creator Love for life’s abundance to come forth and re-pave the way
Rich, full and vibrant; Love surrounds and soaks into the self, and life is seen again, yet with new eyes
Separated senses of Self fall away revealing the Wonderful One Within as powerful, loving and wise
Potently present, perfectly aware, peacefully perceiving being and existing in the patterns of perfection
A journey of ever ascending heights of inter-connective perspective, repainting the canvas of perception
Undulating waves of joyful reveling in the matrix of the mystery and knowing I Am in the shared creation
Kinetic, colorful, coordinated molecules of love dancing ecstatic concerts of harmony and shared elation
Another blessed soul awakens and the divine intelligence of nature surges forward in following her plan
Infinitely resourceful, wholly committed and ceaselessly working toward the conscious evolution of man

Gary Goodhue is an author, actor, poet and spiritual aspirant. Gary has been exploring universal success principles, personal development and spiritual concepts for most of his life. He has studied at the School of Metaphysics, as well as teaching classes and serving as branch director for one of their sixteen school centers. He was also involved with the Community of Light and is currently living at Sunrise Ranch, headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light. He is involved in their Full Self Emergence Program and serves in multiple capacities on the ranch and in the community. He works within different departments and also has started participating in the EDL ministry program, sharing spiritual truth and reciting original works of poetry, as well as writing blog articles for the website. Gary is looking forward to deepening his relationship with the Emissaries and serving in greater capacities as the spirit of love expresses through him into larger levels of manifestation and experience.

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submitted by Jerry Kvasnicka

There is a sense in which all of life is magic: the magic of a flower, the magic of a tree, the magic of birds in flight, the magic of spring, the magic of autumn, the magic of a baby just born, the magic felt by two human beings sharing unconditional love.  Yes, it could be said that magic is everywhere, that the very fact of creation is an act of magic. Indeed it is, and human beings who acknowledge this and embody in form the magic of life at their core have the singular opportunity to experience the beauty, the wonder, the glory and the miraculous nature of creation.  This is the magic I believe in.

Yet there is another kind of magic that has been concocted by the human mind in its state of limited understanding. It is a counterfeit magic, a product of wishful thinking and actually not magic at all.  I refer to this phenomenon as “the myth of magic.” Of the myths that have been accepted by people down through the centuries, few are as ancient and deeply rooted in human consciousness as this belief in magic—the idea that mysterious, supernatural powers exist and can, under certain conditions, produce miraculous effects in human beings and their environment.

“Wanted—a magic formula or potion to change the hearts and minds of men” ran a recent ad in the Chicago Tribune. Many answers were forthcoming, but religion headed the list. The acceptance of the “myth of magic” is indeed the basis of all human religion. In fact, the various religions of the world—ancient and modern, Oriental and Occidental—are merely the different mechanics which man have devised to tap the “magic” in which they have wrapped their hopes and dreams.

Belief in this kind of magic is the essential ingredient of human religion for the simple reason that a state of limitation is universally accepted as normal. It is believed, for example, in the Christian pattern based on the idea of “original sin,” that man is a “worm of the dust,” a decidedly inferior creature, who can only be delivered from the “curse” of human nature and the “prison of the flesh” by the intervention of a merciful God via his wonder-working son, Jesus Christ. Even many of the most sophisticated and seemingly self-assured individuals alive today, the finest products of the computer age, are laboring, consciously or unconsciously, under an enormous inferiority complex, a monumental conviction of their own inherent weakness and insignificance, and are looking with increasing desperation for that magical something—be it computer technology, the “second coming” or world government—to bail them and their human fellows out of the morass of misery that presently engulfs the planet. It has been customary to dread the possibility of invasion by beings from another planet, but now I understand there are growing numbers who feel that such an intervention may be the last hope for our survival!

When you get right down to it, a pretty incredible feat of self-deception is required to swallow the “myth of magic.” Yet generation after generation of human beings somehow manage to persuade themselves that this kind of magic does in fact exist, that the “Fountain of Youth,” the “Great Society” or the “New Jerusalem” is about to appear. But even more amazing is the ingenuity human beings have exercised in devising ways and means by which this supposed magic may be harnessed to human ends. In the religious doctrine of transubstantiation, for instance, the bread and wine are alleged to be the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ and thus loaded with magical potential. Believers who ingest these magical elements are supposedly raised to the status of divinity, at least for the duration of the Eucharist.

Yet, compared to the claims advanced by certain cosmetic and soft drink manufacturers, this is mild indeed. The “myth of magic” is marketed on every street corner and doorstep of civilized society. People, it seems, will quite willingly put their bodies and minds through the most outlandish acrobatics if, by doing so, they believe that supernatural powers can be bent in their direction. Rigorous ascetic disciplines, mechanical gadgetry of all kinds, religious rites and rituals, special diets and elixirs, and ingenious doctrinal formulations have all been employed to this end.

To quote some opening verses from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.  What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” Perhaps it is time to state the truth of the matter: there is no magic, certainly not in the sense in which human beings conceive of it. There are no “mysterious, supernatural powers” at work in the affairs of man. Nothing has ever operated, or ever will, outside of simple natural law. No magician or combination of magicians—scientists, industrialists, politicians and religious saviors included—is going to materialize some sunny day to halt the downward plunge of civilization. The fate of the earth is entirely in our hands. Divine intervention is a pipedream. This kind of so-called magic is a myth.

But this myth is actually the product of an even more pernicious myth—the idea that men and women are merely human and consequently confined to a miserable state of weakness and limitation on earth. Of all the frauds ever sold to humanity, this is certainly the most absurd and the most destructive. The plain fact is that human beings are divine, and it is only because they have swallowed the lie of limitation, thereby betraying their own nature, that belief in pseudo magic has seemed necessary to assuage their troubled hearts and minds.

Obviously a man like Jesus would appear to be superhuman to those thoroughly persuaded of their own inferiority. But when the true meaning and significance of his life is dug out of the pile of legends and myths in which deluded human beings have buried it, it is evident that he was one of the only completely authentic human beings of whom there exists any record. He absolutely refused to swallow the lie of limitation.  He dared to be himself, an angelic being in human form. “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” This was his challenge to subsequent generations, but who has believed him?

Isn’t it about time that we discarded once and for all the “myth of magic” and the “myth of limitation”? Isn’t it about time that we ceased our foolish strivings and imaginings and simply began to be what we were created to be on earth, began to assume responsibility for the expression of divine character here and now? This is the only way that a transformed state of oneness will appear on earth, certainly not by divine intervention or some kind of “rapture,” as if God acts quite apart from the creatures  who were made in His image and likeness. To an individual going up in an elevator everything outside of the elevator seems to be going down.  The New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven when human beings rise up in consciousness, allowing the cobwebs of myth to be cleared away by the infilling spirit of God.

This is the magic of life, something of which human beings in their self-imposed prison of limitation know nothing. Yes, there are vibrational gradations, such that those operating at a higher vibrational frequency may appear as magicians to those existing at a subhuman level. But why stay at a subhuman level? How utterly unnatural! Rise up and taste the magic of life! When we awaken to our divine potential, when we begin to release the magic that we have tended to impute to a separate God, then it becomes quite apparent that everything required for the total transformation of human existence is already present on earth.

Jerry Kvasnicka, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has had a varied career as a youth minister, a radio news reporter, a writer and editor for several magazines and journals and a custodian with the Loveland, Colorado school district. Jerry currently edits and writes for the spirituality section of the online magazine The Mindful Word. He has lived at the Sunrise Ranch spiritual community in Loveland for twenty-five years. He can be reached at jerry@themindfulword.org.

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Peace, Be still, the Master does now declare
To the furious flurry of whirling water and air
I AM the commander of this ship and this sea
All the parts of my world center back unto me
Be still, thy turbulent winds and tempest waves
For thine is the temporary passing of darkened days

An awakened reality is revealed with clarity
In the calm, still center of a stormy humanity
With right orientation, the turbulence resides
And bright days are born when the Master presides
Thoughts and feelings pointed toward the divine
Now, already always the kingdom of God is mine

Live this day centered in an awareness of being
Look again from an eternal perspective of seeing
Surrender the thoughts to the great source of all
Watch the Maya melt as the veils of illusion fall
Release emotional attachments in order to feel
The joy of knowing the truth that only love is real

Gary Goodhue is an author, actor, poet and spiritual aspirant. Gary has been exploring universal success principles, personal development and spiritual concepts for most of his life. He has studied at the School of Metaphysics, as well as teaching classes and serving as branch director for one of their sixteen school centers. He was also involved with the Community of Light and is currently living at Sunrise Ranch, headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light. He is involved in their Full Self Emergence Program and serves in multiple capacities on the ranch and in the community. He works within different departments and also has started participating in the EDL ministry program, sharing spiritual truth and reciting original works of poetry, as well as writing blog articles for the website. Gary is looking forward to deepening his relationship with the Emissaries and serving in greater capacities as the spirit of love expresses through him into larger levels of manifestation and experience.

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Submitted by Jerry Kvasnicka

Something happened on December 21, 2012. Those of us who celebrated and otherwise marked this Birth 2012 event know that we moved through a cosmic portal into a new cycle, a new age where love, light and life are supposed to rule the day. So what, one might ask, are the evidences of this change? The world continues pretty much as it did before. Wars continue in the Middle East, parts of Africa and other places. Gun violence seems to be increasing in the United States. Financial tribulation still afflicts Europe and the U.S. Disappearing glaciers and polar ice confirm the reality of global warming. Droughts, floods, devastating hurricanes, tornadoes and atmospheric pollution seem to be increasing. And from what I can observe, turmoil in individual lives has not abated. So where are we to look for any evidence of positive change and transformation that movement into a new age is supposed to bring?

The initial change, of course, occurs in consciousness, specifically in the consciousness of those who have awakened to the reality of the creative process that, contrary to all appearances, is still the controlling force operative on earth. This change is for the most part invisible and vibrational, and though there are some external evidences of its impact in individual lives and in the groups to which they belong, objectively measurable change remains primarily below the level of physical observation. According to a report that I recently heard on the radio, the vibrational rate of the earth has risen in recent years from eight cycles to eleven. I have no idea how this is measured or exactly what it means, but I suspect it is indicative of the movement of the earth into the new cosmic context heralded by the Birth 2012 event.

So obviously something is moving; something is stirring; something is changing. The origin of this change is in human consciousness and the intensification of current that is occurring there. Though the measureable visible evidences of positive, life-enhancing change on earth may yet be sporadic and insubstantial, the negative, life-destroying changes, the so-called “doomsday curves,” the unspeakable atrocities, are painfully obvious and there for everyone to see. And I submit that these graphic evidences of disintegration constitute the most incontrovertible proof that life is on the move, that something of tremendous intensity is shaking the very foundations of the planet.

Andrew Harvey hits the nail on the head in this quote from his book Radical Passion: Sacred Love and Wisdom in Action. “In preparation for the birth of the Divine, the entire human race is now going through a global dark night, which will result in a new humanity that has been humbled and chastened by tragedy, so that it may open completely to the mystery of divine grace. This dark night cannot be bargained with, explained away, leapt over or mitigated. It is the destined crucifixion of a communal human ego now clearly revealed to be suicidal, matricidal, and dangerous to itself and to the whole of creation. No one and nothing will stop Kali dancing Her terrible dance of destruction and re-creation. There will be no resurrection of an embodied divine humanity without a systematic, perfectly organized, brutally complete crucifixion of everything in us that keeps us addicted to the systems of illusion that are now rapidly destroying everything.”
The creative process that governs all life and being in the cosmos is in essence an integrating process—bringing and holding all things together in a beautifully coordinated whole. But it also has a disintegrating or deconstructing aspect, a cosmic waste disposal system. Obviously the integrating work of the universe cannot be fully consummated if there are “systems of illusion” and pockets of resistance such as the self-seeking human ego blocking the way. Insofar as the body of humanity is concerned there is a massive collection of trash and assorted clutter in individual subconscious minds and the collective consciousness accumulated through thousands of years of subhuman function on the planet. All of this garbage has to be disposed of in the cosmic recycling process. The intensified currents of life referred to above are now stirring things up in this subconscious realm, bringing all of this stuff –this grisly toxic effluent—up to the surface of consciousness and prompting human beings to act in extremely destructive and even barbaric ways. Hence the exponential increase of conflict and corruption, pain and suffering we’re now witnessing in human affairs.

All of this debris has to rise to the surface in order for it to be dissipated and dissolved; this is the only way to clear the subconscious mind and heart of humanity. No one is exempt from this clearing process; even those far advanced on the spiritual path, even those who could be considered enlightened, will experience these negative currents rising up into feeling and thought, bringing “dark nights” and Kali’s “terrible dance of destruction.” This puts those who have found their identity in the wholeness of life, in the truth of who they are, particularly on the spot. Knowing something of what is happening, it is incumbent on them to override all of the negative and destructive energies surfacing in consciousness with the irresistible current and absolute power of unconditional love.

I like the way Bill Isaacs describes what is required in his essay The Ending of Separation. “I suppose everyone has had, at one point or other in their lives, a so-called ‘dark night of the soul’—a moment where difficulties have mounted, and where the intensities have seemed very great…. As things proceed it will become more and more important that there are those who are not only unwavering, but happily committed to including and letting be brought into the fire anything and everything that comes into consciousness. This has always been the missing ingredient—a truly safe place on earth for the factors of distortion to be allowed to pass away. I suppose this is the unadvertised part of the experience of touching the invisible and magnificent nature of heaven. Initially there is joy and thrill, but as we know, what’s equally required is a fierceness of focus.”

Yes, a fierceness of focus is essential so that everything that comes into consciousness is immediately exposed to the fire of love that burns at the core of being. All distortions and destructive energies are thereby consumed and the truth of love remains. There may be an inclination to fight or try to flee from the dark energies, but this would not allow the essential work of dissolution to be done. What is required is simply to stay focused, embrace everything that comes into consciousness and just let the fire of love burn whatever needs to be burned. This allows the remaining substance to descend to a level of the creative process where it can begin to ascend again.

It is all part of a grand creative cycle governing the cosmos and there is no need to become involved in the disintegrative or waste disposal part of this process, no need to even think about it. It all happens automatically as long as attention remains centered in the integrating aspect of the creative cycle. David Karchere beautifully describes the spiritually mature approach in his piece The Rising. ”Deconstruction is a natural thing. For the most part, it’s not our business. It seems to take care of itself…. There is something else calling, which is the creative process. There is creation calling; there is glory calling. Part of glory is the composting—part of the glory of the garden is that the compost gets put in the garden. But it isn’t all about the compost. It isn’t about the undoing of the human ego…. There’s something else to be passionate about and to be part of. There is a rising, there’s a coming together, and there is something glorious that’s coming through humanity. That’s the point!”

Yes, the point for all who have to some degree awakened to the reality of the creative process is to be absolutely centered in the integrative aspect of this cycle as the beneficent creative power of the universe does its constructive and deconstructive work in birthing a new world. The intensifying currents of life brought by the new cycle may bring up experiences from the mass consciousness of humankind that are extremely uncomfortable and even life-threatening for individuals and humanity as a whole. No matter what the experience, if fierceness of focus is maintained and passion unwaveringly given to unconditional love, the inevitable outcome is glory. It is as if the universe will say to the earth and its inhabitants, “Welcome back. Let us join together in making all things wondrously and gloriously new.”

Jerry Kvasnicka, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has had a varied career as a youth minister, a radio news reporter, a writer and editor for several magazines and journals and a custodian with the Loveland, Colorado school district. Jerry currently edits and writes for the spirituality section of the online magazine The Mindful Word. He has lived at the Sunrise Ranch spiritual community in Loveland for twenty-four years. He can be reached at jerry@themindfulword.org.

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Submitted by Larry Pearlman

JT: There is a film that I directed and produced called The Moses Code, which is really in many, many ways, an answer to The Secret. Now, the reason I say “an answer” is because I had very, very strong feelings about The Secret when it first came out. Yes, I was able to admit that there were a lot of people who were just beginning a spiritual journey who needed to get that— the understanding that we do draw everything into our own experience, into our reality, or into our world, and knowing that, we can take control or we can draw the things that we really want, rather than the things that we just happen to haphazardly attract. That’s a good beginning level or understanding.

However, the way it was presented in The Secret seemed as if it was the only level—like if you get this, then you’ve got the whole thing. That’s very dangerous, because you don’t want to think that you’re in graduate school when you’re really in first grade. So people were really getting confused. They were really hurting themselves in many ways, because they didn’t realize that it’s not so much about the goods that you attract but more importantly it’s about the goodness that you attract. It’s not about using these spiritual laws to attract on an ego level, but rather it’s about the soul awareness and attracting things that are serving your soul and humanity itself.

I really felt that this was a conversation that needed to be continued. It really needed to be brought back to the soul. That was why I wrote the book, The Moses Code. It’s why we ultimately made that movie. It was hugely successful because so many of the really well-known authors and teachers that are out there felt the same as I did. They wanted to be part of continuing this conversation, and so many of them, from Michael Beckwith, who was also in The Secret, as well as Neale Donald Walsch and Debbie Ford, and many, many more, supported this movie. It ended up being a great success. I think we did continue this conversation in a beautiful way.

Many manifestation techniques that we’ve been exposed to lately are important, absolutely. But to do them without heart, to do these things without soul, just serves the ego. They’re like chains: they trap us and they keep us from focusing on what really is important. And being wrapped in a silver chain or a gold chain is just as binding as being wrapped in a steel one.

What’s important now is that people need to understand that what the soul really wants is not to get a new car or a bigger house. The soul wants to be in service, and in doing so, to know that everything is automatically attracted into your life. In other words, when you are not just thinking about your own selfish desires but how you can be the source of goodness for others, then all the goods that you need are attracted automatically. You don’t even need to focus on them. That’s just how the law works. It’s kind of like when Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all of these other things will be added unto you.” It’s natural, it’s automatic.

This is what I think people are beginning to realize now. So I honor The Secret for beginning this conversation. I just think this is something that needs to be continued. I’m glad that we were able to do that with The Moses Code. I have a good friend named Robert Evans who is continuing that with a program that he has called “The Habit of Attraction,” and many other people who are talking about this. Because if we allow it to stay held hostage, really, by the ego, well, I think we’re in trouble. But if we can bring this message back to our soul, and to realize that we have an opportunity here to create a new world, not just attracting a car, then we’re really getting somewhere.

LP: I totally agree. You know, it’s all up to what we mean when we say “I.” When Napoleon Hill wrote his book, Think and Grow Rich in 1937, “I” pretty referred to this human flesh—my desires, my ego, as you say. Now, more and more people are recognizing that the divine flows through them and that “I” means a whole lot more than just your ego—it’s well beyond that. And that “I” can attract everything it wants to it, which includes peace. Which doesn’t come with a new car—although there’s nothing wrong with a new car.

JT: Exactly. There’s nothing wrong with a new car, and there’s nothing wrong with abundance. It’s beautiful. The question is, what’s it for? I mean, are you doing it to avoid what is really wanting to manifest through you? Or are you doing it to serve that?

You know, the ego should not be so vilified. We so often say things like, “Well, we need to get rid of our ego.” Well, the surest way to have your ego be fully in charge of everything is to try and get rid of it, because it’s not going to happen. The key is for it to be the servant of the soul, rather than trying to call all the shots itself. When the soul is in its own natural, right position, then it relaxes.

Think of it kind of like a dog—especially a dog that needs to have a job. If they’re confused about what their function or job is, they’re a dangerous dog, because they’re going to be looking for it in all the wrong places. But when a dog knows what its role is, when it knows who the master is, then it’s comfortable and it can relax and it plays its role perfectly.

The same thing is true for our ego. When it knows why we’re here, then it relaxes, and, as the soul guides the ego in a proper way, then we’re really moving somewhere. Then this peace that we’ve been describing begins to manifest in our lives and in the world.

James Twyman is an internationally renowned, best-selling author, filmmaker and musician who has a reputation for traveling to some of the world’s greatest areas of conflict, sharing his message of peace.

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Submitted by Larry Pearlman

Peace is a process. It’s something that we’re going to create and develop and share over time. I think it’s dangerous to think that some magic wand is going to be waved over the heads of humanity and from that moment on there’s no longer going to be any conflict or war.

People sometimes ask me if I think that we’re ever going to get to the point where there will be complete peace and the cessation of all violence. You may be surprised at my answer, but I don’t really think that that is how it works. This world that we’re in, this world that we created in order to learn certain very important spiritual lessons, this is the world of duality. This is the world where we learn from our mistakes, where we learn from everything. One of the things that we learn from is the way that we relate to one another, both skillfully and unskillfully. This is all of the evolutionary trek, both individual and collective, that is bringing us to a spiritual maturation.

So maybe there comes a point where each individual makes that choice to such a degree and such a level that they no longer have a need to reincarnate, if you believe in that. Or we move on to the next schoolroom, the next classroom, where we have different lessons. The main thing that I’ve learned over all these years that I’ve been doing this work, over all the years and decades that I’ve been in spiritual practice, is that I don’t know anything. So these are my theories, just like we’ll all have our own theories.

I don’t really know what is meant to happen here. The only thing that I really do know is that I am meant to continue to choose peace in very dynamic ways in my own life, and to try and share that whenever I can. How this ends, what happens, I’m not attached to it, because I know that in the end we’re all going to see that we created this world and we can create a better world. And in doing so, peace may happen in exactly the way that you described. I hope it does—that would be wonderful. But I’m not attached to it, to tell you the truth. I’m more attached to the spiritual growth that’s there.

I think the thing that is happening is that we are beginning to focus much more on the ways that we are the same, rather than the ways that we are different. I mean, you brought up the situation in Ireland, and I think that’s probably a very good example, because clearly, whether you’re in northern Ireland or whether you’re in the Republic of Ireland, they’re all Irish. And whether they’re Catholic or Protestant, in the end, does not supersede the fact that they’re really the same.

The one thing that I’ve learned as I’ve traveled around the world, often to these war zones, is that we’re not really all that different from one another. If we could begin focusing on the ways that we are the same, and build from there, as opposed to the way we’ve been doing it, which is to begin where we are different, beginning where we are the same fosters a new attitude that ultimately does lead to peace. Now, of course, the Internet has been fantastic at that. I mean, we have broken down boundaries and walls in ways that we never would have thought possible twenty years ago, mainly just through connecting through the Internet, email, Facebook, whatever. And this is an exciting time to live in—there’s no way around that. I mean, we have opportunities here today that are just remarkable.

I remember the first time I was invited to Iraq, back in 1998. I was invited there by Saddam Hussein himself to perform the Peace Concert there in Baghdad. I was pretty nervous because of course I thought, “These people are so different from me—what’s going to happen? Am I going to be safe?” and all of those questions that one would ask. Without going into too much detail, it was one of the best experiences of my life. After I did this major concert there in Baghdad, they had a party for me. It was one of the most fun parties I’ve ever been to, and all we did all night long, really, was sit around singing Simon & Garfunkel songs! And this was in Baghdad. So we really were a lot more similar than I thought that we were.

It also makes me think of how I got into this work in the first place. You may remember that twenty-five years ago this year, there was a gathering that took place in Assisi, Italy, the home of St. Francis, where for the first time in history, the leaders of the twelve major religions of the world came together, not to have discussions, but just to pray. Each one brought a peace prayer from their tradition, and there was an amazing, beautiful gathering where each one of them prayed that prayer. Those are the prayers that I ultimately arranged to music, which is another story.

That was the beginning of something very important, especially in terms of our spiritual history and the way that we relate to one another in religion. Even though obviously all the different religions are very different, they all have a common denominator, and that is that desire for peace. Everyone has a peace prayer.

We see this happening in so many ways. Allowing these boundaries, between individuals, cultures, and nations, to continue to dissolve, is what ultimately is going to lead to peace.

James Twyman is an internationally renowned, best-selling author, filmmaker and musician who has a reputation for traveling to some of the world’s greatest areas of conflict, sharing his message of peace.

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Submitted by Larry Pearlman

I’ve always wanted to have a burning bush, a bolt of lightning, or, at the very least, parting clouds and the unmistakable voice of God thundering down from Heaven telling me clearly what to do. So far, no luck.

But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced clear guidance in my life. In fact, I’ve dedicated a good portion of my life to following Spirit. Not just any spirit, mind you. I mean, it’s pretty easy to follow the spirit of lust, the spirit of greed, the spirit of selfishness, the spirit of ……..well, you get the idea. I’m talking about following the capital S spirit – the Spirit of God.

What that means to me is moving in the direction that allows my life to follow out the path that brings the greatest creative outcome and increase of life essence to my entire world. What I have discovered is that there is NO CHANCE – nil, zilch, nada, zero – for my human mind, all on its own, to figure out what that path is. The fact is that I don’t have all of the information related to how anything I do is going to affect those around me, much less the people in Brazil, butterflies in Guatemala, or polar bears in Greenland. That information ONLY resides in the universal consciousness that I call God (it’s OK with me if you have another name for it!).

Which brings me back to: How do I access that without a burning bush? My experience is that the voice of God actually DOES bring me the message but it doesn’t resemble what I picture when I read those bible passages about God talking to Abraham, Moses or any of the other blessed individuals so mentioned. For me, it started out as a still, small voice that was often lost in the cacophony of the voices in my head belonging to my emotions, parents, friends, teachers, newscasters, cultural morays, etc.

Yet, over time, I learned to hear that voice and trust it. Actually, for me, it’s not even a voice. It’s simply a sort of knowing. When I hear it, it’s not necessarily what I want to hear. Like the time it told me to quit my job when I had nothing else lined up, or the time it told me to join the Peace Corps and go to Africa, or like now.

I’m living in a beautiful valley in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in an intentional community full of loving, caring, supportive people. I mean, I Iive at Sunrise Ranch in Eden Valley in Loveland, Colorado. Sounds like a Disney setting and it pretty much is. So when that internal knowing came last week letting me know that it’s time to leave here AND didn’t give me clear direction as to what lies ahead on my path, it might not have been the easiest message to accept.
I have, however, learned over the years to accept these knowings without questioning them. Well…..OK – so I did do a bit of questioning. But I let go of that pretty quickly and accepted the fact that I’ll know what I need to know when I need to know it as long as I keep my mind and my heart open to Spirit so it has an easy channel through which to communicate.

So, I’ve got enough information to plan out my next two months: leave Sunrise on 2/20, drive to Florida to spend a bit of time with my siblings and spend the month of March in Costa Rica. Feels like Johannesburg is in my near future. That’s about all I know now but I’m confident that by the end of March, there will be further clarity.

And THAT is what following Spirit can look like. Know what – it’s really very peaceful when I release fully into it. Try it. I welcome comments related to your experience.

Larry Pearlman

Larry Pearlman is a personification of the evolution in consciousness that recognizes that spirituality and the material world are not mutually exclusive. While working 32 years in corporate America, Larry also offered spiritual perspective in study courses. In addition, he has taught courses in “The Art of Creative Living” and serves as a faculty member for “The Opening” – an 8 day experiential class in discovering your full potential. Larry hosted a radio show, “Opportunities”, in Phoenix emphasizing participation in the business world from a higher state of consciousness. He recently served in the Peace Corps in Ghana for 27 months and currently resides at Sunrise Ranch where he hosts a new radio show, Evolution in Consciousness.

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Submitted by Robert Robbins

There are two kinds of people: Those who say, “I will believe it when I see it.” And those who say, “To see it, I know I must   believe it.”                                               —Rhonda Byrne, The Secret

For years my lovely wife, Denye, and I have been practicing the power of manifestation through awareness and intention, and it worked pretty well… We had a very good life—lots of money, the house, the cars, five wonderful children—and we considered ourselves blessed because we were building a wonderful conscious community around us. Yet, with all of that, we still felt that we had more to offer. Switching from a “Build it, they will come” attitude to a “We’re already home and dry, and we are and have everything that we need” position has made all the difference in the world.

So, as we were contemplating 2012, and what the next big thing was for us… The universe dealt us an opportunity to create the next chapter in our life… Instead of fighting it, we embraced it. As we contemplated our next move, we wanted it to be very special, to have meaning, to be about contribution and making a difference. We were turning 50 years old in a few months, and we wanted the next half of our life to really matter, to leave a legacy.

Through a sequence of events that could only be described as miraculous, or divine intervention, Denye and I were reacquainted with a lovely gal named Rachel, who invited us to come up to her home and community business called Sunrise Ranch, in Loveland, Colorado. Our previous businesses were about facilitating inspiring and empowering events that provided a space for people to live a life of higher consciousness, while having the greatest experience of themselves.  We did this through hosting and producing world-class events with international speakers, authors, healers, experts and personal or self-development facilitators. We promoted cross-cultural acceptance of people striving for unity and oneness. Our guiding principles were (and still are) those of living an authentic life, experiencing oneself as full of passion and purpose, collaborating and cocreating with community, and reaching one’s highest potential while experiencing appreciation, harmony, truth and love.

It was none other than divine timing for this invitation from Rachel.  We arrived on a wintry day about a week later, and the magic began to happen immediately. The comments that our staff had made to us about Sunrise Ranch were right on… The energy of the land, the openheartedness of the people, and the complete encompassment of our hearts and ideas were so loving and nourishing.

Over the next couple of weeks, the plan unfolded for Denye and me to move to Sunrise Ranch and be a part of something new and exciting that seemed to be unfolding there. It was a chance for us to further express our spirituality through our work.

We have now been here at Sunrise Ranch for over four months, and it feels like it gets better every day. It started out like a honeymoon, so wonderful and full of excitement, yet instead of becoming mundane or routine after a few months, our experience continues to improve in ways we could never have imagined.

We are thrilled to have joined the sustainable conscious living spiritual retreat and conference center community at Sunrise Ranch… We are so inspired about being a part of the active creativity and collaboration that has drawn us here. Joining a community of spiritually focused thought leaders, who are about courageous heart-centered living, truly moves us. The open hearts, open minds and love that we have encountered at Sunrise Ranch, and which permeates the culture here, is in great alignment with what feels like a natural next chapter in our mission and vision for making a worldwide contribution.

What we did not fully understand when we decided to make our move was the opportunity to deepen our own spirituality, healing and love for self and others.  The difference between Sunrise Ranch and many other places or communities that we have either lived at, attended, or built around the world, is the true spiritual focus that exists here. The True and Authentic part of it is what makes it sustainable. Sunrise Ranch has been around since 1945, and is the international headquarters of Emissaries of Divine Light (EDL). The Emissary spirituality concept consists of seeking to harmonize with life’s inherent creative design, which supports our acting with integrity and love toward one another and our serving as responsible stewards of the earth.

At Sunrise Ranch, we are able to expand our horizons far beyond what we could have dreamed of, as there is so much more for us to be involved with here. Denye and I are so excited and proud to lead Program Development, hosting for such internationally known trainers and facilitators as Joan Borysenko, Alan Cohen, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Jonathan Goldman, Neale Donald Walsch, James Twyman, Amelia Kinkade, and many more…

On our 350-acre ranch and farm, and with our connection with like-minded people in this multifaceted spiritual community, there is a full range and scope of what is possible to explore in your life here at Sunrise Ranch:

All in all, when we think about the overarching energies of Sunrise Ranch, it seems to boil down to Heart-Centered Service and Conscious Connections. Inspired Connections and Empowered Programs with heart-centered service include:

• Concerts in The Dome
• Spiritual Retreats and Conferences
• Culinary Academy
• Health and Wellness
• Artists in Residence
• Permaculture
• Spiritual Development and Practicality
• Sustainable Agriculture (Farm)
• Personal Retreats

And so much more…

We would love to welcome you to our home… Just give us a call to schedule a tour and to plan your next heart-centered retreat or conference!

robby@sunriseranch.org ~ (303) 598-6268

denye@sunriseranch.org ~ (720) 219-3024

Robert Robbins

Robby is a result-focused business professional versed in technology and business empowerment, realizing resources and relationships to achieve a balance of authentic connection, with passion and purpose focused towards an experience of cocreation and success. “I continue to discover and practice being present in pursuit of living a life of authentic mission, vision and purpose. Together with my soul-mate, Denye, I have developed my self-awareness through meditation and service! I look forward to cocreating with you…”

Denye Robbins

Professionally Certified Master Coach, Teacher, Trainer, Transformational Speaker, Published Author, Quantum Healer and Spiritualist. Denye is the Co-Creator of Sustainable Conscious Living, Conscious Conversations and Contemplations, Heroic Hearts, R*eVe*olution—Awakening the Divine Feminine, Higher Ground, Prodigals—Our Return, & Ascension Coaching. Denye is a sacred activist, cultural creative and a recognized conscious business leader. Denye is dedicated to experiencing truth and the core of being. She is committed to holding the sacred space for transformation, healing and self-realization. Beauty and Gaia—The Great Mother—is held deeply in her heart. Building conscious communities and creating empowering events that serve in positive ways are her contribution to the collective. Denye loves the creative process and collaborating on projects that serve the highest and best interests of the earth.

May All Beings Be Happy and at Peace, and May My Life Be a Giving to this Happiness                                                 —Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

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