In my letters from the editor for the past two months, I've quoted The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want by Deepak Chopra (1995, Harmony Books). The book has been foremost in my thoughts as a small group of us wended our way through the twenty lessons to becoming a wizard of life. I found this group after reading Neale Donald Walsh's Conversations with God, book 1 and book 2 and subscribing to his newsletter. The first one I received listed two people in the Denver area who were hosting discussions on the books. It was a Thursday; I called one name and learned of a meeting that would begin in an hour and a half at a place that I would have to find the darkness of December on totally unfamiliar streets. I arrived soon after the meeting began.

Do you know the feeling of being at home and yet you're with strangers? That was the feeling I had at that meeting. Over the months people have come and tried us; some of have left after one meeting, while others have settled into the familiarity of almost family. Early this year, we chose the Wizard, and week by week we read each lesson aloud and then shared our resonating thoughts and asked questions of each other, slowly peeling away the masks that we carried with us.

It has been so enjoyable that meeting nights are special. You never know what will happen. Only once (for me) in eight months has it been flat. We are now listening to tapes of Conversations with God, book 1 to refresh ourselves by hearing the words. Some of us had read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn; some I Come as a Brother by Bartholomew. Others are reading them concurrently. Discussion brings in points from these other books, brings in our personal experiences, brings in what we've noticed has been happening with ourselves individually. For instance, a year ago one person was so thrilled with Conversations that he wanted any friend or acquaintance who evinced the slightest interest to read it. Now, he no longer feels that yank to "convert" others. He reached a point of peacefulness where it no longer matters what the "world" does - it is enough that he lives and breathes his beliefs.

This "save the world" question has come up several times in our conversations. As has the topic of "infringement." One kind of infringement is describing your ways and thoughts to another person without being asked to do so by that person, promoting your lifestyle, so to speak. We've taken the concept of infringement to the plant and animal world. It makes a lively discussion when you wonder what the limit of infringement is: is it the logger cutting down the redwood tree or is it the person living up in that tree to prevent the logger from cutting it down? A much knottier question is whether it is infringing to let an abusive family live its way or to call child welfare.

As to "saving the world:" Some feel that we have a pretty special group, and that we should be doing something that might be labeled constructive in a societal way. Others believe that the best way to save the world is to be your Self. And what does that mean? It is my belief that being your Self is knowing ... heart-felt, soul-deep knowing ... that you are the stuff of the Universe, that the God out there is also the God-embryo (from Chopra) in you being born.

It is a Self that refrains from judging, hard as that is. And it is very hard to stop the flashes of judgmental thoughts, especially when you are driving in zoo-ey traffic. It is exceptionally hard to stop the thoughts that are critical of others, even slightly critical. Sometimes even recognizing a thought as being critical is difficult because we run through them automatically.

One evening's discussion was about suicide. Was taking leave of one's physical body by a violent method the action of a truly enlightened Self? If you believed that it was not and I would say that I don't, was willing one's consciousness (soul) to leave one's physical body more enlightened? If our physical cells hold so much of our essence, our memories, how can we determinedly smash them without recognizing that smashed, they may lose pieces of the enlightenment that we've worked to gain?

This Self does not need the experience of fear to know itself. Some of us have noticed a great lessening of fear in our lives and not because we live in a particularly "safe" place. In the belief that one's physical life is the act of re-membering our God-selves, then losing our physical selves is not a fearful act. Which is not to say that we are rushing to die. To the contrary, the pleasure of living has become so great, that the journey is joyful.

Cherie Staples
Copyright 1998