Tag: presence of God

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Destiny of the Soda Guy

The Soda Guy

Earlier this year I was driving in Burlington county and decided to pull in to the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store in order to get something to eat and drink. After making my purchase, I got into my vehicle which was parked by the front door of the store. As many customers of this particular store do, I sat in my car eating my sandwich, casually observing those entering and exiting the store.

One man in particular caught my attention. He was a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He was portly but not excessively obese. The man wore a brimmed “captains’ hat” with an anchor insignia in the front. He rode up to the front of the store riding an older type bicycle. It was the type without any gears to shift. It looked somewhat like the bike that Pee Wee Herman rode in the movie Pee Wee’s Great Adventure.

He got off his bike, leaned it against the the front wall of the store and entered the store. When he exited the store, he was carrying three bottles of soda. One was a one liter bottle. The other two bottles were twenty ouncers. His bike had no basket so I wondered how he was going to carry the bottles and ride his bike. Walking over to his bike, he placed the three bottles on the flat top of the store’s metal waste and recycling container. Next, he opened the bottle of the one liter soda and proceeded to drink the entire contents. Then he proceeded to gulp down the contents of the other two bottles.

A Bottle of Spring Water

After finishing the third bottle of soda, he walked back into the store. Within a few minutes, he came back out carrying a half liter bottle of spring water. He stuck it in his pants pocket, got on his bicycle, and rode out of the lot onto Route 38. I continued to observe him until he rode out of sight, giving him the nickname of “The Soda Guy”.

For the remainder of the day, my thoughts lingered over my observation of Soda Guy. I conjured up a scenario in my mind based on my observations. The young man was born with some challenges with regard to his mental processes. He probably lived with his parents who monitored and controlled his soda intake for health reasons. He told his parents/caregiver that he was going to the Wawa store to buy some spring water. While there, he had the opportunity to guzzle soda. He had to drink it at the store because he could not bring it home.

What Is His Destiny In Life?

There is a special place in my heart for those who go through their lifetime here on earth dealing with certain congenital challenges. Nature dealt them a raw hand at birth. Nevertheless, like the rest of the eight billion humans on this planet, they were born into this world with something specific to achieve – a destiny. Perhaps the destiny of Soda Guy is to be a teacher. A teacher of the importance of expressing the divine quality of compassion and kindness and sacrificial love on behalf of a soul who cannot survive on his own.

The Electric Tricycle Guy

Not long after my observation of Soda Guy, I observed Electric Tricycle Guy. It was raining lightly in the morning as I set out for my place of employment. As I got into my car and started it up, in my rear view mirror, I saw a man riding in the middle of the street in a three wheeled adult-sized electric bike. It had a big basket on the back. As he rode past me in the direction that I was headed, I drove slowly at a distance behind him. The street we were on came to a “T intersection”. The man stopped at the stop sign and patiently waited until it was safe to go, oblivious to the rain. His rain jacket had a hood but he was not using it. He then crossed over to the opposite side of the intersecting street. Going up a driveway, he continued riding, now on the sidewalk.

As I made my turn in my car, and drove past him. I got a good look at the man. In some way that I am unable to explain, I intuitively knew that Electric Tricycle Guy was another soul similar to Soda Guy. Perhaps it was the sudden wave of compassion running through me that I felt. I only saw his face for a couple seconds but there was something that told me that Electric Tricycle Guy also had to deal with mental challenges that the average person does not have to deal with.

What Is Destiny?

There are those that define your destiny as that which is preordained to occur in your life. The Oxford Language Dictionary actually has two different definitions for the meaning of the word destiny. The first is “the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future”. The second is “the hidden power to control what will happen in the future”. Looking at those two definitions, the second one appears to be the more accurate of the two.

We all come into this world with a purpose. You, me, our loved ones, Soda Guy, Electric Tricycle Guy, everyone. It may be different purposes at different phases of our lifetime. There are specifics that we came here to accomplish. These specifics are your destiny. You can endeavor to understand and fulfill your destiny. Or you can make the choice to ignore your true destiny and go off your true life path. You make the choice. It’s up to you.

You Have A Unique Destiny

Your destiny encompasses the full use of your skills and abilities to be, to learn, to teach, to grow, to create, to experience, to accomplish that which was planned before you entered the world. You perceive your true destiny through asking Divine Intelligence emanating from the Kingdom of God within you. Ask with a humble heart. It will assuredly be revealed to you. It will be something that you are able to do with what you have to work with, wherever you happen to be.

Every single person in the world has a unique destiny. That includes humans born with all types of congenital challenges. Every life is different with regard to that life’s destiny.

United States – Manifest Destiny

Sometimes, entire countries manifest their destiny. After the United States won its independence from Great Britain, it slowly moved west across the continent. After purchasing the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, the idea of “Manifest Destiny” started taking root in the American psyche. The concept of Manifest Destiny was that it was the destiny of the United States to stretch all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. And by 1850, that is precisely what occurred. Once the idea of Manifest Destiny was thought of as a reality waiting to happen, that idea took on an energy of its own. Americans would not rest, could not rest, until this destiny was fulfilled.

You Are The One To Manifest Your Destiny……YOU

You may confuse destiny with fate. You may say, “Well, it seems like it’s my fate to _________________.” Fate essentially refers to the notion that your life follows a fixed, inevitable course. On the other hand, destiny refers to the notion that you came into this world, this dimension, to fulfill specific experiences and achievements. You, and only you, make the choice of your path in life. You can choose to pursue your destiny or you can choose not to pursue your destiny.

Make no mistake about it. You are the one to manifest your destiny, whatever it may be. You choose to make use of your skills and abilities to accomplish your destiny. Or you can use your skills and abilities pursuing that which lies outside of your true destiny.

From personal experience, I can tell you this. There is no diversion or activity on your part that you could possibly spend your life on that even comes close to bringing you the fulfillment and inner joy that you feel manifesting your life’s destiny. Dear reader, do you understand? Your true destiny is the only reason that you are here.

Be Still And Listen

So how do you discern what your true destiny is? Be still and listen. Listen closely to what Emmet Fox called the Presence of God. Just shut the eff up. Go within to the Kingdom of God. Ask for guidance, then just listen. If you are sincere about really desiring to understand what your true destiny is, you will most assuredly be guided to it. It will be as if there is a universal magnet inexorably drawing you to your unique destiny. A destiny that is meant for you and you alone. You will then feel and believe that your life is worthwhile because you are doing what it is you were always meant to do. When you discern your true destiny, you will know. At that juncture in your life, you will feel as if you are asleep each day unless you are taking some small step (however small it may be) in the direction of fulfilling your destiny.

Ditch The Fake You

At Halloween and at masquerade parties, masks can be fun to wear as you portray this, that or the other as part of the playful respite from the workaday routine. One of the saddest and most tragic happenstances of human society is never taking the masks off as you live your life. You may choose to wear different masks all throughout your lifetime here. Wear this mask for this person or group. Wear that mask for that person or group. Why? To be liked. To be loved. To get ahead. To get money. To manipulate others. To feel secure. To assuage your fears. There are literally dozens of reasons why masks are worn. And it is so very unnecessary. Go within to the Kingdom of God within you, to the true you.

To manifest your life as you desire it to be, take off the damn masks. Center yourself. Practice focusing on the Presence of God. Continuing to wear the masks will only result in you being held back from your true destiny. Eliminate the masks. Once you ditch the fake you, something beautiful will begin to happen. You will begin to experience the beauty and joy of true freedom. Once you begin to live in the freedom of the Kingdom of God, you will never go back. You will look back, shake your head, and think “Why did I waste any part of my precious life wearing masks?”

Your Very Last Day Of Life

When your very last day of life comes, as it must for all of us, you will ask yourself two questions. As you lay in your hospital bed or perhaps in hospice care or wherever that event takes place, you will ask yourself – What was your true destiny? Did you achieve your destiny?

It does not take a great deal of imagination to picture your inner disappointment if your answers to those two questions are poor. My wish for you (and myself) is to avoid suffering that inner disappointment, both as you lay dying as well as later during your life review in the next realm. On that very last day it will then be too late to do anything more. Too late to fulfill why you were born and why you lived. The time to work on those two questions is right now.

Use What You Have, Wherever You Are

To manifest your reality is part and parcel of fulfilling your destiny as a child of God. Use what you have, wherever you happen to be. Believe. Believe as the penniless widow did in the biblical book of Second Kings. God’s prophet Elisha told the widow, who was buried deeply in debt, to borrow as many vessels (large jars) as she possibly could. She was told to put the vessels around her and shut the door of her house. (Big symbolism there). As instructed, she then took the small amount of olive oil that she had in the house and began pouring it into the first vessel. She kept pouring and pouring until every one of the multitude of vessels were filled to the brim with olive oil. She then sold the oil, paid all her debts and had enough funds left over from the sale of the oil to live on.

A Rather Big Manifestation

Recently I was working on a rather big manifestation. It was something that I was persevering with for a considerable amount of time. It had a number of moving parts to it. While being close to its realization, I asked Divine Intelligence for guidance to “get over the hump” so to speak. The Holy Spirit instructed me to proceed along a certain avenue. It was a path that I definitely would not have taken if left to my own devices, because of my own personal preference. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with that particular avenue. I just wanted the manifestation to come about in a different way. With manifestations however, you must have an open mind and an unclenched heart. Understand that you may receive your desire via a totally unexpected route. I finally relented (I am a stubborn SOB at times) and followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. The result: the manifestation was fully realized with a few synchronicities thrown in for good measure.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

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Robert Bruce Butler: 1950 – 1974 — A Person Of Substance

It’s Been 49 Years Now

My beloved brother left this realm of existence on June 14, 1974. He was 23 years old. He died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Time is an illusion. My memory of him and our time together is still so fresh and clear that it seems impossible that almost eighteen thousand days have passed since his death. His body stopped working. His energy, his essence continues on in another realm. I will experience what pure joy is when he and I and our mother are reunited once more once my physical body stops working as it soon will.

At the time of his death, I felt that there had to be some colossal cosmic blunder. The grim reaper stupidly took the wrong person. It should have been me instead of my brother. He had so much good to offer this oft-times crappy world. In a heartbeat I would have offered myself instead if only I was given that opportunity.

About twenty years ago or so, I had a random conversation with a shop owner. The conversation veered briefly to what happens to us when we die. The shop owner looked at me with eyes that had seen suffering and said, “All I want when I get there is some answers.” Amen brother, amen.

Growing Up Together

My brother was three years older that I was. We were born within the same week of the same month, he in 1950, me in 1953. We grew up together through the fifties and sixties. We shared a ton of experiences together living in our two bedroom house. Up until the early sixties, we even shared a bed. I still remember “Move over, you’re on my side”. My sister was born in ’59. When she outgrew her crib, she moved into our bedroom. Separate bedrooms were cobbled together up in the attic for Bobby and me.

As the years progressed, we developed our own individual skills and personalities, strengths and weaknesses. We had occasional squabbles as do all brothers, but we always remained close and loyal to each other. When he got involved in high school and college activities, I saw less of him but our brotherly bonds of affection always remained solid.

Demonstrating The Presence of God

We are created in the image of the Most High. As such, we have the privilege to demonstrate the presence of Most High through the Kingdom of God within us. We do this by expressing different high frequency energy sequences emanating from the Divine. Things such as love, peace, light, intelligence, truth, power, compassion, imagination, creativity. Throughout his life, at one time or another, my brother demonstrated all of these aspects. That he was a person of true substance is merely a statement of fact based on my first hand experiences. He packed a lot of life into those twenty-three plus years. More in those twenty-three years than me in my sixty-nine years.

Job

The biblical book of Job is a fascinating study of human emotion. I have always believed that there was much more to the story than meets the eye. A deeper meaning below the surface story. There is scarcely any suffering that a human can experience that Job did not experience. Job pleads his case with raw honesty and bluntness about the gross injustice of his suffering. Nevertheless, he refuses to curse God.

Then the zinger comes in chapter 28 when Job states, “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?…….it is hid from the eyes of all living“. And there it is in a nutshell. Until my essence proceeds to the next realm, the why of the timing of my brother’s death will be hidden from me. That’s just the way it is. I will have to live with that.

A Person of Substance

What does it mean to be a person of substance. I assure you that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the wealth you possess, the possessions you own, or the level of control that you may exert over others. A person of substance is defined by an ongoing series of lifelong choices. Lifelong choices that are subsequently followed by actions to implement those choices. Choices that demonstrate and bring into physical experience the presence and glory of the Divine.

Deciding what must be done now versus what can wait. Whether to remain on the side of caution or take a risk and potentially experience failure. Choosing how to deal with both success and failure. Conforming to the norms of society or following your inner light if that light varies from societal norms. Understanding what is true and right and making that the only road you travel.

A person of substance actually participates in the positive enhancement of everything that exists. The growth of the universe. To actually interact with a person of true substance is a delight to the soul. That person creates growth in the universe regardless of their station in life in this world.

Carl Jung

Have you ever heard of Carl Jung? He is recognized as one of the most influential psychiatrists of all time. He founded the field of analytical psychiatry and was among the first in his field to explore the religious nature behind human psychology. He is an interesting guy.

Take a look at this statement from Jung:

“In this overpoweringly humdrum existence, alas, there is little out of the ordinary that is healthy, and thus, not much room for conspicuous heroism. Not that heroic demands are never put us – on the contrary – and this is so irritating and irksome – the banal everyday makes banal demands upon our patience, our devotion, our perseverance, our self-sacrifice. For us to fulfill these demands (as we must) humbly and without courting applause through heroic gestures, a heroism is needed that cannot be seen from the outside. It does not glitter. It is not belauded. It always seeks concealment in everyday attire.”

If you take a close look at those who outwardly appear to be people of substance, oftentimes what you find underneath the surface is a person who is merely self-serving. Take a second look at that statement from Jung. True men and women of substance are often much closer than you think.

Choices

With regard to my brother’s life, I believe he substantially made the right choices. He was a man of true substance. I was privileged to be his brother for those twenty-three plus years of his lifetime. When you come to the end of your lifetime, you will have to ask yourself some hard questions before you stop breathing. Did you enhance life or did you subtract from it? Did you fully use what you were given or did you waste much of what you had? Did you give more than you received?

Wherever you are on your life journey, beginning, middle or end, you have a choice. You can choose to aspire to be a person of true substance. Or you can settle for living a life of smoke and mirrors, masks and shadows, fears and doubts, illusions and facades. A hollow existence. An absence of substance. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, making the conscious choice to be a person of substance will always enhance and enrich your life experience while you are here.

The choice is yours. It always has been. It will be until your final breath. Then, the book of your life will be closed. Game over.

Dominus Vobiscum.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

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A New Manifesting Recipe —– Mental Prayer Treatment

No Health Insurance Needed

A mental prayer treatment is a technique of employing the true power of prayer. You undergo this treatment in order to bring about healing of a specific troubling situation. You cause the thoughts of your mind to focus on the Presence of God. The Presence of God is In you. Around you. Everywhere you are. You can liken a mental prayer treatment to going to the hospital for a surgical procedure. At this particular hospital however, no health insurance is required. It is the hospital of your mind. Mental prayer treatment is a surgical operation on your soul. It differs from general prayer which is a visit with God.

General Prayer Versus Mental Prayer Treatment

General prayer can be likened to enjoying fresh air, good food in the right amounts and moderate exercise of your body. They are enjoyed as ends unto themselves. Nevertheless, they also serve a purpose of keeping you in good health.

The objective of a mental prayer treatment is to hone in on a specific desire that you wish to manifest. The basic gist of a mental prayer treatment is to completely remove any thought of what you are lacking from your mind. You can call it a “lackectomy”. During the treatment you do this by placing the focus of your thoughts on the One True Presence, the One True Power – God. When you successfully do this, the healing then commences.

Dual Phase Surgery

Mental prayer surgery consists of two distinct phases — the foundation phase and the affirming phase. The foundation phase can be compared to all the preoperative prep that must be done before the actual operation. The affirming phase of the treatment is the actual surgical procedure.

Give yourself a mental prayer treatment as often as you feel led during the course of the day. At the beginning of your day and at the end of your day are best because you are at your most relaxed. Feel free however to find your own rhythm. If you are a midday napper, just before napping would be a excellent time.

Do your best to refrain doing a treatment when you are tense. Likewise, after a treatment, refrain from going back to mull over the problem or lack. If done in faith, the treatment is assuredly working. Just continue treating and be alert. Ultimately, things will happen for your benefit in direct response to your continued treatment. Seeds planted in fertile soil eventually come to the surface as plants in due course unless you dig them up to see if they are growing.

The Operating Room Must Be Germ Free

Understand that your surgical operating room must be strictly germ free. Just as you would not want to enter an operating room covered in dirt and grime, keep fear and doubt out of your mind during a treatment. Just as dirt and grime would jeopardize a surgery, fear and doubt likewise jeopardize the success of a mental prayer treatment.

Look at it as a scientific mathematical equation. First, the Presence of God, Ultimate Intelligence, is perfection. Second, the Presence of God is with you wherever you are. Third, no lack or problem can possibly co-exist with the Presence of God. Fourth, by your focusing on the Presence of God, right where the problem is, the problem or lack must ultimately disappear.

Phase One – The Foundation

I first learned about the concept of the mental prayer treatment from the writings of the twentieth century author and lecturer, Emmet Fox. This truly is a beautiful method of prayer. As with all methods or techniques of prayer, faith (imaginative belief) is critically important.

Here is an example of the foundation phase of a sample mental prayer treatment:

  1. God is fully present within me right now.
  2. God is the one true Presence, all else is just shadow.
  3. In God I live. In God I breathe. In God I am.
  4. I am free now.
  5. I am free of fear of the past, the present, the future.
  6. The freedom of God is my freedom.
  7. With all my heart, I am thankful.

The above foundation phase can be used with a great variety of accompanying affirming phases. They can be longer. They can be shorter. Use the above example or feel free to construct your own.

Phase Two – The Affirming

The affirming phase of your mental prayer treatment hones in on the specific thing that you desire to treat or heal. It can be geared to your finances, your relationships, your career or avocation, your health or something on behalf of another person or even a beloved pet.

Here is an example of the affirming phase of a surgery to treat your finances:

  1. Prosperity flows to me, within me, around me now.
  2. My faith is the evidence of my plentiful supply of money.
  3. I affirm my financial security.
  4. My inner belief produces my financial good health.
  5. With all that I am, was, or ever will be, I am thankful.

The Mysterious Portal

Beneath your surface consciousness exists something called the subconscious. You are aware of things and events that happen in your surface consciousness. The things you see, hear, feel, smell and taste. Your memories. The laws of nature and science. People with whom you interact. Your emotions.

Beneath all of that surface consciousness however, exists the subconscious. What goes on there is truly inconceivable. What happens in the world of the subconscious has everything to do with what occurs in your surface consciousness, what you term “the real world”.

The subconscious is that mysterious portal connecting you to Divine Intelligence, Wisdom and Power. What a faithful mental prayer treatment does is penetrate beyond that surface consciousness, reaching down into the subconscious and through the portal. This then alters “the real world” for your benefit or for the benefit of a loved one for whom you are giving the treatment.

What Do You Have To Lose?

The mental prayer treatment is an effective method of prayer if done in faith. If you decide to do surgery on yourself, it will cost you nothing in terms of spending your money. It will however cost you some of your time. It will also cost you the familiar comfort of doing the same old routine. Finally, you will also have to give up something else — your fears.

This article puts this information out there for your benefit. It is now totally up to you whether or not you actually use it.

A Question For You

Let me ask you a question.

What do you really have to lose by engaging in a mental prayer treatment?

Let me list some of the things that you have to lose:

Your painful frustration due to stinking failure after failure;

Your beating your head against the wall and then getting the same lousy results;

Your utter exhaustion from running on the treadmill of life and getting nowhere;

Your looking in the mirror at yourself in despair and saying “You suck”.

Give Yourself A Chance

Give yourself a mental prayer treatment regarding something troubling you. Give yourself a chance to be a vehicle for God’s divine power. You really do have it within you or you would not have been led to read this article.

May you always perceive the beauty of the Eternal Peace and Presence of God.

Dominus vobiscum.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

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Robert B. Butler, 1950-1974 — A True Man Of Substance

My Much Loved Brother

It has been forty eight years now since my brother left this realm. He died suddenly and unexpectedly from a cerebral hemorrhage in June of 1974. My memories of him are still so fresh and clear that it is difficult to grasp that forty eight years, over seventeen thousand days, have passed by since his death. Even though his body ceased to function, his spirit, his energy, his essence, lives on in another realm of existence. It will be a time of true, unshackled joy when, after my body stops working, we are reunited again in that next realm.

I felt, at the time of his death, that there had to be some colossal celestial blunder regarding his death. He possessed so much good to offer this oft-times crappy world. They say that we all have “a number” and when your number is called, it’s “game over”. In my mind, I thought some careless cosmic clerk must have called out the wrong damn number. At the time I would have gladly traded my life for his if I was given that option.

About fifteen, twenty years ago I had a random conversation with a shop owner. The conversation veered briefly to what happens to us after we die. The shop owner looked at me with eyes that had seen suffering and said, “All I want when I get there is some answers.” Amen brother, amen.

Growing Up Together

My brother and I were three years apart in age. He was born in 1950 while I came along three years later. We grew up together in the era of the 1950’s and 1960’s. We experienced many things together and shared a lot, even sharing a bed (“move over, you’re on my side”) until the early 60’s. My sister was born in October of ’59. When she outgrew her crib in my parents bedroom, she moved into our bedroom. Separate bedrooms for my brother and I were cobbled together upstairs in the attic.

As the years progressed, we both developed our individual skills and personalities, our own strengths and our own weaknesses. We had our little squabbles as do all brothers, but we always remained close and loyal to each other. When he got involved in high school activities and later went away to college, I saw less of him but the brotherly bonds of affection were never in jeopardy.

Demonstrating The Presence Of God

As human beings, created in the image of the Almighty, we are privileged in this lifetime to get the opportunity to demonstrate the presence of God within us (the Kingdom of God within, Luke 17:21, KJV). We demonstrate by expressing different high frequency energy sequences emanating from the Divine – love, peace, light, intelligence, truth, abundance, power, compassion, imagination, creativity, impartiality, inner joy. Throughout his life, at one time or another, he demonstrated all of these. My brother had flaws as does every other human being. That he was a person of substance is not a hagiographic statement but merely a statement of fact based on my first hand observations. He was not just loved by his family members. His funeral brought out a multitude of souls who held him in esteem.

Riding In The Same Car As Job

The book of Job is a fascinating study in human emotions. I have always thought that there was more to it than meets the eye, namely a deeper meaning below the surface meaning. There is scarcely any suffering that a human can experience that the principal human in that book, Job, did not experience. Job pleads his case with raw honesty about the gross injustice of it all but refuses to curse God.

In chapter 28 Job states, ” Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? ……. it is hid from the eyes of all living”. There it is in a nutshell. Until I proceed to the next realm, I will never know the why of the timing of his death. With that said, the rebellious part of me still feels that there should be some type of cosmic option whereby we are forewarned when someone we love is going to die to allow us the opportunity to make the offer to the grim reaper to substitute our life for theirs.

A Person Of Substance

What does it mean to be a person of substance. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the wealth you possess, the possessions you own, or the level of control you exert over others. If you take a look at our current crop of politicians, you can see what being a person of substance is not. A person of substance is defined by a series of lifelong choices, followed by actions to implement those choices. These are choices that add value to the world rather than subtract or merely present a neutral presence. Choices and actions, done either consciously or unconsciously, that demonstrate the presence and glory of Divine Love and Ultimate Intelligence. Deciding what must be done now versus what can wait. Deciding whether to err on the side of caution or to take a risk and potentially opening the door to failure. Conforming yourself harmoniously to the dictates of the culture in which you live versus being true to your inner self regardless of possible repercussions. Being the center of your universe versus being a part of the big picture of universal greater good. To know a person of substance is a delight to the soul.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung is recognized as one of the most influential psychiatrists of all time. He founded analytical psychology and was among the first experts in his field to explore the religious nature behind human psychology.

Let’s take a look at this statement from Jung: “In this overpoweringly humdrum existence, alas, there is little out of the ordinary that is healthy, and not much room for conspicuous heroism. Not that heroic demands are never put to us, on the contrary – and this is just so irritating and irksome – the banal everyday makes banal demands upon our patience, our devotion, our perseverance, our self-sacrifice, and for us to fulfill these demands (as we must) humbly and without courting applause through heroic gestures, a heroism is needed that cannot be seen from the outside. It does not glitter. It is not belauded, it always seeks concealment in everyday attire”.

If you take a close look at those who outwardly appear to be people of substance, oftentimes times what you find is a self-seeking egotist. Read that statement again from Carl Jung. True men and women of substance are often much closer than you think.

The Right Choices

In my brother’s life, I believe that he substantially made the right choices. He was a true man of substance. I was privileged to be his brother for the twenty-three plus years that he was on this earth. The bottom line of your lifetime when you reach the end of it comes down to this – Did you enhance life rather than subtract? – Did you fully use what you had to work with rather than waste what you had? – Did you give more than you received?

Wherever you are on your life journey, you have a choice. You can either be a human being of substance or a human being of smoke and mirrors, masks and shadows, illusions and facades. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, making the choice to be a person of substance while you proceed with the remainder of your lifetime on this planet, will greatly enrich and enhance your life experience. The choice is yours. It always has been. Which do you choose?