Imagine that you could change anything on Earth. What would your world be like if anything were possible? Would you end hunger in Africa? Stop the killing of the whales? Bring peace to the Middle East? Whatever you wish to do, it’s something you need to heal within you; that is, you must embody healing, peace, abundance, harmony, or whatever quality you desire to experience in the world.

Let’s say that you want to save the whales. Well, you don’t have to leave your job, your family, and all your responsibilities, board a Greenpeace boat, and stop a whale hunt. In fact, if your passion becomes zealotry, it may be a sign that your intent is not actually to save the whales, so you probably won’t get very far in helping them. When your true intent is to heal the wounded creature within you, you become blind to how you can actually help those outside of you. You become self-righteous and refuse to consider any options that might result in something less than a 100 percent victory. You close yourself off to creative solutions, compromise, and negotiation, and reach a stalemate . . . while the whale hunting continues.

It’s much better to address your unhealed nature. Rid yourself of your “inner Ahab,” who has become an obsessive predator, and stop “harpooning” others just because you feel that you’ve been hunted and trapped and someone needs to be punished for it. Whenever your passion is out of sync with your effectiveness, consider whether the discrepancy is a result of your needing to heal a struggle within you rather than projecting it onto the world. When what’s inside you is free, what’s outside you can be liberated as well.

The opposite of zealotry, which is rooted in the unhealed parts of ourselves, is apathy. Instead of seeing the possibility of healing within and opening themselves up to dreaming something new, too many people feel overwhelmed and give up. Apathy is rampant in the world today because so many of us have allowed ourselves to fall asleep. I believe that this apathy is a side effect of the collective nightmare that makes us close our eyes, drift off, and ignore the need or suffering of others—along with our own ability to make a difference.

It’s our job to co-create reality, partnering with the divine. In the Western story of creation, on the seventh day God finished making the world, and all that was left to do was the naming of the plants and animals. In the story of creation for the Laika, on the seventh day the Great Spirit told the humans, “For I have created the planets, the stars, the butterfly, the eagle, and the whale. Truly, they are things of beauty. Now you finish it.” For the Laika, creation is not complete: We have to not only be the stewards of all life, but we must also finish the process of creation. Dreaming the world into being is not only a gift, it’s a calling and a responsibility. If we don’t answer the call, who will?


Working with the Intelligence of the Universe

When you let your ego rule and insist that you must control events, you end up in a constant struggle against the universe. Yet you can choose to simply be with that butterfly in Beijing—not pushing it or willing or visualizing it to do anything other than what it’s doing. Your very presence will create balance and healing; and you, the butterfly, the wind, and the storm become one.

It’s difficult for us in the West to trust that we can achieve peace and happiness if we’re not doing something active to bring it about, but embodying peace and happiness does bring it about. Our egos don’t want us to believe that we can have infinite power by immersing ourselves in the wisdom of the universe, but it’s true.

For example, many young people today are fascinated by witchcraft because they think it might give them a chance to have a greater influence over what happens to them. They want to believe that if they follow a spell’s instructions to the letter, they’ll be able stop a bully from picking on them, make a popular kid like them, or magically become as physically attractive as a movie star. They don’t realize that real magic doesn’t come from chanting incantations or mixing together herbs with a mortar and pestle, but from shifting one’s perception and embodying confidence and grace. The Laika certainly don’t have to wear clothing that indicates their power and position—when they enter a home, food appears without their having to ask for it, and blessings are bestowed without having been requested. Their presence has a radiance that others respond to, and words or symbols of power are unnecessary.

I remember hiking through the Altiplano with don Antonio years ago and arriving at a village where it hadn’t rained for many months. The high mountain lagoons, which stored the town’s water during the arid summer months, had begun to dry out. When they saw us coming, the villagers greeted us and asked my mentor to call the rains. The old Laika asked for a hut where he could fast and meditate; for four days, he had only water to drink.

I was starting to get concerned when he emerged in the early afternoon of the fourth day. Don Antonio started walking to the edge of the village, to where the mountains began a precipitous drop to the Amazon basin, and told me that he was going to “pray rain.” I corrected him, saying he must mean he was going to pray for rain, and he said, “No, I am going to pray rain.”

He came back two hours later, and there were great big thunderclouds overhead. Within minutes, the rains broke out. All the villagers were dancing with joy and thanking him, but he explained that he had done nothing—it had simply rained.

At that moment, I understood what my teacher had done. He had stepped into eagle, and dissolved. He had ceased to exist for that instant, which was infinite. There was only Spirit there, and thus no one to pray to. He simply prayed rain. And it came.

Later on I asked him why it had taken so long: Did he always need to fast and pray for four days when he wanted to enter the level of eagle? He answered that when we arrived at the village, he noticed that it was out of ayni. It was so out of balance, in fact, that he became out of balance, too. He couldn’t do anything until he went back into ayni—when he did, so did the village, and the rains came. The old man knew that everything is healed from within.

Dr. Villoldo is a medical anthropologist who comes from a long line of Earthkeepers from the Amazon and the Andes. In his latest book, The Four Insights - Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers, he reveals the ancient technologies of the societies of Earthkeepers, the medicine men and women of the Americas.

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Meet Colette Baron-Reid
Imagine getting calls every day from very high profile celebrities, politicians, captains of industry, and the movers and shakers of our world asking for YOUR advice. Welcome to the life of Colette Baron-Reid! Colette is an internationally acclaimed intuitive counselor with a client base spanning 29 countries. Her thousands of clients have all come as referrals from satisfied clients. She is uncompromisable in guarding her clients’ privacy and identities.

“When Colette Baron-Reid steps beyond this realm into the other, her accuracy and clarity are astounding!” —Denise Linn

In addition to her Intuitive Reading Sessions, Colette facilitates popular seminars and workshops on developing intuition and the art of creating reality worldwide. She’s a highly sought after and powerful motivational speaker, performer, and storyteller, and is a popular guest on radio and television throughout the world. Colette hosts The Colette Baron-Reid Show on HayHouseRadio.com^®. You can call Colette during show time for a mini on-air reading!

“Colette Baron-Reid is a talented seer. I honor her gift.”—Marianne Williamson

Her first book, Remembering the Future: The Path to Discovering Intuition, just released by Hay House, is a lively, powerful account of her psychic childhood and struggle with accepting her exceptional gift. With a sincere, intelligent voice, she shares the glorious details of her profound spiritual awakening that led to the life of service that has helped thousands worldwide.

“I have witnessed for myself how Colette touches peoples' hearts with her accuracy, as well as her wisdom. Truly an amazing woman!” —John Holland

Colette's I Can Do It workshop in Orlando will feature extended readings for randomly selected participants. Click here to register. She is also joining Sylvia Browne in the 2007 Spiritual Connections Tour. Locations and lecture details are posted here.

“Colette is a very kind and caring and charismatic speaker, and I really like her. She is a sweet and good person.” —Sylvia Browne

Amazingly enough, Colette is also a gifted musical artist signed to the EMI Music label. She has a best-selling meditation CD, Journey Through the Chakras. Samples of her music are posted on her Website at www.ColetteBaronReid.com.

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Something to Snicker About
Good judgment comes from bad experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

The universe is a figment of its own imagination. There's no future in time travel.

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. - Mark Twain

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on. - Bob Newhart

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine. - Lord Byron

Laughter is inner jogging. - Norman Cousins

He who laughs, lasts! - Mary Pettibone Poole

Reader Submissions

Life is like a game of chess...when over, both the King and the Pawns go back in the same box - Misasha

My Mother would listen to your problems, until you got sick of hearing them. - Denny

I am an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac. I stay up all night wondering if there is a Dog! - Arlene

Some days you soar with eagles and some days you're a bug on the windshield - Heather

BAD JOKE DISCLAIMER: Humor can be risky. If you find anything in our laugh-out-loud section objectionable (or painfully inane), we apologize. Click here to share your favorite laugh or humorous quote with Present Moments readers.

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Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard

Today, quantum physicists are confirming that time and space are just illusions, also. Past, present, and future all occur simultaneously. We are actually nonlocal beings having a local experience. It may look like you’re over there and I’m over here, but it’s a lie. Space is just a separation idea, as is time. We divided up time and space to make it look like different intervals of time and different places, when it’s really all made up and everything’s the same, even though it looks different, because it’s all an illusion that’s based on the thought of separation. Except the physicists don’t know that part yet. They just know that our experience is an illusion compared to the way things really are when you look closer! They don’t have the whole picture yet, just part of it. Science and spirituality haven’t completely met yet, but they’re getting there.

For example, they know that if I look at a star that’s 20 billion light years away, I cause it to change instantaneously at the subatomic level. How is that possible? It’s because the star isn’t really 20 billion light years away; it’s really in my mind. Or more accurately, it’s a projection of my mind. I made it up, and it’s coming from me, not at me, like most people think. And it’s not even matter until I look at it or touch it. It’s energy, which is really thought, which is why energy can’t be destroyed. And matter is just a different form of energy, returning to energy and then recycling.

PURSAH: And how did J, 2,000 years ago, use all of that Buddhist and Jewish mystical knowledge, which matched the findings of today’s physicists?

GARY: Well, he figured out something that people still don’t understand, even today with all these advances in knowledge, including psychology, and it’s this: If there’s really only one of us here, and if the unconscious part of the mind knows that, then what are we doing when we go around judging and condemning other people? All we’re really doing is sending a message directly into our own unconscious mind that we are worthy of being judged and condemned. Whatever we think about others is really like sending a message about ourselves to our self. So J decided that if there’s really only one of us who thinks it’s here, and if the unconscious mind knows that, then he was going to go through life seeing everyone as being what they really are, which is perfect spirit, instead of seeing them as bodies, which is really just a false idea of separation. He would see everyone as being Christ, pure and innocent. He would think of them as being what they really are: immortal, invulnerable, and something that cannot even be touched by this world.

Thus, the key to enlightenment lies in a secret that very few people have ever known, but which J knew well. The way you will experience and feel about yourself is not determined by how other people look at and think about you. The way that you will experience and feel about yourself is actually determined by how you look at and think about them. Ultimately, this determines your identity. You will identify yourself either as a body or as perfect spirit, as either divided or whole, depending on how you see others. And once you understand that, I would think you’d want to get pretty damn careful how you think about other people!

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Editors note: Your Immortal Reality is based on a series of dialogues between Gary Renard and two ascended masters, Arten and Pursah. These conversations have provided both a clarification and an engaging introduction to the teachings of A Course in Miracles. Here's another excerpt:

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PURSAH: Are you about ready to proceed?

GARY: Oh, all right. When you talked about definitive statements in the Course, I take it that the idea that there is no world would be one of them, right?

PURSAH: Yes. A definitive statement is an idea in the Course that’s so clear it defines what the Course is teaching, and it encapsulates what the Course is saying. If there is no world, then there’s nothing to forgive, and recognizing that fact in the events, situations, and people you see is advanced forgiveness, because now you’re not forgiving other people for something they’ve really done, you’re recognizing that they haven’t really done anything. So you’re actually forgiving yourself for dreaming them. That distinction is vital. Without it, you’re doing the old-fashioned kind of forgiveness, which can’t undo the ego.

GARY: How about another definitive idea?

ARTEN: Another one would be the idea that anger is never justified.²⁰ If you made the whole thing up, then who is there to be angry at? And a related definitive idea would be, “The secret of salvation is but this: That you are doing this unto yourself.”²¹ The two ideas fit together like a hand in a glove, and once you really get them then there’s no getting away from them.

GARY: Cool. Give me another one.

ARTEN: Sure. “The world you see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it, for what He creates must be eternal as Himself.”²² And fitting perfectly with that idea, “Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters.”²³

GARY: Yeah, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard that before, you just keep getting it deeper and deeper, if you keep practicing advanced forgiveness. And if anything that can change or be changed isn’t true, then that must cover everything in the universe of time and space!

ARTEN: Yes, and it also includes anything that is used to measure, test, or calibrate anything in the universe of time and space. It’s not true, which we’ll talk about later.

PURSAH: One more definitive statement before we take off.

GARY: Go for it.

PURSAH: “Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.”²⁴

I might add that only in that view are all your sins forgiven. If the world is real, then sins are real and they’re guilty, which means you’re guilty, or at least that’s the way it will translate into your unconscious. Get it? If they’re innocent because they haven’t really done anything, then you’re innocent because you haven’t really done anything.  Once again, that’s the kind of an idea that’s definitive. You can’t get away from it. And making it a part of you will make you whole.

GARY: What does forgiveness do, then?

PURSAH: J has your answer, brother. “The miracle does nothing. All it does is to undo.”²⁵ And when the ego is undone, the truth will be all that’s left.

Excerpts from Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard with footnotes referenced to A Course in Miracles. Click here to view all of Gary's Hay House publications.

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2006 Author Lectures and Workshops

CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP, M.D.
Menopause and Beyond: New Wisdom for Women. This is your invitation to attend a LIVE taping of Dr. Northrup’s latest public television special! This renowned women’s wellness pioneer will share her cutting-edge ideas on the most commonly misunderstood female health issues. She’ll offer groundbreaking guidance during this October 24th taping of her new public television special, which will air nationally in March 2007.
Portsmouth, NH · October 24th

AN EVENING WITH IMMACULÉE ILIBAGIZA
Discover inspiration and the power of forgiveness through this remarkable woman’s journey. Join Immaculée for this powerful lecture and embark on a spiritual journey that will undoubtedly change the way you view the power of faith—forever.
Los Angeles · November 16th

HAY HOUSE 2006 I CAN DO IT^® CONFERENCE
Here's your opportunity to participate in the powerful life-changing workshops that Hay House authors are renowned for. Find out for yourself why past conference participants say "This Conference more than fulfilled my every need and expectation" and "I came to the event to give myself more 'tools' for life...and it worked!"
Orlando · October 27 - 29 

DR. WAYNE DYER
Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling. Get ready for the most profound experience of your life and find inspiration! In an all-new lecture based on his latest New York Times bestselling book, Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling, Dr. Dyer explains how to live an inspired life—one that evolves from Spirit.
Pasadena · September 24 (with Byron Katie)
Portland · September 25
San Diego · September 27
Orlando · October 28

THE MORNING AND AFTERNOON OF YOUR LIFE
Dr. Dyer is offering a rare weekend intensive in San Francisco October 21-22 for those who are ready to take a deeper step inward. Click here for details.

SYLVIA BROWNE
If You Could See What I See. Don’t miss this opportunity to see world-renowned psychic Sylvia Browne live in person in an all new lecture based on her latest book.  Co-hosted by psychic mediums John Holland and Gordon Smith. These events typically sell out, so order your tickets now!
2006 Tour - A few seats are available in 5 West Coast Cities. Click here to view entire list Tickets are now on sale for Sylvia's 2007 Spiritual Connections Tour.

JOHN HOLLAND
Learn to Awaken Your Psychic Strengths: A Weekend Workshop with Psychic Medium John Holland. This intensive workshop provides an opportunity to work with one of the country’s top psychic mediums as you learn to develop your psychic intuitive skills and extend your awareness beyond your physical senses.
Chicago · October 13-14

GORDON SMITH
Healing with a Spirit Messenger: A Day with Gordon Smith. In this enlightening all-day interactive workshop, "the UK's most accurate medium," Scotsman Gordon Smith will demonstrate how you can tap in to the healing powers of the Spirit World and help you discover your own innate psychic abilities.
Atlanta · November 12

SONIA CHOQUETTE
Wake Up Your Spirit and Connect with Your Guides. During this enlightening workshop, Sonia will introduce you to the many spirit guides available to you: your personal bodyguards—the Guardian Angels, your powerful and magical Animal Guides, your attentive caretakers—the Healer Guides, the playful Joy Guides, the energetic and love-filled Light Beings, and even the Bargain Angels—who know where to find the best sales!
Los Angeles · November 5
Seattle · November 18 
San Francisco · December 3  
New York · December 9

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	Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard. In this fascinating book, Gary Renard and his Ascended Master Teachers, Arten and Pursah, teach you how to integrate advanced spiritual principles into your everyday life. Like Gary’s first book, The Disappearance of the Universe, this work elaborates on the teachings of two spiritual classics, The Gospel of Thomas and A Course in Miracles.
	Remembering the Future by Colette Baron-Reid. Within each of us is the voice of an inner teacher-guardian that is our link to the unseen world of Soul. Its purpose is to guide and protect us. It allows us an “all-access pass” to the vast arena of Divine intelligence, potential, and power. It is called intuition. By following Colette’s Seven Spiritual Keys, you’ll experience a consciously fulfilling, creative life, filled with profound harmony and opportunity. And most important, you’ll know who you really are. . .
	Everything You Need to Feel G(o)od by Candace Pert, Ph.D. This book responds to the questions Candace has been asked in her worldwide travels ever since the publication of her book Molecules of Emotion, and her appearance in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?! She discovered that, at the end of the day, all people really want to know is how to feel good.
	Exploring the Levels of Creation by Sylvia Browne. In her latest work, Sylvia outlines the structural levels of Creation of not only life as we know it; but the reality of the afterlife and the heretofore-unexplored structure of the Lower Levels of Creation. From the beautiful and perfect life of the Other Side to the wondrous, weird, and strange Lower Levels, to the everyday intricacies of life on this planet.
	Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Imagine a balance scale with one end weighted down to the ground, and the other end—featuring the objects of your desires—sticking up precariously in the air. This scale is a measurement of your thoughts. Wayne shows you how to restore balance in your life by offering nine principles for realigning your thoughts so that they correspond to your highest desires.
	The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.  The Four Insights are the wisdom teachings that have been protected by secret societies of Earthkeepers, the medicine men and women of the Americas. These ancient teachings reveal age-old technologies we can practice for becoming beings of light with the ability to perceive the energy and vibration that make up the physical universe at a much higher level.
	Daily Guidance from Your Angels by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D. Begin each morning by communing with your angels, using the 365 channeled meditations in this inspirational book. Each page offers a comforting and uplifting message that sets a positive and healing tone for the day. A beautiful ribbon bookmark bound into the spine is the perfect way to easily mark your place, both morning and evening.
	Daily Guidance from Your Angels Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D. This 44-card deck (with accompanying guidebook) offers comforting and uplifting messages to set a positive and healing tone for the day. It also functions as a divination tool, as you can ask a question and find the message that gives you guidance and answers.
Now available on CD:
	The Essence of Being in Balance: Creating Habits to Match Your Desires. On this six-CD set, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer shows you how to restore balance in your life by offering nine principles for realigning your thoughts so that they correspond to your highest desires. Recorded live.
	Being in Balance by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Imagine a balance scale with one end weighted down to the ground, and the other end—featuring the objects of your desires—sticking up precariously in the air. This scale is a measurement of your thoughts. Wayne shows you how to restore balance in your life by offering nine principles for realigning your thoughts so that they correspond to your highest desires. Unabridged 2-CD set read by the author.
	Angels & Guides Healing Meditations by Sylvia Browne. You’ll find a new level of comfort, safety, and clarity as you listen to these four uniquely powerful meditations. Sylvia encourages you to call on your Divine helpers to ease your your fears, phobias, and insecurities—the result being that you feel better than you ever have before!
	Exploring the Levels of Creation by Sylvia Browne. In her latest work, Sylvia outlines the structural levels of Creation of not only life as we know it; but the reality of the afterlife and the heretofore-unexplored structure of the Lower Levels of Creation. From the beautiful and perfect life of the Other Side to the wondrous, weird, and strange Lower Levels, to the everyday intricacies of life on this planet. Unabridged 2 CD read by the author.

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A Special Message from Louise L. Hay

Expanding Horizons

Are you teachable? I am! Every day I open my awareness a little more to the Divine Wisdom within me. I’m glad to be alive and so grateful for the good that has come my way. Life, to me, is an education. Every day I open my mind and my heart, as a child does, and I discover new insights, new people, new viewpoints, and new ways to understand what’s happening around me and within me. The human mind may not always understand at first. Understanding seems to require lots of love and patience. But the more I understand, the more my world expands.

How far are we willing to go with expanding the horizons of our thinking? Life really is free and easy. It’s our thinking that’s difficult, limited, shame-based, or not good enough. If we open ourselves to unlearning some of our limited thinking patterns and learning something new, we can grow and change.

Click here for Daily Wisdom from Louise at www.LouiseHay.com

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Louise Hay's 80th Birthday Tribute

Louise Hay is coming out of retirement to talk to you! HayHouseRadio.com^® is proud to present the first-ever Louise Hay Radiothon which will air just a few days before Louise's 80th birthday! During this special 80th birthday tribute commemorating the 20th anniversary of her beloved Hay Foundation charity, Louise herself will conduct a rare four-hour live broadcast. Plus special guests, prize giveaways and more! This very special 4-hour live show will broadcast Friday, October 6th from 10 am to 2 pm Pacific Time. This may well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call in and talk to Louise! To participate, simply point your Web browser to www.HayHouseRadio.com and click the "listen live" button. Toll-free call-in phone numbers will be displayed on the HayHouseRadio.com homepage when the show begins. Don't miss it!

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