Carlos Castaneda – Pam Grout

Spoiler alert: don’t read this if you’re coming to tonight’s playshop

August 16, 2018 23 Comments

“We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”–Carlos Castaneda

1abcd3 So I’m in Denver, prepping for tonight’s workshop. So if you’re planning to be there, this post will either serve as a trailer (it’ll make you really excited) or it could be all you need.

ACIM 228 is about getting out of our own way. It’s about recognizing our innate beauty, about no longer putting ourselves down.

In fact, the only problems any of us really have is that we view ourselves differently than our Source views us. Our Source sees us as perfect, funny, loving, gorgeous, free of all problems. We’re the ones who block that truth.

So here’s the outline, the hypotheses we will explore at tonight’s Denver playshop:

1. Joy is your natural state. We aren’t in touch with it because we live in problem state, not possibility state. Once we wipe away all the mind chatter, joy is what’s left.

2. All answers to all perceived problems come easily and smoothly once you contact and access this natural state.

3. Abundance is the state of the world without our muted lens.

4. Everything you are seeking is also seeking you. The answer is already here or it’s on the way.

Love you guys! Have a fabulous day!!

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Life without perceptual distortion is bliss, joy and continuing miracles

June 23, 2017 16 Comments

“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”― Carlos Castaneda

Harper’s magazine recently listed mistaken reports of animals in distress compiled by an animal rescue shelter on the island of Guernsey.

A sick seal on a beach ended up being a duvet.
A dead cat was a hand puppet.
A gull hanging from a fence was a carrier bag.
An injured bird was a blond wig.
A stray pug was a frog.

I laughed at what they cleverly headlined “Faux Paws” because these mistaken distress calls are so quintessentially human. Over and over, we think there’s something to worry about, something to report, something we need to fix. That’s how we spend our lives.

But in reality, most of our problems are nothing but perceptual distortions.

The Course in Miracles is very clear. Our view of the world is mostly illusion. When our crazy perceptions have been removed, the truth that has always been there will appear, a truth that can do nothing but make us indescribably happy.

May this weekend be the best one of your life. This dancing gorilla will show you how.

Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the about-to-be released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”—Carlos Castaneda

April 25, 2013 4 Comments

“Imagine!!”–John Lennon

Rob Brezsny, the guy who writes the Free Will Horoscope column, is one of my mentors. Not because I’m a huge horoscope fan–I find it entertaining, but don’t stake my life on it, mainly because I prefer to create my own reality.

I love and adore him because he’s a big, booming voice for Truth. Today, I’d like to share one of his “Glories in the Highest.” I think it comes from his book, Pronoia, which I recommend highly.

Take it away, Rob:

“So I’m curious, my fellow creators. Since you and I are in charge of making a New Earth — not just breaking down the dying culture — where do we begin? What stories do we want at the heart of our experiments? What questions will be our oracles?

Here’s what I say: In the New Earth we’re creating, we will ridicule the cult of doom and gloom, and embrace the cause of zoom and boom. We will laugh at the stupidity of evil and hate; we will summon the brilliance to praise and create.

No matter how upside down it all may appear, we will have no fear, because we know this big secret: All of creation is conspiring to shower us with blessings. Life is crazily in love with us — brazenly and innocently in love with us.

The universe always gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.

Pronoia is our word of power . . . the antidote for paranoia . . . the spell we cast to gleam ourselves awake again and again. It means that even if we can’t see and don’t know, primal benefactors are plotting to emancipate us.

The winds and the tides are on our side, forever and ever, amen. The fire and the rain are scheming to steal our impossible pain. The sun and the moon and the stars remember our real names, and our ancestors pray for us while we’re dreaming.

We have guardian angels and thousands of teachers . . . provocateurs with designs to unleash us . . . helpers and saviors we can’t even imagine . . . brothers and sisters who want us to blossom.

Thanks to them,
from whom the blissful blessings flow,
we are waking up.

The roads they pave us,
the places they save us,
the tomatoes they grow us,
above and below us.

Their mysterious stories,
their morning glories,
their loaves and fishes,
granting our wishes.

The songs they sing us,
the gifts they bring us,
the secrets they show us,
above and below us.

Thanks to them,
from whom the blissful blessings flow,
we are waking up.