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The Initiate
By
Introduction.................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: The Interview with Maximus ......................................... 7
Chapter 2: My Introduction to Soke Draconis ............................... 11
Chapter 3: Reconfiguration of Consciousness ............................... 38
Chapter 4: A Time for Growth ...................................................... 78
Chapter 5: Mind-Spirit .................................................................102
Chapter 6: The Follower ..............................................................113
Chapter 7: 30 Principles of Creation............................................125
Chapter 8: Creational Formula ....................................................149
Chapter 9: Reactive Power ..........................................................205
Chapter 10: Universal Creation Chart ...........................................211
Chapter 11: The Spiritual Path of the Universe .............................219
Chapter 12: Goals and Obstacles ...................................................223
Chapter 13: The World of Essence ................................................245
Chapter 14: How Others Perceive You..........................................264
Chapter 15: Metaphysics ...............................................................316
Chapter 16: Mental Time Continuums ..........................................325
Chapter 17: The Prepared Mind.....................................................340
Chapter 18: Energy-Beings............................................................344
Chapter 19: Creotology – Making the Magic Happen...................355
Chapter 20: Integration ..................................................................363
INTRODUCTION
-1-
The Draconis family referred to The Initiation as ―putting you
through it.‖ The Initiation teaches you to have respect for yourself
and for your fellow person. In fact, the level of respect that you
show others will be a direct connection to how you see and treat
yourself. We are all connected and made of energy. However, it is
the consciousness that we work through that separates us. The
Initiation taught me that the more expansive our consciousness, the
greater the reality we experience. The experiences that I would have
with Soke Draconis would prove to be my most successful and
heartfelt. The Initiation that I undertook with my Soke was so very
moving, there is no way to captivate your imagination and move you
into the experience without sharing the complete story of what I
have been through as a result.
One of the main lessons that Soke Draconis always taught me was
not to live only inside my head but rather to move my ability to
create to the outside and change things around so that there is
congruency. With the inner and outer world working together, there
are peace and harmony that bring about a beautiful tranquility. The
serenity of life is the prize possession of feeling the beauty you can
create and the relaxing calmness of your incredible passion. When
others perceive your projection into the environment, they feel and
see your spirit cry out and express its beauty in the way that it
organizes its life and the presentation of yourself.
-2-
experienced your way into. It is like catching someone in the act of
a wrongdoing and then listening to them try to lie their way out of it.
When you act in such a way that others see your misalignment it
lowers your value to others and lowers your own level of self-
respect. The price you pay for misalignment is too great of a debt.
We all need integrity in a world where so many use deceit and take
no responsibility for their actions.
The Initiation taught me that when you judge others you are not
judging them personally but rather the action of what they did. In
reality, most people are not even coherent of what they do or why.
All they need is a little justification if they want something that is
bad or wrong. Through awakening the immortal will, misalignment
goes away. This clears your path to your future, and you can now
forge ahead with passion and swift decisions. The Initiation teaches
that nothing moves forward until you say it does. Your immortal
will is the whole of your law and directs change like Mozart at his
greatest symphony.
The Initiation makes you the responsible individual for where you
are and where you want to go. It would become my ingrained
thinking process to move forward with my ambition towards
continuing to learn and accepting nothing from myself except the
best I can do in any situation - this is the path I choose purposefully
to pursue. The Initiation calms the noise all around you and allows
you to focus and see that which is truly important. When you live
your life as if nothing you do is complete, you feel lonely and unable
to comply with your dreams. You cannot even find the energy to
focus a goal in the direction you need and want to go. The feeling of
being a stranger in your own skin is deep and very compelling. The
feeling allows you to begin the descent deep into a cave in your
inner void. You become just an echo crying out from the shadow of
what you know is possible. Lost in your rants to the outside world,
-3-
your voice for freedom never makes it from within your own private
abyss. The Initiation teaches the emergence of your soul and the
freedom to focus your attention. My Initiation eventually became a
worldview that, at the time, I did not even know existed.
The Initiation took me deep into the beliefs that make up the known
reality we consider our daily life. I realized beliefs are fleeting in the
moment and hold no real significance except for what we assigned to
them. The power we give beliefs will change the perception of
reality and that changes what life holds for us. The value of
managing our beliefs is among the greatest things we can learn and
bring under our direct control. Although beliefs and thoughts run
parallel to each other, beliefs are far more important because our
thoughts come from our beliefs. Beliefs are the filters that create
perception and set up the doorways for the interpretation of reality.
The Initiation taught me that life is an abstract reality and that the
real life we want to live, and are capable of living, resides oppressed
deep within the conscious mind. We condition ourselves to be
abstract machines of movements and learned concepts. At our most
basic level, we repeat patterns within the subconsciousness of our
minds. We learn to oppress our beliefs in order to forgo the
projected good of others. I learned that political correctness is a
thinking disorder intended to help in the surface world of everybody
getting along together. The idea of us all getting along together,
while deep inside we feel things we are not supposed to express to
one another, is the very thing that oppresses us all and stops us from
making any real progress in creating a world filled with love and
companionship. The Initiation taught me we could all live together
and get along with one another as soon as we can see each other (and
ourselves) fully. This means no blinders on and nothing to prevent
us from saying what we really want to say and finding our way
through the belief maze so wonderfully constructed for us.
-4-
Neglecting to clear false beliefs from our vision obscures our view
from the truth of how to create real love and compassion.
The world needs leaders and this is the foundation of The Initiation
of Creotology. It teaches you to think, create, and then live in the
world you choose to feel. The decision to be in control creates a by-
product feeling of joyful invigoration each new morning. Having
direction makes you feel the ambition that is deep inside us all. It
helps to remove the strings that bind us to the old beliefs that
previously would stop us from switching to the life path we desire.
Each breath of air smells cleaner and each action you take makes
you feel stronger and more entranced naturally with what we can
accomplish today. The Initiation is not for those people who do not
care about life or who want others to take care of them from the
cradle to the grave. The Initiation is about you and the relationship
to the life you want to be living and how you are going to build it for
yourself.
The process of The Initiation will take you into the knowingness that
you claim and will make you feel as if you want to scream from the
mountaintops so everyone may share in The Initiation of prosperity,
love, and health. The journey may be long for some and short for
-5-
others. We all arrive in our own time, but all that really matters is
that you arrive. The ability to operate as a fully independent being is
the grand prize of life. Ultimately, the gift of life we pass to our
fellow man allows them to feel the control of their own life through
their exerted wisdom, expansion of their energy and what they can
truly create with their ambition and then partake of their rewards.
I am now going to attempt, the best way I know how, to tell you the
story of my Initiation with the Draconis Family. This volume will
serve as a bridge from the life that you have now, allowing you to
cross over into the mental realm of existence your spirit cries for. It
will provide the stimulation your mind requires in order to feel alive
and in command of your destination. Welcome, my friends, to ―The
Teachings of Soke Draconis –The Initiation.‖
-6-
Chapter 1
T H E I N T E RV I E W
WITH MAXIMUS
-7-
Bee Gees. His hair was bushy and thick. He was about six feet tall
and very athletic looking in stature. He wore a pair of faded Lee‘s
blue jeans, with a flannel button-up shirt. The shirt was in good
condition with colors of orange and black in a checkered formation
all over the shirt. The top two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned
and he wore a gold medallion about the size of a quarter that had a
Viking boat on it parting his bushy looking chest hair. I also noticed
Maximus walked with pride and observed he had power about him
in his stride across the floor. He had confidence and was very
articulating with his voice.
-8-
of a reality and the actual physical manifestation of the reality.‖
Maximus asked, ―Could you explain that last point please?‖ I
replied, ―Sure, the shortest distance between reality and
manifestation is seeing the transparent line that exists between them.
Reality is a perceptional observation of organizing information into a
model of what you prefer or resist. Manifestation is the act of
information gathered together and formulated with other processes
and systems that produce the conformity with the reality. All that
separates reality and manifestation are the ―ideas‖ that are created
about the two.‖ Maximus asked for clarification again, ―Can you
give me a clear example of that last statement?‖ I thought for a
moment and then offered, ―Let‘s take weight loss as an example.
Because of the ideas that exist about energy and matter, there has
been a separation created between the two and therefore, we have a
separation in our ideas about the two as well. We perceive a
difference between the perceptional act of thinking about losing
weight and the physical movement we perceive as necessary to lose
the weight. There is no difference between these two actions except
the idea that exists and separates them as two separate actions. In
reality, they are the same. Manifestation is only another level of
reality since it is all energy. We have just become very good at one
consciousness, but lazy in others.
―Soke Draconis says whenever there is a goal that has manifested the
real desire is experienced because it was the feeling of obtaining this
goal we were really after to begin with.‖ I continued, ―Soke
Draconis owned the school I trained at in 1980. The school was very
popular. It was clean at all times and operated very efficiently. You
could tell there was a lot of serious training happening within the
walls of his school. While there was an intense training energy
present, it was always secondary to the compassion and family
environment readily present.‖
-9-
Then Maximus asked me about how I came to meet Soke Draconis
and about my own training. I told him, ―That is a very intuitive
question. This could take awhile.‖ Maximus smiled and said, ―I
have all day.‖ I began to tell Maximus my story.
- 10 -
Chapter 2
M Y I N T R O D U C T I O N TO
SOKE DRACONIS
Most kids have a friend we look up to, but also look upon as a rival,
and I was no different. My friend‘s name was Brian. Unfortunately,
for my friend Brian, I always seemed to be a little stronger, bigger,
faster, and even a bit more intelligent. Maybe I just had better
instincts, I was never really sure. Whatever the case, our rivalry
drove Brian into a fit of rage much of the time. He was always
trying to find something that he could beat me at even though he
never really succeeded. However, he did have something brewing
that I was unaware of at the time. He had been taking martial arts
for about a year.
- 11 -
all scarred up. Fat Cat threw a punch at Brian‘s face but Brian
reacted with the speed of a mongoose, caught the punch, and
directed Fat Cat‘s arm to the ground. Fat Cat had no choice but to
go with the arm to the ground. Brian got on top of him and placed
an arm lock on him. The fight was over faster than it started.
Much to my surprise, not only did Brian not meet his demise, he also
really impressed me with his ability to beat a punch along with the
speed with which he redirected both the punch and Fat Cat to the
ground. He easily had the toughest neighborhood bully on the
ground screaming in pain. I instantly wanted to know where he got
his newfound knowledge and skills. Suddenly, my mission was
clear, my intimidation and fear had turned to focus and excitement.
- 12 -
all throughout your body when you were in the presence of it. The
building was an unusual design of an Old English brown brick
building made with small bricks. The front yard was perfect in its
cut. The edges of the lawn were very trim and neat. The small
sidewalk led you up to three small steps that delivered you to the
front door of the school. There were two huge trees in the front yard
- one at the very front on the right side of the lawn and the other
hovered over the left side of the building as it grew recessed in the
yard. There were yellow and red roses that ran along the side of the
front building with evergreen bushes and bonsai trees in between the
rose bushes. There was a four by six-foot bay window on the left
side of the building a few feet below the tree. The overwhelming
energy and emotion I felt rushing through me was so great that I
could not explain the power and the presence it projected.
I decided to go in that day and, luckily for me, there were no classes
going on at that time. I came in the front door and walked down a
hallway about 20 feet in length with a narrow ceiling the color of
dark onyx stone, which made a very powerful impression. The walls
were perfectly white and the floor was made of hardwood. I
continued to walk and then made a left turn into a room that was
about 1,800 square feet. Perhaps 1,500 square feet of the room had
matting on the floor with a wooden border all the way around it.
The mats were black and blue. I would soon learn that ―tatami‖ is
the term used for the matted area.
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stains on the mat. In fact, it was spotless. At the very end of the
tatami was a large picture window, the same one I had seen from the
outside of the building. The rest of the floor was hardwood and the
ceiling had two rows of light fixtures that were in the shape of four-
foot diamonds.
Then I heard someone enter from behind me. In a very deep and
articulate voice he told me his name was Soke Draconis and that he
was the Head Master of the school. I introduced myself to him and
mentioned I was a friend of Brian‘s. He invited me into his office
and offered to sign me up. I said, ―Hold on a minute. First of all,
how do you know I even want to join?‖ He explained how the fact
that I had come to the school told him I wanted to join and any idea I
had against doing so was only an obstacle, which I was creating to
stop myself from taking action. Well, I did not like the fact that he
was right, but I did appreciate his level of confidence.
He had a huge desk about eight feet in length, about two and a half
feet wide, and had five legs supporting it. There were two legs at
each end and one leg was in the middle. Each leg had a sort of a
bend from the top of the leg to about two-thirds down and then the
leg straightened the rest of the way from there to the floor. The desk
was an even brown and the top covered with glass to protect the
wood underneath. The top edge of the desk was beautifully carved
- 14 -
all around with Celtic knots and the legs carved on the edges with
the same pattern. It was a unique design that held a lot of character.
It was as if you were looking at a large docked Norse boat that was
now sitting perched on a stand.
Two huge black upholstered chairs sat in front of the desk, and like
the desk, were brown with five legs. The black upholstery on the
chairs was ornately trimmed in gold. The chairs were so large it
looked like I could sit in one and still have room for someone else to
sit beside me. The edges of the armrests had been carved with Celtic
knots like the carvings on the desk. I told him the chairs and desk
were both absolutely beautiful. Soke Draconis thanked me and
informed me he had made them himself. This astounded me. He
said that he loved to do woodworking in his spare time, as it was one
of his hobbies. I supposed this all must have taken a lot of time, but
he replied, ―Not really. What took the most time were all the
carvings. The carvings took me more than six months, but it was
great fun doing it all.‖
- 15 -
book is the book of warriors.‖ ―Warriors! What kind of warriors?‖
I asked excitedly. ―Men and women who have become family
through a very special test called The Initiation,‖ Soke Draconis
replied. I remarked, ―No offense, Soke Draconis, but that is a funny
term.‖ With a soft and meaningful stare, Soke Draconis softly said,
―You are right, I guess it is.‖ Then he said with a little laughter,
―Wait until you see what it means.‖ ―I will get to see what it
means?‖ I asked hopefully. As he leaned back in his chair that
looked like an Old English throne, Soke Draconis grinned, ―I believe
you will.‖
- 16 -
began to share my reasons with him, ―It‘s because I have a
competitive friendship with one of your students, Brian. Brian and I
are friends, but we are very competitive with each other. Just the
other day I saw him get into a fight with the neighborhood bully we
call Fat Cat. I thought Brian did everything he could to avoid the
fight, but the bully would not leave him alone. Fat Cat threw a
punch at Brian. Brian intercepted the punch and took him to the
ground. Fat Cat said his arm was hurting bad and asked Brian to
please let go of him. Then Brian said, ‗If I let you up, is this fight
over and done?‘ Fat Cat answered him, ‗Yes, it‘s over. You are
really hurting me!‘ Brian got up off Fat Cat and helped him up to
his feet, held out his hand in a gesture of friendship and said, ‗Let‘s
end this today and be friends.‘ Fat Cat nodded in agreement, and
they shook hands and agreed to be friends.‖
Soke asked me if I would like to have a glass of iced tea. I told him
that would be wonderful, so he got up and went into the next room.
I heard no noise from him while he was in there. A couple of
minutes later he came walking out with a tray holding a pitcher of
tea with lemons in it and two very large glasses with ice. He asked if
it was okay with me if the tea had been sweetened with lemon and
honey during the process of making it and setting it in the sun. I
- 17 -
thought that was fine, so he poured each of us a glass of tea over the
ice and then I took my first sip. My taste buds were alive. I actually
felt as if I had taken the Nestea plunge. I noticed even the glasses
were cold and this was a new and different experience for me. I was
compelled to ask him, ―How did you get the glasses cold? I‘ve
never seen that before?‖ Soke smirked a little and remarked, ―That‘s
an ancient family secret.‖ I was full of curiosity, ―When will I be
able to know this secret?‖ Soke Draconis smiled and said, ―Now is
as good a time as any. I keep them in the refrigerator.‖ I laughed,
―Some family secret!‖ He smiled again, ―Well, you know, some
secrets are better than others.‖ Soke Draconis then asked, ―You told
me why you want to take martial arts, but what will you do once
you‘ve learned the art of Kempo-Jujitsu? In other words, how do
you feel it will help you grow?‖
Soke Draconis then told me, ―I have some wonderful news for you,
Brady, first of all, it does not matter where you start in life. Really,
all that is important in life is to know exactly where you want to go
and exactly how you plan to get there. As far as your family goes,
- 18 -
do not hold anything against them. They have played their role
perfectly for you. The shortcomings you may see inside of them
may be the ones you are resisting inside of yourself and do not want
to have. We all come back to this planet of abundance and enter into
co-creations with friends and family, people who I call fellow
explorers, so we can learn from each other and grow. As far as
direction goes, only you can assume the degree of responsibility that
can change your life. So you see, Brady, it really is all about you.‖
I sat back for a moment and drank my tea. Much of what he said
made sense, but I did not really understand this ―responsibility‖
thing. As I finished my iced tea, Soke Draconis handed me a folder,
―Here is what I want you to do. I want you to take this release form
with you. I am also giving you some information about me along
with a class schedule. After you have found a job, which allows you
to finance the classes, tell your mother you have found a job and can
pay for the classes yourself. Then ask her to sign the release form
and tell her you will assume full responsibility for getting yourself to
and from class. Assure your mother that you will wash your own
uniforms and you will pay for your own classes. There will be no
burden on her at all.‖ I thought to myself that it might not be much
of a burden to her, but it would be to me. It felt like a lot of
responsibility, but I told Soke Draconis I would return in three days.
He said, ―Okay.‖ As we shook hands, Soke Draconis told me to
look him in the eye, and then he said only one word, ―Deal.‖ I could
not figure out what happened to me in that moment when I looked at
Soke in the eyes and shook his hand. It was beyond words, but it felt
as if I had just experienced integrity.
Taking Responsibility
I left the school, which was almost right on the corner of Morris
- 19 -
Street and Belmont. Since I was there already, I thought to myself,
―Smitty‘s Grocery Store is just up the street. I could go talk to
Smitty right now.‖ I tightly gripped the folder in my hand and I ran
over to Smitty‘s.
I walked over to the front entrance and Smitty was sitting right there.
Smitty looked like he just came out of the fields from working all
day. He was always happy and excited and his appearance was like
that of a grandpa. He had a pair of Levi's jeans on, a white Fruit of
the Loom shirt and a pair of work boots, like people wear on
construction sites. He had silver colored hair and blue eyes, about
five foot eight and leaned forward slightly when he walked. I
always thought his head got to where he was going before his feet
did.
Smitty asked me, ―Why are you running? Slow down!‖ I explained,
―I don‘t have time to slow down, Smitty. I‘m on a mission.‖ Smitty
suggested, ―Well here, take a drink of this cold pop, catch your
breath, and tell me what your mission is, boy.‖ He always called me
- 20 -
boy. I told Smitty I was going to study the martial arts. Smitty
looked at me puzzled, ―The martial what?‖ I exclaimed, ―The
martial arts, Smitty. It‘s cool!‖ Smitty was an old country kind of
guy, and he had to ask me, ―What do you do in them classes?‖ I told
him, ―We learn how to fight, so that we don‘t have to fight. It helps
someone to have a disciplined way of thinking.‖ Smitty said, ―That
sounds right fine,‖ in his country voice. I broke the news to him,
―The best part, Smitty, is that you are involved in it.‖ He informed
me, ―I am too old to be involved in those martial arts.‖ I explained
to him further, ―No, Smitty, you don‘t understand. I need a job.‖
Smitty immediately said, ―Well dang, boy, why didn‘t you say so?‖
I asked him, ―Do you have any work?‖ To which he replied, ―Boy, I
am busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest here.‖ I
asked excitedly, ―Then I have a job?‖ Smitty said, ―Okay, but under
one condition.‖ Then he paused for a moment, ―On second thought,
there are two conditions. First condition, you will be at work on
time and you will always give me your best effort. Second
condition, you don‘t use any of those martial arts on me. Now shake
my hand and look me in the eye.‖ I immediately shook Smitty‘s
hand while looking him straight in the eye. We both agreed it was a
deal.
- 21 -
I left the store and ran all the way home, which was about five
blocks away. I went in and told my Mom that I had a summer job
working for Smitty. I let her know that he was paying me $3.35 an
hour, and I would be working five days a week and be off on
Saturdays and Sundays.
Feeling the time was right to let my mother know I wanted to take
martial arts at the school I had found, I presented her the folder. My
Mom said, ―I know that place, it‘s just three or four blocks from our
house. That‘s where I‘ve seen that tall, handsome, blue-eyed man.‖
I shouted, ―Mom, that‘s my instructor. You can‘t call him
handsome!‖ Mom informed me, ―I don‘t care if he is your
instructor. He is handsome.‖ Then my Mom said jokingly, ―You
can tell him I said so if you want to. I‘m not scared of him.‖ ―If I
promise to wash my own uniforms and pay for the classes myself,
can I take the course?‖ ―Sure,‖ she said, ―but what about when you
go back to school?‖ I assured her that I would just reduce my hours
at work. I would save all my money during the summer; and it
would be fine. Mom asked me, ―What do you want me to sign?‖ I
took out the release form and my mother read it and signed it.
I looked at the clock, and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. I had
one hour and twenty-five minutes before I was to begin my first day
as a man joining the workforce. I jumped in the shower, put on
some clean clothes, and took a clean shirt with me. I walked over to
the school, knocked on the door, but no one answered. When I
pushed on the door, I found it to be open so I entered and walked
down the hallway. As I turned left into the training room, I found
Soke Draconis sitting at the end of the mat by the big wide picture
window with the sun shining in directly on him. He didn‘t move a
muscle or even acknowledge me. He seemed perfectly still. I really
didn‘t know what he was doing, but I guessed it was something like
- 22 -
meditation, so I sat down on the bench and waited. After seven or
eight minutes, he let out a loud breath and stood up. He wasn‘t
wearing any socks or shoes, but wore a pair of black ―gi‖ pants, a
white muscle shirt, and his hair tied back into a ponytail.
Soke Draconis crossed his arms and let out a small smile from the
right corner of his mouth. Then he let out a small breath and stood
for a moment looking at me before he said, ―This is quite an
undertaking isn‘t it?‖ Confidently I replied, ―Yes, but I can do it!
I‘ll make about $83.75 a week.‖ Soke Draconis agreed that was a
pretty good amount of money. I was feeling very proud of myself
and mentioned, ―Other people recognize it too.‖ Soke Draconis
asked, ―Oh? How do you mean?‖ I explained myself, ―Smitty said
himself that I was now in the world of high finance and Smitty
should know since he is a businessman.‖ Soke Draconis smiled and
said, ―Well, we can‘t dispute that now can we? Since you have
secured your financing, come back when you have time. I‘ll sign
you up and get you a uniform.‖ I told him that I would be back the
first chance I got.
As I walked out the front door of the Martial Arts Academy, I knew
one thing; I was not there when Jesus walked on water, but it sure
felt like I was walking on air! All the way over to Smitty‘s, I had
- 23 -
pep in my step, energy bouncing all through my body, and for the
first time in my life, I felt like I had a completely new perspective on
myself. I honestly felt larger than life itself. After all, I had a job,
I‘d have money soon enough, and I was on my way to studying the
martial arts. I had made a friend and I had something to do with
myself for the summer besides wandering aimlessly around my
neighborhood.
Daryl began to teach me the ropes. ―Well, we just got a huge order
of produce delivered, so let‘s go out back and unload it. Smitty likes
to keep his produce cold and fresh.‖ We went out back to the
refrigerator and he opened up the door. Then Daryl asked me, ―Do
you want to load or unload?‖ He moved over to this rather large
conveyor belt. I told him I would load, he said okay, and we went
straight to work. All I had to do was pick up the boxes, raising them
- 24 -
just a little higher than waist level, and then put them on the
conveyor belt headed towards Daryl, who unloaded the boxes and
stacked them in the refrigerator. It was easy enough work. The
boxes only seemed to weigh about 20 or 30 pounds each, but it was a
big truck and it took us about four hours to unload. Every hour
Daryl and I would switch places between loading and unloading.
This Daryl seemed like a pretty good guy.
After we were done unloading the truck, Smitty said, ―You guys
must be hungry.‖ We both said we could eat, so Smitty offered,
―How about you guys take a break?‖ He said, ―Here‘s ten bucks.
You guys go take an hour lunch over at Big Daddy‘s Pizza across
the street, if you want.‖
Well, you didn‘t have to ask us twice. Our work aprons were
already off and hanging where they belonged as we headed out to
make our way across the street. We both ordered two large slices of
pizza and a pop and then we started getting better acquainted. Daryl
had a watch on, so he kept track of our time. ―Smitty doesn‘t like
people to be late,‖ he explained.
I asked Daryl how old he was and how long he had been working for
Smitty. Daryl said he was 19, he was married, had a baby boy, and
he had dropped out of High School. When I asked him why he had
done that, he told me he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and
couldn‘t earn enough money working part time to take care of his
baby. He said, ―It‘s a pretty good deal. I‘ve been working for
Smitty for two years. Not only does he pay me pretty good, but he
actually pays for me to go to night school so I can earn my diploma.‖
I commented, ―That‘s pretty nice of Smitty.‖ Daryl told me, ―One
thing is true, Brady, Smitty may talk like a hick, but he is no dummy.
Education is very important to him.‖ I replied, ―Yes, I can see it
matters a great deal to him.‖
- 25 -
After the hour was up, we returned to work. I only had an hour left
on my shift so Daryl showed me how to set the produce out in the
grocery store and how to rotate the older produce to the front and the
newer produce to the back. He also taught me about the watering
system that kept the produce wet. After my last hour went by,
Smitty tapped me on the shoulder and said, ―You did a great job
today. I‘ll see you back here tomorrow. I want you to work from
twelve to five.‖ I asked Smitty if that was my regular schedule. He
asked me, ―Could you handle that Monday through Friday?‖ I let
him know, ―That would be a great schedule for me because the
martial arts classes are in the evening.‖ Smitty chuckled, ―Well,
don‘t you just have it all planned out!‖ I grinned, ―Smitty, I am a
man with a plan.‖
- 26 -
that although we were close friends, we had a very serious rivalry
going on between us.
- 27 -
difference, but I can study hard and maybe I can learn faster.‖ I
asked Soke Draconis how long it would take to get my blue belt and
green belt. He explained to me, ―Brady, you are already looking at it
the wrong way. It shouldn‘t matter how long it takes to get to a belt.
What should matter to you is the journey itself and what you learn
about the martial arts and yourself along the way.‖
Brian and I bowed to Soke Draconis. That was when I learned the
traditional handshake of placing my left hand on the right shoulder
while my right hand shakes their right hand. As we bowed out of the
dojo and began walking down the street back to our houses, I told
Brian that I thought joining the school was really exciting. Brian
affirmed, ―Yes, Brady, it is the best thing I ever did. Soke Draconis
- 28 -
has totally changed my life.‖
- 29 -
him honestly, ―I‘ll tell you what I know.‖ He said, ―Well, I am
sixty-four now and my wife says both of us need some exercise.‖ As
it turned out, they had been thinking of taking martial arts for some
time. Smitty said the only thing stopping them in the past was that
they thought other people would make fun of them. I explained,
―First of all, Smitty, trust me when I tell you that Soke Draconis
would never allow that in his school. The second thing is, it is a
very family-oriented school and everybody pretty much knows
everybody. The fact that an older couple, like yourself and your
wife, would take martial arts classes would probably make the
classes seem more worthwhile to younger people.‖
―We meant to make our way over to the school before,‖ Smitty said,
―and I asked my wife Eva what she thought about it. She thought it
would be wonderful because she had actually spoken to Soke
Draconis several times. He often comes in and shops here. She said
he is a very wonderful and handsome man. She never fails to
mention that part even though I always tell her she can leave that
part out. She just smiles and says, ‗You know there is no other wolf
on the farm but you.‘‖ Smitty thought about it for a minute and
continued, ―Okay then, Brady, I think I will take a little break this
afternoon and call Eva. If this is still something she wants to do,
which I am sure it is, maybe we will go over there this afternoon and
speak to Soke Draconis.‖ I told Smitty I thought it would be the first
good move in what would soon be a life full of many good moves.
Smitty replied that he had made his mistakes, but he did learn from
them and that was why he was successful.
After Smitty and I spoke about the school, Daryl and I got busy
stocking the aisles. Several hours later Brian came walking into the
store. I asked, ―What are you doing here?‖ He replied indignantly,
―I have money, and I can shop wherever I want.‖ (You really had to
understand our relationship. We were good friends, but we gave
- 30 -
each other a hard time, most all of the time.) I then told Brian he
was the biggest loser I ever met. He offered, ―That is only because
you haven‘t met yourself yet,‖ and we both broke into laughter.
Later, as I was putting up new signs in the front window, Smitty and
Eva came walking up. They were both glowing with big smiles on
their faces. They proceeded to tell me what a nice guy Soke
Draconis was and how they had signed up at the school. Smitty
shared, ―He even gave both of us brand new pairs of pajamas to
wear.‖ I smiled, ―That‘s wonderful you two. Welcome to the
school!‖ Then he and Eva went into the back office.
- 31 -
around this place.‖ I got the price check. Brian bought the chips and
left the store.
After work, I went straight to the dojo. Class was not until six
o‘clock, but I was there at six minutes after five. There was a
gentleman there who was about 45 years old named Larry. I noticed
that he was wearing a brown belt. I introduced myself and told him I
was there for my first class. I asked him if he had the time to work
with me until the class started at six. Larry told me he would love
to.
We got on the mat and Larry began showing me the basics like how
to bow onto the mat and how to bow off. He told me that ―Rei‖ was
the Japanese term for the bow. Larry then started running me
through the beginning postures, which were the basic self-defense
stances of our martial arts system. The first posture I learned was
―Shizen Hontai‖ meaning the natural posture. Then he taught me
that the next posture ―Jigohontai‖ was our defensive posture. He ran
through these stances with me and taught me how to bow in
properly. Next, he ran me through our front and side postures. It
was a very informative 55-minute session.
Six o‘clock rolled around. About three minutes before class was to
start, Soke Draconis came walking up to the mat just as all the
students came pouring in from the locker room. There must have
been about fifty-five of us there. Soke Draconis divided up the
classes and then he and Larry took me, along with the other white
belts to continue running us through the bow in and the stances.
They taught us how to drop our center so that our stances were more
powerful. I had to admit, this centering technique was very
interesting to me. Soke then explained to us that centering was the
entire basis for the martial arts. He said it was the number one
- 32 -
technique and it was important always to know how to center. Soke
Draconis taught us a very simple and easy way to center ourselves
effectively. He would have us stand perfectly straight and then
breathe in through our nose very slowly. As we breathed in, we
were to imagine we were getting taller. He instructed us to feel and
make our body stretch. When at the height of our breath we were to
spread our legs out straight across from each other and relax our
breath out slowly, while bending our knees, but keeping our backs
straight.
Try this for yourself and just let your breath ease you into that
position. I have to be honest with you, I don‘t know if I was doing it
right or not. I seemed to be doing it okay and it sure did create a
profound difference. In fact, to make a comparison, easing yourself
into your center is just like easing yourself into a spa. Class was
great and I was having a lot of fun.
When it came time for the second class to begin, I stayed for that
class as well. Once again, Soke Draconis ran us through the same
techniques he had shown us in the first class. I noticed the second
class was considerably larger class than the one earlier and had
different people. Smitty and Eva showed up for this class and we all
took it together. Eva and Smitty really enjoyed the centering
exercise. We went through the entire class and as it came to the end,
Soke Draconis closed (as he did at the end of all his classes) with a
- 33 -
deep breathing five-minute meditation.
After class was over everyone stood around and talked for about 15
minutes. The building began to empty out. When nearly everyone
had left, Soke Draconis said, ―Brady, I would like to speak to you.
After your two classes today do you still feel comfortable with your
decision?‖ I responded, ―Yes, but there is one thing really puzzling
me. How did you know I really wanted to join?‖ Soke Draconis
clued me in, ―The simplest truth of life is that there is a motion in
everything we do. We limit our motion by second-guessing our
intentions. The first thing you think is normally the correct thing to
think.‖
When I left the building on that day in July of 1980, I felt a profound
feeling of warmth and sensed I had just changed my life for the
better. That impression would prove to be correct. Maximus said he
thought it sounded like things were really coming together for me, to
which I agreed.
At the next class with Soke Draconis, I found it very trying and
difficult to adjust to things. As fast and as strong as I was, I also had
a bit of an attitude, along with a rather large ego. I soon began to
find out how fragile my ego really was. I had gotten a little frisky
during class and started showing off. Soke Draconis had told me I
had very fast hands and that was a good thing. He said the problem I
had was I did not have the emotional control with which to guide all
that power. Since I could not control the power, the power was
controlling me. Under my breath I whispered, ―I don‘t know what
he meant. I didn‘t understand the lesson.‖ Soke Draconis looked
back at me calmly and decided perhaps a demonstration would be
best. He told me we learn best through our experiences and this
lesson was to be no different.
- 34 -
I need to mention here that at my first class, I had taken notice of a
girl named Melissa, who also attended the school. I had had a puppy
dog crush on her for at least the last two years. Although she did not
live directly in my area, she only lived about four blocks from my
neighborhood. I originally found this out because a friend of mine
knew her, even though they both went to a different school because
of the school busing program.
- 35 -
embarrassed I felt. It made me begin to wonder what Melissa was
thinking about me. I was feeling like an egg that was just cracked
and all of my substance was oozing out of me. I had just
encountered the falling of my ego.
We all know how it feels to have our ego crushed, especially when
we do it to ourselves. I was too tired to lift my hands to try to throw
even one more punch. Soke Draconis put his hands on my
shoulders. He stated that I had great ability, but just like everyone
else in the room, I had not learned the cornerstones of that ability
and what fuels it. Soke Draconis then made the comment, ―Don‘t
worry about your ego, Brady, it is far more egotistical to worry about
having an ego.‖ Well that made me feel bad and good at the same
time. The fact he had given me a way out with his little
announcement made me much more comfortable. I felt as if my
chances with Melissa were still intact and alive. Soke Draconis
asked me to stay for a while after everyone had left because he
would like to talk to me.
At the end of class, everyone cleaned the school from top to bottom.
Maximus said, ―Wait a minute! Why are you cleaning the school?
That doesn‘t seem right. Aren‘t there janitors for that?‖ I replied,
―That‘s true, but we do it because it helps keep the cost low for the
school. We made the mess and it‘s our responsibility to clean after
ourselves. Even Soke Draconis helped clean up after every class.
We just did it when we were there for our class. It did not take very
long at all because everyone had a small job to do. Those who
finished quickly went and helped the others. It was a very friendly
and effective way of keeping the school very clean. Everyone was a
contributor and felt they had a hand in the school, as it was
extremely family-oriented. Soke Draconis was kind of like the
father and it was all centered on him. We all grew in the presence of
his strength and understanding. He was always kind and quick to
- 36 -
encourage us, both in school and in life outside of class.
- 37 -
Chapter 3
R E C O N F I G U R AT I O N O F
CONSCIOUSNESS
After everyone had left, Soke Draconis and I had a meeting that was
really exciting and motivating. I felt as if I was going to launch right
out of my seat at any point in time. Soke Draconis began to explain
that I had the gift of charisma and a lot of abilities. He thought that
one day I would make a wonderful instructor. At that time, that
seemed too wild for me to comprehend, but I listened if only because
it was great for my bruised ego. He told me how the martial arts
were originally ―Bugei‖ (very military in nature), but that they later
evolved it into a sport competition. Soke Draconis thought that this
was the wrong application. He thought the martial arts had grown as
a sport, but not as a way to learn to improve the self. He then said
that the spiritual connections of the Bugei and the ―Budo‖ (more
spiritual and harmonious - less military), were right. It was far more
important to learn responsibility and the attainment of the higher
self. The important thing was to learn to create from within our
essence, that is, to learn to protect ourselves from violent conditions
and situations and to not attract those types of events into our life.
He explained that karma works to our advantage, rewarding right
- 38 -
action as well as punishing poor choices. Maximus said, ―I never
thought of it like that. This sounds fascinating, please continue with
what Soke Draconis told you.‖
- 39 -
you to clarify what truly matters in your life and to help relieve past
doubts and misunderstandings about those prior creations. You will
also be digging up painful experiences. You will encounter anchors
that block your happiness and are the reasons for all your failures in
the past as well. These anchors eventually make you think you ARE
the anchors. By empowering your conscious ability to make
decisions you can start on a new course of action instead of
following the old road maps that you know so well, especially the
ones that don‘t work for you.‖
- 40 -
R E C O N F I G U R AT I O N O F
CONSCIOUSNESS:
P E R S O N A L M E N TA L
BLUEPRINT
Date of Birth:
Age: Male or Female (circle one)
Height: Weight:
- 41 -
(1) Please give a spontaneous answer for each individual statement.
Life is:
Life is:
Life is:
Life is:
Life is:
If only I could:
If only I could:
If only I could:
If only I could:
If only I could:
- 42 -
(5) Please give a spontaneous answer for each individual statement.
My mother is a:
My mother is a:
My mother is a:
My mother is a:
My mother is a:
My father is a:
My father is a:
My father is a:
My father is a:
My father is a:
- 43 -
(9) Please give a spontaneous answer for each individual statement.
I can:
I can:
I can:
I can:
I can:
I cannot:
I cannot:
I cannot:
I cannot:
I cannot:
Grade School:
Jr. High School:
High School:
College:
Additional education:
- 44 -
(13) What is your informal education?
Subject:
Duration:
(16) Who inspired you in the hobbies and interests mentioned above?
- 45 -
(17) What skill have you picked up of which you are proud?
- 46 -
(21) About each accomplishment above, answer, with your feelings -
who was wrong about you?
(23) What ex-partner, if any, would you want back in your life? If
you could only make them do what?
(24) If you could take your ex-partner and your new partner and put
them together to make one partner, what would be the first thing
you would change? Why?
- 47 -
(25) What is your current employment? How did you get your job?
(28) What do you feel is the hardest aspect of your manager‘s job?
Why?
- 48 -
(29) What is the hardest part about your job? Why?
(30) Do you think your boss could do your job better or worse than
you could? Why?
- 49 -
(33) Complete these statements in a spontaneous way.
a) My family is:
b) My friends are:
c) My employment is:
- 50 -
e) My emotions are:
- 51 -
(34) Look at your answers and ask yourself, ―Do I feel this way, or do
I believe I am supposed to feel this way?
(36) If you could make someone believe five things about you, what
would they be? Why?
(37) If some of the answers from the following questions feel wrong
to you, but you thought you were doing the right thing, ask
yourself, ―Would I be happier dealing with this the way I do
now, or according to how I feel it should be?
- 52 -
(38) Please describe your marital status and how you feel about that:
(40) If you could take back the mistakes that you have made in the
past, how do you feel things would be different?
- 53 -
(42) How do you feel you could create this ideal relationship?
(43) List the names of your children and the current status of your
relationship with each of them:
Name: relationship:
Name: relationship:
Name: relationship:
Name: relationship:
Name: relationship:
Name: relationship:
(44) What interest and purpose are you trying to teach your children
for a better future?
(45) What is your mother‘s name, and what is your current status with
her?
- 54 -
(46) If you feel your relationship with your mother could be better,
explain how. Then, explain how you are going to achieve this:
(47) If your current status with your mother is good, speculate how it
could be better and how you plan to do this:
(48) What is your father‘s name and what is your current status with
him?
(49) If you feel your relationship with your father could be better,
explain how, and then explain how you are going to achieve this:
- 55 -
(50) If your current status with your father is good, speculate on how
it could be better, and how you plan to do this:
(51) Beginning as far back as you can remember, what were the major
events of your life? Give spontaneous answers: 3 years old to
10 years old:
- 56 -
(54) 26 years old to 40 years old:
(57) For each of the answers above, whom did you think about most
during each period? Be spontaneous with your answer:
- 57 -
(58) What period of time did you like best, and why?
(59) What did you stop doing in your life that you love to do and
why?
- 58 -
(62) How do you feel about that?
(63) List the people in your life who have had the most influence on
you. Why?
(64) List the people you consider the most supportive of you:
- 59 -
(66) List the people you consider the least supportive of you:
- 60 -
(71) What are your frequent worries and what do you feel would
eliminate them?
(73) What are your weaknesses? Why do you think they are
weaknesses?
(74) How do you feel you could turn your weaknesses into strengths?
(Use your imagination.) To put it another way, how could your
weaknesses be useful? Are they serving a purpose for you now?
- 61 -
(For example, part of you could be using fear of challenges as a
way to protect you from failure.):
(77) Whom would you want to present the award to you? Why?
- 62 -
(78) Who would you want most to know about your award? Why?
(80) How did that thing become most important to you? Why?
- 63 -
(82) What hurts you the most? Why?
(83) Besides yourself, who would you like to see succeed? Why?
(84) If you could have five people in your life apologize to you, who
would they be? Why?
(85) So often, we have said, ―If I had known then what I know now, I
would never have done the things that I have done.‖ Think about
- 64 -
that area of your life when you have felt like this and write it
down:
(87) What do you feel it would take to gain control of and eliminate
these fears?
(88) Acknowledge that you have beliefs about yourself and write the
ones that you work through in your daily life:
- 65 -
(89) After you identify your beliefs, write which ones you learned
from personal experiences and which ones you feel were
indoctrinated into you:
(90) Take a moment and speculate what the world would be like if we
all had the same beliefs. How would that feel?
(91) If you decide that we do not have the same beliefs, what does
that tell you about the nature of reality?
- 66 -
(93) Now, after answering that last question, what do you feel comes
first, the beliefs or the experiences?
(94) Do you feel most people are too judgmental of other‘s beliefs?
(96) Let us assume for a moment that beliefs are the most powerful
building tools of the world. What would you build? Be
imaginative and enjoy:
- 67 -
(97) Why did you want to build what you built in your last question?
(100) If beliefs do control our experiences, then how does that change
things?
- 68 -
(101) Where do you place most of your attention during the day? How
many main centers of attention do you think you have, on the
average, each day?
(104) If you had to explain your life to someone, how would you
describe it and how does it feel when you describe it?
- 69 -
(105) Do you feel that your spiritual principles are your own, absorbed
from some particular writers or acquaintances, or have they been
indoctrinated into you? When you decide, please explain:
- 70 -
Maximus wanted further clarification again, ―I‘d like to be clear on
this issue. Could you give me an example?‖ I enjoyed that he was
asking questions, ―Sure. Think of yourself in this manner. Perhaps
you have an idea of what being a son is, and you act accordingly.
Then you have another idea of what it means to be a friend, and you
act accordingly. Then to be a father, you act in another manner. To
be an employee, or an owner or manager, you act another way, and
so on.‖ Maximus saw the point, ―You‘re right, I never thought of it
that way. What else can you tell me about this experience?‖ I
replied that the most important thing to remember is no matter what
you think, and what you believe, and whatever results create from
your beliefs, you are only the observer in the experience and the
creator of the space for them to happen. I can actually tell you quite
a bit about the experience itself, but I‘m not the only one who has
experienced this.‖ Maximus asked, ―You aren‘t?‖ I told him, ―No,
let me explain. The exercise I performed created a profound shift in
me. I was really curious to see if anyone else had experienced
something similar, so I began to ask questions the next day.‖
- 71 -
I like you a lot as a friend. I did not know how to confront those
fears and the fact you kept confirming them. In a way, Brady, I
attribute much of my success to you.‖ I asked surprised, ―To me?
Really?‖ He told me, ―Yes, if it were not for my sincere desire to
beat you at something I would not have explored so many different
areas of my life. In fact, because I did have that need to beat you at
something it made me explore many things I would never have
thought of myself.‖
I chuckled, ―That is all very interesting, but I have two things to say
about that. One, I have not heard the fat lady sing yet. Two, you are
a long way from Black Belt territory yourself. So the way I see it, I
may be two belts down, but just know this, when you go home
- 72 -
sleeping or are out visiting your friends, or doing whatever it is you
do, know that every waking moment that I am awake, not sleeping or
at work, I will be putting in time at that school. And even if I don‘t
get there before you, it is possible for me to get there right at the
same time. Remember, Soke Draconis told us he counts time in two
ways. He counts how long you have actually been in the martial arts
with him, but more importantly, he also counts how many hours you
put in. So while you may put in only three hours a week, Brian, I
will put in ten or twelve.‖ A puzzled look came over Brian just then,
and I could see there was a moment of weakness. Like the lion that
was going to bring down a prize gazelle, I was going to exploit that
weakness. I realized at that moment that Brian questioned his own
passion to commit to such a course of discipline as I had. Brian then
smiled at me and said, ―I think perhaps we should both go back and
redo the ―Reconfiguration of Consciousness‖ exercise.
After Brian and I finished bullying and playing with each other, I
went to the other end of the store and stacked the apples. I looked
around and there were people everywhere laughing and joking. I
was quite impressed by how busy the store was. I never realized
how both the operations Smitty ran in the one location were so busy.
After I was done stacking apples, there were boxes to cut up for the
dumpster, so I continued on. There were so many shipments coming
into that store every day, a man could have a full-time job just
cutting the boxes up.
- 73 -
thoughts on it?‖ I told him that I found it very insightful. Smitty
said, ―It brought up a lot of things about me that I really didn‘t know.
I will be honest with you, Brady, I think this is about the deepest
thing I ever did. As I went through the exercise, I kept feeling like
somebody was taking one-pound dumbbells off my shoulders. I was
actually beginning to feel lighter and lighter. Anyway, I just wanted
to see if you had done the exercise. Your taking those martial arts
classes is the reason that we got the ambition to do it.‖ Smitty
laughed, ―Soke Draconis sure is something, isn‘t he?‖ I agreed he
was.
After work, I went over to the dojo. I walked into the school and
saw Soke Draconis was in his office. I could see he was signing up
two more guys, and there were three girls and another guy waiting
on the benches outside his office. I walked in and Larry was there
along with another man, a brown-belt named Michael. I asked Larry
and Michael if they had done the ―Reconfiguration of
Consciousness‖ exercise. They both said they had performed the
exercise and professed it was what allowed them to get where they
were now. I do not know why I asked this next question. I just did.
―Is Soke Draconis‘ self-help material the only thing you studied?‖
―Absolutely not! We read many self-help experts. Soke Draconis
advises us to study as much as we can. He pushes for growth
outside of the dojo in all ways,‖ they explained. I thought to myself,
―I might just have to look a little more into this self-help course, this
Creotology way of thinking.‖
- 74 -
thinking I had completed the process! I needed to redo the
―Reconfiguration of Consciousness‖ procedure some more. As I
worked through the process again, I noticed my answers had
changed. I discovered we need to keep digging most of the time for
the real answers. One thing was for certain, it was really working.
After I came back to the dojo the next day and began my meeting
with Soke Draconis, he realized I had made it through the exercise
and could tell it had affected me deeply. He told me my experience
would make me more effective at handling other people‘s problems
as well. Essentially, we all want and need much of the same things.
When you can learn to extend help to yourself in an unconditional
way then you can learn to do the same to others. Soke Draconis
said, ―It is a very interesting thing about dissolving beliefs. If you
are not careful you could dissolve your entire Universe.‖
He adjusted his large frame in the big solid oak chair that he had
made himself. The chair was very comfortable - which is something
- 75 -
he did not mind telling you. The reason I know this is because he
told me that so many times I could only hope maybe the day would
come when he would let me sit in his chair. He gave me a smirk,
―It‘s okay, don‘t feel bad, Brady, I allow no one to sit in my chair.‖
This was his sense of humor. In an ironic change of voice, I said to
Maximus, ―To know him is to love him.‖ Maximus gave a small
grin and nodded his head.
Soke rubbed his goatee and relaxed deeply. Then with confidence,
he let out a moan of contentment. Then there was only silence for
about a minute. I could feel the quietness in the air and the energy
bubbles in the room popping and fizzing in and out of existence, like
awareness and consciousness. It felt as if one moment I was there
and the next moment I was gone. Soke leaned forward and broke the
silence that was creepy enough to have felt almost as if a spell was
cast and then broken. Then he said, ―Enough for tonight, go home
and rest. You have had a hard day and you need your time to do as
you please.‖ He always had a way of making you feel busy and
important, even if you did nothing at all.
Maximus asked what I thought about after that meeting. I told him I
went home, taking in the nice summer air and the images of the
night, the neighborhood, and the world seemed to be lifting off my
shoulders. I felt more space around me then than I had at any other
time in my life. I felt some type of movement around me. Although
I was unsure of what it was, I had no doubt it was there. After I
made it home that night, I lay in bed and thought about the things
that Soke Draconis had said to me. I contemplated our conversation
and all the things that he and I had discussed. I wondered what my
spirit was, what it did, and how it did it, and even why it did it. The
weird and stunning thought came into my head, ―If I can experience
myself in so many ways, why wouldn‘t my spirit be able to do the
same thing? Is my spirit only one-dimensional, or is it like a
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receiving and processing form of intelligence that can multi-task and
work on the stratum and the datum level?‖ Yes, I did learn those
two words that Soke Draconis used by looking them up in the
dictionary. Understanding the meaning of those words made things
begin opening up for me and started me questioning the magnitude
of my existence.
Maximus then said, ―This school, this martial arts, it isn‘t a cult or
anything, is it? It seems very spiritual.‖ I acknowledged his
observation, ―That is an excellent question. Things that congregate
under the same beliefs are a cult. The difference here is there are no
beliefs that you have to believe. There is no rigid format about
acting a particular way in order to prevent something bad from
happening to you. We present self-exploration through exercises
that allow you and only you to examine and determine your own
beliefs. Whatever you decide to believe is okay with everyone here.
We just don‘t go into the God principle. We only train the spirit in
this so-called physical life. Whatever your belief in God, whatever
you think he or she is, it‘s always okay with us and always will be.
There is no exception to that.‖ Maximus said, ―Well, that‘s nice to
hear.‖ I assured him, ―Don‘t worry, I understand.‖ Then Maximus
asked, ―What happened the next day?‖
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Chapter 4
After class was over, I wanted to speak to Soke Draconis, but the
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Soke was not there yet. I then asked Sensei Greg if I could wait for
Soke in his office in one of the big comfortable chairs. Sensei Greg
said that would be fine. This Sensei didn‘t have the impressiveness
of size that Soke did. He was only about five foot ten, with brown
hair and brown eyes. His hair was collar length and very well
groomed with no beard or mustache. He was of medium build,
about one hundred eighty pounds, and in great shape. He had a
black gi on and black belt with white gi pants. If you have never
been in the martial arts before, this is a very cool thing that all of the
people want to do. Everyone wants to wear a black gi top with white
bottoms or vice versa, because the only thing the lower ranks could
wear is plain white. Sensei Greg was very soft-spoken, but also very
enthusiastic.
After Sensei Greg let me into Soke‘s office, I began to look at his
chair. I had never really noticed it before, but it truly was quite
remarkable. As I sat there, the light from the window shone across
it. The upholstery was black and trimmed in gold. It was built and
fashioned after the Old English throne chairs. It did seem to have a
slight Gothic look to it, but very beautiful and most definitely
something in which a king would sit. The chair had about it what I
could only describe as an aura, a real presence. While I was in the
room I noticed that it was very quiet and calm. Before I knew it, I
found myself getting very sleepy. I did not understand the feeling of
sleep coming over me, only that the atmosphere in the building was
so warm and inviting it was creating a feeling of a relaxed flow. It
just seemed to make you want to go to sleep. I did not resist. I just
followed that energy. I just let go and then I had this remarkable
dream.
It was extremely lucid and all was centered around me and from me.
I was experiencing many feelings and emotions. Everything existed
from my point of reference and all space and time were only ideas
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that existed at certain points of opportunity. I created those
opportunities. Everything had a flow that just could not sway me in
any way because I was in the control center and my individual
Universe was growing by leaps and bounds. What an incredible
feeling. The feeling was unstoppable, but then I thought, why would
anyone want to stop it? There was no need to stop it. I just
experienced the vibrations, and the warm inviting rush from the
experiences that came in at all times. There was no death, only
concepts that can be controlled. I could hear myself thinking, ―Let it
go, let it go,‖ but I did not feel like I was holding on to anything,
only the creative energy. I also began to sense the vibration of the
edge of my creational space. With each new thought, there was
another expansion in my Universe and borders were forever
expanding. Then I began to understand that this must be what the
spirit feels like. It has no judgments or associations. It has no lower
nature physical qualities. It does not hate. It does not feel
jealousies. It does not feel inadequate. I thought it would be
amazing to exist like that in the here and now, as we perceive it. I
began to feel the flowing energy of Soke Draconis enter the room
right before he woke me up.
I awoke energized and alive and I truly felt like I could conquer all
things. Soke Draconis asked me if I had had a good dream, and if it
was vivid in detail. I asked, ―How did you know I was dreaming?‖
He explained we are always dreaming, just at different levels of
participation. He then gave me that coy little smile of his, ―We do
have more than one level of consciousness, you know.‖ I said,
―Maybe I experienced astral projection.‖ He asked me, ―Where did
you project to?‖ He smiled and when I asked why he was smiling,
he said, ―In order to astral-project, your spirit would have to be in
your body. Your spirit, itself, would have to be in full control. In
order to do that you would have to know exactly what the spirit is.‖
I would have to have a moment later to think about everything he
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had just said to me. I had read many astral projection books, but I
could not deny the sense his statements made.
Before I could say another word, Soke Draconis said, ―Not right
now, please hold that thought. We have other things to discuss
before we go into something like astral projection.‖ I said, ―Like
what?‖ Soke Draconis said, ―You have a job now, new hobbies,
new friends and a chance at a great education. In order for you to be
able to take full advantage of the situation you find yourself in, it is
going to be imperative you design a personal mission statement.‖ I
asked, ―What is a personal mission statement?‖ Soke Draconis then
explained to me that it was a wonderful way to evolve a
consciousness. He explained how when you write out a personal
mission statement, you always start with your long-term goals. Your
long-term goals should be in direct proportion to what your personal
dreams are. He said, ―The best way to achieve any goal is to
understand exactly why you want this goal and what this goal is
going to do for you and others. Our personal goals are what control
our personal level of determination and that determination will be
the very thing that decides what we truly get. The thing that pulls us
into what we truly want in life is personality and essence.‖
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Tell me what they are?‖ ―How about we make up flyers that
describe exactly what we are going to do and let‘s put on that flyer -
Goals and Obstacles, Essence and Personality. Do you know the
difference? If not, that could be what is holding you back. Come to
the Soke Draconis School of Martial Arts on Saturday, June 28th, at
2:00 in the afternoon. There will be free beverages and free
barbeque.‖
Soke saw the value of my idea, ―You know, Brady, you have an
interesting marketing head on you. How would you like to be in
charge of this?‖ I had never before felt such a sense of pride, and I
had the sheer tenacity to seize the moment of opportunity and make
it become something special. The Soke was going to entrust me
with this. I was not going to miss this opportunity to grow. ―There
are a few things I will need,‖ I told him, my mind already reeling.
He said, ―That‘s good. What‘s the first thing you will do?‖ I told
him that it seemed only logical to me that I write down the goal
describing what I want to accomplish and what exactly I want the
end result to be. Then I‘d create a material list of what I would need
to get it done. Soke Draconis then asked, ―What else?‖ I was
thinking fast on my feet now, ―I could use some help to get some
things done, but I‘m sure some of the students will kick-in to help.
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I‘ll need some money in order to purchase materials.‖
I practically ran out the door and then did run for about four blocks,
straight to a printer who ran a store called Macy Printing Shop. The
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owner was a man named Tom Macy. He was a big man, about six
foot one and weighed close to three hundred pounds, with sandy
brown hair and blue eyes. I knew that he had two boys close to my
age who might be interested in studying the martial arts. I entered
the printing shop to introduce myself.
Mr. Macy was standing at the front desk and said, ―Hello, Brady,
how are you?‖ I was genuinely surprised, ―I am shocked that you
know my name.‖ He told me his boys had pointed me out several
times before. He stated, ―You‘re very strong and a great athlete.‖ I
think I may have blushed, ―I‘m flattered. In fact, athletics is part of
the reason I am here today. Have you ever heard of Soke Draconis‘
Martial Arts School? That is the place down on Belmont in the
brown brick building. I am taking martial arts classes down there
now, and I feel it has changed my life. I have learned how to fight
so that I do not have to fight. It teaches me great responsibility. I
am in control of my destiny.‖ Mr. Macy said his boys could use a
little of that. I sensed this was my cue, ―Well, it is interesting that
you say that, because I came here to strike a business deal with you.
If you can give me 5,000 flyers printed with what I need them to say,
and you bear the cost, I will give both of your sons a free one-month
membership to the martial arts school. They can come every single
day of that month if they want to.‖
Mr. Macy smiled broadly, ―That sounds like an excellent deal. I will
do it under one condition. Are there any people down there my age
taking the martial arts?‖ I replied excitedly, ―Of course there are!‖
He asked hesitantly, ―Do you think you could let me have one of
those one-month memberships as well? Perhaps I could come down
to the school and participate in that hobby with my boys. I have
been really looking for something that we could all do together.‖ I
felt as if I was on a roll, ―I will do better than that. For another 5,000
flyers, I will give you your own 30-day membership plus two other
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30-day memberships that you can give to whoever you want, but
each person is only allowed to use one membership.‖ He knew a
good arrangement when he heard one, ―That‘s a deal. When do you
need your flyers?‖ I told him what I wanted them to say and asked
how quickly I could have them. He replied with joy, ―How about
tomorrow afternoon? I will put a rush on them.‖ I felt very proud,
―Mr. Macy, here are your memberships.‖ We looked each other in
the eye, shook hands, and that was all there was to that.
As I ran back (I was walking and running a lot those days), I passed
old man Elmer‘s bicycle shop. He had a brand new Huffy ten-speed
bicycle on display and I thought that it sure would make getting
around a lot easier for me. It would also save wear and tear on my
shoes. My Mom was always complaining that I was going through
shoes too fast anyway. I went into old man Elmer‘s bicycle shop
and asked Mr. Elmer how much the bike cost. He replied cheerfully
that it was $65. I thought to myself, ―Since I am in the world of high
finance now, I could probably afford that bike.‖
Mr. Elmer asked what I was doing that day. I explained to him that I
was responsible for a special promotion and that I was out running
some errands in support of making it all happen. Mr. Elmer was
curious and asked what the special promotion was about, so I told
him that it was for Soke Draconis on Belmont Street. Mr. Elmer
commented to me that he knew Soke. I decided to share with Mr.
Elmer what had me so excited, ―He is putting on a special
presentation this Saturday. He is going to teach us about goals and
obstacles and about personality and essence.‖ Mr. Elmer thought a
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moment, ―In other words, it is a self-help seminar. That‘s something
I wouldn‘t mind listening to.‖
Right then, I had another great idea, ―That is exactly what it is Mr.
Elmer. Would you be willing to barter for one of your nice ten-
speeds that you have here?‖ He hesitated briefly, ―I don‘t know.
What do you have to barter?‖ I asked if it was true that most of his
business is selling to kids and their parents. ―Why of course,‖ he
answered, ―the kids are a huge part of my business.‖ ―If you could
entice them to buy a ten-speed, they could have a free 30-day
membership to the Soke Draconis Martial Arts School.‖ He asked
me how much the cost was for the classes at the school. I looked
him squarely in the eye and blurted out, "$65!‖ He was excited now,
―That is exactly what the bike costs!‖ I was thinking quickly on my
feet again, ―I could give you ten 30-day memberships to the school,
and you could give them to whoever you want, or, I have another
idea. You could sell ten bicycles with a free one-month pass
attached to each one. That way, whoever buys the bike is getting a
$130 value for only $65.‖ He seemed pleased, ―That is a great idea.‖
Then I suggested, ―If you want to make some flyers you could bring
them to the self-help course on Saturday and pass them out.‖
Mr. Elmer sat down for a moment, rubbed his baldhead, and thought
about it. I could tell he was excited as he recognized my offer held
validity for him. He asked if I could get Soke Draconis to sanction
the plan. I asked him to let me use the phone in the shop. Mr. Elmer
took me into the back room where I called Soke Draconis and
explained the whole thing to him. Soke Draconis thought it was a
great idea that I had the merchants working together, and that for all
my work and effort, I deserved something out of it. As I put the
phone down, I told Mr. Elmer that if he agreed then Soke Draconis
agreed. Mr. Elmer made his decision quickly, ―All right, Brady,
you‘ve got a deal. Not only am I going to bring flyers to the school
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on Saturday, but I am going to stay for the seminar myself.‖
I took out my passes and counted out ten of them. I authorized them
and explained how we would not date them until Mr. Elmer actually
sold the bikes. Then all he would need to do is validate the passes so
the expiration date was 30-days from the date of purchase. Mr.
Elmer was smiling, ―I want to thank you Brady. This is a great
opportunity for me also.‖ I handed him his memberships and he
said, ―Come on, Brady, let‘s go pick out your bike.‖ I was so
excited. I picked out a black Huffy ten-speed. As he was taking it
off the rack for me, Mr. Elmer made sure both tires were filled up
correctly and holding air. He even threw in a free water bottle
holder for me. He gave me the bill of sale for the bike, we shook
hands, and I was on my way. Now that I could really get around,
there was no stopping me.
I went back to the dojo and told Soke I needed to use a phone, so he
took me downstairs to the basement. There was a little desk and
chair down there already and he plugged in a phone for me to use.
Right away, I called several of the members who I knew their phone
numbers from memory. I told them what was going on and asked if
they could help me get the word out about the event. Then they
called their friends who were members and told them about the
upcoming affair too.
At 9:00 the next morning, about 30 of us met at the school and let
everyone know the whole plan. I laid everything out, explained that
I had to be at work before noon, but I needed someone who could go
to Mr. Macy‘s printing shop and pick up the 10,000 flyers. Brian
immediately offered to take care of this.
The next task was going to be a little harder, ―We need to look at a
map and figure out how many houses we can cover passing out these
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flyers in groups of two. Sempai Larry and Sempai Michael offered
their help and they seemed like the right guys to get the job done,
―Good, you two are in charge of that. We need people who can start
passing out flyers today.‖ So, we organized the groups and figured
out how many flyers each group needed, figured out how many
streets we would cover and how far out we would go from the
school. It was decided that covering the direction of the four winds
would be best. We broke up the groups into teams and that way we
had all four directions covered.
After I got off work that evening, I went to the school, got on the
phone in the basement, and I called everybody to get a progress
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report. To my surprise, they said that they had already passed out
5,000 of the flyers on that same day. They also informed me that
they would pass out the other 5,000 tomorrow. I was so excited I
hung up the phone and ran up the stairs to Soke Draconis and I told
him of the great news. Soke Draconis was elated, ―Brady, I am
extremely impressed. You are really quite the little businessman.‖ I
shared with him, ―Well, it is a great cause, and it is something I truly
believe in.‖ Soke Draconis understood what I meant, ―Yes, it feels
good to work with essence.‖ It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had
experienced exactly what it feels like to be working from within
your essence. Soke Draconis gave me a little smile because he had
realized it also. He confirmed, ―It feels good, doesn‘t it?‖ I said,
―Absolutely incredible!‖ ―Why don‘t you go outside and lay down
for about 20 or 30 minutes and let that feeling integrate inside of
you? That way you can always remember what it feels like to work
within your essence and feel the passion of life.‖
As I lay out in front on the mat, looking out the big picture window,
I thought to myself, "I could never imagine the experience of life to
be any better than this.‖ I got up after about 30 minutes and told
Soke Draconis I was leaving. I bowed to him and went out the back
door, got on my new bike, and away I rode. I decided to ride my
bike around and show it to some friends. As I was riding, I felt the
sun upon my face and the wind in my hair. It was a remarkable
feeling to know I had gotten to where I was right then by making the
correct decisions and following through.
I saw some friends of mine about a half block ahead of me. It was
Brian and Doug together with a guy named Timmy, so I stopped to
talk. We ended up going down to the park about a block from where
we had met up. When we got down there the park was almost
empty. Both ends of the basketball court were completely empty
and someone had replaced each of the nets on the basketball court.
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Man, this was great. I parked my bike away from the basketball
court, and we played basketball, two on two, for several hours. As
night came, I got on my bike and rode home.
I put my bike up in the garage, locked both doors, went inside and
told my mom about the bike I had now. She thought that was a
wonderful thing. That was the first time I could recall my mother
giving me a real compliment. She told me that it was very clever
how I obtained that bike instead of following some of the other male
role models in the family, which she quickly added, were not many.
―Maybe your calling is to be a businessman or a salesman. I hear
they make great money.‖ I agreed with her, ―Yes, maybe a salesman
or a businessman.‖
I took a shower and went to bed, as I was very tired. I woke up the
next morning at 7:30, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to go.
After taking my shower and eating breakfast, which consisted of
oatmeal and cinnamon with a cut up banana, I unlocked the garage
and took out my bike. I checked both tires and then I was off.
I went to the library and waited for about 15 minutes for them to
open. The librarian, Mrs. Donaldson, opened the door promptly at
eight. She was a short woman who stood about five foot five, brown
hair, brown eyes and a medium build. I went inside and I asked her
where I could find books on business and sales. I looked through the
books for a half an hour just opening one or another and glancing
through them. Finally, I picked up two books that appeared
interesting and since I had some time I sat inside within the air-
conditioning and read a few chapters. When I got up and walked
down the book aisle, I could not believe my eyes. There was
Melissa sitting at a table.
I had never been able to talk to her before, but it was time to change
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all that. I went up to the table and introduced myself to her. She
replied, ―Silly, I know who you are, we take the same martial arts
class.‖ I said I was just trying to be well mannered by introducing
myself first. She giggled, ―I already know who you are so you
cannot introduce yourself to me.‖ ―Yes,‖ I blushed, ―that makes
very good sense.‖ I laughed aloud and so did she. She said, ―I heard
about what you are doing with the barbeque this weekend at the
school. I think that‘s great.‖ I felt proud, ―Yes, I think I have a flair
for it, so I am reading these books to see what I can learn.‖ She
thought that was a fantastic idea. I wanted to know what she was
reading so I asked her. She told me, ―I am reading a novel by Steven
King.‖ I took notice, ―Oh, you like scary movies?‖ She said she
loved them.
We sat and talked for another 30 minutes and then we both read for
about 30 more. For some reason, and I could not explain why, I felt
it was time to go. I told her to have a good day and I would see her
in class later. We exchanged smiles and were on our way. I rode
around until about 9:30 that morning.
I arrived at the school and Soke Draconis was not there. A guy and a
girl were outside of the school sitting on the steps. I pulled up on the
sidewalk next to the steps where they were sitting, being very careful
not to get my bike on Soke Draconis‘ grass. (He was very particular
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about his grass.) I asked them who they were and what they wanted.
They said they had seen the flyer and that they wanted to join the
school. I introduced myself, ―My name is Brady, I‘m a student here
myself. It does not look like Soke Draconis is here yet, but I could
let you into the school if you want to come in and wait for him. I
would be more than glad to wait with you.‖
I let them know that it would be $130 for the first month for both of
them and every month after that it would only be $100 each month
and that would cover them both. I explained to them this was a 36-
month agreement, and that if they signed it, they are obligated for the
full 36 months. They assured me that they understood and then they
signed the contract. I gave them their copy and they gave me a
check for $130. I gave them a receipt out of Soke Draconis‘
checkbook and informed them, ―I will be right back with your
uniforms.‖
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I was in Soke Draconis‘ office getting into his closet, which I have to
admit I was very nervous about, and I heard Soke Draconis talking
to Richard and Katie. All three of them were laughing it up and
joking. I brought out two uniforms, handed them each one, and
shook their hands. I welcomed them to our school, then wrote down
their first class and gave them both the traditional shake. They left
the building happy and bouncing. I thought to myself about how the
atmosphere was so contagious, but then my thoughts went back to
the situation at hand, and I began to wonder if perhaps I had
overstepped my bounds. Soke Draconis smiled, looked at me, and
politely asked if he could see me in his office.
―Well, once we got into the office, I asked Soke Draconis if I could
talk first.‖ Soke did not seem to be concerned, ―Absolutely.‖ I
began explaining my actions, ―I had no right to sign those people up
because I realize I am not an authorized representative of the school.
I might have said something wrong that would have stopped them
from joining the school. Sitting here thinking about it now it seems
it was a foolish thing to do on my part. I was really just trying to
sign them up to help you out, and I truly enjoy talking to people.‖
Soke Draconis then said, ―Brady, you have nothing to apologize for.
What you did took a lot of initiative and more things become lost by
indecision. You are a representative of the school, and you are a
student, so who best to tell other potential students about the school
than the students themselves. You knew the cost of the classes and
the location of all the needed contracts. The only problem is that
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you are too young for your signature to be legal in a court of law.
That is easy to remedy because when they come back tomorrow
night for their first class, I will just take all their information from
this contract and have them sign it again. I will sign in your place.
Other than that, there is no problem at all. In fact, more and more I
am beginning to see one undeniable fact about you young man. You
have what some people refer to in certain circles as a golden tongue,
the gift of gab, and that is important. Contrary to a popular belief,
that may be one skill that cannot be taught. Some people are just
naturally better at it than others are. I think you are definitely one of
them.‖
I gave Soke Draconis the progress report saying, ―Today the other
5,000 flyers will be passed out and after today all 10,000 flyers will
have been handed out. In fact, would you like to hear some other
good news? That couple that we just signed up came in because of
my flyer.‖ Soke Draconis smiled and asked, ―Is that a fact?‖ I felt
good telling him, ―Yes, that is what they told me.‖ Soke then
reached into his pocket and handed me $25. I was shocked, ―Soke,
what is this for?‖ He looked like a proud father, ―You are a working
man, and you deserve to be paid. That is your commission on that
deal.‖ I asked Soke what a commission was. He informed me that a
commission is a percentage that you make as a salesman whenever
you sell something. This is not something I had expected to happen,
―Soke, I cannot take this.‖ He let me know, ―You can, and you will.
You have earned it. It is yours and that is the end of that story.‖
I had already been around long enough to realize that when Soke
Draconis said that it is the end of the story, then that is absolutely the
end of the story. I accepted the $25, although I felt awkward, but I
had to admit it was sweet putting that money into my pocket just for
talking to somebody about something that I would have talked about
for free. I thought to myself, ―Oh, if somebody wants to pay me to
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talk, they had better watch out, because talking is the one thing I
know I can do!‖
During work, Mr. Smitty asked me how things were going. I let him
know that things were going great and told him about the
memberships I had sold. He said, ―You really are getting into the
world of big business.‖ We both laughed.
When I went to the school after work, Soke was in the office talking
to two people and there were three other people out on the bench
waiting. My first thought was that we had a rush on people signing
up. I then noticed that they all had flyers in their hands. The flyer
did not say anything about enrolling for the classes it only explained
we were having a self-help promotion. I then wondered what a flyer
could do if it was aimed directly at signing people up. I put that
thought away, for the moment, and introduced myself to the three
people sitting there as both a student of the school and Soke‘s
assistant. If you think I did not feel big saying that, you are sadly
mistaken. They all said they would like to see about signing up to
take classes at the school. I asked them if they had taken martial arts
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before. They all said they had not, so I pulled up a chair and I asked
all three of them to scoot in a little closer. I asked each of them to
tell me why they wanted to take the martial arts. I got the normal
answers about wanting to learn to defend themselves and for
exercise.
After talking for about a half an hour, answering their questions, and
explaining the schedule, I asked them straight out if they were ready
to join. All three of them said ―yes‖ they were ready to get started. I
tapped on Soke Draconis‘ door and heard him call out for me to
come in. I announced, ―Soke, I am very sorry to bother you, Sir, but
I have three new members outside right now who want to sign up. I
need membership agreements, release forms, three gi uniforms, and
the receipt book.‖ Soke nodded and gestured, ―Brady, take what you
need, and while you are at it, welcome Cindy and Charlie to the
school. They just enrolled in the school too.‖ So I welcomed them
to the school, got the material I needed and got out of Soke‘s office.
Just as I completed signing up Melinda, Gary, and Richie, and saw
them towards the door, Brian entered the room.
Brian was aghast, ―What are you doing signing those people up?‖
With a strong look of self-confidence, I looked Brian right in his
eyes and proclaimed in a loud and authoritative voice, ―I am Soke
Draconis‘ new assistant.‖ Now Brian looked shocked, ―What?‖ I
gloated, ―Perhaps you did not hear me. I am Soke‘s personal
assistant.‖ ―How did you do that?‖ Brian asked in amazement. I
said, ―Because, as usual, I am me, and not you.‖ Brian looked back
at me with a despicable look on his face. He said, ―I am absolutely
convinced of it now. Your blond hair and blue eyes, and always
seeming to get everything to go your way, I am convinced of it.‖ I
took the bait and asked, ―Convinced of what?‖ ―You are the anti-
Christ,‖ he said. I was smirking now, ―You flatter me, but you don‘t
really have to because I like you anyway.‖
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Soke Draconis came out of the room and walked the two new
students to the front door. When Soke came back down the hallway,
Brian immediately spoke to him. Soke and Brian did the handshake
and then Brian asked Soke Draconis if it was true. Soke replied, ―Is
what true?‖ ―Is Brady really your personal assistant?‖ Brian was
demanding to know. Soke Draconis said, ―I guess you could look at
it that way.‖ I showed Soke the three new contracts, each one of
them with the enrollment fees attached to them along with the
receipts. Soke then affirmed, ―Congratulations, Brady, that is
another $75 you just made!‖
Brian‘s face turned deep red, and when Soke stepped away, he
stepped up to me and exclaimed, ―That‘s it! I‘m going to rain my
vengeance down upon you. You and me, tonight, on the mat.‖ I
enjoyed the fact that I had got to him, ―You are going to lose. Why
put yourself in that situation?‖ Brian replied, ―Because I have to,‖
then he turned and left. I knew that although we were friends, there
were bad intentions behind that statement. I just could not bring
myself to be scared, so I walked into Soke Draconis‘ office and
made him aware of the situation with Brian. Soke Draconis laughed
and said, ―You two kids will learn, eventually.‖
Then Soke really made my day, ―You are going to need an office,
Brady.‖ I thought, ―Me? With my own office?‖ I was only used to
seeing bankers and people who owned their own business have
offices. There was one part of the school that I had never been into
prior to that day. As you walk through the training room, about
three feet before you get to the back wall, you make an immediate
right hand turn and that is Soke‘s office. He had a big picture
window there so he could see the whole training room from his
office. If you walked about eight to nine feet beyond Soke‘s office,
there was another door that remained locked. Soke unlocked and
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opened that door and revealed a room just big enough for a desk, my
chair, two other chairs and a file cabinet. It had a phone jack and
Soke told me that it was in working order. The room just needed to
be cleaned and some boxes moved out of it.
That evening after class, the Smitty‘s came in. I walked over to
them and said that Soke, and I, would like to speak with them. They
calmly listened as we explained the whole situation to them. Mr.
Smitty, with a very happy look on his face said, ―I think that is a
splendid idea. There‘s nothing to feel bad about, Brady. You are
getting a raise plus commission. You are moving up in the world,
son, and that is what it is all about.‖ Smitty looked at Soke Draconis
and said, ―So the kid is really good, huh?‖ Soke answered him,
―Well, he has sold five memberships in two days, never having been
taught how to sell. On top of that, the five people that signed up did
so after having seen the flyers.‖ Smitty said, ―My goodness, he does
have a gift. This is definitely good for you.‖
Then Smitty turned to me, ―If you have any suggestions for
increasing my business, please let me know. I am always looking
for new ideas.‖ I grinned, ―Actually I do have one. Being a
customer and an employee, I was able to look at the situation from
both points of view. If you notice, when people are standing in your
produce aisle, they are always picking up the produce and feeling if
it is soft. If it is not they set it back down.‖ Smitty was listening
intently, ―Yes, I hate that, they bruise my produce.‖ I continued,
―My one idea is kind of split into two parts. Have your produce guy,
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who really knows what fresh produce is supposed to look like, go
through the produce every day. Have him take out the un-ripened or
bruised produce and place it in a separate pile away from the fresh
produce, and then discount it slightly because it is already bruised or
un-ripe. Then have someone standing there with a fresh produce
plate and a little bit of cheese dip and that way people can taste how
fresh your produce is. There is no need to sort through the produce
to find the good stuff because all the good stuff is right there in the
front, and all the damaged and un-ripened produce is discounted.‖
Smitty said, ―That is a great idea and we are going to try it
immediately. You don‘t have to give me a two-week notice. I
understand the situation. It won‘t be hard to find someone who
wants a job. You can pick up your final paycheck on Friday.‖ I
thanked Smitty for understanding. He said not to give it another
thought.
Then Soke Draconis stated, ―It looks as though you have one more
problem for this evening. Look out my window on the mat.‖ I
turned and looked out the window to the training room and there
stood Brian in all his glory. Brian stood on the mat in his uniform,
with his green belt on, his arms crossed, staring at me through the
window. Soke Draconis stood up and declared, ―Let‘s go handle
this.‖ He said to us both, ―I will permit this because boys will be
boys, and I would rather that you do it here under my control instead
of where one of you could be seriously hurt. I do want to call your
attention to the fact you are both friends. Is it just going to be
grappling, striking, and kicking, or a combination of both?‖ We
both agreed to just grappling.
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mouthpiece. Then Soke gave us the green light, ―Alright boys, do
what you have to do.‖
I released Brian and we both lay there. I don‘t know what he was
feeling, but I really felt no sense of victory at all. I felt that this little
out of control barbaric display was beneath us both. Brian and I both
made our way to our feet and Brian conceded, ―That was a good
technique, you did well.‖ I came clean, ―I have to admit, I was
scared when you were on top of me. That was very awkward for
me.‖ We shook hands and laughed it off. Brian immediately
defended himself, ―It could have been a different story if I could
have kicked,‖ and that is exactly what he would have done. I saw
his point, ―That is true. You have longer legs than I do. You are by
far a superior kicker to me, but don‘t forget, I have better hands than
you do. You could have connected with a kick and put my lights
out, but if I could have used my hands to hit you with, you would
have heard the fat lady sing.‖ Smitty and Eva got up laughing and
giggling and said goodnight to us all. We said goodnight back to
them.
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Maximus wanted to know, ―Were you really scared?‖ I admitted,
―To be honest with you, Maximus, I was horrified.‖
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Chapter 5
MIND-SPIRIT
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happen to us when we pass on from this dimension is not all that
important because our mind-spirit will work out all of that on its
own. As great as science is, and we owe so very much to science, it
is a flawed concept.‖ ―How can that be?‖ I asked somewhat
confused. ―It is based on facts,‖ replied Soke Draconis, ―and a fact
today is a discovered untruth tomorrow.‖ Again, I inquired, ―How
can that be?‖ Soke continued, ―A fact is nothing more than the
confirmation of an observation, and that observation is flawed by our
perception. Therefore, observation breaks down as a source of fact
because everyone has a different perception of reality. As far as that
goes, there is no reality, only perceptions. So a fact is nothing more
than a very solid definition of what you hold a truth to be.‖
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it, it gave off all different colors of light fragments. They appeared
to look the same, but they were different. Soke Draconis said that
the crystal represented our mind-spirit and that each light fragment
represented a different reality that was being produced by the spirit.
I thought, ―Wow! What a beautiful way to sum up what I had
dreamt earlier.‖ Because of that dream, I could really grasp this
concept.
―Beliefs are not only what make up consciousness, but they actually
act like a filter, allowing you to only see one aspect of reality. If you
think of a belief as, let‘s say your bedroom, you could stand in one
corner of your bedroom and see a certain viewpoint of that particular
belief. If you stood in another corner of your bedroom, you would
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see a different viewpoint of that same belief. Therefore, you can see
that inside any particular belief, there are a number of ways in which
that belief can be viewed. Beliefs also contain structure and
information. The more information something has, the more that
thing reveals itself. By this very idea, beliefs are very intelligent and
have life. You know the old saying - life will find a way to beget
life. The reality is that life is only a struggle because of the ideas we
create and the ideas others try to impose upon us and insist we
believe.
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then there is only the mind-spirit left, which is the original dot. Like
a vacuum, it sucks all of this creation inward and becomes smarter
by design. You know what they say; life without a plan is not much
of a life. Part of the reason for this is when you have a plan, and it is
your focused intention, you liberate the mind particles to develop the
self-determinism needed to fulfill that blueprint. It is through the
corridors of the mind that all existence is found in its entirety and
knowingness.
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―The concept of existing in the ―now‖ means to be neutral and non-
judgmental about the past and the future. All that matters is the
vacuum you are in at the moment of the here and the now. That
means to exist as source, but to experience so as to be within the
vibration of life and feel alive.
Maximus then asked, ―Does all the spiritual knowledge material get
taught to you while you are doing your martial arts training?‖ I told
Maximus that was a very good question and the best way to describe
it would be to say there is a very spiritual tone to our martial arts
teachings, but we are very careful not to include too much, which is
why we have the Creotology Workshop courses. That way if you
want to participate in the personal development programs you can,
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and if you do not, then you do not have to. Maximus confirmed, ―So
it would be possible to take the Creotology personal development
courses without taking the martial arts and vice versa?‖ I said,
―Absolutely! Please remember, Maximus, this is all about your
freedom of exploration.‖
Soke Draconis carried on with his explanation, ―Who came from the
void? The idea of potential came forth by way of energy released by
way of the spiritual essence. All ideas contain the self-fulfilling
prophecy of all possibilities being brought into potential, which
sparks more potential. Like one idea inspiring another idea, or
Mother and Father giving traits to their offspring, all ideas exist at
different vibrations. The idea has no creative beliefs and action to
assert its perception of reality. The ―who‖ is you, and you manifest
reality by way of moving energy (attention) from one idea to the
next. That which is without attribute is the clear light that is source,
both neutral and void. The idea of creating reality - which is ―you‖ -
has attributes that we work and rework by way of our ideas and the
expansion of all possibilities.‖
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I was hoping Soke would not think me to be stupid with this next
question, ―There is no source that has sin or scar tissue?‖ Soke
Draconis smiled gently, ―Only the idea of duality and the idea that
you need to be punished about a guilt that was never your fault.‖ He
then said, ―The fixation on finding something you never lost,
something you believe you should be experiencing and are searching
for, is truly one of the greatest spiritual flaws. It is much like the
dog chasing its tail.‖ I noted, ―That‘s a pretty extreme statement
don‘t you think?‖ Soke Draconis wanted me to understand and
offered, ―Everything is perfect in its form. Only our ideas about
something taint it. The idea is the only thing that does not last
forever. It may be a very solid idea, but it moves to another level of
consciousness and changes its vibration content by existing as
another idea that spawns from the original. Please understand that
once one thing encounters another, the two continue to influence
each other at some level. It is in this universal truth that we find the
answer; the more things change, the more they stay the same. I will
admit it is an odd concept, but odd or not, I believe it is true.‖
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him to explain.
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not need to integrate it. You only need to give the reconfiguration
exercise more time to dissolve your issues, thereby creating a space
for you to release the substance that you have been holding onto
about your issues, including the ones that you do not even know that
you have.‖
I was not at all defensive when I let him know, ―I don‘t think that I
have any unresolved issues.‖ Soke Draconis grinned, ―Then you are
what I would refer to as a ―flow master‖ my son. That means you
have nothing obstructing your way to creating the realities that you
prefer.‖ This raised another question from me, ―How would I know
if I am truly a master of flow?‖ Soke Draconis let out the largest
laugh I ever heard him give. He said, ―You will know if you are a
great master of flow if you have the ability to create anything and
everything into your life right now and have no obstacles about
doing it.‖ ―How do I start this?‖ I asked. Soke seemed to know
exactly what I needed to hear, ―You are the flow master. You tell
me.‖ I sat there for a few moments and then I began to laugh. I told
Soke that I was not even sure what I wanted. To which he said was
a step in the right direction.
―One of the very first things to do is establish exactly what you want
with great clarity and tremendous detail. You must be able to build
great passion for this thing you feel you want.‖ I was a little
confused by this, ―How can I feel I want something before I truly
have it?‖ He clued me in, ―Well, lucky for you, and all of us, the
mind does not know the difference between what it is experiencing
and what it is imagining. See if you can produce a thorough image
of what you want, complete and detailed at all levels. What I mean
by this is that your image of success should incorporate into it what
it smells like, feels like, sounds like, the condition of the
environment you are in, and the people who are in it with you. See
what you are doing at that time, completely in every way.‖
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I wanted to learn more, ―Would you show me how to do this?‖
Almost as if out of nowhere, Soke produced and handed me a leather
binder that had ingrained images of planets coming from one
another. Written in Viking letters were the words Into the Flow
Consciousness Course on the cover. Then he assured me, ―All the
things that you will need are contained within this binder.‖
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Chapter 6
THE FOLLOWER
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one, ―I have everything I want.‖ You will get the picture quickly.‖
Soke Draconis and I sat for a moment before I made the statement,
―I have everything I want.‖ I couldn‘t believe what happened next.
I actually heard this voice as if it were a ghost, it said, ―No, you
don‘t.‖ Now I really understood the point. This Follower had been
with me as far back as I could remember. Soke Draconis then
smiled gently, ―See what I mean?‖ I grinned, ―Yes, I do.‖ ―Good,
Brady. The binder contains a course that has 30 Mental Procedures
that are designed to give you real life experiences so that you may
learn through easily created world lessons instead of just word
lessons. Take the binder with you, do as it instructs you, and bring it
back to me in two weeks.‖ I said that I would do as Soke had
instructed me to do.
Maximus cleared his throat, sat up higher in his chair and began,
―My father and me, we started a bookstore. He put up most of the
money for the bookstore. I brought my managerial expertise and
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experience. My father became very ill and was unable to work with
me at the bookstore. My thoughts began to turn towards my father
and my attention shifted from the bookstore to him. I was very
angry with my father for getting sick and blamed him for the failure
of the store. It was not him at all. It was me and my own follower. I
am not controlling my attention.‖ I offered consolation, ―That‘s very
good. That is a solid realization, but do not have guilt over it. Bless
it and let it be. Move on to your next creation.‖ Maximus was
growing spiritually, ―I will do that. I will also forgive my father for
something that was never his fault in the first place.‖ I encouraged
him, ―Maximus, I think you are well on your way to becoming a
Creotology Creational Master.‖ ―Thank you,‖ he replied.
I was eager for him to understand the concept, ―When you allow
such things to enter your subconscious, they become accepted truths.
They have not been challenged and when these beliefs remain in our
subconscious and go unchallenged, they become your daily actions,
which end up a manifestation of your subconscious.‖ Maximus got
it, ―Yes, I can easily see that.‖ "But, please remember that all
subconscious beliefs are not bad, as you will see in the Chapter of
―Crystallizing Realities,‖ the subconscious can become a very
powerful tool.‖ Maximus asked, ―A tool for what?‖ ―For creating
realities in an effortless manner,‖ I explained. Maximus did not
quite get it yet, ―Well, that sounds very confusing to me, because
you said first that it can be bad to have unchecked beliefs in your
subconscious, and then in your next breath you say it can be a
powerful creating machine.‖
―Think of it this way, Maximus, the mental and the physical are
joined together, but they serve two different functions. The physical
is like taking a piece of string and pushing it up a hill, but the mental
is like taking the same piece of string and pulling it up the hill.‖
Maximus said, ―I‘ve never heard it explained like that before.‖
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―Yes, it is an intriguing concept isn‘t it?‖
Maximus was curious, ―Is that why we feel we should exercise, but
people begin to feel tired and lethargic and make excuses?‖ I was
enjoying this, ―Yes, but you could feel energetic about exercise if
you were to create alignment between your mind and body. This
would produce the neurological effect of energy, a feeling of
passion, which would make you move towards doing the exercise in
a more effortless fashion. It is linked and driven by your impulses to
succeed at something, to receive a gift, or to experience something
of tremendous happiness. When we can create an effect at will by
always being in the flow, these things in life no longer become
something you have to forcefully get yourself to do, but rather
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become something that you‘re willing to do.‖
When we pulled up to the school there were two guys waiting at the
door. They said they wanted to join the school. Both of them said
they had studied other martial arts before, but wanted to join because
this school was much closer to them. I was not sure why, but I felt
uncomfortable with them. I felt they were there as a plant from
another school and were planning to spy on us. I did not like the
idea of that at all.
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wanting to learn martial arts, and besides, they are welcome to all
that I have. I think you and these guys may become friends, if you‘ll
just give them a fair shake.‖
Then when I turned and saw Matt talking to Melissa that was it! I
really did not like these two guys right then, so tonight they were
going to get class the hard way. I was not going to let anything
slide. When it came time to grapple, Soke asked for Matt and me to
match. I thought this would be my moment to shine. I could get
him for my suspicions and for talking to my girl. Then I thought,
―Well, she was not mine yet, but she would be.‖ When we began the
match, I could tell I was stronger, but he had confidence. I could see
it, and when I saw that he moved well, the fear came on. I wondered
to myself how I would ever live down the embarrassment if this guy
beats me in front of Soke and Melissa. Well, it happened. My worst
fear, I was pinned down and even worse, you guessed it, I tapped;
total defeat. I was crushed. I remember lying there on my side and
feeling like a vacuum was all around me, sucking in all the air and
the energy of everyone‘s attention. It was a bad feeling. Then
during class, I saw Matt and Melissa looking at each other. She
never looked at me like that. This was bad. I was stunned and had
no idea what to do.
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After class, Soke told me it was a good match, but that I was
depending on my strength too much. ―Matt had used position,
leverage, and confidence to win, but there is always tomorrow.‖ I
instantly thought, ―Right, tomorrow. Yes, it is on. I will win
tomorrow.‖ I saw Melissa and Matt talking right before we were all
getting ready to leave. Then I saw him help her with her coat. All
those things I never did. He was going to walk her home and David
was going too. Well, I instantly invited myself.
After we dropped Melissa off, I asked the guys if they wanted some
pizza at this shop just down the road. They said ―yes‖ and they
would even buy. I thought, ―Great! Two free meals in one day.
How lucky can you get?‖ As we walked, we grew to know each
other a bit. It was clear there was some sizing up going on, though
there wasn‘t any feeling of a threat of any kind. We arrived at Big
Daddy‘s World Famous Pizza Shop and ordered a large pizza. We
went outside to sit and talk while eating our meal.
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Then I asked Matt if he was interested in Melissa. He replied that
she was nice and he would see how things went. I told him I had
been interested in her for quite some time. He asked me why I had
not made a move before now and I admitted I did not have an answer
for that. He asked, ―Are you afraid of something?‖ I told him,
―Rejection.‖ David said, ―So much of life is lost by rejecting
opportunity because of fear of rejection. We make ourselves reject
life itself and end up with nothing.‖ Matt agreed. I wanted to know
where they learned that concept. They said their father had taught
them that. I told them it sounded like they had a very smart father.
Matt then said, ―Hey, let‘s play dimes, nickels, and quarters.‖ (For
those who may not know this game, whoever has the oldest coin gets
all the coins.) We played and laughed. I remembered Soke
Draconis‘ words, ―Give it a try you may become friends.‖ He was
right. They were two really nice guys.
Matt said to the mugger, ―Let the guy go. If no one gets hurt, we‘ll
forget the whole thing and everyone goes their own way.‖ The
mugger shouted, ―Mind your own business and take your friends
with you, or I will hurt you.‖ With the size of the knife this guy was
holding, it could easily have happened. David said that he would
give the mugger $50, no one gets hurt, and we all leave happy. That
made things worse as the mugger decided that if we had $50 then he
wanted it also, or he would cut us too. Matt repeated David‘s offer,
―We will give you the $50 as soon as you let the guy go.‖ The
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mugger then took the guy‘s money and pushed him away. David
said, ―Well, now we are going to give the money to the victim to
help with his loss, since the mugger has been paid.‖ The mugger
made an aggressive move toward Matt, and he did not even flinch. I
saw David move parallel to Matt, but I did not know what to do.
Matt gestured, ―Think about it, you got the money. Just go!‖ The
mugger, however, now wanted their money also, and I thought,
―This is not good, we are going to get hurt or killed here.‖
At this time, Soke Draconis came out of nowhere and told the
mugger that he realized he was mugging for money. What he does
makes people fearful and perhaps the mugger should feel that type of
fear. There was silence and you could feel the intensity in the air
bouncing off you like little electrical volts. There was a very long
silence and I could see that the mugger had realized that this was a
very bad position for him. I could also tell that he was terrified.
Soke held his stare into the eyes of the mugger. Then the most
profound thing happened. I saw the muggers face begin to soften, he
was no longer a mean scary mugger, but a person like us only lost.
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The mugger said, ―My name is Tony, I could use some help because
I am lost. It seems no one cares enough to try to help. I do not know
how to do it myself.‖ Soke calmly said, ―Honor yourself by showing
up tomorrow and take control of your life. You will be among
friends just like you are now.‖ Then Matt and David placed their
hands on Tony‘s shoulder and we all left.
Maximus said, ―You must have been terrified.‖ I admitted that I was
scared out of my mind. Maximus commented, ―Matt and David
seemed to be a little more than what met the eye.‖ I thought that was
very perceptive of him. Then Maximus asked, ―What happened
next?‖
Still glowing from the night before, I hurried off to the school. I
really wanted to see if Tony would show up or not. Soke was in his
office doing his 10-minute breathing ―kata‖ that he does every day.
A kata is something that you do to practice the mechanical
movements of a particular martial art and you can do the same thing
with breathing movements as well. Soke was big on breathing
movements and even how you breathe just sitting and standing. He
said that most of us breathe incorrectly, and that we do not take in all
the air we need with every breath. Oxygen is the way to energize the
mind and body and that serves to enhance the spirit.
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half, Tony came out of the office laughing and smiling. He looked
like a changed man and was lit up like a Christmas tree. He was
excited and motivated. I overheard him tell Matt that for the first
time in his life, he felt like he had a real opportunity, a way to find
himself and to be happy. On the side of the mat, I saw Matt and
David exchanging power punches and kicks to the groin and the
solar plexus. There was no pain and I whispered to myself, ―Wait a
minute! That clearly is not right.‖ I watched for about 10 minutes in
amazement as these guys showed no pain at all in any way.
Then Soke came out and said, ―Brady, come here please,‖ in his
deep and very precise voice. ―Please go into my office, I will be
there in a moment.‖ In his office he told me he thought I had been
doing well, he was very pleased with me. He said that it was time
for another lesson and cautioned me that this one would require
patience and an open mind.
I then asked who Matt and David were. Soke replied, ―Friends.‖ I
asked like rapid fire, ―How do they fit in? Where did they come
from? How are they doing that stuff they were doing out there?‖
Soke said that all would be revealed in time. I could tell that, for the
moment, this subject was going to go no further.
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each one of the lessons into my life each day. I then encountered
―The 30 Principles of Creation.‖
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Chapter 7
THE 30 PRINCIPLES
O F C R E AT I O N
How does one go about creating the reality they want to experience?
We have talked extensively about what goes into generating,
manifesting, managing, and sustaining a creation. This chapter takes
it one-step further and provides the reader with a list of ―The 30
Principles of Creation‖ which will aid you in your exploration and
understanding of the tools that are available to you on a day-to-day
basis. You will be able to understand accurately what they are,
where they come from, and how they interact with each other.
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want you to try and explore them, see what you think about them,
interact with them, and observe what they create for you.
You may ask why I started with beliefs. From my point of view,
I feel this is the most appropriate place to start because beliefs
create the reality that we experience. Think and examine this last
statement for a while. I am thoroughly convinced beliefs are the
very things that solidify ―consciousness‖ into reality. Beliefs are
what create everything there is for us to experience. Some
beliefs we share, others we argue about, but most beliefs in this
Universe are not known. For the most part, when you come
across a belief that is unfamiliar to you, your first instinct is to
protect the beliefs in which you already believe in. This gives a
very solid definition about who you are, what you are, and where
you are in your life.
When you resist a new belief, what you are really doing is telling
yourself you do not want to accept or experience it right now in
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your life. You might not be ready for it emotionally, spiritually,
or physically. You cling to your established beliefs because you
feel they have been working well enough for you to get you
through life. Since what you already believe in has been
working well enough for you, there is no need to examine any
other belief system. Sometimes when you are unwilling to
explore another belief system it is because of the persistence of
fear of the unknown and untested. There is no history or proven
track record behind the new belief. With your old belief system,
you know exactly how much pain, happiness, satisfaction,
dissatisfaction, guilt, guarantee and/or no guarantee comes with
it. The fear of losing something far outweighs the excitement of
gaining something, and so you hunker down and choose to
remain locked into your old belief system. Fear gets its power
through validation.
As you are experiencing this new belief, do not beat up your old
beliefs if you determine the new belief is more correct or better
for you. This new realization does not make your old belief a lie.
Some people really suffer from this line of thinking. When they
finally let the new belief into their mind, they tend to believe that
they have been struggling to maintain a lie. Do not worry about
this. All our beliefs are only experiences. That is all they are,
just an experience.
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2. The Principle of Attention
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obviously, other people have different truths and beliefs that they
have created. To them, their truth is just as real as yours is.
Truth is relative to the perceiver of the viewpoint. Truths are a
very picky mechanism that people fight over to convince
themselves, and others, that they are right. In reality, an
argument about truths is not about you trying to convince anyone
else of anything, you are really just trying to convince yourself of
it - an intrapersonal struggle.
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they thought was true. It is like the old children‘s taunt, ―Sticks
and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.‖
There is truth in this saying. We carry a lot of people‘s
emotional dogma around and make it part of ours because we
have been taught to care for people this way. But, in reality, if
you are constantly trying to protect other people‘s perceptions
about reality, you are not helping them. You are enabling their
laziness by not allowing them to open up and explore other or
their own viewpoints and truths. I am not saying that it is your
job to do this. However, at the same time, it is not your job to
allow them to keep you a prisoner in your life simply because
your point of view does not agree with their point of view and it
hurts their feelings.
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Our structure does not get larger. It gets solidified. Think of the
structure of the cells in our human body. They house all of the
cell components and give structure to their cause, which is to
support the body. The structure of the human cell is porous and
waste can be passed from inside the cell to the outside of it,
where it is picked up by other bodily functions. Now just
imagine if that cell structure were completely solid and
nonporous. The cell would die because after a while, it would
become too toxic inside to support the cell components. The
same holds true for the structures in our lives. These structures
give support to your beliefs and thoughts, yet they still need to
absorb and interact with the outside world.
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so comfortable with yourself that you are almost lost in your
flow. You will feel others who are out of alignment gravitating
to you. They do so subconsciously or consciously trying to align
themselves with the force that they feel can help them.
The kiss of death for flow is judgment. It can, and will, stop
your flow. A judgment gets ingrained within a structure after the
information within the structure gets perceived. Conclusions are
drawn from certain information by way of evidence about any
given situation. Then, from that, we create a judgment. The
problem arises when judgments are based off limited
information. I call this a blind judgment. Blind judgments are
generally made by over-zealous egos or out of pure laziness. It
takes a lot of work to get 100% of the information there is about
a particular subject. Most people feel that they can make a good
enough judgment even though they do not have all the
information.
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a judgment about yourself. You are resisting something about
yourself that you know needs fixing. However, since you don‘t
want to experience it, you pass it onto someone else and create
the identity for him or her. This way you can experience it from
afar and it is not so close to you as to make you feel
uncomfortable.
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9. The Principle of Energy
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11. The Principle of Awareness
Also, whenever you see the object, all the information that you
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have underneath that label pops up. For instance, if I were to say
the word rabbit, everything associated with rabbit would
mentally pop-up. Your brain does not see the actual word
―rabbit‖ in its mind. It sees your association of that word, along
with all of the other associations you have attached to it. So
labels, without a doubt (as part of Principles Five and Seven),
create a structure.
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of an idea, which serves as an example of a theory, just like our
model of the past, the now, and the future.
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As you will see, The Principle of Patterns ties in very closely
with The Principle of Information. With information, as I said
earlier, you can extract what you want from the situation, and use
it to help you make an informed decision. Information can
almost make you seem magical (in a way) because the more
information you have about something, the better you understand
it and the better you understand it, the better you can predict the
outcome.
You can sit all day long and try to create Nirvana, Satori, or
Enlightenment, (or however you want to refer to it). However, if
you are just going to sit around and think about the things that
you want, you are probably going to notice that your electricity
may get shut off, your car repossessed, your home foreclosed on,
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there is not much food in the house, all your clothes are dirty,
and your personal relationships with friends and family have
grown quite stale. This is because you are not taking the actions
to move towards the things you want.
Your boundaries are being set for you right away, even before
you are born, and before you even realize it. Even as an infant
crawling around in your crib, or the floor, you are being told
what to do and what not to do. This begins the process of your
mind setting the boundaries of your own limitations including
what you believe you can and cannot achieve. So what ends up
happening is that the more something negative gets reinforced
into you, i.e., someone says, ―you can‘t accomplish this‖, the
more your will is brought underneath control and held in place
by your attention being focused on it. When you discipline
attention, you also discipline will. Thus, if someone disciplines
your attention your ―will‖ automatically comes under attack and
immediately becomes indoctrinated. There is nothing in these
particular situations that you can do except begin to realize when
other people are doing this, and when you are doing it to yourself
(that is even bigger) and take corrective action to maintain the
focus of your attention in a positive direction.
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19. The Principle of Facts
Now, let us look at this example in more detail. Why is the chair
a fact? Is it a fact merely because of perceptions? When you
look at that chair, you are really looking at what your society has
told you to look at. You are looking at an accepted belief that
has been indoctrinated into your will over a period of time. The
chair is known as a chair because no one in society has
challenged this fact. Look at the chair as if no society has given
it a meaning. You study it and look at the structure of it. You
start to associate the chair with you and your life asking yourself:
How can I use it? Can I use it? Will it make my life easier?
Will it hurt my life? I am certain these are the questions, along
with many more, that people asked themselves when they
invented the chair. However, a chair can be used for many
purposes. Think of how many things you could do with a chair.
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of the information that we know about it. This is a true
statement. However, imagination encircles the world.
Imagination not only encircles the world, but it creates the world
into being.
Whatever you are doing right now, stop, and take a good look
around you, at the book in your hand, at everything in your
room, at everything outside. Take a look and just understand
that none of it was there until it was created into imagination.
The action was taken to create it into what you see as your
environment right now. Imagination creates things before it is
actually manifested into reality. It is the actual space of infinite
awareness that you go into and are able to create from within the
void. You then can bring it out and manifest it into your
Universe. So, imagination is something that you should not only
consider good, but you should also find ways to build.
The Principle of Theory works right along the line with The
Principle of Imagination. When you want to try to create
something that is a necessity, you begin to create a theory. The
theory goes into consciousness about how you can begin to
create this from imagination. You then begin to give the theory a
structure to solidify it. The theory then binds itself into the space
that it is looking at so it can create a reality to physical
manifestation and you can use it.
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theories and combine them into one theory that actually works
for you. Listen to all theories since like I said, you may use one,
or, you may use several. This does not matter because theories
are powerful tools that come right out of the tool chest of
imagination.
On the flip side, I am sure there are some things that you and
others do that you think are practical, which might not be the
case in reality. The more practical that things become and seem
to work for you the more your belief comes into it. Practicality
can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing; it just comes down
to your intention of how you are going to use practicality. You
can practically keep yourself a winner, or a loser, simply by
becoming aware of what it is you are being practical about.
Practicality does not have a nature all its own - it has one that we
create and define to it.
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consciousness. That is because consciousness is a solid
definition of imagination. You can look at a chair and be
conscious that it is a chair. That chair came from someone‘s
imagination at one time, and from imagination, the chair has now
become solidified into the world, which now has been labeled as
a chair.
Now, you have heard me talk about creation through most of this
book, and what creation simply means is to bring into being. A
thought, along with a belief, makes a creation. A viewpoint and
a perception are all creations. When you bring them out of your
head and you manifest them into the physical world by building
them or having someone else build them, then that is creation.
Creation is a word that encompasses everything we know to be
solid in our world, solid in its definition, and solid in the way
that we see, view, and use it. It is important to note that all
thoughts and beliefs are creations as well - even if they never get
outside your head.
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25. The Principle of Dissolve
This is the final act of creation. Once you have created and
experienced it, there is no real need for it to hang around for you
to keep using it. Therefore, you have to allow it to dissolve.
When you allow it to dissolve, you begin to release all the labels
and information, all the energy, all the actions, and all the
perceptions and beliefs about the creation up to the point of
experiencing it. The creation will then dissolve and will not be
left open to continue to grow for you. As a result, you will no
longer use this energy towards something you no longer need.
The word dissolve simply means to disperse and to let go. Many,
many more people should practice the act of dissolving.
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However, what you do not want to do is to resist the creation you
do not want to experience. Resistance only causes expansion.
What you resist will persist for you, so you should experience the
creation fully and then just let it go. Realize that it is only an
idea. Remember that sticks and stones may break your bones,
but words will never hurt you. It is simply an idea and it is not
physically hurting you.
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28. The Principle of Integrity
I hear people say all the time that money is a bad thing, and I am
thinking, ―What Universe are you from?‖ You have been
conditioned into that belief system. How can a piece of paper be
bad or good? It is nothing more than a piece of paper! What
makes money good or bad is the intention on how you are going
to use it. If you use money for a good thing, then it is good, and
if you use money for a bad thing, then it is bad. If you want to
use money to buy drugs, or to give to the wrong people, then it is
a bad thing. However, if you want to use money for good things
like feeding the homeless, or trying to build long-term security
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for your family by buying stocks, or paying your bills, then these
are good things. Money is never good or bad. The value of
money is decided by your intentions. So do not pass the blame
onto the buck, it is not the buck, the buck stops here with you.
Stop the blame game. It does not look good on anyone and all it
does is make you look juvenile and immature.
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ourselves. We make agreements with other people, and when we
do not keep those agreements, people become upset with us. If
you are used to breaking agreements with yourself, it is going to
be very simple for you to break agreements with other people.
The bottom line here is that if you get in the habit of starting
something and not finishing it, you create an identity for why
you did not finish. The entity has now taken control over you.
You now have to find your way out of it consciously.
Here is an example that I think you can relate to. Two people
can come together because they love each other and enjoy
sharing space with each other. They like how things are when
they are together. They like how things feel when they are
together. They like what happens when they are together and
they like everything about being together. When they create an
agreement that says they are going to do this, and they are not
going to do that, identities are created.
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Chapter 8
C R E AT I O N A L F O R M U L A
When Saturday came, the backyard was jammed packed with people
who were curious about this course and personal exploration. There
were balloons of assorted colors hanging from the trees and
telephone poles. The chairs were lined up uniformly with each other
and all the people were happy, laughing and really existing in the
moment, ready for the adventure.
The two large barbecue pits were cranking away and you could
smell the thick scent of barbecue in the air. The energy was alive
and tantalizing with people wanting to know about themselves and
how to move to their next level in evolution. The atmosphere was
intoxicating, very friendly and caring towards each other. It seems
that people were getting along with one another, as if they had
known one another all of their lives. The stage at the front of the
backyard was having finishing touches performed on it as well as
some of the yard. All in all, we were off to an incredible start.
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the air was very tense and had become too much for a dog in the
crowd causing him to let out a small memoir of a bark. He then sat
there with his ears perked straight up with his tongue hanging to the
left side of his mouth with his eye brows slanted slightly downward,
as if he was saying, ―Well, get on with it.‖
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or you believe in something, and you need no one else to confirm it
for you. No one else is needed to say it is true, or it is not true. It is
the freedom of being able to believe whatever you want without
having other people confirm it for you. Essence is the ability to keep
working towards your dreams and your passions even while
everyone else around you is failing and not achieving their goals.
Essence is the ability not to listen to other people when they criticize
what you are doing. Their judgments and their beliefs have no effect
on you obtaining your results and living your dreams. Essence is the
ability to separate you from the outside world, while still being able
to function as a fully integrated being, achieving your results and
desires in the world. Your source of happiness is created from inside
of you and everyone around you feels the effect.
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essence, you, and only you decide where you are going to place your
particles of attention. The essence works from your own personal
blueprint of your mental scope, which is the amalgamated process of
the beliefs that form your consciousness. Your goals that you are
trying to achieve from essence have passion and true desire. When
you are following a major (goal) that you never intended to do, the
result is a hell that is filled with good intentions but little else of
what you really want. The road to heaven is paved with actions that
are in alignment with your dreams. It is created from the process of
obtaining your goals. Passion is what drives us. Passion cannot be
found in personality. Passion comes only from essence.
―I am going to give you a working formula today that will allow you
to understand the process for obtaining your goals and living your
dreams. This formula allows you to work as the old alchemists
worked. What they used to do, or tried to do, was to turn base lead
into gold.
―Without any further ado, let us work through the creational formula
of Creotology. The science of this formula makes you a scientist of
your own life and working from your own scope. It will be up to
you to produce a laboratory for these creations to be manifested in.
It is fully possible to base your life on empirical evidence, which
simply means to be able to observe it and then to measure it.‖
Get informed.
You must research and gather as much data as possible about what
you are trying to create and how to create it. The reason for this is
that the brain is a 3-D invention of our evolution on this planet.
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Therefore, the brain follows the logical conclusion to problem
solving. The more the goal and the information to achieving the
goal are in place the more readily the brain will have total efficacy in
the goal and will create it without the subconsciousness coming into
play with the mental followers.
Place your energy into the goal you are trying to create.
Once the goal and information are now formulated into a sensible
plan, think about the goal and feel how much energy is in the belief
of the goal. If you feel the energy matches the belief in the goal it is
time to move forward.
Place your full attention into the belief itself as if the goal and the
belief are one. Allow your attention to expand as far as it can into
the belief until you feel consumed.
You will now feel the size of the creation, and if you think and feel
that, you can consciously expand to fit the size of the creation and
thereby make it right for you.
Energy in.
Leave the energy of the attention in the goal. Then begin the process
of being proactive and bringing the material together for your goal.
―Congratulations! You are now working from within the mind that
the brain formulated. The goal will create because now it is part of
the creative process of your brain and the mind. We have
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formulated congruency.
―The following is not a step, but it is something that you should not
forget to do after you achieve your goal. Take the time to appreciate
the experience of feeling that the goal has been achieved and
experience the dream. Do not forget to tell yourself that you are
appreciative of the effort, that you recognize yourself as a Creational
Master. You can see there are some very purposeful steps of
creation that must be done. Part of the paradox is that we are
schooled at processing information, but not schooled very well in the
process of organizing information into a useable form for creating
what we want.‖
After Soke Draconis was done, he said that this was a small portion
of the information, but that Creotology goes much deeper than this
into obtaining your goals. It also addresses things such as how to
decide what goals are right for you, further describes what goals
actually are, and where they come from.
Someone in the crowd stood up and said this was all very interesting,
but they were not really sure if all this stuff would work, even
though it sounded fancy. Soke Draconis asked the guest, ―Could
you explain yourself a little more please?‖ The guest responded, ―I
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encounter obstacles all the time every day, but normally I just stay
stuck in them. I just get tired. I apply more energy but nothing
happens.‖ Soke Draconis smiled and said, ―I see what you are
saying. How many of us have ever had our car stuck in mud or
snow?‖ Almost everyone in the audience raised their hand. ―Now,
imagine you are stuck in the snow or stuck in mud in your vehicle.
This will serve as an example of a personal obstacle. You are the car
and you are spinning your wheels faster and faster. You are
speeding up the engine. You are applying more gas, or in our case
more energy, but you just keep going deeper into the hole. What
you really need is some traction.‖ The gentleman said that he
understood the analogy, but did not quite see how it connected.
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Soke Draconis smiled and laughed saying, ―Don‘t worry about that
friend. That is what any of us would experience. Let‘s try it once
more.‖ The man agreed. Soke leaned his forearms onto the man‘s
shoulders again, applied his weight, and told the man to stand up.
The man said, ―I can‘t.‖ Then Soke requested, ―Hand me that piece
of paper on the ground by your feet.‖ The man bent forward,
grabbed the paper, and stood up. He heard the people in the
audience begin to laugh and giggle and talk. The man looked at
Soke Draconis instantly with a complete look of success and
happiness on his face and confirmed what Soke already knew, ―I
understand it now.‖ Soke Draconis told the man, ―Of course you do.
I have basically given a rough analogy, returned you to awareness,
and allowed you to experience your way out. It all lies in the
experience.‖
The man looked at Soke Draconis with great respect and said, ―Sign
me up for the course.‖ Soke said that anyone who would be
interested in the course should hold up their hands and he would talk
about what the course costs and what they would learn. More than
one hundred people held up their hands. The whole thing was
beginning to grow by leaps and bounds.
After the day was done and everyone was signed up, most of us had
writer‘s cramp. The day was a huge financial success as well as a
great triumph in making new friends. Soke Draconis looked at me
and said, ―You know, with you around, I think I am going to need a
larger building.‖ I replied, ―You‘ve always said growth is a good
thing, as long as no one is left behind.‖
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the enrollment packages. I sat down and he asked me if I had a bank
account. I told him that I did not have one. He said, ―There is a
bank not five blocks from here. I bank there myself. Tomorrow
morning I will need you to go to the bank with me. We need to open
up a bank account so that we can deposit this enormous check you
have just earned commission on.‖ I said, ―A huge commission,
Soke, really?‖ He said it was $15,000. I absolutely fell out of the
chair. This was more money than I could fathom. I did not really
understand how much it was, but the one thing I did know was that it
was a lot of money!
―How close are you to getting your driver‘s license,‖ Soke inquired.
I said, ―I can test in one week.‖ ―You get your driver‘s license and
your mom‘s permission, and I will take you to a friend of mine who
owns a car lot. For around $5,000, we will get you a nice car.‖
Well, if you do not think things were looking up for me at this time,
you do not understand how it is to be 16 years old, being dirt poor
and living in a poor neighborhood.
Monday Morning
Monday morning came and I arrived at the school at 9:30 AM. Soke
Draconis walked out of his office and handed me a check from Soke
Draconis‘ Martial Arts Institute that read, ―Pay to the order of Brady
Cameron - the sum of fifteen-thousand dollars.‖ I absolutely thought
that I was going to hyperventilate. Soke Draconis chuckled, ―Calm
down, Brady, and remember to breathe.‖
We got into Soke‘s truck and drove to the bank. We went into the
bank together and spoke to the bank teller, Rosemary. Soke
Draconis said hello to Rosemary, and she answered, ―Hello, Soke,
what can I do for you today?‖ Soke said, ―Brady and I need to make
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a couple of large deposits, but first Brady needs to open an account.‖
Soke Draconis made his deposit and Rosemary asked me, ―My,
Brady, how did you make so much money?‖ I replied proudly, ―I
helped Soke Draconis put together a self-help program, or rather; I
helped promote the seminar for his self- help program.‖ She said,
―That must have been some seminar.‖ I joyfully answered that it
was indeed. I then looked over at Soke and asked him if I could
withdraw $5,000. Soke asked curiously, ―What are you going to do
with all that money, Brady?‖ I told him that my mother only owed
$5,000 on our house, and if she did not have to make a monthly
mortgage payment, it would make things much easier on her.
Rosemary said she would make it out in a certified check, and I
asked to use her phone. She told me I most certainly could and
turned the phone around to me.
Rosemary was an older lady about my mom‘s age, mid to late forties
with very short hair, and wore glasses. She told Soke Draconis she
thought she was going to cry because this was such a sweet gesture.
He granted her that it did show a high degree of responsibility and
compassion. Rosemary agreed.
I called my mom and asked her for the name of the bank and her
account number for the mortgage payments. My mom asked why
and I told her, ―Your troubles are over, Mom, I am paying off your
mortgage.‖ My mom said in a loud and concerned tone, ―Brady
Cameron, what have you done?‖ I said, ―Trust me, Mom, it is all
legal and everything is fine. Give me the information and I will
bring you home a certified check from the bank.‖ When mom gave
me the information, I repeated it and repeated it back a second time.
Rosemary gave me the certified check for $5,000 because Soke
Draconis had banked there for so long and they all knew him well.
It was obvious he had more than enough money in his account to
cover it.
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―Brady, that was a very compassionate thing you did,‖ Soke said on
the way back home. ―I definitely think that it shows you are
responsible enough to drive. I‘ll drive you by your house and drop
you off.‖ I felt strange asking, but knew I had to, ―Soke, would you
mind coming in for a moment? My mom is not going to believe my
story.‖ Soke Draconis laughed and said he understood.
My mom got an envelope and wrote down the mailing address to the
mortgage bank. Soke Draconis said, ―Instead of mailing that check,
why don‘t Brady and I just take it to your bank for you, hand deliver
it and get a receipt?‖ My mom said, "That would be wonderful.‖
We went to the bank, paid off the house, and got her receipt. The
banker told Soke Draconis that the Deed to the house would be
mailed out in two weeks. If my mother had not received it within
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those two weeks, she was to call him directly. He handed us his
business card. Soke Draconis and the Bank Manager, Adam, shook
hands, and we were on our way. I felt great. All the way home, I
wanted to talk, but I did not because I could tell Soke was enjoying
his drive. This man does not like to talk when he drives. When we
got to my house, I ran inside, gave my mom the receipt, and told her
the Deed would come in two weeks through the mail. My mom was
already on the phone calling all her family and friends and telling
them what was going on.
I got into the truck with Soke, and we drove off to the school. I went
about doing some work I had to do when I saw Soke Draconis in the
office handing cash to all the other guys that helped at the seminar. I
could hear them all laughing and joking. I heard Larry come out of
the office and say he was paying off his car. I thought that was a
good decision. Then Soke said that some of the guys were going to
help him get the desk and chairs for my office and told me to stay
there and watch the school.
Maximus then wanted to know what my desk and chair were like. I
told him I was waiting at the school for Soke to return, and after
about an hour went by this person came up to the front door. He was
an older man who seemed to be naturally irate. He said he was here
to kick Soke Draconis‘ butt for taking advantage of his wife
financially during the seminar. I politely told the man, ―Nobody
took advantage of anybody. I was there. Your wife wanted to take
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the course, so she signed up and that is that. He was a big guy about
six foot one and about two hundred fifty pounds. He looked like a
big construction worker - complete with a big gut. His shirt rolled
halfway up his belly, and you could see his butt crack. I thought to
myself, ―This guy is nasty.‖ Then the man admitted, ―That is not all
that this is about,‖ and he smacked me on the right side of my head.
I did not know what to do. We both stood there for a split second
and stared at each other while the fear was building. He asked me
angrily, ―Are you going to do something or do I have to hit you
again?‖ Then I heard a booming voice declare, “I don’t think you
should do that again.” Well, knowing Soke was there, I could now
put my heart back in my chest and swallow again.
Soke Draconis walked up to the man and asked, ―Who are you and
why are you in my school?‖ The man said, ―My wife came here two
days ago and signed up for your course. I can see how you got her
to sign up. You did it with your impressive looks.‖ In my opinion,
Soke Draconis was being way to reasonable, ―Why don‘t we go into
my office and talk.‖ The man snapped back in a very smart manner,
―Yes, why don‘t we do that?‖
I went into the training room with all of the other guys that were at
the school. They all began asking me what had happened. I was
telling my story and quite shaken, but trying to act tough and hide
the tears because I had just been jack-smacked upside my head. The
atmosphere was so quiet out there that you could hear a pin drop.
After about 30 minutes, we heard Soke and that guy in the office
laughing hysterically. I was thinking to myself that Soke should not
be laughing with him; he should just jack-smack him upside his
head. I was mad and I wanted revenge. I was really angry and
wanted some action. Then Soke opened the door, walked out, and
said, ―Here, Brady, take this $10, go to Smitty‘s, and get me and my
new friend Big Jake a couple of large iced teas and two roast turkey
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sandwiches with mustard, lettuce, cheese, and tomato.‖ I thought to
myself, ―He wants me to go get sandwiches for a guy that jack-
smacked me?‖ I have to admit, I was appalled. Then Brian said,
―Come on, Brady, I‘ll go with you.‖
The moment Brian and I got outside the front door, I started
complaining big time. I said, ―This guy jack-smacks me, but
somehow I end up having to go get him a sandwich?‖ Brian already
knew the right answer, ―That‘s true, but Soke asked you to do it, and
he has to have a reason for it.‖ I thought, ―Well, that is true. I don‘t
like being jack-smacked, but I guess there is a method to the
madness.‖
So, Brian and I went into Smitty‘s store. Smitty said, ―Hello, boys!
How are you doing today?‖ We told him we were fine and that Soke
Draconis would like a couple of turkey sandwiches and large iced
teas. Smitty looked at me and asked, ―Brady, do you know that you
have a large red spot on the side of your head?‖ Brian began
laughing hysterically and said that was because I had just been
smacked alongside my head at the school. Smitty asked if Soke
Draconis had assaulted me. I assured him that was not the case
before I explained to him what had actually happened.
After we got the sandwiches and were making our way back over to
the school, Brian looked over at me and said, ―What do you think
happened while we were gone?‖ I felt somewhat lost at the moment,
―Brian, I really don‘t know, but one thing is for sure, if there is a
peaceful solution to be found, Soke Draconis will not stop until he
finds it.‖ Brian exclaimed, ―Isn‘t that the truth!‖
As Brian and I made our way into the front door, we could hear Soke
Draconis and Jake laughing aloud. We knocked on Soke‘s office
door and heard him call out for us to come in. Brian and I entered
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the room and Jake told me that he wanted to apologize. He was
completely out of line and out of control. He said that he had always
sported a bad temper that, unfortunately, had gotten him into trouble
on more than one occasion. Soke Draconis then announced, ―You
may want to welcome Jake to the school, because he is our newest
member.‖
As the months went by, I spent three hours a day learning martial
arts, writing memberships, and signing people up. Then the big day
came. One week before I was going to go back to high school, I was
ready to test for my blue belt. Oh, glory days! I was excited and
pumped up. My testing was scheduled for that Saturday. I asked
Soke Draconis, ―Who is going to be sitting on the board for testing?‖
He said that his brother Ig was coming from Sweden and was going
to stay the week with him. I thought, ―Wow! I get to meet another
Draconis family member.‖ I asked Soke what Ig‘s rank was and
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Soke asked, ―Is it important to you, Brady?‖ I told him I did not
know whether it was important to me or not, outside of the fact that
we are in the martial arts, and it is something I ask other students.
Soke Draconis laughed and said, ―You are starting to develop a
political point of view about the martial arts.‖ I said, ―Yes, I guess
that I am.‖
He said that Ig was a sixth degree Black Belt. I know that at the age
I am now, it is not that important to me, but I would imagine at Ig‘s
age it was. Many people say that diplomas that certified your rank,
and what federation you belonged to really does not mean anything,
but I resist that theory now, as I did then. If someone has truly spent
his time in a diligent and purposeful way, then his rank and his
diplomas can give you a bit of insight into the way he thinks, how he
has spent his life, and perhaps even the moral code that he stands for.
I am not saying that this is an absolute law. We all know there are
exceptions, but at the same time, that does not make it any less real.
When I asked Soke Draconis what time the testing was, he told me,
―Saturday at two o‘clock in the afternoon, but there is something you
should know, Brady, Brian will also be testing for his Sempai-ship.‖
I wondered why Soke told me that, but before I could put it into
words, Soke Draconis offered, ―I just wanted you to know
beforehand so that it wasn‘t a great shock to you on Saturday.‖
After I left the school that day, I rode around on my bike for a little
while and thought about my jealousy. Perhaps my feeling of
inadequacy, and the fact that Brian had started a little over a year
before I did, contributed to my feelings.
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have much to do that evening, so I thought I would go to the movies.
Timmy said, ―That sounds great.‖ I offered, ―If you want to go, I
will pay your way. I‘ll even treat at the concession stand.‖ Timmy
said, ―Wow! To what do I owe this privilege and honor?‖ I replied,
―I‘m in the world of high finance now.‖ We both just looked at each
other and let out a huge laugh.
As we made our way around the wall that divided the concession
stand from the front entrance, I saw Brian standing behind the
counter. He was filling up containers of pop and bags of popcorn. I
stopped for a moment and had an important realization. I was lucky
to be working for Soke Draconis and Brian was lucky to have started
the martial arts before me. I thought that maybe there really are no
advantages in life and everything is just relative. Maybe Einstein
had it right all along.
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Timmy and I made our way down the aisle, found our seats, and got
comfortable. I noticed that Matt and Melissa were there. They were
about seven seats in front of us, so I threw a little bit of popcorn,
smacking Matt on top of the head with it. Matt turned around with a
look on his face that said, ―Somebody better have a good
explanation!‖ I started laughing and Matt said, ―What are you doing
here?‖ I looked over at Timmy and said, ―I brought my date.‖
Timmy grabbed me and we started wrestling around in the chairs.
Matt and Melissa moved up to where Timmy and I were sitting. We
all joked and were having a really good time. After the movie was
over, we went our separate ways - I went home and fell sound
asleep.
I continued, ―I woke up, ate, got ready and went to the school
because I had a 10:30 AM appointment with a couple that wanted to
sign up for martial arts classes. As I made my way into the school, I
heard a jackhammer going off in the back. I wondered what in the
world was going on. Was that an earthquake? I had to let out a
laugh when I found out it was Jake. He had a big cooler out there
filled with liquid. As I went through the school and out the back
door, I signaled for Jake to stop. I said, ―Forgive me for bothering
you while you are working, but what are you doing?‖ He said that
he was jack hammering a piece of cement that was eight feet by
eight feet, because it was cracked and torn up. Once he got the
concrete up, he was going to clean it up, level it, and pour new
concrete. That way, this part of the yard would look plush and even
without any cracks in the cement. I said, ―I‘ll leave you to your
work. I have to get back inside.‖
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A little bit later, the couple showed up for their 10:30 AM
appointment. This was something new that I had never experienced.
The couple‘s names were Rita and Mike. Rita had been raped and
they wanted to take martial arts so that she could defend herself. I
could tell that even talking about it was incredibly painful, so I tried
not to mention it. Rita and Mike signed up and I told them that
tomorrow I would be testing for my blue belt. There would be some
higher ranks testing that day and perhaps they would like to show up
and watch. They would get a great idea about what we do in the
martial arts. They said they thought that would be great, so I gave
them their uniforms and a copy of their membership agreements and
I told them what time to be there tomorrow for the testing.
Just then, a delivery truck pulled up and dropped off two large
boxes. I had them placed in Soke Draconis‘ office, but the curiosity
was killing me. I kept wondering if there were diplomas in there.
Maybe my blue belt was in there, or maybe it was uniforms. Matt
and David walked in and asked, ―What‘s going on, Brady?‖ I told
them two boxes just got delivered and it was driving me nuts that I
did not know what was inside them. I asked them if they were
testing for their first kyu brown belts. They told me they were. I
said, ―You two must be excited. You are only one step away from
receiving your Black Belt.‖ They said, ―Yes, the Black Belt would
be nice, but it is the experience that has been the most rewarding.‖
About that time, Soke Draconis walked in. I told him he had two
boxes delivered to his office and asked if he wanted me to help open
them. Soke said, ―No, that won‘t be necessary.‖ Matt and David
then said they were going to work out and practice for tomorrow‘s
test. I glanced into Soke‘s office to see what he was doing, but he
was his normal self – cool, calm, and collected. He had not even
made his way over to the boxes yet. As I was peeking in the window
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again, I felt a presence behind me, it was Ig. I turned around slowly
and thought to myself, ―This man was absolutely huge!‖ He
inquired as to what I was looking at, and I asked, ―Then, or now?‖
He answered, ―Before you knew I was here.‖ I explained, ―Soke has
a delivery of two boxes and I wanted to know what was in them.‖
He smiled and stated flatly, ―You must be Brady.‖ I wondered,
―How did you know that?‖ ―Soke said you were the inquisitive one
of the group. He described you as Curious George.‖ ―The
monkey?‖ I asked. He replied, ―Yes, but don‘t worry. He did not
say you were a monkey, he just remarked that you were as curious as
one.‖ Now this was all rather intimidating because it is not often
that you see a man that is larger than Soke Draconis but his brother
was clearly bigger. I paused for a moment to steady myself and then
Matt and David came over. They all did the traditional handshake
and told Ig that Soke would be pleased that he was there. Ig replied,
―He had better be happy. I‘ve come a long way.‖ Then he said in a
very loud voice, ―Draconis! Get out here and meet your brother.
Don‘t make me come in there.‖ I thought to myself that would be
ugly. What would it be like to see those two men hook up?
Soke Draconis came out of the office and gave his brother Ig a very
large, powerful hug. They both said that it was great to see each
other and that they both looked wonderful. Matt then said the
weirdest thing to me. He said, ―They got all the height in the family.
We didn‘t.‖ I was shocked and asked, ―Are all you guys related to
Soke Draconis?‖ They had to laugh, ―Yes, we are his nephews.
We‘re the sons of one of his sisters.‖ I thought to myself, ―Now I
know who to get the information I need from. Call me Curious
George will you! I will show Soke.‖
I went on to find out that there were six brothers and four sisters and
realized his mom and dad had ten children. ―That is a very large
family!‖ I said, ―Obviously, I don‘t even know half of them.‖ To
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which Matt and David replied, ―Trust me. You do not know them
now, but you will. We overheard Soke say just the other night that
he was going to put Brady through the Initiation.‖ I thought about
that for a moment, ―Through it? Through what? Initiation?‖
Matt and David said, ―We have said enough. We will say no more.‖
In a slightly agitated voice I replied, ―You can‘t do that to a guy!
What is this ―through it‖ stuff? What does that mean?‖ David just
replied, ―You will know it when it happens. That is all we can say.
You‘re just going to have to wait and see, aren‘t you?‖ They really
knew how to get my attention. I thought to myself, ―I am so curious
it is driving me nuts.‖
I sat at the front desk and after about 20 minutes, Soke and Ig came
out. Ig stopped at the counter and looked at me. I do not mind
telling you that when a man of that size looks at you, the air gets a
little bit thin around you. Then he looked at Soke Draconis and
asked, ―Is this the one you‘re considering putting through it?‖ I
thought to myself that I was being messed with again. I asked,
―What does ―through it‖ mean?‖ Soke said, ―It means to go through
something.‖ I was getting a little uptight and wanted an answer, ―Is
there a riddle decoding book that goes with this family?‖ Both of
the Draconis brothers let out a laugh. I commented, ―What you guys
are doing is putting me through it as we speak because you know I
am curious. There isn‘t any ―through it.‖ Through what? I am
being put through it right now!‖
This was the most frustrating position I had ever found myself in. I
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couldn‘t push too hard because it was the Soke, but I wanted to
know so bad my toes were curled. The energy was building up
inside of me. I really thought I was going to explode. I thought, ―I
can‘t take it any longer. I have got to know what "through it‖ means
and what the "Viking Walk‖ is.‖ At that point, I did the only thing I
had left to do. My mission was clear. I steadied myself, took a
moment to prepare, got on my knees, and begged both of these large
men looking down at me. Soke Draconis smirked, ―At least he is
humble, but he will still have to wait.‖
As the day went on Larry, Michael, Brian, and some of the other
guys came in to practice for the following days test. I thought, ―This
is it. I have to get even somehow.‖ I ran up to the guys and asked,
―Did you know Soke Draconis has a brother named Ig?‖ They
laughed, ―Ig? Come on.‖ I said, ―No, really. He is here now. He is
not in the building, but he is in the city with Soke Draconis.‖ They
all just looked at me with the same look and said, ―You are lying.‖
Then I got to say it! ―Maybe I am and maybe I‘m not! Either way I
guess you will just have to wait and see won‘t you.‖ They all stood
there for about ten more seconds staring at me and then they
proceeded to the mat. Many people were there preparing for the test.
About an hour later, Soke Draconis and his brother Ig came in. The
class turned and bowed to them and they bowed back.
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I stood proudly and said, ―As you all know, that is Soke Draconis,
but what you didn‘t know is that‘s his brother Ig.‖ You could hear
some laughter coming from the mat area. I just stood there with my
arms crossed staring at all of them. Oh, yeah, I was having my
moment. Then Michael said, ―There really is an Ig.‖ They all said,
―We are sorry we doubted you, Brady.‖ I turned and thought to
myself, ―That‘s right. Better give me some respect around here,‖ but
then I thought, ―What if there really is a "through it‖ to go through?‖
Maybe there really is a "Viking Walk‖ too.‖ I was driving myself
crazy from not knowing.
Old Smitty was standing there and said, ―You don‘t look so good,
son.‖ I said, ―What do you mean?‖ ―Well, let me enlighten you.
There are only two reasons to measure a man like that. One is for a
suit. The other is for a grave. Did you notice they did not take any
waist measurement? If it was for a suit, they would need a waist
measurement.‖
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help. They asked me, ―What is wrong?‖ I shared with them, ―Ig
measured me and Smitty told me there are only two reasons to
measure a man.‖ David said softly, ―That is probably not good.‖
Matt said, ―We can‘t talk to you anymore.‖ I asked, ―Why not?
What‘s wrong?‖ Matt said in a very concerned voice, ―Because you
have been measured.‖
I said, ―You guys are messing with me. That‘s enough!‖ Matt
turned back around and grinned, ―Maybe we are, and maybe we
aren‘t. Either way, you‘ll have to wait and see.‖ I said, ―I‘m serving
you notice right here and now. You are all on my list.‖ They asked,
―What list is that?‖ I said in a smart-alecky sort of way, ―Maybe you
are, maybe you aren‘t, you will have to wait and see.‖ Michael said,
―Well, neither of us got measured.‖ They went back to training and
I went back to what I was doing – thinking excessively.
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About that time, Matt and David came walking in with a gentleman
who was about six feet tall, had snow white hair, and a full beard, a
bit like Santa Claus wears. I thought it was odd that Matt and David
were escorting him. Immediately, Soke Draconis and his brother Ig
jumped to their feet and bowed to him. I had to admit the Curious
George came out of me when I heard Matt say, ―Hold on, Grandpa,
and I‘ll get you a chair.‖ I thought ―Grandpa? This guy looks like
he is in phenomenal shape, very strong and extremely alert
mentally.‖ I noticed he had a suitcase with him that David was
carrying. I could tell that Soke Draconis was very pleased with the
situation and later found out he did not know Grandpa was making
the trip from Sweden.
Soke and I went into the basement and came up with another chair
that looked identical to theirs that some students had polished and
cleaned up earlier. Grandpa then told Soke Draconis that, with his
permission, he would like to sit on the board today. Soke Draconis
replied that it would be their honor. Grandpa went into the
bathroom, changed his clothing, and came out all duded up. He had
on the full uniform, including the pleated skirt that we refer to as a
―hakama.‖ He sat in the middle of the table with Soke to the left and
Ig to the right. Now the pressure was really on. As I looked
everyone over, I could tell that nervous tension was heavy in the air.
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I was the last in line to introduce myself. Grandpa looked at me,
then looked at Soke Draconis, and then looked back at me. He said,
―You must be Curious George.‖ I smiled and said, ―Yes, that‘s what
I hear.‖ He then said with a stern look, ―I understand that you‘re
going to go through it.‖ I said, ―Grandpa, please do not do that to
me. All of them have been doing it to me.‖ Grandpa said, ―Did you
ever think for once, Curious George, that you are doing it to
yourself?‖ Then he winked. I asked Grandpa, ―Would it be
improper to ask you your name?‖ He replied, ―Not at all. My name
is Bulvye.‖
Soke Bulvye and Soke Draconis bowed to the now Soke Ig, who
both came around the table and gave him a big hug. While patting
him on the back they gave him the traditional handshake and
congratulated him. They also confirmed that it was well deserved.
They handed him both his diplomas and official letter. It was a great
moment for all of us who were there because we were able to
experience a great moment of history in the Draconis family.
After the presentation, Soke Bulvye sat at the table and said, ―We
shall start this day of testing with brown belts. Those testing for
their third brown belt, come to the front.‖ Matt, David, Larry,
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Michael, and about eight others went through the two-hour test that
was their physical examination. They were not told whether they
passed or not. Then they were each handed a blank composition
book that had about fifty pages in each, which allowed them to
perform the written examination. When they were finished, they
gave the notebooks to Soke Ig and took a seat.
Next, he tested the second kyu brown belts. There were about 25
people testing for that. After two hours, their physical test was
finished and then they sat and completed the written examination.
Soke Bulvye called for first kyu brown belts. There were about 40
students and Brian was one of them. After two hours, they received
instruction to step off the mat and get their written examination.
Then Soke Bulvye called for green belts, who went through about an
hour and a half of testing, and then received their written
examination to complete.
About 50 others and I were testing for the blue belt. After about half
an hour, they told us to get off the mat as they handed us our written
examinations. The three Sokes left the table and went into Soke
Draconis‘ office. They spent about an hour and a half in there then
they came out and said, ―Time is up, give us your examinations.‖
They made everyone line up in the room against each wall and said,
―When we call your name step forward two steps.‖ They called
everyone‘s name that tested except for about 20 people. They said
that the students whose names were not called to step forward did
not pass. I was floored. I passed my blue belt but Brian flunked his
brown belt test. I was not happy that he flunked - I was shocked out
of my mind.
The Sokes went back into the office for an hour to grade the final
examinations. They came back out and said that everyone who was
called forward earlier should step forward again to form a line at the
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table to receive his or her next ranking belt. There were about 85
people ahead of me in line at the table, and even though it was not as
big of a deal as a brown or green belt, it was a big deal to me
because I was still changing belt colors. When I put that blue belt
around my waist, I felt that I had just been promoted to President of
the United States. I was very proud. Afterwards, Soke Draconis
said he was taking us all out to eat, courtesy of the school, and we
were going to Ryan‘s Steak House. We were starving after such a
long day. As we went out to eat, a very interesting thing happened.
Once we got into Ryan‘s Steak House, the Sokes sat together with
the first kyu brown belts. This is a great honor. Then the remaining
brown belts all sat as one while the green belts and blue belts all sat
together. We were all eating and having fun when I sat down by
Brian and asked him what happened? He answered sadly, ―I don‘t
know, it just seemed like I lost my edge. I guess I did not train as
hard as I should have.‖ I suggested to Brian that if he would like to
practice more, we could schedule a time together so he could throw
me around. He thought that was a great idea.
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feel to hear those words.
At this point, Maximus asked, ―They really were wearing you out
with this ―through it‖ stuff, weren‘t they?‖ I laughed, ―Maximus, I
didn‘t know where I was going at that point. I didn‘t know if it was
real or unreal.‖ Maximus agreed, ―Yes, I see your point. It would
be disturbing, please go on.‖
After everyone left Ryan‘s Steak House, the Sokes dropped me off
in my neighborhood and I started to make my way home. I knew
they were all going to talk, reminisce, and have a good time. I even
heard Soke Bulvye make a comment about making mead. As I was
walking home, I could not help but think about the interesting turn
that my life had taken and how, for the first time in my life, I really
felt like I had a future. I had to start school on Monday and I was
thoroughly excited. I was a big shot now, I was working in the
world of high finance, I was a blue belt and I had cash in the bank. I
had a future, a high school diploma on the way, and I had paid my
mom‘s house mortgage off for her. I made tons of new friends and I
was learning how to run a dojo and how to be creative.
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Monday. This was not going to be any ordinary school year. I
graduated in May and I only had to go to school until noon. It would
not be a bad gig at all to get out of school and work at the dojo
starting at one o‘clock while signing people up and studying for my
green belt.
I went down the hallway and there were five of them standing by
Chuck‘s locker, and one of them was standing right in front of my
locker leaning on it. I said, ―Please excuse me.‖ He was not trying
to be nice, ―What did you say?‖ ―I said, please excuse me, I have to
get into my locker.‖ Chuck said, ―So your locker is by my locker.‖
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I simply replied, ―It would appear as if fate has decided to bring our
two souls together, doesn‘t it?‖ He was looking for a fight, ―Are you
getting smart with me?‖ I answered him slyly, ―Chuck, I saw your
IQ scores, so how would you know if I was or wasn‘t?‖ Chuck then
said, ―Are you insulting me?‖ I smirked, ―See, Chuck, that‘s my
point exactly.‖
One of the wrestlers who I had seen before blew my cover, ―I think
this guy takes martial arts down on Belmont Street.‖ Then Chuck
asked, ―Is that right? Are you a kung fu man?‖ I said proudly, ―No,
I study jujitsu.‖ He asked, ―What is jujitsu?‖ I explained, ―Well you
know how you do wrestling? We do all of that plus a ton of other
stuff you don‘t do.‖ ―Are you saying jujitsu is better than
wrestling?‖ He asked while growing even more defensive. I told
him, ―Not better, just more equipped.‖ Chuck then asked in a very
loud voice, ―What does that mean?‖ I said, ―It means you only pin
people to win. Isn‘t that right, Chuck?‖ He said, ―Correct.‖ I
continued, ―We make them submit, or we choke them out or break a
bone or something like that.‖
Chuck now reached for his loud and authoritative voice, ―You think
you can choke me out.‖ I chuckled, ―Chucky, Chucky, Chucky.
You are allowing your emotions to run away without the benefit of
your intellect, but then that would be easy enough with an IQ as low
as yours.‖ Chuck was completely fed up, ―That‘s it!‖ Then he
rammed his head into my locker door. I remarked, ―Charles, your
lack of IQ is beginning to show.‖
About that time, three of his wrestler buddies grabbed me. It could
not have been better luck as, at that exact moment, the wrestling
coach and the principal were coming down the hall towards us.
When they came upon us, they asked how things were going. I
answered, ―Just fine Principle Davis.‖ ―I was just explaining to my
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friends from the IQ-less squad that when I got to my locker it was
smashed and I really like this locker.‖ Principal Davis said, ―I will
have this fixed up for you first thing tomorrow.‖ I was pleased,
―Thank you, that is very nice of you.‖
Then the wrestling coach, Mr. Phillips said, ―You look like a big
strong boy. How come you never went out for wrestling?‖ I
explained that I had I boxed for several years while they were doing
wrestling and now I was doing martial arts and I preferred to stay in
that. ―Martial arts are a bunch of crap,‖ he said. ―You should come
over and wrestle with us guys and we‘ll show you how it is really
done.‖ I replied, ―Maybe I will just take you up on that offer one
day.‖ I could feel him bearing down on me. Also, you did not have
to be an Einstein to detect the challenge behind that invitation. I
commented, ―Well, now, it seems like we are all one big happy
family.‖ Then Chuck said, ―Yes, I think I hear your momma calling
for you.‖ I do not mind telling you that as I walked away, I was
trying to swallow my heart again. I thought to myself, ―I am glad
this is going to be a short school year for me.‖
The last class of the day before I left on my new schedule was study
hall. I was not getting any PE that year, so I went to Principal Davis
and asked him if I could trade my 45-minute study hall for 45
minutes of weight training. He said as long as my grades stayed up
where they were, he would allow it. I shook hands with Principal
Davis, looked him right in the eye, and offered, ―Just let me know if
there is anything I can do for you.‖ He smiled, ―All right, I‘ll do
that.‖ There was only one flaw in my plan. I really did want to lift
weights, it was very important to me since I love weight lifting.
However, that was the same time that the wrestling team worked out
with weights.
At the end of the day, I stopped by the study hall room to let the
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teacher know I was excused from that class and let her know where I
would be. Mrs. Williams said, ―That would be fine. Be careful not
to hurt yourself down there.‖ I thought to myself, ―It is not me
hurting myself that I am worried about.‖
I went down to the weight room and started lifting weights. For my
age, I was enormously strong. I was actually able to bench press 315
pounds for 15 reps without stopping and that is slightly unheard of. I
was standing in the background watching the wrestlers work out and
sizing up all their strengths when I noticed that Chuck was
struggling to get 315 pounds up for one rep. I thought, ―The strength
advantage goes to me.‖ There were not many guys in school heavy
or big enough to challenge Chuck, but I happened to be one of them.
I was at the correct weight to be a heavyweight wrestler. Mr.
Phillips came walking up to me and said, ―Look who it is. What are
you doing here?‖ I said, ―I just came here to lift weights and I really
don‘t want any trouble. I promise to keep my mouth shut and just
lift weights.‖ He said, ―Well, be sure you do that. I don‘t want you
disturbing real athletes.‖
After they left the bench press, which was my favorite piece of
equipment, I made my way over to it. I did 10 reps with 315 pounds
and without cheating like when you bounce the bar off your chest to
build up momentum. Before I could put the weight back on the rack,
Mr. Phillips, who was standing there, said, ―Son, I can‘t believe what
I just saw you do. You mean to tell me you are that strong and you
are not wrestling?‖ I said, ―No, really it is not my thing.‖ Chuck
commented, ―He might be strong, but I could take him on the mat.‖
I chided him, ―You couldn‘t find a mat if you had a teacher to direct
you there.‖ Mr. Phillips said, ―With a mouth like that, I am going to
tell you what your two options are today. Either you get your butt
on the mat with Chuck now, or I am going to leave this room and
boys will be boys.‖ The last option did not hold much appeal for
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me. I quickly decided for the mat option. Mr. Phillips said it was a
match.
We went to the mat area and this guy, Chuck, honestly did not
intimidate me. We got inside the circle and Mr. Phillips said the
word, ―Go!‖ Chuck flew into me and drove me into the ground.
Now, in wrestling, being on your back is not a good place, but in
jujitsu, it is okay with me. I could hear his buddies and Mr. Phillips
encouraging him to kick my butt, but then Chuck made his biggest
mistake and did the worst thing he could do. He fell victim to what
is referred to in the martial arts as a single arm rotary choke. Chuck
began to turn blue, purple, and red in the face. This is a terrible hold
to have placed on you. I was on my back looking up at the ceiling,
Chuck was on top of me, and at this point, we were belly to belly. I
slipped underneath his right arm and using my right arm, I placed it
over his throat and the back of his neck. Using my head, I touched
his head with mine and, leaning to the right, I brought my left arm
around the top of his head to grab my right arm. His arm was
straight out pointing to the ground.
Chuck began to gasp for breath and Mr. Phillips said, ―Let go,‖ so I
let go. When I got up, Chuck got off me, and he was rubbing his
neck and trying to catch his breath a little bit. I said, ―See, Chuck,
we don‘t pin, we submit. That is what I was trying to tell you
earlier.‖ I held my hand out to shake his hand, and he said, ―No
way, punk!‖ He slapped my hand away. ―Let‘s do it again. That
was just luck.‖ ―Chuck,‖ I said, ―Luck is finding a twenty dollar bill
when you are walking down the street.‖ Mr. Phillips then said,
―Yeah. That was luck.‖ I muttered under my breath, ―Let it go,
Brady, they‘re idiots.‖
Then Principal Davis came in and asked, ―How are things going
boys?‖ We all replied that everything was fine. Mr. Phillips said,
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―The two boys were just grappling.‖ Principal Davis asked who
won. I told him I won with an arm choke. Principal Davis asked,
―Are you going to wrestle again?‖ I told him ―yes‖ so Principal
Davis stood alongside Mr. Phillips and watched. Mr. Phillips said,
―Ready. Go!‖ Chuck was a little more leery this time. He circled
around me a few times and I circled around him. Then Chuck shot
in trying to get a single leg takedown. I moved out of the way and
took his back, which means I was then literally on his back, head-to-
head, stomach to back. I put him in what is known as a figure four
choke. This is where the left arm goes around his throat and then
cuts into the elbow of the right arm, the right arm goes behind the
back of the head, and you squeeze inward. Chuck went back to
turning blue, purple, and red, and gasping for breath. I had wrapped
my legs around his waist and he was going nowhere. He had no
other options. At that point, consciousness was fading fast. He
tapped again. Principal Davis then asked, ―Brady, why are you not
wrestling?‖ I shared with him, ―Principal Davis, to be honest with
you, this is not a fair fight. I am winning because I know how to
submit, and in Chuck‘s defense, he does not have that knowledge. It
really is two different worlds.‖ I held my hand out to Chuck again
and suggested, ―Friends?‖ He just knocked my hand away again.
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We‘ll see.‖
I left school and went to work. Soke Draconis asked how school had
gone. I said, ―Soke, if I may say so, my life is becoming more
interesting everyday.‖ He responded, ―Well, let‘s hope it continues
that way.
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At this point, Maximus commented, ―You were really in for it,
weren‘t you?‖
I felt there was no way out of this. When Brian asked if I could go
to lunch, I said, ―Let me ask Soke Draconis if I can slip out.‖ When
I went into the office, Soke Draconis, Soke Ig, and Soke Bulvye
were sitting there. They were all drinking water with lemon, eating
rice and broccoli, fish, and cut pineapple. I asked Soke Draconis,
―May I go to lunch please? He answered, ―By all means. You are
probably hungry after being in school all morning.‖
Soke Bulvye looked me square in the eye and said, ―There seems to
be something weighing on your mind, Brady. What is it?‖ I gave
him a quick version of the story and I noticed that Soke Draconis
had a weird look on his face. I cut the conversation short, ―All right.
I am going to go to lunch now.‖
As we were walking down the street, I told Brian that a very strange
look spread across Soke‘s face when I mentioned Coach Phillips
name. Brian said, ―I don‘t know why. I don‘t know of anything
between them. Of course, that doesn‘t mean anything.‖ We went
over to Smitty‘s for lunch because Smitty had installed a new deli
area with tables and chairs where people could sit and talk. It was
becoming very popular and had good food, comfortable atmosphere,
and was reasonably priced. Everybody trusted eating the food being
served when they went to Smitty‘s Deli.
Brian and I sat and had chicken salad sandwiches with chips, along
with those large green dill pickles and iced tea. Brian then asked me
if I wanted to work out that night after class and I said I did, so we
agreed to meet later.
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After lunch, we went our separate ways, and I made my way back to
the school. Two guys were getting out of a car when I walked up. I
went on into the school, sat at the front desk, and then they came in.
I asked politely, ―May I help you?‖ They told me, ―Yes, we would
like to see about taking martial arts.‖ I invited them into my office.
They said that they had been taking Tae Kwon Do, so I asked, ―Are
you still going to continue taking that?‖ They said "no" that it was
not really their style, and they were looking for something else. I
explained to them about our style of martial arts and that we do as
much stand-up fighting as we do ground fighting. The person who
trains in both ways has a higher chance of winning a fight, but our
main goal is to learn to fight so that we do not have to fight. One of
the guys, whose name was Donny, said, ―Isn‘t that a weird concept?‖
I shared, ―If you think about it, it is no weirder than learning to fall
down so that you can begin to walk. When you master the fear of
falling down, walking doesn‘t seem to be much of a challenge
anymore.‖ The other guy, named Jeff, looked over at Donny and
said that made a lot of sense to him. Donny and Jeff both said they
would like to sign up, so I signed them up as new members, gave
each of them a gi and their copies of the agreement. We shook
hands and I scheduled them for their first class.
Soke Ig and Soke Bulvye were going to drive around and check
things out. I guessed they were going to do some sightseeing. Soke
Draconis said, ―Brady, I would like to see you in my office for a
moment.‖ I handed him the two new memberships along with their
enrollment fees. He congratulated me and said that was an
exceptional job. Soke Draconis made it a rule that he always
complimented you for anything you did, no matter how trivial. He
then asked me if Coach Phillips was a major problem. I stated, ―I‘m
not sure yet.‖ Soke Draconis nodded his head in a way that I was
not accustomed to and with a stern look on his face, he told me,
―You let me know.‖ As I got up and left the office, I thought to
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myself, ―That was a very chilling experience.‖
I snapped back into reality real quick when Brian politely smacked
me on the back of my head and said, ―Pay attention.‖ ―Class has not
even started yet,‖ I replied. It seems Brian knew me very well, ―It is
getting ready to begin and I know what you are up to.‖ ―All right,‖ I
agreed and looked straight ahead.
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Brian mentioned, ―By the way, I heard they were going to put you
through it.‖ I asked, ―Where did you hear that? Do you know what
it means?‖ Brian replied, ―Maybe I do, and maybe I don‘t. You will
just have to wait and see, won‘t you?‖ I pointed out, ―Do you
remember that free lunch you got today? Well don‘t worry about it
because it won‘t happen again.‖ He remarked, ―You know you are
very temperamental. It must be all that sugar you eat.‖ I told him,
―You must want to be choked out.‖ Brian looked at me and said,
―Every dog has its day. My spot in the sun will come.‖ To which I
stated, ―Only if you have a reservation on the beach in the Bahamas
somewhere.‖
Later at School
There was still a great deal of tension in the air. I was beginning to
feel people were looking at me differently when I walked down the
hallway. A friend of mine named Dwayne came up to me and said
that Chuck was advertising all around the school that he was going
to pound me down to the ground. Now I understood, ―Is that what is
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going around?‖ I walked down different hallways trying to take
various routes so that I would not have to encounter him.
Eventually, however, it was time for my last class of the day, which
was weight lifting. By that time, I was seriously thinking of going
back to the study hall, but this was really the only place I could lift
weights and I was not going to be run off. I went in and used the
weights, but it seemed as though I was getting more hassle from
Coach Phillips than I was from the players. Coach Phillips and
Chuck both tossed a few snide remarks in my direction, but I just
ignored it and went about my business.
On my way home from school that day, which was about a two-mile
walk for me, I was passing by Grey Park when three cars pulled up
in front of me. It was Coach Phillips and some of the other
wrestlers. I could tell this was going to be bad. Coach Phillips
informed me, ―We are going to finish what we started.‖ To which I
replied, ―It looks as though you are already finished.‖ Chuck and the
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other guys attacked and grabbed me. I was sliced and diced meat
and I knew it. Coach Phillips began to hit me. When he hit me in
my stomach a second time, I began to feel faint, like I was going to
throw up.
Just then, I heard another vehicle pull up behind us and I saw Coach
Phillips step back. Then I heard Soke Draconis tell Coach Phillips,
―I guess you didn‘t learn your lesson the first time.‖ The truth was
that Coach Phillips had a grudge against Soke Draconis. Many years
back, he and Soke Draconis got into a fight over a girl, instigated, no
doubt, by Coach Phillips.
Soke Draconis told the Coach, ―Let‘s see how well you do with
someone a little bigger and a little older.‖ Soke Ig just looked at the
other wrestlers and they stepped back and released me. Soke Ig said,
―Go sit in the truck. There‘s a towel under the seat.‖ As I sat in the
truck in the shade, I saw Coach Phillips go flying into Soke
Draconis, and then the Coach got a face full of knee. When his head
came up from being hit with the knee, I saw Soke Draconis deliver a
vicious elbow to the face. He then picked him up by his left arm,
placed his wrist in a wristlock, and threw him into a car that was
parked there. I heard Soke say, ―I can finish it right now, or it is
finished between you and me and you leave Brady out of it.‖ Coach
Phillips said, ―It is done, completely.‖
Soke Draconis said he was going to the school to tell Principal Davis
about what happened today. When Soke Draconis and Soke Ig
turned to leave, all the wrestlers moved out of the way. Soke
Draconis drove to the school. He took me into the Principal‘s office
and told the story. Mr. Davis was appalled. He stated that Coach
Phillips would be fired immediately after an investigation. The
investigation was held and Coach Phillips was terminated.
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The next couple of weeks, things were really quiet between me and
the other wrestlers. I went on to get my green belt and Brian
received his brown belt. I was only a couple of months away from
graduation. Soke Draconis never said anything about that day with
Coach Phillips. Soke Ig and Soke Bulvye had gone back to Sweden
a couple of months earlier. Things seemed to be moving forward
between Soke Draconis and Nancy. I thought they made a fine
couple. She was very nice.
- 191 -
to make me punch a clock. And another thing that‘s bothering me is
how she wants to go out with her girlfriends one day a week without
me to party and have a good time.‖ He said he did not like that idea
and thought she should not be allowed to do it. ―Don‘t you agree
with me?‖ I paused for a moment before I replied, ―To a degree, I
do, but I feel you are both right.‖ Pete asked, ―How could both of us
be right? There are only two of us in this disagreement. One has to
be wrong and one has to be right. That is the way it is.‖
Pete sat there for a moment before he responded, ―You know, Brady,
you are right!‖ I suggested, ―Go home, Pete. I am going to bed. Go
work it out with your girlfriend. I am at the end of my words.‖
After Pete left, I walked into the house and lay down on the bed. I
could not help contemplating what might actually happen that night
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between Pete and his girlfriend. I thought it would all work out. I
then reflected that love is the willingness to create the space in which
something can experience its truth.
After I got out of school, I went to the martial arts school. Soke
Draconis was there and told me that he was going to have a cookout
this weekend and wanted to know if I wanted to earn some money. I
said, ―Absolutely.‖ He said that he would pay me $100 if I would
work the barbeque with him on Saturday from 11 o‘clock in the
morning until four o‘clock in the afternoon. He handed me $50,
explaining that was half of my pay in advance and let me know I
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would get the other half on Saturday at 4:00 PM. It sounded good to
me.
I met a friend of mine named Joe in front of the store. I had not seen
Joe in about two weeks and I asked him what he had been doing. He
did not say a whole lot except that he had been keeping himself low-
key because he had two guys looking for him. I wanted to know
more, ―Why are these guys after you, Joe?‖ Joe came clean,
―Because I owe them some money.‖ I inquired, ―Joe, if you didn‘t
have any way to pay them back, why would you borrow the money
in the first place?‖ Joe replied, ―Because I really needed the money
at the time.‖ I asked, ―But you didn‘t think about what would
happen when you couldn‘t pay them back?‖ He replied, ―Right.‖
Before I knew it, I had made him an offer to come into the store with
me and help me get all of the food I needed to purchase in exchange
for $5. ―Then, if you help me carry the stuff we buy from the store,
back to the school, my martial arts teacher might have something
you can do to earn $20. You could pay your debt off and assume a
little responsibility for yourself,‖ I offered. Joe agreed.
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As we were walking into the store, Joe asked me what type of
martial arts I was taking. I told him Kempo-Jujitsu. He asked,
―What type of martial art is that?‖ I explained briefly, ―I will give
you a fast generic description. It is a combination of the standup
punching and kicking science blended with ground grappling,
submission techniques, and chokes.‖ Joe asked, ―Is it any good?‖ I
said, ―I have had a few matches inside the school, but I have not had
an opportunity to use what I have learned outside of the school. I
hope I never have to.‖ Joe looked a little confused, ―Then why do
you take martial arts?‖ I shared with him, ―For the exercise and it is
fun to do. Also, if I ever do get into a situation, I will have the
confidence to know how to handle myself, but if I learn right, I
should never have to fight.‖ Joe then asked, ―So let me get this
straight. You are learning to fight so that you don‘t have to fight?‖ I
answered him, ―Basically, that is right.‖ To which Joe replied, ―It
seems like a contrary concept. If I was taking martial arts, and I
learned how to fight, I would want to be kicking butt.‖ I had to
laugh, ―Not if you were taught correctly you wouldn‘t.‖
We walked into the store and we both got quarts of chocolate milk
and popped them open as we walked. Next, we headed over to the
butcher and we got the hot dogs and hamburgers. Then we grabbed
the potato chips, dip, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, all the
condiments, a bunch of coca cola, and checked out. We walked out
to the parking lot, and as we crossed the street, there was an old red
liquor store that looked like a barn, but much smaller. The two guys
that Joe owed his money to appeared out of nowhere. They had a
third guy with them. They told Joe they wanted their money, or they
were going to kick his butt.
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and let Joe handle his own problem. He was the one who got the
benefit of the $20, but did not have the foresight or the responsibility
to pay it back. I thought to myself, ―If I desert my friend, I know I
am going to feel bad, but it really and truly is not my problem. My
decision was made for me just then when one of the kids decided,
―Maybe we will just kick your butt too, since you are his friend.‖ I
responded calmly, ―I really don‘t want to fight. I‘d prefer a more
peaceful solution to this.‖
Of course that was the wrong thing to say to a young and aggressive
kid because now they thought I was a coward and they wanted to
bully me. We had a shopping cart from the store, and one of them
took a package of potato chips out of a bag, opened it, and began
eating them. I thought to myself, ―This has gone way too far. Not
only are they trying to bully me, but they are also eating the potato
chips I had paid for. They are not even my chips.‖ I told the guy the
bag of chips was worth about one dollar, and now Joe only owed
them $19. There was one guy whose name was Smiley. I knew of
him a little bit from around the neighborhood. Smiley replied, ―I
don‘t think you understand. We are going to take some of your pop
and your potato chips, and maybe even some of that meat you have
there, and I still want my $20.‖
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body was starting to tingle all over. I have to admit that my
testosterone was working on overdrive now, so I got closer to the
guy who was holding the chips, and said, ―Please, put the chips back
in the bag.‖ He said, ―Make me.‖
When I got up off Smiley, I looked over and noticed that Joe‘s guy
was on top of him, so I went over and grabbed the guy and placed
him in an arm lock. The other two guys just sat there. The guy that
I now had placed into an arm lock let out this horrific scream, and I
have to admit, it frightened the crap out of me. I was really worried
and he immediately yelled, ―I think you broke my arm!‖ I thought,
―Oh, man, I am really scared now.‖ I remember leaving the potato
chips with them and telling them that it was their fault, since they
should not be picking fights.
As Joe and I made it down to the school, we were both still excited
with our blood pumping, but I could not shake this uncontrollable
thought that I just beat up two guys and helped my friend with the
third one. I had to admit there was a moment of pride, and then I
thought, "These martial arts were really working.‖
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We walked into the school with the groceries and walked into Soke
Draconis‘ office. He sat back in his chair, and he immediately
asked, ―What happened?‖ I told him the whole story. He wanted to
know, ―Do you feel you did the right thing?‖ I was troubled, ―I
don‘t know what else I could have done, but I can tell you this much
- I kicked butt.‖ Soke Draconis then asked, ―Does that give you a
sense of self worth?‖ I began to realize that this was not going to be
a situation where I was going to get any praise.
Soke looked at Joe and he just sat back in his seat as if the back of
the chair had just absorbed him. Soke Draconis directed his
attention towards Joe, ―Joe, you borrowed money knowing that you
had no way to pay it back, and you haven‘t been trying to pay it
back. If you had fully tried, you would have given it all your effort,
and you could have found a way to pay back $20. Due to your lack
of responsibility, it not only affected you, it affected another person.
In fact, it affected four other people. You have to learn that when
you do not live up to your responsibility you not only affect yourself
but others as well. Let me tell both of you an old Chinese story.
―There once lived an old man who was the poorest man in his entire
village. He worked hard and did what he could, but he just could
never make enough. One Sunday morning, he woke up and decided
he was going to change his life forever. He was going to become
rich, no matter what. So, he put on his clothes and sandals and he
went out to make his fortune. As he was walking through the town
among all the people, he saw a man carrying a large pot of gold, and
he heard the man saying, ―I struck it rich. My problems are over.‖
The old man immediately reacted. He grabbed the pot of gold from
the man and took off running as fast as his old bones would carry
him. He did not get far when two police officers grabbed him. The
old man put down the gold. The rightful owner caught up and took
back his pot of gold.
- 198 -
―One of the police officers was just bewildered. He said to the old
man, ―I have to ask you a question before I take you to jail. How did
you think you were going to get away with all that gold with all the
townspeople everywhere?‖ The old man replied, ―I am the poorest
man in this village. I did not think; I only reacted. I did not think
about all those people and how I was going to be caught. All I could
think of was that gold.‖
Soke Draconis then looked at Joe and said, ―Do you see how this
story resembles your situation?‖ Joe thought for a moment and then
put his head down looking at the floor. He admitted, ―Yes sir, I do.‖
Soke Draconis said sternly, ―Don‘t look at the floor when answering.
Look at a man‘s eyes.‖ Joe looked straight into the eyes of Soke
Draconis and repeated, ―Yes, Sir, I do.‖
- 199 -
and I was projecting it onto Soke. Joe said, ―Man! That was
intense. I think talking to him was more intense than the fight we
just had.‖ I had to know, ―Are you going to show up tomorrow at
eleven o‘clock?‖ Joe said he would and we went to Big Daddy‘s
World Famous Pizza Shop. I told Joe that today was my treat and I
bought the pizza and cokes. We ate our pizza and sat there enjoying
the sunshine and talking about the fight we were in. Joe commented,
―You have some really good moves, Brady.‖ I told Joe that I made
all the wrong moves. Joe did not understand the concept of my
comment.
We started talking about other things and after we finished the meal,
we took a walk and we played basketball that night down at the park.
I told Joe I would see him the next day at eleven o‘clock. I
remember going home, laying on my bed, and going through the
fight in my mind. There were possibilities that I could have done
some things I had not thought of doing at the time. Many
realizations popped into my mind and I pondered them heavily, but
my body became lighter and lighter and I went to sleep.
Upon waking at nine o‘clock the next morning, I got up, showered,
dressed, and made my way to the school. I was there at 10:45 AM
and, to my great surprise, Joe showed up at about 10:50 AM. I was
very impressed that he even made it, let alone arrived early. I truly
half expected him not to be there at all. We both had a few battle
wounds, mostly scrapes and bruises, on us from the previous day.
Soke Draconis pulled up and said, ―Come in guys. Good morning!‖
We grabbed the grill, put the charcoal on, and started the fire. We
took everything out the back door and started setting up some of the
cups, plates and napkins on the picnic tables. Joe blew up some of
the balloons. His monthly barbeque was a mighty big deal to Soke
and all the students loved it. More people showed up and pitched in
to help. There must have been at least 125 people there that day. I
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sat at the table with Soke Draconis and Joe. Soke Draconis looked at
both of us and said, ―That reactive power can be a serious thing,
can‘t it?‖ We all gave a little laugh and went back to enjoying the
barbeque.
Later towards the evening, Joe said that he was so impressed with
everything that he wanted to know if he could join the school. Soke
Draconis looked at Joe squarely in the eye and asked, ―It is $65 to
join my school. How do you plan to pay for it?‖ Joe said, ―My
father has a friend who owns a small construction company who has
wanted me to work for him. I could have worked for him and earned
the $20 to pay back the money I borrowed. I did not think about
things like that back then, but I do now.‖ Soke Draconis said, ―I will
go ahead and let you join my school for 90 days. If you have learned
enough responsibility within those three months to make your
monthly payments and show up for class, we will talk about a longer
contract. This will give you an opportunity to see if this path has a
purpose for you.‖ Soke Draconis got up from the table and Joe
remarked what a nice guy Soke was as he crunched on a few more
potato chips.
As time moved on, I got my brown belt, and Brian was now one
level away from his Black Belt. We became constant companions.
We worked hard together and studied martial arts at night with Soke
Draconis. One day, a new student made a comment that Brian and I
did not know what we were talking about as far as martial arts were
concerned because we were never in class. This person was a funny
little guy who lived fairly near us. He was always in a happy,
cheerful mood. One thing we learned about this person, named
Liam, was that he was quick with his judgments and always had a
snappy comeback to anything you said.
When I informed him one day that I was a brown belt, his face
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became slightly flushed. He said, ―How can you be a brown belt?
I‘ve never seen you at any classes.‖ I enlightened him, ―First of all,
Liam, I have been around a long time. The reason you don‘t see me
in classes anymore is because Brian and I study with Soke Draconis
personally; every night, Monday through Friday for two hours.‖
Liam said, ―I can see how you would probably need private lessons.‖
I told him, ―There was a time when I would be offended by that
statement, but not now. I realize that you suffer from the same
disease that I did. Your brain hasn‘t caught up with your mouth yet
and it indicates your immaturity and self-esteem problem.‖ Liam
defensively remarked, ―I don‘t have any self-esteem problem. I am
not the one who needs private classes.‖ I was patient, ―You are
being judgmental before you understand the whole situation. Brian
and I need private classes because we are working in the school
during the other classes.‖ Liam walked away, but I heard him mutter
under his breath, ―Likely story.‖ I thought to myself that I might
have to break this one. He was a pistol.
A few days went by. I walked into my office and Liam was sitting
behind my desk in my chair. Liam was 16 years old and he was
every bit as arrogant as I was at that age - maybe even more. I asked
him what he was doing. Liam then shouted in a loud voice, ―Don‘t
worry about it, I am taking this joint over.‖ At that time, Brian came
by and saw me standing by my office. He came walking up to me
and asked, ―What‘s wrong, Brady?‖ I said, ―Liam is sitting in my
chair proclaiming he is going to take over. Brian, correct me if I am
wrong, but isn‘t he only a white belt who has only been a student for
about four or five weeks?‖ Brian said, ―That‘s right, I spoke to his
mom and dad who signed him up.‖
I walked to the front of the desk and stated flatly, ―Liam, get out of
that chair please.‖ Liam said, ―If you want the chair, why don‘t you
move me?‖ I then told Liam, ―Count to five and get out of my chair,
- 202 -
or I am going to give you a free brown belt lesson.‖ Brian
immediately looked up at the ceiling when I got to five and Liam
had not moved. He just sat there like a coon eating my corn; looking
at me like - what are you going to do about it? I walked around my
desk and said, ―I am in a particularly good mood today, Liam, so I
am going to ask you one more time to please get out of my chair.‖
Liam immediately replied, ―You can count to ten again if you want,
but I‘m still not moving.‖ Brian crossed his arms and began to grin.
I quickly grabbed Liam‘s hand before he even knew what happened
and put him in a wristlock. I had him over the desk and let me tell
you, that boy was screaming.
Soke came running into my office and asked, ―Brady, what are you
doing?‖ I clarified my actions, ―Soke, this white belt let himself into
my office and sat in my chair behind my desk. I asked him politely
to get out of my chair, twice. He said a couple of condescending
things to me, so in reply, I am politely helping him remove himself
from my chair. By the way, Liam, who is still lying on the desk in
pain, seemed to be in some doubt about my martial arts ability, so I
was just giving him a free demonstration.‖ Soke walked up closer to
the desk and asked Liam if these things were true. Liam said, ―Yes,
it‘s true.‖ Soke said, ―Have you learned your lesson?‖ Liam said,
―Yes, I have. I would like to get up now, please.‖ I immediately
released the wristlock. Liam went to the other side of the desk,
holding his wrist and rubbing it.
Liam then looked at Soke and asked, ―May I please be excused, sir?‖
Soke Draconis said, ―Yes, after you give me fifty push-ups.‖ Liam
questioned Soke, ―May I ask what for?‖ Soke said, ―You said you
deserve an explanation. Brady has received payment for what you
did to him in his office. However, I need payment for the blatant
disrespect you showed my school. This type of behavior will never
be accepted again. The next time I will call your mother and father
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and make them aware that if it doesn‘t stop, your membership will
be terminated and you will no longer belong to this family.‖
When Soke speaks to you like that and makes you do push-ups, you
have really screwed up. Liam dropped to the ground and gave Soke
fifty push-ups and then Soke told him he could be excused. After
Liam left, Soke gave a little smile and politely said, ―Well, you have
to give him an "A‖ for tenacity.‖ We all laughed a little bit and went
on about our day.
When I came in the next day, I found Liam sitting in a chair that he
offered to me immediately. He said he would like to talk to me. I
gestured, ―Of course, Liam, come into my office. I believe you
know the way.‖ We both laughed.
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Chapter 9
REACTIVE POWER
The reactive power of the subconscious mind is the reason for the
abstract reality that we live. The patterns of the past are well
ingrained into our subconscious mind. All we see and react to are
only the trained reactions of the past. This is what the Masters
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meant when they proclaimed everything is only an illusion. They
did not mean that life is not real. They meant that everything is only
an interpretation of life. Beliefs change and are always different.
Therefore, reality is always changing. When people stay fixed in
their old beliefs and especially when their beliefs are not producing
regular results, life becomes very mundane at that level of automatic
living.
The subconscious mind affects our control over the future. It does
so by making us work through old belief patterns that have not been
changed or questioned. This is how most religions and government
establishments stay in power. They are never questioned, and if they
are, they make you feel ashamed for having independent thoughts
and get you out-casted so that their ways stay in power. The
subconsciousness kind of operates the same way. If you make a
statement that questions the way of your past, or promotes a new
direction that is different than the roads traveled before, the
subconsciousness will throw up all kinds of objections and reasons
for you not to change your ways. This is bad because the
subconsciousness works as that trusted friend who shoots you down
every time you have a new idea and requires you to step outside of
their safety norm.
One evening, after I had trained with Soke Draconis for about a year,
we had a conversation about the Universe. I asked Maximus if he
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wanted to hear the results of that conversation and he replied, ―Are
you kidding? Please tell me.‖
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live in our past memories, become stuck there, and resist growth and
change. We continue to experience the old world of the past through
our frozen attention that is with our old memories. It is impossible
to move on with the future when you are stuck in the past.
What could require such a reactive tool? How does it help us and in
what way? The subconscious is the storehouse of information for
our agreements and our conditions. It keeps the rules of the game as
we currently have them - based on our beliefs. It also allows us to
participate again after we have shut down this level of reality and
have moved on to the next level of activity that the mind-spirit has
prepared for us. Without sounding hokey, it is not one mission, but
as quoted from Star Trek, ―A continuing mission.‖
Look at it this way - once you have chosen to exist, you are
something and therefore, become created from the act of
consciousness, so that you exist in a creational flux of
subconsciousness to consciousness, just as we go back and forth in
this dimension from cause to effect. The concept that the Universe
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is a reactive seed of our created states of consciousness will probably
not sit well with everyone, but it is our view in the Creotology
program. Life is a series of moving from reaction to response, cause
to effect, and indifference to difference.
Do not forget the golden rule - all possibilities must exist somewhere
in the Universe and, as science has proven; life will find a way. Life
is a by-product of the creation of potential being extracted from the
infinite possibilities as energy-beings go forth and do work.
The creative causation of the Universe is not what we create, but the
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fact that we decided to create it. Our participation brings about the
advantage of viewing realities from different positions in the mental
time continuums that are always an effect of the mind-spirit.
Maximus then asked, ―Could you highlight some of the things you
just said?‖ I offered, ―Why don‘t we do better than that. Let‘s take
out a sheet of paper and write down a ―Universal Creation Chart.‖‖
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Chapter 10
U N I V E R S A L C R E AT I O N
C H A RT
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CREATIONAL SCALE
Experience - This is where you stop thinking and start the act of
enjoying the rewards of what you have created.
Maximus nodded his head, ―That was a very effective way to help
me understand.‖ I assured him, ―Don‘t worry, Maximus, throughout
the years, Soke Draconis has helped me with many of these charts as
well.‖ Maximus then said, ―There is so much information it is mind
boggling, but I am far too intrigued to stop now. Please continue.‖ I
gave him fair warning, ―Alright, Maximus, you asked for it.‖
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We have to update our information and results
If we leave the ancient texts and step into the modern day world, we
begin to see that we are trying to solve modern day problems with
outdated information. Perhaps in an attempt to be kinder, we could
call it impractical information. The impracticality of this
information stems from the fact that the problems they faced in the
ancient times are not the same problems we face in the modern day
world. When we step into the modern day world and apply some
new thinking, new dimensions begin to create themselves from the
alignment of our new perceptions. For example, we are not from the
universal consciousness, we are the universal consciousness. The
reason we accept this ancient model of information is that we are not
being presented with anything better. It is not Creotology‘s attempt
to discourage anyone who reads the ancient texts, but to open up,
and with a clear non-judgmental mind, explore other exciting
information that is waiting for its introduction into the total
consciousness of our people on earth. Remember, without any new
explorations there is nothing new to discover.
Space and time are simply concepts that the subject uses in order to
explore and to expand into other realms of the intrapersonal
experience of his or her belief system. The subject and the object are
two separate things instead of the same consciousness. In fact, it is
through the powerful responding consciousness that the subjective
and the objective take on the distinct meanings of the subject‘s will
of the ―I Am‖ to the objective reality ―I created that.‖ These are
clearly separate actions of a perceived difference in consciousness.
The underlying reality is that the actions that created both the
subjective and objective are the perpetual motion of a singular
creation with the defined will to create recognition of it. There is no
difference except for the perceived difference in consciousness that
created the two. You can shred any objective reality apart by
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changing the level of participation that you are creating on; that is
then, your viewpoint.
The cause is an action that builds a bridge that creates a way over
from the effort to a new state of unity with the cause being created
and the effect being experienced. It can easily be seen that creative
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experiences are not only the zest for life but also the willingness to
participate in it. Experience and creation are like brother and sister –
they go together.
Let us dig a little bit deeper into the aspects of the subconsciousness
and the reactive nature that it creates and the consciousness and the
responsive nature that it creates. As you can plainly see, they are
two separate tools. First, we will look at the subconsciousness on
the level of reality that we call the brain, or the physical aspect of
our lives. The subconsciousness is most definitely the storehouse for
all memories, associations, judgments, and meanings. It is also what
governs our habits and our automatic actions, since it also stores the
information from our neurological systems. While it is fairly
difficult to gain conscious access to it, it is not impossible.
A default creation is something that you created but did not create
consciously. It came from the subconscious. It can also manifest
when you cannot imagine how to create anything new, or you are
stuck in the resistance of creating something new, such as in portals
of the mind. You fall back to the old faithful, which are your
subconscious beliefs. Living in the subconscious realm can truly
keep you in a life of mediocre existence, robbing you of your
creative power and throwing you directly into depression and lack of
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growth.
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The conscious side of creating does not necessarily have these tools.
Especially if you use consciousness with the belief system, ―I‘ll
believe it when I see it.‖ That decreases not only the amount of
information available, but it also causes you to forward focus and
relax your attention. If we change the conscious paradigm to, ―I‘ll
see it when I believe it,‖ then a completely new dimension of
forward thinking begins to reveal itself. It is by this conscious
power that new doorways and perceptions of life can be created and
experienced. The old concept of ―I‘ll believe it when I see it‖ makes
us lose the creative abilities of the solid definition of consciousness
of ―I Am‖ and therefore ―I Shall Do.‖
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for our continued involution and ourselves. In fact, as a
Creotologist, think of it this way - when you look at the sky, do not
think of it as being above you, think of it as your floor.
I let Maximus know that what followed was the beginning of Soke
Draconis explaining the ―Spiritual Path of the Universe.‖ He looked
pleased when I offered to share what I brought from the experience.
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Chapter 11
T H E S P I R I T U A L PAT H O F
THE UNIVERSE
We find that our Universe and our world are more like metaphysics,
rather than religion or physics. Without going too far, you could say
that modern day physics has made a huge swing into the world of
metaphysics. What I mean by this is that science now knows and
accepts the concept of parallel and alternate realities as the
explanation of the truth that has eluded us all for far too long. They
are recognizing in quantum physics that our consciousness is too
vast to be contained and that we are creating our Universe as we go.
They are also discovering that we can be in more than one place at
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the same time. Don‘t shoot me - I‘m just delivering what science is
dictating.
That is truly interesting to me, because the more we learn about our
so-called logic, the more it proves to keep us locked further and
further away from other possibilities. As we fought and stumbled
our way through all sorts of religious and political dogma, we found
ourselves locked in a struggle of old knowledge.
We now leave the domain of brimstone and fire and enter the self-
created Universe of the energy-beings and the spirit world we
already participate in by way of extended ideas from the mind-spirit.
We are not trying to find something that was never lost, but
something that was to be explored in all of its infamous and creative
potential.
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the uncharted territories of our mind-spirit and to feel the
development of ourselves through ourselves and to question without
judgment. In the spiritual world, there are no forms, only expressive
ideas, and what we are.
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that it is the inherited genes of our beliefs, then it matters a great deal
not only what we think, but also where those thoughts came from
and how they got there. Given this realization, reality begins to
make sense, as what we experience is the manifestation of our true
personality at that time.
I explained how after the talk with Soke, I decided that I would need
some time to integrate the information. Soke understood and urged
that I should not push myself, but to let it come naturally to me. He
said that spiritual talk was great, but that I needed to define myself
through my actions, determining what I created and why and how I
created it. I was confused, ―How am I supposed to accomplish
this?‖ Soke gave me instruction, ―You began your first step when
you joined this school and dedicated yourself to a disciplined
structure where you could achieve something for yourself. Now that
you understand discipline, you need to use your skills so that you
can build and maintain the type of life that you choose to experience.
You have already learned and integrated much about your essence.
Now it is time to build your life experiences by following your
mental blueprint based on what your essence desires.‖
I shared with Soke, ―Yes, I have learned a lot from that blueprint and
the ―Reconfiguration of Consciousness‖ exercises. I have often
thought about how I would and could proceed to develop some of
the things that I have found out about myself and that I learned from
―The 30 Principles of Creation.‖ Soke offered, ―Let me help you
with this,‖ and then he taught me about goals.
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Chapter 12
G O A L S & O B S TA C L E S
I want to make things very clear about goals. You absolutely have
got to have them at all costs, or you will pay severely. Energy has
got to be directed, and when it is directed and charged correctly,
there is a huge explosion of potential that starts to attract and fill the
space of attention. This is why the correct structure of your mental
blueprint is so very important in order to direct yourself with
purpose willfully. When these charged particles come together with
a direction, things begin to happen in a very responsive way.
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Why do we create? We create because we have this wonderful
attribute called potential (energy), and energy is the ability to do
work. We create to satisfy the potential that is connected to all of
life. It is the very thing that drives the universal causation into
physical manifestation, thus replaying the experience that makes us
feel alive. Now, of course, this brings us to the discussion of
experience.
Most of the time, goals are co-creations that mean you have a
mission that you have created. There are going to be obstacles,
however, that are created out of systems of other people‘s creations
and are now there as structures. These structures will need to be
dealt with. This, of course, will require the correct mental scope, the
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proper information, and the alignment of your beliefs. You will
need to have the power, the convictions, and the confidence in the
effectiveness of your ability to create what you want and desire.
Many times in our adult life, when we begin to slow down, our goals
begin to slow down. That is mainly because there is not enough
energy to pursue our goals and we become mentally exhausted trying
to hold our attention on them. So before we go any further, let us
look at different types of goals and how they affect us. (For more
about the concept of energy in and energy out, please see the ―The
Circulation of Action‖ Section of this Chapter.)
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TYPES OF GOALS
Here is a big one. The main reason why we initiate a goal is because
we feel we can change things and move some stale energy around.
We feel we can break this cycle of wanting and needing things but
never getting them. These goals are normally felt from within,
resulting from a realization that you had.
These are goals that we make in the "now‖ aspect of our life. We
feel the need to move to a different place of creation in order to
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accomplish our long-term dreams. In fact, it is very crucial that your
goals bring you closer to your dreams. Short-term goals are crucial
for creating yourself into the bigger picture down the road.
These are the goals created because of ego. They are the result of
assessing your personal standing in comparison to someone else‘s
personal standing. Not only are these goals not right for you, but
they can also get you into financial trouble very quickly.
If we are smart, goals will give us life lessons that free us and allow
us to become wiser and to move on in the direction that we are
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seeking. Goals are created out of the mental scope that you are
working under at any one time. Goals are self-expressions of what
we want to feel. We, as energy-beings, are going to go forth and
release the potential out of possibilities to provide the neurological
effect that we crave. Before we go any further, let us look at an
obstacle so that we can better understand the nature of obstacles.
A life that has no obstacles. Admit it, you love the sound of that, but
it does not hold up in nature or anywhere else for that matter. The
fundamental truth about most obstacles, and I am going out on a
limb here, is that as much as 100% of the obstacles we encounter are
self-induced. The part that most people do not like to consider is
that any goal needs to be thought out with the perceived obstacles as
part of the process or there is a separation. That separation splits
what you want to experience and the thing that is stopping you from
being able to achieve it.
Any goal is a co-creation of a ―major‖ which means the goal and the
―minor‖ which is the obstacle. From here on, I will use the terms
―major‖ and ―minor.‖ A separation exists in not only the obtaining
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of a major, but in simply recognizing the major and the minor. You
cannot obtain the major on the same level of consciousness that you
created it. A major requires striated levels of consciousness in order
to be obtained, the same way that any minor has to be dissolved.
When we begin to break down the chapters of any major, we begin
to realize the material that will be needed in the process in order to
build the major. (The chapters of a major are the many stories
contained within its accomplishments.) Breaking down the minor
will also require the shifting of material. At any level of
participation, energy has to be liberated and moved around in a
sequence in which you are able to control your attention, organize
your material, and perform the action that is needed in order for the
creation to happen. This leads me into the next set of information.
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Back at the Dojo
At this point in time, I only had about a month and half of school
left. Soke Draconis and I were very busy just signing people up.
Soke Draconis told me one day that, after graduation, we might sit
and talk about some opportunities if I was not going to go to college
immediately. I told Soke Draconis that I was not really considering
college. I shared with him that high school had taught me a bunch of
things I really did not need and that for every one success story of
people who have graduated from college, I could show you two
horror stories about someone who could not get a job in their field
and had to work below their level of education.
Soke Draconis said, ―I cannot deny what you say because I know it
to be true. I also know that there are other skills that can help you in
real life that college does not teach you. If you are not willing to
take the chance on getting a diploma or a degree that might sit on a
shelf and collect dust, and if you do not have a solid direction to go,
then perhaps it would be fine to set aside college for a year or two.
Maybe you can determine a path that has a clear passion for you, or
perhaps during the next couple of years you could weigh some other
options and find something else you could excel at.‖
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―This is what I think I will do, Soke. I would like to take two years
off school and work here at the academy with you to make money
and get my Black Belt. If during those two years, college seems to
be the way for me, then I will go. However, if I am excelling in
other areas and my life is doing great, I‘ll seriously have to
reconsider things.‖
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for a moment and my idea was that every person that goes into any
store has interests and hobbies. Every person alive needs personal
health, fitness, and protection, so I thought we could make ourselves
a martial arts box and advertise a 30-day free membership.
Soke Draconis then asked how we would get these boxes inside
stores and how we would get the people to sign up. I continued,
―We could tell any merchant that allowed us to place a box in their
store that they and their managers would get a free membership to
come here as long as they want, for as long as the box sat in the
store. Depending on the size of the store and the volume of business
it produces, we would give additional membership cards to the
management for their valued staff. In return, we could advertise
their store over here at our school. We would create a merchants
table and all the merchants who participated would get to put their
flyers on the table.‖ Soke thought that was a wonderful idea.
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Draconis said that sounded like an excellent idea.
I went back to the printing shop and told Macy I needed some boxes
that were about eight inches by eight inches. I would then need
toppers for the boxes, so that we could decorate them with what we
were advertising to give away. Macy said, ―You get me the pictures
and I will print them. I could order the boxes today.‖ So, we
ordered the boxes.
I took the bill and gave it to Soke Draconis. We took some pictures
of the class and of the front of the building. We had the toppers
done with these pictures and the boxes were very bright, colorful,
and action oriented. I went out immediately after getting the boxes,
toppers, and lead pads, and I set out 20 boxes. I had gotten my
driver‘s license, so Soke Draconis let me use his truck. I came back
after setting up the boxes and told Soke that if I was going to be
doing this, I was definitely going to need a car.
The next day after school, Soke and I took off in his truck. We went
to a friend‘s lot and I bought myself a Camaro for $4,200 in cash. It
was jet black and it looked sooped up. It had a powerful 350 engine
and it even had a black interior. I called it the Black Knight. It was
a great running vehicle. Soke taught me the finer points of keeping
it operational with oil changes and tune-ups and the most important
lesson – respect for the power of the car.
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each person, and told him or her that they had won a free 30-day
membership to the Soke Draconis School of Martial Arts. All I
needed was a time and day when they could come down and pick up
their memberships. The deal was very simple. When they picked up
their membership, they could trade it in for a discount, or they could
keep their 30 days and use the dojo 30 days free. At the end of the
30 days, they could sign up if they wanted to. And, if they did not
want to, they did not have to. It was very simple.
We had people signing up like crazy. This went on for many weeks
and the school was pumping. It was alive and I even heard Soke
make the statement a couple of times that we were going to need a
bigger school. The classes were filling up and we were going to
have to do something.
For one reason or another, I had never really paid much attention to
the fact that there was an old building right next to our building. In
fact, it looked a lot like Sokes‘ building. It was zoned for business,
but the owner just used it for storage. The lot that was next to that
one was empty.
The next day after graduation, Brian reported for his first day at
work. Soke Draconis told Brian and me to follow him. He took us
outside and said, ―I am serious. We need a bigger school. We‘re in
trouble. Our classes have grown so large that our students are
cramped during class and I do not like it. I don‘t mind growing. I
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don‘t mind expanding, and I don‘t mind making a lot of money, but
my students come first. They must be happy and if they are paying
their payments they deserve to be at a school they can be
comfortable in and proud of. I have contacted the owner of this
building and construction will begin next weekend. I am renovating
both buildings and connecting them. We still have the parking out
front and out back for both buildings. The lot right next door to this
building will be member parking and we think it will hold about 75
cars. The back of each building can hold 15 cars and parking on the
street is available.‖ Brian and I were very excited.
Brian and I went back to the school to gather ourselves and just sat
there in silence for about three minutes. I think both of us were
trying to integrate what had just happened. Brian was eager to get
started, ―Well, Commander in Chief, what do we do first?‖ I
suggested, ―Brian, I think there are two things we should do first.
First, read this book by Zig Ziglar and pay careful attention to all the
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areas I have highlighted, and then I want a book report on the book.
I want to know what you learned from it and how we can improve on
what we are doing here.‖ Brian said, ―Okay.‖
―Over the next three days, let‘s make a goal of setting up 60 lead
boxes. With the 20 I have already placed, that gives us 80 boxes out
there. We will focus on placing all the students that we can in this
school for Soke Draconis and then Soke can do what he does best –
teach and take care of his students. You know how family-oriented
he is with all of this.‖ Brian replied, ―Yes I do, since it is that very
same sense of family belonging that is one of the main reasons I was
convinced to stay. I felt as if I had a big brother or father.‖ I
understood completely, ―Me too. Let‘s always remember that and
try to make sure that we convey that to every single student, no
matter how big we become. I guess it can be a way of giving our
experience to them about where we come from. Those who need it
will have a profound experience and it will help them in their lives
as it has helped us.‖ The next day we set out lead boxes from the
school and told everyone about the growth and construction work.
As the Black Knight went rolling down the street with Brian and me
in the front seat, we saw two signs sitting in front of the other
building and parking lot. The signs read, ―NO TRESPASSING!
Property Owned by Soke Draconis. If you have any questions, call
this number or come to the Soke Draconis School of Martial Arts.‖
Our eyes got as big as silver dollars. We gave ourselves a high five
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and rolled off in the Black Knight.
We made our goal of setting out 60 boxes in three days. I spent the
next five days educating Brian on how to make phone calls and sell.
With five days of good solid training, Brian had it down cold. Our
rule was if we were not selling them, we were practicing selling. If
we were not on the phone selling, then we were either setting up
appointments or setting up boxes. We took our classes at night and
Soke gave us both two hours of personal training free. As you could
imagine, training two hours a night, five nights a week, we were
excelling quickly and our friendship had moved to a completely new
level. I have to admit that Brian was a damn good salesman. We
then hired two telemarketers who sat there and called the leads while
Brian and I just sold.
The following week, the construction of the school started and even
though there was hammering, saws buzzing, and sawdust in the air
everywhere, all the students loved it. They thought it was great and
there was no doubt in anyone‘s mind that not only did we have the
greatest teacher in the entire city, or perhaps in the world, but we had
the most successful school. The school now had over 500 paying
students and we were still growing. One evening on a Saturday
night, Soke Draconis came in and said, ―Brady, get Brian. I would
like to see you both in my office.‖ He said, ―You two are animals.
You are hard workers, disciplined, and you are definitely creative. I
would like to explain something about success to you.‖
Maximus then remarked, ―You must have actually felt like you
walked on water with all of the things you had accomplished.‖ I had
to admit to Maximus that I most certainly did, ―What I truly needed
was someone to believe in me and Soke Draconis did that.‖
Success is the ability to create the experience into your life that you
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consciously choose to create. All creations have minors. That
includes the ones in your head and the ones that are involved in
getting the goal to materialize. The minor is something that must be
done as part of the process in order to accomplish your major. For
example, maybe you need a car loan, but you have a bad credit
rating and the bank will not loan you money. It is not just in your
head that you have a bad credit score, although you are the one who
is absolutely responsible for that score. The two ―minors‖ in this
example are as follows:
EXAMPLES:
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value.
You get the point. No options were explored beyond your limited
creations, (i.e., what about obtaining information on the borrowing
procedure, how does it work, what are all the ins and outs?). Once
again, if action is taken then information dissolves obstacles.
FORMULA STUDY
All life has a formula and all things that you do correctly require a
formula to produce the desired results. Resistance to this fact creates
only more and more separation between you and the life that you
want to experience. The science of the formula study makes you a
scientist about your own life. Your mental scope produces the
laboratory for the creation to manifest in. Let us begin the
arrangement of the formula study.
A) Space Creation
B) Energy Focus (paying attention to a belief)
C) Information
D) Organization
E) Energy in and Energy out
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F) Manifestation (energy out)
You should realize that your beliefs are real and so are the thoughts
that they generate. Yes, it is true that thoughts come from your
belief system and are the fuel for getting the results that you are
looking for. Beliefs create an indention in consciousness that creates
similar to a sculptor with a piece of clay. Those thoughts mold the
belief into a masterpiece and its efficacy that brings about the
manifestation of the creation. An indention into consciousness can
be likened to placing a bowling ball onto a soft surface like a
mattress. This action would create an indention on the surface and
all the things that were close to the edge of the indention would fall
into the impression. This could be called your consciousness of your
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core beliefs. There is more about this in The Teachings of Soke
Draconis, Vol. 2, The Universal Psychology of the Law of
Attraction.
When Soke gave us the meeting on success and goals, it was very
important to him to show how information was the omnipotent
power source. When you take these little particles of information,
arrange them properly, and then apply them as focused energy, big
things happen.
Maximus said, ―I wish I had all this information when Dad and I had
our book store. It would have made a lot of things easier.‖ I replied,
―Of course it would, but don‘t forget, if your passion still lies in that
bookstore, all you have to do is apply a little energy to that passion
and fire it up. Even if your dad can no longer participate in working
at the store together with you, imagine how proud he would be if you
took his and your passion and created it successfully.‖ He said with
a tear in his eye, ―Yes, my father would love that.‖ I encouraged
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him, ―You know what they say, Maximus, if a man has passion, and
you are not going to keep him down.‖
INFORMATION
ORGANIZATION
The interesting thing about this step is if you have done all the other
steps, then this one appears as if by magic. The creation is now well
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on to its way to creating. The energy and the borders of the creation
have taken shape and you are now within the creation.
It has been said that success leaves clues. Well, this step is no
different. You have learned by now that all creations are a
manifestation of energy. What matters here is what physical
condition you are in because, if you are weak in body, then you are
also weak in mind. This leads to downfalls that we all have
experienced at one time or another. The more energy that you can
generate, the better your ability to manifest becomes.
It is a lot like counting calories. If you want to lose weight, then you
decrease calories. If you want to have less creation, then all you
have to do is reduce your energy levels. Similarly, eat more calories
and gain more weight. Increase your energy output and your
creational production goes up.
Maximus stated, ―If your martial art teachings are anything like your
spiritual self- help information, without a doubt this has got to be the
best school in town. I assured him it was and that the martial arts
system was second to none, but great power must be used in the right
state of mind. There must be greater responsibility. I asked
Maximus if he was getting hungry and he was. I suggested he allow
me to buy us lunch, ―There is a delivery place just around the corner
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with a great fresh turkey sandwich and iced tea.‖ He agreed and I
ordered the food.
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Chapter 13
Soke told me that my new reality would come from my essence and
not my personality. My whole world would begin to open up
because I would see my real potentials, not the ones that I had been
led into.
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3) Read your new goals every day. Here is a trick: Tell your
family and friends what your new goals are and how you
want to accomplish them. Ask them to act as if you have
already achieved them whenever you are around. You
should always talk and act as if you have already achieved
them as well. Programming the brain into the formulation of
a reality is a huge step. Why? Because when the
environment meets your beliefs, reality creates.
4) Mail the plan for your new creation to yourself and read it at
least once a day, if possible.
2) Expand the energy of the experience until you can find the
outer limits of the experience. Exist within the experience
until you can feel the height of its power.
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It is important to keep the creative energy open to the creation so
that you may continue to charge that creation with your energy. This
will charge you with the visual effect that is a neurological cause.
As you can imagine, it was hard to sleep that night because of all the
excitement and curiosity, but I got a few hours sleep. After all, I was
strong, young, and invincible. I arrived at the school and everyone
was there bright-eyed and very energetic. I was usually energetic,
but this was really an intense situation for me.
Matt, David, and Tony all went in one truck, a solid black 1979
Chevy with rims on it that we use to call mags. Man, let me tell you,
your truck or car was really cool if you mags. We went in Soke‘s
truck and, as I‘ve said before, I could not take my eyes off that
crystal and the beautiful reflections that it made.
As usual, Soke was quiet and enjoying the trip, so there was no real
conversation. We drove for two hours and came to an old dirt road
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that had beautiful green trees on both sides that formed a canopy
over the road. We turned onto the dirt road and drove for about
another 15 minutes.
I could see the others behind us. We came into a very small clearing
of trees near a farmhouse that appeared to be very old, possibly late
eighteen hundreds to very early nineteen hundreds. It was made of
clean brown bricks. In fact, the whole place was very well kept.
That was not a surprise because that is the way Soke was –
everything in its place and a place for everything.
As we got out of the truck, Soke Draconis stood there for about one
minute and took deep breaths. With a big smile on his face, he said,
―This is where I come to relax. This is my special place, and I am
now going to share it with you.‖ Around the back, there was a
beautiful lake that covered about three acres. There were trees that
almost made a full circle around the lake and the sun was coming up
over the tops of them. It was quite beautiful and had a good energy.
I thought to myself, ―What a beautiful place this is to live.‖
About an acre away, I noticed a red and brown barn that had a very
Norse look to it. An old man appeared from out of the house. He
was in great shape and looked like he could take down a lion, but
when he hugged me; his touch was as gentle as a lamb. Even so,
you could feel the muscles and the power residing within this older
man. I asked Soke who the man was, and he replied, ―My father.‖
―Wow!‖ I said. You really could see the resemblance. He said that
his father‘s name was Karroninn. I thought that was a weird and
wonderful name as it had a feel of power to it. Karroninn stood
about six foot four, was in absolutely incredible shape, and had so
much energy it was hard to believe. I just could not conceive that
this man was Soke‘s father, but you could tell it in every way.
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Soke told me that his father was 75 years old, and that he would be
leading the martial arts training for the next two days. I was floored
and fascinated at the same time. What a unique opportunity this
was, and to meet Soke‘s father was awesome. This was already
better than anything that I had thought was going to happen. We all
settled down in the house and moved on into the kitchen. There we
sat around a very large wooden table that had all types of carvings
on it of Vikings. It was quite beautiful in its artisanship and even
had several big Viking chairs to match. I noticed how these big
chairs looked a little like Soke‘s chair at the school. There was a lot
of Old Norse art and paintings around the house that had the same
exact feeling that the school had. One thing I had learned was that
people wanted to be around that feeling. This same energy is what
made Soke‘s school so very successful with now over 2,000
students.
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before you leave. You will have an option that I‘ll tell you about
when it is time.‖ I figured that would be about as persistent as I
should get with this family.
Afterward, we went outside on the wood porch and sat talking about
martial arts, the now, and the future while we drank iced tea with
lemon in it. We listened to the crickets chirp and play their music on
into the night. At about 10:00 in the evening, Soke Karroninn said
that he was off to Valhalla to get a good night‘s rest and that he
would see all of us warriors in the morning.
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The showers were seven individual shower huts with soap and
shampoo shelves, an overhead hanging sprinkler, three walls, and a
door. We talked and showered for 10 minutes, got ready, and were
all at the table at 7:00 AM sharp, enjoying oatmeal, fresh squeezed
orange and grapefruit juice, fruit salads, eggs, whole grain toast,
milk, and turkey bacon.
After breakfast, we sat around and talked about the day‘s training for
about 45 minutes, and then we had a creative visualization exercise.
We ran through the entire day‘s work in as much detail as we could
and focused on the lessons that we wanted to learn as well as the
ones that would just come as a result of that training. As promised,
the daily workout really did begin with a three-mile run and a
twenty-minute breathing exercise. In breathing practice, we forced
air into and out of the lungs, moving our body and thoughts with our
breath, so that there was no separation between the breath and the
movement of life.
We began training in the dojo, which was the red and brown barn
that had an extremely Norse attitude to it. When we walked in the
doors, we bowed and moved to a 2,000 square foot matted area that
had an all white canvas top and a border around it made of wood.
Soke Karroninn and Soke Draconis stood beside each other as we
entered and then Matt and David came in. They were in the hakama
and had brown belts around their waist and sempai patches on their
arms. I had no clue, nor did Soke let on to me, that these were
brown belts. However, I should have read between the lines.
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fluid or solid structure. Breath is the necessity of life and breathing
is part of everything that we do and feel.) We then had a 15-minute
stretching class. There were two stretches done per body part, but
they were very intense, going for maximum time and then some.
Soke Karroninn believed strongly that, when it comes to stretching,
many people stop right before the point of receiving the most
benefit. He informed us that, though it is true that all stretching is
good, some stretching moves are more effective than others. He also
explained that we only did two stretches per body part because those
stretches work that body part the best. Then he stated, ―Just like all
things in life, don‘t go for quantity but go for quality.‖ He remarked
that anyone could bend over as if they are stretching, but stretching
is a science and an art. Most people never take the time to learn that.
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After lunch, we did a 15-minute visualization exercise. As Soke
Karroninn spoke, he told us what we would be doing in our
grappling session and had us visualizing it. After we were done
visualizing, we went to the dojo and spent the next 15 minutes
stretching out again. Following that, we began grappling and the
sessions went on for three hours. It was very extensive and
exhausting. We worked three techniques to death, learning them
from all angles. After class, Soke Draconis suggested we go
swimming in the lake.
We all quickly agreed, went to the lake, took off our gi tops, and
jumped straight in. It was a perfect, warm, beautiful afternoon in
August. Of course, we divided into teams and started grappling in
the water. After we got out of the water, we took showers, got
cleaned up, ate supper, and went into the living room to sit and talk.
Soke Karroninn wanted to know about me and asked me many
personal questions, which I answered.
I asked Soke Karroninn about the library I had seen, and he asked
me if I was interested in knowledge about metaphysics and self-help.
I shouted, ―Absolutely!‖ He let me know, ―If you play your cards
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right, you may have an opportunity to see something much larger
than this.‖ I was truly intrigued by then.
After the day was done and we were all sitting on the porch, Soke
Draconis said, ―Come with me, I want to show you something.‖ He
took me out to a barn in the backyard. As we descended the porch
stairs, I noticed there were two shovels leaning up against the barn
and there was an area of ground that had no grass on it. It looked
like it had been done on purpose. Soke Draconis looked at me with
a serious look on his face and said, ―This is where I did it.‖
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As usual, Soke had picked up on my shift in energy without me
having to say a word. He felt my concern for what I was about to be
asked to do. Soke Draconis said, ―Well, contrary to what you may
think, there is another way to look at it. We can just as easily chalk
up this weekend to having taken in some intense training out here in
this peaceful setting and return home with everyone else in the
morning. Do you want to take up the shovels and start digging?‖ I
said, ―Well, Soke, I didn‘t come this close to becoming a Black Belt
by being a quitter. In a few weeks, when I take that Black Belt test, I
will pass it. I‘m not a quitter. So let‘s get it on.‖
Soke Draconis looked at me with a wry grin and asked, ―It‘s quite
unnerving, isn‘t it?‖ I stopped for a few seconds and just stared at
him. He looked at me and said, ―I wouldn‘t be worried about being
buried up to my neck in dirt.‖ ―Oh, really, Soke, then what exactly
would you be worried about?‖ I asked. Once again, with that same
wry grin, Soke Draconis replied, ―I would be more concerned about
the person burying me and questioning if he was actually going to
dig me out.‖ A sudden realization of every horror movie I had ever
seen in my young life and all the terrible things I had ever heard
about were swiftly becoming very real to me.
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Soke that I couldn‘t even think of anyone else that I trusted more
than him. Soke Draconis looked at me with a jesting smile and
softly said, ―Maybe.‖ I wanted to know when this was going to take
place and that was when Soke informed me that he wanted me to get
checked out by the Doctor first.
On Monday morning, Matt, David, and Tony got into the truck and
left. Soke Karroninn then asked me what I knew about flow. I
informed him, ―Not much. I thought it was an esoteric term and that
it really didn‘t mean very much.‖
Soke Karroninn looked at me and smiled that same smile that Soke
Draconis had that unnerves you because you realize that, not only
are you about to learn something, but you also get the sudden
realization that there is something significant you do not know.
Then he said, ―Let‘s go up on the porch and get some iced tea and
talk about flow.‖ I went inside and got a pitcher of iced tea with two
glasses, brought them out, and placed them on the porch table.
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After I named about 10 or 15 things rapidly, Soke Karroninn said,
―You see, we spend most of our time using our energy to get out of
things we did not want to be involved with in the first place. The
other half of our struggle comes from planning to do something and
then thinking that there will be no obstacles to getting it done. The
other part of that problem is that, more times than not, we think we
may want something, but when it comes down to getting it done, we
really do not want it that bad. We are not willing to put out the
energy it takes to get it. This is the difference between actually
willing something to occur and simply wanting something to happen.
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even more exciting to me than previously conceived notions. When
we understand that we create the world by perceiving it, it gives us a
new dimension of understanding about our place in our Universe and
all the creative power that comes with it.
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experiencing and imagining, the reality is the same and the mind-
spirit receives the neurological experiences from the reality. There
is a difference in inner and outer reality only if you can determine
what reality is. Even the biggest minds have not yet been able to
figure that out. We see only the by-products of reality. I will give
you this; the reality that we perceive is a persistent one and that
makes the world of creation, magic, psychology and all physics so
very interesting.
At the same time, people are curious and question how if we create
the Universe then what about the laws of physics and what about
gravity? The bottom line is that gravity is a structure created from
within the brain that is projected outward, and that is how we keep
our reality in place. Attention and gravity is the same thing. (I will
explain more about this in my next book.) We are all running
around trying to convince everyone, including ourselves, that we are
right and they are wrong. Here comes that point of truth thing again,
which means basically… if I can get you to see my truth then I am
right, you are wrong, and my beliefs are better. If I can convince
you that I am right, then my world is more solid to me. The more
people who believe in something the more it is part of an accepted
consensus reality.
For example, you might ask, ―Do you see that chair?‖ And someone
says, ―Yes, I do.‖ You ask again, ―Do you see that chair?‖ And the
second person agrees with a hearty, ―Yes, I do!‖ Therefore, it is now
true, as it has been agreed upon. Agreement creates structures and
creates the reality that we share. It is a weird concept, but I guess
there have been stranger ideas. Agreement about reality is an
agreement about a label. A label is not a reality, just one level of a
reality. You have to get below the label to find the real reality of
anything; only then can you begin the serious work.
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Did you know that you could label yourself right out of existence?
You can think yourself out of existence by thinking improperly, as in
food addictions, greed, alcohol, smoking, revenge, and jealousies.
Other bad habits lead you to not having and achieving your full
potential as well. In the world of creation, we have developed this
thing called observation as the ultimate truth teller. That is not
going to work anymore since observation is flawed by way of
perception.
I do not know about you, but this leaves me with a feeling of being
connected to everything. I would like to say that all things are
connected through your parallel Universes, which are an extension
of your mind-spirit that is looking to realize its potentials that create
the neurological aspects of the reality now known as you. You
create whatever space and time you are in. We create our miracles
entirely. A miracle can be nothing more than the way you view
something, the amount of information that you know about
something, or how you have been taught to see any particular thing.
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work out, then we invoke other people to help us. You could call
this calling forth other spirits. The only problem here is that we do
much of this in a subconscious state. This makes our results into
creations by default – in other words, mindless creations. We have
omnificent power both for self-preservation and to fulfill the
necessity of new creations, which is a function of our vantage point.
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could be ESP. A pre-arranged set of symbols are muttered and we
have to put them in a form so that they have meaning. I mean, they
are all interpersonal creations or creations of the imagination. The
mundane reality is only what we accept as true and logical. It is very
important that people understand that all creation, self-help, magic or
psychology is a personal creation, a very personal inner look at your
inner Universe.
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Maximus surmised, ―So you cannot philosophize about something,
you have to experience it.‖ I replied, ―Yes, experience is always the
real power.‖
Back with Soke Draconis I asked, ―So all these magical books I see
at the store are really a bunch of backwards pseudo-science?‖ He
confirmed my thoughts, ―Yes, these are people who are trying to pull
themselves up by the downfall of others, much like the false
confidence that competition gives you. You have to struggle all your
life to maintain until you no longer can and find yourself left by the
wayside, no longer able to maintain the illusion that you fought for
so long. Ultimately, you are just going to be tired, worn out, shallow
and very fragile. Someone else‘s words will send you off into a
frenzy trying to protect this house of glass that you live in. It is
actually cruel to watch. The thing that makes the Universe so
magical is the fact we see everything as a miracle or magic until we
understand it, and then we extract the lesson and the experience from
it and grow our world into a larger magical place by way of
expansion and acceptance.‖
I asked him if witchcraft and these other types of religions are bad.
He offered me his perspective, ―No, they are all learning experiences
serving to teach that truth is relative and subjective and that what we
see as objective is only an image - the objective reality. Most people
say that we should not judge them because we do not know them. I
think that could be true because no one really knows anyone
including his or her own self. People only know what they think
about themselves and that is subject to change according to the
conditions and experiences that they have in their life.‖ Soke said,
―This is a very important subject, so let‘s talk about it a little more at
some point.‖
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Chapter 14
HOW OTHERS
PERCEIVE YOU
Many people will perceive you in the light of what they know about
you and what they are willing to conceptualize about you. The
perceptions they throw at you are usually their own resisted
creations, which are their own limitations, weaknesses, and failures.
Most of us feel that the best way to judge ourselves is to judge others
by our shortcomings – it has a way of making us feel less
accountable. Being caught up in this worldview leads us into a
world of low confidence and no opportunities in life. In fact, it can
be said that you learn about other people by what they blame others
for or judge others to be doing. If someone accuses you of
something, that person is creating an identity for you to respond to
and when you respond to it, you are accepting his or her opinion.
You have now become part of their creation and not your own.
When you allow people to have this sort of control over you, you
have abandoned your own ideas. Once you accept their creation of
you, you end up spending all your energy resisting it. You have now
identified and resisted the creation and are supporting it by way of
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your own energy. They no longer have anything left to do in the
creation because now you have picked it up for them. Do not get
caught up in the game of others building your life for you through
this mechanism.
A bad teacher will want to control who you spend your time with,
what you read, what you do with your money, and many other
things. If someone who claims to be a teacher makes any of the
following demands, you should probably run in the opposite
direction:
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8. Let the leadership control your sex life.
Other tricks include trying to convince you that the demon is going
to get you if you leave. The teacher may try to persuade you with
the promise that you will learn abilities that he or she cannot
demonstrate. Ultimately, this type of person will try to control all
your freedoms and may actually threaten you with violence if you
try to leave.
Of course, just as you will find toxic cults, covens, and self-help
groups that act as I describe above, there are also very good groups
of witches, warlocks, shamans, self-help gurus, and so forth. Not all
is lost – there are still great teachers around, but you have to use care
and common sense when you look at a prospective group and
teacher. People frequently ask me what I feel is the most important
thing about understanding rationalism. I use the word rationalism as
a metaphor meaning anything that teaches you how to create in your
life and opens up your vast shed of wonderful tools. It is my
intention to return you back to the wonderful creators of the
Universe that you are.
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himself to me. Soke Draconis explained that Doc was there to give
me a physical before I went into the ground. ―Before we do the
physical, pull up a chair and eat with us Doc. We have enough food
to feed an army.‖ Doc laughed and asked, ―Is this the big meal
before the event?‖ ―Yes it is Doc. He is really living it up,‖ Soke
said.
After an hour and a half of eating, laughing, joking, and just having a
very good time, Doc gave me a thorough check up. He said he
would be back in the morning to draw blood, but first he wanted me
to fast for eight hours.
Doc took off for the night and Soke Draconis filled me in on the
details of exactly what it was I was going to do. He told me that he
would place me into the ground, buried up to my neck in the dirt,
and that I would receive no food and very little water for as long as I
could take it. I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell
me to help me prepare and he only answered, ―It is something you
have to experience for yourself, Brady, but before we do this little
deal in the ground Soke Karroninn has a journey for you tomorrow
after your blood is drawn and you have breakfast.‖ I thought this
was great a chance to bond with Soke Karroninn. I had to admit I
was scared and intimidated to be all alone with this impeccable man,
but I would not miss this for the world.
THE CAVE
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―no.‖ He said, ―We are going to explore a cave today, and if you
make it, there is a surprise for you inside that only a few people have
ever seen, but you will have to brave the conditions. I asked what
the conditions were and Soke said, ―Rock slides, spiders, bats,
snakes, water, secret doorways and much more.‖ ―I am in great
health and ready for action, so let‘s do it.‖
Doc showed up, took my blood sample and said, ―Good luck with
your journey this morning. You are in good hands, Brady, do not
worry about anything.‖ I thanked Doc for the words of
encouragement as he excused himself from the table. Soke
Karroninn and I ate some oatmeal and freshly squeezed orange juice
and had some turkey bacon and biscuits with a serving of homemade
jelly. The jelly was so good and tasty I could eat the entire jar by
myself, but the Soke‘s look down on gluttony. They say eat all you
want, but do not eat until you are stuffed and bloated as this is both a
sign of lack of emotional control and that you are being ruled by
your thoughts about food.
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excited but I did not want to appear to be out of control. I wanted to
show that I was a man!
Off in the distance I heard the very faint sound of running water. I
looked around on some of the walls, they were sparkling, and I
wondered to myself if those were diamonds or crystals. The walls
sparkled like little specks of diamonds, only in a wide variety of
colors. Soke and I both stood there taking in the beauty of nature.
Soke said, ―This wall inspired one of the techniques of personal goal
development.‖ I asked, ―How so?‖ ―If you look at the beauty of the
wall, Brady, you can see that some things are worth waiting for in
life. That is where the concept of crystallizing realities came from.
Just imagine how long it took to create all this beauty naturally, but
when it was done, it was worth the wait it took to get it there. There
will be goals in your life that will be created the same way, Brady,
creation is a process that sometimes needs time to unfold. You can‘t
shortcut beauty and perfection.‖
I stood there thinking about his words and how I could see the power
they represented and the truth they held. I thought about my first
meeting with Soke Draconis and subsequently meeting other
Draconis family members and all the things that have happened
during this time and concluded he was right, it does take time. We
began to descend into the cave.
We went deeper and deeper into this dark void of stone and dirt.
There was an uneasy feeling coming over me about being this far
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into the ground and how much unexplored life and different things
must be down here. How would we get out if it caved in? I trusted
that Soke knew what he was doing and just cleared my mind and
enjoyed the adventure.
We came to another ledge, threw down some ropes, and went deeper
for at least another quarter of a mile. Soke offered for us to take a
break at this point, so we ate some beef jerky and drank water while
we sat and talked. Soke asked, ―What do you think so far?‖ I
commented, ―It‘s very interesting and scary at the same time.‖ At
that moment, I felt something against my boot. Soke looked down
with his flash light then reached down and pulled up about a three
foot long snake. It was biting my boot; thank God it was not my
skin. I‘ll tell you one thing for sure - I looked everywhere I sat from
that moment on.
As we got onto land and squared away the gear I begin to realize that
the climb back to where we started was going to be immense and
when I made the comment to Soke, he just smiled and said, ―Don‘t
worry, it‘s all in a day‘s work.‖ I thought to myself, ―Not my day.‖
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Soke then said, ―Let‘s take a rest and then we will go onto the
second part of our journey.‖
I thought this was certainly beautiful and incredibly exciting and the
water was so clear, clean and very inviting. When I looked into the
clean clear water, I saw things that were sparkling and shiny again.
Soke placed his hands on my shoulder and said, ―Are you ready for
the next part of the adventure?‖ I asked, ―What do I do?‖ Soke
suggested, ―Let‘s see how long we can hold our breath again.‖ I did
it about the same length of time as the last time he had asked me.
Then Soke informed me, ―We are going to swim under the water, it
will take about two and a half minutes to get where we are going,
maybe three, depending on how fast we swim.‖ I was a little
intimidated, but I was a great swimmer, so Soke went in first and I
went into the water after him.
I was following him and all was going well except for the fact that I
was lagging behind so I swam harder and harder using more and
more oxygen. I could not see Soke anymore and I got panicky as I
was running out of air quickly. I felt as if I was not going to make it
and then Soke‘s leg appeared in front of me, so we swam together. I
emerged into a clearing of beautiful sparkling lights and pleasant
smells, although musty, and as I lay at the side of the water I looked
up and saw Soke calmly sitting on a rock.
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while I make a fire, I will eat, but you cannot until afterwards.‖ I
reluctantly agreed, ―Okay, even though I am already starving.‖
When I said that he smiled and responded, ―Just wait and see and I
promise you will truly know what it feels like to be starving on your
next quest. If this is successful, your next test will bring about some
very profound shifts in consciousness, it will be a real treat for you,
but for now you have to focus on the task at hand.‖
Soke said, ―Go into that room there, see what you see, and do what
you do.‖ I went into the room after taking a long drink of water.
The way to get in was by moving a medium sized stone at the
bottom of a large stone door, which looked like the wall itself. I
moved the stone as instructed until the doorway was open about two
feet and I made my way inside. Soke shut the door behind me, it
was as dark as could be, but there was a definite energy change as
well as a temperature shift. I turned on my flash light, there was this
sparkling stuff everywhere, and there were all types of Norse
antiques. The things looked so old but were in great shape and there
were also gold and diamonds.
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happiness, and then I saw myself differently, but still the same. I felt
a great sense of belonging welling up inside of me and knew I was a
farmer and a warrior. There seemed to be a problem suddenly
because there was a great fight and someone was trying to take over
the highlands. Scotland was under attack and as the war waged, I
felt steel go through me. It hurt, but only for a moment and then the
pain was gone.
I saw the man in front of me again and when I asked him his name,
he told me, ―That is not what‘s important, let‘s continue.‖ We then
came across a helmet, like a warrior, but very different. I went to
place the helmet on and I had another vision of a man dressed up in
furs and big boots that would keep most people very warm. There
was snow and ice everywhere and it was extremely cold. I saw a
house with smoke coming out of it and as I went closer, I realized
this was my house.
I opened the door, there were my wife and four kids, and supper was
on the table. Afterwards, we all danced, laughed, played, read and
snuggled around the fireplace. We then told old stories and I played
the bagpipes. The entire event was really magical and I was in a
mode of complete appreciation. There was no sense of being lost
because they were with me and everything was ok. Realities were
being played out. Never become too attached to one reality because
the importance that we assign to them is different than the one that
the mind-spirit assigns to them.
Maximus asked, ―So you were actually in a cave and did all this?‖ I
replied, ―Absolutely! It was one of the greatest times of my life, and
very profound. Things that we become attached to ultimately gain
power over us and can influence our reality, so be careful what you
attach yourself to Maximus.‖
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I saw flashes of realties that I knew I had not seen or experienced in
this lifetime, but that were familiar to me somehow and they all felt
right with no resistance at all. It was a world of peace and
tranquility. I felt it all around me. The Universe was the center of
my attention. I was really creating and expanding it but also there
was a sense of a stronger power not forcing me into anything - just
there as part of the picture and participating in a quantum level that
was inextricably linked to me. All things were one, but somehow
there was a difference, whether it was perceived or not. It was a
small difference like perhaps we compete and grow in the stratum
level of consciousness.
The smarter we become the more influence we can insert into reality
and play off the interpretations like running water that splatters once
it hits the bottom of a pool or glass. As great as the divider is, it is
not all encompassing and not there to be grouped and labeled as
some kind of difference, but rather inter-changeable with all realties
that are perceived at the moment although not the ones that are not
yet created. In the notion of time, there is no past, present, or future.
There is only the linear concept, that it is true, but that is not all,
because all things are flawed because of perception. Perception is
only a model that we use as our accepted truth but is not the truth
itself. Not all things are rushing to an end but rather into a more
expansive viewpoint of itself and its own need of necessities and
grouping when convenient, but not when it isn‘t.
The aspect of life is never hot or cold but rather charged at times and
uncharged at other times. I could never bestow upon reality the
impression of my mind because reality is all things waiting for us to
catch and mobilize it into a working confirmation of what we want
to experience.
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The hat fell off or I took it off; I really can‘t remember which, and I
felt someone‘s hand on my face telling me to come through. I then
felt warm water on my face. It was Soke telling me that I had been
out for many hours, so he came to check on me. I asked him where
the man with the red beard, spear and hat had gone and he said there
was no one there. I told him I had experienced this man and how he
helped me when I fell down and hit my head. Soke asked me if it
was the same spot I was lying in now. I looked around and it was
the same spot. We grabbed our bags and headed for the door. When
we got on the other side of the door, I noticed a spear and hat up
against the wall just on the inside. ―It was all real!‖ I exclaimed and
I told Soke about how when I picked them up they felt like mine. He
said, ―If you truly feel that, Brady, then, by all means, please take it.
I am sure it is yours.‖ We closed the door, turned around, and sat
there for awhile drinking some water as I ate some beef jerky.
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laughing as he went around to the driver‘s side of the truck. I
wrapped my spear and helmet up and placed them in the truck.
Soke and I then swung by Doc‘s office, which was about five
minutes away from where we ate. As we walked in, Doc was
already expecting us and said, ―I just got back the lab reports.‖
―That was quick,‖ I remarked. Doc confirmed, ―It‘s a luxury when
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you own your own personal lab. You are a healthy boy. I made sure
to check everything twice.‖
On the ride back to the farm, my mind was reeling with thoughts
about worms crawling up my butt, bugs crawling on my face and
dehydration. I mentioned my growing concerns to Soke Draconis.
As the truck pulled up to the house, Soke encouraged me in his own
way, ―These are some of the conditions that have got to be braved in
order to do it. Can you control your fear?‖ With a lump in my
throat the size of an apple, I said, ―Yes, I can.‖ Soke was very
serious now, ―Remember, we all get scared, but it is what we allow
that emotion to do with us that‘s important. You control it. It does
not control you. You are the eye of the hurricane. Come with me.‖
Talk about unsure feelings! Yet despite the terror, fear, second-
guessing, insecurities, and changing my mind, I new I had it in me to
keep going. This was exciting, but not cool at all. I was scared, but
I could not back out because this was Soke and I was going to
impress him no matter what. I did not want to do this for him; I
wanted it for my growth and me. He was just showing me a tool.
He let me know I did not have to use it, I could turn it down, but I
felt as if I had to express myself. Finally, I said, ―Soke, I am doing
this because I want to and for no other reason. I hope you do not
consider that disrespectful.‖ He replied, ―I wouldn‘t want it any
other way.‖
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did not want to tell me anything because he did not want to influence
my discoveries. He said, ―This should be up to the individual
themselves. It is the ultimate intrapersonal experience.‖
Having previously dug the hole completely, all that was left was to
get down into it. It felt very weird and scary to be in a hole up to
your neck with someone standing above you with a shovel. Soke
started piling in the dirt. When the dirt was up to my neck, I
suddenly found myself with a very different perspective in that I was
all right with it and wanted to experience it. As he patted the dirt
tightly around my neck, Soke Draconis asked me if I was okay. I
expressed that I was fine, just a little freaked out. He told me that
was understandable and that he and Soke Karroninn had been
freaked out as well. He then went into the house for a while. He
wanted to leave me alone and let me grow adjusted to the fact that I
was going to be out here all night long by myself, but that I
shouldn‘t worry about anything bothering me because I was being
watched. He walked back towards the house, kind of doing these
one skip, two skip movements that he did from time to time when he
walked. Sometimes he is so playful that he reminds me of a child.
In the distance, I could easily look down and see his Viking style
house with the Viking boat that he and Soke Karroninn had built.
After being there for many days, it actually did begin to strike me as
odd how they had built an old Viking style home on a lake with a
giant Viking boat in the back of it. Then I thought, ―Well, it‘s no
different than someone owning a fancy home on a lake and having a
yacht out there - to each his own.‖ I could tilt my head to the left
and see much of the lake. Now that the evening hours were coming
upon us, I could see how beautiful the lake really was with the
moonlight glistening off the top of the water and all the trees that
surrounded the lake slightly closing in. It looked almost if the trees
themselves were curling up to go to sleep for the night.
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I do not mind telling you that there was also a slightly eerie and
uncomfortable feeling about being out in the dark looking at this
lake that was about 50 feet from me. You begin to hear all types of
weird noises that you never really noticed before, like how different
the sounds of crickets are when you are placed in a more
compromising position than usual. The air at times seemed to move
a little bit quicker than it had ever moved before. Your perspective
being below the ground covered up to your neck is quite different
from the one you get being on your feet standing on top of that same
ground.
A couple more hours passed and I began to feel very uneasy. I then
realized that if anything was going to get done, I needed to be still
and just listen for what I could really hear. I sat and listened quietly.
I felt the vibration and the air and quickly realized that all of life is a
harmonious game – simply one vibration bouncing off another. If
you listen to the vibrations properly, you can think of it as a cosmic
symphony. Each musician has their part to play and they play it
properly. Sometimes the orchestra gets out of tune, but it is only
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when one of the players makes a judgment about one of the other
player‘s abilities and what they are playing. You quickly begin to
see that all of the vibrations are perfect, that there really is no right
or wrong. There are only the mental structures that exist, and each
structure ultimately represents a level of reality that we participate
in.
I lay there and I thought and thought about this. I had always heard
that there were no differences between all of us and that we are all
the same. The basic level where we exist as a neutral energy is the
same, but when that energy makes a pivotal switch into the structure
of another consciousness level, it quickly begins to develop the
mental structures of what it is and what it is not.
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more solid our realities become.
A reality is only solid if it can stand the test of time and the pressure
of performance. If it yields under the pressure of performance, then
it does us no good. If it offers us no help getting what we want to
experience, why hold onto it? We do so because we are reluctant to
change. Changes in our belief structures indicate that if we believe
something else and it makes more sense, then everything we
believed in the past was a lie. Our knowledge and life become a lie.
We begin to wonder how we can trust ourselves. Low self-
confidence begins to permeate our soul and fastens its teeth to our
ambitions. Our ambitions then begin to feel like a stairway. What
we really want is to be at the top of the stairs, but we are too tired
and too unsure of ourselves to make the climb.
By this time, I was really hungry and thirsty as well. The stars
seemed so different. They looked like little sparkling lights on black
velvet. I felt that I was within a box with black velvet lights up
overhead. The moon seemed huge, as if it could crush me at any
moment, but along with the strange crushing feeling, I felt that it was
pulling me at the same time. I could not determine if the moon was
pulling me, or I was pulling it. We seemed to have a tug of war
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going on with this imaginary rope. I felt the same way with the
house – that I could pull it to me, or that it could pull me to it.
After a little while longer, I could not tell whether I was weighing
down the dirt or if the dirt was weighing me down. It seemed as if
my body temperature had begun to drop to the exact same level as
the ground. I could not tell the difference between where the dirt
began and my body ended. It completely felt all as one. The
vibration of the earth was getting stronger. I felt like a giant
resonator. I was able to feel all the earth‘s vibrations and beats and
between the beat of my heart and the beat that I felt within the
vibrations, there seemed to be some communication playing out.
Morning began to creep around. The sun rose very slowly and I
knew it must have been about 6:30 AM. Soke Draconis came out to
have a picnic carrying a checkered tablecloth and greeted me, ―Good
morning to you, Brady. How are you?‖ I responded that I was tired
and hungry, but I had had an interesting night. Soke laid out his
breakfast about two feet in front of me and it smelled so good! He
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said that this morning he was going to have a feast. Instantly, I
thought, ―Hmmm… since I have been here, he has not had a feast.‖
Today he decided to skip his usual large bowl of oatmeal with
cinnamon and just a little bit of sugar. Instead, he was eating
scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, pancakes with maple
syrup and honey and a big tall glass of ice water.
The sun was coming up and it was just as beautiful coming up over
the water as the moon had been reflecting on it. The trees seemed to
be coming back to life too. I sat there and thought about the feast
that Soke had eaten and how good all of it must have tasted. I
thought that was exceptionally cruel, although the water did taste
great.
After about an hour and a half passed, I heard a noise. There was
something crawling through the grass. I thought, ―Oh my God! It is
a snake!‖ He was hissing about four feet from me when I saw him.
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Then he was about two feet from me and curled up, while still
hissing. From the right side of my vision, I saw something fly
through the air very fast. It landed straight in the center of the
snake‘s body and drove into the ground. Dunr appeared from the
surrounding trees, removed the spear out of the snake and held it up
saying, ―That would have been a nasty bite. That was a water
moccasin.‖ I did not care if it was an overgrown worm. I did not
want anything biting me. Dunr wrapped the snake around his neck
and asked me if I wanted some company. I inquired of him how he
knew Soke Draconis and Soke Karroninn.
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something. So then, when referring to astral projection you could
say that you are projecting something towards another plane of
existence. Many people believe in astral projection, but there are
several flaws in this.
―You will know all about this soon enough since after awhile with
no food or water, you will begin to get too tired to fight and hold
onto realities. You will just let go of the connection to all the
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agreements and conditions and then there will be nothingness.
Being in the ground intensifies the experience even more.‖ I said,
―Yes, I agree. I can see how that would be. Have you done this?‖
He replied, ―Of course. All the nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters,
and so forth have done this. In fact, they consider it an honor if they
show this to anybody and allow them to do it.‖ Dunr‘s last comment
also meant I was being considered for family. Wow! I had no idea
about this being an initiation into the family. He mentioned that he
could say no more and I acknowledged, ―Of course, I think I
understand and respect that.‖ He said, ―I thought that you would
from all that I feel and all that Soke Draconis has told me about you.
Remember, you cannot philosophize your way into inner-
dimensional mind traveling. You have got to experience it.‖ He had
to go and continue his watch but assured me that I would be ok until
Soke got home.
What seemed to be several more hours passed, and then I saw Soke‘s
truck come down the road and pull up to the house. He waved and
yelled, asking if I was ok. I yelled back that I was, and then he
walked back towards the house. I do not know why but when I
looked around, everything now seemed really green and fresh and
smelled natural. Everything was in flow and there was no rush to do
things, yet everything was done extremely efficiently and everything
was very well organized. There was no better place to be that I had
ever been and even the blue skies and the intense shining of the sun
had a different effect on me at this time.
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the things I could not have? I should think about something else. I
said to myself, ―Ok, then.‖ Then I thought, ―Wait a minute. Who
are you talking to?‖ ―Myself, I guess.‖ Then I wondered, ―How
many self‘s do I have? I guess as many as I choose to recognize.‖ I
thought I would ponder that later because I was hungry and I was
beginning to grow too tired to think. I would need to reserve my
strength and maybe see if I could take a nap, but that sun was
beating right down on me. It was very hot on my face. What to do?
What to do?
Then Soke changed the subject, ―So, can you tell where the ground
begins and your body ends?‖ I admitted to him how I could no
longer tell the difference. Soke Draconis then walked over, stuck the
ear plugs in my ears, and then put the mask over my face. It covered
my eyes but left my nose and mouth uncovered. There was dead
silence. Even though it was bright outside, I was in total darkness. I
could not hear anything. The only sound I heard was a little like the
sound of a sea shell held up to your ear. I thought about how this
was a completely different twist than what I was prepared for. ―He
is taking out more of my realities and making me let go of more of
my fears. I am completely helpless. I have no way to physically
defend myself. I absolutely cannot hear anything. I cannot see
anything. All of my modalities have been shut down. I can receive
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no incoming information from my senses. I cannot tell day from
night or night from day. I cannot use sounds to create a difference
because my ears are plugged. This is getting better by the moment,‖
I said to myself, ―no sound, no sight, nothing but stillness and
thoughts. What should I do now? I guess I just keep doing what I
have been doing. There are no distractions. It is just me now.‖ I felt
the water bottle held to my lips and I took two very long drinks.
I began to slip further and further into what I can only describe as a
vacuum of darkness. It seemed the darker it became the less I
existed. There was an overwhelming sense that I mattered, but still,
I was ceasing to physically exist. It was like an endless sea of dark
energy. It matters, but it doesn‘t exist. I didn‘t know it at the time
but another piece of Creotology was beginning to take shape. Later
it would take full form, but right then it was just a feeling and that‘s
all that mattered.
We talked some, but I clearly was not very good company, so Soke
went back into the house. I, of course, stayed where I was and
continued the spiritual journey that I was now on. As the day
continued, it got hotter and I was naturally sweating heavily. This
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was not good for a person who wasn‘t getting much water.
As the night went on, my face was hot, but it was not too bad
because of the cream Soke had applied. My thoughts began to run
rampid and I had no real way of knowing if these were my thoughts
alone or all of our thoughts. Maybe they just pop in and out of
everybody‘s heads and our beliefs are the filtering system for what
we receive. The mind-spirit uses our structures to pour its essence
into us. The sky felt as if it were laying on top of me now. I entered
a state of over-flowing oneness and I was not separate from anything
else. On and on into the night it continued, and I was in and out all
the time, never really knowing where I was or how I got here or
whether I was in a mind within a mind.
Was I the leader of this game, or was I being led into the game? The
game that I was referring to is life, and it is a game because it has
boundaries, conditions, rules, borders, agreements, penalties,
sacrifices, praise, payment, and so on. I felt like everything was now
a part of me, and I a part of it, and that I was in the middle of
something giving birth to me, but with no understanding of where I
was or where I was going and how I was getting there. I was just
being delivered. Maybe I was closer to just being than I had ever
experienced before and this was the level right before I became
beingness, moving my potential around into the structures of
conformity.
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At that point, I absolutely, positively had no recognition of the
concept of time. I was only fading deeper and deeper into the void
or the mind-spirit. I had no objective realities that I was aware of –
no ambitions, no traditions, no persistent thoughts, and no dogmas of
any kind. I felt as if I had completely surrendered my game. I
seemed to pass in and out of consciousness. There were lights of all
shapes and colors melded in with various shapes of different colors.
They seemed to be moving so fast towards me, in and out of reality,
that I felt like they were going to crash into me, but nothing ever did.
For some reason, my thoughts drifted to the lake. There was a hole
in the lake and water filled that hole. I thought that the hole in the
lake was one level of consciousness participating at its activity level
and that the water was another level of consciousness participating at
its activity level. I considered the tree in the ground and at that
point, I had a really weird thought. I could not decide if the tree was
in the ground or the ground was on the tree. They both were
different levels of activity of consciousness.
Then I thought of Soke‘s house, and how it was built, and that it was
also one level of activity of consciousness. I thought of Soke living
in the house within the structure of activity and then I thought that
Soke was another level of activity living inside another structure of
consciousness and activity. I thought about my body, which I could
no longer even feel, and wondered where it stopped in the ground
and then I pondered, ―Am I in the ground or is the ground on me?
Either way they are two different levels of activity of
consciousness.‖
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burned out stars, so we are still stars and we just have a different
level of activity of consciousness. I thought that all these different
levels of activity of consciousness create and promote circulation.
These things are constantly moving in and out of different levels of
activity of consciousness. The interchangeable assets of
consciousness promote circulation. Circulation is the movement of
change. Change is only a recyclable event that moves from one
level of activity of consciousness to another. I began to realize that
we process information on a datum level, but we live within a
stratum level of consciousness. The ability to free ourselves from
the datum level and move into the stratum level is truly an
evolutionary process of necessity. The more things that we can
process at one time without being confused, the more realities we
can experience at any one given time. I thought, ―Wow! That is
definitely mind-spirit.‖
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action? Do I determine certain molds of other realities through the
potentials of other possibilities?
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the ultimate fact. We know there is nothing else to know. This is
now proclaimed a fact.
I thought about all of the things we have proclaimed a fact since the
beginning of mankind, or, at least, what we know to be the
beginning of mankind. ―How many things were once facts but were
then proven to be wrong or different? Wow! It almost seems that
the more technological we get, the more we disprove. The more we
prove and the more technological we get, the more we begin to
realize the less we know. Isn‘t that an interesting turn of fate?‖
I pondered that for a while and then another thought came to me.
―Maybe this is part of our evolution. What if the more advanced we
become, the more there is to know, which is why we seem to know
less? Now that is an interesting thought, isn‘t it? The more we
create, the less we know. Since we have the awesome ability to
create, then that would make me assume that we are busy creating
our way to somewhere. Yes, that feels right to me.
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am becoming something else. What would I be? What would
become of me?
―If someone tells you that you have an ego problem, how are they
able to arrive at that decision without having an ego of their own that
is now asserting itself on you? I wonder how that plays out. Would
that be true? I will think this through. If someone informs me that I
have an ego problem, then they would have to have a model of ego
to compare my ego to. If they are saying it doesn‘t match their
model, then they are comparing the egos themselves. If someone
tells me I have an ego then they are comparing my ego to something
else. That means they are trying to support their ego by holding
mine down.
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have an ego problem, then they are just trying to clean out their own
backyard of insecurities and models of how things are supposed to
be. And, if I don‘t match their model of ego, then I must have the
ego problem.
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Suddenly, I felt the water bottle coming to my lips. I took a giant
drink of water quickly and then another drink slowly. Then, I took a
third long drink. After the bottle of water had left my lips, I
remember saying, ―I am exhausted and beyond starving, but I think I
am solving the mysteries of the Universe. I am not ready to come
out yet. I am simply space sensing space. I am a vibration that is in
unity with all that is. At least all I think there is.‖
We have to minimize, or better yet, get rid of all distractions and all
things that are not absolutely necessary in our world so that we can
focus on things that are important. Our attention begins to wander
when we have distractions, which gives us more reasons to be more
distracted and to not do what we want to do. Because of all the
distractions, we are tricked into doing all the things—or at least
some of the things—we really don‘t want to do. Any way we look at
it, disciplining our attention is, in every way, essential if we are
going to sustain the creation of our reality and control where our
attention goes.
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mind-spirit, which is the being in every conceivable way, is what
sets into effect beingness. This is capable of making the birth cry
into consciousness and the experience to which we resist keeps us
experiencing over and over again.‖
If that is not profound, then what is? The being (the pure mind-
spirit) is a vast endless sea of realities. It‘s teeming with potential,
waiting to be brought into yet another possibility. That is what the
beingness does. I began to ponder the very concept of faith—in
anything— like the religious faiths of all denominations. I began to
ponder the faith of people who do not believe in religions and say
that religions are not real. I began to ponder the faith that people
have in the Sun coming up the next day, so much so that many don‘t
even question it when going to sleep at night.
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For now, in the hole, I have to be honest with myself; I am not sure
if I even understood half of what I had just realized. I know I felt it.
I know I mentally said it. I know that some waking part of my
beingness realized it at some level. I am not sure I really understand
everything I just pondered. I did not know it at the time, but another
part of Creotology fell into its rightful place.
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birth cry into consciousness, there is no duality. ―Duality only
happens when we say those magical words: ―I Am.‖ Then we
perceive the differences between what we consider the great ―I Am‖
and everything else. The sense of separation has occurred. I am
now different from my world. I no longer come from it, but rather
now, I perceive it.‖
I was in the ground still floating between what I thought was real,
what I imagined was real, and what I felt was real. I began to think
about all these creations or conceptions I may be having, and I began
to get a weird feeling that got me to thinking, ―If I really am the
creator of my realities, then I would have to have the free will to
determine that. If I really do have a free will, then that means the
conscious side of ―I Am‖ makes those decisions. If the ―I Am‖ can
make the decision to create, then I can make the decision to dissolve
anything I chose to create by uncreating it. If I truly have that
power, then this free will thing is pretty cool. If I have that power,
then I am in control and I can make decisions that determine my life.
If I dissolve or uncreate something, then that means I have
uncreated. Uncreated is a cool word. I think it would mean not
existing by creation or at least not yet created. It could be eternal
and self existed—uncreated. Wow! There are many things in my
life I have left uncreated. There are also many things in my life that
I need to dissolve. There are many more things in my life that I need
to create.‖
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change things, reformulate things, and create it into something
different then what it was before. It brings about a change in some
way, shape or form.
―We resist, and the struggle and resistance creates a great amount of
pain and suffering. Pain, at times, may very well be a thing that
happens, but you experience it and you move on—at least that‘s the
way it should be. Suffering is choosing to resist the pain and not
accept your personal responsibility for making the decision to
experience it and move on. I feel that pain may be temporary, but
suffering is a choice. I made a choice to suffer. I chose to go in the
ground with lack of sleep, with lack of food, and all my fears placed
before me. Through this suffering, I made many realizations, but I
felt my greatest realizations would come after the suffering stopped
and I integrated what I had learned in my privacy. There is no truth
until someone creates it. Therefore, there is no truth to forget until
someone creates it.‖
I was given more water; at least I think it was water. I couldn‘t tell.
I am now in a place where I am not sure if I am alive or dead. I
began to think that it wasn‘t even me thinking anymore. I‘ve moved
to a much different level now. A thought pops in my head about
how concentration is the ability to stay focused on a single thought.
―That may be a mild form of enlightenment. Extreme self-
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confidence is the ability to hold a paradox, which is the ability to
hold the opposite or a complimentary view at the exact same time. I
began to realize that I was just an integrated system of energy and
that all systems of energy are multi-dimensional. All systems have
primary systems and secondary systems. Any system can catch a
bug or a virus, and when this happens, it must be straightened out
immediately or the system begins to break down and misfire.‖
I began to feel people tug at me and I felt energy all around me. I
remember hearing the voices of Soke Karroninn and Soke Draconis
and there were several other voices around me. I remember feeling
that I was floating in the air, as if I was being carried, though I
wasn‘t sure, and then I woke up on a bed. I was clean and there was
an IV inserted into my arm. Later I was told that the IV was the
fastest way to hydrate me and to get food into my system. That is
exactly what is called for after five days and four nights in the
ground. I thought, ―five days and four nights – is that bad or good?
Did I wimp out?‖ Soke Karroninn said that he too had made it five
days and Soke Draconis said the same. Well!!!!!!!! That meant that
I was running with the big boys. I did it!! Talk about someone who
felt they were seven feet tall at that moment looking down onto my
fans! They asked me how I was feeling and I replied that I felt well.
They explained that the county doctor, Dr. Gus, had come and
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inserted the IV and had given me a thorough once over. He had
taken the liberty of drawing a blood panel from me and rushed it
through so that they could see how I was really doing.
I heard someone yell out, ―Soke!‖ as they were coming in the front
door and it was Dr. Gus. He was about five foot nine and an
extremely happy and cheerful man. He had a southern twang to his
speech and a most comfortable personality. He said that outside of
being dehydrated, which the IV would take care of; my blood work
was normal and that within a few hours I should be feeling up to par.
Dr. Gus then asked me how it felt to survive five days and four
nights. I shared with him that I never wanted to experience it again.
I was done. He agreed with me. It had been 30 days since he had
done it. I exclaimed, ―You?‖ He said he had done it, but thought I
was a better man than him because he only made four days and
nights and that was plenty enough for him.
I lay there for a couple of hours and Soke Draconis sat in the corner
of the room with me. Although my experience being in the ground
was over, I felt that the integration was not. I felt there was still
information to be absorbed and that only time would reveal the
secrets of those expressions.
I must have dozed off and then woke up a few hours later. Soke
Draconis told me that I had been sleeping off and on for two days
and that he and Soke Karroninn were watching over me and that Dr.
Gus stopped by a few hours each day to check on me. I commented
that I felt like getting up and going for a walk. Soke Draconis took
out my IV, wiped it down with alcohol, and put a band-aid on it. He
offered that it might be nice for him, me, and Soke Karroninn to go
for a walk together. He thought that I should alternate between
Gatorade and water while I walked, so I did.
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We went walking down the dirt road and not much was mentioned
about my experience, but they did ask me if I remember talking
about the hard focused breathing – the ki. I let them know I did in
fact remember talking about ki. They said that if I wanted to
develop the ability to control my ki, then I must learn to control my
breath. Breath is the basis of all life and it is through the breath that
our body has the energy to move on. Breathing katas were good, but
if I truly wanted to learn to control my breath, I would have to test it.
I thought, ―OH NO!‖ That was when the moment of truth arrived
and they informed me I would have to learn to do hard focus
breathing katas under an ice-cold waterfall. They would say no
more and we just walked and took in the flowers, the trees, and the
rest of nature.
We went back to the house and Soke Karroninn told me that it was
time for us to leave, but he would see me again soon. I have to
admit that leaving was not simple. I had grown accustomed to life
out there on that little patch of land. Things were very simple and
easy. The place had a rhythm all its own, it was a rhythm that was
fun to participate in. Soke Karroninn had washed my other clothes
for me and he handed them to me along with the Viking helmet and
a battle-axe from the cave experience. He informed me they were
most certainly mine. Then he placed his hand on my shoulder and I
placed mine on his. He let me know he would be monitoring my
progress and that when it was time, we would meet again to embark
on our third adventure. I said, ―It has been such an incredible
experience for me already, I can hardly wait until next time!‖
As Soke Draconis and I drove back, it was like all of our other
drives. Few words were said, the hanging crystal reflected
fragments of light and projected them everywhere, and we both sat
quietly feeling the vibration of the ride and enjoying the scenery.
We did stop for a bite to eat and picked up more Gatorade and water.
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Returning to the dojo was a treat. Matt and David came up and gave
me the usual greeting of the bow and then the hand on each other‘s
shoulders. Everyone wanted to know what I had done and had
experienced. I heard that Melissa and Matt were together and not
only was I not jealous; it did not even bother me at all. In fact, I was
very happy for both of them. I thought that they would be good for
each other, wished them the best and assured them they had my
blessings.
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environment.
I woke up a few times over the next nine hours to drink Gatorade
and water. I woke up the next morning to have my usual breakfast –
grease and sugar – but instead, I had four oranges squeezed into a
glass, a big bowl of oatmeal with a cut up banana, cinnamon with a
few dashes of sugar, and two pieces of whole grain toast, then I was
on my way. You guessed it – a muscle shirt, warm-up pants, tennis
shoes, my hair back into a ponytail, and my gi under my arm (tied
and folded in the traditional way).
When we got to the dojo, there wasn‘t any way not to be able to tell
which one Jerry was. He was hanging upside down with some
gravity boots from a punching bag bar that held four bags in place. I
walked up to him and introduced myself, ―Hello, Jerry, I‘m Brady.‖
He replied, ―Hello. I am Jerry the Samurai.‖ I asked him, ―Well,
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Jerry the Samurai, what are you doing?‖ He shared his concept with
me, ―I‘m hanging upside down so that the blood can rush to my
brain and it will make me smarter, my hair thicker and I will grow
more neurons.‖ I asked, ―How is this achieved again?‖ He
reiterated, ―By all my blood rushing to my head.‖ I questioned him,
―So all the blood in your body is going to the top of your head?
Well, Jerry, a nod and a wink is the same thing to a blind mule, but
wouldn‘t that work the other way as well?‖ He asked, ―What do you
mean?‖ I rationalized, ―If you are standing on your feet then
wouldn‘t all your blood rush to your feet as well?‖ He stopped for a
moment and looked puzzled. Then he said, ―You are right, pull me
up. I really do not believe that about all the blood rushing to my
head. I just wanted to see if anyone else believed it.‖ He gave me a
look that seemed to say, ―Please believe me.‖ Then he asked if I
wanted Samurai lessons. I answered, ―Not today, but perhaps one
time we could throw the bokens together.‖ He said that was fine, but
cautioned me not to be afraid if my talent did not match his. I told
him, ―Okay.‖
Soke Draconis came to the door and went into his office. I walked
over to his doorway, bowed, and asked Soke if I may have
permission to enter his office. Soke said, ―of course,‖ and I told him
that I had brought a friend named Mike. Mike, I, and Soke Draconis
spoke for about an hour and a half and Mike signed up that day.
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You and the Identities
‖Ask anyone to tell you a little bit about who they are and they will
begin to explain characteristics about themselves. This means that
they are describing identities they associate with themselves and
their personalities, patterns and interests. Life requires so many
different roles that it makes us assume the roles, like it or not. Once
you have formed an identity, it is hard to get it to stop because it is
based in habits and default creations. This is where the thing that
you have created is now a self-incarnated spirit with its own means
and needs. Perhaps one‘s self is a ―father,‖ another is a ―husband,‖
another is a ―brother,‖ another is an ―employer‖ or ―employee,‖ and
another is a ―friend.‖ If one of those identities has a habit of need, it
can and will affect all the other identities. Therefore, you, as the
void of all these different forms, need to have the ability to maintain
them in a proper fashion and remain the leader instead of becoming
the follower.
―I felt like Sybil when I first discovered how many different roles in
my personal Universe that I played to other people. It is easy to
become consumed by others who seek to use your energies and lose
your own way.
―When you are inside the creation, you are experiencing the creation,
not observing it. Your senses are in tune with what is happening,
instead of observing what is going on. We create our deities and
spirits and all energy forms this way, but that does not make them
any less (or any more) real. The bottom line is simply this truth; we
are all energy-beings, and we create what we want and need. When
we see the potential in any and all situations, then that is what we
create. No matter what we believe, it is ok because we will
experience it and use it to our advantage to help ourselves evolve to
the level that we need. So remember, all beliefs are real. (If that
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statement doesn‘t make sense to you yet, go back, read the material,
and think some more about mental time continuums.) You can
create anything anywhere that you choose and experience it as real
and it will be real in your interpersonal world. When you create an
entity, it is either a creation of you designed by your personal belief
system or someone else‘s.‖
3. When you create the space by way of belief, you then place
your attention into the belief that expands it. Attention acts
like gravity, holds the belief in place, and draws you even
closer to the belief. (Attention creates and sustains reality.)
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You can see the entity forming in front of your very eyes, so, yes,
entities are very powerful and can and do create the world that we
live in, which is the subjective one.
Mike said, ―That was deep – much deeper than I have ever been
before. I‘ll need time in order to understand all this.‖ I could not
help but give a cheerful laugh because I remembered the first time
that I said that to Soke Draconis. He gave Mike the same reply that
he gave me with that cheerful little smile. He put his left hand on
Mike‘s left shoulder and said, ―Of course.‖ Then Soke Draconis
bowed. We bowed to Soke and left his office.
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we passed. He let us know that he would get back to us. As we
bowed to Jerry and Jerry to us, we waited until he was out of sight
and we gave a few chuckles. We thought he was harmless and a
funny little guy, but we liked him.
After Soke Draconis had left, Mike said, ―Brady, do you realize if
we learned that, people could punch and kick us all day long and not
hurt us. That would be an advantage in combat. Outside of shooting
us or stabbing us, how would they get us off of them?‖ ―Hmmm,
that is a very provocative thought,‖ I thought to myself, ―and I think
that it is one in need of serious contemplation.‖ Mike said, ―You
know, Brady, you have changed. I can‘t quite put my finger on it
but you seem more intelligent and more in control. You seem to
think before you respond instead of just reacting.‖ ―Thank you for
the compliment,‖ I said, ―but things are beginning to get very
interesting around here.‖ He said, ―I know what you are saying.
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This is only my first night, but I am sad that we had to leave. I
wanted to stay. This place has an energy about it that just makes you
want to be in it.‖ I grinned, ―I think you are headed for some serious
experiences, my friend.‖ He then told me, ―Well, right now I‘m
heading off to work. I want to make sure that I have my money at
the end of the month for my payment.‖ I approved of his logic, ―For
all Soke does for us, the least we can do is to make sure that all of
our payments are on time. After all, it is our responsibility.‖ Mike
agreed and said, ―I will see you tomorrow.‖
While walking home and enjoying the night air, I met another old
friend of mine whose name was Jimmy. Jimmy asked me where I
had been lately and I told him of some of my experiences, to which
he replied, ―no way‖ and I said, ―Way. Would you like to see some
proof of my experiences?‖ He said, ―Yes, please.‖ I took him to my
place and showed him my helmet and battle-axe. He exclaimed,
―That‘s the coolest thing I‘ve ever seen - to like the 30th degree.
Could I hold it?‖ I said, ―I guess so.‖ He said, ―Wow, Brady, a real
Viking axe!‖ I put the headpiece on and then he put it on and stood
in front of the mirror. He shouted, ―This is so cool!‖ He then held
the axe in the air and said, ―By the power of Odin, I am Thor!‖ We
both laughed. It was a fun space to share. Then Jimmy asked if he
could join the school as well. I explained to him, ―Meet me here
tomorrow at 3:30 in the afternoon, we will go to the school
together.‖ If he were serious, then he would be here at that time with
no excuses. He said he would be there. As he left my room and
exited through the back door of the house, I had a feeling he was
serious, that he really would be there at 3:30 the following day.
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training duds because he knew we work out in our pajamas. I did
not have the heart to tell him differently, so I kept my mouth shut. I
thought that perhaps Soke Draconis would get a chuckle out of it as
well.
While Jimmy, Mike, and I were sitting on the mat in Indian position,
another very large gentleman came to the door. He was about Soke
Draconis‘ height and probably about the same age and looked like
his almost identical reflection. Soke Draconis had stepped out for a
moment, but Matt and David went over to the newcomer, put their
hands on each other‘s shoulders, and greeted each other. He grabbed
them both around their shoulders and was squeezing them with one
hand and they both looked like little rag dolls.
I heard Matt call him Uncle Mooninn. Matt told him that Soke
Draconis wasn‘t there, but he should be back shortly. He decided to
wait for Soke out on the bench. Mooninn sat there in a calm and
very peaceful manner, with his back straight and his chin up and his
hands cupped together in place as if he was about to learn something
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and was at attention for it.
Soke Draconis and Soke Mooninn came out after about an hour and
announced that on Saturday afternoon there would be a
demonstration of battle ki. We were all excited and wanted to go.
All through the week, we went out and spread the word about the
battle ki demonstration and cautioned people to be sure not to miss
it. Even if you were not a member, you could watch it free at two
o‘clock on Saturday afternoon.
We had some other schools students drop by and say that they did
not believe it, so Soke said the best way for them to understand and
believe was to do the hitting and the kicking into the body
themselves. On Saturday at about 1:45 PM, we had over a hundred
people show up and there was everything in the air from disbelief to
―please, let this be true.‖ Most people just wanted to be entertained.
Soke described what he was going to show that afternoon was only
one of many ways to use the breath and the ki of the human body,
and that no one should try this for any reason without a licensed
instructor for battle ki.
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This is also my warning to you the reader - do not, under any
circumstances, try this without the instruction of someone who is
certified in battle ki, and I mean under no condition.
Soke began to explain that, ―All of life‘s energy runs through the
breath and that the breath is the most important thing. When used
properly, the breath can and will be used for many purposes outside
of the ones that we have been traditionally taught, but it does require
an alignment of your belief system and of muscle and breath work.
It does not require any mind over matter concepts – that is an old
wives tale. This is a science and has a precise formula for how it
works. Respect it and do well; if not, serious injury or death could
be the outcome.
―The areas of the body that we will work with today are the throat, to
dispel the crushing of the larynx which doesn‘t mean that it can‘t be
done, only that with battle ki, it cannot be crushed. We will also
work with the striking of the solar plexus that, of course, is a favorite
spot to strike. Next, we‘ll study the ribs, and finally the groin area,
which is believed to induce serious injury and make you fall down
into a complete state of pain. Okay, let‘s proceed.‖
Soke then asked for volunteers from the audience to come up and do
the striking against the ki demonstrators. He took the first blow,
which was a punch directly into the throat from a position that he
called the solid state. He then demonstrated from what he called the
relaxed state. Both states are essential to the practitioner he
clarified, and both are just as pliable. He then demonstrated taking a
punch to the solar plexus, and then a strike to the groin, and then to
both sides of the ribs. The parts of the body that cannot be ki are the
eyes and the nose but everything else was a go. After the hand
strikes, they did the same demonstration with kicks, but this time
Soke Mooninn did the demonstration from both states. The crowd
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was impressed and that included all the students as well, but then
there was a surprise. Soke said, ―Now we will demonstrate a lower
belt receiving the same blows.‖ He called for Matt and David. I
realized that this is what they were practicing that day that I saw
them. They did the same demo except that they were hit by several
volunteers at the same time in the throat and the ribs from multiple
sides. The crowd went nuts! Soke explained that this was another
art they would teach to those who are responsible enough to use it
wisely. He eluded that it was to be practiced for the beneficial art it
is, and not the foul things that one could think of doing with it.
Suddenly, some large guy charged into the school and accused us of
trickery. He wanted to be the one that did the strikes to those areas.
Soke said, ―Normally, I would not accept challenges because they
are the game of the struggler, but I don‘t want today‘s challenge to
go unanswered.‖ He allowed the man to do the same strikes. Before
you knew it, the man was humbled and was very polite and amazed.
After the demonstration, he became a member as well.
After the man enrolled, a guy came in that I had not seen before and
said that he wanted to cancel his membership to the school because
of money problems. Soke said, ―Yes, you have owed an enrollment
fee for over a month. I sent you two notices and a reminder of your
obligation.‖ The man defended his position accusing Soke of being
a great salesman and that he had smooth-talked him into it. Soke
thought that was amusing and then told the man he could cancel,
because if he did not want to train, then he should not pay and then
bad mouth the school.
Later, I told Soke I thought that even though people saw the ki
demo, they would not believe it and would consider it metaphysical.
He chose to share his wisdom on the subject with me, ―Let‘s sit and
talk about metaphysics.‖
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Chapter 15
M E TA P H Y S I C S
- 316 -
my heart and expand the possibilities of what may be.
―Dualism, however, says that both body and mind are real. I
perceive that as pragmatic as well, because if energy and mass are
the same, then spirit and mass are the same, only with different
levels of vibration. When one truly captures the spirit of
metaphysics, you can see the boundaries, which are being lifted
away, and how they have plagued traditional physics up to modern
day. I take my approach to rationalism by blending knowingness
with my beingness while incorporating physics, psychology, and
biology so that a fuller and more encompassing picture can take
shape. We create reality in every split second by perceiving it both
now and into the parallel Universe described by the string theory.
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existing in the possibilities they know. They just shut down right
away.‖ ―It does create quite a picture,‖ I said, ―this thing called
reality. You move along, only to find out later that the reality was
not solid, only pliable at the moment of creating the experience.‖
Then Soke said, ―Let‘s examine truth and the reality that it creates.‖
―It has been said that truth is the reality that lies beyond the
appearance. What exactly is that saying about the nature of our
creations? Enlightenment is not something that lies outside of us but
within us. When we are untruthful about our intentions, our actions
give us away. This also sets up identities that we work with but that
do not hold up in our world of actions. This creates a flux, a
discontinuity between what we want and what we are receiving.
What we want is a feeling that we want to experience, but when we
are untruthful about our true intentions, not only does that create a
space between us and the people we lied to, but it also creates a
space between ourselves and what it is that we want. Our underlying
reality is different than what we wanted, so the more we create
outside of our personal integrity, the further we go away from
ourselves until we completely lose sight of what we want and how
we are going to get there.
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compulsions. I do not think I have to tell you what that means to
me. When we regain our consciousness, we find, by integrity and
following our true intentions, that our world becomes in alignment
and we find flow.
―If these criteria are met, then we are exercising true free will and
working in our consciousness as an independent creator of our
reality. We are creating what we prefer. When you are told to
believe in yourself, what exactly does that mean? Several things
need to be determined to answer that question.
1. What is self?
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―In creation, the separation that we experience is brought on by the
need to feel that we are something solid, that we are accountable,
and very tangible. By doing this, we solidify our physical reality.
This makes reality more concrete for our existence. We are the
creators of beliefs by supplying the potential (energy) for them to
exist. What we create with our energy (potential) is then solidified
by our attention, so we are the raw material to create whatever we
want at any level that we can believe in. If we can believe in it, it
will create. The old saying about ―believing something when you
see it‖ is not true. You will see it when you believe it and not until
then. For a belief to create, it will need several things.
―I also get asked all the time about religion and why I do not support
more of the ancient texts and philosophy. The honest answer is quite
simple – you are talking about philosophy that was created in a time
of different needs, functions, and culture. The environment that
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existed in ancient times was much different than today. Imagine us
trying to fight the diseases of today with nothing more than the
medicine and knowledge of two or three thousand years ago. We
update everything else; our cars, clothes, electronics, textbooks,
houses, and so forth, all the time, so we can stay up-to-date and
experience new things. We need a modern day philosophy that fits
into our culture‘s current structure and not ancient philosophy that
does not. That is like trying to put a round peg into a square hole; it
does not fit and it does not belong.
―All of reality is only true if we accept a belief and see life through
that perception. We make reality concrete only to us and through
belief systems that we will not let go of. We become trapped in
portals of the brain.‖ I spoke up, ―Wait a minute, what about
enlightenment?‖ Soke Draconis answered, ―It‘s nothing more than
an entrapment of ego, and an illusion of a power that you have all
the time anyway. Let me explain.
ENLIGHTENMENT
- 321 -
not putting any one religion or philosophy down, only bringing up a
new point of view for you to explore. Enlightenment is the opposite
of what we have been taught. First of all, I know of no poor people
who became instantly enlightened by their lack of wealth, and I
know no rich people who became enlightened by their abundance.
Self-confidence is a disciplined style of thinking that acts in
accordance with your intentions that you see through affecting the
outcome that you prefer. It is a release of fears and reaction, and
living in the responding and resolving world, so that you do not
create your own self-limiting obstacles. Freeing your energy to
pursue your strengths and weakness, and realizing that you can have
whatever you want because you decide it, is the ultimate flow. We
are not looking for enlightenment; it is something we create into the
Universe and the vibration is there for all. Enlightenment is not the
dissolving of everything, but the creation of experiencing what you
prefer.
―We have all been around a person who seems to create freely and
without restraints and fears and who seems to defy all laws of
common sense. They move around with a sense of achievement and
free discipline that makes us almost despise them and judge them.
When we are alone or with our clique of people, we judge and point
the finger, accuse them of faults, and deny their achievements and
contributions.
- 322 -
and leave you to explore your own space and gently move you out of
theirs. If you turn the paradigm around, if you can create the
experiences in life that you personally choose, and can respond to
things that happen to you that are done by other people without
allowing it to distract your focused attention from your creations,
you will form a pattern that you find works for you. Do not get
caught up in judgments. Create from within, and then you will find
a release that creates flow.
―If you understand that you are already the void, and within you the
void is only true raw potential (energy), you have the ability to do
the work for anything you choose to create, and you experience the
manifestation of that, then you are the creator of your life and the
experience of it. Enlightenment is not a way of suffering so you can
get to where you want to be, but rather an understanding of your
ability to stop the suffering and allow yourself to experience the
creation that you prefer. Pain is only temporary, if at all, and
suffering is a choice. You choose to suffer, to condemn yourself and
judge yourself, and to create all the illusions in your life that prevent
you from living the life you want and experiencing the things that
you prefer. To feel that suffering is a way to enlightenment not only
makes no common sense, but also is a denial of your creative ability
to create what you prefer. If suffering is something you prefer, you
might want to get that checked by a professional.
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―To choose to suffer and think that it is the only way to achieve a
state of enlightenment is an incorrect usage of your creative ability.
In the reality that we have created, both in the pilot seat and the co-
pilot seat, many of our personal and inner reactive creations are with
others. Even if you dissolve all the ideas about you and all that there
is, you are back to where you always have been. Your flow or
enlightenment is blocked by unneeded judgments and self- or co-
created fears that you have accepted - that is, the realities of others
that you are putting your attention into daily. By not designing your
life, you end up existing just to make a paycheck. There is no life in
passing time, only in the creation of time and what you do and
experience in that time. Enlightenment is not something you wake
up to and realize, it is something you created through purpose, and
alignment, proper choices, and untangling yourself out of old beliefs
and into more purposeful beliefs.‖
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Chapter 16
M E N TA L T I M E
CONTINUUMS
The next morning Mike and I arrived full of energy, we were playing
around and having a good time. A couple of minutes later, Soke
Draconis came in with Gatorade, water, milk, and a dozen donuts –
Soke‘s treat. Life was good – a treat and $50 apiece – good times.
The basement was about 2,000 square feet and fairly clean, just
extremely disorganized, which was rare for Soke, but then, there are
often more important issues besides your basement.
- 325 -
two hundred twenty pounds. He was stocky, very strong, and very
stubborn. Only Soke could deal effectively with him, and they had a
great relationship. He liked to horse around and was a real jokester.
―The great thing about Steve,‖ Soke always said, ―is that he has
honor and that is rare these days.‖ As we were digging into the box,
we found all types of diplomas, scrolls, artifacts, pictures, and old
uniforms and headgear for grappling like the wrestlers wear. I
remarked, ―I don‘t know if we should be looking at all of this stuff.‖
Steve made an excellent observation, ―How are you going to
organize it if you do not know what it is.‖ That made sense, and
Mike said, ―We can look without being nosey,‖ so we agreed and
continued.
While I was on one side of the room and Mike the other, I crawled
under some shelves and was pulling some boxes from them. Steve
and Mike held my feet up in the air, so I could not back out. It was
most frustrating. They were laughing and I was trying not to laugh
when all of a sudden, they said something grabbed them softly,
pulled them back, and they dropped my feet. They were spooked
and so was I because I did not feel my feet hit the ground. Then we
all looked at each other, wondered what had just happened to us, and
were all amazed. When we were walking away, we felt as if we
were light as air, and not going anywhere. We could see our
movements, as if they were tracers, like someone had slowed down
the frames of a camera.
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what to do. We couldn‘t even climb up the stairs to leave. One
moment, we were becoming very relaxed, and the next thing we
know we woke up in Soke‘s office and the fire department and two
police cars were there. We asked what had happened and Soke said
there had been a gas leak in the basement. When we were fully
conscious, we told Soke what we had all experienced, and he said,
―No doubt the gas had much to do with it. However, that was a very
serious experience and lesson and you should pay attention to it.‖
He said, ―When the fire department and police leave, let‘s discuss
it.‖
After listening to our story, Soke said, ―Anything you look at will
become a frame like a picture. What you place your attention on is
what you are taught is real. When you see between the frames, you
will see those structures, but you will also see anything that you do
not focus on, place your attention on, or even know about. There is
a lot of information that we leave out in forming our frame of
reference, but the input still gets stored in the subconscious mind and
can be referenced later if you learn to place your attention on it.
―This is how we live our lives as well. Think about the implications
of that! Our environment does not shape our behavior so much as
our ideas about our environment do. By the way, once again, this is
also how mentalities are shaped and realities in life are formed. That
is why goals are so important because it helps to create not only flow
in your life, but it also directs the mentality that will shape your life
and the quality of it. In almost all cases, the quality of our life
suffers due to the perceptions and values that we place on it. If we
build our mental structure of what we want, how we want it, and
why we want it, there is a great alignment that exists and this can
create a simple life of pleasurable experience, adventure, and
knowledge. Remember the Section on Goals teaches us that it will
help you to create a life that just guides itself. All you have to do is
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keep the car on the road, make sure it is maintained and has gas in
the tank. So let‘s talk about producing that alignment.
ALIGNMENT
―You have heard a lot about alignment. Now, let‘s explore it. Most
of us are born into misalignment and only become more misaligned.
This happens because the mental construction that creates our mental
patterns comes from all those around us and is then reinforced by our
educational systems, government, and friends. This begins to create
a mental blueprint and set the course of our lives. This is where the
beliefs we have and learn are integrated into our subconscious
thinking patterns, which we apply without analysis and design. The
actions we perform everyday reinforce the belief, leaving us the co-
pilot of our life at best. Our attention on the subject is neutral
because we feel that is how things are. If you create a new idea or
make a new action, they say you are not acting right, or they ask,
‗What‘s wrong with you?‘ The bottom line is that once someone
labels you and gives you an identity, they do not want you to change
it and will often become upset if you do. This is where you must not
allow their beliefs and judgments to hold you captive, but must forge
ahead with a new design.‖
―When you have a course of action and a sense of love and affection
for yourself, you can help so many people, but you cannot help
others until you help yourself. That is where alignment comes into
play and starts to twist your world, resulting in the multi-
dimensional individual that you are. Here are a few steps that will
help you reach your goal:
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beliefs, because they are covered up and you can‘t see them.
3. Create smaller beliefs that you know without a doubt you can
achieve, and let these actions reinforce your self-confidence.
―We understand the realties you taught us about that we can receive
in this lifetime, but what happens to the thoughts that we have but do
not achieve as a reality in this lifetime?‖ I asked. Soke Draconis
said, ―Those go on to become mental time continuums.‖ I asked,
―They become what?‖ He said, ―A reality that you did not
experience in this dimension of existence goes on to create another
reality somewhere else through another reality from the mind-spirit.‖
I asked Soke to explain, and he said, ―Let‘s have some lemon water
and sit back.
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that acts like a filter, allowing certain things to pass through our
conscious frames without being detected, remaining unexamined and
untried, but because of the mind-spirit creative energy, the energy
particle goes on to create a new parallel reality. All the thoughts that
you experience in the present, past, and the future are realizations in
this particular dimension of presence. If there is no knowingness
about something then there is no frame of reference to associate it
with. Therefore, it goes on to exist as another idea reality
somewhere else. That is what creates our vast personal Universe of
parallel realities known as the Omniverse.
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Soke Draconis announced he had good news. He told us Soke
Karroninn was coming tomorrow and he wanted me, Matt, and
David to lead a special class for him so he could see how the
students were progressing. That was exciting and I was looking
forward to seeing Soke Karroninn again.
The next day when I arrived, Soke Karroninn was already there and
there was a girl with him that stopped me in my tracks. I thought -
no offense to Melissa –she was even more beautiful than Melissa
was. Her body was toned and well conditioned. She had long black
hair down to her lower back and big brown eyes. It was love at first
sight. I could not control myself at all. I was stuttering and clumsy
and I knew both Sokes thought it was funny. I was today‘s
amusement, but who cares, I WAS IN LOVE, and I knew I would be
with her always.
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family just because they are family, but rather because that family
has earned the trust and respect. It was clear to me that this was the
case with her family and that she was right – they did deserve her
respect because they gave plenty of it to her and this was very
evident in the stories that she told me.
I told my mom and she was fine with it since I was going with Soke
and was 18 anyway. I told my friends and they were envious, just as
I would have been at that age. We talked about what I was going to
do there, which was very interesting, because I did not know what
we were going to be doing. I was very intrigued by it all, but when I
went back to the school later that day, Soke told me Michelle was
going and that intrigued me even more…and made me very happy!
Michelle came in with Soke and asked if I needed help with packing.
She claimed she was a very good and well-organized packer, so I
accepted her offer. We went to my house and I introduced her to my
mother. She thought Michelle was just the prettiest thing she had
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seen and liked how very well mannered she was.
After we were done packing, we went back to the dojo and Michelle
told the Sokes that I did not take vitamins. They could not believe it
either. Soke Draconis said he was also running low on vitamins and
he was going to the vitamin store as well. So, Soke, Michelle, and I
went to the local health and nutritional store and bought vitamin and
mineral packets. While we were there, I looked through their book
selection and contemplated buying a particular book. It was all
about vitamins and minerals and how to treat certain conditions with
the use of herbs, vitamins, and minerals. I thought that it sounded
like a good place to begin my knowledge on the subject. As we left
the store and got back into the truck to head back to the dojo,
Michelle asked me what book I had bought and if she could see it. I
handed it to her immediately. She looked through the book for about
15 minutes, told me that it was a pretty decent book, and would be
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good as a starter book, but she had some much better ones that I was
welcome to read whenever I wanted. I told her that I needed to
digest this book first and then maybe I would take her up on that. I
thought that this would possibly spark a lesson from Soke Draconis,
but it did not. He remained content and enjoyed the ride. He really
loves his truck rides.
When we got back to the dojo, Soke Karroninn asked Michelle if she
would like to go to Sweden as well. She said, ―Yes, it has been a
long time since I‘ve visited my family there.‖ Soke Karroninn was
glad to hear she wanted to go because he had already cleared it with
his sister. Then he added, ―Why don‘t you and Brady take the Black
Knight and go to your house so you can pack.‖ I thought this would
be both exciting and an opportunity to see where she lived.
As we left the school, I felt proud because she was going to see the
Black Knight and I was going to drive while she sat there. She made
many comments on how nice my car was, how strong it felt, and that
I must have been proud of this accomplishment, which I assured her
I was. When we pulled up to her neighborhood, I noticed that
everything was nice and green. The yards were all manicured and
all the homes were extremely well taken care of. I went in and met
Michelle‘s mother, who was the spitting image of her daughter. I
have to admit I silently thought to myself that if this is what
Michelle would look like when she was older, then this was not a
bad gig at all. I went to shake her hand and she placed her hand on
my shoulder, asked how I was, waited for me to answer, and then
she said that she was pleased to meet me. I noticed that she was
sweating and that her hair was up. She had been practicing yoga and
was going to practice the art of belly dancing next.
A greenhouse was attached to the house that was about 15 feet long
by 15 feet wide. Michelle and her mother grew many different types
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of herbs and flowers out there. It was very bright, colorful, and
smelled wonderful. We went to another area attached to the house
like a guesthouse. Michelle said that this was where she stayed
because she liked her own space. I thought, ―Wow! How different
this is. I wish I had that set up!‖ As we were packing, or as I was
getting in the way of her packing, she asked me if I knew anything
about what was lying ahead of me during this trip to Sweden. I gave
her a look that said, ―The Soke‘s don‘t let me in on what‘s coming
next.‖ She laughed and proceeded to tell me that, in some ways, the
being in the ground exercise would be mild compared to what I
would experience in Sweden. I have to admit that this unnerved me.
While driving back to the school, I noticed she had scooted closer to
me. Of course, this got me excited and once again, that feeling of
belonging came over me. We pulled into the parking lot and Soke
Draconis and Soke Karroninn were standing outside with Matt,
David, Jerry the Samurai, and Mike.
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appreciated. He told Jerry the Samurai that he needed him to stay
behind this time and guard the school. I could see the feeling of
pride that came over Jerry the Samurai that day that Soke had called
on him to secure his kingdom. This made Jerry feel accepted and
considered to be of great use. I thought to myself, ―I wonder how
Jerry feels right now?‖ I could see the energy of happiness all
around him, but I still could not help but wonder how he felt. Jerry
turned after he bowed and went back to the dojo.
Soke Draconis had already put his belongings into Soke Karroninn‘s
truck. We would drive to the hotel where we were going to stay
tonight. ―I forgot something,‖ I shouted as I ran quickly into the
school to grab my favorite jacket I had left in there. As I was
heading back to the door, Jerry the Samurai saw me and wished me
luck, and I did the same to him. He said that he would not violate
Soke‘s confidence. I went out the door and jumped into the truck.
Soke surprised me and said, ―Here, You drive the truck with
Michelle. Soke Karroninn and I will ride together, so follow us.‖
So, that‘s what I did. About 30 minutes later, maybe less, we arrived
at a hotel that was very close to the airport. The shuttle service
would take us to the airport at 7:00 in the morning. The manager of
the hotel was a friend Soke has who was going to watch the trucks
until we returned. We parked them right next to the 24-hour guard
shack and checked into our rooms. To my surprise, Michelle and I
were rooming together in a room with two full size beds. I thought
that this was somewhat bizarre. I was expecting to receive the usual
talk but never got it.
After dinner, both Sokes said that they were going to the room to do
some talking and that Michelle and I were free to do what we wanted
as long as we were in bed at 10:30 PM. It was about 7:00 that night
and very warm outside, so I suggested we make our way down to the
swimming pool. Seeing the pool, we both thought that swimming
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would be nice, soothing, and relaxing, so we ran upstairs, got out our
swimwear, ran back downstairs, and jumped into the pool. It was
heated and half the pool was on the outside of the hotel and the other
half was inside the hotel. There was a tiny wall that you swam under
to get from one side to the other. We swam for a while, splashed
water on each other, and had a good time.
Michelle said she wanted to wrestle. I told her that was not smart of
her because I was almost a brown belt now. Some of my techniques
were too advanced. She looked amused by my comments and said,
―That‘s cute. Let‘s rock and roll.‖ I lunged for her quickly, she
evaded my attack, then jumped on top of my back, and had a figure
four choke on me, and her legs were wrapped firmly around my
waist. I thought that I would go under water, take her with me, and
she would run out of breath and I would be the victor, but my plan
had one fatal flaw since she was the one with the chokehold and I
was the one slowly losing my breath while underwater.
We were under the water and splashing around looking like two
crocodiles. I felt my breath going and I thought, ―Man, this is it!‖
I‘m going to have to tap. Choked out by a girl! How bad can it get?
Oh, man!! Now she will think that I am a wimp and want nothing to
do with me.‖ As she released me and we came back up to the
surface, I told her right away, or as soon as I could breathe, that it
was luck and that I could have taken her easily at any time, but I
didn‘t because I was trying to be a gentleman. She looked at me
with a very funny face and said, ―Aw, your poor ego got hurt.‖ I
told her it was not my ego that got hurt and I could have taken her at
any moment. She challenged me, ―Prove it, lunge again.‖ I told her
that she did not want my full-scale attack. She grinned slightly,
―Well, whatever that is, I would like to try it.‖ I said, ―Alright, but I
am not responsible.‖ She thought that was an interesting statement.
I lunged for her again, trying to grab her shoulder. The next thing I
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knew, there was a hold on my wrist, I was in pain, and I was back
under the water again. So once again, I had to tap. When I came up
my ego really was badly injured and she looked at me and said,
―You are not really good at this fighting thing are you?‖ I replied,
―No, really I am pretty good.‖ She teasingly said, ―Yeah, Right!‖
This really was embarrassing and I could not understand it. I was
fast and strong, but technique was clearly winning out. As we got
ready for bed, we talked about her training. She confessed that the
Sokes had taught her, but her mother had shown her a lot. Michelle
was a high-ranking martial artist within the Draconis family and had
been taught since she was a child. She said that the Sokes were
more into spiritual self-help with martial arts added into the training.
I said I was confused about the meaning of a self-help martial arts
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system and asked if she could explain the meaning of it.
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Chapter 17
T H E P R E PA R E D M I N D
―Martial arts have been around forever and all nations have had their
individual personal take on it, but when great, great, great, great,
grandpa taught it to his sons and daughters, he wanted it to be more
multi-dimensional. If you were going to take the time to learn to
defend yourself, then it should do more than just show you how to
fight. It should give you an understanding of your life, how to
control it, along with how to be prepared for possible situations.
Fighting is the first resource of a primitive mind, but that with
sufficient development, you could avoid ever attracting a fight into
your consciousness anyway.
―Look at the world from this point for a moment. Let‘s say that in
your subconsciousness, you feel afraid and paranoid and feel that
something bad is going to happen to you. You believe this even
though you do not want to, but subconsciously you still do. If you
are out somewhere and there is an individual who may fit in this
belief that you are broadcasting and pulling into you, then they will
receive it and the two of your energies will collide. If this happens
and there is a fight, then chance favors the prepared mind.
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―We train to fight as a possible reality that could happen, but we do
not train with hatred and competition in our hearts, only as exercise
and a way of life. We should learn the other important lessons of
life that create happiness. That is the ability to create whatever it is
that you choose to experience, and to be able to help others, not by
preaching to them, but by living as a clear-cut example of flow. We
train to be happy with ourselves and to love ourselves, just the way
we love others, because everyone wants to feel loved and understood
and confident in their ability to create and affect their own world.‖
Michelle giggled and mentioned she was tired. Then she added how
beating me up all day had worn her out. As I lay there with the
moonlight shining in across my bed, there was that calm feeling of
flow and that energy that just lets you know everything is all right.
No wonder the Sokes did not care that we shared a room. They
trusted us both, but more than that, they knew that we trusted
ourselves. Besides, she could beat me up anyway.
Morning came and both Sokes were standing there just as big as you
please, smiling, and joking. They told us to take our showers, and
then we would have a good breakfast and afterwards get to the
airport. After the showers, as we were eating downstairs, we heard a
lot of screaming from down the hall. We went down the hall and
found a guy robbing the restaurant in the hotel. Both the Sokes told
us to stay there and not to move, so we did as we were told. Soke
Draconis started to act as if he was drunk and Soke Karroninn came
up from the rear. As Soke Draconis got close, the man pointed the
gun in his face and said that he was going to kill him. Soke said that
he was just passing through, and that he loved him and the robber
said, ―What?‖ Just then, Soke Karroninn grabbed the robber‘s arm,
tilted it towards the ceiling, and then kicked the back of his knee.
Soke Draconis had the arm and pressed a pressure point in the wrist,
took the gun, and gave it to the clerk. Soke Karroninn subdued the
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robber very effectively, but not in a brutal way – it was all quite
humane. Everyone thanked the Sokes for their help. They were
impressed by the courage and the Sokes ability to work together.
Furthermore, by how easily they handled the situation. It was
enough that had people wanting to know what type of special
training they had. The Sokes told them that they were trained in the
martial arts and that they had a school. Everyone wanted business
cards, so Soke Draconis handed them out.
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was looking out the window. Michelle was softly telling me about
the plans that the Sokes had for me about running a school for them
and being a Black Belt Instructor in the Federation.
All of a sudden, the plane took a nosedive and was plummeting fast.
The weather outside was bad and people were panicking. Some
people were getting very scared, but both Sokes sat there quietly as
if nothing was wrong. The turbulence got worse and people were
now really terrified. Some were getting out of their seats and really
panicking. It was turning into complete chaos, then the pilot
announced for everyone to sit down and prepare for an emergency
landing. I looked around and everyone was preparing for this
emergency landing. The pilot announced we were going to crash
and everyone was crying and breathing hard. We were going down
faster and I felt that this was it; we were going to die. Then Michelle
shook me really hard and said that I was having a nightmare. I woke
up and everything was ok. What a rush! That was very scary, but I
told her and she just laughed. I tell you, I was really starting to get a
complex!
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Chapter 18
E N E R G Y- B E I N G S
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forgotten the real use of our perfectly constructed form of matter.
Our bodies of energy have suffered because of subconscious beliefs
and uncontrolled habits. These habits rob us of our mental and
physical health, as well as weakening our spirit. Another negative
side effect of this is that we are short-changing the time we have in
this created physical realm. We may have fallen into our parent‘s
habits and live by their conditions, or perhaps we have allowed
society to condition us with greed and lust. We are so weakened that
we cannot even perform the simplest of mental and physical tasks of
pleasure. Our tomorrow is the same reflection of yesterday - beat
down.
I have not been able to think of one thing outside of myself that did
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not come from within me. What does that say about the nature of
reality that we create? If you relax right now, and honestly feel
within how you are your own potential power and that you are the
cause of all of your creations and experiences, you will recognize
your own divine power of being a Creator. We create all things from
within and then we reflect it outside and the whole world views it
with us.
Think about this for a minute; energy, matter, space, time, and
distance are not the first cause of creation, they are the effect of it.
They are the underlying idea of what created them. If the Universe
is like us and creates ideas like us, then perhaps it too does not know
the difference between what it is experiencing and what it is
imagining. I know what you are thinking here about that statement;
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that it implies a greater supreme intelligence does not exist. NOT
TRUE!! When something becomes aware of itself, it gets smarter
everyday. That is how we evolve. As energy-beings, our brain
seeks to create structures and when there is the absence of a structure
then our brain is more than willing to compensate and create a
structure from where there was none. When these structures are
created, but are not experienced in the now, then these structures will
move on to create a mental time continuum that we will eventually
experience because they are our creations that we created. Anything
that we do not experience now will remain until we do experience it
because that is how our spirit gains its knowledge. Eventually,
whether it is something we feared, desired, or aspired to; we will
find or create and then experience everything we have imagined.
The mind-spirit learns through the creation of the experience, not the
finished material form of the creation.
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thought forms that are waves of energy patterns and within them;
they contain an already preconceived structure of the original
intention for the creation to create. As you continue to create more
and more beliefs, then more and more thought forms will come to
be. All these thought forms that create would have a structure
already contained in them, like cells of pure awareness that
understands that it has the potential to be. Once our spirit is ready to
experience these potentials, the spirit will create through those
potentials and extrapolate the information that will create more
beliefs. More beliefs will create more thought forms that will create
more potential experiences and these experiences all contain the
original structure of the original bubble they all originated from.
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Becoming neutral toward something, particularly creation, is not the
absolute, but is at best, indecision. Often, more is lost by indecision
than by making a decision. It is in the decision that the energy-being
creates an attention span that molds together levels of structure that
we expand by placing our attention on the patterns of thoughts that
reinforce its truth. It allows us to create and expand the intention
that feeds the spirit that makes it want more.
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participating in, then they simply need to move up another stratum of
consciousness to play a bigger game. Any game is limited by the
player. The player only becomes confined when he agrees to play
within the accepted rules. The accepted rules of any game can work
for or against you, but once you learn any structure so well that all
the rules are now exhausted by you, then you have to change the
rules and reinvent the game, or it will become boring. The energy-
being realizes that it can no longer learn and extract any new
experiences from this information and if the energy-being is
unwilling to create a bigger game, then that energy-being will
remain stuck in the old rule system and dissolve his or her creations
of bigger and better things.
This is also the trap of religion. When you free your mind and give
the energy-being the true chance to exploit its potential, enjoy its
own self-created will, and bring about the manifestations of its own
kingdom, then true immortals are born by an act of their own
creation. This elaborate spiral effect is seen throughout the Universe
in patterns and structures everywhere. Man continues to expand his
consciousness, creating bigger realms of existence that continue to
create mental time continuums throughout his own Universe. These
mental time continuums continue to expand and create new
undiscovered realities for him. It is there that experience lies and
man will create himself into ever-denser forms of realities in order to
get there and experience it.
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way, we learn and experience our potentials in other realities. I
would like to see my ancient companions come and play in the
newly created Universe. It‘s nothing new; it simply is because we
say it is.
First things first - the portals of the brain have a very easy definition
and that is trapped attention. What is not so easy to understand is
the continued frame of thought that we become stuck in, where we
just keep repeating the same old movements of action daily. We
become completely trapped in our own perpetual motion of energy,
and that just reinforces what we are doing on a regular basis, what
we have now come to know and to accept as our ordinary life. This
is the very first sign that someone needs a wake-up call to get them
back into living and not just existing.
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structure-maker, and liberator of energy. This will lead us to the
following:
The portals of the brain create their negative effects on our life by
default mechanisms. Once default mechanisms and agreements are
rooted as anchors in the subconscious brain, then we become co-
pilots of our broken dreams, broken behaviors, and agreements.
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(brain). Together they create the difference in how they work, but
then how can they be joined together without the resentment that the
self can create when trying to hold on to its concept of self. An
egocentric world has been built to separate these two separate
realties, but nonetheless, they can be integrated as one and live in a
harmonious state of creative flow. First, think of the brain‘s world
as an integrated source of beliefs and neurological effects
(experiences). Now imagine that you could dissolve your brain‘s
consciousness by dissolving all the effects of the consciousness that
you have learned since your birth cry into the great ―I Am‖ of
consciousness. No structures, no patterns, no associations, no
information; all in all, absolutely no beliefs would be left. There
would be only stillness or the so-called enlightenment.
Let‘s look at essence this way. When you were a child, you could
imagine yourself to be anything and you had no concerns about
achieving it. Everything was going to be alright and all you had to
be was yourself, to exist and live, without worrying about the
execution of your plan or the metamorphosis required to get from
here to there. There was only freedom, flow, and the creation of
your mental scope that you would fill in later with all the details and
energy and information to get the transformation done.
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back by making us compete in a world of structures and patterns that
was already set up for us to compete in.
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Chapter 19
C R E O TO L O G Y -
MAKING MAGIC HAPPEN
The following Laws described below will help give you a better
understanding of how to apply the Principles of Creotology.
All things that are not stagnant grow, vibrate, and radiate energy.
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We are the potential energy of the mind-spirit to go forth and to do
work. Growth is a by-product of movement, movement is the by-
product of energy, and energy is the by-product of potential.
Movement removes impurities from life, by way of energy flush.
Much like exercise, water, and correct diet help remove impurities
from the body.
Let your creation grow from within your flow. Flow is not only
movement, but is energy moving from a concentrated state. Flow is
increased by consideration for yourself and creating from your
vibration level. It is the exact opposite of resistance and contempt,
growing from acceptance and proper information, which enhances
the effectiveness of your choices and produces a better alignment of
your actions. It has been said that there is nothing that matters
except for the now, but that is impractical and does not acknowledge
the fact that the now is located in-between the past and the future. If
you can remember the past, then you can also remember the future,
because all things are connected throughout space and time and can
be influenced by you.
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perfect receptacle for your creations, whether neurological, spiritual,
or physical.
This is, or should be, a very simple and realized truth, but many
traditions (aided by people‘s inflexible attitudes), have prevented
this realization from spreading. The mind-spirit is the perpetual
motion of energy, a perfect creation of our own definitive nature.
The mind-spirit creates beingness to go forth and to do work. The
mind is the projected mental scope of the mind-spirit, to which the
brain and body react accordingly. We create the Universe as we go.
The mind-spirit does not seek to destroy or create energy (which
cannot be done), but to liberate it.
Law Six: The Universe, the Mind-Spirit, the Earth, and Physical
Reality
The Universe, the earth, and physical reality are all effects from the
same agreement of the mind-spirit, so they are the same reality, but
from very different levels of participation. This results in many
problems in the creative realm, because our brain is the built in
messenger of this great radioactive chemical mass that we refer to as
our body. As much help as it may be in some ways, it also deceives
us very much. Let‘s break each level down so that we get a unified
picture of their workings.
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Thermodynamics is part of our physical belief systems and
not our universal mind-spirit belief system. Physical laws do
not apply to the Universe, only to the brain that is rooted on
earth.
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Law Eight: Portals of the Brain
The portals of the brain are nothing more than trapped attention.
When we stop creating by design and just start following our
creations by default at any point in our lives, we become stagnant
and frustrated. We lose all track of time and then wonder where
time went. In many ways, it is not much different than insanity.
That is all insanity really is; trapped attention – hence the old saying,
that to do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result is
insanity and that hell is repetition.
Crystallizing realities are creations that create in the now but not
necessarily under any time line. They create whenever the space is
provided for them and attention is kept on them in the
subconsciousness. The subconsciousness becomes a giant pressure
cooker and then pretty soon, it becomes a cookie cutter process. I
am not saying that this is the preferred method to make things
happen, but it certainly is the process for most of us until we evolve
more of our creative energy into the space of the now and can create
without our layers of limiting beliefs (anchors).
Quite a few of the other laws interact with this creational technique.
This is an extremely dangerous tool, but a very powerful one that
can create, shape, and recreate like nothing else I have ever seen. If
applied incorrectly or at an inappropriate time, it can backfire on
you, giving other people the impression that you are a liar who
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cannot be trusted with little or no integrity. It may sound like it is
not even worth using, but it is a valuable technique if you are able to
learn the rules.
Just consider a brand new journal with nothing in it – all the pages
are empty and you can write in it whatever you want. Think of it
this way - have you ever created something that continues to get
better and expands, bringing in other materials that expand it even
further? This may sound implausible, but it is really simple. If you
can create the past into an organized event, then you can create the
future into an organized event, because they both are already done –
all we have to do is to remember what events transpired.
This concept is extremely important; the more organized you are, the
more space and flow you will effortlessly create into your life. The
more organized your information about something is, the more space
that you create and the less confusion that you accept. The more
unorganized your thoughts are, the shorter your attention span and
the weaker your ability to create what you want to experience.
Organizing your thoughts and incoming information not only keeps
you out of float but also creates more room to create.
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Law Twelve: Information
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documented, but also can be felt and measured by a person who is
feeling the experience and the expanding, still, or decreasing energy.
Mind travel means to go outside the brain and exist in the mental
scope of all things created by your mind-spirit.
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Chapter 20
I N T E G R AT I O N
Just walking through the airport it seemed the people were different
in that they were very warm and caring, not just towards guests
arriving, but with each other as well. They had a sense of fair play
and extended to everyone the manners and kindness that they would
want to be shown themselves. It was a wonderful place to be and I
had a strange sense of belonging. Right away, we were greeted by
what seemed to be about fifty members of the Draconis family and
they, in every way, looked like family. They were powerful people
with an enormous amount of calm about them, but who showed
extreme affection for each other. I thought at first that it was for my
benefit, but after just a couple of minutes I realized that this was not
so.
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Then the oddest thing happened to me that made me feel so good, I
was on a natural high. Michelle introduced me as her hopeful
boyfriend to be. I was floored by that, but also, by the way they all
greeted me and totally seemed to accept me as family. One of the
uncles named Angus said, ―Well, there are a lot of churches here, so
we could perform the wedding ceremony.‖ I smiled, thinking that it
was a joke, but Michelle just looked at me and so did the others. I
suddenly felt on the spot because I wanted to be with her for sure,
but as for marriage, I hadn‘t really thought that far. Soke Draconis
stepped up for me and said, ―That was a wonderful thought, but
these two still have some relationship exploring to do. If and when
that time comes, he would be an excellent new family member.‖
We got our luggage and went outside where everyone was joking,
laughing, and hugging. They said, ―Time for a cookout in the back
yard at Angus‘s place.‖ Angus cheerfully shouted, ―Absolutely!‖
We drove about 20 minutes to his house. I was looking at the
beautiful landscape and just taking it all in. It was already a
wonderful trip. Angus was full of life and vigor and he liked to have
a great time. He asked me if I had ever been really drunk and I said I
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had not. Michelle said, ―Angus, you behave.‖ Angus just grunted,
laughed, and said, ―Do not worry. I will take care of him.‖ Michelle
said, ―If Angus tries to get you drinking, don‘t do it, because he will
drink you under the table.‖ I assured her, ―Don‘t worry. I don‘t like
to drink anyway,‖ and she squeezed my hand.
I saw ten cabins out in the distance and, as everyone chatted, I crept
away to go and investigate them. The cabins were in pristine
condition and so I went up on the wood porch of one of them and
looked in. I walked into the third cabin and looked around, and then
I went into the back room. I heard a small noise in the living room
and, thinking it was Michelle, I came out. There was an average
built man with a full beard and gray hair sitting at the table. I was
startled, ―I‘m sorry. I did not know that this was your place.‖ He
laughed a hearty laugh and said, ―It is as much yours as it is mine.‖ I
told him that I didn‘t live there, and he said, ―Well, neither do I,‖ I
said, ―I don‘t understand. Why are you here in this cabin?‖ He
laughed again, ―Why are you here?‖ I replied, ―I am with friends
who own the property.‖ He said, ―Nobody owns anything. It is all
space to be occupied. The problem with you Americans is you want
to own everything instead of just existing with it and sharing the
space.‖
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He was right as far as back home gangs killed each other for a little
piece of turf. I asked if the family knew he was in there. He said
they did and asked if they knew that I was there. I said, ―Of course!
I came in with them.‖ Then he stated, ―But they do not know that
you are out here.‖ I admitted, ―I didn‘t tell them I was coming out
here, but I am sure they will see me and know.‖ He asked my name,
and I replied, ―I‘m not sure if I should tell you.‖ The man gestured,
―Well, my name is Ashstar. It is very nice to meet you, Brady.‖ I
was really surprised, ―How did you know my name?‖ He answered,
―All the information is in consciousness if you choose to look at it.‖
I thought, ―Oh, no! Another Soke Draconis! What an opportunity to
learn and impress Soke Draconis and Soke Karroninn.‖
Michelle came through the door and asked, ―Are you alright?‖ I said
―yes‖ and she asked, ―Who were you talking to?‖ I said, ―Ashstar.‖
Michelle then asked something rather odd, ―The old one from the
mountains?‖ I remarked, ―I guess so, although he did not say from
the mountains.‖ She said that was a sign of great luck and how you
were considered a warrior if he chose to talk to you. I shared with
her that I had been looking around. I came in and there he was, right
here at this table. Michelle exclaimed, ―Hurry, let‘s go tell the
others.‖
The air was cold to me, but to them, it was like summer. Some of
them had no coats on and Soke Karroninn wasn‘t wearing anything
but jeans and a muscle shirt. As we got closer, Michelle blurted out
that I had seen and talked to Ashstar the old man from the
mountains. I thought they were going to make fun of me, but instead
they sat me in the middle and asked me to tell them about my
experience. After I told them, they asked me to take some soda and
food, leave it where I had last seen him, and they would check on it
in the morning. I thought it was crazy, but I did as I was told,
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though with resistance. As I was walking away, I heard them all
whispering to each other. Now I was spooked.
That night, Michelle, I, and the Sokes ate together in Cabin 4, and
we laughed and joked, it was a wonderful time. After a while, they
said it was getting late and I should get some rest because I would
need it tomorrow. So, I went to bed and Michelle said she was going
to stay up a little longer and finish a book she had been reading. We
said good night, shared a small but thoughtful kiss, and off to bed I
went. All the cabins had two bedrooms that were connected to each
other by a convenient door, but also offered privacy should you want
it.
Six the next morning came early and the Sokes walked in excited
and ready to go. I got dressed to go out and meet them and they
encouraged me, ―You should check your offering in Cabin 3.‖ I
went over to Cabin 3 and the food and soda were gone. I thought
someone had eaten it or thrown it away. I stepped out onto the porch
with a very weird look on my face and both Sokes glanced at each
other at the same time and said, ―The old man from the mountain.‖ I
could not resist feeling as if I was being played, then again, why not
ride it out with an open mind, and see what happens. What could it
hurt?
Soke Draconis said we were going to have a fun day today because
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they were going to introduce me into the polar bear club. I thought
that was a strange name for a club. We walked about four acres to a
small lake and it looked very cold. They took a rope out of their
backpack, threw the end of the rope to me saying, ―Tie yourself
securely around your waist.‖ They tied the other end to a large tree
and said, ―Take off your clothes except for your underwear.‖ I
started laughing but they did not; they were serious. I cried out in
protest, ―If I go into that water, I will possibly go into shock.‖ Soke
Draconis educated me, ―You can choose to allow the animal reaction
to take over, or you can choose to respond as a being that is in
control of his energy. The choice is yours.‖
I had fears coming so fast that I could not get a grip on them. They
went zipping through my mind; fears and more fears. I felt
resistance to going into the water because I did not want to be cold.
I wanted warmth and sunshine. I wanted the conditions to be better,
but then I thought how, for much of my life, I have wanted
conditions to be better before I acted, and started to think about
where I was and how much I had held myself back. I had the
opportunity of a lifetime right then and I needed to break the chain
of reactive thinking and begin to use my responding mind.
The water felt easily to be every bit below 30 degrees, but then I
said, ―Just do it.‖ I held my breath and into the water I went. It was
miserably cold. My reaction was to jump out, but then I thought,
―What are the Sokes going to think about me and what about
Michelle? Everything I want and fear losing comes down to this
moment. This is the defining moment of the rest of my life and I am
going to get it done. I might freeze to death, but I am going to do it.
This went on for what seemed a very long time, but in reality, it was
quick. Then I heard the Sokes yell, ―Center your breath, and focus
your energy. Do not resist that it is cold. Just accept it as is. Forget
the illusion that there is no power over you. Release the illusion, the
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belief, and conditions of your fears and achievement. Embrace the
moment and it will truly define your life as a journey you will grow
from and will never forget.‖
I looked to the mountain again and there was the old man from the
mountains. He had on a black hat that was kind of old and worn
looking and carried a big wooden stick about seven feet long and
about a foot around. I could not see anything else because he had a
big overcoat on that looked very worn but thick and warm. I was
drying myself off and when I looked up, he was gone. Both Sokes
said, ―We‘ll see him again. He has an interest.‖ I asked what they
meant, and they both gave that smile and said, ―You.‖ I asked if I
were in some kind of danger here and Soke Draconis said, ―No. He
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is just interested in what you are doing and how you are doing it.‖
The Sokes offered, ―Let‘s go get warm, relax, visit the family, and
eat, because we have a huge day tomorrow.‖ I asked what we were
going to be doing and Soke Karroninn said, ―Reindeer roundup. We
will go up into the mountains and drive the reindeer down into a
corral where they can be tagged. Many of the farmers here own
reindeer.‖ As we made our way back, there was casual conversation
about what we had just done and what I learned from it. The
experience had awakened many things inside of me, but I was not
sure how to express them. I thought I would write it down and let
things just flow and see what developed.
When we got back to the cabins, Angus was running around in his
underwear drinking, and I mean he was drunk. He ran right into a
stump of a tree that used to be there and fell face first onto the frozen
ground. Both Sokes laughed and remarked that old Angus would
never change. I observed, ―It appears that he does not want to
change.‖ I went to my cabin and the Sokes went to theirs and said
they would be over in about two hours.
When I got to the cabin, Michelle asked me how things went. I said,
―Great! It was an awesome experience and I feel as if I have much
more control over my mind and breath.‖ She said, ―Yes, it does
produce that effect.‖ I asked if she had done it, and she said, ―Of
course, that is a basic Draconis tradition for learning breath control
and freeing the mind.‖ I could see there was more to her than I had
ever imagined. I took a nice long shower and was refreshed when I
sat down and began to let my experience simply speak for itself. I
asked myself what I had learned today.
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MY REALIZATION OF THE DAY
Life is truly held back by our fears and even the things that we desire
come from our fears. Fear is a huge part of our everyday existence
and until we have a firm grip on it, it will continue to influence us
without end. This may be something we do not want to experience,
because we may get to the end of our life and realize we have never
lived because of our fears and now we are dying with fear still in
mind. Better to live one day without fear than to live a thousand
years with fear, because with fear we are just going through the
motions.
I noticed from our cabin window that there was a lot of smoke
coming from the mountains and I wondered what it was. She
guessed, ―I bet it is Ashstar.‖ I was curious, ―Do you know
something about him?‖ Michelle said, ―Don‘t we all know
something about him?‖ I thought about how I dislike riddles. Then
there was a knock on the door and the Sokes came in and told us,
―Have you seen that the old man in the mountains has a fire going up
there?‖ I thought he must be cold and is trying to stay warm, but
Soke Draconis said that he was probably eating some fish that he
caught. I wondered if he was cold and Soke Karroninn said, ―He is
just fine.‖ I thought, ―I could be wrong, but everyone seems to know
much more about Ashstar than they are letting on.‖
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We talked and Michelle made the Sokes some hot chocolate, and
then we all played a game called ―I Spy.‖ For those who do not
know the game, you simply look around the room and say, ―I spy
something,‖ and then you say its color. We all played for about a
half an hour and the Sokes thought it was hilarious. Aunt Emma and
Aunt Alva then came to the door and wanted to know when we
would be ready for the cookout. The Sokes said we were ready and
we were off and running.
Uncle Angus was dressed and sober. I said, ―That was a fast
recovery‖ and he expressed to me, ―Nah. I wanted to experience
drunkenness for awhile so I did and now I‘m done.‖ He looked at
me and said, ―I do have a choice you know.‖ As we were eating,
Michelle said, ―Brady and I are now a couple.‖ There were good
vibrations and everyone was having fun. Nobody wanted to play
more games or anything, they just wanted to sit and talk and enjoy
each other‘s company. That was bizarre for me since back home at
my family cookouts everyone talked at each other and played games
towards each other, all while ignoring each other.
Later that night after the gathering calmed down, I went for a walk
down by the lake to reflect for a little while and sort through what
had happened earlier that day. I sat down on one of the two rocks
that were nearby and put my head in my hands to gather myself.
When I looked up, there was Ashstar sitting right next to me. I told
him, ―You show up in the oddest places and always when I do not
know.‖ He said, ―Why do you need to know?‖ He asked me what
my plans were, and I said, ―Right now, I am in an apprentice
program learning martial arts, but it is more like the martial and
mental arts.‖ Ashstar said, ―Being a mental warrior does not require
both the martial and mental arts, but you can handle it. You must
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feel that way, or you would not be here.‖ I shared, ―Well, I am told
things as we go, so I never really know what to expect.‖ Ashstar
remarked, ―Sometimes that is good.‖ I asked, ―Are you going to tell
me anything about you or are you going to keep me in suspense?‖
He replied, ―You are the one holding yourself in suspense with your
expectations.‖ I responded a little sharply, ―You know, I have got to
stop and pick up a book on how to talk in riddles because it seems
that there is a riddle in everything I hear.‖ Ashstar then said, ―Yes.
It does rattle some people to have to think for themselves.‖ I thought
he was rude, but then I figured that he was right.
A Memorable Evening
Nightfall was upon us and Ashstar told me a story about our spirit
and our mind. He asked, ―Do you see how the moon casts a shadow
on the lake and how the reflection seems to be moving in the water?
Your life and spirit work much the same way. You are a projected
thought form ready for action, ready to go forth and to do work and
create other thought forms from limitless potential and possibilities.
―You are the illusion of what you see in this life, but in it is only the
reality that is moving within your mind-scope, and the brain that is
here with you, is interpreting it. When people say that everything is
an illusion, they do not mean the physical Universe, but rather that
our interpretation of the Universe is the illusion because of the
thoughts and the fears that come from our learned perceptions of
how things are supposed to be. How we want things to be and how
we really believe them to be are major differences that create a
terrible separation between what we have, what we wish we had, and
what we believe we can have. One thought after another creates
more and more illusions.‖ I asked, ―Kind of hard to get a grip then
isn‘t it?‖ He clarified it for me, ―No, alignment is what is needed. If
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you could see life without fears then your beliefs would meet the
power of your desire to manifest and there would be no desires
because everything would be a world of manifestation instead of
waiting and hoping and desiring.‖
It was a huge space, about 40 feet high and 30 feet wide, and was
bright with many colors. It was truly the most beautiful thing that I
had ever seen. Michelle was as much in awe as I was. After about
20 minutes, we walked right through the middle of the geode and
came into a place of mystery. Everything looked like gold. There
were gold walls, gold floors; everything within our view was
resonating gold. We looked back and didn‘t see Ashstar, so we
stepped back out and he was there. We stood there for a few
moments trying to collect ourselves.
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through it. He eagerly agreed, saying, ―Of course! The doorway is
there for you whenever you want.‖ He walked us back to where he
had originally found us, waved and said goodbye as we walked back
towards the cabins.
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how things were going. We told them that everything was
wonderful and we were just taking in and appreciating the beauty of
the night. They remarked, ―Yes, it can be a beautiful sight, can‘t it?‖
I agreed, ―Yes, especially when you have a beautiful woman with
you.‖ Michelle blushed a bit and looked at the Sokes. The Sokes
looked at her and I smiled. We said we were going to go in for some
hot chocolate and extended them an invitation to join us. They
declined. As we walked into the cabin, we saw that there were gifts
on the kitchen table. I wondered what all these gifts were for. There
were baskets of fruit and packages of clothes and shoes. We were
both just astounded. As we stood there in the middle of the cabin
looking at the kitchen full of all these presents, both the Sokes came
in behind us silently and said, ―Congratulations on your engagement.
This is from both of us and the entire family.‖ There were so many
presents it certainly looked like they came from the entire family.
We sat down and began opening some of our gifts. For me, never
really having had a sense of belonging or at least never really feeling
comfortable anywhere, I felt like I was in the flow of the vibration of
it all - that feeling of actually belonging. I thought to myself, it was
so very strange to feel that in every way, shape, and form, I was
home. Without even directly knowing it, I had somehow ended up
exactly where I was supposed to be. It meets all of your
neurological needs, all of your values; it just seems that the vibration
that is all around you is nothing more than an extension of yourself
at your most peaceful, most confident, most loving, and most
accepting aspect or part of your life.
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belonging was coming over me. Somehow, deep in my heart, it
wasn‘t an act of want; it wasn‘t an act of being greedy, or anything
of that nature. I looked at her and I instantaneously felt that she was
my wife. There was no doubt about it; this was the woman I wanted
to share the rest of my life with. I began to bite my tongue, my eyes
began to swell up, and I felt the tears begin to come, so I shifted my
attention away from looking at them. I began to shift my attention to
other things that were in the room. I began to look at their sizes,
their shapes, tracing all around the structure of any object that I was
looking at. As I did this, I could still feel the pressure of my tears in
my eyes and the energy building up, but then I was finally able to
relax. Things were returning to normal, everything was going to be
okay, and I wasn‘t going to be a giant crybaby right there in front of
them.
After we opened all the presents, we all drank hot chocolate until it
seemed like we were ready to burst. The Sokes realized it was
getting late and decided we‘d better turn in for the night since
tomorrow we‘d have an early awakening. They said, ―It is time for
the reindeer roundup tomorrow. The youngest men will go up into
the mountains, herd up all the reindeer, and drive them down to the
corral where the older men are waiting, where instead of branding
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the reindeer we will tag them. We feel that tagging them is a lot less
painful than branding them and much more humane.‖ I thought,
―Okay, how hard can this really be? There‘s some reindeer. There‘s
some running and sprinting involved. I‘m in good shape. It should
be a piece of cake!‖ I said aloud, ―Okay! I‘m looking forward to
it.‖
Both Sokes left, but Michelle and I sat up and talked for about 45
minutes longer, holding each other by the fireplace as we looked
outside. I truly wish everyone who‘s reading my work might one
day have the opportunity to experience the love that I felt at that
moment, and still feel today, because it is a wonderful place to exist
in.
Michelle and I went to bed and the morning came early. I got up,
took a shower, got dressed, and when I went outside, lo and behold,
both Sokes were out there, and there were people everywhere. There
must easily have been several hundred people. They were
everywhere. It was a big picnic and they had everything all set up
already. These people really liked to picnic. This was their thing.
Sharing time with family and friends was very important.
The older gentleman who was to proclaim the start of the reindeer
roundup made his announcement and about one hundred of us young
guys went running up into the mountains. Our job: One mission…to
retrieve the reindeer.
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see this. Taking great care not to hurt any of the reindeers, the men
instructed the guys who were less experienced to basically make
noise and form a wall in the direction where we wanted them to go
and they would go in that direction. We all thought, ―Well, that
sounds easy enough.‖ And it was on.
Everything was going very well while we were driving the reindeer
down to the trail. I admit that I thought to myself, ―I don‘t know
what the Sokes thought what was so difficult about this.‖ Actually,
this was very simple so far, but I wasn‘t going to say anything. I
was just going to keep my mouth shut, make some friends, put in my
very best effort, and make sure that I was keeping up with everybody
else so nobody could say that I was lagging.
As we were running along, one of the reindeer shot off, for some
reason, and we didn‘t know why. I looked at two of the other guys
standing by me, and I said, ―I‘ll go get him and drive him back down
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here to you guys.‖ They said, ―Okay, just get in front of him and
turn him around. Just make some noise, put your hands up, and he‘ll
turn around.‖ I took off. I must have chased this reindeer for about
a quarter of a mile and I finally caught up just enough to get around
in front of him. As I began to circle around him, I noticed there was
something moving in the brush beside him and he was looking at it
too. He turned around and ran the other way, which was the
direction that I had wanted him to go, in the direction of the other
guys. I thought, ―That worked out pretty well,‖ and then I thought
that maybe there was another reindeer in the bushes and he had
sensed that somehow. I didn‘t know.
A great panic began to seize my whole body. My heart rate rose and
I was beginning to sweat profusely. I felt butterflies all through my
stomach going about a thousand miles an hour and I felt a tingling,
vibrating, and pulsating sensation from the bottom of my toes to the
very top part of the hair that was probably standing straight up on
my head. I thought to myself, ―I‘m gonna die!! I‘m gonna die!!‖ I
thought that if I were to scream, maybe some of the other guys down
there would hear me, but with all the reindeer running around
everywhere, the stampede made such a loud noise that they wouldn‘t
be able to hear anything. The bear came out of the bushes until it
was about 10 feet from me. I thought, ―This is it! I don‘t even think
I can outrun him because I remember hearing somewhere that bears
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are very fast. Oh, what am I to do?‖
We informed the rest of the guys about there being a brown bear a
quarter of a mile or so down the road, but that he‘d eaten three fish
already so he should be plenty full. One of the guys looked over at
me and said, ―Better three fish then you, right?‖ I laughed and
responded with, ―You can say that again. Let‘s get these reindeers
out of here.‖ We got the reindeer out and we went down the trails to
the corral where all the people were. I knew we were safe, because a
bear is not going to come near hundreds of people and all these
reindeers, especially after being well fed. There was too much
commotion, too much noise, and way too much activity for a bear.
After we were in the corral and all the reindeer were driven in, I told
the Sokes what had happened. I really didn‘t want Michelle to know
because I knew she would be very worried, but the Sokes and I were
talking about it and it was too late – Michelle had heard about it.
She was all over me, trying to make sure that I was okay. She must
have asked me 25 questions in under 15 seconds, ―Do you have any
scratches? A bruise? Do you need anything? Do you need to be
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taken care of in anyway?‖ I told her, ―No, I‘m really okay. Ashstar
appeared out of nowhere and saved me from the bear. If it hadn‘t
been for Ashstar, I‘d be bear meat. I mean this bear meant business!
I could tell it.‖
Everyone asked me, ―What did Ashstar do?‖ I shared the story with
them, ―He stood there in front of the bear for about two minutes.
Neither he nor the bear did anything and then Ashstar pulled out
three large fish and threw them at the feet of the bear. The bear
came down off his hind legs and was on all four legs, then Ashstar
said, ―This for that,‖ and the bear started eating the fish. He
extended his hand to me, I grabbed it, and we walked down the trail
to where everyone else was and where the reindeers were. I got back
with the group and here I am.‖
As the tagging was going on, I found out you‘re not supposed to ask
any of the people around there how many reindeers they own. The
more reindeer that you own, the wealthier you are said to be, but it‘s
not something that you ask. Everyone was having a giant picnic and
it was absolutely wonderful. The moon was huge and bright. We
seemed so close to the moon, it looked like we could reach right up
and touch it with our hands. It was truly amazing.
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They were playing music unlike anything I‘d ever heard, but it was
soothing to the soul and most relaxing. Michelle and I began to
dance. Before I knew it, we had danced for a dozen songs and I told
Michelle, ―I think that I‘m all danced out,‖ so we went over, sat
down on the bench, and ate some food. We had chicken, beans, and
there were mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, along with many
other foods. I could go on, but I don‘t want to take the space up in
this book. Trust me; it was a feast for the eyes, as well as the
stomach.
Soke Draconis came over, sat down at our table, and asked me what
I felt when that bear jumped up at me. I told him I could honestly
say that I had, in every way, shape, and form, experienced fear
because that was a feeling of fear like I had never known. He shared
with me, ―One time when I was 12 years old, I was faced with a
bear, too. Ashstar saved my life at that time also.‖
I couldn‘t contain my curiosity any longer and had to ask, ―So all of
you have an understanding about this Ashstar fellow?‖ He said,
―That is all we have – an understanding – and we don‘t refer to him
as The Old Man from the Mountains. We refer to him as The
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Wanderer. He lives up in the mountains and he wanders wherever
he wants. It seems that whenever someone‘s in trouble or someone
needs something, Ashstar appears and helps them out.‖ I was
curious, ―How does he get his clothes and his food and things?‖
Soke explained, ―He mostly lives off the land. Anyone will feed
Ashstar if he shows up, just as we did earlier. We also give boots,
clothing, and things of that nature to him and he takes them.‖ I
understood, ―I see. So in return for all the protection in your times
of need, you give back to him.‖ Soke said, ―Yes, it‘s our way of
creating balance.
―It‘s not just you and I that he has saved, Brady. A great many of us
have stories of times that he has pulled us out of rivers when we
were drowning, pulled us up hanging by a mountain cliff because we
slipped and lost our footing, helped us when we were being attacked
by a bear, or kept us from being run over in a stampede of horses.
Ashstar has saved hundreds and hundreds of people. His tales of
courage are known throughout the land. I said, ―Now I understand a
little bit more about him, although I clearly do not understand
everything.‖ ―Nor will you,‖ he said. ―He is a very complex person.
All of us are perplexed. It‘s best not to try to understand him, but
just to feel him, to be with him, and to cherish his friendship.‖ I
nodded, ―Yes, I can see that.‖
After all the partying, the dancing, and the eating were done,
Michelle, the Sokes, and I went back to the house. We were sitting
around and talking with some of the other family members when
Soke Karroninn said, ―Brady, why don‘t you come with me for a
moment? I‘d like to show you something.‖ He took me to Cabin 2,
and we went inside. He sat me at the table while he went off into the
other room. After a minute, he came out with a large leather binder
that was very old and worn, but well taken care of. He opened up
the book, told me that inside of this book were the Laws of
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Creotology, and if I were to follow these laws through an
understanding of the sheer steps of creation and how things work,
miraculous things would begin to happen in my life.
CREOTOLOGY SPHERES
Within any definition, there is an ego at work struggling for its own
awareness of what is. Whenever you have occupied a space of
creation and have outgrown that domain, it is time to move up in
consciousness and play a much larger game.
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in. This will be evident by the size and magnitude of their creations.
After I was done looking at the information, I went back to the cabin
that Michelle and I were sharing. When I entered the cabin door, she
wanted to know how I was doing. ―Remarkably well, I think,
considering all that I have been through.‖ Michelle laughed and
asked, ―What have you been through?‖ I gave her an overview,
―Well, in just the short time I have been here in Sweden, I have been
stalked by a person I do not know, almost completely frozen to death
in the lake, run the Boston marathon after some reindeer, and almost
got eaten by a bear.‖
Then Soke Karroninn took us to the next cabin and showed me the
Creotology Spheres. My gut told me Michelle already knew all
about the spheres. ―I‘m just trying to integrate it all.‖ She showed
me a little mercy, ―Yes, I do know about the spheres and I fully
understand how it can all be a bit overwhelming. Look at the bright
side, hon, you have me now.‖ I said, ―That‘s true. That makes
everything worthwhile. Not that I‘m complaining, mind you, it‘s
just that there is so much information it can really be difficult to
integrate.‖ Michelle said with her warm little smile, ―The sun will
come out again.‖
About that time, Soke Draconis knocked on the door and said that he
was planning on going into the city and would Michelle and I like to
come? They were going to get some ice cream and possibly walk
around Stockholm. I asked why we would walk when there were
many vehicles. Soke Draconis said it was so beautiful out that the
fresh air and the exercise would do us all some good. Michelle
urged me, ―Come on, Brady, let‘s do it.‖ We went to the other cabin
and picked up Soke Karroninn, told the rest of the family we were
leaving, and made our way out to the street. We got about a half a
block when an old man with a wagon being pulled by two horses
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came upon us. Soke Draconis said, ―Hello, friend.‖ The old man
told us his name was Totty. ―Where are you guys headed?‖ Soke
Draconis told him, ―Into Stockholm for some ice cream and
shopping.‖ Totty offered, ―How about riding with me and keeping
me company? You could have a good old fashioned hay ride into
Stockholm.‖ Soke smiled, ―Under one condition, you let us buy you
ice cream when we get there.‖ Totty agreed, ―That is a done deal.‖
We all jumped into the back of the wagon that was filled with bales
of hay. We sat and joked with Totty and laughed on that cool,
beautiful, dusty evening. I was amazed at how easy it was to make a
friend. After a while, we arrived in Stockholm. The city was just as
beautiful at night as it was in the day.
The Sokes, Totty, Michelle, and I got off the wagon and we went
into a local ice cream parlor. We all had some ice cream while
sitting outside, laughing and joking and looking at the beautiful
lights of the city. After an hour or so went by, Totty said that he
needed to finish the business that brought him into town and he
would be leaving in about an hour. He also offered that if we
wanted to, we could ride back with him. Soke Draconis replied,
―That won‘t be necessary because our business is going to take a
little longer, but if you and your wife aren‘t doing anything this
Sunday come to the last house right before you picked us up and we
will have a big cookout.‖ Totty asked what time and Soke told him.
―Two o‘clock in the afternoon.‖ Totty accepted by saying that he
and his wife would be there and that they would bring some steaks
as well. Soke Draconis informed him, ―That‘s not necessary, but if
you want to, that‘s fine.‖ We all shook hands, Totty went on his
way and we went on ours.
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looking to purchase. It was much bigger by far than any mall I had
ever seen where I lived. Michelle grabbed my hand and said, ―Come
on! Let‘s go look around.‖ Soke Draconis suggested, ―Let‘s meet
back here at this spot in an hour and a half,‖ and we agreed. Before
we took off, Soke Draconis handed Michelle and I both a $100 bill.
Together we both asked, ―What is this for?‖ Soke said, ―Just in case,
for whatever.‖
As I was standing in the mall waiting for Michelle, an old man came
up to me who would have looked just like Santa Claus if he had the
red suit on. He asked, ―Are you Brady?‖ I said, ―Yes I am, is there
something I can do to help you?‖ The old man said he had a gift for
me and he handed me a box. I asked who it was from. He pointed
across the mall. I followed the direction in which he was pointing
and I looked and concentrated as hard as I could, but I saw no one. I
looked back at him and said, ―There is no one there,‖ but to my
amazement, he was gone.
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I stood there looking at a box that was about fourteen inches long
and about six inches wide. I thought this was a most peculiar thing,
and then I thought, ―What the hell. Since I had met the Draconis
family, peculiar might as well be my middle name.‖ The box had
Celtic and Norse designs all around it. The design was that of a rope
that had intertwining knots in it and little Viking boats. Knots and
boats seemed to be the theme. It was made of very old wood – oak I
would guess. It had a lock. All of a sudden, I realized he did not
give me the key to the box. I looked all around the floor, checked all
of my pockets - no key. My curiosity was killing me.
Michelle came out of the store and asked me what I had bought. I
told her I hadn‘t bought anything. I had just been standing there.
She was as confused as I was, ―Then where did you get the box?‖ I
answered her, ―This gentleman, who looked like Kris Kringle, came
up and handed it to me. He asked me my name and gave me this
box.‖ She thought that was weird. I told her, ―Since I met you, it
has been getting weirder by the day.‖ She smiled and said, ―That
better not have been a wisecrack because I would hate to make you
look bad in front of all these people.‖ I let out a little laugh, ―Well,
there‘s no doubt I want a rematch, but not here. I want to know what
is in the box. Maybe it‘s filled with money or gold. Maybe it is one
of those stories about a rich old man who‘s dying, didn‘t have any
family so he left it all to me, a young guy, hoping I could do some
good with it.‖ Michelle said, ―Do you think it‘s possible?‖ I said,
―Sure it is. This sort of thing happens all the time.‖
Maximus said, ―Your heart must have been pumping! Your palms
must have been sweaty and the excitement had to be pounding off
the wall.‖ I smiled, ―It was. I wanted in that box!‖ Maximus said
he was sorry for interrupting and requested me to continue.
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Come on, let‘s find one.‖ We went to look at the mall map and sure
enough, there was a locksmith. Michelle and I ran upstairs, down
the hallway and there it was - the Easy Open Locksmith Service.
We went into the store and behind the counter was a little old man
who looked like he had not had a challenge in a while. He looked
very bored. I went in and held up the box for him to see, ―I can‘t get
this lock open. I need a key.‖ The locksmith said, ―There hasn‘t
been a lock made that I cannot get into. Give it to me. It will only
cost a few dollars.‖
I gave him the box and he tried a few keys, but they didn‘t work.
Then he tried a few more keys, but they didn‘t work either. He said,
―You brought me a tricky box, young fellow. I will have to bring
out the big weaponry for this.‖ He reached into a drawer, pulled out
a handful of larger keys and after trying several of them with no
success, he said, ―I will have to pick the lock since I can‘t find a key
to fit it.‖ He got out his trusty lock picking kit and went to work on
this lock with a vengeance.
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In the background, I could hear the old warrior locksmith just
pounding and grinding away. He was really going after this box. He
was determined that he was going to get that lock open. Bea said, ―I
have not seen him this excited in a long time. Let‘s just leave him to
what he is doing.‖ As we were looking at the rings, I asked Michelle
if she liked any of them. She said, ―Yes, I have narrowed it down to
three.‖ I said, ―Oh, already?‖ She said, ―Of course! You don‘t
think I am over here wasting time do you?‖ Bea pulled out the three
rings that Michelle liked and I was overjoyed looking at the rings,
but the air seemed like it was getting a little thinner because this was
bringing me one-step closer. The reality of my surroundings was
keeping me anchored because I could hear the old locksmith in the
background grinding and pounding away. We heard a few laughs
and a lot of sighs.
Michelle then said, ―Here, put each one of these rings on me, Brady,
and see which one you like the best.‖ I placed the first one on her
and it was nice and very fashionable. We put the second ring on and
it just seemed to have a sparkle that caught your eye. The third ring
was nice, but it didn‘t have the sparkle of the second ring. Michelle
asked, ―Which of these do you like best?‖ I said, ―In all honesty, the
second one.‖ Michelle said, ―That‘s funny! That is the one I like
best too.‖ Bea then said it was her favorite as well. I asked Bea how
much the ring was. Bea replied, ―It is $6,700.‖ I thought, ―$6,700!‖
Then, out of nowhere, I heard that deep and so familiar voice say,
―Sold!‖
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just gotten their license to sell the jewelry and were not going to be
open officially until next week. If we wanted the ring, she would
knock off $500 plus an additional $500 as her gift to us.
As Soke was paying for the ring, I went over to the locksmith, and
he said, ―I‘m sorry, my son, I have tried everything this old man
knows how to do, but nothing works on this lock. I have never seen
anything like it.‖ I asked how much I owed him, but he just smiled
and said, ―The challenge was payment enough. We will call it
even.‖ He cleaned and shined up the box and handed it back to me
with a towel wrapped around it.
We went out and while standing in the mall, a strange feeling came
over me and I thought to myself, ―Wait a minute! I am going to
marry this girl but Soke bought the ring. That is not right.‖ I said in
front of Soke and Michelle, ―I will have to give you the money for
that ring.‖ Soke looked surprised, ―Why would you have to do
that?‖ I answered defiantly, ―Because, I am supposed to buy the
ring.‖ He said, ―You did buy the ring.‖ I wanted to know, ―How do
you figure that?‖ He explained, ―Look at all the students you
brought me – all of them have been good paying students. You did
so much work for me that you were underpaid for. You have been
doing all of this training and though it is true it is for your benefit, I
feel you definitely deserve a reward.‖ Soke Karroninn said, ―I agree.
Anyone who can stay in the ground for five days and four nights
deserves something extra.‖ I don‘t mind telling you my shoulders
straightened up, my chest swelled out, and I thought, ―I have done a
lot, haven‘t I?‖
Soke said, ―I‘m hungry, let‘s go to the booth for food.‖ When we
got there, Soke Karroninn said, ―You have the ring, but we would
like to ask that both of you wear these engagement bands for two
years in order to decide that it‘s truly what you want. If you really
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love each other, the two years will go by quickly. You will have a
chance to grow together and to see what it feels like to wear the heart
of another on your finger every day.‖ We both agreed and then Soke
Karroninn gave the ring to Michelle and told her, ―This is yours to
keep and your responsibility.‖ We sat there enjoying our food and
telling jokes. Humor was always important to the Sokes. We began
to discuss what method we were going to use to get back home.
Michelle and I sat there and examined the box. Both of us were
incredibly stunned.
We got up to throw our trash away and half way down the hall, we
ran smack dead into Cousin Angus. I asked him what he was doing
there. He said, ―I came over to pick up my dry cleaning and then I
was going to go out for a good night of drinking. Are you ready to
go?‖ Michelle jumped in front of him, ―He is not going drinking
with you, Angus. When people drink with you, it forever changes
their body chemistry.‖ Angus laughed, ―You don‘t have to
compliment me. I am really in the mood to drink.‖ Both Sokes let
out a loud laugh and Angus asked if we needed a ride home. We
gladly accepted the ride.
On the drive back to the house, we could hear Angus and both Sokes
having a great time in the front seat. Michelle said, ―Listen to those
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old men. They sound like a bunch of cackling young boys, don‘t
they? I laughed, ―They really do. When I get to be that age I hope I
still hold the same excitement for life.‖ She said, ―You will. I will
make you get plenty of healthy food and lots of exercise.‖ We both
stared at the bands on our fingers. It was something we didn‘t have
to voice; there was just awareness.
Michelle was taking a shower and I was sitting there looking at the
box. I just couldn‘t figure it out. As night closed in, I was feeling
very tired so Michelle and I went to bed with the box sitting on a
table right beside my bed. 6:30 in the morning came early and of
course, both Sokes were out there bouncing around like two bantam
roosters. Michelle and I took showers, got dressed, and ready.
When we came out, the Sokes announced, ―You won‘t need to pack
anything. We have everything. We‘ve got a ten-mile walk ahead of
us.‖
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about a half a mile from where we were going, up on top of a
mountain I could see what looked like a castle, but it was old and
demolished. The building looked dark and gray and had large
windows. It looked like it only had half a roof. There was a lot of
damage. As we closed in on the building, I asked the Sokes what it
was. They explained to me that it used to be an old pagan church
where people came and worshiped the god Odin. They believed that
when they died, they would go to Valhalla. I thought this was
intriguing and asked, ―Can we go inside?‖ They said, ―Yes, but
watch where you step.‖
We went into the building and there were some old pews still in
there. I saw what must have been a stage or podium where perhaps
the priests had stood. As I looked out the window past groves of
trees towards the back of the building, I saw these big huge stone
tablets that looked like big rocks sticking up out of the ground. They
must have been about 10 feet tall and they had some type of carvings
all over them. They formed a large circle about 20 feet by 20 feet. I
asked the Sokes what they were. They explained that those were the
Norse tablets that told of the adventures of the Vikings. I can‘t
explain it, but my heart starting pumping, my hands got sweaty, and
I suddenly felt really alive. I jumped through the window and I ran
out to the middle of the tablets. As I stood there looking at them, my
eyes scanned past one of the tablets and focused upon a tree that sat
rooted behind the tablets. As I focused more sharply I saw what
appeared to be a human form sitting in the tree.
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some of the carvings on the rocks meant. He said, ―Instead of trying
to philosophize, let‘s see if we can do some inner-dimensional mind
traveling. It would require you to open your mind‘s eye.‖ I asked,
―The mind‘s eye? Where is that at?‖ He took his index finger and
placed it right above the bridge of my nose on my forehead. He told
me that the first thing I needed to do to open it was to clear my mind.
We walked over and sat on two large rocks facing the tablets. He
said, ―The first thing I want you to do is look at the rocks and try to
feel how heavy they are. Now, feel how wide they are. Now, feel
how tall they are. Imagine taking your hands and rubbing them all
over the edges of the rocks. That‘s called projecting. Let‘s try to
experience it. Project yourself right into the center of one of those
rocks. Once you are in the center of the rock, cut off your projecting
attention. What I mean by that is that I want you to exist as the rock
itself, by being inside of the rock. Now I will leave you alone. You
will know if you have done any inner-dimensional mind traveling
because you will just feel the experience of being the rock and you
will start to see mental frames; not thoughts, just pictures. You will
see pictures and you will feel yourself being inside the rock.‖
Being inside of the rock, I could feel its weight. I could feel how tall
it was, because I was now that tall. I could feel how wide, because I
was now that wide. Mental pictures began to develop in my mind. I
began to see flashes of boats floating in the ocean, farmers working
in their fields, and families dancing around. I lingered in this
experience and then finally, as if out of nowhere, my eyes just
opened and I was fully aware. I did not feel a separation, but felt
that we were all one. It was amazing and truly awesome. No words
can really describe it.
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know you will,‖ and he placed his hand on my shoulder. He let me
know, ―This is the end of your journey for now.‖ I asked, ―What
about the cave and the geode?‖ He said that it would still be there
for me when I return again. He then held up a key and smiled, ―This
might help you open your box.‖ I said, ―Was that from you? The
box in the mall?‖ He confirmed my suspicions and told me that it
had come from him. I asked astonished, ―How did you know that I
would be there?‖ He informed me, ―Because I am always
watching.‖
As we were walking back home, Soke Draconis said, ―This has been
quite an adventure for you hasn‘t it, Brady? You learned how to
control your breathing. You fell in love, met new friends and more
of the family plus you got a surprise gift in a box. You had a good
vacation, you just learned a little bit of something about inner-
dimensional mind traveling, and you had a chance to meet The
Wanderer.‖
We made our way back to the cabin and we all got cleaned up. I had
to admit that a feeling of sadness came over me because we were
leaving in the morning. It had been a great time and a wonderful
blessing. Michelle asked me if I was going to open the box, and I
told her, ―No, not yet. I don‘t feel it is time. I probably won‘t open
it up until I get home.‖ She could hardly believe it, ―How can you
resist it? There could be anything in that box!‖ I reassured her,
―The one thing I have learned from the Sokes is that there is a time
and place for everything.‖
The next morning we got up, met the Sokes, and Angus drove us to
the airport. When we got to the airport, Angus asked me if I had
opened the box yet. I let him know that I had not opened it yet and
was waiting to do so until I got back home. He requested that I
phone or write him when I opened the box. I assured him I would.
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When we boarded the plane, Michelle and I sat together with the
Sokes in front of us. I thought to myself, ―I never would have
believed that The Initiation with Soke Draconis would take me here.
I can‘t wait to see what the next five years will bring!‖ I clutched
the box tightly in my hands as the plane headed home.
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