Pain & Pleasure, Hope & Fear. Interview with The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred, Author Guy Finley by Willi Paul, Publisher, Planetshifter.com Magazine

http://planetshifter.com/node/1946

Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing in my bloodstream
Only wish that you were here
You know I'm seeing it so clear
I've been afraid
To show you how I really feel
Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made

If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now

Babylon, Babylon

Babylon - David Gray

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Interview with Guy by Willi

What is Sacred to you? How has this changed since childhood?

No object, book, or religious icon is ever sacred in and of itself; what is truly sacred either exists in the perceiver, or not at all. The spiritual or religious sense of the sacred is always in the perception of a living, compassionate, and loving intelligence found only through that person's relationship within what I call the “presence” moment.

As a rule, children have a sense of the sacred because their young minds have yet to become wrapped in the webs of time; their relative innocence permits them to find pleasure in the simplest of things, unencumbered by a conditioned nature that only knows what's good through comparison. My childhood sense of the sacred hasn't so much changed as it has matured; not unlike the difference between a crush on a childhood sweetheart, and the deep abiding love that comes with a marriage of 30 years.

Permaculture is divided between the scientist-farmer types and the mythos-alchemists! How would you heal this?

In the end, all division–all sense of separation that exists between individuals or classifications of types–is born of identification; it is the dark derivative of a sense of self that only knows itself through one form of knowledge or another; and recognized or not, all knowledge is, by its very nature, incomplete. So if there is ever to be a “healing” between these types of individuals, the only way it will ever come about is as each individual in these groups realizes the illusion of separation between form and principal, energy and state. As they see through the illusion, so will end the division.

Is rock music, quoted in your book, a source for new mythologies?

Rock music, in and of itself, can never be a true mythology, because a myth is something handed down from generation to generation in which some truth–some perennial principle that runs through reality–is handed on in the form of a story. The power of a myth is that it stirs in us a remembrance of some quality, or higher possibility latent in our own being. So, myths serve to remind of us of a deeper meaning to life, and our hidden relationship to it. What we see in our culture now is that rock stars have become virtual heroes, personalities on the stage of passing time that individuals unconsciously identify with in order to escape a feeling of being meaningless, in and of themselves.

What is "universal" now? Where is the "unknown?"

What is universal now is the same thing that has been universal throughout time: pain and pleasure, hopes and fears, the endless and infinite expression of the opposites as they appear throughout creation. The only difference is in the temporary appearance of these universal qualities–meaning that depending upon circumstances, certain states of consciousness become more evident than in other times. For instance, fear and distrust–and the commensurate suffering produced by our growing resistance to their growing presence–are clearly on the rise. But, it's also a universal truth that as things become "darker" in and around us, so is our need for a light that can show us the way out of our self-created pain.

If the true nature of life, of this very moment that you're reading these words, is change…a ceaseless transformation of what was into what is…then, in truth, everything is unknown because there is no self (in reality) that isn't part of what's being changed.

Who is your target audience for The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred?

When I write a book, the thought never crosses my mind about who will be the audience for it. To me that would be like trying to figure out what would be the best bull's-eye to shoot at before I have created the arrow. That said, I suppose it's safe to say that my writings are for anyone and everyone in either of these 2 categories: someone who has begun to suspect that they don't know the real answer for why they suffer as they do, and anyone who longs to know the truth of who they really are. And by the way, no real separation exists between these seemingly different groups of people.

Why are these timeless quotes relevant to a future that is beyond most to fathom, let alone implement?

In my new book, The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred, I call these timeless quotations “seeds of fire,” because of the effect they have upon the mind that receives them. These truths, like any objective form or principle, immediately stir in an individual the corresponding part of their consciousness that had been in the dark and asleep to itself just the moment before.

So what this means is that such universal truths aren't at all concerned with the “future.” What is true and timeless is just that; it is already “ahead” of us, waiting to be revealed in passing time. So what is there to fathom if who and what I actually am is the ocean itself from out of which appear these beautiful ideas?

Is your work "self-help"?

If by “self-help” you mean something along the lines of the old adage, “God helps those who help themselves,” then the answer is, Yes: my work is intended to bring individuals into an awareness of who and what they are in reality. Only true self-knowledge makes a true relationship with the divine possible.

What key life events have you encountered and healed?

Lessons ride in on the back of the events. When we learn the lesson, we no longer have to repeat the event that reveals the part of us that attracted that event to us. My own life has been nothing but a long series of hard-learned lessons… Not because the lessons themselves were hard, but because of having a very hard head! And, as far as the healings that have taken place in my life, suffice it to say that healing is natural (at all levels) once we learn to stop hurting ourselves. We don’t need new “powers” in order to be free; what we need is to stop rendering ourselves powerless.

Please share three of your own favorite quotes.

Here are my 3 favorite quotations:

Each of us has been given an immeasurable gift–a specific role to play in the celestial story so great, so vast, it can hardly be seen. And further still–as our eyes open–and we realize the truth of this invisible prize–not only do we reclaim our own grand possibilities, but we also help everyone else do the same.

When you realize that no one on this earth can be like you–that no other soul can know the beauty, sorrow, light, and darkness you alone are given to see–then you will no longer want to be like anyone else on this earth. You will, at last, be the fearless individual that your heart of hearts has called you to be.

All things good come to those for whom the Good is all things.

What is alchemy? Do you use it?

Real life is alchemy; it is the ceaseless transformation of energies and their forms by the action of reconciling forces uniting the opposites in order to create something new (and immaculate). All of us are the instruments of this alchemy, its expression in time. The real question is whether or not something unconscious is acting upon us to make us in its image, or we are conscious of these opposing forces and allow them to be reconciled by that greater Reality from out of which they appear.

Guy Finley Bio -

Best-selling “Letting Go” author Guy Finley’s encouraging and accessible message is one of the true bright lights in our world today. His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues – relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom – and lead the way to a higher life.

Finley is the acclaimed author of The Seeker, the Search, and The Sacred and more than 40 other books and audio programs that have sold over a million copies in 18 languages worldwide. In addition, he has presented over 4,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 30 years and has been a guest on over 500 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, NPR, Wisdom Network, and many others. His syndicated weekly radio program is aired on several international networks including Healthy Life Radio, Achieve Radio, Sedona Talk Radio, and Healthlife.net. Guy is a faculty member at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York and is a daily, expert contributor to Beliefnet.

Finley is Director of Life of Learning Foundation, the renowned non-profit Center for Self-study in Merlin, Oregon, and his popular Key Lesson e-mails are read each week by over 200,000 subscribers in 142 countries. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations.

Guy's career reached this point through a circuitous path. Born into a successful show business family, he is the son of Late-Night TV and radio pioneer Larry Finley. His childhood friends were the sons and daughters of the most famous celebrities in the world. As a young man Guy enjoyed success in a number of areas including composing award-winning music for many popular recording artists including Diana Ross, Debbie Boone, The Jackson 5, Billy Preston, The Four Seasons, as well as writing the scores for several motion pictures and TV shows. From 1970-1979 he wrote and recorded his own albums under the Motown and RCA recording labels.

Throughout his youth, Guy suspected there was more to life than the type of worldly success that led to the emptiness and frustration he saw among his own “successful” friends and colleagues. In 1979, after travels throughout North America, India and the Far East in search of truth and Higher Wisdom, Guy voluntarily retired from his flourishing music career in order to simplify his life and to concentrate on deeper self-studies.

In addition to his writing and appearance schedule, Guy presents four inner-life classes each week at Life of Learning Foundation headquarters in Merlin, Oregon. These classes are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Guy Finley, and his life-changing work, visit http://www.guyfinley.org.

Connections –

The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred, Weiser books

Barbara Norby
barbara.norby at guyfinley.com
Life of Learning Foundation
541-479-8258
http://www.onejourney.net
http://www.guyfinley.org

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Seek the Seeker @ OpenMythSource