The Door: Quest In Order–An Introduction

Hey Gang!

Welcome to my life…

Where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. I’m Freedom and I’ll be your host, coming at you from within…

The Depths of Geistopiaaaaaaaaaa

Velcum to my Life ees a prochect, un experiment een Life unt ART, A liwing storyboard, if you vill. Eet’s premise ees zat you can, and do, experience za life you choose. Eet ees based on za Veel of Life unt za ARTs for za New Millennium as life building tools. Ya. Eet’s true.

Welcome to my Life is an ITV Studios/Geist…House production. JustUs Productions, the parent company, would like to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to the following for their ongoing, and oft times unknowing, inspiration and support:

Princess Cuddlebug

Princess Sunshine

Craze & Co.

The Shaman

The Pillar

The Entire Putt-Putt-Putter Clan

FaeriePrincess

G-Man

Berton

The Baker of the Cornbread

The VanMan (may he R.I.P.)

The Messengers of the Galactic Federation

Osteen, the Son

The Sitter

The WhiteRose

The Fallen Angel

CH-Eckhart

Sir Thomas

Jojo Dancer

Mr. NiceGuy

Senior Swankypants

Da Boyz from da Hood

The Witch Dr.

The ‘Original’ Mr. Baggins (and His Wife)

The Socialite

B-Lo

The WhiteGurl

“Ronnie’s Boy”

CH-Eckhart

LisaLisa Monet

The Ziatonic Antagonist

Otto

Prof. Siggy Chong

Pasturizer

The Piz-Nifer

Dancing Queen

Downtown Donny Brown

Mama Rabbit

And, of course, a very generous sponsor who pretends to want to be anonymous.

(*Semi-Legal mumbo-jumbo jargon fine print – my thoughts, my words. Bug off if you think you theivin’ them.*)

It is Sunday, June 3, 2012. Time….Ticking.

The weeks are moving by so swiftly. There are only four weeks left until my departure. Earlier in the week, as I tried to conceptualize this post, I thought I would focus mostly on The Quest itself – perhaps help some understand it better.

Today, as I write, I am uncertain of what the words themselves will have to say.

The Quest is a delicate matter. And, perhaps more serious than folks realize. It is easy for someone on the outside to see it all as “a vacation” or a fanciful whim. But, it is so much more than that.

The Quest is a calling…and for me…a commitment.

Perhaps people just do not understand what a ‘Quest’ is – how it works or why it evolves in the first place. The Quest is an answer. It comes whenever a quest-ion has been asked. We all take quests – some large, some small. But, each of us finds ourselves on a quest more often than we may realize. Truth be told, from the moment of our conception we are probably on the greatest quest of all – to answer the question, “Who am I?”

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

These are the Keys that open ‘The Door.’

Where should I move?

What should I do?

When should I do it?

How do I find that?

Who am I looking for?

Why am I doing this?

Of course, these are only examples. Any question can ignite ‘The Quest.’ Something as simple as , “What color should I paint this room,” can start the Quest – if you allow it.

(And even if you don’t.)

The Quest is a natural process in life and seems to have an existence all it’s own. Like anything else there are rules, or guidelines…

(Principles)

…that govern The Quest.

I suppose, then, that Principle number one would be – Ask A Question, Get A Quest.

If you apply my favorite Principle of ‘Ask & Ye Shall Receive’ then you know that whatever The Quest may be, wherever it may lead you, is in response to what you have asked.

Of course, other rules or Principles of the Universe apply as well. For instance, the ‘bigger’ or more important the subject of the question, the more involved becomes The Quest. My questions were not only big ones, but many as well. And, though each seems individual they all weave together.

Three years ago, as I was developing ‘The Game’ my goal was Completion. I wanted my life to come together. I just wanted to get things where they needed to be and continue living better each day.  Along the way, the questions were many.

“What is the right job for me?”

“Where should I be living?”

“What do I do now?”

And, really, the list goes on and on from there. But the questions have all had one thing in common – The Answer. The Quest. San Diego.

When I told the Shaman of the trip he asked, “Why San Diego?”

“Because it has been the answer to every question for about a year.”

But, as always in life, the answer merely begets more questions.

“Is this really the right thing?”

“How do I do this?”

“What about this or that?”

And, so, the cycle begins.

But be warned. Never accept an answer immediately. NEVER!

Always validate and verify.

Someone just recently asked me how I know. “How do you know its what you need to do?”

Sadly, at this point – without getting into an hour dissertation – the simplest answer is, “14 years of meditation and dedication.” But it is much more complex than that. There are any number of methods and techniques I have used to put this all into perspective and ‘be sure’ of it.

I have used meditation and even ‘gut feelings'.’

(Because, let’s face it – we all have them.)

Even ‘Themes’ have played a role in discerning this trip.

(Yup. That’s right. The Wheel of Life. Where did you think the notion came from?)

I spent many weeks validating and verifying this Quest before I made any announcement of it on here or mentioned it to a soul – even ‘The Pil-man.’ And, even since announcing it, little things have happened to make me open my eyes and go, “Ahhhh….”

(Things that make you go, “Hmmmm.”)

For instance, it came up last year on the Salem Quest. I know I never showed that video but I do know I said it on there. I looked right at the camera and stated, “There’s one more. There’s one more BIG quest.”

The fact that, once everything was said and done and settled into place, this Quest mirrors the one I ‘thought’ I was setting out on 14 years ago when it all began.

Many of the cities on the list have come up repeatedly – Themes. San Francisco is one. I don’t understand San Francisco at all. Chicago is definitely one. I, personally, have no business in Chicago, but it has been made very clear that I must stop there.

(I guess we’ll know when I get there…)

The ‘Right’ Things Happen Naturally

Of their own accord, with very little human interference.

I could probably give example after example of this from the past week, but since this post is meant to focus on The Quest I will use only the one that is associated with it.

As I have said in the last few weeks I have been “mapping” out the quest. I have received flack about this from some people because as they pointed out – you cannot map out a Quest. Last year’s quest is the prime example.

I thought I was leaving for Mystic. Turns out Salem was the actual destination.

(Which is part of the reason that I am very curious about the whole San Diego/San Francisco thing…)

But the purpose to my most recent exercise was not to “map” it out for the purpose of a true itinerary. It was meant more as a guideline. A reference point. When I am on a quest, I lose track of time…and I’ve never been good at distance. So, generally, the two weaknesses don’t mix well for driving – especially cross-country.

I was actually quite surprised at the distance/travel time between some of the destinations.

Also, with the new element of actually being able to work on this quest I wanted to take that into consideration. There’s no sense rolling into a town, rich in work potential, at midnight.

I figure, with all factors considered, as long as I have this guideline, if something should shift drastically along the way, I will have a roadmap as it were for getting back on track.

In mapping things out three things caught my attention – but not until I was done.

As I said, I tried to take as much into consideration as I could – travel time, sleeping time, stalling time and even work potential. I figure if I’m doing this I might as well make the most of it that I can.

I worked at the itinerary from both ends, in towards the middle. I worked my way through, stop by stop.

(And, honestly, it has changed some already.)

I figured better to know if I couldn’t make a stop or do something before I set out. So one by one I went through them. I worked my way to Day 2 – Columbus, OH and then went to day 40 and worked my way backwards to Charleston, SC.

Then Columbus to Chicago. Then back from Charleston to New Orleans and points in between.

Chicago to Seattle – with a 3 day jaunt of work along the way.

New Orleans to The Big White Cross then backwards to Santa Fe and Flagstaff.

The first thing I took notice to is that each of the ‘major’ destinations has an allotment of 3 days. 3 is a very important spiritual number. It is the number of creation. There is another set of 3s, but I will get to that in a moment.

Finally, I realized that I only had two more stops to factor in – San Diego and San Francisco.

(The apex of the journey.)

And, when I was done, they too had 3 days each.

The other thing that stuck out to me – and all I would have really needed to know I am on the right path – is that it fit. It all fit. Every stop along the way…precisely. I know there are variables and factors and all of that and that things will change along the way. But, if I do this trip exactly as it is laid out every single stop fits perfectly…into 40 days.

(Which, incidentally, is another measure of validation.)

And, it all happened naturally. The trip was the obvious answer to all the questions. Once I accepted that and opened myself to it the ‘stops’ started rolling in. One by one, sometimes dismissed only to bounce back again, they set themselves into place. I thought very little about this part. I just let it unfold…naturally. And, when I was certain that all stops had checked in and were accounted for then I began the thinking. The thinking only became proof that I was doing the right thing.

Let’s face it. I could not have purposely planned out a 40 day trip with a multitude of very random stops on my own. Yet, there it is. Perfectly mapped out before I even mapped it.

But, here’s the big one…

If you have been following for any decent amount of time you have probably come across my Before/Of/After Principle. This is one that was adopted from my relationship with DancingQueen. She always celebrated her birthday as The Day Before, The Day Of, and The Day After.

I enjoyed this so much that I figured why limit it to just birthdays? Shouldn’t all holidays, or Holy-Days, get the same treatment? Some of them already do. Think about it. Christmas Day is a wonderful event that many of us celebrate. How many of us also do something Christmas Eve? Or spend Christmas Eve day preparing and prepping for the festivities to come? And, I have found at least, the day after Christmas tends to be a good day to recover.

(Much like the day after a good Birthday celebration.)

It is this Principle that helped me realize that the Quest was already on.

If The Quest itself is 40 days then, by application of this principle, there are 40 days before and 40 days after that will impact or be affected by The Quest itself.

Here’s the more interesting part of all of that. Once I laid it out and all was “set in stone” as it were I took notice to something totally fascinating.

I had about 14 days between Seattle and The Grand Canyon. The same 14 days that became my travel time and San Diego/San Francisco.

(Remember these are the center point of the journey. The ‘Of.’)

And, the time leading up to that center point was about 13 days. As was the time after – 13 days as well.

Before…Of…After.

I couldn’t have done all of that if I had tried.

Do Less. Have More

 

This is a Principle that came to me way back at the beginning of my path. I can still remember it. It had actually been an ad for Real Simple Magazine. It was a close up photo of a basset hound with his head resting on the arm of a couch. And it just simply read, in moderate white letters – Do less. Have more.

It made perfect sense. It is really the premise of every spiritual path.

I believe it was Stuart Wilde that wrote that the tiger in the jungle does not awake worrying about breakfast or its day. It merely awakens and sets out into life and when it is hungry it finds food and eats.

(Of course, he does a much better job of explaining it.)

Jesus explains to us that The Lord has fed the birds of the wild and clothed the flowers of the field. The he asks, “What makes you think you are less than these?”

If The Lord will provide for all the beasts and foliage of the wild, why would he not tend to his own children?

I have very New Agey friends who always remind me that “Abundance comes effortlessly and easily.”

And then, of course, there is the Albert Einstein statement I posted not too long ago. I know I had some of it wrong and I have not been able to locate it again in order to be 100% accurate. But, the general premise is easy to summate.

To achieve or attain something one must only begin to resonate with it.

Simple physics really.

And, I have taken note to this in my own life of late. For years I scrambled around trying to do and achieve and accomplish. Especially in the last few. I was trying to put my life back on track, rebuild it from scratch. And, I had 37 years of rebuilding to catch up on.

As DancingQueen has often noted – all of this to no avail. No matter how hard I have been trying and pushing and plotting – with everything I have had going on and so much at one time – I made very little advancement. I accomplished (almost) nothing.

Then over the past few weeks this Principle has literally hurled itself upon me once more. I have had more and more weeks lately where I have work planned and by no power or choice of my own it changes.

It usually just moves to another week, but it doesn’t come when I had it planned or thought I needed it.

But I noticed something amazing. No matter how often this would happen. no matter how many times I would bitch to myself about the “lack” of work in this week or that, when it was all said and done I had just enough money to do what needed to be done.

One would think that with all of this new found time on my hands I would become a productivity fiend. But it has been quite the opposite. Each week I start with one project. One important thing that must e the focus. And, I focus on it. Each week I get that thing…and so much more…completed.

More interestingly, I have actually seen advancement in my life. Little things getting done or taken care of that in the past would have gone by the way side until a “better” time.

This is a Principle I must remember on The Quest. For, I know myself. I will focus on the money and the work and I will overburden myself with these things…and somewhere in the end I will have lost more than I have gained.

(Of course, now that awareness has set in this may be averted.)

It All Happens On Time

We hear this all the time – Everything For A Reason; All Things In Their Time.

But…it’s actually true.

Unfortunately, we rarely realize this until…well…we have gotten there. This tends to make the ‘getting there’ that much harder. It’s not until it is all said and done that we can look back and understand the whys and wherefores.

(Oooh…Hindsight is 20/20…)

Again, if you have followed along for any length of time, or you know me well, you know that one of the biggest ‘sore’ points in my life is my living conditions. Everyone’s got an opinion on this. Everyone’s got a ‘feeling’ about it.

Whenever I have been confronted with it or it has been thrown up in my face in some way shape or form my only response has been, “I am here because The Phe-Nom-E-Non (‘God’ for those of you just tuning in) has willed it to be so. If I am here, I am here for a reason.”This has been my response for 12 years…and, for 12 years it has been met with much disdain and contempt. So much in fact that at one point I began to question it myself, “Why? WTF???”

The only answer I have ever received is, “Because….”

I have desperately tried for many years to fill in the black behind that because. I have always been unsuccessful. I could feel myself gripping at straws. I just couldn’t do it.

Today – I think I can.

 (Somewhat anyhow…)

--“Because…You have a journey to take. A transformative Journey. If your life were any different you could not take it. So you must be where you are. Because you have children who, without this current home, would have no way of ‘being close’ to you while you are gone…and that would hurt them. If you took the Journey any sooner you would not have been prepared. You would not have known what you will need to know to succeed. You would not have had the resources or the ability to the jobs that you must do…and the Journey would not have the impact it is meant to have. It is a Life Journey. Not just your life but those around you….”

So, Dear Readers, I challenge you.

I challenge you to follow along on The Quest. Join me and see just what it is that lies ahead.

 

Feedback

Feedback has always been my favorite part of WTML, and also, the one I get to play with the least. I have long said that this is actually the most vital part of the project and have strongly encouraged folks to leave comments, questions and the like.

From here in Geistopia, for now and for always, I am your beloved Rev. wishing you…

Love

Light

Peace

and Freakishness.