Another Way

Another Way...

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    Maybe it was after a divorce or a breakup. Maybe it was after losing a job or watching your life savings disintegrate. Maybe it was the death of a close friend, or a personal medical crisis. Maybe it was just waking up not wanting to face the day, or a vague feeling of dissatisfaction that never seemed to go away.
    But one day, something prompted you to think or say, "I don't want to live like this any more. There's got to be another way."
    That's what happened to me.
    Last year, at age 51, I realized life was slipping by. Not that I haven't had what many would consider a pretty blessed time here on earth. I come from a big, loving family. I have a wonderful son from my former wife. I've made a living as a journalist, writer and now a filmmaker and television producer. I've been fortunate to meet and know a lot of interesting and memorable people. I enjoy a small group of dear friends and a wider net of acquaintances who have enriched my life beyond compare. I've been romantically involved with several  wonderful women, who remain my friends to this day. I've made money. I've lost money. I live in a beautiful, inspiring place. I've done my best to stay on a spiritual path and appreciate everything I've got. Yet, underneath it all, something was missing.
    It took the break-up of a long-term relationship to really kick me in the ass, and this time, I began listening to what the universe had to tell me.

THE QUESTIONS
    The dissolution of my latest relationship was wrenching. But in retrospect, it was both a defining moment in my life, and the inevitable conclusion to that portion of it.
    If nothing else, it prompted the important questions. What am I doing with my life and how did I get to this point? Sometimes we are just not ready to answer those questions. But I knew it was different this time.
    That knowledge launched me into one of the most profound and important years of my life. As I began to embrace my circumstances, I vowed that my pain would not be in vain. Things were either going to change, or there was really no point in me being around any more. "There had to be another way."

A GIFT

    In one of those not-so-coincidental moments, it was a Christmas gift from my ex-girlfriend that really launched the next phase of my personal transformation. Reluctantly, I met her for coffee one day, where she gave me a copy of Robert Scheinfeld's "Busting Loose From the Money Game." My first thought was, "Jesus, not another self-help book." You see, I have been a spiritual junkie for most of my adult life. A recovered Catholic, I've practiced Buddhism and A Course in Miracles and attended the Church of Religious Science. I've meditated. I've got shelves of books on self discovery, metaphysics and spirituality, by Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle and numerous other inspirational writers. I delved into quantum physics. I've looked to the I Ching and Enneagrams for answers. Hell, I still check out my horoscope three or four times a week. I drew the line at high colonics.
    But while I have absorbed an enormous amount of knowledge, and in some cases, wisdom, through the years, I also realized that one of my self-defeating patterns was to flit from solution to solution, knowing that the real answer was in the next book, the next video, the next relationship, the next teaching, the next practice.
    In fact, my search became, in one sense, my Law of Distraction, a way of keeping myself from the truth.

WHAT CHANGED?
    I read Robert's book, "Busting Loose From the Money Game," in two days. I began it expecting another cheesy, self-help book that might get me excited for a few days or weeks, then become another of the literary tombstones on my book shelf.
    I was surprised. The book, as those who have read it know, is not really about money. It is a profound metaphysical statement, masked by Robert's breezy writing style. 
    I resonated with several aspects of the book. One, what Robert was saying about our life being a creation of our consciousness, directly correlated with what I had learned from many sources and practices. Two, Robert put some of the more esoteric concepts of the book into laymen's language that brought it all together for me. Three, Robert presented a simple but effective process that allowed me and others to take responsibility for our lives and change them from the inside out. And it didn't take hours of meditation, although there's nothing wrong with that.
    I vowed that this would be the last "self-help" book I would ever buy.

THEN WHAT?

    It may not turn out to be the last inspirational book I ever buy, but "Busting Loose From the Money Game," has changed my life. Not in a get-rich-quick type of way, but moreso in the subtle textural changes. I find myself attracting more and more warm, generous, thoughtful people (or "creations" as Robert would say) to support me. I find myself embracing uncomfortable people and situations that I normally would have avoided, thus losing a chance to reclaim my power from them. My stress level has lowered considerably, especially around the "money game," and friends, relatives and acquaintances say they have noticed I'm happier and more expansive. (Or at least I've created them to say that.:)
    Soon after reading the book, another friend, not-so-coincidentally, mentioned a weekly discussion group that focused on Robert's DVD set "Busting Loose From the Money Game." I joined. Soon after that,  I joined a group started by my ex using the DVD series "Busting Loose From the Emotions Game." In April, I spent money I did not have to attend Robert's retreat in Sedona, where I met others from around the world who were finding the truth through Robert's program.
    (Just a side note on the Sedona gathering. In my typical self-doubting way of the past, I had gone to Sedona expecting to meet Robert and be disavowed of all respect I had for him. In the back of my mind, I was fully expecting him to expose himself in person as simply another internet marketing huckster who was selling all of us idiots a spiritual bill of goods. I'm happy to report that Robert is one of the most down-to-earth, sincere, dedicated, candid, authentic and funny people I have ever met in my life. I was honored to be able to spend the time with him, and I have no regrets about the appreciation (money) I expressed to be there and participate.)
    The point is, the weekly discussion groups centered around the DVD study, along with the retreat, have kept me focused on what was important. Robert is upfront about the fact that "busting loose" is not an overnight process. It took him years, in fact, and may take me years, too. Finding support along the way has certainly helped the process.
    The book and the teachings inspired me to do something else, and that was to only engage in things that were fun or joyful, whether it was business, pleasure or people. One quick example. I was a journalist for 25 years. When I retired in early 2004, I told myself I needed a break from writing, that I was too burned out to do it any more.
    Fast forward to this last January, I had been dabbling in writing screenplays with a partner. After reading Robert's book, I took the vow to do only things that were fun, and that I would dedicate myself to writing screenplays, one thing that I did find fun. WIthin a week, I got a call from a friend, who said that he needed help writing a screenplay that had been commissioned by a producer. We would get paid up front to write the first draft.
    We knocked out the first draft of the screenplay by June, and have indeed been paid. We'll see what happens from here.

WHAT I KNOW
    What we experience as life is a creation of our consciousness. It has no more reality than that. There is nothing and no one out there. The physical world is a hologram. We each live in a hologram of our own making and are totally responsible for it.
    Thinking good thoughts, reciting affirmations, firmly believing in something will not change your hologram. The Law of Attraction is flawed. Change only happens in consciousness.
    What we as humans consider reality is illusion. The reality is that we are infinitely abundant beings and this life is about finding our way back to that state.
    For some of you this is probably old hat. The rest think I'm full of shit. No matter. It's not important what I think, or what you think I think. All I know is that I can never look at my life or the world the same way.
    You have the choice to start "busting loose" or not. I've only scratched the surface of what Robert has presented. If you decide to embark on this journey, you will soon learn just how deep this "rabbit hole" can go, and how profound the changes can be.
   
    THIS SITE
    While Robert is the inspiration for this site, I have found many books, articles, movies, teachers and others that support the concepts in "Busting Loose From the Money Game." From time to time, I hope to turn you on to them, and offer their insights -- and products, if they have them.
    For now, that includes the worldviews and theories of scientists like David Bohm and Karl Pribram, the teachings of Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti and Native America; movies like "Leap," "Quantum Activist," "What the Bleep Do We Know?" and my very own "The Language of Spirituality."
    As I learned from my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Angelo, "you don't have to know everything, you just have to know where to find it." I hope this site can be one of the places you can find whatever you're looking for.
    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Anthony

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