ItIsDone24

And then I read Gary's last three chapters and a surprise "Invitation" at the end of his book. It was like finding buried treasure, like the miner striking pay dirt, or the merchant finding the pearl of great price, or the individual finding the kingdom of heaven.

Gary's chapter, "Sacred Tasks" tells of young Abdul leaving his desert home and setting out, with his camels, into uncharted territory, in fulfillment of his Sacred Task. At first there is only one distant oasis where he rests and fills his water jugs. But, as he journeys, the oases are closer together and offer more comforts and nourishments. And eventually the sand is mixed with soil, and then shrubs and trees, and the air is cooler and more comfortable, so he lets his camels go, and later, as the temperature becomes warmer at night, he lets go of his warm bedding.

The terrain becomes more beautiful, with flowers and waterfalls and even mountains, and finally the ocean appears in front of him, and he hears the laughter of happy people, and he knows that he has reached a special place that one feels when fulfilling your sacred task, and you know that you wouldn't want to be anyplace else, doing anything else. Your soul is happy and fulfilled.

Gary explains that once we find this place, whether it be writing a book or raising a family, or teaching or selling we will feel good inside, like Abdul, when we are doing it, and we will feel bad inside when we aren't doing it. In other words, we will be fulfilling what our soul wants us to do. We will know when that is happening, because all parts of ourselves, such as our personality and soul, and our inner child and ego; and the three-selves: conscious, subconscious and superconscious, are in alignment, and we are following our heart.

Gary's last chapter, "Coming Home," told about his return to his family home in Kansas, a place that he had happily left and dreaded to return. But this time he had taken himself through a fantasy in which his parents were dead, and he felt such grief and loss that he was delighted when it ended and he knew that they were still alive. This was a paradigm shift for him in which he ever-after experienced his parents, their home, and even Kansas, with a new joy and appreciation. He now viewed everything from a new perspective, which enhanced his ability to love them even more deeply.

He explained that multisensory living, rather than five-sensory, is like that, as he described a whole new world of living on a magic carpet, so to speak; of living with a purpose of growing spiritually, and doing that with harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for Life.

I'd felt myself leading up to this point in my own life, even before reading the book, so when I came to this part, it's as if something had lifted. The struggle was over, the anger was gone, and what I was attempting to attain had been accomplished. It was done! Gary's book had brought me through my paradigm shift.

When I turned from the last chapter of "Soul Stories," I found "An Invitation" in the form of a letter from Gary. He invited the readers to join in a spiritual partnership with his foundation: Genesis: The Foundation for the Universal Human. It's vision is where spiritual growth is the highest priority, and all of its programs and projects are designed to support authentic empowerment, and to provide the experience of spiritual partnership -- partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. An alliance that I have been seeking all my life.

In addition, Gary invited anyone to share their soul stories with him, and he would consider publishing them. The criteria is to tell him what concept in either of his books that it illustrates, and write it in one thousand five hundred words and send it to the address in his book, which is in Mt. Shasta, a small town in the mountains of northern California; a spiritual place that I know quite well.

showing me that this was an open door. It was a fulfillment of my longing to belong, to be part of, to make a difference. I no longer felt alone and abandoned. There was a Divine Plan to my life and my writing; a promise that had kept me going through The Wilderness Years.

And now, this was the beginning of my soul's fulfillment; or maybe it was much more than the beginning. It was the accomplishment. I knew this, because my body was tingling all over, and I was in an altered state. I had reached The Promised Land.

I wondered what I would write for Gary, and I became still and listened. "Write it as the last chapter of your book; as if it is already happening, because it is. And then send it to Gary, along with your cover letter explaining your innerfreedom.net, which includes your Inner Freedom Ministry. And invite him to visit your website."

I'd seen Gary on Oprah Winfrey, and I'd read his story of her invitation to be on his show, which took ten years for him to fulfill. I knew Gary was an award-winning author and a notoriety, and at first I felt overwhelmed, but I knew this was what I was to do, and I knew that I could and would do it. I also knew that Gary was a reachable person, on his spiritual journey, and I felt a kinship with him and his Genesis Foundation for spiritual growth. My heart and soul shouted a resounding "YES"! And I felt it happening.

Myself replied, "Rick and Snow would complete the connection of innerfreedom.net with the search engines, and they would agree to be Webmasters. Carol Myers would agree to become my Business and Marketing Manager, a question I'd recently sent out on the e-mail to her. And I would be part of Gary's Genesis Foundation. But, beyond that, God would continue guiding me to fulfill His Divine Plan for me."

As I thought the words, I had an overwhelming realization that when I next checked my e-mail, I would see the positive response from Carol and from Rick and Snow. Of course, it would take longer with Gary, because I hadn't even sent the letter and story, but I knew it was done. And all this time, tears were seeping from my eyes and I kept seeing WOW! WOW! WOW!

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it really is happening now. For instance, several of the Freedomers (inmates seeking inner freedom) had been asking me for material, and Pepin wanted to finish answering the Questions for the "Pot O' Gold Course," and Carol had been coloring the mandalas and reading the material for "Transformation: A Twelve Power Process" course, and she listed my website as a referral from hers. She also ordered a copy of "Not my Day to Die," a book that is already printed and ready to send, thus becoming the first person to order via my website. In the process, she taught us how to activate PayPal, as a means for making on-line payments; a major forward step for us.

material from my website. And I'd written to Ernest Plemmons, the Prayer Ministry Director, who is making it on the outside and still maintaining his role, asking him if he has computer access, and if so to resume an active part. In preparation for this, I'd opened a Prayer Ministry webpage for Inner Freedom Ministry. In addition, Jerry Pitre was considering my suggestion that he write a book about his transition from activist to pacifist.

Carol replied that she would love to help with the website in any way she could, but that she too, is still learning, so she would not want to charge for her services. And this left the way open for a future percentage arrangement, which she might find timely, as she is facing a possible early retirement.

I found Pepin's answered Questions to the course, and sent him the "Imagination" lesson, so that he could respond to the Questions, in preparation for a future book, but in the meantime, they would be used on his own webpage, as a link with the "Transformation" webpage.

Solution," a book that I know will touch many lives and contribute toward "A Peaceful Solution" to today's problems. Jerry too, will have his own webpage linked with his book chapters, as they come through him, with God's guidance. In addition, Jerry had enrolled in a computer class at the Soledad Prison, and I feel certain that, someday, he will be allowed to use his knowledge on-line, once approval is given for such a project, like mine, and "Chicken Soup for the Soul," and the many other prison ministries that are now on-line.

In the meantime, I wrote to Gary Zukav and received a Release Form to fill out and return. This took some prayer work, as it would mean that I couldn't use the same material that I'd sent him, in my chapter, so I finally felt guided to sign it and I explained that it was a revised version of the last chapter in my book, and asked his input on how to handle the situation. The results will appear in the Epilogue.

I became increasingly excited with each additional "Yes," and with God's ongoing guidance, as I created the Prayer Ministry page and began adding pictures, articles, poems and letters from the original "Rainbow Connection"; the first step toward the fulfillment of a dream I'd had for many years, of these materials reaching out and touching many more lives.

Eventually I planned to revise, update and enter all issues of "The Rainbow Connection," a project of love that I'm sure will again "reach out and touch," as did the original publications, where the Freedomers' materials, and my articles, spoke to inmates and others who were seeking inner freedom, and also outer freedom.

In the process of creating the Prayer Ministry webpage, I unearthed from storage the photo album with the original pictures of Ernest Plemmons, amidst photos of other Freedomers. This inspired me to create another webpage, "The Freedomers Index," with their names, pictures and references to where their material appears on the website: a daunting task, but one filled with the love -- mine and theirs -- from my original ministry. And now, that love would live again, through the Freedomers' words and pictures.

My purpose in life was truly set, and like any purpose, it would never be completed by me, but I knew that God would provide someone to carry on the ministry, long after I've gone. Who knows? Perhaps Jerry Pitre, or one of the Freedomers would carry on the website ministry.

Of course, Adam and Michael Martin are now outside, and there's always the possibility that they will return to fulfill their agreements with the ministry, once they complete their personal money-making projects. However, for now, my part is to release them.

But, I'm not worried about the results, because I know that's all up to God, and God's Time is the Best Time For now, it's enough to be doing what I love and loving what I do. And I know that I have taken the steps for Inner Freedom Ministry to be "Out in the Universe." Therefore, this book has come to its natural conclusion.

In time, I will add an Epilogue to update on the progress of InnerFreedom.net, so check back from time-to-time. In the meantime, I invite you to visit www.innerfreedom.net on a regular basis for current activities. And please sign the Guest Book and leave a message on the Message Board.



	Chapter 24 IT IS DONE! In The Glow Today is Sunday and I finished reading Gary Zukav's "Soul Stories," instead of going to church, and it was a spiritual experience. So I wanted to write, while I'm still in the glow of it. Yesterday I'd known that there would only be one more chapter to this book, because the story would be complete; and this is it. I also knew that the last chapter would mean that the preparation was done and innerfreedom.net would be fully functioning, including the people who were participating in the various programs and courses, and also buying them or making donations for the ministry. But I didn't know that it would be happening today. And then I read Gary's last three chapters and a surprise "Invitation" at the end of his book. It was like finding buried treasure, like the miner striking pay dirt, or the merchant finding the pearl of great price, or the individual finding the kingdom of heaven. Fulfilling Our Sacred Tasks But, let me give you the background leading up to this fantastic conclusion of two books, and a lifetime. Gary's chapter, "Sacred Tasks" tells of young Abdul leaving his desert home and setting out, with his camels, into uncharted territory, in fulfillment of his Sacred Task. At first there is only one distant oasis where he rests and fills his water jugs. But, as he journeys, the oases are closer together and offer more comforts and nourishments. And eventually the sand is mixed with soil, and then shrubs and trees, and the air is cooler and more comfortable, so he lets his camels go, and later, as the temperature becomes warmer at night, he lets go of his warm bedding. The terrain becomes more beautiful, with flowers and waterfalls and even mountains, and finally the ocean appears in front of him, and he hears the laughter of happy people, and he knows that he has reached a special place that one feels when fulfilling your sacred task, and you know that you wouldn't want to be anyplace else, doing anything else. Your soul is happy and fulfilled. Gary explains that once we find this place, whether it be writing a book or raising a family, or teaching or selling we will feel good inside, like Abdul, when we are doing it, and we will feel bad inside when we aren't doing it. In other words, we will be fulfilling what our soul wants us to do. We will know when that is happening, because all parts of ourselves, such as our personality and soul, and our inner child and ego; and the three-selves: conscious, subconscious and superconscious, are in alignment, and we are following our heart. And this is not done with one giant step, but by taking one step at a time toward creating harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for Life, and as we move toward this wonderful place, we are creating our authentic power. I felt good, as I read these words, because I knew that I was fulfilling my Sacred Task by creating my innerfreedom.net website. And I knew that it was almost ready to go out into the universe. Recognizing and Appreciating What You Have Gary's last chapter, "Coming Home," told about his return to his family home in Kansas, a place that he had happily left and dreaded to return. But this time he had taken himself through a fantasy in which his parents were dead, and he felt such grief and loss that he was delighted when it ended and he knew that they were still alive. This was a paradigm shift for him in which he ever-after experienced his parents, their home, and even Kansas, with a new joy and appreciation. He now viewed everything from a new perspective, which enhanced his ability to love them even more deeply. He explained that multisensory living, rather than five-sensory, is like that, as he described a whole new world of living on a magic carpet, so to speak; of living with a purpose of growing spiritually, and doing that with harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for Life. I'd felt myself leading up to this point in my own life, even before reading the book, so when I came to this part, it's as if something had lifted. The struggle was over, the anger was gone, and what I was attempting to attain had been accomplished. It was done! Gary's book had brought me through my paradigm shift. The Surprise Invitation When I turned from the last chapter of "Soul Stories," I found "An Invitation" in the form of a letter from Gary. He invited the readers to join in a spiritual partnership with his foundation: Genesis: The Foundation for the Universal Human. It's vision is where spiritual growth is the highest priority, and all of its programs and projects are designed to support authentic empowerment, and to provide the experience of spiritual partnership -- partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. An alliance that I have been seeking all my life. In addition, Gary invited anyone to share their soul stories with him, and he would consider publishing them. The criteria is to tell him what concept in either of his books that it illustrates, and write it in one thousand five hundred words and send it to the address in his book, which is in Mt. Shasta, a small town in the mountains of northern California; a spiritual place that I know quite well. I began to cry. I kept thinking and seeing the words: WOW! WOW! WOW! My soul was showing me that this was an open door. It was a fulfillment of my longing to belong, to be part of, to make a difference. I no longer felt alone and abandoned. There was a Divine Plan to my life and my writing; a promise that had kept me going through The Wilderness Years. And now, this was the beginning of my soul's fulfillment; or maybe it was much more than the beginning. It was the accomplishment. I knew this, because my body was tingling all over, and I was in an altered state. I had reached The Promised Land. "Saying 'Yes'"! I wondered what I would write for Gary, and I became still and listened. "Write it as the last chapter of your book; as if it is already happening, because it is. And then send it to Gary, along with your cover letter explaining your innerfreedom.net, which includes your Inner Freedom Ministry. And invite him to visit your website." I'd seen Gary on Oprah Winfrey, and I'd read his story of her invitation to be on his show, which took ten years for him to fulfill. I knew Gary was an award-winning author and a notoriety, and at first I felt overwhelmed, but I knew this was what I was to do, and I knew that I could and would do it. I also knew that Gary was a reachable person, on his spiritual journey, and I felt a kinship with him and his Genesis Foundation for spiritual growth. My heart and soul shouted a resounding "YES"! And I felt it happening. What Would it Look Like? I asked myself, "What would it look like, if indeed, it was happening?" Myself replied, "Rick and Snow would complete the connection of innerfreedom.net with the search engines, and they would agree to be Webmasters. Carol Myers would agree to become my Business and Marketing Manager, a question I'd recently sent out on the e-mail to her. And I would be part of Gary's Genesis Foundation. But, beyond that, God would continue guiding me to fulfill His Divine Plan for me." As I thought the words, I had an overwhelming realization that when I next checked my e-mail, I would see the positive response from Carol and from Rick and Snow. Of course, it would take longer with Gary, because I hadn't even sent the letter and story, but I knew it was done. And all this time, tears were seeping from my eyes and I kept seeing WOW! WOW! WOW! It Really is Happening! The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it really is happening now. For instance, several of the Freedomers (inmates seeking inner freedom) had been asking me for material, and Pepin wanted to finish answering the Questions for the "Pot O' Gold Course," and Carol had been coloring the mandalas and reading the material for "Transformation: A Twelve Power Process" course, and she listed my website as a referral from hers. She also ordered a copy of "Not my Day to Die," a book that is already printed and ready to send, thus becoming the first person to order via my website. In the process, she taught us how to activate PayPal, as a means for making on-line payments; a major forward step for us. And Joyce has been e-mailing Stevie D, a lady I'd met in Pismo Beach, near where Carol lives. Joyce had also begun playing cribbage on-line, and was sending some of the ladies to "Money Makeovers," the program that I've assigned to her to handle, rather than expecting her to partnership my entire program. Another Freedomer had resumed writing to me, and he said that his dad will send him material from my website. And I'd written to Ernest Plemmons, the Prayer Ministry Director, who is making it on the outside and still maintaining his role, asking him if he has computer access, and if so to resume an active part. In preparation for this, I'd opened a Prayer Ministry webpage for Inner Freedom Ministry. In addition, Jerry Pitre was considering my suggestion that he write a book about his transition from activist to pacifist. Yes, it is already happening. Thank You, God. They Said "Yes" I waited a few months, before finishing this book, allowing time for the pieces to fall into place, and they did. Carol replied that she would love to help with the website in any way she could, but that she too, is still learning, so she would not want to charge for her services. And this left the way open for a future percentage arrangement, which she might find timely, as she is facing a possible early retirement. Ernest Plemmons responded with a positive "Yes," and his letter is already on the Prayer Ministry webpage. He added that he would learn to use the computer, so that he could participate more fully. I found Pepin's answered Questions to the course, and sent him the "Imagination" lesson, so that he could respond to the Questions, in preparation for a future book, but in the meantime, they would be used on his own webpage, as a link with the "Transformation" webpage. And Jerry Pitre sent me the first installment for his book, "From Revolution to a Peaceful Solution," a book that I know will touch many lives and contribute toward "A Peaceful Solution" to today's problems. Jerry too, will have his own webpage linked with his book chapters, as they come through him, with God's guidance. In addition, Jerry had enrolled in a computer class at the Soledad Prison, and I feel certain that, someday, he will be allowed to use his knowledge on-line, once approval is given for such a project, like mine, and "Chicken Soup for the Soul," and the many other prison ministries that are now on-line. Rick and Snow were happily "On the Road," so she suggested that Van make the call to activate innerfreedom.net. I knew all along that this would be a big step for Van, and he did it. Within a few minutes, the obstacle that held up progress of the website was removed by the push of a button at Network Solutions, where my domain name is registered. Now, it was all-systems go: innerfreedom.net had become a reality. In the meantime, I wrote to Gary Zukav and received a Release Form to fill out and return. This took some prayer work, as it would mean that I couldn't use the same material that I'd sent him, in my chapter, so I finally felt guided to sign it and I explained that it was a revised version of the last chapter in my book, and asked his input on how to handle the situation. The results will appear in the Epilogue. The Rainbow Connection Revisited I became increasingly excited with each additional "Yes," and with God's ongoing guidance, as I created the Prayer Ministry page and began adding pictures, articles, poems and letters from the original "Rainbow Connection"; the first step toward the fulfillment of a dream I'd had for many years, of these materials reaching out and touching many more lives. Eventually I planned to revise, update and enter all issues of "The Rainbow Connection," a project of love that I'm sure will again "reach out and touch," as did the original publications, where the Freedomers' materials, and my articles, spoke to inmates and others who were seeking inner freedom, and also outer freedom. The Freedomers Alive In the process of creating the Prayer Ministry webpage, I unearthed from storage the photo album with the original pictures of Ernest Plemmons, amidst photos of other Freedomers. This inspired me to create another webpage, "The Freedomers Index," with their names, pictures and references to where their material appears on the website: a daunting task, but one filled with the love -- mine and theirs -- from my original ministry. And now, that love would live again, through the Freedomers' words and pictures. My purpose in life was truly set, and like any purpose, it would never be completed by me, but I knew that God would provide someone to carry on the ministry, long after I've gone. Who knows? Perhaps Jerry Pitre, or one of the Freedomers would carry on the website ministry. Of course, Adam and Michael Martin are now outside, and there's always the possibility that they will return to fulfill their agreements with the ministry, once they complete their personal money-making projects. However, for now, my part is to release them. But, I'm not worried about the results, because I know that's all up to God, and God's Time is the Best Time For now, it's enough to be doing what I love and loving what I do. And I know that I have taken the steps for Inner Freedom Ministry to be "Out in the Universe." Therefore, this book has come to its natural conclusion. In time, I will add an Epilogue to update on the progress of InnerFreedom.net, so check back from time-to-time. In the meantime, I invite you to visit www.innerfreedom.net on a regular basis for current activities. And please sign the Guest Book and leave a message on the Message Board.