It Begins Today

Think about it.

Everything begins today, right now.

And then it ends, and begins again and then ends.

That's life.

We try to hold on to the moment, to cultivate a feeling of permanence, but the truth is impermanence is the order of the day. Nothing stands still. Nothing is static. Motion cannot be stopped.

So what? How does that affect my life and your life. Who cares?

I care and you should to, because the idea of permanence gets us into trouble. We become attached to things like a child is to his teddy. We become attached to people and places and titles and roles and money and fame and friends and jobs and fans and....we are afraid of the inevitable change that may cause us to lose something we love.

That's understandable. We've all had those moments we wish we could capture in a bottle and keep by our bedsides each night. Maybe it was a feeling of happiness that made time seem to stand still or a moment when we felt so free we swore our feet lifted a few inches above the ground. But the moment did not last. Change came sweeping through like a gust of wind.

How are we to feel secure and hopeful in a world where everything changes moment to moment? Where is peace and happiness in such a world? Where do we go to find undisturbed tranquility? Can there ever be heaven on earth when minds are constantly changing, searching, and restless? And yet the great gurus of history have told us life on earth can be peaceful, that all wars can end, that we can live in perpetual happiness. But how can this be when change is an incontrovertible law of existence?

We must be detached. That can be the only solution to change. Life is a process, a constant flow of reality from one thing to the next. Atoms are indeed restless. Everything is vibrating. The world - the universe! - is one big ball of bustling energy. If you doubt this, try right now to stop something - anything - from changing.

This moment is not this moment; it is indeed the only moment! Whooah, what a strange thing to say. I know. I thought it was strange as soon as I wrote it, but somehow I know it is true. Everything that has happened or will happen is connected to this eternal moment. Everyone and everything is connected to me and you. You and I are connected to every star in the heaven, every distant galaxy and swirling light in the sky. My God, if this is true - which I feel it is - then everything begins and ends NOW!

On a practical level, this can be very helpful. Too often in life we feel trapped like a wild animal who has been caged by his captors. We try something that doesn't work, and then give up. We are inspired to do something meaningful, but put it aside because we fear it will not pan out. But if we truly understood that everything begins and ends NOW, we could live freely without fear of change or failure! Rightly understood, failure is nothing more than giving up and becoming attached to an experience that has ended. The person who keeps on trying can never fail because she will always have the chance to begin anew.

Nothing is permanent anyway so why not flow with the process of change rather than live in fear of what might happen. One thing we know for sure is that everything we become attached to will change.

Live free. Explore your passions. Dance through life as though every sound, every movement and vibration is a melody that rings sweetly in your ear. Change cannot be stopped, but so what! You can be anything you decide to be, can accomplish any goal and achieve any feet. But don't hold on to any of it. Don't become attached. Let if flow, as it must. Enjoy the moment, but keep your gaze fixed forward as the next wave of experience comes your way. The secret to a happy and successful life is to cultivate your inner gifts and then give them away everyday without any sense of attachment. Give your life away and life, in a circular flow of energy, will return those gifts to you ten fold!

Everything begins today!

About the author: Deshon Fox is the author of The Middle Theory, a gifted speaker, businessman and blogger. To learn more about The Middle Theory visit www.themiddletheory.com

How to Transform Your Life in 24 Hours

What's happening to you?

Do you know why you are here, right now, breathing and thinking - living?

Does your life have purpose?

Many of us are surfing aimlessly through life on a wave that pushes us around, that tosses us here and there without our control. Sure, we do what we need to do to survive. But animals do that. There must be more to life than survival, than getting up each day to go to work, than grinding out the day until dinner, then doing it all again the next day. Is that life?

Here's the thing. Life is much bigger than survival.

Life is amazing, creative, immeasurably mysterious. Life is colorful, brilliant, and dazzling. Life is a sea of emotions, a mountain of possibilities. Life is enigmatic and challenging. Life is zestful, spontaneous and full of adventure.

This is life!

But how do we get out of the rut of survival to embrace something bigger, grander and more satisfying?

There is a way. A way that is tried and proven. A way that has been told to us in many languages throughout the ages by poets and gurus, by Messengers and thinkers of all stripes. This "divine wisdom" has many variations, but simply put it is this: "Know Thyself". That's it, you may wonder. That's the way to an incredible life. Indeed it is!

Have you ever driven a car?

Surely you have. You open the door and get in, start the engine, shift the gear into drive, and then gently release the brakes as you push the gas. Like magic, the car takes off. You drive away with ease. Now imagine if you didn't know what a car was. Imagine that your memory is wiped clean of any trace of knowledge about cars or machines of any kind. Imagine what would happen if you tried to drive a car then. First of all, you would have trouble trying to get in. If you figured out how to get in the car, you would be lost; hopelessly lost. No matter how fancy the car is - it could be a 2014 Lamborghini Veneno Roadster - it would be of no use to you. You would struggle to appreciate its worth and purpose.

Life is no different. If we do not understand who we are beyond our name and basic physiology, we are lost; hopelessly lost in our pursuit of living a purposeful life. So we must discover who we truly are. It's that simple and that complex.

You see, you are a phenomenon. You are a conscious being that can imagine anything. You can survey all sides of reality, weigh it in your infinite mind and choose from an ocean of possibilities. "Know thyself!" is an incredible injunction. I use the word "injunction" intentionally. We ignore this wisdom at our peril.

"But how can I know myself?", you may ask. Aha, we are getting somewhere. Questions are lovely things, because they often lead us to solutions. In the remainder of this post, I will share with you 10 effective ways to transform your life today. I could just as well describe these as 10 ways to know yourself. It doesn't matter. Knowing yourself is like unlocking the doors to the eternal Kingdom within. The "Kingdom of God is within you". Remember those words from the Bible? We can spend a lifetime searching on the outside, but inevitably every person who charts the stars to a purposeful life discovers that everything the heart desires is within.

So here goes. Get a pen and pad and write these down. You may want to share them with your friends and loved ones or to commit them to memory. In 24 hours, your life can be moving purposefully with ease, just like our imaginary car!

10 Things to do TODAY to Transform your life in 24 Hours

1. Be grateful - wherever you are, stop right now and pause for a few seconds. You are alive. Your heart is beating. You are breathing. You don't know how any of this is happening, but it's happening. Some mysterious force is keeping you alive, is sustaining you, and apparently wants you to be here. That's amazing! Don't take this for granted. Feel a deep sense of gratitude for your existence.

2. Remove every negative or doubtful thought from your mind - I don't care what your circumstances are right now. I can guarantee that no amount of doubt or negativity will help. So get rid of every negative thought. Throw them out! Say good-bye to them. They are like air pollution. In place of negative thoughts, think "I can", "I must", "I will", "It can be done", "I am good enough", "I am a divine creation,".....brand your brain permanently with the words "No negativity allowed."

3. Take three deep breaths - sounds simple, but there is a scientific reason this is so effective in energizing us. Every living thing needs oxygen to survive and thrive. And how do we get oxygen into our blood cells? We breathe. We are doing it all the time, but when we do it consciously, something amazing happens. We begin to sense our "aliveness". We literally feel the energy of life pulsing through our body.

4. Look at the sky for about 30 seconds (during the day). Do you remember how you felt when you looked at the clouds when you were a child? Was it not exquisite to see the light dancing off of the clouds, to watch the clouds shape-shift right before your eyes? Your imagination ran wild. The vastness of the heavens mesmerized you with its fathomless beauty.

5. Hug a loved one deeply. When was the last time you hugged your child, a spouse, a friend or anyone that you love so tightly and fully that time stood still? Believe it or not, sometimes all we need to feel hopeful and positive about life is a good, lasting hug!

6. Call up an old friend and reconnect - Most of us have a special friend that we have lost touch with. It may be a friend from high-school or university. When we think of this person, we cannot help but smile. This person touched us in ways we cannot describe. They were more than just a friend; they were a kindred soul who understood us implicitly, could feel our emotions and saw past our emotional walls. But somehow we lost touch with them. Maybe after college we got busy with work, with kids or with God knows what. Today, find out how to reach this person. Google their name. Search on facebook and twitter. If you are determined, you will find them. Call them up and give them the surprise of their life. This is a biggy! Try it!

7. Dance and sing in the shower - OK, I know some of you can't sing or dance to save your life (I can dance, but singing is not my forte), and I know this one is a little quirky. But there is something about dancing in the shower that relieves a lifetime of stress. Maybe it's the water or the sense of freedom we feel in the bathroom. I don't know. But believe me, a good dance in the shower does the trick!

8. Laugh when it is most unexpected to do so - I must qualify this a little. I do not mean to laugh at some other person's misfortune or to laugh when laughing would cause others to feel uncomfortable. That would be rude. But laughing at times when our minds try to get us to think negatively is a powerful way of asserting our commitment to think positively no matter what. When we do this habitually, the negative thoughts vanish. So today, laugh whenever something happens that would normally irritate you or cause you to feel angry. You will notice, almost immediately, that it is your thinking that determines your experience, not what is happening around you.

9. Smile inside - this is really neat. Most of us know how to put a smile on our face. But I am not talking about that. To smile inside is a much more metaphorical process. I really don't know what an "inner smile" looks like. But I know how it feels. It feels great. It's liberating and it's uplifting. Every so often throughout today pause and smile inside. This one thing has the power to transform your day!

10. Get a good night's sleep. Don't underestimate the power of sleep. During deep sleep, our heart rate, breathing and brain waves slow significantly; our muscles relax and our hormones are regulated. A survey conducted by the American Cancer Society concluded that people who sleep 6 hours or less per night, or who sleep 9 hours or more, had a death rate 30 percent higher than those who regularly slept 7 to 8 hours! And in scientific studies lab animals deprived of sleep die. So tonight, make sure you get at least 7 hours of restful sleep.

In 24 hours, with the incorporation of the 10 tips above, you could be looking at a new you in the mirror.

You may still look the same (oh, how we wish we could transform ourselves physically in 24 hours!), but something will be different. A process of transformation will be well underway. You will feel energized, hopeful, positive, and ready to live!

It is true that you may not be able to do all of the 10 tips in a 24 hour period (you may not be able to reach your long lost friend, for example), but most of the tips can be carried out in 24 hours. Do them. Try them and see what you experience. Your life on this earth is the only one you got, so live it to the fullest.

The 10 tips are simple, but mysteriously effective. Perhaps there is no mystery at all. After-all, if we think about it, all of the tips help us to cultivate a feeling of presence, a sense of aliveness and well-being that sharpens our focus, invigorates our passions and releases our positive energies into the fiber of our essence. Understood this way, we can see that these 10 tips are ways to help us to know ourselves. "Know thyself" just might be the most powerful, transformative revelation ever to light upon the mind of humankind.

About the Author: Deshon Fox is the author of The Middle Theory (www.themiddletheory.com), a sought after speaker, loving father and devoted husband. He is passionate about the mechanics of writing and enjoys motivating others to live their best life.

What is Racism?

Racially insensitive statements made by Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers basketball team, have, for the time being, captured the attention of pundits and talking heads throughout the United States. There is broad agreement that his comments are outrageous, unacceptable, disgusting, and, you get the point. We agree.

But what about those statements made by Sterling? What exactly did he say that was racist? What is racism anyway? For some persons, the topic of racism is uncomfortable as it brings to mind troubling, historic facts about the mistreatment of slaves at the hands of their oppressors. Some have experienced racism first-hand and know the peculiar feel and taste of being caught in a cloud of racist energy. And then there are those who approach the discussion of racism from a purely academic standpoint, as if it were no more than a definition to be memorized. Racism means different things to different people.

In The Middle Theory, a small section of Chapter Seven ("The Age of Balance") discusses the topic of racism. Interestingly enough, what many of us understand as "racism" is a relatively modern phenomenon. In his book Images of Race, M. Biddis points out that "before the 1800s race was used generally as a rough synonym for lineage. But over the first half of the 19th Century race (and its equivalence in a number of European languages) assumed an additional sense that seemed initially tighter and more scientific". He goes on to say that this new usage "...was evident, at its simplest, in the growing conviction that there was a finite number of basic human types, each embodying a package of fixed physical and mental traits whose permanence could only be eroded by mixture with other stocks". Essentially then, as written in The Middle Theory, "modern racism is propagated, sustained, and institutionalized by an irrational fear about the contamination of a supposedly pure, superior race."

OK, so we are now all accomplished race historians. What does any of this have to do with life today? Plenty. Today, in more "enlightened" societies the world over, democratically elected governments are guided by Constitutions that proclaim the fundamental equality of all human beings. In polite conversation, intelligent people know better than to say anything disparaging about someone of another race. And yet today, more than ever, we are aware of the ongoing economic and social disparities that have for centuries been undergirded by divisive racial attitudes that remain prevalent today in virtually every society on earth. Our simplistic color-coding system of "black", "white," and "brown" is losing meaning as more and more persons of diverse ethnic heritage assert their ethnically diverse identity. We would do well to realize that our entire conception of race as it stands is outdated and must change; race as it is currently defined is itself racist (i.e. divisive).

Isn't it interesting, for example, that a white woman can have either a black child or a white child depending on the race of the father. But a black woman can only have a black child. How can it be right and just for there to be only one version of whiteness (pure white) and a gazillion versions of blackness? It is evident that race based primarily on skin color is an over simplified description that does not say anything of substance about a person. It is time to consider an entirely new language for describing the ethnic identity of a human being. All of us are first and foremost a part of the same human race. Further descriptions of value may point to our culture, the land of our birth and rearing or to qualities of our character (e.g. " she's an honest woman with piercing eyes" or "he's a kind man with bright eyes"). As we evolve socially and spiritually, it will become more apparent that racist perceptions, if they are to be rooted out of our subconscious mind, must be viewed as an ingrained societal misconception, and not just as absurd perceptions held by the few who are caught red-handed so to speak.

Donald Sterling did not suddenly become racist when he was caught saying hurtful things about black people. His mindset was molded by his environment over many years. All of us living in modern societies have been shaped, to some degree, by pervasive subliminal messages that color-codes human beings into stereo-typical ethnic boxes.

Racism is fundamentally a negation of our spiritual oneness. In the coming Age of Balance, as envisioned in The Middle Theory, "we will no longer be defined by race based on skin color, but by the colorless, odorless, and formless spiritual qualities inherent within every human being. We will finally realize that human beings of all complexions are members of one human race. Racism in all its ugly forms will end.

How to End Stress (really!)

Do you feel stressed out? Maybe you feel OK now, but you know the stress is coming. Something will go wrong. The kids will make you upset. Your boss will find a way to agitate you. You will see something on the news that will convince you the world is a hopeless mess....something will happen to ruin your temporary peace. Or maybe it's worse. You haven't felt peace - even for a few minutes - in days, perhaps months.

You may even believe that stress is a necessary part of life. Isn't everyone stressed out about something? I mean, isn't life inherently stressful? Isn't stress, on some level, a good thing if you are engaged in a meaningful pursuit? The stressed out mother is doing the best she can. Surely, there is good in that kind of stress. The stressed out teacher is trying every trick in the book to get through to her students. This kind of stress has value, right? Wrong.

All stress is a sign of internal imbalance and paralyzing fear. These conditions are harmful to our health and our mental clarity. Life is indeed inherently challenging. You don't get past your first few baby steps without some form of challenge. That's true for everyone - the millionaire as well as the pauper. Challenge is an inescapable (and necessary) part of life, but not stress. Think of it like this: the gifted athlete who is training for the Olympics is faced with challenges each day he practices. He has the challenge of completing difficult drills over and over again. He works his butt off in order to be the best.

Challenges, viewed correctly, are needed to help us be better - to help us grow. When we face a challenge with the right attitude, we are forced to become bigger, stronger, faster...some grander version of ourselves in order to overcome the challenge. This has immense benefits to our physical and spiritual health. Stress is different. Stress is not about becoming better to overcome a challenge. Stress is - plain and simple - a manufactured internal reaction that is steeped in fear. Stress does not move us forward, but literally paralyzes our reactions and causes a harmful shift in the body's chemical make-up. Stress is deadly, perhaps the deadliest thing around. Stress should be avoided at all cost. It has no value. Zero.

So how do we get rid of stress? Firstly, let's make sure we realize that no-one or no thing can stress us out. We manufacture our own stress. Remember that. You have the copyright and patent to your stress. No-one other than you can create your stress. Aha!....therein lies the answer. If we manufacture our own stress (believe me, we do) then we can do away with it altogether. Yes! It is possible. Here are some tips to help you live a stress-free life.

1. Never again blame anything that happens outside of you for your stress. Take full responsibility for your internal state. If you are stressed out, realize that you are manufacturing the stress based on your perceptions. Stress is never imposed from without; it always arises from within.

2. Begin a meditative practice right away. Many of us living in the West are afraid of meditation. We think it's some strange Eastern practice that only monks do. If you think like this, wake up! Meditation is nothing more than quieting the mind for a period. This has well documented, proven beneficial effects (not the least of which is reducing stress).

3. Become more aware of the moments when you feel stressful and ask yourself: What is causing my stress? And, What is the benefit of me being stressed right now? You will begin to realize (if you do this routinely) that your stress is manufactured by you and that it is not helping you. It is very likely it is making you sick, causing you to have headaches and hijacking your sleep. Remember, your stress has no value.

4. Discover your passion and take action - I know this is not so simple, but believe me when I tell you that persons who are passionate about what they do are able to face many challenges without being paralyzed by stress. Stress is not a sign of being busy, it is a sign of being lost internally. When your internal compass is off, just about anything - any unexpected change, any challenge, any discomfort - causes stress. Becoming balance within is the panacea for stress. Being balanced within certainly does not remove life's challenges - nothing can - but it allows us to face challenges without becoming stressed (i.e. paralyzed with fear).

So there you have it. 4 effective tips for eradicating stress forever. Rather than doubt whether or not it is possible to rid yourself of stress, take action and implement these 4 simple tips. I am certain that in time you will notice that stress is not inescapable. When a few days go by without you feeling any stress, you will know that stress is - and always has been - a self-inflicted condition.

Visit www.themiddletheory.com to download a free stress busting program called "21 Days to Balance"

I have a Question????

Today I wish to pose an intriguing question for you thinkers out there. Let's face it, all of us from time to time are concerned about the chaos we often see on TV or in our own communities. We see people running through the street protesting this or the next. We see bloody children with frightened faces looking towards an horrific scene of violence....we see all these heartwrenching things, and yet we also see so many other scenes of beauty and kindness, peace and cooperation (we see very few of these scenes on TV, but nevertheless we do see them). So here is the question: Do you think there will ever be a time on this planet when the majority (let's say 98%) of human beings will live in peace and relative prosperity (i.e. have their basic needs met)? In your response, please share why you believe this day will come or why you believe it will never happen. I will post the most interesting responses on the revamped website for The Middle Theory that is soon to be realeased worldwide...so let's hear it!

Spiritual v.s. Religious (column by DESHON FOX published in Tribune Newspaper, Nassau Bahamas)

In the Bahamas, we like to think of ourselves as a religious nation. More precisely, we say we are a Christian nation. But are we a spiritual nation? Is there a difference? I believe there is a subtle, but important difference. To be religious implies that we hold to a limited view of spiritual truth - we strive to live according to certain ideals that we believe have been endorsed by God.

We may, for example, always end our prayers in a certain way for fear of not being heard by God if we do not. Similarly, we may always attend a particular church, believing that to attend any other is wrong. To be religious also implies that we have strong beliefs about God, and that we feel our version of religious truth-and the version of those who agree with us- is the only correct version. This is, in my view, detrimental to our spiritual growth and to the progress of a nation.

Spirituality, on the other hand is like swimming in a vast ocean and realising that the same ocean that carries you also holds and supports everyone else. When you are spiritual, you do not feel you have special access to God, or that you have found the absolute truth; you feel alive and blessed by a presence that is loving and generous to all. You feel no need to compete for God's attention; no need to be right. You are free to be who you are, to explore and investigate religious teachings with an unbiased eye. How would our society change if we matured into a spiritual nation? This question is one every Bahamian should ponder.

Our society is, by any reasonable yard stick, in trouble. Our children are killing each other at school, the very place where they should be maturing into thoughtful adults. Our educational system is largely outdated and ineffective. Our politics is petty. We have rightfully lost respect for many of our religious leaders. And yet, amidst this worsening social decay, we still claim to be a religious nation. Very strange! What would help us to move forward as a nation is not more bombastic preaching from pulpits, but a deeper awareness of our common aspirations as human beings and as Bahamians.

This does not require us to abandon our religious ideals; indeed, it requires us to reassess what true religion is and to independently evaluate our religious beliefs. If we did this sincerely, with an open mind and with absolute detachment, we would become more enlightened and would gradually be transformed into more compassionate human beings. Such a global shift in spiritual awareness would fundamentally change our society. A kinder, gentler Bahamas would gradually emerge. Our political discourse would be elevated. Crime would be reduced as we perceive more fully the sacredness of all life. The Bahamas would become an island nation known not only for its physical beauty, but also for the spiritual beauty of its people.

 And so, while we may and should pride ourselves on being a nation of strong religious traditions, let us strive to be more spiritual than religious. Being religious cannot and should not take the place of being spiritual. Our ultimate goal should be to become spiritually enlightened. Religious activities and traditions may, for some, be the vehicle to this enlightenment, but it is only a vehicle, not the destination. As we "travel" towards spiritual enlightenment, we should respect and value the different paths that others may take towards the same goal. We should wholeheartedly embrace even those who hold vastly different religious beliefs than us. With spiritual eyes, we would be able to see their humanity and love them unconditionally.

This love must find expression in our actions. Tolerance becomes divisive when it is the kind of tolerance that breeds pretense. Political rhetoric that sings the praises of compromise and consultation becomes background noise when it is not harmonised by unifying policies and behaviour. Attempts to stem crime become a waste of human resources when humility and kindness are not consistently modeled by parents and teachers. Without true spirituality-an enlightened awareness that allows us to perceive the beauty and sacredness of all life-our efforts to forge a unified and prosperous Bahamas will only have incremental benefits.

 If we want to launch forward, to see monumental changes in our country in the coming years, our religious values must move beyond our heads to our hearts. Our actions, not simply our words, must be aligned with the central teachings of our faiths. If this does not happen, positive change will be slow and painful, and our country will continue to be just a religious nation.

The Middle Theory - Chapter Ten ("Fear")

Even death is not to be feared by the one who has lived well

~The Buddha

Fear is a great valley that separates us from perfect balance. How do we cross over this valley? Better yet, how do we walk through it?

Fear cannot be ignored; it must be transcended. When fear is present, we know it. Our hearts feel it, our pores tighten, our pulse quickens; the muscles tense—fear takes control. But we can be fearless. We can move beyond fear.

When confronted by an angry dog, we are told to remain calm, to move slowly, and to refrain from running away. The dog can sense our fear. It can smell fear in the air. If we turn and run, or if our eyes are fearful, the dog knows we are afraid, and it attacks. Life is similar to the dog. When we are fearful, life knows. People know. If we fear death, death knows. If we fear failure, failure knows. Whatever we fear knows we fear it; and it will eventually attack. Therefore, fear not.

To be fearless is not to be beyond the feeling of fear, but to be beyond the control of fear. The woman that is afraid to speak but speaks anyway is being fearless. The man that is afraid to die but learns to accept death as his greatest comfort is fearless. To look fear in the eye and feel it, and to move past it, is to be fearless. How do we do this? We accept and know. We accept that life is sometimes harsh, that painful things happen, and that sometimes the nights are long. And we know that we are beyond the physical, that we are souls, that life is never lost, it is only experienced. This is how we walk through the valley of fear.

Fear can become our state of being. When this happens, we are not only fearful of a particular thing, say snakes, for example, but we are fearful of life. We are afraid to live, to be. Our lives become so over-run by fear that our every thought is fearful; our movements are fearful—we manifest fear. This is a terrible state to be in. This crippling state prevents us from loving, and it paralyzes our spiritual growth.

Fear controls much of what we do or do not do. For instance, many of us fear feeling unimportant, which drives us to do whatever it takes to move up the importance ladder. For some, importance is achieved through financial success, a large home, or even children. While these things are not bad in and of themselves, the motivation to achieve anything should never be based in fear. Anything done out of fear will not bring lasting fulfillment.

How do we deal with threats to our personal safety? How do we control fear when it’s dark, and we are alone, and someone is at the door trying to break in? Again, we simply accept and know. We accept that someone is at the door, we move to safety if we can, call the police maybe; we do whatever we can to be safe. The fear we feel in such instances is natural and normal, but even in situations where our lives are on the line, we can transcend fear. We react, we try to survive, but fear does not control us. The feeling of fear does not paralyze us, because ultimately, we know that our lives cannot be lost. This clearly is not easy. To be fearless we must overcome our fear of loss, every loss, and this requires deep inner awareness. The most pervasive kind of fear is the fear of loss. We are afraid of dying because we don’t want to lose our lives. We fear being honest because we don’t want to lose favor with others. We fear living life because we don’t want to lose ourselves. We fear exploring different religious teachings because we are afraid of losing our souls. At some level, all fear is based in a concept of loss. We can only exist as fearless human beings after we become acutely aware of the soul’s eternal existence. Until this happens, we will be spiritually hindered by the fear of losing something dear to us.

The soul must be perceived; it cannot be seen with the physical eye, or handled with physical hands. Perhaps that is why it is so easy for us to forget that we are souls and to identify only with the physical. We have to take care of our bodies, wash them regularly, provide them with nourishment several times a day, and do all sorts of other things to them so that we can remain functional. And so, it seems only natural that we would want to protect what we have become so intimate with, indeed, the only “us” we have ever seen. How can we be fearless when all it takes is a simple accident for us to be killed? How are we supposed to release ourselves from the fear of loss when it seems like we can lose everything we love in an instant? Again, to be fearless does not mean we do not feel fear at times. If a loved one dies, there will be pain; the heart will ache. If a robber pulls out a gun, and screams, “Get down or I’ll shoot!” the heart may race, but even in that moment of fright, or during the pain of loss, we can move past fear. It can be done. It is not easy to do, but it can be done. We must accept and know. This is the remedy for all fears.

In this earthly realm, we exist as body, mind, and soul. We are having an experience of who we are based on these three realities. Bullets and knives may not harm the soul, but they can destroy the body. And we use our bodies every day. So, how do we let go of our attachment to the body? How can we simply accept and know? Really, how do we forget that we are physical creatures who bleed if cut, starve if deprived of food, who suffer and eventually die? We do not forget anything. We feel. We see the body: the hands, the feet, the eyes, and the skin. We have a human experience, and then, we choose to move beyond the body. We can, through meditation, prayer, and love, transcend the framework of the body. We can sense our true substance, our souls. We must become quiet, move our thoughts to a place within, and gradually we will see that the valley of fear is a field shrouded in darkness, and though cold and gloomy, it is only a field. We can walk through the field, guided by the light of our being, and we can reach our state of balance, a state where fear no longer controls us. In short, to move past the fears associated with the body, we must have a personal experience of existing beyond the body.

Though it is extremely rare, many outstanding spiritual figures throughout the ages have manifested the fruit of fearlessness. The Fearless Ones share a common path—their lives are an expression of their souls’ desires. They dwell in a spiritual kingdom of love. They represent the Kingdom of God on earth because they manifest the unfathomable love of God. These fearless beings have learned and have sought to teach the rest of humankind that love is a creative energy that helps to mold our reality into a peaceable place. Fear is a creative energy that acts in opposition to love, by “short-circuiting” our ability to trust—ourselves, others, and God.

Do nothing out of fear. Do not marry because you fear being alone; marry because romantic love has lifted you to new heights. Do not fear ignorance, but love and acquire knowledge. Do not fear getting fired; instead, make a living out of doing something you love. Do not fear getting sick; work at being healthy. Have no fear of evil; love righteousness. Do not fear death, but simply love life. Have no fear of anything. Fear and love are powerful forces. The important difference is that love creates what your soul desires passionately, and fear manifests what you are fearful of most. Be mindful of this.

The Middle Theory