Create your own Reality!

 

When the World starts running down... 

There has been a paradigm shift in the way we view the world, ourselves and each other. In Matthew 24: 6-7, it is stated: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." This warning has been quoted for such a long time that many dismiss its importance. However, the prophesy remains valid and is meant to be taken to heart by each succeeding generation. We now find ourselves in a global community where each happening (either political or economic) affects us all. At no other time in history have the world economies depended so much on each other.  

Even though working full time, I have also been affected by the downturn in the economy. In America, we are working longer and harder to make ends meet. The data on unemployment is staggering. Many of us have been out of work for two-to-three years, and the outlook isn't getting that much better. It's very easy to get discouraged and throw your hands up in the air in surrender and frustration! There seem to be so many changes in 2014, but, isn't this what we expected? As with anything, change is in the eye of the beholder. We can choose to view life through the prism of Scarcity or Abundance.

If we choose scarcity, there is overwhelming evidence and popular thought to support this mentality. There are many forces in the world that prey on those of us who are fearful and have given control of their life to "the powers that be". Fear is the absence of love, or a belief in the inability of love to change the world. Jesus said "Love conquers all", which is arguably the most powerful truth in our world today! It is such a powerful concept that there are many dark powers fighting to maintain the world in a fear mentality. If a person is surrounded by negative forces, it is difficult to break the chain of fear.

Personally, 2014 has been a year of closing doors. In many aspects of my life, there have been endings. Many of my friendships have been put to the test and found lacking in the love necessary to continue them. Many organizations that I once trusted and relied upon have either gone out of business, or worse, lost their desire and/or ability to provide satisfactory customer service. It's truly amazing how things have changed in such a short period of time! But, most importantly, there have been changes in the way I look at the world. Yes, the world is running down, but should we hang onto our past fond memories and admit defeat? Or should we let the door to fear close, but keep our eyes scanning the horizon for love? I have chosen to shut the door and follow my conviction that the best is still to come! 

Take the best of what's still around...

We don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. We can still build upon our past successes, while retooling ourselves for the future. This requires a major paradigm shift on a global basis; a fundamental change in the world's way of viewing reality. We have to shut off the noise of the outer media and go inward, improving our connection with the energy and power of the Universe. By understanding the principles of meditation and the laws of attraction, we can connect with the universal source of creation to forge a new reality. This is not wishful thinking. The great religions and spiritual beliefs are founded on the belief in this creative energy!

So, I am calling on all creative people, be they artists or architects, scientists or dreamers, to use this universal energy to forge the way to this new reality. Many inventors and positive thinkers have shown through the centuries, that each one of us is endowed with the ability to take our dreams and visions and create them in the world. This ability was built into each one of us at birth, we already are "wired" for perfection of vision and creativity. Let us all consider what we are called to do...and JUST DO IT! Just like the characters in "The Wizard of Oz", we already have whatever we need to succeed, it's already inside us. We just have to realize the power inside!

So, it's a matter of shutting the door to the past and forging ahead into the future. Close the doors that lead to things that are no longer valid or make sense in our life. You may well find that there are many open doors awaiting you ahead. Use the prism of love and you will choose wisely!

Blessings!

Alfred Voto, M.Msc.

Moving Onward!

Attitude of Gratitude   The month of February was very active overall. My department at work had a major move from the 20th Floor to the 19th. In my personal life, there were many changes in future plans for relocation to a warmer, kinder climate. In my professional life, I'm getting closer to earning my doctorate in holistic counseling. In my business life, a couple of new investments and acquisitions bolstered my portfolio of companies in emerging markets. Often accompanying change comes concern for the future and some regrets for the past. This is natural and most people experience these concerns from time to time. But, dwelling on the past, or negative thoughts and regrets, is counterproductive to moving onward to the future ahead. Instead, I choose to think of my past achievements with an attitude of gratitude for everything I've accomplished.

I've been in my current job for 78 months of continuous employment. In my multi-career lifestyle, this has been a successful run and has enabled me to shore up my investments for the future. I am now glimpsing possibilities for my next step and will be ready when opportunities arise. I give thanks for the wonderful experiences and warm friendships that have been forged during the past six years and bless everyone who helped create a climate of respect. 

Moving onward is a mentality that should be constant in personal development. The individual goes through a period of nurturing and learning that leads to a position of self-esteem and the yearning for advancement. Often, there comes the desire to have more control in making decisions that impact the career path. An analogy can be made between being a passenger in an automobile or the driver of the vehicle. In corporate life, the individual must allow the directors to control the company's culture and make the decisions. If this strategy no longer supports personal development, then it's time to become the driver of the career path and prepare to take control of the next step. It's this next step that will define a person.

Voyage of Discovery  The next step involves a personal vision quest and a voyage of discovery. Procrastination in beginning this step not only wastes time, but might hold a person back in their desire for advancement and maintains the status quo. Planning starts the moment a decision is made to become the driver of the career path. Re-education and preparation for the necessary changes will create a proactive mentality in the individual and give them self-assurance for potential success. Just the activity of charting a new course might be enough to inspire and motivate them further. The smallest step made in this direction is never lost, as long as the individual stays the course, no matter how long it takes! 

Blessings for a successful voyage of discovery and taking the next step. The ultimate goal in life is to follow your bliss and become the driver of your own life! 

Alfred Voto, M.Msc. 

A Logotherapist's thoughts on the Existential Vacuum

Every once in a while, I like to wind down and reflect on how things are going in my life. The long July 4th weekend provided adequate time to both relax and think about things without the daily pressures of working a full time job. The daily tasks associated with work fill my weekdays and often make me too tired to reflect on anything more than resting, eating and sleeping. A four-day weekend, however, allows me to not only relax and recreate, but provides time to meditate, contemplate and basically think.

Thinking brings analysis and judgment, which opens up a door for the dreaded Existential Vacuum to slip in and demand some of my thoughts. During normal working hours, these mind games are better restricted to mere flashes and whispers from my inner gremlins. But, with more available time, opportunities for full-scale debates arise.

As a student of Viktor Frankl's work in Logotherapy, the seminal discussions found in his book, "Man's Search For Meaning", remind me that the need to find meaning in life is a prerequisite to attaining happiness. Time spent in the Existential Vacuum is important for each individual, as it opens up the search for the compass we use to chart our journey through life. Frankl introduced the idea of the Existential Vacuum; a void within ourselves created by a lack of awareness of any meaning worth living for. This void is caused by an inability to make proactive choices on our life's path and the loss or fading of traditions that have guided people's lives during past generations. A person then suffers this feeling of loss, often resorting to behavior that further traps the individual in a feeling of helplessness.

Symptoms of the Existential Vacuum often include a will for power, a will for money, a will for pleasure, a will for celebrity, or the opposite, a will for self-effacement - all of these in order to be accepted by others. These are only some examples, but the main cause is the lack of meaning in life. Logotherapy provides a solution for these symptoms. Each person must take responsibility in finding personal meaning to their life. This meaning must include action and not rely on abstract thoughts alone. Proactive involvement in life and the world is requisite to achieve a successful plan for a meaninful life. 

Logotherapy is very clear in creating a tactical plan. There are three possible approaches. The first is creating meaningful work or performing meaningful tasks. The second is by experiencing something or someone intimately. The third, and perhaps the most important, is the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. An often-repeated quote by Viktor Frankl is "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." This is powerful stuff!

So, at the end of this holiday weekend, I choose to follow all three approaches! Another of Frankl's quotes has also helped me: "The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of of his beloved." All of the great religious Traditions teach LOVE as the most powerful force. "Love conquers all!" There is also a saying, "Charity begins at home", which also means that we must first love ourself before we can love any other person or thing. By opening my heart to the universe, I am asking and receiving unconditional love. I am now able to take the world in a love embrace and follow my bliss and find meaning in life - which is happiness in a nutshell. As the Buddha said, "There is no path to Happiness: Happiness is the Path", And, as one of my trusted spiritual guides says, "Love is always the answer!"

Blessings, 

Rev. Alfred P. Voto, M.Msc.  

The Metaphysical Gatsby

Romping with the Mind of God

This is not a movie review, even though I did see the recent release of The Great Gatsby. I was curious to see how Baz Luhrmann would direct this adaptation of the great American novel. I came away with a new appreciation of the metaphysical aspects of this allegory of a man's search for meaning and how he found success in attaining his singular dream. The ambition of Gatsby, of course, was erasing five years of separation from Daisy Buchanan and building a dream based on their previous attraction. Even though it was common sense in the 1920s that rich girls don't marry poor boys, Gatsby's dream and ambition was focused on changing his life and going from rags to riches to take Daisy away from her husband and child. Set in boom times for the one-percent wealthy families in post-war America, the novel shows how high Gatsby had to climb to attain and pass the wealth of the Buchanan family.

Instead of accepting his "penniless" condition and giving up any though of ever reuniting with an ultra rich and spoiled woman of his dreams, Gatsby made Daisy his raison d'etre and the sole meaning to his being. Meditation was not mentioned in the novel, but it was obvious that Gatsby truly believed in the law of attraction. By focusing on his goal with intensity and abandon, he put himself in situations that would eventually lead to his acquiring outrageous wealth through both legitimate and dubious means. The metaphor of "Romping with the Mind of God" puts Gatsby in the category of a true metaphysical science practitioner. Using singular vision, he enters into a position of actually becoming one with God and the universe. I can reach back into my own memory to recall a similar situation when I concentrated all my energy and will power to reach a goal. Carl Jung, the great psychologist and visionary, believed in what's called the Collective Unconscious, which can be compared to a database containing all existing wisdom in the universe. We can access this database through the practice of meditation. I can recall many times when I cleared my thoughts, meditated and received inspiration that would become the seed from which my dreams manifested forth. Gatsby refused to look back to his condition of poverty, but instead lived in the NOW and sought to carry it into the future.

Fall from Grace

Gatsby's singular focus on reuniting with Daisy was flawed by two things. Sure, he was able to build great wealth beyond the imagination of most men at the time, but, he built his empire based on his own dreams and desires. He used his memory of Daisy to paint each of his gains and and successes with a nice veneer of opulence. After all, this was Gatsby's dream and vision. He saw the world through rose-colored glasses of his mind. The flaw would eventually become clear when Daisy questioned the dream world that Gatsby had made for the two of them. She already had the jaded wealth and comfort afforded her by the Buchanan family. Her attraction to Gatsby was not fueled by unity with the universe, but by more profane attraction to the trappings of wealth. In comparison to Gatsby's lofty idealism, Daisy exhibited the whims of a spoiled and uncaring woman. Gatsby was Utopian in his vision, but Daisy's vision was shallow and transitory.

The second flaw to Gatsby's vision was his desire to recapture the five years of separation from Daisy. In essence, he wanted to take his wealth and return with Daisy to a time before marriage and child entrapped her. God's time is not linear, but cosmic and eternally progressive. The only time to connect with God is in the present moment, in the NOW. Jesus said, "Once you have put your shoulder to the plow, never look back!" By looking back, Gatsby disconnected from the dynamic universal source of energy. He could no longer romp with the mind of God, but was forced to see Daisy as she really was, as she chose to be. After all, she had her own dreams and visions. Gatsby was never able to regain his connection with the divine source, and his life and dreams spiraled downward. In fact, it might be said that, looking back, he was forced to deal with all the karma from his deeds that propelled him to the top.  

Living in the NOW

The lesson to this allegory is essential. We can do what Gatsby did and have a singular vision. But, we must collaborate with others to co-create Heaven on Earth. It's fine to have a dream and vision for the future, but we must take into consideration the desires and needs of others. Gatsby tried to be an alchemist and turn Daisy's base metal into Gold. To perform miracles, we must work with like-minded individuals who deeply desire to share a common goal. We must live in the NOW, the only place where God resides and universal principles operate. If we don't, then the green light at the end of Daisy's dock will be forever clouded by the mists of flawed plans and visions.

Blessings!

Rev. Alfred P. Voto, M.Msc.

Returning to Source

Retooling our perceptions of the Changing Times   During my morning commute aboard the 159R express, there was an incident that seemed minor at the time but which provided a catalyst for incredible insights to occur during the coming days. There came the smell of what was perceived as burning bus brakes, which in and of itself is not unusual, but we all agreed that something strange was happening, and the scent was perceived by each individual member of our group differently. Some felt the intrusion to be an indication that the infrastructure was crumbling, which is more fact than perception; others took the smell as indicating that great changes were afoot! For my part, it would not be until the early afternoon before I was to exhibit what can only be explained as a "knowing" that the channels of transition are now in place and can be readily accessed for those seeking to transcend the Earth plane. As the next morning approached, I was surrounded by a feeling of peace and well-being that has magnified and become more intense in each succeeding day. Changes were indeed happening, and a new era has commenced.

Everyone can agree that changes have occurred; the old economic mentality no longer works in today's world. The authors of the old benchmarks have been proven to be untrustworthy, from the highest levels of management to the lowest depths of greed and corruption. Caught in the middle are the baby boomers; those who started this great shift during the cultural revolution of the 1960s. On the verge of retirement, baby boomers are caught on the horns of a major dilemma: whether to trust the old ways that were thrust upon us by our parents' generation, or to boldly leap into the New Age mentality that is coded within each of us...waiting to be released! It will be the brave pioneers who take this "leap of faith" who will reap the benefits of the present times. Those of us who trust in the Power of Now have already experienced the warmth and security of the changing times, and have taken the first steps into the new reality.

Countdown to Eternity
The ancient peoples of Earth have written numerous accounts of what will be shortly happening. Those of us who will be present during these events will be called upon to endure what for some will be hardships, others will rejoice in the mighty upheaval of the Universe and see it as a new beginning. Biblical references abound, including the book of Revelations and the Gospel of Mark (Mark 13:24-32). In Hinduism, the life of the god Shiva describes this very eloquently, and relates a story of both destruction and creation. Truly, all the religions of the world have their own scriptural references to these end times. The channels of transition are now available for those who desire not to remain in their present condition, but prefer to search for another, improved dimension. As a Logotherapist, I have an understanding of this transition and can assist those preparing to change their present realization and create a more meaningful life. Also, as a Metaphysician, I have studied many of the scriptures relating to this rite of passage and can assist those struggling with their decision.

Eat, Drink and be Merry! The changes will continue to occur, so the best thing to do is not to panic, but seek to make each moment count. By deciding to enjoy life and seek wisdom, we can all take a lesson from the teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes. Everyone knows that earthly life is not eternal, yet some choose to "sweat the small stuff." The saying "no pain, no gain" has become a belief system for many of us. The wise man knows that life is not a "vale of tears," but an opportunity for abundant living based on love and  compassion. The essence of all world religions is a paradigm shift from a life based on fear to one based on love. The first step is to love ourself and have profound compassion on both ourself and others.

How often do we agonize about each daily task and put too much pressure on ourself to succeed in everything we do? The answer might seem simple, and if we truly think about our motives in life, we will see that there were many times when we did things out of fear, not love. If things seem to be difficult and hard, perhaps we are not meant to do them. The saying "If it feels good, do it" might be better translated "If it feels right, then do it." The initial step is to "stop the insanity," and understand that we have precious little time to waste in living an abundant life. By returning to source, which is the same as a return to love, we can once again connect with the infinite power of the Universe. As St. John the Baptist says in the Gospels, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!" It's time to leave the old ways behind and start creating Heaven, right here, right now. We have the power; it's been right inside us all along!

Blessings!

Rev. Alfred P. Voto, M.Msc.

WELCOME SPRING



Russian Easter Eggs (Pysanky)



HAPPY EASTER  At Easter, I slip back into my Russian persona; remembering my grandmother's labor of love in hand-decorating eggs that would wind up in our Easter basket. The memory of the incense in the Russian Orthodox church where I was baptized and the gloriously mysterious hymns that helped define my early spirituality. I send warm blessings of love to all "Babushkas" and my friends celebrating the sacred nexus of Passover / Easter. Mir, Peace, Pax, Shalom, OM.

Peace and Light!

Rev. Alfred Voto, M.Msc.

Merry Christmas!

Seasons Greetings!

Last night after attending Christmas mass, I had a wonderful vision as I gazed at the Christ child in the creche. The words of Jesus rang in my ear, the message was clear: We must come together as children, sharing the blessings of a loving creator.

The Universe is our playground, and the possibilities are unlimited. The Spirit connects us all together, to share the abundance that is the birthright of all God's children. The key to unlocking this great gift is to simply choose Love over Fear. A great feast awaits, and there is a place for everyone at the table.

Love is all we need to get together and share the feast and the incredible abundance set before us. With Love to guide our hearts and minds, there are no divisions to separate us, only possibilities.

Love, Peace and Light, to all of you, my brothers and sisters!

Blessings!

Rev. Alfred Voto, M.Msc.