From Running With The Wolves to Holding Them At Bay...

What is a father?

Part of being a father, for me, is knowing where to draw boundaries. 

Boundaries for Corrina, but more importantly, boundaries for myself. Because so much of her development is influenced by what I model with my own behavior. What I reverberate, she picks up and learns to transmit. 

Shadow included. (gulp)

The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate. ~Douglas Engelbart

Now, there’s a part of me will always be a 22 year old. Like Huck Finn on Dead Tour, deep down, I’ll always have a desire to hit the road and explore the world. Especially with friends.

Last weekend, Corrina & I went camping in Ithaca (rated one of the top 10 places in the world to drop out of “society” by Outsider magazine). It was perfect weather, and we were totally in the flow - the kind of flow that only happens on road trips!

My friend Teresa and her daughter Corina shared the adventure with us.  We made a weekend of waterfall walking, gourmet hippie cuisine - it’s great to see the girls trying things they’ve never had before, and loving them! -  swimming, blackberry picking, hiking, crystals & best friend pendants and a dozen silver dollar sized, vegan pancakes down by the river with baby ducks to feed... it was heaven.

A strong man and a waterfall always channel their own path. ~Anonymous

The waterfall walking was, by far, my favorite part. The 3/4 mile hike through the gorge is magnificent. Shale walls forever crumble inward toward the limestone creek-bed. All along the way there were small waterfalls where the girls would wash and “recharge” their new amethyst crystals - a gift from Teresa.

We reached Toughanock Falls at dusk, after everyone else had shied away. 

A “Do Not Enter” sign hung from the foot-bridge 50 yards from the plummeting water. 

We decided to brave it, taking responsibility for our choices. 

Corrina and I often talk about the paradoxical “Circle of Freedom and Responsibility” and how making good choices, even when difficult, will get her more freedom - with me, and in life.

I hung back with the girls, while Teresa ventured right up to the 200-foot falls with the kids’ crystals - named Shimmer & Shine - in her pocket. She came back drenched! We all had a good time. 

The next day, leaving town, we stopped by the lower falls. A few brave souls were leaping from the 30-35 foot drop of limestone. I got it in my mind to try that. 

“Don’t Die Wondering" has been my motto for some time, now. And it's served me well... to a point.

Naturally, Corrina protested. I told her I ‘heard’ her and motioned to move on with our adventure. We skipped some excellent shale stones on the shore as the jumpers waded to our end of the pool to exit. Corrina reiterated her fear and I hugged her and told her I heard her. Of course, I’m not all punch and pie... the third or fourth time she brought it up I shut her down, told her I had heard her and that I would get angry if she brought it up again.

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

We all got in the water - fully clothed - planning to change back at the car. I decided I was gonna teach Corrina a lesson in physics (there’s magic in ledge-jumping... you land further forward than your mind can project since you aren’t used to the additional 20-30 feet of drop) and in “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” 

Since it was right there in front of me I began my ascent, climbing up the pile of falling water over majestic, mossy boulders of the lower falls. Every step and finger-hold was blessed by some magical intuition that I wouldn’t fall and die (this was a harrowing mindfulness practice).

At the top I thanked the terra firma and reflected on the day prior, where we had followed the riverbed to the source. I thought about my Source, and I thought about my death. Jumping from heights is not something I do often. Ever, really. Not once, actually, have I ever jumped from heights above 6-7 feet. 

In fact, I’m terrified of heights. Not fear that I will fall... but that I will jump. So this seemed like the right thing to do. Face my death. Cuz I’m a spiritual warrior... and shit...

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. ~JFK

So, I peered over the edge of the drop-off. The girls were on the shore opposite me, camera in hand. I turned to the source and I closed my eyes, stood tall, stretching in the sun, and considered the man I’ve been up to that point. Then I felt into my back-body and I thought of my impending “death” and the man I would be, walking up onto that shore. Proving to my frightened little girl that I’m a man, I tackle challenges like they’re munchkins, or face a part of myself that other kids’ fathers won’t face... I wondered what new pattern this would kick-off for me as a father, as a man. It got me pumped, so I turned to face death.

I walked down to the place everyone had jumped from, and peered over the edge looking for the right place to land. Corrina had turned away. She sat sulking on a stone, facing the other direction. It made me sad that she might miss my moment of raging glory, tearing through the veil of fear, seeing into the heart of my own masculinity... 

Taking some practice steps I got a feel for the leaping energy I would have to push with when I left the rock ledge to pencil dive into the bardo, only to arise, baptized into some new life. Honestly, I live for this. If I don’t have a breakthrough experience a few times a year I go stir-crazy inside my soul.

So, there it was... my moment of departure. Camera girl giving me a thumbs up. Teresa arrived from below to see me off. I rocked back and forth, dialing up my adrenaline, revving my testosterone, thinking how smart I was for not just exploding my circuits, but workin up to it...

And there’s Corrina looking up at me, shoulders slumped forward, pouty lips and a fluttering heart...

Everything was lined up. My trajectory was plotted. I was tuning into my intuition, feeling whether I needed to be cocked a little more this way or that... I was just gonna trust it. Trust myself. When I felt like it was right, I’d let my gut carry me into the fleeting moment of abyss, sweep me into my next life-time. My next incarnation...

And Corrina.

Thoughts bucked through my mind. “It’s scary, yes, but I know I can push myself through my fear.” “I can always come back and do it with my buddies.” “If I don’t do this, what will it say about me?” “No, I have to do it! I said I was gonna do it, and here I go... dammit!”

I felt into my heart. My intuition slowed me down. I followed it. I did what I felt. 

I sat down.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with those who are reckless with yours. ~Mary Schmich

After a few minutes Teresa sits next to me and, like the incredibly powerful woman she is, puts words to what I’m realizing for the first time in my life. By letting Corrina know her heart is more important to me than my transient adventures and epiphanies, however spiritual they may seem, I’m setting a pattern in motion in her that will alter the course of her life.

And mine. 

When I got to the bottom of the rock formation Corrina was waiting for me on the other side of the stream. 

We met in the middle and she held me in an extra-long, extra-silent hug.

The man I became... was not the man I had expected. 

Follow the child. ~Maria Montessori

I’m so grateful or these teaching moments. Children have a way of teaching that eludes me, until it’s upon me. My own Circle of Freedom and Responsibility got turned on its head. 

I didn’t know what to do, so I wrote this post to share.

Actually, finishing up this post a week later, I’m still a bit shaken up by the experience. If you know the feeling, please chime in. I could really use the support... as I’m sure we all could.

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Creator EnlightenedChild.com

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The Heroic Journey of the Adopted Child

What is it like to be adopted?

How can anyone answer that? It's painfully subjective.

My experience of adoption; of life, is uniquely mine.

Yet, I have come to recognize patterns and landmarks along the path that are common to all adoptees. Common to all humans, in fact.

We all share a similar journey to some degree. Whether you’re adopted or not. Your journey and mine, when we learn to see with archetypal vision, show all the signs of The Hero's Journey.

The myth is the public dream and the dream is the private myth. ~Campbell

The Hero’s Journey is a template. It’s what Joseph Campbell called the Mono-Myth.

Monomyth is THE deep, underlying pattern of our private dreams, collective myths, timeless songs, popular stories and well-lived lives.

The cycle is always the same: we are all mired in some "unsupportive" environment, questing for healing and redemption. Our series of adventures  along the way are what personalize our version of this perennial story.

This story is told and retold in classical tales from the Greek gods and heroes to the legend of the Holy Grail. The Hero's Journey is so deeply rooted in each of us that the pattern replicates even today in blockbuster movies like Star Wars, The Matrix and Back to the Future.

Joseph Campbell's great work The Hero With 1000 Faces has influenced timeless musicians like Bob Dylan and members of the Grateful Dead who recognized the inexhaustible, archetypal source of their inspiration.

It's no surprise these musical troubadours have careers stretching nearly half a century, inspiring millions and millions of people.


The grateful dead man is somebody who helps the hero on his journey, his quest, which will take many forms. ~Trist

Campbell was friendly with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, who tapped into the power of a 2000 year old legend to name their band. He worked with George Lucas to ensure the original Star Wars Trilogy had all the depth and emotional engagement of a truly Heroic Journey.

Here is a description of the basic outline:


1.) Departure - A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder.

2.) Initiation - Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won.

3.) Return - The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Every version of this story, whether a legendary tale or the story of your personal lifetime, reveals the same cycle.

The way the story unfolds is your unique contribution to the chorus of heroes who answer the call and live the adventure, overcome the challenges and return home changed, with some great gift to share.

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours. ~Bob Dylan
 

Recognizing these patterns and similarities has brought a tremendous amount of healing to my life. I've stepped out of my wound enough to see that we all experience a separation from Source at some point on our journey. It's no longer personal. It's no longer my "fault." The separation, the trials, the path to wholeness... it's THE common framework of all human experience.

We all know what it’s like to be Luke Skywalker or Neo who is called to the journey. We all know what it’s like to feel doubt, fear, guilt… resistance to answering the call. Yet, just like in the movies, life has a way of working out, and before we know it…

We all know what it's like to be hanging from the Cross: naked, exposed, vulnerable as an infant in the wilderness, wracked with fear, riddled with existential levels of betrayal and abandonment; every cell in our bodies screaming:

Why have you forsaken me!!! ~Jesus

And to that cry for help... a resounding, deafening silence.

It’s from that darkest place on our Journey that we experience the deepest transformation.

The depths of our soul is the mine from which we draw forth our gold. If our body is a microcosm of the entire universe, this is when we experience the supernova on the other end of the black hole we get sucked into.

What happens to Jesus in the story? He wakes up.

He realizes he has never been forsaken, and it was only his own ego blinding him to the truth of his Source. And he comes back to show the world the reality he has discovered. The reality we all must come to experience ourselves for it to be truly true.


A good life is one Hero's Journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure... ~Campbell

We can’t just read the story. We can’t just watch the movie. We can’t just imagine what it will be like when we sack up and answer the call. We can't just sleep, living vicariously through our imaginations…

We must LIVE it. Over and over again, we must become the Hero in our own Monomyth.

In the next blog post, I’m gonna share some more of my personal story. More of my own journey. More of my own quest and awakening. And more of the deeper, universal patterns of the Hero Myth we all share.

Meanwhile, I'd love to hear more of your story... enter your email and you can email me directly. (Kid info is optional.)

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Craig
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Recovering the Soul of the Adopted Child

I was adopted. At birth.

By all accounts, my life could not have been more fortunate.

I was afforded every advantage.

Yet, by in large, I was mis-er-a-ble.

"Your children are not your children...

You may house their bodies but not their souls" ~Gibran

My folks are amazing people. They've built a life of affluence from very modest upbringings. They've traveled the world many times over and quenched their appetites for all things refined and cultured. I've watched their circle of friends share and support one another in this very boomer endeavor, and I've benefited from the cultural literacy and business acumen of this consciously cultivated extended family.

What has most impressed me about my parents is the way they've developed their marriage, and continue to deepen it to this day, after nearly 45 years together.

I would never say I resented them for adopting me. Certainly, this makes no "logical" sense. But there has always been something missing. Something all this external blessing could never ameliorate.

I have deeply resented being adopted.

Why? Even writing this feels like a knife twisting in my solar plexus. How rude of me! How ungrateful! What a spoiled brat I must be!

"Adoptees are not grateful, they are grieving..." ~Verrier

Several years ago my godfather passed along one of the most illuminating books I've ever read: The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child by Nancy Newton Verrier.

Essentially, this book explains that adopted children experience a profound psychic-emotional wound that a.) goes totally unaddressed by society - families included - and b.) creates a "false self" that the adopted child puts on in order to protect from being rejected and abandoned again... particularly because the deeply wounded, deeply grieving authentic self inside is not accepted, or even acknowledged.

This primal wound causes a tremendous amount of pain and suffering in the adopted child. A loss no less painful than that felt by the spouse and children of a loved one who dies unexpectedly.

The difference is that, in any other experience of trauma or loss, our society accepts and acknowledges this grief, and encourages a period of deep grieving for the loss of the loved one, or in the case of abuse or rape, the loss of self that has been ripped away and wounded.

"Grief is the gateway to all other emotions." ~Bly

The adopted child's wound is characterized by "premature ego death" and the very authentic grief that wells up beneath the surface, just like all that toxic oil billowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP oil wreck.

It's a mess that nobody wants to have to deal with. Least of all adoptive parents who most likely have never grieved their own loss due to their inability to birth their own biological children.

It's a big game of make-believe fantasy-family-land at some level. I'm sure it varies by degrees in each family, particularly in more recent times as adoptions are becoming more open, and parents more enlightened about what being adopted means.

"Cry, baby, cry..." ~Beatles

I know, with my own daughter, when she cries for mama at inconvenient times - like bed-time - that if I just stop myself from trying to reprimand, shame or otherwise convince her out of her feelings, hold her and acknowledge her sadness, she is able to cry it out. The tears run their course quickly and it's only a moment before she's kissing me goodnight - feeling seen, held, and okay just the way she is.

Simply learning about this has given me permission to accept and acknowledge my own deep grief. By owning this grief and beginning the process of feeling it, consciously, for the first time in my life, I have experienced a tremendous amount of healing - more than I can possibly express with words. I've begun recovering my soul.

This grief, I've learned, comes not only from the loss of connection with my birth mother after 9 months of hangin out together like BFF's, but also from the lack of mirroring for my soul growing up.

Now that I, myself, am a father I can clearly feel the difference between the way I know my daughter and the way my folks know me. Sure, they could sense that I was sensitive, intelligent, artistic and creative in general. And they sent me to all sorts of great camps and lessons for art and guitar and science...

 "Teach your children well, their father's hell did slowly go by..." ~CSN&Y

But when I look at my daughter, I know in a quantum flash precisely what just went through her mind. I can sense what multi-generational karmic chord is vibrating in her, and how to help her get aligned with the process of healing that karma she's inherited from me... or celebrate the brilliance of her soul that only a biological parent can recognize, because it's been directly imparted from a very intimate part of my own soul.

I longed for that kind of connection all through my adolescence and early adult-hood. Instead I felt projected upon, or completely unseen for who I was. This all happened at an unconscious level, and only served to deepen the wound, the grief of abandonment, the resentment and self-doubt that lies at the core of nearly all adopted children.

"You may give them your love, but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts." ~Gibran

It didn't help that I had no language for expressing my deepest self. It didn't help that I had no map of the possible forms or dimensions of expression available to me. I was expected to model the staunch, entrenched attitudes and values of my war-generation parents, even though I'm a child of the 70's, born of parents a decade younger than the ones who adopted me. It was a poor fit on many subtle levels, and I've suffered in the deepest recesses of my soul... with no ability to explain how I felt, and no moral grounds for justifying this grief and resentment.

In the following blog posts, I will share more of my journey of awakening, and how I found a collection of tools (which have become the basis for Enlightened Child) that ultimately provided me with a mirror for my deep, authentic self. The one I was born with, before the "premature ego death" and construction of a false self.

"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." ~Campbell

The work of self-discovery... self-excavation, really, is not only a fascinating story, it's also incredibly instructive for anyone on the path of self-mastery and awakening.

And if you're adopted, or raise adopted children, it's my heart's prayer that you will learn to connect with the deep, authentic self that lies at the heart of every adopted child.

Here's a link to The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child - please read it, or pass it on to those you know who are interested in the experience of adopted children, and their path to wholeness.

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig
Creator EnlightenedChild.com
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~

Sir Ken Robinson: TED Talk on Creativity

"Around the world, there were no public [schooling] systems, really, before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So, the hierarchy is based on two ideas:

1.) The most useful subjects for work are at the top. So you were probably steered away from subjects you liked [art, music...] on the grounds you'll never get a job doing that. Benign advice. Now, profoundly mistaken. The whole world is engulfed in revolution.

2.) Academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence. The universities designed the system in their image. The whole system of public [schooling] around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. The consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized.

And I think we can't afford to go on that way.

...Suddenly, degrees aren't worth anything.

We need to rethink our views of intelligence."

To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Creator EnlightenedChild.com

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~

Kahlil Gibran ~ On Children

On Children

Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.





To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Creator EnlightenedChild.com
Be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

Program or Be Programmed!!!

This is probably one of the single most important issues I can think of when it comes to the freedom of our children and our society.

The nature of culture is to define itself by what it values, and build context by patterning language and replicating that language in the minds of the people in the the culture.

What Douglas Rushkoff is talking about here is the way technology (from the invention of written words to the printing press to the blogosphere) has impacted the development of culture. The implications make me want my daughter to have a solid understanding of computer science!

The realm of the possible begins with the imagination of the programmers. The ability to translate that vision into applications that shape the interactions made possible for our culture, and the way these interactions are shaped by the very technology that enables our interactions are all core to the freedom we experience... or lack thereof.




Click here to view short video from SXSW

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig
Creator
EnlightenedChild.com

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~

What's Real & What's Imaginary?

What do you do with a Pisces child?

They're so deliciously dreamy, and yet, as a father I feel it's important to help my daughter make distinctions between what's really real (like objectively existent) and what's imaginary.

When she was 3, 4, 5 years old we played "Dragons" all the time. They were as real as anything in her world. 

About 6 months ago she called me up because Jeni  finally leveled with her about the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and good old Santa Claus. She had just lost a tooth and was curious, as kids inevitably get.

I did my best to explain that when she was a little kid she believed in the dragons, but now she knows they're not real. Still, it's fun to pretend. Same with these other imaginary beings.

We talked about her little cousin who would call you a liar to your face if you told her Santa Claus isn't real. And how as she grows up she'll go through a period where she "knows" the truth, but still lets her emotional attachment to the imaginary rule her mind. And that it's totally okay.

What's important, I explained, is to "just notice" when she's believing in something imaginary, and when she's dealing with something really real.

Lately, Corrina has been telling "stories" about things that seem perfectly reasonable to a kid, and probably correlate with very vivid imagery in her incredibly imaginative Pisces mind. When I ask her if these things really happened she snaps back, "oh yeah, I saw it on YouTube," or, "oh, well my friend told me, and I trust my friends." Sometimes I get aggravated, but I know it's part of growing up.

Again, as her father, I feel responsible for helping her start to "just notice" when something is really real, and when it's part of her imagination only... or when it's a little of both. I know I was gullible to things my friends said well into high-school.

So, we talked about the difference between dragons and dogs. Between Santa and something you can take a video or picture of. And we talked about how sometimes something starts out being real, and we remember it just like we took a video of it, but then our minds start to make up things that didn't really, actually happen.

She seemed to understand. I mean, I don't want to shame her for it. It's natural. And it's also natural that she grow out of this eventually. 

The Enlightened Child piece in this is letting Corrina know that it's okay. Every kid goes through it. And that it's a process. When she was a little kid, like her cousin, she fully believed all this fantasy stuff was real. Even though I knew it wasn't I let her revel in it because I understood where she was at developmentally. And I explain that she's not ready to entirely let go of Santa Claus. Even though she knows he's not "really real" a part of her wants to go with it for a few more years.

Rather than asking her to grow up all at once, or simply waiting until she does, I'm inviting her to "just notice" what's real and what's imaginary. Planting the seed and nurturing her ability to make that distinction, so that over the next several years she will become clear on what's really real, what's just in her imagination, and how each of these is important, valuable, and useful.

She is, after all, a Pisces. Her imagination is one of her greatest strengths. So I want her to learn to use it, rather than leave it under-developed and susceptible.

I'd love to hear from you if you have any similar experiences, questions or wisdom to share.


To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig
Creator
EnlightenedChild.com

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~

John Taylor Gatto on Life & Education

John Taylor Gatto is one of the most important voices on the failure of schooling to shape our children into authentic individuals.

The schooling system, it turns out, has been specifically designed to dumb down our children and rob them of sovereignty.

Watch this 10 minute video - it's enlightening and inspiring.




To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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The Lost Generation - Must See Video

My friend Malena Gamboa from We On Earth - http://www.weonearth.org - first showed me this, and it's absolutely brilliant!



Or Click Here to see this brilliant video about the Lost Generation the refuses to accept...

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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How is the New (Social) Media Affecting Your Kid's Brain?

If you have a kid, you MUST watch this video. Especially if they're in their teens.




To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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Why 2012 is So Frickin Exciting...

"If you're watching this video, you are one of those people who is being charged to share what you know with the people.



Or Click Here to see this on YouTube

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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Who Am I When I'm Living Most Authentically? (Reflections on Burning Man)

One of my favorite mentors and friends is Alexis Martin Neely. She is a legal, marketing, business and celebrity expert (with the income to back it up) and she's unabashed about living her life Authentically.

She recently returned from Burning Man with her family, and shared her experiences on her monthly call: Mindset, Motivation, Marketing & Money You can fan her at http://www.facebook.com/PlayBigWithAlexis (click this link to see a picture of her in pink dreads, bikini top and WWII fighter pilot goggles ;-)

She asked such great questions about 20 minutes in to the call that I literally had to disconnect and journal. She talked about how 50,000 people spend 10 days in the desert under horrendous conditions for one common purpose - to live their lives as authentically as possible. Why I have yet to attend is one of the 11th mysteries of the world... maybe Rochester needs my authenticity more than Black Rock City.

Her battery of questions began with: Who would you be if you were living most authentically, how would you feel, what would you be doing... so I ran with it.

Here's an excerpt from my journal. It's rough, but isn't that more authentic?

Living most Authentically with Who I TRULY Am…

Be: Who AM I?

I am a fragment of the spiritual heart of pure light that many call God. I am here for only one reason – to be a vessel and conduit for that light, attracting others together so that our light can grow and we can all see more clearly the reality of who we are so that the world can eventually transcend its own darkness and a renaissance of spiritual consciousness can “tip” the balance towards a world of great harmony and joyous co-creation with our like-minded reflections in the world of manifestation. So we can ALL live authentically, and we can all experience wholeness and fulfillment, and on THAT we can build a world of great artistic complexity and beauty.

I feel whole, connected, fully in love and reveling in the joy of living my passion, being seen and appreciated by others who really marvel at the way I’m bringing my vision into the world for all to share.

Do: How do I do this? And How do I generate income?

The way I do it is by creating art and sharing it with the world. Then teaching others what I know, and connecting those who are interested with those who I learned from so that we call enjoy a greater understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our world. From this, money pours in to me from patrons, students and interns I work with who help me steward this arc.

Have: What do I have as a result of living in alignment with my core Authenticity?

I have everything I need and more, so much abundance that I am able to share my work with the world freely and feel like there are zero restrictions on my time and my freedom to create and to give from my deep soul.

So, what about YOU!!! How would you be living if you were totally coming from your most Authentic Self... at least more often, if not most of the time?

Very curious to read your responses!!

Enjoy ;-]


To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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Holy Crow - Wireless Electricity is HERE!!!

Watch this video - he actually demos untethered power on a TV and iPhone!

The only thing I might add is that the story I heard went something like: JP Morgan was the financier of the Tesla tower on Long Island... he had it summarily destroyed once he learned of the purpose - Free electricity around the globe.

Corporate Policy is to put a meter on EVERYTHING.

Notice how the demo in this video requires access to the same power grid we're already on - it just distributes the power locally in an untethered fashion.

What about TESLA!!! He dismantled his engineering notes and distributed them among a couple dozen nations and said, "When you can play nice, you can have my secrets to unlimited free power anywhere in the world."






To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

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An Open Letter to Michael Strong (draft)

My mission is to Illuminate.

I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.

Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.

This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.

These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.

I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.

He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:

"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"

My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.

If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.

There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.

Below begins my response...

~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.

This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.

~~~~~

From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.

My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...

So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"

I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.

My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.

Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?

As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)

People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)

My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.

What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.

I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.

Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.

My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.

And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.

There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'

Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.

What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.

Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.

Thanks again,

Craig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

Just Catching My Breath!!!

The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of adventure and connection with some of the people I love most in all the world.

Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com

The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:

1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.

TO GET BETTER, IN A GOOD WAY

2.) Service - Something happened to me when I was 21 or so. I realized that service is actually a gift for MEEEEE!!! Can't explain it, maybe call it Karma, or the Golden Rule, I just notice that when I am engaging with the world from a place of service - both opening doors for old ladies, and anyone else passing by, as a well as, serving the world with my deepest gifts - I am much more connected, and much, much happier.

3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.

4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]

5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.

All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.

Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.

There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.

If you're interested, don't be shy.

Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.

I look forward to being of service on your journey.

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

The EC Sampler Booklet - Phase 2: Development 1

This is part 2 in a series documenting the process of how I created the most recent Enlightened Child coloring book sampler.

Last post I showed the first couple models that I made up to prove the concept would work in reality.

Here you can see the note cards laying on the computer, the Publisher file with the signs, and a copy of the front and back of each page.

I taped them together, back to back...

So, when you fold them together, they work like a real book...

Just like in the note-card model!

Next post I'll show how I came up with the writing that ultimately graces the pages.


To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: http://www.enlightenedchild.com/

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

The EC Sampler Booklet - Phase 1: Design

My original Enlightened Child kids book cost me $66 to produce six. What I wanted was something that cost 25 cents... something I could just as easily give away.

With Rusted Root coming up, and all the fun I had at RatDog & Michael Franti, I decided to invest some of the money from a local patron and print up some promotional coloring books for kids who come play my Mancala game at concerts.

At one point I had an idea for a coloring book, but I didn't have line-drawings of all 12 signs. To save myself the time and effort, and just "get er done" I decided to make a sampler book with the first 4 signs and an explanation the parents can appreciate.

So I made up a little model of how it would work, and what it would say...

Then I folded it up to test it and see if I was on the right track...

Everything looked good, so I made transfered the model to Publisher and printed a shell version...

With a solid base to build on, I roughed in the content...

What I ended up with made enough sense to move forward with the plan. In the next post, I'll show what steps I took to bring it all together.

Would you like a copy?

Cool...

There's two ways you can get one. Just refresh this page and sign up for the newsletter, or join us at www.facebook.com/EnlightenedChild.

Everyone who joins will receive a free copy of this coloring book and a license to print them and share them with your friends.

Cheers,

Craig

want a free postcard print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: http://www.enlightenedchild.com/

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

Realized

Would you like a Free Postcard of the 'Realized' Buddha?

I made the 5' tall collage out of National Geographic photos my grandfather gave me. You'll love it!



It's wicked cool, and it is just as easily framed and mounted on the wall as it is pinned to a cork board or stuck on the fridge with a magnet. You'll find the vibrant colors and captivating gaze of the witness make this piece a delight to behold, and a wonderful conversation starter.

If you'd like a free postcard as my welcome gift to you, please click here to enter your address.



I can't wait to see how you like the Print!

Cheers,

Craig

PS - It's 100% Free - and I promise you'll LOVE the postcard!

PPS - Why am I doing this? Well, for one, I think you'll love it and I want to send it as my gift to you. Also, I will be selling these postcards and prints again at some point in the future, so I want to test deliverability and quality on arrival with this new postcard system I have.

Your Feedback is Appreciated!

Who's Your Daddy?

With Father's Day rolling up this Sunday, one of my men's groups invited me to share some of the experiences I was blessed with this past weekend.

What did I experience? I "Reclaimed my Teenage Fire"... or rather discovered that I had never lost it.

It took some powerful workshop exercises led by teams of some truly incredible young men (JourneyMen) and their mentors to fully realize that truth. This post is a reflection on what I've come to understand after completing the workshop this past weekend.

The RTF training is actually a mentor training for the Boys to Men network. You can read more about the tradition of masculine initiation by clicking here.

Here's a picture of the JourneyMen...



What did I learn about myself and the world this weekend?

1.) By hearing the stories of other men and what their lives were like back in their teen years I really came to understand how hard life has been for many men. That kid who I thought was really popular, or was a real jerk to me at school, for instance, might have been living a nightmare at home. How could I have known? This weekend gave me that perspective and it was very healing for me.

2.) Being adopted is hard, but nothing compared to what some of these other men have been through with death after death in the family, the psychological fall-out of their own uninitiated fathers, the brutality, the abuse, the abandonment, the unloving, uncaring, dis-interested lack of presence... I really came to appreciate my own father with a profound depth.

3.) I realized that growing up we all feel lack of love and being seen. We all feel slighted in some way, and we all have our crosses to bear... including my own father - both my biological father, and my adoptive father. At one point I broke down in tears of gratitude for how much love I feel, that I didn't even know because I have been holding onto the grievances from childhood. Somehow I must find a way to express that to my father... that I appreciate him for everything he is, and while he's not perfect, he certainly held a lot of the cruelty in the world at bay for me. That alone is a magnificent gift, and one I can never be too grateful for.

4.) I realized what an incredible father I am for my own child. It's amazing to see how far we have come in just 3 generations. Men have really opened up in the past several decades, and the macho jerk is no longer the ideal. Tender caring and nurturing masculine energy are so much more accepted, and the young men on this weekend are an incredible example of how powerful a healthy male presence in a young man's life can be.

5.) And at the same time, I am humbled by the faults and failures I can't even see that I'm sure Corrina will have to forgive me for some day. I better start a therapy account right next to her college account. I'm sure she'll have plenty to process that I don't even realize I'm giving her cause for. Still, I resolve from all this to grow and move forward from where I am, not where I wish I could be. All I can do is be the best dad I know how with the resources available to me. It's a constant learning process.

6.) Lastly, as I mentioned, I went through a process led by an 18 year old Journeyman whose father is a dear friend of mine through MKP.

Shawn & Mike Fallon... (and Andrew Corey ;-)




Together they helped bring the Boys to Men training to Upstate, NY and the East Coast. He had me reflect on a picture of myself from a time in my younger life when I felt like I was really on top of the world. Reflect on my "fall from grace" and reclaim my teenage fire... Well, after several minutes into the process he turned to me and said, "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I just want to tell you that from my perspective, you've never lost your fire. It's burning so brightly in you... you're the kind of man I want to become!"

Well, I felt such relief and elation. I turned to him and accepted the candle that represented that fire, and I told him that I simply needed to be seen for that. It was so simple, so complete... I can't express what it did for me in words, though.

Here's the picture, and the candle...



All this I share with you a few days before Father's Day to say: Reflect on how much your father has given you IN SPITE of all he's been through. He probably had to figure it all out for himself. This type of mentoring didn't exist, and even today, many boys, men and fathers will walk the long, lonely path to their grave without the support and nurturing energy of a healthy masculine presence.

Be grateful for your father, and for any mentoring you have received. Reach out to these men, and let them know you have felt the impact of their care for you in your life. If you have the ability, let them know how you have taken their foundational presence and built upon that to be an even stronger, even more conscious man... and invite them to open up to you in a deeper way. They need you as much as you have needed them. This world is full of so much pain and suffering, when it comes down to it all we have is one another and the ability to connect through our tears, and our joy.

This Father's Day I will be reflecting on my weekend past, and finding a way to bridge the gap between my own father and me. I encourage you to do the same.

Here's a song they played on the weekend. I remember sitting in my dad's car hearing this song on the radio as a teenager and feeling not a little uncomfortable. Without weekends like this I don't know if I could allow the meaning of this song to every reach my heart. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com