Move Mountains, Swim Rivers: Peace, Power, and Prosperity in the Twenty-First Century

MOVE MOUNTAINS,

SWIM RIVERS

Peace, Power, and Prosperity in

the Twenty-First Century

TIMOTHY J. ANTRIM

Copyright © 2023 Timothy J. Antrim.

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ISBN: 979-8-7652-4490-6 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-4492-0 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-4491-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023916312

Balboa Press rev. date:  06/24/2024

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I. The Way

Chapter 1 A Perfect Universe

Chapter 2 The Narrow Path

Chapter 3 Mastery

Chapter 4 The Ego

Chapter 5 Duality

Chapter 6 The Center

Chapter 7 The Self-Image

Chapter 8 Impeccability

Chapter 9 Lover of Life

Chapter 10 The Mystery

Part II. The Basics

Chapter 11 Creativity

Chapter 12 Intention

Chapter 13 Attention

Chapter 14 Dharma

Chapter 15 Humility

Chapter 16 Love

Chapter 17 Meditation

Chapter 18 Dreamwork

Chapter 19 Health

Chapter 20 Mysticism

Part III. The Power

Chapter 21 The Seeker

Chapter 22 History

Chapter 23 Infallibility

Chapter 24 Franciscan Spirituality

Chapter 25 Behold the Mystery

References

INTRODUCTION

What if the possibility existed to live a life of peace and calm for the rest of your days on this planet? Stress, anxiety, depression, worry, and other negative emotions are not found in nature or anywhere in the cosmos. Neither do they exist in physical form. These things only endure in the human mind. As Dr. Wayne Dyer said, If I asked you to bring back a bucket of anxiety or depression, it would always return empty. Hope and progress, along with struggle and misfortune, will persist in equal measure throughout your life. The way you perceive and respond to these events will entirely change as you practice the Art of Peace and strive towards your destined mission on this earth.

The subtitle of this book is peace, power, and prosperity in the twenty-first century. One does not find peace by the desired good things finally showing up in life. Quite the opposite, achieving what you want may bring more problems or negative circumstances than you had beforehand. The attainment of peace comes by taming the ego, practicing humility, becoming content with what you have, calming the mind, and having the capability to remain focused on the big picture governing this short and special life. The big picture gives assurance that everything works out in the end by practicing faith, hope, confidence, and patience. Small picture thinking is hopelessness, being overcome by events at a particular moment, and the resolve that a temporary situation is your permanent lot in life.

With peace comes prosperity. I am one of the richest people on the planet. This is not because of my possessions or the size of my bank account. It is because I am joyful and content with what I have in life. As Dale Carnegie said, Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. In contentment and wanting what I have, my cup runneth over. Any other gains are just gravy on the biscuits. Beyond contentment is poverty of spirit. That is going beyond your own contentment and finding joy in serving others. It is giving to the point where it may seem painful, showing your attachment to your own possessions and time.

What is true power? Having all the money that the world could hold? The prettiest face to turn everyone’s eyes? Power that could shake the moon? Being liked and loved by everyone? The previous four questions are lyrics from Pat Barrett’s song Better than all these things. We are truly speaking about force rather than power. Force concerns conquering, imposing the will, winning the game, taking the bounty, extending effort, unbelievable strength, and exerting extreme violence. Power is knowing your true mission or dharma in life, producing the energy and activity focused on accomplishing said mission, not taking part in wasted activity, right thought and attitude, capacity, talent, skill, and potential. The last four items listed are the reason the one on this path has a dedication to mastery. The residual byproduct of force is striving, wanting, anxiety, with extreme highs and lows. There is energy to get what you want by force, but it is generated with friction. Power produces peace, ease, alignment, patience, focus, competency, effectiveness, and dynamism. Power is the equivalent of light energy, rather than friction.

If you have watched the movie, or read the book called The Secret- on the law of attraction- it is all about manifesting things for yourself. It includes visualizing yourself driving a fancy car, wearing a luxury necklace, checks overflowing from your mailbox, and making the activity of the day flow to your liking. All books about the laws of manifestation and attraction have the same focus. They are all about that special self- you! In the transaction of manifestation, where do you give back to the Universe? The word currency derives from current, denoting a steady flow in a particular direction or an ebb and flow. If somebody can use the art of manifestation to attract possessions and money solely for themselves, and they hoard those things, they are the equivalent of a stagnant pond and not a flowing river. Giving and receiving keeps the current moving.

This book is divided in to three parts- the Way, the Basics, and the Power. A summary of the premise of the Way is: be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. The world in this context is humankind, the population of the planet that believe we have ownership of the cosmos; it is here for our pleasure; we have an explanation for everything; and the one with the most gold makes the rules. I refer in the book to having this view, and taking part in its associated social contract, as living in the Imaginarium.

Don’t pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

Bruce Lee

This is not a book specifically about martial arts. However, the subject of mastery is an important topic, and I found it necessary to use the philosophy and terminology of Aikido to communicate the points and concepts I wanted to emphasize. If the martial arts do not interest the reader, I humbly request your patience and attention through the first few chapters. The underlying theories I am trying to explain with Aikido and Japanese terminology will become apparent as we move along through the course of the book.

PART I

The Way

CHAPTER 1

A Perfect Universe

So, trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God.

—Dan Millman

The universe is a perfect place. Everything is unfolding in perfect rhythm and harmony and in the way it is supposed to happen. I make these types of statements frequently to people, and the response is consistently the same. What about murder, rape, stealing, pollution, armed robbery, child molesters, and all the other evil in the world? This is not a perfect place. And then I respond, "Everything you just stated comes from the heart of man. There is no evil or malice in the created universe but only in the heart and mind of humanity." Since humans are under the illusion that this universe belongs to them and they are in control, from that viewpoint, the universe would not appear to be perfect.

To reinforce the premise stated above, consider a hypothetical scenario whereby only one human being exists on the planet. This individual lives on top of a beautiful mountain, with panoramic views of hillsides and a cascading waterfall. There are abundant fruit trees for food. That person might be lonely, but there would be no evil, and harmony and order would prevail. Ego would not exist because that person would not be comparing himself to anybody else. He would not have to wonder what anybody else thought about him as a person and would not have to judge or worry about the opinion of others or take the position of being better or lesser. The conditions and root causes of ego—vanity, pride, and intolerance—would not be present with only one person on the planet. That individual would eat his fruit all day, gaze at the beautiful view, and ponder the glory and awesomeness of the environment.

Let’s add one more human to the scenario and say he lives near a fruit tree next to the first. When one runs low on food, the other shares, and the two still live in harmony while looking out at beautiful landscapes of a perfect universe. Conversely, what if one human ate all his fruit and decided he would forcibly take the other person’s supply? What if the two did not like each other and argued all day? What if they judged each other’s physical appearance? This is a world with only two people on the planet. Now consider the actual human population as it is today and amplify the discord accordingly.

While the universe continually functions in perfect rhythm and order, there is a disconnected and disordered parallel world functioning at the same time. This is the world of humanity. In actuality, the species should function as part of the universal order, but human beings believe they are separate and distinct and function outside the natural environment they inhabit. They believe they are special, are in control, and have full dominion over all that exists. Each human being has an ego and false self that combine with the rest of humanity to create a collective ego. The combination of personalities and accompanying ego defines the world of humanity. It is this Imaginarium in which most of us live.

The primary aim during this lifetime is to break free of the Imaginarium and become what Francis of Assisi called a new kind of fool. Relinquishing the ego, becoming a lover of life, finding purpose, transcending duality, and the effectuation of discipline are the accurate methods for achieving everlasting joy. One can say this about the new kind of fool:

The truly humble man wishes to enter and dwell in stillness, to totally forsake his former conceptions together with his senses, and to become as something that does not exist in creation, that has not come in to being in this world, which is unknown even to his soul and his senses. (St. Isaac the Syrian)

One can become the richest, most powerful human being in the entire Imaginarium; it will not bring joy. It might bring temporary happiness through the achievement of each goal and aim. The happiness of achieving goals quickly evaporates, and then it is time to move on to the next thing on the list. All of us suffer from the disease of I will be happy when … This disease starts early. I can’t wait until I turn thirteen years old, and I am a teenager. This is followed by I can’t wait until I am sixteen and can drive and then I can’t wait until I am eighteen and become an adult. Then comes the eventual commencement of college, family, career, retirement, and all the compulsive dreaming and goal setting associated with I will be happy when …"

Most people go to their grave with their music still in them and procrastinate their life away (Holmes, 1858). Having realized this principle, my only real goal is to look up from my deathbed, grin from ear to ear, and tell my family, The life I just passed through was awesome. I had the honor and blessing to be a pilgrim on this planet. Hopefully, I will say those things as an old shriveled-up man. The universe is capricious, and I may lie on asphalt tomorrow night next to a mangled automobile that is wrapped around a tree. I would be resistant at first, knowing that I was about to die unexpectedly. It would be my hope in that situation that I could find my bearings, accept my fate, and utter my rehearsed old man on the deathbed statements before my last breath.

This book is about joy, prosperity, creativity, and mastery. Not wanting to be morbid, I speak only about death in the paragraph above so that we can learn about and truly appreciate life. Everybody is going to die, and nobody knows when and where. In the Imaginarium, birth is good, life is good, and death is bad. From where did we get that idea? There is a possibility that there has been exposure to an overabundance of Halloween skeletons, haunting ghost stories, and watching too many episodes of crime dramas on television. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart imagined the things that are to come (1 Cor. 2:9 KJV). Regarding the rules of the universe—outside the human Imaginarium—space and time do not apply after our departure from this reality system. Nobody can conceive of what happens upon death since there have been no survivors to issue a report. If birth is good, life is good, and the universe is perfect, the supporting evidence leads to the fact that the event that will occur immediately after our last breath will be exceptional.

The universe is infinite, and no mind can conceive what that means. What is at the end of the cosmos? Is there a wall? What is beyond the wall? Is there another wall? What is beyond that wall? This argument can continue indefinitely. Thinking about infinity could cause panic attacks when I was a child. This may have been what Gustave Flaubert meant when he said, The more you approach infinity, the deeper you penetrate terror. Today I realize the concept of infinity is an absolute mystery, which I embrace wholeheartedly. It is now a source of joy, comfort, and strength, knowing there are numerous unimaginable reasons for our mysterious presence in this space and time.

We do not know who we are, what we are, what we are doing here, and where we are going (Hartman, 2010). The ego and false self believe they know the truth and are in control. Just as you know nothing or very little about your great-great-grandfather, the fact of the matter is that you will not occupy any space in the minds of your great-great grandchildren. Strive as you may to control your world and become fabulously wealthy, dominate social media, create a legacy, or whatever it may be to compartmentalize and dominate your circumstances, the result is that we only occupy a specific parenthesis in eternity. However, within this temporal existence, you are eternal and placed here for a reason. Inserted by the Absolute Mystery mentioned above, where the idea of your existence manifested and came into reality, you are here for a divine purpose and are truly infinite.

When you connect with the Absolute Mystery, peace and ease permeate your entire life and being. Tranquility and centeredness will be your perpetual state of awareness. When anxious or experiencing stress, the capability exists to find the cause and eliminate it from your mind or body, returning immediately to your natural state of serenity. The internal feelings and emotions, and the view and perception of one’s world, lead to constant awe and wonder. Once you strike out on your path and the accompanying mission in life, the Absolute Mystery supports you every step of the way. Coincidence, synchronicity, signs, intuition, and insight will guide you along this path. As Dorothea Brande stated, Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid.

Success and prosperity are the key motivation factors for most of the people on the planet. Those achievements do not have meaning without peace and joy. I did not use the term happy. Joy is a fluid; happiness is a solid. In your quest for success and prosperity, you will find fleeting happiness. Achieving goals and objectives brings happiness for a few weeks, a month, or maybe two months. One will then set out on the next goal with grit and determination. One will not find satisfaction and happiness until one reaches the next target. The feeling of happiness is gone, or at least experienced on rare occasions, until the achievement of the next goal or desire. This cycle, for most in Western cultures, will continue throughout one’s lifetime. The question at the end is Where did my life go?

You and I want to say something different at the end of our lives. That journey was awesome! To get to that life song statement, we must choose joy over happiness. Joy jumps out of bed, excited about what the day is going to bring; views everything that appears as a gift or test from the Absolute Mystery; sees and feels the current of life energy running through every animate and inanimate object; and, most of all, is a lover of life. Joy exists only in the present moment; it cannot radiate with constant guilt and resentment from yesterday or worrying about tomorrow.

Absolute Truth

When one sets forth on their path in life, there must be certainty that the course chosen leads toward the True Way. What is truth? Everybody has their own version of what is true. Truth is subjective. Democrats, Republicans, Catholics, Protestants, every organization, and everyone in the entirety of humanity has their own version of true and correct. Each person believes their version with the entirety of their being. Accompanying each individual interpretation of the truth comes the incessant need to be right. When an individual argues their version of the truth with somebody else, both believe they are correct. It is very difficult to convince them otherwise.

Jesus had twelve disciples, they had disciples, and the generational recruitment occurred until the present day. If what was being passed down was the absolute truth, the entire body of the church would believe the same thing and practice the same rituals. Yet, when I drive the nine miles from my town to the adjoining city, there are nineteen independent Christian churches on the main state highway. Each church on that span of road professes they have the truth, and they are teaching it correctly. Even though fragmented, organized religion claims that it possesses the holistic truth. Conversely, there are the spiritual seekers who read books and search the internet on the subject to create their own religion and version of truth. This allows them to create the world in their own image, to view and interpret reality as they desire.

When I look out the window of my office, I see the vibrant trees and flowers in bloom; the deep blue sky with some interesting cloud formations; and the bright sun mounted high in the sky. That is my truth. When I turn away from that majestic view, back to my office desk and the connection to the Imaginarium, I see only subjective truth as perceived by each person. So I ask the question:

What is truth?

Stuart Wilde speaks about a tribe on the Serengeti where all the male members wake up each morning and urinate on a sacred tree in the middle of the camp. That is part of the worship and ritual of the tribe. Mr. Wilde then suggests that you should try this method of ritual in downtown Chicago and see what happens. The police will quickly escort you to the local police precinct.

What is truth?

They label hijackers that fly airplanes into buildings as the personification of evil. Many people in other countries, and some in our own, see them as the personification of heroism.

What is truth?

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" and Jesus did not respond. The question did not warrant a response because the truth, actual truth, does not permit articulation in human words. The possibility exists to manufacture, argue, and manipulate the truth at will in the Imaginarium. A good lawyer or salesperson can bend the truth in a completely opposite direction of the facts. Viewing and perceiving the absolute truth is only possible when you look up toward infinity and the Absolute Mystery.

The quest for a reliable and basic truth inside the Imaginarium is honorable. One wants to be sure that they are following their true purpose in life, doing so ethically, and with a sense that behind the veil, there is a reason for this existence. In the Imaginarium, it is important that we can trust our partner in life and that they always tell us the truth. A jury wants to hear true testimony and ensure they are making an informed decision. The fact of the matter is that truth in the Imaginarium is always subjective. If I point at a tree and tell you that it is what it is, we will probably agree. The same with a cloud. Observing nature or space, as in a solar eclipse or the eruption of a volcano, all can virtually agree on a certain truth in the details of a specific event. In telling you that your opinions or ideas are not correct, the dynamic of the conversation changes. Dealing with each other in the Imaginarium, in the world of man, the capability exists to manipulate and manufacture the truth. Consider the following statement (Guardini, 1992):

In this world, the truth is weak. A trifle suffices to hide it. The stupidest person can attack it. But someday the time will come when things will change. The [Absolute Mystery] will bring it about that truth will be as powerful as it is true.

As you work on relinquishing your ego and false self, the truth in every situation, circumstance, and fact becomes more apparent. The reason for this is that the ego must always be correct, and it will present the facts to the observer only in the way it wants to have them viewed. Calming the mind, humbling the self, and gently observing will allow the seeker to align with the truth. Why is absolute truth important? When making the commitment to dedicate one’s life to a specific path and journey, that decision should be your true calling and the reason you were born.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. (Mark Twain)

Imaginarium

The previous references made above about the Imaginarium should provide at least the main idea for this concept. Human beings have their individual egos, a collective ego, and this includes spoken and unspoken agreements about the concept of reality. Humanity is the center of this reality and, in its illusion, can build upon, destroy, and restore elements of the planet at will. The Mystic, one that embraces the Absolute Mystery, realizes the fact that people have no power over the planet except for that granted (or planned) by the source of creation. Tectonic plates can shift; pandemics can occur; asteroids or comets can strike the planet; or something never imagined. The Mystic knows unimaginable forces could eliminate humanity from the planet easily, should that be part of the divine plan. Paradoxically, known intuitively at the inner core, a certainty exists that humanity is living in the safe and loving womb of the Absolute Mystery.

The symbol for the Imaginarium is the box. Residents of the Imaginarium live in a box. They wake up in the morning and drive to work in a box, perform tasks all day in a box (cubicle or office), return home in their driving box, and then enter their safe and secure core box (home). Once there, they can turn on the flat-screen box and relax to some broadcasted media from fellow residents of the Imaginarium. After living this life, moving from box to box, and upon death, they place the resident in a box and bury it in the ground.

The Mystic lives in the box world but is not of the box world. That somebody has a house box that is bigger or better than somebody else’s does not increase their intrinsic human value. A driving box that was made in Germany is only an expensive luxury box. I do not mean this statement to take away from anybody’s success. The Mystic stands in the background and watches lovingly, without judgment, as the residents of the Imaginarium scamper around and compete for bigger and better boxes.

The Mystic believes in developing, writing, and achieving goals and objectives. However, he is only competing with himself. Further, when he looks back at life from any vantage point, he sees the energy current of the Absolute Mystery flowing through the achieved goals, or the reason a particular desire did not come to fruition. The Mystic gives credit and appreciation for both success and failure to the Absolute Mystery, perceiving success as a blessing and failure as a diversion from future problems. The reward for the Mystic is not building the ego and bragging about his cunning, but the executed discipline and the forging of the spirit attained in achieving a desired outcome.

Goal attainment comprises moving from target-to-target and executing with clear and precise focus, not seeking praise and glory, but enjoying the journey along the path. More than often, the Mystic achieves the targeted goals and objectives. When not reaching a goal, there is a detachment from the outcome. Doors open and close and the Mystic knows that goals easily achieved more acutely define the will of the Absolute Mystery. Objectives that require continual struggle, contain an abundance of obstacles, have many unexpected hinderances, will probably not come to pass as envisioned. It may disappoint the Mystic that he did not reach a goal, but only for a brief period. He maintains detachment from the outcome when looking back at the past from the present moment, and towards the future, when evaluating the landscape of his life. With this discussion in mind, ponder the following quotation (Zukav, 2014)

The more aware of your intentions and your experiences you become, the more you will be able to connect the two, and the more you will be able to create the experiences of your life consciously. This is the development of mastery. It is the creation of authentic power.

The Mystic engages in daily life—raising a family, going to work, taking part in conversation, enjoying life, suffering disappointment, grieving loss—but remains, above all, detached and free from becoming emotionally vested in the way life continually manifests. The reality system in which most people live is constructed entirely of opposites: north-south, good-bad, male-female, left-right, and so on. The truth lies not in either polarity but in the middle. Not in the North or South Pole but at the equator. Not in the black or white but in the gray. So the Mystic remains in the middle and walks the narrow path. By taking the journey on this path, he finds wisdom, truth, peace, and abundance. One must live daily in the crowded marketplace and residential centers of the Imaginarium, but the Mystic has a holistic view of the universe, and the soul rests in the mystery.

Mysterium

Mystic is a term used in the paragraphs above and describes the person who embraces truth, wisdom, and the Absolute Mystery and operates outside the norms of the Imaginarium. There is nothing magical about the Mystic, as the name often implies. It is simply one who constantly lives with the previously mentioned attributes: truth, wisdom, and mystery. The Mystic has an experiential knowing of spiritual matters and is always at peace and ease. She is centered in the Mysterium while moving through this exceptional journey called life. Once on this path, the following lines become applicable to the journey of the Mystic along the way:

A voice speaks to us in ways the ears cannot hear.

We recognize a beauty the eye does not see.

We experience a change in our hearts that no voice can describe. (David Gemmel)

The Mystic sees the big picture in the universe and knows it is a perfect place. The trees to the left and to the right, the rivers and oceans, the mountains, and a beautiful sunset are all part of the grand Mysterium. When she is dealing in human affairs, which happens in the Imaginarium most of the time, the Mystic maintains the position on the narrow path and does not take part in the drama, superficial, and trivial. Not bothered by the ever-present paradox in language and situations, the position in the middle allows her to see clearly what is happening in the present moment. There are only two things in life to which the Mystic has a sense of attachment: wisdom and peace.

Art of Peace

Suppose that one could live in a constant and everlasting state of peace, tranquility, and contentment. This is what I will refer to as the condition of remaining centered. In this state of being, when one felt anxious or nervous, she could intuitively locate the source of the thoughts, feelings, or situations that are causing her to become off center and immediately deal with the associated negative emotions. The Mystic then returns to a normal state of equilibrium and peace until the next negative emotion bubbles to the surface that requires attention. Negative emotions can be completely eliminated and lead to a permanent state of bliss.

I first heard a metaphor from Dr. Wayne Dyer, which started by asking, When you squeeze an orange, what comes out? The answer, of course, is orange juice. He continues with, Why does orange juice come out? The response is supposed to be Because that is what is inside. He finishes by stating that when you squeeze somebody and hate, bitterness, anger, resentment, and other negative emotions become released, it is because that is what is inside that person. If you do not carry around negative emotions, the only things that can come out are peace and harmony.

The military and warfare used to always hold my interest. Military strategy, dominance, blowing things up, putting bombs downrange, and things of that nature were exciting. Peace was my goal on the inside; paradoxically, the action of violence was exciting on the outside. In reading the spiritual philosophies of the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba (O’Sensei), I read one statement that changed my perspective. O’Sensei asked, Are you brave enough to love? (Sunodamori, 2004). Am I brave enough to love? Can I present