Spiritual Adventure Society

VAHANA VACATION JAMAICA 2010 IS ON!!!

2010-01-20T14:00:00.002-05:00

It is time to make a plan for 2010 American Thanksgiving weekend!!! Rodney Jones will be the guest speaker to open our hearts with his Divine music, a wonderful workshop and an inspired talk for the National Day on ECK in Kingston Jamaica. Come down and volunteer plus see some sites. Mmm, a warm beach at the end of November -- I am in! Now is the time to start planning. Michael an Eckist in Jamaica used to worked for the tourist board and I think we can come with a plan where we all go to Ocho Rios or Port Antonio or the North Coast for Thursday, Friday return to Kingston for a HU chant on Saturday followed by a seminar meeting. The seminar will be on Sunday. How does that sound? We can meet in April at the Springtime seminar and plan some more.

I am hoping we can use this blog to coordinate. I am in Jamaica now and the beautiful Eckists here would blow you away. with only 25 members they maintain an active centre and last year at there National Day of Eck they had 75 participants!!! 1 American dollar equals 91 Jamaica dollars so it is hard here to pay for things I thought whoever comes down could collect books from their area to donate to the centre library.

I will be posting more details to coordinate our Travel and Hotel very soon.

Visiting Toronto

2008-09-04T20:50:00.004-05:00

I will be visiting Toronto September 11-14 for a natural products trade show. I have not been up there in a while. Anybody home?

Youth Video: HU

2007-12-10T00:03:00.000-05:00

Here's the link to the new youth video. It is incredible. Hit the link here which takes you to the official Eckankar site, then hit "youth video Just Sing Hu" on the right side of the page.

http://www.eckankar.org/child.html click here

Thomas Drayton

2007-10-24T23:15:00.000-05:00

Hi friends:

I want to let you know that Shelley Drayton's father Thomas Drayton translated today. I know many of you are friends with Shelley and thought you should know. At present I have not heard of any funeral arrangements.

Thomas was a truly incredible presence in our Toronto Eck community. My father, a major Eck skeptic, once was given a book of Thomas' poetry by Thomas as my dad waited somewhat angrily for someone to move their car that was blocking his exit. My father was blown away by this act of kindness and he told me he had a strange feeling of being in the presence of a sort of spiritual man. That comment by my dad, an avowed atheist, blew me away. I really loved Thomas as I know so many others did. We will miss the love and service this humble servant of the Eck gave to all of life.

World Wide Seminar

2007-10-08T20:33:00.000-05:00

Hey there! Who's going? I am going for the first time in 5 years - woohoo!
Anyone up for getting together for a meal?

I hope to see any and all of you there!

First SAS Get-Together 2007 (final)

2007-08-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

St. Augustine (part 3)

2007-08-22T23:40:00.000-05:00

First SAS Get-Together 2007 (part 2)

2007-08-22T23:36:00.001-05:00

First SAS Get-Together 2007 (part 1)

2007-08-21T17:41:00.001-05:00

Sri Harold on You Tube

2007-07-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

This is so way too cool.

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/spiritualtruthseeker

New Book on Paul Twitchell

2007-07-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

I never expected to see this but am really happy it's out. Must get a copy. Click post title for link.

"I finally had time to get at your excellent book. Now and forever, I have the perfect advice for individuals who inquire about Paul Twitchell: READ MARMAN'S BOOK. IT IS THE FINAL WORD. A WORK OF EXACTING SCHOLARSHIP (Steiger's caps)."

—Brad Steiger, author of In My Soul I Am Free, the first biography of Paul Twitchell

How to get SAS posts and comments in your email

2007-07-03T07:28:00.000-05:00

I always find when you write out instructions, it makes the simplest things sound difficult. The following is very simple, trust me. In a nutshell, all you have to do is hit the link to blog search I've created below, then type in spiritualadventuresociety in the search window, then create an email alert by hitting the link and follow the instructions. But here are the step by step instructions in detail which are hopefully helpful for those that want to use them:

Link here to the google blog search:

http://blogsearch.google.com/

type the following in the window (note no spaces between words):

spiritualadventuresociety

and then hit the "search blogs" button

you should see a post from the SAS website.

Go to the bottom of the page and hit:

Create an email alert for spiritualadventuresociety

all the information should automatically show up in the various windows, but you may want to select how often you receive emails with SAS updates in the window "How often"

Hit the button:

Create an alert

your done. Wasn't that easy?!

I hope to make our blog searchable under "spiritual adventure society" with the spaces between the words, but at the moment, it isn't. If you somehow lose track of the blog, just remember you can go to google blog search (you can google "blog search" to find this search site), then type in our blog name without the spaces and you will reconnect to it.

Blog Updates in your email

2007-07-02T00:20:00.000-05:00

Blogger has made some changes and has something new called "google alerts". One thing you can do with this "alert" is see changes made on any blog in your email in whatever period you want (as they happen, once a day, once a week, etc)

Also, I've changed a setting to make Spiritual Adventure Society a public accessible blog. So, now, if someone searches for the blog they will find it and it won't be hidden as it was before.
What we can do, if we want to limit accessibility to photos, we can put them in an album and set the album to be accessible by only those registered with the blog. If you want, you can send me the photos and I'll do that.

I"m hoping that these two changes will solve the problems that some have been experiencing.

I've just changed the setting so the blog is now searchable and I think it takes a while for it to kick in so it will come up when you search "Spiritual Adventure Society". If it doesn't come up, try it again in a day or two.

Here is a link to the blog search (below). After clicking on the link, type in "spiritualadventuresociety" in the search. If the page that opens doesn't show our blog listing. Close it and try again in a day or two. If it does, click on the left side of the page where it says "Blogs Alerts". This will allow you to access the settings for how often you want to have updates of the blog in your email.

http://blogsearch.google.com/?tab=ob

I'll send an email out to everyone on the blog so they can get this info and we can get our blog moving along again. Yeah!

Change to the Blog Coming Soon

2007-05-31T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hey all:

I'm setting everyone up as an "administrator". This will fix what I believe has been a problem with the blog, and that is control over what is coming to your email. This will allow you to choose if you want posts and comments to go to your email. You won't have to bother with the "feed" as that was a problem for some.

This is going to take a week or two, only because I'm busy, not that it's particularly difficult. I just have to make a full copy of the blog, in case anyone accidentally deletes it permanently, we have a backup.

I hope this will help with the flow of the blog as I see it is kind of up and going, then suddenly dies down to almost nothing.

Also, we had a great time in St. Augustine. Hope to have some pics up in the next little while, and I think Rick is going to put something up when he has a few minutes as well.

all the best,
Marc

Is this spiritual or just a waste of time?

2007-05-25T12:20:00.000-05:00

click on the above link for a fun game that is a complete waste of time and addictive to boot.

Hi from Paule (posted for her)

2007-04-24T23:35:00.000-05:00

Hello,
This is Paule, from Quebec. I was able to read some of your comments and life, but I am not sure how to register or even write to you all. Will this do it? I am not yet a computer litterate, sorry. It choose how old I am! ;-D
I am not joining you in augustine yet I am very happy to hear bout you all. I am also married and have two children. Amylee is 9 and Emeric is 7 years old. My husband Gabriel joined Eckankar last year after hanging with me for 10 years. I am elementary teachers. I love using my creativity in working with the youth.
Hope to be able to contribute to this great idea!
Love ,
Paule ;-D

What is our Mission?

2007-04-21T01:45:00.000-05:00

I just typed out the notes from an excellent workshop based on the Eck leadership Handbook called: What is our Mission, which I attended at the springtime seminar. It was for 2nd initiates and up, and I'd be happy to share it with this group. Just email me at nikobilz@gmail.com and I'll ship it to you free of charge via email express.

I transcribed some of the stories from Harold's talk as well which I'll include in another post in a few days.

In Eck,
Marc

Any pics or stories from the seminar?

2007-04-11T16:28:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well. I did not go to the seminar this time. I did, however, listen to Sri Harold's talk via the Eckankar website. It was so easy to do and I can now listen to it again if I like until April 22nd. I did have to move to a room that was closer to our router because it required a fairly wide bandwidth.

It was a great talk and as I was listening I shut my eyes and was transported to the seminar. I could imagine everything perfectly. If you haven't ever done that, like me, I highly recommend it. Yay for technology and the wisdom to make it available so I could hear his talk!

I hope all of you who went had a great time and might take a moment to share some pics.

I just found this picture of some familiar folks that I ran into at the CT Regional last July. ;-)

Lots of love to all,

Kathryn

St. Augustine Meeting 10pm Friday

2007-04-04T00:06:00.000-05:00

If anyone would like to get together to discuss the St. Augustine trip, I'll bring some information with me, and in addition we can discuss any program or creative arts we'd like to create. At present we have about 6 or 7 rooms reserved. I'd like to get 4 or 5 more reserved shortly after the seminar and 20 rooms by the time we get there. Then we can pretty much own the hotel for those 3 days.

We can have our meeting at 10pm on Friday evening and meet at the entrance to the dance. We'll keep it short so anyone who wants to can get back to the dance which begins at 9 and I believe goes until at least 11pm.

See ya in Minneapolis.

Transportation from Jacksonville airport

2007-04-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

It is $65 for a car full of people to travel on (Airport Connection) to our hotel.

'Aiport Connection' is owned by three very happy ladies! I talked to Liz she went into an endless list of magnificant adjectives to discribe our hotel and location.

If you are interested in booking transportation to and from the airport give Liz a call at 904-814-3065

Love in ECK
Zan 416-839-7373

Ken Hancherow in Concert

2007-04-01T22:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to see Tonya's father, Ken Hancherow, perform at the Glenn Gould theatre in Toronto. There were just under 200 people in attendance. Ken entertained us with many of his original pieces on piano that have a jazz and blues influence and incoporate the healing qualities of sound. He was joined by a wonderful flutist for several pieces. In one piece Ken played some unique instruments that he has collected over the years and even incorporated the HU song.

The audience, made up, in part, of his many friends and family members, joined to give Ken several standing ovations to show him our appreciation for his beautiful music. His final piece was dedicated to his daughters Kyra and Tonya and was extraordinary and moving.

We were then invited to join Ken and his family to a nearby restaurant to enjoy some cake to celebrate Ken's 60th birthday.

What an experience this was to see a dream of Ken's manifested for so many to enjoy. My 15 year old son, Avery, described it this way: "My life wouldn't be the same if I hadn't seen this." He's right. It was truly inspirational.

Some of you may know Ken, or remember him from the Eck Youth event we had at his place in Montreal quite a few years back and I wanted to share this with you. If you'd like a recording of the music from this evening, you can contact me and I'll give you the necessary information.

Congratulations to Ken for his performance and to Tonya and all those who helped make this such an incredible experience.

Happy Friday tomorrow

2007-03-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

Just a pretty picture from my garden: celandine and grape hyacinth.

Hello from the other Zan

2007-03-28T00:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Spiritual Adventure gang
will there be a gang meeting at the upcoming seminar next week? I'll be there Wenesday till monday. I am staying at David Young's place. He just wrote a great rock opera.

I am thinking of coming down to Florida and bringing my ECK niece Erin Masson she is 10. I am her ECK Auntie as her Dad David is my soul brother and the first person I met in ECK actually David Masson is thinking of coming to and recently reminded me.

Windows Media Player 10 - The HU Song

2007-03-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

Has anyone tried using that new Windows Media Player 10 with the HU Song? WOW! What a visual! It's like the full-on journey Paulji described in the Tiger's Fang.
Thumbs Up, a definite 'Must See'!

Love,
Rodrigo

Okay, I lied

2007-03-19T23:58:00.000-05:00

We have 5 rooms for St. Augustine spoken for. Dan will let me know this week if he is coming. I'm still short of my goal of 10 rooms by March 15. Which is not a problem. Smaller is just as cool, maybe better even.

I was wondering though, if we want to encourage any other Eck youth alumni to come, say, some Europeans, it would be nice to say something beyond: yeah, we are going to St. Augustine to hang out.

If any one that is coming to St. Augustine is interested in putting together a little program I think that would be awesome. We have a whole room available for such purposes.

We could begin a tradition of using the theme from the Springtime seminar. This year it is "Spiritual Renewal in the Year of Giving"

While a workshop or roundtable is awesome, I'd encourage everyone to find a creative way of putting out their message: poetry, music, a performance etc.

I'll start the ball rolling by offering either a performance or a short film with the Von Bilz family.

Oh yeah, the lie. Well, I said, I would not reserve any additional rooms beyond the 10 if we did not get 10 by March 15. Now that I'm going to the Spring seminar, I want to see who may be interested before I lock down our reservations. We will have a meeting at the seminar site or hotel in the area and I'll announce the day and time.

I would love some help. Remember, for every 20 rooms we reserve per night, we get a free room we can offer the Fernandes family.

In Eck,
Marc

Hello to the SASsy gang

2007-03-16T01:51:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
Marc is out and I finally have the computer to myself! Great to see the interactions going on here. Kim you mentioned pictures ,there are some of these at the last world wide. go back to October 2006 . I wonder - could we add a photo Gallery to this site? It would be great to have pictures of all of you. Pey there is a picture of your sister and her little one there too. Tonya I feel for you and the parent thing. Neither of my parents really have any plans in place , or money. My mother has opted to live in India for the last 2 years on a small monthly pension (no health insurance) while she figures out what she wants to do. She has Diabetes and a bad back. But a great attitude about the whole thing.We have let her know that she can always stay with us, but our winters are giving her pause for thought. Every time she has come to visit it is 40 degrees colder than India!In Fall and spring she goes from 100 F to from 40 to 60 F here. I have a couple friends whose parents have had Alzheimer's , talk about your parents becoming your kids. Their experiences have helped me to appreciate the health and Independence my parents still have. And then I cross my fingers and leave the rest in the Mahanta's hands. That's the thing about this physical plane, lots of karma to burn off and you just can't burn it off for someone else. but you can always give love and appreciation. Well it was great to finally get a look at the postings here and I look forward to seeing those coming to St Augustine's. hope to see the rest of you some time soon as well! hugs to you all.

Love,
Heather

How's the tour going?

2007-03-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

Hi Arthur and Carol,

I noticed that you are signed into the board now. It's great to see you! How's the tour going for you guys? Have you come through Central Illinois yet? We would love to see you.

Shawn

Idaho, aka PoDunk

2007-03-10T12:51:00.000-05:00

Hello lovelies,

I love the general discussion energy. Thanks to Kathryn for supporting the idea of SAS being a discussion group. That helps.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know about some things here in Idaho, in case anyone is inspired to travel to PoDunk. I know that sounds bad, but well, let me explain.

I came back to Idaho after having lived in Los Angeles for 18 years. I quickly became involved in the local and state level of things ECKwise in Idaho.

It's nothing like California...but then what is?

We have a very small ECK community - about 40 active members in the Boise area, and maybe only 15 of those people attend Satsang or Worship Service. Our largest events pull at most 40 people once a year.

In California our weekly worship service had at least 50 people each week.

Sigh. (I miss being in a very active community)

Anyway, a couple of fun things are happening:

1. Linda Anderson has agreed to come the weekend of March 24/25 and do a vahana workshop for chelas. She will also be the guest speaker at our worship service on the 25th. It's kinda special for me because (1) that is my birthday; and (2) I get to officiate the worship service - it will be my first one. I am not clergy yet, but because there are so few people here in PoDunk - I get to do more stuff. If anyone wants to come let me know! Your love and energy might just give our area a boost. We need it.

2. We are having a chela retreat in June (first weekend) at a hotsprings near Hagerman, ID. We will be lucky to get 20 attendees. We have never had a chela retreat here in Idaho. If anyone wants to come, again we would love to have you. Just let me know and I will get you the info.

In general, if you live in a small place, what kind of success have you had? How have you overcome obstacles in nurturing your ECK community? People tend to get burned out with so few people in charge. Like I said even though we have about 40 active members in Boise, maybe 8 of us actually do all the work.

Ideas?

Love, Larkin

Catching up to all of you & challenging parents

2007-03-10T07:30:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

So, I finally found the time (and got Marc's message at just the right moment) to catch up on this group. It is great to see this happening and kudos to Marc and Kathryn and the many others that have pulled this together...

I have to admit that it is kind of weird to see all these names from my youth.... god, we are getting old : )

So, what am I up to? Eeek! Too much... as I just posted in my profile, I have been happily married to Marc Surman - one of the smartest men I know- since 1998 and we have two boys - Tristan (7) and Ethan (5). I still live in Toronto - now in an old house in High Park.

I am a co-founder and executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation - www.socialinnovation.ca - a convergence centre that catalyzes and supports social entrepreneurship. As a part of that, I am also involved with toxics and kids health. I just love my work - couldn't be more fulfilling and really feel that what I am doing is starting to eat away at addressing some of the root causes of our social and environmental challenges.

But enough about the official stuff... the other thing that I am doing right now is dealing with difficult parents : ) You might think that parenting my children would be the challenge - and it is - but right now, the really challenging part of my life is my folks. I am finding myself in this interesting situation where both my parents - and their respective partners are facing serious financial challenges and I am grappling with what my role should be in all of this. We certainly don't have the money to bail anyone out so that is not an option, but for me it is more of a challenge around how I relate to it. For both sets, they face major systemic challenges - they live in a world of denial about the financial realities around them. They are all able bodied, but really set in their beliefs that somehow they are going to get rich.... but I just don't see it.

Anyway, it has come to a head in the last few days - some major stuff that I don't want to put online - and I just wonder if anyone else has had to face similar challenges and what you did about it? From a human perspective, I am just giving them as much love and support as I can... I am trying to remain non-judgemental, but I wonder how best to support what they are going through... it drives me nuts watching their inaction... Thoughts???

Wow! wild way to start a saturday morning...

I hope that everyone is doing well... especially with their Friday fast... which I have never been able to do : )

Lots of love to all,

Tonya

Has anyone found the Reset button for life?

2007-03-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

I was hoping to get some feedback here if I could on a few interesting experiences that I've been having in my life recently. Over the past month or so, my husband and I have been experiencing a number of devices that have stopped working in our life. Our heater in our van suddenly stopped working around a month ago; we actually didn't get it repaired until last Thursday due to some other expenses that came up and also because we are in the process of trying to manifest a newer van with lower miles on it in our life. So we held off on the repair....partly due to my fears of what the actual cost would be to repair the heater. However after the temperatures continued to drop lower and lower in these cold winter months, I decided we just needed to get it repaired because it was taking longer than I thought for us to locate a van that would match our needs ....in the price range we are trying to create for ourselves :) I'm sure that many of you can relate to this experience. Needless to say the actual cost of the repair was pretty minimal and I realized that I had let fear stop me from moving forward on something that turned out to be so simple.

The next experience that we encoutered was that our garbage diposal suddenly stopped working. My huband and I both looked at it and did what we knew to do.....keep in mind that we are not mechanically inclined whatsoever. We concluded that it was broken and needed to be removed. The next time that my father was over, I asked him about the steps for removing the disposal. He started looking at it and found a "reset" button on the disposal that suddenly started it working again. All that needed to be done was for this button to be pushed and all was fine with the world again. Wow! What a concept.

The next day our furnace in the house decided to stop working. Again, I found myself feeling the fear creep in and was wondering what was the waking dream with all of this break downs and also the theme of heaters and furnances. This time I didn't hesitate in calling for a repair man to come out and take a look. You would never guess what the solution to the problem actually was?!? A "reset" button that just needed to be pushed and again all was fine with the world.

So the point of this post is this has gotten me thinking about my life a little bit here. When life gets a bit overwhelming, whether it be financial, health, family, or whatever......what if we could find the "reset" button for life? Wouldn't that be an extremely cool tool to use in our personal lives? The trick now is to find that actual button and learn how to use it appropriately. I've decided my goal this week is to come up with a spiritual exercise where I push the reset button for those areas in my life that I feel aren't really going with the flow. I wonder how many times we make things more complicated for ourselves and declare things to be beyond repair, and then it really is just a little shift in consciousness (the reset button) and things begin to flow again in the way that brings us joy, peace and continued unfoldment.

Has anyone else been able to find this "reset" button and how have you seen it change your life?

Looking forward to hearing what all of you have to say about this!
Shawn

Are there any Eck kids out there?

2007-03-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hi!
This is Jack Fernandes; I'm Shawn's son. I am nine years old and have always been an Eckist. I'm looking forward to swimming with everyone in Florida. We don't have many Eck kids in our area so it will be cool to hang out with some kids in Florida at the beach. I really like video games and I'm a level 28 in World of Warcraft. I'm also interested in being a scientist and studying other dimensions and physics. Does anyone know if there is a career that studies whether mythical creatures are real or not? That would be cool to do something like that.

Just wanted to say Hi!
Jack

An Update From Zan

2007-03-03T14:18:00.000-05:00

Hi! This is Zan. I'm Marc's daughter (in case you didn't know) and well today when my dad and me were reading the newest post on the SAS, my dad asked me if I would like to post something on this blog. So of course, now I'm thinking of something interesting that has happened to me recently. I think I'll start with all of the great new hobby's I've gotten into recently. I'm cartooning like crazy right now and have even come up with some of my own cartoon characters, which I'm still perfecting. I got a knitting kit for Christmas and since then have knitted 2 scarfs, a pocket purse, and am now in the middle of making a hat. I'm also really going book crazy. I'll get a hold of a great series and read until I've finished the whole thing. I'll find an author I like, and then just read everything by them that I can find. And as an aspiring author myself, I've started a journal and have been writing in it everyday for the last 11 days. I think that it's really helping my writing skills. I'm really into acting, but my brother is having a lot more luck in that than me. If anyone can give me any tips on getting a book published, I would really appreciate it because I have a picture book for kids that I have written that I have gotten some excellent feedback on, so I want it to go somewhere.

Well I hope to see you all in St.Augustine ,
Love Zan.

Intro and Request - Rod Ramirez

2007-02-28T22:25:00.000-05:00

Hi All, I am Rodrigo, but everyone in ECK knows me as Rod.
Extra Hi to my friends!

I just realized that I have belonged to this blog for a while and have not said as much as a Hello. Sorry for that. As you know life can be as complicated as you want it. I guess I wanted it complicated.

Still been moving around as usual, No one seems to understand why I move so much so I will briefly explain why. I am a contract design engineer of Aircraft and Aerospace. It cost billions of $$$ to design such a craft so the companies only want to pay this once. Any questions?

I finally got married. 39 years of being single was awesome. That all came to and end when I was in Brazil designing a fuel system and air system for a new family of aircraft and met the HER. She took my breath away and my single status. Things are good. She is Catholic and she really had no idea that she was about to receive the ultimate Love - the freedom & space to be herself. She enjoys herself very much.

Made a business in Brazil, We do web-base systems and we market them here and there. PickyHomes.com - The Ultimate Real Estate Website is our latest release which you will only find Real Estate ads in Arkansas, because that is where we live and where we started promoting it.

All in all, I am just damn glad to be alive, happy, in good health and apart of this blog.

Requests:
Why am I one of the only few that has the profile filled out with pictures and video? This is the year 2007! The DIGITAL AGE. Come on ya all, technology is cheap.
Tell you what. If you all need some help getting a picture or a video up in your blog profile or you need a place to store it (server), just ask and I will help you. I have many sites online with the best of the best servers that we can store your digital goods at no cost to you. It is the least I can do. Go into my profile, get my email address, email me your picture and/or short video and I will place it on my servers and send you back a link to where you can place it in the fields of your profile for all to see.
Love,
Rod

This is where I live

2007-02-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

this is a view of the city where I live from the back balcony of our house, we've just moved in last december in a very thick fog sherlock holmesian style and it took me weeks to get a clear day to take a picture, in this english winter. Pey & Giles and Leah (9) and Beatrice (almost 7) live here - with some goldfish and stick insects.

I'm off to the UK Regional this weekend for the first time in YEARS! It'll be fun - Larry Siegal is speaking. We'll all have a laugh.

love you guys, from Pey

Coming To St. Augustine?

2007-02-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

I've created a list of people coming to St. Augustine at the side of the blog under the image of the St. Augustine beach. Just let me know if you are definitely coming or if you have made your reservation and I'll put you on the list so your friends can see you and say "hey, there's my friend, that lucky *!@#!* is going to St. Augustine. Well, I'll show him (her, them): I'm going too!"

Introducing Myself

2007-02-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

He everybody,

I can't believe you're all here. I believe I know everyone but for those who don't know, me, please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Bruce Seifert. I've been in Eckankar since 1973. This is my first blog so I'm hoping it actually comes through.

I'm 43 years old, 44 next month. My partner's name is James, we've been together for 6 1/2 years. He has an 11 year old son - my step son, whom I love with all my heart. Just ask and I'll tell you what a great kid he is.

I'm a Line Producer in Animation at DreamWorks. I've been here for 10 years this year. I love the people I work with, which is why I've stayed for so long. If any of you brought your kids to see "Over the Hedge" then you know what the last 3 years of my life was about. (Pardon the shameless plug.)

I am also a certified Corporate Coach. Someday that may become my career. For now, it merely contributes to the management that I do.

I am not as involved with the outer organization of Eckankar as I once was. My job and my family are given that time. For now, for me, that is just right.

I believe that my purpose in this life is to be present in one on one converstations with individuals so that I may be a vehicle for spirit during those conversations. This makes my life magical and special. I can't tell you how blessed and happy I am. I will also add that I work very hard on creating a great life and disciplining my mind to abstain from negative thinking. If my mind goes there, I counteract the thought with a grateful, positive or loving thought.

I think this forum is fantastic. 1. It's great to catch up with all of you. 2. It's great that we all share a frame of reference. 3. I'd like to hear how you apply spiritual beliefs to living each day.

I hope that this is a place where we get to be honest about our foibles without judgement. I make mistakes every day and, frankly, I grow more because of them.

Okay, enough for now. Very long. Sorry.

Love to all,

Bruce Seifert

To be or not to be

2007-02-16T12:22:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,
I have been meaning to post this for a week or so. Besides being busy with life, I had to take some time to make it as succinct as possible for my non-scroll friendly curmudgeons, er, I mean friends. ;-)

Regarding the SAS mission and vision stuff: is it really necessary? My answer to this is – no. Here are my reasons:

A mission and vision statement is not needed for a group that has come together to network, share stories, communicate, and sometimes coordinate events like the St. Augustine trip or even the work done to help Shawn.

Since the group is not aligned or energized about starting a charity – let’s not use the SAS to do this. If there are some SAS members who would like to start a charity – go for it! But since this group has not taken this on full force – if some want to do this it should be separate from SAS. That’s, of course not to say that those SAS members could not tape into this group’s resources meaning expertise with charities for thoughts and advise and invites to join in events etc.

it is clear to me that this group did not take this on for many reasons a primary one being that many of us are already involved with charities of our choice. The work Todd and Tonya have done are great examples. In light of this, I propose we are not a charity and don’t want to be one. If you all agree, then let's table that question.

Regarding our mission and the Mahanta’ s mission discussion: There are already avenues to help support on-going ECK events as mentioned. If someone is involved with and ECK event or hears of one like Rick did in Jamaica I think sharing the info with the group and inviting us to get involved is excellent and all that is necessary. We don’t need to formalize that with any grand strategic plan. The structure to do that work is alive and well.

Regarding the goal of building up our internal ECK community especially our age group: this blog is a tool for that. Again I don’t think we need to formalize it by trying to come up with a Mission statement etc. I think if that there are things SAS members want to do to build community – then do it.

I mentioned this in my discussion with Tony. I mentioned how when Dave and Ellie and I had first moved to MA we were in contact with the Catholic church in our neighborhood as Dave is catholic and wanted Ellie christened. During that process the sacristy at the church asked us if we needed help and I said yes. Ellie was in the hospital every week for about a year and not sleeping at all and we were really exhausted. So the sacristy got volunteers to bring us meals, which was a godsend and helped us get through it. Especially because these volunteers would come in and visit with us at a time when we were feeling really isolated.

I asked Tony about this in comparison to ECKANKAR. He said that ECKANKAR will probably not be a prevalent as the Catholic Church because there are only so many souls that are ready to start the teachings. What this helped me realize about our group is that we can help anyone we want when they are in need, but instead of needing to build some new structure within ECKANKAR or have a formal mission/vision around it we just need to act.

An example of this is the email I recently received from an ECKist in my sat sang letting everyone know that one of the sat sang members was in the hospital, where to send flowers, and when visiting hours were. Marc’s actions and everyone's efforts to help Shawn are another example. But again, I see no need to formalize this.

Lastly, I think all of this discussion about mission and vision has somewhat paralyzed the group – it’s a bit of a damper on the enthusiasm many of us expressed about being in touch with each other again. Using the blog or the yahoo group as mechanisms to communicate and share our stories will renew and refresh our outer and inner connections and may be all that is needed right now.

There is something special about us all considering our past and, if you will, group culture that emerges when we are all together. Let’s enjoy that and do more of that and move beyond this whole mission vision who are we what are we stuff.

I am really down with calling SAS a discussion group and leaving it at that.

Any thoughts?

Love in ECK,
Kathryn

Life presents....

2007-02-07T23:34:00.000-05:00

I work as a paramedic. Today I picked up an elderly lady from her home. She was going to an appointment at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and my partner and I were to transport her in our ambulance. It was quite a beautiful home. The husband had placed plastic down over the carpets where we placed our stretcher inside the front door. We proceeded up the stairs to where she was lying in bed as we toted a "stair chair" to bring her back down and to our stretcher.

The chair was cold from sitting in its storage compartment in the ambulance. I asked if we could put a blanket on the chair and they handed me a nice blanket that the lady informed me she had made. It was quite lovely. We covered the chair, and moved her carefully to it. She asked us to be careful with one of her legs which was particularly sore.

I try to always be kind and gentle with people that we are carrying whether it is an emergency or not. But when we are doing this sort of non emergency transfer, it's easy to go into a sort of automatic mode as it is so routine. I may have been thinking for example, more about the stairs we were about to take her down than the fact that she had cancer.

As we moved her toward the stairs, I caught a glimpse of a photo amongst numerous others on a hallway wall that showed a lovely lady with a "Miss Canada" sache over her shoulder. The lady we were transporting informed me that she had designed some clothing for this particular "Miss Canada" and that she had been a fashion designer. Apparently her wall of fame had numerous other celebrities on it as well as some pictures of the lady in our chair when she was younger and quite beautiful. She, herself, had looked everybit the celebrity in these photos and yes, I could still see the resemblance.

Enroute to the hospital her husband sat beside me as I drove the ambulance. My partner, sat with the lady now on our stretcher and her daughter in the back. He informed me that today was his birhday and that he had been born February 7th, 76 years ago. Coincidentally, on this same day, exactly 50 years ago, the daughter that now accompanied her mother to the hospital had been born. The gentleman asked me many questions about my family and I. He told me he had been a car salesman for years, but as his wife became more successful in the fashion industry, she asked if he could help her. He asked her: "What do I know about the fashion industry?" She said, "you'll learn." He said she was right, he did learn and they became quite a team opening shops selling high end fashion in Toronto, Montreal and New York.

At the hospital, which is exclusively for cancer patients, we took her to a place called "mapping and planning." As we waited, the daughter asked me for the third time if she could get us a coffee, to which I finally broke down and agreed. As we drank our coffees the daughter filled me in on the details which I had so far managed to stay amazingly oblivious to. Her mother had previously had breast cancer which required treatment but no mastectomy. She had been exercising and seemingly was returning to good health when she complained of pain in her leg. They had initially thought that maybe she had strained it during her exercise. It turned out to be worst case scenario: the original cancer had metastasized into the bone. I was thinking, "uh oh, that's not good."

The daughter asked my partner and I what sort of results we normally saw for patients that had this sort of cancer. My partner quickly answered that we rarely saw what happened with patients after we brought them to the hospital and launched into a story that took us in a different direction. While there was a lot of truth to what my partner was saying, I knew he was as aware as I about her mother's prognosis. My partner's wife had died of cancer only a few years ago.

A nurse informed us we could come in and put the patient back on our stretcher as her CT scan was complete. As we took the lady through the hospital back towards the ambulance she told me quite matter of factly, "the cancer is in the bone, I'm terminal." She then indicated with a head nod towards her daughter "she doesn't want to hear it". I was careful not to say anything stupid like: "there's always hope".

Again I spoke with the husband on the return trip to the house. He emphasized that all the fancy cars, all the money, the fancy homes, etc. are really meaningless compared to our health. These were their retirement years when they were supposed to have that well earned time together. He, at 76, is the same age as my father, his wife in her early 70's.

We brought her back up to her room, again, wrapped in her hand made blanket. Very gently got her back into bed. She told us she hoped she got my partner and I the next time she had an appointment. I held her hand for a few seconds and looked her in the eye and wished her all the best and that I hoped to see her soon.

As my partner and I drove away in the ambulance he mentioned that he had told the daughter to enjoy every minute of her time with her mom. I was relieved that he had given her this advice to help her to understand that her mother would soon be translating.

It's amazing. Life and death is all around us. But we often find ways to isolate ourselves from these facts. Even in my job where it is so plain to see, we slip into denial that life on the physical plane is so brief. My son Avery is now 15 . He's 3 years away from college. How did that happen? My baby girl Alexandra is now 12 - not really a baby anymore. I'm almost 44 for God's sake. 44! Well I guess that's still young if I make it to 100. You see? Denial.

Well there's way too much scrolling going on here. Kim must have stopped reading long ago. I have to say good night. I'd just like to reach out, for a moment though, through time and space, through the BEINGNESS, and say hello, say LOVE, from one soul traveller to my fellow soul travellers. Happy journeys.

Blessings,

Marc

Rick Chimes in hopefully not long winded

2007-02-07T01:17:00.000-05:00

I love the discussion that has been going on, it is hopeful that this kind of well thought out discussion will lead to a good mission statement and focus. These kind of discussions are also the core of our ability to work together to great ends. Perhaps that is what SAS should be about: discussing how we are working in harmony with the Mahanta's (TM used without permission) mission and how we might work together on some projects together. A gathering in Jamaica, timed so that those of us who wish to can be part of the regional seminar. A charitable endeavor such as the one we threw together for Shawn to help a friend in need get back on their feet (pun intended) A scuba excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, A trip to the ancient temples of Mexico or Egypt or China easily timed to coincide with an eckankar event in said areas. A spotlight on what any one of us is doing in our local areas to share techniques that work or look for assistance in overcoming challlenges.....
end of chime

St. Augustine - 10 Rooms Reserved by March 15?

2007-02-05T12:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends

I have a dream. And that dream has 20 rooms filled with SAS members in St. Augustine. How do we get there? At the moment, I have reserved 10 rooms. The hotel has assured me that if we don't make 10, it is not a problem, we still get the group rate. I don't think it's fair to reserve 20 until we have a better idea we can successfully fill them.

If we can get 10 rooms reserved by March 15, then I will reserve 10 more rooms. If we can get the 20 rooms filled, we will get a free room for every night they are occupied.

Our first year, our service project was to help Shawn Fernandes. We were successful in helping getting funds to Shawn that allowed her to purchase the wheelchair she needed before a substantial price increase. Shawn is coming with her family to St. Augustine and if we can get those 20 rooms reserved we can give the free room to Shawn and her family, courtesy of the SAS. Rick, Kathryn and I feel this would be a nice gesture towards Shawn and a fitting end to our first year's service project.

Shawn continues to have some tremendous challenges. Trust me, I don't say that lightly. But she continues to rise to these challenges. For example, when she learned we got her the chair, she decided she was going to do her part, and proceeded to lose over 40 pounds! She won't tell you this, so I will: She recently has been dealing with a tremendous amount of pain. Shawn has a tolerance to the type of pain that would probably make you and I cry like a little baby. But recently it's been worse.

The winds of change are really blowing in Shawn's life, and some interesting possibilities have opened for her and her family.They may be relocating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She's spoken to the specialists in the area that would be helping her with her legs and seems to be confident that is where she needs to be.

I believe the SAS played a small but important role in helping Shawn. She is looking forward to this as an opportunity to say hi to all her friends and thank everyone for thinking of her and giving her a boost when she really needed it. If you haven't already met Shawn this will be a great opportunity to get to know her and the Fernandes family.

We are hoping to create a post at the side of our blog that shows who has made reservations for St. Augustine so everyone can see who is attending and how we are progressing towards the first goal of 10 rooms by the March 15 deadline.

I will be posting a basic agenda for a meeting in St. Augustine. Members will be able to propose a new project for 2007 -2008, make proposals for our next get together, we can continue to discuss our mission and vision statements, and we can have a few workshops if anyone is interested. I have reserved the meeting room for these purposes as well as for a private breakfast on Sunday.

Remember, a wonderful breakfast buffet is included each morning with the price of the hotel so it's really quite a reasonable cost for what we will get. (Sorry, rumours of kegs of free beer are entirely false).

I hope you will give this event your full consideration and take some time to determine if it is something you'd like to be part of.

In Eck,
Marc Bilz

A Rather Long Winded Response to Larkin

2007-01-30T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hi Larkin

I've chosen to write a response to your post in another post (rather than "comments" as I feel it is an important question for me, and for each of us to answer. First, I agree with Kathryn regarding the words that belong to Eckankar and that this is the reason we don't use words such as "Mahanta" in our mission (or vision) statement, or anywhere that defines what the SAS is. Yet, regardless of trademarks, the key question is:

are we in alignment with the Mahanta's mission or not?

I think what you are saying Larkin (correct me if I'm wrong) is you would feel more secure that we are in alignment with the Mahanta's mission if we were to support only Eckankar sanctioned events. If that's what the members of SAS want to do, than we can certainly do that. I agree that Rick's idea to support a day of Eck in Jamaica was met with a lot of enthusiasm and I think it would be fun as well. I'd certainly want to try and be there for that. However, personally, I would not like to limit ourselves to supporting Eckankar sanctioned events alone.

I think there is definitely some interest amongst our members to be able to work in a charitable capacity. Charitable work can take the form of acquiring and distributing funds and / or goods, or can be service projects such as the Jamaican example or to assist an individual or group with something other than provision of funds and / or goods. I, and others, have seen the development of these projects as something that could take one of a number of forms after being championed by an individual and determined if it is supported by the group. We could take on one or two of these projects every couple of years.

Could an organization of mainly Eckists, but otherwise not affiliated with Eckankar, be part of the Mahanta's mission? Individuals will probably answer this question by choosing to be members here, or not, as I am sure each is dedicated to this mission in a big way. But I think we have to remember that the Mahanta's mission is never limited to Eckankar. For example, Eckankar has always said that by far the greatest part of the spiritual teachings is not available in the outer works. So Eckankar, unlike the Mahanta, is limited. It can't be everything. It is the organization by which the purest form of the spiritual teachings are made available on the outer to the public. The Mahanta's mission then, I believe, is played out, in part, when individuals are open as channels to manifest this mission. And while Eckists are encouraged to remain detached from the social consciousness and to avoid holding strong opinions either for or against, we are still to play out our roles and to be involved (in a detached sort of way :) in the physical while we attend to our spiritual growth.

While charity is not the mandate of Eckankar, I think it can serve a useful purpose in building spiritual community:

Firstly, it creates a reason for Eckists from all over the world to communicate.

Secondly, It engages those Eckists to come up with creative solutions to assist people (Eckist or not) that need some help and allows people to give from the heart.

Thirdly, it allows the members a good reason to get together to consider new projects, our next get together, and to share ideas in an environment where they have some time to hang out together and have fun (a vacation with a purpose if you will).

Finally, I think it could attract people who might otherwise not be ready to go directly to an Eckankar event but may feel an SAS event to be less intimidating.

So, there is the potential for a balance between the spiritual and the social. I think a group of Eckists that understand that we each must take responsibility for our lives and understand the laws of karma would be an ideal group to create and manage a charity of sorts. We can ensure we give where it will be best utilized in a responsible manner.

Just about every religion on the planet, to the best of my knowledge, helps its members when they are in great need. I recognize that Eckankar is not concerned about what every other religion is doing, and that's one of the reasons why I love it. But Eckankar never said: don't help each other. How many Eckists donate to a favourite charity? I'll bet most. I donate directly to Eckankar and to several charities. I'll bet Eckists would be excited to hear that a group of Eckists have formed a charity to help people and many would be interested in donating time, energy or money. You can bet that many will be interested in the event as well.

As an independent organization which is clear that we are not an affiliate of Eckankar, we simply need to follow the laws of the land (and spiritual law as well). We don't require an explicit stamp of approval from Eckankar at this time. As a courtesy, at some point in the near future, I feel we should send the Eckankar office a letter to state who we are as an organization and that we are taking care to ensure that we have a clear message that we are in no way affiliated with Eckankar. Eckankar will want to ensure that we don't confuse people between our organization and Eckankar. This clarity will ensure we have a good relationship with Eckankar - a relationship which is, of course, of utmost importance to maintain!!

The lack of affiliation or that we choose to hold or perhaps support events which are not necessarily sanctioned by Eckankar does not exclude us from manifesting an aspect of the Mahanta's mission. Still, I think Eckankar would probably be happy to embrace any service we might, as a group, be able to offer the organization or to national or local affiliates if and when we choose to. As Eckists, I think we will always be looking for ways to support Eckankar either directly or indirectly.

So, finally, to answer your question Larkin - are we here to manifest the Mahanta's mission? - I would answer, YES, absolutely. How we allow the Eck to manifest that mission through us is for each of us to determine in our own hearts of course.

Marc Bilz

More Comments on SAS Mission

2007-01-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

Marc, Rick and Kathryn, thanks for your comments.

As I have said before, I think a mission that directly serves the Mahanta is one that will be the strongest.

We are a group of ECKists that have come back together for a reason. If that is not to serve the Mahanta in his mission, then I am not really sure why are are back together:)

We talked of some interesting ideas at the meeting at the WW, for example supporting already existing satsang societies or already formed regional events, where we could donate our time and resources.

I think it is very exciting to think of us as a group, traveling to different parts of the world, supporting ECK events already in place.

In the next few years there will be an African trip - this could be part of what we do.

One of the things I loved most about being in the youth program was being able to travel all over the world with you guys. Those trips make up some of my fondest memories.

Doing the same thing now would be very exciting for this group - to travel together serving the ECK and Mahanta, now as HIs - the implications of this are endless.

A mission (or vision) like this makes me most excited to participate.

Hello from Oklahoma!

2007-01-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone. This is really exciting, as well as well-timed! What's amazing to me, is that when Marc sent me an email invititation to the SAS today, he mentioned that I gave him my email in 2005 at the Worldwide. But, the last Worldwide I attended was 2001! So, I'm glad my email surfaced when it did; and I'm really happy to be here. Seeing so many familiar names and faces (and even a few I don't know- looking forward to knowing you!) is just the boost I needed right now. It's been a difficult few years, primarily healthwise....but with this new year, I think I'm finally moving away from this particular cycle; and I couldn't be more excited.
I had another major surgery just last month, from which I'm still healing, but I am seeing improvement each day, paired with less pain, so I'm very optimistic!
My son (who was but an in-utero grain of sand when I attended that seminar in 2001), is now a strapping, achingly beautiful 4.5 year old, who is at this moment playing in a tent in the living room, as we hide from the completely frozen landscape of Oklahoma. It's an amazing time, as he is learning to read, is compassionate and hilarious, and reminds me of all the best parts of being Here and Now.
On other fronts, I am still playing flute and still singing. I am looking into a Masters program which will focus on adult education. I hope to return to school next year when Grayson begins kindergarten. My husband, Gary (we just celebrated our 8th anniversary), is still an uber-IT guy; while completing a degree at the University of Oklahoma; as well as being very active in Freemasonry in Oklahoma. I am terribly proud of my little family, which also includes my golden-capped conure of 15 years, Remjey; and our two Blemhein Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Cuchulain and Jenny.
I am the very novice web mistress for the official Eckankar in Oklahoma website (http://www.eck-ok.org ), no laughing at my meager html skills, and I just became CFO for the Oklahoma Satsang Society, and am facing my very first report due at the end of the month. I have a real learning curve ahead of me!
Lastly, for you "myspacers" (Hi, Arthur!), I do have a page there with a lot of pictures and self-pitying blogs (I know, I know ;) so if you care to puruse it ------> http://www.myspace.com/Eixchel
On that note, Grayson and I are going to try to make our way out to do some errands today before the expected 6-10 inches of snow fall tonight and force us to do things like drink hot chocolate and play Scrabble.
JJ, Dan, Marc, Pey, Larkin, Rod, Bruce, Kathryn, Arthur, Carol, Shawn, Scott...anyone I forgot: It is GOOD to see you all again and I look forward to working with you.
Now, I've got to go dig up some pictures from the "early years," to post!
Much love,
Sarah

Story of how the Eck is always working!

2007-01-18T08:37:00.000-05:00

On January 8, 2007 a friend of mine who is a long time Eckist translated at around 2:00 pm. He was only 53 years old. He had been in a nursing home facility for about 3 years after having a series of strokes which left him mentally and verbally incapable of functioning. One of the massive stokes that he experienced left his frontal lobe very impaired, and he hasn't been able to communicate much at all. On the day that he translated, he was walking down the hall with the assistance of a nurse when suddenly he looked at her and spoke. He said, "I think that I am going to die." He slowly collapsed to the ground and became unconscious. He had a massive heart attack and died moments later. The interesting thing is that nursing home was in a very small rural town that is over 30 minutes from the nearest hospital. At around 2:10 the same day in a little town that was just about 5 minutes away, another friend who also was 53 years and a long time Eckist was working at a grade school. She suddenly collapsed with a major heart attack. When she woke up in the hospital, the physician told her that the only reason she was alive is that there happened to be an ambulance in the area who was going to pick up the body of a man who had passed away from a heart attack. When they got the call for her, they turned around and drove to school and saved her. Both Eckists have know each other for many years. The Eckist who survived truly believes that the man who translated chose to leave at exactly that moment in order to save her life. He also became verbal with mental clarity at the exact moment of death. The Eck has all of this worked out which is so reassuring to all of us , I'm sure. I just wanted to share this story with everyone. Bye, Shawn

Hi from Illinois

2007-01-18T08:31:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! It's so great to hear from people now and catch up with where everyone is at in their lives. I live in Central Illinois with my husband, Joe, and my 3 children. Jack is 9 years old; Isabella is 5 years old and Olivia is 4 years old. At this point in my life, I am a stay at home mom who is also working on writing a few children's books. However, once all of my kids are in school, I hope to return to my field of social work. I'm curious if other people feel like a new spiritual cycle is beginning in their lives? It has been quite a January so far. I've found myself refocused on goals and discovering the discipline in my life to actually manifest these goals. There have been some really interesting changes happening in my life. I've actually heard similar stories from some other Eckists and I am just wondering if others in group are feeling similarly. It was great to catch up with many of you at the WW this year. I hope to see more of you in May and possibly the next WW. Bye, Shawn

Hi from LarkinLand

2007-01-17T18:36:00.000-05:00

Looks like things are happening here. Good to see everyone connected. It was fun being with you at the WW. I look forward to our next opportunity to meet. Pretty good chance I won't be at the Springtime unless I win the lottery (hey, it could happen!). Also it looks like I won't be able to attend the event planned for May. I have a military training earlier in the month, a bachelorette party and wedding, all of which I have to travel for in April, May and June. That leaves no more travel money for me!! (Unless I win the lottery).

As for me, I am still trying to build my private practice here in Boise. It's a lot of work and leaves me finally strapped most of the time. But it is an experience that I want and need. Being independent comes with it's costs. I was able to take the day off work yesterday and go skiing - one of the perks of being in private practice:)

I would love to start a discussion on the mission/vision of SAS, if that is appropriate. We touched on this at the WW meeting, but I think our vision(s) are still formulating and tyring to manifest.

Love
Larkin

this is where I live

2007-01-17T03:22:00.000-05:00

I'm really not sure where I live. Sometimes, it seems I do, and other times, I'm astounded at how lost I am. But my lostness has an underlying sense of knowing more about where, and who I am, then when I'm in my more assured state, of going about my daily life and assuming I know where ( or who) I am. It's in that state of thinking I know where I am, that I am quite certain that I am, in fact, truly lost and fast asleep, dreaming away my life.

So, with that qualifying statement, that tells you, essentially nothing, let me now say, I live in Lindsay Ontario Canada, near Toronto with my wife Heather, son Avery, who is now 15 and bigger than I, my daughter Zan, who is a wonderful little writer and a pretty good artist to boot, our cats Niko and Pixie...wonderful later additions to our family.

I have a job that pays most of my bills but feels stale. I'm weening my way off and out, and transforming these tired dreams into something more passionate. I get excited about communication and learning. I'm getting some experience working with film and editing and am enjoying it. The tools are great, digital cameras and editing on Macs etc, but it's really particpating in these strange days with the ability to reach out and stay connected in ways we were unable to before these technologies.

I recently wrote my goals for the next decade, concisely with timelines. Wow. Finally. That's where I'm at. Check out one of my blogs when you get a chance Kawartha Dialogue or my ramblings in Freaky Design I feel like I've got an incredible opportunity to take some steps towards manifesting my not so impossible mission and I'm excited to be here, wherever that is. Oh, and, I LOVE YOU!

this is where i live...

2007-01-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

OK – I’ll just dive right in and follow Pey’s suggesting of a topic - start here with the physical you know? Thanks Marc, for being so persistent… sometimes that’s all it takes.

Anyway… I live and work with my growing family (3x 2-leggeds, 1x 4-legged, new 2-legged expected any day now) in a 90 y/o cinder block (yes, really made of cinders) house (that feels smaller by the minute) in a great little college town in the wonderful New River Valley in the heart of the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. Here the seasons are two-fold. First, we have 4 equally divided traditional seasons (OK, this Winter has been more like a Spring), then, overlaid upon that, we have about 25,000 students rushing in and out of town – tides of chaos, expensive new cars, and an undeniable frenetic (and fun) energy. This all comes together in stunningly quiet and warm Summers. I can hardly imagine a nicer place to be than sitting on “Hippy Hill” with the families of Blacksburg Virginia on a late July Friday evening listening to live music.

Mike Weber

Happy New Year

2007-01-14T16:42:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, OK Marc thanks for your invite - I heed your directive! Happy 2007 and I am sorry not to have checked in before, as we were moving house and I was surrounded by mountains of boxes full of all our accumulated life to unpack. However we are now happily settled (only moved up the hill from where we lived before) and more importantly, the internet is reconnected...phew! For all us geeky people who live here, that is a big deal. So how do we use this Blog tool to catch up with each other? Maybe every month we come up with a question we can all write about eg. this is where i live....- everyone can send in suggestions and we'll vote on 12 - whether it is a three word post or a 50 word or more post - it doesn't matter - all who want to write in can do so. Those who want to lurk can lurk. Does that sound OK? I think Marc and Kathryn kinda have to still be the moderators though, what do you think guys? love to all, Pey

New Year Radio Greetings

2007-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone and thanks to Marc for inviting me into the SAS blogosphere! Since my work keeps me busy nearly seven days a week, it's a challenge to stay in touch with the SAS crew. For those that do not know, I broadcast a weekly talk radio show every Sunday from 1 PM to 4 PM Eastern Time. In case it does not air in your city, here's the best internet stream: http://www.warpradio.com/Tuner.asp?id=13919

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2006-12-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

Isn't she lovely? I couldn't resist sharing these holiday pics of our warrior princess. I hope to see you all in 2007.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holidays! It's great to see so many old friends who are signed into this blog. I'm hoping that after the New Years, we can all start catching up and sharing some really interesting experiences by using this blog site. I'm really looking forward to becoming reacquainted with many of you since it has been a long time that we've had a chance to share on the outer. Let's figure out together the best way to use this blog in helping us to further develop our spiritual lives as well as our social ones! Talk to you in 2007! Bye, Shawn

Scott, JJ, Hillary and Kim: HEY!

2006-12-18T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hey Kim, Scott, Hillary and JJ! Great to have you on board. I switched our blog to a so called "beta" version and now everyone that was on the old site has to sign in with a google account. Hopefully we get everyone back soon: I'm thinking....after Christmas most likely. I also sent an invite out to a bunch of others so we'll see if they respond....COME ON....wake up....get out of bed...it's party time! Excuse me, I digress...or regress, or something....

I know that Kim and Hillary mentioned they were unlikely to get to St. Augustine...But you never know. I mean, you just never really know, eh? Well, actually there are those few occasions when you practically do know, but, they are kind of few and far in between.

Scott and JJ: dudes...I'm seeing us surfing. I'm seeing us hangin'...seein' us having a very good time. Hope you can make it. JJ: I know the coral castle is farther away now that our event is in St. Augustine, but one day, I have to check that out. I was researching the place a bit and it sounds incredible. He claimed to have the secret to building the pyramids and judging from what he apparently built by himself, I guess he may have.

Don't forget to put up a post or two. Let us know what's up. Some people have felt that we don't have a compelling enough reason to reconnect our little community: Eck youth alumni or whatever you want to call it. I think that it is compelling enough to just stay connected. Do friends need compelling reasons to stay in touch?

If you have a website or blog, send me the URL and I'll put a link to it on the site. I think that is such an amazing way to see what someone is up to...rather than reading a one dimensional profile : I'm male, I'm 43, I'm a paramedic, my favourite colour is blue, my favourite food is bologna sandwiches...instead read the persons blog or check out their website. People invest a lot of time and energy in these things. Take a look at Kathryn (Donald) Stanley's "Rym Tales" if you get a chance. Kim, I know you had an awesome website that showed one of your projects.

If you'd like to invite anyone else to the blog, send me their email and I'll send them an invitation.

see ya and thanks again for checking in!
Marc

Wow - check this out

2006-12-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

Check out the blog that an Eckist has put together - very cool, and complete with rolling Hu...
Click on the title above for the link.

Map of St. Augustine

2006-11-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

Click the link in the above title for a map of St. Augustine. Once on the map site, if you click the "2" icon in the list of hotels on the left side it locates the hotel where we will be staying.

Great Links for St. Augustine

2006-11-29T15:05:00.001-05:00

Travel Advisor has a ton of info if you want to see what there is to do in and around St. Augustine, where the best restaurants are, etc. Click the link in the title above.

St. Augustine Event is a GO!

2006-11-28T00:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone

Most of the details of our trip to St. Augustine, Florida have been worked out. All that is now required is for you to make a reservation! This will be an awesome get together to reconnect with old friends, have some fun at the beach and be part of project planning for the SAS for 2007-2008.

Once you look over the information below, click here and see the beautiful hotel and location where we wil be staying.

Here's what you need to know:

When: Thursday May 17 to Sunday May 20, 2007

Where: Casa Del Mar Inn and Suites Oceanside Resort, St. Augustine, Florida (Just south of Jacksonville in the northwest of Florida)

How to get there: by car or fly into Jacksonville or Orlando, then rent a car and drive to St. Augustine

Cost: $139 U.S. per night + 9% tax. These rates are available to our group from May 16 to May 23.

What's included: room with King bed and balcony or room with a double Queen bed, full daily breakfast buffet (link to hotel for additional details)

Reservations: toll free 1 866 484 5266, or 904 827 9797 You can request where you'd like to stay (eg. poolside or beside friends, etc.) - inform that you are with SAS group to get group rates Once you've made your reservation, please contact me (Marc) at the email address below and let me know you are coming and the number in your party.

Upgrades: adjoining rooms for kids, suites, rooms with oceanview, up to Presidential Suite - these have a 10% group rate discount

Other: I have reserved the meeting room for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we can take our breakfast there as well. Requesting a $10 donation per room to cover this and any additional expenses.

Program: We will be creating a simple program. Anyone that would like to offer a workshop, lead a roundtable discussion, or perform (dance, music, poetry, etc) please contact me at the email address below. I will give more details of the theme of the program in the next few weeks in our blog.

This is going to be an incredible opportunity to begin to manifest a strong and supportive community as we continue on our spiritual adventure. Yes, sometimes life can be a beach, and that beach can be a beautiful beach in St. Augustine! Don't forget to bring the kids! (I need help to build the great Eck temple sandcastle)

Marc Bilz
nikobilz@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-22T18:38:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's not too materialistic, other than the epicurean gluttony, and the theme is something I like to practice daily - gratitude. So to have a whole day dedicated to gratitude for the entire US might raise the consciousness just a bit (unless the epicurean gluttony gets in the way...oh well).

I am thankful for all the love, kindness, lessons and friendship I have experienced with many of you in this group over the last 20 years. Can you believe it's that long?

Lots of love and hugs,
Kathryn

Worldwide Experiences

2006-11-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Hi,

I was just curious if anyone had any interesting life experiences during the time around the Worldwide Seminar? I thought that this might be a good forum to share some of these experiences.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you,
Shawn

Inviting ECKists

2006-11-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

Fellow ECKists,

I would like to invite other ECKists. Do I have permission, and if so, how would I go about inviting them?

BB

Natasha

Friendly Hello!

2006-11-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

Hello all!

Natasha here! Just wanted to thank you for the invite to join in.

2006-11-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

SAS meeting October 2006

segment of SAS meeting - discussion of bridging to genX and youth

photos from worldwide 2006

2006-11-01T03:02:00.000-05:00

here are some more photos from the world wide

http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/82083.4f9603e9b35

if you want to share photos, bubbleshare seems to work well as they send you a link to your email, whereas some of the others, you seem to have only the option of emailing each person separately to invite to see your album. There may be some others that are good. If you find one that is excellent for use with our blog, please let me know.

SAS meeting at worldwide seminar

2006-10-31T23:54:00.000-05:00

SAS Meeting at World Wide

At the world wide seminar we held an informal SAS meeting. It was attended by approximately 10 or so people, perhaps half of whom are steering committee (SAS Yahoo site) members. Rick gave a brief description of what the SAS is. Marc mentioned our St. Augustine get together and asked for input re the two possible dates in May 2007 (memorial day weekend or the previous weekend (May 18, 19 20). Carol and Arthur brought up the point that they have noticed a drop off of people in Eckankar who are about their age or younger and find they are often the youngest at meetings with other Eckists. There also was some discussion of the need to utilize some technologies that youth in particular use to get information and connect with one another. Rick suggested that the blog might be a good place to continue some of these discussions. Rick mentioned that he is working on an SAS get together in Jamaica with Suzanne Coy. This was received enthusiastically as a number of people liked the idea of working with the Jamaican Eckists with their day of Eck and supporting it in whatever way we could. Arthur and Carol felt that this was the kind of event that grabbed them more and that St. Augustine felt that it was lacking this sort of outflow. Others also seemed to like the idea of supporting communities in other countries - Dan mentioned Africa for example. Todd was supportive of the St. Augustine get together and spoke of the investment made in this group and his sense of a destiny for it, as yet, unfulfilled. Everyone who attended the meeting as well as others who had dropped by prior to the meeting signed in to get an invite to the SAS blog.

St. Augustine Trip

2006-10-29T17:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to take a moment to tell everyone how great it was to see all of you at the seminar. For those of you that I didn't get to see, hopefully we will be able to reconnect at the St. Augustine event. What a wonderful idea to organize an event where we can all re-establish those inner connections that were able to be formed all those years ago. During the trip to the Worldwide, I was reminded of how truly lucky we are to have had those opportunities in the past to attend the Toronto mini seminars. I was talking with some friends who weren't a part of our original group and they expressed envy over the obvious bond that we all have with one another. They were asking me how that all originated and I realized that much of that was solidified during these weekends in Toronto. It is clear that the Eck has a special plan for all of us and wants us to continue developing that connection with one another in order to serve in the way that is going to be needed. This is why I was so excited to hear about the future plans for organizing a kind of retreat for all of us every two years. It is coming through inwardly that this is going to be very important in coming years for some reason. I am also very interested in having an opportunity for my children to meet the children of all of my Eck friends. They are the next generation and that connection needs to be nutured as well. More than likely, our children have a special bond that they too need to develop with one another. It just feels like that is going to be an important part of this experience as well.
I personally am very supportive of the first event being in Florida because it is a location that will allow more people to attend. This is the type of event that needs to have lots of energy, support and attendance especially at the initial one. That way the word will spread and momentum will grow. I also think that it is important to keep the cost affordable for the first event so that more people will feel like they can participate. I would really like to be able to bring my husband and children and the cost of airfare for 5 people can be rather pricey. If I had two years to prepare for such expense, then I could plan and create the money necessary to attend a weekend that is further away. I feel that having the event in Florida has an appeal since it is within driving distance for many people. Initially when I first came to the Toronto events, I carpooled with friends since I was a college student at the time. After experiencing the tremendous Eck flow during the weekend, I was willing to save my money so that I could fly in later years in order to not miss the experience. I think that it is very important to allow the same opportunity to as many people the first time..
Like many others, I do see the group as being a great opportunity to provide service to other locations and Eckists in those areas. However, I think that we shouldn't underplay the importance of just having time to support and encourage one another. It is invaluable to have a time to just get together ourselves as a sort of spiritual renewal. I have found that it hasn't worked out for me to actually have time at seminars to sit down with most of you and hear what's going on in your personal lives as well as how you're serving the Eck in your communities. Usually I run into people on the walkways between the Hilton and convention center and only seem to have time to talk for a few moments. Although I still believe that there is a very strong connection between all of us, I actually think that it could be developed even further and be expanded to include many others regardless of age. Well, I didn't plan to go on and on like this, but I feel such love for all of you and am very excited at the prospect of getting to know all of you once again. I feel like we have a responsibility to the Eck as well as to ourselves to redevelop these connections in order to serve in whatever way the Eck deems necessary. There seems to be a greater plan at work here and we are just barely tapping into the surface of what is going to be needed from our spiritual community. Let's do what we do best.....let's have fun and spread the love of the Mahanta wherever we end up meeting every two years.
Once again, thank you for your financial support and love that each of you provided for my family. It was an amazing experience for me and one that I will never forget. You really made a difference in my life. I am sitting in the wheel chair right now and spend several hours a day in it in order to accomplish my daily tasks. My family (including the non-Eckists) were blown away by your generosity. Perhaps I too can work with you in the future in helping another family or group. I am looking forward to having that opportunity.
See you all next May!Eck Love,

Invites out!

2006-10-29T15:08:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know that if you gave your email to Marc at the seminar you should have an invite in your inbox to join this group as a contributor. You will have to click on the link and make up your own user name and password. Then you have to sign in if you want to post using your new user name and password. If you have any trouble with this please respond to this post and I will contact you to help you get on.

Looking forward to hearing from you all on the SAS blog!

Lots of love to all,
Kathryn

Mnpls world wide 2006

2006-10-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

Shawn, friends and a chair

2006-10-26T14:47:00.000-05:00

If I’ve done this correctly, you should see a nice picture of Shawn and friends with her wheelchair thanks to the contributions of the SAS members. I had a chance to chat with Shawn at the seminar and she told me she probably would not have been able to attend the world wide seminar without the chair and again expressed her appreciation to the group for their generosity.

From left Helaine Rainer, Francis deGeus, Zan Bilz, Shawn (Krause) Fernandes, Heather and Marc Bilz

Spiritual Adventure Society

2006-10-24T22:26:00.000-05:00

Update coming soon

I will post an update from the meeting we had at the WW along with lots of great pictures and maybe a short video from the seminar in the next couple of days.

Spiritual Adventure Society

2006-10-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

Meeting at Rick's room

There is a meeting for the SAS tonight at Rick Duffy's room in the Hilton at 10pm. Don't have his room number at the moment but you can call his room if you contact the Hilton. Heard a rumour of pizza service.

History and Mission of the Spiritual Adventure Society

2006-10-20T14:17:00.001-05:00

The Spiritual Aventure Society (SAS) was informally founded at the 2005 Eckankar world wide seminar. It's original pupose was to determine a tropical location for a youth alumni get together. In addition it was to decide how it might best assist the Fernandes family who were challenged with a number of issues related to Shawn's and her daughter's experience with Popliteal Pterygium syndrome.

The SAS membership was established and communicated on a Yahoo groups site as a steering committee. The group successfully raised money amongst its members for a specialized wheelchair for Shawn. Semi-tropical St. Augustine Florida was chosen as the site for its first get together in May 2007. A mission statement was formulated in spring 2006 based on the input of its membership. It states:

SAS exists to develop spiritual community and provide a platform for outreach in alignment with the light and sound of God.

In October 2006 it was decided to open our discussion to the global youth alumni group via this blog.

At present, SAS exists as an informal group bound by their common interest in spiritual development and the path of Eckankar. It maintains a steering committee of aprroximately 15 members.

Recent discussion has suggested we continue to get together and hold an SAS event once every two years, have some fun and determine any new service projects we wish to participate in.

Welcome, friends, to the Spiritual Adventure Society. We look forward to your participation.

How to Blog SAS - Updated

2006-10-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Spiritual Adventure Society blog. This is a place were we can continue to build our spiritual community. As a contributor to this blog you can post directly and anyone who wants to join our group can do the same. To set you up as a contributor I need your email address. Your email address won't show up on the blog unless you want it to (you can do this when you fill in your profile). As the administrator, I need it to add you as a member. I will keep all emails confidential - it's up to you how much of your personal information you wish to share.

Also, please note that this blog is NOT confidential. The only control I found was one that ensures it cannot be searched on from Blogger.com. But it will still be accessible from the Internet. That said, because we are using Blogger.com there is that layer between us and the Internet. Also, search engines like Google take awhile to register a site. It depends upon how many other sites are linked to this one, how much traffic.

Guidelines for Proper Use of This Blog:

1. It’s not confidential; so don’t post anything you would mind if a total stranger were to read.

2. To create a new post you will have to sign into Blogger.com with the email and password you chose when you were invited to join. Upon signing in you will see what is called the Dashboard. From there you can create a new post by clicking on the green plus sign. This will lead you to a text box page where you can type in directly or cut and paste from a word document. You can share pictures etc. If you have specific questions or are finding this difficult to use, email me. Also, you can go back in later and edit your posts by clicking on the green plus sign if you want to change something. When you are done typing in your post, hit the publish post button at the bottom of the page. If you navigate away from this page before you publish, your post will be lost. This is another good reason to write up your post in a word document that you have saved to your own computer.

3. Rules for setting up your profile. No code names please! Don’t have your display name be a code so that people don’t know who you are. When I first signed in my Blogger user name showed up as Ryntales – which is the name of my personal blog. So when I went to post or comment I was only identified as Ryntales. I had to go in and change my Blogger username to KathrynStanley. Now people know who they are communicating with. It’s important to identify who you are so that this remains a safe space to blog.

4. The mission of SAS has been to build our spiritual community on the outer as well as the inner. The group has done some outreach work as you can see by Shawn's post. So when you post, please share your stories and pictures and notes about your life that illustrate how the ECK is working with you day to day. Feel free to share thoughts and suggestions on how the group could do any Vahana work as well.

5. Tips on good posting:
A. Be succinct and use good grammar. It's ideal to first write up your post in a word processing program so you can spell check it and then cut and paste it in a post. Unfortunately some of the formatting may be lost - like bullets so you will have to add them in here.

B. Use white space between paragraphs and ordered lists like this one.

C. Don't criticize another person's post in the comments. Weigh in for sure and share your thoughts, but be kind when you post. Consider how you would feel at the receiving end before you hit the publish post button. If it's specific issue you need to work out with another person - pick up the phone and don't put it in this blog.

D. Sharing Lots of Pictures: Use links to Flikr or Yahoo photo albums to allow others to view your pictures . Having 30 pictures to scroll through may make the blog a bit cumbersome. Adding a picture or two when you post is great for color, more white space and illustration.

6. If you have your own blog and want to put it on the blog roll, please send me the link and I will add it.

7. Be responsible about who you invite to join. Do we only want to open this to other ECKists and new comers to ECK? Tell me what you think on that one. We do want to open this up to our entire ECK youth alum family. Send me email address of anyone else you might see at the seminar or know of who wants to join and I will sign them up as a contributor.

8. If you are new to blogging, Who Let the Blogs Out? By Biz Stone is an excellent book that walks you through it all. Very user friendly and written in 2004 and available in most libraries.

There may be other rules to add that I have not thought of. If you think of any, let me know and I can add them to this post. We can eventually make an FAQ link on the front page. I look forward to reading your posts (which can be done in words, pictures, video clips and sound bites) and staying connected to you via the SAS Blog!

Have a great time at the worldwide!

With Love in ECK,
Kathryn

St. Augustine get together

2006-10-18T02:10:00.000-05:00

Spiritual Adventure Society

Hey everyone

great that this blog has come together. A big thanks to Kathryn. I just want to mention our trip to St. Augustine, Florida. Our new tentative dates are May 18, 19 and 20 2007. This will be our first SAS get together and hopefully there will be many more in the future. Let's all compile a list of our Eck youth alumni friends and let them know about this blog and the get together. If some hear from more than one of us, all the better. I'm really looking forward to hearing from some of these people I haven't heard from in years...Micah Couttette, Bruno Choiniere, Sandro Pasetta, Cheryl Wazynowicz, Andrew Arnette....

Once I figure out how to put some photos up in this blog, I'll give you a really nice glimpse of where we are going. You will beg borrow and / or steal to get there. Okay, maybe not steal, but definitely beg and borrow.

ECK LOVE,
from Marc Bilz

Thanks for doing this

2006-10-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone.
Thanks to Kathryn for setting this up.
Also how cool to hear from Bruce again. Shawn, give me a call at the seminar or stop by at the temple (in the back they don't let me sit inside ;^) ) from 1-4 Fri or Saturday weather permitting.
One of these days I'll get to posting some of my old pictures from the 80s and 90s of members from this group.....
Rick

Stopping By

2006-10-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

Hi all!

Bruce Burns here. I had stumbled onto a yahoo board created by Dan and he directed me here (Kathy helped alot too). Just wanted to say hi and "whatzup".

Bruce

Message from Shawn

2006-10-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to welcome everyone to this site. I also wanted to take time to personally thank everyone once again for all of your support and generosity over the past year. Since I was able to purchase wheelchair last year with your assistance, I am now going to be able to attend the Worldwide this weekend for the first time in five years. This experience wouldn't be possible without everyone's love and support. So thanks again! I look forward to seeing all of you at either this seminar or upcoming ones as well. It will be great to be able to reconnect with all of you through this site as well.

Thanks, Shawn Krause Fernandes