Stepping Stones to the Top of the World

In many aspects, the pages that follow are like the stepping stones that lead to the edge of The Path. Whether or not one gets on The Path and has enough gumption to stay on it and keep moving forward depends entirely on how much emotional and spiritual balance the person wishes to invest in this very personal pursuit. Genuine mindfulness comes at a price – a deliberate, constant and considered application ‘in the field’, in each of our relationships, of all that our brain has finally come to understand and accept because, finally, through her connection to Soul, the ego-persona remembers. The stepping stones map out the way to a bridge – a bridge to soul.

On this, a lovely Saturday in February 2014, as I sort through the many articles I have written over the years with the view of finally collating them in a full manuscript dealing with all matters of the heart and soul, I still stand by what I thought back in 2007, as I tentatively published the first article, the first work of non-fiction on my website, a site born out of my experiences as novelist. Here is the text I wrote seven years ago: I have already decided that this, my first, article, as well as all subsequent ones I might write on all matters of the Soul, will remain publications anyone can access for free, in their entirety – from the first lines of texts to the very last full-stops. Since I am not [yet] a philanthropist and would not want to pass for the altruist that I am not – bad karma – I should perhaps explain why I am going to forge ahead with my free-lance project. Yes, the pun is intended. 1. The process of thinking out loud with the aim of sharing, and hopefully being understood by others, means that I have to put a great deal of order and clarity to the many thoughts that are, for now, colliding, whirring hard, sparking new synaptic connections inside my brain, inside my neural net, inside my mind … inside my energy field. 2. Not everyone reading my articles or viewing eventual podcasts will come in to these texts with as little understanding as I used to have on matters of spirituality. Therefore some of the more involved concepts and beliefs I will attempt to put forward in Moriya’s pared-down style will strike a familiar chord in some, an instantaneous spark of interest in some – and a dead spot in others. Either way, it is my opportunity to give back to the cosmos some of what it has offered to me through the teachings of Moriya, my teacher in Jerusalem, who, because of her own detachment from all that is of a material, monetary nature, is not at all interested in writing her own books, let alone having devotees attaching to her. Though a search of the name Moriya does bring up a few links, the Moriya I am talking about has no need for an online presence, therefore she is not any of these ‘Moriyas’. Since Moriya will not accept from me anything more than my thanks, how could I then ‘sell’ the fruit of the spiritual guidance I am receiving when it is given to me gratis and unconditionally? No way, right? As if to confirm my initial mindset, I was recently prompted to develop it further on a forum in answer to a start-up comment about whether one should charge or not charge for ‘work’ of a spiritual nature: December 2013: Unencumbered by the thought of any monetary transaction, I am only happy to share from the heart all that Moriya has taught me. Of course, one has to pay the myriad bills that come our way. But, you see, I tend to believe that, generally speaking, the objective of any genuinely spiritually-minded person should be to keep ‘energetically’ clean and uncluttered that channel to Soul or God or Archangels or Source or to whatever the person believes in. If there is any hope, any way for us, mere mortals on the Path, to even come close to the Real Thing, how can it be done while our mind, our thoughts and hours are focused on finding ways to not only pay the totality of our bills, but also to shore up our savings? Energetically speaking, can we afford to cheapen our ‘gift’ by making it a commodity not only to pay for housing and food etc. but also to afford a particular lifestyle, thus reducing spiritual work to the common of ‘job’? Besides, isn’t the unshakeable faith that whichever greater entity we happen to believe watches over us and that all that does happen to us is a part of a greater Plan one of the key concepts in spirituality? As adults, don’t we all know that no chosen lifestyle, no amount of money in the bank will ever keep us from whatever is in store for us, be it rewarding and good or be it challenging and testing?

Born of French parents in Casablanca, I am a native French speaker, although I completed my formal education in the United States at The University of Texas [Austin], majoring in English Literature. By day, a teacher of English. By night, in 2000, I launched into the writing of LGBT romance novels with a definite slant on social realism. I went on to self-publish seven books, the best- selling ones being Silent Goodbyes, Far From Maddy and its sequel centered around an empathetic FTM character, Morgan in the Mirror. From there, I published various short stories with themes ranging from erotic ‘fairy’ tales, The Crab-Catcher and the Fish-Whisperer, to strong spiritual writings such as Awakening, a Tao-type tale. It is around 2006 that I chose to weave my writing around All Matters of the Heart and Soul. I have since published many articles which are now gathered in one book, Stepping Stones To the Top of the World. Each of the thirty-one sections of the book gives a fresh and unique insight into what Karma and Soul really. Together, they draw the reader deep into a probing exploration of the Great Forgetfulness, the missing link in our culture of all things material, the connection to our soul. To unleash the power of this karmic connection, we must first understand how it works. Stepping Stones To the Top Of the World provides a secular spiritual understanding of the energy we generate and why being aware, developing an active acceptance of What-Is and blocking out recurring flurries of What-Ifs are essential skills to develop from the inside-out, here and now. All the classic concepts of psychology, spiritual philosophy and Zen spirituality leading to self-growth through authentic mindfulness are brought together to help create a genuine rewiring of the brain for those of us who dare embark on an honest understanding of how our myriad of patterned responses, at times destructive emotions, have come together, moment by moment, day by day, to shape our present reality. Interestingly, new findings in the field of neuroscience, along with research in stress management, heart intelligence and heart energy, corroborate the importance of activating these concepts throughout the many separate moments that, daily, present themselves ... under our feet. My interest in spiritual philosophy has also led me to the conundrum posed by Jesus of the Christian faith and his historicity. Did such an historical figure ever really exist? Why isn’t there a single snippet of Jesus’ movements written in his lifetime while local historians, philosophers, politicians and judges, both Hebrew and Roman, as well as army men and freedom fighters, were actively chronicling events as they happened? What if the Jesus of the New Testament fame had been inspired by a Hebrew prototype named Yeshua? Such questions have resulted in two series of articles: Jesus-The Man Behind The Myth and From Gethsemane To Arimathea. And then, why not go back to the source to revisit Genesis? What's In A theory-Creation vs Evolution casts an alternative view on both theories. It’s easy to imagine how such varied research and writing endeavors have kept me busy - and out of trouble - for quite some time already ;-)