Guru Corner

Disclaimer: Teachers highlighted in the guru corner are not being recommended or promoted for spiritual guidance. They are merely individuals who exemplify certain spiritual qualities that are placed here for us to observe and use in whatever fashion works best for us.

Cecile Andrews is the author of "The Circle of Simplicity: Return To The Good Life." As the simpleliving.net web site explains in this excerpt from their web site: "Cecile Andrews is one of the guiding forces of the movement, having abandoned her career as a college administrator in order to devote herself full time to developing, leading, and writing about voluntary simplicity circles. In The Circle Of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life Andrews offers her thoughtful take on what has gone wrong, closely examining all that is troubling about our modern lives, and fashioning a pragmatic blueprint for change. Andrews philosophical, down-to-earth suggestions for discovering ways to simplify day to day life -- whether that means changing careers, cutting consumption, carrying less debt, improving the environment, or spending more time with family and friends -- provide the first steps toward replacing a workaday routine with greater enjoyment and fulfillment.

Andrews's approach promotes the idea of Simplicity Circles, small groups of people who gather together to help each other simplify their lives. The idea for simplicity circles draws its inspiration from a number of sources, including Swedish and Danish educational models, Native American wisdom, and Quaker spiritual practices. Having led scores of workshops and seminars on voluntary simplicity, Andrews is an unrivaled source on the ways to organize and conduct effective circles. Through her years of applied experience, she has learned what succeeds and what doesn't, and her emphasis, appropriately, is on keeping it simple and keeping it working."

To order her book, click on the link below:
Beyond The Dream

In my dream, I wake up without an alarm clock. I have no need to schedule every minute of my Now moment into discrete items we call time. I know what time it is: It's Now. Ask me what time it will be in 1/2 an hour and it will still be the same time: Now. Nothing could be simpler. Realizing that the future is an illusion, I don't have to fear for it.

In my dream of the future, which as I've mentioned is an illusion, there is no need for insurance. Insurance is to protect against something that might happen in the future. Well, how could it happen in the future? The future doesn't exist. Only Now exists. So, what do I need insurance for? To protect me from the Now moment? That is where all my power is. That is where my creation exists.

In my dream of the past, which ironically is also an illusion, I have no need for drama. Drama complicates the most simplest of actions. It always implies that things aren't perfectly the way they should be. It means that there was something wrong in my creation. Well, there wasn't. It was just a choice.

In my dream of the present, which oddly enough is still not Now, I have no need of comparison. Comparison causes me to want things I don't need. My life is simpler when there is no reason to suggest that someone is better or worse off than I. They are merely choosing a life experience that is different than I. I won't need to get a bigger house, or the latest tech toy, if I don't have a genuine need for it.

In my dream, my life would not involve third-party do-gooders who think I am not a Powerful Creator and that I need them to make my life work for me. I know I create my life from the Now moment. Similarly, I would have enough trust in the Divine to know that whatever anyone else creates, they have chosen. It is neither better or worse than what I have chosen. It is merely an experience.

Would that mean that my life is no longer exciting and wonderful? Or, would that mean that my life is Now-dull?

In my dream, the ordinary becomes extraordinary and therein would lie the beauty of existence and glory of life. By reaching for simplicity, I will obtain contentment and peace, not only for myself but to all those who I touch with my own life. That would be my dream, and by dreaming it, I would create that reality.

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