This 7-Day retreat is intended to be an annual event. My goal is to provide a series of tools for self awareness, meditation practices, celebration of indiduality with mutual respect and sharing of visions to learn to live life artfully. Please intend to join with Michael O'Connor and friends in the summer 2006!

Introduction to The Art of Life

The art of life sits at the center of this 8 Phase Mandala. This is so because Astrology is not the end of life. Astrology is a wonderful and awesome cosmic tool that sits alongside its siblings - Numerology, Tarot, Birth Order Sequences, eye structures etcetera. Each is a systematic and comprehensive fractal that reflects and illustrates the wholeness, holism and holiness of existence. Not only does each effectively mirror the soul as it manifests in a human body and personality, each also translates into the other. In other words they are intrinsically linked just as math and language become algebra. Furthermore, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and putting them alongside one another reveals many reflections and dimensions of one's personality.

As beautiful and poetic as these tools are - stars, numbers, eyes, all mirrors of the soul - the end is to assist us to know ourselves more fully in order to express our unique individuality to the fullness of our potential. This is what I call gratitude in action. So, there are tools and there are goals, means and ends.

There is nothing pat about the interpretation of anything by any one. Believing that we see things the same is a grand delusion. We each experience life as though we are the center of it. Paradoxically, we and are not at the same time. Our experiences and perceptions are not actually objective, that is a relative luxury, it is ultimately subjective. To some this paradox seems frightening, yet it is a self-evident paradox. Do you know exactly what you are thinking and feeling on all levels of consciousness, of course not. So can you know what another is thinking and perceiving and feelings. No, you cannot! However, you can learn to see, accept and respect that while we are intrinsically the different we are also intrinsically different. So the paradox is simple.

Despite this evident paradox, we can both recognize and practice principles. Enforcing principles in any way goes against all principles. Unfortunately, that is precisely what humans have done to one another in all cultures for all recorded history aside from fleeting periods and pockets of harmony, wisdom and peace. So common is this tendency that we have conditioned ourselves to believe that it is our nature and our destiny to do so. No, it is simply humanity in a fallen state where fear and consequent control overrides love, respect and cooperation. 

The following model, then, is simply a guideline. may you make good use of it and it serve you well.

Blessings and Namaste'

(The spirit that I am honours the spirit that you are, that we are, one - My translation)

The Art of Life Destiny Model

This 8 Phase Model is a guideline for living life more fully and with fulfillment, success and peace. It is also a strategy tool to create awareness and choice or pro-action vs. blind reaction when change inevitably occurs. While this model is designed to assist you in living according to Right Vocation, it transcends it touching upon all aspects of life and turns life into art.

Destiny is the key word and belongs in the center. Destiny is an intrinsic part of life because there is a Plan. In turn, there is a Plan because there is a creator or creative force that is: Loving, Creative, Intelligent and Purposeful. The sublime intricacies of nature are evident testimony to this fact.

The Plan includes Laws that support Causes that have a Destiny or that are Destiny. The outcome of Destiny is Fate. Fate appears whimsical but is actually the outcome of destiny seen up close causing the purpose behind it appears random. For example, imagine standing on the sidewalk of a busy street with a lot of traffic. It might appear that the activity is random; however each person and car etc. has a purpose even if it is to be casual. Being casual may seem random but it actually is backed by intention and choice and is a part of destiny. Our subjective experience of life leads us to believe the life is random; it is not! However, co-creation adds a dimension of chaos and uncertainty as aspects of destiny. Destiny is therefore flexible rather than fixed. Such is the paradox of destiny!

Appreciation and acceptance of Destiny means Trust. Trust, implies pro-active choice vs. reaction. Trust allows us to feel calm even under adverse circumstances. Trust supports us to feel the fear and act anyway. Trust is the reservoir of Faith that knows that life unfolds according to Destiny which implies Laws. Natural and Spiritual Laws are immutable and ultimately benevolent and wise.

Fate is unknown and undetermined until an outcome is achieved. The outcome is the fate. Fate begets new choices and actions, which when seen from a wider perspective, is actually destiny. Destiny is deliberate. Everything that happens is an aspect of destiny.

We are made in God’s image. We are co-creators in the Plan that unfolds as destiny. “To love the Creator, love the creation. To be like the Creator, create!” There is a Grand Plan thus a Grand Destiny. When this is accepted and understood, we can then choose to act in alignment with the Plan. Only in this way can we say that the destiny that we are living is authentic and true. Knowing that our life path and choices are true destiny includes feeling, intuition and reason. The most obvious indications are flow, peace, passion, faith and joy beyond thoughts and feelings, mind and emotion. This is where we must recognize that we invariably interpret life from a unique perspective and so all life is an experience of unique perception. We may say that we have nationality or skin color or religion, yet each and every person and thing in creation is ultimately and miraculously unique. Recognition of this is to break through the brainwashing tendencies of our conditioning initially and our language effectively, which is linked to the science of semantics. Recognition of this ultimate uniqueness and individuality encompassed by intrinsic connectedness is the paradox that semantics recognizes. When we accept and respect this key realization we experience awakening to reality beyond the distorting filters of perception. This is what it means to live from and through the heart.*

*(The Heart is the portal of the Soul. Soul exists in higher dimensions or the inner planes. We are one with the inner planes and the source but we are not consciously aware of it, thus we live in the lower dimensions where the vibrations of light are slow and dense.)

We do contribute to creating our destiny, but we do not create our own destiny, entirely. The probability factor is very high. Life is not a vacuum. Division and separation are relative illusions. “There are no islands in the universe.” We do have free will that supports choice. Choosing to live in tune with creation and the larger destiny is wisdom. Free will includes the opportunity to interpret what our life experiences mean to us. The ability to create meaning is perhaps the single most important aspect of free will. Without meaning, life has no value. Meaning is not merely intellectual, though we use intellect to process meaning. Meaning emerges from the heart, the portal of the soul.

The 8 principles of Free Will

The following 8 Phase Model surrounds the central core of Destiny. These 8 principles of Free Will contribute to the expansion of consciousness and activate meaningful and fearless choices in alignment with destiny. Study and memorize each Principle and recognize that they all can have a place in your life. Above all, take them in and integrate them through action and experience.

By answering the questions you will gain a better sense of how you are living your life now, what options are available now and awaken you to even more possibilities.

1. Vision:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
2. Mission:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
3. Purpose:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
4. Intention:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
5. Goal:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
6. Dream:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
7. Fantasy:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…
8. Acceptance:
   I Am now actively doing…
   I can now act by…
   I could possibly decide and act now upon…