Bøger af Philip John Bradbury

Without stories our lives would be dry, non-fictional decrepitudes; dusty, withered data-existences subject to the changing whims of those who think they know and seldom do. In fact, without stories, there would be no life, for even facts are a legend, a tale. For example, inoculations cured some people from some diseases so there arose the fable that all inoculations cure all diseases, despite the fact that some maim and kill people. Another fable that masquerades as truth or fact is about fluoride. Alcoa, the largest aluminium manufacturer in the world, was facing a $40 million law suit, in 1939, for polluting the countryside with the most toxic element known to man … fluoride. They "defended" that suit by establishing a scientific institute and, quickly and magically, "discovered that fluoride was good for teeth". Such is our desire to believe in stories, we continue to tell the same old lie, eighty years later. Whether it's about the world being flat, the planets flying round the earth, Jesus being a blonde pale-face or global warming, all facts are simply opinions, something to be believed in long after they're proven wrong. Opinions are like bum holes - everyone has one and few are interested in yours. Stories, on the other hand, are more honest than facts. They admit, quite blatantly, that they're a barefaced lie - a moving, humorous or fascinating barefaced lie. However, they're not totally honest for, within every made-up, fictional tale, is an eternal truth that touches our hearts and minds - if they're open to such truths - in ways that facpinions can't, for we're what our hearts remember. I challenge you to recall three salient facts from your least loved school subject, while knowing you'll have no trouble recalling a dozen stories or jokes from the same time. The reality is that we're story-remembering creatures and, true or not, we love to embrace, caress and polish any story that comes our way. There are the stories that arise when our egos (finances and reputations) are pricked and there are stories that arise when our egos move aside. These latter stories are not part of the game of survival but are the fecundity of life, the juice of the heart and a savouring for our taste buds. These are the stories told round the fire on balmy summer nights. Savour and enjoy!

A take-home course based, mainly, on A Course in Miracles."The 12-Step Miracle gives you the opportunity to create real and lasting change in your life in just twelve weeks!" Sarah Alexander - author, life/business coach, UK."With humour and simplicity, they offer a 12-step course that really can be a new beginning." Ian Patrick - ACIM facilitator, UK"Its simplicity and ease of use is testimony to the vast knowledge, wisdom and expertise that Anna and Philip have to offer." Riana Avis - life coach, UKIf this book has found your eyes and your heart, it knows that:• Your life is a mess,• Your life is becoming a mess, or• You want to stop your life becoming a mess.If things are not working out as you'd planned, there are two possibilities:• Your plan was wrong and/or• You're trying to achieve it in the wrong way - the way you've been taught by those in your world.You see, if you pull back the happy face of every human being, no matter how smart, wealthy, healthy and successful they seem to be, there's sadness, anger and guilt behind every mask. We were taught to cope in this world by other sad, angry and guilt-ridden people. Despite all the gurus, psychologists, life coaches and others out there to help us get on with our precious lives, the world's still a sad, angry and guilt-ridden place - there's just as much war, abuse, rape, theft, depression, violence and despair as there ever was. And why? We've all been learning from dysfunctional people on how to dysfunction in a dysfunctional world. We keep doing the same old thing that people have been doing for thousands of years and hoping for a better result - the definition of insanity!You're a perfect human being in an imperfect world, taught to operate imperfectly … and your life is, well, imperfect? It must be if you've kept reading this far.So, if the way we're all operating isn't working, what's next? Obviously, try another way. The chances are that that phrase - another way - has been haunting your waking and sleeping world. You've probably been looking for this other way for a long time. However, getting what we want, realising our dreams, is downright scary, for three reasons:Firstly, we all feel we don't deserve to have our dreams realised, despite our most ardent protestations to the contrary.Secondly, realised dreams mean that we have nothing to strive for and the worst thing to happen to any human is to take away the need for them to want more … of anything!The third problem with the other way is that it is another way. We don't know how long it took you to learn to tie your shoe laces, wash the dishes or wash yourself in the shower but, by now, you've got it down pat - you do these things every day, effortlessly, almost unconsciously. In fact, to explain how to do these things would be a challenge as we do them so automatically, so unconsciously, we're not aware of the process any more. Now, what we want you to do is learn to do these things the opposite way round. What your right hand did before, your left hand will now do and vice versa. Try it and see how difficult it is. Many years of practice are so ingrained that to undo that practice, that ingrained learning, is extremely difficult.This book, then, is set out in two sections:1. What thinking and actions have got us into the mess we're in,and2. What thinking and activities will take us out of our mess and into a life we both dream of and deserve.

The Hebrew name for God is VHYH, the ineffable name which should not be uttered. Instead, one may use the word Adonai (My Lord) in its place. Then there’s the boy  who ran home from school, exclaiming that he’d finally learned God’s name - Harold. His mother asked him why and he patiently explained: “Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name.”  We each have our own God, carved in the like of our own different self-images. Some are utterable and some are not; some are judgemental and some loving; some are savage and some kindly. The simple fact is that no one knows the true nature of God, not even Albert Einsten who spent his whole lifetime trying to work out how God thinks. We know as much of God as does an unborn child knows of adulthood and anyone pronouncing knowledge of God is fooling himself and guessing ... we’re all guessing, in fact. The established, male-dominated church holds that God is a bloke; Feminists that she’s a woman; others say God is without gender. I remember the horror and elation I experienced when I first came upon the possibility that God is not a being - human or otherwise - but a system, a process. This God doesn’t care or not care - we just live our lives, trying out what works and what doesn’t and, eventually, we hit upon the system and how it works. None of us have it down pat, yet, and it’s exciting experimenting with the possibility that we’re getting nearer and nearer to what makes life work. When what we’re doing flows with comfort and ease and when peace fills every bone and cell in our bodies, I suspect we’re coming close to the workings of God, whatever God is. There’s also a huge freedom in arriving at the place of not needing to know the shape, colour and mood of God ... just knowing what works is all that’s necessary. Living with the unknowing is not only peace-inducing, it just takes the angst out of daily life and the pain out of daily activity. I’ve come to a deep and abiding trust in what I call God and what I know as a consistent system; a system based on letting the past go, on realising that nothing is personal and that everything “out there” is a reflection of what’s “in here”; that taking self-responsibility for our thoughts and, when we do, God takes care of our lives. We do, however, need to give up control - one of the hardest things for a human to do.