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Check out all of Soulworkers Centre Spring events including workshops, free public events, and a new class starting soon in Sacramento on our updated calendar. Click here for quick access:
Here’s a brand new up-to-date explanation of Soulwork and where it fits in to a fast-growing worldwide spiritual vision that is attempting to meet the needs of our global community in this 21st-century.
The landscape of human spirituality is changing. Our species continues to evolve on all levels. As we begin this new century an all-inclusive shift of what it means to be spiritual is taking root around the world. Bob Mackura is one of a growing number of visionaries who are ushering in this shift in consciousness through Soulwork and Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley, California.
Soulwork, under the seasoned guidance of Bob, is at the heart of a co-creative process that is giving birth to the next evolutionary step in human consciousness. Our primordial evolutionary impulse invites us to come together by focusing on our shared essence rather than what keeps us separate. Embracing this pioneering impulse is driving the emergence of World Spirituality and is supported by a long list of contemporary spiritual luminaries and teachers.
The Essence of Christmas For many people this time of year brings up conflicting emotions and beliefs around what Christmas is all about, both for them as well as the world around us. It seems we are ever-increasingly deluged by both the materialistic Christmas and religion’s historical view based on a literal interpretation of biblical events. You might sense there should be more (or less) but what direction would you take in re-imagining the meaning of this season? First of all, I would like to suggest that it is through ritual and imagery that we increase our right brain’s capacity to feel into our soul, into our mystical nature, into that part of us that transcends this material world. If we throw out Christmas rituals and all of it’s right brain opportunities, we allow ourselves to be controlled by the negativity we perceive around this holiday. We also throw out the opportunity to embrace the reality of “now.” From an awakening soul’s point of view, it is more about the perspective we bring into the reality of Christmas than our reaction to perceived negativity we choose to embrace. We each have a choice on the perspective we bring to any situation. If we choose to do so, we can change our inner perspective on what is happening around us this time of year, including the limited ways we are being offered to embrace the holidays. Perhaps if enough of us do this we can shift the tide of meaning. For instance, what if we saw in Christmas the symbolism behind the birth of Christ, as a symbol of a birth into our Christ-consciousness; the birth of our own beautiful soul as a facet of Divinity? Wouldn’t that be something worth celebrating and “shouting from the highest mountain?” When we hear the song “What Child is this” can you re-interpret it into a homage to the Divine Child we are each giving birth to in our own consciousness, our embodied soul? We can extend these songs of reverence and jubilation to all the souls that are awakening into their True Self. I can’t imagine anything worth celebrating more, or being more thankful for. What if we saw all of those Christmas light displays as an unconscious message coming from our group soul as a reminder of the Light within each of us? Each time we saw Christmas lights we could once again re-interpret their meaning as a blessed message from the Divine inviting anyone who cares to notice that there is an event more brilliant light within each of us. Wouldn’t that be worth celebrating? And …what about gift giving? Of course, we live in a world that is so externalized we lose the meaning behind gifts that arise from our soul. Perhaps Christmas can serve to remind us that we are a gift; that being incarnated in a human body is a gift so magnificent that it is hard to imagine. What if we saw our Self and others as children of the Universe, of God? Wouldn’t we bend our knee in reverence and awe? Would we become more serious about being curious, playful, joyful, free, and less fearful? It has been said: “God works in mysterious ways.” Who’s to say that our growing frustrations around contemporary meanings of Christmas isn’t God’s way of shaking us out of our stupor so we could see what these symbols and rituals are really pointing to. Can you allow Christmas trees to remind you of our deep interconnection with our natural world and our interdependence on it. Can you bow to the Christmas boughs and wreaths as you express your thanks to the natural world for giving us fresh air to breath, food to eat, and water to drink. To the awakening soul in each of you I say: “Merry Christmas” and may the Light in each of us shine brighter than ever before this holiday season.
Soulwork and my vision of the journey continue to evolve as does human consciousness. Here’s a recent press release I was asked to submit:
The landscape of human spirituality is changing. Our species continues to evolve on all levels. As we begin this new century an all-inclusive shift of what it means to be spiritual is taking root around the world. Bob Mackura is one of a growing number of visionaries who are ushering in this shift in consciousness through Soulwork and Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley, California.
Soulwork, under the seasoned guidance of Bob, is at the heart of a co-creative process that is giving birth to the next evolutionary step in human consciousness. Our primordial evolutionary impulse invites us to come together by focusing on our shared essence rather than what keeps us separate. Embracing this pioneering impulse is driving the emergence of World Spirituality and is supported by a long list of contemporary spiritual luminaries and teachers.
You will find inspiring and informative teachings about what is behind this profoundly important shift on the soulworkers.com website.
About Bob Mackura …an author, spiritual mentor, and teacher spanning 20 years. Bob has spent much of his life in the middle of pioneering roles including leading-edge spiritual pursuits, international business, and multicultural arenas. He has always had a spiritual bent, even studying to be a Catholic priest early in his life. For the past 20 years he has rededicated his life by honoring his spiritually diverse experiences through assisting others looking for a more complete and integrated spiritual perspective. As founder and spiritual director of a non-denominational sanctuary on the Big Island of Hawaii for 10 years, he brought together the best of the wisdom-teachings he had studied and integrated, and he deepened his own spiritual experience through the tests and trials, the riches and rewards, the profoundly difficult and the incredibly uplifting experiences of working with fellow spiritual pioneers in this undertaking. Today these experiences provide him with even greater opportunity to assist others from different cultures and diverse spiritual and religious backgrounds. He remains active in helping others in spiritual crisis having been part of the Spiritual Emergence Network for many years. All of these experiences came together with the inspiration to write his book entitled Ego, Soul, and Beyond – A Soulworkers Handbook. Bob’s current sanctuary is Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley. “Soulwork” is the culmination of the best of what he has learned through decades of exploration with teachers of many cultures, backgrounds, and spiritual paths. It is a method of reducing the complexities of life into simple yet profound practices for spiritual expansion. More information about Bob can be found on his website: www.soulworkers.com You can also contact him at 530-798-9190 or bob@soulworkers.com
“Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth.” - Rumi
Everywhere I look I am being “lobbied.” There are the political lobbyists, spiritual lobbyists, social activist lobbyists, materialism lobbyists, food lobbyists, life-style lobbyists, and our friends all lobbying on behalf of their causes. How do I sort these out?
So, let me be forthright. I am a soul lobbyist. I am passionate about each and every person finding their own truth, their own passion, their own unique self.
I deeply hold that as each of us discovers our true and unique self from deep spiritual inquiry and radical honesty we will be inexorably motivated to contribute in our own unique ways to the evolution of our species toward the highest good. Our personal calls to action will rise up out of deep soul connections from a place of infinite possibilities, including those of all those lobbyists in our lives.
When I inquiry deeply into what is behind the current “Occupy Movement” I feel a strong need to be seen and heard arising from my “other selves” — you. I feel this need to be seen and respected resonating from Being to Being below the level of symptoms. I hear “feel my pain, feel my longing for parity, see my tears, and feel my anger at injustice and blind eyes.” This is a primordial call to Oneness — “What you do to the least of my brethren you do unto me.”
I am deeply inspired to reaffirm my own soul’s journey into continued awakening, watching and “at the ready” as my own myth unfolds and points the way. I will do whatever it asks of me. I will continue to occupy myself first, and from this place passionately embrace whatever may arise from my others selves - you; calling me to action.
Thank you Rumi.
Governor Brown of California has designated Sunday, October 16th, “Steve Jobs Day” in California in appreciation for his huge contribution to our world. The worldwide expression of appreciation for Steve’s contribution have been nothing short of remarkable and awe inspiring, no matter what the reasons may have been.
In his life he literally brought into our consciousness five different technologies that we’ve integrated into our daily lives; and might have a hard time living without; desktop publishing/fonts, Graphical User Interface computing, the ubiquitous iPod/iTunes way of listening to and purchasing music, the iPhone which taught us what a user friendly phone (smart phone) should behave like, and finally the iPad. I asked myself what really inspired him to create these life-changing devices? No reporter has ever received a real answer to this often-asked question.
We know that Steve spent time in India early in his life and that he had a spiritual bent; practicing meditation and other “alternative” modalities. We also know he was very private about his personal life. So, what was it?
What led him to state in his Stanford commencement address: “Because almost everything -all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important …There’s is no reason not to follow your heart.”
What led him to joke with interviewers when they asked him if he used the traditional “focus groups” of potential buyers what they wanted. He typically said ,somewhat irreverently, they can’t tell me what they will want because it’s not invented yet. Just how did he “know” what people would want before they knew it?
I believe there is a profoundly deep and spiritual side of Steve that allowed him to drop into the non-dual state of pure potential …a highly developed spiritual awareness. We read in sacred texts that our True Self is both One and Unique; which doesn’t make sense to an ego trapped in the world of manifestation. Could Steve, through his meditation practice and spiritual adeptness allow the evolution of our human species to manifest through his Unique Self? Was he able to drop into Oneness with all of us and “feel” into our future? I would like to think so.
When we are able to move and live between the Yin and Yang, the Being and Doing, the Manifest and Un-manifest domains our life is in-formed organically through The Source moving through our embodied vehicle; our temporary body-mind. (read Steve’s quote again)
When I now reflect on what Steve was able to manifest, I feel deep joy and peace in the unreported spiritual dimensions of his gift. Steve’s photos now serve as a reminder to me of what we are all inherently capable of and evolving toward. Thanks Steve.
At it’s core, World Spirituality rises out of the deep and profound Oneness and non-dual direct experience of our True Nature. Simultaneously arising is a direct experience of our very own expression of Divinity as a Unique Self. Together both are experienced as our True Self. This simultaneous caress of an apparent paradox is rooted in the emerging awareness of our shared essence.
World Spirituality is an emerging 21st-century answer to where our species is evolving on the spiritual plane. Many of us are co-creating this vision that both includes and transcends traditional spirituality and religion.
For starters, we are being invited to embrace theessential teachings of Perennial Wisdom (what they were pointing to) while understanding these teaching didn’t go far enough to solve the challenges of our world. We still experience war, dehumanizing actions, poverty, or various forms of intellectual, physical, spiritual, or emotional abuse and inequality. Many of these shadow-elements arise from religious righteousness rooted in a partial acceptance of perennial wisdom teachings, often choosing which aspects ofPerennial Wisdom they feel should be embraced to the exclusion or marginalization of others. Cultural traditions and the shadow-needs of their leaders play a large role in these choices.
Next, World Spirituality embraces the great value that arises from the more recent Inter-Faith Movement where various religious traditions learned to support and perhaps even see the value in different spiritual approaches. This still has not been enough to unify humanity under a common umbrella anyone can understand, support, and share; - ending the Shadow elements described above. There is still something missing in this approach that is longing to emerge. What if there was an earnest and sincere effort to engage in much more in-depth sharing and exploration of each other’s beliefs and values, along with a proactive search for common, underlying beliefs?
Surrender to something greater has its roots in Perennial Wisdom. This means letting go of attachments that don’t serve the greater good. Inter-Faith dialogue and meaningful interaction moves us in the direction of letting go of beliefs that don’t serve the greater good — the good of the entire world.
The primal evolutionary impulse behind World Spirituality is embracing the essence of what it means to “Be” spiritual. This means to embrace both sides of the same coin; the transcendent and the imminent or manifest domains. World Spirituality embraces the traditional enlightenment focus on transcendence; moving beyond our separate ego-self into unity consciousness and non-dual reality. However, it goes further to embrace fully the embodied soul as a Unique Self expression that is equally important and necessary for our species to evolve and our world’s challenges faced in a 21st-century enlightened way.
This fresh approach invites us to focus on the common denominators from which all healthy aspects of religious and spiritual traditions have sought to teach. The term“essence” is often used to describe this common denominator.
Another way of saying this is that World Spiritualityattempts to bring into greater consciousness what isbehind the manifestation into form . It asks the question: “What is the primal impulse that compelled spiritual traditions to transmit often-competing teachings, words, ritual, and dogma?” This naturally invites us to look at the essence of the teachings, and not get stuck on the form. Thus arose Soulwork’s focus on activating ouressential soul qualities while embracing the universal impetus behind all evolutionary spiritual traditions; the essential part of our True Nature to evolve and wake up.
There are wide and deep examples of spiritual teachings, rituals, and techniques that can help us identify and move deeper into the essence of what it means to be both human and divine.
