This past Monday I played Golf in the Kingdom. The picture above is PGA Champions Tour players Bobbie Clampett (in purple) and Steve Pate (in orange) leading an Impact Zone golf clinic prior to our hitting the links. This was the second annual fund raiser for Integral Transformative Practice International (ITPI). ITPI is the organization stewarding and bringing alive the work that Michael Murphy and George Leonard put forth in their book The Life We Are Given.
ITP is cross training for the body, mind, heart, and soul. It is a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual practice. ITP is unique in the world since many practices usually only develop one, or maybe two of those. ITP is truly integral.
I have been practicing ITP for more than 8 years now, am a Senior Teacher of the practice, and it is a cornerstone of my daily life. One of the biggest benefits I receive from my ITP practice is a strengthened connection with my deepest self, the Source of my life, of Life itself. If you’re not deeply connected to this aspect of yourself, you’re like a ship without a rudder getting tossed about on the sea of life.
This is what Golf in the Kingdom is all about: playing golf as much in the metaphysical world as in the physical world. One could say it’s the “inner game” of golf – but it’s much, much more than that.
When I wrote my book NexGen Human there was one MAJOR message I wanted to get out to the world. I knew as a human race we needed to develop a new skill to successfully navigate the nature of our time. We need to do a lot more than golf in the Kingdom, we need to live in the Kingdom. In this blog we’ll explore further just what that means.
Read on and enjoy!
Time to get into the Kingdom
As a global society we are well into a major transition as the industrial age gives way to the information age. This transition involves a major change in both our strengths and our values as the emphasis shifts from the tangible to the intangible. Our sense of value in the information age is based more on what we know than on what we have. We are moving out of an industrial-physical-tangible focus and into an information-nonphysical-intangible focus. As we make this transition, the need for a new skill is emerging.
Historically, certain advanced and trailblazing human beings have accessed and developed this crucial skill. So, in one sense, this is not a new development. However, for the grand majority of us, it is absolutely new. The early pioneers came from all parts of the world and from many different disciplines; they were some of the most influential and satisfied human beings to ever live. We are able to study them, celebrate their successes, and stand on their shoulders.
We are part of the evolution; what was once impossible or undreamed of becomes possible, real, and ever more available to those of us who follow the path blazed by these pioneers. Climbing Mt. Everest was once out of the question, just as visiting the moon was humanly impossible. Even ice cream, automobiles, and electricity were once luxuries available to only a privileged few, and yet they are now widely available to all. In the same manner, this critical new skill is becoming available to more and more people, including you, if you choose it. Evolutionary energy and intelligence itself is on the move—in, around, and through you and me.
So what is this critical skill? It is the ability to consciously and consistently partner with the power of the Universe. It’s time for us, both collectively and individually, to develop the skill of joining forces with the Ultimate, most valuable, intangible element in our Universe – the intelligent energy of the Universe itself.
This is a skill you can learn, and develop, to bring the power
of this amazing Universal Intelligence alive in your life.
Fundamentally what this means is to shift our idea and experience of God, Universal Intelligence, Great Spirit, Source, from an external concept, to an internal reality. No longer is God something outside of us whose existence we must take on the word of others and just have faith and believe in. It’s a little like someone describing to you their experience of falling in love – you don’t feel it. You must experience it for yourself to truly get it. In the same way, the old way of relating to God was one step removed. When you don’t have the direct experience of God the relationship must be based on faith and belief. You need direct experience of Greater Power.
Universal Life Force is already in you and is always available, but it’s up to you to heed the call and maximize your partnership with this force, this intelligence, this energy.
Using new words to describe this energy,
this experience, this “entity,” is part of our evolution.
Note that I am deliberately using multiple words to point to this thing we have historically called “God.” God, as a word, is a good word, however it has picked up a lot of baggage over the years. It has many meanings and forms, and you never know how someone will interpret it. Using new words to describe this energy, this experience, this “entity,” is part of our evolution. NexGen Humans evolve beyond these limitations by connecting personally and directly with Source. In this manner they become free of preconceived notions and open up to the actual experience, beyond all words, thoughts, and concepts.
Now while grace is forever and always available to everyone (the Kingdom of Heaven is within), it tends to favor those looking for it. As one spiritual teacher of mine put it “Roger, if you want your spiritual cup filled, you have to turn it upright and hold it out.” This is the nature and power of practice; it’s a conscious and intentional turning of our cups upright and holding them out. You can’t force or make grace happen, but you can prepare and make yourself more “grace prone.”
If you are interested in learning how to make yourself more “grace prone” I invite you to engage The Major Good Mojo System.
Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:
Reflect on the following questions:
- What’s your current relationship with God, Universal Intelligence, Great Spirit, Source? How strong is it, how clear is it, how free and empowered are you in that relationship?
- Is there an opportunity for you to strengthen this relationship?
- To what extent do you allow peer pressure and/or fear of change keep you from growing and exploring more of who and what you are?
Just asking yourself these questions and listening to your answers is a courageous act of evolution that will move you closer to Major Good Mojo!
One of the things I’m now noticing showing up in the popular “you can change your life and have anything you want” messages, is an acknowledgment that it takes time and effort - that you can’t just “wish it true.” You actually have to take action and PARTNER with the process and birth it into the world. You cannot change the world without first changing yourself – and changing yourself is something that typically happens OVER TIME, one step at a time.
