Belief or Faith

It may at first appear subtle – and it probably is – but distinctions are critical. Agreed upon distinctions take the cacophony of words, a printed ‘noise level’ that is rising each day, and make some sense of it. They improve the communication and allow us to understand each other more clearly. Understanding each other more clearly is what moves us forward.

Faith and belief are mixed up and misused more than any two words I know. This mixed-up use serves only to mix up the important discussions around them. Beliefs are really conclusions, decisions, and lines already drawn in the sand. Religions are beliefs – every one of them and should be referred to as such i.e. the Christian beliefs, the Hindu beliefs, the Muslim beliefs, etc. These beliefs are systems to which people have chosen to adhere and around which they have drawn boxes and set up walls in which they can live their lives.

Faith is much, much more. Faith is not a conclusion or a boxed set of principles to which one subscribes. No, faith is an unlimited trust, an unknown outcome and a optimism that the world moves forward in every imaginable way. It is not hemmed in by expectations or limited by pre-conceived notions. It doesn’t have the security of a box and it continually surprises us by taking us past the boundaries of beliefs and into the unbounded world of possibility.

As John Lilly once said, “Beliefs are limits to be transcended.” I think that true. On the other hand, faith has no limit and is the heartvision we use to transcend our beliefs.

Clifford Lane Mark
Author/Intuitive Thinker
Austin, Texas

2012 – Ooops!

Hi,

It was Mark Twain who once said that the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated – or words to that effect. That is what I believe is happening with respect to the “end of the world” predictions centered around 2012 and the Mayan Calendar. They have been greatly misunderstood.

Instead, the Mayan calendars foretell the beginning of a new focus or, contrapositively, the gradual moving away from an old focus – the focus on the four physically provable essential elements of earth, fire, water and air. Most progress and accomplishment up to this time in the world’s history have centered around those essential elements – the learning and perfecting of agriculture, the use and control of fire for industry and science, the mastery of water in terms of sustenance and transportation, the conquering of air for exploration, flight and space.

Now, we are becoming increasingly aware of a fifth essential element – one that will redefine the thrust and focus of humankind now and in the future. That element is light or spirit. It will include what I think is the next great frontier in the evolution of the race – the mind/heart connection and increased understanding of things like ESP, intuition, deja vu, imagination, genetic memory, and dozens of phenomena without ‘physical’ provability but phenomena with which almost everyone has some level of experience or about which most everyone has wondered.

When historians and timekeepers looked back on the events around the time now referred to as 0 A.D. or 0 BCE, they drew a line in the sand and re-started the calendars. The designation AD represented a new focus even if we didn’t really see it or understand it until centuries later. What the Mayans did with their calendars was predict the next ‘line in the sand.’ The year 2012 A.D. will be the last year of the designation called A.D. with its focus on earth, fire, water and air. The subsequent year that we can only refer to as 2013 at this time will one day be recognized as Year One of some new designation and it’s focus will be on light, spirit, ether and other “hard-to-prove” realitites of our universe, our psyches, our souls, our minds and our hearts.

I don’t yet know how it will be “marked” but Year One is coming (again) and I’m eager to see what it brings. Like a birthday in each of our lives, we don’t feel much “older” than we did the day before and our aging is usually too gradual to “feel it” on a day-by-day basis. The change at Year One will hardly be noticed, too, and, in fact, will likely be missed entirely. However, the Mayans saw this line in the sand many years ago and unlike AD or BC it won’t take hundreds of years for the rest of the human race to see it before the line is drawn.

How will it come to be known? That’s a guess, of course. I prefer NU (next understandings) or NV (next vison) or maybe AE (After the Ecumensus). It will be subtle like a birthday but we will see soon enough. As with all endings, they merely indicate a new beginning.

That is where we are and I’ll see you all in One AE.

Cliff Mark
Intuitive Thinker/Author
Austin, Texas

Ours to Do

Hi,
It just keeps getting harder to ignore the Hopi Indian Elders who said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” It haunts me. It resonates with me. It inspires me.

As I move inexorably through my sixth decade (I’m now 57), I realize my time here could be shorter than the acturaries presume. I ask myself what have I done that makes a difference. Two beautiful kids now young adults. Okay. A church community which keeps me growing has also grown from a hundred to a thousand during my ten years of service and participation. Fine. My novel has inspired many and is slowly making its way onto bookshelves around the world. Good.

But it doesn’t feel like enough most days and if we are the ones we’ve been waiting for – or more specifically – I am in that group we have been waiting for, then its time to accept that mantel and position myself where my voice can be heard and my words can be contemplated. Again, it’s not ego, its mission. It’s not unique to me but I know and agree with the thrust of it. Yes, it would be easier to play golf and go on cruises but I don’t think that is what I want. The world has given me so much and now it requires more of me. I will find how to meet that requirement – or die trying.

Clifford Lane Mark
Intuitive Thinker/Author
Austin, Texas

Book Thoughts

Hi,

It’s still so exciting to receive words of enthusiasm for the book Ecumensus. It won an award as Spiritual Fiction Book of the Year (2008) and in the last week alone I’ve gotten review comments like “what a powerful message” (book store owner in Queensland, Australia) and “it was fantastic and a great reading experience.” (California).

These kinds of responses are not recounted here for the ego of it – it’s much more than that. Getting the comments is humbling because it reminds me that I was just holding the pencil on this book. My writing was so influenced by so many people in my journey through life. There’s no way I can take much credit – and I don’t want to. Yes, I want the book to be read by lots of people because I believe it will (along with thousands of others) help re-set the tone for our world and provide hope in the face of discouraging news on so many fronts.

Let’s hope for that together.

Katzimo!

Clifford Lane Mark
Intuitive Thinker
Austin, Texas

As We Believe

Hi,
Almost every belief system gives credence in some way to the idea that as we believe so it is for us. That puts the onus on each of us to take charge of our beliefs about everything with the assurance that those beliefs will, in turn, make our world. Taking charge of ourselves, of course, is a conscious decision – one that we make a hundred times a day. In the midst of our days, in the midst of a certain amount of craziness, it is too easy, for me at least, to get off track or to forget exactly what kind of world I’m creating for myself and how much power I have over it.

Naturally, I want the best – all of us do – and I’m a littled startled at times that the “best” is not as obvious as any of us might think. So, how do I remember to seek the best in every encounter? And once I’m committed to seek the best, how do I discern what is the best? To many of you these may seem like elementary questions and, if they are, then share your secrets. After all, it’s the elementary or basic that forms the foundations upon which we build our worlds – each and every day. It’s the sharing that positively impacts the collective world we are creating together.

Ecumensus!

Clifford Lane Mark
Intuitive Thinker/Author
Austin, Texas

For Which We Strive

Hi,
Today we re-frame and elevate the American dream. In keeping with what many believe is an unmistakable and unavoidable trend, we also begin to re-frame a dream for our world. For decades, the statue of liberty and its invitation to the so-called huddled masses has defined the hope and opportunity that is America. Now, hope and opportunity are no longer just available in America. Now we realize, we begin to make real, hope and opportunity for all the world. Though it is so significant on so many levels that a biracial man has been so instrumental in helping us to find our dream again, and to embody it so very well, it is even more important that he – and the idealism of America – has inspired billions around the world as well. He is the perfect carrier of a message of worldwide unification.

It is also a fine day indeed to be an American; a fine day to see the idealism of the Kennedys, the hope of Reverend King and the lofty goals of 1776 rise to this newest and highest pinnacle of the so-called American experiment. More than Americans, however, we are citizens of one world, one planet, one earth that has begun to set its course of idealism and hope, too. It is no longer enough that one nation has reached such potential and will continue to re-define itself so that it can grow into it even more. It must now be the case that our world begins to see its potential and begins to grow into itself as well.

And I believe it will.

Clifford Lane Mark
Author/Intuitive Thinker
Austin, Texas

The Input Impact

Hi,
One thing I’ve noticed in creating my world in the information explosion is that information input into my day is usually immense and always out of control. There is just so very much out there “trying” to get in and much of it is not uplifting or elevating. A high school drafting teacher used to remind us every day of the adage; “Garbage in, garbage out.” Sure, it may be a simple and even overused adage but I’m looking at it with fresh eyes now and, well, it is simple. And … it is true at great depth.

Whether it comes in the newscasts I watch or the stuff I read or even the people with whom I converse, I’m trying to remember that these inputs all have an impact on me and on my mindset for the period of time in which I am engaged with it/them. As a result, it makes perfect sense to decide whether that impact is one that I want in MY world or one that I’d rather not allow?

Now, I’m beginning to see that I have a measure of discretion as to what I allow (input in) and that I am the only one who determines that quality and how best to filter it. As with all things, I can only control me in it and I think I must begin to control the inputs I allow so that my resulting output is what I want. It is, in fact, absolutely necessary to learn how to do this well – and I will. That is one way to make me the creator of my world.

Clifford Lane Mark
Intiutive Thinker/Author
Austin, TX

Creating our world

Hi,
It is said that we create our world, personally at least, by the outlook and attitude with which we perceive that which takes place in our lives – the encounters, the events and the things that happen in our immediate sphere of influence. I think that is true but it is also the case for me, at least, that I have not yet mastered a consistency in my outlook and perceptions of my immediate world. I do pretty well some days and not as well on others.

The question that then arises for me is whether or not a collection of people like me – people who recognize that we each create our worlds – can also create the predominant reality for the larger world. In other words, can thousands or millions of “creators” begin to have an influence on the larger world? I believe that larger-scale creating is possible, too and, in fact, that it is becoming imperative that our world learn how to create on a larger scale if we are to bring about a paradigm shift of thinking in the world that will eventually effect worldwide change.

The novel “Ecumensus” (published June 2008) addresses some of the possibilities in this regard in a story-like fashion that is easy and captivating to read. This blog will address my thoughts, and reader thoughts on this important possibility through the months and years ahead. I look forward to the robust, practical and visionary thinking that we will create together.

Clifford Lane Mark
Intuitive Thinker
Author and Speaker
Austin, Texas