by June Rouse

CHANGE is a watchword of our times. Life ebbs and flows like the waters of the sea. You get used to one tide and then without warning, another tide takes over. The moving waters reverse direction and can take your feet out from under you. Unless you make adjustments, you discover, thriving in today's world could be an utmost challenge. Providence provides some recent prizes that can make a difference on a compellingly personal level. Here are two offerings that came our way in the last few weeks.

A mentor who shows readers how to float atop the changing tides is the prolific author, Harold Klemp. His latest book, HOW TO SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES, is a combination of three things:

engaging stories that illustrate spiritual survival skills -

"...to try to give you an inkling of where to go and what to do to open your heart so that you can have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help you in your daily life."

an opportunity to lift your awareness -

"To move forward, you have to give up things that you have become used to in the past. It's necessary to give up certain of our dear ideas and pet notions."

and the wisdom of a spiritual Master -

"My job is to find those people who want to become masters of the laws of life and help them reach this awareness, to one day become conscious of their Godhood. To know they are Souls made in the image of God--what this means and how it plays out in everyday life."

In light of recent events in America, the following quote seems particularly applicable:

"When you see some people who seem to be the farthest down the spiritual ladder, it's hard to imagine that some day they, too, will become God-aware individuals....Someday all Souls who become aware of God's love for them will also realize that God's love is for other people, too."

In a short preface, Klemp tells his purpose, sweeping in scope, for writing How to Survive Spiritually in Our Times: "...to give spiritual help to people in need in every part of society, around the world, and at multiple levels of consciousness."

That his writing meets this challenge of wide appeal is evidenced by the fact that Publishers Weekly elected to feature one of his recent titles in their Religion Update, March 2001 issue. (If you take a look at this very interesting issue at your local library, you'll find unbiased reports about a number of religions, including Eckankar (for which Klemp is today's spiritual guide.)) In the words of one reader, his books "not only address many of the topics and questions being asked by our society today, they offer practical answers and techniques in a clear and straightforward manner." Here's a book that nourishes the quest for spiritual understanding. Practices and perceptiveness that he describes through stories and commentary lead to the key measure of being in this world but not of it, and cross boundaries, can be acceptable to people of any religion or spiritual path.

How to Survive Spiritually in Our Times provides a Rosetta Stone to that guidebook deep within the heart, hidden when we made our appearance on the planet. If Change be a watchword of our times, Adventure and Healing are the others. (Softcover, approximately 320 pages, $14, Eckankar.)

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THE FOUR AGREEMENTS CARDS by Don Miguel Ruiz

It was hard to miss Don Miguel Ruiz's The Four Agreements, on The New York Times Bestseller List for 40 weeks, featured on Oprah, and with well over a million copies in buyers' hands. Amber-Allen Publishing brought us that fine little book, and now it is in a new incarnation, 48 boxed, colorful cards brought to us by Hay House.

The Four Agreements are called a simple yet powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness. (1) Be impeccable with your word; (2) Don't take anything personally; (3) Don't make assumptions; and (4) Always do your best.

Don Miguel Ruiz began an intensive practice of self-inquiry after a near-death experience changed his life. "He devoted himself to the mastery of the ancient ancestral wisdom, studying earnestly with his mother and completing an apprenticeship with a powerful shaman in the Mexican desert. In the tradition of the Toltecs, a nagual guides an individual to personal freedom. Don Miguel Ruiz is a nagual from the Eagle Knight lineage, dedicated to sharing his knowledge of the teachings of the ancient Toltecs."

Description of each of the Agreements is spelled out a little more completely on the inside flap of the book:

(1) BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD -- Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

(2) DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY -- Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

(3) DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS -- Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

(4) ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

In the deck from Hay House, there are 12 charmingly illustrated cards corresponding to each of the Four Agreements: The reverse of each card carries forward the shorter message printed on its front. For instance, the front of one of the cards in the Be Impeccable with Your Word group reads: Seek to know the truth. The reverse adds, "When you hear an opinion and believe it, you make an agreement and it becomes part of your belief system. The only thing that can break this agreement is to make a new one based on truth. Only the truth has the power to set you free." And from the Don't Make Assumptions group: Ask for what you want. Reverse: "Find the courage to ask for what you want. Others have the right to tell you yes or no, but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everybody has the right to ask you for what they want, and you have the right to say yes or no."

The cards can be used in many ways, but perhaps the most transforming way to is to choose just one card and remind yourself of its words as your day progresses. As with all the significant messages that come our way, it's necessary not just to find them pertinent but to take them to heart and actually practice them! You've probably already discovered that when you do so, your life really does change. In that light, this deck can provide experiences you'll consider truly transformative, continuing the nagual legacy of Don Miguel Ruiz. (Boxed 4"x 4" 48-card deck, $17.95, Hay House.)

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June Rouse is a published author and poet, free lance editor and rewriter, writing class and workshop facilitator, and the editor of The Monthly Aspectarian.

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