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CHAPTER THIRTY

Children of God

It has been twenty years since that cold snowy winter's night in Boston, when I put my hand to paper by a crackling fire to write down
the basic concepts of Habeas Mentem. Now I write on a personal computer on the evening of an El Nino-driven storm in Orange County
as I remember my then scratchings trying to explain the inter-connectedness of a universe. I succeeded for some, failed for others.
Mostly I remained totally and happily obscure. In those twenty years I had taken one year to travel around the globe, visited all the
continents save Antarctica, migrated to Santa Fe in New Mexico, met and and fell in love with my beautiful Roman wife, Cinzia, and
settled in Southern California. There was so much to see, so much to do, and so many people to meet, to visit. More books to write. I
also kept a pulse on the state of the world and gained an income by advising investors, and by monitoring world markets. It was fun. But
the idea of Habeas Mentem never left me. It was more like a silent companion that observed me as we went through the many ways of
life. Now more than a decade later since these ideas were first published, I feel the need to write again, to express the third part of an
idea whose independent life I once helped evolve. After a long and weary silence, like an old friend, it called to me.

As before, I cannot take credit for this work, since I feel it is more in the domain of a cosmic reality communicating itself into the minds
of our planet. I am but one observer, one more spokesperson. "Man in All that Is" in the original title has evolved, so the generic "Man"
is now more inclusive of Woman, and Child. Woman'man becomes 'Man, inclusive of all conscious sentient beings. (Now, even the title
migrated from chapter 25: The Given Word.) And where before I felt the need to write in the impersonal "we", this time it is more
personal, and I am free to write in the "I". Many others have no doubt also already taken part in this development, maybe unbeknownst
to them, and as evolution of consciousness takes hold of our beautiful world, many more will take part in the future. In my travels I have
looked into the faces of people all over the world, and they are beautiful everywhere. They do not have skin color, or funny ways of
living, or strange dress. They are wonderful souls who smile into you from the souls inside their eyes. If there was ever need for proof
that Habeas Mentem is real, it was in seeing, like in the eyes of my beloved, their beautiful smiles.

Yet, the mystery remains: Are we alone as conscious beings in this universe? Is there a God that guides for us all of Creation? Or is all
that we believe but a figment of our fertile imagination? When I look on the actions of my fellow human beings, I am tempted to answer
in the negative, that we are alone. That we are unwanted orphans in an infinite universe. But when I look into their eyes, I am once again
reaffirmed that it is a definite: Yes! There is a God that guides for us events, even if it makes no sense to us at the time, and even if that
God, or Their extensions, push on our world in negative ways. We are children of God.

Habeas Mentem explored first the level of the rational, of reason carried out to the infinite. There, with a postulate of practical reason,
we could see our minds as conscious beings, both in ourselves and "out there." Then we migrated into the irrational. This led to an
exploration of our being in the domain of the soul, or the irrational side of an infinity capable of consciousness, which for us is our
identity and our personality. When we are conscious of our freedom to have the mind, to be who we are, then we are capable of being
conscious in the soul. This is a very profound freedom, since to be without it means that we can be manipulated in the many ways a
more conscious mind would wish to do us. This manipulation is in itself not bad, except that if we become manipulated in negative ways,
then we in turn continue to coerce one another, become more disassociated with our being, suffer, and ultimately degenerate into
conflicts and abuse. Negative manipulations enslaves and hurts. Our world is now plagued with growing crime, disaffections with
authority, terrorisms, self inflicted wounds through drugs, and we remain perpetually poised on the edge of war. And this is all even more
intense than it was for the last two decades. The world is regressing on its moral and ethical fronts, even as it progresses on the many
technological and economic fronts. Something inside us is not happy, and we are ready to litigate, or legislate and outvote, or outspend
our opposition. To live in a perpetually confrontational mode, which if it continues, will surely lead our world once again into a major
war. But this time, it is technologically possible to destroy life on Earth as we know it. All those beautiful smiles... gone. Which is more
irrational: The soul or war?

So what is the game here? Who is pushing on our social buttons to drive us ever closer to a self destructive brink? What is the goal of
this force that enslaves us into a fearful existence devoid of dreams? I refuse to believe in Satanism. I do not think there is a devil-like
force that wants to keep us in darkness devoid of a positive cosmic light. I think that to focus on this negative idea only reinforces what is
already going on. To seek to overcome the devil would, in the end, only confirm us to a focus on the negative. If there is a Satan, ignore
him, and do not empower him. The answer, I believe, lies in the positive. We need to fall back upon what we already know. We know
who we are. We know that we have a mind, and a soul. And now we know that it is important to be free. With this new found
consciousness, and faith, we can explore once more into the nature of being. And in that exploration, we can rediscover what we may
have long ago forgotten, and to which we have unconsciously gravitated for millennia. We can rediscover that there is a God, and we are
the children of God.

Smile. That is where a personality shows itself to the world. The dreams that power each one of us are seen on that smile. When we are
devoid of dreams, then the smiles fade, eyes grow dull, and we begin to approach each other with fear and mistrust. When we have
faith, then the smile reaffirms itself and we can again approach each other in friendship and joy. Which would you want? But I know
that it is not always so easy. And yet, when we succeed, then the friendship and goodwill that follows is invaluable. This is the positive
that our world needs to focus on. In the infinite complexities of a living universe, it is that simple. The methodology already exists. All we
need to do is approach our world and each other with joy. Smile. It connects us to that personality that is the life inside each one of us.
And even more, it connects us to the personality that ties all existence.

I write of this lightly, but it is serious. Think of how attached we are to all the troubles that surround us daily. There are money
problems, or health problems, problems with the children at school, at home, the roof leaks, the car breaking down, parents growing old,
gossip at work, failed dreams, all pressing on us everyday. If we stop and think of it, who has time or the energy to smile? Life is rough.
And yet, the most beautiful smiles showed up in some of the poorest places I had seen. Children have an ease of joy and freedom of
expression that becomes repressed in us as we grow into adulthood. It is even sadder to see this happen very early in life in the more
economically developed countries. Children are placed on a fast track to success, and their smiles begin to fade even when still very
young. Maybe children do not smile as much at soccer practice in Orange County as they do while hand washing clothes on the Ganges.
It is a qualitative difference that has no measure. But inside ourselves, we know the difference. One is a personality at an early age
already wrapped up in the hard affairs of everyday life, the other is still free, even if economically they are reversed. One is wealthy, and
the other is poor, and the poorer one is able to smile freely. Which is less alone? Which richer?

In the following pages, this is what I wish to explore. I want us to rediscover the wealth that lies inside of us and which brings us closer
to who we really are. If we succeed in this journey, then somewhere along the way we will rediscover that we are truly light filled beings
connected to a far greater universal reality than any one personality could ever express. That we are first children of lesser gods, not
alone, but ultimately members of a family far more beautiful and richer than we had ever imagined. And by the end of this journey, I
hope that we will once more have the power to see from deep within our souls with a genuine and brilliant smile as we realize who we
truly are: Each one of us is one of the Children of God.

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