Nuts and Bolts Spirituality

Richard D. Blackstone is the perfect example of what Nuts and Bolts Spirituality is all about. He is a former "sleepwalker" who has lived an adventure-filled life with the typical financial highs and lows that accompany people who appreciate exploring the unknown rather than settling for the mundane.

After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1969, with a BS in marketing, he traveled the world as an officer in the Navy. This rewarding experience allowed him to see and know other cultures and thereby develop an appreciation of the diversity of the world we live in.

Upon release of duty he did corporate work for Sears, was a heavy-duty mechanic on the Alaska pipeline, and owned a commercial fishing business based in Kodiak, Alaska. He is currently a successful real estate consultant and avid golfer.

These occupations were great opportunities for him to grow and explore his world but, like most "sleepwalkers," he always felt that there was something missing from his life that, once he found it, would change his life profoundly. Like most "sleepwalkers" he kept seeking the missing "key to life" by doing things external to himself in an attempt to be "successful," i.e. make lots of money.

He kept thinking, in the back of his mind, how he didn't seem to have a "passion" for any of the things he was "doing" in his life. He had met many people who seemed to be living their passion and he saw the enthusiasm they had for life and how their lives seemed more effortless than those who were "sleepwalking" through their lives.

The two constants that pervaded his life were his love of reading and the sense that he was somehow being prepared for something in the future. He now "knows" that the future is "now" and the "passion" that has eluded him can be easily found and used by going within and following the spiritual path that has been a part of him all along.

To walk this spiritual path you have to first "wake up" from being a "sleepwalker." His awakening occurred about ten years ago after seeing Deepak Chopra on a PBS fundraiser talking about "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success." That first lecture and the reading of the book opened his eyes to the passion he had been searching for externally his whole life. As he continued down the path of spirituality he immersed himself in the writings of Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Gary Zukov, Caroline Myss, and many other contemporary teachers, but the "Conversations with God" series of books authored by Neale Donald Walsche revealed to him the profound aspects of spirituality that has fueled the passion that has awakened him completely from the life of a "sleepwalker" and bestowed the importance in him of "being a messenger."

He is fond of saying that his entire life changed the day he read the following passage from "Conversations with God, Book One," page twenty. ""The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out Who You Are, seek to determine Who You Want To Be."" He has been "consciously creating" his life ever since.

What serves us in life? That question can only be answered by each individual as they travel through life. I am not saying that Nuts and Bolts Spirituality is the only way. I am saying that this is one way to experience life and it is a way that seems to serve us, both individually and collectively. If it doesn't serve you, then don't use it. Each person must live his or her own truth. The author's mission is to "wake up the sleepwalkers" so they can see for themselves whether being separate serves them or whether the concept of oneness is something that might serve them better. It is a choice. Being awake allows you to make that choice with more ligh