I COULD SWEAR THAT MY OLDEST SON WAS BORN WITH A CLIPBOARD in his hand. For 29 years, Jeffrey has been asking me “When are we going to do such and such?” or “When am I going to see so and so?” It drives me nuts sometimes. I’m the kind of guy who likes to live in the moment and out of my hip pocket. I like to “go with the flow,” and all that sort of stuff. Not my boy. He wants to know who, what, when, where, and how. And what’s more, he wants to know it NOW!

Jeffrey is developmentally “special.” The wisdom of creation ordained that his mother and I should give birth to the quintessential perennial child. He is highly functional, and quite independent in many ways. When it comes to music and top 40 musicians, Jeffrey is our very own “Rain Man.” He can name every group, and just about every musician in those groups. And, though he doesn’t always worry about things like what time “Judge Wapner” comes on TV—woe to the person who gets between my son and his radio shows!

I truly believe that one of the primary benefits (and woes) of having children is the fact that they are little “mirrors” of their parents’ hidden aspects. I call these our “Shadow Selves.” Whatever it is that adults would rather not see, or focus upon, often seems to be the very thing that their kids end up majoring in.

One of my own “shadows” is that I tend to spend time caring for others before I take care of my own special dreams and desires. Hence, the universe gifted me with a son who does just the opposite. I have sometimes noticed that my attitude about “living in the moment” can be a cover for not taking definitive action about things that really matter to me. Somehow, I believe that I will eventually get around to them, or they will just happen on their own. Jeffrey does not live that way. And what is the result? He often gets exactly what he asks for.

The forever now
My Spiritual Guides, The Reconnections, speak about three commitments that a person must make if he or she is to surf the ascension with grace and ease. I happen to believe that they are also major keys to unlocking personal genius. One of those commitments is to “live in the now.” We’ll speak of the others in the next two segments of this series.

Truthfully, NOW is all there is. The entirety of creation consists of one Multiversal NOW, which has been fragmented into many “pieces” (like a huge jigsaw puzzle).

Each Now Moment is a snapshot taken of some fragment of All That Is. If we arrange our pictures in a certain order, and flip through them like an animated movie, they can give the impression of continuity. However, that effect is often somewhat arbitrary. If we were to re-arrange those photos into a different order, “history” would immediately change. Spirit says that this is how our various universes are formed, by the way. And yet, at our most expanded level, all of reality is happening simultaneously, within ONE ETERNAL NOW.

Jeffrey understands this, somewhere at his core. When he says to me, “When are we going to do that?” he is really saying to me, “Why can’t we do it now?” And that is how he lives his life. Somewhere, in the parts of his brain that have become “disabled,” he doesn’t connect much with “I’ll do it later.” Of course, he can simulate those parts when it comes time to take out the trash! But mainly, like all children, his mind and heart are always focused upon what will please or interest him in the now. And, when he stops being pleased in his now, he stops what he is doing, and moves on to something that will please him.

Trusting and believing
People often speak about the “amazing adaptability of children.” And it is surely true. Children are like reeds in the wind. They have the ability to bend and to flex, and they can harmonize with nearly anything. Otherwise, how could they stand to put up with the likes of some of us?

A child’s adaptability comes from his willingness to believe what he sees or hears, often without question. If Mom or Dad says that life is a certain way, then the child absolutely believes that it is. If the television advertises that a breakfast cereal will make him a super hero, then he absolutely must have that cereal! And, if “Elven dancers” come to visit a little girl’s bed in the night, singing songs about life in a “faery kingdom”… the little girl accepts what she hears without hesitation.

It could well be said that the line of demarcation, which divides childhood from adulthood, is drawn when a child begins to believe in such things as LIES, BETRAYAL, and FALSEHOOD. When a child’s innate tendency to trust and believe begins to waver, his youth is all but over.

In one of their early transmissions to me, the Reconnections said these words:

“Psychiatrists' couches are full today with adults who are searching for missing links, those elusive memories and trapped emotions, that could account for the great sense of loss they feel originates in their childhood. Many speculate concerning various traumas and connections, and those explanations partially satisfy---but there are still many questions left unanswered. It is our purpose here to address fully the real trauma of childhood---that loss so great that no one really recovers from it throughout his entire life. It is the loss (the surrender, actually) of THE IMAGINATION."

There is a gigantic link between a functional imagination and the ability to trust. If we can trust what we perceive—our own viewpoint, that is—then imagination can build for us a world in which those visions can come true. This is because, in the Multiverse, realities exist which honor and embody everything imaginable (and a whole lot more). If we truly believe that these places exist, then we can also visit them—or, we can invoke some of their inhabitants to come and visit us.

In their statements to me about trust, The Reconnections continued:

"My dear friends: Imagination is real! It is a bona fide level of being that exists as a buffer (a sort of insulation) between the Physical Plane and the Multiverse. Real folks live there. And, it IS NOW AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN at your disposal twenty-four hours a day."

The Book of Hebrews, in the New Testament, begins with these words: Faith is the substance of things hoped for—the evidence of things not seen.Å" If we look closely at this statement, it absolutely seems to be saying to us: "If you believe in something, your faith is PROOF that what you believe in truly exists." This goes right along with one of Wayne Dyer’s famous maxims: ""You’ll see it when you believe it."

Believing is seeing
Geniuses usually trust what comes to them from within. They honor their inner voice. Michael Jackson is said to be one of these people, and even though he can be very cynical when it comes to trusting others (such as his father, or the press), the Gloved One still believes the energy of inspiration when it comes upon him, telling him what his next steps towards advancement must be.

Indeed, there are those who would take what I just said as proof that we shouldn’t trust our inner sense. Many consider Michael to be crazy, and say that no one should ever trust him again. However, from my view, this is simply evidence of their own personal distrust and their disdain for originality and talent. Michael has been to the mountain. His life and work have touched millions. And yes, he has also fallen off the mountain a time or two as well. Did we not say, at the outset, that this is what often happens to geniuses? It’s not an easy road to travel.

No one can tell for sure what’s going on in the life of another. I don’t know whether Michael Jackson molests children or not. However, I do know that Michael’s inner child certainly seems to have been molested in his day. And I see that he has spent millions of dollars, and a whole lot of time and effort trying to get that inner child back.

"Unless ye become as little children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God." This is what has been written. But the Kingdom of God is not really a place where people "go", necessarily. It is all around us, right here and now. There just aren’t many people who can see it.

At the beginning of this series, I said that a primary trait of personal genius is the ability to see what others cannot. And then, once a person begins to see, he also has to have enough confidence not to fear that he is going crazy because of it. In the next segment, we explore a fuller meaning of the word "inspiration." And we will also speak about the second commitment for success, spoken about by The Reconnections—learning to live in freedom.

© 2003 Daniel Jacob

We invite you to share your experiences, opinions and questions on this article. Please visit the PLW Community and leave your comments.