oprah interview

His legs were open, his back straight. Knees met elbows, hands together confidently, fingers splayed supporting chin, not obstructing visibility of face. A pose designed to lean into the audience, exposing self, confidence is created through vulnerability. He'd waited for this moment.

"Oprah," he tilted his head disarmingly as his gaze met hers, knowing the camera was capturing each moment. "Taking risks is frightening. Gut-wrenching, in fact - it is awful!"

"But you did it," Oprah's body leaned in, giving off every indication she was entranced with what he had to say.

"When you are called - and you know what I'm talking about," he gave her a knowing glance. On cue, the cameras switched to a close-up just in time to catch Oprah's quick self-re-composure after shock washed across her face like a swipe with cold wet rag wielded by a mother seeking to remove jelly as abruptly as possible. "When you are called, you answer. Living with a purpose doesn't always make sense, but you have to trust."

"What do you trust?" Oprah was showing curious.

"Yourself, the world, the signs, the people around you, the places you go, but most of all what your brain captures and what your intuition shows you. We are taught that there is a higher authority out there - the law, Jesus, Buddha, or even you, Oprah - we look to these authorities to tell us what to do, what to wear, what to say. We have it on our clothes - exactly what Jesus would do, if he was instantly teleported here and faced with this situation, by the way, is to freak out because he had no idea how he got there or what he was doing on Oprah's show. He lived 2,000 years ago and would have no frame of reference for 2006. My point, though, is that we are each uniquely prepared by life to face exactly the challenges that we encounter. It is when we cease to trust ourselves and try to find the answers outside of our own self that we have problems. Some challenges are not meant to be overcome. We each choose the mountains we climb, Oprah. Sometimes it takes two times, five times, ten different attempts up that summit before we reach the top. We choose when we try, when we fail, and when we give up." He leaned back, one eyebrow beseechingly raised, awaiting reply.

"Wow. Now, you said something - you said a lot of things!" The audience laughed and clapped appreciatively. They loved Oprah like a junkie loves smack, but also with the overwhelming affection that a bird-watcher feels for nature's magnificence. "I want to go back to one of the things you said. You said something about our problems come from not trusting ourselves - what do you mean by that?"

"We give ourselves filters - some call it the lens of experience. Each time we go through a life event, or live another day, it becomes part of the filter through which we see the world. It is the wisdom that enhances our judgment, but also the bigotry that clouds our view. It's our own ego preserving itself that creates these filters - it is telling the self that the self needs the ego to help it to judge how to perceive the world. The ego says - look, if only you had avoided that thing right there, your life would have been better. Next time, don't trust things that look just like that and you'll avoid ever feeling that pain again. It's like a little viceroy in a a story, telling lies to the king to keep himself in power. Everyone reading the story knows, it's obvious to everyone but the king that the viceroy is lying to him. We're like the king, and our egos lie to us each day. When I say that we have to trust ourselves, we have to know which aspect of ourself can recognize truth. There is a certain instinctual ability that human beings have, to know the truth as they encounter it - this is divine, in my opinion. It is this divinity of truth, of creation, that connects us to creation itself. It is the ability to discern that truth - we call it intuition. It's when people say "I knew he was doing that," or "I just knew it would turn out this way!" - they know the truth. They chose to listen to a different voice, one of fear, doubt, guilt, anger, or any other emotional override inside themselves or an external influence like a spouse, relative, or even television. When we're angry, we're angry with ourselves. We knowingly go forward in life, generally aware of the consequences of our actions, but our society has taught us that we are not responsible. We can sue someone, there is someone who is to blame, there is a reason that I can give that excuses my actions. This is the ego avoiding responsibility. We have to be the king, to accept the responsibility that comes with the power of who we are, and to kick our little viceroy out the door. We must trust ourselves to do the right thing in each situation, and we have to accept what happens when we do not." The audience did not quite collectively know what to do. Most of them clapped out of habit, some with real and genuine enthusiasm, while others stared out of their doe eyes blankly, their hands silent in their laps.

"In your book, your characters 'wake up' one by one - what is waking up, and when did you do it?"

"I think waking up is a gradual process - we're all in various stages of awake. We're more alert at one time or another, sometimes we fall asleep... and sleep can be nice. I don't think I can pinpoint any one time - I can tell you about levels of realization. In my life, I have realized various stages, reached new levels of understanding. Awakening occurs simply with an awareness of the process. It's the revelation that we're the star of the show, but we're also our own best audience. In fact, we're the whole play - the director, the theater, the AV guy, the whole kit and caboodle. At some point, we recognize that, or we don't. If recognition dawns, each aspect of what we are and what we were emerge like characters coming out for curtain call. We're in the audience going - hey, look, that's me up there! omigod, that's what's-his-name, i-know-that-guy - me! We're like a pre-teen girl with a sugar-high at a back-street-boys concert each time we realize each aspect of our existence, our being. There's no end to that - that sensation doesn't end. We reach plateaus, but there are always more. Sometimes it seems like we're at the top, but just when we stop looking is when we find the next level. That's true for all of us - and when we ignore that next level, when we become stagnant, we become angry with ourselves and it can be a downward spiral as well. It's always a choice - up or down. As long as we're moving, we've got to pick a direction. So this wakening up is like a dimmer switch - we choose how much we want to turn the light on, but there's no end to how bright it can get. Infinite."

"My guest today is with us to share insights from a new novel, "Awakening... the beginning." We'll be back in just a moment."