Diary of a Layman #4 (Fall 2006): Slight Sidetrack That Should Result In Being A Shortcut.
“Is your book out yet? Because I think it would make a great holiday gift for a bunch of people I know,” an old friend of mine eagerly asked me today. Yes, it would make a great gift, and as much as I wish I could’ve hit the ol’ FF button on the TiVo of life, alas, I had to tell him that it wasn’t yet available. In fact, I haven’t even started the publishing process yet.
“But please, sir,” I then envisioned him saying with a cockney accent and perhaps a crutch under one arm, “we need your book—the WORLD needs the wisdom contained in it. For we are all doomed without it—DOOOMED I SAY! God help us! Every one!”
Okay, I just sort of made that whole second part up. But you kind of see how the writing process works. You take something from your life, you think about another way it can play out, and wallah! Instant story. But then comes the process of actually writing it down, fixing it up, and getting it out there which tends to take longer. Especially when it’s a really long book.
But recently, while I was diligently working on this process for my 3-part tome, I suddenly had an epiphany. It was an idea that was separate from the Layman* book, yet, would enable it to come to fruition a whole lot faster. Tried as I might, I just couldn’t let this idea slide by without at least attempting to make it happen. Using the wisdom found in my own book, I looked to the universe for clues, and yes, it confirmed my gut feeling: Despite causing me to temporarily have to put Layman on the back burner, this relatively quick project would help it to become a reality much quicker in the long-run.
“My God, man—how?!” you ask in a rather dignified Queen’s English. Well, um—actually…I can’t tell you that. You see, this idea is so good, I rushed to do it in the last two months and will now scramble to make it a reality before something happens that would cause it to have considerably less of an impact. And I can’t tell you what that would be either.
Oh, don’t you worry, y’all will be the first to know what this secret project is once it’s ready. Because for reasons that will be perfectly clear once you know what this thing is, I currently can’t tell you what it is. Clear?
Well, all will become clear in due time. And Layman is absolutely still going to happen. When something has the potential to bring a lot of energy into the world, it usually takes a long time so that it might clear a path so to speak. Let me tell you a story about the bamboo.
If you were to plant a bamboo outdoors in fertile soil with the right combination of sunlight, water, and love, after caring for it night and day for an entire year, you’d get…nothing.
But if you were to not give up hope and still care for the little bamboo for the following year, then you’d get…slightly more than nothing.
And this would continue for a number of years. But then, one day, as if out of nowhere. Your bamboo would suddenly shoot up 20 feet tall in no time at all! How would it accomplish such an amazing feat? Because in all those years you thought nothing was happening, the bamboo was growing its roots! You, my friends, are the roots that will help usher in a new era. You may not realize it yet, but there’s a reason you are on this list. Go rent the movie Lady In The Water or check out NBC’s Heroes if you don’t believe me. Things are often more than they appear on the surface. Trust me, everything is happening as it should. In your life and in mine.
I am very much looking forward to the time when I can finally say, “YES!!! The book is done! Go on Amazon.doc and buy a bunch for your friends!” But until that time, I shall continue to collect stories of “what I had to go through to get here” that will make great fodder for many a talk show appearance and inspirational author’s visit at Barnes and Noble. That’s another thing about the way life works. You have to see it, if you wanna be it.
May your inner spark grow to light your way,
Marc
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*New People:
If you aren’t familiar with the story, here’s a brief synopsis:
The Layman’s Answers To Everything is a spiritual comedy (or spiromedy) about an unlucky guy who believes he’s meant to do something amazing, but has no idea what it is. After experiencing many challenges and meeting a bizarre cast of characters, he stumbles upon secret messages hidden in TV, movies, and music that are aimed at guiding humanity. Using these messages, he starts a new religion which changes his life, and ultimately, the world. This is so much more than just a story though, because throughout the journey, we learn how to discover and fulfill our own destiny using the clues of the universe that are all around us.
I truly feel this book is going to make a real impact on the world, and set into motion a spiritual domino effect that’ll help change it for the better. And judging from the way the world is heading, I’m thinking that changing the way we’re heading would be a good thing, no? If you don’t agree, or would just prefer not to get any further emails from me, just let me know, and I’ll take you off the list—no hard feelings. Of course, I can’t promise that my book won’t track you down and find you anyway, but you have a while yet to worry about that.
