The concept of Kerplunk caught my attention back in 2008. That year I began a Way of Mastery (WOM) study group in Singapore. The Way of Mastery is a trilogy that embodies a powerful message from Jeshua bin Joseph (or Jesus)—basically the same principles of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). [Way of the Heart is book 1; Way of Transformation is book 2; and Way of Knowing is book 3.] Unlike ACIM, which is very intellectual, WOM connects directly with the hearts of those who read it.
What makes The Way of Mastery (WOM) particularly powerful is that one can learn the “principles” even if one chooses not to embrace the spiritual message underlying the work. So if you choose to check out The Way of Mastery, set aside your pre-conceptions and seek meaning beyond the obvious; leave aside that which doesn’t resonate with you, and embrace whatever does.
After reading a lesson called “Creation,” (see excerpts below), I was inspired by the term kerplunk and before I knew it, I held regular “kerplunking” sessions with my study group and we enjoyed the process immensely. You see, many people have hidden dreams they don’t dare acknowledge because they have no idea how they could possibly bring them about. But for most of my life, I never worried about how I was going to accomplish something… Intuitively, I always focused on what I wanted and somehow things always turned out the way I wanted—I never knew that synchronicities were special occurrences; they occurred a lot in my life, and I assumed others had the same experience.
Looking back I realize that I unconsciously used The Power of KerplunkTM since I was young; and perhaps that is why when I encountered it in 2008, I embraced it completely and made it part of my life. I had finally found a name for what I did.
When I first encountered WOM, I was apprehensive. The book makes reference to Jeshua (Jesus) and Christ and I feared it would be religious-based, and I have always been extremely careful about religion since it’s a very personal choice. But to my surprise, WOM has a universal message of love, forgiveness and personal empowerment that embraces everyone willing to leave his or her preconceptions aside; and the concept of Christ refers to an unconditionally loving, all-embracing, non-judgmental consciousness that belongs to all of humanity.
I have used many of the principles from WOM in my academic teaching and also in other non-spiritual settings. People usually react favourably to the principles because they work on a very practical level. So I don’t always speak about the “spiritual” message of the work I do. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I include this information so people can read more if they are interested.
Here are the basic tenets of WOM in a nutshell:
- They key axiom (or principle) of WOM is that we are the sole creators of everything in our lives and that God does not dictate what happens to us. In fact, WOM says that “the world is perfectly innocent” and we are encouraged to “forgive” everyone and everything since nothing of this world can enhance or diminish God’s perfect creation (us) in any way.
- Unless we accept full responsibility for our creative power and everything that happens in our life, we will remain a “victim of the world” (read that to mean unenlightened).
- Even if we are not aware, we have the power to create our “reality,” and we exercise it constantly by choosing on what to focus our awareness. This power is ours by virtue of our relationship with God, our Creator.
- We are eternal—we have always existed and always will.
- We are an extension of God, in form, and our purpose is to extend God’s love to the world. How we do it is totally up to us.
- As extensions of God, we have to do nothing to prove our worth and earn our place in “God’s kingdom.” We are born into this lifetime worthy, and nothing we do, say or believe can change that.
- Every experience we create is perfect and neutral (we ascribe meaning to it) and when we outgrow it, we have the power and freedom to choose a completely different experience. So if we choose to be victims our entire life, we have the freedom to do it and God does not judge (and certainly doesn’t punish) us.
- The body is simply a communication device. It exists as long as we focus our awareness on it. We die (to this lifetime) when we choose to release that awareness.
- WOM uses terms with lower and capital letters: Forgiveness v. forgiveness; Love v. love; Reality v. reality. The capitalized terms represent eternal and unchanging truths while the others represent egoic concepts that we accept as truth. [If you are interested in this, read the Basic Concepts of Way of Mastery]
When people first encounter these principles some recoil in fear. WOM shifts the balance of power in ways many people are not always ready to embrace. And that is perfectly fine.
WOM says that we are not at the mercy of an arbitrary God. Instead, we are, in essence, pure awareness, pure wisdom, pure consciousness, and we have within us all the wisdom and intelligence to create as God creates. And even though we are not aware, we create every second of every hour of every day…
Jeshua uses the metaphor of the pond to explain our creative power. The pond is our awareness and the pebbles we throw in the pond are our thoughts. The moment we drop a pebble, the ripples created by the pebble are the energy that leads to manifestation. And since we are part of God, and God is the “universal” and “absolute” mind that knows everything and creates everything, then we too, have the ability to be in constant relationship with all of creation (and with God).
Another key message in WOM is that our suffering in this world is the result of our belief that we are separate from God. But that is simply an illusion. There is no separation between God and us. We and our Father are One (this is another message repeated throughout WOM).
The Way of Mastery is available through the Shanti Chrito Foundation and amazon.com.
In joy and playful wonder,
Millie Rivera
Kerplunk Mastery