Book Discussion Resource: Life Visioning, By Michael Bernard Beckwith

 

 

 For anyone reading Life Visioning, By Michael Bernard Beckwith or with an interest in doing so, I offer up the notes and discussion prompts that I created for the book circle that I am part of. Please leave a comment letting me know how whether this information is helpful! --MM (2021)


Photo: Aspen Institute, ICAP Fellowship 2021

Pre/Post-Discussion Resources:


Intro and Chapter One 

Discussion prompts based on text:

  • Were you raised to consider or believe that you had a calling on your life? 

  • Do you believe that something is seeking to emerge in, through, and as your life?

  • Discuss thoughts and words that come to mind (immediately and without judgement) related to "your life purpose." (or purposes)

  • When was the last time you felt pain and recognized that you were ready to take the next step in your evolution? (P.16)

  • How else, besides through pain, do we identify the need for growth?

  • The role of religion in the upbringing of blk folks and the role of God in one’s awareness or connection to one’s “special-ness”

  • The role of dreams and how much attention we give to them and value we give them

  • Who do you all read or listen to that keeps you motivated, focused, and educated on what the habits of the person you want to be are?


Quotes:

  • “...discipline is the willingness to do what it takes to wake up because enlightened living is our priority in life.”

  • “ A purpose the pulls us versus a goal that drives us” (one is rooted in fulfilment and destiny)

  • “You’re not really attracting things to you, you're radiating them.”

  • " There is within me a fierce determination to live nothing less than my true calling in life." (P.4)

  • " One of the 1st principles to honour in your relationship with yourself is to respect interest or own inner voice."

  • " When we come to the realisation that we create the world we believe in, we are ready to work consciously with the laws of co-creation." (P.17)


Four Stages of Evolutionary Growth

  1. Living in Victim Consciousness 

  2. Manifester of Consciousness

  3. Consciousness of Living “in the zone”

  4. Mystical Union


Discover the giftedness of the soul. Life Visioning Questions to Live your Soul’s Purpose:

  1. What is the highest vision for my life? What seeks to emerge in, through and as my life?

  2. What is the highest vision for this project/business?

  3. What must I become in order to manifest this vision? What qualities must I cultivate?

  4. What must I release to manifest this vision?

  5. What talents, gifts, skills and qualities do I already possess that will serve this vision? 


Final Meditation: 

Life Visioning Meditation For Inner Peace And Inspiration | Michael Beckwith



Chapter Two:

Discussion prompts based on text:

  • What does ‘freedom’ mean to you right now in this place and at this time in your life? Does this look different from past and/or future definitions?

  • Let’s discuss ways in which we recognize that we react and what the alternative looks like in practice.

  • Right now we can begin to identify the state of consciousness from where our choice making occurs. Shall we?

  • Concept of the Essential Self (paragraph 1, pg. 34)

  • With an understanding that the four stages are not necessarily experienced in a linear movement, but unfolding/being worked through simultaneously (pgs. 34-35), which parts of this process resonate with each of us?



Quotes:

  • The Limitless Nature of Being (Pg. 27)

  • “Authentic freedom… comes from a conscious realization of the innermost Self, because only the Self is free; it never has been nor shall ever be enslaved in any form.” (p.30)

  • “All beings possess freedom of choice, yet few are actually free enough to choose.”

  • “Wisdom is a form of self remembrance, for when we discipline ourselves to pause and turn within before we act, the Self reminds us to make choices that are in integrity with universal principles, to choose actions that anchor us in the ways of freedom.” (p. 33)


Notes:

  • On the topic of ‘Freedom’

    • Free, or Unfree?- No person or thing outside of yourself can make you free or unfree. When we choose to do the necessary inner work to reclaim our identities as freeborn, individualized expressions of Source, we break the chains that bind us.

    • Freedom From versus Freedom For- There is more evolved stage than freedom from something: it is freedom for something. It is the freedom to respond to our life’s purpose even when it isn't what our ego had planned for us.

    • Action, not Reaction- Most people are not free; instead they live in reaction to events of the past, present, as well as events they project into the future.

    • Reclaiming Our Birthright to Freedom- The freedom of awakened awareness, which births wisdom-guided choices. Choice is a function of awareness. 

    • The Four Pillars of Freedom- Self-discipline, self-responsibility, self-awareness, and self remembrance of your unique soul-expression.

  • Four Stages of Evolutionary Growth

    • To Me (victim consciousness) - the opportunity here is to give up blame and shame

    • To It (Manifester Consciousness) - the opportunity to give up control and a false sense of power

    • Through Me (Channel Consciousness) - the opportunity to give up ego and a sense of separation (from God)

    • As Me (Being Consciousness) - opportunity to experience limitless awareness


Chapter Three: Stage One: Victim Consciousness

Discussion prompts based on text:

  • Based on the end of chapter two’s breakdown of the stages, where did you think you were at?

  • How did this chapter resonate with you? Were you surprised by anything?

  • Which of the Self-Reflection prompts stood out to you from this section?

  • Did you practice offering forgiveness? (Self, other directly, other in prayer)

  • Are you currently experiencing a situation in which you find yourself asking: “If the situation does not change, what quality must I embody for peace of mind?” (p.54) 


Quotes:

  • “Life is being done to me by it.”

  • “We have generations of ancestral habits  that create unconscious patterns for us to fall back on, embedding themselves in our DNA, if we let them. But, every second, every atom of every day we have choices.” (p.43)

  • Response-ability

  • “Self-righteous black is the undercurrent of victimhood.” (p. 48)

  • How easily do you forgive? What messaging do we get from our families about forgiveness?

  • On forgiveness: We are doing our inner work for ourselves, not for them. We are making a statement that no one can determine or affect our density by their words, actions, or inactions. (p.54)

  • “If the situation does not change, what quality must I embody for peace of mind?” (p.54)

  • “Our life direction is informed by the questions we ask” (p. 55)


Notes:

  • Race Consciousness: a belief in humanity, patterns of thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors within families, ancient and modern societies, religious groups, … that contribute to the creation of the “collective mind.

  • Cycle of Ceaseless Mentation: A continual recycling of thoughts, inner conversations, and outer projections. The regurgitation of the same mental contents of yesterday, last week, a month, a year ago.

    • To remain in Victim Consciousness is to empower outside influence to dictate who you should be, what you should and should not do, and what your place in life is.

    • It goes against your true nature.

  • Moving Beyond VC: Response-ability, meaning we have the ability to respond to whatever arises in our experience (vs. react)

    • Releasing Blame, Offering Forgiveness: Self-righteous black is the undercurrent of victimhood. It is a profound practice to offer forgiveness each night before going to sleep so that you don't carry resentment into the freshness of the next new day. And this includes self-forgiveness.

    • Forgiving the Seemingly Unforgivable: Forgiveness isn't about sentimentality or emotionality; it's about challenging inner work of releasing a level of anger that the world in general supports. It's about rising about the status quo mentality of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” (p. 51)


 

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