Awakening:

13 Steps to Love, Freedom, and Power

By MICHAEL ROBINS
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of contents.......................... 1

Dedication page.............................. III

Poem: A Mystery ........................... IV

Introduction to Awakening…………………. 1

Essential Understandings...................................... 16

Great Promises and Quotations................... 22

Our Condition................. 26

The Solution................... 28

Step 1: Desire ........................ 30

Step 2: Create Space............. 35

Step 3: Breathe...................... 38

Step 4: Pray and Have Faith................. 41

Step 5: Be Still................... 46

Step 6: Appreciate and Be Grateful... 53

Step 7: Love.......................... 58

Step 8: Let the Awareness of Oneness Prevail.............. 66

Step 9: Forgive.................... 69

Step 10: Watch, Evaluate, and Choose..... 75

Step 11: Serve, Dream, and Envision....... 83

Step 12: Meditate.............. 93

Step 13: Identify, Dedicate, and Magnify. 104

Congratulations..................... 115

Writer‟s Statement of Appreciation..................... 116

Endnotes............................... 117

Bibliography........................... 123

Enlightenment Project……… 126

Order Page............................ 127

This book is dedicated to my lovely wife, Andrea, Baby Lily, and to my inner helpers,

without whom this book would never have been written and published.

“You must love, love, love above all else.”

In My Own Words,

Padre Pio
 A Mystery

A mystery

awaits you,

who would enter herein

to begin again

what you have begun

along time ago

and perhaps forgotten,

only to remember again.

So, now, let us begin.

 Introduction to Awakening

Why would anybody read this book? There are two basic categories that the readers could fall

into. People are either unhappy, although there are many people in this category who would not

acknowledge that they are unhappy because they try to avoid acknowledging those feelings that

would even make them more unhappy, and there are happy people. Of course, there are widely

varying degrees unhappiness and happiness in each category. And there are many things we can

do to distract us from feelings of annoyance and unhappiness such as eating, television, games,

and reading books and magazines so that our state of unhappiness is not readily apparent to us.

Let me ask the following questions to help clarity where you are within the two categories: Do

you worry about money? Are you looking for a job or stuck in one you don‟t enjoy? Are you in a

frustrating or unhappy relationship or are you alone and wanting to be in a relationship? Do

many people and circumstances tend to bother and annoy you? Do you watch a lot of television?

If you answered „yes” to several of the questions, the book can definitely offer you a way of

changing the yes answers to no‟s, but it even has the capacity to go way beyond that in lifting

you up a on the path of a life that continually gets better. I know because I share the principles

and ideas I have found that have lead me to an increasingly better life. And when I lost my

footing on the way, it was those principles and the energy behind them that lifted me up and put

me even higher up on the evolving path.

Now, for the people who have found their footing on the journey to the life of increasing value

and happiness, the book can also be of value because the journey is never-ending, we need to
hone and maintain our focus on that which uplifts and advances us, and it is filled with quotes

from some of the greatest thinkers who have been on the planet. So, the book potentially has

value for everyone, although there are certainly those who have gone beyond the wisdom

presented here.

The un-awakened and the awakened life are radically different. I know because I have lived in,

and tasted, both of them. They are like night and day, so different that a person in an un-

awakened state probably has little or no idea, of what his awakened self will be like, and that

makes it challenging to wake up because we don‟t know the excitement of what we are waking

up to. But excitement waits around the corner for everyone because life is about discovery,

growth, and expansion. It holds endless and unimagined possibilities, but we have to glimpse

that it does to advance upon the journey. Hopefully, this book will either open a door for you or

propel you further along the adventure.

I‟m going to share an example of such an awakening-my own. Here‟s a letter I wrote to Sasha

Xarrian, who wrote a book that impacted and profoundly influenced my life, helped to awaken

me and to radically transform my life. The book arrived when I was sixty nine years old at a

point in my life when I was leading a very mundane existence. Most sixty-nine year olds are not

primed for emergence, but it waits upon everyone and is always a possibility. Here‟s the letter:

Dear, Sasha, thank you for being on the planet, for enduring such challenges, and for showing

up in my life when you did. I love and appreciate you for who you are and what you have

accomplished and are accomplishing. I finished reading Outrageous Mastery on Valentine’s

Day, but I didn’t know it was Valentine’s Day until my wife, Andrea informed me shortly after I

finished the book. It was the first impactful Valentine’s Day I ever experienced, and I decided to
have every following Valentine’s Day become even more wonderful than this one is that is still

happening as I type these words. What a day.

Your story was very engaging, powerful, and emotionally compelling. I had been reading it to

Andrea for two days since the book arrived on line. I feelingly followed your story of being cast

aside without support by husband and family, who were very wealthy, and thrown into a world

you knew nothing about, alone, without friends, without the supporting faith in the Mormon

religion that you had previously totally depended upon and dedicated your life to, with no

money, no home, and six children to raise. What enormously challenging circumstances.

Your strength, courage, willingness to question all things, your perseverance, faith, and

determination to provide for your children and live wonderfully are inspirational for anyone,

and your story had a profound effect upon me.

I intuitively knew that your book held something special for me even before I read it. We hold

very similar beliefs and understandings, but I had hit a wall and was living behind it for more

than 3 years when the meteor of your book collided with me and my world, which were just

beginning to mobilize themselves back into purpose and passion, and propelled me into an

entirely new dimension of awareness, feeling, and super readiness for action. I intuited as soon

as I began reading your book that we had planned my wake-up call before we came to Earth this

time, and now it was Jump Time as Dr. Jean Houston calls it.

Both you and I are messengers of the new truth that humanity is waking up to- that every

individual is a magnificent creator with an unlimited potential and a unique gift for the world. I

knew about that truth and potential, but I had not manifested it and proven its truth to myself
experientially. I had written a book called Entertaining Enlightenment: 13 Steps on the

Ultimate Journey 7 years ago, but never published it; I had created a guided imagery CD,

called The Wonder of Wonders about how to access and experience our hidden, but real and

true self, but never made it available to the public; and I had written hundreds of interesting

poems about the great spiritual experience, but I never gathered them into a book and published

it. I was a force-field of wisdom, gifts, and good intentions, always getting ready to pour my

abundance into the universe, but I never delivered. And at the end of seven years, I was even

beginning to lose my cosmic awareness and experience to some degree, and my drive to share

was falling into lethargy and forgetfulness. I began watching TV, especially Ultimate Fighting,

which I watched almost every night, which was a very strange thing for me to do because I don’t

like fighting, and previously I would almost never watch TV. I also started eating and sleeping a

lot.

Then, I got an email from James Twyman, who wrote Emissary of Love, inviting me to enter a

contest to become the Next Top Spiritual Author, but I was so out of touch with my identity and

purpose that I let the email sit for a day or two. After a couple of days, I re-read the email and

immediately signed up. That was the beginning of my re-awakening to myself and my purpose.

Christian Pankhurst, who had won the contest in England, was one of the coaches on the Top

Author site who had an inspirational message that really resonated with me, so I began doing

social networking on Facebook as he suggested.

As soon as I began making friends and joining groups, I was back in my element, and life took on

a new excitement and possibility. I was surprised and pleased with the wonderful people who

were there, their friendliness and willingness to help, the openness and readiness for social
connection, the coalition of groups joining together to contribute to and to change the world.

New opportunities and energy came rushing toward me. The atmosphere around me was electric

with inviting possibility. Once again, I had a calling and a passion, but I knew I needed to go

beyond where I had gone before.

So, I begin to embrace opportunities that I previously would not have. I bought the DVD,

Beyond Belief, the Movie and the book Outrageous Mastery. These purchases were rather

unusual for me because I felt I had heard, and knew, it all, and, in a sense, I had and did because

for many years I devoured all the spiritual and self-help information I could find. But I didn’t

want to miss even a shred of a new idea that might advance me on my new journey.

At that time, I had a very strong sense of frugality, although financially I was much better off

than I ever had been. When I was younger, if I wanted a book, or a course, or wanted to go to a

retreat or workshop, I never hesitated to spend my last penny to get what I wanted, or go where I

wanted. But I had become frugal and cautious about expenditures by the age of sixty nine. I had

the idea that I wanted to save money for my wife’s retirement. She is fourteen years younger than

me and works much harder than I do to build our income.

So, because I made much less than she did, because of my frugality, and because of my know-it-

all-ness attitude, the approximately $35 for Beyond Belief was a bit of a stretch for me, and I

never would have bought your second and third books, Sasha for $97, but because you are the

clever sales lady that you are, you lured me with a one- time $17 offer for the first one. And once

I made that purchase, I knew I had to spend the $97 for the next two books and immediately did

so. Your money back guarantee (I love those), if I wasn’t 100% pleased, made it easy for me to

make to make the purchase. You made me feel certain you would honor your word.
Well, what I bought even went way beyond my expectations. There was an electric current in the

book that reached into my soul. It demonstrated great, new possibilities, and life instantly

became more exciting and joyous. I felt ready, insightful, and alive. I stepped more deeply into

my passion again, and I whole-heartedly encourage everyone to never quit seeking until you find

what thrills and empowers you. There’s nothing like it. Carolynn Myss aptly asks, “Do you

really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been if you were not

afraid to live it?” Or do you want to negatively answer the questions that Brendon Burchard

asked after his near death, car accident experience when he thought his life was over. “Did I

live, did I love. Did I even matter?”

Even though entrance into the Next Top Author Contest helped me move back into an alive,

purposeful, and exciting life, it was your book, Sasha, Outrageous Mastery that lifted me to the

heights of brand new possibility. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, except for your story,

but it went beyond information in its alchemy of transformation. It was a life injection. New

horizons loomed. It triggered me and made me certain that I was going to do what I had never

done- enter the service I always wanted to enter, manifest the life I had been dreaming of, and

make a profound difference in the lives of people and the world.

Love, Light and Blessings,

Michael

I also re-connected with the book I had written and following the 13 steps helped me more

deeply re-connect with my source self and ground me in it. So, now, I know through my own

experience that I can offer you that same kind of electric movement up the spiral of life through
the journey into love, power, and freedom offered in this book, but if my letter to Sasha has

inspired you to check out Outrageous Mastery, don‟t hesitate to do so. Here‟s the link:

http://www.tiny.cc/wowthisworks. Both books, in different ways, will bring you great value,

empower you, and encourage you to know and experience your greatness.

At this point, I invite you to answer a few questions, which will give you a sense of where you

are and where the journey can take you. The answers can give you both an incentive for the

journey and will also show you how far you have traveled after you have taken the 13 steps. To

afford your answers greater expansiveness than mere „yes‟ and no‟ answers could provide, give

each answer a value between zero to ten with ten being an absolutely resounding „yes.‟ Of

course, you can only really check your growth at the end of the 13 steps by being honest here.

1) Are you certain about your greatness?

2) Do you know that, no matter the circumstances you are in, life is designed for your

happiness and that you are entitled to the very best in life?

3) Do you know how to claim your inheritance of joyful abundance?

4) Are you worry-free and almost always continually happy?

5) Do you know that you have a valuable contribution to make and that the world needs and

waits upon your gift?

6) Are you fearless and rooted in peacefulness, or can you take action even when you are

fearful?

7) Do you know, and do you see, everything that happens, even the adversities and

challenges, as gifts in your life?

8) Are you aware of the extraordinary value of this very moment?

 9) Do you love your body and are you aware of its extreme preciousness and value?

10) Are you certain that life can only get better?

If you study and apply the information in the book, you should be able to answer these questions

with nines and tens, or, at least, be moving toward those numbers. Hopefully, that is inspiring.

However, even if you begin with high scores, the journey still has gifts for you.

Your greatness is hidden by the way the world thinks, by the kind of world we live in, and by

your birth experience, and by how you were raised. In fact, most of the world lives in a dense fog

of conditioning. However, once you grasp even the slightest realization of who you are, the

power that resides within you, the extreme value and opportunity of this very moment, and the

valuable contribution the world needs you to make, a magical adventure calls to you beyond

anything you can currently imagine. You have a gift for everyone and everything in the universe,

and when you truly know that in every fiber of your being, your life will change so radically you

will not recognize yourself from day to day.

1
We live in a world where “1.02 billion people across the world are hungry.” and “every day,
2
16,000children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds when only a very

tiny percent of what we spend on weapons of destruction could solve this problem. Obviously, something

is seriously wrong with a world that has the capacity to end such a dire problem, but doesn‟t. But you are

empowered to contribute to and transform such a world.

And, obviously, the problem of hunger is not the only problem. There are a great many

problems, they are increasing, and they challenge the very existence of our world, but these

problems are all created and sustained by a limited understanding of who we are and actually
afford us great opportunities for service and change. The world is a reflection of our collective

consciousness just as our lives are a reflection of our individual consciousness. Change your

consciousness and both you and the world will change.

The core of all problems is not political, economic, or military. The thinking and actions taken in

those realms just reflect our current, collective self awareness. Most people think of themselves

as their body, their personality, and their story, not realizing that these are just the vehicles of

expression and the manifestation of their thoughts and feelings, not their core identity. The

wisdom teachings of the ages have known and shared this truth, but our tragic history in our

quest for power and domination with its recurrent wars and inhumanity reflects that, collectively,

we have not learned and demonstrated our true identity and its power.

However, there are more people on Earth who understand the reality behind appearances than

there has ever been before this time, but there are not yet enough people who bear this

understanding to transform the world back closer to its original purpose. Spreading the

knowledge of our truth and oneness is our highest priority. When enough people understand

what the world does not understand and reflect, the world will change and become what it was

originally intended to be- a place where the abundance of the divine can be, and is, fully

expressed. And you have the opportunity to be that valuable pioneer and transformer, who can

make a profound difference.

When you understand and live from who you are, oneness, peace, love, harmony, and

cooperation become the order of the day, and you begin to move into the magnificence of divine

intention and become a force that begins to solve both individual and global problems. But

education and the actualization of knowledge are quintessential. The optimal use of time is a
high priority because discord, suffering, and unrealized potential greatly burden and challenge

the planet. The Awakening is one of many attempts to share the great potential and destiny of

everyone and encourage that awareness to implement change. A quickening surge of awakening,

cooperation, and transformation has already begun and is rapidly on the increase.

However, that change always has been, and still is, a difficult and challenging one. New

information has always been resisted even when its spread will be tremendously beneficial.

History demonstrates that humanity resists change. Recall the resistance to Columbus‟s

discovering America because it was believed the Earth was flat; consider how Galileo was

charged with heresy and jailed because he dared to say that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center

of our universe, or how challenged and harassed Ignaz Semmelweis was by the medical

community when he proposed a simple cure for childbed fever, or how maligned the Wright

brothers were for saying that man could fly. Innovative ideas always meet with resistance and

defensive ridicule. And to change humanity‟s understanding of its identity is especially

challenging because the ego fears change and, consequently, so much attachment is invested in

the illusory, fragile identity humanity holds onto.

However, each new person who becomes aware of his or her true identity shifts the way the

world is seen and contributes to the change that needs to happen. And a book that offers a step by

step experiential process that enables its readers to test its ideas can make a definite contribution

to that very needed change, especially if its ideas are well advertised and brought before the

public through many different avenues.

So, let me introduce the book‟s originating idea by drawing a comparison between the human

predicament and the storyline of the science fiction movie The Man Who Fell to Earth.3 The

hero of the movie comes to Earth to get supplies and assistance for his family who are on a dying

planet. He is distracted, diverted, addicted, and overwhelmed by his earthly experience, and at

the end of the movie, he is drinking himself into an alcoholic haze of forgetfulness and is very

far from realizing and fulfilling the noble mission with which he came.

Although the hero‟s state of affairs is more dire than that of most individuals, there is a parallel

between the movie‟s protagonist and every individual in the world in that they both come with a

great potential and a high and noble purpose, but the many challenges, engagements, and

distractions of earthly life tend to lure us away from, and block us from, remembering and

fulfilling our primary and real reason for being here- to remember who we are and to

magnificently express our unlimited potential.

The evolutionary progression of the Earth has consequently been severely held back to such a

degree that special efforts have been put in operation for humanity‟s awakening and Earth‟s

progression. Tellis S. Papastavro in The Gnosis and the Law informs us of little-known, but

extraordinarily significant information when he writes that “ . . . an unexpected event . . . came

from Cosmic Law, telling the elite of the Spiritual Hierarchy, that the time has come for our

Universe, along with the rest of the Solar Systems of our Galaxy, to advance to a higher sphere

of Cosmic Evolution. . .”4 “Among the forty-nine Planets involved, it was the Earth that was

found wanting and unable to take advantage of this opportunity which occurs once in many

millions of years.”5 “. . . a time limit of twenty years was given… for man to improve himself . .
.” 6 “Should [the earth] fail to meet the Cosmic Edict, another „impending dissolution‟ would be

in the offing.”7

Since . . . “the past several millions of years to improve recalcitrant humanity met with failure,” 8

the brief time period of twenty years was indeed challenging, so a call went out to the “Cosmos

for help.”9 The opening and making available of hidden knowledge, some of which is shared in

this book, is one of many efforts to awaken collective humanity and its individuals and help her

and them to fulfill her and their destiny in time.10

Therefore, this book has individual, worldly, and cosmic value. The extraordinary, hidden

potential of humanity holds a vast wealth of possibilities. Life is a much more wonderful and

incredible adventure than the average human even glimpses, let alone realizes, but the time has

come for the beginning of the great awakening, and you have a significant role in that.

Our real, or ultimate purpose- the highest potential of every individual- is to rediscover and

express our original, source greatness in ever greater forms of expression. I use the word

„rediscover‟ because the process is one of remembering. We have both an unconditioned self,

which has been called our real self, out of which all life arises and is sustained, and a conditioned

self, which we create through thought, feeling, and action. 11

Many people regard the conditioned self as the only, and real self, but only because they are

unaware that there is an invisible, generating consciousness that they are. We are all largely

“wandering in a far country”12 of physical existence, and have forgotten our causational being

and our inheritance of magnificence and abundance that waits upon us to afford us greater ease,

power, enjoyment, and fulfillment, far beyond what we can currently imagine. However, we
must, at some point, when we are able to feel the true call of our heart, remember our wealth and

begin to express in the physical realm the pattern of perfection within us that leads to life

mastery.13

So, despite any limiting ideas we might have about ourselves and our possibilities, we are

valuable, magnificent, great, and wonderful beings- all children of the creative source. That truth

may be deeply hidden, but it is, nevertheless, a certain and wonderful truth., and the realization

of that truth is enormously emotionally and vibrationally uplifting. When a person gets that truth,

a momentum of rejuvenation enters their body and world and daily transforms it. Our destiny is

great and secure although we have, and can, put off its realization.

We have come “with a definite lesson to learn,”14 to discover, express, and share a unique and

magnificent gift within us that will enable us to “. . .fill a certain place in the grand plan, . . . a

place which no other Soul in the universe can perfectly fill.” 15 by making a unique and valuable

contribution to life that will benefit the world and delight us. We are valuable and powerful.

Even god and his angels will not override our free will of expression. 16 But we must first

remember, know, and experience our unconditioned source self to realize and fulfill our

potential.

Thus, Awakening offers an experiential process of 13 Steps that encourages and assists its

readers to remember themselves, revel in their magnificence, and fulfill their purpose. Why

should you do that? Because, hands up, it‟s the best of all possibilities for yourself, for your

world, and for the universe.

Many perceptive thinkers, who observe the current manifestations in our world, believe this

awakening is critical to the survival of our planet because, as Matthew Fox poignantly

comments, “we are not a sustainable species on our present path of behavior.” 17 Peter Russell, in

his enlightening book Waking Up In Time, points out that our tremendous, technological

growth has exceeded our attitudinal, emotional, and spiritual growth to such a degree that we

must either mature and awaken spiritually or self-destruct.18

Therefore, the journey of awakening calls to us from both negative and positive poles. We‟re in

serious trouble as a planet if a critical mass doesn‟t awaken and help change the consciousness of

the planet, and we‟re headed for wonderful transformations and experiences beyond what we can

even imagine now, if, we do. But I am sure we will awaken.

The great truth of being and law of divine manifestation is expressed in the records of the

wisdom of the great teachers of humanity, such as Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed, who came to

remind us of our true identity, purpose, and destiny, although many religious accounts of their

teachings skew and misrepresent the purity of their ideas, causing much confusion. We need to

be wary of the many additions to, and interpolations of, their ideas, put all statements to the test

of actual experience, and not just be content with belief. There has been much misunderstanding

of what they said, but the cycles of awareness continue to bring us closer to the truth of what

they said and who we are.

A Course In Miracles expresses the idea of our inevitable destiny by calling the course “a

required course,” explaining that our only option and question is, not whether we will we take it,
but when we will take it.”19 It is the same with the ultimate journey. We are on it. Our only

choice is when we will become conscious that we are, however long that may take. You are

offered here the opportunity to investigate and understand your true self and greater destiny, and

briefly explore what it is like to travel upon the journey of all journeys- the ultimate journey.

Wallace Wattles, writing in the 1920‟s, powerfully expresses the perennial wisdom of our genius

potential that the journey invites us to explore. “Nothing was ever in any man that is not in you;

no man ever had more spiritual or mental power than you can attain, or did greater things than

you can accomplish. You can become what you want to be.”20

You are a co-creator with the ultimate power and are ever invited to create in that divine pattern.

Again, this knowledge is not new; it is ancient, present even long before the teachings of Christ,

who told us we could do what he did and greater things, and this book is another formulation and

expression of the wisdom teachings of the ages, which brings us a contemporary invitation to

remember ourselves, to claim our wonderful inheritance, and to begin to fulfill our grand destiny

by taking 13 steps to love, power, and freedom.

In the grandest sense, everyone is on the journey, even if a person is unaware that he or she is

because everyone is, and has within their body, the reality of the true self they need to know,

explore, and express. An unlimited expression of potential awaits- A life that will dazzle you

with discovery, excitement, and self-fulfillment. You can create the life of your dreams and

significantly contribute to the world. So, let us begin the journey.

Thanks for reading the first chapter and making any comments you feel to make. If you like the

chapter and would be willing to vote for me in The Next Top Spiritual Author Contest, let me

know and I‟ll keep you posted about the event in the middle of April.

Also, if you are inspired to take the journey to greater, love, power, and freedom, the book is

available as an E-Book for $13 at http://www.paypal.com sent to uragreat12@gmail.com

And remember, any seeming obstacles to your magnificence and your magnificent expression

are just gifts to demonstrate your power to overcome them.

Love, Light, and Blessings,

Michael