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The The Spiritual Chicks Question Everything
by Tami Coyne Karen Weissman
(PREFACE)
Who are the Spiritual Chicks
and why did we write this book?It all started in 1994 on the second floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn where every Tuesday night, without fail, a group of hardened New Yorkers gathered to discuss just how to apply spiritual principles to everyday life. One fateful night, Tami was eating a Mallomar. Karen, who had recently relocated to New York, walked into the room and exclaimed, “Hey, we never had chocolate at our metaphysics meetings in Boston!” Tami handed her a cookie and the two knew that -spirituality and sugar would forever unite them.
As it turned out, we lived only a block and a half from each other, which has led to many sidewalk conversations about the nature of reality and which is the best dry cleaner in the neighborhood. Over time, we realized that while we had a lot in common and shared a similar philosophy, we approached life from opposite sides of the brain.
Tami is motivated by passion. She has paid her dues in the “real” world, working successfully in management, marketing, and recruiting, but it’s really her love of music, language, and spirituality that shapes her life. Ever since childhood, singing has been her most abiding personal connection to that mysterious energy she calls Spirit, and creative self-expression has been her greatest joy. Her quest for self-knowledge has helped her understand the issues people face when trying to live authentic and creative lives and has led to her current work as a spiritually-oriented career and life coach.
Karen, on the other hand, is analytical. She has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and when the Chicks met, she was working as a research scientist, which, believe it or not, led her to metaphysics. The more she studied physical phenomena, the more she became convinced that the same “energy” drives everything. Her understanding of this “energy” changed her life and inspired her to teach Concept-Therapy, the metaphysically--oriented course of study where she and Tami met.
We both like to write. When we first began The Spiritual Chicks Question Everything, Tami had already published her first book, Your Life’s Work: A Guide to Creating a Spiritual and Successful Work Life, and Karen thought it would be great to break the stereotype that engineers can’t put a proper sentence together. Defying the myth that right-brainers and left-brainers can’t connect, we became partners.
We wrote The Spiritual Chicks Question Everything to show that each person’s life is a unique, perfectly constructed vehicle for expressing his or her spiritual nature. Real life doesn’t go away when we’re on the spiritual path-it is the spiritual path. Life isn’t always easy, but when we see it as part of a bigger picture, it becomes a lot more interesting and hell of a lot more rewarding. This has certainly been true for us. We hope that this book will open up as many questions for you as it has for us.
The Spiritual Chicks
Karen Weissman & Tami Coyne(INTRODUCTION)
Despite the enduring myth that enlightenment can somehow be instantly bestowed upon us at the feet of a master, it usually takes real life to wake us up to who we are, how things actually work, and what it is we’re here to do. So, let’s cut to the chase. What’s your real life wake-up call? Work? Relationships? An unyielding desire for the truth, inner peace, or a new car? Believe it or not, the ups and downs of everyday life are tailor made to kick us into cosmic consciousness so there’s no need to sell the family farm and move to the Himalayas. In our own lives-and within each of us-is everything we need to become enlightened, which sure can be a real shock when we’ve been taught to rely on the experience of others rather than think for ourselves.
The Spiritual Chicks Question Everything is about using our everyday lives to gain spiritual understanding and to uncover our own power to create the lives we want to live. It doesn’t matter what roles we’ve played over the years, how much we’ve struggled, or how much wisdom we’ve acquired up to this point. Sound -intriguing? Maybe even fun? You bet it is! And it’s a lot more productive than complaining about our troubles or blaming our parents, bosses, bank accounts, or international terrorists for our lack of fulfillment. It may be hard to accept at first, but it’s our own beliefs that determine what we get out of life. If we don’t like what we have or where we are, then it’s up to us to question what we believe and throw out all the limiting ideas that keep us from being happy. It takes courage to break the chains of conventional opinion and get rid of cherished beliefs. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s well worth the effort . . . and it’s a hell of a ride.
Before we get going, let’s clarify a few terms. First, what exactly do we, the Spiritual Chicks, mean by “spirituality”? To us, spirituality is the process of exploring our connection to the universe-or, more precisely, to the elusive power that holds the entire universe together and makes our hair grow, all at the same time. OK, but what is this power we’re talking about? Science calls it energy or consciousness; theology calls it God or Spirit. The interpretation of this power varies (scientists measure and quantify its effects, while creationists ascribe human-like body parts and personality traits to it), but there are three general characteristics that are more or less consistent: this power is everywhere, knows everything, and can do anything. Now, that’s a kick-ass power. In this book, we use terms like God, energy, Spirit and consciousness, along with Nature and the One Life, interchangeably. But it’s all the same ever-present stuff.
So if energy or God is everywhere, then where are we? And who are we? This brings us to the definition of the term-the One Life Principle-that just happens to be the foundation of this book. This ancient idea says that there is a single underlying power in the universe, but its expression takes many different forms-baseball players, puppies, exotic dancers, Supreme Court Justices, rocks, trees, even criminals. And, while you might not be ready to jump on the One Life bandwagon just yet, you must admit that this principle explains a lot about life-not the least of which is how Jerry Falwell, Larry Flint, and Mother Theresa can all be “children of God.” We’re all spiritual beings, because we’re all Spirit. There you have it. God, or energy, is all there is. Isn’t it enlightening to realize that we’ve always been what we’re trying to become . . . spiritual, that is?
Think about it. If we are already spiritual beings, then anything we do is spiritual whether it’s praying in the highest temple or taking out the garbage. And since the One Life expresses itself through many forms, we each have our own way of exploring our spiritual connection. One person’s fistfight may be as necessary for their enlightenment as another person’s college education. So there’s no need for spiritual name calling, labeling things as “good” or “bad.” The only thing we need to consider is: Will this belief, action, idea, or conversation bring us what we say we want? The spiritual process is about questioning everything-examining every idea or concept we have to make sure that it is logical to us and that it works for us. But the trick is not to condemn anything in the process. Everything is spiritual-even stuff we don’t like or don’t agree with. So, we need to question everything, condemn nothing, and then align ourselves with what we want. If we can manage these! three steps, we will find that our personal power is the power of the universe, and life can be pretty great.
This book offers a series of questions to help break down old, limiting beliefs, build new, more productive ideas based on the One Life Principle, and play with these new ideas so that we really learn how to use them. Along the way, we’ve included personal essays to show how we uncover, struggle with, and are gradually mastering this new sense of power in our own lives. So now, without further ado, here are sixty questions to rock your world.
Question 1
Do I need to go to church (synagogue, mosque, or a mountain top)?
A rubber squeeze toy in the shape of a Buddha working on a laptop computer sits in our office. The Buddha smiles complacently, from his familiar erect, yet relaxed, position that allows the proper flow of chi through the body. He just happens to be surfing the Web or checking his stock portfolio. Some might call this an example of the modern world “corrupting” our spiritual existence, but we think it’s just the opposite. Spirituality is not something to strive for only in church, synagogue, or meditation, even though these can be useful tools. Working at the computer, mowing the lawn, or making love are also valid spiritual activities. Spirituality is not beyond real life; it is real life. The working Buddha reminds us of this, and that’s why we keep him.
