I thought I’d share about the woman who saved my life when I was about 21 years old.  The following is a transcript of the orientation audio CD from the Visionary Mind package I’ve just completed.

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…What was my vision for my life?  Who was I to be?  Was there something more for me?

I had dropped out of college after my first semester, and begun my own quest for truth, for answers, for direction.  I had found the power of ruthlessly questioning, looking, thinking for myself… and then one evening, I found myself on the top balcony of a dormitory overlooking downtown Austin and the University of Texas.  I’d stepped out onto the balcony, and begun a philosophical conversation with a student.

As we talked, he told me it sounded like I’d been reading the writings of a certain author.  I didn’t recognize the name, so he went and pulled a book off his book shelf.  I opened it to a random page and began reading.  Suddenly I found myself short of breath… almost in shock.

Here was a woman, some woman I’d never met, mounting a passionate, logical defense for my life.  For my happiness.  For my right to be free and happy and my responsibility to myself to do so.  It was as if she was standing up to the world, a world that wanted me to follow and obey their wishes, a world that would have put me on trial for being true to myself. In the face of all the world, she was defending me, my life, my spirit.

She was a visionary, who only by staying true to her own vision, was able to reach out to me that day, nearly a decade after she died… and awaken me to life.

I never met that woman.  She had passed away before I ever read those words.  But she saved my life that night.

Now, I’d like to say something to you, the one listening to this program.

I don’t know you.  And we may never meet.  In the years since that woman’s words changed my life forever I too have been standing, and for all the years that I have left I shall continue to stand… for you.  I stand here today in defense of your spirit, your life, your happiness.  As she stood in defense of mine.

Is there a vision you could see for yourself, for your life?  A vision that calls you to rise and face any challenge?  Is there a vision that is uniquely yours?  A vision, that by following it, you can know you are fulfilling your greatest purpose?

And what will happen if you don’t live your life true to your own vision?  What happens to the person who compromises his or her vision day by day?

You’re fire goes out slowly… and you live, knowing there was something more… Sadly, this is the case with so many adults in today’s world.  We’re compromising our selves and our own vision, to be accepted, to be “responsible,” to be “successful.”

Indeed, we’re conditioned to act as if we’ll really find deep happiness, fulfillment and peace by fitting in, following and obeying the rules and norms of authority and society.

We compromise, compromise and compromise some more… and with every compromise, there is less life within us… the heroic human spirit suffers and slowly dies.

Visionary Mind is a program for you.  A program that gives you a simple pathway to see your own vision—a vision that inspires you above the rules and norms of the world around you—a vision that you cannot help but follow.  A vision that gives you the ultimate sense of peace, power, purpose and fulfillment.

Here’s a short quote from the woman who defended my life.

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark…. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.  Check your road and the nature of your battle.  The world you desired can be won.  It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.”        

Exactly, how does your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark? Exactly, how does the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved?

And exactly how can you reclaim it?  How can you win it back?  Or, how can you prevent your fire from diminishing in the first place?  How can you be so lit up with your own vision, that nothing can stop you?

This course is about you.  It’s about that fire inside.  The human spirit.

Who I am for you, and how I invite you to listen to me throughout this course, is the one who stands for you, for your life, for your happiness, for that hero in your soul.  Together, we will check your road and the nature of your battle. Journey with me and we shall see together, that the world you desired—can–indeed, be won.  You will see a vision and know that the world you desire does exist, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

Let’s begin.

>> End of excerpt from Visionary Mind

The woman I quoted changed my life with words. She spoke to me.  She awakened me–to me.  The Visionary Mind package is the product of years of work and sacrifice to be able to do the same for you.  I don’t know you, but if you let me, I’d like to be for you who she was for me.

If me words have spoken to you, I urge you to purchase Visionary Mind, so I can ship it to your doorstep.  Take me with you in the car, as you jog, as you walk your dog.  Make sacred time to honor yourself perhaps as never before.  If you let me, I’ll show you a powerful way to do that.  A way to connect so deeply with your self, your values and your vision, that literally nothing can stop you.  Not because you’re now omniscient or omnipotent… only because nothing now can have you turn back.  Nothiing.
There’s a download version available as well.  Go here and scroll down the page to get your package.
Do you know who said those words that I quoted?  Post your comments below.

I remember graduating highschool in 1989 and heading out into the world in the 90′s…  It was the era of the Seattle Bands, and while there was a lot of brilliant music that came from those bands, often the lyrics echoed the Seattle weather… mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain, rain and more rain.

The summer of 94 I spent with my brother Dave building my father’s ranch in Arizona.  It was he and I every day working 12 hour days in the Arizona sun–to the music of bands like Soundgarden… “black hole sun, wontcha come…”  Wow, brings back so many memories.

But there didn’t seem to be much revolutionary rock music.  Most if it seemed to take on a whiney attitude, as if the world is screwed up and there’s nothing we can do about it.  Lyrics like Beck’s “I am a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me,” and Nirvana’s “I’m half the man I used to be,” made me practically sick to my stomach.  What I didn’t like was that the artists themselves had such amazing talent and great airplay, and in my opinion they were wasting their power to influence positive change.

So, I tended to listen to many of the older bands, classic rock from the 60′s and 70′s like Led Zeppelin and The Doors, and hard rock and heavy metal bands from the 80′s like Metallica.

Of course then there was the band that gave me the theme music for my life during the 90s… Rage Against The Machine.  It was the music of a positive rebellion.  “Don’t stand on a silent platform, fight the war, f— the norm!”  In my head I made up my own lyrics to many of their songs, but the underlying theme was that we can do something in the world we live in–we can “take the power back.”

(Where has Zack de la Rocha disappeared to, anybody know?)

Of course, my musical taste ranged far beyond classic rock, hard rock and heavy metal–the common theme being music that gave me power to be the change, to stand up, speak up and make a difference.  In fact, I must have worn out almost as many Rocky soundtrack CDs and Chariots of Fire soudtrack CDs as I did RATM.
Anyway, I just came across a news article on CNN about how heavy metal is growing up and starting to bring forward more messages for change.  The same thing can be witnessed in the world of Hip Hop.  It’s a trend that is just beginning to emerge.

Sure, each genre has always had it’s visionaries and revolutionaries, but it’s the change in the percentage of artists using their medium for positive change that excites me.
And what really excites me is that great movements of social change tend to be preceded by artists by a few years (can someone quote me a study or reference?).

So, tis the dawning of a new day!

And I know the power of heavy metal to reach a large percentage of today’s youth–especially the young rebels who refuse to abdicate ownership of their minds to authority and the majority.  Heavy metal artists, welcome to the Vision Revolution–make yourselves heard!

And, soon the day shall come when the messages of change in the music are presented not from well-intentioned positionary artists, but visionary artists (the distinction is here).

Musicians – Be heard!  Post comments below.

Michael Skye here with a personal audio message from my phone. This
is the first of many efforts to become more transparent with you. I
reveal personal details about my life and the last 10 years of my
journey leading up to VisionForce. (this 37 minute audio is not the
greatest audio quality, but I hope you’ll find it worth your time)
Enjoy, and please post your comments.

MP3 File

I just saw the much talked about documentary by Al Gore on global warming. And, I better first mention that I was skeptical. See, I’ve never been a fan of political force as an agent of positive change, and I’ve always seen environmental issues largely from the side of the entrepreneur. Not that I don’t value the environment, I do. I just 1) don’t put much faith in government solutions, 2) don’t typically trust politicians who give good sounding causes to expand government’s power (and their own), and primarily 3) see and feel the detrimental effect that turning to government for answers has on humanity. I’ll get back to all that later.

I loved the documentary. First, it really made me think. Second, Mr. Gore and his crew chose not to lampoon their adversaries with cheap shots, present the ideas as The truth or their solutions as The solution. Yes, it appears to be a marketing piece for a future presidential bid (and a brilliant one at that). But most of all, I was inspired by the stand this man has taken, the path he has walked and how he has leveraged technology to share his vision. He’s been laughed at for decades for his stand on this issue, turned on, rejected, etc., and still he’s standing.

You really couldn’t ask for a better campaign commercial, but I’m not turned off by that simply because at the same time its’ killer marketing piece for his vision of positive change. Brilliant. Further, it’s an excellent example of how a single visionary has the power to change the world.

I understand now more the deep passion (displayed as frustration and anger) a friend of mine has when she finds me with a door open and the AC on (and why she didn’t laugh when I said, but I’m cooling the earth’s atmosphere to help stop global warming). I have a newfound respect for all the visionaries out there who labor tirelessly to share their message–their call to action. If that’s you reading this, I honor you.

Beyond all of that, what I saw from this documentary is a great parallel between the environment of our planet and the environment of our minds. Few see the full magnitude of the extent to which our survival is threatened by other technologies run rampant. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., noted 40 years ago, “We have guided missiles, and misguided men.”

What is happening with global warming and the environment is but a microcosm of a much larger problem. Al Gore’s frustration in reaching his fellow human beings is the frustration felt by most visionaries–everyday people who choose to stand for something worthwhile and take bold action to make a difference. There is a great divide in humanity at present.

I submit that just like there is a direct correlation between carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and the temperature of the earth, there is a direct correlation between a) the levels of power that political, military and other outside forces are given, and b) the amount of war, disease, crime, terrorism, poverty, depression, drug addiction, etc., we see. More specifically, the more we turn to technology-empowered external authorities to solve our problems, the less we look within to be the change and cause the change. And the less we look within, the more we suffer, and the more we turn to irrational excapes, actions and justifications.

Just as Al has found that people not only need to see and feel the magnitude of the problem, they need to see and feel there is actually something they can do about it; so too have we at VisionForce found that it’s not enough to present the problem in a way it hits home for the individual–we must communicate in a way that has people seeing and feeling that they can do something about it (yes, our boot camps are powerful in that regard, but the whole world can’t attend “boot camp!”).
I’ve a general aversion to looking outside ourselves to other forces for solutions, as it overlooks our greatest natural resource for positive change–the force within us. The force of our own conscience, consciousness and vision. There are ways we can “activate” the vision force (sounds like a super hero cartoon action) to cause a ground swell of change.

Because there are many more “inconvenient truths” out there that we are facing in these times of accelerating technology. The world doesn’t need more people to compromise their power, freedom, vision and self-reliance in order to fit in and be comfortable. The world needs more people willing to stand for what matters in the face of it all, and share a vision that lifts even their adversaries to greatness. More on all this later.

Comments? Post below.

As you may have noticed, VisionForce.com is evolving in some major ways. Along with Vision Force’s evolution comes my own.

Starting with this blog post, I am going to be chronicaling the intimate details of my personal thoughts, insights and experiences in the creation of VisionForce and our mission to evolve humanity and the world we live in.

Here’s the email I sent to Vision Force Newsletter subscribers today :

It was August of 1996.

Exactly 10 years ago.

The seeds of what is now VisionForce were planted,
and the missing piece of the puzzle for my model
of human consciousness snapped into place.

But this was when the real struggle began for me. It
continues to this day, and right now, it seems as
if it is just months away from being over.

I believe the concepts and methods we work with
in our boot camps and other programs can literally
change the world–evolve humanity beyond this point.

I sensed it 10 years ago, and I’ve been struggling
ever since to bring these ideas to the world.

If you’ve ever had a long shot dream,
a far out idea that you knew could change the world,
or a vision that you felt compelled to devote your
life to, then I think you’ll be able to relate.

I want to start opening up to you, sharing much more
of my personal journey, as you’re likely someone who
can relate (or you wouldn’t be on my list).

==August 1996==

I was reading an obscure book from a brilliant theorist who
studied the history of psychology. His book was explaining
his radical theory on the development of human consciousness,
but…

It was something else in his book that hit me… and
all the pieces started coming together.

Human behavior–especially irrational human behavior–
had long perplexed me. I just didn’t get, from the time
I was a teenager, why intelligent adults acted as
irrationally as they so often did.

So when I found ideas that exposed such irrationality
and offered practical ideas and methods for understanding
it at a deeper level and evolving beyond it, I delved
into them.

In this particular book, the author presented a model of
human consciousness that when integrated into my other
ideas and conceptual models of consciousness, just clicked.

Everything came together for me at that point and I
saw a vision for how I could help humanity evolve
forward beyond the gross irrationality and destruction
we see today.

In the years to come, I developed the “Wealth Warrior”
concepts and technology. To me, wealth meant an abundance
of values, and a warrior was someone who stood for
their values from a place of ultimate responsibility.

In 1997, I set out to take my concepts and methods to
the world. What I lacked, however, was the business
experience to make it successful.

That year, I quite the landscaping business I’d had while
doing my research, and went for broke. I borrowed
from everyone I could. In less than 12 months I was
so deep in the hole that everyone advised me to
declare bankruptcy.

I refused. I did throw in the towel on the business
venture, and I started another business–again a
landscaping business–determined this time to hone
my business skills and build up enough financial
resources to be a success the next time around.

I’d lost the trust of family, friends and business
associates from the failure to succeed with the
Wealth Warrior concepts in 1997. It was one of the
most difficult periods of my life. The people who
had so trusted me and believed in me, turned away.

4.5 long, hard years later, I was ready to give it
another go.

In November 2002, I held my first ever “boot camp,”
a “Wealth Warrior Boot Camp.” It was the first time
I’d taken my human development concepts and methods
public.

I didn’t know if it would be a success or not. I
had simply promised everyone who attended that they
would get more value that what they paid, if they
simply gave me one weekend.

It was a huge success. I was without self-consciousness,
and just “showed up” as exactly who I needed to be. It
was the most amazing experience for me–I was powerful
in a way I’d never known myself before.

That weekend 12 people I’d not known before left with
their lives changed, most calling that weekend the most
powerful experience of their life.

That was it for me. I knew I had to go for it this time.

Did I have enough business experience yet? Did I have
the financial resources in place to make it happen?
Would I fail again–harder this time?

I went for it.

That was nearly 4 years ago now. Over these last 4
years, I’ve faced just about every obstacle you can
imagine.

We’re still struggling to find the best way to
communicate what our work offers people, and what
the best way to get the word out is.

Just last week I had a huge insight. When we first
started under the Wealth Warrior, not Vision Force,
model, most people assumed we dealt with financial
wealth.

And while it was true that many of our boot camp
graduates experienced huge financial successes with
their businesses afterwards, we didn’t teach people
anything about money.

It was all about their conscious framework–their
relationship to their values. That’s what made the
difference. All we did was use some simple exercises
and methods for thinking and communicating that got
people so deeply connected with their values (with
themselves) that everything else clicked into place.

Nevertheless, we were largely marketing to entrepreneurs
for the first few years, and so I tried to maintain
an image of a very financially successful enterprise.

When the truth was, I was living the garage entrepreneur
lifestyle, just fighting to do whatever I could to make
the business model work. Because I believe it’s by having a
successful organization that we were going to be able
to reach millions in a way that makes a difference.

The point I am getting to is that
it has been a struggle, and I still haven’t “figured it
all out.” I really don’t know what the best methods are to
share the powerful concepts and methods we’ve discovered.

I want to do it in such a way that everyone around the
world who wants to “be the change” can have access to
the most powerful tools for evolving themselves, for
keeping their vision alive and for standing in the face of
any inner challenges to make it happen.

These aren’t get right methods or self-help ideas. It’s
something much deeper, much larger, and I believe truly
revolutionary… a revolutionary advancement in human
consciousness.

This is what I like to call “visionary and revolutionary
training.”

It is my personal vision and my deep connection to
my values and my purpose that gives me the strength to
continue on, and to evolve, in the face of all the
challenges that arise.

That is what we offer. It’s the power to love (or become
deeply connected to what you value), the power to see
a vision that calls you from deep within, and the power
to stand–to stand–in the face of all adversity. That’s
it in a nutshell. Personally, I am unaware of more powerful
human development work that offers this.

So, I just wanted to invite you into my world. I don’t
want to pretend anymore that we’re anything we’re not.

I don’t want an illusion maintained that keeps you at a
distance, thinking there’s not much you can contribute
to this effort, when the truth is, this effort depends on
you.

We’re all in this together, so I want you to know that
there are plenty of ways we can work together to evolve
humanity and change the world.

I invite you to share this journey with me, one visionary
to another, as we here at VisionForce venture to make
this world a better place.

I’ll be journalling about my journey on our VisionForce
blog, here:

==> http://visionforce.com/

The VisionForce concepts and methods give a person with
new ideas the power to be true to his or her vision in
the face of all adversity. There is no amount of pain,
lack of sleep, fear, doubt, humiliation or anything else
that can keep me or anyone here at VisionForce from
continuing on with our vision.

I thank you for being someone who has trusted me, and us
here at VisionForce, over the years. Your one of thousands
on our email list, and I may not know you personally, and
still, you mean a lot to me.

Thank you again for your trust, your love and your support.

Michael
VisionForce.com

P.S. Your comments on our VisionForce blog are most
welcome. You’ve probably noticed a lot has been changing
over the last 6 months with VisionForce, and we can really
use your feedback as we go forward.