Earlier than we get to the guide, let’s speak in regards to the journey . . .
Early on, earlier than any of my colleagues revealed their books on social media saying that the megaphone was open for the lots and everybody had a voice with a button click on, I might have written a guide about this digital explosion. The truth is, many individuals anticipated me to. For some cause, I held again regardless of realizing it might have simply boosted my profession. It felt overdone even earlier than it was “carried out.” For all of the authenticity (buzzword on the time), I didn’t really feel it. I’ll admit, it was a paradigm shifter to make sure, one that folks capitalized on simply as so many are doing now with the AI explosion. However I by no means wrote that social media guide everybody instructed me I ought to pen.
After I wasn’t working tirelessly for shoppers, I used to be consumed by different passions: journey, pictures and meals. Fortunately, I made time for nature for the reason that surprise of Her has all the time been a precedence in my life. Gaia stored me grounded and nonetheless does to today, a good nearer pal than you pricey weblog.
Someplace alongside the best way, TravelingGeeks was birthed after which this website: We Weblog the World. Journey additionally started to take over and I can’t say that I minded. I’ve traveled to 96 nations and lived in eleven of these. Life was all the time attention-grabbing and so had been my shoppers. My pals, communities and their worlds had been riveting.
Re-Visiting Spirituality and Consciousness
Amidst all this, the nagging subject I confronted in childhood often reared itself to be considered in a special mild once more: faith and spirituality, besides that I spotted they had been two various things very early in my life. In the event you’ve ever learn Yann Martel’s Lifetime of Pi, you then’ll perceive a bit of little bit of my backstory. My household couldn’t resolve the place to go together with faith or what to do with it. Though we not often talked about God, my household’s personal structured background (French, English, German, Welsh, Japanese Europe) taught them that some religion was higher than none in any respect.
My grandfather fell asleep within the church pews—the again row naturally—though he subscribed to having religion in one thing, a God I suppose, however he was removed from spiritual. I might sum up his deeper beliefs in two phrases: self-discipline and love, though they had been usually at odds with one another. My great-grandmother Bertha insisted I attend Lutheran Sunday Faculty courses as a result of it was the strictest faith and the one church that was certain to maintain me straight and slim. This was ironic since there was nothing straight and slim about me or Bert (Nice Grandma’s shortened nickname), whom I even lived with for brief durations of time. She was married a number of occasions, together with to a politician and story has it that she threw certainly one of her husband’s belongings on the curb someday within the Thirties. Bert owned her personal property, a rarity for a lady born in 1892, and she or he all the time spoke her thoughts regardless of how her directness bothered individuals. The truth is, I keep in mind her hitting a policeman along with her purse as soon as as a result of she disagreed with him over her driving skills.
What makes the Lutheran connection even odder is that we’re fairly certain that previous Bertha was Jewish since her household had modified their identify and would by no means reply the query why. The social gathering line was that they had been English, however their options appeared a helluva lot extra like Japanese German Jews, which is what a bit of digging uncovered. Which may clarify why my grandfather applauded me after I joined the JCC in highschool. He appeared to resonate with Judaism though we not often spoke of it.
The remainder of the household was equally confused. To steadiness Bert’s strict guidelines on one aspect, I used to be baptized Episcopalian (the opposite grandparents insisted) and Presbyterianism (undecided the place that got here from) and later went to my stepmother’s Methodist Church. In the midst of all this dancing between religions, I used to be despatched to a Catholic Faculty (and even sang in its choir), and went with my almost-adopted mother and father (that’s a narrative for an additional time) to a Baptist Church for a few years, which led to a few-year stint educating canoeing at a neighborhood born-again summer time camp. Sure, actually. I did all of it and all of it did me. Fortunately, the dogma didn’t do me in.
Relaxation assured, I went by spiritual trauma that a few of you studying this will likely have skilled, however fortunately, it didn’t linger. Good, old style cause and a long time spent in science and know-how helped treatment me of the Concern of God sport. Touring to (and residing in) different nations additionally helped. Merely put, I used to be uncovered to far too many different cultures, religions, perception techniques, ideologies, science, and philosophy to get caught in an archaic patriarchal perception system, no matter whether or not it was religious or secular. I had no concept simply how entrenched the patriarchy was embedded into the very material of our each day lives till years later, due to the work of Merlin Stone, Gerda Lerner, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sarah Penner and others. And likewise its connection to the written phrase from Dr. Leonard Shlain.
That mentioned, I all the time believed in a lot greater than what science might show or clarify and had my very own mystical experiences, lengthy earlier than I used to be launched to Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins and I don’t imply simply their work. I really met all three of them and several other others of their ilk alongside the best way.
I went to seminars, workshops, silent retreats, ashrams, meditation facilities, and temples and even lived on a kibbutz close to the Gaza strip for some time. I used to be a seeker even though I really trusted my instinct . . . that innate realizing all of us have entry to. I suppose you possibly can say it was stronger in my twenties and thirties, however the disillusion with Silicon Valley’s path and obsession with flipping start-ups prompted me to second guess that innate-ness, a lot in order that I stepped again from the know-how trade altogether.
Disillusioned by the At all times On World
This isn’t to say that I didn’t have loads of magic moments (as Tony Robbins calls them) on the planet of tech. Fact be instructed, I met awe-inspiring entrepreneurs, discovered find out how to launch start-ups by to acquisition, write a funding proposal, and navigate my private model in an trade that was largely dominated by males. Essentially the most urgent problem was the largest catalyst: I misplaced a way of objective. I wasn’t launching merchandise that might change individuals’s lives. Dragon’s speech recognition software program helped hundreds of individuals in important methods, however over the following ten years or so, I wasn’t seeing life-changing services float throughout my desk. Apps, apps, and extra apps. Platforms, platforms, and extra platforms. After which the Web of Issues (IoT) development took over and I wasn’t subscribing to the concept all the things (and everybody) needed to be linked.
I really like serving to individuals succeed, communicate their reality and turn out to be profitable. Philosophical discussions that explored the that means of life actually juiced me up. I had all the time imagined that my life can be spent filming otherworldly experiences (and issues) from helicopters, mountain tops and small distant villages, not sitting in board rooms or strolling the chaotic halls of COMDEX and CES sifting by gadgets that felt like they had been draining the soul, not feeding it.
It was within the wave of the Web of Issues that I walked away from all of it. Massive knowledge had turn out to be the brand new smartest thing — am obsession actually. Earlier than you suppose I was a naysayer or luddite, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge massive knowledge’s advantages on humanity, notably associated to our well being and well-being. I perceive that when this knowledge is utilized creatively and strategically, it cannot solely assist us turn out to be proactive co-creators of our well being, however the collective content material can really save lives. I don’t deny any of that. However regularly, I noticed individuals turning into robots to their gadgets, not the opposite manner round.
Expertise is usually a lovely enabler when its utilized in steadiness, however I wasn’t seeing that steadiness. Individuals had been spending extra time with their gadgets than committing to private connection and being current with that connection, which is the true healer. Once we really feel out of steadiness, maybe we haven’t taken time for us to simply sit and BE with ourselves. It’s a scary concept for a lot of to decelerate and simply connect with our inside self, our soul self, our Larger Self, no matter identify you select to present it. Be current with oneself, love oneself after which open up that presence and like to others, as the nice Buddha and lots of different religious masters throughout millennia have taught.
You see, know-how had stopped making my coronary heart sing. It was on a prolonged journey to Iceland that introduced again the surprise in my life. Yup, Gaia once more, bringing me again to nature the place I belonged. Hanging out with puffin birds did make my coronary heart sing.
Capturing somebody’s private story in a small South American village did make my coronary heart sing. Rolling on the grass with laughing Rwandan youngsters who had by no means seen white pores and skin earlier than did make my coronary heart sing. Seeing a lady overcome bodily abuse after which communicate her reality to assist different ladies have the identical braveness additionally makes my coronary heart sing. Seeing ladies in locations like Afghanistan and Ukraine display the resilience and take cost of their destinies towards all odds makes me weep however then there’s the story of 1 lady who breaks by and tells her story, shifting the taking part in subject for therefore many. Holocaust survivors who share their tales and are in a position to forgive when rational logic says they by no means ought to is astonishing to me. The energy to forgive. The braveness. The love. The inside peace. Gandhi had it. Mandela had it. Rosa Parks had it.
The Delivery of Magdalene’s Journey as a Story
The surprise of the human potential is what lights me up and makes my coronary heart sing. This brings me to the guide about Mary Magdalene’s life, co-created with my accomplice Anthony: Magdalene’s Journey.
The turning level got here when Mary Magdalene surfaced in our lives. Anthony and I weren’t in search of her out; you may say that she discovered us. We started to find that her life might have been totally different than the one faith dictated about her and Yeshua of Nazareth who the world most is aware of as Jesus. Who had been they actually? A part of me feared going there. In any case, why discover names which have all the time been related to Christianity and Catholicism, the very issues I ran away from due to the dogma?
We requested: “Why had been non-Christian and non-Jewish mystics writing about Mary Magdalene and Jesus?” In any case, Adyashanti (whose identify means “primordial peace” btw) even wrote a guide about Jesus. Why had Harvard scholar Meggan Watterson written a guide about Mary Magdalene? Each of them had been rising outdoors of spiritual circles, which made me curious.
Performing some analysis didn’t present clear solutions, but it surely led us to the Gnostic Gospels, the Nag Hammadi Library, the Kabbalah, the teachings of historic mystics and past. What number of pivotal ladies had been written out of historical past and so-called holy books? Additional digging into the origins of Patriarchy resulted in lots of sleepless nights. I couldn’t get it out of my head.
How had I—a well-read lady who studied Girls Throughout Cultures at a London-based college and who had marched for girls’s rights in multiple nation—missed the roots of patriarchy?
Certain, I knew in regards to the Goddess religions and pagan traditions, however what I didn’t see (couldn’t see?) was how deeply entrenched patriarchy was in our society, even in trendy Western circles the place ladies had been CEO’s. Cognitive dissonance was far too robust.
So again to Mary Magdalene. Why her? I assume my first reply is, “Why not?” Nevertheless it goes a lot deeper as you’ll uncover whenever you learn the guide. By her narrative, most of the solutions to life’s most paradoxical questions I’ve all the time wished the solutions to are mentioned.
The Ebook’s Premise
Magdalene’s Journey shares Miriam’s relationship with the apostles—each female and male—and her experiences with Yeshua (Jesus). The narrative challenges a much-filtered and archaic narrative that has dictated to humanity find out how to perceive historical past, the Abrahamic religions, and ladies’s pivotal roles throughout that point. This account is a big improve to an outdated paradigm and patriarchal storyline.
Tossed apart like an inconvenient reality by the powers behind patriarchal Roman thrones and later the Catholic hierarchy, she was principally unknown. Individuals who took the time to probe deeper nonetheless appeared by that tainted lens, main them to misconceive and devalue her function as a healer and trainer. This function, one might argue, was equal to that of Yeshua’s because the yin to his yang—complementary and interconnected forces that collectively amplified the ability of their skills.
In response to the distorting energy for much too a few years, the guide additionally shares the necessity to rebalance the masculine and female vitality on the planet, beginning inside every of us. This process includes understanding not simply Miriam’s essential function, but in addition the very important, never-recorded roles ladies have performed over millennia. It makes an attempt to seize a common message about their lives, now recreated in a interval that may present us a fuller, extra tangible understanding of it.
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Renee Blodgett is the founding father of We Weblog the World. The location combines the magic of a web-based tradition and journey journal with a worldwide weblog community and has contributors from each continent on the planet. Having lived in 10 nations and explored almost 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural variety.
She can also be the CEO and founding father of Magic Sauce Media, a brand new media providers consultancy targeted on viral advertising and marketing, social media, branding, occasions and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped firms from 12 nations get traction out there. Identified for her world and natural strategy to product and company launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an lively person of social media, she helps shoppers navigate digital waters from world wide. Renee has been running a blog for over 16 years and usually writes on her private weblog Down the Avenue, Huffington Submit, BlogHer, We Weblog the World and different websites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Journal and is listed as a brand new media influencer and sport changer on numerous websites and books on the brand new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed because the sixth most influential lady in social media by Forbes Journal on a High 20 Record.
Her ardour for artwork, storytelling and pictures led to the launch of Magic Sauce Images, which is a visible extension of her writing, the results of which has led to producing six picture books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee can also be the co-founder of Touring Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to different nations to share and be taught from friends, governments, companies, and most people to be able to educate, share, consider, and promote revolutionary applied sciences.
