{"id":4957,"date":"2013-04-08T08:20:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T12:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2013-04-08T08:20:58","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T12:20:58","slug":"grok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/grok.html","title":{"rendered":"Grok"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Front<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take centuries and he must grow and grow and grow, but he was in no hurry\u2014he grokked that Eternity and the ever-beautifully-changing Now were identical.\u201d Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land<\/p>\n

One of my forever-now-eternal books is in the genre of sci-fi, but in my mind stands as a spiritual love story with the Universe. Stranger in a Strange Land got birthed into the world in 1961b y Robert Heinlein. I was introduced to it while in college and what appealed to me was the ways in which it explored the nature of relationships with humans and the Divine.<\/p>\n

The main character is Valentine Michael Smith (a.k.a. The Man From Mars) who was born of human parents whose exploratory mission to Mars, cost them their lives. He is then raised by Martians, which questions the concept of nature vs. nurture. His biological parents were scientific geniuses and his caretakers had the ability to utilize and teach him beyond-human abilities, including those we would consider psychic. The earthly adventure begins\u00a0as Mike comes to this planet when another mission’s crew finds him.<\/p>\n

He is sequestered away in a military hospital until the powers that be can figure out what to do with this “Martian Named Smith” which was one of the working titles for the book. Enter Gillian Boardman- a feisty nurse who is curious about this mystery patient and once she finds out who he is and the government’s intentions toward him, with the help of her friend and erstwhile suitor; savvy reporter, Ben Caxton, she secrets him out of the hospital. Thus begins a emotional\/spiritual\/sexual relationship between the two of them. Jubal Harshaw, a cantankerous lawyer-author-doctor becomes surrogate father and mentor to Mike.As the book progresses, it is clear that Mike is a Christ-like figure and those he draws into his life are willing disciples.<\/p>\n

The book\u00a0was revolutionary for its time, since it challenged the prevailing religious and political institutions, explored polyamory and encouraged out of the box thinking. Some of my favorite concepts in the story are those that are part of my life to this day; including the saying “Thou Art God”-meaning that we are all aspects of the Divine, seeing those closest to me as ‘water brothers’, and the word ‘grok’ which Heinlein translates as ‘to drink’ as in to drink in and understand fully. It is\u00a0 becoming ONE with whatever it is you are experiencing that deeply. The quote that begins this article keeps me mindful that all that truly exists is this moment.<\/p>\n

Drink deep~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u201cIt would take centuries and he must grow and grow and grow, but he was in no hurry\u2014he grokked that Eternity and the ever-beautifully-changing Now were identical.\u201d Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land One of my forever-now-eternal books is in the genre of sci-fi, but in my mind stands as a spiritual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,13,55,19,50,14,4,16,17,48,10],"tags":[3001,3002,3003,2999,479,2998,3000],"class_list":["post-4957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-book-review","category-empowerment","category-god","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-relationships","category-sexuality","category-spirituality","tag-ben-caxton","tag-gillian-boardman","tag-jubal-harshaw","tag-man-from-mars","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-sranger-in-a-strange-land","tag-valentine-michal-smith"],"yoast_head":"\nGrok - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/grok.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grok - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  \u201cIt would take centuries and he must grow and grow and grow, but he was in no hurry\u2014he grokked that Eternity and the ever-beautifully-changing Now were identical.\u201d Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land One of my forever-now-eternal books is in the genre of sci-fi, but in my mind stands as a spiritual…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/grok.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-08T12:20:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/bks2.books.google.com\/books?id=Kn1bNU91sAoC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE70jjzBBqO55lBON_p-Bqp8YISI17V8Cs9K939J5mWzwrOpnPAqHrEeyROwA7s3NwLzqo-yYM_-C8lVfweVmXt9wqAtI6iys9axP-E_1i_JeBqcPj8jann9vHy-FqUACwu0Yd5jT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grok - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/grok.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grok - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"  \u201cIt would take centuries and he must grow and grow and grow, but he was in no hurry\u2014he grokked that Eternity and the ever-beautifully-changing Now were identical.\u201d Robert A. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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