Uncategorized – Author Craig Weidhuner

To awaken or to sleepwalk

By Craig Weidhuner | January 21, 2023 | Comments 0 Comment

I recently had a conversation with one of my co-workers, I mentioned a video I watched about someone claiming that Gen Z’s are having financial problems because they’re drinking too many margaritas (the person in the video incidentally own a restaurant that serves margaritas for $13 to $17). While my co-worker agreed that said person’s claim was ludicrous, he quickly made the unusual leap that most of the problems in the world are due to “woke garbage”. Ignoring the fact that our conversation had nothing to do with woke, I still found it rather odd that he came to such an equally ludicrous conclusion. To claim woke is to blame for most of the world’s problems is like claiming firefighters are to blame for fires starting in the first place, as if house fires wouldn’t happen if there weren’t firefighters to put them out.

It always amazes me how people can be blinded to their own hypocrisy. My co-worker for example, often complains that “we’re babying people”, yet whenever a mass shooting occurs and there’s talk of gun regulation he starts whining about such laws only hurt the “good” gun owners. He once told me, gun control laws won’t stop mass shootings but will only hurt the paintball industry and thus the economy. I’m not sure how big a role the paintball industry plays in Canada’s (or America’s) economy but I’m sure it’s very, very small. He claims people are “too sensitive” yet during his rant he was getting all upset about the trans community; insisting that there are only “two genders”, ignoring the fact that it’s not about creating a new gender but respecting people’s right to choose which gender they identify with regardless if it matches the gender you were born into (not to mention our conversation had nothing to do with transgender). His justification being that some people look androgynous, thus he doesn’t know whether to use “he” or “she”. It sounds to me like he’s saying people shouldn’t be allowed to choose their gender identity because he’s afraid he might accidentally call them by the wrong gender pronoun. Seems to me like he’s the one whose overly sensitive. My co-worker is also very critical of Putin’s unjust invasion of Ukraine (he’s not wrong about that) yet his solution to the problem is for the rest of the world to simply invade and attack Russia like their doing to Ukraine. In other words, stop the war in Ukraine by starting World War III. He was also married to a woman who wouldn’t get an abortion due to her religious beliefs, despite his wish to not have children – as he pointed out, they couldn’t afford to have one – yet he seems to object to abortion rights on the grounds that (in his mind) women seem to be arbitrarily aborting their unborn children because the whim randomly strikes them at the spur of the moment (which again is totally inaccurate). I also find it ironic that he’s a militant atheist who criticizes religion for encouraging people to blindly follow the church, yet also stated that the problem with young people is that they “think for themselves”. So he doesn’t want people to follow religion but also doesn’t want them to think for themselves? He wants them to blindly follow someone else? His views and beliefs maybe?

As a “woke progressive” myself, woke is about treating others with respect, about acknowledging the problems of the world and working to find solutions to them. It’s about opening your eyes and seeing the truth, that we are all one and by hurting one another we’re indirectly hurting ourselves. That’s what being woke means; as in you’ve “awoken” to see the truth. To see through the illusion that we’re all separate. Yet according to my co-worker, that’s a bad thing? Trying to fix something that’s broken will somehow make things worse? The best solution is to ignore problems and they’ll just go away? That’s like being on a ship, lost at sea, in the middle of a storm. Being tossed around at the whim of the wind and waves. Knowing your vessel could capsize any minute. And when someone comes along and offers to show you a way out of the storm, to guide your ship safely back to shore, instead of accepting their help, you blame them for being trapped in the storm and insisting that continuing to let the waves toss you about will somehow get you safely back to shore. It’s as the law of attraction states, “what you resist persists”. The more you view the world as a negative place full of problems, the more problems you see everywhere you look. Let’s be perfectly honest here, most conservatives use “woke” like “socialism” or “communism”. When they use these terms, it really means “I don’t like this”. “Pay poor people a descent wage?! WE CAN’T THAT’S COMMUNISM! THAT’S WOKE!” “Universal healthcare?! THAT’S SOCIALISM! THAT’S WOKE!” “Starbucks discontinued my favourite frappuccino?! THEY’RE RUN BY WOKE COMMUNISTS!” Ironically my anti-woke co-worker supports better wages for the working class and universal healthcare. (I don’t know about whether or not he likes Starbucks though, but that’s another matter.)

As I stated in my next book, Mystical Force: Vol. 5 Shadows and Darkness (which should be out early spring):

While her [Chiyoko, one of my characters] life was far from perfect, it was all she’d known. That was one of the strange things about people; they often seemed more afraid of uncertainty. A life of hell still seemed better than the chance that paradise may not be as perfect as we’d like. Better the devil you know, Chiyoko recalled hearing on more than one occasion.

Ultimately this is the real reason conservatives attack “woke” as being a bad thing. They’re lashing out in fear of that which they don’t understand, or don’t want to understand. Because they fear change, that which is different/unfamiliar; thus they’d rather continue on the same path our society has been on for centuries, even when they know it’s not getting us to where we say we want to go as a society. As someone once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So be not afraid of change dear reader, for you can no more stop society from progressing, from evolving than you can stop the sun from rising in the morning, or cause the river to reverse course and flow upstream.

As Greta Thunberg once stated, “They are starting to get more and more desperate. This shows that we’re winning.” and she’s correct. Conservatives and the radical right are so desperate to stop “woke”, despite having no valid arguments to support their claims that they’ll say anything. They’re so desperate to fight woke, that any argument, no matter how convoluted, baseless or without fact or merit is still valid in their mind.

I should also point out that my co-worker has numerous health problems and has missed several days of work due to health related issues. The sad truth is, my co-worker brings most of these problems on himself. We all know that stress and poor mental health can cause physical ailments. The irony is that in doing so, in “worrying yourself sick” you make yourself sick, which in turn causes you to miss work, lose money and in turn creates more stress. Thus it becomes a vicious cycle. While a part of me genuinely feels sorry for my co-worker and his son who also has medical issues, another part of me – I’m sorry to say – also thinks, “You brought this on yourself. You have no one to blame but yourself.” Forgive me if that sounds cold but I’m simply being honest. I admit I sometimes have a nasty habit of telling the truth, even when people don’t want to hear it. People say you need to “pick your battles”, so ask yourself these questions, “Is this the hill I’m willing to die on? Is it really worth it?”

The real problem here is the choice being made. Ultimately, all of us have only two real choices in life: do we embrace love, or do we surrender to fear? Which do you choose?

Spirituality and Health

By Craig Weidhuner | December 24, 2022 | Comments 1 comment

I recently received this in an email. While I’m sorry to say I forget who originally wrote this, what I found here was too valuable, too important for me to simply keep in my email until I read it and deleted. So to whomever originally wrote this, I thank you for sharing this and I’m grateful to get to share it myself. Hopefully you dear reader will find this as insightful as I did. Namaste!

TO YOUR HEALTH:

Everyone has their own, very personal definition of spirituality. No matter what parameters the concept of spirituality is given, science has begun to realize that it plays a very important role in one’s well being.

Numerous studies have shown that spirituality can help improve quality of life for people with chronic diseases like cancer. According to a recently published study, spirituality can also have a positive impact on the quality of life for heart patients. It further concludes spirituality should be considered a potential target for palliative care interventions to improve patient-centered and clinical outcomes in these individuals.

“Patients who have heart failure experience a poorer quality of life compared to their peers, with high levels of depression, anxiety and spiritual distress,” said Rachel S. Tobin, MD, resident in Internal Medicine at Duke University Hospital, and lead author of the study. “Contributing to diminished quality of life is the fact that heart failure, unlike many other chronic diseases, is very unpredictable and can lead to hopelessness, isolation and altered self-image.”

The American College of Cardiology and other major cardiovascular societies recommend palliative care for heart failure patients. Spirituality is a core domain of palliative care, with the goal of identifying and addressing spiritual concerns and providing patients with appropriate spiritual and religious resources. However, limited research has been conducted on spirituality’s impact on patients and there are no known tools designed to measure it.

According to the researchers, spirituality is hard to define, but they reference several definitions that describe spirituality as how individuals find meaning and purpose in life, which can be separate from religious beliefs.

For instance, the Institute of Medicine defines spirituality as “the needs and expectations which humans have to find meaning, purpose and value in their life. Such needs can be specifically religious, but even people who have no religious faith or are not members of an organized religion have belief systems that give their lives meaning and purpose.”

“The literature suggests not only can spirituality improve quality of life for the patient, it can help support caregivers and potentially help patients from needing to be readmitted to the hospital,” Tobin said. “What we have suggested and are now doing is developing a spirituality screening tool, similar to the ones used to screen for depression. This can be used to identify patients who are at risk for spiritual distress. However, this is just a start. More research needs to be done.”

What do we know about humanity?

By Craig Weidhuner | October 18, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU’RE OFFENDED BY WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO READ, THEN YOU’RE PROBABLY ONE OF THEM…

I received this email which I just had to share. It makes a very profound point:

What do we know about humanity?

That humanity can take literally anything and ruin it.

Take modern day American evangelical Christianity, for example.

They managed to take Jesus-a wine drinking, peace loving hippie who loved the poor and preached about loving your neighbor-and made him into a symbol of hate. They took Jesus and made him a symbol for transphobia, homophobia, and islamaphobia, not to mention not liking immigrants, poor people and being against free healthcare. Which is absolutely insane, considering:

1.Jesus never preached against being trans.

2.Jesus literally never once condemned homosexuality and never taught that gay couples went to hell.

3.Jesus was literally an immigrant himself.

4.Jesus was poor. In fact, he was at times borderline homeless.

5.Jesus literally gave out free healthcare. He never charged for his healing services, not once.

Modern day evangelical conservative Christianity is one big fat lie. It resembles nothing like the true teachings of Jesus, and if Jesus were here today, he would be ashamed and shocked that these people even call themselves Christian.

Jesus preached love, not hate. Remember that.

This statement makes a valid point, even God says so. In the book ‘Conversations with God’, God outright states:

The Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus died, the people who wrote the new testament never actually met Jesus.
Many so-called ‘devout’ Christians wouldn’t know Jesus if they bumped into him on the street.

This is why I consider myself a spiritualist. God, again in ‘Conversations with God’, says to seek spirituality not religion. Because spirituality teaches us to look within to find the answers. It shows us that the answers we seek are already inside of us, we’ve simply forgotten them. Religion by contrast teaches us to ignore our instincts, our inner wisdom and blindly accept what others say as indisputable truth. The reason many people do this is because it’s easier that way. It means you don’t have to think for yourself.

Now I should point out that this doesn’t apply to all religious people (not just Christians). I’ve met some religious people who are perfectly descent people. People who love and accept others regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious beliefs (or lack there of), politics and/or income level. The one’s I object to are those who feel a sense of moral superiority and feel it’s their right to force their beliefs on others, ironically while using arguments of ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ to justify it while simultaneously trying to deny that same ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ to anyone whose views don’t conform to theirs.

Ironically the same can be said about atheists. I’ve met some atheists who are descent people, who love and accept others and don’t care what their religious beliefs (or lack there of) are. I’ve also seen atheists who like these devout conservative evangelicals, think themselves superior for not believing in God and openly mock anyone who believes. People who can’t or simply refuse to see the difference between spirituality and religion and lump them both together. I’ve heard people debate whether atheism should be considered a religion with some arguing that it isn’t because there are no rules to follow. I find it ironic that there are those who would argue in favour of the later because of the lack of rules yet still insist that spirituality is no different that religion when there also are no rules in spirituality.

I suppose what I’m really trying to say here is it’s all about accepting others for who they are. It’s not a question of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ but ‘what serves you’. If your beliefs serves you than keep them. If they bring you happiness, then enjoy and cherish them. If your beliefs however, cause you problems or distress, then perhaps it’s time to look within and re-examine those beliefs. Also, if others have beliefs or viewpoints that you don’t agree with, that cause you distress, then may you should ask yourself, “Is it because their view is ‘wrong’ or is because I’ve chosen to label it as ‘wrong’?”

“When you see beyond yourself than you may find peace of mind is waiting there. And the time will come when you’ll see we’re all one and life flows on within you and without you.”

– Within You Without You,

The Beatles

Two profound books to read (besides my own)

By Craig Weidhuner | August 18, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

I received this email from my father and thought it was so profound, that I just had to post it and share it with everyone. The following words are my father’s, not mine, however I do agree with what he’s saying. My own words are the brief snippets in bold, encased in brackets “[ ]”. I wanted to share this with you for the same reason I am writing both “Mystical Force” and “Liberator: the People’s Guard” to help encourage you to think for yourself. As the “Complete Conversations with God” says, most people don’t want to think for themselves. That’s why they follow religion, people on social media and elect certain politicians because it requires no independent thought. We’ve seen it with these Trump supporters/Capitol rioters whose only defence seems to be “I was only following Trump’s orders.” When people choose not to think for themselves, it removes all responsibility from them (at least in their minds). Then they sit and wonder why their lives haven’t turned out the way they wanted. They’re left wondering “where, when, why, how did it all go so wrong?!” Again, as the “Complete Conversations with God” says, It all went wrong when you abandoned your mind, the greatest creative tool you were ever given. Now with my foreword completed, I give you the email I received, courtesy of my father:

“A Journey of Souls” A must read book for those interested in what happens when you pass over to the other side. Why am I recommending this book? Because it verifies, clarifies and explains the things my father-in-law [my maternal grandfather] told me after his visit to the other side [the afterlife/spirit world, call it whatever you like] after his heart attack. Doctors and scientists call it a “near death experience” because they can’t accept the fact that someone can die for a few minutes or 40 minutes or more and then be revived or come back because it’s not yet their time to leave the earth plain. Someone can be clinically dead for a few minutes but have spent hours, days, weeks, or even months in the spirit plain. Time has no relevance between the two realms.

After his heart attack, my wife [my mother] and I went up to visit him. My mother-in-law [my maternal grandmother] came to me and said “Dad wants to talk to you alone in the bedroom and lock the door” He was recuperating from his recent heart attack and so spent most of his time in bed. We had a nice long talk about his experience. He told me “I love my girls (he had five daughters [my mother and four aunts]) but they don’t mean anything to me. They’re not my family on the other side.” That statement intrigued me and this book explains it. There was a women in the book who when she passed over was expecting to be met by her father from this incarnation whom she loved and was very close to. Instead someone else met her and later she saw her father in the background. He eventually came up to her and greeted her, but explained that he could only stay briefly and she couldn’t follow him because she was not part of his family. Once she met her own family (soul group) and her memory of her previous lives returned to her, she understood and was happy to see all her friends and family in the spirit plain.

We had a nice long talk about how the church is all wrong and actually keeps people away from God. The Christian Bible has been rewritten so many time by various ecumenical councils to say what the Church leaders wanted in order to maintain control that it no longer has any relation to what Jesus taught 2000 years ago. For example, the Book of Joshua which is referenced in the Bible and was once part of the Bible has been removed because it told the truth and that was something the church leaders couldn’t allow. In it Joshua tells how Moses and his council (the leaders of the various tribes) decided that they needed a set of rules or laws to govern their people. They went up into the mountains and created a set of rules and decided that in order to give them some authority, they would say these were commandments from God. In “The Complete Conversations With God” (another book I recommend) God tells the author “There is no such thing as the Ten Commandments”.

AMORC (The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) traces its origin to Mystery Schools established in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III 1479 – 1425 BC. According to the Rosicrucian records after the incident at Calvary, Jesus went to the arcane school that the Essenes had at Mount Carmel and taught his wisdom to the students there. He lived a long life and when he passed, the buried him in a secret spot. Jesus did not die on the cross until some centuries after his death when Constantine had the Bible rewritten to say that Jesus died on the cross because the church needed a martyr. The current Christian Bible only has 12 disciples and they are all male. Whereas Jesus had over 120 disciples and almost half were women. The most prominent was Mary Magdalene his partner and wife. I don’t know what Constantine had against Mary or women, but he had the Bible rewritten to say that Mary was a prostitute and so the Roman Catholic churches campaign to subjugate women and relegate them to second class status and servants of man began. How is it that I’m familiar with Rosicrucian literature? I’ve been a member since 1975. [my father is a member, I am not. Also I wasn’t born until 1982].

In the “Complete Conversations with God” there are several discussions about the current bible. The author questions God about the bible, he quotes “Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord” and God replies “I never said that. One of you made that up, and you believed it”. God also discusses about how he is portrayed in the bible. He says “These behaviors are the behaviors historically demanded of their subjects by monarchs – usually ego-maniacal, insecure, tyrannical monarchs at that.” He explains that the God in the bible does not represent Him at all. He tells the author to “Return to spirituality. Forget about religion”. When the author asks why, He replies “Because it is not good for you”. And that is obvious. One only has to look at countries where religion is dominant such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan with their control over women. And then you have the Taliban’s Christian cousins the Roman Catholic church and the Evangelicals with their extreme conservative views on controlling women’s bodies. But everything discussed in the book matches what my father-in-law and I talked about.

These two books I recommend for your reading. Why? To make you think, to open your mind, to free your soul so that in can evolve, grow. You have free will. You can ignore this or you can read the books and make up your own mind. Either way makes no difference to me. God says to “Love everyone”, and I love everyone and wish the best for them. And some people I know who mistakenly sincerely believe that they are faithful Christians [“Conversations with God” even states that most so called Christians wouldn’t know Jesus if they bumped into him on the street, even those who wrote the Bible never met Jesus. The Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus died], I wish the best for them. And the best thing that could happen to them is that they have the same beautiful life changing enlightening experience that my father-in-law had. What their reaction will be when they discover that their church has been misleading and lying to them I can’t say. But it will do them good to learn the truth.

(UPDATE) THE WORLD OF MYSTICAL FORCE: TAMAN KNIGHTS

By Craig Weidhuner | May 8, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

The Taman Knights are a monastic religious order originating from the Planet Thalia. The character of Shi-ria is a member of this organization.

BELIEFS AND PHILOSOPHIES:

The Taman is the energy and will of the universe and all things that exist within the universe.

– Quote from the book of Taman

The word “Taman” roughly translates as universe, energy, balance or whole. The universe is energy, specifically positive and negative energies called “the Kolri and the Koldar”. The word “Kolri” roughly translates as inner good or inner light, while “Koldar” means inner evil or inner darkness. These two forces are the only constants in the universe. They exist in all living creatures and shall always exist in perfect balance. Their belief is that good and evil exist in all people and in order to maintain balance in life one must use the Kolri (inner light) to control the Koldar (inner darkness) to maintain balance, peace and harmony in themselves and thus the universe. Without this balance the universe, according to their philosophy, will be thrown into chaos.

The Koldar gives the Taman strength, but thou cannot control this alone; for without the Kolri, the balance of goodness and light, one cannot hope to use the Koldar for good but it shall use thee for death and destruction.

– Quote from the book of Taman

According to their beliefs, a Taman knight draws their strength from the Koldar (their negative emotions: anger, aggression, hatred, selfishness) but it also states that such power is inevitably corrupting and will destroy you so one must first learn to use the Kolri (positive emotions: joy, love, compassion, selflessness) to control this inner darkness so its power can be used for constructive purposes rather than destructive ones. According to their teachings, the Koldar is too powerful and only a Taman Knight with the power of the Kolri to help them, can control the Koldar and use it’s dark powers for good instead of evil. When one uses the Koldar, they grow more powerful but due to their emotions it makes it more difficult to control their powers. When one uses the Kolri their powers may not be as strong but they have clarity so they know how to use patience and strategy to defeat an opponent instead of simply overpowering them by brute force alone. Those who succumb to the dark powers of the Koldar are known as Koldar Warriors (Dark Taman knights).

According to their philosophy, matter and energy are related. The Taman Knights teach that all matter is composed of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are composed of quarks, which are energy. Thus the entire universe is a giant ocean of energy. That energy is the Taman, an energy that they use to help protect the innocent and defend justice.

The Taman knights use the Taman for the pursuit knowledge and wisdom. For peace, harmony and also defend the innocent. The Taman is never to be used for aggression and attack, nor to gain power simply for the sake of gaining power.

– Quote from the book of Taman

Since all people have this inner darkness Taman knights are encouraged to control this with their inner light. This involves meditating to attain a calming state and focusing on positive reinforcement in both thought and action. Taman philosophy teaches to respect all living creatures and to resolve conflicts through peaceful means. It encourages listening, thinking and waiting rather than acting rash.

POWERS AND ABILITIES:

The powers and abilities of a Taman knight vary depending on the individual. Their level of training, experience and personal strength are all factors in determining how strong their abilities are. Like any skill, anyone can learn these powers, depending on how much time one spends developing it determines the extent of their powers, but it’s not the only factor. Just as one person may be more gifted in the arts than in mathematics for example, some people are more in tune with the Taman than others. The following is a general list of powers used by Taman knights.

Taman Alchemy:

Since they’re taught that matter and energy are interchangeable, Taman knights have the ability to transform energy directly into matter manifesting into a physical object. Usually this is used to create weapons for self defence, but it can be used to create other things such as tools or to repair a damaged object. Likewise it can also be used to turn matter back into energy (for example: disintegrating the bullets in a gun, thus rendering the weapon useless).

Taman or Kolri Heal:

The ability of a Taman Knight to quickly heal from injuries that would otherwise take much longer to recover from. The amount of time it takes one to heal from an injury depends on the severity of said injury. Thus if the wound is severe enough, they could die before healing themselves enough for their injury to be non life threatening. A Taman knight also cannot grow back a limb or body part that has been cut off or lost due to battle, injury or disease, though they can create cybernetic limbs via Taman Alchemy. This power also strengthens their immune systems but does not ensure they will never get sick.

Taman Enhancement:

The ability to use the energy of the Taman to run faster, jump higher and so on. This also allows them to function with less sleep than a normal person, go longer without eating and even survive in a thin atmosphere (thought they cannot survive without any atmosphere, such as in space). Despite this ability Taman knights cannot go without sleeping or eating for an indefinite period of time. This ability is to help them survive longer in a hostile environment and give them a better chance to escape it.

Gravity Manipulation:

The ability of a Taman Knight to slow ones decent when falling, thus allowing them to jump/fall from heights which would otherwise kill them. It also allows them to slow other falling objects giving them time to rescue others or prevent themselves from being crushed by falling debris. They cannot however make themselves or other persons/objects independent of gravity.

Taman Reading:

Equivalent to what we known as E.S.P. More specifically: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, precognition, retro cognition and empathic abilities. In other words, it allows them to see events that have already happened or events that have not yet transpired. They also have the ability to sense the emotional state of others, as well as to tell if someone is lying. This power is generally used by placing themselves into a meditative trance and focusing on a specific person, object or event.

My first professional review, courtesy of Literary Titan

By Craig Weidhuner | January 30, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Image courtesy of Literary Titan (thanks again for the review)https://literarytitan.com/2022/01/19/mystical-force-vol-1-stranger-in-a-strange-land/

The reviews are in! Well technically, ‘review’ since I’m focusing on one. That and “the review are in” isn’t grammatically correct, but I digress. I’ve gotten my first professional review of volume one of my series. Below is the review of my first book from Literary Titan, my thanks to them for such a glowing review by the way, you can read it here, or click on the link to read the review on Literary Titan’s page itself. If you prefer, you can click the video link below to listen to me read the review, or visit my Youtube page and listen to it there. Either way, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from. Anyway, on with the review:

“Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land is the first book of this new and exciting fantasy adventure series written by Craig Weidhuner. This gripping story begins with the prophecy that a “chosen one” would bring destruction to the land. Meanwhile, Zolida is convinced that if she summons someone “not from this world,” that person can help save Earth. So Zolida performs the summoning ritual, bringing Shi-ria, a Taman Knight, to Earth from another world.

Once on Earth, Zolida and Shi-ra form a team with friends of Zolida in order to fight off those that are causing harm. Unfortunately, another group of humans is determined to get rid of them for their “ungodly” powers. If that wasn’t enough, a sorceress named Scarlet Knightwalker believes that if the chosen one meets the one not from this world, the meeting will set off a disastrous chain of events. Shi-ria must learn why Zolida is so determined to have her meet the chosen one and what fate Scarlet Knightwalker fights so vehemently against.

This novel builds conflict quickly and with a lot of action. Readers will be catapulted into the adventure from the opening pages. The author provides detailed world-building at the beginning of the story that gives readers a good understanding of where the different characters come from. As this is the first book which sets up the Stranger in a Strange Land saga, this is to be expected. Even though we are given this abundance of details the author always delivers the information within the action of the story so that it flows organically and ensures readers stay engaged even though facts and activity are coming in equal measure. These opening chapters do a great job of building up the tension in the story around upcoming conflict. This high level of tension around the conflict is carried through the novel with a plot and action that is always moving.

Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land is a riveting fantasy adventure novel that consistently engages readers. This is a fantastic starting point for a genre blending series that takes modern earth and inserts some intriguing science fiction ideas to create a page-turning adventure.”

– Literary Titan, Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land

I am grateful to the people at Literary Titan for their review of my book, though regarding the part about setting up “the Stranger in a Strange Land saga”, I personally refer to the series, or saga by the name “Mystical Force”. “Stranger in a Strange Land” was simply the title of the first book. However given the wonderful review they gave my book I can’t say I’m upset by this, just pointing that out. Obviously I should have explained that better, I blame myself for those misunderstandings.

Anyway, my thanks once again to the good people at Literary Titan for such a glowing review! My thanks as well to my editor Tereza for helping me to ensure the story “flows organically and ensures readers stay engaged”. By don’t just take their word for it, if you haven’t already done so, check out my series for yourself. And remember volumes 2 and 3 are also out now. Plus volume 4: Many are 1, 1 is 0 will be coming within the next few months. If you like the books, make sure to give them good reviews on Amazon, Google and so on. And if you didn’t like them, lie and give them good reviews anyway (I promise I won’t tell anyone)!

My new vlog, or audio podcast with images (call it whatever you like)

By Craig Weidhuner | January 9, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

About a week ago I received an email from one of my followers who suggested adding an audio podcast version of my blogs to my website. Firstly, I’d like to thank them for the suggestion as it’s a great way to help reach a larger audience. I’ve spoken with the people at Tellwell (my publisher) who have a team that also manage my website. And we’ve decided the best course of action is to take my blogs and turn them into vlogs, which I can post on my YouTube channel then embed them in my website.

Thus I’m here today to announce the launch of my new audio blogs, or technically vlogs I should say. They’re nothing overly elaborate just me reading what I post with some simple graphics being shown, thus you can listen to them from my website or if you prefer subscribe to my YouTube channel (don’t forget to click the notification button) and you can listen to them directly from there. The people managing my website told me this would be easier than uploading podcasts or videos directly onto my site as doing so would take up a lot of bandwidth. Thus over the next couple of months I’ll be re-uploading some of my previous blogs with the embedded video. Going forward I also intend to do the same for future blog entries. While I will try to maintain my schedule of posting once a month, this process will take some time, thus I apologize if I don’t have a new blog post per month like I usually do.

While I’ve looked into text-to-speech for my vlogs, I’ve decided to record myself reading my posting. Doing so, at least in my opinion, gives it a more natural sound and feel as opposed to the artificial recording of a computer algorithm. I did a test with one of my older posts and the voice sounded awkward, pausing at the wrong times or leaving too short a gap between sentences, making two sentences sound like one really long one. Also the problem is that since I write fiction and my posts mention various fictional characters and or locations, an algorithm doesn’t always get the pronunciation of the names accurate.

I should also note that this doesn’t mean I’ll no longer be writing blog posts anymore. I’ll still be writing them. Once I’ve finished I’ll then be making recordings of myself reading them. Since I currently write part time (a have a full time warehouse job) it will take some time to record and make simple video for my vlogs. As stated above, I will try to maintain my schedule of posting once a month but can’t guarantee that I will always have new posts each month or that they’ll be on a regular basis. I will do my best and again apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. I thank you all for your patience and for reading my postings. I hope you enjoy hearing me read my postings in the future.

An Amusing Little Anecdote

By Craig Weidhuner | December 11, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Here’s an interesting anecdote that happened to me on Wednesday Dec. 8^th. I woke up having seen angel numbers, one of which told me to keep focused on positive affirmations and to be careful what I wish for. At the time I wasn’t sure what it meant, I soon found out later that day at work. First let me explain that while my career, my passion is that of an author, I currently work full time in a warehouse for a liquidation company. I always tell people, the warehouse position is my job, I do that because I get paid to. My writing is my passion, I do that because I love it. That morning someone delivered three boxes of 12 items called “Snowman kits”, along with the necessary invoice for the merchandise. While I’m not the receiver, I none the less accepted the delivery and signed for it. I left the three boxes by the shipping door and text the owner to let him know not only of the delivery, but that I left the envelope with the invoice in his inbox. Having spent most of my life catastrophizing, a bad habit I picked up from my mother, I immediately began imagining arguments ensuing between me and my employer. Him asking why I left them by the shipping door instead of putting them in a specific location, or why I didn’t give them to a specific employee, then I imagined myself giving my arguments to defend my actions: “it’s not my job/I’m not the receiver around here” and so on. What I got instead was a pleasant surprise.

When I sent the text to the owner rather than simply say “three boxes” I specifically said, “Snowman kit” (which was written on the box) and put those words in quotes. Similarly, in my text I put the word “in box” in quotes, without even thinking about it honestly. When the owner came in he told me he received my text and it gave him a laugh at my putting “Snowman kit” and “in box” in quotations. He told me he was tempted to text back “thank you” (the words in quotations as well). Had an incident like this happened to me five years ago, I probably would have been angry at him and took it as an insult, as if he were mocking me. However, thanks to my meditation and my reading, and subsequent re-reading of Conversations with God coupled with my spiritual growth, instead of getting angry I found myself laughing at the incident and thinking to myself that it actually was kind of funny.

It was after this that I realized what the message from my angels meant. It was a reminder of the law of attraction. Not only that “like attracts like” but how our thoughts radiate out into the universe, which responds in kind. Thus when we get angry, when we catastrophize and assume the worst, all we do is bring about the very things we fear are going to come true. I now see imagining the worst case scenario is just that, something we imagine, a horrible incident which plays out only in our minds. Usually what happens in reality is nothing by comparison. Fortunately I have learned enough that when I start thinking this way, I can now catch myself catastrophizing and stop that thought process.

It also showed me how much growth I’ve made as a spiritual being. As I stated above, had such an incident happened to me years ago, I probably would have taken offence to his remark, thinking it was meant as an insult, when it really wasn’t. I probably would have stewed in anger over it for several days, where as now, I can laugh it off and think nothing of it. I find now when encounter those things that still get under my skin, I might dwell on it for about half an hour or a few hours off and on before finally letting it go. As Conversations with God says, nothing in life happens by coincidence. All of our life experiences -whether we consider them ‘good’ or ‘bad’- happen in order for us to experience who we really are, who we choose to be, whom we decide to create ourselves as. This incident that happened on that morning was to show me, to remind me of how much I’ve grown as a spiritual being. To show me that events of our lives are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ they’re simply events, it’s how we react to them, the labels we specifically apply to them which makes us define them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Anti-social media:

By Craig Weidhuner | November 13, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

One of the things I’ve been debating for a while now is whether or not to expand my presence on social media. Aside from my LinkedIn account, I have no other social media platforms that I currently use. I used to have a Facebook account years ago, long before I decided to start publishing my writings. I stopped using it because I kept getting irrelevant notifications, even after going into the settings and changing it to only show me notifications that involve me. Eventually I got rid of my Facebook account because it was becoming an annoying distraction. Ironically I considered reactivating it when I published my first book. When I went to do so, they asked for identification to prove I was who I claimed to be. When I submitted my driver’s license photo with necessary the info (blocking out the information that wasn’t necessary) I got a message back saying it wasn’t valid. So I simply replied “if you don’t want me on Facebook, then fine. I’ll go elsewhere.”

I bring this story up because of the issues the world has with social media. As an author I realize that such platforms (Facebook, Twitter and so on) are useful tools to help promote my work and build buzz around my writing, however as many articles have written social media has also brought many problems with it. As we’ve unfortunately seen, when people can hide behind the anonymity of a computer or a smart phone, it tends to bring out the worst aspects of people, causing them to say things that they probably wouldn’t in public. I remember hearing a story about how conservative social media platforms (like Parler and Frankspeech for example) haven’t been doing well because conservatives don’t want to share ideas with like minded people, but rather engage in flame wars with liberals on Twitter and other such sites.

Another problem with social media is that it’s all too easy to post misinformation without the need for fact checking. How many times (during the course of this pandemic) have we seen people spreading misinformation on the virus, vaccines and so on simply because someone else online said it and no one bothered to question it.

The reason for this is due to the fact that our society actively discourages people from thinking for themselves. And the reason for this is because most people don’t actually want to think for themselves. To quote Conversations with God, “most people don’t want to have to think. They elect leaders, they support governments, they adopt religions requiring no independent thought. ‘Make it easy for me. Tell me what to do.’… Classes in critical thinking, problem solving and logic are considered by many parents to be threatening. They want such classes out of the curriculum.” Look no further than the debates raging across America about Critical Race Theory. How many parents no nothing about it (or even what it is) yet don’t want it taught in school out of fear that it’s “bad” for children. Incidentally, how many of these people don’t even have children? Why? Because if we teach children to think for themselves, they might develop ideas and opinions that are different than ours. Even worse, they might point out the mistakes our society has made and find a new solution, one that would prove the way we’ve been doing things has been wrong. As someone, I forget who, once said, “Nothing compels a [person] to argue harder than being proven wrong.”

All of this stems from the fear-based religions that the world has had for several thousand years. These religions mistakenly teach us that God gave us free will so that we could blindly follow and obey God’s word, lest we face eternal damnation. Thus why we don’t want people to think for themselves because if we all thought critically, we’d realize that such a plan (God’s so called ‘plan’) is one where failure is the only option. How can God expect us to blindly follow his will when he gave us the ability to make our own choices? Such a plan is ultimately self defeating.

So the question then becomes, “How do I deal with social media platforms that foster division and spread misinformation?” The first step is to limit the amount of time spent on such platforms. Use them when necessary, but when your phone “pings” with a notification, don’t drop everything and rush to see what it is. Stop constantly checking to see what [Person X] posted or if they posted anything recent. If your life revolves around what others are doing/saying/thinking all the time, then arguably your not really living your own life, but trying to live someone else’s life.

Secondly, always remember to THINK FOR YOURSELF. Never blindly accept what you see online as the truth “So and so posted ‘X’ online, so it must be true!” Use your own instincts, your own judgments to decide that for yourself. Even this blog. If you agree with what I’m saying, then I thank you. If however you don’t agree with me, then I hope you find a better way, one that serves you better (and I mean that sincerely). Ultimately, the only real question we have to constantly ask ourselves in life is “Does this serve me?” If this (whatever “this” may be) serves you then believe it, use it, make it work for you. If it doesn’t then find a new “this”. One that does serve you. Remember, thinking should never be the enemy. Because again, if we weren’t meant to think critically, to question everything, why would we even have the ability to do so?

Happy Father’s Day

By Craig Weidhuner | June 20, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Being Father’s Day it seems only appropriate that I dedicate today’s blog entry to my father Norbert Weidhuner, for if not for him the world of Mystical Force wouldn’t exist. My father wasn’t a professional writer. I remember he once told me that when he was in university he had to write an essay on “the sex life of two ping-pong balls” (which according to him, he got an F on). But while he may not have been great at writing he was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. My father has a huge array of sci-fi and fantasy novels from various authors: Issac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon and many more whom I can’t remember at the moment. Growing up he also read a lot of comic books. Spider-man, Batman, The Phantom and many more. He was also a fan of various sci-fi movies/shows from Doctor Who to Star Trek to Star Wars and so on. Needless to say he passed on his love of sci-fi and fantasy to me when I was growing up.

It was this love of speculative fiction that would serve as my inspiration to become a writer. Like many children, I had many action figures that I used to play with as a child. Everything from DC and Marvel superheroes, to Star Trek, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even Godzilla. Growing up, I used to make up my own mini movies in my mind with those action figures and I guess I never really grew out of it. The only difference now is that I’ve replaced those action figure characters with my own characters, that and the stories and character motivations have matured over the years. Either way, had my father not shown any interest in speculative fiction, odds are I might not have shown interest in those genres myself, or at least probably wouldn’t have come up with any of my writing. One the most exciting moments in my life was when I saw my father read the first volume of Mystical Force for the first time.

In addition to my love of science fiction and fantasy, it’s thanks to my father that I’ve grown spiritually, which in turn has also influenced Mystical Force. I remember telling me how when he was a child he went to the Church of Religious Science (no relation to Scientology, just want to get that out of the way). He told me how the priest said the Bible was divided into three parts: The first part was the ‘begats’. “So and so begat so and so. Who begat so and so. Who begat so and so.” According to the priest that part was “95% accurate”. The second part was the ‘history’, the story of Moses leading the twelve tribes to wander the desert before entering the “land of milk and honey”. According to the priest, that part was “95% hogwash”. The third part is the ‘metaphysical’. According to the priest, “you are Moses. The 12 tribes represent 12 facets of your personality and before you can enter ‘the land of milk and honey’ the parts of you that think it’s a terrible place have to die off so you can be ‘reborn’.” (I apologize if what I’m saying doesn’t make sense, it’s speaking in metaphors).

In addition to this, I remember my father telling me how when he was in university, it was still a sin to eat fish on Friday, until shortly later when the church said it was no longer a sin. Finding it odd that something that was a sin was no longer a sin, caused him to read up on religion and spirituality. He told me how after reading up on various religions he came to the conclusion that Zen Buddhism was the closet thing to the actual truth. Dad always said that God was like the force from Star Wars; “an energy field created by all living beings. It surrounds us, penetrates us. It binds the [universe] together.” The only difference, according to my father was that in reality there is no “dark side”. Having read Conversations with God, I know this to be true as the book confirms that “good” and “evil”, “right” and “wrong” are human creations. Just look at the state of the world, we can’t even agree as a society what thoughts and actions are “right” and “wrong”. Not to mention the simple fact most religions ignore: Why would God give us free will if we’re supposed to blindly follow his teachings without question?

In conclusion I just wanted to take this Father’s day to thank my father for what he taught me about life and how he influenced my tastes in media and writing. Thank you dad! I love you!