Today we welcome Lewis Tagliaferre, author of the book Voices of Sedona: A Spiritual Path to Serenity and Contentment and his accompanying blog. These two pieces combine to form Lessons from Sedona, The Course in Theofatalism. He is sharing a discussion about his work with Sarah Moore, Author’s Assistant for Writers in the Sky.
SARAH: Welcome to Writers in the Sky. As I mentioned in the introduction, your work is produced in order to share with others the idea of Theofatalism™. Will you give us a brief overview of this belief system?
LEWIS: It is very simple, but yet complex enough to explain what people need to feel good inside no matter what happens outside. God is in control of all that happens in the cosmos, from the very small to the very large, and that certainly includes all the lives of all the people on earth, in addition to all of its other forms of life too. Hence, theofatalism. It comes with five principles of reality. Its symbol is the ancient Chartres Labyrinth, which illustrates there is only one way to walk the pathway of life, God’s way.
SARAH: You mention throughout your work that the information is taught to you through the spiritual teaching of Sedona M. Schnebly, the namesake of the resort town in Arizona who passed away more than fifty years ago. How did this teacher-student relationship begin?
LEWIS: I discovered Sedona on a side trip to the Grand Canyon during my business travel in 1987. It immediately attracted me and called me back again and again. When I saw the sculpture of Sedona herself in front of the library, there was a call to know her and her life better. That led me to the discovery of these principles from teachers through my creative imagination during subsequent visits that began as a personal journal and then became the book, Voices of Sedona.
SARAH: What is your response to those who may be skeptical of the idea of receiving your material from channeled spirits?
LEWIS: I personally do not have the education or background to support this work so I can only say it comes from a different source, a Higher Power. After all, one can assume that all creativity, be it music, art, poetry or whatever is more than the work of the artist. And the Church does support the notion of a communion of saints with its implications for continuing relationships after life. After all, those who pray to the saints do so with faith so I find no difficulty now in assuming the saints may contact us too. One of them may be Sedona.
SARAH: What initially prompted your study of this new path?
LEWIS: The untimely death of my wife through ten years of breast cancer in 1985 produced a shock that I could not anticipate. My traditional faith was not able to provide the support I needed to go on without her, so I entered therapy and that led to reading and to meditation and to journaling which produced the present work. It actually is the third work of a trilogy; the others involved recovery from loss and living the single's life in this ad-hoc culture.
SARAH: Your blog tackles many of the current events that are making headlines in the news. Is this writing meant to provide a theofatalistic perspective on relevant stories, or is there another purpose?
LEWIS: Much of the daily news seems to be reports of events that would only be described as insane, unless there is some other explanation. I hear a voice saying “tell them, tell them”...and what it wants to say is that nothing that happens is outside the will of God, nor can it be. The discussions in the essays all point to that conclusion from many different aspects and topics, including economics, psychology, politics, science, religion, history, and more.
SARAH: How do you hope people will use the material presented in your book and blog?
LEWIS: First, I hope they will start discussing it with others, maybe in family and local support groups. Most people are so busy making a living they have no time to prepare for the shocks of life that are sure to come, so this could be a powerful short cut to readiness. Second, I hope it will help remove the blindfold of complacency that could enable them to see reality as it really is, just as a child must let go of Santa Claus and move into maturity. The spiritual opportunity for growth is unlimited, but most people stop growing when the pain gets troubling. This work helps me to grow so it may also help others.
SARAH: How long did it take you to write the material for Voices of Sedona?
LEWIS: All my life. I suppose it is a natural result of theofatalism in my own life. It is the inevitable result of all that has come before. Sort of like putting together a jig saw puzzle without the picture on the box.
SARAH: How did you publish your book? Tell me about your publishing experience and what you learned from it.
LEWIS: I have done a lot of writing in my career, including magazine articles and trade business literature, so journaling was a natural aspect of therapy for me. The first book, Recovery from Loss was commercially published, but I self published Kisses aren’t Contracts as well as Voices of Sedona. I learned that unless somebody pays you for it, writing is a labor of self-expression that may not be discovered in one’s lifetime. Some of the greatest contributions were not valued until after death of the artist, and I am prepared for that.
SARAH: What kind of feedback are you receiving from people who have read your work?
LEWIS: Well, it has ranged from “you saved my life” to “I just cannot believe in that”...all in God’s will of course. I am comforted by St. Thomas a Kempis; “It is more profitable to leave everyone to his way of thinking than to give way to contentious discourses.” It takes special eyes to see God in everything, else the shock would be too great. But, for those who are ready the teacher has come.
SARAH: Do you have any future writing projects in the works?
LEWIS: I am retired from my career so that gives me the time to check news every day and that stimulates new topics and contents for the Sedona essays on the blog. I have not published them in a book as they are still a work in progress and seem to have a life of their own that needs constant revision. Perhaps the blog will become an ebook, maybe a commentary on our times for future historians. I would be pleased if some churches would take up this work.
SARAH: Is there anything else you want our readers to know about the compiled work that is Lessons from Sedona?
LEWIS: Well, I think they are like gravity. They don’t need your permission, but you cannot avoid them, and you may reduce suffering a lot if you understand the Principles of Sedona as developed in Voices of Sedona and the blog at www.sedonavoices.blog.com. All in the will of God of course. Thank you.
SARAH: Thank you for giving us the opportunity to get to know you and learn about your work.
Please visit the Amazon website to purchase Voices of Sedona. The book also can be purchased through Barnes and Noble or iUniverse.
No comments:
Post a Comment