Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a five-part series and focuses on "Freedom from the Past." Part 2, on Friday, considers "Freedom from the Future." At the tender age of 17 I received an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Less than a week after graduating from...
Louis Bourgeois

An expat rides out the pandemic in paradise
It was interesting that last year, a few weeks before the lockdown would begin in mid-March, I had decided to leave my paradise in Jadan as little as possible. Luckily for me I am married to a Cuencana who cherishes her time with her tribal clan so she was happy to be the sole shopper for our...
Witnessing an old world dying and new world being born
I have been pondering this essay for quite some time, well before the current global crisis began. I have been living in paradise for the past 18 months, and I have witnessed quite an interesting phenomenon during this time. Those who have come to visit our eco resort are filled with a sense of...
As our old way of life suffers a painful death, a bright light shines in the distance
We welcomed a new member to our intentional community at the Oasis this week. Marilyn is a very bright light and we are delighted to have her join our family. Her donation to the community will support us in completing our current upgrade to our farming and animal husbandry program, that we might...
As we ‘cocoon’ in place, we should consider or relationship to time and space
By Louis Bourgeois I am being called this morning to begin writing in earnest, as we collectively "cocoon" around the world. In my writing as Sun King, I speak from a "place" that I call the energy body. I encourage any who are reading this post to accept that we have three aspects of our being....
This Thanksgiving, show your gratitude for life’s difficult, painful challenges
I was down at my quebrada (mountain stream) working to rebuild a stone wall that recent rains had washed away. I could have been annoyed that hundreds of hours of my work had been erased in a matter of a few days, the river rising to great heights. But I have learned a valuable lesson in my life,...
Discovering treasure in a mountain stream
I spend time each day, living in my rural paradise outside Cuenca, playing in the quebrada (mountain stream). I have a project, moving stones in the creek, creating a wading pool, and sifting through the gravel finding a variety of quartz. The myriad of colors of the small stones, the sun...
Conscious Dying: A life well-lived deserves to be celebrated when it ends
It has taken awhile to get back in the saddle and write the next segment of my Conscious Living series. But I have thought quite a bit about this segment, wanting to address more in depth the elements of Conscious Dying. I have mentioned earlier that a key part of Conscious Living is the ability...
Reflections on Conscious Living and Conscious Dying: Part 4
I ended my last column with a quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull about becoming a finder. What exactly does this mean? It is worth our exploration, as our personal awakening is the most important accomplishment possible as humans. Eckhart Tolle was very clear about this, and it is also the...
Although it is good to be a seeker, it is even better to be a finder
Personal transformation is difficult. The way of transformation involves legitimate suffering, and it is the design and purpose of the egoic mind to avoid suffering. The ego brandishes two tools, denial and projection, in order to avoid suffering. In doing so it creates a rigid structure and great...