Excerpts from Brian McClure's Radio Show Introduction on 08/30/08: Welcome to A Call to Consciousness with Michael Peter Langevin.

For the past couple of weeks, I have told you about the trip that I am going to be taking to Africa, first to Sierra Leone and then on to Uganda, to work with some of the Mentors in those 2 countries that are opening up some primary schools for children who have nothing, children who have a lack of food, a lack of water and certainly a lack of education.  It's going to be a time when we're also going to be able to film and document for the rest of us in this country to see what the conditions are like over in those countries.

At the same time that I agreed to go to those countries, I was asked to go to 12 other countries in Africa which I haven't made time for yet.  I wanted to go to these countries first and to document and see what it was that we can do to help. 

I got a call this week from my friend, Michael Peter Langevin.  Michael was the founder and publisher of Magical Blend Magazine in Califiornia for many years and is also the author of a number of books, "Secret of the Amazon Shamans," "Secrets of the Ancient Incas," and "Spiritual Business" which was a book about his magazine publishing "Magical Blend Magazine."  So I'm going to have Michael on the second half of this show, so that we can talk about the trip and some of the expectations that we have.  Of course, neither one of us knows what it will be like over there.  We're going to be landing, and we'll be picked up, and we'll have to see the conditions and what it's like when we stay there.  I will be happy to share that with everyone in a couple of weeks when I get back.

Brian:  Michael, welcome to the show!

Michael:  Brian, it's an honor to be with you.

Brian:  I had this voice inside saying, "You have to go now.  This is something that you have to do."  So I went from "I'll take this under consideration" to "That's what I'm going to do."  Then everything came into fruition, except I thought no one was going to go with me.  But really, deep down, I desired that someone would go with me, be a part of it, to share, to have someone to talk with and really be another set of eyes and ears for me, so that we could really do the work that I think we're going to be able to do, to document and to bring back information for everyone to share in so that maybe we can shed some light on maybe the conditions, maybe some of the things that collectively we can get together and do.

Michael:  I feel the same way, Brian.  Since you and I agreed that we were both going to go together, I have told people and they say, "You weren't even talking about this 2 weeks ago"  and "You just do the wierdest things at the last minute."  And it feels so good to me.  I've done some work up here in Northern California with Children's Protective Services, and what I've really gotten out of that is when I go out in the field with some of the social workers who have worked with some of the most abused children, under some of the worst circumstances, I get to see life and therapy and healing in a whole different set of ways.  When it's 2 people approaching a difficult situation, a person in need, you see it from 2 angles, and if you can compare notes, you can do such a better job of doing therapy, or of helping out or of acting as a catalyst to change people's lives.  I really see that model.  I've been thinking of that since this has all come to fruition.  What we're probably going to be doing, if I have any expectations, in Africa, you'll see it from your perspective, I'll see it from my perspective, we'll compare notes, and say, "Ah, yeah, that sounds more right to me," or "Oh, the synthesis of that sounds like something we should be doning." 

Brian:  You know, it's interesting, because the people we're going to be meeting with see it from their perspective, and their perspective lines us up with all the people that they would like us to meet with, from the Minister of Education to the groups that have genital mutilation that are against it to so many resources that they have.  One of the things that I thought that we will probably do is to stop in and talk with the groups that are already working there.  We'll talk with UNICEF, and we'll find out what they think, because they've been there.

Michael:  Oh, so much, and I've looked at the list that you've lined up, and I'm nothing but impressed.  It's a wide, varying list that looks at it from a lot of different perspectives.  I think you and I going open up a lot of possibilities.  We'll get something from each one of these groups, a lot from each one of these groups, and then from that we'll be able to know where good works are, or how to interpret what they've done back here in the States in a way that might make more of a difference. 

Brian:  I'll tell you something that I haven't told you yet.  What really impressed me, a number of the groups from Uganda to Sierra Leone have started prayer groups and candle groups that have prayed 24 hours a day for our protection and for the trip to be a success. 

Michael:  My God, are you serious?

Brian:  And that really touched me.  That's serious.  Eddie Boston-Mammah.

Michael:  I wasn't aware of this at all.

Brian:  Exactly.  I opened up and I saw Joy for Humanity in Uganda and a whole number of places have been lighting candles every day. 

Michael:  I got chills up and down my spine when you said that.

Brian:  And Dr. Burt Danet started this, and he said that he was going to pray for our safe trip.  From the very beginning he started this candle lighting, and he said we are going to do this until your safe return, prior to and until your safe return.  The next thing you know, all these groups over in these countries started doing the same thing, and I just felt so honored.

Michael:  Wow! 

Brian: That they would do that.

Michael:  Yeah!

Brian:  It wasn't something that I was expecting.

Michael:  No, it's a little overwhelming to think about, but it is interesting.  I've talked to a wide array of people since we've agreed that we're going, and I'm a little bit taken aback by the images people have of Africa.  People either see it as this exotic wonderful place they would love to visit, or they're scared of it right away because it's the big unknown.  They've heard so many stories over the years.   So many people, that's their first reaction.  "Why are you going over there?  That's dangerous."  I kind of live in a world of trust.  I've been almost killed in a number of different countries, so I really figure that I must have important work left to do to be here at this point in time, but I feel so much more, what's the word, coned, encumbered, protected by hearing that these groups have reached out in this way.

Brian:  Well, me too.  And it's interesting, because my wife, probably like yours, said, "You know, Brian, I look at it this way.  If you were going to get killed over there, you would be killed over here.  So when it's your time, it's your time, and I don't think it's your time."  And I said, "No, I don't feel that."

(both laughing)

Michael:  My wife says that she is the one who is going to do it when the time comes!  She's not real thrilled with all of my life's adventures, but I don't think she thinks I'm going to die."

Brian:  No, no.  I don't think so.  I'm really excited in just anticipating.  Really, I've been talking for the past 2 years about putting together this documentary on 7 continents and taking a look at our world and to look at different parts of our world.  This is really the first part that I can start to document and talk with the groups and talk with the people and see what they think, see what their culture is about and see how it is that beyond just food and water, really they can be helped.  The one thing that I've noticed all over the world, whether it's India or Africa or South America, education is a key everywhere.

Michael:  Brian, again, I go back to the work that I've done with Children's Protective Servicces.  A lot of the drug addicted folks and even the illegal immigrants here, a lot of it goes down to basic understanding and education.  People who have not finished grammar school or who have not finished high school or have never gone to college, it's not that they can't develop common sense, it's not that they can't develop learning, but if you haven't had that training, then you don't know.  If you don't know, then you don't know how to help yourself.  You don't know how to make your life better a lot of times.  And it can make such a difference, just basic training.  A lot of the people I work with I advise they take this class or that class.  Just one class or a series of classes can make such a difference in a person's perspective of their approach to life.  So what you've started here, it's the root of what's going to make major, major differences in multitudes of lives.

Brian:  You know, what's funny is, when I was asked by Spirit to create the Universal Flag, and for years I said, no, and finally enough was taken away from me that I decided that I had to get out of the driver's seat, get out of controlling and allow whatever was supposed to come to manifestation, not only did the flag and all the worlds come through me, but 10 children's books that rhyme and have great meaning, each one them different, each one of them using inanimate objects like the sun and the moon, the raindrop and the birds and the frogs, and I didn't know really why those books came through me.  I have 8 of them published.  It took me 2 years to even go out and get a distributor to start to distribute them, and that was only recently and I haven't even shipped them to him yet.  I have thousands of books, and I really wasn't concentrating on them.  And all of a sudden, when this Africa information came up, and in the past 3 months, as I talked about the functional illiterates, the millions of people in our world, they are functionally illiterate, then can't read or write, not to mention the lack of food and shelter and water, it hit me, oh my gosh, now here is a country that speaks our language, and these books were created for them. 

Michael:  It's perfect.  The way you move in spirit, it's just perfect that it lines up that way.  But it makes so much sense.  I remember when I was struggling to first learn Spanish, not that I've ever succeeded fully, but I read "The Little Prince" in Spanish, because it was so simple, and I could get the simple words and see them written of a book that I knew in English. I think your books will help in that same way in this environment.  Because my understanding, and I'm so curious to see the contrast between Latin America and Africa, but my understanding of Africa is just that even in the cities there is much more connectedness to nature and to the larger universe than the western world which is so focused on the material world and our television.  To have these books that speak of the sun and the moon and and raindrops and frogs, as children's books, as beginning places.  I believe it was in the Hebrew temples when they use to teach the children first to read the Koran, the Old Testament, they would put a drop of honey on their tongues, so that they connected it with a sweetness, a reward.  I think your books will have the same effect on these people who are learning to read for the first time in their own language, in Sierra Leone where they speak English.

Brian:  I agree.  What is amazing to me is that the books all end up rhyming, and it talks about the different lessons.  The raindrop talks about a raindrop that really believes that it is useless, has no use, no purpose at all.  It goes through an entire circular experience of going from feeling useless, to fear, to joy and back to understanding as the cloud ends up with the problem.  Every book ends the same way, it just felt the way it had to end up, it takes the main character, whether it's the raindrop or the sun and the moon, and it says, "And now before you go, there are a few things that the sun and moon and I would like you to know.  You are a great gift to the world.  You are loved every second of every day.  You are one with everything there is.  We are looking forward to seeing you soon.  Thank you for reading our story.  The Beginning."  The stories are really about humans.  It's just using inanimate objects to talk about the things that we experience in some point in our life.

Michael:  It sends a perfect message.  All the work I've done and all the places I've traveled, when people get that, that they might not be better than everyone, but they are no worse than everyone and that they are important, because they are an individual and there is no one else that is exactly like them.  When they really get that, nothing can stand in their way.  Because they develop a sense of trust in walking forward in life, rather than recoiling from it and living in fear and in uncdertainty.  What a great message.  And to connect that with early reading experiences and early schooling.  You're inspired, Brian.

Brian:  What's interesting is that the first group that we'll be talking with are the adults who have just learned basic reading, because even the adults are illiterate there.

Michael:  Exactly.  A lot of the immigrants I work with, if parents are able to read and write, they are doing well.  But the grandparents, if they have come usually aren't.  They miss out. If you can't read the yellow pages.  If you can't read the signs in a store.  If you call somebody on the phone and the message is in English, and you don't speak that language, you just miss out totally on the society around you.  If these people are just learning, it's a whole new world of possibitilities that is opening up to them. 

Brian:  Additionally one of the things I've just always been aware of is that if you really don't have the education, for so many people, they don't recognize what "sanitation" means, and what that can mean for them.  I think that our world is going to start changing.  It will not only elevate the ability to learn and get educated, but also to start to elevate the information that we've known for 100 years, and we really haven't worked on helping others to achieve that level that will help to cut down on the disease and to cut down on a number of things that are very prevalent in other areas of our world. 

Michael:  To be in the tropics of the world, like Ecuador, and to be mindful of where the mosquitoes are growing and it's growing in stagnant water, or the stagnant pool by the stream or if washing your hands can make a difference, or having the animals sleep outside the house.  Basic things that, as you say, in the United States and Europe, we've taken for granted for a centuray now, understanding of that and a practice of that can make such a difference.  You were telling me the other day when we were talking that someone had told you that Africa was really a doorway to the future in a lot of ways.

Brian:  Absolutely.

Michael:  And if you've got education and health in line in Africa, can you imagine how long it would take prosperity to follow.

Brian:  Absolutely.  Absolutely.  I've heard that by the year 2025, Africa will start to take off and in 100 years, it will be the continent.  It's probably very difficult for people listening to believe that, because Africa has been the continent that has been completely overlooked.  We think that it has no resources and it has no value. 

Michael:  It's the back door of Europe in so many ways.  It's just been either the dumping zone or the exploiting zone and kept in a place of chaos.  There are those who even believe that European secret services have kept the governments in positions of exploiting the people rather than helping the people so that they wouldn't be a threat.  If you had governments in place who had the people's interests put first, we don't want to go too much into politics, but when I heard Obama's speech the other night, I was touched by his vision of a future where people cared for each other.   If you have that in countries all over the world, if you have that in Africa, where the leaders care for the people, and the people care for each other and they are actually working together to make a difference, Africa's potential is untapped.

Brian:  That is exactly what the signpost of the Universal Flag stands for.  That is what the meaning really is.  It's just the recognition of our interdependence, the recognition of our oneness with everyone and everything.  Something that we don't teach, even in our country, is that what we think, what we act, what we are, helps create the entire world, whether we like that or not.

Michael:  It's true.  Again, when I work with people and they are able to get that, how powerful their thoughts are and how words are, and their expectations.  If you can change your expectations, if you're not focused on your fears, but rather focusing on your desires and your hopes, it makes such a difference.  I swear that the successes and the wonderful experiences my life has overflowed with are really just because I got that early on and have been able to switch my mind.  When I think of something that I don't want to have happen, I think of it once, and it won't.  When I focus on what I do want to have happen instead, 9 times out of 10, something like that or better manifests!

Brian:  (laughing)  I have a funny story for you.  When I first was considering going to Africa, I had a dream the very first night.  I was standing by a tree in a dark forest, and a big green snake was climbing in and out of the tree to get me in Africa, and a native came with a machete, and it looked like he was swinging it at me, but he swung right over my head and cut the snake in half.  Right after that, this lion came out of the woods and was going to eat somebody.  He didn't eat me, he ate the person next to me.  As I was telling one of my friends, my friend said, "Wow, that is a great dream, Brian.  Look at the protection.  You're being protected everywhere."  What a great perspective.  I had that all wrong.

Michael:  I think the symbolism is right there.  I think it's a matter of us knowing that we are going to do research and to do good work, and the Universe tends to take care of the fools and the well-intended.

Brian:  Mmhmm.

Michael:  And we might be both, I'm not sure, but (laughing)

Brian:  (laughing)

Michael:  I know that we're well-intended.  I tend to think that we'll be protected. 

Brian:  I know that we will be.  I know that we will be. 

Michael:  People are praying for it!  How can we not be?

Brian: (laughing)

Michael:  You're more enthusiastic and excited about what we're doing than I am, and I'm kind of overwhelming.  I've had this kind of bubbling-up sensation since it's been real clear that we're really going, just unbridled enthusiasm!

Brian:  I think that the people are in the same position over there.  I am sure it will be eye-opening.  I think that it probably will be a lot more sobering than I anticipate.  It will be a little bit more difficult than I anticipate, but none of that really concerns me because, in the end, it's what we can do to help others and to help us here.  You know, we are all in the same position.  Until you see something, until you have something in front of you that can be placed in front of you for your attention or for your ability to look at, there isn't a whole lot that you're going to do to help change that situation or even change your own thought process. 

Michael:  It's so true.  If we're able to see what life in Sierra Leone and Uganda from these many different perspectives and bring it back and translate it to other people, in a very engaging way, I think it will be very hard for people to change the channel after that, and hopefully what we are able to is just to shine more attention on to these countries and these people's transformation and that's what it's about.

Brian:  Well, Michael, it has been my pleasure to have you on this show.  I'm looking forward to having a great trip with you in Africa.  I'll see you next Thursday.

Michael:  Alright!