Charlois

This, the first of the Charlois Book Reviews, will cover a book that has yet to be released to the public.  Due to be released on June 11^th, 2022, “The Charlois Manifesto, a practical philosophy for living an abundant life,” will be the first of a series of foundational documents of the Charlois Philosophy.  Written by Robert A. Charlois III and team it is a short treatise, less than 100 pages, outlining what we believe are some key issues for living an abundant life.

This booklet consists of a preface, introduction, and four mini-books.  These mini-books comprise the body of the work and cover principles, roles, action plans, and vision of the Charlois Philosophy.

Book one of the mini-books covers thirteen principles that if followed will lead a person to be the best version of the person they were created to be, thus an abundant life.  These cover the gamut of universal interconnectedness, through continual self-improvement, and back to reunification with the whole.

Book two discusses the roles that all humans must fill in order to be complete beings.  While we need to find a somewhat balanced state between these roles there are occasions when it is necessary to focus on just one in order to bring it back in sync.

Book three is the action plan of the philosophy.  It covers how we feel we can best live out the beliefs of this movement in the local arena.  While it serves as a blueprint it should be noted that how each person lives these principles and roles is an individual matter.

Finally, book four is the vision.  It is by having a vision of where we see this going that we may attain some semblance of our goal; the betterment of our species and the world in which we live.

Well, it has been quite a journey, from March, 2015, when it was decided that I would no longer be serving as pastor of the Concord / Neave churches, to today where I am living the “abundant life.”  With the former, I began a decline into the world of identity crises; with the current I am beginning to come to realize what true abundance is.  While on this journey I have learned some valuable lessons.

Unquestionably the most valuable of these lessons is that if we want to live abundant lives, we must remain true to self.  For twenty-six years I served in various ministry roles within the United Methodist Church.  Being a person with a pastor’s heart it was easy to equate doing these ministries to being who I was.  Little did I realize that the little sacrifices I had to make in order to stay within the parameters of church doctrine were eating away at my life satisfaction.

I am not saying that I was unhappy, in fact some of the happiest times of my life were doing ministry within the church.  But happiness does not equal life satisfaction.  In order to live a fulfilled life, we need to be doing that which is at our core of being.  For me that is helping people find out who they were created to be and living that life, regardless of what others might say, and they say a lot.

Even before our birth we are receiving input as to the way things should be.  Throughout our lives we are given guidance as to which direction our lives should take, often times without regard to our desires.  Granted, most of the time these nudges are out of love and with the best of intentions, but they do little to satisfy the soul.  Only a calling from God has that power, and when we receive such a calling it is unmistakable, but not easy to follow.

So go, discover who you are at the center of your being, and live out of that truth.

The road to true life satisfaction is rarely an easy one.  We are given all kinds of challenges to overcome and lessons to learn, however by overcoming these struggles we appreciate the results more fully.  That is a lesson I have learned after these many years.  I now savor the simple things of life and in their abundance, I find contentment.  That is one of the keys to abundant living.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; now and forever.  God bless.

Robert A. Charlois III

Greetings.  Over the next little while I’ll be writing “Charlois Foundations.”  These will be thoughts and concepts that serve as the core beliefs of the Charlois Philosophy.

At the heart of Charlois is the concept of God, creation, and the interconnectedness of all that is.  As I mentioned in Saturday’s Pastoral Reflection, everything begins with God.  Different faith traditions have their unique way of viewing God, but for our purposes we define God as all that exists: matter, energy, and yes, even a consciousness.  In other words, God has three components: body, spirit or mind, and personality.

Creation, much like God has three parts also: body, spirit or mind, and an individual personality.  The reason for this is that in the beginning, God took of itself a portion of its existence and separated it into various entities, physical aspects; then for some of these entities He breathed into it, life or spirit, beginning a process of vibration or living energy.  Finally, some of His consciousness bled over into some of these beings and became, “Adam,” or humankind.

Since everything that exists comes from the same source, God, we are therefore all interconnected.  It is our belief that being the situation, our functionality is dependent on all parts working together for the good of all.  Which is the manner, at the most basic level, that creation functions.  There is a life to all things that when in balance is self sustaining.  It is when things get out of balance that the macrocosm suffers.  When things work together the way they were created to then the organism flourishes, providing an abundance of everything necessary for survival.

The concept of Charlois is an intention to be a way for all the parts to become the best version of what they were created to be and then, out of the abundance generated, to share with the rest of creation so it can thrive as well.

This is a basic description of our belief.  We will cover more as time goes on but this should help people to understand one of the foundational concepts.

We look forward to hearing from you, so be sure and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Have a glorious day.

Robert A. Charlois III

Genesis 1:1;  “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,”.

This verse, which marks the beginning of the Judeo-Christian bible, is a thought that is central to most of the worlds religious faiths.  The idea that, in the beginning there was nothing but God, and out of that, “nothingness,” God created everything that is.  We can deduct that if there was nothing but God, and He created all that is, then we, creation, must come from Him.

The Charlois Philosophy is not a religion, it is however based on “faith.”  In his book, “Man’s Search For Meaning,” Victor Frankl speaks of the idea of, at the core of our being, man needs meaning and purpose in his life to thrive, actually to even survive the hardships that life brings.  Belief in a beginning and a Higher Power that created it all, we believe is essential to finding that meaning and purpose.

The Charlois Philosophy hopes to combine the best of all of the worlds “Faith traditions,” and produce a system that helps people become the best that they were created to be.  Through that journey, we have found that a life of abundance is a natural by-product of the effort we put into the journey.

“I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV  When we were created, we were created with a purpose in mind.  We believe God created all that is for the purpose of being an interconnected whole, intended to function as such for the good of that whole.  Therefore, by becoming what we were created to be, living abundantly, and sharing that abundance with the rest of creation; we are in essence fulfilling our purpose, which gives meaning to our life.

So come and join us on this journey.  Although we may not always get it right, our intention is to help all of us to reach our highest potential.  We believe that is possible if we make use of the parts of this philosophy that resonates with us individually.  Take part and enjoy, for we are all in this universe together.

May God bless you and keep you, Amen.

Pastor Yancy

Greetings, and welcome to the charloisphilosophy.org website, home of the How to live abundantly blog.

The Charlois Philosophy is being developed by myself, in my many personas.  Intended to be a practical philosophy that helps people to live the abundant lives they desire.  We, as a species, want to be happy, to have the things we desire.  However, many of us don’t know how to live an abundant life.  That is one of the goals of the philosophy and this website and blog.  There will be another piece, The Charlois Manifesto, which is a book outlining the major feature of everything Charlois.  More about that book in another post. 

Over the coming future, we will be writing about many things, all geared toward helping us to be the best versions of ourselves.  We believe that when we are the best, we can be we naturally attract good into our lives.  The universe is filled with an abundance of such things and there is no scarcity of what is available.  So, let’s get into the format of these posts.

The plan is to publish, at least once per day, Monday through Saturday, with an occasional Sunday edition.  For the most part, we will follow the following editorial calendar.

Mondays will be focused on things like concepts, principles, and such; giving a basic understanding of what it means to be our best.

Tuesdays and Thursdays will be The Charlois Life segment, where we will take a typical day and reflect on it through the lens of this philosophy.

Wednesdays will usually cover administrative posts, keeping the community informed as to what is occurring in the Charlois world.

Friday is a chance to be exposed to literature that has the ability to improve our lives.  This segment is called The Charlois book review.

Saturday will be Pastor Yancy’s chance to reflect on spiritual issues.  While philosophy is not a religion it does have a connection to the spiritual realm.

Finally, Sundays are meant to be a day of rest and therefore posts on this day will be limited.

We hope that these posts will assist you on your journey and that through that journey you experience abundance.  This website and blog is an evolving organism and as such depends on the participation of the readership.  Feel free to comment and make suggestions since it is only through your input that we can make this the best it can be.

Again, welcome, we hope your visit is a pleasant one.

Robert A. Charlois III