Educator, minister, musician, author, poet combines his wisdom with that of others – Monterey Herald

Rick Moss is cool, calm, collected, peaceful, even. And he got there thanks to a broad upbringing that taught him to focus on what really matters.

His new book, “Drops of Wisdom,” an accumulation of the messages that informed much of his upbringing and perspective, might just be all we need to pull through.

Moss started his adult life going to Antioch College, a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, planning to save the world and thinking he could do it through political science. In his first class, he decided that was not possible, so he changed his major to something that could inspire him: theater and film.

Yet after graduating, Moss, a songwriter who had started doing radio shows, hoped to expand his opportunities while he waited to find out if he had been hired by Young and Rubicon, the famous advertising and marketing company. from New York. But when a friend told him that everything of value happened, not in New York but in Mallorca, he believed him and left.

Within three months, Moss had become a teacher of Transcendental Meditation, which he eventually taught in Carmel and Pacific Grove, where he ran the Transcendental Meditation Center.

Moss went on to earn his Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from Maharishi International University, through which he studied 17 different disciplines from the perspective of the Laws of Consciousness. Yet, it wasn’t until he pursued his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Texas at Austin, during the development of his dissertation on “Education and Consciousness,” that he began to modify his ideas of thought and truth based on the wisdom of others.

“It’s actually a cool little story,” he said, “in that when I was doing my thesis, I came across so many wise and beautiful quotes from other people that I started to keep a record of it. Until I graduated in 1980, I had been a full-time mediator in the TM world. Yet I began to learn from others that what I fervently believed and taught, that all one had to do was transcend and everything in life would improve, was not really true. .

Each of the quotes Moss collected, from some 260 people over the years, informed his new book, “Drops of Wisdom,” published by Diamond Light Press, via Amazon, in April.

“Throughout the book we hear the wisdom of so many people,” he said, “and then there’s me; I also quote myself from what I learned. I knew I had to speak this truth in order to learn it myself. I didn’t know it until it came out of my mouth.

These are the kinds of messages, says Moss, that invite us to stop, ponder, ponder, and even shift our perspective. These ideas seem so simple but change us as we read as each one fills our cup. And so we drink.

“Your task is not to search for love but simply to search and find all the barriers within you that you have built against it.” ~ Rumi

“Every quote I’ve included is so powerful,” Moss said. “Essentially, they tell you, in just a few lines, why you’re not in the romantic relationship you’re looking for, in any form.”

Clearing the path to enlightenment

Although Rick Moss recently moved to Florida for love — the rekindling of a high school romance — he spent more than 20 years on the Monterey Peninsula, during which time he served Pacific Coast Church as a facilitator of healing and minister of prayer.

During this time, he completed his life training by joining Breakthrough for Men, a non-profit organization founded by community leader and teacher Fred Jealous in 1987, to provide men with the skills to help them break free from unproductive, painful or abusive issues. aspects of their life. Over time, Moss became a breakthrough facilitator, devoting 15 years to guiding and learning from others. His book is consistent with the wisdom presented in the program.

“In addition to giving us clear and accessible information about the roots of wisdom,” Jealous said, “Dr. Moss has skillfully and wisely opened many doors that will allow us to discover more of our own wisdom as well as that of the masters.

“I was expecting a self-help book that reflects well on the process and journey of the reader. This is a book of beautiful, useful, and inspiring bridges to enlightenment.

“Drops of Wisdom,” which has been called a “poetic narrative,” is the culmination of years of training, exploration, and living, says Moss, by those who have understood at least part of the puzzle we call life.

“I hope this book speaks as much to the heart as it does to the head,” Moss said. “Each chapter ends with a piece designed to bind it to the senses, a poem whose essence is summed up in just four or five lines, so that it stays with you.”

“Drops of Wisdom” is available from River House Books at The Crossroads Carmel.