An interview with Mike Dooley with an excerpt from his new book

Mike Dooley

Mike Dooley’s new book, Life on Earth: Understanding Who We Are, How We Got Here, and What May Lie Ahead was just released in November 2016 by HayHouse.

Mike is the founder of a philosophical Adventurers Club called TUT that’s now home to over 500,000 members from over 182 countries.

His inspirational books have been published in 25 languages and he was one of the featured teachers in the international phenomenon, The Secret.

Today Mike is best known for his free Notes from the Universe e-mailings and his New York Times bestsellers Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams and Leveraging the Universe: 7 Steps to Engaging Life’s Magic. Find out more at tut.com.

Q: Your book title is Life on Earth: Understanding Who We Are, How We Got Here, and What May Lie Ahead. So, who are we, how did we get here, and what does lie ahead?

We are eternal, spiritual beings, on earth by choice, at an early ebb in the spiritual evolution of our kind. We each chose to be exactly who we now are, possessing the dreams we now have and the challenges we presently face, for the reasons of learning and joy. Among the things we wanted to understand: love is a given, not an option; our thoughts are the key to living the life of our wildest dreams; and no matter how things appear, our eternal salvation is ensured. Accordingly, what lies ahead is what we choose.

Q: What is the ultimate reason for life on earth?

To be who we have now chosen to be, for the fun of it, for the love of it. To explore reality as the unknown creators we are. And every step of the way we will expand the infinite nature of God.

Q: What is the biggest misunderstanding people have about life?

Too many people, almost everyone, thinks either life is a test or it’s an accident – neither scenario is empowering; to the contrary, both are defeatist. The majority of people, so far, simply don’t think for themselves, so I give readers the tools to do so and invite them to look within for the answers that will set them free to live deliberately and create consciously.

Q: You talk about the illusions of time and space—what are they and how can we see through them?

They are the props that set the stage for our lives, making it possible to fleetingly believe in the exotic and thrilling lies of “have” versus “have not,” here versus there, now versus then, all to inspire passion and desire, sending us into motion, from which we can play out our dramas, fall in love, be loved, and learn who we are.

Seeing through the illusions means understanding that they are illusions, more than transcending them. Not walking on water, but finally understanding that what we dwell upon, speak about, and move with is further drawn into our lives.

Grasping that we have power over the illusions; “dominion over all things.” Those we don’t like, we can change. Those we love, we can make more of.

Q: Why does life feel so challenging sometimes? So confusing? So scary?

Because we don’t know the truth about who we are, where we are, why we are, and what can come next—the whole point of this book.

Q: How can this book help someone who is feeling stuck?

It will help them to seize each day before them and no longer refrain from giving their power away to fate, whimsy, or a God who supposedly picks and chooses who gets what and when.

Q: How can we make the most of our time on earth?

By following our hearts, using our minds, and enjoying the journey.

From Life on Earth
I’ve lived my life through questions. Asking about almost everything—aliens, UFOs, yetis, ghosts, the pyramids, time travel, God, hypnosis, and mind-power—but mostly questions like What the hell are we doing here? And then everyone dies? Gone forever? Why bother? What’s the point? To be tested, judged, and sentenced?

And my questions . . . get answered. Wisely. Really wisely. Used to scare me. In the beginning, I didn’t know how they were answered, when, or by whom. Years later, well into the phenomenon, it dawned on me to ask that question too. And, yeah, I was answered. More on that in a bit.

To this day, my “knowingness” usually arrives invisibly, unannounced, somewhere in the span of weeks or months after I first pose the question; when necessary, I can expect and get an answer while I wait, same day.

Some folks see dead people, others go out-of-body, and I . . . I get answers. Admittedly this “gift” might not sound as impressive as meeting Beethoven, hypothetically, or soaring through time and space like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, but at my age, already having had the chance to ask pretty much all of my most profound and piercing questions, I can tell you, it’s damn cool. I’d even choose it over meeting Beethoven and time travel.

For example, I ask, “What the hell are we here for?”

And I get the answer:

You are eternal, spiritual beings, on earth by choice, at an early ebb in the spiritual evolution of your kind. You each chose to be exactly who you now are, possessing the dreams you now have and the challenges you presently face, for the reasons of learning and joy. Among the things you wanted to understand: love is a given, not an option; your thoughts hold the key to living the life of your wildest dreams; and no matter how things appear, your eternal salvation is ensured.

See? You should try it. Some call it automatic writing, except for me it’s not so automatic. And I rarely write any of it down, unless it’s in my journal, in which case I usually sit long hours after scribbling a question, staring at blank pages, waiting for a reply. But when it arrives, shiver-me-timbers, suddenly where there was once confusion, there’s clarity, and sometimes, it’s so good I laugh out loud.

As you awaken to the truths summoned by your questions and the reasons you chose this lifetime, you’ll move on to new and presently unimaginable heights of peace, fulfillment, and joy. You are ultimately destined to discover your power and accept its responsibilities, but how and when you achieve these, in this incarnation or the future, is what makes each lifetime the greatest adventure of all. Similarly, the deciding factor in whether or not you and your civilization will succeed this time is the rate at which you choose to open your hearts and minds to embrace your spiritual nature.
In the meantime, every day you’re pushed on to greatness, inclined to succeed, on a conscious planet, with inner default settings of abundance, health, happiness, and the ability to manifest whatever your heart may ever desire.

For a very long time, I preferred thinking it was my journal that answered me, and I absolved myself of all responsibility for what it said. Turns out, the ideas received come from my higher or greater self. A thought that’s more new age-y than I like.

Some might call it soul-writing, but that’s more religious than I like. Apparently, as was just mentioned and as you’ll see again throughout the coming pages, there’s another part of us that chose to be here, a part that existed prior to our birth and will live beyond our death. And this other part is very much like us, including our personalities. But just as we chose to be here, we also chose to forget where and who we were before we arrived, so that we could be more fully present as who we’ve now chosen to be! Actually, I think this makes a lot of sense. It means that there is the Mike Dooley I know myself to be and the Pre–Mike Dooley that I know not of, who is still me but with a far greater remembrance of all things. Hence the terminology higher or greater self, or the perhaps relevant comparison of that part of me to my soul.

These days, I don’t think it really matters where the answers come from. It’s kind of like having a cosmic ATM that keeps dispensing free spiritual currency. Would anyone really care where “it” came from as long as no one was hurt, misled, or shortchanged? As long as the “money” was always put to good use? As long as it never failed? Right?

What Is Truth, Anyway?
Overall, big picture, the coolest thing I’ve learned from this process, which probably won’t seem very cool to you at first, is that there is a singular, benign truth to all things, including life on earth; this truth is attainable, absolute, and objective, and finding it will always afford you maximum leverage on creating major changes in your life. If, indeed, you’re someone who has any interest in shaping your future, nothing else matters as much as knowing what the truth is concerning your situation and how life really works. Relevant truths can spontaneously heal and restore, calm and inspire, and help you to laugh more and worry less. Seeking them, however, like creating change itself, is purely optional.

I’ve sought such truths—as you must have if this book is in your hands—in every area of my life, and in so doing, I’ve discovered who I am, why I’m here, and all that I’m truly capable of doing, having, and being. And the insights, tricks of perception, and handle on life that have brought me so much can bring you the same.

To my great relief, several characteristics have been shared by all the answers I’ve received. They’ve always been logical and intuitive, to the degree I can readily evidence their existence in my earlier life experiences. Fine for me, right? You’d expect as much, eh, drinking my own Kool-Aid, as it were, so let me objectify what I mean. The answers I’ve received have further passed what I now refer to as my Beauty-Power-Inclusive Litmus Test. They all:

1. Speak of life’s beauty, or
2. of our magnificent power, while
3. leaving no one, under any circumstances, behind.

Pretty simple, huh? Can you beat logical, intuitive, beautiful, powerful, and inclusive for determining legitimacy? Seriously?

Besides, why would life on earth be hard to figure out? Wouldn’t you expect that there are clear answers to your questions, available and knowable by all, that could help people live and love their lives? Why wouldn’t they be obvious? These are not rhetorical questions; please suss them out for yourself.

Now, of course, you don’t need me or anyone else to tell you the truth about life on earth; you can figure it out yourself. And so could you learn to sing like Michael Bublé, spin yarns like J. K. Rowling, play tennis like Roger Federer, or create an empire like Oprah Winfrey, right? Not that what Roger is to tennis, I am to truth; knowing the truth about life is fantastically easier than winning international tennis championships! It’s just that my life and bliss have led me to a path of shining a light into darkness.