We each walk through this world and we form certain opinions about others based on their appearance, their trappings.

That person has a Rolex, they must be rich.
That person has sneaky eyes, they must be untrustworthy.
That person lives in a caravan park, they must be destitute.

These are judgements we have made based on very superficial factors.

The person with the Rolex might be bankrupt.
The person with sneaky eyes might have cataracts.
The person who lives in a caravan park might have millions in the bank.

The Camino is one of the few places I know where it’s very hard to make those kind of judgements, because there’s often very little to make judgements on, other than attitude and behaviour.

Most pilgrims don’t take expensive jewellery or watches on the Camino. Most pilgrims wear the same kind of hiking clothing. You can’t make judgements on them based on what car they drive, or what house they live in.

Often you meet a pilgrim and you have no clue if they’re a judge or a janitor.

The Camino, in that sense, induces a base level of status. Very few come to the Camino with their status on display. And if they do, often the Camino strips them of that status in very humbling ways.

That’s not to say pilgrims don’t immediately judge. They judge the “trueness” of the pilgrim, often by asking the seemingly innocent question: Where did you start?

That’s far from an innocent question.

If the pilgrim being asked that question states Pamplona, or Burgos, then the pilgrim asking the question, having walked from Le Puy or Seville, can puff themselves up a bit and think they are a “truer” pilgrim, whatever that means.

Of course, like any form of judgement, it’s based on ego, a need to feel superior, which in turn stems from lack of self worth, and ultimately fear.

Largely, and I say largely, the Camino is a leveller. People who, in their lives back home, might be famous, might be rich, might wield enormous power over others, sit down at communal tables, eat €10 pilgrims meals, and you’d never know.

And in the end, what does it matter? It’s who we truly are that matters, not what resources we might have accumulated elsewhere.

The Camino helps us find out who we really are…

At this time of the year, I start to think about how I should best use the next twelve months.

Being someone who has been self-employed since 1982, running a film production company, the decisions I make impact directly on my wife, my family, and my own personal and professional circumstances.

The times when I’ve made these decisions rationally, and based out of fear, have been the times when those years have been tough.

The times when I’ve made the decisions intuitively, and had the courage to follow through with those intuitive choices – well, things have worked out.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of how I can be in service to others.
And by that, I mean: what can I do that ultimately will matter? 

There’s a lot I could do that wouldn’t matter.
And it might well make me a lot of money.

But I’ve learned through hard experience that when I’ve gone down that path, often it hasn’t led to the financial rewards I was expecting, it’s only ever led to difficulties and disappointments.

I’ve learned that if I act in service, then the rewards will follow. And if they don’t, then that’s cool too – at least I’ve contributed something. At least I’ve done something that matters. 

And that’s reward enough for me.

To be in service doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do big things – service can lie in the little things that light up someone else’s life. It’s an energetic transaction.

The energy you get back is the pleasure from giving.

This coming year, think about being in service.
About doing what matters.
The rewards will be wonderful.

Crux de Ferro – Camino de Santiago

As followers of this blog know, at this time each year I do an audit of what I achieved this past year, pegged against what I said I wanted to achieve – and I set out what I hope to achieve the coming year.

How did I go? I did some, didn’t do some. Here’s what I wanted to achieve in 2018, and what I did achieve –

• PGS the movie will release globally and be a success.
  Yes it was released and yes it was / and is a success.
• Jennifer and I will travel and help market and promote the film.
  Yes, we traveled extensively, met some remarkable people, had many sell-out screenings.
• PGS the book will be published.
  Yes, I wrote and published PGS the book – an expansion on the film. It’s available here on Amazon – PGS the Book
• JOURNAL OF A JOURNEY – the book on the making of the film – will be published.
  NUP – didn’t get around to this one. The book is largely written – 120K words or so – it’s a big book – but it needs editing and this year I had other priorities.
• The first two PALACE OF FIRES books – INITIATE & UNHOLY – will be published by Penguin Random House to great commercial success!
  Yes – INITIATE was published in February, UNHOLY in September. INITIATE has gone into several reprints, and UNHOLY looks like it will go the same way. 
• I will complete and deliver the third in the PALACE OF FIRES series – BEAST – to Penguin Random House.
  Yes, I completed this on time – 104K words delivered by the end of October. It was a huge task to tie up all the narrative threads from the first two books, but BEAST promises to deliver a fitting (and suitably scary) ending to the trilogy.
• BUEN CAMINO, the feature film, will be cast and set for filming in 2019
  This didn’t happen, however the distributor in Australia, the sales company out of the US, and our co-producers in Spain now want me to make a film based on my Camino memoir, THE WAY, MY WAY, so I’ll be writing that this next year, and getting that off the ground.
• I will walk 3000kms from my front door to the end of the world.
  This didn’t happen either. I simply had no time, and quite frankly by the end of October when I was due to set off I was so knackered by the writing of BEAST, plus all the travel and stress of the earlier months, that I wasn’t able to do it. 

What do I have planned for this coming year – 2019?

• Continue the marketing and promotion of PGS the movie.
• Shift into the educational side of PGS, through workshops, and online training. 
• Write the screenplay of THE WAY, MY WAY – and begin casting and financing. 
• Complete the manuscript of the third in the Palace of Fires trilogy – BEAST.
• Penguin Random House will publish BEAST.
• I will write my next book, a thriller called Again, I Die.
• I will commence production on my theatrical feature documentary on fear. 

I’m not going to put my “Front Door” walk of 3,000kms on the list – if I have time, I’ll just do it. One day without any fuss I’ll simply walk out my front door. I would like to find the time, but I need about 4 months. 

I have interest from the Adult Commercial Fiction division of Penguin Random House for Again, I Die. They loved my treatment and now they want me to submit what’s called a “partial” – some chapters for them to consider. The pitch for Again, I Die is a cracker. 

Once again there’s a lot on my plate for this coming year, but I’m actually going to focus on doing one thing at a time, doing it as best I can, and finding time in amongst it all to relax, and think about things. 

My health this year is going to be a priority. 

How about a Christmas gift that could change someone’s life?

Seriously. 

So many people have told us that our movie, PGS – Intuition is your Personal Guidance System, has changed their lives. What better last minute gift for Christmas!

It’s either US$5.99 for a two day rental, or US$16.99 for unlimited streaming – so it’s not going to break the bank. Just go onto the movie’s website – http://www.pgsthemovie.com – and follow the instructions. 

If you’ve already bought the movie for yourself, you’re going to have to clear your cookies to access the rent/buy page. If you have any trouble, just contact us at support@pgsthemovie.com

And have a great Christmas / New Year holiday. 

Bill & Jennifer 

I’ve been screening my film PGS theatrically for the past twelve months, both in the US and Australia. And at almost every screening someone – sometimes more than one person – steps forward and tells me their own personal story about how a voice saved their life.

It happened the other night at a screening in Leichhardt, in Sydney. During the Q&A the photographer covering the event regaled the audience with an account of a voice that yelled at him while he was driving – he did exactly what the voice told him to do – and lives were saved. 

I now want to share with you an email I got from a lady named Lynne, who contacted me to tell me her story – and more. 

By the way, before I do that, remember that the movie goes on sale online on November 1st, off the film’s website – http://www.pgsthemovie.com

Here is a 45sec trailer – please feel free to download it and share it – we want to get this film out wide!  https://vimeo.com/296858942

Here now is part of the email that Lynne has given me permission to share:

Thought I’d quickly let you know I am another one of those people who has had a similar experience to you. I can’t remember the year now, it was early 2000s in Brisbane, driving down Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley early in the evening. I had a voice yell at me “Put the brake on NOW!!! Put the brake on NOW!!!” It was a voice, definitely not a thought.

Shocked, I immediately obeyed and as I did a man lurched from in front of a parked car on the side of the road. He was drunk or on drugs, totally out of it. I had already slowed down and now I really hit the brakes. If I hadn’t listened and acted I would have run him down and more than likely killed him. As the scene played out, I am thinking what the f…. is going on here.

Around about the same time I started having some precognitive dreams, some of which were profound, most mundane as well as other ‘noetic abilities’. This ‘noetic ability’ term I have since learned from IONs, – Institute of Noetic Sciences – with noetic meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, or subjective understanding. Since then I have been on a path of trying to figure out what it’s all about. Along the way, I have learned that it takes time to discern who you can learn from.

Even though I haven’t read your book or watched your movie yet, I have just watched your youtube video with Michael Sandler and I really relate to what you say. Another thing that I have learned along the way is the difficulty in sharing such noetic experiences with others, as many are quick to judge and put you in the strange or loony category. 

So, the reason for telling you this is that I firmly believe we are coming to a point of our evolution (individual and collective) where there is the opportunity to raise awareness about such noetic things so that they become a recognised, validated and accepted part of life and that they are tools to get us to through to the next stage of evolution. And it is for this reason I really want to THANK YOU for the work you have done and are continuing to do creating such awareness. It is so needed and you evidently have the great practical skills to deliver it. Good upon you!