Whole

Table of Contents

Introduction 2023

Preface

Introduction

1 Whole - A Homecoming

2 Value

3 Rejoice in the Now

4 The Value of Being Judgmental

5 The Point of Constancy

6 Running Patterns, Routines and Habits

7 When Money Defines Who You Are

8 What Are You Invested/Investing in?

9 Your Place In the World

10 Reaction

11 The Power of Your Word

12 Inspiration and Vision

13 Going with the Flow

14 The Nature of You

15 Detachment

16 Transformation Begins

17 The Value and Understanding of Cycles

18 But Life Gets in the Way!

19 The Side Effects of Belief Change

20 The True Reality of Connectedness

21 Belief in Conditions and Conditional Belief

22 Inspiration

23 The Process of Life-Long Learning: Teachers, Masters and Discernment

24 Discernment

25 Persuasion and Belief

26 Who Turned Out The Light?

27 The Matter of Matter

28 Time Out

29 What is Your Story?

30 Determination

31 The Power of the Unseen

32 The Dynamic of Changing Beliefs

33 Taking Joy in the Unknown

34 Empathy

35 Gratitude

36 Stewardship

37 Moral Justice

38 Listen Here

39 Temporary and Transformation

40 Purpose

41 About the Author

I ntroduction 2023

It was the end of September 2012. I had spent the summer of that year working with Allison Brewster Franzetti, the editor of WHOLE, to make sure the book would make the publication deadline of Monday October 15 th , 2012.  But, on October 2 of that year everything would change. No matter how prescient I thought I was I didn't see it coming. Not only would it blow out the Author’s Bio that was to go out with the book, it would literally blow out my life.

WHOLE as you will read in the preface was the result of a professional wake up call. Now I was faced with a deeply personal wakeup call- one that traversed the territories of unimaginable deep grief, financial and material loss, and what would amount to an identity crisis.

I had once received a greeting card comparing life’s great challenges to what happens when rose bushes are pruned- that they come back fuller and even more beautiful. This was it; I was being pruned back to the root it seemed.

There are things you think you need in life to be happy. The beliefs about what I thought those things were started pretty early. I now think of it as the training delivered by one generation’s ego to the next generation’s ego. While I considered myself a spiritual person and even a metaphysician, I didn't realize that I had lost that deeper connection to what I consider to be real and true in favor of an ego-driven life of acquisition, proving my worth and painting the perfect picture.  I was soon to discover that the life I created lacked a greater purpose and was completely unsustainable. When the investment in the outer world becomes more important than the investment in the inner well-being, more goes out than comes in and I was running a huge deficit- emotionally, physically and financially. Not only that, I was so driven that I barely noticed what was going on around me in the present. Something had to give, or I would be lost forever. Sometimes the worst circumstances in life turn out to be a remarkable gift that facilitates a course correction.

That summer of 2012, I was living in the Midwest in a beautiful house on a lake where I had moved in 2006 to preserve my relationship when my partner of 14 years decided he needed to quit Los Angeles to move back to where he grew up. My business in the entertainment industry was still based in LA, which saw me commuting back and forth every two weeks for six years from the rented house we once shared in LA to the house we now owned in Western Illinois. When I first decided to make the move, my mother who much to my consternation over the years seemed to always be right in her prognostication over major decisions in my life, said Mark my words, (she usually began that way), this will never work. He will meet someone while you are in Los Angeles and that will be the end of it. I might add that while experience should have been the best teacher, I never listened, and I did not at that time either. She was, once again, right.

Three years prior, my mother had died, and I was just beginning that summer to find my feet again. While challenging, things seemed to be picture perfect to me. Denial can be one powerful force. What I didn’t realize while I was standing in the middle of my road of life, was that a truck was barreling down it and I was about to be hit from behind- you never do know what hits you when it comes from behind.

The night of October 2, my partner returned from helping a mutual friend in Los Angeles move. Earlier that week by he said, We have to talk. I thought he might be facing some issue in his own life and wanted to talk about it then, but he said it would be better to talk about it in person. It was a very awkward 45-minute drive from the airport to the house because he didn't bring it up. It was late and as he got settled, I decided to head to bed. Our two dogs followed me into the bedroom. I slid under the covers and as the wind from the lake blew against the windows, I felt a strange chill. He walked into the bedroom. The relationship is over. There is nothing you can say or do. There is no going to therapy. It’s done. I’ll be sleeping in the guest room. Blunt. Final. Twenty years- just like that. But in my head, I heard It’s ok, you are being set free. But after I heard that I went into some sort of shock. It was a body blow. Then he said- Oh and by the way, I am going to date. A note here- it was Facebook that proved my mother correct.  It wasn’t that he was going to date, he was already in a new relationship and mutual acquaintances who were friends on Facebook had posted pictures of them together. Ouch.

The next day I was to give a keynote at a conference in New York. I didn't have a choice. I had to center myself and go. As the plane circled Newark airport, the shock wore off and the grief began. Who knew that sadness could change to fury and back in less than a minute? And there was so much that would have to be done from division of property to moving back to LA, it was completely overwhelming. I made the decision to not go back to Illinois right away but to go to my father’s house in New Jersey. It was not even five days after the break-up when my ex-partner called to tell me that our golden retriever had a cancerous tumor on his heart and that he had to be put down the next day. That truck came from the other direction. Seven days until WHOLE would be released. Completely broken, I was anything but WHOLE.

A week later, complete with the happy author’s bio you see below, WHOLE was released.  Close friends, and you really do know who your friends are when times are rough, were reading the book and when we’d talk about what I was going through they’d say- You should read Chapter 10, or Go read Chapter 39. Some even had the nerve to quote appropriate passages to me. Imagine that! Finally, Maura Dunbar, a dear friend who you’ll read about in the preface said, "You know, this book didn't come from you, it came for you." And she was correct. It was as if some future me, or the universe or some spirit guides wrote the perfect book to help me navigate the new reality.

So, 11 years on where am I? Well, when I returned to live full time in Los Angeles it was a great relief. Friends and family were available for me to lean on and my sister who passed away in February of 2020 was the strongest source of support and guidance. I took three years to reestablish my relationship with myself and to ascertain what wonderful lessons I had learned as I came back to life. I was a lot stronger than I ever knew. A wonderful pastor lived down the road from me in Illinois. We were supposed to meet to discuss writing together the next morning after the breakup. He came over anyway. I will be forever grateful to Lee Bezotte for being there for me, praying with me and letting me cry. He said something that has remained with me since- When you come through this and reach the other side you will be stronger and you will be able to help others, you’ll see. I now remember this whenever the road gets bumpy. That sharing my experiences and my story may serve to help someone.

The end of the relationship gave me the opportunity to clear my life of things, people and old beliefs that ran me. I also remember saying to God Listen, if I am meant to go through this life alone, I am ok with that. But I’m certainly open to meeting someone. In April of 2015, I met a remarkable human being. My thought five years on- Oh, THIS is what a healthy relationship is. My ex had said in the days after the break-up that I would probably be the one that would end up better off. I don't know that that is true but on the 7 th anniversary of the breakup I sent a sincere Thank you for leaving me text. It was one of the worst best things that ever happened in my life. Oh, and Pastor Lee- he was right as well.

I have followed the advice of friends and my own inner guidance to read WHOLE from time to time and I find it is still relevant. Each read seems to land differently. I used to think that once I read a book I was done. But this has led me to go back and read other books that inspired me the first time around and they continue to do so.

The opening lines of WHOLE are:

To know whole in the duality of your reality, you must know broken. To know broken is to recognize that you are, always have been, and always will be WHOLE.

I’m feel I am living proof of that.

Original Author’s Bio from 2012

Brian Seth Hurst was not in his university’s philosophy class the day that metaphysics was defined. Little did he know that the discovery of what was beyond what one can see would be a lifelong avocation. Balancing the study if life with the business of life has led Brian to characterize himself as a metapractical man. A well-regarded entertainment professional in the digital arena he has been at the forefront of innovation serving as CEO of The Opportunity Management Company. Brian’s last literary adventure was a co-author with Olivia Newton-John of the best-selling children’s book A Pig Tale. He spends his time working in Los Angeles and living in The Middle of Nowhere, IL about 12 miles south of the Mississippi with his partner of 20 years Tom and their two dogs.

P reface

Give us 30 days. Be available to write each day, and at the end of 30 days you will have a book. The name of the book is ‘WHOLE.’ This is how my journey with this book began. I was quietly sitting in a gate area at the Moline airport, waiting for my flight to be called, as I was headed back to Los Angeles.

The day before had brought a huge disappointment. A project to which I had dedicated a year and a half was not going to happen. The circumstances of the collapse really didn't matter. I was a mass of emotions, but I knew the best thing I could do was give myself a mourning period, during which time I would allow myself to experience the loss and then move on. I told myself, Brian, you have 24 hours - go for it.

And I did.

As a consequence of our modern world, I had been notified of the end by email. It was the tech-entertainment industry's version of a Dear John letter, which has more or less become de rigueur. I forwarded the email to my dear friend, Maura Dunbar, and called my significant other of 20 years, Tom, at work to tell him what happened. I really didn’t want to talk about it, so I delivered the news and said I would see him later.

Maura replied by email, I know you are disappointed, but it's time for you to write two books. One is a spiritual book and the other a business one about the future of storytelling and entertainment, which you know so well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought. Later that afternoon, Tom returned home. He said, I don't know what to say, but I'll tell you this. Everything will be fine. And there are two books you should now write. One is a spiritual book and the other a business book." He and Maura had not spoken to each other about this.

Twenty-eight years ago, I had what can best be described as a spiritual awakening. I would not call it a religious experience but, rather, a homecoming. During that time I learned to be in touch with a deeper part of myself, a deeper knowing. I found use for the intuition I had always had as a child, and I learned to trust it more. I did a lot of soul searching, a lot of reading and a lot of traveling, including an amazing trip to Israel filled with peak moments and revelations. I began to keep a journal at that time and would find myself more or less taking dictation from what seemed to be another source other than my mind - a separate voice. The writing was always in response to the circumstances I was facing at the time. It was peaceful guidance and wisdom that always provided perspective. This was daily practice for a number of years, but as time went on and all the areas of life and striving got in the way, the contact became less and less.

That morning in the airport, after a day of surrender to my feelings, the voice was back. And I decided to listen.

For the next 30 days, I made myself available to the writing. I didn't try, I literally just allowed. Yet, each day I wondered want would come through. What would the next chapter be? How could the book be finished in 30 days? How would it be published, and who would care? I was assured that all would be fine and to just keep on. There was no set schedule. In those first days, it happened very early in the morning. Then, as I continued, I’d write late at night. I could sense when it, or I, was ready. I would feel this buildup and start to hear the subject matter or the title of the chapter. More often than not, it would come when I was on my daily four-mile walks. And, just as I am writing this now on my iPhone during my walk, large sections of the book were written on my iPhone, along with my iPad during the day and my laptop in the office.

During the writing, I found myself engaging in conversation and even arguing with the source of the material. It was the strangest sensation in that, while the writing continued, so did the conversation. Assurances, and what I would call reasonable explanations for the subject matter and the style of writing, were given. I got the feeling that you, as the reader, might have questions similar to the ones I had, and that somehow those questions would be answered, if not by the book, then by you, as you respond or react to what is written.

When it came to the title, WHOLE, it made perfect sense to me as it relates to my own journey. I have had so many identities in my life, some defined by me, and many defined by others. And, of course, at times I have let life define me or have been defined by the things I have created, done or had, or events that have happened to me - job, family, possessions, deaths, illness, sexuality, friendships, organizations, and even where I lived. Though, on some level, I knew I was large enough to hold all of it, it was more often that I felt divided and separated from myself, from others, and from my spirit. When the title was delivered, I knew the subject matter would be relevant for me. I am hoping it will be for you as well, hoping that, somehow, this work will allow you to bring all the pieces together, and that the content will facilitate a return to an affirmation of the Self. Even while editing the book, I got something different out of each reading and a different perspective on the aspects of my choices and my life. And, as is written in the book, the words seem to create an energy, which I feel when I am reading it.

I know myself well enough to know I needed to be held to a schedule,