The Author: RH "Bob" Martin
Bob's story is not a common one. He has had a diverse career and spiritual journey, including being a football player, prosecutor, social worker, therapist, and mindfulness teacher. He has also been a columnist and happiness coach, as well as exploring different religions such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity.
The anecdotes and experiences he has at his fingertips add color and excitement to the journey of this book.
The person who follows the way of Jesus or the Tao will live a practical, productive, meaningful, and contented life. Bob knows this to be true because this has been his journey. He is a 70+-year-old cheerful man. He enjoys close relationships with his second wife, his children, and her children.
He has had his share of trauma and battled his demons. Bob grew up selling cotton candy and hot dogs in amusement parks. His parents were Eastern European immigrants from Hungarian royalty on one side and Roma Gypsy on the other. The Bolsheviks slaughtered the royals, and, well, everybody slaughtered the Romas. So, his parents concluded that there could not be a God, and his family was atheist.
Even so, his father required him to attend children's Sunday School because "We are Americans, and you must know the Bible stories.” Bob thought Old Testament stories were like fairy tales, but Jesus' unconditional love amazed him and he never forgot it. He was a chubby boy, bullied by boys and laughed at by girls. His parents were all business and not very affectionate. He never developed a sense of "hometown" as the family traveled so much. He could have gone under.
A profound belief that someone or something loves him somewhere out there strengthened him then and steels him now. That feeling of being loved leads him to know, as much as anyone can understand, that the universe's energy is good. Bob knows this because he feels it in those moments of stillness, in those rare moments when he forgets himself, in those thin moments when he feels connected to something much greater than himself.
He escaped the bullying of his junior years by becoming a football player and then a hippie after a career-ending injury.
Then there was law school, a Juris Doctor, a prosecutor under Janet Reno during the cocaine cowboy days in Miami, and a mob lawyer.
His life went south in his 30s–a difficult marriage, and he was caught up in the glass and glitter of 1980s Miami partying.
One day, he went to see his therapist, George Robinson, about a profound crossroads in his life. He had started a business, which, in his arrogance, he believed would make him a millionaire.
He was pouring money into it and came to a point where he would have to take a massive loan to make it to the finish line. He asked his therapist what he should do. George reached for a small cloth bag on the credenza behind him and extracted three Chinese coins.
George started shaking and throwing the coins on his desk, making numerical calculations, and drawing lines on paper. Bob looked on in disbelief. After all, Bob paid him $65 an hour, and George answered his urgent inquiry with hocus-pocus. Finally, George wrote a number, pulled open a book, turned to that number chapter, and showed it to Bob. The Chapter title was one word–"Retreat."
Bob swore at him, stomped out, then drove around Miami seething, but knew he had to "retreat." Bob closed the business, did not take the loan, and earned his ability to work himself back from the brink. A few weeks later, Bob sheepishly returned to George's office and asked about the book. He told me Bob was the I Ching, The Classic Book of Changes. Then, Bob discovered George was the English language editor and disciple of Master Ni, Hua-Ching (née Hua-Ching Ni), a 72nd-generation Taoist master from the Shaolin Temple. Bob studied under Master Ni and George for eight years and engaged in contemplative practices.
It changed his life.
In the late 80s, a conflict with his powerful clients led Bob to move to North Carolina, where he established himself in the community as an Assistant District Attorney and later opened a private practice.
His work with Taoism and Buddhism led him to close his law practice in 2000. He returned to school, earned a master's in social work, and became certified as a facilitator/teacher in two schools of meditation. He devoted himself to holistically representing indigent clients until his retirement.
Then Elon University asked him aboard, where he continues to teach Business Law and Mindful Leadership. This year, he became the Mindfulness Employee Resource Group coordinator. Shortly, he expects to teach meditation on campus as part of Elon's Wellness Programming.
Ever since he began questioning the nature of the universe at 15, Bob has loved Jesus as a wisdom teacher. He remarried to a Southern Baptist Bible literalist. Although it might seem odd, she is a Bodhisattva, a Saint. They connected on shared values of kindness and service.
Early on, she would be off to church on a Sunday morning and say goodbye with sadness in her eyes.
"What's wrong?"...He would ask.
It's just that I love you so much, and I am sad that you won't go to heaven with me," she would lament.
"And I am sad that you won't be reincarnated with me," he would kid with a wink.
"Oh, stop that," she would say and be off.
They found a spiritual home at the open and affirming Elon Community Church (United Church of Christ), which is traditional enough for her and progressive enough for him. Today, she is happy that he, having been saved, will go to heaven with her, and he is glad she will be reincarnated with him.
