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Writer's picturebobholmes1

Hacked & Hacked Again

Why I Started Writing At Substack


It was a year ago today Contemplative Monk, the page I started in 2013 on Facebook was hacked. Bam, from an outreach of 46 million to zero. It’s still there with this Christmas banner but it’s become clickbait heaven.


Working with Facebook is like working with the algorithms of profit. As long as they’re making money, they’re good to go.


Two years before this, I was in Hospice with my wife Elizabeth, on the last day of her life. I’m sitting there getting notified that my website: ContemplativeMonk.com is being dismantled by Russian Hackers. I was getting 5 to 10,000 visitors a day. They wiped it clean. But that was nothing to walking with my wife through the veil. Thank Kelly for creating this site, so that I could recover alot of my old writings.


I had jumped from losing a kidney to Kidney Cancer to Stage 4 Lung Cancer, as Elizabeth had gotten stage 4 cancer with no hope of recovery. The hospital is still my second home.

On a side note, I got the first COVID room in my hospital, dying from Cdiff and Lung Cancer when I started doing Wim Hof breathing. My Cancer is now in remission.


OK, What Do You Do?


What do you do when everything in your life falls apart like dust in the wind? Everybody goes through loss, and nobody gets out of here alive. We all have different ways of dealing with it every single time it happens to us.


Well, being a mystic, I realized dualism cannot be solved with dualism. So I wrote: The Mystic Manifesto, with yes, the help of AI, to pull my research together.


I feel like we are at such a time, like my latest poem, Presence, to let go and disidentify with everything the ego is clinging to, so we might evolve.


Here’s My Take On Substack


I love Substack. I see this as a new opportunity to connect with people, and to start all over again. I have an unfolding vision I’m walking into.


So, Here I am, in creating mode. Wanting to be with other creators. The possibilities here are astounding. Substack is like a creator’s playground.


Facebook World


So what happened with Facebook? I took my Facebook author’s page and turned it into The Contemplative Mystic a month ago, and it’s got 23,000 followers.


I just realized as I write this, that there must be a way to import all my subscribers from my other places and here.


Subscribe and Stay Tuned In.

I'm not shutting down this site, but I'm hanging out over there, and I just turned on the Chat option.


I’m like a kid in a mystic sandbox at Christmas, listening to the singing of the star above the Child.


Use systems but don’t identify as them. Learn from the best. Direct experience is the quickest way to learn. Quantum Science is giving us the best language for speaking about Mysticism. Be skeptical, even of your own experience. Test everything and hold on to what works, what evolves you. Keep tuning and refining it all. Change is the constant. Growth never ends for us people. Death is not a goal line.



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2 Comments


Barbara Hunt
Barbara Hunt
Jul 29

Hello Bob: I just discovered all that you wrote about above about the Comtemplative Monk FB site after seeing a really gross video from Contemplative Monk. Couldn't believe this so went to the CMonk FB site to take a look to see it mostly sends readers to a clickbait site as you say. I am happy to have found C Mystic site and your info above. Your story is - honestly I can't even find the words after trying to find them for about 5 minutes. One devastating loss after another. One devastating health gut punch after another. I put my virtual arms around you in a virtual hug and appreciation and gratitude for you being here and sharing it.

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Ray Gryder
Ray Gryder
Dec 25, 2023

I love the wisdom you express. I’m a contemplative seeker who’s been part of a Richard Rohr inspired small mens group in the Richmond VA area. I’m also an aspiring writer getting my feet wet. I recently posted my first piece on the free membership portion of Medium. My page is title, ‘The 8.5x11 Page’. I know Substack is popular too. Any thoughts on Medium?

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