GAULDEN, Albert Clayton 1938-

(David Christian, Ramapryia)

PERSONAL: Born March 6, 1938, in Monticello, FL; son of Albert Clayton, Sr. (a professional athlete) and Marguerite (a corporate secretary and treasurer; maiden name, Fissell) Gaulden. Ethnicity: "Irish/Scottish/German." Education: Attended Howard College (now Samford University); Birmingham-Southern College, B.A.; University of Alabama, graduate study. Politics: Republican. Religion: Vedanta. Hobbies and other interests: Theater, travel, reading.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 2309, Sedona, AZ 86339-2345. Office—Albert Gaulden Enterprises, 720 Jordan Rd., Sedona, AZ 86336; fax: 928-284-9565. Agent—Joann Davis, 700 Washington St., Ste. 4-C, New York, NY 10014. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: American Red Cross, Charleston Air Force Base, SC, assistant field director, 1962–63; Woodland High School, Birmingham, AL, Latin teacher, 1963–64; Villager Sportswear, New York City, manager of Junior Division, 1965–68; Harris & Weinstein Advertising, Atlanta, GA, creative director, 1968–70; Lewis Advertising, Mobile, AL, creative director, 1970–72; private practice of astroanalysis, Los Angeles, CA, Long Beach, CA, and Sedona, CA, 1972–. Sedona Intensive (personal growth workshop), affiliate.

MEMBER: American Federation of Astrologers, National Association of Transpersonal Psychology, Eta Sigma Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS: Twenty-year service pin, American Red Cross, 1965.

WRITINGS:

Clearing for the Millennium, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Signs and Wonders: Understanding the Language of God, Atria Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals. Some writings appear under the pseudonyms David Christian and Ramapryia.

WORK IN PROGRESS: No Strings Attached, a self-help book, for Atria Books (New York, NY); revising a screenplay, The World Is Waiting, with John Simoniello.

SIDELIGHTS: Albert Clayton Gaulden told CA: "Based on my work in the Sedona Intensive, a personal growth workshop, Signs and Wonders: Understanding the Language of God expresses my belief that God is communicating with each of us every day—offering help, comfort, direction, and guidance—in a special nonverbal language of coincidences, synchronicities, thought impressions, intuition, hunches, visions, angel murmurs, and many other miraculous manifestations. In order to benefit from God's love and guidance, all we need to do is understand what I call the New Language and improve our receptivity to it.

"When I first began to listen and look for God's signals, I had a rough time. This was uncharted territory for me, and I didn't know what I was supposed to be listening to or looking for. How could I trust what I heard and saw without having had any experience with all the ways God might be trying to speak to me? Discernment was important because I wanted to make a smart choice between God's will and wishful thinking.

"One thing I did was to continue to pray and meditate. I figured if I wanted to walk the path God had laid down for me and to hear Him when He spoke, I had better use the tools He had given me. As I began to sharpen my ability to know the difference between God's will and self-will, I realized that it would be helpful to define the phenomena that I had been experiencing.

"Signs and Wonders not only includes a small dictionary of terms for the New Language, but it provides exercises, practical aids, client stories, allegories, and examples to show you how to know what you see when you look and what you hear when you listen. The subtext of the book is that it is time for the power to pass from the few to the many; each of us must become responsible for what we believe and how we think, for we are a part of an interconnected grid of energy that is affected not only by our actions but our thought forms as well.

"My primary reason for writing Signs and Wonders was that I began to see so much narcissism and manipulation by spiritual leadership, and I wanted to write experientially how I learned to see and hear God that bypassed such icons of authority. If the church and the state need to let go of our minds and hearts, we do not need alternative leadership taking over where church and state left off.

"My heroes are Paulo Coelho, Joel Goldsmith, Joseph Campbell, Ramakrishna, Swami Swahananda, Ekhart Tolle, Larry Dossey, Shirley MacLaine, and many other courageous souls who have found truths that unearth the buried soul of authenticity.

"I write every morning and late afternoon. Since I see clients mid-morning and mid-afternoon, I must put my writing aside while I counsel. Having written on how God guides us, I am inspired to go to a certain book or will have one literally fall off the shelf at my feet. Many times I turn to a page which holds nuggets I cite.

"My true ally has been my former editor and current agent, Joann Davis. She is my muse and my most inspiration. She and I together unearthed the concept of a new language, and she showed me how to organize the material and how to express ideas in Signs and Wonders. Everyone should be so privileged.

"The most noticeable change in my writing has been the tone and means of how I express ideas. Much like a young man whose voice has changed from soprano to baritone, the voice of Signs and Wonders has become kinder and softer. Some of the didacticism and harshness of Clearing for the Millennium is not present in this book.

"I consider myself a student of servant leadership. I have not been selected to teach others because of all I know, but rather I am one who has been privileged to learn from those who seek my counsel. My assignment has been to share what I have seen and heard and see if it can benefit others.

"As Tennyson said, 'I am a part of all I have met.'"