Editor's note: This is the fiftieth (and last) installment of this column, which has run throughout the past year, and which may now become, with some editing and some additions, a major new book that would be offered to Meridian readers before it is available to the general public. If you think you would be interested in receiving the book, send a note today to Richard@meridianmagazine.com and your name will be placed on a list to be contacted when the book is ready.

During the "first half" of this column, Richard outlined and defined “The Three Deceivers” of Control, Ownership, and Independence, and detailed how our obsessions with them can ruin the quality of our lives.Then, in the the second phase of the column, he replaced the deceivers with "The Three Alternatives" of SERENDIPITY, STEWARDSHIP, and "SYNERGICITY." If the book is created, it will contain all of the material from the column, along with some additional insights and suggestions on how to make the transition in your personal life from the Three Deceivers to the Three Alternatives.

Thank You, Readers

A year is a long time to write a column, and a year is a long time to read a weekly column. The reason I have kept writing is that you have kept reading, and have encouraged me every step of the way with your letters and emails.

Trying to attack the attitudes (and the goals really, that most people have) of Control, Ownership and Independence is not an easy thing to do, and I wondered if people would resent my contention that we are obsessed with these things, even addicted to them. I worried about whether I could convince people that these were the wrong things to seek, that they were "deceivers," and that idolizing them and wanting them could rob us of spirituality and humility.

I also wondered if I could get readers interested in understanding what I think are the alternatives to these deceivers. I had come to believe, over many years, that there are three very spiritual perspectives that allow us to look for guidance rather than control, for God's ownership rather than ours, and for dependence and interdependence rather than independence. I named these three alternative attitudes Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity, and I wondered if I could hold readers interest long enough to explain what these three "S" words mean, and how they can be applied in our lives.

My only gauge of success in these columns has been your feedback. And you have given me a lot of it! The funnest part of writing each week is getting your emails in the days that follow. You have assured me that you not only understand the danger of the deceivers, but that you grasp and want to attain the three alternatives. It is your enthusiasm that has kept the column going to its conclusion, and that now encourages me to put it all into a book.

Why a Book?

Some might say, "Why put it in a book when it has already been written in a column?" Many readers print out columns and may have most of the material in a self-created book of printouts. So why put it between two covers?

The answer, according to many of you who have requested it be published, is that a book is a whole different animal than a column. You can hold a book, you can take a book to bed with you. You can own a book and own its concepts. You can mark a book and write in its margins, and you can work on implementing those concepts in your life. You can also give it to a friend and discuss it in a group of friends. In short, a book can become a part of you in a way that a column cannot match.

I feel something of a "cause" in this column and potentially in a book. I see so many people I know who are hell-bent on owning more possessions, and on controlling everything and everyone in their lives, and who think they want to depend only on themselves and to need no one but themselves. I think it is killing them. I think it is sucking the joy out of them. I think it is making them "of the world." I think it is drawing them away from God.

So many things entice us to devote ourselves to the three deceivers. Advertising pushes them. Celebrities celebrate them. Media serve them up to us as ideals in every setting imaginable. They are so accepted, so honored, so idolized, that it is hard to get away from them.

But there are alternatives, spiritual alternatives, and it is, I think, a worthy cause to try to go for them myself, and to help others to adopt them and go for them themselves.

Let Me Hear From You.

So — if you agree (or even if you think you might agree), let me hear from you. Because if we do decide to publish The Three Deceivers Book, I would like to follow the pattern that Meridian had taken on a couple of other books (I loved Bridell, didn't you?) and offer it to Meridian readers first, before it goes to the general public. Drop me a quick e mail to me at Richard@meridianmagazine.com and tell me if you would be interested in a book. I will keep a list of everyone who writes, and if we do the book, we will offer it to you first. While you are at it, tell me what you have liked about the column, and I may be able to use your comment in the book.

As many of you know, I have written thirty books, including a New York Times #1 Bestseller, and have published with McGraw Hill, Random House, and Simon and Schuster, so writing a book online and offering it to online readers is completely new for me, but I like the idea, because I like your feedback and the two way communication that this type of publishing would make possible.

In the meantime, let me thank you again for reading, and let me wish you a great new year, a happy 2008, a year that I hope is, for you, full of Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity!