Return to civilian life
Returning to peace time, Ken came up against a different war, as he began to realise that the honour, friendship, honesty, decency, love and commitment to the survival of your mates - so necessary for survival during a life and death conflict - was not always present in peace time. In fact a different sort of war raged; one where socially acceptable hatred and bigotry could substitute for spirit-human consciousness.
In war, to not be aware of oneself spiritually greatly diminished one's chances of survival. To be aware of oneself spiritually is to be aware of the spiritual universe and its rules, and to be cause over the physical universe. In a life and death situation, we often naturally detach from the body and become aware of ourselves spiritually, and this enables us to survive.
When we make the mistake of thinking we do not need that awareness, we lose it. In losing awareness of who we are, we enable forces not in alignment with the spiritual universe to take over our thinking and actions, which never results in happiness or life success. It is the genesis of all pain, suffering and despair.
So here was Ken, heightened in an awareness of the need for love, caring, honesty, courage and respect - to survive - confronted with people who did not understand the need for a commitment to these principles, or the need to relate to each other with spirit-human consciousness.
He had just survived a war, where this awareness was imperative to survival - in fact, it was these principles that Ken and his mates had put their lives on the line for - some sacrificing their lives for these principles. So he decided he simply would not sell those principles out. What can you do? - one either submits to the lack of awareness of spirituality in the environment, and so becomes unaware of oneself - or remains true to one's own universe, the spiritual universe, and does not betray its principles.
This may have been the beginning of the realisation for Ken that he could help people understand these principles - particularly if they were in an environment that suppressed these principles - so they lacked in their lives a space where the individual could obtain a sense of his or her own determinism, and what his or her own abilities and potentials were.
Finding spiritual purpose
So parallel to his 24-year business career, which was just beginning, Ken was reaching into and trying to understand what was it that made individual people betray respect, friendship, love, caring and self-honesty - almost as a socially acceptable way of life. What made people betray their own universe - the spiritual universe. He would reach into and study anything that came across his path: from different religions, west and east; to philosophers, great writers; anything that would give an insight into the spiritual universe and its loss in human society.
During his business career after the war, Ken was successful because every dealing he had with anyone, became an exercise in learning how he could validate the spiritual awareness of the person.
Many of his anecdotes and stories come from this period as he held on to the love and commitment to the viewpoint of the spiritual universe in all his dealings with people. He found it more successful than one up-manship, or the basic game of ‘I'll get you before you get me'. He was successful during this period because he validated and explored for himself the principles he had grown up with: caring for others and maintaining decency.
He also began to explore why these qualities were not naturally there with people, sometimes when they were so obviously present at other times.
Marriage and fatherhood
Ken was married twice in this period. First, in August 1946 when he married Judith Scott Fox - this marriage ended in September 1950; then in March 1951, Marie O'Donnell - this marriage ended in 1973.
He was committed to both relationships. An idealist in love and the heart, he strove to create better and better relationships as he moved on in life.
With Marie he had two sons - Mike and Steve - and anyone who knew Ken was to understand the unlimited love and commitment he had for his two sons. Nobody who knew him for long would have not heard Mike and Steve's story and been conscious of his commitment to them both when they wanted it. He would forgive anything and strive constantly for their welfare. His postulate for both children was that they would be a gift to society. His joy in their childhood is mirrored in his many anecdotal stories about this time not only for the effectiveness of many things he used with them as children, but the wisdom the children gave him as they were growing up.
At this time he was also an instructor at the Rose Bay Youth Club where he taught boxing, gymnastics and tumbling. He was a delegate for the Under 14s Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Football Association. He introduced the use of boxing bags to teach safe and effective tackling. This is now standard procedure.
At the same time people were coming to him as someone who could help them achieve what they wanted from life, because he could do it. He was developing a reputation for effectiveness in the area of human behaviour, helping people overcoming negative influences in their lives. Over time he was evolving methods of assisting the individual to understand and get rid of those forces and energies within themselves that restricted them from having happy and successful lives.