Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy website.
This morning I thought about someone whom I am deeply concerned about. I must be careful to remain present to the signs that direct me to act upon my concern. Were I to act impetuously upon my concern, versus reading the more objective signs placed before me, I would be addressing my needs and not truly the needs of the other. I had the opportunity to inquire about this person in conversation with another. Instead, I heeded an inner command: Don’t ask! The energy of my curiosity, with its myriad of thought associations, quickly dissipated. I moved on, stayed present, and wondered: What will the day bring?
The action, to not ask, is based on the intent to stay present, to trust the flow of energy, as it presents itself in the unfolding of the day, to highlight what is meaningful and most necessary for my attention. This is letting go of control. Asking takes me out of the flow. It would send me on an inner expedition, on roads of thought off the path of the greater energetic flow of the present moment. Furthermore, that detour activates a string of associative thoughts that generate images, feelings, and a slew of possibilities, all of which generate energy. When energy is generated in thought, about a person, it acts upon that person, like calling them on the phone.
This was why, for most of his adult life upon this earth, Carlos Castaneda was the ultimate trickster of anonymity. No one could get near him. No one ever really knew who he was, or where or when he was born. He, like the shamans of his line, positioned himself to be shielded from the energetic consequences of people’s thoughts about him by assuming personas that kept him illusive and untouchable. At a tensegrity workshop, I recall him sharing a story of going to a party where he was introduced to Carlos Castaneda. He joked that this Carlos Castaneda was playing Carlos Castaneda quite well. Obviously, the fact that Carlos was sharing this story to a large group of tensegrity practitioners showed a shift in his need to uphold total anonymity. In fact, he had become quite enamored with the use of the internet to communicate to the masses.
We live in a time where the sharing of personal information and staying connected at increasingly faster speeds dominates the world economy and networks of communication. The challenge of our time, as recipients of these energetic invitations, is to filter the superfluous and the predatory from the truly meaningful and energetically necessary. This is how we need to protect our energy in the modern world, as the shamans did through the use of anonymity in their time.
Of course, there are times when it is appropriate to ask. However, for me, this is when synchronicity places the issue before me in the present moment in a way that resonates; it becomes clear that it is time to act, to actively pursue the path of acting upon concern for another. This discernment filters out both my inner curiosity as well as the static of outer energetic invitations, the thoughts of others, which present but don’t require attachment.
By not asking, because it is not necessary to ask, I both maintain my energy to fund my awareness to stay present, as well as not burden another with the energy of my attention. To simply not ask is a highly pragmatic tool to conserve energy, remain present, and support the greater tool of detachment. So, try it, don’t ask! See what happens!
As always, should anyone wish to write or ask, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com or feel free to post a comment.
Until we meet again,
Chuck