Monthly Archives: December 2012

Messages from Jeanne

Readers of Infinity: Dream Gifts

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As one year folds into the next...
As one year folds into the next…

Here is Jeanne’s guidance as we head into 2013:

Prepare the self for change. Take something old and make it new, feeding it, making it grow into a new form—take the self, for instance.

Set a new intent to change the self even more than you have. Set a new intent to keep going deeper into the self, seeking better balance, seeking to give and receive in the flow of life as it comes to you.

As a new era dawns, keep in mind that you are in charge of your life, that you are the commander of your own ship, and in this capacity you are also in charge of where your life goes. Keep in mind that choice matters, that your decisions matter, not only in the world you live in but also in your inner world. To conceive of a changed self in a changed world means that you must actively change in order to achieve the self you dream of.

A dream will simply remain a dream, fade and disappear, unless you keep it active, unless you feed it the necessary nutrients and keep it alive. That is what this New Year requires of all of you: complete dedication to keeping your dreams, for the self and the world, alive by constant attention, nurturance, and inner resolve to keep changing.

And so, I suggest that you stay attached to the fulfillment of your dreams. Whether they seem impractical, impossible, or far-fetched does not matter. If they are your dreams then you have already given them life. So now, as you fold your lives into a New Year full of hope, fold also your intent into that hope, fold your desires for new life and for change that is fulfilling into that hope. Fold your deeper commitment to your own journey upon that earth into your personal resolutions as well.

One year folding into the next is but a marker by which you measure time upon that earth, but you can make it be something far more meaningful. It’s up to you. If you so choose you can fully engage the energy of hope and the dream of a changing self. You already know how to do it.

Playing my dream...
Playing my dream…

Choose to ride your dreams with intent now. Keep in balance at all times. Be who you are truly capable of being. Let the old ideas of the self go as the old year drops completely away, and without regret, fear, or self-condemnation—without the old voices of dissent bothering you—fly forward into a new self. It’s about time. Give yourself permission to accept that dream gift. Only you can do it!

Happy New Year to all! And thank you for being part of my dream, Jeanne’s dream, and all the dreams we all still have to dream together.

Love,
Jan

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Completion Of Compassion

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Rolling in Wholeness…

“There is a state of mind which does not change, despite anything that happens in life. With that state of mind you can live with all the conditions of life. You can live with a good partner or a bad partner, prosperity or poverty, disease or death, in a discotheque, on a beach, a hotel, everywhere, because nothing affects you. You are where you are, firmly rooted in your own self, but at the same time you can interact with everyone. You can even fight, but still not be affected.”

“Nothing being more important than anything else, a warrior chooses any act, and acts it out as if it mattered to him. His controlled folly makes him say that what he does matters and makes him act as if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn’t; so when he fulfills his acts, he retreats in peace, and whether his acts were good or bad, or worked or didn’t, is in no way part of his concern.”

The first quote is from The Five Koshas, a talk given by Swami Satyananda Saraswati on June 9, 1984, and the second quote is from The Wheel of Time by Carlos Castaneda. These two quotes that flow seamlessly together, reflect the consistency of the knowledge of ancient India, as revealed in the Upanishads, and that of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico as articulated by don Juan Matus. Both traditions pierce the illusional nature of reality and cut to the heart of enlightenment: detachment.

Detachment knows that all things are equal, all things are part of the same interdependent whole. To grasp or attach to anything is to enter maya—fragmented reality—or the world of ordinary reality.

In everyday pragmatic terms, the guidance suggests being mindfully present, mindfully engaged in every situation with equal presence. Nothing is greater, better, or more important than anything else. The banal and the profane are as significant as the saint. Being locked away in a prison or lounging on a beach in the Caribbean are equal opportunity employers for the soul seeking liberation. Engage in life, treat each moment, each being, with equal appreciation. Choose with whom you journey, but know that this is but your predilection, as no life is better or more significant than any other.

Choice matters. Yogic science teaches that choice is the seed of manifestation, or what is known as karma. The secret of liberation from karma, however, lies in detachment. It’s not about being good, or moral, because choices that grasp at life in any form fixate and attach life to that form. Shamans, like true Yogis, free their energy from attachment to the world of ordinary reality, from fixation on the maya of this dimension, through this same process of non-attachment. Though they engage in life impeccably, they are ready to leave in an instant without looking back.

Flowing with the changes…

To leave without looking back is to have achieved complete love and compassion for all whom we are leaving behind. This detachment is the acceptance that life is complete and it’s okay to truly flow with the changes that death invites. Unless we have arrived at the completion of compassion, we will resist the changes and stay where we are in some form, until we are ready to flow with the deeper nature of reality.

When enlightenment and total freedom are the intents, only unconditional, all-encompassing compassion will be the path. Compassion requires absolute detachment. Anything excluded from our compassion actually generates attachment and becomes the seed to bondage in another life, where we are challenged to continue working it out. This was the wisdom of Christ’s guidance to “love thine enemy.”

All-encompassing compassion is the vehicle that releases all karma attached to this world and frees the soul to journey onward, into the finer energetic dimensions of its infinite journey.

With compassion,
Chuck

Jan's Blog

A Day in a Life: The Middle Way

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Taking the middle way…older but calmer…

For the past several years I have increasingly reasserted my intent to finding the middle way in all aspects of my life, what Lao-tzu calls the Tao. Having once set that intent the middle way opens before me. Lately, more often than not, I notice what comes to greet me. Books appear or I find them sitting on the bookshelf, purchased decades ago because they captivated me or someone else in the family. Now that I am ready to receive them they fall into my hands, old books now coming as new gifts.

I practice yoga and meditate as I always have and yet my practice has achieved a different balance now, as the middle way stresses balance in calm body and mind. I notice that this has happened slowly over a long period of time, that my struggles are less, my mind wanders less, my body relaxing more easily into the poses I do. My sitting is easier. My meditation cushion inviting now, where in the past it has sometimes appeared as a torture cushion.

I prepare my food in the middle way too; neither too extreme nor foreign, I seek what my locale offers, what my yard and the seasons offer. I prepare it calmly and patiently, putting my creativity into each step of the preparations, balancing tastes, textures, grains and vegetables, a little fish, a little meat sometimes.

None of this has been a quick or easy task, but instead has taken many years of slow change, as I constantly reset my intent to change myself and be in alignment with the world I live in. But this is where I find myself now, suddenly feeling as if I have arrived at a new place. And yet I know that this is what it is like to travel the middle way, to decide to live life in alignment with what comes, with where I live. I know that with my intent set, life itself will take me along the middle way, presenting me with its gifts.

I wake up and remember each day that: “Oh yes, I’m doing it differently now. I am a changing being.” Each day I look for the moment of shift when I can say: “Oh, so this is where I am now!” And then I am challenged to take note of the moment I find myself in, perhaps a calm moment, perhaps a stressful one. But the real challenge is in knowing that I have to make a decision and the question is always the same: How do I want to use my energy? Am I going to fight this moment of shift, or am I going to flow with it? Do I elect to calmly flow, or do I elect be aggressively reactive?

I reset my intent every time I am confronted with a shift, and once I’ve reminded myself of my path my challenge loses its bite. I already know that this path I am on is the middle way, that everything that comes to greet me is on this same middle path, and so how I react becomes a simple nod. Yes, I say, I know what to do with this unexpected kink or this unexpected surprise, whether negative or positive. I should not get overly attached to its power, but instead calmly accept that it has come into my life, appeared on my path because it is meaningful for my journey.

And so, there is acquiescence in choosing the middle way; there is acceptance, yet the rewards are great. In being in alignment, I achieve inner calmness and inner balance. In this process of giving and taking there is a sense of growth and attunement with nature, with the place I live and work in, where I give of my energy and receive new energy in return. In alignment it becomes perfectly clear what the only right choice for me to make is.

And so today, the day after a fine Christmas spent with loved ones, I am calm. And although it’s very cold in the Northeast on this wintry morning, I do not wish for sunshine or the heat of summer, for this is my life, this is where I am today. I make comfort where I am. I make calmness and beauty where I am. I make happiness where I am, even in seemingly small ways aligning with my environment, taking what is offered. I put on warm clothes. I light the fire and warm the house. I eat a warm breakfast. I make a fine life where I am now.

Tomorrow may bring something different, and yet I have set my intent to flow with what comes then too. I have no idea what I will be provided with on another day. For the moment this is all that matters. Today is enough. I am fully in the moment. This is the middle way.

I hope you are all well, and happy where you are, as even in small ways this is possible if one is intent upon traveling the middle way.

Much love,
Jan

Messages from Jeanne

Readers of Infinity: Are You Paying Attention?

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Are you aware that a new path is before you?

Dear Jeanne: What guidance do you have for us today?

Do not be fooled by appearances. Change is taking place, deep and lasting change, and although this change may not occur in a manner anyone is used to, it is happening nonetheless. This is a time of great shift and with such a time comes great awareness. Are you paying attention? That is the real question?

Are you paying attention to your own deepest knowing, and what are you going to do about it, return to an old way, becoming complacent and docile yet again? Or are you going to flow with the shift now being offered?

Energy is available to greatly advance the cause of human consciousness for the individual as well as the masses. It is up to each one of you to remain aware, to prod the self to stay awake through this time of great shift and be a part of its impact.

Change begins with the individual. Accept what the energy is trying to alert you to on a deeply personal level before you begin to look outwardly. If you will dare to stay awake and move toward a new positive direction, the energy of such change will proceed along the same path, supporting and nurturing and healing you, bringing you forward into new life. If you fail to stay awake this time, be aware that you will have two hard years ahead of you, as you continue to battle your issues of dependence, negativity, and fear.

Though this may sound like a dire prediction, I stress quite the opposite, for it is not. It is equally positive and growth-oriented, for it is only in wallowing in the self that one will find the means to change, for the self is where the answers lie. The question you must ask the self is: Am I ready now to make certain changes? If you are, be aware of what comes to guide you, for there is great positive energy in abundance for the right kind of change. If you are not yet ready, that’s okay too. But you must also be aware of what comes to guide you, for you too will find that you are supported as you take an equally deepening journey.

Change begins and ends within, but is always reflected without, and this is where you will all learn your greatest lessons—in what reflects back at you.

Take the steps you personally need to take. This may involve leaving something, beginning something, changing something, evolving something, but this will also mean that if you are daring the self to change for the right reasons that you will be in alignment with nature and the universe.

I have no doubt that all upon that earth will encounter change, intentioned or not. And, as I said in the beginning, the main question is whether or not you will be aware and available to know this, so that you can take full advantage of it, aware that it will catapult you into new life. Or will you resist it?

Resistance is a result of fear, and fear digs deep into the human psyche, its marks going back to infancy, its roots difficult to decipher from the roots of innocence. Confront the deepest roots of the self. Find your fear and you will also uncover your innocence. Perhaps that is the place to begin the deeper inner work that will lead to new and lasting growth.

…and good will toward all…

Oh, and keep in mind: as you notice how the outer world and how those in power seemingly ignore the deeper issues of compassion, kindness, and love for all living beings, notice how you do the same to yourself. This is a universal issue, and everyone must address it inside the self.

As your world struggles, so do you, and this is good, for it is the key to finding your own deepest conflicts. No blame now, just growth. That’s what is called for, on all levels of life.

Thank you Jeanne! Peace to all.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Innocence On The Altar

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Winter Solstice

A tragedy of unfathomable proportions has seized our nation, if not the world, as we arrive at the threshold of a new era on this Solstice day. We are all charged to take this journey with lost, sacrificed innocence and correct the course of human affairs.

What could it mean that a psychotic young man kills his mother and then so many young children? I suggest that this young man concretized and acted out, in a delusional way, an archetypal motif of individuation. I further suggest that this misapplied motif must be addressed on a mass human level, as well as on an individual level, in each and every one of us.

Every human is challenged to transition from childhood to adulthood, from the egocentric entitled stage of immaturity to adult responsibility. This is the Hero’s Journey, filled with many challenges.

One of the greatest challenges of the Hero’s Journey is to defeat childish dependence on the mother. Though many myths depict this as slaying the dragon or defeating the wicked witch, the core of this battle lies within the individual. At some point in our lives we must all ask the same question: Can I take adult responsibility for my life or am I caught in my childish dependency and entitlement demands to be taken care of?

The hero’s task is to slay his own childish dependency—NOT HIS MOTHER, NOT THE CHILD! The hero’s task is to become the adult parent to himself, and set firm but loving boundaries around the child within who is taken forward into adult life—NOT KILLED OFF!

The archetypes worm through us all…

The Newtown tragedy has mobilized tremendous energy to address the gun laws in our country. Too long has a greedy industry been allowed to fill its entitled pockets under the guise of protection and the Second Amendment. The truth is, these policies have been dictated by immature adults, who refuse adult responsibility. It’s time for adult boundaries to be set around the demands of an industry allowed to function with no limitations, like out-of-control children playing with guns.

We approach a fiscal cliff with similar concerns. The greed of undisciplined children not wanting to part with their toys—some of their wealth—can no longer rule. We need adult leadership, adult responsibility in all paying their fair share.

New York and California are poised to approve fracking. Even these bluest of blue states are willing to cave to the greed of the energy industry. Would adults allow toxic poisons to be poured into their bodies? Are we really going to allow our precious Earth to be poisoned this way, for the sake of insatiable greed for more money, cheaper energy? We need adult control. Children’s entitlement in control cannot sustain our environment.

The Holocaust had to be answered in a firm commitment: the rebirth of the State of Israel. However, this resolution, despite its many transformations, is frozen in structures impervious to a necessary two state solution. Once again, we find a child’s entitlement in control of policy as construction plans for new settlements are being made on disputed lands, in the midst of peace negotiations no less! Where is the adult in the house?

Moslem insistence on ancient practice, guarded in warlike fierceness, must soften to allow for change and evolution. How can the feminine, the source of renewal and rebirth, be so restricted in the modern world? Nonetheless, when we see the outcome of casualness toward our instinctive animal selves in our modern world, even in such institutions as Penn State, the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and most recently in the Jewish Orthodoxy, we have to question humanity’s management of its instinctive nature and appreciate the intensity of restriction in the Moslem religion to regulate it. Violence, however, begets violence. We must find a new path of reconciliation.

We must all face our darkness…

Humankind must face the power of the forces that inhabit the darkness of our souls. Each individual must take the journey through the underground of their own deep unconscious. The instinctive forces that tragically erupt daily around the world are active in each and every one of us. Newtown must be answered by a commitment to take the inward journey, to recapitulate the hidden truths of our souls and revamp our instinctive energies to flow safely and responsibly into this new era now upon us.

Innocence has been sacrificed on the altar of this Solstice. Our nation is plunged into the abyss of mourning, soulfully seeking its lost innocence. We must journey now into the darkness and face the truths that have stolen away our innocence. May those innocent ones be the beacons, the light bearers that show us the way as we journey into our darkness, lighting the way into a new era for all of us.

Wishing for Peace on Earth and extending good will to all,
Chuck