To work toward loving kindness and compassion is as much the warrior’s goal as is being strong and focused enough to navigate through life with decision and precision. A warrior is soft and tender when appropriate but also knows when it is time to take a stand and be strong. A warrior is loving and gentle and yet is always keenly alert, aware that there are predators nearby seeking attention and attachment.
A warrior is full of gratitude, thankful for every day of life, yet a warrior does not fear the end of life. A warrior strives to accomplish great things in life, yet constantly seeks to shed the ego and the trappings of too much of the world, for a warrior knows there is nothing of this world that will last. It is all an illusion, but solid nonetheless, every day a test. And yet a warrior also knows that the biggest test is yet to come.
And so a warrior is always mindful to learn as much as possible in the flow of everyday life, keeping energy focused and aware at all times. A warrior is always ready to move on when the time is right, thankful for the opportunity to embrace new adventures and new life, thankful for the journey taken, ready for the journey ahead.
A warrior is always responsible. A warrior does not leave others wondering or let people down. A warrior shows up. A warrior is committed, on time, and on the ball. A warrior seeks to be impeccable. If a warrior slips up, a warrior does not shirk from owning that fact, but states the truth.
A warrior knows that awareness is equally as important and valuable in reality as it is in spirituality, so a warrior uses the world to practice, hone, and carry out the attributes that are necessary for evolutionary growth, for a warrior knows that the world is but a mirror image of other worlds. A warrior is not fooled into thinking that this world does not matter or that once death comes there will be no more challenges.
A warrior knows that everything matters and everything counts, and so a warrior takes full responsibility for every word, action, and deed. A warrior is always practicing the art of being a warrior, day and night, inwardly and outwardly, in reality and in spirit. Always.
The human body perceives the world through its five senses. Beyond the sensory inputs of touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste that operate through the physical body, there are the faculties of thought and feeling, which operate separately from the physical, through the energy body.
The energy body is attached to the physical body. It downloads its inputs through the chakra points of entry in the physical body, which are then interpreted through the central nervous system and the brain.
What Chuck saw first: the physical tree… – Photo by Chuck Ketchel
The energy body and the physical body operate as a single unit during the day. However, at night they separate. As the physical body sleeps, the energy body leaves. It remains attached to the physical body by a cord, while it goes off into other dimensions of experience, i.e. into the astral world, where it interacts with other energy bodies also operating on a similar frequency. Dreams may often reflect the residual memory of these beyond-the-physical-body escapades.
We experience the separateness and autonomy of the physical body and the energy body, very distinctly, when we drive a car. As we drive, the physical body perceives the physical stimuli of the road; stop signs, other cars, pedestrians, weather conditions, etc. Meanwhile, the energy body may be miles or dimensions away, as it lives or relives experiences in its thoughts and feelings.
Accidents are frequently caused by too great a separation of these two bodies. Disasters can occur if the consciousness of the energy body, off in another world of thought, is suddenly required by the physical body. More consciousness than simple body memory is often required to navigate through some driving situations.
This bilocation of physical body and energy body is actually evident in all of waking life. If we pay attention, we might notice our thoughts and feelings taking us far away from our physical reality, as we drift through the day, in and out of virtual daydreams.
Under waking conditions of shock or trauma, the separation of physical and energy body may occur spontaneously. In such cases, this abrupt dissociation of bodies offers a protective measure to modulate the full impact of the trauma in vivo. The fuller integration of consciousness—seated in the energy body—with the events experienced by the physical body, may need to be postponed until the two bodies are ready to absorb and process the full truth of the traumatic experience. Thus traumas may be completely forgotten, only to emerge later as buried memories and/or psychosomatic pain.
In contrast, Shamans, Buddhists, and Hindus, as well as out-of-body explorers, cultivate the conscious use of Intent to willfully explore in the energy body, volitionally entering into the astral realm to prepare for a smooth transition beyond human life when the cord is cut between the human and energy body, as the physical body dies and the energy body moves on its own into infinity.
What Chuck saw later: the energy body of the tree… – Photo by Chuck Ketchel
We can all cultivate a volitional exploration of the energy body in everyday life. Thoughts and feelings are energetic entities after all, messengers from our energy body that extend way beyond the confines of the physical. Everyone has had the experience of thinking of someone and then suddenly hearing from them or running into them. On Saturday, I ran into two people I hadn’t seen in years, but had thought of less than an hour earlier.
To put it simply: thoughts and feelings are magnetic energies that attract physical realities. This is the operating principle behind the Law of Attraction and Intent. All the major religions advocate this same principle in the use of prayer. Prayers are codified energetic intentions that attract energetic reactions from one energy body to another or to energetic entities residing at a much more sophisticated energetic level. Some people call this magnetic attraction, contact with God.
When we send out loving, compassionate intentions to others in the world, they are receiving, at some energetic level, the support of our messages. We are told to avoid the trap of attaching to outcome, to expectations for our prayers and intentions, but we must remain aware that these practices do have impact at some level. Even though we may not receive the desired outcome of our efforts, we must know that the intent has landed on target and will work in a way that is most appropriate.
Thoughts and feelings are subtle energetic messengers, as alive as you or I. They travel on an equally subtle interconnected highway of energy, much like the interconnected transmission of messages on the internet. The ability to hone where we place our attention and intention, as developed through the practice of meditation, develops our ability to take in thoughts and feelings with choice and to be equally choosy in how and what we transmit.
In other words, just as we can choose to explore with our energy body in dreaming, by intending to become aware, we can also choose to be equally focused and responsible in the use of our thoughts and feelings while awake, honing the messages we transmit along the energetic superhighway of our everyday world.
What Jan saw later at the same spot: It’s all energy in the universe… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Am I sending a good and helpful message to so-and-so? Am I sending a positive message to myself? Is that a harmful thought? Is that a necessary or appropriate feeling to have right now? How will that thought or feeling impact everyone else in the room?
Knowing that our thoughts and feelings are energetically alive offers us entry into the energetic world of true reality, as well as a myriad of possibilities in the world of our energy body beyond this world. Subtle though it all may be, it’s not that hard to test. In the end, what matters most is deciding to use our thought and feeling energy wisely, responsibly, and compassionately, for ourselves and others.
Even along a path with heart the vicissitudes of life appear, the difficulties one must face, the challenges to be met. An easy life is rare, a life of ease an illusion, only an idea, for even a life without care is a life full of challenges. Do not look upon another’s journey as either ideal or difficult but as it should be, for all journeys are filled with all that is needed.
Learn what you can from the lives of others, but without envy or judgment turn always inward, back to your own, and make it meaningful. Whether you would define it as a path with heart or not, it is yours alone to live, discover, and evolve. How you do it is up to you. And how another does it is up to them. As you turn forward into a new day, behold your own life, in all that it offers you and challenges you with. And make the most of it!
When things get tough the moment has arrived to stand your ground, for it is not beneficial to run from disharmony. Far better to get in tune with it, learn from it and move on singing a new song. For life does not always go smoothly. Even a path with heart dips into darkness, taking the journeyer on a path of necessity, that which must be faced. No one is going to be denied that which is necessary.
And so, when life throws tantrums, raise your voice and muster your energy to bear down and belt out a new tune while taking the ride it offers. In the end you will be glad you did, for all roads lead to the final outcome you seek, harmony with your true self, and that is something to sing about!
