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Chuck’s Place: What Your Mind Does Is Not Your Business

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When a frustrated student asked how to contend with his mind, whose meanderings had undermined his attempt at meditation for three hours straight, the teacher replied, sternly, “What your mind does is not your business!” *

Put attention where it matters most... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Put attention where it matters most…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

The guidance was simple: let the mind do what it wants; place your attention on your breathing. You are not responsible for your thoughts; they have a mind of their own. However, you are responsible for where you place your attention. Hence, every time you notice your attention drawn to a thought, gently return your attention to your breath.

The fact is, we are of two minds: the mind that generates the thoughts and the mind that decides where to place its attention. Don Juan Matus explained it like this: “Everyone of us human beings has two minds. One is totally ours, and is like a faint voice that always brings us order, directness, purpose. The other mind is a foreign installation. It brings us conflict, self assertion, doubts, hopelessness.” **

Our meditation student was being coached to develop his true mind’s ability to place its attention on the breath, to withdraw its attention from the thoughts generated by the foreign installation, the mind that is truly not “his business.”

The objective of meditation, as well as the shamanic practices of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico, is to free the true mind from the dominance of the thought-story dramas produced by the foreign installation that, like the true reality portrayed in the movie The Matrix, steals our vital energy for its own sustenance.

However, the battle to free the true mind must be carried out with utter gentleness lest it be caught in the clutches of a foreign installation trap that absolutely thrives on inner conflict. The foreign installation mind catches us by feeling offended, inadequate, inappropriate, unworthy, unloved and unlovable, etc., all the myriad of ways the self has failed or been failed by others. There is no end to the stories generated by the foreign installation to trap our attention and feed off the energy of our ensuing inner conflict, as we sit captivated and live through the intense thought-story drama generated for our entertainment and attachment.

The foreign installation mind cannot be fought directly. The wisdom of the guidance—that this mind is not your business—is the freedom to not worry about it or pay any attention to the fact that it exists. It’s not about trying to control or change it either. It’s simply about taking attention away from it and placing it where we choose.

In the shaman’s world, it is this behavior—the refusal to engage in the dramas of self-importance generated by the foreign installation—that ultimately frees the self from the dominance of the foreign installation.

Simply put, when we don’t attach to the dramas of self-importance, our energy is withdrawn from the predator’s grasp, that is, the foreign installation that feasts upon our frantic energetic reaction to its thought-story dramas.

This is the true meaning of mindful detachment, as we learn to place our attention on being fully present, freed of attachment to the dramas that generate inner conflict, the product of the foreign installation mind. “Your” mind is not your business, but where you place your attention IS your business.

Fully present, in the moment... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Fully present, in the moment…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

Fully repossess your own mind. Do it calmly, with no judgment as to the number of times your attention is drawn to the wares of the foreign installation. That mind will continue to carry out its business, while you simply begin to more fully realize that you don’t have to shop there any more. Eventually, that merchant will move on, as you refuse to fund it with your vital energy.

Have no attachment to how long or short it takes; focus on placing your attention calmly where you want it. It’s as simple as that!

Freeing the mind,
Chuck

* Excerpt from: Journey of Insight Meditation by Eric Lerner, p. 80

** Excerpt from: The Active Side of Infinity by Carlos Castaneda, p. 7

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Love In Impermanence

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We search for love in the solid... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We search for love in the solid…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Someone shared with me, rather uncomfortably, a dream that they’d had where it was revealed that Jan and I were breaking up. My immediate reaction was to smile and say, “We already know that.”

Of course, I clarified that we are deeply in love and compatible partners, with no plans to break up, but we both know that change is the only real constant.

I had the same experience of utter love, fulfillment and compatibility with Jeanne in this world, yet she flew off without me into new energetic form. Beyond the veils of this life she has merged with her fuller self—a being far more comprehensive than the Jeanne Marie I knew in this life.

In the final analysis, all relationships break up because in becoming our complete selves we must surrender our attachments of permanence and acquiesce to the fuller nature of reality: Everything changes form.

I remember, as a young man steeped in the existential encounter movement of the 60s, confronting Jeanne with the reality that our relationship, as we knew it, would end in death. She would cry. I felt it was a necessary encounter, this truth.

Little did I know how relevant that confrontation would be for us a few decades later. Though I must say, when Jeanne did fly away I was steeped in joy, love, and utter calm. I have never wavered from those feelings and my love for her has only deepened over the past 14 years since she left.

Jan and I know that love transcends all change, and in fact can continue to grow if it can ride the waves of impermanence, the ultimate reality.

We are all in Earth School to suffer the illusion of permanence. And the solid Earth reality has offered a pretty predictable source of permanent security! But it does not provide all we truly need or want.

The gift of our time is that the Earth is revealing its own impermanence, as it struggles to survive mankind’s hubris. The challenges faced by our planet force us all to grapple with the true nature of reality all around us, that nothing is permanent. Actions taken from this knowing have the potential to be evolutionary, if we respond to the true needs of our planet, our human species, and all living beings.

The truth is, only Love will save us all. And the true nature of this Love is an ever-expanding love that transcends me and mine and includes everyone and every living thing in our interdependent whole.

Ready to ride the waves of impermanence? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Ready to ride the waves of impermanence?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

To graduate from Earth School, we must solve its most challenging question: Can love grow and expand in spite of impermanence? Only through solving this question are we really ready to enter more deeply into the ever-changing nature of infinity.

Until then, we grasp for the security of love in permanence, as we glimpse its many dimensions in this world and seek fulfillment here. But “here” is only part of the story. Earth School isn’t all there is, though it offers us all the necessary courses, preparing us for our final exam: to love in impermanence. And then it’s on to graduate school in infinity!

In ever-expanding Love,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Beyond Story

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What stories am I telling myself today? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What stories am I telling myself today?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Reality awaits us, just beyond the stories that present themselves rapid-fire from the inner “press” of the mind. When the shamans urge us to “suspend judgment,” they are referring to this function of mind that so quickly organizes a story around the scantest detail perceived and fleshed out by the mind. We are then drawn to attach to the story generated by the mind; in other words: to live as if the story were reality.

The “judgment” here is the storyline we have bought into and energetically invested in as emotions and thoughts emerge to guide our actions in accordance with our judgment or interpretation of reality.

So much of our vital energy is bound up in our interpretations of reality that we find ourselves encased in the familiar yet largely false stories we tell ourselves over and over again. Our intent gets bound up in upholding those stories too; or simply put, our intent generates our self-fulfilling story prophecy in our experiences of everyday reality.

For instance, one story might be that I don’t feel valuable or lovable. This story becomes reflected in the eyes of everyone I meet, their actions mirroring the story I tell myself. My intent generates the reality of my story. This story then becomes the filter for my life. All approaching energy, or the unfolding of daily life, becomes automatically formatted and neatly tailored to fit into and validate the truth of my story. This then becomes my reality.

Our stories become knitted together with such regularity or habit that we come to rest our identity upon them, the familiar tales we tell ourselves. They become like family. Thus, regardless of how limiting or unfulfilling our stories leave us, we remain compulsively drawn and attached to them for a sense of known definition in this world.

Tread lightly as you decide to release yourself from the bondage of your core stories. Change, regardless of how beneficial, often feels deeply disturbing to the security of known stories, as they are challenged to reveal their true identity and their true validity in our lives.

Time to spend our energy on what really matters... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Time to spend our energy on what really matters…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

On the other hand, every time we stop the flow of energy from attaching to a story that flirts for our attention we accrue that energy in our spiritual savings account. When enough energy has been saved we are indeed freed to discover the true nature of who we really are as we spend our energy exploring true reality, the reality always present and coexistent but generally filtered out by our all-encompassing stories.

Suspend judgment. Explore the true nature of reality as it presents and unfolds in oncoming time. What an amazing true story awaits!

No stories allowed!
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: It’s A Matter Of Necessity

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A masculine symbol... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
A masculine symbol…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Got into a heated argument on Independence Day. I maintained that, despite her lackluster performance thus far, it couldn’t be more appropriate that Hillary become the next President of the United States. Indeed, in part, I objectify and symbolize her, but I see it is time for the beleaguered feminine to come to power and cleanse itself from its distorted masculine wrappings, a necessary event in our transforming of the world. In my opinion, Hillary fits the bill! My debating partner was so incensed by my argument that he stopped just short of committing his vote to Jeb!

On Sunday, a far more meaningful Independence Day occurred. Greece, the birthplace of democracy, resoundingly rejected the Euro Zone’s “indentured servitude” referendum via popular vote. The beleaguered feminine has taken on the masculine greed.

The feminine is Gaia, the manifested world. It it because of the manipulation of Gaia, through the distorted masculine self-serving materialistic aims and games, that we find ourselves so dangerously out of balance.

Interestingly, the US Women’s Soccer Team emerged victorious the same night of Greece’s victory. Indeed, the feminist must and will come to power now to stem the tides of destruction and move us toward a new balance.

This morning, as Jan and I entertained Robert Monroe’s Ultimate Journey, we were led to his encounter with an eighteen-hundred-year-old human, still alive in human form, though Monroe met him on the astral plane. Monroe called the being Heshe, as his appearance reflected a moment to moment shifting of masculine and feminine, the ultimate balance. Heshe spoke of the role of being an organizer, a facilitator awaiting the time of necessity when change would not only be needed but would happen on a grand scale. “This will happen through recognized necessity, not through religions, race, or political beliefs, or force of arms.” Basically, Heshe explained that this would come about because the world would be in rough shape.

We are in that time now. Greece’s defiance, just like Iraq and Syria’s ISIS, is the rumbling of the ancient archetypes seeking change. Gaia herself is delivering the greatest blows in our rapidly changing physical environment.

The change that is coming is the Heshe of necessity. Human beings will become beings whose masculine spirit will serve the true heartfelt needs of the material feminine. Governance will transcend the selfish to arrive at the selfless. This is not about a world of unbridled caretaking and entitlement, of being overtaken by the feminine, but a natural merging of masculine and feminine. No one can be rescued from the challenges of their life, and we cannot be rescued either from the challenges of our time. We must all assume responsibility.

Heshe of necessity... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Heshe of necessity…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

On the other hand, the time of unbridled greed will have passed of necessity, simply unsustainable. This will offer the gateway for Heshe. And thus the ushering in of Hillary as President of the United States makes perfect sense.

Of course, I don’t know what will happen. As Greece has proven, you never know what choices will be made. But what is clear is that the feminine must be redeemed and assume its rightful role, come to equal power with its Heshe partner. It’s a matter of necessity, now more than ever.

Always optimistic,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Why Am I Here?

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Denial is strong. But it hardly matters. The changes the channels have forecast are indeed upon us. “Anything is possible” is unfolding daily upon the world stage.

Why am I here too? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Why am I here too?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If you are alive today, in human form, you are indeed a part of this sweeping energy of change. What a magnificent time to be here! I suggest, to make the most of the opportunity, everyone of us address the question: Why am I personally here upon this earth at this time of unprecedented change?

The answer to this question lies in where we put our energy, attention, and deepest longing. I stress deepest longing because planet Earth is the playing field of attachment. Robert Monroe went so far as to call Earth the “planet of addiction.”

Attachment and addiction run hand in hand. If you are on this planet you had to emotionally attach. You are seeking something. Until you run the course of that desire, you will not be ready to move on. That is a pretty accurate description of addiction: running the course with an attachment until you’ve learned what you need to learn, or are completely fulfilled and bored, ready to release and move on to new adventure.

As I see it, the planet we are alive on is in a major phase of restructuring. Very clearly, human attachments or addictions have resulted in such an unsustainable environment that the Earth is being challenged in its ability to sustain life altogether. Clearly, the overload of human desire, with its myriad of attachments, has come to a point of total saturation.

The restructuring I speak of is an evolutionary advance that refines our relation to attachments. We must advance from ego want to Self need. Self here is defined as the greater whole of what we are versus the narrow, isolated ego that puts its wants and desires over that of the greater Self, within and without.

If we inventory our deepest driving desires, we might discover them to be issuing from ego’s desire for comfort, security, and attention of the kind that ego calls love. Ego is desperate to achieve its aims because ego, devoid of a connection to its greater self, knows only getting its needs met in the immediacy of this life—and it’s desperate to do so!

Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With the ego in a leadership role of decision making, this can lead to many repetitive, poor decisions for the personality and the planet. Only in turning inward and discovering the greater Self, and acquiescing to its guidance and true needs, can we advance individually and evolutionarily as a species.

Ego on its own is addicted to the pursuit of its attachments, come what may! Ego serving the heart-centered true needs of the Self brings the personality and world itself into interconnected balance.

We are all here to advance beyond our attachments/addictions, to a greater Self and a greater world that drops its illusions and restores balance. That is the contribution we are all afforded in this time of great change and great advance.

May we all advance together,
Chuck

Additional reading: Here is another posting with the same title, channeled back in September 2007 that offers guidance in the process that Chuck writes about in his blogpost today: #153 Why Am I Here