The Edge of the Abyss-Volume 1 is now available in both Print and Kindle editions! Simply click on the book cover icon in the left sidebar and you will be taken directly to the book’s page on Amazon.
We always invite our readers to write comments at Amazon and on our Riverwalker website and Facebook pages. Although we have elected to publish our books and let them go into the world in an energetic fashion, without advertising or self-promotion, we are fully open to the energetic flow of the universe in whatever way that unfolds. So, in all humbleness, we invite our readers to be energetically available to write reviews and spread the word in whatever way feels right, or not.
Volume 2 of The Edge of the Abyss will be published in the next couple of months. Jan has already begun work on the final edit.
The term out-of-body experience, also known as an OBE, is specific to an energy body state where consciousness is separate and away from the physical body. The physical body might remain in full view to the energy body during an OBE, or the energy body might travel away from the physical body to the ends of the earth, though remain tethered and fully capable of snapping back into it in an instant. This separation of energy and physical body is quite natural, especially in dreaming. It can also happen volitionally in waking states or involuntarily under the impact of trauma.
Traumatic separation of physical body and energy body is considered a dissociative psychological defense that occurs when overpowering physical or psychological events—events that are too much for the body to process—send consciousness into refuge away from the body.
As opposed to an OBE, dissociation can also occur within the body, in an in-body experience. In contrast to a separation of energy body and physical body, this dissociation involves a separation of mind and body where the mind dominates as an in-body energy center that preoccupies our attention—or consciousness—with an incessant internal dialogue that judges, critiques, and compares us to others without pause. This nonstop stream of chatter can so absorb our awareness that our bodies are completely rigidified and fatigued by the emotional energy generated by these internal messages. In fact, our internal messaging systems, like the texts and pings we constantly hear on mobile devices as we walk, sit, talk, sleep, and drive, completely dissociate us from the location and action of our bodies in space and time.
The Shamans of Ancient Mexico called this dominance of the human body by the mind, a foreign installation—an aberration that grossly limits our humanness and the fuller realization of our true human potential. Pragmatic practitioners, those shamans realized that they could not fight the mind with the mind. They discovered instead that they could find inner silence, the shutting down of the incessant dialogue of the mind, by practicing bodily movements that required their full attention in order to be performed successfully. Toward this end those shamans saturated their lives with these physical movements, which they called Magical Passes. With full attention placed on doing these bodily movements, they were able to achieve increasing moments of inner silence that released access to their fuller potential as navigators of infinity outside the limited confines of the mind.
I encourage the practice of movements such as tensegrity, yoga, martial arts, or any physical activity that when practiced mindfully— with full awareness of the body experience—separates the practitioner from the meanderings of the dissociative mind.
Awareness, in full association with body, unleashes our true potential as human beings and frees us from the bondage of a mind-driven dissociated life, which is the current fixation of our species. The mind in this fixed state is a great thing to lose, as awareness is then freed to fully coordinate with the wisdom and action of the body in alignment with our unlimited potential.
The Edge of the Abyss-Volume 1 is now available in both Print and Kindle editions! Simply click on the book cover icon in the left sidebar and you will be taken directly to the book’s page on Amazon.
We always invite our readers to write comments at Amazon and on our Riverwalker website and Facebook pages. Although we have elected to publish our books and let them go into the world in an energetic fashion, without advertising or self-promotion, we are fully open to the energetic flow of the universe in whatever way that unfolds. So, in all humbleness, we invite our readers to be energetically available to write reviews and spread the word in whatever way feels right, or not.
Volume 2 of The Edge of the Abyss will be published in the next couple of months. Jan has already begun work on the final edit.
The Marathon of Energy cannot be stopped now, not by a psychotic youth, not by the NRA. We are in a new dream. Like the dinosaurs of old, who once pounded the earth intending to fly—and now do as birds in the sky—we too, as a species, are cracking the shells of our old mold intending a much more inclusive world of infinite possibility.
In this new world, we are witnessing a flood of inclusiveness as new elements flesh out the dream in the form of gay marriage, immigration reform, a new economic frontier—even marijuana legalization is but a blink away—to cite just a few.
The old guard of religious control, riddled with hypocrisy—actually retiring a Pope—is in retreat. Political dominance by a white elite is in permanent recession. Despite the hiccups of Tea Party or Old Confederacy protests, the now twice-born/elected black Obama stays at the helm and Hillary waits patiently in the wings.
There is no returning to an old dream. That dream, as John Lennon put it, “is over.” This new dream, seen clearly by Brother Martin on the other side of the mountain, is in full swing, and we can barely keep up with the pace of its unfolding.
We must understand that the world is literally on speed now, as it breaks down the old and ushers in the new. This is the deepest meaning of the momentous, traumatic events that flit through our screens in nanoseconds: the time of great change is upon us. It’s not about mass psychosis, though psychosis will captivate the vulnerable, and it is contagious, but it’s really about birth, the evolution/transformation of our species and world into a newly sustainable dream.
New Dream
The fate of our species in this new dream is dependent upon our ability to be in alignment with truth—the true needs of a new balance. The earth is abundantly demonstrating its willingness to swallow us up and flood us if we continue to insist upon old world practices of pollution and reliance on non-sustainable fossil fuels.
The peoples of the world are increasingly demonstrating an unwillingness to live in a 1% world. Ironically, America, once the beacon of freedom, now lags, as it clings illusorily to a dream long finished.
The challenge of now is to appreciate the momentum of the masses that the interconnected movement facilitates by social media, but shift awareness away from the Me of it all. The new dream is not a “Me” dream, it’s an all-inclusive “We” dream. In the all-inclusive we-dream, no life is more important than another. In the all-inclusive we-dream, we acquiesce to the true needs of the self, each other and the planet. In the all-inclusive we-dream, it’s affection over profit. The all-inclusive we-dream is not a socialist regression but actually a responsibility progression.
If we all assume responsibility for the truth within ourselves and our planet, we launch our mass shared dream into unbelievable evolutionary journeys into infinity.
Don Juan Matus told Carlos Castaneda that the view of human beings is frozen, fixated out the back window of the caboose of a train that is moving forward into oncoming time. Humans are not free to face life as it approaches, like the engineer who drives the engine car, but instead see only the rails of life already lived.
This fixated view is the product of our self-importance, which reigns supreme over our ability to assimilate and interpret reality as it funnels all events through the filter of “me,” thus depriving us of the fuller view of life, as it truly is, in real time. The sorcerers of don Juan’s lineage strove relentlessly to become beings of no importance; mindful shamans, fully present to life unfolding, in the engine car of life.
The shamans place no blame on humans for their narcissistic predicament, in fact, removing judgment is the primary mechanism to freeing all events from being rendered as a reflection of self. For example, I’m standing on line at a store, calmly waiting my turn to go to the register. Up walks a being who cuts the line and proceeds to the cashier. I see red. I’m offended, in fact I’m incensed! Who do they think they are? Do they think they’re special, that I don’t matter! It’s not fair; we all had to wait. This person must be stopped, confronted.
No one is saying anything, though obviously everyone has noticed. I’ll be the hero! I won’t allow my self-importance, my value, my significance to be undermined or negated. Not again. Not like when I was a powerless child. Why do I have to be the one to stand up? Why is it always me that has to take the risks and maybe get hurt? Am I afraid I’ll be hurt? Will my voice crack? Will sound come out if I open my mouth? Am I supposed to turn the other cheek? Isn’t that just a copout? Is it okay to be angry? Is someone noticing that I’m nervous? Etc., etc., etc.
LET ME OUT OF THE CABOOSE!!!
This is an example of the incessant internal dialogue of “me” that reports and constantly gauges all events in terms of my self-worth, self-importance, self-esteem, etc. If I, on the contrary, feel worthless, then the dialogue switches from offense to pity, and a stream of comments that construct and reinforce my inferior self spew out. Perhaps I’ll realize, as I stand on that checkout line, that I don’t have the right to exist and hence have no right to complain about any injustice perpetrated upon me. Either way, “me” is the common denominator of the internal dialogue. Feeling unimportant is equally attached to “me.” It’s still all about “me,” however diminished that “me” may feel.
Now that’s more like it! – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Being of no importance is being mindfully present, without obligation to change, fix, or defend anything. Without importance there is no offense. How can I be offended if I have no importance to uphold? I might choose to act or not to act when standing on that checkout line, but my criteria for action will not be to defend offense to myself. I might indeed challenge the perpetrator, but won’t be offended by the outcome of my challenge—it simply doesn’t matter. There’s no self-importance to defend. I am not attached to the outcome; in no way is it a reflection on me. The mirror of self-refelction no longer mars my view when I lose my importance.
As a being of no importance, I cherish and have gratitude for all who might offend me. You give me the gift of breaking the mirror of my self-refelction, as I break through my attachment to being offended by you. So thank you! Through your gift, I further unburden myself of the weight of “me,” too cumbersome to carry on my journey through infinity. I’m ready to hop out of the caboose and move up to the engine car. Deep gratitude for helping me to lighten my load and to clarify the view—the view of a being of no importance facing oncoming time. And quite a clear view it is!
