All posts by Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Ego Without Ego

Leave a comment
Little ego over big Ego…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With no ego whatsoever we would simply be pure energy, without a cohesive identity.

Ego is the stamp of our individual personality that marks our unique journey in this life.

Because of ego’s access to awareness, it knows it is a being who must someday die as a human being. How obvious the natural reaction to this fact being ego’s rush to embrace its importance and value, while in this life. This is how ego acquires its negative connotation as ego preoccupied with Ego.

Primary narcissism, Freud’s postulate that ego’s first obsession is with its own self, is ego’s enduring challenge to transcend in this life. For ego to pass through this developmental stage and take in a world greater than itself is a formidable task. Yet, only from this greater perspective can ego grasp the true interconnected reality of the world and position itself appropriately to this broader Self.

Decision making is an ego function. We are beings who must take responsibility for our decisions. It has been my experience that only decisions which align with the truth of Spirit come to manifestation. Actually, I have been aligning with this intent my entire life. Even when the ego has reasonably convinced me of the rightness of an action, it gains no traction in the field of manifestation if it is truly not aligned with Spirit.

“Let go and let God” does not absolve us from actively tracking the design of Spirit and assuming personal responsibility for right action. Right action is ego acting without Ego; ego discerning the synchronicities, the language of Spirit, and acting in consort with the intent of these messages.

Our world is currently on a dramatic pregnant pause. Nature is truly in charge now, though ego clearly has its necessary role. Decisions must be made both by world leaders as well as by individuals. Every individual has the personal responsibility to wash their own hands and face the truth of their own potential contagion.

World leaders are challenged to rise above the local fixation of self-importance and address the true needs of the whole planet. Nature is grooming the ego to take the next developmental step beyond primary narcissism: ego without Ego.

A vast sum of human energy is being stockpiled now, like the current glut of oil, usually spent motorizing the world. This undeployed energy is the currency of our energetic potential. The world’s forced pause is asking ego to ponder its truths.

With our habitual daily behaviors greatly checked, our energetic reserves are growing. For shamans it is energy, and energy alone, that is the key to discovering our energetic potential. Attention withdrawn from a world of objects stirs kundalini, the energy of outer attachment, to awaken to its inner potential.

Take full advantage of this time of solitariness to intend greater access to your fuller energetic potential. Intend your energy body to strengthen its dreaming attention to explore infinity with awareness.

Intend, in dreaming, to travel the world in an instant, flying and discovering in the energy body. Intend the greater good in all worlds, especially the solid world we live in, currently on pregnant pause.

In the outer world of energy consumption, reliance upon fossil fuels is far more of a threat to world survival than a virus. Is our world ego ready to align itself with this truth? What more will the Spirit of Nature need to do to have us act in alignment with this truth?

Pointless to point fingers. Always return to the hologram of self. Take it as a valid hypothesis that those whom you hate the most are mirroring the subterfuge of your own ego’s struggle with Spirit’s intent.

Own your own shadow and reckon with it. It’s not about being good or bad; we all are both, and all must live both. No solace or reconciliation to be found in one-sidedness.

Perfection is incomplete wholeness. Perfection is ego with Ego. Ego in its humbleness can laugh at its own imperfections. Ego that can love can be in full acceptance of everything, yet intend to be impeccable. To be impeccable is to track the designs of Spirit as the overarching intent of a mature ego, an ego without Ego.

Embrace this amazing opportunity we are all being gifted by nature at this time, for ego, without Ego, to discover and journey with Spirit as we manifest a brave new world.

Humbly,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Parallel Impact

Leave a comment
The collision of parallel worlds…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

I told Jan that the next time we head up North, I’d like us to see Girl from the North Country, the new Broadway musical that juxtaposes Bob Dylan classics with Depression-era Duluth, MN in 1934. What is the impact of these two parallel worlds intersecting? Is their synchronistic value in their collision?

We are currently experiencing the intersection of parallel species in the worldwide human encounter with coronavirus. Beyond the obvious war humans must wage to neutralize this virulent microbe, we might study the impact and possible meaning of this encounter, beyond mere coincidence.

Thus far, this tiniest of microbes has nearly shut down our expected way of life, imposing massive quarantines on the world’s favored group activities. The future of cruise ships clearly hangs in the balance. Sporting events, even the Olympics, may be played to empty stadiums.

Travel, particularly in the closed space of airplanes, is severely restricted. Though clearly not as deadly as a plague, this virus has caused us to stay local, to rely more heavily upon local resources, as well as to engage in solitary activity.

The world’s financial systems are experiencing a dramatic impact, particularly in the decreased demand for fossil fuel, a major bulwark of the stock market. Our financial stability may require a major revamping, with the positive side-effect of reducing the carbon load that currently threatens environmental survival.

Human communication is favoring more remote connectedness in this time of high contagiousness. The rush to physical contact, even a mere handshake, is discouraged. Our ultimate human resource, as beings of energetic connectedness, is an avenue of exciting possibility, as our attachment to physical objects and physical contact between people must be approached with great caution.

Reluctant as countries might be to cooperate with each other as they address their national concerns, the truth is that the entire planet is in this together. No policies or walls can fully insulate anyone from the possibility of infection. It’s a worldwide, borderless concern.

The actual necessity of the world’s many component parts—all countries—to come together to address the crisis is a fundamental shift from isolationist policies that tend to obscure the interconnected needs of the whole. The nature of the crisis might demand such a shift.

Whether Bernie Sanders becomes the ultimate Democratic nominee may become a moot point, as the needs of the world in this crisis might result in the necessity of certain social policies that address the basic needs of all, with equanimity. No one in the human hierarchy is immune from this virus, and all of us could potentially be a carrier of it. All must be cared for, for the good of all. No ‘left wing’ social agenda here but merely medical necessity.

As we live our way through this greatest of challenges to our normal human way of life, may we incorporate the changes that truly shift our world onto more solid footing.

Be safe, loving, and resourceful in these most awesome of times. Try deepening your dreaming awareness, for remote energetic contact with all you hold dear.

These times are indeed a-changin’….

To the greatest common good,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Waiting

Leave a comment
Storm clouds are gathering…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Today, I consult the I Ching with the following: Please provide guidance to navigate the energy of now.

Hexagram #5, Waiting, with moving lines in the first and fourth places, with a future of hexagram #28, Preponderance of the Great, is my answer.

The image of Waiting is water gathering in the sky, a picture of clouds filling with moisture. The obvious inference is, waiting for rain. This can only happen when the clouds have accrued enough density and are thus ready to release their bounty.

Applied to human circumstance, don’t try to push the river. The forces at work here, particularly in nature, are operating on their own schedule.

The moving line in the first place suggests that at present conditions are calm, the impending concern is still at a distance. The guidance suggests that one not exhaust one’s energetic reserves in advance, as this might weaken one’s ability to respond when it truly is time to act.

At the moving line in the fourth place, the storm has arrived. One finds oneself in quite a dangerous, precarious position. The guidance here is to stand fast, to allow fate to take its natural course. By embracing this composure, one is likely to not worsen the situation and, as a result, find the best way out.

The pending danger is more vividly expressed in the image of hexagram #28, a deeply sagging ridgepole, a roof soon to be caving in. This condition is transitory, as collapse is inevitable.

Thus the notion of a major shift, a revolution, is the inevitable consequence of this set of circumstances. The I Ching cautions that this is not to be achieved through forceful measures. The change is a natural and necessary transition, appropriate to the needs of the time.

In a nutshell, we are presently in a time of waiting. At this moment, the energy of major change is still gathering.

Be calm, remain aware, but don’t tax your energy with too much vigilance. The storm will arrive, a major transition will occur; it is inevitable.

Do not act precipitously. Follow your path of heart, regardless of who follows you.

In calm gratitude for the guidance,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Commodity of Attention

Leave a comment

Where are you putting your attention, on the chaos or the calm?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Advertisers scramble for it. Politicians pay and compete for it. Children crave it. All of us long for it. More valuable than money itself is the commodity of attention. More important than anything  to the stock markets of the world, at the current moment, is where investors place their attention. Attention is the prime mover of humanity.

We enter the world at birth, archetypally programmed to receive  attention. Attention is critical for us to, literally, come on line. Without the attention of good enough receivers we perish soon after entry.

With the outside validation of attention, good or bad, our attention is cultivated to fill out our personality, as our inner nature is sculpted through the process of socialization. Our attention is consolidated into an identity, a consistent sense of self. ‘I’ is molded through the solidification of our commodity of attention.

In school we are taught to cultivate our attention, to focus it upon the task of learning and creating. This training introduces us to the power of attention that we all possess. However, we are also heavily constricted by the rules of how attention should be practiced and upon what it should be focused.

Our freedom to exercise our attention is highly controlled by forces seeking the energy of our attention to uphold the primacy of their own belief systems. Without the mass attention of believers, belief systems have no currency to influence the world.

The consensus reality we live in requires a critical mass of attention to remain solid. This consensus means that we give our attention in support of its premises and leadership. If we withdraw that support it loses the commodity that upholds it, our attention.

Attention is more powerful than a vote or the ability to win an argument. Attention is focused energy, a powerful commodity. When we develop our dreaming attention, we develop the ability to explore and consciously exist as a substantial, multifaceted being in many dimensions of life.

When we are in command of our attention in waking life we can navigate the world with ease. Meditation is nothing other than full command of one’s attention. Intent is immediately drawn to the beacon of our attention. To command attention is to command intent.

To simply give one’s full attention to the meal one is eating, void of conversation, outside stimulation, and internal dialogue, connects one deeply to the needs and workings of the body. One remains in- body, knows how long to chew, when to swallow and when the body has had enough. The power of this attention reshapes the body and heals its ailments. Yes, the power of attention in such a simple task can radically change one’s state of health.

Come into your full power. Cultivate and store your precious commodity of attention. Be mindful not to spend it all on social media or obsession with world dramas seeking to bind and steal your attention.

No one can ever take away your freedom to place your attention where you want without your consent. And with that freedom, and a critical mass of the commodity of attention, the possibilities for life in all worlds is exponential.

Happy Savings,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Storytelling Beings

Leave a comment

We’re all just tellers of tall tales…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Ever notice how rapidly the mind assembles a story at the slightest hint of a possibility?

Once the story blossoms, all surrounding extraneous events become added details to support the surety of the story, as absolute reality. Yet, many, if not most of the times the story turns out to be just that, a red herring produced by the internal dialogue.

An incredible amount of energy is spent on these stories that are generated nonstop throughout the day. Furthermore, many of the stories evoke emotional reactions that further deplete one’s energetic reserves.

One way to apply the shaman’s dictum to suspend judgment would be to not attach, as the Buddhists would say, to not give attention to our stories. Perhaps we can’t stop the rapid assembly line of thought that creates the stories, but we can say to ourselves the word “story,” as they are presented to consciousness, reminding ourselves to pause and wait for the real facts to arrive.

Intuition sees in the dark, but it’s not always right. Make sure you get the facts. Synchronicity abounds, but it too can get caught in the tangled web of the storytelling trickster within. Tracking energy is a shamanic activity that seeks out genuine expressions of manifested energy, not cogitations of the mind that spin many a sordid tale.

The storytelling function we all possess is in fact an expression of how our intent is used. Someone fails to call us at an agreed upon time. Our creative capacity, our link to intent, is suddenly commandeered by the internal dialogue that then paints its pictures and authors its novels. When we refuse to attach to these unsubstantiated stories we strengthen our control over our link to intent.

Perhaps the most valuable gift from the current state of the world is the rapidity at which new stories are rapidly assembled, constantly changing versions of reality, blatantly assembled before our very eyes! We are suffering from story saturation, yet the lesson is crystal clear: ‘reality’ is created by stories that people agree upon.

We live in a consensus reality that is currently losing its cohesion due to major conflicting interpretations of the facts. The question to ask is, what interpretation has substance, and which is merely a phantom story? A good place to track the truth is following a path of heart. Seek the truth within the heart, beyond the reach of the cogitating mind.

The practice of recapitulation entails reclaiming energy from the stories we have really lived. As we relive our true stories we reclaim the energy they have held. Our freed energy then becomes available to be redeployed toward walking our true path of heart.

Self-importance is truly believing that the story of ourselves, our personal novel, is a best seller! Indeed, it must be, or we wouldn’t be solidly committed to it! This, of course, is the ego’s pitch, and the ego does have a point. If we weren’t so committed to our personal value we truly would cease to exist. This is one definition of schizophrenia: loss of ego, and with it, the ability to commit to a consistent storyline of self.

So yes, we do acknowledge the magic of our being as a story of great continuity. On the other hand, to become too fixated on a consistent story of ourselves clips our wings, limiting all that we might become, in fact, a very changed being.

Storytelling beings that we are, may we create a new story, a substantial world we can all really live and thrive in.

With love,

Chuck