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Chuck’s Place: Uphold Civility

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How about a little more love and compassion?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Our world has many separate parts that interact to maintain our wholeness. The reigning principle that holds us together is homeostasis, a tendency toward balance and stability. When one part of our world becomes extreme other parts of our world become extreme in the opposite direction in a compensatory effort to restore balance.

Currently, our world has devolved into such an extremist state of tenuous balance, with volatile groups expressing deep opposition to one another. The ability to appreciate the needs and perspectives of others in an effort to restore peaceful equilibrium is lost to our current circumstance.

Suspend judgment. In such time of extremism, all cling to the one-sidedness of their individual or group positions. The truth appears radically self-evident; the “other’s” view is clearly distorted and wrong. Emotion intensifies to convince, defend, and attack. Reason is stretched beyond reason. In fact, reason is one side of a pair of opposites, deeply suspect to many.

Realize that all the opposition outside ourselves courses equally through our inner selves. Here we can contribute to our own inner balance, as well as the greater world’s, by inwardly facing the one-sidedness of our own ego positions. Even the most contentious positions encapsulate some grain of truth. Our ego is charged to use its analytic and feeling capacities to find the value and necessary place for all parts of the self and the world.

Outwardly, we do well to not fall prey to blame and hate, as these reactions simply further and intensify the divide. Though we must stand firm to who we truly are, upholding our beliefs and values, we are equally free to feel compassion for all. Compassion is directed love energy, where all are acknowledged as legitimate parts of the whole.

Compassion can be expressed through civility. Regardless of the intensity of our beliefs or feelings we can treat each other with respect. This is an enormous task in these times of extremism where many say and do things that evoke strong visceral reactions within the self. Nonetheless, we can all take up the challenge to resist getting taken over and acting out our rageful impulses, verbally or otherwise. This act of containment keeps ego control above water, not causing further damage. Being civil may not result in a kind response, but it will at least not further inflame.

Next, the responsibility is to care for the self and the intense emotion suppressed within. Allow the self release in total private. A brisk walk, deep breathing and, yes, even throwing stones may be warranted. Once the emotional charge has diminished, reflect deeply on the source of inner activation. Something important is being revealed to the self in the emotional reaction. Know thyself, love thyself.

Love the part of the self that feels victimized, betrayed, or disempowered. Although you may choose to have no relationship or engagement with the triggering “other,” find compassion for them within the self, perhaps simply seeing them as a fellow human being struggling with human life. At that level we are all one.

Upholding civility is the bridge we have now, in these times of raging rivers that threaten to flood our civilization. Join in supporting this bridge, through action with civility.

Civilly and affectionately yours,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Transition

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Leaving the old…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

Artifacts of family life, tucked away in the attic for decades, came out for their final viewing. Dusted-off trophies glistened on the mantel. Pictures and paintings of yesteryear adorned the room. Artifacts of school years and family journeys were revisited, private diaries were revealed—some still holding too private moments to be shared. Laughter and tears abounded as the emotional energy of a family’s life was recapitulated, retrieved, and released. The next morning the room was bare, calmly awaiting its new life as it sent us all off in new  directions.

Don’t turn back or you’ll turn to stone, is the biblical guidance. Many a backache is such a stone, the weight of regret and obligation. Did we fulfill our archetypal parental duties well enough? The truth is that new archetypes have come into play now and, just as always, the challenge is to be fully present and living in the now of today, a rapidly changing world.

Humanity is being deeply humbled now as the planet continues its reformation. Surface politics merely reflects but hardly effects the tumultuous energies of transformation churning at our core. We are all sitting in the living room of our lives, viewing the artifacts of a world we must release, as we are birthed into new life.

Jan and I were blindsided by the call to Roberts Mountain, the call, dear Joseph Campbell, we dared not refuse. In turn, we have blindsided many with whom we have been energetically connected. In truth, the energy of our time is blindsiding us all and we are all challenged to find our way back to the Tao, the flow of the River Now.

Years ago, when Jeanne was at the height of her cancer journey, we conceived a business that would serve all peoples at anytime, any- where. We called it therapyanytime.com. The business required all remote contact, via internet and the crude cameras of that time. After marking that space of possibility, life and death called our energy elsewhere and we moved on.

Here we are today, moving to the home built by Skip Atwater, founder of army intelligence’s remote viewing program. Further, our practice must evolve into remote viewing in digital space. The dream Jeanne and I once conceived is unfolding now. All whom we are connected with are part of that dream, wherever we all land next.

I realize, of course, that the deeper thrust is into true energetic connection beyond digital support. This is where the Shaman’s world and Robert Monroe’s world converge, both having discovered that the next stage of our evolutionary potential is to be achieved through explorations of life in the energy body while still in human form.

Going to the new land…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

This is the post-materialistic world we are currently moving toward, as our Earth can no longer sustain the excess of our physical appetites.

In energetic life all things are possible, the adventures endlessly exciting, and the Earth dearly loved and respected.

Looking forward to continuing from the mountain, as we all move forward into new energetic life.

Peace and love always,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Stabilizing and Contributing Now

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…you need!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Whether we feverishly track the news or guardedly protect ourselves from incoming data storms we are all, at our interconnected core, impacted by what is happening in the world. Though we might insulate ourselves from the plight of children separated from their parents, at a certain level the emotional energy of their fear and sadness runs through us all.

The high profile suicides we have witnessed recently speak to the existential despair of our fragile egos, subjected to a milieu of instability, uncertainty, and disintegration. As a psychotherapist my role is to acknowledge these truths and help people safely cross the tumultuous river of our time.

Recognizing that we are all interconnected means that certain currents of thought and feeling that flow through us are collective in nature; they are greater than our individual selves yet we might interpret them quite personally. Ego can forge its navigating ship by recognizing its interconnected core but at the same time not identify with or attach its individual self to its collective affiliation.

Copycat syndrome is actually ego loosing its grounded footing and identifying itself with the mood, thinking, and action of another. Ego is indeed vulnerable to dissolving its identity and merging with a collective impulse, as is well illustrated by a mob mentality. In fact, at present we are witnessing mob mentalities emerging from many corners, deeply challenging our individual egos to know thyself apart from the collective self of the group.

Turning attention to the body self is most helpful at this time. The body registers the collective emotional currents of now in stress reactions that tighten the body boundaries through clenching. Giving ourselves the message that, “it is safe to release in this moment,” accompanied by slow deeper breathing releases these inner dams of tension and better prepares ego to go with the flow.

From this more personally grounded place, ego can contribute to calming the collective angst by tapping into love energy, which radiates back into the collective river of energy at its deepest current, our interconnected oneness. Love is the glue that binds us together as a human family.

Feel and send love to the separated children. Feel and send compassion to those in control of deciding the fate of those children that they might find their way to love in their actions. Arm the self with love energy that it may hold together while weathering through the great changes and challenges of now.

Encased in love we hold together and advance regardless of outer circumstance. Love endures the pain of separation. Love issues from beyond space-time where all is one, all the time. It is our deepest challenge and greatest opportunity to find our way to this enduring connection in this time of great distraction and separation.

Through stabilizing and dis-indentifying with the violent currents of now we find our way to the deepest current of love, which contributes to the restoration of our true oneness. Find your way down to that which always flows at the depth of your being, the universal current of love, and let it radiate, period.

Love is all,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Don’t Push the River

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Decisions are the responsibility of the ego. Guidance may come from infinity or by simply contemplating the Tao of now, but ego, through the exercise of consciousness, must arrive at a decision and plan of action.

River-walking…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The ego is in charge of time-space navigation. The higher self, a higher power, and spirit guides, all of whom reside in infinity, can offer wisdom and the broadest possible perspective, but it falls upon the ego self to decide the next right action in daily life.

What is a right decision? The simple answer is, one that aligns with the true needs of the whole self. The ego might reason through a dilemma and come to a logical conclusion as to what must be done. This might be the right decision, but the ego would do well to also feel through a decision: does this feel right in the same way that it logically adds up? If it does, it’s a go! But if feeling and thinking don’t align, further deliberation is required.

Often times the ego is more centered in the solar plexus chakra, the seat of personal power. From that vantage point the ego gets the perspective of utilizing its power for its own needs and gain. This perspective is indeed important. We see it at the center of world decisions at present, but it is limited to its own survival and gain and tends to dismiss the larger interdependent reality beyond itself.

The heart center chakra has a greater connection to interdependent reality and often delivers its guidance in a sensation or calmness that follows a thought, thereby offering its support to the perspective that thought presents. The ego does well to check in with the solar plexus as well as the heart to be sure it is considering the needs  of both self and the greater interconnected reality.

It is amazing how much strength can be mustered to plow forward with a narrowly based decision. The ego can exercise its will to force the world to respond. Often however, if the ego is not inclusive of the greater interconnected reality, the world responds with negative feedback in the form of some kind of resistance to the ego’s push. This is where we find ourselves trying to push the river.

There is a right decision to be made and the ego must actually discover it. Discovering a decision is actually more appropriate than making a decision. The paradox here is that the ego must decide what is right, but in actuality the process is one of ultimately acquiescing to what is right. Only a mature ego is capable of surrendering its willfulness and aligning itself with what is truly right.

The process of ego maturation is the “Groundhog Day” of life on this planet. As we work with and bring our ego into mature alignment with spirit consciousness, we discover that all our decisions are right decisions because they teach us the consequences of making decisions based on ego alone. We learn from our mistakes. Thus, all decisions accrue value, as eventually we discover that they have all been part of a process leading to change.

Rather than pushing the river we learn the art of river-walking: walking with consciousness within the true flow of interconnected energy.

Learning to walk,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: We Can’t Escape the Archetypes

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Archetypes are nature’s prompts to action. In the animal world archetypes are the counterpoint to inertia. When the archetype is activated the target image, goal, and energy for action appear: the sleeping cat suddenly pounces!

Archetypal horse in nature…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Although the human animal shares with all of nature its pre-programmed reactions to life, these archetypal calls to action are often muddled by consciousness, which allows for freedom of choice. As the #MeToo perspective has charged, sexual arousal needn’t result in automatic behavior. Consciousness can restrain, reflect, and negotiate versus simply act out an archetypal impulse.

The archetypes in nature can be opposed and transformed by human consciousness. This evolutionary power of choice is facilitated by the prefrontal lobe hegemony of the human brain, particularly the left brain that organizes what it perceives and experiences into a logical space-time order. This thinking function has the ability to override nature.

The power to act upon its own decisions is associated with the ego, the center of human consciousness. As powerful and advantageous as it may be to oppose nature, it comes at quite a cost. At the level of the brain, the ego tends to dismiss the wisdom and fuller interconnected knowledge of the right brain, the seat of our vaster spirit selves, that perceives and lives outside the confines of space-time in infinity. This greater center of knowing could be and often is a valuable contributor to the ego’s decision making processes.

However, as is quite evident in the time we live, the world ego seems to have reverted to a more primitive #MeOnly perspective that completely dismisses our interconnected reality and chooses to act on its personal survival and needs alone. For many, this is a most satisfying respite from the altruism born of a higher interconnected concern for world survival. For others this is nothing less than a total disintegration of civilization, our collective effort to function cohesively as one world.

Ironically, the world ego is now actually being controlled by deeper archetypal forces that are colluding with the ego in a major world ego inflation. World leaders are emboldened and possessed by their primitive instincts to care only about themselves and their own national interests. What is emerging is a rapid takedown of the morals and principles that have held the world together.

Perhaps this is the result of nature, having been opposed for too long, exacting an exaggerated compensatory reaction to a spirit driven world. Even Obama questions if he came too soon.

The archetypes have destructive sides. Life in space-time begins and ends. Archetypes usher life both in and out.  One only need consider nature’s storms that destroy communities and nations in a heartbeat. This destructive side of archetypal nature is ruling the behavior and decisions of many world leaders at present. Nature is exacting some kind of correction upon the human race under the guise of supporting individualism.

The ego inflation of humankind will likely be leveled by nature’s actual storms and the emotional storms of egos possessed by destructive archetypes. The silver lining to this correction is an evolutionary push to more fully explore and inhabit spirit centered right brain interconnectedness. It’s time for left brain to consider, support, and serve its fuller energetic self, the hard drive of which is centered in the right brain. This is the conjunctio that is necessary as we move forward: left and right brain in complementary communion.

We are the progeny of nature. Nature had long ago decided that it was time to broaden from natural selection and the natural domination of archetypes to allow for more efficient guiding decisions from consciousness. Nature is now correcting for its creation, an inflated ego far too dissociated and negating of its all-knowing inheritance. Destruction will lead to evolved life.

As we move into the future now, we will more deeply inhabit our right brain, with all its interconnected knowing, with our left brain, providing time-space orientation and making decisions based on our true interconnectedness. Now that’s progress: ego and archetype, consciousness and interconnected all-knowing on the same team.

Integrating,

Chuck