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Chuck’s Place: 47

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What could those numbers possibly mean? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What could those numbers possibly mean?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Shortly after his marriage to Alyce in 1941, Elmer Green had a “vision” dream in which he and Alyce were given golden sweaters, each with a maroon number 47 sewn onto it. Elmer came to understand that these numbers foretold that through their relationship they were each challenged to square their individual karmas with Divine Law, to be freed to end their cycles of reincarnation in this life and move on to new adventures in infinity.

The number 4 refers to the work of the ego in this life, which inherits its karma from past lives and works through, releases, or accumulates more karma in this life. Jung identified the number 4 as the 4-sided square of the mandala, the symbol of individuation and wholeness.

7 is the number of infinity, heaven, higher power—ultimate truth and reality. Jung identified the number 7 as the circle within the mandala. Squaring the circle —47— is thus reconciling our karma with Divine Law, which then frees us to move deeper into enlightenment.

Interestingly, Jeanne died at age 47. And, after a very brief return to complete her karma with her reincarnated birth mother, she was able to release herself from the cycles of reincarnation and assume the role of bodhisattva, or teacher, for spiritual seekers of 47 in this world.

When Jan and I read Elmer’s dream, I reflected on the dreams I’d encountered that day containing the numbers 4 and 7. In one dream, there was a state of isolated waiting for between 4 and 7 hours. In another, there was taking charge of an area identified as district 7. When these numbers appear they reflect the work of squaring core karma with Divine Law, that is, facing and resolving our deepest truths.

The next morning, I contemplated the significance of 47 for our greater Planetary Being, planet Earth. I was drawn to the history of Palestine. As I researched, I discovered that it was in 1947 that the United Nations officially partitioned Palestine, clearing the way for the establishment of the State of Israel.

Not having discussed this process with anyone, I was surprised that the first person I spoke to that morning introduced me to the documentary film The Edge of Dreaming, which chronicles the journey of a 47 year old woman who was told in a dream that she would die at the age of 48. I took this synchronicity as an acknowledgment from infinity that my research was on course.

Who would argue that the world’s survival hinges on the resolution of conflict in the Middle East? The assigning of 47 to the Middle East as the place where the Planetary Being, Earth, must square its karma with Divine Law is completely apropos. At that level the stakes are highest.

Of which we are all a part... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Of which we are all a part…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

This past week, on his way to victory, Netanyahu clearly stated his position—no two state solution on his watch. I see this remarkable honesty as an advance, regardless of his subsequent backtracking. The perennial failed peace negotiations have no possible outcome in establishment of a Palestinian state. This position has been fully acknowledged.

On the flip side, I had a visitor this week from the Arab world, who shared with me that no globe or map in the Arab world is allowed to have the State of Israel on it. There we have it: the Arabs refuse the State of Israel, the Israelis refuse a State of Palestine. The mist has cleared! We see the truth: total stalemate.

However, this stalemate has resulted in the great amassing of military might by the Israelis and the equally powerful rise of terrorism in militant Islam. The increasing power and threat of these opposing forces holds the world in constant vigilance, with clear and present threats to survival. Where is the resolution?

The greater Planetary Being must resolve this paradox to survive and evolve. As a therapist, my focus has always been on the cells of the Planetary Being, that is, each and every one of us, each individual human being who, like a hologram, contains the same forces within as the overall Planetary Being reflects without. Yes, that Planetary Being reflects all of us; we are all that Planetary Being; we are all the Middle East, the Arabs and Israelis, the militants and terrorists alike.

The 47 within all of us is the squaring with all the parts within the self. No part of the self may be left behind, just as no citizen or people can be left out of the world. Resolution must include all. Extinction was attempted in the Holocaust, which greatly contributed to the karma of now. It must be resolved, and that can only happen if everyone is willing to reveal their true cards, as Netanyahu has recently done.

How do we integrate opposing parts? How do we each deal with the shadow within ourselves? It begins with honestly revealing and facing the truth of the shadow: all cards revealed. But what will advance it from there?

I think the hint comes from infinity and its teachers, who have returned with their guidance throughout the millennia. Their constant reminder is always the same: Love. Only in revealing ourselves in our honest humanness, can we move to loving compassion. As infinity loves and accepts all its parts, all its children, so are we too guided to love even those we feel we must hate.

Are we really ready to 47? - by Jan Ketchel
Are we really ready to 47?
– by Jan Ketchel

To be able to love, we must release all karmic grudges and shortcomings; we must merge the 4 and the 7. Every time we, as individual Planetary Beings, love our neighbor and our own shadow as ourselves, we make room for all in loving kindness. Begin with the self; begin a cellular revolution of Planetary change within, that is our charge. Our greater Planetary Being is counting on us to release it from its karma, to move it forward into enlightened life!

If you protest that the opposing forces in the Middle East will never be able to love each other, I counter: Will you ever be able to fully love yourself, the full unadulterated truth of yourself, no parts excluded? The challenge is equally the same for all parts of this Planetary Being that we all are, as we seek to truly square 4 and 7.

Forty-sevening,
Chuck

Reference to Dr. Elmer Green’s vision dream comes from his book, The Ozawkie Book of the Dead.

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Chuck’s Place: The Tripartite Self

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All begin as the Child... - Detail from artwork by Jan Ketchel
All begin as the Child…
– Detail from artwork by Jan Ketchel

If we examine the inner workings of our everyday mind, we will likely discover three distinct characters: the Child, the Adult, and the Wise One.

The Child may be observed as the one who immediately reacts with fear as the day begins or when the day ends. The Morning Child may fear what bad things await in the day, whereas the Evening Child may fear what may pop out and surprise it in the darkness of the night.

The Child might constantly feel it has done something wrong; it’s in trouble; it’s not as good as everyone else; it’s simply inadequate and flawed. Perhaps the Child holds a secret belief that it truly is unlovable, that it must hide and cover up for fear of being exposed as simply a fraud—deep shame indeed.

The Child might lodge itself in the throat or the jaw or the heart, its tension shutting down the deeply opening and releasing breath of abdominal breathing. Or the Child might pressure for constant physical activity—running, spinning, climbing—racing in some form to release its fear in constant activity. Or, in contrast, the Child might remain sluggish and hidden, seeking never to attract the attention of interaction that threatens exposure, failure, and disappointment.

The Adult is the ego self. In one form or another the Adult is formed to manage the needs, feelings, and beliefs of the Child self. Donald Winnicott, pediatrician and psychoanalyst, proposed the term “false self” to capture the compensatory nature of the adult ego that tries to cover up the felt deficiencies of the now subterranean child self. This falseness is a kind of inflation where the Adult wears a mask that suggests talent or competency, when the truth is that it’s really covering areas of deep doubt within. For example: a man who is terrified of woman might don the mask of Don Juan and become a conqueror of women, or a woman might play the role of seductress to secure a babysitter for her frightened child self, afraid to be alone in the night.

Beyond its falseness, the Adult ego is the legitimate heir or chief navigator of this life in the body. The ego ate the apple in the Garden, it is the center of consciousness and decision making. It is a powerhouse in its own right and for better or worse must steer the ship of our choices.

Our Adult self seeks balance of masculine and feminine... - Photo of art by Jan Ketchel
Our Adult self seeks balance of masculine and feminine…
– Photo of art by Jan Ketchel

Appropriately, the Adult must turn its attention toward securing its place in the world. A living must be made, basic needs must be met. The Adult must become the hero that charts the course to survival and perhaps thrives in the daily adventures of life. Depending on a host of factors, such as DNA, family of origin, finances, and relationships, the Adult ego might find itself confident and solidly grounded, adventurous and daring, or it might be barely holding on in the most basic of life’s challenges.

Regardless, however, of the degree of ego success, the truth is that all egos are equally confronted with the truth that life in this world will end, and that a far more comprehensive world awaits in death, where particles are waves—where everything is energy—and there is nothing solid to hold onto.

Fortunately, in the background of the self is the Wise One, the quiet voice in the depths of ourselves that reconnects us with the fruits of the Garden. The Wise One tells us the truth when we ask it what to do. Often there’s a moment of calm, of clarity, when we’re told, see, or know the truth—what is right action. Should we continue in this relationship? Should we eat this food, take this drink? Should we take this job? Should we speak the truth?

The Wise One generally does not press us. It realizes the futility of teacher approaching student. And so, often the Wise One sits back and let’s life with all its consequences be the elementary school teacher. When we’ve accrued enough knowledge through willful failures we become ready to ask and acquiesce to the guidance of the Wise One within and begin to choose right action as our life’s modus operandi.

Our Wise One is always in balance... - Detail of cover painting from KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Our Wise One is always in balance…
– Detail of cover painting from KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Much of life is spirit developing a homogenous whole between the heterogenous entities of these tripartite selves of Child, Adult, and Wise One. The Child is the channel to our deepest needs and innocence. The Adult is our greatest hope for reconciliation and karmic advance in the sea of oppositions we must confront within and without in this life. The Wise One is our truest guide who holds the wisdom of countless generations and past lives, as well as access to life beyond space and time. But the Wise One will only come to us in a meaningful way if we assume full responsibility for life in this world and preparation for life beyond this world as well, or at the very least are humbly ready to listen. Such is the mystery and magic of the tripartite, holy trinity of self.

Homogenizing,
Chuck

Note: Although no reference is given to the illustrator of the work pictured above that we have chosen to represent the Wise One within us all, the painting is from the cover of KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. With thanks and gratitude!

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Journey To The Light

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Are we ready to emerge from the bardos into the light? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Are we ready to emerge from the bardos into the light?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

This past weekend, as Jan and I immersed ourselves in Dr. Elmer Green’s The Ozawkie Book of the Dead, I wrote: “If we intend to live with abandon we must first fully relive with abandon.” This was in reaction to Elmer’s exposition of the depths of the subconscious that completely encloses us in the bardos* of our unrealized selves, unable to find our way to the light.

I was reminded of the many traumatized individuals I have known, through the years, who were unable to be helped by lamas in their Buddhist retreats to release attachment to the impact of their traumatic pasts through mindfulness training.

Though mindfulness can still the mind and the central nervous system, it cannot absolve one of the necessary energetic encounters with unprocessed traumatic experience dissociated in the body and the psyche.

I picked up A Path with Heart, by Jack Kornfield, off the bathroom library shelf and opened to the chapter entitled “Psychotherapy and Meditation” where Jack, the Buddhist monk, eloquently confirms my above observations.

The next morning, from the same shelf, I picked an obscure book that Jan had purchased some time ago, entitled Activation of Energy by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and opened to “The Place of Technology.” In this chapter de Chardin wrote, in 1947:

“…From the psychic point of view the earth would seem to be becoming progressively hotter, continually even more incandescent. If we consider not its harmony but its general intensity, the earth has never been through a phase to equal the present.” (p. 161)

At the crossroads, where we've been, where we're going, and what's next? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
At the crossroads,
where we’ve been, where we’re going,
and what’s next?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Contrary to the Sunshine State’s recent ban on DEP officials using the term “climate change,” the truth is, global warming has us heated to a phase unequal to the past. And we find ourselves at an evolutionary crossroads as a result; the heat is boiling over everywhere. The challenge, as de Chardin describes, is for the light of consciousness to fully take charge of evolution now. But how will we bring light to the earth?

Last week, Netanyahu delivered an unprecedented speech to Congress, breaking ranks with all diplomacy as he anxiously expressed his unwavering position: Iran can never be trusted, ever. Don’t make a deal.

Obama responded to Netanyahu’s speech, saying that he heard no new ideas or solutions with this stay-the-course approach. In fact, the rise of terrorism throughout the world appears to be fueled in large measure by the powerlessness of this stalemate.

The other day, 47 Republican Senators wrote a letter to Iran warning that regardless of Obama’s negotiations regarding a nuclear arms agreement, Congress would undo any agreement when he left office. Some view this unprecedented behavior by the Senate as treason.

The heating up of politics and international tensions is part and parcel of the growing charge to humankind to shed truthful light on its problems and find solutions based on right action. There is no great God gonna come from the sky and make everything all right.

We are charged, just as we are in recapitulation, to find our way through the hazy bardos of our largely subconscious planet. In de Chardin’s first essay in Activation of Energy, “The Moment of Choice,” written at Christmas 1939 on the eve of World War II, he states:

“This will be the second time, then, in the span of one human life that we shall have known War. The second time, did I say? Is it not, rather, worse than that? Is it not the same Great War [WWI] that is still raging, the same single process: a world being re-cast — or disintegrating? (p. 13)

Well, here we are again. It’s not a new war; it’s a continuation of the same disintegrating process, heating up evermore powerfully, begging us to recapitulate, to face all the horrors and all the truths of our choices and behaviors since we took over the wheel, since we ate the apple in the garden from the tree of knowledge. We’ve been driving ever since and look where it has gotten us!

Are we going to wait until it's too late? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Are we going to wait until it’s too late?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Unless we face ourselves and act in the light of truth and consciousness the globe will continue to heat up under the stewardship of the dark side: greed and self-interest.

Yes, there are guides, angels, bodhisattvas, masters, all dedicated to helping us find our way to union with that light, but none of those entities can lift us out of the bardos into the light. We must boil in our bardos and free ourselves before we can benefit from such guidance. Channels broadcast messages everywhere, but do we listen? Can we listen? On what are we satiated?

When I posed these issues to the I Ching yesterday, I received hexagram #27 The Corners of the Mouth (Providing Nourishment). This hexagram is a picture of an open mouth. The real crux of the issue is, what will we put into our mouths and what words will come out of our mouths?

The bottom three lines of the hexagram refer to actions that seek nourishment for oneself alone: actions of greed. The top three refer to nourishment for others: compassion.

I received the six in the fourth place. Here the I Ching states: “…this line refers to one occupying a high position and striving to let his light shine forth. To do this he needs helpers, because he cannot attain his lofty aim alone. With the greed of a hungry tiger he is on the lookout for the right people. Since he is not working for himself but for the good of all, there is no wrong in such zeal.” (p. 110 Wilhelm translation.) The guidance here: turn the hunger of greed toward the light; bite through to the truth.

I also got the nine at the top. Here the I Ching states: “This describes a sage of the highest order, from whom emanate all influences that provide nourishment for others. Such a position brings with it heavy responsibility. If he remains conscious of this fact, he has good fortune and may confidently undertake even great and difficult labors, such as crossing the great water. These undertakings bring general happiness for him and for all others.” (pp. 110-11)

The guidance here makes it pretty clear that it’s time to do the right thing, to take full responsibility and cross the waters of our personal recapitulations just as the world, as a collective unit, must face the truths of the choices of its human nature and compassionately right the course.

Eventually we come into the light... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Eventually we come into the light…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

There are no saviors. We are the saviors. We’ve been charged with using our heated up planet, to use its light to make things right, deepening its journey into the light.

Journeying into the light,
Chuck

* Bardos refers to the Tibetan after-death bardo states, but is intentionally used in a broader context to suggest that we are in the bardos all the time, in a confusing state of disorientation that we must come to terms with (e.g. in recapitulation) so we can proceed into new life and higher realms of consciousness.

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Chuck’s Place: Being In Love

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Love comes in many shapes and forms... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Love comes in many shapes and forms…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

To be a being in love is the ultimate journey. To embody love in all perceptions, in all judgments, in all reflections, and in all actions is the goal. Behind all fear love awaits. Love is full acceptance of all that was and all that is. Love rests upon the truth; it’s all that matters.

Love is not a merchant. It seeks nothing in return; it simply loves. Love is not a pushover. If the truth is that it must kill, it does so with love. This is the lesson of the Gita, a battle guided by Krishna.

Life is hardly the absence of struggle and battle. The challenge is to be a being who comes from the place of love in every role, good or bad. Love has no attachments; love simply is. Can you find it in everything and everyone?

Love seeks not, especially to change another. Love simply accepts the full truth of the other. In full acceptance may lie the truth that it’s not time to meet, that you both need other things. You are in love if you allow for the full acceptance of this truth, as you quietly grant each other the necessary journeys you each must take.

Love with another asks for nothing but the full truth of another, without expectation. This is the place of highest meeting. When two truths align there is meeting. One must give oneself fully to the truth and see what’s there. Meetings can be brief, extended, or not at all, not in this life. But a being in love is always in love. In the fullness of truth one is never alone.

Love is the deepest connection to all that is. One is never alone in love; love encompasses all. Nothing is rejected in love, especially the self, the greatest love of all. This is not narcissism, for a being in love knows the necessity of complete self acceptance, the greatest challenge of all.

Love lets the other go... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Love lets the other go…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Love smiles at the phrase, “getting my needs met.” Love admits there is much to be discovered and much to be experienced. But love also knows the folly of asking another to meet a need. True love may need to venture into the vulnerability of such a request, as the journey of love insists we drop all defenses. But love also knows that only true meetings are real. Role playing is play, but true meeting requires no rehearsal, it simply aligns. This is the substance of true meetings, and precious is that substance.

Yet all meetings are meetings of love. To always be in love and ask for nothing is the challenge. To radiate the fullness of love without expectation, in all situations, is the path of heart. Meetings and mergers in love create growing consciousness of the oneness of all “things.” In the patience and steadiness of this growing awareness we consolidate being in love, gently diving deeper into the unfolding adventures of oneness in love.

To be a being in love is to be a warrior of the highest rank!

Love,
Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Soul Mate & The Masks Of God

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The active side of infinity is always seeking... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
The active side of infinity is always seeking…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

If indeed we are the “active side of infinity,” as don Juan asserts, then our mission is to live and thoroughly bring consciousness into the myriad of possibilities of infinity that we embody.

We are probes of awareness bringing light and life into the darkness of wholeness. Through our experiences of exploring a possibility, what we call a lifetime, the universe becomes aware of itself. Infinity lights up and grows through all of our “individual” journeys.

All our individual journeys are fragments of a greater whole, with specific missions to enhance consciousness through the lives we each live. These fragments that we are create the illusion of separateness that is necessary to explore a specific part of the wholeness we are here to enliven and enlighten. Of course, behind our illusion of separateness is the real truth of our oneness with infinity.

The primary driver of the separate self, our soul we’ve come to identify with, is a longing for unity with its lost wholeness in infinity—that is, the complete union of consciousness with its wholeness—the complete union of light with its darkness.

The truth is, we are souls seeking union with our one true mate—infinity itself. The driver of that union is love.

Love is full merger with all that we are and all that is. Nothing is rejected in infinity. On the other hand, love seeks the fullness of union, and for this to happen we must release attachment to all the illusions we attach to in our fragmented journeys, all the masks of God, beings we merge with, beings that awaken our lost forgotten wholeness, who offer us temporary refuge in the lives we live.

If we cling too highly to a golden being who wears the mask of God for us in this life, we are caught in the dilemma of clinging to false gods, the essence of karma. Karma, in this context, is our journey to the completion of the true wholeness that we really are.

Where have you projected your Soul? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Where have you projected your Soul?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

There are many worlds we enter on this infinite journey where the golden Soul Mate of wholeness projects itself upon another being. We are drawn to unite and ignite with this being in our quest for fulfillment.

Jung identified some archetypal programs that govern such projections. The shadow is a projection of a side of our wholeness that we refuse, experienced in people we are compulsively drawn to fear, hate and reject. The shadow hides in the darkness, but our journey to unmask it will bring us closer to our golden light, as we come to accept the unaccepted within ourselves.

The anima/animus archetype draws us to seek completion through merging with our unifying Soul Mate. The romantic and transpersonal experiences of this archetype, outwardly projected and joined with, bring us deeper into the fullness of infinity. However, we are challenged to unmask these golden companions as well.

I spent thirty years with my golden “Soul Mate” Jeanne, only to discover, as she entered the astral realm, the deepening reality that though we had experienced Soul in this life together, I was but one “soul mate” in life. There were many soul mates in many lives, both in hers and in mine. This expanded knowing blew wide open for me the idea of the specialness we all feel as we encounter the golden mask of she/he that reflects ultimate union in this life. Sorry, I learned, the buck just doesn’t stop there.

Our growing consciousness demands that we continuously stay only within the truth. The illusions open the door to the truth, but we cannot attach to them. Ever-deepening love allows us to broaden our connection to our ultimate Soul Mate—infinity—by welcoming all the truths, as we gracefully and with love retire all our illusions of separateness and specialness.

We must leave our little soul mates and find our true golden Soul Mate... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We must leave our little soul mates and find our true golden Soul Mate…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

All our golden encounters with our golden masks of God are truths, but relative truths—stepping stones to the ultimate wedding—union with infinity, in full consciousness.

Little bit of Soul,
Chuck