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Chuck’s Place: Crossing The River

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The crossing... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Crossing in sight…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Crossing the river is a powerful symbol of change. To leave solid ground, to traverse a powerful current of liquid energy, to consolidate oneself on new uncharted ground, succinctly illustrates the phases of change.

So compelling is this image that the I Ching’s closing hexagram, #64, Before Completion, that marks the end and the beginning, is pictured as a fox crossing a river. In Greek mythology, securing the ferryman to cross the river Styx is the journey into Hades, land of the dead. Even the sophisticated modern texter might notice a ping in the pit of the abdomen as they prepare to drive across the bridge of a mighty river. The ping in the abdomen is the body’s archetypal recognition of the tremendum that crossing the great abyss represents.

Perhaps the great change we must face is as simple as closing our eyes and saying good night to the world. What guarantee do we have that the sun will rise or that we will open our eyes to the light of tomorrow as we drift and fall into the cliffhanger of dreams? What monsters, terrorists, sirens, and entities will we encounter in the underwater current of dream sleep? Will we safely rejuvenate and consolidate on firm ground tomorrow, or will our thoughts interrupt our smooth passage into a new day?

Perhaps our solid ground is the quiet calm of our aloneness. The sudden intrusion of a ring or a ding sparks fear in the throat, our sanctuary lost as we are thrown into the river of needs and expectations of another. Can we find our way to new ground that includes both self and other?

To leave the security of our car, wade across the parking lot, and enter the vast ocean of a store, with its sea of humanity, may evoke a furor of dissolution of self. In fact, every simple action of the day, from waking, interacting, leaving, working, eating, and returning, poses challenges for the smallness of self to navigate the bigness of everything.

In days of old, the rituals of the great religions tapped into the tried and true archetypal bridges of our deep nature to facilitate our crossings from one phase of life to another; crossings from childhood to adulthood, solitariness to relationship, life to death. These rituals literally transformed one into a new sense of self, confident to take on a new ground in life. These rituals bathed the ego in the deep wellspring of unconscious resource that reshaped the conscious self.

In our time, these rituals have largely petrified through the ascendence of rationality and the failure of religion to authentically provide a numinous crossing experience. Today, the individual must turn to the dream, which still offers the ritual crossings to new life. Conscious participation in dreaming can access those transformative crossings. Often the dream uses the river or the ocean, with all kinds of helpers and challenges, to facilitate the necessary changes to successfully effect a safe crossing.

Use of an oracle, such as the I Ching, can offer the guidance of a dream. In Hexagram #64, Before Completion, it offers the following guidance for making the crossing:

  1. Don’t advance too rapidly just to get it over with—you may not be ready, it might not be the right time.
  2. Be patient. Develop the necessary strength—the vehicle for the crossing. Don’t lose sight of the goal.
  3. Sometimes it’s time to cross but you’re not ready, you lack the requisite strength. It is necessary to get help. Be humble. Ask.
  4. You must battle the forces of inertia, regression, avoidance and doubt. Be resolved. Respect the power of the dissenters. Lay the foundation for mastery by consolidating intent.
  5. Once the crossing has been effected, keep exuberance in proper measure. Intemperance can drown all one has worked for.

These cautions steer the ego to be in the right relation with the deeper self that then provides its transformative energies to transport the ego solidly and happily across the river to new fertile ground. Remain awake, poised, intent,  patient, and calm. Know that the way will be shown. Perhaps the sea will part, perhaps the right floating log will appear. Simply know that you will cross.

Crossing,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: The New Religion

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C. G. Jung suggested that a living religion for the future would accent the embodiment by all humans of their divine nature. He anticipated that the Christian projections of a redeemer, a God/man “out there” who carries the weight of the human shadow would evolve into an internalized divinity reckoning with its own humanness.

Sunrise reflection of the divine within... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Sunrise reflection of the divine within…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In shamanic terms, this would represent the awakening of the energy body to live alongside the human body. Experientially, this is the appreciation and cultivation of the energy body in dreaming, as well as in waking life. Presently, the energy body is dominated by the mental plane with its centralized leitmotif of reason. The mental plane is actually part of the energy body, though our physical focus and reason would have us locate it only in the brain and central nervous system. However, there are other ideas on the matter.

A preponderance of documented traumatic out-of-body experiences—remote viewing of one’s body or another’s body on the other side of the room or the other side of the world—clearly demonstrate that the mind operates independently from the physical body.

The Hindus have long pointed out that the outermost shell of the energy body is the mental body. When we leave our body for good, at physical death, we leave as mental beings, as consciousness. This mental spirit, as we experience it in everyday life, is monopolized by our ego as it uses its powers to uphold and reinforce the validity of the solid physical world we live in for the duration of our physical lives. Only that which is solid is real, the ego says.

However, if we willingly or unwillingly undergo the crucifixion of that fixated hold on the solid world and move from ego consciousness to energy consciousness, the world softens. And as the world softens we move into the greater ability of our energy body to broaden our knowledge of life beyond the ego’s familiar boundaries. As we move into an enhanced energy body perspective, what the shamans call a shift in the assemblage point, all that once bound us, like our petty resentments and our fears, melt away as we move into a state of transcendent awe. We simply can’t stay attached to a personal solid world once we’ve experienced its total lack of solidity; we leave that nailed to the cross as we experience a far more interconnected world of energy.

This dissolving of solidity allows for the erasing of personal history, the state of detachment that the shamans describe as being one of the most important aspects of an evolutionary life. It’s not unfeeling detachment; it’s utter love for everything, all beings equal. Whereas once, in solid form, we held so tightly to our personal love, our personal family, our personal tribe, we are now totally detached and yet totally loving of all that is. This detachment is not a sacrifice of those we love, but an evaporation of the boundaries of our separate love, for all, we discover, is love.

And we can continue to walk upon the earth calmly owning our dual nature: as spirit/energy beings living in, in relation with, a physical body that temporarily houses this spirit self. We can indeed continue to fulfill all the human roles we have been in, but we must now also learn greater cohesion when in our spirit state, which gives us the fluidity to maintain our calmness as we experience the expanded awe of our interconnectedness and living oneness with all that is.

We can learn to playfully flit between the two awarenesses, solid and energy, but it’s really all preparation for the moment when the exclusive personal ego accepts its final crucifixion, when the relativity of personal human life is reconciled with the greater expanded view, and the energy body is finally set to more fully explore beyond the limits of space and time.

Jung’s suggestion as to where religion might find itself in the future is well prepared. Perhaps Eastern religions, shamanic practices, and modern science may eventually find their rightful places in redeeming the God/human schism of our time.

Prayerfully,

Chuck

 

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Chuck’s Place: Genuine Transformation

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What is real change? It may feel good to escape the heat of an uncomfortable situation, but that hardly guarantees we won’t be triggered again or that we won’t repeat the same fateful drama with a new cast of characters. The ego might try, with all of its cognitive might, to identify and rationally put to rest its fears and anxieties, but despite all its heroic intentions it might still find itself blindsided and seized by a passionate emotion of anger, terror, or attraction, or be swallowed up in a pool of sadness.

That white light of illumination... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
That white light of illumination…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The simple truth is that the ego fortress alone, despite all its mighty defenses, is unlikely to permanently change or transform the deeper issues of the psyche housed in the depths of the unconscious and triggered by the outer circumstances of everyday life.

Permanent change is very simple to recognize: the person or situation that once triggered us, as measured by a strong activation of the central nervous system in powerful emotion, is now experienced as neutral; no activation of the central nervous system, no powerful emotion.

Energetically, we can say that the inner electrical charge of the triggering object has been completely depleted of its electrical charge. Psychically, we could say that the energy of the unconscious content behind the trigger has been transferred from the unconscious to the ego in the form of deep understanding, acceptance, and resolution. The ego becomes stronger, not in its defenses but more in its reduced need for defenses, the energy formerly spent in defenses now available for a more fulfilling experience of life.

The symbol that often emerges to represent this enlightened state of consciousness is white light, or whiteness in some form. This form of illuminated whiteness in spiritual terms is awareness that transcends maya, the veil of illusion that entraps us in the triggered situation, projected onto everyday life.

The bright light of whiteness lays bare all the truths, like the bright sun at its midday zenith. But this transformation also requires that the ego withstand the intense heat of both the blinding light of truth and the full heat of emotions that are sure to arise during any encounter with truth.

Rather than discharge that emotion in defensive spurts of blame and rage, the ego contains this cauldron of volatile emotion without action. As the truth is laid bare, the ego pours its deep well of tears into the cauldron as well, allowing both the heat of the fire and the dissolution of water to break down its intense attachment to the illusion it has held onto in an attempt to medicate itself from the full impact of the truth.

Finally, the fire of contained passion, the solution of sadness and depression, and the consciousness of the full reality of what is, eventuates in a genuine transformation. We are released into freedom from a formerly binding attachment. We can then stare into the truth of our lives with the detachment of reading a benign history book, no triggers, only genuine transformation.

Holding steady in the fire within... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Holding steady in the fire within…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In her new book, to be published later this year, Jan offers an account of an experience of this cauldron of transformation, of bright white light followed by an intensity of emotions. She was at a family gathering, usually an emotionally triggering situation: “I feel myself move slightly, not my body, for my physical body remains stationary, but something inside me shifts and suddenly I see everything differently. One second I am my usual self, thinking my thoughts, and in the next second everything goes quiet. I go quiet too, utterly calm and still, and I see that everything and everyone is highlighted in white light. Crystal clear and luminous energy flows from everyone and everything. I am almost afraid to blink; I don’t want to disturb the beautiful, numinous vision. Then, just as suddenly, I am flooded with emotions. Feelings of sadness and loneliness envelop me…”

And that is followed by this: “…and then I know that it’s all true, that everything is true, that this experience in this moment is true and all I have recapitulated is true too.”

In the end, Jan states: “I was able to maintain a sense of continuity in the midst of the shift,”  underscoring that the ego was ready to encounter what was being proposed as the means to transformation. Now that is real change!

In the cauldron,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Raccoon Medicine

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It’s a calm, dark early morning, the sun’s light completely obscured by dense clouds. The rain will arrive soon. Jan and I are reading the Visions seminars, March 2, 1932, as Jung discusses sealing up the projection-making factor of the psyche, the animus for women, the anima for men.

In containment... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In containment…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Having just completed the final touches on my previous blog, The Heart of Habit, Jung’s discussion clearly points to the next level of methodology to achieve self-knowledge, the step beyond avidya, the repetitive pattern of habit. Jung points to the science of alchemy, where the animus or anima is sealed tightly into a cauldron or retort, its energy and influence separated from actual reality, whereby freeing us to see the true nature of things devoid of the filters of opinions and moods that the projective-making factor normally shrouds the objective world with.

Jungs allusion here to alchemy actually mirrors psychotherapy, where the patient learns to not be controlled by the opinions and moods that generally overtake conscious perception and action. In therapy, the ego learns to differentiate itself from these automatic reactions and in that restraining process ultimately achieves release from the hold these deeper anima and animus entities generally exert upon daily life.

As Jan and I ponder the pragmatics of this transformative process, we suddenly notice a hunched up raccoon scamper across our yard and then climb up a pine tree. This is startling because although many animals find their way to our little sanctuary this is the first sighting of a raccoon on the grounds. Of course, we immediately seek the meaning of this synchronicity. What is the relationship between the alchemical retort holding the energized projection-making character in the psyche and the raccoon? Could the behavior of the raccoon be nature’s practical guide to this transformation?

What is going on behind the mask? - Child's artwork
What is going on behind the mask?
– Child’s artwork

The most striking feature of a raccoon is its mask. When we put on a mask we create secrecy, we hide a part of ourselves from public view and in turn we stalk a different personality. The Shamans of Ancient Mexico considered the art of stalking, the ability to fully embody another personality, a critical exercise in fluidity, a necessary skill to achieve freedom in the ever-changing worlds of infinity. In addition, when we outwardly live the mask we wear, we completely seal the container of the projective-making factor within our personality; we remove if from active influence over our lives.

This sealed alchemical retort, containing a powerful energetic part of ourselves, is then allowed its own transformative milieu within the sensory deprivation container of the self. Deprived of outside involvement and influence it loses its compulsive outwardly-directed fixation and crystalizes into a character that can take us deeper into the inner recesses of our being directly, as opposed to its former function of projecting those inner contents onto the outer world and drawing us into compulsive outwardly-seeking behaviors. This opens the door to direct inner relationship with the unconscious, largely removing its obscured projections from being acted upon in the outside world.

The key to raccoon’s success is its secrecy. The key to release from compulsion via raccoon medicine is to bottle up the compulsion and keep it completely secret from the rest of the self. The outer mask we then stalk life with completely avoids any contact with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to the desired object. They are not indulged in in any way, as all attention and energy is focused on stalking another being, another way of being.

Eventually there is new life... - Art by Jan Ketchel
Eventually there is new life…
– Art by Jan Ketchel

Eventually—and raccoon medicine requires a lengthy time period of at least 5 months—the energetics of the compulsion in the sealed retort will begin to crystalize into an inner guide, an inner helper that will take one to the deeper riches within the self.

Thank you, “Rocky Raccoon” for imparting the wisdom of your medicine for those ready for the inner secrecy and outer mask of transformation and self-knowledge.

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: The Heart of Habit

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Habits are precious stones that reflect the jewels of our unknown selves. Like moths to a flame we are drawn to the daily ritual enactment of our precious habits.

In the golden light of a new day... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In the golden light of a new day…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The unconscious draws us with compulsive fervor to realize its contents as it reflects itself upon the objects of this world. Specific objects glow with the mana of transcendence, of wholeness, of completion. Whether we are directed to obtain or avoid these magical objects is irrelevant, our daily lives are consumed with and defined by the mystical dance with these reflections of god anyway.

This habitual state of possession easily defies reason. As St. Paul abundantly made clear: that which I would, I do not; that which I would not, that I do. Had we the birthright of the East, that this material world is but maya, perhaps we wouldn’t find ourselves so easily entrapped by the spell of projective illusion. But, as Westerners, the solid world is our playing field, the waking dream of the unconscious and habits are our paths of heart.

At the heart of habit is that which we do not know about ourselves but must discover in the gold rush of our daily lives. This knowing transcends reason, which is simply inadequate at grasping our greater wholeness. How reasonable for instance is passionate love? And, in all honesty, in one form or another, is not the habitual seeking of passionate love at the heart of much of life?

The pot at the end of the rainbow of habit is as illusive as the gold it reflects. Inevitably, even the successful scoring of the habit, the magical substance or pulsating being we obtain, is but a fleeting glimmer of the true gold we seek. And so, each day we awaken with renewed vigor and resolve, reset to go off once again prospecting for that gold.

The Buddhists call this repetitive seeking avidya. It is at the root of all suffering, and yet its repetition leads eventually to knowledge, as repetition itself leads to burnout; the flame of desire simply exhausts itself in completion. The habit ends as the jewel of self-knowledge is realized: the object of my desire has simply lost its shine, the compulsion disappears; I am freed to move in a new direction. How deeply I grow from this new possibility, how daring I will be to change my life is still a function of consciousness and conscience, but it’s no longer governed by compulsion; the path for growth and change is cleared.

It could be argued, a la the Christian viewpoint, that sacrifice is a more efficient methodology to bottle up and transform the habit, but you cannot throw your habit into the fire of sacrifice if you are truly not done with it. One need only examine the notion of turning one’s cheek or immediately embracing forgiveness, which frequently only generates a shadow of lifelong resentment. If the fire of anger is not allowed its full course it will smolder and flame up anew. You are not ready for sacrifice if you have not fully mined your habit. In such a case, your habit still holds meaning for you.

Our habits eat away at us... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Not fully mined yet?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In repetition, I give myself full liberty to reenact the experiment to prove the hypothesis that my unconscious has proposed to me: that thing, that being, obtained or avoided, is the key to the kingdom. Having obtained that key over and over again, having lived it fully, having examined it in totality, finally reveals its treasure.  That treasure comes in many forms.

Sometimes it reveals the obsessive power of a mighty defense that promises to protect me from death. Sometimes the trail it leads me on forces me to discover a precious unknown part of myself. Sometimes it is the very thing that breaks my narcissistic shell and reveals the world beyond myself and my place in it. Sometimes it reveals the caged, domesticated animal of my physical self seeking the redemption of freely living its instinctual life. Frequently it is the trail of recapitulation itself, the journey to recover and discover who and all that I really am, what jewel I’ve come here to obtain.

Habits can be life threatening, but no journey of heart is without its dangers. And no one can truly be rescued from a habit, for habit is the habitat of humanity. We may be protected from our destructive habits, and often we must be, but until we discover the real jewel that lurks behind the habits we are drawn to our lives will continue to wrap around the heart of the habit.

Habits, gotta love ’em!

Chuck