All posts by Chuck

Chuck’s Place: The Child Of The Self

Your ego is only one facet of your wholeness... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Your ego is only one facet of your wholeness…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

Envision the Self as a multifaceted diamond, the jewel of all that you are. See one facet of the diamond—the sun beaming directly upon it—as the seat of consciousness, the ego, the child of the Self. In this respect, we are all, while in this life, a child of our Self.

It is the task of our ego in this life to ignite and bring life and light to as many facets of the diamond of our greater Self as possible; full realization of the diamond is true enlightenment.

The first challenge for the ego is to become a mature adult child. We are born in innocence, strangers to ourselves, strangers to the world. As mere fragments, facets of the Self, we are orphaned from our wholeness and seek solace in our early attachments. Though our greater Self never leaves us it can only support us in mystical ways, as the outside world truly becomes our adoptive home.

Our ego has an important mission in this life, that is, to bring to the material world the drama and challenge of each facet of our unrealized Self—to know it, live it, resolve it, and then release it as we move on to new life and the next facet of the Self.

The ego, in its orphaned state, constantly feels the pull to its lost wholeness. This lost Self does come to meet the ego, in numinous dreams, ecstatic experiences, visions, and in outer reflections in the material world, both in the people and the objects we are powerfully drawn to.

The greatest challenge for the ego is to partake in these renewing visitations but then walk away without regret or insistence that the meetings continue or repeat in the same way. To fixate on an experience of Self is like trying to force a romance to remain the same when it has obviously changed. Romance is one type of encounter with the coveted lost Self as reflected in the world. If we demand it to stay out there, in the same way, we remain the child who clings and refuses to grow.

The Self is pure life, and pure life—like a river—never repeats itself. It simply continues to flow in new and ever-changing constellations. It is alive, all-present, yet ever fresh and new. It never reveals itself twice in the same way.

We are ever-changing beings, flowing into the river of life... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We are ever-changing, flowing into the river of life…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

As a mature child of the Self, we learn to meet the Self in innocence yet are also able to release it from its current manifestation and allow it to move on into new form without loss or regret. And if we can continue to flow with it we are led to realize increasing facets of our wholeness as we continue our journey of Self Realization.

This is the essence of the Buddha’s guidance on non-attachment. Indeed, attach fully to the facet of life you are now realizing, but know that it is not the whole of life, and know that there will come a time to let go and discover more of the wholeness that you truly are. That’s where the adventure lies, in the endless discovery of new and evolving life.

Happy for the gifts of this journey,

Chuck

NOTE: Thank you to Marie-Louise von Franz, my muse for this blog.

Chuck’s Place: Puer Times

Skeletal underpinnings of dark and light... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Skeletal underpinnings of dark and light…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Deep in the background of our psychic being lies the archetype of Puer Aeternus, literally translated, eternal youth. Archetypes are the skeletal underpinnings of our psychic life. Puer is the archetype of Spring, of redemption, of new life freely flowing and flourishing. This archetype is the adolescence of our lives, young energy seeking to expand its wings into deep and meaningful life, but it also instigates the breakdown and dissolution of old attitudes that must be released to allow new life to take root.

On the shadow side, the Puer archetype can refuse to grow up, to embody. This is the man or woman who can never commit—always seeking someone or something new that captures the eternity of youth and, once it has captured it, escapes, refusing to get old, insisting always on staying open to new, fresh possibility.

Dionysus is a Puer god; wine, women, and dance are his elements. On the one hand, wine opens a direct channel to communion with God in the Catholic mass. On the other hand, remaining immersed in this magical solution prevents ever planting one’s feet solidly in an embodied life in this world. Icarus, though not a god, was a Puer who insisted on flying higher and higher toward the sun, ignoring his wax wings, thereby melting them and falling to his death. Here the Puer inflates so far above earthly reality that his only salvation lies in the death of his hubris, the seed of his redemption.

We live in Puer times because our world desperately seeks renewal. At the same time, we have gone out of balance and tipped over into the dark side of this archetype now. We have regressed into an infantile Puer, failing to promote new life, even proper care of the planet that provides and sustains life. This Puer partakes greedily of life, to the detriment of all of life.

In our times, we see the Puer in the high times of addiction. Like Icarus, the addict seeks the highest transcendence beyond embodiment in search of the key to earthly failure. Unfortunately for many addicts, they share the fate of Icarus, falling hopelessly to their deaths, redeeming neither themselves nor the world.

Beyond the addiction to substance, the world seeks transcendence in fantasy—Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens to the highest movie reception ever. Political races are now MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) competitions where we root, like Romans in the Coliseum, for our favorite gladiator to score and finish off the opponents.

We are all in search of the redeemer. What hero will emerge to save the world?

Nature in the throes of change... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Nature in the throes of change…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

As we pass through the Solstice now—nature’s promise of new light and life, and the Christian myth with the birth of its Redeemer having sprung from this deeper archetype of new life—we are asked to face the time of darkness with deep patience. As I suggested last week, we, all of us, are in Gaia’s womb now, as the world undergoes massive transformation.

Would that we could forestall the destruction that befalls us, but humankind’s power of decision making outpaced its respect for its true origins, Nature itself. Nature birthed consciousness to better and more efficiently advance the course of evolution. We have taken the reins but treated Nature as a disposable slave. And so Nature is calling in her experiment, and reshaping its ways. It’s the only way.

The Puer, that in actuality is our immature world ego, is suffering its own death and resurrection as Nature moves us toward a renewal of life. We, all of us, are the redeemers who, shaken from our hubris, will embody new mature life that furthers the true needs of survival and evolution.

I celebrate the acceleration of change in the times we live in. We are indeed on a cosmic ride of deliverance. I celebrate love as the energy and guiding motif of our renewed world.

Learn to relax on the roller coaster, it’s just a ride.

Merry Everything,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Gaia-dence For Early Pregnancy

Waiting for the sun to rise... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Waiting for the sun to rise…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

We are in the changing times. Mother Nature, Gaia, is in her element, leading us forward. I call to Gaia for true guidance, as we are indeed in her grasp. We are completely encased in her womb, at the early stages of her pregnancy, leading eventually to our salvation and ultimate deliverance. Though we cry out for deliverance now, that is not nature’s way. For now, we must stay contained and face the darkness of this pregnant time, this time of transformation.

Pregnancy is largely a hidden process where the mysterious forces of nature gather and coagulate the materials needed to eventually usher forth new life. Now these materials are being drawn from our changing environment and transformed, like frozen waters melting into rising tides. Mentally frozen attitudes are being broken down to allow for broader acceptance. Heightened emotions are the fiery energies of change. Naturally, the tensions created by all these energies contained within the womb cry out for relief.

And yes, we are drawn to the early release of this tension. We turn to the security of a “Trumpism” as the solution, but like all isms this simple solution is a miscarriage, not the needed rebirth Gaia now prepares us for. The truth is, we must bear the extreme tension of this time of darkness, this time of unknowing, as our world is being reshaped and reformed into its most fitting and natural next stage.

Every evening we dip into the darkness of sleep and the phases of the moon, with their own mysterious growth and healing processes. We cannot force a solution to new wholeness but must patiently allow the pregnancy to proceed, largely in the darkness too. We must participate with care and caution, responding as needed to the growing changes slowly and naturally taking place.

Just as the moon eventually becomes full, at the right time, so does Gaia ask us to bear this time of tension for, eventually, it will lead to right action. Rather than simply reacting and taking things too far in the wrong direction, Gaia teaches us to patiently evolve. When the time is right, right action will be born into a new balance, ready to sustain us as we embark on the next evolutionary journey, into infinity.

What, Gaia, should we be doing at this stage?” I ask. Through Jan’s dream, recounted below, Gaia spoke. We pass it on.

From the debris and the dung a new world is forming... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
From the debris and the dung a new world is forming…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Jan’s Dream: Chuck and I are at home. He is a Master Plumber, teaching a class in plumbing. The pipes inside a wall are exposed and he is busy making repairs and explaining to his students what he is doing. “Don’t do this at home, ” he warns them. I stand on the side watching. I am worried about something.

Suddenly a giant praying mantis, the size of a hat, flies into the room and lands on my head. I feel it walking around, digging its claws into my scalp. I call out. Chuck turns to me and says: “Just get still, stay still. It will go away when it’s the right time, but for now just go into stillness.”

I stand as still as possible, bearing the tension of the praying mantis’s sharp claws digging into my scalp, squeezing my head. It starts to poop and I stand perfectly still while black shit runs down my face. The students want to clean it off me, but I tell them to leave it, that I will clean it off after the praying mantis leaves.

Then a gigantic yellow butterfly flies into the room. It circles around me where I stand in stillness with the giant praying mantis on my head and alights on my right arm. I try to shake it off, but it molds itself to my arm, encircling it like a giant tattoo. I stand there like that, in stillness, with the praying mantis on my head and the butterfly on my arm, waiting for what comes next. -End of dream.

Chuck’s Interpretation: Gaia sends the praying mantis to demonstrate utter stillness, while she clutches us in her grasp. This is the time of pregnancy after all, and we cannot undo what is already in motion. We must bear the muddied earthiness from the dung of the mantis as life is transformed. These are the dark energies of destruction we see and experience all around us. We must bear them, without taking action, in utter stillness. No matter how intense the pain or fear, we must remain still. It’s not personal. Gaia is gathering her materials. We are all part of that.

Gaia also sends us a butterfly, assuring us that transformation is happening. The process is underway, but it’s nothing we can force. Nature works in nature’s own time. The moon eventually gets full, the sun eventually rises again, the seasons unfold.

And finally, the Master Plumber points out: don’t interfere with nature unless you truly know what you are doing, which can only be from a place knowledge and right action. All of nature practices stillness, all of nature knows how to hold back until the time is right.

A new world is forming... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
A new world is forming…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Gaia’s new world is in utero, and we are all in it with her. Rather than worry or fear, let nature do it’s part, but stay with the practice of love. All those around you are part of the same whole new world—my neighbor, myself.

Gaia is speaking to all of us now, in our world and in our dreams,

Chuck and Jan

Chuck’s Place: Action Plan For Where We Are Now

The Great Earth Mother is showing us the way... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
The Great Earth Mother is showing us the way…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

There is no place to attack. There is no place to hide. The battle is everywhere. We are in the battle and the battle is within and among us. Peace is only to be found in love of all of ourselves and love of all of our neighbors.

We are drawn to the safety of bonding together and subduing the enemy “out there,” but that is an old world model. We all know that darkness lies within ourselves as well. Is this not the knowledge that we have allowed ourselves to so ignore, our true instinctual needs and our true instinctual nature? We’ve turned the animal we are into a rabid beast that now turns on us like a hungry wolf. This is the rage of the Great Earth Mother as well, who has turned her nature to level our hubris. And from the ashes of our hubris we will reshape our intent to respect all of nature.

Mother Nature is withdrawing her power from patriarchal leadership; she reassumes leadership now. And we are all her subjects and we will learn her ways. Is it not the mother and the mother alone who brings forth new life? We are now in her labors. And how we will evolve will take a great turn now too, to a new balance indeed.

Everyone is in it. Everyone can contribute. Take up the action of inner truth, and align with the truth of your own nature. Let the healing begin. As within, so without. As above, so below.

In alignment with the Great Earth Mother,

 Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Time Of Collapse

From a palpable and intuitive level, Colorado, Chicago, and Paris are all part of the same ocean of molten lava that’s erupting, in various levels of intensity, around the globe.

Chuck found these bricks washed up on the shore of the Hudson River... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Chuck found these bricks washed up on the shore of the Hudson River…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The I Ching confirms for me that we are in the time of Splitting Apart, hexagram #23. Here the image is of a top-heavy mountain collapsing upon the earth. The I Ching brings it very personally home in the moving line I threw, six in the fourth place: “…the disaster affects not only the resting place but even the occupant.”

Who in the world is not impacted by the daily outbreaks of violence that now infect the world? How are we to position ourselves in this time of collapse?

The I Ching is clear that what is happening is objective. When a structure becomes too top heavy it must, of necessity, collapse. The ruling attitudes of our world are too top heavy. Greed has amassed the bulk of the wealth in the hands of the few at the top. The masses, the foundation of the world, are unsupported. Greed has decimated the environment of the world too, to the point where it can no longer sustain life as it has done in the past.

If we understand that our current state of collapse is inevitable, and though the destruction surfaces in what appears to be a growing mass psychosis, the truth is that at the deepest level we are in the midst of a major world transition. Would that it could happen more orderly and calmly, but that is not the way of nature!

However, beyond the destruction is the building of a new foundation, a broad foundation that can support all of life on a planet in healthy balance. In fact, the future reading I received, derived from the changes in the hexagram of Splitting Apart, is the hexagram of Progress, #35. In this hexagram, the sun moves over the earth providing the clarity to build anew with wisdom.

Beyond the collapse of now we have all the stones to properly build a new foundation for life, and the guidance on how to proceed. If we study the hexagram of Splitting Apart, it is apparent that greed is a weak foundation. Balance, on the other hand, offers the proper cornerstone for our coming world.

On an individual level, we are free now to fashion our own personal foundation blocks. These blocks must include love. Love does not scapegoat or marginalize. Love is all-inclusive. Love provides a massive foundation for our coming mountain to build upon.

Balance within ourselves, within our bodies and our psyches, provides a sturdy base as well for our growing mountain.

Our new world must be built on love... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Our new world must be built on love…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

We are all empowered to contribute stability to our evolving world by accepting the inevitability of change by staying calm, embracing love, and establishing balance. From this place we are assured rapid progress.

All is not lost, though we all must suffer through this painful time of transition.

Hang in there, we’re all in it together,

Chuck