Sobriety is a state of calm and balance that belies an underlying state of tension. This tension is the holding together of opposite tendencies in a cohesive functional way, to allow for a full actualization of self and an ability to flow with and navigate change. Chiefly, these bipolar opposites reflect some interplay of Yin and Yang or finite and infinite or mater and spirit.
We are spirit/material beings. When spirit stirs, we seek to transcend our human/mater limits. We might deaden the body with numbing “spirits” to release our spirit and end up falling down drunk—the opposite of sobriety. On the other hand, we might exert such material restraint upon the self that we shadow over desire completely, becoming a “dry drunk,” equally non-sober. Sobriety demands a reconciliation and inclusion of each of these very opposite needs into an integrity of self.
In Vedic philosophy, Sattva is the fundamental principle of BALANCE that constructs our world. In this cosmology there are two other fundamental building blocks, Rajas and Tamas, that entwine with Sattva to construct our reality.
Rajas, like Yang, is active movement: spice, desire. Tamas, like Yin, lies dormant in deep inertia. For life to happen both Rajas and Tamas must participate. Life dominated by Rajas is life consumed by desire, knowing no restraint. From a bipolar perspective this is life on one big manic trip. Life dominated by Tamas is a life frozen in potential, completely restrained. From a bipolar perspective this is a major depression.
Tamas, Sattva, Rajas…
Sattva, like sobriety, is the principle of balance that reigns in these opposite tendencies to work harmoniously to promote change and growth. If Yin and Yang don’t join in a complementary relationship, there is no new life. Sattva bears the tension of finding the right place for these opposites to promote life and balance.
The Middle Way is the path that the Buddha discovered that leads to liberation from suffering the failure to reconcile the opposites of self-indulgence and self-denial. Buddha pointed out that addiction to sense pleasure was equivalent to extreme denial of pleasure. His own life began in the kingdom of his father where he was exposed only to pleasure. Eventually he forsook his father’s kingdom for the ascetic life of complete renunciation of worldly pleasures. Ultimately he accepted a bowl of rice milk from a young girl, realizing that the nourishment of Mater was essential for the realization of Spiritual enlightenment.
The Middle Way is a path that neither denies pleasure nor denies restraint, but instead finds the necessary balance between these needs in order to achieve the calm necessary for enlightenment. To deny pleasure or to deny restraint sows a Karmic seed of continued suffering until we can achieve a balance of liberation. Thus, the Middle Way is the path of sobriety and Sattva, a state of balanced tension that reconciles the opposing tendencies within all of our selves.
In Magical Passes Don Juan states, “To navigate, in a genuine way in the unknown…a sorcerer has to be extremely sober.” The unknown is all around us, it is now. To part the veils and fully live in the unknown we must achieve sobriety, Sattva, and the Middle Way—a balanced whole of opposing tendencies and needs that flow with the changes, versus clinging to the extremes.
The Middle Way
P.S. Jan gives permission for me to reveal that she did eat a piece of carrot cake and she says it was yummy!
As Jeanne suggests in her Monday Message, the New Year is really but a marker allowing us Earthlings the opportunity to measure the passage of time, but if we are willing we can use it to change ourselves. This involves using intent, but it also involves utilizing the creative energy of nature inherent in all of us. A decision to move in a new direction is a creative act, but if our intentions are to have lasting effect we must be open to the wisdom of infinitesimal movement rather than broad sweeping jumps. In small but intentional, focused movement we support our intentions to change. In paying attention to what comes to guide us, whether from outside or from inside, and determining how best to use such guidance, we energetically and creatively propel ourselves along our path of change.
And so each year at this time we set our New Year’s resolutions. From my own experiences in setting resolutions, I already know that stating my intent alone has power, but if I really want to see and feel the change on a deeper and more immediate level, I know I must be attentive. I must become the creative process and all that it brings me, fully embracing every aspect of it.
If we look at nature’s intent we receive guidance, for nature has unbending intent, set so long ago it simply moves along at a steady pace. It is repetitive, and yet it is evolving as well. Nature does not look back nor is it given an opportunity to pause and reflect, it simply does its thing. We on the other hand, such brilliant creatures that we are, get stuck. We come up against things that nature never has to contend with. We come up against what we carry within us and what comes from without, seeking attention and attachment.
I consider such inner and outer interferences as tests, tests of our intent to change. In constantly restating our intent at the same time that we turn back to investigate our past—something that nature cannot do—we can track where we’ve been. We can study how we’ve attached in the past to inner and outer attachments and influences, and see how we’ve faltered or progressed. For instance, if I set my intent to follow the Middle Way, the path of balance in all aspects of my life and keep this intent uppermost as I go throughout my day, I will immediately begin to see what comes to both thwart and guide, for that which comes is both.
In alignment with the Middle Way, I am aware that everything that comes my way will offer both the opportunity to attach and the opportunity to detach, offering tests and guidance alike.
Yum!!!
For instance, I decide to give up sweets in all forms because sugar pulls me off my intentional path. It interferes with my inner balance. But wouldn’t you know that the house is full of sweets. There is a beautiful carrot cake in the refrigerator that houseguests brought over the other night. I love carrot cake! I know that if I eat a piece of it I will have to suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be deep, especially now that I’ve decided to shift away from sweets. If I decide to leave it alone and let others eat it, I will have, for the moment, averted my first test of fortitude, my first test of detachment.
Change requires patience and discipline, but it also requires monitoring—that we remain aware on many levels. We must pay attention to how we have attached in the past so that we can learn how to detach as we walk our newly intentioned path. A decision to detach from an old habit or world means learning how to detach from an old self—for this is really all that we are contending with, ourselves and what we carry inside us.
Nurturing a new self requires constant attention. Moving along on our path of intent requires that we are constantly alert in a new and changing world, for that is what we are seeking to manifest as we set an intent to change. We are asking ourselves to live in a new world of our own creation. And such creation has its own energy of intent. Once set in motion there is no stopping it, for the intent of the creative is constant movement. Once set in motion we can expect the energy of creative activity to be in our lives. And although, as I mentioned, nature—even our own inherent nature—is programmed to move forward, we human beings must constantly stop and investigate ourselves if we are to really progress. To simply jump ahead and be something that we have not nurtured will not stand up to the test of time. If we are to really change, we must allow the intent of that change to carry us forward, infinitesimally.
As we take our steps each day now along our new paths of intent, we learn that we are our own biggest tests, that we carry within us all the attachments that we will ever need, that all we really need to do is go inward and ask our deeper selves what is right as we take our new path. Energy will appear out of nowhere seeking attachment; it’s how it works. It’s almost as if in setting our intent to change our energy is suddenly viable, tasty and appealing to others who may be lacking in energy. Suddenly we are wanted. That energy of attachment might come in old friends calling for contact, people we have not heard from in years suddenly manifesting. What do we do? What does it mean that they call us? Are we supposed to grant them something, is there something we have to offer them?
We must first determine if they are part of our new intent to change or if they are one of our tests of detachment? Usually, I turn inward, sit with my own energy and ask it if it wants to engage in an old world. I ask it if there is something I still need to get back there. I question if it’s right for me to use my energy in the past or if it’s better to turn forward into the new light of the New Year’s intent and detach with compassion and love, offering the new me an opportunity to take an infinitesimal step forward.
Sometimes it’s best to visit in the past to really understand why we are drawn there, to determine the truth of why we are being called back. Or can we state our new position in life and be accepted? Will our old friends understand that we have changed so much already and that we do not exist as that old self or in that old world? Do they understand what it even means to set an intent to change and evolve? Have we gone beyond certain people, not rejectingly so, but factually so?
I’m in a new world now…
We must, if we are truly changing beings, constantly remind ourselves to readjust our compasses and realign with the world we really want to live in. More questions will always arise as we are tested in our New Year’s resolutions.
At the same time that I turn inward and notice my energy, I remind myself of my creative energy, that which drives me to seek both the Middle Way and the experiences of the world I have been creating for myself for the past ten years or more. As I contemplate this creative changing self, I realize that my entire existence in this life has prepared me for this ultimate creative endeavor, and so I find that I cannot stop. My spirit is driving me forward now, as our spirit’s intent is what really pushes us to constantly change, not our mind’s intent, though they must work hand in hand, for we are human. And this is the Middle Way, the spirit and the mind working in alignment with the greater intent of our soul’s desire for growth.
And so, as the New Year really begins in earnest, as my intentions to deepen my spiritual path are given an opportunity to manifest a little bit more each day, I accept what comes to thwart and guide me. And if I happen to take a tiny piece of carrot cake, I will know that it is part of this process, that I will learn something necessary about myself from my decision. But then I will be like nature and move on, realigning with this process of creating my new self, once again on my path, for that is my intent. This is not a selfish endeavor, but a deeply spiritual endeavor, for I know that by my intent to constantly realign with my soul’s intent, I am influencing the energy of the intent of all soul’s to evolve.
Taking one more intentional, infinitesimal step along the Middle Way, and wishing you all good intentions for a very Happy Changing New Year,
Jan
I am aware that I am fully responsible for myself, for my mental, physical, and spiritual health. I am aware that life on this plane, on earth, constantly offers every opportunity to experience all that I seek. I am also aware that life constantly offers the opportunity to change myself, and my circumstances, but that it’s up to me to take the leap, to decide that now is the time to take a leap of faith and trust that life and the universe will support me.
Through a great part of this life I sought something outside of myself to bring me into balance: a lifestyle, a partner, children, a career, a spiritual practice, nature and the surety of the unfolding of each day as each sun rises and each moon sets and each moment leads to the next. All of these things are positive and important events in the life of an evolving being seeking wholeness, but as I journeyed further I began to discover that I no longer needed to look outside of myself so much anymore, for I held much of the balance I sought within. But even so, as I journeyed on, new things constantly arose, blips on the horizon that signaled something coming into my world, perhaps good, perhaps bad, perhaps nothing important at all. But I still had to decide what to do with what approached, whatever it might be.
What approaches most significantly now is anticipation itself, a restless wondering. It has been on the horizon for a long time now, in the coming of the Winter solstice on 12/21/12. We’ve all heard about it, as well as a lot of hoopla about the world ending. On the other hand, I cannot dismiss that hoopla, for I understand how important it is, how even hoopla can wake us up so that we take notice of something. Even hoopla offers opportunities: to regroup, to get into balance, to face the truths of ourselves and really change, finally becoming who we know we really are, allowing what we are capable of at the deepest level to emerge and fully live.
I also know what holds us back: FEAR—fear of making a fool of ourselves, fear of failure, fear of facing the honest truth of the choices and decisions we’ve made and why, fear of what others might think of us, fear that we are doing it all wrong. Fear that someone outside of us will judge, condemn, ridicule or taunt us burdens us so greatly that we let lots of opportunities go by. Oh, I couldn’t do that! What would people say!
What do we fear and why?
If we take all that energy that is going into being afraid, into wondering what will happen on 12/21/12, and instead of projecting it outwardly decide to focus on ourselves, we might begin to feel that great anticipation in a different way. If we pause and sit with what is inside us, as Jeanne suggests in Monday’s message, we might realize that our spirit is indeed anticipating change, eagerly awaiting our decisions. And not just on that date, but in general, for we live in a time of great change all the time. Jeanne has told us this many times and this statement is repeated often, not only among the spiritual communities, but in the mass media as well. It all depends on how you elect to interpret what that means. Does it mean someone else is responsible for that change? Or does it mean, as I am suggesting, that we are all responsible for daring to change ourselves. Now is a good time to sit and contemplate the change that our spirits might be anticipating, actually yearning for.
The solstice marks the ending of one season and the beginning of another, and it happens every year, twice a year to be exact, in summer and winter, as the sun reaches its highest and its lowest points relative to the equator. This is a natural occurrence that marks a shift; it always has and it always will. That’s nature working as nature does. Have we humans become so disconnected from nature that we don’t naturally feel this shift anymore? And why is this one supposedly so different? Is it in fact any different from this year’s summer solstice, or last year’s winter solstice? Is it only different because we’ve been told it is? Do we have to be shaken out of our complacency by the anticipation of something big occurring before we dare to take responsibility for ourselves, for thinking for ourselves, for acting independently in our best interests as citizens of the natural world, and as spiritually interconnected beings?
What is on the horizon for us all?
Many of us go through life afraid to change. We must be forced into it. Forced change comes in many forms: illness, divorce, death, birth, accident, loss, sudden and unexpected shifts in our world. In my case, forced change came in a barrage of unrelenting flashbacks that I could no longer ignore. Those flashbacks were synchronistically supported by the universe presenting me with all kinds of situations and truths. And so I knew that the only relief I would get was in facing my deepest issues and releasing myself from the hold they had on me. That was the catalyst to my doing a shamanic recapitulation: I could no longer hide from what was naturally occurring inside my own psyche! The psyche in imbalance, just as nature in imbalance, has its own ways of alerting us to change.
This is the other aspect of what we are all facing now as 12/21/12 looms on the horizon: the truth of the great imbalance that we humans have wrought upon this earth. We are out of balance with nature and have been for a long time. And yet, this natural phenomenon, a yearly solstice, portends to shake us up. The hoopla around this event is created by us, but in order to balance all that hoopla brewing outside of us, we must dare to face what is rising up inside of us first.
Keeping in mind that we are responsible for our progress in life—for our maturity, our spiritual growth, our ability to successfully navigate life—and if we remain open to changing ourselves now, we might succeed in giving ourselves the catalyst we need to make this next step of change really matter. Begin where you are. Begin where you are in your inner world and in your personal outer world.
I have long sought balance, achieving it quite successfully for long periods of time, and yet life does not let us get complacent. It seeks to shake us up. How many times must it shake us awake before we realize that it’s offering us the answers we’ve been seeking, and the only way to receive the gifts that life offers is to trust that they will be there for us? It’s an ethereal thing, this life, for in reality it’s nothing more than an illusion of moments, piles of moments. What makes those moments important and significantly meaningful is what we choose to do with them. Do we choose to face our issues and accept them as our catalysts to change? Can we all accept 12/21/12 as our personal wakeup call, no matter what happens outside of us? Can we dare ourselves to take the next step to a new level of existence, coexistence, mutual consideration and caring for all beings, and bear our truths, just as we ask our planet to bear what we have done to it?
It’s time to beat a different drum…
If we change ourselves, part of the world has changed. The more people who elect to change themselves, the more the world will change. There is power in that kind of change, in numbers of people electing to change themselves for the right reasons: because all living beings are equal, because our planet is a living thing too.
The solstice will arrive. I suggest trusting nature and the universe to guide us, to show us the way to true balance, as we each acquiesce to our own truths and take full responsibility for ourselves as individuals and as citizens of the world. Nature balances by constantly giving and taking, in tension and release, in yin and yang, in contraction and expansion.
What must we take and what must we give up in order to regain our personal balance, to relieve our personal imbalance? The only way to truly figure this out is to pull inward and release what is holding us back from our true experiences as living beings.
Remember, it’s a process, so don’t be too rigid; keep in mind that balance requires flexibility. Nature is challenging us to get in balance, because it’s time.
Dear Jeanne: What message do you have for us today?
Notice polarity and tension, notice imbalance in your lives and seek to remedy these most unnatural states of being. Notice how your lives present you with so many options and yet how you gravitate to the same ones.
Becoming part of the natural balance of all things requires that awareness of self and surroundings be keen, that your place in the grand scheme of things be a priority. In this adjustment of self in the universe—in your own home universe of body, mind, and spirit first—you will eventually be led to a new balance in relationship to all other beings and the universe-at-large. Relationship that is mature, grounded in nature, and that flows through you in a life that is lived in simple balance—as you learn how to both give and take within the natural balance of all things—is the key to happiness upon that earth.
All beings will benefit if each one of you correct your personal imbalances—your extremes, your polarities. With your desires checked, your inner balance calm and accepting of all you do as part of a process of growth, so will your journey through life be rewarding. This process entails constantly learning what it means to be in balance with all living beings, while at the same time letting go of self-discrimination and judgment, freeing the self of old ideas, while simultaneously accepting full responsibility for the journey you are on.
Nature constantly adjusts…
Seek balance in the middle way, traveling the middle road, taking the middle path, for that is where the Earth itself constantly seeks its own balance. In between birth and death, between light and dark, between near and far, between inner and outer is there always a midpoint where all contentions, disagreements, externalized projections and internalized disputes will find a place of rest and contemplation.
This place of rest upon the middle road offers mature and sober distance from the polarity of everyday contention—inner and outer—offering clarity and insight not otherwise achieved, and thus the balance required for full commitment to a path of growth and change in balance with all living things may be gained.
Be conscious of the self today as you experience the energy outside of you. This is the place to start. The outer energy may be experienced as quite powerful, and so balance will be found in turning deeper inward, as you ask the self why you feel drawn toward that outward pull, knowing full well that it is extreme and will only lead to imbalance once again. In inward contemplation will you discover that the outer tension will soon dissipate and balance be regained.
Contemplate the middle way…
Gaining personal inner-outer balance is the first step to gaining better balance overall and this is what I suggest doing today: Question everything you are pulled to, pausing for a moment to determine if it is right or wrong for you to engage in. Make your decisions based on what you know already by your previous experiences and on what comes to you during this pause. This is where balanced guidance comes from, from deep within the self. Though its voice may be hard to hear at first, the longer you sit with it, the better you will hear its words of wisdom.
You will experience a new mature self in balance with nature and all living things more often as you do this practice. The energy of this new mature self has the potential to spread into the lives of all other living beings upon that planet, for you are all part of the greater universe. Your true wisdom lies in gaining balance so that you may tap into its healing power and its knowledge of the far greater unseen energy of a universe in balance, all aspects traveling along the same middle road.
Thank you to Jeanne for this most inspiring message, especially as we come into a time that is traditionally a time of extremes, with overconsumption and overspending being the old way. The world needs us all to do something different now. What will our choices be as individuals and as a whole? I think it matter greatly.
Most humbly channeled with my deepest gratitude to Jeanne and all of you for being part of this journey. -Jan
Here is the weekly channeled message from Jeanne. May you all find it comforting, guiding, and helpful in our challenging, changing times.
Seek balance in your own way…
Behave differently now. It is time to be openhearted, considerate, kind and compassionate, not just within but also without. It is good to know right from wrong, good from bad, but it is far better to act with this knowing foremost in thought, word, and deed.
All who reside upon that earth at this time, a time of great turmoil and change, must turn from the distractions of want, desire, greed and overconsumption, and turn instead toward a leaner yet softer persona. This more gentle aspect of humanity must come into play now if all is to be accomplished that will lead to lasting change and a new paradigm.
Life must be struck down—life as it is now expressed and grasped at—for there is no longer room for more, there is only the necessity of less. If less is not embraced, less will be presented, and thus less will be forced upon you and less will become the norm. Thus, that which is necessary will ensue—balance will ensue—for that is what is desperately needed and called for upon that planet.
It is time to behave differently, to grasp at deeper meaning and greater awareness, and not just for the few but for the many. Departure from an old way of thinking and behaving is the first step in this much-needed change. As mentioned, if not activated on a personal level, then activation will come from outside, but in reality it will be reverberating inside each one of you in some deep way.
Simplify…
Learn that less is more, that balance is crucial; inside and outside the self, inside and outside the home, inside and outside of everything that you live, encounter, and trust. Balance is all that matters now—simple, lean balance.
Begin to pare down your individual greed and consumption, your individual desires and wants, by questioning the way you feel pulled, the way you are drawn, and the way you are also repelled. Study your world now with thoughts of balance, less, and inner and outer simplicity as your guiding tenets. In this manner begin to behave differently now.
Slow down. Think. Feel. Take less. Give more. Be good. Be kind. Be compassionate. To self and other extend these most gracious human attributes and know that you are participating in the change that is sweeping across your world, far and wide, yet near and dear as well.
Let go of what needs to be let go of, that which you no longer need or wish to carry. Let go of angers, resentments, and old pains that are not worthy of life-giving energy. Let go of that which takes you from your path of growth. Turn toward a simple life now. See that you do not need so much, that life itself offers what you need, and that there is enough to be had by all.
Return to balance within the self and thus return the world to balance, reducing negativity, disease, war, disturbing energies, conflicts within and without. Eradicate that which is no longer helpful and nurture only the positive. This is the side that needs attention now. Think and act and do that which is positive, right, and good. Although such positive actions may be painful to execute, so are they right, and this you all know.
Sense the positive…
Be responsible for changing the behaviors of the self. This is how to start moving in a new direction—the direction that is now needed—from gluttony to simplicity, from the negative to the positive, from bad to good, from dark to light. However you choose to see it, know that it is time to go deeper into your personal process of change.
I leave you with these thoughts today, asking you all to be responsible adults, as if your life depended on it because, in truth, it does—it always did and always will. Be fully responsible for the self. That is where to begin. I give you enough to go on, now take up the cause of change and begin to alter the self. The universe is waiting to take up this cause of change in a positive direction, so know that you will be met with energetically resonant energy in accompaniment. You will be well supported and well met. All you need to do is look in a new direction now, with new eyes and a new heart. It’s that simple.
