Tag Archives: beliefs

Chuck’s Place: Belief Is Destiny

Owning beliefs from all quarters…
-Illustration © 2023 Jan Ketchel

Belief is a mental, not physical, process. We could say that belief, in its insubstantial state, is a spirit, comparable to thought. In fact, we could define belief as a fixed, determined thought whose spirit energy arranges perception and physical matter to conform to its expectations.

Spirit is our active Mars/Yang energy, the energy of intent that engages our Yin/Venus energy, the energy of attraction, to manifest our spirit beliefs. Beliefs become the seedlings of the events of our lives via intent and the law of attraction. All beliefs become true in their ability to attract the very gross matter circumstances that substantiate their validity.

Our subconscious mind is the home of our Yin energy. All of our spirit beliefs are endowed with our Yin energy in our subconscious minds to attract and manifest most of the events of our lives. Indeed, some untoward events passively happen to us, independent of our intent, yet even these apparently random happenings might reflect a deeper intent being housed at an unconscious level.

For example, a conscious intent for change and new life might be thwarted by a blocking belief at an unconscious level that far prefers the security of the status quo. In this case, blocking beliefs override, or, at the very least, weaken, the spirit of desired change.

Karma could be defined as our inherited belief state. Our astrological birth chart is the blueprint for the manifestation of the core beliefs we have accumulated from the various milestones of our infinite journey.

The moment and circumstances of our birth reflect the intent of our high Spirit, in concert with the cosmic Yin energy of the universe, to reflect our previously accumulated level of karmic development in a life on Earth, which offers us the opportunity to deepen our knowledge and advance ourselves to a new level of karmic clarity, challenge, and release.

Individuation can be defined as discovering and squaring with all the opposing beliefs we house in our unconscious karmic warehouse. Typically, we define ourselves at the level of ego consciousness. For the sake of consistency, the ego defends against knowing or owning alien thoughts and feelings dystonic to its working definition of self. It likes to stay in its comfort zone.

As a consequence, much of who we are is suppressed in the shadow dimension of our unconscious, or is simply kept from ever emerging from the deepest transpersonal levels of the collective unconscious. The current renaissance of psychedelic therapy reflects the impetus to force open the knowing and experience of these hidden levels of being.

Although transpersonal exploration is the wave of our evolutionary times, we must be careful to realize that we are here, in the gross matter form we inhabit, to fully live and solve the karmic riddle of the personal sphinx we came here to advance. To be overly seduced by spirit encounters and communion with mythical beings and archetypes can be the ultimate distraction from our core, grounded Earthly mission.

If we can suspend judgment toward our own beliefs, as well as the beliefs of others, we are freed to more deeply enter their vortex and discover their etiology. For instance, an adult’s inner child’s belief that it is responsible for the abusive treatment it received can be understood as issuing both from its young narcissistic, cognitive developmental level, as well as the defensive action of its instinct for self-preservation.

If we can blame ourselves for the shattering behavior of others, we can protect those who harm us, for we may need them in order to survive. As well, if we are to blame, we can maintain control over the world, believing we are the cause of everything that happens to us. However, if we respect our inner child’s belief by confronting it, feeling it, and interacting with it, the child might crack the nut of its fixated belief, freeing itself to experience new life with its adult self.

Therefore, what we believe is indeed our destiny. Destiny means we MUST live it, at least in some form. If we refuse to know about it, it will need to continually reappear in gross matter, or physical life circumstances, to give us new opportunities to crack the nut. This is our true karma, to crack the nut of what we are truly up against now, in this life.

However, if we are willing to suffer the fullness of our beliefs by owning and getting to know them on a deeply inner level, without having to act them out to get to know them, we can truly free ourselves from their limitations and journey into new life in our infinite journey.

Refining destiny,
Chuck

Chuck’s Place: What Do I Really Believe?

Love in the silence of personal meditation…
– Artwork © 2022 Jan Ketchel

Matter follows thought. Thought issues from the mind. The mind is the soul’s seat of consciousness as it conforms to life in a physical body. The physical body is thus an expression of the soul, in a state of dense energy, as directed by the mind.

The mind has multiple influences upon it, the majority of which operate at a subconscious level. The core drivers of the mind are beliefs, those we consciously subscribe to, but more importantly, those we have internalized through socialization in this life, as well as those encoded in our genetics and archetypal inheritance.

Most of our beliefs operate in the shadow of the subconscious, unbeknownst to the conscious mind. We are a species that is highly susceptible to suggestion, which is merely a prepackaged thought presented to the subconscious mind, which in turn gives it material form through the body’s nervous and endocrine systems.

As the subconscious, by definition, is not a conscious thinking entity, its modus operandi is instinctive reactivity. This reactivity registers as physical sensations and emotions, which steer motor responses to actual physical circumstances or mental thoughts. The subconscious treats outer reality and the imagination identically, that is, as facts to be reacted to.

The influencers of modern social media are suggestion-producers, in the form of thoughts and images, that impact the collective subconscious and generate states of nervous activation, emotion and physical activity that then attempt to define and shape physical reality. For example, the suggestion that Ketanji Brown Jackson is soft on sexual predators becomes the internalized, felt to be, personal belief of many individuals.

Thus, many beliefs are actually not personally generated but are extrinsic mental installations that shape the conscious mind through subconscious influence. In such cases, the ego does not exercise its free will to apply consciousness in its ability to reflect and arrive at its own truth. To the contrary, it blindly accepts and follows the tenets of its internalized suggestions, where they are reacted to, as facts, by the personal subconscious.

Beliefs are also shaped by our educational systems that seek to instill a system of morality, along with tools for understanding and utility, that allow for successful navigation of life in a physical body. Thus, even our basic beliefs about the nature of reality are narrowed by the boundaries of what is considered valid exploration.

Medical treatment is largely confined to physical tests and medicines that correct the observable diseases in the physical body. The powerful effect of placebo, which completely reflects the power of a mental belief, is dismissed as irrelevant to objective reality.

Placebo actually gives evidence to the fundamental fact that, as a person thinketh, so do they becometh. Matter, the state of physical reality, is first and foremost shaped by our beliefs, shaped by inheritance, instinct, experience and karma. The royal road to discovering those beliefs is meditation.

To take true ownership of our physical reality we must illumine the beliefs that subconsciously operate within us, and determine their validity. In the still of meditation we observe how thoughts arise and impact our nervous and glandular activities. We discover the subtleties of beliefs upon the matter of our own physical bodies.

As we calm the subconscious reactivity of sensation and emotion, as well as the free flow of thought, in meditation, we move beyond the defining influence of the subconscious and are opened to the spiritual center of the higher self.

From the meditative position of detached observer we enter the subtle realm of energetic reality. We notice sensations arising spontaneously from the energy centers of the various chakras. We are treated to the experience of vibrational reality, where we can ascend into the quiet and calm of heightened spiritual awareness. We discover ourselves as energetic beings. We discover our higher selves.

At the heart chakra we are led to energetic truth and love, the one true energetic reality. Love is the binding glue of the oneness of all that is. All can experience this truth in the silence of their personal meditation.

As well, all that is untrue and negative will arise in meditation, where the opportunity arises to cleanse oneself of the the limiting beliefs, or habits, that have by default, defined one’s life.

Aligning one’s consciousness and free will with the truths of this spiritual, or energetic center, of the heart, sets the stage for manifesting the heart’s true content. Through the letting go of untruths, we clear the channel for pure love to flow through and into our physical reality.

Belief then becomes knowing. Knowing thoughts generate energetic and physical harmony. Harmony is the next stage of our human evolution.

Meditate, meditate, meditate, and all will be well, within and without.

Intent on Knowing,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: The Secret Life of Habit

Habits unchecked, mushroom…
– Photo by J. E. Ketchel

The human mind is a vehicle in constant motion. When we drive our car we actually turn the driving over to the subconscious mind, the home of established patterns of perceiving and acting, while our conscious mind journeys freely into other realms of thought and imagination. The array of established patterns stored in the subconscious mind are known as habits.

Some habits are archetypal in nature, meaning they are encoded pre-birth in the subconscious, to direct perception and action according to the needs of a species. Animals function almost entirely at a preprogrammed habitual level. A seasoned hunter actually becomes bored at the ‘sport’ of hunting, as animals are easy prey, traveling the same monotonous patterns daily.

The human animal has the advantage of adding new habits to the subconscious pool through the exercise of conscious suggestion and intent. Most suggestions, however, are obtained from the socialization process. Behavior is largely shaped by the reward and punishment responses from one’s social environment. These reinforced patterns become strongly recommended to the subconscious, eventually taking up residence as established habits.

Sometimes habits are established via completely non-conscious processes. If one experiences a serious trauma during an activity at a particular location, the unconscious reptilian part of the brain takes pictures of these circumstances and directly encodes a message to the subconscious to avoid subsequent locations that look similar. These are experienced as triggers, which are managed via the subconscious habit of avoidance.

The conscious mind may prove quite powerless to overcome these habitual reactions due to the potent energy programmed by the reptilian brain. Habit change at this level requires trauma processing to rewrite and override the program of avoidance. During processing we gradually achieve a neutral response to a trigger, allowing a new program of calm to be introduced and accepted by the subconscious mind, overriding the now anachronistic and unnecessary habit of avoidance.

Beliefs are tremendous influencers upon habit formation. The current social dimension of human interaction is largely governed by belief systems that have become encoded in automatic subconscious reactions.  The possibility of calm communication between groups is largely blocked by the automatic perceptions, judgments and behaviors driven by these powerful habits that have been shaped by belief.

Most of our lives are lived via subconscious habits. If we had to instruct ourselves to breathe to obtain every needed breath, we would become exhausted in no time. Habits are not only necessary but quite welcome for good economy of our psychic energy. Nonetheless, habits tend to limit innovation and creativity, as well as keep us frozen in the past.

Intents, suggestions, mantras, and prayers are repetitive techniques to facilitate the formation of new, consciously driven habits. Begin with a definite verb like “will” or “am”. Too often we begin with “I’d like to” or “I  hope” or “I want”.  The subconscious works best with definite, not ambivalent or begging, statements.

Perseverance is critical in new habit formation. The subconscious is used to its default programs, whether inherited or learned. Unless we are quite persistent in the repetition of our suggestions for a new program,  it will move toward the default position. Remain calm and persevering, with no attachment to the goal, to avoid the static of frustrated emotion that then weakens the power of the suggestion.

Suggestions are further strengthened when they are imbued with conscious presence as they are stated. Suggestions are most powerful when not opposed by blocking beliefs or traumatic events still charged in the unconscious. If powerful emotions or triggers litter the mindscape, best to engage in intentional processing to clear the debris, in preparation for establishing new desired habits.

May our habits achieve peak performance through a positive working relationship with our conscious minds. May our conscious minds put themselves at the service of the greater good of the Self, to ensure healthy habits for the betterment of all.

Habitually yours,

Chuck

A Message for Humanity from Jeanne: How To Know The Self

 

Shed a little light on some of those beliefs you have about yourself…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Good Morning! Our audio channeled message this week advises us all to get to the bottom of who we really are, as opposed to who we think we are. There is a difference that only we can find out and know for ourselves. Take the opportunity this week to free the self from some old limiting beliefs that are probably not even true! Know the self!

A Day in a Life: How To Create A New Reality

Did our thoughts create this reality? - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Did our thoughts create this reality?
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

“You get what you concentrate upon,” channeled Jane Roberts on August 28, 1980. This is one of my favorite quotes from the energetic being, Seth, whom Jane Roberts channeled, stressing how our beliefs and attitudes create our world, both our personal world and the world we all share.

In the simplest of terms, Seth is saying, if we focus on something it will happen. If we are negative thinkers, negative things happen. If we concentrate on happy, positive things, we will get happy, positive things in our lives. What we choose to concentrate on can be to our detriment or to our advantage. This may sound simplistic and idealistic, but if we examine how thoughts create our reality we can learn how to change our thoughts to change our reality as well.

If you have a pimple on your chin and stare at it, it soon looms large. It turns red and ugly. It’s all you see when you look in the mirror and you are sure it’s all everyone else sees too. You apologize for it, try to hide it, or even refuse to go out in public. The pimple festers and grows the more you stare and poke and pinch at it. So is it with thoughts. The negative ones fester, causing us to weep that our lives are terrible, that we are unhappy, miserable, lonely, and that life is unfair. The positive ones grow as well. As we open to and accept new positive things into our lives, our lives expand; new experiences unfold as the world meets us on our positive terms.

The reality is, both negative and positive aspects of our lives are things we create for ourselves. They are our intentions, brought to us by our beliefs and attitudes—unconscious as well as conscious—that we decide upon and set for ourselves. For instance, does illness really exist or is there a part of us that has created it for some reason that we are perhaps unaware of?

There are definitely real reasons for illness. Aside from obvious diseases or injuries there might, however, be other reasons for the illnesses that plague us, for chronic pain and depression, for mental and emotional imbalances. Not everything can be fully healed by physical methods alone, but a more holistic approach offering psychological and spiritual attention as well might do the trick. The entire biological organism that we are must be taken into account, both that which is seen and that which is unseen. Some aspects of our reality are created unconsciously and thus need consciousness to bring them to healing.

We are a whole lot more than meets the eye... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We are a whole lot more than meets the eye…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If we take into consideration that we are actually a whole lot more than we can touch and see; that we are energy as well as substance, ethereal as much as flesh and blood, we might begin to understand how powerful our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes really are. They are without form, so what else are they but energy? If we energetically create our own realities then we can energetically change them as well.

Perhaps our beliefs tell us that we are miserable and that we will always be miserable. Is that really true? Or is it only true because we think that way, because we have accepted that attitude? Did any of us really come into life intending bad things to happen, or to lead a miserable life? Were not our infant selves innocent of all that happened to us?

In fact, the lives we live have largely been created by what we’ve learned, believed, been told and continue to tell ourselves, or by what has been done to us. If we remain in that creation then indeed our lives will not change.

In truth, we are largely unaware of how we constantly retrench ourselves in our own predicament. It’s easy to blame others, and yes, others do cause great harm, but blame also keeps us stuck in negativity and there is little resolution to be found there. We become powerless victims of our circumstances, helpless and depressed, as we spin deeper into our darkness. In a sense we become our own worst enemies, our own abusers.

We all get to the point where we have to make a decision about how we want our own lives to unfold, and face that if we want positive experiences it’s up to us to give them to ourselves. No one else can provide what our spirit needs. It’s at that point that we might be ready to try something new. The simplest thing might be to change the ingrained, negative mantras we constantly repeat to ourselves, aborting the usual thoughts, inserting new positive refrains.

I had learned, at an early age, the devastating consequences of not acting on my own behalf, and by default the value of seizing an opportunity. I’d learned that one thing would lead to another, that things would happen, doors would open. Sometimes those doors were not the right ones, but as I grew up and made my way into the world I learned that behind some doors there were good people. I learned to accept that good things could happen and that good experiences were out there waiting for me to find them. Positive things happened when I took a chance on myself; things changed. My own lessons in creating a new reality for myself meant stepping out into life in a new way, navigating away from the old negative world, venturing into a new world of my own choosing.

There's always a door waiting for us to walk through... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
There’s always a door waiting for us to walk through…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If we are to create a new world in which we can all live in harmony we must get into harmony within ourselves. We must all face what might be behind the doors that appear in our own lives, all of them necessary, and all of them leading us on our healing journeys.

Our role is to take responsibility for our own lives, to heal ourselves as much as we ask others to heal us. We can do this by recreating our own world, fashioning it with positive intent, even as we face what pains us the most, even as we open yet another door that might not yet be the good one. We must do it anyway, concentrating always on the one that we know lies ahead, the one good door that will be the one that will finally lead us out of our old world of worry, fear and negativity into a more positive light.

If we can each do that for ourselves, then there is hope for all of us. Because, you know what? We are all energetic, magical beings—every one of us.

What is happening in your own current reality? What is it that you concentrate upon? How can you change it? As Seth also said: “Your experience will follow your concentration and belief and expectation. The mind is a great discriminator. It can use its reasoning to bring about almost any possible experience within your framework.” Now that is something to concentrate upon!

Creating anew for me and you,
Jan

Excerpts from The Magical Approach by Jane Roberts, pp. 71-2.