What is this body that we are so attached to but a mere bag of bones. When the life force leaves a body, what is left is just that, a bag of bones. Yet we spend our lives and our energy totally attached to the bag of bones that we identify as “Me.”
We are, in reality, so much more than that. As Robert Monroe has taught so many explorers of higher consciousness: “You are more than your physical body.”
Our life force, our spirit energy, though it resides inside our bag of bones finds ways to also leave it, to go beyond it and explore. Exploits outside of our bag of bones happen most naturally and most familiarly at night, when we dream. We all dream, even if we can’t remember doing so. Thus, we’ve all had experiences of our selves as spirit energy alone, sans bag of bones.
So many things can hold us back from uninhibitedly experiencing our spirit energy. To fully appreciate such experiences, to be able to engage in them with our full awareness, we need to be freed of our fears, our incessant internal dialogue, our traumas, our sexual abuse, our judgments, and anything else that might hold us back from further exploration of the many and varied spiritual possibilities we all hold within us.
Recapitulation is one means by which to rid ourselves of the things that hold us back from greater enjoyment of life, from spiritual exploration, and from understanding the knowledge and wisdom that our spirit might present us with.
During recapitulation, our spirit helps us to recall and relive past events while simultaneously keeping us grounded in our bodies, that bag of bones that we love so much, or hate so much, or just can’t seem to reconcile with.
As we recapitulate, old beliefs about ourselves are stripped away. Our energy is freed from where it has been stuck; in memories, in all those old beliefs about ourselves, in entanglements with the energy of others, in pains, regrets, resentments, self-pity, judgments, etc.; the list is endless.
In the process we learn to trust our spirit, that part of ourselves that is so eager to explore beyond the physical body, that just can’t wait to show us what we are really made of—energy! Our own spirit then becomes our greatest teacher and guide, and we come into our wholeness.
As we lose our fears and discover that we are really energetic beings, we become fluid and fearless explorers, in-body and out-of-body. But best of all, we become loving beings, fully happy in our bag of bones.
Sending you love,
J. E. Ketchel, Author of The Recapitulation Diaries
In our audio channeling this week, we are advised to get into good alignment with what our bodies need, our vehicles through life. We seek spiritual experiences and in the process sometimes forget that we are physical human beings too. Don’t forget to take care of the body.
Make no mistake about the grandness of nature and instinct, within and without… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Last week, a mother dolphin off the coast of New Zealand carried her dead calf on her back for days as she obeyed nature’s instinctive spiritual call to grieve her lost child. The religious instinct is inherent in all of nature, dolphins and humans included.
We make a grand mistake when we blame the human animal, with its instinctual underpinnings, for all the egregious sins and excesses of humanity. As our mother dolphin demonstrates, nature’s religious instinct knows how to safely discharge, regulate, and transform its deepest emotions.
Our physical body, our faithful companion for all of our physical life, is born with the highest level of knowledge of how to safely navigate and fulfill life in this world. This is innate archetypal wisdom that we may not be conscious of. Consciousness, which resides in the ego Soul, is separate from the archetypes that govern the physical body and has assumed the role of decision making for the human animal. On all levels, we are alive at a moment in time that truly reflects the errors of that ego Soul’s decision making.
The spiritual instinct in nature, with its imperative for evolutionary exploration, delivered humans the ability to override nature’s accumulated wisdom of archetypal solutions to life’s problems. Thus, contrary to mother dolphin’s laborious journey of mourning, corporate programs structure acceptable time-off to grieve. When ‘consciousness’ overrides archetype the dissonance created often results in mental health problems.
Of course, the overseer of the body at the subconscious autonomic level, whom I have termed the little soul, does not always select the right archetype to solve an issue. Thus, a self-hypnotic suggestion from ego Soul, at the heart center of consciousness, might do well to override a negative belief held by the little soul, which may be generating a physical problem.
The problem with the little soul is that it doesn’t think; it guards the sanctity of the archetypes, its true master. This conservatism is critical to protect life, yet its rigidity might prove fatal. Like a faithful General it follows, never questions, its orders. The problem is, it is susceptible to any orders. Thus, if we insist on constantly thinking about our bondage to negative habits, the little soul makes sure our body experience backs up and fulfills those orders. Hence, we repeat our habits.
This of course can lead to bodily excesses in such instincts as hunger and sex. We may be quick to blame our instincts, but we do well to look more deeply into where little soul received its marching orders. Often, we will discover that the true culprit is ego Soul, lodged at the solar plexus level of consciousness.
Many world leaders currently mirror this fixation of consciousness. The solar plexus is the center of personal power. Needs and wants at this center are exceedingly narcissistic, all about ME. Thus, marching orders from this center reflect entitlement. “I want more” is its general imperative, be it with food, sex, money, clothes, screen time, attention, etc.*
Thus, ego Soul’s powerful wants override the little soul’s archetypes, commandeering the body and its instincts to fulfill its appetites, not the body’s appetites. The body falls victim to the ego Soul’s power play, and though it might react with illness, the disease may lie more in the ego Soul, with its lack of consideration of the body’s true needs.
Unfortunately, the learning curve for ego Soul at the solar plexus chakra is generally a function of karma, the groundhog day law of cause and effect. Many repetitions may be required of self serving destructive behaviors before a light of higher consciousness shines on the truth of the illusion one has been living.
This light issues from the heart center, where ego Soul glimpses the truth of its high SOUL, which reveals the interconnected and true workings of everything. Narcissism is purified at this level, as ego Soul sees clearly right action in conformity with the reality of the situation. Here the high SOUL becomes the ego Soul’s guide, as it delivers to the little soul the correct orders for body maintenance, healing, and action.
May we fully appreciate the wisdom and support of our most intimate partner, our own body, which contains and allows for our Soul’s transformation, as it sojourns through life within its precious physical body.
With love and deep gratitude,
Chuck
*NOTE: Synchronistically, today’s Soulbyte addresses the side of personal power susceptible to taking on outside influences as its own. Outside influences are both the outer personalities and thought currents of our time, as well as inner archetypes that target the ego Soul’s naive will to power, for their own nefarious intentions.
Let not your ideas of yourself spoil the riches in life. Let not your fears take away the joys. Let not your sadness steal your possibilities. Let not your loneliness keep you from experiencing union. All these things are overcome as you dare yourself to live each day to the fullest, as you realize that thoughts and fears are but habitual patterns adopted long ago, that sadness and loneliness are teaching you that you want more. Prepare your body, mind, and spirit for what is to come. Get yourself ready each day with expectation, with positive thoughts rippling through your mind, with a smile on your lips. And above all, keep an open heart toward yourself and others as you own your life. Own it.
All newborn babies turn their heads toward the nipple and make sucking movements. This is an inborn program called the rootingreflex that prepares the baby to procure nourishment in the form of milk from the breast. Jung called these universal inborn mental programs, that orchestrate such necessary adaptation and survival behaviors, archetypes. At nature’s insistence newborns are born with an entitled energy to suckle nurturance from the breast.
Entitlement has its roots in nature itself. The energy that the archetypes are naturally endowed with is the energy of entitlement. When an archetype is activated it is potentiated with powerful energy, the energy of entitlement, that allows it to achieve its fulfillment.
The entitled energy of the hunger instinct fuels our ability to work and accumulate goods, property, and money, allowing us to meet our most primal of needs. This instinct is quite primitive and has its roots in narcissism, with the primary focus given to the satisfaction of the body’s primary survival needs.
As we grow, our narcissistic fixation naturally enlarges to include the family, a unit dedicated to survival as a group. The family carves out its ownership of its living space, not to be transgressed by non-family members without an invitation. The family is poised to accumulate for itself and defend its ownership against the competing needs of others. Thus, there is a legitimate basis for entitlement in human physical existence: survival.
Jung observed that archetypes also give rise to spiritual values in humans. This spirit instinct in human beings often comes to life as a result of sacrifice. The initiation rituals of yesteryear that brutally tore the young from their entitled dependence upon family and sent them off to experiences outside of the known and familiar—the world of mother, father, and extended family—are one example of such sacrifice.
Through the archetype of ritual sacrifice, youth became adults and took on greater responsibility for the group beyond family of origin. Vestiges of theses archetypal strivings are seen today in the stylized piercings, tattoos, and drug adventures of young people seeking to cross the bridge to adulthood through some kind of self-initiated ritual sacrifice.
When spiritual values emerge they signal a maturity that takes into consideration the needs of others, beyond the narcissism of me and mine, awakening an energy of compassion that extends to all living beings. This spirit entitlement employs its energy to consider and care for everything beyond the self. Spirit orientation is in opposition to the hoarding attitude of the narcissistic orientation. Spirit employs its personal energy to care for the greater whole and accepts itself as part of that greater whole. Spirit orientation acts to extend entitlement as a broader human right.
Narcissistic orientation bemoans having to give away that which it needs and wants. Spirit, on the other hand, can tend to neglect, negate, or even denigrate the needs of the physical body, its working vehicle for this life.
I would propose that we are presently in an energetic World War between these two instinctual orientations: body instinct and spirit instinct. The current world leader, our own President, exemplifies entitlement at a very primal level. That is, its inherent right to consider only the needs of itself over the needs of the more inclusive world. The degree of support accorded this leader reflects how accurately he taps into the narcissistic underpinnings of survival at the primal, animal, level in all human beings.
What has given rise to our current state of world affairs is a breakdown in the application of the technology of sacrifice to effect spiritual transformation. At one extreme is a failure of the institutions of the modern world to provide effective rites of initiation at key stages of life. Without these rites many people fail to individuate into true adulthood and thus remain fixated at a child’s level of orientation toward the world, entitled and demanding.
At the other extreme is a total renunciation of the body for the benefit of the spirit. One example is the requirement of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood; sacrifice the lower for the sake of the higher. Though this technology of sacrifice was successful in establishing a life oriented toward altruistic concerns, it has created a tremendous body-shadow backlash. Just look at the incidences of sexual abuse among the ranks of the Catholic priests. The entitlement of the repressed sexual instinct has emerged from hiding, deviously preying upon the young and innocent.
In the political arena we see a similar eruption of repressed primal instinct asserting its entitlement to accumulate resources for itself only, casting out the unfamiliar ‘other’ to fend for itself. This is the shadow of American altruism, bursting forth now with a vengeance.
The determination of this entitlement is expressed in its blatant use of lies, misinformation, and manipulation as a necessary and acceptable means to care for its basic needs. No amount of reason or scientific proof can shake it from its deeply seated conviction that it is entitled to care only for its own needs.
At present the lines are firmly drawn between body and spirit, it’s either one way or the other. There is no room for compromise, as each side is absolutely in touch with their inalienable right of entitlement. And they are both right; we are animals and we are spirits. Perhaps the ultimate solution is encoded in the axiom: asabove so below. The needs of the body are as important as the needs of the spirit, the needs of the self are as important as the needs of the planet.
Where might there be adjustments to bring these two into better confluence? As the Pope laments the abuses of his church he might consider the fact that nuns have probably almost never committed sexual abuse, despite their same commitment to celibacy as their priestly male counterparts. If the technology of celibacy is to be maintained, perhaps nuns should be invited into the priesthood to lead the way.
On an individual level, we are invited to truly tune in to the wants and needs of our animal selves, as well as our spirit’s longing for greater wholeness with the universe. For instance, the practice of sacred sex joins body, spirit, and other, in joy, pleasure, and union at a physical/spiritual level.
On a planetary level, the Earth’s body has taken the lead. We are in the beginnings of massive transformation at a planetary level that will force us to be more in step with the true needs of the Earth’s body and atmosphere. For humans this is a spirit/body reconciliation. Respecting the body of the planet is both a spiritual love, moving beyond just the narcissism of self, as well as a deep connection to the physical: self and planet.
The key to reconciliation of our warring instincts is recognizing the legitimacy of entitlement for both body and spirit. Behind the off-putting extremism of today’s headlines are individuals identified with either one orientation or the other.
Can you outwardly appreciate the one-sidedness of your neighbor, but also its legitimacy, in some form? Can you inwardly recognize the one-sidedness of your own orientation and, yes, validate it in some form too? Can you give value and a place to the opposite side, whether it be body or spirit? That is the way to become an integrated, balanced whole being.
