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Chuck’s Place: Beyond the Shadow of Doubt

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The shadow is everywhere…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Reason is the dominant tool of the first attention, what the Shamans of Ancient Mexico call everyday life. Beyond the first attention is the second attention, the world of energetic life, which is replete with all things irrational.

The Hindus note, for instance, that the emotional body component of the energy body, which is the home of powerful emotions and passions, is a prominent feature of the second attention.

Jung calls the second attention the collective unconscious, which lacking consciousness to guide volition, operates through the activation of powerful archetypes that can overwhelm the reasonable ego of the first attention, causing it to perform outrageous acts. To preserve the order and decency of normalcy, Jung asserts that these deeper dimensions of the psyche are repressed and housed in what he called the shadow, a component of the second attention.

Reason and shadow are mortal enemies, hence the natural tendency to keep them separated. Reason insists upon the rules of logic and fairness for decision making. Shadow insists upon the release of intense emotions and passions as its modus operandi, reason be dammed. Reason, in its own condescension, snubs the irrational shadow, misjudging the power of the repressed.

The history of humankind reflects the occasional reckoning of these two dominants in the clashes of world wars. Our current world predicament is a prime example of reason clashing with the formidable energy of the irrational. The world is rapidly disintegrating into such a primal clash at this very moment.

At a fundamental level the worlds of the first and second attention are layers of the same onion. As humans we are both consciously reasonable, solid beings, as well as irrational, energetic spirit beings. The totality of ourselves requires that we integrate these worlds despite their inherent opposition. Evolution is absolutely requiring such an advance at this time. How can we achieve this integration without the ultimate disintegration, Armageddon?

To begin, reason must address the limitations of its own belief system: “Things aren’t that bad… no one would let that happen…” In fact, the shadow thrives on letting anything happen that offers it powerful release.

Next, reason must recognize that shadow is a dimension of its own self. Reason often doubts this, despite the many addictions or obsessions that it notices in its own functioning. Does it also notice its fascination and vicarious excitement with the emotional outbursts of now?  Reason always believes that it has things under control, or that things are, ultimately, under control.

Reason must accept responsibility in developing a relationship with the energetic world of the second attention. When people discover the out-of-body world, they are often at first driven by insatiable desires, repressed in the first attention of everyday life. Maintaining the operation of reason, with the intents available in the second attention, is critical for deep responsible exploration.

I strongly recommend Robert Monroe’s three books, which detail his own journeys into the second attention with the evolving accompaniment of his first attention, reason. With his success and guidance, he is truly deserving of the title of American Shaman.

Exploration and reconciliation with the deeper dimensions of the self offer a playing field of deep soulful satisfaction, which checks the tendency of the shadow to need to project itself upon habits and outer events that mesmerize the ego and take over consciousness.

Ego must humble itself to the existence of energies within the self that are far more powerful than ego itself. Ego has reason, but that’s no match for the irrational. Ego, in its humble smallness, can say no however. What change would happen overnight in the world if all individuals just said no, not driving today, not consuming today? Such a world strike of no would force a different relationship with power.

Nonetheless, ego must not be unreasonable in its demands. The world of the irrational, the world of passion and spirit must be lived. Beyond the shadow of doubt, reason must join with its passionate, spirited, irrational self in deep exploration and life, beyond reason.

Living the irrational, with reason,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Google & the dream

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Daphne
– Art by Jan Ketchel © 2003

Carl Jung discovered the Collective Unconscious, a layer of the mind all beings share in common, what the ancient Hindus identified as Universal Mind. Edgar Cayce validated its existence through accessing, in trance, the Akashic Record to provide spot-on medical diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Joe McMoneagle equally accessed this dimension of all-knowing through Remote Viewing, proving its utility for military intelligence and solving ancient mysteries.

What Edgar Cayce and Joe McMoneagle teach is the use of deep relaxation of left brain focused ego dominance as a pathway to direct experience and access to all knowledge, the deepest level of the collective unconscious that we all share. These methods can be trained to waking consciousness.

Dreaming, where ego relaxes its focused left brain dominance in order to fall asleep, also takes place in the realm of the collective unconscious. Thus, it is possible to encounter deceased relatives or living archetypes, such as gods and goddesses, or virtual treasure maps, in one’s nightly journeys in the all-knowing Universal Mind of being.

Dreaming provides opportunities for the Universal Mind of the collective unconscious, or SOUL, to communicate profound knowledge to waking ego consciousness. This linkage of Universal Mind to personal ego requires dream interpretation.

The first stage in dream interpretation, and perhaps the most challenging, is to remember the dream.

Everyone dreams. It was scientifically demonstrated in sleep labs long ago that anyone who is deprived of dreaming for three days will become psychotic. Restitution of dreaming quickly reverses this condition. Remembering dreams, however, is a matter of intent. State, in advance of sleep, “I intend to remember my dream tonight.”

Stage two is to value whatever dream fragments one wakes up with and write them down. Like a hooked fish quickly slipping back into the ocean, a vivid dream not recorded is gone after even a quick visit to the bathroom. In particular, watch out for King Ego, master of the waking world: “Oh, that’s stupid, irrelevant, nonsense, etc., …” Follow Carlos Castaneda’s number one rule: Suspend Judgment. Write it down!

Stage three is to track immediate associations as you recall and write the dream. Last night I had a tin can of bluefin tuna in a dream. As I remembered the dream next morning, I immediately flashed to an article I’d read of a Japanese restaurant owner paying $3.1 million dollars for a large bluefin tuna at auction. Suffice it to say that this “prized fish,” contained in its leaden mandala tin, perfectly mirrors the current stage of my own opus of individuation.

Stage four. Once personal associations are exhausted, take it to the next level: Google. Google is humankind’s collective conscious effort to mirror the all-knowing collective unconscious. It is a great aid in deciphering the universal symbolic language of the vast collective unconscious.

I offer an example from a recent dream of Jan’s. Jennifer Lawrence and Lawrence Osborne show up as characters in the dream. Jan knew of and had associations to actress Jennifer Lawrence but had never heard of Lawrence Osborne. Quick google research produced a nomadic author of some repute. Jan has here to face her own nomadic author self, who has written deeply valuable books about her own shamanic recapitulation, combined with facing a latent extraverted Jennifer Lawrence self!

Jan next looked up the name Lawrence. Ultimate derivation of the name Lawrence is laurel, symbolically referring to Daphne, who ran from rape by transforming into a laurel tree. (Side note: many of Jan’s paintings include a tree). Daphne is both a symbol of perseverance and frozen avoidance of life. These associations help Jan explore the current balance of her hermitic introverted and confident extraverted selves.

These associations, both personal and collective, string together a profound communication from SOUL to ego Soul, essentially gifting a willing ego Soul with a direction for the playing field of waking life.

Google doesn’t always get it right, though. Ego Soul must decide upon what personally resonates and then take action—that is the completion of the dream. It is a grand opportunity to bridge the SOUL/ego Soul relationship and communication in the completion of one’s life karma, or mission on Earth, this time around.

Thank you, Jan, for sharing this gem.

Dream on,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: The momentous opportunity of Now

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Turning in a new direction…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

As without, so within. Without, we are all witnessing a stupendous archetypal drama. The dweller, at the threshold of the mighty house, has opened the door to the dark side of the force. Within, the ego Soul, at the threshold of the subconscious, must awaken to whom it has let in.

Difficult to own this projection. The drama without is so spellbinding it would seem to be the only real movie in town. That’s part of the challenge. The collective subconscious ego Soul has materialized a hypnotist, whose name is invoked daily more than any other word on Earth. Now that truly is black magic. With that much attention surrendered to the hypnotist, we are all drawn sheepishly to await the next suggestion upon which all life revolves.

Now, how could such an overarching outer predicament actually reflect the condition within one’s own personal psyche? The ego Soul, at the third chakra, is a child obsessed with its own wants, needs, and desires—particularly an insatiable hunger for attention and recognition. A child is simply incapable of seeing and caring for the rest of its personality and body beyond the mirror of its own appetites and power drives.

The subconscious soul is the warehouse of what Jung called the shadow or personal unconscious. However, it is also the gateway to the collective shadow and the collective unconscious archetypes deeply tied to the physical instincts. The subconscious soul is abundantly willing to cater to the power and appetite drives of the naive attention-seeking ego Soul at the third chakra, with the hidden intent of taking possession of the ego Soul.

What then ensues is ego Soul at the third chakra getting all it wants satiated via a Faustian-like pact with the devil, which uses its position of influence to take control of the personality and give free rein to its long suppressed shadow agenda. From an outer world historical perspective, the Nazification of Germany reflected the shadow taking possession of a collective national ego Soul, with atrocious consequences.

To actually reflect objectively on both inner and outer reality, ego Soul must establish itself at the heart center chakra, which enables an adult perspective and decision making center to come online. These include being able to acknowledge life beyond the self, as well as clarity as to the interconnected, interdependent wholeness of all things. This allows for acceptance and creative integration of all parts of the self. This enables the adult to raise the child at the third chakra with compassion and firm limits.

Outwardly, we enter a New Year with a new American Congress set to challenge the Executive branch. Investigations offer the possibility of temperance, but all must face the reality: as without, so within. No one is immune from encounter with the dark side, which is quite willing to change its appearance from devil to angel but still house the same power drives. All must ask themselves: From what center are they really acting? From the sly, rationalizing, justifying, manipulating possessed ego Soul, at the third chakra, or from right action, from the ego Soul raised to the heart center?

The momentousness of this time we live in is the opportunity for all world citizens to participate in the raising of the world ego Soul to the adult position of the heart center, both within and without. This is the dawning of The Age of Aquarius, which at this time beckons us to own the projections of our times, within ourselves, and to cover our ears from the master hypnotists, both within and without.

Turn and walk in a new direction. Don’t look back. Move forward with ease into new life. What will you meet? It’s all new now. Don’t get caught in the Scylla and Charybdis of depression or exhilarated denial. Walk the razor’s edge mindfully. You are the master of your own ship.

“The time to hesitate is through,” say the Doors.

Walk your ego Soul through the door to new life in the heart center of your SOUL.

The journey continues.

Happy New Life,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: The Tripartite Soul of Now

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I am writing to the future, the day this will be published, the morning after the midterm elections. For the record, my final edit for this blog was on the morning of November 6, 2018, well in advance of outcomes in time and space. My intent is that the electorate free its mind from manipulation and vote from the heart for the greater good of all. I will accept the outcome of the election as a true reading of the status of our collective soul now.

Tripartite: heaven and earth with the light of the intellect in between…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

I define mind as soul, the subtle body companion of our physical body for the duration of our lives in this world. The soul is a tripartite structure consisting of the inherent collective unconscious with its instinctive knowing, the ego with its intellect and capacity for reason, and the high self that is guided by infinity through intuition and love.

Recently, we have seen the rapid emergence of instinct, with its passionate emotions, take charge of world governance. This is an archetypal response, from the collective unconscious dimension of the soul, to the Earth’s current major reshaping and the primal dread it awakens at our animal core. Survival is its battle cry.

Our reasoning mind has either been convinced of instinct’s call to arms, and leant it support, or opposed its radical approach, embodying, instead, calls for greater unity and compassion.

The question for this midterm was whether the escalating instinctive approach would continue to grow, or a movement toward more inclusive values would begin to assert itself.

Regardless of outcome, the Earth will continue its radical changes, and the human animal will continue to experience fear and anxiety in response. The problem for humans, as well as all species on Earth, is that the environment is shifting into unknown territory, where old tried and true instinctive responses cannot effectively assimilate the current dangers.

The intellect that has the capacity to analyze a problem and oppose even its own nature to effect a solution may be equally disadvantaged if it cannot detach from personal interest or the thrill of unbridled emotion. Furthermore, the real solution to survival in this changing world might require opening to the guidance of an intuition that transcends pure reason.

Clearly, cooperation by all parts of the tripartite soul would best prepare us to ride the tide of our evolutionary challenge. From our instinct emerges the alarm of real threat to survival. From our intellect emerges the ability to analyze and act in our best interest. From our high self comes the experience of pure love, which binds the world together in common interest. Thus, the combination of instinct, intellect, and love are the winning ticket.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, our evolutionary path requires us to access the fullness of our tripartite soul to find our way. Regardless of the outcome of the election, every individual is free to travel this evolutionary path within the confines of their own physical body and tripartite soul.

In fact, the greatest of leaders throughout history were masters of their tripartite souls, to such a degree that they inspired humanity to higher spiritual directions, merely through the presence of their evolved personalities.

Focus now on evolving the personality through acknowledging the anxiety from below, through thinking objectively and initiating right action, and by finding inspiration and intuitive solution from the love and wisdom that comes from above. This is the tripartite ticket to facing one’s deepest issues within, as well as managing one’s reactions to the volatility expressed without.

Never feel powerless; you are the agent of change. Change the self, change the world.

In gratitude,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: God’s Chosen One: The Human Ego

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When I reflect upon the momentous decision Jeanne and I made in 1979, to abruptly leave America and move to the Promised Land of Jamaica, I cannot help but see the parallel to now, to Jan and my very abrupt move to the New Land at The Monroe Institute.

The veil is lifting…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Back in 1979, it was the reggae sirens whose call we could not refuse, their song echoing the themes of bondage and deliverance, and God’s support for his chosen people. It was as if the Old Testament had shown up in a time capsule bottle on the shores of that island paradise with a message to explain the African diaspora and provide a spiritual depth and context in which to move forward as Africans forced to assimilate in foreign lands.

“Black man it’s time to know your history.” “King David, he was a black man. King Solomon, he was a black man. King Moses, he was a black man. From Africa, yeah!” This was the Rastafarian identification with the Old Testament heroes as made popular by Rod Taylor. This music echoes the universal themes of life and struggle in the human form, with an accompanying heartbeat that connects the suffering time/space human with their immortal soul.

Flash ahead to 2018. The siren that drew Jan and I to The Monroe Institute was the Hemi-sync beat, with its abilities to facilitate expanded states of consciousness and awareness, where left brain ego serves right brain spirit; the formula for ego liberation from its state of alienation from spirit, facilitating a return to wholeness.

Human consciousness, centered in the human ego, is God’s chosen one. The ego is a separated part of the infinite soul, a spark of divine light living in the time/space illusion of its current life. This is a life that will end—death is at the crux of its suffering—but it all began with its higher soul in infinity sending it on the sojourn of its current life, truly a mission from God. Thus, the part (the ego) became separated from the whole (the Spirit), with its necessary blank-slate-forgetting at birth.

That mission is as individual and varied as there are people upon the planet. Yet, there is an underlying collective similarity to all individual missions, and that is what Robert Monroe discovered and wrote about in his book Far Journeys. The mission is to refine love energy, he wrote. For love to be refined it must encounter the various stages Elizabeth Kubler Ross delineated for the dying process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

All of these stages are emotional stages that love must go through to reach the pinnacle of emotion, a Super Love that, with compassion, accepts and loves everyone and everything. These are the missions and varied lives we have lived through, or must live through, in order to fully master all the permutations of humanness, from the most horrific to the most fully loving.

Can I love the abuser I may have been in one lifetime, as much as the victim of abuse I might have been in another lifetime? This is the great challenge and opportunity Earth School offers us, to refine love to its greatest potential, at least in this cosmos. Once the Soul decides its specific goal for its time/space life on earth, it sends off its ego seed to be planted in a human body.

The next step of this unfolding mission is to be adopted into and successfully attached to an earthly family. Without attachment the mission and the ego spark of life would not survive. With attachment comes the inevitable misery of loss, truly a unique byproduct of time/space life.

The ego, in its birth, was indeed cast from Eden, its home of wholeness, to fend for itself in a predatory world. The predatory world is necessary to encounter conditions that offer refinement of emotion leading to Super Love. Yes, the ego can use its spark of consciousness to eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, but it cannot escape the underlying truth: it is an orphan of its own wholeness, chosen to navigate and master its destiny in this life. Its true status is one of a wanderer with no real roots in this earth. Ego is equipped to enjoy and accumulate the riches of the earth, but it can never truly be at home here.

The dawning of the Age of Aquarius—the time we are living in—offers the human ego an enlightenment as to its true status, as an intelligent part of a far greater interdependent whole. The mission now for God’s chosen one is to free itself of the veil of separateness that has handicapped its effectiveness to fully love and effectively manage the earth. The ego must relinquish its self-importance, its grandiosity, as well as its inferiority, if it is to find its way back to the wholeness it has always sought, both on an individual as well as a collective level.

The ego must fully assimilate all peoples into one united chosen one. The chosen one is our collective human consciousness, not our local affiliations nor our individual egos alone. Clearly, such disruptive rumblings beneath the surface of current world events reflect our deeper separation and fear and rejection of our collective wholeness.

Defensively, separateness is being highlighted as imperative, as countries seek to expel others from what they perceive as theirs alone and reclaim what they perceive is their manifest destiny, to personally possess all they believe they are entitled to.

The current world leader mirrors so fully the ultimate inflated ego, a soon-to-be relic of an earlier stage of human evolution. Mother nature and the rising feminine will ensure the leveling of human inflation and facilitate the reign of the next level of human evolution, a union of all human groups, both physically and spiritually, into a united whole while in human form. From this will spring a new consciousness emanating from the heart, Super Love, capable of decisions of right action to the benefit of the whole chosen world.

One love, one destiny,

Chuck