Tag Archives: equanimity

Chuck:s Place: Being In The New Wholeness With Equanimity

Establish equanimity with heart…
-Artwork © 2024 Jan Ketchel

The vast majority have chosen.  The energetic wave of competition has settled upon a new state of physical reality, a new configuration of All That Is. Victory and defeat are equal parts of life. When we can greet either outcome with equal serenity, we practice equanimity.

The Four Fold Way of native traditions counsels us to be open to outcome without attachment. If we linger too long in attachment, we are absent to the nuance and opportunity of oncoming time. If we linger too long in attachment, we bind our vital energy and resist union.

I am grateful that the outcome of the election is so definitive. At a collective level we cannot advance beyond the choice of the majority, it’s the law of democracy. We clearly must be where we are. We must live through the changes that will become manifest through the mandate given. The challenge is to suspend judgment and see what happens. The challenge is to meet each day with love and equanimity.

I referenced, in my last blog, the I Ching reading I threw before the election. I present it here in the spirit of equanimity. Hexagram #12, Standstill and Stagnation, depicts heaven and earth pulling away from each other  in complete opposite directions, with no possibility of union.

The ruler of this hexagram, the 9 in the 5th place, was highlighted in this reading. Wilhelm comments, “The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Hence “Good Fortune.” But such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution…” (I Ching, Wilhelm edition, p.55). The future, Hexagram #35, depicts a coming time of rapid, easy progress.

To acquiesce to the majority’s choice does not mean that one should surrender one’s values nor inner truth. All should tend the flame of their inner spirit as it speaks to them in their hearts. “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17) When we are in that alignment, our being will radiate right discernment and manifest necessary action.

The lesson of this election is Lincoln’s proverbial wisdom, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Many of us seek change in our lives but are haunted by blocking beliefs that make us a divided inner house. The subconscious mind requires a determined suggestion, empowered with strong emotion, to manifest the changes one seeks.

Just as at a collective level a majority is required to set the course, we are tasked inwardly with consciously arriving at a majority intention to engage the services of the subconscious mind. This will require some shadow work. We must discover and reconcile with our deeply hidden divided house within.

This might involve some soul retrieval work via recapitulation of past trauma that has given rise to energetic defenses that have created divisions within the self. The freed up energy from this release and reconciliation then becomes available to join in the call for unified change.

The golden rule for manifestation is ultimately inner unity upon what one emphasizes. What we emphasize, by way of thought, feeling and habit, will become our manifested reality. If we have cleared ourselves of the divisiveness of the repressed within, we do well to observe the thoughts, inner dialogue and mood states we habitually reinforce.

With awareness and intention we can release these energetic fixations to All That Is with the intention that the energy from these beliefs be recycled for the greater good. Furthermore, we can lay emphasis upon our truly desired intentions through conscious positive inner dialogue rather than continuing the undermining drone of habitually negative self statements.

With these efforts we will accrue the inner majority to influence the divine intelligence in our subconscious mind to manifest the changes we seek. May all arrive at this new wholeness with gratitude and AWE.

With gratitude and AWE,
Chuck

NOTE: After Jan edited and illustrated this blog, she spontaneously opened Activation of Energy by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, to page 61, and read me this quote, which we found to be particularly meaningful for our times: “…the true cause of what is happening in the world today is to be found not in some collapse of former values but in the eruption, within mankind, of a flood of new being which, precisely because it is new, comes initially as something foreign and hostile to what we ourselves represent. What takes us by surprise in today’s events, what so upsets us and terrifies us—but what in fact we must look straight in the face of so that we can analyze its mechanism and its phases, and distinguish what good effects it has side by side with what evil effects—is, in my view, the implacable cosmic tide: it is this that, having first raised each one of us up to its own level, is now at work, beating in a new rhythm, to expel us from our own selves: it is the eternal ‘rise of the other’ within the human mass.”

Chuck’s Place: How To Love & Be One With Everyone*

Loving reconciliation of the opposites…
-Artwork © 2024 Jan Ketchel

This much I got right from my second grade religious instruction: God is everywhere. God is everything. Nothing that is, is not God. God is, simply, All That Is. Everything and everyone in our world is part of All That Is. We are all one. All includes both good and evil, in everyone. 

We are a holographic universe. Shine a light on any one of us and all of us will appear. As within, so without. As above, so below. Our supposed individuality is simply what we emphasize in All That Is. Though we may emphasize the good, we are all equally, latently evil. 

When we rigidly identify with the good, we project our evil outwardly, where someone else must vicariously live that side of our wholeness for us. This is the stalemate of extreme polarization: We hate our disowned shadows yet remain hopelessly, negatively bound to them, as they reflect in the faces of our supposed enemy. 

To become whole beings we must include all that we truly are. Our personal drama for the life we are in reflects our attempt to reconcile the particular constellation of All That Is that we chose to experience in this lifetime. The ideal is a union of all our discordant parts into a balance that best serves the greater good.

Truthfully, sometimes the balance achieved is extremely volatile and destructive, as is quite evident in the greater world, particularly in America this very day. Nonetheless, for all of its unsettledness, our current world is fully an equal member of All That Is:  All With Equanimity (AWE).

This wholeness does not mean that boundaries and limits are not to be exercised. As the Dalai Lama once answered when questioned, yes, he would use a gun to stop another from killing him. His caveat, however, was that he would not shoot in anger but with total loving compassion for the person trying to assassinate him.

To love everyone, we must begin with ourselves. We are tasked with loving every aspect of ourselves, even the body parts that we try so hard to hide. We must even love the part of ourselves that hates and judges ourselves and others. We must love that part of All That Is. Through loving that part we bring better stability into the dream we are in.

Can we love the greedy, unforgiving, entitled, self-serving, bitter part of ourselves that seeks release through vengeance and retribution? Can we allow ourselves to know and accept that part of our being that is so consciously rejected and buried alive within?

Can we love the mercenary, deceiving, selfish, power hungry materialist within that we dress over with generosity and random acts of kindness? To face the truth of, and love this part of self, we must remove its stigma and find its rightful home within, refining the  personality to reflect its greater wholeness in better balance.

Outwardly, we are tasked to reclaim ownership of the parts of ourselves that we project onto others, those whom trigger us to rage and embroil us in a battle of opposites. Can we have compassion, even feel gratitude, for those who play such a vital mirroring role in our own journey of self discovery?

And yes, we may need to stop them or ignore them, but can we do it from a place of love versus hate? When we hate, we reject a vital part of All That Is. Short of full acceptance, that which we hate becomes our karma and our destiny.

When we can be in love, we raise our energetic vibration to a frequency that gives us direct access to our subconscious mind. The neural networks in our brain expand with harmonious neuroplasticity, as our emotions are elevated and calmed with in-body dopamine and serotonin.

Our brainwaves flow cohesively as our thoughts are calm and collected. Outwardly, we manifest positive vibrations that invite greater social cohesion. Even when all opportunity for outer connection is denied, we rest contentedly within, knowing that all things will pass.

I am particularly grateful to be able to participate in the leela, or Divine play, of now. I hold all epochs in AWE, but truly appreciate the unique opportunity of now, in this Age of Aquarius, to refine love to such subtle levels, as we manifest the next stage of our evolving dream.

With love and gratitude,
Chuck

*NOTE: I threw the I Ching, asking for a reading for America with respect to the outcome of the election today. I decided to suspend interpretation but share the hexagrams obtained, for review by anyone interested: Hexagram #12, Standstill, with the 9 in the 5th place highlighted. The future of this reading is #35, Progress. Do be sure to explore the 9 in the 5th place, which is the key to the whole reading. There are many I Ching interpretations, including the classic Wilhelm translation. A search online will reveal many options. 

Chuck’s Place: Embodying The Mood Of Love

Relax into the mood of love…
-Illustration © 2023 Jan Ketchel

It begins with deep calm in the body, the soul’s physical extension into this life. The true father of all modern somatic therapy, Wilhelm Reich, brought intimate attention to the opposition between natural impulse and defense in human musculature.

The suppression of sexual and aggressive energies, as well as powerful emotions such as sadness, is executed through what Reich called body armoring, the tensing of muscles that freeze the free flow of instinctive and emotional energy.

A tense throat constricts the vocal expression of emotion. A tense belly and solar plexus create a wall that short-circuits the natural energetic current of tender emotion, natural reflex, and instinctive movement that  issues from the lower half of the body.

Love is the energy of union and wholeness, the glue that binds together all of creation. To embody it we must soften our armored muscles.

The standoff between impulse and defense creates pools of charged energy, which in turn generates fears of an uncontrolled tidal wave of chaos and eventual loss of control. Indeed, a cathartic release, such as a deep cry or scream, might be necessary before a natural balance between expressive and receptive energies can be established.

One can directly speak to the body and receive a response. “Stomach, relax and release tension,” or “Shoulders, let down, release tension,” are suggestions to the body subconscious that result in immediate relaxing of rigidity.

Be gentle and accepting of small increments of release with each suggestion. Allow the body to gradually let go and adjust to the influx of freed energy. As the body musculature releases, invite and allow the breath to flow gently, expanding and opening new channels. The key word here is gentle. Follow each gentle breath with a slightly more deepening next gentle breath. Force nothing; gently widen the channel over time.

On the mental plane, Carlos Castaneda’s suggestion to suspend judgment is foundational. When we judge we create separation; this is good, that is bad. Thoughts, feelings, sensations and intuitions that are ‘bad’ are suppressed, and the body responds by rigidifying against them; they are not allowed.

In a shamanic recapitulation, or in an end of life review, as reported consistently by many who have experienced near-death experiences (NDE’s), the salient feature is total acceptance of every experience and every person one has experienced in life, regardless of their abuses and failures. This is the mood of love embracing everything with equanimity.

Boundaries may be absolutely necessary in this life but love knows no boundaries, all is accepted. Love and boundary can coexist. That was Christ’s golden message: Love All!

Total acceptance of self and other, of every aspect of life lived, and lost, is the path to embodying the mood of love.

Release, breathe, and accept,
Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Equanimity At This Point Of Confluence

Embracing confluence…
-Illustration © 2022 Jan Ketchel

The conflicting energies of independent ocean currents meet at a point of confluence, such as Cape Agulhas, at the southernmost tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans come to meet. Sailors experience such points of confluence as particularly hazardous waters to navigate. The challenge is one of equaniminous accommodation of such clashing energies in a living domain of ruthless opposition.

Such is the state of America, and the rest of the world, right now, as we approach the coming crescendo of election day, November 8th. The true, underlying point of confluence has always existed, as all parts of all that is are represented in our greater wholeness. What distinguishes now is the full unleashing of these primal energy undercurrents to the Earth’s surface, exploding the usually dependable walls of civilized restraint.

These currents are archetypal energies whose passions excite numinous fascination. Numinous experience is defined as spiritual awe and ecstasy, a true meeting with the divine. For the human ego, an experience with the energy of the collective unconscious is numinous. Though ego may be threatened with disintegration at such an encounter, it craves contact with its spiritual source.

The conscious experience of leaving one’s body, or communing with a disembodied spirit, is numinous. Some numinous experiences are ecstatic, others terrifying. Nonetheless, the fascination with either can be quite compelling. Apocalyptic and horror movies are frequently blockbuster successes, as vicarious brushes with the terrible of archetypal energies claim their due.

Archetypes are the prototypical gods and goddesses behind our perceptions and emotional relationships in this world. Fear of encounters with authority figures is actually fear of the Old Testament God, Yaweh, in his wrathful mood. Craving the attention and validation from a beloved is actually a numinous hunger for mirroring from the Great Mother goddess, superimposed upon a mere mortal woman or man.

When the archetypes are activated, the passions they arouse demand release, sometimes with fatal consequences. On this Day of the Dead may we be reminded of our human form’s finiteness. Though we crave numinous union with the divine, may we survive it as well.

I approach the coming point of confluence, November 8th, with equanimity. I, like everyone, have my version of what would be best to serve stability in our rapidly changing world. I voted my preference. But now I stand back in even-tempered awe, awaiting the outcome.

I have no attachment to that outcome, whatever it may be. I await it in the spirit of total equanimity. I intend to accept and live the outcome as the majority chooses it to be. I am part of a greater whole and must reside within the developmental level the majority has achieved. 

Numinosity is felt in the perilous grasp of the undertow, as well as in the calm of the eye of the storm. Either way, we are in the presence of divine encounter.

Equanimity allows us to truly go with the flow, without resistance. The spirits present on this Day of the Dead remind us of life everlasting, as we cling tightly to our current dream. May we dream on and awaken with equanimity, as we navigate the confluence of now.

 Remember this fact: I am free to choose the attitude I will take toward anything I encounter.   

With Equanimity,
Chuck 

Soulbyte for Monday September 26, 2022

                                    -Illustration © 2022 Jan Ketchel

Watch your energy so that you don’t overdo. Overdoing is responsible for exhaustion, sickness, dis-ease and many other maladies of both body and spirit. To overdo is to overgive of time and energy to things of the world, to people, to duties, to habits, and to things outside of the self so that the self is largely ignored. Tune into the self more often to find out what is the right amount of energy to give to any one person or thing, to any need or desire, to any duty or ritual.

Take care of the self and gain balance in doing so. It’s the only way to maintain good health, good habits, and good mind, body, spirit equanimity.

Sending you love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne