When change arrives unexpectedly accept it and align with its intent, the intent of evolution. Sometimes it’s easy to accept change, at other times more difficult to do so. No matter the circumstances, when change happens there is no going back. The only recourse is to move forward in the direction change indicates. When change comes it brings with it a new imperative to take a new course and where it leads is where life goes next. Rather than resist change, learn to embrace it and go with the flow. It will make life so much easier.
How do we end up in the life we are in? If we accept the notion that human life, like all life in nature, is driven toward fulfillment and completion then we can view our current life circumstance as the next step necessary for our personal evolution.
Whatever life we are in, we are being presented with the opportunities to advance our growth. Thus, for example, if we have been dominated by a selfish attitude it might be necessary to suffer loss and a period of scarcity to truly understand the value of charity, the missing character ingredient to our evolutionary advancement.
Viewing our current life circumstance as personally tailored for our evolutionary advancement suspends the judgment that we are defined by our circumstances or being punished for some prior misdeed. Objectively speaking, our current life drama—regardless of what it is—is nature providing us with a fertile field imbued with seeds of growth possibility.
The notion of our present life as karmic punishment for prior misdeeds casts a shadow of negative judgment upon the positive growth opportunity before us. In one respect, it is true that we are where we are as a consequence of prior life choices. However, the stopping point on the road we have previously travelled is, of necessity, the only place we can begin our current journey; we are simply not experienced enough yet with the challenges we must progressively meet to traverse beyond our former endpoint.
Some next steps may require experiences seemingly contraindicated for the forward progression of our fulfillment. For instance, we might find ourselves caught in a repetitive loop of unsuccessful relationships when we are sincerely seeking a truly compatible partner.
This redundancy of failure may actually accrue toward a critical mass that ultimately leads to a breakthrough in awareness, where one discovers the blind spot within one’s self that until now has sabotaged one’s desired advancement. Without the benefit of this awareness one’s ultimate goal of a fulfilling relationship could never be achieved, as the problem was seen as originating from a partner, when, in fact, unbeknownst to the self, it lay within the self!
Within the subconscious of everyone is the desire body that serves the evolving spirit by attracting to our lives the physical circumstances that will materialize our needed challenges. This is commonly called the law of attraction. Though, with intent, one might influence this law of attraction, one will not advance toward fulfillment if the necessary circumstances for growth are not present.
Generally, intent will automatically manifest the necessary circumstances to achieve growth. Frequently, however, we may be confused by the circuitous route of events attracted to us. But again, the foundational lessons we need may require experiences we hardly expect. Even if we are able to bend intent to our will and manifest our desire, if it doesn’t accord with our needed growth it will likely result in a painful but necessary lesson.
When we approach the path of our spirit’s evolution, once it has definitively left its human body traveling companion, and journey into the afterlife, we will first experience a thorough review of the life we have just lived in physical form. From this assessment we will determine what kind of new life will be required for our continued growth.
For some souls, a reincarnation, in this or some other world, may be selected to further refine one’s spirit by once again coupling with a finite physical body, with the desire body of our spirit attracting to it the DNA and social context likely to provide it with the opportunity to advance its growth.
Other souls might discover that their further refinement is best served by venturing into the more subtle realms of spirit discovery and adventure.
Jeanne has explained to us that the transparency of spirit life beyond the physical body affords the spirit the obvious clarity to know what issues must be addressed. Hence, the spirit willingly acquiesces to what is necessary.
In some circumstances spirits refuse to relinquish their attachment to the physical life they were previously in. Hence, they must continue to live the illusion of being physically alive and able to participate in human life, until they are exhausted by such futility. Nonetheless, this experience is indeed the next necessary step to further their evolution.
The question to ask oneself, now, regarding one’s current life circumstance, is: “What is the specific challenge being presented that I must master?” Avoid the trapping of self-judgment or blame of other, regardless of how wrong that other may be.
Right and wrong are necessary discernments in clarifying a problem, but are not necessarily a solution. Many an unfair situation must be endured to experientially learn about unfairness and further refine one’s ability to detach and not take things personally—a very high spirit challenge, indeed!
Wherever you are is where you need to be, until you are truly prepared to move on. Accept your life circumstance with equanimity; study it and master it.
There is no better path than a path of heart, but just what that means is as unique as there are unique individuals, for all beings are on their individual journeys looking for enhancement along their personal routes of evolution. No two people are alike, though they may find resonance with another and though they may share life together. To truly own your individual path of heart and still be available for the greater good of others is truly a worthy path, for a path of love, kindness and compassion is naturally rooted in the greater good.
The diagnostic tool of the American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5, classifies pervasive narcissism as a personality disorder, a mental illness. I would argue that narcissism is a stage of cognitive and emotional and moral development. Fixation can occur at this egocentric stage of development. In fact, collectively, humankind is currently fixated at this stage. However, this is not as a result of mental illness but simply because of a lack of evolutionary maturity.
Narcissus, the namesake of narcissism, fell in love with his own reflection as he gazed into a clear pool of water. Narcissus’ utter fascination and love for his own image absorbed his total being, much the same as any thunderstruck lover is utterly absorbed with their soulmate.
At its most basic, narcissism is the inability to see and experience the world holistically. The absorption with self narrows every sensory interpretation of the world. People, events, and things are seen through the lens of self-need and self-gratification.
Cognitively speaking, although one knows of the existence of others beyond the self, one is solely focused on their utility to satisfy the needs of the self. Thus, self-interest can be characterized as the overarching focus of a narcissistic worldview.
Since love is fixated upon the self, the narcissist simply cannot sustain interest in a story void of itself. It literally zones out or falls asleep as it attempts to listen. This, however, is not volitional; the narcissist’s total preoccupation with the aggrandizement of self is truly all-pervasive. For the narcissist there simply is no energy or interest in anything that does not bring exclusive consideration and attention to the self.
Narcissism has its roots in the incarnation of spirit in a physical body. The body of a human is animal. Like all animal species, the human animal is governed by archetypal programs nuanced to the idiosyncrasies of its species. These programs govern the instincts of feeding, self-preservation and reproduction.
Emphasis upon survival of self is the overarching intent of the instinctual core of humankind. Food, sex, and power are procured for the survival of self. Even though sex generally involves another person, the instinct offers satisfaction to insure its own intent of reproduction of its self in a new birth.
Clearly, narcissism is a normal developmental theme of childhood. Much of the social challenge in schooling revolves around learning to share and be considerate of the needs of others. Although most children learn ultimately to behave with a certain level of altruism for adaptive purposes, the truth is that their narcissistic underpinnings merely slip into the shadow of their personality where they continue to dominate emotionally and cognitively.
Nonetheless, childhood education does help to refine the ego self, which is the spirit’s workhorse challenged to master the trials it assigned itself for its current human life. Ego develops consciousness to exercise freedom of choice through exercise of the will.
With free will the ego can choose to oppose the urges of instinct with which it contends. Conversely, ego has the capability to collude with instinct and tweak it to its own designs, behaving in ways instinct would never venture on its own. This is frequently the combination that underlies the acting out of horrific abuse.
The ego also has the ability to nearly completely shun grounded life in a physical body and identify itself instead with a high spirit self. Frequently this invites spirit contact with entities that will feed this inflation for their own nefarious purposes. Narcissism, in this case, manifests as a belief that one is a high Self, greater than most other humans. This narcissistic lens remains focused on the greatness of self.
In the course of human evolution, rites of passage were aggressively employed to broaden one’s narcissistic identity. Thus, personal and familial loyalty were broadened to include identification with the greater community. The failure of modern civilization to preserve and deepen these initiation rites is reflected in our current world crisis, with its ultimate roots in pervasive narcissism.
The central tool of initiation is sacrifice. Sacrifice accrues to the ego the ability to both wrestle from the instinct its primal power and dominance and spiritually align itself with the needs of the greater good. Our willingness as individuals to sacrifice our narcissistic fixation upon self, as it reflects in family, ethnic and national partiality, to find equanimous love for all, is the key to reaching the next stage of developmental growth.
As Gaia ups her climate change game, humankind is being placed in her retort, as we must suffer her alchemical operations to assist us in rising to the next level of evolutionary progress, heart centeredness. Heart centeredness is love beyond the self, love that includes the welfare of the entire world. This is love that knows and acts upon what is truly right, beyond the polarized centers of greed and self-interest.
Gaia is returning us to the initiation rites of yesteryear where suffering, not education, served to emancipate one from total fixation upon the self. Beyond that fixation is entry into an interdependent world of unlimited possibility. True transformation, real growth, shall be the outcome of this time of great suffering and change.
Such a privilege to be in this world at such a milestone transition. We’ve all been called here to facilitate and be part of this great transformation, despite, and because of, the suffering.
Refrain from judgment of others even as you must decide your own path of heart, for to judge others is to fail to fully confront the self, and to fail to fully confront the self is to remain incomplete and unfulfilled. When judgments arise within you turn inward and ask, “How am I like that?” In so doing allow others to be as they must be but allow yourself the opportunity to evolve. And don’t forget to always turn away from others with love and bring love always into your inner probings, for love is the universal energy that all understand and need if evolution and fulfillment are to become the norm.
