The world has “Zoomed” into a virtual habitat of connection. With the physical world on lockdown the human spirit has found its way to energetic community and heart-centered connection.
The technological infrastructure is well advanced to support our necessary journey into virtual reality. However, it has the physical limitation of requiring electricity and machinery to maintain connection.
The ideal energetic connection would shed this physical dependence through the medium of the energy body.
In his out-of-body journeys into the future, Robert Monroe experienced a future time on Earth where human beings lived dominantly in their energy bodies. Their physical bodies were kept securely safe, to be worn like costumes, only occasionally, like we now do at a halloween celebration.
This evolutionary transition into energetic life is our human Spirit’s manifest destiny. Spirit prefers the largesse of infinity to the confinement of limits. The human Spirit is at the gateway to expanded possibility.
Actually, this is likely the same for the Spirit in all beings, human or otherwise. In a dreamscape the other night, I encountered a bug that had invaded my living space. Not wanting to kill the intruder I sought to return it to its natural habitat. I discovered there to be a shallow pond where others of its kind were swimming about.
After returning to its home it immediately climbed out, letting me know that it was moving on to new adventures, beyond the comfort of its known world. Spirit likes comfort but ultimately tires of the familiar. The heart of all addiction is Spirit seeking more, whether it be through substance, materialism, or daring leaps of faith.
Our planet Earth has given herself freely to the insatiable human Spirit. The resources of her body have been the building blocks of our Spirit’s expansive hunger. Her body can no longer surrender itself to our excessive demands, and she knows it’s time for us to let go of our dependence upon her physical bounty and move on to discover our energetic potential.
The basics of this energetic transition begin with dreaming. Dreaming is where the energy body is fully active. The task is to bring waking awareness into the dream space. Though there are many techniques to achieve this, the simplest is through intent.
Don Juan Matus said we reach intent through intending.
State: I intend to remember my dreams. I intend to remain aware when I dream. I intend to journey out-of-body. I intend to meet such-and-such in dreaming. I intend to explore the moon in dreaming. The possibilities are endless. The key here is gentle, patient persistence.
Know that your intent will be realized because we all have an energy body awaiting waking consciousness for direction. Keep your intention free of the heaviness of pressure and judgment. The subtle world of energy requires a much lighter touch than the physical world.
Take full advantage of the physical pause of now to begin the energetic discovery of self. It all begins with intent. Intend, and see what happens!
Find the pot of gold in every dream… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Suspend judgment, and entertain this dream, the current consensus reality, with the Discipline of Awe:*
An incredibly aggressive, take no prisoners energy, has swept control of world leadership. Mightily, it rests the validity of its case upon the strength of its heated economy, the ultimate defense against want and need.
Meanwhile, the Earth heats up, as the oceans rise and the lands tremble. Denial is the proffered tool of this new consensus reality, promised to stave off all disruptions to normal life. Can that really work?
Enter stage East, the coronavirus, in the home of the heart of world manufacturing. Could a tiny virus seriously challenge the very financial order that upholds world leadership? Will aggression, denial, and science be able to circumvent collapse? What’s going to happen next?!!!!
The greatest defense against anxious infection from the dream we are in, our current consensus reality, is to rest upon the perch of Awe, which for shamans is the very definition of discipline. Awe is the calmness of Buddha, as he faced, without resistance, but also without attachment, all the extreme dreams of Maya, as they presented themselves to him.
The potential trapping generated by the dream of current reality lies in how powerfully it invites fear and offense. As soon as one succumbs to those emotions they lose their edge. To spend one’s emotional energy in bursts of extremes actually feeds the consensus reality of that dream, a dream dependent upon the energy of both unbridled and tortured emotion.
Yes, the dream we are in now may be experienced as utterly ruthless. Yet, as monstrous as that dream interpretation might be, the current dream’s medicinal value lies in its ability to test us; to drive us to greater awareness, if we refuse to relinquish our emotional energy to it.
Of course, this lands one in a lonely, inadequate position. Because, if one separates oneself from the tenets of the dream—the consensus reality it constructs—one is excommunicated from the safety of the party line. One is sentenced to think for oneself; an overwhelmingly lonely and fragile task.
It’s not that one loses one’s connection to emotion through the discipline of awe, but one does lay claim to one’s emotional self. One is no longer a victim of the formula that siphons one’s energy, but instead becomes totally responsible for one’s own energy.
For example, when we watch a movie, we suspend judgment and temporarily enter the consensus reality of the story. While watching the movie, we will likely have the emotions prescribed by the archetypal theme being dramatized. However, generally, soon after we leave the movie, we are restored to our familiar selves, detached from the characters or emotions of the movie. We reclaim our emotional autonomy and reaffirm our interpretation of reality.
To take possession of one’s emotional self is to have one’s emotions, without subscribing to upholding the reality being presented. In this respect, one exercises one’s ability to have a romance with emotion, without attaching to the dream or story as my agreed-upon reality.
By grabbing onto one’s personalintent, one is freed from the framework and limitations ‘imposed’ by the consensus dream. With intent, one is freed to respectfully change dreams. This is in no way a denial of the consensus dream; it remains quite real. However, it is experienced as only one of many alternatives. There are other consensual realities to join, or perhaps just visit, as a warrior-traveler, embarked upon the definitive journey of freedom.
To remain fully in this consensus dream, the current reality, but to refuse an interpretation of it that renders one a depleted victim, is a form of changing dreams. To see its predatory dominance as an expression of the true condition of life, one that can be used to sharpen awareness by getting over self-importance, transforms the dream into an evolutionary opportunity.
One does not have to agree to attach to a glum interpretation of this consensus dream either; that’s the true course of freedom. That’s the real revolution: to refuse to be a victim of the consensus dream; to not attach and to not allow one’s emotional energy to be offended, thus sinking into a hopeless interpretation of reality.
The shift beyond this consensus dream is aided by using death as an advisor. Indeed, it is the ultimate shamanic maneuver. In the Tensegrity workshops I attended for many years, every speaker would introduce themselves by stating their name, followed by the qualifier, “…a being who is going to die.”
I have to admit that my own self-importance interfered with my being able to mimic this style of introduction. I never could do it; it seemed rather trite and morbid. However, like all things those shamans did, there was a truly pragmatic value to this ritual.
For one thing, shamans state their names to affirm their full presence in the reality or particular dream they are currently embodying. Secondly, when they remind themselves of their impending deaths, they are accessing being present to this living moment from the perspective of a dying being, a being who is transitioning into a new reality, seeing the ultimate relativity of the dream they are exiting.
From that perspective of relativity they are freed from an all-consuming attachment to present reality; as it is seen as just a moment—albeit significant, as all moments are—unfolding into the greater unfolding of oncoming time, that which is infinity and beyond! Such an encounter with infinity borrows a perspective from beyond this dream that tempers the emotional energy expended in holding onto, or compulsively needing to change, the outcome of the present dream.
Present reality is merely a dream that exists, with equanimity, among an infinity of dreams, all of which offer golden nuggets of awareness. Exploit the current opportunity to the fullest, regardless of outcome. Defeat and conquest are meaningless outcomes next to an infinity of dreams waiting to be lived.
With this expanded perspective, we’ve come full circle, back to awe, the coveted position from which to truly resume, unfettered, our magical journey, appreciative of all the gifts from our many, rich and colorful dreams.
beingINTENT upon AWE,
Chuck
*As with all my blogs, my ideas presented here are deeply influenced by my experience and appreciation for the path of heart Carlos Castaneda gifted the world.
We’re all just energy beings… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
In today’s audio channeling we are instructed to get into alignment with what we all truly are: energy. A different perspective on what this all means is presented, equally challenging and freeing.
Wishing everyone a wonderful and energetically fulfilling week!
I recall, as a young boy, the delight of constructing Lincoln Log forts, safe places on the outposts of the American frontier. I could play alone for hours, fully engaged in the interplay of battle and retreat to safety.
Walls to an open path… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Perhaps the number one obsession of the current world leader is the construction of the Great Wall of America. His supporters often break into a deafening chorus at his rallies, exclaiming: “Build that Wall!” My intent in this blog is to find the place in our current state of evolution where that battle cry might indeed find its rightful home. We all need to find the safety behind the walls we call home.
Perhaps the number one focus of any psychotherapist is to enable clients to ground themselves and withstand being overtaken by powerful forces, both within and outside the psyche. Plainly speaking, that is, to shore up the ego; to build a strong wall to withstand a psychotic coup, which could swallow up or permanently fragment identity, consciousness, and a consistent reality-based sense of self.
Biology teaches us that we are constantly under assault by predatory viruses and bacteria that seek our energy for their own sustenance. Thus, our immune systems are programmed to build walls around these invaders, blocking their access to our vital energy.
Structurally, this self protection is also reflected in the two separate hemispheres of the brain. Roughly speaking, the left hemisphere provides the physical operating system for the intrapsychic ego, the etheric executive in charge of decision making in time/space. By carving out a rationally based interpretation system, the left brain creates walls around energy and transforms its interpretation of it into a predictable world of discreet solid objects. The ego grounds itself, categorizes the world it lives in, identifies its operations in terms of cause and effect, and defends itself against thoughts and perceptions that threaten its control.
In contrast, the right hemisphere of the brain remains open to the far more inclusive, free flowing, interconnected energy that exists outside of the left brain’s categorization system. This is the home of creativity, psychic knowing, and the Soul that lives beyond space and time, that is interconnected with and communicates with everything. Although both hemispheres of the brain interrelate and contribute to a balance in life, the left brain dominates in ordering how we interpret reality.
The right brain is the physical operating system of the energy body, or the Soul, that assumes dominance of our being when we sleep. During dreaming the energy body separates from the physical body and ventures into infinity, the true home base of our energetic existence. Though the energy body appears largely dormant in waking life, access to it can be cultivated or spontaneously reached under extraordinary circumstances, such as through blunt trauma or ecstatic experience.
When psychics or remote viewers utilize their parapsychic abilities, they relax the typically dominant left brain and enter into the timelessness of the right brain, while still maintaining left brain awareness. From there they can delve into the Akashic record of all life lived, or to be lived, as they have access to the oneness of everything.
Interestingly, to navigate this sojourn in infinity it is necessary to have access to left brain consciousness, with its wall of identity and its ability to interpret the energy it encounters in these expansive journeys. Short of this, our right brained nightly dreams in infinity are lost to integrative consciousness. Though the mood of a dream may follow us or determine the quality of our response to encounters in waking life the next day, without left brain participation we remain completely unaware of our prior dreamland guidance, lessons, and experiences that prepared us for the day.
This amnesic effect of crossing the bridge from infinity to waking consciousness serves the great wall of ego that authoritatively directs waking life. This creates a veil over the infinite underpinnings of Self/Soul that the ego has no time for. The ego must get up and direct real, solid life in time/space. Until the ego is ready to discover its true lineage in infinity it must maintain its blank slate wall. For the ego there is nothing beyond its concrete interpretation of reality in time/space.
Of course, this kind of ego stance must rely upon a good variety of defenses. Ultimately, however, for growth to proceed, ego must willingly walk back across the bridge to infinity via a journey into right brain interconnectedness. This generally involves first squarely encountering the experiences ego has pushed into deep storage rather than assimilate their threatening truths. A major pathway for this clearing is the practice of recapitulation, which requires ego intent and participation if it is to be fully accomplished.
Once ego no longer finds it necessary to hide from the fullness of Self—which includes its energy body in infinity—it can bring its boundaried identity and left brain capabilities into practice, to observe, interact, act, and reflect upon its right brained journeys in both dreaming and waking life. Over time, and with practice, this wall of ego actually becomes more permeable, more elastic, more open to new truths being discovered, as life is enriched and enhanced by greater access to one’s fuller potential, left and right brain in full cooperation.
So, yes, we do need walls of identity, but let them reflect the fullness of who we really are: infinite spirits inhabiting finite human bodies. Let the two hemispheres of the brain more consciously get to know each other and work collaboratively in the dream of waking life, as well as in those nightly journeys in infinity. No need to be fearful of the unknown with the integrated support of that dynamic duo!
A young child dreams of seven white geese marching down a street. All the people the geese walk past fall down dead. Surprisingly, C. G. Jung suggests that this is a favorable dream, that this is nature, via the dream, introducing the young child to the world of time. Everything passes. To the child’s world of timelessness, still bathed in the myths and depths of the collective unconscious, life and death are introduced, including her own awareness of herself as a mortal being in this world.
Day and night, time and timelessness… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Life in this world is a bipolar affair. We all grapple with it. At one pole we feel our link to the timeless, as we often live as if we have forever! Though we may negatively judge this ‘slothful’ attitude, it nonetheless is a link to infinite life in timelessness, as an energy body or spirit. At the other pole is the truth of aging and mortality in a physical body, observed and experienced in fading life within and all around us.
At the beginning of every day the Shamans of Ancient Mexico say: “We are beings who are going to die.” This is their intent to keep their awareness fully present to their limited time and opportunity for life in this world. We are all beings saddled with the bipolar conundrum of life and death.
What Jung highlighted in this young child’s fall from innocence was the introduction of change, which happens when we enter life in time. Everything passes in time. Accepting this basic truth helps us to feel and release a wave of sadness. The pain of loss will eventually pass. In the world of time things mature and change and new possibilities for life will arise.
If we are gripped by a craving or passion, we know, if we hold on, that the compulsion will eventually pass. We may not be ready yet, we may still be too attached to the timeless pole of our being that accepts no limitations, but eventually we may be ready to inhabit our corporeal reality and accept the limitations of life in the body.
The great advantage of life in time, in a physical body, is that we are freed to complete our unique experience of life, what Jung called individuation. In time we unfold into the discovery and fulfillment of all that we are. We begin new things, be they careers, relationships, gardens, or books. We can nurture and live the course of these engagements to completion because in time, for better of worse, everything passes.
In time we can answer the questions of our ancestors and pose new ones for ourselves. To fully individuate in our life in time we must recapitulate. If we leave fragments of our lives unknown to ourselves we will not be able to integrate the full knowledge of our journey and we will leave behind questions that must be answered before completion. Perhaps this is the basis for reincarnation, bardo life, or time in purgatory.
My wife Jan lived in Sweden for several years during her twenties. She always felt she went there to fulfill something unfinished in a past life, to connect with and live out unfinished business with people who had once been very important to her. She was welcomed there with open arms, loved unconditionally, and she loved fully and unconditionally in return. She fully embraced being Swedish, learned the language quickly and fluidly, and did all things Swedish like a true Swede. When it was done, it was done. Time to move on and return to life in present time.
Into infinity… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
My first wife, Jeanne, also completed unfinished business, though she did it in spirit form, after her physical death, reconnecting with the birth mother she never knew in her life as Jeanne Ketchel. It was the completion of her lives on earth, her final chapter in space and time, described in the final chapter of The Book of Us, channeled through Jan.
For although everything does pass in time, that which is not fully realized must be completed somewhere, somehow before we are fully freed to move on in timelessness. As everything passes, as we complete our many paths of individuation, we enter infinity, enriched by our lives and ready to explore new paths of heart, in and out of time.
