Time for Shadow Reckoning… – Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Ego is at the center of the conscious personality. Ego exercises the light of consciousness, which enables choice. Ego is part of the divine consciousness but experiences itself as an orphan, charged with the task of navigating life.
Ego wears a mask, as it embraces a persona, to become acceptable to the world. Often, that which is unacceptable in the self is moved by the ego into the subconscious, where it develops into a hidden character, called the shadow.
The shadow holds views with a passionate vigor that often threaten to overwhelm the ego’s executive ability to suppress. The collective shadow of a nation houses views that may seem anachronistic to modern times. The Black Lives Matter movement, for instance, shines a bright light upon underlying racist beliefs and policies that control modern behavior.
Thus, at a subconscious level, the Civil War was never completed. Much the same can be said of WWII, as we see a major demonstration of Naziism in current day Germany. The burgeoning energy of the collective world shadow, generally held in check by leaders who model morality and responsible behavior, is instead being invited to exact its toll on the very fabric that holds modern civilization together.
From the Hindu perspective, we are currently in the final stage of Kali Yuga, the time of passionate breakdown of civilization. Thus our world is currently in its autumn season, with its inevitable capitulation to death and resurrection.
The unsettling impact of shadow eruptions, acted upon the world stage, reflect the necessary encounter with all that truthfully is, including the known, the suppressed, and the deeply unknown of the repressed. For new life to form, all the hidden pockets of self must be known and reckoned with. These are exposed in the many dreams of excrement and broken toilets that many spiritual seekers must encounter on their journey to truth.
Fortunately, though ego is greatly impacted by its shadow passions, it retains the potential to face the full truths of all that it encounters, within the self. Ego can also withstand becoming identified with, and controlled by, its shadow personality, as it nonetheless listens to and attempts to resolve the challenges posed in an honest reckoning with its shadow.
Ego is tasked now with facing its shadow. The divine cannot be accessed through the veiled distortion of identity created by a personality that does not know its shadow. This is the value of the time we live in. The shadow is being completely outed and experienced. What remains is full reconciliation with shadow, so as to depotentiate its fury and fully integrate its value.
When ego has squarely faced and reconciled with its shadow it is fully poised to receive truth, the hallmark of the divine. From this place, the High Soul can be openly channeled by the ego, as it capitulates itself to manifesting what is truly needed in the world.
Capitulation is not surrender, it’s maturity. When one encounters the real truth, what higher purpose could there be than to serve its intent? Beyond the cauldron of now is the transformation of human life into a new personality construction, where ego capitulates to the guiding truth of the High Soul, who awaits its arrival at the heart center.
As within, so without. Be empowered. Reckon with the hologram of the self. Facing the personal shadow is also reckoning with the collective shadow that we are all a part of. Capitulate to the greatest task of all: owning and transforming the shadow, that the light might truly enter the soul.
Dream a new dream. If every person dreamed a new dream, a new dream would manifest. If every person understood the direction that the Great Mother is heading and got in alignment with her, a new dream for the human race would manifest. It doesn’t take much to understand what’s happening. It’s called change, and the sooner it is grasped and aligned with the sooner the pain and suffering will cease. Time to dream that new collective dream for one and all, for no one will be left out this time. The Great Mother, who is loving kindness and compassion, as well as the most powerful change agent, is making sure of that.
Temper that spirit, you gluttonous bee, and control your folly! – Photo by Jan Ketchel
We live in the most spirited of times! Exhilaration is thrilling yet energetically exhausting, and as current events highlight, potentially perilous. Conserving and accruing energy is key to longevity and full self-realization in human form.
The Shamans of Ancient Mexico developed a practice they called controlled folly to conserve energy, through tempering the human spirit. The human spirit is actually the ego-Soul portion of one’s greater SOUL. The two are connected, but it is the ego-Soul that lives and acts upon the world stage in our current sojourn in human form. It is the ego-Soul that grasps at life and wants more. Our greater SOUL lives as our silent partner, in infinity, the more comprehensive context of the human life we are currently in.
Controlled folly is engaging one’s ego-Soul in one’s chosen path of heart in this world, with great earnestness, like a true warrior and yet, having NO attachment to the outcome of one’s actions. This detached edge is possible because one never loses touch with the fuller backdrop of one’s surrounding life in infinity.
The Shamans cite three essential facts, gifts of wisdom from the greater SOUL, as the foundation of controlled folly: (1) All life in human form is transitory and terminal, hence, (2) regardless of the role we play, or story we live, all roads lead to the exact same ending: death in human form, therefore, (3) the greater backdrop of all human life is our full transition into infinity, the ultimate destination of our definitive journey.
Shamans see, in some form, their energetic interconnectedness with everything, glimpses of infinity. Shamans read their journeys in dreaming, and the synchronicities in everyday life, as revelations and promptings from their greater SOUL to wake up to the fuller storyline of their ongoing life in infinity. By inviting the full awareness of ultimate death into their current incarnation, they transform an ordinary life into a magical life.
From this seemingly morbid perspective an individual can recognize that indeed, all the world’s a stage. And, as Carlos Castaneda once recommended, be the best actor you can be in the role you’ve chosen during your present time on the human world stage. Live the life you’ve chosen to the fullest, yet don’t get too attached to its significance; it’s not the main event or the only event.
Practicing controlled folly does not absent us from expressing human emotion. What great actor has not fully lived and expressed the true emotions of their role. Nonetheless, when the show is over the actor disengages from the role and shifts to their true human identity.
Controlled folly allows us to live with passion while knowing that, in the ultimate sense, none of it really matters. Thus, we can simultaneously be incredibly engaged in all that life offers, with utter seriousness, yet ultimately, be completely detached. This dual focus is how we temper our passionate spirit and how we are able to let go when what we have fought for doesn’t come to pass.
Similar to the message of the Bhagavad Gita, Carlos deemphasized the morality of the role you play. No one role is more important than another. To judge harshly another’s role is to get caught in the self-importance of overvaluing the particular play you are in. All roles are parts of the play, angels and demons alike, creating a complete cast. To remember this is how to temper our own extreme emotional reactions to the dance of now, that which is taking place upon our world stage. All spirits are equal actors in the play, and yes, Marianne Williamson, though some are dark psychic forces, they nonetheless have critical parts in the play.
Life in this world is extremely important, why live it as a failed play? But at the same time, it’s all relative when contrasted with forever, the greater reality we will all return to when this play is done. Nonetheless, this is our play now, our moment in time to experience this drama to the fullest, and that matters; and yet, at the same time, it doesn’t. This moment is assured its place in infinity’s ultimate historical record, the Akashic record. It will never be erased, no fake news in infinity’s library. Nonetheless, it is only one moment among infinite moments.
The significance of the play we are currently in is the completion of Kali Yuga, the utter destruction and disintegration of civilization’s highest achievements. But what is the reality that lies beneath civilization’s false self? Freud really did call it accurately when he called civilization a sublimated id. What has emerged from the depths of the collective human shadow now is the repressed ancient rivalries and conundrums that have never been resolved in our revolving human dream. We’ve all acted in plays together before; this is just one more show. And yet we have an opportunity to finally resolve some things that we’ve left hanging from previous lives.
Where, for instance, on the globe is the core center of volatile unrest? In the lands of the Middle East, of course, where ancient issues have yet to be resolved. Who’s entitled to the land? How does one protect what they feel is their’s? Simple questions, ancient, never-solved dilemmas. We all have them.
And yet, these ancient core dilemmas are impacting the safety of the globe, and they are being mirrored in the dominant politics and daily atrocities in most countries throughout the world, impacting us all. We are coming frightfully close to absolute rulers, outright racism, nuclear winter, concentration camps, and flirtations with final solutions. We’ve lost our perspective on the greater reality we all face.
As the Shamans codified, it is our awareness of death that elevates our time in this world from ordinary life to magical power. Why settle for a redundant, mediocre play when we can elevate our time here to a Tony award performance! Why not let all the actors stand on center stage to deliver their best performances? Why settle for world neurosis as the best compromised dream we can deliver? There is so much more.
Woodstock 50 is cancelled, no time for hallucinogenic reruns, but alas, Marianne Williamson has entered center stage! She is indeed the ticket to call out the dark side of the force. The play we are now in would best be played by such a rivalry; Donald Trump requires such an opponent as Marianne Williamson. He gets bored, and rightfully so, without a worthy opponent to challenge him.
We must all call upon controlled folly here to temper the spirit. We are all here for such a brief moment, such a brief appearance on the world stage. At the end of the day, the curtain falls and it’s the end of an era; this play is over. All of us will exit the stage, where we will shake hands with our fellow cast members, all rivalries dissolved. Only self-importance, the seed of reincarnation, will keep us replaying the same drama.
Controlled folly offers us the opportunity to truly advance the issues that have thwarted humankind for eons. Imagine Marianne’s Department of Peace. Imagine hugs in the Middle East. Yes, John, we can still Imagine, but with the edge of controlled folly we can do it with no attachment to the outcome.
Live the dream, intend it forward, and when it’s time to go, exit the stage, in love with it all.
What’s next? Volcano, new dawn, or both? – Photo by Jan Ketchel
As if regressing America to its glory days of industrial giants and fossil fuels weren’t enough, we now have England being spurred to reinstate the dominance of the British Empire. Thank you, Hindu science, for the framework of Kali Yuga as a rational framework with which to understand this fantastical end of an era.
Never underestimate the value of a psychological defense. Of course, defenses obscure reality, but they do provide a perch to rest some cohesion of self upon, especially as we absorb the impact of the meteor of now.
In shamanic nomenclature, we are all experiencing a blow to the world assemblage point, that collective agreement that has for so long provided us with the consensus reality we have known as our world. The impact, however, is not Armageddon, unless one chooses that interpretation. The alternative is to choose awe in the face of sheer magic.
Indeed, the fanciful tricksters in charge now are the circus sideshow performers that incite and attempt to fixate our attention with their boastful charades, but they are not the main event. True, they have some hypnotic powers to peddle their versions of a new assemblage of reality, but their efforts are really just fleeting distractions.
The main event is Nature herself, as she rapidly reshapes the face of the Earth. Denial is one masterful defense. Indulge it while you can, but its foothold is shaking in its boots. At its core, even the human animal senses the mighty changes afoot.
The gift of now is the opportunity for fulfillment in this time of completion, for that is what we are dealing with now, the completion of one cycle before the beginning of the next. As our illusions shatter, the shadow comes to light. Who really could deny that the dark side of the shadow is having its day? But enough of that, it’s actually becoming boring.
Indeed, all must face the suppressed, the repressed, and the fullness of the unknown and unloved self. Nature, in her fullness, demonstrates the way now: from the sunlight of the day to the darkness of the night, it’s time to accept and integrate the dark side of the moon. That which creates also destroys. Without destruction we’d be stuck, replaying Shangri-La forever.
On the other hand, can we face and realize the golden side of our own shadow? The energy of now, in this time of completion, is shattering the limiting beliefs that have held us back from truly growing into the fullness of our beautiful selves.
Fear, doubt, shame, and inertia have provided safe places in our old world habitat, but the new world we are entering is a world governed by the magic of intent. Intend it and it will be so. Intend to realize the fullness of you and allow the energy of now to shape and materialize that dream.
Don’t be fooled by the destruction of now. Without clay, the potter’s wheel cannot throw us a bowl. Our Earth is simply spinning and reformatting its clay. Our intent is the architectural blueprint for our place in the coming new world.
Do your part. Keep it simple. Take full advantage of the gift of now. Face and reconcile with your personal darkness, then allow yourself to become your golden loving self, fulfilled to the brim.
It truly is all about intent. Intend awe over Armageddon!
