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Messages from Jeanne

#754 Do What is Right

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Written by Jan Ketchel with a channeled message from Jeanne Ketchel.

Today I ask Jeanne for guidance for all of humanity as we continue to face an escalating world crisis on so many levels. How can we stay connected to our spiritual endeavors in such times of crisis?

Here is what Jeanne advises:

Do not forget that you are one part of a whole and, as the whole goes, so goes each part. Use this analogy to aid you in change. If you are each responsible, if you each affect the whole, so are you equally responsible for the outcome.

Humanity now faces a new opportunity for change. A door hangs open, waiting for mankind to step through it and into the light of awareness, into the light of oneness, and into the light of truth and knowledge of interconnectedness. Why even hesitate? It is the true path to not only change but also to evolutionary steps that will impact the planet and every living thing upon it.

Are not living things more important than that which many consider the must-haves? Are not you and yours more important than the desires of the greedy few? I cannot stress enough that this is so, but I also stress that though you may not be one of the greedy few so are you the same as them. This truth must be accepted before real change can happen. You are all the same.

The greedy few, in turn, must accept that they are as poor as the field mice with only a burrow to call home. Man is not superior; wealth does not make one better; religions do not may you holier or more spiritual; and material things do not make you safer, for all are one. You are all the same.

You share the planet and the energy of life with all manner of humankind and animal kind. This is the first truth that must be accepted, studied, and found to be of guidance. For only in knowing how life truly survives upon that earth may you face change armed with helpful knowledge. I have said this before, and I say it again: Study nature to learn how to become one with nature.

I do not ask you to give up your creature comforts, but I do ask that you extend your intent to change beyond the personal. Even while you work on changing the self by aligning the self with the truth of nature, by observing and respecting all aspects of life and death, of birth and decline, of change and transformation in action all around you, so do I also ask that you set the intent to accept your place in the natural process of things.

Contemplate right action...

Think not superior but same energy.

Think not desire and want, but observe nature closely and use what is readily provided and available.

Watch for signs.

Notice your own inner energy telling you what to do and what not to do.

Use your inner dialogue to change how you think, act, and use your time upon that earth.

There is no doubt that this is a crucial time upon that Earth. Ask the self to do what is right at all times. Begin with this first big step by questioning the self at all times: Is it right that I do this or that? How will it affect my energy and how will my decisions affect the world? Yes, you must all begin to think globally now.

How do you personally affect the planet you live on? How do you affect your own energy by the personal decisions you make? Ask these questions and study your own body, mind and spirit for the answers.

If you are agitated the planet is agitated.

If you are calm the planet is calm.

If you are at peace the planet is at peace.

Find your personal alignment with nature and then make your decisions for how to live and know then how to change as well. And remember: Change is in action. Seek right action.

Thank you to Jeanne for this lesson today.

Most humbly contemplative,
Jan

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Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: A World Divided Cannot Stand

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On a deeper level, the birthers might have a point: Obama is a world citizen and leader, challenged, like Lincoln once was, to forge a union in a world torn apart by special interests.

Don Juan warned: “I am convinced that for man to survive now, his perception must change at its social base.” –From The Art of Dreaming

What don Juan meant was that we must arrive at the awareness that everything is an interconnected web of energy. Quantum physicists have arrived at this truth. Fritjof Capra writes in The Tao of Physics:

“In ordinary life, we are not aware of this unity of all things, but divide the world into separate objects and events. This division is, of course, useful and necessary to cope with our everyday environment, but it is not a fundamental feature of reality. It is an abstraction devised by our discriminating and categorizing intellect. To believe that our abstract concepts of separate ‘things’ and ‘events’ are realities of nature is an illusion…”

“At the atomic level, then, the solid material objects of classical physics dissolve into patterns of probabilities, and these patterns do not represent probabilities of things, but rather probabilities of interconnections. Quantum theory forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects, but rather as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of a unified whole.”

The shamans and the physicists agree: we are all one. The survival of our interconnected, interdependent world requires that we achieve union and balance with all the parts of our one world, human and non-human. Our current world play pits our social perception of the world as separate, disconnected objects against this deeper perception of reality as an interconnected web of energy. As don Juan states, we must arrive at this deeper perception for our very survival.

In a world of separate objects, the industries of nuclear power, oil, and natural gas are free to take the position that incidents and policies in each of these industries have limited impact upon the world and should be unregulated and left alone. From this perception we are asked to believe that radiation in the oceans will not affect marine life, and certainly not human life. In the oil industry, despite dead sea turtles and dolphins showing up on our shores, it is argued that drilling is safe, and the moratorium on new drilling leases is now lifted. The natural gas industry is currently on the march to push for homegrown energy, despite the devastation to the environment and drinking water through hydraulic fracking as evidenced in Pennsylvania and brought to light in the movie Gasland. The moratorium on fracking in New York expires in June and that industry is emboldened now to start fracking in Upstate New York—in my own backyard!

Congress is stalled, as I write, over issues like eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency and clean air standards, an agency and laws seeking to set limits on destruction to health and the environment. This is the power and pressure of interests caught in an old world perception of separate objects, free to only consider themselves and their own needs and desires. The battle cry of these special interests is: “We must satisfy the demand!” The religious fervor of this dictum raises it to the level of the eleventh commandment.

But what does this dictum really mean? Is the suggestion that, since the modern world demands more and more energy to run, that we absolutely must, at all costs, meet this demand for our very survival? If my appetite demands more and more food, should I keep feeding it? And if I do, how will that affect my resources, the resources of my environment, and how will it affect my health? If a child demands more and more toys, should we simply supply them because they are demanded? Since when is demand synonymous with must-be-met?

If the human population’s energy appetite is outpacing its means and negatively impacting the health of the planet, perhaps it’s time to set some limits. Of course, behind feeding the demand is the true culprit: there’s big bucks to be made feeding the insatiable big baby with its voracious appetite. Is it not time to become adults and set some reasonable limits?

In comes Obama, chiding Congress to start behaving like grownups. Frankly, however, I see Obama as a work in progress. I think he has caved to the old world perception in granting new oil leases for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama has to go beyond the Clinton doctrine of compromise. You cannot compromise with evil.

The Republican party is now possessed with evil energy. Evil is an elemental energy and has its rightful place as part of our comprehensive whole, one world. Energetically dark and light energy are the building blocks of the universe, however, their influences and interactions must be in the proper balance. The value of the preponderance of evil energy in the Republican dominated Congress at this time is its insistence upon change. It presses Obama, with its destructive energy, into a firm and definite response. As the I Ching points out: “A compromise with evil is not possible; evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited.” –From The I Ching, translation by Richard Wilhelm, Hexagram #43

Obama and the Democratic response to absurd Republican separatist interests are finally discrediting the evil interests that are pushing their own agendas, i.e. the Koch brothers. Mother Nature herself is using her own evil energy to force needed change upon us all. Evil energy must be responded to–directly faced by taking right action–or it will continue to devastate and destroy to awaken us.

Lincoln suffered a similar fate as Obama. He attempted to compromise with the slave industry by first insisting that slavery could not be allowed in new territories or states, but could continue in states where it was already established. From today’s sensibilities this was an absurd attempt at compromise, but nonetheless, Lincoln offered it in an attempt to preserve the union, an old world order needing radical change. Ultimately, he was forced into civil war because, with the refusal to compromise, a divided house could no longer stand.

Like the slave industry of a foregone era, the Republicans of today will not compromise. It’s all or nothing. They are forcing Obama to evolve here, to take a stand behind right action. Nature is showing us that we have no other alternative to survive. As don Juan stated, survival depends on our changing our perception at its social base. The Republicans are helping Obama to arrive at this necessary place, which is crucial to our survival. Nature is showing us we have no time to waste because continued compromise just wastes valuable time and invites greater destruction.

We must stake our claim now in a world of interconnected, interdependent energy. In that new world, nuclear energy and fossil fuels must be abandoned. Energetic sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower must be turned to, as these are Mother Nature’s natural gifts to us that do no harm to her. We must become responsible adults, limit our appetites, and focus on real hunger and needs. Greed must be tempered, the big baby put to bed.

On a personal level we are charged with facing our own greed in the context of our own lives. We must each accept necessary, healthy limits, and shift to a life of balance where we consider all the parts of our interdependent selves. As well, we need to become astute participants in the true nature of reality, not just observers, because a genuine shift in our perception, at its social base, as don Juan insists, is now necessary. This is how we support our President. Let’s not leave him out there as the only one-world citizen.

Remembering when the sun revolved around our flat earth,
Chuck

If you wish to correspond, please feel free to post a comment below. And don’t forget to check out our facebook page at: Riverwalker Press on facebook where we post daily comments, photos, and quotes.

Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day: March 31, 2011

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The Earth Is Waiting for You

The Earth is always patient and open-hearted.
She is waiting for you.
She has been waiting for you
for the last trillion lifetimes.
She can wait for any length of time.
She knows you will come back to her one day.
Fresh and green, she will welcome you
exactly like the first time,
because love never says, “This is the last time”;
because Earth is a loving mother.
She will never stop waiting for you.

–Thich Nhat Hahn

Earth Is Waiting for You
Jan's Blog

A Day in a Life: On the Road to Mindfulness

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The world has grown larger in the past couple of centuries as we have gone beyond our villages and towns, beyond our states and countries, as we have sailed and flown to foreign parts and discovered other villages, towns, and countries. Hopefully, we have learned that the people in those other countries are just like us; flesh and blood, with feelings, emotions, likes and dislikes; that they also love certain things about life; that they love their children, husbands and wives; that they too are fallible and make mistakes just as we do. Hopefully, we have gained a broader view of humanity as a whole and now understand the greater interconnectedness of all things and that we are all responsible for what happens on our planet no matter where we live. Hopefully, we have learned that we are all the same in so many ways, because now may be the time for us to return to our villages and towns and countries, taking with us all that we have learned. Now may be the time for us to utilize what we have learned, for all humanity.

With the crisis in Japan the world has changed. We must accept this fact. We must figure out how we want to live now that we can no longer rely on trade with Japan to support our abundant lifestyles. Our cars must come from within our own borders, our food must be local, our responsibility to the entire world rests on us all making changes that are good for the Earth. We must not only change our personal lives, but we must pressure our governments to change as well, to be a part of the greater world without a doubt, but to make decisions that take into consideration the larger global picture that we have a greater understanding of now that we have all become world explorers. But it is time for the explorers to take what has been learned and, with that new knowledge firmly grasped, return home and change.

So how can we personally change? How can we as individuals make progress toward changing the way things are done? We can start with mindfulness. In the Buddhist sense, mindfulness is staying present in the moment, in as many moments as possible throughout the day. It is being mindful of how we walk, how we eat, how we talk. It is being mindful of how we drive, how we spend our time, how we think. It is being mindful of how we love, how we give, how we receive. It is being mindful of what we choose to look at, read, and allow into our bodies. It is being mindful of our thoughts, judgments, criticisms of our self and others. It is being mindful of our intents, our prayers, our desires. In essence, being mindful is being aware, and being aware of ourselves in the world is how we can be mindful of how we can change.

In practical terms, we must first accept that we are all living in Japan now. Our world has changed. That is the first thing we must take into consideration as we turn and study our personal responsibilities to this changed world. How can I mindfully be present and aware?

“Most of the time, we are lost in the past or carried away by the future. When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace, and love.” So writes Thich Nhat Hanh in The Long Road Turns to Joy, A Guide to Walking Meditation.

I propose meditation in everyday life, in constantly reminding the self to be present, as the means of gaining greater awareness of ourselves in the world and greater awareness of what we must do to change and flow with the energy of nature, now guiding us in this process of change. This does not have to be anything more than reminding the self to focus on each task that we do, to do it mindfully. Personally, I try to be mindful from the moment I wake up. I am not always successful, since it is impossible to be mindful every moment of every day, but the more often I pull my thoughts back to what I am doing the more I am able to be present. Each one of those tiny moments of presence, of awareness of the moment, adds up. Being mindful throughout the day is really very simple.

When I get out of bed and put my feet onto the floor, I say to myself: I am putting my feet onto the floor. I feel the floor under my feet. I am walking, walking, walking. I am waking up with each step. I am noticing the morning darkness or the morning light. I am walking.

When I make my morning coffee, I say to myself: I am making the coffee. I am running the water, measuring the coffee, thanking the earth for the water, the coffee plantations for the delicious coffee beans. I am staying mindfully focused on what I am doing, turning this process into a mantra as I awaken to a new day mindfully. When I drink my freshly brewed coffee, I say to myself: I am drinking this coffee. I am drinking and feeling each sip I take. I am mindfully drinking my coffee.

As the day goes on, I continue to remind myself to pay attention to what I am doing. When I eat, I say to myself: I am eating now. I am eating this delicious food that someone else has grown and tended and I thank them for it. If I keep thanking and focusing on what I am doing other thoughts easily leave, but they come back quickly, so I must again remind myself of what I am doing. This is practicing mindfulness.

In accepting that we are all personally responsible, as citizens of the world, we can turn to the small things in life as the place to begin making the most changes, having the most impact. As we mindfully go about our day we may discover where we are sloppy with our time and thoughts. We may discover that, as we pay attention to each task, we slow down considerably and in so doing gain not only peaceful moments of calm, but discover that we don’t really need to hurry at all, because we see that in slowing down mindfully we have plenty of time for the things that really matter. And that is the crux of what our world is asking of us now. What really matters?

Mindfulness is awareness of the present moment

“The First Noble Truth,” writes Thich Nhat Hahn, “taught by the Buddha is the presence of suffering. Awareness of suffering generates compassion, and compassion generates the will to practice the Way.” If we are to practice the Way, live mindfully in balance with nature, inner and outer nature, we must be aware of suffering. Right now there is suffering in Japan, in the Middle East, and in our own countries there is suffering every day.

We can mindfully remind ourselves of this by saying: I am aware of the suffering in Japan. I am aware of the suffering as the wars in the Middle East are waged. I am aware of the suffering in my own backyard. I feel this suffering. I accept the truth of suffering. I know what it means to suffer too. I now turn my heart outward and send compassion on the wings of intent. I am mindful of my power to change and to change the world by my intent.

This is mindful living. Try it.

Thanks for reading and passing these blogs on to others! Sending you all love and good wishes.

In mindfulness,
Jan

If you wish to correspond, please feel free to post a comment below. And don’t forget to check out our facebook page at: Riverwalker Press on facebook where we post daily comments and quotes.

Messages from Jeanne

#751 We Are All Responsible

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Written by Jan Ketchel and including a channeled message from Jeanne Ketchel.

It’s early Sunday morning as I write this. Chuck woke me as dawn was breaking and I got up to see the first orange sweep of the rising sun in the East and the luminous globe of the enormous “supermoon” setting through the trees in the West. The birds were already stirring and, as we sat by the woodstove and looked out the windows to the South, I saw deer grazing in the field across the road while the robins swept across the front yard, as they worked on nest building, and the squirrels ran around gathering edibles; nature awakening and going about the natural course of things. I could not help but think about what nature had enacted on the other side of the world: devastation and continued danger of high radiation in Japan, as well as the energy of revolution continually escalating in the Middle East.

Here I sit, I thought, quite happy and contented, my world in order, nature doing what nature does. It goes on as it has every spring, nesting, preparing for new life, the crocuses and daffodils emerging from the frozen ground, the sun warming the earth and, yet, I cannot forget what has been happening in our world.

Already a little more than a week has passed since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan rocked our world and we all felt the reverberations in some way. There are people who choose not to attach any importance to events taking place so far away, however, who choose not to know, who feel detached and unaffected, simply because they are not personally effected by something happening in a foreign country. The media has already gone on to new news, for the most part; the Libyan conflict—revolution equally important—now taking the headlines again.

It is appropriate that we not turn from the truth of the revolutions taking place in our world, yet I fear the nuclear disaster in Japan will be swept from our knowing, suppressed, covered in lies. We will be told again and again that there is no immediate human health danger to be concerned about, until we accept it as truth and return to our old ways. Meanwhile radiation has been released into the atmosphere, it is in cow’s milk and green leafy foods in Japan, and it is being washed into the oceans and carried on the winds. Yet we are lied to in order to keep down the panic.

Panic is necessary now. This is the time of revolution, after all. We must not listen to the voices that tell us to “go shopping” as President Bush did after 9/11, or the Japanese authorities who say they have everything under control and that there is really nothing to worry about, while at the same time radiation is spreading. In the face of the truth they blatantly lie, expecting us to acquiesce to the lies as we have always done in the past. It is not time to pull back into secrecy but to keep exposing the lies along with the real truths of what man has done to our world, to Mother Earth.

And yet, I know that inner calm is utterly necessary at times like this, that the truth must be balanced with inner pragmatism while we look deeply within and search for the true path for man to take, now more than ever. As I look upon nature itself on this beautiful morning, I receive one answer by its example. Nature tells me that life does indeed go on.

This is nature at its best, just as destruction, misery, and suffering are nature at its best. There must be death for there to be new life. Can I accept that what is happening is right for our times? Can I accept the release of radiation, the revolutions, the deaths in so many forms as right, knowing that it is forcing us to a new evolutionary possibility, for mankind to do more than just survive what he himself has wrought? This is nature in true balance. Can I be in alignment with this side of nature too?

I ask you today, Jeanne, to lead us now to a new level of understanding and consideration, as we take in the truth of what is happening, for I fear that the media will be moving on to the next crisis in the world, leaving the smoldering mess of contamination in Japan to “the experts,” while the planet suffers, and each one of us too. While baby dolphins die as a result of last year’s fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico and the fish in the Hudson River contend with heavy PCB contamination, while nature pushes us to remember, we move on so easily to the next big news item, forgetting that we too are nature.

What can we do to stay bound to the truth now? It is time to stay connected to what we have forgotten, that decay is necessary, as well as new life. I must remember, while I watch the birds building their nests, that in the woods lies the carcass of an enormous deer, rotting, its rib cage bleaching white in the sun, picked clean by scavengers. I must remember this balance in nature and be honest with myself about death.

Can you talk today about making personal choices now, as the attention to recent disasters shifts and the status quo reasserts itself, as we get back to business as usual, as I see reflected in nature on this early morning? Because that is the other truth: life does go on.

Here is Jeanne’s response to my questions:

I ask you to enjoy your moments of bliss and delight, yet maintain awareness of death, for it is true that they go hand-in-hand. But do not either forget that they are not separate activities, opposites perhaps, but in concert nonetheless, for you cannot have one without the other. This Jan points out, and yet it is what is most often forgotten as one goes about “business as usual.”

There can no longer be business as usual. You, My Dear Readers and Journeyers, if you are to be the new generation of seers upon that earth, must never return to complacency and business as usual. It is time now to remain awake, alert to the realities of your world as you have made it. You may say that this had been done by others, that you have no skills in the development of nuclear science, that you have no dispute in the war zones, but that is not so: You are all responsible.

I charge each one of you with the responsibility for your world and until you accept this responsibility you will not be a true citizen of change, nor hold the seers potential in right alignment with its proper meaning or intent.

I ask that there be no stopping the human potential to realign with nature, to rebalance with nature’s intent, for in order to evolve and come into alignment, mankind, all humanity, must react as ferociously as Mother Nature does. I do not advocate destruction without—except in the form of change—by making decisions that will be revolutionary in enacting personal and worldwide change.

Do what is right for the planet and you will do what is right for all living things. Nature goes about her business, but do not think it is business as usual, for nature contends each moment of each day with change. Nature must adapt to herself and to what man had done to her air, her waters, her soils, her growing flowers and fruits, to her creatures, and yet she does not stop. Her energy is as powerful as ever. Nature does not sleep, except to rejuvenate herself, and this is what man must learn to do as well.

Man must learn to rejuvenate his energy, so that his natural power is ready each moment of each day. If a bird falls asleep in the middle of the day it will not be in alignment with nature. If the birds all slept, instead of doing what they must to live, the balance of all nature would suffer.

Man sleeps too often when he should be awake. It is time now to shift to a more natural alignment with nature, with the rising sun and the setting sun. Learn now to work in the proper moment, to rest in the proper moment, and to act according to the laws of nature in the proper moment, all of which can only be accessed if in alignment with all things.

Accept the truths of life and death as intertwined. One without the other leads to chaos and this is where mankind, especially in the West, has faltered. He has chosen only to live. He has chosen to forget about death and thus he has created an impossible situation.

An earthquake is only the beginning of his shake up, for mankind needs to be reminded of the basic truths of his reason for being upon that earth. And what is that?

Man is a sentient being. This means he is, in truth, a spiritual presence and not a conquering presence. Man has sought to conquer nature, forgetting his spiritual self, as he sought only to feed his ego self. Now man is asked, by nature herself, to return to his sentient roots, in alignment with nature, and learn once again what nature offers: the true lessons in evolutionary growth.

Look now for personal inner balance. Seek a place of calm observation while awake and rejuvenating energy replenishment while asleep. Restore first that balance, the sleeping-waking cycles, as nature does, and you will begin to realign with man’s true intent. When in balance, you will find that you each have within you the answers you seek.

Take responsibility for the self and you take responsibility for the entire world. Remain alert to the moment, to the energy of the moment. And do not forget that in order for life, including your own, to evolve, there will be destruction and death. It is necessary and unavoidable.

A seer knows this at all times. A seer seeks balance at all times by remaining aware of his death, just as the birds and other animals do. Their instinct is strong. They know how to live and they know how to die, with dignity, in proper alignment with nature, constantly adjusting to what life presents, respectful of all other life, always on the move in natural consort/concert with evolutionary energy.

In ending, I suggest that each one of you look upon your own life, your habits, and correct your misalignment with nature as much as you can, just as you expect the rest of the world to do. And then see what happens!

Thank you Jeanne. Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message in the post/read comments section below. Also check out our facebook page at: Riverwalker Press on facebook. And thank you for passing the messages on!

Most fondly and humbly offered.