Tag Archives: reality

Chuck’s Place: What Do I Really Believe?

Love in the silence of personal meditation…
– Artwork © 2022 Jan Ketchel

Matter follows thought. Thought issues from the mind. The mind is the soul’s seat of consciousness as it conforms to life in a physical body. The physical body is thus an expression of the soul, in a state of dense energy, as directed by the mind.

The mind has multiple influences upon it, the majority of which operate at a subconscious level. The core drivers of the mind are beliefs, those we consciously subscribe to, but more importantly, those we have internalized through socialization in this life, as well as those encoded in our genetics and archetypal inheritance.

Most of our beliefs operate in the shadow of the subconscious, unbeknownst to the conscious mind. We are a species that is highly susceptible to suggestion, which is merely a prepackaged thought presented to the subconscious mind, which in turn gives it material form through the body’s nervous and endocrine systems.

As the subconscious, by definition, is not a conscious thinking entity, its modus operandi is instinctive reactivity. This reactivity registers as physical sensations and emotions, which steer motor responses to actual physical circumstances or mental thoughts. The subconscious treats outer reality and the imagination identically, that is, as facts to be reacted to.

The influencers of modern social media are suggestion-producers, in the form of thoughts and images, that impact the collective subconscious and generate states of nervous activation, emotion and physical activity that then attempt to define and shape physical reality. For example, the suggestion that Ketanji Brown Jackson is soft on sexual predators becomes the internalized, felt to be, personal belief of many individuals.

Thus, many beliefs are actually not personally generated but are extrinsic mental installations that shape the conscious mind through subconscious influence. In such cases, the ego does not exercise its free will to apply consciousness in its ability to reflect and arrive at its own truth. To the contrary, it blindly accepts and follows the tenets of its internalized suggestions, where they are reacted to, as facts, by the personal subconscious.

Beliefs are also shaped by our educational systems that seek to instill a system of morality, along with tools for understanding and utility, that allow for successful navigation of life in a physical body. Thus, even our basic beliefs about the nature of reality are narrowed by the boundaries of what is considered valid exploration.

Medical treatment is largely confined to physical tests and medicines that correct the observable diseases in the physical body. The powerful effect of placebo, which completely reflects the power of a mental belief, is dismissed as irrelevant to objective reality.

Placebo actually gives evidence to the fundamental fact that, as a person thinketh, so do they becometh. Matter, the state of physical reality, is first and foremost shaped by our beliefs, shaped by inheritance, instinct, experience and karma. The royal road to discovering those beliefs is meditation.

To take true ownership of our physical reality we must illumine the beliefs that subconsciously operate within us, and determine their validity. In the still of meditation we observe how thoughts arise and impact our nervous and glandular activities. We discover the subtleties of beliefs upon the matter of our own physical bodies.

As we calm the subconscious reactivity of sensation and emotion, as well as the free flow of thought, in meditation, we move beyond the defining influence of the subconscious and are opened to the spiritual center of the higher self.

From the meditative position of detached observer we enter the subtle realm of energetic reality. We notice sensations arising spontaneously from the energy centers of the various chakras. We are treated to the experience of vibrational reality, where we can ascend into the quiet and calm of heightened spiritual awareness. We discover ourselves as energetic beings. We discover our higher selves.

At the heart chakra we are led to energetic truth and love, the one true energetic reality. Love is the binding glue of the oneness of all that is. All can experience this truth in the silence of their personal meditation.

As well, all that is untrue and negative will arise in meditation, where the opportunity arises to cleanse oneself of the the limiting beliefs, or habits, that have by default, defined one’s life.

Aligning one’s consciousness and free will with the truths of this spiritual, or energetic center, of the heart, sets the stage for manifesting the heart’s true content. Through the letting go of untruths, we clear the channel for pure love to flow through and into our physical reality.

Belief then becomes knowing. Knowing thoughts generate energetic and physical harmony. Harmony is the next stage of our human evolution.

Meditate, meditate, meditate, and all will be well, within and without.

Intent on Knowing,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: The Power of Belief

“There is nothing that is not divine.” – Aurobindo
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

From a shamanic perspective, the cosmic dance of now lays bare the power of belief in generating the reality we live in. Our belief system is largely shaped by the messages we internalize from the outside world that become the internal dialogue that interprets our reality. The belief system we sign up for becomes our reality.

At present, the mass of humanity is engaged in a civil war of conflicting belief systems. The consequence of such disagreement is an instability of worldview that threatens basic security, both within the individual and in the world at large. Without a collective boundary of belief, the world is subject to a barrage of all that has been suppressed and repressed in the individual and in the collective human psyche as well.

Civilization has, at its root, civility, defined as a politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech. Clearly we are in a time that has overturned politeness and courtesy in behavior and speech. What’s been unleashed is the repressed energy that lies beneath the surface ripple of civilization, what Freud called the Id and what Jung called the shadow. Civilization is currently overrun by the power of these discontented parts of its psyche.

Our fragile civilization is charged with addressing the truth of its discontents. A new balance is called for. This balance must consider the animal within the human being. That animal has long been the sequestered Minotaur, lost in the labyrinth of the unconscious.

That shameful human, with animal head and tail, is filled with rage toward the civilized human it blames for its rejection. Meanwhile, its human counterpart is both terrified by its power and hungry for its passion. Clearly these two spheres of existence have a place in human reconciliation. Domination of the unconscious as a defense strategy to protect civilization is unstable and cuts off a wellspring of vital energy needed for a fulfilling life.

The opportunity of now is to construct a belief system that values and reconciles all parts of being human. Thus the human animal and human spirit are recognized as valid parts of a human being that both contribute to and enhance human life. Both centers of being are valued for their inherent knowledge and creative potential.

Alexander Lowen, Wilhelm Reich’s protege, pointed out that human beings rarely experience full orgasm in their sexual contact because they have lost their connection to their animal core that truly knows how to physically move. Thus, human sexuality is rarely fulfilling, dominated as it is by the ego’s mental control and expectations.

A belief system that incorporates both our inherited nature and our ability to elevate it to the spiritual heights of love, offers a reconciliation of the human condition that may better serve our evolving civilization.

As always, be empowered to begin within. All the forces without that both attract and repel us are also our own projections from within. All that we hate and fear are as much a part of us as all that we love and long for. A belief system that accepts this equation is poised to find true stability and wholeness within. Wholeness within, wholeness without.

Optimistically,

Chuck

NOTE: Taking a week off, so no writings from either Jan or I next week, including Soulbytes. We look forward to reconnecting starting the week of September 14, 2020.

Chuck’s Place: Encounter with Other

Other…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Other, is a separate reality. Other is life in dreams. Other is life in a body. Other is life beyond reason. Other is shadow. Other is other.   

Beyond the protective narcissistic wrapping around self lies other, waiting. This narcissistic sheath serves to homogenize other, blending it for inclusion within the familiar comfort of self, a far cry from true encounter with the mystery of other.

The internal dialogue immediately snatches the waking ego to erase its  dream encounters with other. To connect and journey with other from dream, threatens the ego’s hegemony over its world. To include other would require ego to take in a world far greater than its solid grasp on reality.

Even if the ego takes up the dream, it quickly formats it into the known; all characters fit into associations that lead back to parts of the self. Reason ensconces encounters with other safely within the boundaries of known self, reinforcing all the usual dramas. From here the internal dialogue paints the day, a portrait of self, everywhere.

Reason cannot permit the mystery of other. Though drawn to the magic, it pummels it into logic, sneering smugly, as it brands it childish fantasy. All that is known is provable in experiment, repeatable in the light of day; everything else is fantasy.

Characters in a dream are merely the byproduct of neurotransmitters active in the brain, says reason, just as it judges out-of-body experience to be merely dissociative hallucination. How reassuring for ego to transpose the irrational into order. How protective of self to resist the delusion of other.

That which is not-I can shatter one’s world. Perhaps its worldview is far more comprehensive; suddenly one is nothing. Perhaps one doesn’t feel worthy of other; other will never show up. Longing for other, one hides in excuse.

Perhaps the greatest challenge of our time is our reason’s encounter with the irrational other. So complacent we became with the dominating all-encompassing rule of reason that we dismissed the power of nature, whether in the form of a coronavirus, or an emotional virus, that now holds reason in its grip.

Clearly, reason must accept the power and autonomy of this  irrational other. Denial has led to this compensatory rise of impulse over science itself. Modern humanity is responsible for this uprising because it embraced reason alone as its one true god.

Suspend judgment, get to know the fullness of other in one’s whole self. Take up the challenge of life in the dream. Get to know and fully live in the body, as well. Connect with the universe in the synchronicities and agreements that saturate every moment. Talk to the plants, the birds, and the bees.

Encounter other with openness, respect, and loving kindness. That’s how the world will heal. 

Encountering other,

Chuck

Soulbyte for Tuesday June 4, 2019

Your body will do anything you tell it to do. Within reason, you might say. But reason is quite unreasonable, for it is only what your mind has been taught to believe, and what your mind has been taught is illusion, what the world consensus believes. What if you told your body something new? What if you cleared your mind of its old ideas and illusions and gave it some new positive suggestions? Your body will respond because your body has no mind of its own. It only believes what you tell it. Give your body new information, added with the certainty that it will respond in a new way. Trust its ability to do anything. Change your mind, change your body, change your reality. That’s where your true powers lie, in actually being able to change your reality. Try it, and see what happens!

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Monday April 15, 2019

May your dreams remind you that everything is possible, that though you may live in the everyday mundane world, the magical is equally real. What you see every day is only part of the truth, for on the other side, where dreams are made, is another reality. Those realities intersect and interweave all the time. And when you are aware of this you may think you are dreaming, but it’s really just another true reality. Seek to make your dreams come true so that you may experience true reality, and then you will know that everything IS possible, in all realities. Find a way to make your dreams come true. No dream is an impossible dream.

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne