Tag Archives: right action

Soulbyte for Tuesday February 23, 2021

It’s never too late. Change happens constantly, from minute to minute and day to day. Nature is a perfect example of how quickly change happens. Notice how quickly clouds form, how the wind kicks up, how the grass grows and a flower blooms. Don’t lose hope. Keep change in your heart and with a positive approach to life instill your hopes and dreams with change in every breath you breathe, keeping in mind the truth that change is happening all the time. Why not jump on the bandwagon? With intent, determination and right action bring the change you so desire into your own life. It’s really up to you.

Sending you love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Tuesday November 16, 2020

Have patience. During times of patient waiting it may seem as if nothing is happening to further things along but rest assured, behind the scenes there is much that is being done. Things are aligning, getting right, being set so that in an instant it may appear that everything changes. Remain patient, knowing that all is being done that can be done and that even mountains can be moved if everything is done right. Help is on the way. Rest assured of that, but remain calm in the interim, for your own energy is vitally important for a rapid and smooth transition when the time of patient waiting is over and the good energy will flow again.

Sending you love,

The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck’s Place: Be Like the Flame of A Single Candle

But a single flame…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

To seek freedom… be like the flame of a candle, which, in spite of being up against the light of a billion stars, remains intact, because it never pretended to be more than what it is: a mere candle.”  – Don Juan Matus, from The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

It’s a mighty challenge to be born into this life as an ego, a limited point of consciousness, separated from its greater wholeness. This limitation is  the price we pay to exclusively explore one facet of the fuller diamond we are, in a life that begins and ends in space/time.

Ego has risen beyond the control of its own instinctual nature into a being capable of making its own decisions. This evolution beyond the strict control of its subconscious programming has given rise to civilization and human domination of the Earth.

This moment we are now living in is the ultimate exploration of ego’s freedom to consider only itself —its wants and needs— as the basis of its governing decisions. The sky is the limit for the ego of now,  much like Icarus, whose intoxication with flying on his wax wings drew him higher and closer to the sun.

It’s inevitable that ego test the limits of its power. Simply observe the toddler testing its newfound powers of locomotion. Caution is thrown to the wind in the thrill of discovery and autonomous movement. This same excitement of power and mastery accompanies ego at all stages of life.

Truthfully, however, underneath it all, ego knows it is inherently inadequate. How could it be otherwise? Ego is but a fragment of its greater wholeness. Ego’s underlying instinctual programming has heralded evolution, devoid of consciousness. Ego’s now conscious ability to negate that programming is a tremendous feat, but ego also lacks the wisdom packed into those archetypal programs. Managing the survival of the planet requires more wisdom than ego can possibly amass in its limited time on Earth.

The evolutionary challenge now posed to ego is to rise above its egoism and discover a higher authority within itself that can teach it the path of right action. Ego must silence its own internal dialogue that incessantly attempts to keep it secure in its knowing of everything. In the silence beyond that chatter is the voice of wisdom that resides in the mature heart.

Ego needn’t feel ashamed of its objective inadequacy. Ego has the unparalleled gift of consciousness, but it must discover how to exercise its powers in the service of the greater whole that it is but a fragment of. Ego is not yet convinced it can’t simply go it alone, hence, it is currently testing the hypothesis that it is all that there is.

After the fall of this experiment, ego, like Icarus will come down to Earth with the humility proper to its status. This is the ego that will accept that it is indeed but a solitary candle amidst the light of a billion stars. However, this acceptance of its smallness, lacking any illusory inflation, is the attitude that will protect that flame from perhaps ever blowing out.

May we all find our way to the smallness of a single candle flame. With such humility, we connect to the wisdom awaiting us all in our mature hearts.

From the heart of the flame,
Chuck

Chuck’s Place: The Mature Heart

A Mature Heart…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

So much emphasis is placed upon the heart as the spiritual center that guides right action. This can seem extremely confusing when compared to popular renditions of the heart as the center for romantic love and longing. After all, how often do romantic projections result in right action?

It is true that the heart is connected to loving attachments. A broken heart, through loss of a loved one, is indeed an informal diagnosis known to many a cardiologist. It is equally true that the heart is the meeting place with one’s High Self, the spirit center of one’s being. In the quiet of the heart, the High Self tells the truth to ego consciousness, regardless of the ego’s wish for a different answer.

Thus, the heart can be said to function on many levels: from the immature cravings of the desire body, to the vicissitudes of love and attachment in relationships, to a highly refined impartiality that lovingly accepts everything, without personal resistance; this is the position of the mature heart.

Humans are multidimensional beings living many simultaneous lives. Even in the single dimension of waking life one may be dominated by the cravings of the desire body at the breakfast table, the stirrings of romantic interest in the afternoon, and deep communion with High Self in the evening.

A mature heart is not necessarily achieved via a linear developmental progression. One can be working on different dimensions of heart issues, literally, depending upon the time of day. Ultimately, however, a connection to the mature heart is necessary to resolve the clouded entanglements of need, desire, and attachment.

The mental plane immediately impacts the central nervous system, which greatly affects the heart. Thus, if one has the thought that there is a problem, messages are immediately delivered through the nerves to various glands and organs to respond to the abstract thought. A thus-activated body might stir the heart to heated action, even though there is actually no real crisis.

To promote the conditions to access the mature heart it is a good practice to engage in control of the fickle mind. Any meditation practice trains the ego to still its activity, as consciousness learns to be mindfully present to a single focus, such as the breath. Control of the mind promotes the inner silence that allows one to hear the voice of the High Self in the quiet of the heart.

Autogenic phrases, self-hypnosis, deep relaxation, biofeedback, as well as neurofeedback, are Western technological tools that promote thought control and calm the heart. In essence, all these practices introduce new programs to the subconscious mind that regulate the central nervous system, giving the ego control over automatic reactions to stray thoughts.

Recapitulation, the reliving and releasing of split-off parts of life experiences, frees the central nervous system of random activation by associative triggers in one’s daily life encounters. Once the ego has fully squared with a suppressed or repressed experience, the heart is freed of invasive shocks that preclude the quiet of spiritual connection.

Yogic science has produced pranayama breathing techniques that directly influence the balance of positive and negative electrical energy that flows through the central nervous system. Alternate nostril breathing (sukh purvak) directly addresses the rebalancing of these forces. Any physical practice that brings deep calm to the body gives the ego an opportunity to control the mind and the body, and to open to the spiritual dimension of the heart.

Upon reaching the position of the mature heart, one is guided to successfully navigate the many lives one lives. Most importantly, in the place of the mature heart, one receives and expresses the fullness of loving compassion, with equanimity. Furthermore, one is empowered to act upon right action without sentimental restraint. For the mature heart loves, most of all, the truth.

With love from the mature heart,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Unbending Detachment

Look to the skies for guidance on how to remain detached and yet fully energetically connected!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The key to actualizing our human potential is energy. If you have enough energy you can do just about anything. Recognizing the value of conserving and retrieving energy, shamans discovered that the human being’s most lethal energy drain is offense.  Being offended, by anything and everything, costs humans the lion’s share of their vital energy.

When we feel offended by the words and deeds of others we have emotional reactions, like anger, fear, and resentment that tax the central nervous system. We lose our balance, as we become emotionally charged, seeking relief in some kind of action. Often, obsessive thinking continues to replay the offense, which sustains and feeds this state of emotional tension.

Is it possible to have an objective reaction to another’s offensive behavior without being personally offended? Yes, through gaining conscious control of our instinctive emotional reactions and deciding, on the mental plane, to not be offended by the behavior of others, regardless of how ruthless it might be.

Who could forget Robert De Niro’s “Are you talking to me?” in the movie Taxi Driver? Instinctively, we feel the growing tension of his mounting anger, as he incessantly repeats this famous line. Truthfully, many are drawn to such unabashed expressions of rage and contempt, which vicariously satisfies our own unexpressed rage and resentment.

Now, if Robert De Niro had simply walked away, the movie would have flopped. On the other hand, if we want to start saving our vital energy, we must be willing to let go of the many dramas our internal dialogue ignites through its constant interpretation of offense, throughout our everyday lives.

This is not to say that there is not significant horrific behavior that must be addressed. At issue is the subjective state of offense that accompanies one’s reactions to those behaviors. One can assess a situation and decide upon a course of action, unencumbered by emotional reaction. In fact, this is a core teaching of all martial arts.

When one becomes emotionally offended by an opponent’s move, one loses one’s edge, fights poorly, and generally loses. As in shamanism, in the martial arts the key to success is to not become attached —offended— by one’s opponent’s behavior. The objective is to stay present to what is and completely conserve one’s energy in order to be fully engaged in one’s most efficient counter response.

In fact, when one becomes offended one actually gifts the opponent one’s own energy. Offense can lead to hopelessness, powerlessness, and surrender, as one’s vital energy reserves become depleted. Bullying behavior is actually a strategy to catch one’s opponent in the net of offense, weakening their game. Muhammed Ali was a striking example of such tactical behavior leading up to a fight, as he would mercilessly insult and demean his opponents.

Instinctive reactions can be, and often are, life saving. What we take as an instinctive reaction, however, is very frequently the ego’s decision to be offended, whereby calling forth the troops of passionate reactions to exact retribution, in some form. This is a hybrid, instinctive reaction that serves only the ego, not the true needs of the self.

Ego must learn to be a servant to the true needs of the whole self, rather than just its own self-aggrandizement. Even if the ego has been directly insulted, the ego must consider the energetic impact on its central nervous system, and its energy reserves, before determining its course of action.

If the ego faces the fact that we live in a world where life feeds upon life, it can come around to the fact that we live in a predatory universe and not get offended by it. Of course, this does not stop our need to defend ourselves, but how much stronger and more clearheaded we would be if we didn’t burden ourselves with being offended.

When the shamans speak of detachment, they are targeting what we typically judge to be offensive behavior. They promote inner silence to avoid offensive dramas when navigating oncoming time, to best be prepared to respond appropriately, with the least taxing of our energetic reserves. Inner silence entails quieting the mind, pulling into the heart center, and waiting patiently for the guidance that shows us how to act in a way that is truly right.

In addition, they recommend a thorough recapitulation of one’s relationships in life, particularly circumstances that left one feeling offended. Recapitulation frees one’s energy stored away in offense, but also frees one from being triggered by current circumstances that reflect one’s unresolved past.

The truth is that there are highly sadistic, abusive people who commit horrific acts. Recapitulation does not change this fact, but it does free one from draining one’s vital energy by being eternally offended by them. Detachment means accepting the truth of what was, and fully harnessing one’s freed energy to be redeployed in new life.

I send out the intent for unbending detachment, as we collectively advance our world into new life, beyond offense.

With Unbending Detachment,

Chuck