Tag Archives: spirit

Chuck’s Place: Fit to Serve?

A sorry state of affairs…
– Artwork by Jan Ketchel © 2018

As the current of collective thought-stream challenges the mental stability of the Commander-in-chief, I find myself questioning the greater significance of such a mythological character at the helm of our government at this moment of our evolution. I begin by suggesting that, regardless of political or ideological persuasion, we view the current predicament as a reflection or symbolic mirror of the relationship between the human spirit and its physical host, all matter of creation.

Spirit is the character that functions on the mental plane, the architect and creator of reality as it defines it. In the flow of everyday life, spirit is the mind, the internal dialogue, and the ego that direct the course of daily decision making.

Matter, in this definition, spans all of nature, including the human animal. In human terms, matter is the physical body with all its instinctual needs and wisdom. The wisdom of the body is expressed through the archetypes, our inherited knowledge of the properties of matter and the innate formulas of how to respond to life on earth.

Thus, the human being is actually a microcosm of this greater spirit/matter relationship as it contains both spirit and matter in one being. Spirit and matter are the yin and yang of this world, each critical building blocks of our existence. The balance and relationship between these two partners determines the state of overall health in our world.

Just as I was writing the above explanation a synchronistic event occurred that intimately expresses the relationship between spirit and matter, mind and body. My daughter (who for psychoanalytic discretion in agreeing to let me share this suggests I identify her as “Beyonce”) called in a frantic state, near panic. “I feel like I’m going to pass out!” she said.

We immediately guided her to calm breathing, shifting her away from the dark forecast issuing forth from her mind that sought to define her physical symptoms as lethal. As she stabilized we reviewed recent dietary decisions which, quite frankly, were remarkably healthy.

We went on to review the pace of recent events as she and her partner have been overwhelmed by customer demand for their recently launched business. In fact, it suddenly dawned on her that what had directly precipitated her acute sensation of “passing out” was a new customer call for service. She and her partner had determined the night before that they were simply too overwhelmed; they needed to say no to new business for awhile.

The customer’s call had stirred the dilemma: “Can I say no to new business?” The call had also stirred the archetypal wisdom of her body to deliver its answer to the request in no uncertain terms. As we reflected, we determined that her body—the matter part of her being—was giving its answer to the customer’s request directly, saying loudly and clearly: “I’m shutting down! Over and out!”

And yet, how many of us would really listen to such sage wisdom from body central? How many of us would secretly be rationalizing from the mental plane: “This is great, more business, more money, great success!” How long would it take to arrive at some dietary glitch to explain away the dizziness and persist with the current plan to meet all demand in the service of financial reward!

“Beyonce’s” dilemma reflects the dominance of spirit over matter that plagues the macrocosm of our world as reflected in the psychology of our Commander-in-chief. His psychology is marked by a supreme alienation of spirit from nature. The guiding principal, beyond its narcissistic wrappings, is the spirit of financial success at all costs, regardless of its impact on the physical body or Mother Nature, the physical body of the earth itself. And Mother Nature, as is increasingly evident, is responding with her feedback to this spirit imperative.

Fortunately, “Beyonce” took heed of the imbalance in her mind/body relationship and intends to change the course of business to bring greater harmony to her mind/body partnership. Unfortunately for our Commander-in-chief, he appears all the more driven to deepen his spirit intent: “More, more, more!!!”

Though “Beyonce” may be restored to fit-to-serve shape, she will likely be challenged again and again to go to the heart and ask the question: “What is the truly right decision?” The spirit at the helm of the mental plane at present is so focused on self and survival that it blots out the needs of the body, the needs of others, and the needs of Mother Earth, our ultimate home base for survival while in human form.

The mental status of our Commander-in-chief poses a grave riddle to all of us: “Who is responsible for the imbalance that has thrown our world into peril?” The silver lining to the true answer to this question is self-empowerment. We all have the power to elect the best Commander-in-chief within ourselves and in so doing change the world.

Intending to be fit to serve,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Limiting Limiting Beliefs

Beliefs originate in the mind. The mind is the outermost wrapping of the spiritual plane in human beings. In Hindu science the spiritual plane has many increasingly subtle dimensions or sheaths.

We all agree that the sun rises every morning, but what else are we missing…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Using the Hindu analogy, we can compare the familiar mind that we call the ego to a rocket booster of a spaceship, which propels the spaceship, but as it rises higher in the atmosphere sheds itself of the outer layers or sheaths surrounding its core. Hence, when we depart from this world at death, on our definitive journey into infinity, we will shed the outer wrapping, the ego mind we operated with in this world, and open to the more subtle, spiritual dimensions at our core. At this point we will become fully energetic beings, no longer sporting the outer casings of the human form. This is the energetic body from which Jeanne communicates her wisdom to Jan in daily Soulbytes.

The ego and higher levels of spiritual agency represent the Yang or  thought dimension of human existence. The body and all material manifestations in the world represent the Yin or material dimension of human existence.

Ideas, thoughts, beliefs, or intents are all non-substantial possibilities issuing from the spiritual dimension that require physical substance to become what we might call real, substantial, or manifested. Thus, spirit Yang lacking union with material Yin is simply a hot air possibility lacking substance.

Limitations are the necessary boundaries that birth a spirit into substantial reality. Thus, if I have an image in my mind it exists only as a spirit entity, a potential lacking substance. If I then draw and color the idea on paper, my spirit and physical selves have united to create a definite impression. Yang and Yin are conjoined in the process of creative manifestation.

For a Yang impulse to become real it must accept the limiting containment of physical reality. Without limits we don’t exist in a substantial, time and space, way. An idea lacking written or verbal expression is just a roaming, floating thought, a seed seeking earth to germinate in and become real.

Limiting beliefs are the basic building blocks of our world. If we did not collectively agree to believe similar things we could not manifest such a cohesive reality, i.e., the world as we know it. From a shamanic perspective all worlds are consensus realities. Consensus, meaning shared beliefs, is the intent that congeals matter into a specific world.

By exercising the shamanic technology of intent we can shift the world we live in, literally, into a new consensus reality or, put differently, into a whole new world. However, that new world also requires a new set of limiting beliefs to achieve the consistency necessary to become a substantial reality.

If I pick up my metal spoon and it suddenly bends in half my belief in the solidity of the world may be greatly assaulted, sending me into quite a spin. Fortunately, the very powerful belief that the world is rational might quickly reassert itself, providing probable explanations for the bent spoon that can then shore up the shaky assault to my sanity!

Of course, as much as we enjoy the calmness of a predictable world, well-constructed by limiting beliefs, the downside of limitation is limitation. Many more options of experience and manifestation may be available to us that might much more fully allow us to experience both our spiritual and material potential; things that we simply can’t access, as the guardians of our sanity that maintain the consistency of the world as we have known it vigorously encourage us not to stray beyond the boundaries of our limiting beliefs.

It really is a profound consideration to stray beyond the boundaries of rationality, which is currently (though greatly challenged by world events this past year) the major building block of human stability. In general, mental health has been predicated upon the security of a predictable world constructed by agreed upon limiting beliefs. Nonetheless, often at the spirit’s insistence to open to possibilities beyond the known, or as a matter of material necessity, we are compelled to take new spiritual/physical adventures beyond the known dimensions into the deeper interior of our fuller selves.

In fact, one thing is clear about the present state of reality in the world: the limiting beliefs that have defined the world at the highest levels are currently crumbling in full public view. Rather than calming and solidifying the basic tenets of our consensus reality, our leaders function like tricksters shifting gears with pure abandon.

The deeper reason for this dissolution is that our world is in the midst of major transformation. Fear not the transitory extreme new worlds we are confronted with daily; they are untenable as they do not support the deepest needs of our world as it undergoes its very deep and necessary transformation.

We are being pushed into a world that opens us up to our greater energetic potential, a world which greatly expands the limiting beliefs that have so long defined what we believe and experience as reality. This new world of greater entrée into our energetic potential  frees us from the limiting beliefs of fixation on materialism as the source for fulfillment. The technology of that limiting belief has clearly exhausted the planet and, despite its current escalation, has little future.

The  new technology of a metaphysical world, a world of energy beyond strict rationality, utilizes psychic powers, intent, inter-dimensional exploration and the experience of love as its guiding limiting beliefs. This is a far more stable and exciting consensus reality in the making. That is the New Frontier we are privileged to participate in beyond the boredom, frustration, depression, and hardship of this tumultuous time of transition.

The limits of that New Frontier are the kind of limiting beliefs I can sign up for!!!

To our greater energetic potential,

Chuck

Soulbyte for Thursday December 21, 2017

Stay in balance. Learn to properly read the signs that come to guide you on your journey through life so that your days may be days of learning and wonder, so your nights may be nights of rest and rejuvenation, and so your life may be one of balance, inside and outside—a little bit of magic and a little bit of everything else. For too much of one thing overshadows the others and that is not good for the human heart or the human mind or the human body. Keep heart and mind and body in friendly alignment so that your spirit within you and all of your days may be calm and bright.

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Friday December 1, 2017

Changes manifest in many ways, by intent or by happenstance. Often it is not what you want that is most right for you but what comes to you in other ways. You may have definite desires that never manifest, but if you step back and look at your life from afar you might notice how often things arrive uninvited. Such surprise manifestations come from the unconscious, another part of you that intends on your behalf, secretly, but just as strongly as your conscious self. This unconscious self reflects deeper desires of your spirit rather than what your ego wants. Spirit provides what is most necessary and evolutionary though often most unexpected. It might not be what you think you want but what you actually need the most. Gifts come in all kinds of packages. Is gratitude in order? Simply for what is?

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck’s Place: Meet the Animal—A Twist

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I was six years old. Powerful rhythmic music filled the room. A young woman, Rita was her name, and my older sister broke into a violent hip swaying pelvic dance—the Twist! I was overcome with dizziness and fear. I hid in the closet.

Rolling force of nature…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Today I understand that experience as my first conscious encounter with what the Shamans of Ancient Mexico called the Rolling Force, the primary vibrational energy behind life that shapes the reality we live in. In this instance that vibration manifested in the Kali-like physical body movements of Rita and my sister.

What I was to learn from this encounter was how overwhelming this  expression of the rolling force of animal rhythmic abandon was for my tender child spirit. In effect, my human spirit, or growing sense of ego identity and consciousness, was extremely fragile and needed to ward off the disintegrating effect of this rolling energy of nature. The key was to be able to maintain control over this flow at all costs.

My retreat to the closet allowed me to stop my exposure to the flow of energy, to separate my consciousness from the raging, twisting river of dance energy that threatened to drown me. This was spirit triumphing over matter. And so it begins.

Our evolving species has fixated its awareness upon a consensual reality of mind over matter, or spirit over nature. Within ourselves we prize the rational goal-oriented mind over the instinctual animal we are encased within. We joke about the animal we are, like the comedians among us who are proving to have taken it too far.

The consequence of this disidentification with the animal is a complete miscalculation of, and unrelatedness to, the power of its instinctual energies that flow within the human body and are essential to human life.

Sexual desire, for instance, is an essential component of the human animal. The human spirit, as ego, must deal with its instinctive hormonal promptings yet has no clue as to how or what to do with it. To truly relate to this instinctive energy is to encounter the Twist!

How does mind get comfortable being taken on a ride by an impersonal force of the body? How does consciousness hold on, channel, remain responsible and related with its instinctual, rhythmic self? Tall order for a spirit that just wants to exploit this instinctual energy without a real relationship with the body.

The present outing of the sexual behavior of powerful men clearly evidences the abusive use of control to obtain some measure of twisted sexual release by exploiting the bodies of both women and men. Outings of these behaviors must continue, yes, to bring justice to crime, but even more fundamentally to give credence to the dire state of immature relatedness to the sexual instinct in modern culture. The consequence of this dissociation and hubris is quite apparent: aberrant sexual behavior.

The powerful raging rivers of opinion and outrage that flood the gates of social media run the same risk of miscalculating the power of thought (spirit) over instinct. Nature always prevails.

The young boy in the closet has spent his life building a relationship with his rhythmic animal partner. Shortly after his encounter with the Twist he was to experience the same vibrational shattering in a pure spirit meeting while his body lay frozen in deep sleep. Rhythmic vibrational contractions permeate life in the body as well as life in the spirit.

In physical life our opportunity is to partner our spirit consciousness with the sensual rhythm of our animal nature. This is the key to the mastery of intent and manifestation. The abuses of control and power are really maladaptive attempts to solve the riddle of who we really are and form some form of relationship with our mysterious other.

What the abuses currently reveal is the underlying terror of powerful men to connect with their mysterious other in a genuine meeting of respect and love. This is indeed the greatest challenge of life in the body.

That little boy continues to learn how to meet his partner in love and the Twist. Perhaps a partnership with our younger other is the place to start.

Twist and shout,

Chuck