Tag Archives: spirit

Chuck’s Place: Orgasm As Divine Encounter

The divine is everywhere... You just have to see it! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The divine is everywhere…
You just have to see it!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Orgasm is a physical, emotional, relational and spiritual experience. This blog focuses exclusively on the inner spiritual dimension of orgasm, that of union of Ego/Self at climax.

If the Self can be analogized as a whole diamond—all of what we are—the Ego would represent one facet of that diamond, the face that enters this three-dimensional space-time world with consciousness. In essence, the Ego is the child of the Self, born into the unique experience of life and death in a world of matter. The Ego takes the adventure of this lifetime and ultimately folds into its greater Self at death, into the Self that exists beyond space-time in boundless infinity.

As the Ego is launched into its life in this world at birth a veil falls, separating it from its greater Self. Much like Adam and Eve’s fate, the price of consciousness for the Ego is to go it alone, to develop and exercise its consciousness in the maintenence of life and in the adventures of this world.

This alienation from the Self is a great disadvantage and though the purpose of this life is for the Ego to learn to steer its own ship and make its own discoveries, it harbors a deep longing for unity with something greater and more meaningful. This longing is actually the desire and need to unite with its greater Self.

The greater Self is always there, but remains quite veiled because its full energy, that resides in infinity, is quite powerful and could easily overwhelm the Ego. Hence, the Ego must be molded to handle a direct encounter with the Self without suffering total dissolution. In fact, psychosis could be defined as the Ego’s unshielded encounter with that powerful energy of the Self, causing obliteration of Ego and consciousness.

The Self often comes in powerful form to the Ego in dreams. Many of these dream encounters are forgotten upon waking, though some are so numinous, like visions of the Saints, that they change the course of an entire life.

Shamans throughout the world have discovered that sexual energy is the energy of dreaming. The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, specifically, encouraged their apprentices to preserve their sexual energy so as to enhance their ability to find their energy body and travel with the Self in adventures in infinity.

Many religions have made similar discoveries, requiring their priests, monks, and nuns to shut down the physical experience of sexual orgasm to further the cause of spiritual union. Some of these traditions have gone so far as to cast the body as an evil, to be tolerated but vigilantly restricted lest it interfere with true spiritual advancement.

The fact remains, however, that orgasm is a direct encounter between Ego and Self, a highly spiritual affair. Ego, as consciousness, is completely psychic or mental, of spirit substance. The Self is beyond space-time, a very intense high level energy, and high spirit Ego/Self meetings are spiritual encounters.

Orgasm is a powerful energetic seizure that momentarily joins Ego and Self in a state of vibratory oneness. This ecstatic communion of Ego and Self eventuates in a profound, albeit momentary, state of contented wholeness that rejuvenates the Ego’s energy and partially satisfies its deep longing for the Self.

The energetic download of the energy of Self at orgasm is not without its fears and challenges. For one thing, the Ego’s energetic wiring may feel inadequate to handle the charge of the Self. Sometimes the Ego is so fearful of the tidal wave of the energy of Self that it defensively inhibits a sexual charge. Sometimes Ego will tinker with the connection through the use of substance to relax its fears, or use a forceful fantasy to override its own defenses. Naturally, the use of these titrating methods will impact the quality of union between Ego and Self at climax.

Be receptive to the divine self... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Be receptive to the sacred…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Sometimes Ego is receptive to Self but finds itself immediately and prematurely swept to orgasm, forestalling a deeper union. Ego may attempt to steel itself, through body rigidity or mental distraction, to avoid the immediacy of orgasm, which will as well impact the quality of union.

As with all channels of connection between Ego and Self, the road to orgasm is a work in progress. In general, as with advanced dreaming, the ability to deeply relax the mind and body allows the Ego to find its receptive place where it can enjoy a full orgasmic encounter with its deeper Self.

Orgasm is sacred encounter and is best treated as such, as a true religious experience. Though it can be entered into at any level, from sacred to profane, at its most sacred level it is indeed union with the divine.

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Guilt

Guilt is the emotional consequence of knowing, on some level, that we are not the mask we portray ourselves to be in the world. We are guilty because we know we fail to meet the standard of perfection. We are aware of our inferiority and our darkness hidden within.

Who is that animal lurking within? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Who is that animal lurking within?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Actually, this knowing is a saving grace, because despite having to suffer the torture of guilt, we are owning the existence of our dark side. We encounter and suffer inwardly the dilemma that in a less conscious individual is only known through the disowned projection of one’s dark side onto a scapegoat that reflects the hidden darkness within. In projection, guilt is avoided because the real problem is projected “out there.” It can be eliminated and controlled by imprisoning or killing off the bad guy “out there.”

Our time is rife with mass projections of evil onto Muslims, Mexicans, African Americans, women, Democrats, Republicans, Jews, Palestinians; the list is endless. The world is currently completely divided into separatist camps that see themselves as morally superior to all others. They completely project their inferior dark side onto some other camp “out there.”

The preponderance of these polarized camps in our time is the surface repercussion of a more deeply brewing clash between the collective unconscious that contains all our darkness with the idealized moral superior values that our egos identify with in our religions and modernistic lifestyles. Would that the collective consciousness of the world could feel guilty, that is, own more fully and grapple with the true depth of its nature versus continually locating it outside where it destroys its neighbor and the world in order to be delivered from its own evil.

Unfortunately, though the world must arrive at this deeper truth to survive now, it is the individual that must lead the world in this task. The individual who faces their own shadow is the advance guard of a transformed world. On the other hand, how fortunate that every individual who faces the true depth of their own shadow advances the world on its path of survival. How empowering!

How do we own our shadow? How do we resolve our guilt? To begin with, as long as we only identify ourselves as light beings, or as beings who must be purified of or relieved of our own darkness, we will always suffer guilt. As Erich Neumann states:

“Just as light cannot be extinguished by the superior power of darkness, so too there is no evidence to show that darkness can ever be abolished by any superior power on the part of light.” *

We are all light and shadow... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We are all light and shadow…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Light requires the contrast of shadow to be defined; dark requires the contrast of light to be known. One cannot be separated from the other and be whole. The two are inextricably opposite sides of the same wholeness.

Human beings are beings of light in their spirit, as reflected in mental processes and consciousness. Human beings are beings of darkness in the depths of their instinctual, animal natures. Spirit beings could not be in this world without their animal bodies. Animal and spirit are inextricably linked in a partnership in this world, saddled with the challenge of developing a relationship which acknowledges and finds life for both animal and spirit.

If we identify with an ethic that says passion and pleasure are evil, we will suffer guilt. Our wounded animal self will torture, ad nauseum, our morally superior controlling ego with depression and “bad” fantasy. We must abandon this old ethic. Our new ethic must grant the human animal its basic human right: The right to pursue happiness. With this gesture, our spirit consciousness acknowledges its animal partner, though the challenge of true integration and reconciliation with the fullness of who we are is indeed the greatest human challenge.

Guilt can be relieved when we accept that the animal hungers, lusts, and rages. The fact that the animal has these experiences does not make it bad; it simply makes it a human animal.

Of course, it is equally appropriate for its spirit counterpart to require of the animal a bit of refinement and restraint. Once the animal energies can find satisfaction and expression, with conscious consent and collaboration that allows for a fuller expression of all that we are, we advance.

What ultimately will relieve us of our guilt, is to embrace a new human ethic: Integrated wholeness versus perfection based on suppression or repression of the animal—that which has led us to our current status: a crumbling civilization with its discontents!

Reconciliation, when all is known and accepted... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Reconciliation, when all is known and accepted…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

May we all herald in this new ethic, beyond guilt, as brave pioneers taking full responsibility for our individual wholeness in our interdependent one world.

Going beyond,
Chuck

* Reference: Erich Neumann, Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, p. 46.

Note: I am grateful to Erich Neumann and his book, Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, which has inspired much of this blog.

Lessons in Life: A Warrior’s Journey

We all get caught in systems of belief, sticky as a spider's web... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We all get caught in systems of belief,
sticky as a spider’s web…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Chuck, Jeanne and I write often of warrior skills, of learning to hone the skills and mindset of a warrior. We like to say that we are all warriors on our personal journeys. It might be difficult to grasp what we mean by this or to feel an attachment to the term, but be assured it’s not really that foreign.

The first step of acceptance of the self as a warrior comes in acknowledging that we are all spiritual beings seeking to graduate from Earth School, to find the means to connect with our High Self and move on from repeated lives here and to advance into other realities. Earth school is the preparation for doing just that.

A warrior does not seek to promote or aggrandize the self, but uses the term only as an anchor, as a focus. Much as a practitioner of meditation, yoga, tai chi, karate, etc., might practice the skills of those disciplines, in deep inner silence, so does a warrior practice the skills of the warrior in private. It is not something one talks about. It is something one does, all the time and to the best of one’s abilities, seeking always to advance to new levels of accomplishment, like learning to improve at playing a musical instrument or to perfect an athletic skill.

To bring attention to the self, to believe or state that one is better or more advanced that another being is not in the warrior’s best interest. The only thing that matters is the personal journey toward awareness, and so a warrior remains innerly focused on that intent. Awareness is whatever it is for the life one is in and the journey one is presently on. One person’s awareness might be another person’s confusion, or already assimilated into another person’s life, but all will discover what they need over time, when they are ready, and so awareness is very personal too.

And so, the only thing that really matters is the personal journey, and thus we use the term “warrior” in a very specific way, to describe a being who is privately intent on figuring life out on ever-deepening levels, intent on taking the inner journey to understanding and completion, in whatever way that is meaningful for the current lifetime.

Curiosity might be the catalyst to advancement... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Curiosity might be the catalyst to advancement…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Thus, references to the skills of the warrior and the processes of the warrior’s journey are always made with a far bigger picture in mind, the ultimate goal being that of the eternal spirit’s connection and union with its energetic self, with the Earth School being finding out that it is something else entirely. Experiences in life provide us with the direct means and the tangible products to take the journey to understanding what that might mean for us individually, utilizing what is personally relevant.

If you have any doubt about being a warrior yourself, stop right now. Instead, accept that because you are here, living in Earth School, you are already taking the warrior’s journey. You are curious, a seeker of something beyond that which is normally perceived, or you have been thrust into experiences and perceptions that you did not ask for but have had to contend with nonetheless. So the truth is, we are all warriors seeking meaning, understanding, and connection. If you are reading this—and I write this without any self-aggrandizement but simply as fact—you are already well on your way.

There comes a point during your time in Earth School when it becomes clear that “warrior” is indeed an appropriate term of description for what you are doing, for what you are attempting to achieve, to figure out, to sort through. In seeking deeper explanation, in the search for self-knowledge, for spirit connection, in the deep work of recapitulation, you are learning and honing the skills of a warrior. You might even discover that you have always been a warrior; you just didn’t know it!

So, when we speak or write of warriors and their doings, do not dismiss yourself from the mix, but more fully embrace your own journey as a warrior’s journey. Perhaps finding a context for what you are attempting to do and giving it a label, such as “I am a warrior taking a warrior’s journey,” will be just what you need to lock-in the practice and the deepening search for meaning that you have embarked on, even without your knowing, giving it a most fitting name. Do not doubt that you are worthy of the name, for in truth we are all warrior’s taking the warrior’s journey, just as we are spiritual beings taking the spiritual journey. They are one and the same.

At some point along the way we discover what it means to be in Earth School. We wake up to the fact that we are here to learn something. We become intensely aware that there is something else beyond this learning ground. That awakening offers us the opportunity to seek advancement beyond Earth School. It’s always our choice, of course.

What's out there waiting for us? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What’s out there waiting for us?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With our warriorhood practices firmly rooted, with our skills honed, our doubts melt away more easily and we move on more easily too. For now, however, we do the work we are challenged with in this life, both that which comes from within and that which comes from without.

The lessons of this lifetime, whether we are aware of them as lessons or not, whether we see a bigger picture or not, offer us the opportunity to connect with our future self. Making the decision to find out what that might mean is another step on the spiritual warrior’s journey.

Taking the journey too,
Jan

Chuck’s Place: Buffalo Soldier

Life reflects the dilemma of our energy body... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Life reflects the dilemma of our energy body…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

The human body is an animal. The human animal is the host of the energy body, the mental and emotional part of ourselves that generates the thoughts and desires that largely determine the fate of our physical, animal body.

It is the energy body that leaves our physical form upon physical death. Yet, while in physical form, this separate energy body—or soul—controls, like a dog on a leash, the activities of the physical body in daily life, determining its health and care.

Our food choices are not made by the physical body; they are made by the desires and rules of the energy body. Our sleep patterns too are largely determined by the wants and interests of the energy body.

Our obsession with pets is largely a projection of empathy and love for our animal physical body selves, largely dominated by the whims of our energy body. Our energy body is a more subtle body that tends to use the physical body to experience its wants and ideas through the sensory systems available in the human body, thus the pleasures of excitement can be played out in the sweets and spices we consume in our food and drink.

Left to its own natural predilection, the human animal self might select food that it really needs to remain in optimal health. Mental constructions, however, result in behaviors that often override the body’s true needs, either through restriction or overindulgence. Rarely is the human animal body ever included in decisions that reflect its wellbeing, rather it simply goes along with the dictates of the subtler energy body.

Last week, fifteen buffalo herded together and broke through the confines of a ranch in Rensselaer County in upstate New York. They swam across the Hudson River and then sauntered across a major interstate highway until they were finally slaughtered in nearby woods. They utilized the power of their innate archetypal herding instinct to break through their condition of servitude. I can’t help but applaud those buffalo soldiers as they danced their final dance in this world in utter freedom.

Two days later, Gaia herself violently shook her body self as thousands were swallowed in Nepal, that most ancient holy country. What is the message here, in these two recent examples of energy gone wild?

We are all energy beings entwined with physical animal bodies, our hosts while in physical life, charged with treating the earth with spiritual leadership. When we tyrannize the earth, the animals, and even our own animal selves, treating them as playthings for our ethereal pleasures, then Gaia, the buffalo, and our own physical bodies rebel and refuse to be partners on our spiritual journey.

Our mission as energy bodies entwined with our animal host selves, on a spiritual level, is to resolve our karmic challenges with the materials that life on earth offers us. Our gift to the earth in exchange is to enliven the spirit potential of this physical world to evolve itself in new directions.

The sketch Jan made in her journal as she contemplated her dream...
The sketch Jan made in her journal as she contemplated her dream…

The problem for humans is that their purest spirit intentions, as they come into physical life, get clouded over in the rich darkness of earth’s soil. It’s our journey in this life to release our karma as we journey from the darkness to find our way back to the light of spirit—pure consciousness of the truth. This morning Jan awoke with a dream that clarifies and illustrates the drama of this dilemma.

Here is Jan’s dream as she described it to me: “Come on, I said, let’s take a walk. I thought I was walking with another person. My observer self, who hovered behind and above me, however, pointed out: It has no legs! As I turned to look at the being beside me, I saw that I was walking beside a large paper-thin black square out of which hung a tendril of root. The root almost touched the ground as the sheet of blackness floated beside me. I realized that this black shadowy figure was my ego. Then I realized that everything that I am and seek to be is inside me; I am all I need. Ego was a shadow entity that inhabited me, clearly not human. I realized I no longer needed it. I knew that I just had to follow the Tao.”

The shadow square of Jan’s dream is a mandala, the representation of the spirit embodied in the energy body who then projects its ethereal self into the physical body as an ego. The ego is the spirit, or energy body representative, rooted in the physical body. But the truth is, it has no legs. It’s really an empty shadow. However, in human life it becomes the active force, the ruler of life. In its shadow state it is not oriented to spirit and uses the energy body for its own desires and appetites. This exploitation has resulted in the protests of Gaia and her buffalo, who bravely contest our inferior leadership.

The resolution of our human karmic dilemma is for the spirit’s energy body representative in human form, the ego, to find its way and eventually acquiesce to the dictates of the heart chakra, where the true intent of the spirit resides in what Aurobindo called the Psychic Being.

The quest for freedom requires that the ego self, like the buffalo, must lead itself out of the confines of servitude to the physical and into the light, graciously giving up its life for the evolution of the spirit. In the final analysis, the march for freedom is always death of the physical, ego included.

The heart chakra center of the energy body is grounded in the Tao and knows only truth, compassion, and right action. The Tao elevates everything to a spiritual level. Humanity elevated to this level sheds its shadow ego and aligns with the light of spirit, burning through its karma and leading earth into proper balance and evolution. It is the goal of all our spirits.

Chuck dancing with the spirit of the buffaloes... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Chuck dancing with the spirit of the buffaloes…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Our dear animal friends, the buffalo, teach us that tyranny is wrong action and that the quest for freedom is all that matters. This is spirit lived at the highest level, life shedding the tyranny of illusion, marching forward into the unknown, bringing light into new frontiers.

I honor those mighty Buffalo Soldiers, as did Bob Marley: Buffalo Soldier.

Dancing with the buffalo soldiers,
Chuck

Message for Humanity from Jeanne: Take It To A Higher Level

Begin a new practice today... take it to a higher spiritual level... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Begin a new practice today…
take it to a higher spiritual level…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Today’s channeled message addresses the true reality of Now, the place where all our worldly involvement and focus has taken us.

The mention of destruction and violence refers not only to the earthquake in Nepal and the warring situation in the Middle East, but includes every thing every where.

We are all far removed from what is right and natural. We are all part of the problem. Time to be part of the solution—the SOULution!