Good morning! Here is today’s audio channeled message. Perhaps it will carry some inspiring words for you as a new day and a new week begin. And don’t forget to check out today’s Soulbyte, posted earlier this morning.
What is real change? It may feel good to escape the heat of an uncomfortable situation, but that hardly guarantees we won’t be triggered again or that we won’t repeat the same fateful drama with a new cast of characters. The ego might try, with all of its cognitive might, to identify and rationally put to rest its fears and anxieties, but despite all its heroic intentions it might still find itself blindsided and seized by a passionate emotion of anger, terror, or attraction, or be swallowed up in a pool of sadness.
The simple truth is that the ego fortress alone, despite all its mighty defenses, is unlikely to permanently change or transform the deeper issues of the psyche housed in the depths of the unconscious and triggered by the outer circumstances of everyday life.
Permanent change is very simple to recognize: the person or situation that once triggered us, as measured by a strong activation of the central nervous system in powerful emotion, is now experienced as neutral; no activation of the central nervous system, no powerful emotion.
Energetically, we can say that the inner electrical charge of the triggering object has been completely depleted of its electrical charge. Psychically, we could say that the energy of the unconscious content behind the trigger has been transferred from the unconscious to the ego in the form of deep understanding, acceptance, and resolution. The ego becomes stronger, not in its defenses but more in its reduced need for defenses, the energy formerly spent in defenses now available for a more fulfilling experience of life.
The symbol that often emerges to represent this enlightened state of consciousness is white light, or whiteness in some form. This form of illuminated whiteness in spiritual terms is awareness that transcends maya, the veil of illusion that entraps us in the triggered situation, projected onto everyday life.
The bright light of whiteness lays bare all the truths, like the bright sun at its midday zenith. But this transformation also requires that the ego withstand the intense heat of both the blinding light of truth and the full heat of emotions that are sure to arise during any encounter with truth.
Rather than discharge that emotion in defensive spurts of blame and rage, the ego contains this cauldron of volatile emotion without action. As the truth is laid bare, the ego pours its deep well of tears into the cauldron as well, allowing both the heat of the fire and the dissolution of water to break down its intense attachment to the illusion it has held onto in an attempt to medicate itself from the full impact of the truth.
Finally, the fire of contained passion, the solution of sadness and depression, and the consciousness of the full reality of what is, eventuates in a genuine transformation. We are released into freedom from a formerly binding attachment. We can then stare into the truth of our lives with the detachment of reading a benign history book, no triggers, only genuine transformation.
In her new book, to be published later this year, Jan offers an account of an experience of this cauldron of transformation, of bright white light followed by an intensity of emotions. She was at a family gathering, usually an emotionally triggering situation: “I feel myself move slightly, not my body, for my physical body remains stationary, but something inside me shifts and suddenly I see everything differently. One second I am my usual self, thinking my thoughts, and in the next second everything goes quiet. I go quiet too, utterly calm and still, and I see that everything and everyone is highlighted in white light. Crystal clear and luminous energy flows from everyone and everything. I am almost afraid to blink; I don’t want to disturb the beautiful, numinous vision. Then, just as suddenly, I am flooded with emotions. Feelings of sadness and loneliness envelop me…”
And that is followed by this: “…and then I know that it’s all true, that everything is true, that this experience in this moment is true and all I have recapitulated is true too.”
In the end, Jan states: “I was able to maintain a sense of continuity in the midst of the shift,” underscoring that the ego was ready to encounter what was being proposed as the means to transformation. Now that is real change!
Both Jeanne and Robert Monroe report that journeys in energetic infinity are completely transparent. Thoughts and feelings are immediately known to self and other—no place to hide. This in no way implies moral superiority or perfection, simply the absence of shadow—all is revealed.
In our solid dimension, shadow, the ability to hide from self and other, is, and has been, the nemesis of our evolution. At this moment in time, we witness a dramatic acting out of disowned shadow as it is projected and killed throughout the world.
As horrific as such outbreaks of violence are, they reflect our own evolutionary movement toward transparency. Videos abound, blatantly revealing violence and murder perpetrated by individuals projecting evil onto others. The truth is being revealed, and though reactions to those truths wreak havoc, in the end, the truth is being revealed in greater transparency.
Mother Earth has mandated evolutionary advance and humans are the agents of her intent. The rise of Donald Trump is another reflection of this urgency for change and transparency. Ironically, his flippant, ignorant, off-the-cuff reactive style appeals to a certain populace fed up with lies. He is actually supported by a wave of sentiment that seeks easy truth and simplicity vs the diplomatic complexity of seeking real solutions.
I remember, when I first started in the field of counseling, how some seasoned therapists would meet with a patient, analyze their problem, and provide them with a very clear prescription to solve that problem—very clear, rational, and black and white. The trouble was, most of those patients were ultimately labelled as defensive because they didn’t act on their prescriptions.
The one dictum I held onto from graduate school was to start where the client is at. This requires complex diplomacy—suspending judgment–and gradually helping a client to reckon with, own, and make their shadow transparent.
Trump mimics a quick prescriber that attracts the hunger for greater transparency and fairness, yet, ironically, Trump himself has led a business career of manipulation and dishonesty. What’s striking is the willingness to overlook these facts, so great is the desire for change.
As much as I am concerned about the current generation’s obsession with social media, which I see as a widening dissociation from our human animal selves, I can’t help but validate the same drive toward greater transparency that the internet and social media offer. It’s getting harder to hide and lie in this modern world!
We are in a cauldron of monumental change where phenomena like the rise of Donald Trump are likely to occur as an aberrant permutation of transparency. These are significant but transient events. The deeper, more fundamental event here is the realization of Mother Earth’s intent to evolve us to the next level of energetic transparency. And with that transparency the human will will have little choice but to acquiesce to the truth and the necessary actions to insure survival and the flourishing of our evolving dream and, ultimately, our transformation.
I said to Jan on Sunday that it felt like the first day of spring—yes, January 31st! Temperatures in the low 50s, people out walking, time elongated to the point where by 8 PM it felt like 11PM, certainly time for bed!
The world is changing rapidly now. There is no going back. Though we ground ourselves in the familiarity and constant contact of social media, pervasive and lasting change is swooping in all around us.
I was delighted, on our timeless Sunday, to find and watch a documentary on Marion Woodman, renowned Jungian analyst, whose personal life and transformation speak eloquently to the coming death and rebirth of the world we live in as we undergo deep transformation. Her sharing of the rise of the feminine as the missing healing factor in our growth process is positive and quite hopeful. I couldn’t have said it better.
We are in the changing times. Mother Nature, Gaia, is in her element, leading us forward.I call to Gaia for true guidance, as we are indeed in her grasp. We are completely encased in her womb, at the early stages of her pregnancy, leading eventually to our salvation and ultimate deliverance. Though we cry out for deliverance now, that is not nature’s way. For now, we must stay contained and face the darkness of this pregnant time, this time of transformation.
Pregnancy is largely a hidden process where the mysterious forces of nature gather and coagulate the materials needed to eventually usher forth new life. Now these materials are being drawn from our changing environment and transformed, like frozen waters melting into rising tides. Mentally frozen attitudes are being broken down to allow for broader acceptance. Heightened emotions are the fiery energies of change. Naturally, the tensions created by all these energies contained within the womb cry out for relief.
And yes, we are drawn to the early release of this tension. We turn to the security of a “Trumpism” as the solution, but like all isms this simple solution is a miscarriage, not the needed rebirth Gaia now prepares us for. The truth is, we must bear the extreme tension of this time of darkness, this time of unknowing, as our world is being reshaped and reformed into its most fitting and natural next stage.
Every evening we dip into the darkness of sleep and the phases of the moon, with their own mysterious growth and healing processes. We cannot force a solution to new wholeness but must patiently allow the pregnancy to proceed, largely in the darkness too. We must participate with care and caution, responding as needed to the growing changes slowly and naturally taking place.
Just as the moon eventually becomes full, at the right time, so does Gaia ask us to bear this time of tension for, eventually, it will lead to right action. Rather than simply reacting and taking things too far in the wrong direction, Gaia teaches us to patiently evolve. When the time is right, right action will be born into a new balance, ready to sustain us as we embark on the next evolutionary journey, into infinity.
“What, Gaia, should we be doing at this stage?” I ask. Through Jan’s dream, recounted below, Gaia spoke. We pass it on.
Jan’s Dream: Chuck and I are at home. He is a Master Plumber, teaching a class in plumbing. The pipes inside a wall are exposed and he is busy making repairs and explaining to his students what he is doing. “Don’t do this at home, ” he warns them. I stand on the side watching. I am worried about something.
Suddenly a giant praying mantis, the size of a hat, flies into the room and lands on my head. I feel it walking around, digging its claws into my scalp. I call out. Chuck turns to me and says: “Just get still, stay still. It will go away when it’s the right time, but for now just go into stillness.”
I stand as still as possible, bearing the tension of the praying mantis’s sharp claws digging into my scalp, squeezing my head. It starts to poop and I stand perfectly still while black shit runs down my face. The students want to clean it off me, but I tell them to leave it, that I will clean it off after the praying mantis leaves.
Then a gigantic yellow butterfly flies into the room. It circles around me where I stand in stillness with the giant praying mantis on my head and alights on my right arm. I try to shake it off, but it molds itself to my arm, encircling it like a giant tattoo. I stand there like that, in stillness, with the praying mantis on my head and the butterfly on my arm, waiting for what comes next. -End of dream.
Chuck’s Interpretation: Gaia sends the praying mantis to demonstrate utter stillness, while she clutches us in her grasp. This is the time of pregnancy after all, and we cannot undo what is already in motion. We must bear the muddied earthiness from the dung of the mantis as life is transformed. These are the dark energies of destruction we see and experience all around us. We must bear them, without taking action, in utter stillness. No matter how intense the pain or fear, we must remain still. It’s not personal. Gaia is gathering her materials. We are all part of that.
Gaia also sends us a butterfly, assuring us that transformation is happening. The process is underway, but it’s nothing we can force. Nature works in nature’s own time. The moon eventually gets full, the sun eventually rises again, the seasons unfold.
And finally, the Master Plumber points out: don’t interfere with nature unless you truly know what you are doing, which can only be from a place knowledge and right action. All of nature practices stillness, all of nature knows how to hold back until the time is right.
Gaia’s new world is in utero, and we are all in it with her. Rather than worry or fear, let nature do it’s part, but stay with the practice of love. All those around you are part of the same whole new world—my neighbor, myself.
Gaia is speaking to all of us now, in our world and in our dreams,