Tag Archives: transition

Soulbyte for Tuesday April 12, 2022

Leave discouragement by the wayside as you forge ahead, looking always for what comes next to lead you forward on your journey. Without tarrying too long, choose the path of possibility over regret, resentment, sorrow or failure. Instead, find new life even in a place of loss, lack or leveling, for life does not ever stop, it merely transitions.

Sending you love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte For Wednesday January 20, 2021

Take a deep breath and, just as the winds of nature blow in the change of a new era, blow out the old and draw in the new. Completely exhale the stale old air within and make room for the new. In times of change it is a good idea to do something to mark the transition; clean house, change something, shift something or simply breathe deeply, calmly, and peacefully. Assign a new thought to the mind today, a positive thought of hope and new beginnings. No matter the course of events, it is indeed a new day.

Sending you love,

The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck’s Place: Refine the Divine

All is divine…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The central question of our time is the future of our world. We are at an obvious transition point, as we grapple with a virus that has fundamentally challenged every aspect of the way we live. Though there be a wide range of opinion on how to proceed, the challenge to every individual’s core sense of security is undeniable.

When I was a young boy, I badly bungled my attempts to memorize my catechism, nearly costing me entree into sacramental rites. However, one thing I never got wrong: God is everywhere and everything. There is nothing that exists that is not God.

From this perspective, everything that exists, from virus to world leaders, are part of that same Oneness often referred to as God. If we accept the notion that we are all part of the divine, we should consider checking our projective tendency to vilify and demonize any part of our collective Oneness.

On the other hand, the current state of our world is such that there are such divisive and opposing viewpoints that, for either side, there is great difficulty seeing the divinity in the other. Perhaps a perspective that views the world as needing to dance through an extreme cosmic upheaval, and remain standing at the end, can free us from our hatred and depression.

Indeed, if my catechism was correct, we are, as a world, suffering one of the infinite permutations of possibility that exists in the infinite journey we are all on. From the place of equanimity, let us not wish it away or dismiss it but instead, live it fully.

The Hindu holy book, known as The Bhagavad Gita, addresses the dilemma the world currently grapples with. In this epic, a war between royals in the same family is being fought. Arjuna, fighter for one side is counseled by, Krishna, a Hindu equivalent to Christ, who tells him he must fight to fulfill his warrior duty to uphold the cosmic law of selfless action. 

Selfless action means acting without attachment to gain or outcome, simply doing what one feels is right. From that perspective all players have the duty to live out their individual truths. The outcome of such a play is in no way guaranteed, other than it reflects the full meeting of these felt truths.

Truths that are actually veiled distortions inevitably peel away, as they cannot be sustained by the greater truth, which must, of necessity, emerge as the true victor. In this process, the divine is refined and purified. On a pragmatic level, balance is restored to the world, as it finds secure footing.

That which peels away in this molting process must be thoroughly valued  as warriors critical to evolution. We don’t always get to play the hero, but without the antagonist there is no story. For evolution to proceed that which once held the truth must surrender to tomorrow’s new reality.

Thus, Love the ‘Other’ as Thyself. Like Arjuna, play your part, no attachment to the outcome other than that it be the greater truth, for now. Appreciate all that lifts us beyond inertia, as collectively we refine our shared Divinity.

Love,

Chuck

Soulbyte for Monday April 6, 2020

Mother Nature is putting the human species in down time, needing a break from the intensity of its greed, hunger, and exuberance, offering a time of toning down, transitioning to a time of less, for the good of all. Spend time now learning patience, contentment with what is, and how Mother Nature keeps things in balance, and do the same. Study the creatures of the Earth and the transitory nature of the predatory world you live in, how balance is necessary, how reckoning happens every day, and how beauty abounds as well. Notice how exuberance is in balance with all else as well. Study how Mother Nature provides, supports, and makes space for all creatures, giving and taking to maintain good balance, equality, purity, and honesty, how all are of equal importance, with equal opportunity to enjoy the bounty. Get in alignment with the changing times and with what Mother Nature is asking of you. Things are changing for everyone, but Mother Nature’s changes are in alignment with evolutionary transformation, as usual, keeping in step with nature’s ever-changing time, life continuing according to plan.

Sending you all love,

The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck’s Place: Spirit is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Spirit in the flow of everyday change…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Every being upon this planet is exposed to the identical pressure of Earth in radical transition. The term transition highlights the growth potential that accompanies the obvious destructive side effects of these far reaching changes.

This pressure, or egalitarian touch of the Spirit, offers all beings an opportunity to evolve. How we interpret this pressure will determine how we respond to this opportunity, which is presented equally to all.

As individual humans we are beings of two minds, the mind of everyday life and the mind of the Spirit. The everyday mind is largely of extrinsic origin, being the product of  the internalized forces of socialization. Though experienced as deeply personal, this is the judging mind of the internal dialogue that tells us who we are and what is what, according to our deeply internalized party line.

The fixation of everyone’s everyday mind is an overarching concern about the self, or by extension, me and mine. That mind interprets the world through the narrow narcissistic lens of being offended, or validated, by all the actions of others, or simply by the world-at-large.  At present, the world is being treated to a mighty reflection of this everyday mind, as mirrored by world leadership.

As the Earth proceeds along her mighty path of transformation, it becomes increasingly obvious that the dominance of the everyday mind is headed for extinction, at least in its current form. How can this self-serving approach to reality possibly survive the absolute necessity of a more comprehensive concern for the survival of the entire planet?

The mind of the Spirit is directly linked to the deeper truth of Earth’s profound transformation. However, this knowing of the Spirit is largely veiled by the mind of everyday life, with its fixation of total energy and attention placed upon its self-centered, worrisome, everyday concerns. From its perspective, my survival, regardless of altruistic verbiage and activity, is as far as it can really see.

The mind of Spirit speaks softly but honestly beneath the dense layers of the everyday mind. Shocks in the everyday flow of life, such as the tragic untimely death of Kobe Bryant, offer glimpses of Spirit.  The far greater outer calamities of the Earth are also messengers of Spirit, inviting a wider audience to hear its truths, as evidenced in the current coronavirus.

Fascinating to watch how quickly the everyday mind restores itself following its rupture by knocks of the Spirit. In Piaget’s nomenclature, assimilation that refuses to accommodate the greater truth is not real adaptation. At best, it’s a temporary sand fortress, soon to be dissolved by the next wave.

Finally, Spirit offers the highest form of adventure. To ride honestly, with knowledge of our transience, and being respectful of our temporary home, while we simultaneously thoroughly take the journey of preparation for the next leap in our journey, is the true path of heart.

This is the call of our Spirit now, our true evolutionary destiny. And Spirit is an equal opportunity employer. All who turn to it in earnest are immediately hired, on a true mission from the Universe.

Employed,

Chuck