Tag Archives: water

Chuck’s Place: Snow — the Truth Congealed

Congealed truth…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Water, in its highest aspect is a symbol of our high Soul, the ultimate source of who we really are. Water symbolizes ultimate unity. Lacking in differentiated parts, the river flows in its wholeness: the Tao.

At the level of everyday consciousness, the world is perceived in a highly differentiated way that separates, classifies, and organizes energy into distinct objects that enable an individual to navigate life in a material world.

This perspective has the side effect of obscuring or downright blinding us to our underlying interdependence and oneness and also sends us into deep opposition within ourselves and with our many neighbors.

When snow appears in a dream, it represents the Truth from the high Soul being transmitted to the plane of everyday consciousness in the form of water, congealed. This intervention from the high Soul freezes water into snow, as we are not ready to grasp its full message at our current level of consciousness; we need to first melt the snow.

Melting the snow begins with the recognition that its appearance in the dream is significant. To contemplate its meaning initiates the melting process. It is likely that the message will not be revealed in an immediate eureka moment, though indeed that is possible.

Contemplation has its own limits, as it issues from the mental plane, which tends to think in terms of opposites and differentiated parts. However, reliving vs merely thinking about a dream can give rise to spontaneous associations that begin to decipher the message from the high Soul. In this way, contemplation makes space for direct communication, as well as intuition.

To fully melt the snow, one must enter into communion with the greater unity of the high Soul. From one perspective this means fully owning every aspect of the dream as part of one’s wholeness. Regardless of who the characters are in the dream, their drama, at a certain level, is one’s own drama.

What distinguishes this perspective from narcissism is its willingness to permit a fuller knowing of self, particularly aspects that function autonomously in the darkness of the shadow. Rather than dismiss the existence of other, this approach promotes solidarity with other in a greater acceptance of the universality of all human experience. In contrast, in narcissism, one is the only one who exists; there simply is no other.

Taking a walk in the snow in last night’s dream, I unknowingly found myself nearly falling off a precipice. Time became elongated. I had full clarity that my balance had shifted beyond the tipping point; indeed it seemed I was about to fall. In deep slow motion, I next experienced a counter energy that gently reversed my body movement like a rubber Gumby, as my feet remained planted on the ground. Balance was restored.

This dream speaks to many dimensions of my being, but at the most universal—that of the high Soul—it follows up the message of last week’s blog, The Turning Point. Here the turning point becomes the tipping point, the point of apparent no return. And yet, despite the inevitability of deep crash, balance was restored.

The message from the highest center of unity suggests that though the current Earth drama may go so far as to throw it out of its normal elliptical revolution, a return to balance is possible. Regardless of the deeply exaggerated precipitous ledge we find our world currently in we will swing back.

With this knowing, seek refuge in the heart center, the Truth center that melts all the congealed snow.

Warmly,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Water & Wind

I consult the I Ching, one of my favorite oracles, for guidance as we pause in the destructive wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The I Ching first delivers Hexagram #48, the Well.

Nature’s lessons, water & wind…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The central feature of this hexagram is the pure water that springs from the earth’s depths to nourish all life. In the plant kingdom nature provides roots to trees and plants to channel this vital resource to sustain life. In the human species this archetype manifests in the building of the well that then serves to deliver this resource to support life in human communities.

Emphasis is placed on the quality of construction of the well as well as the social structure needed to maintain its purity, balanced use, and sustainability. I receive a moving line in the 6th place, actually a quite favorable line. In essence, the message is: the truth flows freely; now it’s up to us to decide what to do with it.  Like water raised in a bucket from the depths of the well, the truth is the life-sustaining spring water message of nature, raised to the level of full consciousness.

What are the truths that now flow freely in the flooded waters of these hurricanes? Global warming, climate change, is a fact. The rise in temperature of ocean waters is fuel to hurricanes that are becoming increasingly powerful and destructive. Can we acknowledge this fact, and take actions to change the warming trend?

The social structure that embraces unlimited growth as its imperative results in overpopulation that strains nature’s resources. As well, the high concentration of industrial complexes, with their toxic stores, threaten the purity of natural resources and the ability to sustain life.

These are broader truths presented to our collective species. On an individual personal level the I Ching is telling us that the facts, the changes we need to make in our personal lives, are presenting themselves to us quite clearly. The confusion or ambivalence we ordinarily feel is lifted now; the truth is that we know what we need to do, what is right.

Perhaps these truths are being clarified through symptoms in our bodies, our physical nature, that point to needed changes. Perhaps the messages are delivered from our spirit nature through the powerful emotions or insights we are receiving. Perhaps our truths are manifesting synchronistically in the events manifesting in the events of our personal lives that dramatize obvious need for change.

These truths are staring us in the face. In fact, the I Ching gives the follow-up, Hexagram #57, the Penetrating Wind, to further drive home its point. The wind is the penetrating influence that breaks up the thick clouds that block the truth. These deeply penetrating hurricane winds have been relatively sparing of human life so far, but devastating to the environments that have sustained them.

Nature is asking humans to penetrate the truths revealed. The well represents our modern governance of life’s most precious resource, pure drinking water. We are clearly being humbled, but not destroyed. We must heal our divide by considering the true needs of our planet, by being willing to sacrifice our power and special interest drives in the service of survival. To survive we must respect and uphold the vital balance nature requires to sustain life.

In the hologram of our individual lives we are being shown that the truths we must acquiesce to, to bring ourselves into sustainable balance, are abundantly evident now. The eclipse has passed, the storms have revealed the truths.

Time to penetrate the facts and forge a plan of action. Like the rebuilding of devastated communities progress will be slow but deliberate, but can be built now upon a secure foundation of truth.

The great changes we must make in our individual lives are upon us. Nature in some form has prepared the way for them, what awaits is consciousness to align with and be nourished by the pristine, spring water truths freely flowing to us now.

The truth flows freely; what will we do with it?

Flowing with the changes,

Chuck

A Day in a Life: The 70 Percent Self

Vibration is all around us... affecting us in some way... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Vibration is all around us…
affecting us in some way…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

We are 70% water. With so much water making up who we physically are it’s no wonder that we vibrate when something from outside shocks or startles us. Notice how a sudden loud sound sends reverberations through the body. Notice how terrible news sends shockwaves through us. Notice how affected we are by beautiful sounds, beautiful thoughts, beautiful sights, as beauty too sends chills through us.

Water is rarely still. Even a sedentary bowl or glass of water is in constant motion, sound waves constantly rumbling through it, shaking its molecules, though this may not be visible to the naked eye. Think of the oceans in constant motion, water flowing deep inside the earth, magnetic forces and the earth’s shifts vibrating the waters of the world. Even water that is stagnant, if shaken up has the possibility of changing its molecular structure from a putrid state to a healthy state. Vibration alone is enough to change water, but the quality of that vibration makes all the difference.

Masaru Emoto, in his book, The Hidden Messages in Water, showed how negative vibration and positive vibration impact water. In other books he continues his explorations of the subject, concluding in The True Power of Water that: “Since the quality of water improves or deteriorates depending on the information given to it, the corollary for humans, who are made up primarily of water, is to take in good information. When we do, our mind and body can become healthier. Conversely, when we take in negative information, we can get sick.”

Fascinated by the work of Emoto for several years now, I have turned once again to reading his studies, pondering our watery selves and the current health of humankind, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The more I remain aware of myself as 70% water, the more I notice vibrations around me and how they impact me personally.

I remember myself as a child swimming all summer long, safely embraced by and at ease in the water of the swimming pool. How buoyant, how light I became! Almost as if I had lost my human form, I became one with the water. All troubles washed away in the water. In its vibration my own vibration found resonance.

We all send energy vibrations out from our core... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
We all send energy vibrations out from our core…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

Our human form allows us to feel our inner vibratory selves most keenly in the presence of sound. We can put a glass of water in front of a speaker, turn up the music, and see how the sound vibration from the speaker affects the water. It affects us too. The fact that we are 70% water further clarifies for me the concept of resonance. When we feel resonance with someone or something we are basically feeling the effects of resonant sound waves. Sound waves, as I’ve been discovering through my own experimentations, affect the human body quite profoundly. Emoto would agree that the sounds we expose ourselves to can leave us feeling happy, healthy, calm and balanced, or they can leave us feeling depleted, moody, and negative. He exposed water to ugly words and then to beautiful words and observed the difference. In crystal form, the water that had been exposed to beautiful words produced beautiful crystals while the water that had been exposed to ugly words produced equally ugly shapes.

Certain music turns me right off. I feel hatred and anger coming on its sound vibrations and I do not want to listen to it. It comes at me with assaultive dissonance and my inner vibration gets uncomfortably revved by it. I feel my water molecules jumping around and getting heated up, making me feel agitated. My 70% water tells me it doesn’t like it at all! Other music moves me with sound vibrations that, though revving, are also happy and joyous, with good feelings, and once again I float in happy buoyancy similar to the swimming pool water of my childhood. The water that I am made up of seeks positive water in return—vibrations that resonate.

When I turn to nature, I notice how my watery self likes the sound of the wind, though gusts send it shaking. It prefers calm winds and the sound of water gently babbling, though I am fully aware that big winds of change and massive tidal waves are often welcome as well, that they shake me awake, out of my complacency and negativity. And so, even though I seek resonance in my life, I’m fully aware of the potency of dissonance, that it has a purpose, and so I welcome it when it comes. I use it to look for what in my life, and in my body self, needs shaking up. I thank it for making me aware of the need for change and use it to my advantage. After all, I want to keep myself as vibratory as the waters of the world, for I do not want to become stagnant!

But I’ve gotten to a point in my life where like-resonance is most important. If it’s lacking my watery self will not stop for long; it moves on quickly now, though I might, at one time, have felt obligation or duty more strongly than resonance. Now I choose resonance over the proclamations of old voices or inhibiting social constructs that once controlled my feeling self. I now give myself permission to bow out and away from dissonance with no regrets or bad feelings if nothing fruitful is offered in return. I walk away from negative energy rather than be assaulted by it. If someone is punching me in the gut, would I stick around to keep getting punched? No thank you! Sometimes a negative situation is just negative and it’s simply most healthy and appropriate to move on to more positive energy.

In peaceful co-existence... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In peaceful co-existence…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In resonance we find deep satisfaction and calmness, the flow of all life resonant with ours, and in resonance life will flow with us, naturally bringing us its bounty. If we open ourselves to good vibrations, we will receive that which is good, and our vibratory 70% water selves will thank us!

Our deepest selves, I believe, all vibrate at the same rate. We are all beautiful music at our core, the same vibratory energy of the earth, the same sound waves of nature. Sometimes we are calm and sometimes we are agitated, but at our deepest core we all vibrate to the same sound. Perhaps we will all, one day, tune into the same music and hum the same tune.

Tuning in, sending you good vibrations,
Jan

Go to the Source

Here are a few quotes to ponder from Hexagram #48: Well, taken from The Living I Ching by Deng Ming-Dao.

“The muddy well does not feed. No birds come to an ancient well.”

“Well: draw from it, and you draw from the source. No matter how advanced a civilization becomes, its foundations depend on nature. A source of water cannot be replaced.”

“On a practical level, we must maintain our supply of water and food. On a spiritual level, our understanding deepens the more we dwell on the sources of our existence.”

Water from the Earth

“The water comes to us freely from the earth, deposited by the last winter’s rains…This free use of a well is a metaphor for how we should conduct our lives. If we are careful and healthy in our conduct, we will be replenished each day. Accordingly, we must give all that we can today, knowing that tomorrow will bring new support. Those who are narrow and selfish with their energies grow smaller, not greater. Give everything that you can. Do not hold back: unless water is drawn from a well, new water cannot flow in.”

“Water from the earth is wonderfully pure, refreshing, and invigorating. Our scientists can find little different about this water in their laboratories, but those who drink from the wellsprings know better. Expensive bottled water and manufactured beverages cannot help us in the way a well can. Eschew the artificial. Go to the source.”