#538 Chuck’s Place: Self-Love

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!

From the perspective of quantum physics, Einstein gave us the gift of interconnectedness: at the deepest level everything is an interconnected sea of energy. Our interpretation of energy in this universe has constructed a world of discrete, separate objects, a feat of sheer magic from the shamans point of view, but, in reality, our world is but a uniform interpretation of energy, only one of endless possibilities.

The by-product of this interpretation of separateness is the ego: a discrete entity, self-contained, alone, disconnected, ever-seeking to discover its value, its purpose, and how it fits in. The other by-product and enforcer of separateness is judgment: constantly seeking differences to distinguish self from other. The alienated ego, burdened with its judgments, is severely challenged in any real attempt to find value and love for itself. The shamans suggest suspending judgment as a resolution to this dilemma. From this place of non-judgment everything about ourselves is accepted, everything is equal, everything has its place in an interconnected, interdependent field of energy. Every weakness, every strength, every feeling, every mood, every need, every attitude is equal, all part of the whole. All is accepted, all is loved.

Turning our awareness outside the self, Christ suggested loving our neighbor as our self. Here we suspend all judgments as we turn our attention beyond the self. Christ opens the path to self-love by turning our attention to the world through accepting all, loving all. Both the shamans and Christ open the pathway back to the field of energetic interconnectedness through the practice of love without boundaries.

Self love carried to its natural conclusion requires love and acceptance of everything. Following this path we find our way home to our true energetic reality, one field of interconnected, interdependent wholeness. The ego disappears as we retain our awareness with universal love. Of course, awareness does allow for choice. Loving acceptance should not be mistaken for impotent acquiescence to evil, even though evil needs to be lovingly accepted. Evolutionary advancement requires that we align ourselves with right action, though we must continue to lovingly accept ourselves in all our wrong actions. Our current evolutionary path is truth. This is achieved through constant self-love.

Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

#537 A True Wanderer

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us today?

Why not allow the truth of yourselves as energy beings to reign more often? Why not acquiesce to your spirit selves more thoroughly? Why not accept the path of spirit that lies before you with its golden stones and wide doorways ready to receive you?

I ask all of you, My Faithful Readers, to consider yourselves as spiritual guides and progenitors of goodness. Accept your appointment with the spiritual self today. Sit a long while with your knowing and good self, who wishes only to guide you and show you the way to live your own life, so that you may be available as a guide for others.

To accept this spiritual self more fully you must desire change, but also enact change in your life. For how will you be able to fully accept and experience the spiritual true self if you are burdened with the fears and woes of the current self?

I speak today of allowing the present self to more fully trust that the journey you are on is the perfect one for you. Question the knowing inner self as to why you must once again live this life and play out the repetition of issues? Your next question must be: What am I missing that I have not understood? Then ask the spirit self to guide you to clarity so that your next step on your journey may be an unburdening one.

With truth comes greater connection to spirit so that trust may further reign, becoming a worthy partner as you travel, replacing the fear that now accompanies most of you through life. Do not be afraid, My Dear Ones, to trust your spirit self whose only desire is to have you more fully aware of your powers as a true wanderer in that world.

A true wanderer allows the universe, the interconnectedness of all things, to be a guiding force. A true wanderer acknowledges that a journey on that earth is meant as an evolutionary step. A true wanderer allows for moments of inner silence in order to access the energy that is surrounding, guiding, and showing the way forward. A true wanderer trusts the journey, sheds the cloak of fear, and proceeds forward with a knowing heart, ready for anything, but fully aware of the powers within to meet the energy of change that awaits at every step.

A true wanderer gets up every day eager for new adventures and new experiences. With such eagerness comes reciprocal resonant eagerness of spirit and with such desire for spirit comes the true work of the true wanderer as a teacher and guide to others upon that earth, so that true evolution may become the last step taken upon that earth, when the time comes.

A true wanderer sheds not only his fear as he goes on his daily adventure, but he also sheds his ego, his self-importance, and his attachment to the so-called needs of that world. A true wanderer will find that his spirit will be enough to carry him forth, offering enough, feeding and tending enough, and finding enough to more than survive. A true wanderer, when fully connected to spirit self, will discover an endless journey of service to others, full of loving compassion, without needing anything in return, for his giving, his guiding, and his teaching, will offer everything he needs. A true wanderer is love, energy, and truth in action.

I leave you today with your own process, My Dear Ones, offering you this small guidance in an effort to aid you as your journey unfolds, asking you to trust the self as a true wanderer who knows that there is safety only in energy, that there is truth only in energy, and that there is evolution only in energy. Energy encompasses all things. Keep that in mind! Everything is energy.

#536 A Moment of Significance

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
What guidance do you have for us today?

Do not compromise your integrity or your adherence to a spiritual path and a spiritual discipline no matter what comes to thwart you. Do not lose sight of the gifts that abound and the efforts made on your behalf by those of us who guide you. For the combination of your spiritual desires and our efforts is a mighty pairing.

I do not mean to imply in this missive that you do not need to work hard at staying upon your path, for even though you may be guided, it is your job to stay awake and alert to how you are being guided, when it is necessary and appropriate to ask for assistance, and when it is more appropriate for you to tackle the issues of life alone, based on what you have learned about the self and others. Our efforts on your behalf are always focused on helping you achieve a higher level of spiritual awareness, an awareness of the self as an energetic being connected to all things.

Today, I suggest that you take some time to contemplate the position you are in; taking note of how significant this moment in your life is, as are all moments. However, most moments are glossed over while you go about your busy lives. This time upon that earth is a time of great significance, conflict, and disturbance, that you may feel both innerly and outerly. You may not quite understand why you are being presented with the dilemmas that have become apparent to you, but, if you take a moment to go into quiet meditation, clarity may emerge from the fog that now swirls up from your feet. As calmness comes upon you, allow the fog of confusion and disturbance to dissipate, and know that each moment of disharmony and discord is alerting you to a significant aspect of the self that needs attention.

Why am I feeling this way? This question may lead you deeper into self-conflict and self-disturbance. Do not be afraid to confront your deepest issues. They may be related to the issues of the child self, who is alerting you to the fact that tenderness lies at the core of your inner self, a wound that has, as of yet, not been attended to. Issues of the child self are often at the root of conflict.

Be kind to the self as you explore the inner child self. Use your adult abilities, your loving, compassionate, spiritual adult self to tend to the lost and innocent child within who seeks attention. Find what you need for this child self within this adult self. Do not turn the child out into the world looking for compensation or attention, for that is not where it belongs. It belongs inside you, where wholeness awaits, as you bear the tension of it, and allow it to tell you its worries, its woes and fears, and its dreams.

The child self must be attended to in a most gracious, a most contemplative, and a most appreciative manner, for this is the root of who you are, the person you set out to be, and the person you must reconnect with in order to recapture your innocence. Once you reconnect with your innocent child self, and reconcile the confusion that persists, you will achieve not only a steadier balance but your access to the wonder of connection to those of us who guide will be accessible, and then the mighty pairing that I speak of will become a reality.

Trust your inner work. It is really all you need to do in order to ride these difficult times, these distracting moments of insecurity and unsureness. Stay upon your path toward spiritual understanding of the self as connected to all things. It is the only way to go!

#535 Practice Concerned Detachment

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us today?

In order to consolidate a few things that I have been speaking about and set you on your forward path, I advise a concerted effort be made to detach from the unusual and difficult lives of others, even though they may wrap you up in their plans. The journey through life is indeed a solitary one and although aid must be given and received so are the consequences of life meant to be borne in deep reflection.

Often deep reflection will only come when all else no longer works to propel one forward, especially in the days of youth and folly. Do not judge or allow for your energy to be drained by engaging in negative thinking or determinations. In order to remain in a positive frame of mind, without energy drains, the practice of concerned detachment must come into play.

Concerned detachment allows for removal of judgment, removal of compromised energy, and removal of responsibility for choices made by others. In order to remain in compassionate concerned detachment there must be an anchoring in the knowing self, a firm planting of the needs of the self that are appropriate and necessary in order for your path to be focused and steady. It is not wrong to stay focused on the spiritual and everyday needs of the self, and this is what many of you must more fully take into consideration as you begin this busy week of energetic flare-ups and attention grabbing desires.

Anchor the self as this energy seeks to subsume all other energy. There will be calls for attention, yet are they but unwarranted calls by those who must push forward now, taking full responsibility for decisions and choices that have nothing to do with you. I advise a stand be taken, rules laid out, so that your busy week may be one of steady calm truth and focus.

Practice concerned detachment by continually anchoring in the deeper self, acknowledging the interruptions that life offers as further reminders to turn inward and settle your fears and worries. Life does not wish to wait to unfold. It will bring its desires forth for all who reside upon that earth.

Anchor in heart-centered certainty that you are on a journey of spirit; a journey that needs you firmly present, fully aware, yet also available to guide others in your path by your examples of calmness, detachment from worry, and by your concerted efforts to be understanding, compassionate, and guiding.

This energy of now requires firm anchoring or you will be torn from your moorings and caught in the storms that rage in your vicinity. In order to be aware, yet not get caught in their fury, go into inner knowing and stay grounded by your love and compassion for all beings, firmly rooted in these qualities for the self as well. Give to the self and you will do well as this energy makes attempts on your kindness, your compassion, your attention, and your energetic availability.

By remaining in concerned detachment you will notice that the storms will remain on the distant horizon, seen, yet of no greater concern for the time being, except as a sign that it is time to be aware.

#534 Chuck’s Place: Awe!

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!

Don Juan maintained that we live in a predatory universe. Life feeds upon life. Human beings are not exempt from being food for another awareness. However, in our case, as humans, the predator feeds upon our awareness, not our physicality. This siphoning of our awareness renders us incapable of growing beyond our obsessive worries about the self. Don Juan suggested that our awareness rarely grows beyond our feet, and at that level we are fixated on self-importance.

Carlos Castaneda was repulsed at the notion of a predatory entity feasting upon his awareness. Don Juan suggested that he view the predatory dynamic as a test. Growing awareness always requires mastering skills and passing tests to advance, hence, in this context, the predator is actually a necessary aid.

When Carlos inquired as to how we might defend ourselves from the predator, don Juan proposed that we defend ourselves through discipline. When Carlos questioned what he meant by discipline, don Juan answered that it had nothing to do with stringent routines or sacrifice. Don Juan defined discipline as AWE.

Awe is awareness of the magical dimension of everything. Life is magic, consciousness is magic, we are magic! When we stay in the place of awe our awareness repels the predator because we are no longer tasty, unaware fodder or complacent meat, fattening ourselves in self-indulgent bliss, willingly and unconsciously surrendering our awesomeness to another entity.

To stay in the place of awe requires discipline. Discipline in this case means a consistent effort to stay in the magic. We are so easily seduced into the poppy field of the mundane. In that place, we worry, we obsess about appearances, we strive to be valued, acknowledged, recognized, appreciated, wanted, loved, etc. We lament and agonize over being treated so unfairly, being owed, screwed, cheated, rejected, etc. When our awareness is consumed in that world we take our eye off the ball of awe. We slip deeper into self-obsession, self-pity, self-importance, and our awareness tenderizes, becoming quite delectable to the predator. This is why don Juan defined awe as discipline.

To remain in awe requires that we constantly wake ourselves up to the magic. Remember that we are magical beings on our way to dying. Keeping death as our advisor relativizes our heightened concerns about our status, possessions, physical survival, and, oh yes, our love relationships. We are travelers on this awesome journey in infinity, now. From this place, does it really matter what the scale says, who is calling or not calling, whether we are accepted or rejected, valued or glossed over? These are the concerns that the predator distracts us with. If we fall for the predator’s trick, we fall asleep in the poppy field, content with a life of slavery, allowing ourselves to be fed upon with delight, like victims of the vampire.

How do we remain in awe? First of all, realize that awe is a deeply personal experience. Do not fall for the trap of convincing anyone of anything. We are socialized into complacency with the illusion of self-fulfillment through self-importance. Break the chains of that socialization in every moment through the discipline of shifting into the awe of the magic of life.

Wake up, walk out of the poppy field, and immediately suspend judgment, because judgment is the root of self-obsession. Stay with the reality that we are magical beings on a journey of awareness. Refuse the predator’s world, which is nothing other than an interruption of that journey. That interrupted journey, without awe, fixates our awareness on our ability to accumulate and become important; a mediocre substitute for the real magic. Practice the discipline of awe! Resume the real journey.

I welcome your awesome comments.

Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR