Category Archives: Chuck’s Blog

Welcome to Chuck’s Place! This is where Chuck Ketchel, LCSW-R, expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Currently, Chuck posts an essay once a week, currently on Tuesdays, along the lines of inner work, psychotherapy, Jungian thought and analysis, shamanism, alchemy, politics, or any theme that makes itself known to him as the most important topic of the week. Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy page.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Beyond Story

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What stories am I telling myself today? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What stories am I telling myself today?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Reality awaits us, just beyond the stories that present themselves rapid-fire from the inner “press” of the mind. When the shamans urge us to “suspend judgment,” they are referring to this function of mind that so quickly organizes a story around the scantest detail perceived and fleshed out by the mind. We are then drawn to attach to the story generated by the mind; in other words: to live as if the story were reality.

The “judgment” here is the storyline we have bought into and energetically invested in as emotions and thoughts emerge to guide our actions in accordance with our judgment or interpretation of reality.

So much of our vital energy is bound up in our interpretations of reality that we find ourselves encased in the familiar yet largely false stories we tell ourselves over and over again. Our intent gets bound up in upholding those stories too; or simply put, our intent generates our self-fulfilling story prophecy in our experiences of everyday reality.

For instance, one story might be that I don’t feel valuable or lovable. This story becomes reflected in the eyes of everyone I meet, their actions mirroring the story I tell myself. My intent generates the reality of my story. This story then becomes the filter for my life. All approaching energy, or the unfolding of daily life, becomes automatically formatted and neatly tailored to fit into and validate the truth of my story. This then becomes my reality.

Our stories become knitted together with such regularity or habit that we come to rest our identity upon them, the familiar tales we tell ourselves. They become like family. Thus, regardless of how limiting or unfulfilling our stories leave us, we remain compulsively drawn and attached to them for a sense of known definition in this world.

Tread lightly as you decide to release yourself from the bondage of your core stories. Change, regardless of how beneficial, often feels deeply disturbing to the security of known stories, as they are challenged to reveal their true identity and their true validity in our lives.

Time to spend our energy on what really matters... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Time to spend our energy on what really matters…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

On the other hand, every time we stop the flow of energy from attaching to a story that flirts for our attention we accrue that energy in our spiritual savings account. When enough energy has been saved we are indeed freed to discover the true nature of who we really are as we spend our energy exploring true reality, the reality always present and coexistent but generally filtered out by our all-encompassing stories.

Suspend judgment. Explore the true nature of reality as it presents and unfolds in oncoming time. What an amazing true story awaits!

No stories allowed!
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: It’s A Matter Of Necessity

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A masculine symbol... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
A masculine symbol…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Got into a heated argument on Independence Day. I maintained that, despite her lackluster performance thus far, it couldn’t be more appropriate that Hillary become the next President of the United States. Indeed, in part, I objectify and symbolize her, but I see it is time for the beleaguered feminine to come to power and cleanse itself from its distorted masculine wrappings, a necessary event in our transforming of the world. In my opinion, Hillary fits the bill! My debating partner was so incensed by my argument that he stopped just short of committing his vote to Jeb!

On Sunday, a far more meaningful Independence Day occurred. Greece, the birthplace of democracy, resoundingly rejected the Euro Zone’s “indentured servitude” referendum via popular vote. The beleaguered feminine has taken on the masculine greed.

The feminine is Gaia, the manifested world. It it because of the manipulation of Gaia, through the distorted masculine self-serving materialistic aims and games, that we find ourselves so dangerously out of balance.

Interestingly, the US Women’s Soccer Team emerged victorious the same night of Greece’s victory. Indeed, the feminist must and will come to power now to stem the tides of destruction and move us toward a new balance.

This morning, as Jan and I entertained Robert Monroe’s Ultimate Journey, we were led to his encounter with an eighteen-hundred-year-old human, still alive in human form, though Monroe met him on the astral plane. Monroe called the being Heshe, as his appearance reflected a moment to moment shifting of masculine and feminine, the ultimate balance. Heshe spoke of the role of being an organizer, a facilitator awaiting the time of necessity when change would not only be needed but would happen on a grand scale. “This will happen through recognized necessity, not through religions, race, or political beliefs, or force of arms.” Basically, Heshe explained that this would come about because the world would be in rough shape.

We are in that time now. Greece’s defiance, just like Iraq and Syria’s ISIS, is the rumbling of the ancient archetypes seeking change. Gaia herself is delivering the greatest blows in our rapidly changing physical environment.

The change that is coming is the Heshe of necessity. Human beings will become beings whose masculine spirit will serve the true heartfelt needs of the material feminine. Governance will transcend the selfish to arrive at the selfless. This is not about a world of unbridled caretaking and entitlement, of being overtaken by the feminine, but a natural merging of masculine and feminine. No one can be rescued from the challenges of their life, and we cannot be rescued either from the challenges of our time. We must all assume responsibility.

Heshe of necessity... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Heshe of necessity…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

On the other hand, the time of unbridled greed will have passed of necessity, simply unsustainable. This will offer the gateway for Heshe. And thus the ushering in of Hillary as President of the United States makes perfect sense.

Of course, I don’t know what will happen. As Greece has proven, you never know what choices will be made. But what is clear is that the feminine must be redeemed and assume its rightful role, come to equal power with its Heshe partner. It’s a matter of necessity, now more than ever.

Always optimistic,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Why Am I Here?

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Denial is strong. But it hardly matters. The changes the channels have forecast are indeed upon us. “Anything is possible” is unfolding daily upon the world stage.

Why am I here too? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Why am I here too?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If you are alive today, in human form, you are indeed a part of this sweeping energy of change. What a magnificent time to be here! I suggest, to make the most of the opportunity, everyone of us address the question: Why am I personally here upon this earth at this time of unprecedented change?

The answer to this question lies in where we put our energy, attention, and deepest longing. I stress deepest longing because planet Earth is the playing field of attachment. Robert Monroe went so far as to call Earth the “planet of addiction.”

Attachment and addiction run hand in hand. If you are on this planet you had to emotionally attach. You are seeking something. Until you run the course of that desire, you will not be ready to move on. That is a pretty accurate description of addiction: running the course with an attachment until you’ve learned what you need to learn, or are completely fulfilled and bored, ready to release and move on to new adventure.

As I see it, the planet we are alive on is in a major phase of restructuring. Very clearly, human attachments or addictions have resulted in such an unsustainable environment that the Earth is being challenged in its ability to sustain life altogether. Clearly, the overload of human desire, with its myriad of attachments, has come to a point of total saturation.

The restructuring I speak of is an evolutionary advance that refines our relation to attachments. We must advance from ego want to Self need. Self here is defined as the greater whole of what we are versus the narrow, isolated ego that puts its wants and desires over that of the greater Self, within and without.

If we inventory our deepest driving desires, we might discover them to be issuing from ego’s desire for comfort, security, and attention of the kind that ego calls love. Ego is desperate to achieve its aims because ego, devoid of a connection to its greater self, knows only getting its needs met in the immediacy of this life—and it’s desperate to do so!

Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With the ego in a leadership role of decision making, this can lead to many repetitive, poor decisions for the personality and the planet. Only in turning inward and discovering the greater Self, and acquiescing to its guidance and true needs, can we advance individually and evolutionarily as a species.

Ego on its own is addicted to the pursuit of its attachments, come what may! Ego serving the heart-centered true needs of the Self brings the personality and world itself into interconnected balance.

We are all here to advance beyond our attachments/addictions, to a greater Self and a greater world that drops its illusions and restores balance. That is the contribution we are all afforded in this time of great change and great advance.

May we all advance together,
Chuck

Additional reading: Here is another posting with the same title, channeled back in September 2007 that offers guidance in the process that Chuck writes about in his blogpost today: #153 Why Am I Here

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Living Dream

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There's a fine line between worlds... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
There’s a fine line between worlds…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Many approaches to dream interpretation suggest that all characters in a dream be viewed as reflecting different aspects of the self. From this perspective we are afforded the opportunity to own and reconcile with our shadow selves, rather than simply struggling with them as we encounter them unconsciously projected onto the characters we meet in waking life.

For instance, if a dream character consistently terrorizes our dream self and we entertain the possibility that this terrorist is actually a part of our self, we might discover that this character is desperately trying to tell us something, in a very dramatic way attacking an attitude that dominates the waking self. Perhaps it might be an attitude that is too constrictive and is actually undermining our psychic health. Though of course we must stand up to any terrorist, in this case the standing up involves being brave and honest regarding our conscious attitudes and behaviors, which might be undermining the complete flowering of our personality.

Working with a dream character within the self in this way is very empowering. When we can take ownership of all parts of ourself we are positioned to move forward in an integrated way, with all our parts! When we disown parts of ourself and ascribe them to the faults in others, we are stymied in our movement toward wholeness, as we don’t have all our necessary parts to move forward with.

In waking life—which I view as actually simply another, more solid, dream world—we are afforded a similar opportunity. If we look to family and other acquaintances or colleagues as actual aspects of ourself, we might equally discover qualities or dynamics in them that operate in the shadow of our own inner psyche, which become projected, mirrored and reflected in all the characters of our waking life. Waking life then offers an inroad into seeing and owning tendencies within the self and their current state of integration or dissociation.

For example, if I am being held back by some characters where I work, and I view them as aspects of myself, I am freed to question just why I’m being challenged. What is it that I must “wake up to?” Why does this situation keep repeating itself? What is it that I am not seeing? What aspect of myself am I not taking full ownership of and responsibility for?

Of course, as with my earlier example with the terrorist in the dream, it’s not about allowing ourselves to be trammeled. We must stand up for ourselves. However, standing up for ourselves inwardly means taking ownership of the predicament we find ourselves in outwardly. Just as we seek to solve the mysteries that come to guide us in the dark of night, so are we offered the opportunity to solve the mysteries that approach us in the light of day in a similar manner. What am I not seeing in myself? What am I avoiding in myself? When we seek to interpret our outer life as if it were a dream, the waking dramas then become just as meaningful and guiding as our sleeping dramas.

Welcome to true reality! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Welcome to true reality!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Ultimately, we might view ourselves as holograms, and as holograms we contain everything, all the time. And, ultimately, everything is interconnected, part of the same interactive whole. Hence, all our dreams, sleeping and waking, represent our individual position vis a vis everything. And we are both a part of, and EVERYTHING too!

Embracing every part of the living dream as part of the self is indeed a path to enlightenment, albeit a challenging one! Life: It’s just all one big dream!

Taking ownership,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Hillary, The Pope & Ken Wilber

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Excavating the feminine... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Excavating the feminine…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Ken Wilber, one of the greatest philosophers of this century and one of the leading transpersonal theorists, reflected back in 1993: “And is not the alienation of women precisely parallel to the alienation of the body…and nature? And is not global alienation what we now see in the environmental crisis? Far from “saving” us, aren’t the Great Traditions the root of a crisis that very well might kill us?” *

The Great Traditions Wilber refers to are the world religions; Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism. What Wilber points to is the negation of the feminine, at least in part, in all these religious traditions. Woman, body, nature, reflect matter and instinct. It is the degradation of the feminine that now threatens the survival of the planet, yet also points the way to its cure.

This week, on Thursday, Pope Francis is set to release his encyclical on climate change, which reportedly calls for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent catastrophic climactic destruction. Here, one of the Great Traditions is turning its attention to the Great Feminine, asking for the world spirit to humble itself to the true needs of the earth.

Senator Jim Inhofe, global warming denier, has already rebutted the Pope’s encyclical: “The Pope ought to stay with his job, and we’ll stay with ours.” Well, the Pope has already crossed over and asserted that resuscitating the feminine is the job of the Great Traditions and, in fact, everyone’s job. When the encyclical, leaked on Tuesday, is further unveiled, the Pope has arranged for three speakers to participate: a Vatican Cardinal, a Greek Orthodox Theologian, and an Atheist scientist. The Pope is elevating Mother Nature over even spiritual belief!

When I view the upcoming US Presidential race, I can’t help but be drawn to the possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidency. The truth is that Bernie Sanders is far more progressive and speaking the necessary truth. Hillary is still way too attached to Bill’s old world manipulative strategy that seeks to placate the wealthy and the powerful. But the truth also is that Hillary became New York’s Senator through a collective support for the degraded feminine subsequent to Bill’s faux pas a la Monica Lewinsky.

Hillary’s power grew as she proved her independent ability, nearly becoming President of the United States seven years ago. Although Obama won, he acknowledged Hillary’s abilities by appointing her Secretary of State, a position that she mastered despite the Republican attempt to make Benghazi a failure in her leadership. I could see a course of Hillary as President as representative of the transformative symbol of the healing of the feminine, just the thing that Ken Wilber hints at.

The work of nature... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The work of nature…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

At present, Hillary is still quite tainted by the power of the manipulative masculine. She must undergo her own journey of feminine mystique, even while the world mirrors a similarly necessary transformative process. She, like the world, is a work in progress, only the “work” is more one of shedding third chakra control and allowing for heart-centered leadership instead.

In heart-centered leadership the feminine assumes its rightful throne, next to and in union with its masculine partner: action based on truth, nature’s truth. This is the necessary corrective implied by Ken Wilber back in 1993: action based on true need, not on power and greed.

Whether Hillary goes the distance is anyone’s guess. Whether the Pope’s encyclical will have the desired effect is also anyone’s guess. However, the elevation of and healing of the feminine is the winning ticket for world salvation—and we’re already well along in that race!

Hoping for the best results,
Chuck

* Quote from: Paths Beyond Ego, 1993, Ken Wilber contributor.