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

According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, when we die, our consciousness separates from the body to take its journey through a series of bardos where it must face challenges that will determine its future evolution. The most desirable outcome right after death is to become enlightened, to be able to hold onto the true nature of reality as our consciousness encounters the light. This requires a willingness to let go of all one has cherished and attached to in this life, accepting the utter irrelevance of all that seemed so relevant but a moment ago, fully shedding ego attachments and ego itself, acquiescing instead to the full truth and nature of reality without a spin. In The Book of Us Jeanne describes her experience of this moment as follows: “I took off like a shot, a loud rush, an explosion out of my body, as fast as I could ever imagine, not wanting or needing to stay any longer, aware that it wasn’t ever going to be the same, that that life on earth was done, that the new life wanted to begin. I died as I was born, rushing into the world, out of one into the next, not missing anything as I went, not wanting anything, except to get where I was going so I could see what it was like there.”

According to the Buddhists, if one is not ready to relinquish attachment to this world at the beginning of the journey after death, then the potential for enlightenment is lost for this round; one reenters the spinning of consciousness, as the mind starts to project its wants and fears, leading to attachments and the re-crystallization of consciousness as we prepare to reincarnate in this world. Jeanne’s description of her awareness, moments after death, reflects the necessary detachment to transcend reincarnation and continue to evolve beyond this world. Buddhists spend their lives preparing their consciousness for this moment of decision, to have the clarity to choose enlightenment. This is what the shamans call, embarking upon the definitive journey of awareness.

In the West, we spend most of our lives and technology manifesting a world of eternal youth; almost no attention is paid to what really matters: our moment of death. Compared to the Buddhists, stated bluntly, our spiritual maturity is somewhere in the stone age. Not that I suggest that we sell our homes and dedicate our lives to saving Tibet. Even the Dalai Lama appreciates that the Tibetan diaspora is part of an evolution of an interdependent one-world that must integrate the findings and awareness of its formerly isolated parts to advance in maturity. How does this ancient wisdom apply to our modern world? How can we use this knowledge to better prepare ourselves to greet our deaths?

The Buddhist knowledge of the encounters that consciousness faces upon dying elucidates the core projective nature of the mind and the challenge to not attach to its familiar comforts and fears. Jeanne describes her experience of this encounter as follows: “There is a great gate, wide and high, majestic, the entrance into the unknown, the unknowable, which few choose. There is another path, and another gate also, which many choose because it is the way where everything is seen and explained and there is little to challenge. The other gate is expansive and opens up other worlds and other possibilities.” Here Jeanne is describing the choice one is faced with upon dying. Do we choose the evolutionary gate, which sends our consciousness on an evolutionary journey into the unknown or do we cling to the known and familiar, allowing the mind to project and place us back in a familiar world? Understanding that the reality we currently live in is but a spin of this projective mind that has crystallized into the solid world we live in affords us an opportunity to practice making choices that reflect the true nature of reality while still in this world. This practice prepares us to choose the less chosen gate when we embark on our definitive journey at death.

We have discussed many faces of projection over the past several weeks. Refusing the compelling projective spin we are daily drawn to by withdrawing our projections and owning the true nature of our personal reality offers an ongoing practice of preparation for the moment of death. Through this process we exercise the choice of “enlightenment” in our daily lives over the comforts of our minds’ projective illusions. Ultimately, this is the practice of detachment: choosing to not attach to the spinning illusions constantly conjured by the projective mind. Take worry, for example. Worry is nothing other than the spinning of empty imaginings by the mind manifesting its fears in a series of imagined stories. If we attach to the story we are then tormented, and we suffer, as our energy is depleted and we stay entrenched in illusion. Practice instead, staying in the moment. How do you stay in the moment? Focus on your heart center. Is your equilibrium being rocked through reaction to the mind’s conjuring? Focus also on the synchronicities of the moment. What are the signs suggesting? Is there true cause for concern or, again, are you being duped by the restless conjuring mind? Refuse the products of worry, state the intent: don’t attach! Focus awareness on what actually presents in the moment, meet it fully, then relinquish it, equally as fully, as you prepare your awareness to greet oncoming time and what comes next. These practices strengthen fluidity and non-attachment, which prepare us for our moment of death and decision.

As always, I am open to discussion or comment. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached via email at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! As I pondered various possible topics this morning, it was Jan who suggested to me that I explore the dynamic of the projected self and codependency. I was struck by the suggestion that all projections result in codependent relationships, a fact I hadn’t contemplated before. Thank you, Jan!

The term codependency has stood the test of time, at least by modern standards, still finding relevancy and usage after twenty plus years. A product of the alcoholism field, the term codependency was coined to describe an addictive disorder in its own right, which manifested in people attached to an alcoholic. The essence of this addiction was an obsession to control the behavior of the alcoholic. Since that time this dynamic of codependency has been broadened to include attachment to all types of dysfunctional people whether they be alcoholic, chemically dependent, rageaholic, workaholic, sexaholic, physically abusive, etc,.

Building upon the dynamic of projection, which we have explored from many angles in past weeks, we can now study the relationship of projection to codependency. All projection creates a codependent relationship. Broadly speaking, when we project we are placing a vital part of ourselves onto another person. This happens, of course, quite outside the province of consciousness: we don’t choose to project, it happens, something within the psyche elects to, literally, give away a part of ourselves to another. By this action the very boundary of who we are is extended to include another person, though we remain totally unaware of this extended aspect of self. What an incredibly vulnerable position this puts us in. How can we be certain when that person goes into the world, beyond our reach, that we will be okay? This can be the source of overwhelming fear and anxiety as the threat of loss of self is imminent. This is codependency in action.

The compulsion to track and control the other, our projected self, is paramount to ensuring our safety. Perhaps we have projected the mother within us. We may have been burdened with a conflicted early parental relationship with our own mother, which has resulted in a failure of our internal emotional regulation system to function positively as we struggle to self nurture, self soothe, or feel basic worthiness. This can make it incredibly difficult to be alone. In a desperate search to emotionally stabilize we unconsciously project mother onto another. Since our internal mother image is conflictual, our projected other will reflect these same characteristics. For instance, we will be drawn to an ambivalent, alternately withholding critical person who holds out the promise of loving us. We desperately seek to transform this other into a loving mother to solve our inner conflict so we can become capable of self love. We remain hopelessly bound to serving the needs of our projected mother, which is our attempt to control the other and get them to love us. If our projected mother is an abusive lover, we strive relentlessly to prove our worthiness by making things perfect, to achieve vindication and deeply hoped for acknowledgment. When we fail and are abused, no matter how brutally, we are driven to remain loyal to our projected other, after all, it is a vital part of our self.

Hence, codependency reflects the mandatory need to tend the needs of the self, the projected self. There is no other option. To not do so is to risk loss of self. This is so threatening that in its extreme can lead to murder, in defense of the self. This is the case where abusive, controlling men, for example, who have projected their inner anima onto their partner, could actually be driven to kill their partner, rather than allow that part of themselves to roam freely in the world, disconnected from themselves. In a strange way, death seems the safer solution, as no one else can then touch this vital part of the self; this is ultimate control.

On a more hopeful note, when consciousness recognizes that the desperately sought after other is actually a projected part of the self, perhaps after countless rounds of repetitive dysfunctional relationships, it will become possible to inwardly bring home the gold and transform the conflicted part of the self through the process of recapitulation. This is when we stop trying to change the other and instead turn to changing ourselves. This is a monumental step forward in maturity. Thus begins the true process of tending the self, beyond codependency.

As always, I am open to discussion or comment. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached via email at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

What does it really entail to fully release another person of responsibility for one’s fate? Energetically, it involves fully claiming your own energy and investing it totally in your own journey. To fully claim your journey you must withdraw the projections, remove the distractions, and confront the fears, in order to achieve balance as a solitary being and take the adventure into the unknowable.

The shamans suggest that we erase our personal history. Ultimately, what they mean is to allow ourselves to live outside the energetic binds of a known life. This does not mean escape. There is no escape from fully knowing our personal history, with all of its energetic compromises and entanglements, if we want to fully reclaim and consolidate our energy for the journey. This is the purpose of recapitulation, to fully know everything we have experienced, to reclaim the energy encased in forgotten traumas and unmet needs. We must leave no stone unturned, facing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, physically, cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually.

In recapitulation our bodies tell us exactly what happened. Our minds show us the fuller picture from a perspective we have never seen before, as the adult self joins our younger self in the process. Our feelings reveal our lost innocence. Our spirit shows us the meaning of the events in our life in the context of our journey; why in fact our soul chose the life it did, and what refinements were needed to continue the evolutionary journey. With a completed recapitulation we fully assume responsibility for the life we are in, and realize there is nothing to forgive.

As always, I am open to discussion or comment. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached via email at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

Imagine going to a movie and staring at a blank screen. How can we know and experience a movie without a projector projecting a story? It is through the projection of our own story onto the screen of characters and elements of this world that we discover who we are and our reason for being here.

When Buddha attained enlightenment he learned how to turn off the projector. No easy task, as anyone who has attempted meditation knows. He discovered why we suffer. We suffer because we project. We cognitively and emotionally completely invest, or attach, to our stories as real and eternal. Ironically, we absolutely must do this in order to fully experience the story. Naturally, however, though we all deny it, in the final analysis, we must all retire our attachment to the story of our life, through old age, sickness, and death.

Of course, the paradox for Buddha was, in order to reach enlightenment, he first had to experience the deep sensuality of life in this world, illusion or not. It is the proving ground for advancement. If you try, as he did, to skip over the experience of sensuality, like the acetic, you simply attach to another illusion of life, feeling special and entitled to, though not worthy of, enlightenment.

The upshot: if you are in this world, you are here to live it fully before you can turn off the projector and advance. The great archetypes within us provide the story lines and energy for much of our lives. Despite the impersonal nature of the archetypes, we are driven to experience them personally before we can retire them or detach from being controlled by them. How many times are we driven to find nirvana in a romance, at any age? Perhaps it is necessary to spend countless lifetimes in pursuit of the “one,” finally experiencing the ecstatic bliss of merger with one’s soul mate before we are ready to truly retire that illusion.

And what does retirement mean? It means, fully realizing one’s own wholeness, bringing home the gold, standing comfortably, a solitary being, calm, fulfilled, ready for the next adventure, this time, beyond the illusion of eternal sameness, or the attachment to but one story.

The paradox remains. We must project to fully discover ourselves in projected form. Then we must, fully, bring home the gold. This is the crucifixion stage, as we contain the compulsion to project and give away our gold and truth, by shunning all the enticing movies presented for our delight and security. This is the path portrayed in two of my favorite movies, The Matrix and Little Buddha. (Non-projector that I am!)

As always, I am open to discussion or comment. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached via email at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

When I was a young boy I wrestled deeply with believing in the existence of God. I tried diligently to be perfect, walking only in straight lines, like a soldier, making perfect right angle turns. The nuns insisted that I memorize the catechism word for word; that was all that was required to receive the sacrament to commune directly with God. I was a miserable failure at both straight lines and memorization, but the deeper problem for me was the shameful fact that I had no faith; I simply couldn’t accept that God existed based on belief alone. I recall the shame and anxiety I felt revealing this “sin” to my younger sister, whom I swore to secrecy; surely I was damned. Everyone believes, why can’t I? My deepest truth was revealed to my young self: I am not a believer! I am a failed Christian.

Finally, I decided to confront God, if there was one, directly. Looking back, I see my younger self discovering scientific method. I set up my hypothesis: if God could show me tangible evidence that he existed then I could believe in him. For my experiment I chose Good Friday, an established holy day where something big supposedly happened, that is, Christ’s crucifixion. I proposed to God that if it were true that Christ died on this day that he send me a sign to verify the exact moment of Christ’s death. I left the specific sign in God’s hands, only requiring that it be abundantly noticeable to me. With that proposition established, I prepared for sleep, incessantly repeating the Hail Mary, with the intent that my request be granted.

Some time in the middle of the night I was awoken, my body completely paralyzed, I couldn’t even open my eyes. My ears were filled with the buzzing sound of a million crickets as I experienced myself transforming into pure vibration. The intensity deepened to the point that I was sure my consciousness, my very self, would soon disintegrate and I would be completely swallowed up in the vibrations. I steadied myself, trying desperately to hold on to awareness, as I felt myself slipping away. Suddenly, it dawned on me: God has spoken! This was the moment of Christ’s death. Gradually my awareness returned to my body as the vibrations subsided. I knew that if I opened my eyes and looked at the clock I would know the exact time of Christ’s death. I was far too terrified to even blink an eye or move a muscle. I was simply thankful that I was alive, that I hadn’t disintegrated into sheer energy. This was my awakening; I discovered that direct experience was my one true religion. Christianity was simply the metaphor that opened the door to direct energetic experience of infinity. Through the years, I have discovered many useful metaphors and many useful methods.

This experiment became my first experience of life beyond the human form, the rational world of solid objects. No wonder we cling so tightly to that world, where everything is solid and knowable, relegating the proposition of spirit to believing or not believing. Entering the world of energetic experience brings us into a new world where nothing is solid and knowable, and we must learn how to steady ourselves to explore this new reality. It amazes me how simple it is to enter the experience of the greater reality of who we are and what we are capable of. It is our birthright, our innate potential to experience ourselves as energy and explore infinity now, as energetic beings. All we need to do is set that intent and ask for it, sincerely and innocently. Truthfully, what we need most is a little daring, and nerves of steel, to step out into the unknown.

The impact of our habitual patterns, accumulated through the years, creates a thick bark around our energetic selves, which can be challenging to penetrate. Herein lies the value of establishing some kind of practice to reach our energy bodies. My younger self discovered the value of repetitive prayer, coupled with intent. Dreaming is a natural time when we slip into our energy bodies. Again, using our intent, we can cultivate our dreaming attention to explore the world out of body. In the shaman’s world, practices such as Tensegrity break through the crust of habitual patterns to redistribute vital energy, improving physical prowess and the ability to reach the energy body. Practices such as yoga and meditation also open the pathway to one’s energetic essence.

It is important to remember that the method itself is really not that important, they are all equal, it’s simply a matter of finding the right fit, or what personally resonates. The ability to reach one’s energy body is innate. All you need to do is intend it, innocently, and hold that intent with gentle persistence. All the methods to aid this process, discovered by spiritual masters and codified through various spiritual traditions, can be helpful to aid one in cutting through the thick bark, which shrouds the energetic essence. However, attachment to a master or a tradition can just as easily contribute to the bark, if one is not careful. Once a practice becomes a habit, a must-do, the execution of which determines our judgment of ourselves, it gets absorbed by and reinforces our cognitive structure of everyday rational life, rather than helping us cut through it. If the method we choose becomes “the method,” again, it simply thickens the bark as we become trapped in the competitiveness of everyday life. If we project our sought after energetic potential onto our teachers, or spiritual traditions, we become trapped in hierarchy and hero worship, further alienating ourselves from our innate potential.

It’s challenging to not take our habits with us as we embark on a spiritual path to reach our energetic selves. Remember, everything you need you already have. You needn’t look outside for the answer, or the way. I suggest simply intending to discover your energetic self. See what happens!

As always, I am open to discussion or comment. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached via email at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com

Although I did not return to the discussion of projection, as promised, I will most likely pick up where I left off in next week’s blog, discussing positive projection. Unless something else comes to my attention.

Until we meet again,
Chuck