Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy website.

It was don Juan’s contention that what human beings crave more than anything else is the experience of exploration beyond the narrow confines of the everyday world. From a clinical perspective the shaman’s would diagnosis boredom as the core mental health disease in this world.

All of our spiritual endeavors, be they mainstream or alternative, are attempts to shift beyond our rational fixation and experience magic: worlds within our world, worlds beyond our world. All addictions are similar attempts to experience life from a different perspective, to enter the magic. The trouble with addictions is the small print of this Faustian contract. The entity that grants us access to the magic forever holds the keys and we become its slaves, selling our energetic souls for a few moments of release.

In the area of relationship, the experience of falling in love transforms the mundane into the exceptional, another magical world. So powerful is the energetic transformation of “twitterpation” that, despite its transitoriness and lack of relational foundation, we go for it again and again, hook, line and sinker. Today with our technological wizardry there is no end to new possibilities for connection as we twitter, facebook, share, and match in abstract worlds that conquer the limits of space and time. The challenge of the web is its web. We must be careful not to get caught in giving over to this medium our inner ability to access other worlds. The world wide web can become another addiction, another Faustian permutation. We Americans are deeply challenged by this easy access as it so readily serves our dominant extroverted culture and makes it increasingly difficult to be satisfied with our aloneness and solitude.

The shamans discovered that the practice of recapitulation secures, for the individual, inner access to the magic. Every time we relive an earlier experience in our lives we are practicing entering another world, through our own volition. In this current moment I return to an apartment I once lived in. I feel the textures of the floor, of a golden cover on a pool table in the living room. I am seeing Jeanne in her slender long black dress, radiant. I move throughout the rooms encountering the furniture, the feel of the walls, the colors, as I gently move my head from side to side, breathing the recapitulation breath. I feel the mood of that apartment as I slowly encounter every detail.

Now, as I return to this world, I have experienced a minor shift of my assemblage point, having entered that prior world. The more we practice recapitulation, the more we learn how to volitionally shift into other worlds. The shamans suggest that, along with intent, recapitulation further enhances our dreaming abilities. In dreaming, our assemblage points are naturally dislodged, available to transport us into whole new worlds. Through recapitulation we sharpen our ability to become lucid and take charge of these journeys in infinity. The more we recapitulate, the more we enhance our ability to make these magical shifts in our waking life as well.

Recapitulation is a very pragmatic tool, available to everyone, in any moment, to begin the journey into the magic, satisfying our deepest needs to access our hidden potential, overcoming the disease of boredom. Try it!

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

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

Earlier this week I threw the I Ching, which presented me with Hexagram #62 Preponderance of the Small. The I Ching chose the image of the skylark who, though a bird, stays close to the earth rather than soar beyond its limits. The gift of flight is acknowledged, but staying grounded where it needs to be is the sober requirement of the skylark. The danger with gifts is that we may become over-identified with them and push beyond the reality of where we truly need to be.

At one level, I think this archetype, Preponderance of the Small, is a fitting representation of the relationship between ego and spirit. We are given the gift of consciousness in all its smallness and must check its shield of hubris as we acknowledge our orphan status and find our way to the deep nurturance and wisdom of the spirit or collective unconscious. (See Message #542 Direct Experience.)

On a personal level, my encounter with this hexagram immediately generated both resonant awareness and the option of engaging Self-pity. Resonant awareness saw the truth in the hexagram and the appropriate response to its counsel. The ego self had a different reaction: the I Ching is suggesting an inadequacy. Suddenly, the door is opened to a lifetime of vignettes capturing hidden inadequacies and, deeper still, the judgement of core failure and the inability to change. Self-pity then rushes forth, offering to shroud the ego in an energetic cocoon, alienated and forsaken, yet bathed in a comfortable, self-contained protectorate.

And so, we are confronted with the classic blue pill/red pill choice. If we choose the blue pill, Maya, the spinner of illusion will step in and generate all kinds of “facts” to support our Self-pity. At the core of Self-pity is the secret belief that we are special, since, after all, on some level there is the belief of undeservedness for our predicament. With our specialness preserved we are not forced to change; we are safe to continue to wait, in entitlement, for the world to finally give us our royal recognition.

The red pill is simply the truth, and right action, which necessarily flows from it. With the truth we are challenged to stand in the field of our reality, inadequacies revealed, no specialness to cloud our clarity, no judgements, simply acceptance and responsibility for our continued evolution. (Sometimes, we swallow both pills at once!)

This morning, as I contemplated presenting this topic, I consulted The Wheel of Time by Carlos Castaneda, what I call “the shaman’s oracle,” as it depicts all the archetypes of the warrior’s way. Synchronistically, I opened to commentary on Self-pity. Carlos points out that Self-pity is inherent in our human condition, never to be eliminated. He counsels that the challenge is not to eliminate Self-pity, but, in fact, to rearrange its role in our lives. In effect, as I interpret it, he encourages us to use its energetic push to bring full focus to a truth attempting to reveal itself. How do we do this?

Steady the self and suspend judgment. Allow the self to get calm with its smallness and determine what actions flow from this place of truth. Thank Self-pity for being the foster parent that fosters evolution! Make it clear to Self-pity that we no longer need to be swaddled in blankets of illusion. With this action, we truly derive value from Self-pity, as we assign it the rightful place in our lives, by turning it into an evolutionary tool that serves truth over illusion.

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

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

Consciousness, with its companions: reflection and choice, is the most recent acquisition of mankind, considering the breadth of the evolutionary journey of human beings. Like our animal companions, our instinctual knowledge, what Jung called the collective unconscious, governed our decision making until the very recent past.

The birth of consciousness in mankind can be likened to the young child’s dawning awareness of “I” as distinct from the world around him. In my own case, that birth of awareness was at once exciting and terrifying. How could my little self survive and hold its own in an ocean of others? I recall, as a young boy, attending a Yankee game and suddenly being overtaken by panic, fearing being swallowed up in the midst of thousands of people. My young ego was experiencing, in projected form, the fragility of its position amidst such an overwhelming presence, a direct experience of the collective unconscious. I also recall the terror of going to sleep, many a night, as my young consciousness grasped the realness of death. I pondered: how can I be certain that I will awaken in the morning? In effect, my ego was terrified to turn out its light, uncertain it would reemerge the following morning from the collective unconscious of sleep and dream.

We are all orphans of our true parents: nature, instinct, collective unconscious, etc., cast from the garden for the sin of consciousness as our awareness continues to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge: our reflections upon our experiences in the world. At once, our egos must build fortresses of security, individual arks, to survive the power and fury of nature for the sin of our conscious hubris, and, at the same time, we desperately need to find a way to connect to the wisdom and nurturance of our roots.

Jung proposed that all religions and esoteric traditions have attempted to serve that function. Mystics and artists, who have had direct inner experience with the collective unconscious, have produced powerful symbols that embody its energy and guidance, symbols that range from the crucifix to those expressed in the Tarot. These symbols attract the masses and have provided a means, albeit a step removed from direct experience, to bathe in the knowledge and nurturance of the collective unconscious while being shielded from its disintegrating potential. Over time, these symbols have become increasingly polished and rigidified, removed from their natural healing roots, as the egos of mankind have commandeered the symbols and imposed dogma upon them, stripping them of their abilities to serve our deepest need for connection. Jung suggested that anyone who could still find a deep connection to their spiritual selves in the religions and traditions available in the world should continue their practices. For those whom these traditions have lost their transformative potential, he proposed the journey of individuation, utilizing psychotherapy to develop a relationship with the unconscious through dreams and active imagination.

The shamans of Carlos Castaneda’s lineage stripped their tradition of its rituals to arrive at its pragmatic core through a series of practices that enabled them to have direct experience. In this context, shamanic journeys are direct experiences of infinity at an energetic level.

Jeanne has proposed that we have evolved to the point where we can remove all projections of our deepest nature from the outer world’s spiritual systems and embark on a path of direct experience of our deeper spiritual selves. To protect our fragile egos in this process, she suggests that we engage our spirit guides, who are available, for the asking, to guide and protect us on our inner spiritual pilgrimages. She states, simply: Ask for help and you will receive the help you need. This is not based in belief; it is an experiential practice. She suggests that we approach it like any scientific experiment, treating it like a hypothesis: state your intent and see what happens!

Beyond that, she encourages recapitulation in order to clear the channel of the burden of barricades, erected to ward off encounters with our deepest truths. With respect to the controlling influence of our outer projections, she coaches us in detachment by strengthening our adult selves to encounter both our angels and demons within. Finally, as we are challenged by life’s inevitable changes, be they deep, heart-felt losses or blindsided fates, we are offered the practice of fluidity, whereby we learn to open, fully, to experience, remaining completely present and flowing with the changes, with grace and awe, as we await our next direct experience of infinity.

Ultimately, don Juan suggested to Carlos that he always find a path of heart in determining the direction of his journey. This is what Jeanne calls resonance. Whether it be in the world’s religious traditions, psychotherapy, shamanic practice, or Jeanne’s guidance, we must find our own path of heart to direct experience.

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

Until we meet again,
Chuck

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

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