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.
Spring is a good time to step back, take a look at where you are and where you’d like to be.
Take some time to refresh, rejuvenate and restore. And then, while the world around you is in the wild abandon of creating new life, do the same.
Enjoy a blog from Chuck this week: Chuck’s Blog.
Soulbytes are paused but will resume the week of April 17th.
As Kahlil Gibran taught us, the child’s soul dwells in the house of tomorrow, which we cannot visit, not even in our dreams.
The child within us is our evolutionary spirit, which is childlike in its innocence, yet ventures beyond the known, fully adult self.
The notion of an inner child who never grows up, requiring the enduring parenting of the adult ego, is a recipe for stunted growth and entitlement. The ultimate goal of all parenting is to launch the child into their own house of tomorrow, as we obey the rite of passage to release their arrow.
The inner child’s role in the adult personality is to follow its bliss with curiosity and innocence. These are the treasures mirrored by young children at play, fully alive to the creative imagination, open to interaction with the subtle energies present in the world, unsullied by the constricting veils of the real world.
Of course, there is the work of resolving traumatic psychological complexes, unprocessed fragments of self that split off in childhood, that require the adult ego to discover and reintegrate into the wholeness of the adult personality.
Ultimately, this inner work restores true innocence to the adult self, the work that Jesus Christ suggested was essential to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In psychological terms, one must fully recapitulate all of one’s life experiences to achieve full individuation, the wholeness and fulfillment of one’s life.
Fragments of experience that remain triggers, or unneutralized emotional experiences overshadow the open road of innocence and instead become one’s fate, or necessary next stop in this life.
Of course, all children require the support and boundaries of adults on their road to maturity. But the goal is always to prepare them for their independent launch, not to keep them forever children, however well adjusted. So is it with working with our inner child.
The inner child’s gift to adulthood is its insistence on taking the road less travelled, because Spirit is intent upon infinite exploration beyond the nursery.
Let’s not confuse the childlike behaviors, or excesses, we engage in with the inner child. The ego must assume responsibility for all its choices, whatever their etiology.
For the ego to mature into its own innocence, it must be willing to take the hero’s journey to retrieve its soul, all of its parts that were lost in its trials of Earthly life.
A journey of recapitulation transmutes one’s life energy into that of a magical being, fully alive, fully in awe, ever-loving, ever-venturing. That’s the true role of the inner child in the human personality: innocence restored.
On life’s journey,
Chuck
The science of hypnotism has provided us with utilitarian knowledge of the distinctions between, and synergistic possibilities of, our bicameral mind.
The objective mind is the rational mind of everyday life, essentially the ego. The salient feature of the ego is its ability to exercise free will. Despite all the advice of others, its own prior experiences, or strong instinctive warnings, the ego can change course in a heartbeat and simply do what it wants. Regardless of consequence, the objective mind is free to make its own decisions.
The subjective mind is the subconscious mind. In contrast to the objective mind, the subjective mind can only operate via suggestion. A famous example of its operations would be the medically intuitive readings of Edgar Cayce. Cayce would put himself into trance to gain access to his subjective mind and then a trusted associate would present him with the name of a person seeking treatment, asking what treatment would heal them.
Cayce would then channel an elaborate reading of medical treatments required to heal the patient. In his waking, objective mind state Cayce had no medical training or knowledge, yet his subjective mind could tap into the relevant vast knowledge stored in the etheric layer of the akashic records.
The subjective mind is the mind that links to the collective unconscious, has access to all evolutionary history, including past lives, and can remote view in many dimensions. The subjective mind is the home of imagination and creativity. When we doze off, we enter the subjective mind, where the objective mind-thoughts we’d just mulled over instantly generate into full-blown stories, replete with characters and images.
The subjective mind is the energy body proper that is propelled by thought in the form of suggestion. In a dream, we are fully in the subjective mind. If however, in the dream, the objective mind suddenly comes online and we become lucid and state the suggestion, “Fly, now!” Then off we go!
The objective mind and the subjective mind constantly work together. The things the objective mind says to itself are what the subjective mind generates in the body. If we tell ourselves that we are a failure, the subjective mind will generate that story and mood, even changing body chemistry to generate a depression!
As I have pointed out many times, the placebo effect of spontaneous cure from fatal disease is the result of the objective mind suggesting to the subjective mind that it has ingested the cure. The miracle worker subjective mind then refashions the physical body to be totally cured.
Of course, cure reversals can be just as rapid if the objective mind suddenly changes its belief or suggestion, such as: “Oh, it was just a placebo!” This tells the subjective mind to reverse course. Objective mind beliefs are powerful suggestions to the subjective mind.
For duration, the objective mind must either work hard, consciously, to overcome its blocking beliefs, or actually choose to incessantly state beliefs that it doesn’t fully believe yet, but knows will impact the subjective mind, regardless of belief.
A concentrated focus on overcoming blocking beliefs can lead us into recovering the fullness of ourselves, that which was previously lost in the shadow dimension of our being, as well as lead us to the High Spirit center of our Soul.
This contact with, and consolidation of, our total personality—our fuller individuation—can greatly enhance the effectiveness of the objective mind’s power of suggestion to the subconscious.
However, incessant repetition of suggestion, regardless of belief, will also impress itself upon the workings and creations of the subjective mind. Obviously, the fuller the individuation of self, the greater will be the duration of sought after changes, no matter which technique is used.
However, in spite of concerted effort, some changes may not hold, as influences from one’s deeper karmic intent in this life may require further experience with one’s current uncomfortable challenge.
Judge Hatch, who died in physical form, channeled the suggestion, from his soul body in the astral plane, to Elsa Barker in 1913 (Letters From the Afterlife), saying that humans, still in physical form, should strongly intend to fully optimize their objective minds after leaving physical life, to greatly enhance their experience in the afterlife.
He observed many souls in the afterlife and discovered that their preference for the subjective mind, the dreaming/creative mind, helped them to realize their unrealized, unlived dreams from their prior life in human form.
As wonderful as this dreamy, creative fulfillment is, he also observed how much further one could explore in their new plane of existence if they had full access to their volitionally suggestive, objective minds. So, he also suggested that we intend to remember our identity, the fullness of our life just lived, and maintain an active presence of our objective mind in our next chapter, in infinity.
This same guidance applies to all of us currently in human form. We are witnessing the impact of incessant suggestions from political leaders seriously manifesting in many citizens, as they take these suggestions as their marching orders.
To maintain and exercise our objective mind amidst these intense storms of suggestion, secures our freedom of will to choose our own suggestions to our subjective mind, now and going forward.
The best guidance is to practice conscious self-hypnosis, where our objective mind responsibly directs wise and positive growth-oriented suggestions to our subjective mind. This will deliver us to our greater individual fulfillment, as well as our entire world to its greater good.
Bicamerally yours,
Chuck
Use the remote to turn on the gas heating stove. The remote beeps, the fire does not ignite. Try it a few more times. Finally change the batteries in the remote, as well as in the receiver in the stove. Press ‘on’ again, still no ignition.
Suddenly, a flash of intuition! There’s a thermostat in the stove! The room is too warm for it to allow ignition. Raise the temperature threshold. Press ‘on’. Ignition!
As with the stove, preset suggestions to the subconscious mind can nullify the manifestation of new suggestions. These pre-settings might originate in karmic spells or choices, genetic predispositions, postnatal conditioning via the socialization that has shaped one’s core belief systems, or unrecognized shadow dynamics generating their own balance/imbalance in the underworld of the personality.
Although our subconscious minds house the materials and facility for the realization of our creative magical intentions, our intent will be ineffective if prior beliefs or hidden agreements contradict our current suggestions. How do I know if I have hidden blocking beliefs?
Begin with this primary question: “Do I believe that anything is possible?”
Does the rational mind permit the possibility that a suggestion can create a reality? Is it willing to suspend its automatic critical judgment and submit that hypothesis to an unbiased experiment?
Spend a half hour a day, for a week, first getting physically relaxed, then stating out loud, or in writing, or both: “Anything is possible.” At idle times during the day, state it again: “Anything is possible.”
After a week, ask yourself this question: “Am I worthy to receive the change I seek?”
Perhaps, for example, you intend your body to be healed. You might discover that though you believe there could be miracles, you also hold the belief that it could never happen for you.
Again, suspend judgment, and write and state for a half hour each day, incessantly: “I am part of everything; I am worthy to receive the change I seek.”
If you notice the emergence of contrary thoughts, state: “I suspend judgment. I am part of everything, I am worthy to receive the change I seek.”
At the end of the week, having established the foundation to suggest a new belief, state directly your intention for change to your subconscious mind.
As before, state and/or write this intention for a half hour per day, as well as throughout the day, at idle moments, when it pops into your mind to do so. Continue to state this suggestion every day with no attachment to the outcome.
Like true scientists, we are not interested in influencing the outcome, even at the level of thoughts. Yes, a suggestion is a thought, but this is a thought experiment, limited to the impact of experimental suggestions. The outcome of the experiment is what is and what becomes, as a result of specific suggestions being recited.
Most likely, our intention will begin to manifest as we continue our practice. However, if we observe no change, we must re-explore the possibility that another preset blocking belief is interfering with our intent.
Perhaps, for instance, I discover, despite my suggestion to the contrary, that my rational mind is the holdout. Secretly, and tenaciously, it doesn’t believe in the spiritual power of words to generate physical happenings.
Assign the rational mind the dutiful task of stepping up to the objective requirement of a true scientific experimenter: NO PREJUDICE.
Include this in the suggestion, as in: “I suspend judgment. No prejudice. I am part of everything, I am worthy to receive the change I seek.” With this new suggestion in place, restart the practice with your intent for change.
Be present to every suggestion you state. Even if your attention strays, continue the rote exercise. The subconscious listens to all suggestions. Suggestions of longer duration make a definite impression. The subconscious does not think; it needs to be impressed upon, given its marching orders.
We are constantly feeding our subconscious daily suggestions through our incessant internal dialogue, which delivers us our familiar sense of self and our unchanging perspective. Deliberate periods of new focused suggestions can eventually override these habituated, stagnated manifestations.
Be careful what you read, listen to, and state inwardly and outwardly. Words and thoughts are suggestions that bombard the subconscious with suggestions that it constantly reacts to. Be extremely sensitive to the words you live by.
As with all psychic powers, hypnotic suggestion can be used for evil as well as positive intent. This is what is called, unfortunately, black magic. We needn’t look very far to see the impact of negative suggestions made by political figures or influencers on social media, and how they destructively impact our world.
The responsible use of suggestion is suggestion that aligns with the values of one’s High Self. The ego, in its highest integrity, must assure that suggestions to the subconscious are for the greater good of self and other. Narcissistic and destructive suggestions, though they may materially eventuate, carry inevitable karmic consequences.
Also consider, however, that shadow and light are both part of the same wholeness. Sometimes destruction is divinely necessary and needs to be lived.
Additionally, if one is dealing with a sub-personality that opposes an ego suggestion to the subconscious, this may undermine a stated suggestion. The work here is to first achieve consensus within the personality before proceeding with the practice of suggestion.
To access the true magic in our being we must be patient, persevering, observing, and light as a feather in the knowing that anything is possible and that we are a part of everything, worthy to receive the changes we seek.
Seeing what happens,
Chuck
Ever-present in the background of ego consciousness is the archetypal human, that which, with its accumulated wisdom from having lived the entirety of human history, lives inside us and reacts along with us as we think, imagine, and encounter the phenomenal world.
Imagine standing at the edge of a tall mountain, flying in a plane, or crossing a turbulent river. The immediate instinctual reaction of our inner archetypal human might be anxiety, as it accents its knowing of potential danger. Archetypal triggers are the emotional downloads of ancient wisdom, gleaned from prior human experience, that automatically react to similar stimuli that appear in present-day life.
Our ego reaction to these same imaginary scenes might be to quickly rationalize the overwhelming statistics of the safety of flying and the ability to stay calm and in control in challenging situations. These efforts are attempts to minimize archetypal fears and master the challenges presented.
Ultimately, ego is tasked with becoming the Hero, who finds the means to surmount the archetypal challenges being presented. Ego does well to begin with humility. Instinctual reactions are automatic; there is no blame in the reaction of terror.
The thought of giving a speech or performing before an audience might provoke immediate terror. It’s a completely valid instinctive response. This is the archetypal mind scanning the power of groups in myriads of human encounters throughout history and delivering its verdict—terror.
The lowered consciousness of group mind in such experiences has resulted in many tragic consequences in the course of human history. The ego does well to acknowledge this truth and to consider how it might best prepare itself for such a challenging event.
Sometimes ego might attempt to puff itself up to feel equal to or greater than the power of the archetypal trigger. Positive self-talk in such circumstances may be helpful but is not likely to maintain the confidence needed for true mastery.
The Hero’s journey is its own archetypal journey of ego development. First and foremost, one must heed the call to action. The call originates from our High Self or Spirit, informing us that it is time to grow: “Yes, you must meet with this person whom you experience as the archetypal bully or harpy.”
The instinctive reaction to freeze or retreat is respected but not chosen for this challenge to be successfully met. One might engage in yoga, breath work, meditation, neurofeedback, or any body-centered technique to increase conscious control over the instinctual reactions of the central nervous system generated by the archetypal mind.
The home of the archetypal human is the subconscious mind, which responds immediately to triggers or suggestions by generating chemical and electrical reactions in the body. The use of conscious positive suggestions to the body present new behavioral options to the subconscious mind. Just as the subconscious mind reacts to instinct, it also reacts to consciously generated suggestions.
Thus, regular self-hypnosis that suggests actions of calm and mastery can give the ego greater control over the habitual, instinctive reactions of the archetypal mind. The calmer we can be in an archetypal encounter the greater will be our ability to remain present and to respond quickly and thoughtfully to rapidly changing conditions.
Practice, practice, practice! This is the guidance given to all music students. Its wisdom can be generalized to prepare all of us for all kinds of archetypal encounters.
For instance, visualizing the scene and the myriad of possible permutations of an event, accompanied by the bilateral recapitulation breath as you live those scenes, allows you to gain greater clarity, fluidity and calm over the actual event.
Ego is also free to ask for help and support from its High Self, who appreciates ego’s efforts to meet its appointed task. In particular, one might ask the High Self for help in gaining access to the appropriate words and ideas that would be helpful as it navigates the challenge before it. Memorization has its place, but a quickness of mind is best suited to be fully present and responsive to an unfolding challenge.
Ultimately, the archetypal human is extremely conservative. Its aim is to keep us safe and alive. In fact, in actual life-threatening circumstances this ancient human can take possession of the ego and the body and perform superhuman feats. Don’t leave home without your archetypal human self!
On the other hand, realize that consciousness was evolved at the behest of the archetypal mind, who saw the wisdom of being able to change course on a dime, rather than suffer the consequences of habitual patterns ill-fitted to changing circumstances.
The ego is the child of the archetypal human who must truly become the adult to the personality, working respectfully with its archetypal partner and cohort.
Archetypal triggers are merely necessary tests meant to be mastered. Also, life always provides many makeup tests!
Choose wisely,
Chuck