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.
Don Jose Ruiz really touches on the interconnectedness of Toltec Wisdom, and all wisdom traditions, to the world dream of now. We highly recommend taking some time to listen to Mark Certo’s Interview with him on the Expanding on Consciousness Podcast.
Don Jose Ruiz, Author of the Fifth Agreement and Teacher of Toltec Traditions— A Mystical Connection to the Infinite Source
“Toltec wisdom is about healing with spirit, and Toltec practitioners serve as an extension of the divine Mother Earth. The fire within is there to protect us from ourselves. Follow that fire. The Toltec of today has evolved as the world has evolved—kept alive not with blind faith repeating traditional beliefs, but by how the world is dreaming right now. There are many challenges to unlearn. Toltec is an ancient common sense where you know the truth. It’s an autopsy on the illusion of today. Don Jose speaks of two types of consciousness: personal consciousness—a personal dream—and impersonal consciousness. A field of interaction includes all life on Earth and all life in the cosmos. “We have the ultimate respect for the ultimate dance of detachment, which dances with the angel of death in the music of life. And from this point, we live with gratitude, not with a fear to hold on and miss everything that is around us.” ” -Expanding on Consciousness
The shamans of ancient Mexico coined the term internal dialogue to identify the incessant self-talk that we all engage in that generates our personality.
The content of the internal dialogue is the socialized messages we all receive from the moment we are born, which come to shape our perception and interpretation of ourselves, and the world around us.
What’s key is how the internal dialogue, which is largely internalized verbal and nonverbal messages from significant others, becomes the deeply felt personal definition of self that we accept as our unique personality. Thus, our sense of self is mostly simply a product of external forces of socialization. What we come to covet as our unique self is largely an arbitrary creation of external suggestion.
Psychologically this is what forms and upholds our ego identity. The ego adopts this external messaging as its internal dialogue, which instructs the subconscious mind to manifest the mental and physical being we then become in this world. The subconscious mind is capable of creating anything we say to it—its powers are that extraordinary.
This magic, however, is lost to us, as our magical possibilities are molded externally, and maintained internally, by the incessant unconscious repetition of the same internal dialogue.
Shamans call this fixation of identity, via suggestion, the assemblage point, where unlimited possibility becomes sharply bound by a definite sense of self. Carlos Castaneda called it the place where the wings of our magical selves become clipped.
To further complicate the potential awakening to our innate creative potential is the emotional security we derive from a consistent knowing of ourselves. Thus, for instance, if we are generally somewhat depressed and not hopeful about success in our lives, we may nonetheless cling to and defend this unhappy personality because it provides us with the security of a familiar, trustworthy sense of self.
The rational function of the ego will also likely generate persuasive arguments to dismiss the irrational notion of an unlimited magical potential within the self.
For instance, the subconscious mind is capable of nonlocal perception, such as through remote viewing, channeling or telepathy. The ego, on rational grounds, may dismiss these potential abilities with blocking beliefs that preclude ego even suggesting such a possibility to the subconscious mind.
The shaman proposes that one suspend judgment, and, like a true scientist, approach the subconscious with an unbiased experiment that presents suggestions to it and observes behavioral outcomes.
Too often we try first to reason with the internal dialogue to overcome its objections. This will almost always fail due to the power of the ego’s defenses, which it employs to securely maintain its familiar self.
Rather than battle with reason, accept the product of its internal dialogue, the current ego identity. Instead of an argument, create a new internal dialogue that you volitionally and incessantly repeat, as often as you remember.
For example, state the phrase, “I am calm,” thousands of times a day. It matters little if you believe it or not. In fact, your working definition of self—your standard operating self definition—might be, “I am an anxious person.” Do not challenge this definition, simply repeat, “I am calm,” as often as you can.
Suggestions given to the subconscious just before sleep are the most powerful. In retiring to sleep, both the physical body and the conscious mind are turning down and tuning out, thus the availability of the subconscious to receive new instructions is paramount.
In addition, the subconscious naturally comes alive to creativity and suggestion at night. Why waste it on ordinary dreaming? Give it some direction!
As one works the magic at night, one may soon discover that one is more calm in waking life as well. The more established ego state, which loves rationality, will likely take in this new fact and be willing to incorporate it into its old sense of self with little resistance. What ego would deny the facts of its own experience? That’s reality testing at its most basic level.
The possibility of molding a new sense of self, with consciousness that assumes personal responsibility for the suggestions presented to the subconscious, is the true key to the magical kingdom.
Firstly, it allows one to shed the propositions of early internalized beliefs that don’t truly reflect one’s innate potential. The ego instead becomes the beacon of the true Spirit of the Self.
Secondly, it puts the two minds within the self in an optimal relationship for growth. If the ego suggests, to the subconscious, actions of health, healing and the greater good, the physical body and the manifested world will reflect the instinct of self-preservation taken to the highest level of evolutionary refinement.
Thirdly, we, as human beings, are thus restored to the free exploration of our magical beingness and our greater creative potential. We unclip our wings with the free exercise of our will and become the true artists of our lives.
It’s that simple! Take charge of the internal dialogue and become all that you can be!
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.
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.
