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 Place: The Truth of the Heart

A path with heart…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Don Juan Matus contended that in the final analysis all paths lead to the same place, death. However, a path with true heart offers fulfillment in the finite life of human form. Thus, to find the truth of the heart is central to life while in human form.

The heart has been popularly associated with the path of romantic love. Romantic love is a spiritualized quest for one’s true soulmate.  That quest is imbued with archetypal energy that generates a heightened state of awareness that erases boundaries and creates the experience of oneness or wholeness between two people.

Most seasoned human travelers come to discover the trickster ally inherent in romantic love. What is experienced in one moment as deep closeness can abruptly shift into great distance in the next.

For the Shamans of Ancient Mexico, an ally was an entity that enabled one to enter the world of non-ordinary reality. Romantic love is indeed entry into a state of non-ordinary reality. However, the ally that works its projective magic to land us there also tests us.

Are we merely hooked on the ecstatic energy of romance or does our relationship truly have heart? If it’s the high we seek, the ally will send us on many journeys of illusion. Despite the highs and lows, we remain hooked compulsively to the pursuit of the next candidate that shines with promise.

Though Cupid, as the Romans named romance’s ally, may be useful to awaken to love’s potential, only the truth of the heart can tell us if we are on the path of love. The truth of the heart is calm and clear. The truth of the heart is not swayed by romance. The truth of the heart is a feeling and a knowing of whether something is right or not.

Thus, our attachment to the heart, as the home of romance, clouds our ability to access the objective truth of the heart. This is the test of the ally. Despite the wonderment of romance, can we get calm and ask our heart the truth about our potential traveling companion?

The true nature of the heart is compassion, rooted in its knowledge of the interconnectedness of all things. Romance is in fact an experience of greater interconnectedness with someone, however, it may be so narcissistically tinged by one’s own needs that one is unable to actually see their partner.

Furthermore, the heart is the meeting place for ego Soul and High SOUL, our ultimate Soulmate. Our High SOUL knows our intent for the life we are in and can guide and support us through the trials and tribulations of life in human form. But we must be able to sacrifice the pressure of our needs if we are to get calm and be open to the truth delivered by our High SOUL.

The truth of the heart is the key to finding one’s path of heart. If a path has heart it resonates in both ordinary and non-ordinary reality. Love is constant in all realities. Romance that does not transmute into the fullness of love in ordinary life fails the ally’s test.

Love, in this higher sense, is the true energy of the heart center, which is connected to the indivisibility and, hence, compassion for all life. As well, the heart center is connected to infinity, which puts into perspective the relativity of life in human form.

From these considerations, the truth of the heart guides the journeyer to their specific path of heart, truly the journey of a lifetime.

From the heart,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Love will win

Heart rising up…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

“There’s always a bit of heaven in a disaster area!” exclaimed Wavy Gravy, as the rains fell and the traffic snarled at the Woodstock Music Festival, fifty years ago this August. When I listened to Marianne Williamson at the 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, I shared Wavy Gravy’s reaction, toward the chaos of now, “there’s always a bit of heaven in a disaster area!”

Love has arrived at the top echelon of political discourse. Love rises when it faces a truly worthy opponent. To continue on a path of knowledge in the world of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico, one must encounter a truly worthy opponent. In a recent Netflix episode, David Letterman and Howard Stern respectfully acknowledged the power of love’s most worthy opponent as they discussed the many personal interviews they had each conducted with Donald Trump over the past 30 years.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal called this past June the warmest gain in the Dow since 1938. This past week, France suffered the warmest temperatures in its history. Where’s the connection?

Last week,  Duke Energy representative Randy Wheeless, in North Carolina, explained his company’s reluctance to pursue renewable energy. “I think a lot of environmentalists talk about the end of the world, but there are a lot of people still worried about the end of the month, and how to pay bills,” he said. What bills will be left to pay “when the Garden is gone,” as Neil Young sings?

The truth is evident. The issue of now is not what is true but what is right. Immigrant children are taken from their parents; this is government policy, which will cause deep, perhaps irreparable psychological damage to those children. This is scientifically known truth.

In this case, the coveted ‘end’ of illegal immigration is said to justify this inhumane ‘means.’ America First has supplanted what once made America the world’s great beacon of hope. America has lost its connection to the heart in the service of personal gain at all costs.

This national foray into heartless narcissism has been an incredibly humbling outing of America’s shadow. We all must face the preponderance of self-importance and the facade of altruism behind  our noble American Dream. America stalked the heart center at its founding but has always masked its self-serving intent.

Thankfully, but dangerously, that facade has crumbled. As individuals we are challenged to face the preponderance of our narrow personal survival fears. Is the stock market’s contribution to our retirement more important than the survival of the world? Is trade really the highest god?

The worthy opponent of now is fixation at the third chakra, the home of narcissistic personal power. That fixation is obsessed only with the accrual of its own power. From its perspective, personal needs trump the survival of the world. We must all reckon with our attachment to this fixation. Masked altruism is what landed us here.

Real love awaits at the heart chakra. Real love embraces the truths and needs of the one world we are all part of. The heart chakra faces the truth of survival needs and will require, of all, great sacrifice to survive as a world.

We find our way to the heart by facing our own deepest truth with compassion. We then turn that compassion, however ruthlessly, to all the worthy opponents who boldly honor narcissism. No parts can be left out of the whole. From there, the heart will guide.

I hear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young singing to me, from within, “Carry on, love is coming, love is coming to us all…..”  Happy 4th. Celebrate true Independence.

Carry on,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Deepening Fulfillment

Go down to the wellspring of life…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

On the eve of the summer solstice, the most enlightened day of the year, President Trump abruptly cancelled a retaliatory strike upon Iran.

The year is cyclical and repetitive, punctuated by seasons that mark life’s beginning to its completion. The summer solstice elongates the light of consciousness at its highest peak, a supreme opportunity to be in alignment with inner truth.

Perhaps under the impact of solstice energy, President Trump was influenced momentarily to be patient and acquiesce to the greater good.

I threw the I Ching this morning, with the question: Where are we now in the cycle of the Tao and how best to promote fulfillment?

The I Ching responded with hexagram #48, The Well, with moving lines in the fifth and sixth places. The model for The Well in nature is the tree, whose wooden roots penetrate the earth to draw up the water that sustains its life. The well, in ancient China, was accessed by a wooden pole that dipped a bucket into the water, which was raised to nourish all.

The I Ching warns that carelessness in raising the bucket can be disastrous, such as, “if for instance the military defense of a state is carried to such excess that it provokes wars by which the power of the state is annihilated, that is a breaking of the jug.”

On an individual level, the I Ching counsels that, “every human being can draw in the course of (their) education from the inexhaustible wellspring of the divine in (human) nature. But here likewise two dangers threaten: a (person) might fail in (their) education to penetrate to the real roots of humanity and remain fixed in convention… or (they) may suddenly collapse and neglect (their) self- development.”

Interestingly, the future work proposed by the I Ching  to solidify the best use of the well is hexagram #18: Work on what has been spoiled. That hexagram has us address the contents of the shadow or personal unconscious that create decay within the personality, as well as the attitude of the ego in a state of avoidance or inertia.

The two moving lines of the hexagram are extremely hopeful. The nine in the fifth place states that the water in the well is exceedingly pure, fed by a spring of living water. Thus, the channel to the living spirit is available in the hearts of everyone. However, what is lacking here is the volitional drawing from this wellspring of wisdom. Though the knowledge and right guidance are available, they must be drawn upon to arrive at right action.

The six at the top takes it to that final step: “One draws from the well without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune.” All are empowered to draw from the inexhaustible guidance and nurturance of their inner well, situated in the higher truth of the heart chakra.

Thus, the I Ching highlights in these accentuated lines that the guidance we truly need is readily available within our hearts. We are primed to receive it, since we already have available to us the tools to procure it. The time is right to exercise such actions.

These tools include, reading the synchronistic signs that appear to guide us through our days, as well as the dreams which foreshadow the opportunities for self-development each night. In the calmness of meditation we open directly our channel to spirit.

Specifically, the I Ching asks us to face the source of our guilt. By facing and addressing the issues behind our guilt, the water of our inner well is clarified to nurture our fulfillment. Sometimes we must undergo shocks to our well before we are fully ready to deepen our fulfillment. This is the work of recapitulation that fully frees our energy from the ‘impurities’ of the past.

The time is right for deepening fulfillment through drinking the pure waters that await in the deepest caverns of the heart.

Cheers!

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Finding Harmonious Balance

Homeostasis!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

All systems seek homeostasis. There are countless permutations of homeostasis. For instance, if one part of a system rises to an extreme, other parts of the system compensate by moving to the opposite extreme to restore balance. A system of extremes, though a volatile and unstable balance, nonetheless can take possession of the world, as well as the human personality, with dire consequences.

Democratic governments have evolved systems of checks and balances to ensure stability of governance. Elected representatives bring their varied, opposing beliefs and individualistic concerns to their meeting halls and, ideally, attempt to harmonize their decisions for the greater good. Often, however, special interests seek to stockpile power to advance their agenda unsullied by a democratic process, which generally requires compromise.

Some issues, such as a threat to national security, evoke a primal unity that can advance a generalized acceptance of war. This falls under the category of nationalism.

The world is dangerously close to such an eventuality, particularly in a time of deluge of fake news, geared toward advancing special interests, especially for those who advocate war to eliminate unwanted parts of the world system.

These are like the times in world history where a savior is sought to bring a peaceful reconciliation of opposites and restoration of world stability. In modern terms, the world seeks a mature adult leader to restore order.

In the human personality, the adult self is the “savior” charged with bringing sustainable homeostasis within the system of the human psyche.

The adult self is the conscious president of the personality. The chakras of the human energy system are the major energy centers of the personality that reflect different needs within the self. Thus, for instance, the first chakra is the representative of core security and safety. The second chakra is concerned with procreation and continuance of the species. The third chakra is concerned with the power of individual needs and wants, the true coming of age of the human ego.

The fourth chakra is the meeting place of the spiritual self, where the individualistic ego is introduced to the truth of its place in the larger interconnected system of the greater self. The heart chakra teaches the ego right action for the needs of the greater whole.

The final three chakras are greater refinements of awakening to the transpersonal dimension of being and to life beyond the physical self.

The adult self is charged with managing the needs of the total self in space time, that is, daily human life. The adult self must bring to the meeting room the unique concerns of all the representatives of the various chakras. Decisions must be made, and checks and balances employed, to insure good management of energetic resources in the behavioral fulfillment of everyday life.

Unfortunately, the adult self must undergo much maturation before it arrives at the adult ability to govern for the greater good of the personality. Here, checks and balances appear in the form of psychosomatic symptoms, emotional and cognitive reactions, as well as dream experiences and synchronistic manifestations that bring influence upon the homeostatic balance of the personality.

A basic example: at the core chakra level, we must eat to survive. The second chakra, with its primal concern of mating, might negate the need to eat in order to attract a mate. The third chakra, in a state of grandiose entitlement, might insist upon unlimited treats. The fourth chakra might give the message that food is necessary in moderation, and hold out that a true mate would be attracted to a person who lovingly cares for the true needs of the whole body.

An immature adult self might find itself easy prey to the special interests of one or another chakra, resulting in either under or over eating. An adult self that has undergone the trials of the lower chakras, and reached the heart chakra, would be able to avail itself of the wisdom offered at the heart chakra. This would mean eating an enjoyable, moderate, truly needed meal.

Again, all systems must achieve homeostasis. Homeostasis could actually look like an indulgent attitude, compensated by severe somatic and emotional symptoms. The goal is to achieve harmonious homeostasis, which provides enduring sustainability. All individuals have the opportunity to be saviors of themselves, in their intent of achieving mature adulthood.

Let us intend that world leadership follow this example.

Pursuing the path to heart,

Chuck

Chuck’s Place: Finding Equanimity

Finding equanimity in nature…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The ability to remain consistently calm, in this time of incessant turbulence and rapid unpredictable bipolar shifts, is a cherished resource. Equanimity greets every moment with equal attention, appreciation, clarity and calm.

Buddhist practice embraces equanimity as the ultimate attitude needed for successful transition from human to infinite life. The ability to be present, to not sow a seed of reincarnation—by distraction or attachment—in the dying process, frees the energy body to evolve in its definitive journey beyond human life.

The Shamans of Ancient Mexico also valued the relationship of equanimity and death. They reasoned that any moment in life could be one’s final moment, hence one should be fully present, alive, and equally appreciative of every moment in life, regardless of personal preferences.

The Shaman’s perspective is the ultimate Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all moments are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Shamans cultivate equanimity as a program for living, the Buddhists as the key in dying. Both cultivate an attitude of deep calm in approaching life’s greatest encounter—its final moment.

How can we cultivate equanimity?

The Shamans contribute an attitude shift. Each day they remind themselves, ” My name is ________, a being who is going to die.” Far from being a morbid ‘Good Morning, World,’ this use of death as an advisor heightens one’s awareness to be fully present and engaged in every moment of the day, regardless of the activity.

How often do we lament a Monday morning, or the end of a joyous encounter? Even worse, how often do we dread an encounter or work task, and pray for it to quickly end. The intent of equanimity is to be equally calm and present to each equal moment, regardless of its intensity.

The Buddhists contribute the practice of meditation to still the mind, a great perpetrator of non-equanimity known as worry. Yoga, with its Hindu roots, uses self-regulation of the body to achieve equanimity. The practice of pranayama breathing exercises greatly enhances voluntary control of the autonomic nervous system’s mobilizing defenses, in the face of real or imagined stress, a valuable tool to achieve equanimity.

Autogenic training and self-hypnosis are tools to deepen the conscious relationship between mind and body. When we give the body a specific instruction when in a deeply relaxed state, the subconscious begins to listen and override its genetic, archetypal, or habitual programs.

Thus, we can instruct every part of our body to remain deeply calm while we remain fully awake and present to all conditions. Jan and I recently discovered the gift of Dr. Eleanor Eggers, a 97-year-old  semiretired psychologist, who developed a simple website giving away the secrets of her life’s work. This is her contribution to the greater good.

Her website offers the autogenic phrases that Elmer and Alyce Green developed at the Menninger Foundation, for deep relaxation, as well as other resources from her long and fruitful career. We happily pass on her website link: Dr. Eleanor Eggers.

Though, at present, we may experience limitation in exacting needed changes to our chaotic world, we are all free, as Victor Frankl would say, to assume the attitude we will embody in our encounters with that world. Equanimity ranks highest in our approach to life, in and beyond this world.

May all beings find equanimity.

Peace,

Chuck