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 Blog

Chuck’s Place: Thanks

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We’re all heading down the same human highway together…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Thank you, human animal, for housing our tumultuous spirits. In this time of The Battle of the Titans, i.e., the clashing and thrashing of major belief systems, as reflected all around us every day it seems, the human animal continues, loyally, to bear the dictates and consequences of our wild spirits.

Often the animal in us, with its powerful instincts, is blamed for the excesses and extremes of human nature. But what animal engages in pornography, creates and gorges sugary concoctions, or cheats? The human spirit, with its desire and mental body, is the genesis of our material obsessions and excessive behaviors. The human spirit alone is responsible for the highest and lowest of our creations. The hands of the animal body merely obey the promptings of the dominant spirit, the human mind.

Thanks, as well, to the human spirit that has chosen this embodied life in time and space. With its consciousness it knows its days are numbered. This is the engine behind its boundless invention and exploration. Still a child, compared to its instinctive animal host, the human spirit, in its innocence, is driven by curiosity into infinite discovery.

The major discovery of now is the relativity of our world, how uniform belief systems are the building blocks that congeal our material world. And belief systems are the province of the spirit. We are forced now to discover and explore our spirit realm, as in our unconsciousness we have generated chaos. The key to material survival is responsibility at the spirit level now.

Fortunately, we are multidimensional beings. Indeed, we are watched over and guided by our spirit families beyond human form. Let us give thanks to those who continue to care for and guide us, though they be far removed from the ignorance and sentimentality of us in human form. May we do our best to contribute to our soul group’s greater exploration of infinity and beyond.

Thanks to Gaia, for inviting us, for tolerating us. The great changes of now reflect her transformation, though certainly we bear marked responsibility for her changed course. Nonetheless, her changes are driving, symbiotically, our own spirit maturity, as we are compelled now to face the truth of our own desires and mental illusions if we are to survive the mess we have created.

Thanks to the wholeness behind it all that decided to discover itself in the multitude of forms and possibilities we partake in. Indeed, we are all endowed with the active energy of infinity, no possibilities excluded. Thus, we must embrace evil as a fundamental permutation that must be explored. Of course, love remains the overarching all-inclusive truth. Love is greater than evil because it accepts it. Evil always requires an enemy.

Though we must limit and destroy it, we ought to give thanks to evil itself. Evil is the change agent, the destroyer of forms. Where would we be without the change of seasons? How long could we be in paradise before boredom would set in? Our curiosity, the hallmark of our spirit, must journey on, or be dammed in the inferno of changelessness. Evil’s excesses must be checked, but the truth is that evil forces us into new life.

Thanks to reason, that which allows us all to be the scientists performing the experiments of our lives. May reason humbly accompany us, as we wake up to our greater interconnected spiritual essence. And may our reasoned conclusions chart our future course, once our obsession with armageddon has burned itself out.

Thanks to love, which grows and refines, and allows us to know and be one with us all, no exclusions.

With thanks and gratitude, and love to all, no exclusions,

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Relativity and Dream Space

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What Einstein proposed, and proved, is that time is relative. When matter moves at great velocity it ages slower than it ages on Earth. Time is relative to the velocity we travel at. It is not constant under all conditions.

Frozen leaf energy body?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

This is most noticeable in dreaming. One might drop into a REM dream state for but a few real-time moments and then awaken. As  dreams experienced just moments before are recalled and recorded, one might find oneself writing for an hour or more, as one documents the many adventures from the just dreamed dreams.

The time it would have required to actually experience these adventures in real time would have taken hours. Nonetheless, as dream recall proves, they were fully experienced, almost instantaneously, in dream time. This is an example of how consciousness can travel and live in different, even very elongated timezones. Consciousness, the active force of the soul, lives and travels in different dimensions.

As Einstein discovered, the significant variable in shifting time dimensions is velocity. In dream state terms, this is experienced vibrationally. When we go to sleep our soul energy body prepares to leave the timezone of waking life by revving up the velocity of its vibrations to a very high frequency.

This increased vibrational state normally occurs when we fall asleep. If, however, one remains conscious during this process it is frequently experienced as increasingly higher vibrations sweeping over the physical body, as the soul energy body prepares and then launches out of the sleeping physical body. Energy body dimensions then experienced are increasingly subtle, with their own different timezones.

The first energy body timezone is actually the real-time zone of waking life, where out-of-body explorers travel our world and solar system in real time. More subtle dimensions—where time is elongated and many dream adventures occur in very few real-time minutes—reflect energy-body adventures beyond this real-time dimension.

The ancient Hindus called these more subtle dimensions the astral dimensions, where one engages in interactions with deeper parts of one’s own soul, as well as with guides and teachers intent on supporting life in this densest energy region, that of real-time waking life in the physical body.

In the truest sense, the soul never sleeps. When the physical body goes into deep sleep it enters a state known as REM sleep paralysis, where the motor cells of the body are switched off, as the soul ventures in infinity. Basic logic explains the need for this temporary paralysis, as without it the downloads of dream energy-body experiences to the sleeping physical body would result in physical movement that might be both awkward and potentially hazardous. In fact, sleepwalking is an example of what happens when the normal shutting down of motor activity in the body does not occur and the physical body acts out the energy body’s movements.

Normally, the body is completely still and asleep in unconscious semi-paralysis while the soul ventures in infinity, both processing the previous day’s waking life experiences, as well as being schooled and guided in spiritual advancement by the higher self and guides that live in the higher astral dimensions.

If you successfully meet a challenge in a dream, it is likely to reflect in similar success the next day. It matters little if we remember the actual dream, the lesson has been learned and will unconsciously benefit the ego’s knowing in the challenges of the day ahead. Sometimes the experience of deja vu reflects this awareness, that I have been here before; yes, in my dreams!

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, such as simply having to pee, our soul may be called abruptly back to the body before a dream is complete, or before the body is ready for reintegration with its soul. This is often experienced as a powerful waking vibrational state in the consciousness of the energy body, as it is confronted with the physical body’s inability to move.

This is a very temporary out-of-phase experience that quickly passes, as we are restored to full body motility. Should this happen, simply realize what is happening, stay calm, and await the transition into familiar normalcy. It may take a few moments. It simply reflects the recalibration of soul with physical body.

Whether we are aware that we are in our soul state when physically sleeping or not, our soul has its rich experiences, which both rejuvenate mind and body from the prior day’s activity and present guidance and exercises to prepare us for the coming day’s challenges. We can enhance and more volitionally participate in these journeys if we cultivate the intent to remain conscious in our dream and out-of-body states.

As the outer world continues its major transformational activity at this time, relativity and dream space offer us avenues of exploration and preparation to meet the challenges of oncoming time in waking reality. Intend awareness in your energy body and see what happens! The soul offers many blessings.

Pleasant dreams,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Tripartite Soul of Now

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I am writing to the future, the day this will be published, the morning after the midterm elections. For the record, my final edit for this blog was on the morning of November 6, 2018, well in advance of outcomes in time and space. My intent is that the electorate free its mind from manipulation and vote from the heart for the greater good of all. I will accept the outcome of the election as a true reading of the status of our collective soul now.

Tripartite: heaven and earth with the light of the intellect in between…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

I define mind as soul, the subtle body companion of our physical body for the duration of our lives in this world. The soul is a tripartite structure consisting of the inherent collective unconscious with its instinctive knowing, the ego with its intellect and capacity for reason, and the high self that is guided by infinity through intuition and love.

Recently, we have seen the rapid emergence of instinct, with its passionate emotions, take charge of world governance. This is an archetypal response, from the collective unconscious dimension of the soul, to the Earth’s current major reshaping and the primal dread it awakens at our animal core. Survival is its battle cry.

Our reasoning mind has either been convinced of instinct’s call to arms, and leant it support, or opposed its radical approach, embodying, instead, calls for greater unity and compassion.

The question for this midterm was whether the escalating instinctive approach would continue to grow, or a movement toward more inclusive values would begin to assert itself.

Regardless of outcome, the Earth will continue its radical changes, and the human animal will continue to experience fear and anxiety in response. The problem for humans, as well as all species on Earth, is that the environment is shifting into unknown territory, where old tried and true instinctive responses cannot effectively assimilate the current dangers.

The intellect that has the capacity to analyze a problem and oppose even its own nature to effect a solution may be equally disadvantaged if it cannot detach from personal interest or the thrill of unbridled emotion. Furthermore, the real solution to survival in this changing world might require opening to the guidance of an intuition that transcends pure reason.

Clearly, cooperation by all parts of the tripartite soul would best prepare us to ride the tide of our evolutionary challenge. From our instinct emerges the alarm of real threat to survival. From our intellect emerges the ability to analyze and act in our best interest. From our high self comes the experience of pure love, which binds the world together in common interest. Thus, the combination of instinct, intellect, and love are the winning ticket.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, our evolutionary path requires us to access the fullness of our tripartite soul to find our way. Regardless of the outcome of the election, every individual is free to travel this evolutionary path within the confines of their own physical body and tripartite soul.

In fact, the greatest of leaders throughout history were masters of their tripartite souls, to such a degree that they inspired humanity to higher spiritual directions, merely through the presence of their evolved personalities.

Focus now on evolving the personality through acknowledging the anxiety from below, through thinking objectively and initiating right action, and by finding inspiration and intuitive solution from the love and wisdom that comes from above. This is the tripartite ticket to facing one’s deepest issues within, as well as managing one’s reactions to the volatility expressed without.

Never feel powerless; you are the agent of change. Change the self, change the world.

In gratitude,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Calm the Self, Calm the World

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Acceleration Fatigue might aptly characterize the mind’s reaction to the  energy of now. Future Shock has become daily shock. Saturated with awful, we can absorb no more. Herein lies the opportunity to: Calm the Self and Calm the World.

Every day offers opportunity for calm reflection…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Begin by refusing the attraction to new news. There’s always excitement to be found, and excitement has its definite place, but too much of anything leads to exhaustion. Save your attention for your breath. Softly breathe in calm, gently melt away tension in soothing release.

Consider the many lives of self, coexisting at increasingly subtler levels of spirit, supporting the body in these rapidly changing times. Allow the messages, teachings, and adjustments from faraway dreams to innervate the self of daily life. Feel the love and support of wholeness of being as it reflects itself throughout the day.

Suspend judgment. Treat the march of events as they arrive at your shore with deep curiosity. Who are these visitors? Do I need to purchase their offerings? Why have they come my way this day? Don’t be offended by their intrusion. Remember, you have total charge of where you place your attention. Choose wisely, choose lovingly.

Love. Love the body, the physical being of this dimension. Love the mind, the spirit partner to the physical self. Love the consciousness that spirit affords. Love the spirit that journeys with all spirits, all parts of the same magnificent whole. Love all thy neighbors as thyself.

Have love for the ego; it’s saddled with self importance. Nonetheless, it remains the ground zero general of this dimension. Realize it must face its petty tyrants in its struggle to be free. And what is freedom? Freedom is serving the true needs of self beyond the veils of illusion. Tall order. Love it well.

Wait patiently. All things change in time. But for things to truly change the time must be ripe. Be with the changes of now, however painful, as precursors, milestones of greater change to come. No need to overly suffer in these suffering times. Be in truth. Eat, drink, and find joy in even these darkest of times. The darkest hour is just before the dawn. A change is gonna come, be patient.

Be like the rainmaker who brings rain when she restores herself to the Tao. Find your way to calm and it will calm the world.

Peace,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Find Higher Ground

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Keep the light on love…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

As a clinician, I would diagnose the world as currently suffering from Acute Stress Disorder. This diagnosis differs from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder only in time: we are currently encountering the overwhelming stress, and reactions to stress, well-known in PTSD, most acutely in our daily encounters with oncoming world events.

On a psychological level, acute stress is met by the activation of the survival instinct, which manifests in reactions of fight, flight, or freeze. These reactions are archaic responses, universally programmed in all humans, that generally override the thinking, reflective, choice centered part of our brains, the neocortex, which generally goes dormant when we feel threatened. Thus, our behaviors become instinctively, versus consciously, directed reactions to stressors.

We see the fight reaction in the political and social media battles throughout the world. We see the flight reaction in the mass migratory patterns of human populations fleeing the earthly disasters and dangerous political conditions of their familial homelands. We see the freeze reaction in withdrawal into depression, as well as into the numbness of addiction.

Although instinctive reactions are nature’s time-honored survival strategies, they are not always the most efficient or appropriate responses to a crisis, nor do they really penetrate the true depth of an issue. Deeper levels of consideration require the ability to reflect objectively, which cannot happen when the neocortex is offline. Thus, the ability to restore the thinking function to normal capacity is critical. But how?

Breathe. Mindful breathing has the physiological effect of blocking stress producing hormones and inducing a relaxation response to the body. From there, thinking comes back online and can provide a broader perspective. The greatest challenge to breathing when stressfully activated is to separate from the actions dictated by the fight, flight, freeze instinctual program. Sometimes a vigorous walk, run, or private scream is a helpful release before breathing. When battling another person, it is generally best to separate for awhile, rather than try to force a resolution. Not to do so often results in a continued and escalated battle.

Although the neocortex is the biological thinking center of the brain, the mind and consciousness itself are actually part of the soul or energy body. This is most evident in the mind’s ability to act in opposition to its biological programming. When we choose to breathe when deeply stressed, we are acting in opposition to our biological programming. We rise above our animal nature to access spirit consciousness and choice.

The heart center in human beings has its energy body connection in its interconnected relationship to all of life. Thus, from the heart center we are able to feel love, which enables empathy, care, and support beyond one’s instinctive survival drive, which cannot extend beyond the narcissistic province of me and mine. This spirit center elevates the human being from the dominance of the survival drive at its animal level, which we witness pervasively throughout the world at this time.

As Mother Earth continues her drastic reformation of the globe, a major healing crisis, we are likely to see all animal species, particularly the human, responding through instinctual survival programs. For humans, these instinctual survival programs will increasingly pit human against human. These instinctual survival programs lack empathy, love, and a greater understanding of the changes we are all being confronted with.

In spite of the dire state of world affairs, it is possible to consciously rise above these instinctual survival programs and maintain and increase greater love and understanding. The ability to be empathic truly does lie at the heart of the evolved human being. With intent we can find our way to higher ground.

Seek sanctuary in heart-centered breathing to counter pure survival behaviors that lack soul. Find the higher ground of love and understanding, even as our species grapples with major change. As individual cells of this great body of Mother Earth, we can, individually and collectively, introduce soulful healing energy into our planet’s current major healing crisis.

From the breathing heart,

Chuck