I NEED To Listen To Myself….. THE GUEST HOUSE…Some Writings BY Rumi and The Buddha for reflection, core spirituality, my personal journey

I NEED To Listen To Myself….. THE GUEST HOUSE…Some Writings BY Rumi and The Buddha for reflection, core spirituality, my personal journey

Rumi, the 13th century Muslim poet from Afghanistan, has deservedly won a place in our hearts for his sublime capacity to nourish the depth of our being with his perceptive insights into love, sensuality, spirituality and intimacy with the immediate world. His poems strike a chord in the depths of our meditative being. More…Not surprisingly, insight meditation teachers delight to read Rumi’s poems to spiritual practitioners. One of his best loved poems is The Guest House. The Buddha used the same metaphor in 2500 AD and gave two talks entitled The Guest House.

THE GUEST HOUSE
by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

The Buddha, whose teachings took deep root in Afghanistan, gave two talks called The Guest House. (the Pali Canon of the words of the Buddha were written about three centuries after his death.

THE GUEST HOUSE

By The Buddha

The Buddha often commented that the whole world is found in our body. In one discourse, the Buddha said that suppose there is a guest house and people from the four castes come from all directions, then various feelings arise – pleasant, painful and neither pleasant or painful. He says these feelings may be worldly or spiritual turn up at the guest house.

The Buddha takes our responsibility as the host a step further. In another discourse on The Guest House, the Buddha said we need to:

understand what is to be understood about the guests,

let go of what is to be let go about the guests,

realise what is to be realised

and develop what is to be developed.

Through this means, he said we have direct knowledge of the guests.

The Buddha and Rumi remind us that guests turn up as as different kinds of feelings, welcome and unwelcome.

The Buddha knows we cannot always be grateful for our guests, as Rumi suggests, whether they arrive from within or without. Instead, he encourages us to give the guests our fullest attention to see clearly.

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha.

Volume 2, pages 1273

How We Give Power to our Emotions Without Being Aware, core spirituality, my personal journey

How We Give Power to our Emotions without being aware, core spirituality, my personal journey

Healing the negatives in our lives.

When we hold back and stuff emotions inside us we carry around these feelings and they are the vibrations that grow and shape our subconscious, our internal health… and the way our cells reproduce.

Contrary to the idea that if we ignore, hide, delude, or “forget”, we give more energy and power to feelings whenever we contain them. They do not go away.

Our physical bodies, and our minds hold on to the feelings and this results from prior intentions of escapism and denial or overwhelm, which are actual forms of energy.

Emotions and feeling as forms of ENERGY.

The energy we produce by resisting our feelings actually gives more power to those feelings.

We often do stuff emotions in different phases of our lives.

And so it goes we can have an inner child that stuffed emotions, an inner teenager, an earlier young adult version, all in our past still stuffing feelings. Even after we have learned not to do that as adults. These emotions linger inside us from previous unconscious growing phases that we have lived out already. This can show up in the form of memories, difficult conflicts that were left unresolved, victimization experiences, and any form of toxic emotional manipulation or mind control by people close to us.

Ways unexpressed emotions, stuffed feelings, and denial take shape in our now-adult lives.

The power our feelings have does not stop because we choose not to look at them, often these unresolved emotions transform into all manner of physical, mental and emotional shielding, defense mechanisms that become habit, mysterious body aches, and many forms of sickness that have all manner of allopathic medical diagnosis. Without emotional depth and maturity, emotional integrity, emotional awareness, and emotional strength our feelings take shape inside us and redirect the course of our lives in surprising ways THAT TAKE AWAY FROM OUR SENSE OF BALANCE AND EQUILIBRIUM AS ADULTS.

As a transpersonal hypnotherapist I learned how all of this is absolutely true. I learned by witnessing clients, and how stuffed emotions, left untended can destroy the full capacity of a human being to live a fruitful, open-minded, healthy existence. And so when I encounter the unhappy state of many body symptoms which are presented to me as a massage therapist I often encounter unexpressed emotions in clients.

One reason we can contain our emotions!

Unexpressed emotions are waiting, held in time, within us as a component of our ability to handle difficult situations, or unacceptable ones until a time that we can process. No one wants to go to the dentist who is horribly angry from a difficult confrontation that occurred earlier that day. So we are able to suspend our feelings in order to deal with them. It is when we habitually deny those feelings, ignore them, and hold on to them that our problems begin to develop. However for children this is a bit different and all of us have the common experience of having grown up through our childhoods.

Children are emotionally important for these reasons.

Children, young teens all feel quite more purely, even if they do not understand what they feel. As children and young adults our little neurological systems, our little physical bodies, and our little minds cannot process many of the adult feelings and emotions that are put upon us. These adult feelings are far to great for a little one. However we live with adults who in their unconscious ways put on us as children, all manner of stories which have elements of emotion and feeling that are completely inappropriate for small humans. The effects of this are felt in the little minds and bodies of children and are a large source of overwhelm, are often not understood, nor are they processed and so they are not even accepted. Adults forget this a lot and lay many overwhelming emotions they are having on young people with the expectations that they can handle this, not so. Overwhelm is the result, and this all plays into the developing person which will all come out later in life in some form of deviation, misunderstanding, brokenness, or physical ailment or all of the above.

It is all too common for a child to grow and never process an overwhelming emotional scenario. When this occurs splits in the emotional body are created that as adults will confuse. Often these emotions seem to be without cause, only in that the conscious grown adult has little or no memory, or past experience in completing the processing of the original situation.

It takes some digging, some self-reflection, and a deepening of self honesty to allow the full expression of past pains, conflicts, and emotional scars to surface so they can heal. For this reason stuffing emotions carries a promise of future inner work that one day will solve the puzzle of the emotional turmoil, and mysterious malingering body aches of the present day adult.

Healing our feelings is not subject to a time line.

In all truthfulness we only have our now moments, and we can access any past incident by bringing up to our now moment. Regardless of the amount of time that has passed from an original emotional incident, my experience has been that the inner child can still feel, still process, and still heal completely as an adult. In my own case l learned to have the mantra….”its never to late to have a happy childhood!” as I learned to allow my inner little boy, my inner teenager, and my inner young adult self to be able to have permission to FEEL MY FEELINGS!

Thus using the power of my present day adult self to give back to my inner child selves all the opportunities to express my feelings and emotions. No matter how painful, horrible, unhappy, unjust, or miserable they were. I found that as I allowed myself to feel, feel more deeply now, many of my own unresolved emotions came bubbling up to the surface of my life to be reexamined and accepted in a new light. I continue to have a happy childhood now, and this is just great. There is no time limit on that either!

Perhaps the reason so many people are reluctant to allow themselves to FEEL DEEPLY, is because of the loaded subconscious memories, or emotions, or an overwhelming single event that still is hidden deep inside.

The fear that originally caused the overwhelming feelings, and the stuffing of emotions is a significant component to being able to allow ourselves access to the emotions.

Those old voices of parents, teachers, coaches, and other authorities that were in our lives are still locked into our emotional bodies and continue to play over and over and over again. The fear that holds us back acts as a container inside us.

Face the fears , we must.

For this reason when we do find that we have elements of fear it is valuable to open the fear in our “now safe” way. For originally there may not have been a “perception” of safety and so the fear surrounded the original experience inside us. Facing that fear around any unacceptable emotion or feeling is the first step in learning to grow out of the limits of a fear based reality into the wide open space of personal freedom and self-expression. This develops immense integrity and opens our feelings to having the possibility of maturity. Maturity of emotions is the soul goal here.

Integrity and emotional maturity is the result of fully processing any unfinished business within ourselves. As the pieces of our broken understanding, our broken self images, our broken story lines begin to come together in new ways of seeing.

Often we will have to engage more heart with ourselves to be able to pass through the dark hall of fear that leads to our emotions.

This self-love that develops brings such a depth of integrity to any past unloved situation that the transformation is remarkable. It is completely true that a person can heal themselves long after any incident of broken heart-ed, miserable pain has occurred. This is another reason why it is so valuable to realize that when we ignore emotions we are actually making them grow stronger, even though we “think” we are doing the opposite.

Deep unresolved difficult emotional patterns that wreak havoc on our lives.

Having done many years of my own personal resolution, healing my feelings, and my work with clients seeking to heal the really difficult emotional patterns, I have come to be aware that as souls we have emotional themes that we are born here to live through and to work out. These soul purposes can have very dark, uncomfortable, painful emotional depth. Often a person will wonder why they have been born into such circumstances that would cause them such pain, or the question “why me” surfaces. For these reasons it is also wise to consider that there may be a soul reason for all this.

Soul growth is real.

That our souls know this earthly domain is a place where we may explore the very depths of emotion is the powerful side to acceptance here for emotional integrity. The soul that we are chooses the time, place, circumstance, and people to be involved in out “growth experience”. We then incarnate into the situations that are most closely aligned with the emotional experiences we are here to encounter. We allow this from our more open soul selves before incarnating where we are vastly more wide open. After we embody here and begin to develop a personality we encounter these emotional situations as part of our individual soul plan. From what I have observed, we do this because our lives are so short in most embodiments here that we are not able to always complete every emotional theme we begin. Thus we incarnate into many lives so that our intention to understand and learn from specific emotions become complete. Which leads me to previous life emotional patterns.

We are born with tendencies of all kinds. Many of which are the tones of feeling we carry into our lives as newly incarnated beings. We continue these emotional themes so that we can continue to learn until such time as the soul self is whole and complete in the understandings of the particular theme. For this reason we change places in our different embodiment’s and play the different roles pertaining to any one emotional theme. In one we are the perpetrator, another we are the victim, in still another we may be the therapist. We can be the husband one time, the wife another, and the friend in still another. As we go around the experience we gather every side of it and the soul is infused with knowledge, understanding and is more as a result. This is why some lives we see people who are the victims, yet without the soul sight, we do not see their purpose in the role they are suffering. The soul self is seeking to balance itself through each experience.

All this is particularly true with the really difficult emotional themes. Our souls are actually not just starting out at the beginning of the this life time. The soul has been working on these emotions for many lives and is still intent on getting the whole picture. So even in victim-hood there is an underlying soul reason unfolding. Because patterns are so strong and so deep inside us we use these many lives to learn how to embrace all the feelings that make up an emotional pattern.

Emotional patterns contain many feelings.

Because emotional patterns have many feelings we will revisit emotions many times. It is pretty common for a person to say… “I thought I already took care of this” when a feeling resurfaces, or a situation reappears.

Not so… for actually there are more feelings in the pattern seeking to be understood and processed. For this reason we repeat, and have many encounters with certain emotional themes. There are layers of feelings inside us that need our attention and we are simply dipping down into another layer of those feelings so we can address what those feelings are and learn to accept and take care of more of what our experiences offer us. In this way we become whole and eventually we heal.

I know this from personal experience because I have arrived at that point when a particular emotional theme is complete and my need to experience it is finished. The feeling of completion is ecstatic, unquestionable and always transforms my entire person in some way. Transforming my life experience so that I attract totally different, new, and better situations. My heart and depth of love, as well as my compassion and self understanding becomes immensely more open. And my knowledge of life becomes something that I cherish, rather than ignore, hide from, or delude myself. I feel a deep gratitude, even though I may have suffered. The gratitude replaces all the suffering.

How we give power to our emotions without knowing it is what happens when we ignore, stuff, or delude our selves, how we give power to our emotions be becoming accepting and willing to process is the other choice. We all go through them all.

Core spirituality, my personal journey

2016…Thoughts For the Coming Year Ahead …Finding Truth… The Inner Domain Beyond Our 5 Senses,…core spirituality … my personal journey

2016  Thoughts For the Coming Year Ahead …Finding Truth… The Inner Domain Beyond Our 5 Senses,…core spirituality … my personal journey

A new kind of human is emerging, and there are new ones being born everyday. This writing addresses the significant evolutionary changes in this new human as we shift into the identity of a spiritual being having a human experience (based upon my own personal history and the changes I have been through).

What kind of truth am I referring to?

Truth which is transcendent and universal, and an all-encompassing octave through which all of life in its infinite expressions, all-inclusive to everyone, and verifiable, repetitive, and everlasting.

Becoming Familiar with my own direct experiences.

The direct internal experiences of truth, not simply the kind I have read about in a book and learned to “think” as a result. I experience a kind of switch within me that I can flip on or off to access more information which has deeper meaning and universal significance. I like to shift from the physical emphasis and my 5 senses alone to include the inner light body and these senses.

The great shift in self identity.

When the shift occurred that I realized that I was not a physical body with internal organs etc, but a light being with a light body that is inside a physical body the awareness of learning to use inner senses became the next step in my own evolution. This is the significant component of the differences of identifying as a human being having a spiritual experience… moving out of “having a soul” to identifying as a spiritual being having a human experience… into “I am the soul” and I have a human self to express into and through. All of the inner senses are activated and begin to integrate through physicality. This is a major paradigm shift in self-identity! This is the turning of the ages for our humanity as we reintegrate our mufti-dimensional capacities into the human self.

I find inside myself an inner sight.

A seeing in the mind. This is a kind of inner sight that I have learned to catch, as it is often very fleeting and almost gets away from my attention. This is completely different from physical eyes, or the common “mental thought “ way we see.

Inner seeing has a 360 degree radius, spans time lines forward and backward, as well as inward and outward. This inner seeing can also see through physical objects, the body for example and sub atomically. There are completely vibrant fields or octaves of light and color that exist here that also contain amazing spectrum’s of geometrical design. I notice this in doing healing work with clients, I see these super brilliant colors everywhere. Truly amazing are the living colors in my orchid collection plants, and nature in general. There are layers of space overlapping our planet with all kinds of sentient beings, spirits, thought forms, feeling clouds, and so on. The field of seeing is significantly larger.

The shift is that instead of everything is separate I have the innate sense of being connected to all of this… “I am the you that is here” as well, for example. I see myself reflected in the most spiritually based ways in everyone and everything. This level of perception simply alerts me to all forms of judgment as I continue to see my own self in all of life. This includes the polarities of negative and positive and far beyond those polarized kinds of perceptions. Thus even in the most negative of human scenarios I can see myself and embrace the experiences as ones of great learning and purpose.

How our memory can teach us how the mind works..

Whenever I am referencing something from memory and I have it recorded as a visual I notice that my attention will pull the “pictures” from my memory. In fact there are times when I couldn’t find a picture and have had to wait and boom… it pops into my inner mind. That we see pictures is something we do everyday yet are not always connected with. I like to really pay attention to the pictures I have in my mind. These pictures outweigh left brain linear logic in that a picture will contain many different levels of information at once. Pictures hold lots of information that can be accessed and taken apart to reveal depth and meaning far beyond mere words. Words are there too, and I often laugh out loud anytime I have lost a word, cannot find it, try to find it, still can’t find it and then hours later after I forgot about it…. the word pops into my mind. Amazing experience we all share. To pay attention to the pictures we are having inside our minds is a way to begin to discern what it is we think, or Intuit, or are receiving from others. Pictures are a way the universal mind informs each one of us. As we develop beyond the intellect alone and integrate mind pictures we can develop our capacity to learn via the discernment process and ultimately to make much better choices about everything and our relationships to everyone.

Another way we see images is fantasy.

For example when thinking about an upcoming trip I have found my mind creating pictures of various outcomes and I choose from those pictures what I would like to act upon, or not act upon. When planning it is common to see a visual image of what the possibilities may look like in our heads as we fantasize about different outcomes and directions. Fantasy as I am referring here is mind generated imagery differentiated from those images pulled from the universal source.

Learning how universal truth is not only words, or beliefs, or thoughts.

However seeing the truth in a situation is a bit more involved as it is always accompanied by a feeling message of some sort which alerts me. This is the reason it is important to process emotions on a daily basis, and maintain a clarity of feelings. In this was I can discern the source of feelings, whether I am creating them from a reaction within myself, or that I am receiving them from a soul place, or I am pulling in psychic information from another person. Learning to have a developed emotional and feeling self is vital in this entire process. For this reason I did years of therapy to clarify my own emotional nature, and the many layers of feelings, thoughts I had built up in my developing childhood, to arrive to the ability to find now-clarity.

Feeling messages that redirect us show us new pictures to process.

When seeing the truth like this I find I literally must suspend all thinking, or my own belief, in order to capture the incoming imagery. Often this will be because I am accessing information that lies beyond my already made ideas or thoughts about someone or something. Suspending just for a moment the critical thinking allows space inside to see something new. Of course whenever we are deeply attached to outcomes, beliefs, and opinions this filters anything the indwelling spiritual self is sending us. And we end up only seeing our own internalized, already shaped ideas formed out of those opinions, outcomes, or beliefs. This is how we become blind sighted and do not see the obvious before us.

How we get blind sighted.

We are unconsciously so attached to outcomes or beliefs we only see our own preconceived thoughts.

This becomes irritating in relationships especially when someone is communicating with us and we don’t see the point of view they are sharing. Often this ends up with a louder, more uncomfortable exchange until we stop seeing only our own pictures and we start to open up. Open up to see something that may not fit into our idea of how things “should” be, in our opinion. When we encounter unresolved conflicts, are stuck, or in a stale mate this is most likely the reason. There is always more information yet to be discerned that exists outside our preconceived ideas.

Intuition and its value in my life.

Intuitive mind flows pretty consistently as I now experience life, and have learned to suspend my own habit of wrapping up every idea, every situation in my own opinions.

Rather I continue to cultivate an opened mind and I have learned to suspend thought and wait to see what pops into my mind. Often I am able to receive valuable insights, clarifications, and even new information that makes larger sense. It is quite often that I am asked how I am able to see things, or know things, and it is that most people asking this question usually are so filled up with their own ideas, beliefs, should’s and should not’s about things they have no openings to get this kind of information. As a spiritual being having a human experience there is no separation from the universal source of life, and we are it, contain it, and live it as who we are. Learning to access this in expanded new ways everyday.

Intuitive mind works in ways for me that solves conflicts, opposing views, or unfinished pictures or ideas. When this happens I find myself amazed at how there is really a larger picture for all things. A greater context … and I learn how to work this into my existing reality. This greater context is not held by beliefs, or mental notions as it arises directly out of the spiritual perception of the soul self. It is not subject to these things when I am able to suspend my opinions. And I love the discovery of this and how I get educated from inside me, instead of externally!

Listening to the subtle cues.

There is also the inner hearing that arises and for some the auditory sense is dominant over visual. I am able to experience tremendous cues through inner listening. This is so unusual to me that I have spent years adjusting my attention to be able to hear inside. Listening to the whispers, or the very light messages has become a real challenge and fulfills many quandaries whenever I am confused. Learning to listen with the mind is different in some ways in that I can actually hear others, inside the mind, like hearing thoughts and communications, yet at other times it is also hearing through my ears yet inside the mind. Both ways work. Quite spontaneously this does happen to me in the grocery store standing in line, or with friends… no matter the distance away. I almost always know when clients from around the world are about to call for a bodywork session, as I get the message directly before they take action. Yet simply thinking of me gets to me. I have found this so totally amazing through the years. Often in nature I will also hear tones and I have found that my own mind translates this immediately into language I can understand. Often I have communicated with people who have passed over the threshold and had to adjust my inner ear to their accent. Extraterrestrials speak in sounds as well, that are very high-pitched tones that catch my attention and then they send pictures. It is all a lot to learn to discern. However discernment is especially important to distinguish the difference between my own inner sounds and those of another. Listening to silence is perhaps the most significant way I have learned discernment. Inside the silence is a vast amount of what appears at first to be nothing, or emptiness, yet it is in this pure silent state where I am able to pick things apart, and learn the discernment tools necessary to integrate the inner sense of hearing and listening.

Empathy and feelings that are not directly connected to the outer world.

Learning to feel feelings of others who are not physically present can take on the very body symptoms of that person or being communicating. For example the passing of a person who was drinking at the time of their passing I actually felt the dizziness, the off balanced feeling of that person inside myself. Feelings of sadness, joy, immense unconditional love are all experiences that can come over the physical body to the point that I have gotten goose bumps, or my heart racing and tears surfacing. The empathy of feeling life around us outside our skin is vital to integrating how it is we are all made of the same substance yet holding different points of view. This is particularly valuable with animals who do not have language as we do, but do have the exact same emotions and feelings.

This has been very revealing with working with clients with whom those emotions are in the subconscious and even they are not aware they are feeling something. This is verifiable. I have shared my empathetic feelings with clients and seen the immediate shift of emotions as I express those feelings that are coming up and out of the body.

I find that empathy is very useful whenever becoming aware of horrific world events, terrible personal disasters, immense injustices. Through the vehicle of empathy the deeper significance can be understood. This kind of empathy and feeling contains huge amounts of historical information that can tell about generations of behavior, or patterns of soul learning.

Empathy shows me how we are really interconnected and the ideas of separation that most humans subscribe really is not the underlying reality of life.

Separation as a belief is an illusion here on earth.

There really is tremendous purpose in all events no matter the degree of our own ideas of injustice and horror.

When lost in my travels in foreign lands I often used my capacity to feel my way in order to get on track and find my way back to where I needed to be!

Feeling others around us in this world without literally speaking to them also greatly assists me in determining safety, motivations, dangers, and all manner of unexpressed issues or hidden agendas. This is fascinating to me as I have learned to pay attention to the feeling signals I get in order to act as a facilitator of deeper understanding, and a smoothing out of difficulty. Emotional messages will almost always precede encounters we have with one another and in this way I am always available to process before I arrive to any situation. This is particularly strong whenever there will either be tons of love or tons of discord. This is the way the spiritual self is connected and informed and able to face and care for just anything that arises. There are literally currents of feeling that are dominant with certain individuals, or families or groups. These currents, because they are strengthened by the individuals running these emotions are very strong and become quite easy to distinguish.

Empathetic relating with others.

Having a developed inner sense of empathy has the capacity to facilitate the closing of distance, misunderstanding and isolation many individuals carry inside themselves around certain emotions, certain difficult life experiences. I have watched many people step out of their isolated feelings and discover their next step and more meaningful purpose simply by my holding an empathetic resonant space with them. Once this occurs a flood gate of information comes forward for discussion, or reevaluation. This generates progress that assists a person to learn and develop better understanding and self-love. This is transformative and freeing. The inner world of our feelings is far richer than all the usual human thoughts of making money, surviving, drama making. Inside the human condition within any suffering is cause. When we em-pathetically interact with one another we can ease much of the confusion and pain in suffering and truly lend a hand so to speak to step out of suffering when a person is ready. My experience of humans is that underneath all the stuff of our daily lives is a real purpose, a real need to love and to be loved, and an undiscovered sense of real unity.

Clairolfactance or clairescence is the inner sense of smell. This is very specific and can take me to the exact place, or person undeniable to someone else. Fragrances, or flowers, for example specific to people are like calling cards to their loved ones on this side. The specific nature of smell is so precise it can connect me completely to someone outside the realm of this earthly plane. Scent acts as a very good identifier and can completely elevate our vibrations. I have had the experience of roses throughout this life time connected to the presence of very highly evolved spiritual beings who want to gain my attentions. When conveying messages to loved ones from those who have passed over the description of specific scents is astoundingly accurate in making a clear and definite discernment about who is seeking to communicate. This is remarkable as scent can permeate through different octaves of life, different time zones and different realities. Certain life forms also have specific scents that one can smell even when they are not physically in the same octave or dimension. I find this amazing. The future can reach backward with scent, the past can come forward with scent, and higher dimensions can overlap with scent.

How did we get so entrenched in so many world wide problems, and so much pain?

When we hold strict, “exclusive” based religious or mental beliefs, when we see our selves as human bodies only with internal organs, when we hide from our emotions and feelings, when we live everyday in this way we cut ourselves off from the broader spectrum of internal information available to us.

Many of these feelings that hold such limiting, righteous, exclusive, polarized, judgmental internalized beliefs were not only shaped in this lifetime. Much of this is historical inside the soul experience of many incarnations. For this reason when we open up to feeling based empathy, we are able to finally break through these thousands of years old patterns. Many, many of us here now, have been born so that we could ultimately bring ourselves beyond these points in our own souls. This is the bigger why and how of all the chaos and social resistance, and breaking down of the old ways we are seeing around us on our televisions everyday. We are collectively reaching new levels of breakthrough… sometimes very messy, sometimes very hurtful, yet the impulses are here to do something to break the chains of our human conditioning that have entrapped us for centuries.

We edit out all this information in our thinking minds and cut ourselves off from the interconnections that underlie all of existence when we persist in holding on to our exclusivity designed belief systems.

When we hold beliefs that “god” is outside us, or our soul is something we “have” instead of who we are we miss the new integration of material that is available to us. And when we are like this we do not even know that we are doing all this. We are perhaps we could say… asleep to the larger spectrum of life.

Some results of the new shift in how we see ourselves.

Learning to integrate and understand the internal world inside ourselves, instead of  depending on the external world to inform us can show us how much more each one of us is actually living in a transcendent, all-encompassing, enriched, and evolving life experience that is totally directed with PURPOSE.

This shift in our consciousness begins to shape and transform the outer world we live, in holistic, inclusive, compassionate new ways. These new ways inform us to our right action, right relationships with one another, with the planet and our choices become more aligned with the spiritual awareness of the living presence of a much more joyful state of being.

These internal senses become aligned to our external physical senses and readjust the perceptual lenses of our day-to-day functions.

When we see, hear, feel, and smell the actuality of life from this broader octave, our most intrinsic nature is revealed and all the questions that need answers start to arise.

We become led out of confusions, and hurtful habits. We are guided by our own deepest knowing into our creative potentials and reasons for being here.

We are shown our need to collectively live together in ways that bring all that we are, all that we have, to one another. Many forms of selfish, one-sided, small-minded forms of behavior open up into wider possibilities that mend the broken heart-ed past, and heal the ever-present moment of our now time.

The realizations that begin to show up link us in the outer world to like-minded, like heart-ed people, and redirect our personal energies into assisting those who have yet to arrive to these same conclusions, capabilities, and clarity of living. In this was our interconnected relationships facilitate the oneness of diversity and the acceptance of something so deep and beautiful many times it cannot be put into words.

What really exists here, yet few see this yet.

I know that I already see the earthly planet filled with harmony, filled with a living light with colors and majesty beyond most people’s view of this world. For me this already exists and I can look through the overlay of current beliefs, present day creations, structure and history….. and all that this has created and see and experience this beautiful earth. Among many remarkable facets of this alive and radiant, balanced and healed earth is a fantastic diversity of such magnitude that we are actually a spectacle of brilliance in the cosmos. This remarkable state of our planet is without the war and poverty and selfishness that has characterized our world for the last thousands of years. The freedom is beyond words as the re balancing of our ecosystems, our people’s, our resources, and our notion of belonging to the cosmos drops into mass consciousness. The living earth, GAIA, is truly a cosmic gem. Time becomes more pure and our experience of time dramatically takes a big shift.

When our ideas of time completely become reshaped!

We arrive into the amazing state of NOW. This experience of shifting out of the past, and future thinking and deeply into the present moment is a most astounding new paradigm shift that completely enriches every moment.

The ordinary becomes infused with such purpose and gratitude when we have pulled our mental thoughts and unresolved emotional states out the past or the future time-lines. Now becomes full of presence, a presence that is with the soul of self and in this way stabilizes the personality in tremendous ways.

This NOW-state of consciousness opens up the value of every moment to us so that we live with a sense of our experience that draws meaning to the most mundane of activities. There grows for each of us a remarkable new information basis for living that pops into our awareness that directs us lovingly and respectfully through each day. Safety and fear take their appropriate places in our daily life. The habits of reacting to the negative aspects of other humans begin to subside as the wisdom’s of the indwelling soul begin to inform and redirect our old habits.

The now moment of living sustains larger elements of truthfulness that a smaller intellect alone is incapable of sustaining.

My entire perception of time in the now-moment has redefined my experience as I have learned to see how it is that the past and future exist in present time. This is a dramatic shift as pieces of time that have little or no connection in my self have begun to be woven into the fabric of how life is at this moment. I am able to see how consequence arises, and how the various stages of development in the human condition completely relate. This has reshaped my sense of psychology from the ordinary intellectual basis to the extraordinary one of the transpersonal psychological model. In this model of psychology the soul self is evident, and present. I learn how to bring the fragmented parts of myself back into my central identity and heal as a multidimensional being with many facets yet a single core self. This includes other lifetimes with their previous failures and successes, patterns and habits.

I see how this has been a driving force in my now lifetime and I can more easily accept how it is that I am actually a spiritual being and not just a physical human. So anytime I have a piece of myself come up that is still held in the past, I have the chance in my now to learn how to let go and to allow the present now to inform me as to better frame my experience. It is somewhat like finding how to fit the best clothes on your person, suddenly these experiences begin to fit and I feel better with this new knowledge. I no longer have to hold out, hold on, to any old thing, person or memory in the same way.

2016… our year ahead.

In this year ahead we will individually and collective continue to integrate many new experiences. As we pass through the loss, the breaking down of our ideas and beliefs we can look further into the deeper significance of transformation our human conditioning is passing.

We can take the opportunities that show up each day and find new meaning, reconnect with our deeper knowing, deeper feeling, and deeper awareness.

We can learn to cultivate a broader spectrum of inner awareness and learn to act from this inner place.

We can redirect the negative situations that arise and find significant purpose.

We can let go of intellectually based judgmental thinking and see ourselves and one another with a heart-felt compassion.

We get on board with the larger collective experience of becoming cosmic beings with galactic histories.

We can expand our way of seeing in every direction.

We can release our painful memories and hurtful habits.

We can learn to extend ourselves to each other like we have never done before here in this world.

Surprising ourselves and learning. Learning finally to allow the joy that is waiting behind every dark corner, every darkened thought, and every unfinished scenario.

Joy is by far the very fabric of the GOD SOURCE, and because of this it is omnipresent. It is merely up to each of us to choose, to be willing, and to allow that which is greater within to take hold and life up our humanity.

Core spirituality, my personal journey

Denial….. Our Own True Greatest Enemy…Breaking Out of Our Shared Agony, core spirituality

Denial….. Our Own True Greatest Enemy…Breaking Out of Our Shared Agony, core spirituality

The media of our times, elements of the religiosity of our times, the political climate of our times is messaging us daily about who and what our enemies truly are with a speed, and tone that overrides the intellect and is so pervasive that the group begins to accept many of the pointers… the talking heads and we lose sight of the genuine enemy that underlies, undermines our core life experiences.

Our own internal denial shapes our innermost intimate and valuable places, beyond any outer person, group, or ideology.

Denial is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms in human beings psychologically. Denial is one of the pervasive of all human traits and is more common that we think. Denial is both insidious and blatant with a wide spectrum in between. Denial is so common that we usually project it on to others without a single thought.

Our world culture is swimming in it like fish in water. (well worth pondering)

What is denial in its many forms?

Denial is the refusal to, the ignoring of, the looking away from, the hiding of….. truth from ourselves AND OUR LOVED ONES, and the world around us. The truth of our innate, honest, spiritual nature. Our cosmic bearings as spiritual beings having a human experience. A universal truthfulness and all that this contains for us as a species, as individuals.

When denial has become normalized.

Denial is so covert that the manner in which it is passed on from one generation to another is considered normal and healthy. Sanctioned by people in just about every walk of life! Sanctioned and perpetrated by many places in society, education, religion, government,military, science, ad infinitum.

Our churches, schools, parents, our global soldiers, our governments, our politicians, our teachers, our scientists, are exercising massive forms of cover up which prevent the actualization of world peace, global harmony, world understanding, and then perpetrate victimization and violence on a scale of such magnitude that our entire planet is covered in separation, delusion, and mayhem, with massively dangerous weapons and all manner of killing capability.

We now seem to consider this dangerous situation one that is normal?

What we have now is…

Collectively we are a body of individuals gathered together merging our ideas based in all manner of denial and producing a world that is about to get some big wake up calls. We are reaching a zenith in our self-made agony. It is not over yet. There is still more to learn about our human experiences.

The NORMAL ways we are programmed to use denial.

We use denial to refuse each other in so many ways in efforts to control outcomes, to control people and this is covertly done under the guise of every conceivable excuse and reasoning.

We refuse to honor so much so …that it is intrinsically universal about us as a species instead choosing to repeat our mental and emotional habits of separation, differences, creating all manner of classicism, righteousness, superiority in almost every sector of society we literally deny the reality of how we have so much in this world for so many. It is time we stop pretending!

What can I do about this horrendous, insidious, negative, violent situation?

I learn how to accept and process all my own denials in any form I discover and I hold this as a valuable component of freeing my own spiritual self on a day-to-day basis.

Holding beliefs on their own , talking a good talk does not replace the actualization of facing and process denial.

Perhaps the most powerful place to start when choosing to consider denial and its power over us in life is to begin to identify how we use self-deception, self-delusion, and self-denial as normal ways to navigate through the uncomfortable scenarios inside us. There is no greater way to stop the insidious activity of denial… then by cleaning up denial inside myself.

This creates a space of integrity whereby anyone living in denial will not have a willing participant to go along with them and the chain of toxic behavior ceases or go away. I cannot change you…. I CAN CHANGE MYSELF!

The negative feeling we have about the world, what goes on around us? These are actually our own unprocessed emotions, thoughts and feelings. All inside the self…and reflect to us valuable signals about how it is we are, one by one, creating this world.

When we choose to remain present in the face of difference, in the face of opposing points of view and to see clearly where our enemy is we stop the projecting of our denials. ( the real enemy of us… within )We open our capacity to realize how easily my own unspoken and unconsciously held issues are anchored in beliefs of righteous projection and I stop this with my intent. The action of genuine processing of denial increases self honesty, which aligns my person with the core spiritual self in often surprising new ways.

What happens when I let go of self-delusion, denial ?

When denials fall away I am left with pure consciousness of my own spiritual essence and this informs me far beyond man-made rules, obligations, dogmas, religious beliefs, and so on. That we each are made of a substance which is the same is a startling experience when we have long believed we are all separate and limited by the beliefs we have energized through our inherited ancestry, or our socialization process growing out of the parental frameworks.

My experience has been in my own family of pulling away, as I no longer felt the impulses to feed myself into the accepted norms of denial around me. Not playing by the game, by agreements has often created distance between people. As I have learned to stop my own actions of distancing myself because I no longer participate in the agendas, beliefs, and patterns of denial I have learned to hold the space for togetherness even as we are different, when ever I can muster up this within myself I am surprised by the capacity I am able to remain in a state of mutual respect without the agreements that we socially put on one another.

My own capacity to embrace whatever I may not agree with is surrounded by a grace like form of compassion and deeper understanding which drops in to replace the old patterns. This is one of the main reasons for doing the work of clearing out my own self deceptions, delusions.

This heals misunderstandings, pathology of all kinds, and in so doing opens my heart mind to wider spectrum’s of genuine love….. truly an amazing experience. One that a person cannot truly hold inside themselves until they have done this internal work.

This is the process of “waking up”. Waking up to what it is I am investing my thoughts, feelings, and actions that no longer serves the greater whole. Nor does it align with core universal spirituality. I experience both the awful feeling of deflation of ego, and the awesome upliftment of fantastic spiritual AHAA’S. My person goes through transformations that redesign and realign me with much broader spectrum’s of life. And this feels much better to me. Staying “asleep” or unconscious has begun to feel uncomfortable and my life themes are taking on whole new vision and energy. None of this is possible through the action of projecting my beliefs, ideas, or notions of what is right onto anyone else, any group, any family member. It just has to arise from within self to work and to become long-lasting and uplifting.

As a spiritual being having a human experience it is my perception that we take on all these illusions, delusions, deceptions as part of the current human agenda for each lifetime. This is not intrinsically a bad thing.

It is our classroom for learning as we sort out identity, and direction.

To judge others because they are locked into their beliefs, and their stories of pain and suffering does nothing but hold them in those boxes. something I do not want to do to anyone.

Thus I shift the emphasis on changing them, and the world by changing my self, and my world.

This works much, much better and generates real long-lasting transformations.

For this reason I am on vigilant watch inside me, to make sure I catch my own projecting, my own judgmentalness, and my own limiting negativity.

It is really a very arduous task indeed. It is so commonly accepted to blame others, to point the fingers toward another, to malinger in pain and sadness, to stay in a sleepy victim state. For this reason I spend time with myself in silence, in nature, and I take time to meditate. While I grow my own stronger personal spiritual sense of myself beyond the maddening crowds, lost souls, talking heads, medical authorities, political manipulaters, social critics, bigoted religious leaders and so on. It is simply no longer worth my time or my energy to give in to them any longer. It simply is not.

core spirituality, my personal journey

THE BIGGEST CLUE I FOUND TO HEALING ANY FORM OF DENIAL I AM UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT IN A PERSON, GROUP OR THE WORLD?

When ever i recognize denial in any form around me and think it belongs to some one else, or group or place in the world…. i turn it around and find what it is in myself i am in denial about. Every time i do this and take care of me i lift another piece of madness out and away from the place i exist. The action is always to go inside self using the clues.

Inspired by my visit to ohana in the pacific northwest

Acceptance without agreement leads to a new paradigm of living… core spirituality, my personal journey

Acceptance without agreement leads to a new paradigm of living… core spirituality, my personal journey

Whenever we can hold an open space of acceptance in the face of opposing views with genuine goodness and resist being judgmental we generate a third space between us. The field of space that is generated by opposing views is still very connected and the typical dynamic of separation ceases. We become connected in the awareness of separate visions yet common ground as a dominant dynamic of social behavior.

We are all living out being our human selves. Our shared humanity becomes the next focus of our action. Instead of me versus you, or me versus the world.

When we can embrace opposing views in this way we activate a kind of intelligence which is larger than the polarity of our differences.

This other kind of intelligence arises from the common ground of our shared experience and makes room for the differences while maintaining connection with one another. This intelligence becomes a new place from which to view ourselves and our thinking, beliefs, and what it is that may need to be understood with greater depth and clarity. Without this intelligence we remain in a kind of personal and collective stand-off with one another that locks the differences into their polarities and perpetrates limitation and unresolved feelings. This is futile as it prevents the next octave or level of awareness from rising out of the differences. Stale mates, confusion, aggression, misunderstandings, and violence grow and become the outcome.

When we can psychically, mentally, and with our sense of inner presence allow another who is not the same as ourselves the same respect and honor, as spiritual beings having a human experience we open to new paradigms of intelligence that will find the solutions, understandings, meanings, and significance of our differences. This psychic space which is a third zone of perception maintains continued dialogues in ways that deepen any opposing points of view revealing material, and information previously unknown and certainly unexpected. In this way we ignite intelligence in new ways that bring new discovery. There is almost always more to learn, to understand, and to process in any conflict, opposition, or difference amongst ourselves.

The dangerous habit of shut down, and learning to find this in myself.

I’ve learned about myself that it is simply a mindset, a human behavior to shut down when ever a powerful opposing view is expressed to my own. Shutting down and the hidden feelings of judgment sit just below the surface of my own thinking and acting.

This is a common pattern among us as humans. Turning away our attention because someone may express something so different from ourselves.

I find that I have even diminished my own self expressions as a result of these kinds of interactions. My own human behavior limits me and in this way I stay in self perpetrated separation with others.

Dwelling upon this dynamic is quite enlightening and reveals tons of human behavior patterns that ultimately end up creating negative situations. Negative situations in our own minds and bodies and in the world around us.

This is all self-generated by each of us as we participate unconsciously and habitually to another person or group differences.

We can see this pattern in people practicing many religions,

people from different life styles,

people of different colors,

people with different political views,

people in different social classes,

people from different cultures,

people who eat different foods,

people who adhere to scientific theories,

people who work in different sub categories of life,

people who simply dress differently, have different hair styles, it grows to levels of stupidity…. really.

The universal impulse to belong.

In our culture belonging is socially significant and a primary universal experience encoded within us, so anyone who is of color, has a different culture from ourselves, has a different lifestyle, loves someone of a different gender, or even changes their gender are all subject to the negative effects of separatist, or non inclusive socialization in the larger group. I have lived with this my entire life as a gay identified man and know just exactly what I am speaking about.

The remarkable outcome of directly opposing points of view.

The remarkable possibility that arises from oppositions, especially directly opposite ones is how they actually arise out of the same source thought yet are the polarized differences to the furthest spectrum of the idea. I have found how this literally will show me the many facets of any one situation with detail, as from one end to the other of a spectrum there is the whole picture.From the very positive to the very negative. So all the people who are in separation because of their religious beliefs, really they are all stemming from their ideas of Source, or ultimately God. They have this in common and express the widest possible notions of difference in how to perceive this one thing.

When ever I encounter people expressing their differences I like to say to myself, “just wait” because whenever one person breaks out of their shut down side of opinion, this third level of awareness automatically pops up and suddenly they are able to see another view, while perhaps not agreeing. The next step is to embrace the person or group anyway and hold out for the option to connect anyway. I have practiced this many times in my life.

When I learn to remain open to differences, and even direct oppositions I most likely find myself learning something valuable. I typically learn how to drop my own preconceived ideas based in some form of my own judgments. My place of understanding stretches beyond my previous held convictions. While this does not always lead into agreement it does lead into mutual respect, honor, integrity, understanding, and even love.

We as humans in our society for the most part have all been repeatedly educated in a common way, indoctrinated in similar ways, and we form habits out of these places. When we cultivate acceptance in the face of disagreements and stay open we shorten the gaps between ourselves as people and groups and shift the paradigm of human belonging from the old style of exclusive to inclusive.

This generates a kind of harmony within. Inclusiveness actually feels good the more we learn to enlarge upon this in our lives. The common ground we share becomes highlighted in delightful ways and as socialized beings we receive feelings of goodness in ourselves and for one another. I have reached this many times in difficult situations where I let down my own prejudices, and beliefs which contained hidden messages of … “my ideas are better than yours”. I have found this is not always true, and besides not all people actually are in the same place at the same time in their awareness of anything. Divisiveness becomes something that I no longer want to participate in and I realize how silly I may have been. I stop projecting onto others my own separation. I take responsibility for myself and this responsibility carries weight and substance in this third field. A weight and substance that holds “we” and not just “me”!

Are  problems in our world associated with our differences which can turn into pure oppositions? Yes, and to inwardly continue to live at odds with others from inside myself no longer feels good.

I find how this begins to lighten.

And I don’t find myself having to, or automatically reacting to the news, to the radio, to anyone else in the same way. I find myself accepting that in our world everyone is learning, whether they realize it or not. I do. So I can move on and live my life caring, and compassionate in this world full of so much incredible, awful, awesome, magnificent diversity. Acceptance without agreement is possible.

Mutual respect,

Caring,

universal understanding,

connection,

and intuitive learning all arise as we learn to move to the next level in our human relationships.

Core spirituality… my personal journey of self investigation

shared in the spirit of Aloha

Inspired by my visit to the Pacific Northwest with my ohana

“Holding Space”for Differences…core spirituality, my personal journey

“Holding Space” for Differences…core spirituality, my personal journey

What is “holding space” for differences, and what will this do for me and you?

Holding space refers to the attention I place on withholding judgments while I am in the presence of a person or persons who are expressing a point of view different from my own.

While holding this space I defer expressing my own emotions outwardly in an effort to authentically listen and observe someone else’s point of view, however different from my own with the genuine intention to embrace differences.

The psychic space of holding an active form of attention while in the presence of a completely different point of view allows the inclusive quality I deeply cherish and seek to make room for in this world.

This action, on a deeper level has acceptance as a basis, without agreement.

Yes without agreement.

I have learned how easy it is for me to have complete acceptance of beliefs, ideas, and notions that others may express without my need to do anything except generate authentic acceptance. I do not have to agree! And I love this feeling.

Our mutual futures!

This will be a necessary component of building better relationships based on my desire to align myself with the principle of true compassion, authentic safe expression, and genuine connection even though I may not agree whatsoever with another person or group.

The act of holding space like this allows for the lifting of tensions felt yet not expressed because of holding different points of view. The act of holding space generates a new space,, a third space, where conflicts are allowed to surface, or opposing viewpoints are expressed without negative effects.

While at the same time allowing myself to have my own point of view without having to give up anything except perhaps my own judgmental-ness. Which in fact feels quite good to recognize within myself as I prefer to let that go whenever I discover it within me.

Holding space requires self-determination with another in mind.

The focus intentions become we instead of me. Determination to include differences or even completely opposing standpoints. Determining to focus on what is mutual beyond the differences.

What is mutual when we are in opposition?

What is mutual is many things. For example we are all spiritual beings discovering our human selves, through the living out of our different points of view. We have this in common as most people may share points of view they are rarely identical in 100% of all the factors because we each embody different spaces.

Not everyone holds this point of view, however since I do hold it, this is the way I see us and so I am able to let go of wanting anyone else to agree with me. My own viewpoint is enough for me until I need to embrace you…. with whatever difference you bring to the table.

What is mutual may be the driving force behind our differences, which many times is identical in nature yet completely opposing in form and expression. When two parents act out of their desire to fulfill their roles to their children their love may be quite similar and even identical, yet their form of expression may be totally in opposition. Which place would you rather be? Opposed to one another, or mutual in understanding the driving force behind the actions? This is all a matter of clearing up our perceptions, and learning how to stop projecting, judging, and boxing one another up into our own little ideas. What is the value in not boxing up others into our little opinions of each other?

We are designed in such a way that different points of view actually serve us. These differences stimulate our mutual growth and evolution. And that could also be another way we are similar, yet different, we are all growing, yet in different ways. See?

How we learn to get along here is multiplied by the sheer numbers of human beings inhabiting the surface of this planet. We have a lot of us here now to contend with as we learn about how diverse our humanity actually is right now. At the same time there are new levels of universal understanding arising to assist each of us on this journey. We have options. We have lots of options with which we may choose to live in greater harmony even while we are different.

We do not have to hold the same beliefs or points of view to get along!

Because you believe differently does not diminish my own place here, it does not take away from my own experiences, my own core values. We can get along with our differences!

For those people still exerting their wills on others, filling up the medias with the idea that they have the “right way” the “only way” or the ‘best way” and need agreement to feel safe…. I say grow up.

It is time to allow others the same respect you give yourself, the same rights you give yourself.

Would it be easier if we all thought the same, acted the same, believed the same,looked the same, dressed the same, blah blah blah?

Yes it would if our design was a hive, a hive society like bees, or insects. However this is not the reality we live. There are forces in this world seeking to dominate, control, and manipulate. There are forces that have been actively using covert forms of this and hypnosis to have things their way for many many generations now. These people live in religions, live in governments, live in businesses, live in groups all over our world.

They have a big wake up call coming because it doesn’t work. ( it is only a matter of time passing as more and more humans are awakening)

We are simply too rich in our human gene pool, too rich in our diversity for this to actually have a long-term harmonizing benefit.

If we were a hive species, then yes it would, but that is not the case. We are richly full of such diverse magnitude that we are a stunningly amazing species of beings. Our world culture is so rich with so many interesting, different people with whom our songs are truly magnificent. Our humanity can make such fine music out of the richness of our differences, yet combine through the sound and rhythm . We are a glorious species when we join together in these ways.

I have spent a lifetime enjoying this world through travel. I have been fortunate to have visited at last count over 75 countries, lived in homes all over the world and participated in peaceful sharing of our diversity and I know from personal experiences that which I am speaking. This is no Polly Anna thing! It is my experience. When I was a young man of just 17 years of age I participated in a global experience representing myself in the world. This experience consisted of about 125 people from 23 countries who did not all speak the same languages, eat the same foods, believe the same things. We lived together for a year, traveling all over North America and Europe. We lived with host families wherever we could. This experience was called Up With People! Our cast successfully created a world blending of individuals with mutual understanding and tremendous love for one another, and this world through our intentions to get along and to develop understanding. This was a powerful experience for me in my teens that has grown deeper throughout my entire life. I will never forget this and it’s effects have shaped my entire adult life. I know because I experienced this.

Holding space for each other does take practice.

Well worth any effort any of us give it, as we learn how to enjoy this life and all the diversity. Are you a different color person, are you an elder, are you a foreigner, a christian, a Jew, are you gay, or transgender, are you a republican, a democrat or a nothing at all, a military person, a peace activist? See how many different experiences we have here to learn something. To learn to get along, and to see each others place?

My difference from you will not undermine your place because I exist.

Your difference from me will not undermine my place because you exist.

A new paradigm, acceptance without agreement.

Mutual respect.

Universal understanding in action.

One day at a time, one person at a time, one conversation at a time.

This is my experience.

Core spirituality… my personal journey

Inspired by my visit to the Pacific Northwest visit with my ohana