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Thursday, March 31, 2011

It's All About Soul

Soul is a feeling, feeling deep within
Soul is not the colour of your skin
Soul is the essence, essence from within
Soul is where everything begins
-Van Morrison
I've been doing some serious soul-searching of late. I do it regularly, about every seven years. I don't plan it that way, I've just noticed that it seems to be at that interval; interestingly, I have heard that the human body regenerates all of its cells in a seven-year cycle. So really, I guess it's like reprogramming the software for all new hardware.

I find "Soul" to be a curious word. Today, when we hear it, we mostly think of "Spirit," like the undying, infinite, eternal core part of us, our essence, which moves on when we die. But that's not what the ancients meant.

In ancient Greek manuscripts, including and especially those of the New Testament, the word that is variously translated as "Spirit" or "Breath" is defined as above, and the word is "Pneuma." (Breath, air, makes sense.) The word that English Bibles usually translate as "soul" is actually the Greek word "Psyche," and meant pretty much just what you'd think.

The ancients who took part in the Mysteries understood these words as two stages of conscious development: Psychic Initiates were those who identified with their minds, their thoughts and emotions, while Pneumatic Initiates held a broader perspective, identifying with their still, essential nature as Spirit. In myth, they are the lower and higher aspects of the goddess, Sophia (which means "wisdom"). In Christian texts, "Sacred Breath" is perhaps a better translation for what we now know as "holy spirit."

They each had an elemental baptism to them; Psychics were baptized in water, Pneumatics in air, or something related, like breath, or a kiss. Of course the other elements had baptisms, too: earth was for the Somatic (body) and the Gnostic (meaning "one who knows") initiation was a literal baptism by fire. In light of this, the many passages in the bible which talk about baptism make a bit more sense, e.g., Matthew 3:11. (Speaking of that verse, and of mistranslating Greek, the word usually translated as "repentance" is the Greek word "Metanoia," which means basically, "a change of mind;" and the Greek word "hamartia," usually translated as "sin," actually comes from archery, and means simply, "to miss the mark.")

So, at 35 years old, I have rejiggered my soul ("psyche") for the fifth time (once every seven years). In other words, I have been once again (as I have done four times before) reprogramming my Self to be the man I want to be. I have been immersed in water (the water, that is, of nous, or "mind") but the time will come when I am filled with Sacred Breath and fire.

And the good news ("gospel"): with the state of the collective human consciousness today, we don't need hard Initiations to rise to the next level; we can do it slowly, gradually, because those who came before paved the way, or forged the path, or burned the neural engram, or however you wish to look at it.

With time and training, we all can become Buddha ("Awakened")! It takes mindfulness, Right thinking and Right action, patience and humility. Simple enough, even if not necessarily easy.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Obstacles in the Road

Good morning!

The last couple of days, for me, have not been the greatest. At present status, I am still unemployed, my tax refund is almost gone, and the lower pitch emotions are stalking me, like vultures circling, diving in for the occasional test bite. Times like this, in the past, I've turned to drink. This time was no exception.

The problem with alcohol is that it only seems to help, and even then, its apparently positive effects are only temporary. A nice buzz can make me feel pretty good, for a minute. The next day, however, I invariably feel just as bad as before, and usually worse. And not just because of the hangover; I tend to hate myself for drinking at all, for spending money I don't have on a poison, and for being like certain of my family members and relying on the crutch of booze. All of this is, obviously, counterproductive thinking.

The truth is, beer is just a shock absorber. It helps a person get over the bumps in the road, to a point, but it does nothing to remove them. The problems that caused me to drink are still there, no matter how blind I choose to get.

An alternative tactic is required. The bumps in the road are still there; I need to remove them, or go around and past them, so I don't have to deal with them any more.

We call it "mindfulness."

In the present moment, there is no fear, no obstacle, no problem so great that it cannot be overcome. Those things belong to the future, or the past, both of which exist only in the mind. In the present moment, all the power of the Force That Creates Worlds is in your hands.

One of my heroes of mindfulness, Karen Bell (ktotheb.com) posted a link today on Facebook that reminded me of what I was missing. At the core of mindfulness is peace. Mindfulness is being. Not being anything in particular, just, BEing. Thoughts do not affect Being. Emotions are comparative; Being IS. (The Jedi Code says, "There is no emotion; there is peace.")

In the end, it's about letting go. I have always had a hard time with that idea, but with mindful practice, I can do it. I will do it. I AM doing it. The present moment is about overcoming obstacles, by becoming what we are: free of obstacles. It's a hard road, but it's mine.

Here is the article KB posted. You may find it quite as useful as I did.

Monday, March 21, 2011

And The Battle Just Goes On And On....

Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it...
-Ben Folds
Even after all I've studied and learned, I'm still fighting the battle between Good and Evil, Dark and Light, between Consciousness and Unconsciousness. Here's the thing: this is a battle that never ends. There can be no final victory. This is why the classic tales of Good v Evil never go out of style, and always resonate with us.

Every moment is a choice, except, choice implies Conscious action. For the most part, we are creatures of Unconscious habit. We don't bother to choose the thoughts we think, which would give us a great deal of control in what happens to us in our lives. Instead, we let our Subconscious mind run the show. Like an airplane on automatic pilot, we can make slight adjustments here or there, but we always end up going in the basic direction our subconscious autopilot program takes us. What's required, if we wish to truly change direction, is to reprogram the automatic pilot.

The subconscious mind is not for or against anything; it is absolutely neutral, and only runs the programs we have given it to run. These programs are designed to keep us moving in the direction of our beliefs. When we have a thought that runs contrary to our deeply held beliefs, the subconscious mind is designed to dismiss it, or even to rally against it. But, as Abe-Hicks says, a belief is only a thought you keep thinking. The more you think a thought, the more it "solidifies" into a belief, and becomes part of the program of the subconscious.

Then there are those thoughts which resonate within us on a much higher level. Things like, "We are limitless beings," or "We create our own reality," are the kind of thoughts that we may or may not consciously believe, but regardless, we feel the truth of them on some level. Our Higher Self knows that these things are absolutely true, but the Lower Self, which includes the Ego and the Subconscious mind, may have created programs which negate the Truth for our life experience. There is nothing inherently bad, or good, about it; it is just the way it IS.

If we want things in our lives to change, we must first change the programming of our Lower Self. To do this is to engage in an epic battle, a jihad (in the actual sense of the word), an unending struggle, between the Forces of Consciousness and the Forces of Habit in our lives. We have to fight against the beliefs we hold that hold us apart from what we want. ...Okay, "fight" isn't really the right word here. What we resist persists, and fighting a belief will only serve to strengthen it. Remember, a belief is only a thought you keep thinking, so, to change a belief, while tricky, all you have to do is think, think, and continue to think, different thoughts that align with your Conscious desires. By displacement, the new belief will eventually oust the old belief, and the reflection in reality will be felt immediately thereafter. In short, as Master Yoda said, we must unlearn what we have learned.

And so, the battle rages on. And I aim to unlearn the beliefs I have accumulated that are making me and keeping me miserable, such as:
-I don't like spending money
-I never have enough money
-Nobody ever sticks around for me
-Maybe I'll never find the right person for me
-I hate this or that
-My body is falling apart
-There is limitation and lack all around me
-I'm not qualified for any of the jobs I see
-Life is hard

Instead, I aim to displace them with positive, high-vibration beliefs, by repeating them consciously, again and again, every day, as often as possible. Things like:
-It is fun to spend money
-Money flows to me easily and freely
-People enjoy being around me, and I enjoy them
-The right person for me is out there somewhere
-This or that which I don't like is okay because it lets me know what I do like
-My body is designed to heal itself
-The Universe is abundant and limitless, and so am I
-I have many skills and talents I can use in the workplace
-Life is easy

Life SHOULD be easy; I consciously realized this fact at age 9, when I noticed that some people really did have it easy. Even though my whole life had been underscored by the belief, passed down from my mother, that life was hard, I could see that wasn't true for everyone. Some people could make ease their truth. Why couldn't ease be true for me, as well?

Why can't it be true for you? What beliefs are holding you back from an easy life? How will you "change your mind" about them? Until you do, the autopilot will always bring you back to your subconscious "comfort zone." ...Believe that.
You have to let it all go, Neo: Fear, Doubt and Disbelief. Free Your Mind.
-Morpheus

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Read/Seen Any Good Books/Movies Lately?

Good morning!

I'd like to take some time to share a book I just read. It's called Beyond Positive Thinking (Formerly "The Advanced Formula for Total Success") by Dr. Robert Anthony. It had a lot of information I already knew, but it was presented in such a way that I understood more about the mechanism of it, how it really works, which is kinda my thing. I'm a huge fan of theory and reverse engineering. How and Why.

If you haven't clicked on that link yet, you're putting off doing an enormous favor to yourself. What I really loved about it was that its structure was exactly what I believed it should be, which is to take you through the four Essential Universal Laws in reverse. It is written, in other words, as "The Way Up."

The four Essential Universal Laws are these:
- The Law of One ~ E=mc^2 / All is One
- The Law of Octaves (Hermetic Law) ~ As Above, So Below
- The Law of Attraction ~ That Which Is Like Unto Itself Is Drawn
- The Law of Causality (or Karma) ~ Every Action Has An Equal And Complementary Reaction

In this order, they are "The Way Down," because it is in this order that the Fall of Man took place. In short: we came from the One, recognized the duality of the world, attracted ourselves into the world, and are now bound by its Karma. Dr. Robert Anthony takes you one step at a time through a process of deliberate creation. This book raises vibration.

Books like this make me want to shout about the Common Thread from the rooftop. It reminds me of all of the great Common Thread stories out there. Sure, we can look in the obvious places: the Bible, teachings of Buddha, the Gita, Plato, etc. But there are other, newer parables set to teach this process: The Star Wars saga is one. So is The Matrix trilogy -- in fact, put together, all of the movies thus far produced by the Wachowski siblings carry the ancient mathematical code of the Common Thread. Believe it or not, the Harold and Kumar movies actually follow the formula of the Common Thread.

If you're still wondering, what's the Common Thread, here is what to look for:
-Examples of the Essential Universal Laws in action
-Ultimate triumph of Unselfish Love
-Lessons in adjusting mindset for success or failure - i.e., Raising Vibration

...that's basically it. Why haven't you clicked that link yet?

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Fear and (Self-)Loathing in My Own Mind

Vivir con miedo es como vivir en medias. ~ "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." -Spanish proverb, quoted by Baz Luhrmann, "Strictly Ballroom"

Ten years ago, the bottom fell out of the world. Due to the heinous actions of religious extremists (or government plotters, depending on whom you choose to believe) the spirit of humanity was bruised. The economy plummeted; I was laid off from possibly the best-suited job I ever had. Not long afterward, a neighbor physically attacked me in my own apartment building. From that point on, I lived my life in fear, and I hated myself for it. I've never had high self-esteem, but it got so much worse after all that happened.

Strange how life goes on, whether you like it or not. I have spent the last ten years walking around like a zombie, too afraid to feel anything, or to get too close to anyone. I didn't want anyone to see how much I despised Me, because they might see and hate me too. And of course, they did, in a way. I lost several relationships that might have been good for me, because I could not love myself as much as I loved the other person.

Oprah likes to say, "Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself." That is true, but never so much as when you actually forgive yourself. Nothing can change about where you are, until you accept where you are.

EFT has been extremely useful to me to help me figure this lesson out. One of the primary components of EFT is the repetition of the phrase "I deeply and completely accept myself." Like any affirmation, if you say it enough, you'll start to believe it.

I've been letting my subconscious mind run amok with my Creation, as most people do, and it hasn't been good for me. But here's the good news: the principle of displacement works with the subconscious. If you put a glass of dirty water under a stream of clean water, eventually, the glass will be full of clean water, because the clean water will displace the dirty. If you consistently feed positive thoughts into your subconscious with conscious self-talk, the negative will eventually turn positive. And a subconscious mind full of positive thoughts will help you create your desires in your life experience.

In life, every single moment is a choice, except for two things: we have no choice but to die, someday, and, we have no choice but to live until that day comes. Meanwhile, our subconscious takes care of us, making sure we keep breathing and pumping blood and all that, but it also builds our world, and imprisons us, if we let it. I'm busting out. I'm literally changing my mind. I deeply and completely accept myself. Warts and all. Yes, even the Darkness. Stepping into the Light requires courage; I've had my fill of fear.

.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Polarity, One of Life's Great Secrets

The physical world is built upon the foundation of duality: yin and yang, dark and light, in and out, left and right. Energy flows in one direction, but there must be two points for there to be a flow in the first place. That flow is what drives the process of Creation, and we are either going with the flow, or against it, at any given time.

We are like batteries, with a positive pole and a negative pole. Creative Energy flows through us, from the positive to the negative, just like an electrical current. And, like the atom, our positive pole is at the center, our negative pole outside us. Positive Energy -- Love, Joy, Gratitude -- flows outward from the center of us; Negative Energy -- Fear, Anger, Grief -- flows inward, against the natural flow. This is also called, "resistance," because that condition resists the natural flow of Pure Positive Energy from Source.

I got to thinking about this today, because I know my resistance to my desires is great right now. And I realized that all energy must follow similar laws. So, when talking about resistance, Ohm's Law should apply.

I=V/R

"I" is current, "V" stands for voltage, and "R" equals resistance. This law, applied to electrical circuits, demonstrates how freely current flows. In plainer English, Current is directly proportional to voltage, and inversely proportional to resistance. The higher the voltage (or potential), the greater the current, but, the greater the resistance, the current flow decreases.

Applying Ohm's Law to the Creative Force, reads thus: The Creative power of Thought is in direct proportion to the intensity of the Emotion behind it, and inversely proportional to the self's resistance.

In electrical models, the Law normally assumes resistance as a constant, but it is not. That is just a practical concession. All three are variable, depending on the situation. So it is with Creative Energy. But there is one thing that is constant: the current, or the natural flow of energy, always goes in one direction.

Resisting the natural flow, through negative thinking and feelings, is like putting your batteries in backwards. The Force flows through you, from the inside out. When you resist the flow, you are in "Dark Side mode." Anger, Fear, Aggression... These resist the Natural Flow of the Force that Creates Worlds.

One other thing the application of Ohm's Law to Creative Energy suggests: the more intensely you feel, the faster you create. If you feel very happy, or very sad, you will see the subject of your thought reflected in your life experience faster than if you only felt a little happy, or a little sad.

So, release resistance, and get excited, and your dreams will come true. It is Law.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Emotional Chemistry

Good Morning!

How are thought and emotion connected? They are; they must be. Certain thoughts make me feel a certain way, depending on their direction and polarity. In other words, good thoughts feel good, bad thoughts feel bad. The more I think thoughts of lack, or worry, or loss, the worse I feel. The more I think thoughts of abundance, or appreciation, the better I feel. This is obvious.

By now, I have done enough research to understand that the chemicals in my brain are not in the same balance as in "normal" people's. When I feel depressed, there is likely more dopamine than serotonin bathing my brain cells. Emotion and brain chemistry must also be linked. One clearly affects the other. The question is, which is the cause, and which is the effect? Or are they mutually affected--one changes, so must the other?

If the physical situation is the cause of the mental/emotional situation, then pharmaceutical remedies should work. But, if you notice, the drug business hasn't made healthcare that much better. Every day, drug commercials air on public media, and the side effects usually outnumber the intended effects of the drug. And the number of times the words "death," "fatal," or "life-threatening" are listed among those side effects seems to be on the rise, as well. Every day, dozens of law firms advertise dozens of class action suits you can get in on, if you have taken some specific medication and gotten somehow sicker. For all the people pharmaceutical medicine does help, it does not help them all, so, chemistry cannot be the cause.

I find that it is not always easy to change the way I feel by psychological methods. And it's harder when the feeling is strong, or extended over time. In other words, if I have been feeling a certain way for a while, it's like I'm stuck there. Drugs can help this, true, but, add that to the cycle, and it becomes like a crutch; without the drugs, the emotions go haywire, which means the chemicals are going haywire, which means, now the added chemistry of the drugs has become essential to the mix.

I find that distasteful, and unacceptable.

I, as a Conscious Human Being, should be able to direct my own emotions, should I not? I should be able to direct my thoughts in a positive way, thereby exciting the chemical bath of my brain to a better balance, and raising my emotional status. ..."Should." So why is it so hard? Clearly, the mental/emotional side is not the cause, either.

In order to raise my vibrational frequency (the better the feeling, the higher the frequency; we'll come back to that in a later blog) I need to focus on both sides of the equation. Spirit, and Body. There are methods, such as EFT and yoga, which can help with this, and I have been using them, but maybe less than I could. Time to step things up, I suppose.

In short, physical health and mental/emotional health are not separate things, and they should not be treated as such. Feeling better literally means everything.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Meeting the Man in the Mirror - Part 2

As I gaze into the mirror, I have to wonder: which side am I on? Which of these two Annaërullos is me? Obviously, it's the one who goes about his day when there is no mirror around. But how do I know that other one isn't thinking the same thing?

We do live in a world that is mainly illusion, a recursive image, like when two mirrors face each other. The face in the mirror is a representation of my physical face, just as my physical face is a representation of my true self. I Am no more this physical body than I Am my thoughts and emotions.

Eckhart Tolle describes his awakening experience as the moment when he said, "I just cannot live with myself anymore." Then came the realization, Who is the "I," and who is the "self" I cannot live with? There must be two! As the Light of Consciousness shone on him in that moment, his "shadow self" disappeared, and he was left with the bliss of Silence. Tolle calls this "shadow self" Ego. Ego is the Glass through which we view and interact with the world. In many myths, it is referred to as "the veil." Fiona Apple has a great song in which she describes it as the "Window." It is the "Selfish Self," the personality we create. It is the story we tell to give ourselves identity. It is the system of past thoughts and emotions which clings to you, and keeps you thinking and feeling the same things over and over again. It's the "Blue Pill," and "many of [us] are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that [we] will fight to protect it."
(-Morpheus, The Matrix)

The Ego wants to live. It lives to feed. It feeds on negative emotion, delusions of grandeur, and strong opinions. It creates and feeds on these like a demon; it's no wonder the Hebrews called it "Ha-satan," which means "adversary," but you get the picture. The classical "Devil" is a symbol of the Ego. The Devil really does live in all of us. But so does the Divine Presence. Tapping into that Presence is not easy for everyone, but it IS possible, for everyone. All it takes is quieting the mental and emotional "noise" of the Ego. "My story" is my Ego attempting to stay alive.

All it takes, ultimately, is telling a different story.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Meeting the Man in the Mirror

"If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change." -Michael Jackson

Good Morning!

(In my last post, I used a Bible verse to support my point. I'll use a lot of different sources to that end; I'll use anything from the Quran to Michael Jackson. From the Vedas to Malcolm X. Anyone who supports my point, I'll be happy to quote. Fair warning.)

Who is the (Wo)Man in the mirror? If you have never looked into the mirror and asked that question, then you have not yet fully lived. You have not yet really been awake. It is one of the most important of all questions: Who Am I?

Am I the thoughts I think? Am I the feelings I feel?

No.

I Am the thinker; I Am the experiencer.

When I have a thought, it is within my experience that the thought exists. But, let me put it another way: When I hear music, it arises out of silence. Without the silence, there can be no music.

Most of us go through life thinking we are the music. But in fact, we are not the song; we are not even the singer. We are the silence. Thoughts arise out of that self-same silence. Without the silence there is only cacophony, chaos. This condition is also called "madness."

The guy in my mirror quietly stares back at me. Is he quietly judging me? No, that's just me. I'm the one doing all that. That is to say, I am allowing those kinds of thoughts to come forth. My job now is to shift the focus of my attention from the stream of negative thoughts and emotions, to the silence.

Then, from the platform of silence, new and emotionally better thoughts can arise.