The Difference Between Logical and Paralogical Thinking

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I came across an article this morning that articulates a problem we encounter when we explore higher dimensions of spirituality. It cannot be easily done from the paradigm of the logical thinking mind which is steeped in this physical reality. We are both eternal and mortal. Even though the eternal aspect of us cannot be measured consistently by science, it doesn’t mean we do not transcend this physical reality. More evidence of our eternal nature is trickling in these days in many ways such as more people remembering past lives. Enjoy the article!

“How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.” —Niels Bohr

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOGICAL AND PARALOGICAL THINKING
by Tim Freke

Quantum physicists found that, on a deep level, reality has to be understood as inherently paradoxical. This has huge implications. It means we can’t think about the deep mysteries of life using normal logic, because normal logic treats paradox as … well … illogical. We need a way of thinking that can embrace paradox. We need to think paralogically.

The great psychologist Carl Jung contrasted what he called the ‘niggardly either/or’ with the ‘glorious both/and’. This is a simple way of differentiating logical and paralogical thinking.

Logical thinking is either/or thinking.

Paralogical thinking is both/and thinking.

Logical thinking says that light is either a wave or particles. It can’t be both. Paralogical thinking says that light can be both a wave and particles, because life is inherently paradoxical. Niels Bohr explains: There are trivial truths and there are great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.

This is a wonderful statement of the difference between logical thinking and paralogical thinking. Niels Bohr says that we need to think in different ways, depending on whether we are looking for ‘trivial truths’ or ‘great truths’. If we want to understand the surface of life, logical thinking works perfectly. But to understand the depths of things we need to think paralogically.

Logical thinking is based on the principle that something is either true or it isn’t true, so the opposite of a logical truth is plainly false.

Paralogical thinking is based on the realization that on a deep level life is paradoxical, so the opposite of a paralogical truth is also true.

The essential idea is that existence is a primal oneness that is arising as complementary opposites.

Befriending an Unwanted Emotion

Reading Time: 3 minutes

It feels almost instinctual as a human being to avoid a negative feeling. If something from the past doesn’t feel good, it’s quite common and understandable to distract yourself from it through any number of ways such as using chemicals, overeating, overworking, etc. This may seem to help for awhile, however, the act of avoidance keeps it locked in your body/mind system, unconsciously influencing you in a limiting way. You may even to decide to deal with the symptoms of the unwanted feeling with medications or coping skills, which can be helpful. But there may come a time when you decide to heal and release the root of it. When you do, a key to releasing an unwanted emotion lies in the last place one would expect to find it…inside the negative feeling itself!

Where would you look to find the unwanted past that has a grip on your underlying feelings and beliefs? Although the past no longer exists, it can have a strong, influential hold on us. The body is a good place to look because it is a storehouse of old, outdated feelings that have not been given a chance to be fully articulated, expressed and/or processed.

In the paradigm of higher consciousness, unwanted feelings are not avoided, but instead viewed more as a small child nagging for attention because they are ready to be liberated from your body/mind system. As this happens, you become a freer human being…a clearer expression of your soul, rather than an expression of the fears from your past programming and conditioning. A negative feeling is simply a guidepost that informs us that we are out of alignment with our soul’s perspective, while a feeling of harmony and joy indicates we are in alignment with our soul’s purpose.

These days there are an increasing amount of emotional healing methods such as EFT, EMDR, Emotion Code, etc. The right fit varies among individuals. It’s important to note that healing is a process that happens in layers. A triggered emotion means you’re ready for the next layer to release. I often use a light trance method that is a combination of effective techniques called the Emotional Healing and Awakening session. It’s a process that’s best done with a guide who can keep your focus anchored in the present moment. When you permit a negative emotion to be your guide, it illuminates the unconscious beliefs it operates from, as well as where it originated. The key is to place your full attention into that negative emotion. As a result, the past is then reduced to a sensation in the body. The moment you fully feel it in the body, you have switched from thinking mode to feeling mode, and you’ve become anchored in the present moment. When anchored in the present moment, you can access the subconscious mind, thus uncovering the unconscious beliefs that this emotion operates from, as well as allowing it to point toward any situations, events or circumstances that contributed to this feeling. With your will and intent, you can send the negative energy out of your body and recover the part of you that was lost when you took on that negative emotion.

Here’s an example: A man came to me with debilitating anxiety. As he fine-tuned his focus on it, he could feel it most in his stomach. Often, I ask the client to give the emotion a voice and let it say what the feeling is. “I feel fear,” is what it said. I had it continue…”I feel most afraid because…I might make a mistake.” Again I had the feeling continue, “And that means…I’ll be judged and criticized.” “And that means…I won’t be loved, and I’ll be all alone.” In this manner we got to the subconscious beliefs which were lying beneath the anxiety, and were fueling it and locking it into place. Next, we allowed the anxiety to guide his awareness to the scenes and situations earlier in his life that caused the feeling. The scenes all related to a father who would not tolerate mistakes, thus it became imperative for him to not make a mistake. These tense energies from early events had been trapped and replayed in his body for years, creating a pressure-cooker effect that exacerbated his anxiety. As he focused and felt the feelings from the past in his body, he could then release them from his body/mind system, and bring in the part of himself that was covered up and lost when he took on the fear-based energy. After then doing healing work on the timeline of his life, his body steeped in the lighter energies of freedom, strength and confidence, and these positive emotions became more strongly embedded in his subconscious mind and in the cellular memory of his body.

Our negative feelings are not who we are, but who we are can observe, understand, release and heal them with intention. As long as we fear and avoid them, they will enslave us. But when we allow them to guide us to what wants to be acknowledged and no longer hidden within us, we can liberate these negative energies from our body/mind systems, enabling us to live from the true freedom that we are as souls, and which we can never really escape from!

What Is Enlightenment?

Reading Time: 7 minutes

I would like to share an article by Neile Donald Walsch, author of the ‘Conversation With God’ series. He has a way of articulating deep concepts and ideas in a simple manner. I enjoyed his thoughts on Enlightenment and I hope you do as well! Here’s Neile:

 

Let’s talk about Enlightenment—that elusive magical mystical experience for which many people seem to be searching.

We have not only been search-ing for Enlightenment, we have been searching as well for a definition of Enlightenment, because we know intuitively that we can’t get to that destination until we know where we are going.

And so the first step for most human beings has been to try to define what Enlightenment is, or what it looks like, or feels like, or what it is like to experience that.

As we look around us in this world we see that many “Paths to Enlightenment” have been suggested, recommended, created, expressed, experienced, shared, and put into the space of our collective lives.

The Buddha said that he knew a way to Enlightenment. Bahá’u’lláh said that he knew a way. More contemporarily, Paramahansa Yogananda said that he knew a way to Enlightenment.

Yogananda taught in the West from 1920 until his death in 1952. He published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, in 1946. and created the Self-Realization Fellowship.

When Yogananda, or Master, as he was called, came to America he brought a technique for “self-realization,” which was his phrase meaning Enlightenment.

“When you realize who the Self is,” he said, “you become enlightened.”

You are more aware. You are more at peace with the world. You are internally serene, totally content, and thus, wonderfully empowered . . . in a quiet, gentle sort of way . . . to move through life, to experience Divine Presence in you, as you.

Yet how can we arrive at this place of Self Realization?

Well…God says, “No one calls to me who is not answered.” And I believe that each of us will be answered by that which we call Divine, in the way which most effectively responds to the vibration that we hold and create from the center of our being.

For Paramahansa Yogananda, the way was, chiefly, meditation. But God says that God, or Divinity, or Enlightenment, if you please, appears in the lives of every person in a form that is most appropriate to their background, their culture, the level of their desire, and their willingness.

So there are many disciplines: physical disciplines, mental disciplines, spiritual disciplines, and some disciplines that involve all three — the body, the mind and the spirit.

We spoke of The Buddha earlier. One day Siddhartha Gautama — the man who came to be called “Buddha” — said:

“I’ve tried everything. I’ve done all the physical discipline, all the training, all the exercise, all the starvation, all the diets, all the fasting, and all the meditation. Now I’m just going to sit here beneath this tree and I’m not getting up until I’m Enlightened.”

And there he sat, doing nothing. No exercises, no meditations, no fasting, no nothing – – just sitting there doing absolutely nothing.

Now that is hard for many of us to do, because we think there is something we are suppose to be doing in order to be Enlightened.

Suddenly Siddhartha said with a start: “I’m Enlightened.” And people came to him and cried out, “What did you do? What did you do? Teach us, Master! You have become the Buddha, the Enlightened One. What is the secret? What did you do?”

And the Buddha said something quite extraordinary, which I paraphrase here: “There is nothing that you have to be, do, or have. Simply BE what you have always been . . . and don’t deny it.”

Imagine. After all that time. After the life he had lived and all that he did and saw. After all the luxury and then all the self-denial, after wearing a silk shirt and then a hair-shirt, after thoroughly satisfying his body and then starving his body, after no spiritual or physical discipline and then tons of discipline…after all that time, he realized it was not about doing or having anything, and it was not about not doing or having anything. It was about the middle way.

It was about just living life, non-attached to anything in partic-cular. Not attached to your luxuries and joys, and not attached to your poverty and tragedies. It was not about any of that.

It can be if you want it to be. It can be if that is what suits you. It can be if that is your path, but it is not necessary to be, do, or have anything in particular.

The Buddha said, in effect, “I’m Enlightened because I have realized that Enlightenment is knowing that there is nothing you have to do to be Enlightened. Just be your True Self.”

Isn’t that interesting? Think of all the effort that people are putting in, with years-long programs and trainings, only to find out that Enlightenment requires nothing at all — except letting go of what you are not.

What you are not is anything that is not Love.

I hate to be so simplistic here, so predictable, but Who You Are is Divinity, physically expressed — and what Divinity is . . . is Love.

If you simply love everyone whose life you touch endlessly, unconditionally, with nothing needed or wanted in return (what can God possibly need in return?), you have become Enlightened, you have achieved Awareness. AND . . . you have shown everyone else how they may do so as well — as fast as any other mental system or spiritual discipline that exists, like that.

As fast as Transcendental Meditation, like that. As fast as joining the Self-Realization Fellowship, like that. As fast as taking est, like that. As fast as Brain Education and Dahn Hak and Vibrational Attunement and any other process or mechanism or path you can name.

And if you learn to love yourself unconditionally, as well as everyone else, you will heal your entire self without lifting a finger.

Now I want to discuss this thing called health, because many people believe that you are not enlightened unless you are in good health.

Does Enlightenment mean being in good health? And what is “good health” anyway? Is good health having a body that has nothing wrong with it? Is good health living until you are 90 or 100 or 200 or 500? ?

Ernest Holmes was the founder of Religious Science, and wrote a book called The Science of Mind. He was said to have found the way to create a perfect and wonderful life. Yet he lived only until he was 73. Why did he not live longer, if he was so spiritually “healthy” and aware? Half the people that I know have lived longer!

Is Enlightenment, and “good health”, having no pain and nothing malfunctioning with your physical form? Is good health the absence of anything that is not perfect in your physical experience?

Or — now listen to this carefully — is good health being very okay and in a place of joy and peace no matter how things are?

What is health, what is optimum health, if it is not happiness?

I know people who exercise every day, lifting weights and running and working out, eating well, doing all the right things, and their bodies are in great health, but their hearts and their minds and their souls are very ill and desperately sad. They are incomplete, unfulfilled, unexpressed, and deeply unhappy.

And I know people who are hardly able to lift a toothpick, their bodies are in such bad shape . . . but their hearts and their minds and their souls are bright as a shining star, and they are happy.

I know such a man, whose name is Ram Dass. Do you know of whom I speak? Ram Dass is a Master, and I was vastly privileged to have met him personally. He has taught many people for many years. He wrote a book called Be Here Now, among others.

A number of years ago now, Ram Dass had a stroke. He was a young man; he was only 63 or something like that. I met with Ram Dass after his stroke, in a hotel room in Denver, and I want to tell you something. I’ve never met a healthier man.

I sat in that room with a Master. I said, “Ram Dass, how are you?” And he sat there in his wheelchair and said very slowly and very carefully, “I am won-der-ful.”

He had to pronounce each syllable as if it was a separate word. His mouth, his tongue, couldn’t work any faster than that. But he looked at me and smiled and said, “I-am-won-der-ful.”

Now that’s health…that’s health. That’s peace. That’s joy. And I cried. Not for Ram Dass. Who would cry for a person who said something like that? I cried for myself.

How could I have missed it? How could I have walked right past this wisdom for so many years?

In the end,. We came here to understand Who We Are, and to experience it.

We did not come here to somehow “get better” or to “work on our stuff.” Consider the possibility that all the work you will ever need to do is finished. All you have to do now is demonstrate that. Ernest Holmes left when he left because he had demonstrated what he came here to demonstrate.

So this moment is the moment of your liberation. You can be liberated from your life-long search for Enlightenment. You can be released from any thought that it has to look like this…no, no, it has to look like that, no, no, you have to get to it by this path, by that program, by the other process or activity.

If Enlightenment is outer joy and inner peace, outer ease and inner tranquility, outer consciousness and inner awareness, and you are experiencing that — then you have found Enlightenment.

So set yourself free today. Stop working so hard on yourself that you don’t even enjoy it anymore. Do what works for you, but make sure it brings you joy.

Enlightenment is EnJOYment. It is the pouring of pure joy into Life.

Now here is what I know will bring you joy. Decide that the rest of your life — every day, every moment, every word — is something that you will share with everyone whose life you touch in a way that ensures that they will know there is nothing they have to do, nowhere they have to go, and no way they have to be, in order to be loved by you right now.

Let them know that they are perfect just as they are, just as they are standing there.

Spend the rest of your life giving people back to themselves, that they might love themselves, and know that there is nothing they are lacking, nothing they are missing, nothing they need, nothing they are not.

It has been said that the other is your mirror, and you will see there naught but what you see in yourself. Yet I tell you this. Do not wait to see yourself as perfect before you see The Other as perfect. See The Other as perfect first . . . then you will see perfection in yourself.

Forgive the other first, then you will forgive yourself at last. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you. This is the Law and the Prophets.

For there IS no Other, save You. And when you know this, you save you. You become . . . your Saviour.

What I am talking about here is simply sharing love, which is who you really are. And if you learn and choose and decide to share love — endlessly, unconditionally — with everyone, you will find that there is nothing else to do to seek Enlightenment. You will have achieved it.

So, with that as our determination and that as our choice and that as our decision, let us join together and experience our own ‘Enlightenment’.

The Challenge and Rewards of Ascension

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Here’s a short article I submitted to the Edge magazine regarding the topic of Ascension. Please enjoy!

While meditating, a vision appeared to me: a multitude of people were climbing up the terraced steps of a pyramid-shaped mountain, covering all sides of it. They represented humanity on different levels and places in their evolutionary growth. Some were being helped up while others were turning around and pulling up someone below them as they made their way to the top. I realized this vision symbolized what we are striving to accomplish as human beings on earth…we are moving from the sleep of ignorance to the dawn of awakening of who and what we really are…our journey toward Self Realization. It could also be framed as path leading from suffering to bliss. This is a journey that we are all on whether we are aware of it or not. At this point in our human evolution, most of us are not aware in this moment that we are actually brilliantly free spiritual beings having a human experience, although that is rapidly changing along with so many other things these days.

As I journey on my own path of awakening, guiding some while being supported by others, ascension for me means becoming more fully present here and now in the body, feeling the richness of emotions as well as the myriad expressions of the senses. However, this is impossible to do for long periods of time because our thinking mind mostly operates from the past and pulls us into the future. Overcoming this dilemma of trying to maintain full presence then becomes a matter of proper identification – no longer identifying with our fluctuating emotions and thoughts, but rather with that which never goes away, the deeper sense of life and ‘beingness’ that is hidden within each one of us. Being fully present goes hand in hand with becoming more aware of who and what is always present in the body – our spiritual self.

When we only identify with our human self and the thoughts and feelings that rise and fall within us, we unconsciously operate from the conditioning and programming of our past. Frequently, painful emotions are avoided. However, the act of avoidance locks them in a repeating pattern within the body/mind system, while permitting them to be fully felt allows that emotional energy to pass through. When you know and identify yourself as the life that animates the body, when you know that as a soul you are role playing here and can never ultimately be harmed, then even painful emotions can be fully felt and understood not only as a different vibration in the body, but also as part of the rich human experience. By embracing all of our negative or painful emotions and releasing them in a healthy manner, we no longer are unconsciously influenced by them in a limiting way, and thus a filter falls away as we become clearer and lighter vessels for our soul to shine through. This process is one avenue or by-product of ascension.

After my vision, I wanted to commit it to canvas, but my artistic abilities stop at anything beyond a stick person. However, at a Christmas party, I met Laura Ungs who specializes in painting the concepts that people have in their minds. That beautiful painting now hangs in my office, a fitting place because my therapy practice focuses on guiding my clients to release and heal their limiting beliefs and emotions that were planted in the past, but continue to affect their present. Once the old programs are released or seen through, clients are no longer unconsciously governed by their limiting emotional patterns and they become freer beings. This healing then creates a ripple effect through the interactions of all their relationships.

This reminds me of a quote from Paramahansa Yogananda: “When you heal yourself, you do your part in healing the world.” As we become clearer and clearer vessels, no longer operating from our limited past programming and conditioning, the light within us, our true self, shines through our interactions with others in many ways. Ironically, the further we ascend the more beautiful and safe it becomes to be fully here and now. When we awaken and identify with our higher dimension that transcends space and time, we realize it has always been with us every step of the way…and ultimately it is who we are!

Screening of AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda

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“The hours are more important than the days, the minutes more important than the hours, the seconds more important than the minutes…you are the master of the moments of your life. When you fully realize the beauty of each instant, the future takes care of itself.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

One of the most influential books in my life has been The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. There is now a film opening  called Awake: The Life of Yogananda. The movie will be in Minneapolis starting Friday, December 12th.  Please share this information with anyone interested in meditation, eastern philosophy, yoga and spirituality. Here is a blurb:

AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda is an unconventional biography about the Hindu Swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s. Paramahansa Yogananda authored the spiritual classic “Autobiography of a Yogi,” which has sold millions of copies worldwide and is a go-to book for seekers, philosophers and yoga enthusiasts today. (Apparently, it was the only book that Steve Jobs had on his iPad.) By personalizing his own quest for enlightenment and sharing his struggles along the path, Yogananda made ancient Vedic teachings accessible to a modern audience, attracting many followers and inspiring the millions who practice yoga today.

Here is the official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLkg3uDe1c

The Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul has announced the showtimes at the St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis for Awake: The Life of Yogananda.  Here is the link to the showtimes: http://mnfilmarts.org. Click on films and events.

“In this new year I am a new person. And I shall change my consciousness again and again until I have driven away all the darkness of ignorance and manifested the shining light of Spirit in whose image I am made.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

 

 

Turning People Into Trees

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Here’s a beautiful reminder by Ram Dass of how to appreciate the rich diversity of human beings, each uniquely carved by their life experiences. Enjoy!

 

When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees.

Some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens and some of them are whatever.

You look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is….you sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. You don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.

The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, “You’re too this or I’m too that.”  The judging mind comes in.

And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.

Ram Dass

Symposium on Energy Healing

Reading Time: 3 minutes

BodySound Chair

There is an upcoming symposium on energy healing that I mentioned in my last blog. I wanted to share more about it in this one, and also about the background behind the BodySound chair, a tool for profound relaxation and healing on all levels.

Energy healing is rapidly becoming a dramatic new paradigm both in the US as self-care gains increasing prominence, and also globally as humanity begins to recognize the key issue underlying our many social ills – lack of spiritual self-identification. As we focus on this pivotal healing process it is clear that technology can play a role in accelerating our energetic/spiritual development, improving our health and vitality and adding meaning to our existence.

On Saturday, October 18th, the Global Institute of Energy Healing Technology is sponsoring a 1-day symposium on Energy Healing: Many Faces, One Source. The brochure describes the exceedingly relevant presentations, panel discussions and demonstrations covering practical applications and theoretical implications on the latest in energy healing technologies. To register for the symposium or to download the brochure please visit www.energyhealingtechnology.org.

For the Friday evening pre-symposium event, I’ll be doing a group-guided past life regression for participants immediately after they’ve experienced a BodySound chair session. Participation is available only to attendees registered for the main symposium and entails a separate fee of $60. Space is limited so sign up early if you’re interested, or call me at 651-649-1952.

Both events will be held at the Park Plaza Hotel in Bloomington, MN. For out-of-towners, a block of rooms have been reserved for the event at a discounted price of $79 per night. Phone: 952.831.6372.

Below is a short article by Dr. Dan Cohen about the story behind the BodySound Chair. Enjoy!

 

Energy Healing: The Path to Expanded Awareness and Perception
by Dan Cohen, M.D.

As an adolescent in the 1960’s and 70’s I became fascinated by stories about yogis and some westerners that could achieve seemingly impossible transformational feats or demonstrate extraordinary perceptual awareness and insight. I went to medical school and became a neurologist to study the brain, but also continued to read spiritual and metaphysical books and articles. In 1997 after years of meditation without meaningful results, I turned to technology in the hope that I too could significantly expand my conscious awareness without drugs. Our research team also included a psychic, an out-of-body observer and a team of engineers.

After 17 years of unconventional research we learned that energy healing (greater manifestation and expression of our spiritual Self as pictured and witnessed by our observers) promotes many benefits. Some of these benefits include expanded awareness and perception of spiritual influences in addition to dramatic improvement in mindfulness, peace and tranquility.

We came to define energy healing as any process that facilitates a fuller manifestation and expression of our energy system (spiritual self/Source) throughout our material plane of existence, including our physical bodies. The fundamental aspects of energy healing are:
1. unmasking our energy system (spiritual self/Source) by removing the limitations (egoic beliefs) we place upon it as opposed to repairing our spiritual self/Source, as that is not in need of repair
2. self-identifying in accordance with our true nature
Our limiting beliefs form the core of energetic blocks within our energy system that mask our spirituality. Releasing these beliefs unmasks our spiritual self/Source and allows us to manifest in life as our authentic Self. The act of self-identification represents the manner in which we manifest and express ourselves in all aspects of life; how we feel and behave, not just believe, as beliefs are solely ego-based.

As energy blocks clear (limiting beliefs are released) the chakras realign themselves with a symmetrical spin and the auric bodies appear more expanded. The individual’s personal spiritual self also is shown to be more integrated with the physical body. In addition, the spirit line appears straight, not broken, fragmented or curved. This is depicted as the transitional (middle) state above. With the transition to the Source Awakened state of being and greater self-identification with Source, the chakras appear white with a faster spin rate and white light radiates from the individual.

Our technology consists of an amplifier and transducers built into a comfortable delivery platform, which uses layered music to induce synchronized sounds, vibrations and electromagnetic fields, producing physical, emotional, mental and spiritual effects (www.ToolsToAwaken.com). The sound and vibratory stimuli produce a very deep state of relaxed drowsiness. The individual becomes profoundly relaxed, but typically aware. They are also instructed to pay attention to how relaxed they feel in order to recreate this feeling at other times, independent of chair sessions. Furthermore, in this state of profound relaxation the person’s ego is far less engaged and they are more receptive to change, ultimately releasing their limiting beliefs. Our observers also noted that the magnetic fields also induce profound shifts in energy with the release of energetic blocks.

We have formed the Global Institute of Energy Healing Technology (www.EnergyHealingTechnology.org) to assist individuals with the use of this technology, explore other energy healing technologies and generate awareness of such technologies and their benefits. We invite you to our first conference, scheduled for October 18, 2014 in Bloomington, MN (Park Plaza Hotel).

sunbeam

Past Life Regression to BodySound Chairs: Support for Awakening

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Past Life Regression to BodySound Chairs:  Support for Awakening

As human beings, we are in an unprecedented time of awakening and growth. Computers, cell phones, weaponry, you name it, with new inventions obsolete at an increasingly faster pace as we awaken to more advanced ideas and technology. This exponential growth is also apparent in the realm of consciousness, as a significant number of people are beginning to awaken from the sleep-like trance of the ego-identified state of being, and into a natural, transcendent and permanent part of their selves that is not governed by fear and separation. For most of us, this process comes in stages like a slow progression, but on rare occasions such as with Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie, the jump from inner turmoil to freedom can happen quite spontaneously and intensely. For those who aspire to awaken to what they already are, certain tools can assist to realize more fully their true selves that lie beneath the surface of the fears and the illusions of separation that helps create this human experience.

What obscures the connection with our natural free being? It is our identification with the steady stream of the mind — our subtle thoughts and beliefs, both conscious and subconscious. Identification with our mind is normal, of course, but it is also the reason behind 100% of our suffering, according the Buddha. Most of us do not realize that there is an aspect of us that is free from this thinking mind. However, when we finally do, it feels noticeably ‘more awake’ because it can observe this chatterbox mind. As the mind quiets through various practices like meditation and others mentioned below, there can be an increasing awareness of limiting subconscious thoughts and beliefs. As a result, a subtle gulf gets created between ‘you’ and this thinking mind. This slight, elusive shift marks the beginning step in the journey from bondage to liberation. Who or what is this constant observer that can notice changing moods and thoughts whether at 5 or 85 years of age? Who or what am I? This is the ‘self-inquiry’ question which sages encourage us to ask, because, if you seriously inquire, it will stop the thinking mind since there is no answer that the thinking mind can comprehend. What’s left is pure unfiltered presence/awareness…a dimension of our being that is firmly rooted in the eternal present moment. Like a movie screen that holds ever-changing images, this same presence/awareness is a backdrop for the ceaseless flow of content from our minds.

You can find many awakened sages on youtube these days. One of them is Leonard Jacobson, sage and author of Journey Into Now. “We live our lives according to our unconscious beliefs,” says Jacobson. We can’t let go of the beliefs that limit us until we become aware of them. If you want to find a false belief that limits you, you can usually find one under a negative emotion that you’re trying to avoid. Adyashanti, another sage and teacher, suggests that a primary spiritual practice could be to allow whatever has been long repressed and denied within ourselves to be finally seen and felt in the light of our full consciousness. Then, he says, the energy can release from your body/mind system and be integrated into the fullness of your being.

This is where past life regression comes in. It is an effective tool to help in this awakening process because it leads to the discovery of our subconscious blocks if we set an intention for this to happen. PLR is far more than just seeing a past life. It’s about transcending the mind’s tendency to control in order to allow a higher guidance system to give you precisely what will help you move to the next level. You not only see a life that will expose a limiting pattern or belief, but PLR also helps you identify with the part of you that transcends the ego-based thinking mind. First, the information can drop into your awareness only when the analytical mind is ignored or quiet. Secondly, you begin to identify with and experientially feel the soul part of you between the lives after the death of the past life. As a result, a deep silencing of thought is noticed as you become solidly anchored in the eternal Now, free of the mind’s chatter and clutter. What remains is a clear, shining, free being of clarity and awareness. You become like a bright light bulb that has wiped away the mental dirt that obscured it, exposing the still presence of clarity, love and pure creative potential beneath it. During these moments, one can experience what it feels like to be free of their limiting beliefs.

New technology can also help on our journey of awakening. After 17 years of research, local neurologist and inventor Dan Cohen, MD, created a ‘BodySound’ chair, which combines layered sounds and music with synchronistic vibration and magnets. The result of a ‘BodySound’ chair session is profound relaxation with a conscious quieting of the thinking mind, thus increasing awareness of what it feels like to be free of the fear-based identity of egoic consciousness. It opens up the body’s energy system to receive greater flow while simultaneously setting the stage for limiting beliefs and conditioning to be noticed and released. Cohen then founded a non-profit organization, Global Institute of Energy Healing Technology (GIEHT), dedicated to using science and technology to promote the energy healing of humanity through research, education and practice. More information about GIEHT, as well as a symposium on energy healing modalities can be found at www.energyhealingtechnology.org. The symposium is on Saturday, October 18, 2014. The evening prior, I will be doing a pre-symposium event of a group- guided past life regression immediately following a BodySound session.

The common denominator between self-inquiry, past life regression, BodySound technology, and any other process that helps quiet the chattering mind is that it exposes the ego for what it is…a bunch of thoughts. More precisely, a circular pattern of thoughts revolving around an image of ‘me’, created from our programming and conditioning. However, a very real part of us transcends this image. The more we abide in this larger Self, the more our limiting beliefs and repressed emotions rise to the surface to become liberated in the light of our full awareness. As a by-product, we can more easily remain fully present in whatever moment this human experience gives us.

God’s Game of Hide-and-Seek

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The awakened sage Alan Watts has a way of simplifying complex questions such as “Why are we here?” “What is the purpose of existence?” Or, “Why do bad things happen?” Below is a brief excerpt from his book, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. He describes life in the same manner of the ancient Sanskrit term “Lila”…meaning that life is entirely God’s Lila or play. The understanding of this concept is a helpful way for our subconscious mind to begin to formulate another identity besides our separate, limited self, and instead focus more on the life energy behind the form. Because we are multi-dimensional beings, new possibilities can open up for us when we begin to identify also with the soul, and even the source aspects of ourselves. As we begin to awaken to our ‘larger’, ‘more permanent’ identities, it will no doubt produce a steady ripple effect onto our personal lives and also the larger world. Enjoy!

“God also likes to play hide-and-seek, but because there is nothing outside of God, he has no one but himself to play with. But he gets over this difficulty by pretending that he is not himself. This is his way of hiding from himself. He pretends that he is you and I and all the people in the world, all the animals, all the plants, all the rocks, and all the stars. In this way he has strange and wonderful adventures, some of which are terrible and frightening. But these are just like bad dreams, for when he wakes up they will disappear.

“Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid himself. But that’s the whole fun of it — just what he wanted to do. He doesn’t want to find himself too quickly, for that would spoil the game. That is why it is so difficult for you and me to find out that we are God in disguise, pretending not to be himself. But when the game has gone on long enough, all of us will wake up, stop pretending, and remember that we are all one single Self — the God who is all that there is and who lives forever and ever.

“Of course you must remember that God isn’t shaped like a person. People have skins and there is always something outside our skins. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t know the difference between what is inside and outside our bodies. But God has no skin and no shape because there isn’t any outside to him. The inside and outside of God are the same. And though I have been talking about God as ‘he’ and not ‘she,’ God isn’t a man or a woman. I didn’t say ‘it’ because we usually say ‘it’ for things that aren’t alive.

“God is the Self of the world, but you can’t see God for the same reason that, without a mirror, you can’t see your own eyes, and you certainly can’t bite your own teeth or look inside your head. Your self is that cleverly hidden because it is God hiding.

“You may ask why God sometimes hides in the form of horrible people, or pretends to be people who suffer great disease and pain. Remember, first, that he isn’t really doing this to anyone but himself. Remember, too, that in almost all the stories you enjoy there have to be bad people as well as good people, for the thrill of the tale is to find out how the good people will get the better of the bad. It’s the same as when we play cards. At the beginning of the game we shuffle them all into a mess, which is like the bad things in the world, but the point of the game is to put the mess into good order, and the one who does it best is the winner. Then we shuffle the cards once more and play again, and so it goes with the world.”

An Eloquent Description of Experiences with Past Life

An Eloquent Description of Past Life Regression

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Recently a client shared with me her narrative of her past life regression experience. I am sharing it with you because it such an articulate description of how past life regression can work. Describing your experience can be quite a challenge. One of the first things people notice after a session is the lack of words there are to describe the experience. There is a reason for this…words and language belong to the thinking mind in this physical dimension, and the entire past life regression experience can only be done when this conscious thinking mind is a silent, uninvolved witness. Therefore, information drops into you as a “download” of intuitive inner knowings and feelings along with some visual impressions, like a strong intuitive hunch. Words can only describe the tip of the iceberg of your experience. In fact, describing what is happening during your regression can feel a lot like multi-tasking. But the most important part is that as the conscious thinking mind gives up control of the process, an entirely new information flow is accessible….the same information flow that might give you a strong intuitive knowing about something. And it gives you precisely what will be of most benefit to you, even if you cannot fully articulate beforehand what that is. This narrative provides an example of this. Enjoy!

Past Life Regression

As a preacher’s kid, and pretty mainstream thinker all my life, I was surprised at 49 to discover a new fascination with the concept of reincarnation and past-lives. I was experiencing some pretty major changes in my life and was not handling them gracefully, so I decided to see if a past life regression would help.  I seriously didn’t expect it to be life changing, and before the appointment, prepared myself to walk away believing that in fact it was a hoax.  I could not have been more wrong.

I did three regressions and a life between lives session over the course of a year, and as time went on, I began to see patterns.  While I generally had specific things I wanted to know, the most valuable insights I received had nothing to do with my questions, but everything to do with what was deep in my heart.  The questions I didn’t know how to ask became the topic of the story.

There were many similarities between the different lives that I found are also themes in my current life.  In three of the four lives, there was a big kitchen table that kept showing up, and significant things kept happening around it.  Even today, I love to cook and feed people. That same big table sits in the center of our home, and life still happens around it.  My current husband was also my husband in two of my lives, and my current sister was my wife in one.  In all the lives, I lived in rural areas, and spent a lot of time outdoors, often gardening, which is also true in this life.

I expected that if this whole past lives thing turned out to be legit, I would find some kind of dramatic wisdom, but in fact, most of the wisdom had an elegant simplicity to it.  In one life, there was an epidemic of some kind in our village, and we had to move.  The major scene in that life was the conflict between my husband and me as we dealt with my fear of change.  By the end of the life, we had happily settled in a new place and raised our family, and I died very happy.  The lesson?  Change is ok.  Relax and go with it.  That lesson is not an earthshaking revelation, but at that moment in time, in this life, accepting change was exactly what I was struggling with, and had been unable to see clearly through my fear.  Experiencing the regression and seeing myself successfully navigate a similar situation allowed me to handle the changes that were occurring in this life.  I found a peace that had been out of my reach before the regression.

The regression that had the greatest impact on me was a life where I was a man who was unable to connect with people.  Because of my self-imposed isolation, when I needed my community to help me save my land, they were not there for me. I lost everything, became a bitter mean man, and finally died alone and depressed. To those around me, I looked like a cranky old man, but inside, I was lonely and in pain, with no clue what was causing it or how to ease the pain.  The heaviness of the depression I felt in the latter part of that life was something I will never forget.

Initially I thought the lesson was about the value of connecting with people and learning to work in teams, which I still believe it was, but there was more.  In the weeks following the regression, another theme also began to emerge.  Visiting that life enlarged my understanding of what compassion really is, beyond sympathy for the poor and downtrodden.  Since the regression, when negative behavior is directed at me, instead of feeling attacked, I see pain and fear.  Having lived that pain, I have a different perspective, and tend to feel compassion rather than anger and resentment.  I can’t change people’s behavior, but I can change my own, and find a healthier and more compassionate way to respond.  It has made a huge difference in how I work with people!

By far the most comforting result of these regressions is that I have lost my fear of dying.  Do I want to die now?  No.  But I have experienced death four times, and I can confidently say that it is not the end; it is just the beginning of another season in the eternal life of my soul.  Death, from the soul’s perspective, is neither difficult nor the end, and the place we return to, whatever you choose to call it, is a place of love.