The Human Energy Body

Just to complete my own limited assessment of the human body’s systems of operation, I will show and explain (as best I can) the Human Body Energy System that was absent from the previous body systems posting.

And once again it’s hard to find one image that shows everything. But this Alex Grey image composite comes close.

At least with this image, on the left you can see the chakra locations and the energy meridians running throughout the body.

Then the center shot shows torus flow lines as cosmic energy at large enters through the crown and out through our connection into the earth’s energy field at our feet.  The energy then cycles back up to the crown and down again making a toroidal (donut-shaped) path.

And the far right image shows a bit of the overall flow of energy that radiates and pulses out from our physical body through our chakras and main torus flow to encase us in a luminous egg-shaped, energy cocoon.

While this isn’t a perfect depiction, it’s the best I can presently find to demonstrate the “nearly invisible to most eyes” energy field that flows through and around all of us—as long as we are alive.

When we die our energy field consolidates into one cohesive unit (what we often call ‘our spirit’) and leaves the physical body to return to its energy source-point, which can be interpreted by many names depending on the religion, but I prefer to say that the energy body with the ‘consciousness’ that it has experienced/collected in this dimension of existence, moves back to the dimension from where it originated (I personally call it Spirit Home) where it rejoins the greater database of all collected LIFE consciousnesses for our particular Soul Unit called our Higher Self.  

Think of the Higher Self as “The Cloud” of collected data storage located in a giant server system “somewhere” out beyond your personal sphere of awareness; except this “Cloud” storage continually interacts with us and supplies us with our key energy connection to Higher Consciousness.

Our Higher Self is a conglomeration of “all lives lived” energetically where consciousness was enhanced or raised in frequency—where awareness was purified and distilled in essence so that the vibrational frequency of our Soul’s collected consciousness over all “lifetimes” grows higher and higher.

And similar to the many previously-mentioned physical human body systems, the function of the Energy Body System is complex, sophisticated, and purposeful.

So back to the chakras and my previously mentioning how they seem to correspond directly to the location of the endocrine glands, as well as to the main body organs.

Those particular colors often associated with the chakras are specific frequencies of electromagnetic light waves that are most beneficial to those particular glands and organs. These chakra sites are energy transducers (filters and distillers) of white light energy in general, that both input and output energy.

They also correspond to the energy “layers” that are projected outward from the physical body, much like the layers of an onion. The 1st chakra (root) mainly projects the 1st energy layer out from the skin, while the 7th chakra (crown) projects the farthest out from the central body in this dimension.

Our energy fields can extend outward quite far from us depending on our ability to “hold” certain higher frequencies of energy, but most of us can extend our arms outward to their limits around and above us, and that would easily depict the outer cocoon limits of most people’s energy fields.  So it’s not hard to see that when you are near other people or in a crowd closer than arm’s length with others, you are actually moving around in each other’s energy field.  

And as I tell my REIKI classes, it’s important to keep your own energy field as clear and well-functioning as possible to provide the best energy protection for yourself—especially when you are around negative-focused people, because otherwise you will be like ‘polyester pants in a room full of cats’—before long, you are wearing their hair like it was your own. That’s how we tend to pick up a ‘bad mood’ from hanging with others even if we can see no reason for it.

Finally in closing I’ll say that it is hard to make this energy-body subject digestible for folks who have never considered it, but by condensing it into bite-size portions for consumption I hope others can at least begin to realize how amazingly complex and well-designed we human beings actually are.

We are like little miracles unto ourselves—with all systems interconnected and functioning in total coordination with each other—just to experience the physical world for as long as we are ordained to exist here in this dimension.

And when you think about it, that’s pretty amazing.

The Body’s Many Systems

It is SO hard to find ONE picture that covers such an extensive subject as the body’s systems of operation, so this will have to suffice at present.

At first I was only going to describe the Endocrine System and how that related to ‘energy work’ (like REIKI) in general; and then the more I searched for just the right image (since I’m limited to only one in this blog) I quickly realized that I couldn’t limit this topic to only one human body system while ignoring all the other interrelated systems that comprise human body operation.

Besides that I’m pretty limited in my knowledge of any of them, and not surprisingly, the human body “Energy System” of which I am more familiar, isn’t showing in this image. So then I began thinking that it would be wrong of me to isolate any one system from the total interworking mass of them because we cannot function by eliminating a single body system; and it is only through the complete coordination of ALL body systems that we can even exist.

And maybe that is the entire point of what I’m struggling to convey.

Hence this is who we actually are: a collection of independent and yet interdependent “systems” that work in conjunction with each other to provide the substance and mobility of our daily lives. If one of those systems above has a problem, then the entire body suffers to some degree; and that initial single-system problem can cascade throughout other systems until the body fails.

How many actual body systems do we have?

Well that might be a matter of focus and specialty, but overall: “The human body comprises 12 distinct human body systems, and their functions reflect their names: cardiovascular (circulatory), digestive, endocrine, immune, integumentary, lymphatic, muscular, nervous, reproductive, respiratory, skeletal and urinary.” (from Sciencing.com)

Again I’m limited in knowledge here, but I assume that the brain serves as the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the human body and runs/administers the entire system conglomeration. Think of the brain similar to how your personal computer functions. There is a central operating system that is programmed to control how input is assessed and redirected, and then it ultimately sends orders (electrical stimuli, nerve synapses) to the various interdependent body systems to act or react pertaining to the situation encountered.

Now what I was originally going to say had to do with how interconnected we are energetically to the endocrine system, and that is why energy workers focus on Chakra locations because that’s where the endocrine glands are that secrete the gland-specific chemicals into the blood stream (circulatory system).  

Except that I just hit two systems there, endocrine and circulatory; but that doesn’t account for the nervous system that I know is also directly affected by the benefits of energy work because I’ve seen it for myself when I worked on Multiple Sclerosis clients—seen how they benefited from my reestablishing an energy network that allowed their nerve impulses to reach muscles and body parts that were long ago disconnected from their central nervous system routes.

I’ve also seen for myself how when I applied energy directly to the base of the head—the central spinal nerve center, how cancer clients who had lost peripheral feeling in hands and feet due to the side-effects of chemotherapy, suddenly regained feeling for awhile in fingers and toes.

So I can’t just say that the energy work (in this case REIKI) only affects one system or even two systems of the body when I’ve already shown four systems directly affected by energy work: nervous, endocrine, circulatory, and muscular systems.

Oh yes, and add the digestive system’s positive affect also because the MS guy often said how much better his eating and elimination systems were functioning after I had worked on him.

Which finally leads me to my long-labored point: We think of ourselves as this mass of flesh on bone (muscular on skeletal system), but we are an interconnected, interrelated, interdependent conglomeration of separate operating systems that miraculously function together in some unbelievably complex way.

And you think we aren’t intentionally “designed” to function in that manner?

I think we definitely are.

The Fractal Spiral

This image is a 2-D depiction of a 3-D fractal spiral—portrayed like a transparent conch shell. For some reason in nature certain living species use this geometric pattern of growth for creating solid shell-like objects, as well as for flower petal or seed distribution, besides other natural examples.

I’m looking at this design and thinking initial growth must be limited on one side of the forming cell structure, and then amplified on the opposite side of the cell so that the creation can only spiral around itself rather than moving in a straight forward or upward progression.

The effect would be like riding a zero-turn lawnmower when you fast-forward one wheel while nearly stopping the other wheel’s forward motion so that the mower is cutting in continually spiraling but in ever expanding circles. The effect can make for an unusual growth pattern in one of nature’s more fascinating creations, or for a very strange lawn trimming where your neighbors may question your sanity.

But to accomplish this spiraling pattern in general, the forward expansion must be limited on one side of the pivot point and magnified on the other side, which creates this spiral effect.

And then the next question is WHY? WHY would nature do this? What is the advantage of doing this?

For a mollusk, the point might be to grow a secreted, protective shell around the very vulnerable flesh; but for a flower? Why would a plant do that with its flowers? What would the flower be protecting at its center other than its seed pods?

Or in the case of sunflowers, every seed is displayed outwardly in complex Fibonacci patterns ready for quick consumption and dispersal by birds to other locations.

I think there is something important here in examining nature’s spiral designs that I’m not fully comprehending about this natural growth behavior, and I think it has to do with the original growth pattern intention; but I certainly don’t know what that was, other than there have been mathematicians of the past who have plotted out the various equations to actually replicate those natural, spiral growth patterns, and they have found some pretty interesting data in the process.

If this mystery interests you further, check out Fractal spirals, Fibonacci spirals, Archimedean spirals, Golden spirals, galactic spiral, conical spirals, spherical spirals, and the differing mathematical equations and geometric properties of all of them. I think there is a hidden clue to the intentional Grand Design of LIFE here, but unfortunately I’m not capable of deciphering it.

Perhaps you can.

Anthropomorphizing the World That We See

Interesting photo above from Amazing Nature site.

Besides my Graphic Arts training recognizing that the photo is likely an enhanced composition, my reactive mind immediately attributed human-like actions to the mantis spreading its forearms wide in a kind of Tai Chi pose; and then my logical mind recognized what was happening in my thought processes, and said, “NO.  You are seeing what you want to see, rather than what truly is.”

Not sure who actually said it prior to Stephen Covey, but what is that quote? “We see the world, NOT as it IS, but as WE ARE…”   This image and my reaction to it reminded me of that, because for a brief moment I saw what I wanted to see: a Tai Chi dancing mantis.

As humans we have a natural tendency to relate and compare new experiences to previous ones—new images to recognized similar objects or situations, and basically all ‘unknowns’ to that ‘which is known to us’ for our assessment of its safety and threat potential to our existence.  We do this through genetically-programmed species survival tactics—we and our ancestors before us have learned from our near misses with death in the past to not trust deadly creatures or hazardous situations a second time.  Caution and wariness keeps you alive to fight another day.

But even with that being said, we also have this innate tendency to anthropomorphize all aspects of the world around us, because as humans we are basically a self-aware but extremely self-focused species.  Why else would we assume that our GOD—the all-knowing—all-seeing—all-being Omniscient One looks like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling rendition of an old bearded man, supported in the air by cherubs, who is extending a lackadaisical finger to his “new creation” –also male—awaiting animation only at HIS touch?

And why is that?  Why do we even think of GOD like that?  Because “We see the world, NOT as it is, but as we are…”   Sometimes quite literally. 

We see the world around us as human-designed and human-purposed, therefore GOD or gods must have human attributes or forms, which often includes having human proclivities and weaknesses like emotional extremes.  So of course our GOD is human shaped. Of course our GOD is male because who first scribed the Torah and the Bible at their inceptions?  Who was allowed education and training way back then to transcribe and spread HOLY texts and philosophies? Hmm, let me guess:  Males.  Therefore no-brainer, God in all his wisdom and magnificence must be not only HUMAN depicted, but must be also MALE and should be depicted as the ‘perfect specimen’ of manliness. 

In the broadest consideration, I’m fairly sure that GOD, or Grand Consciousness as I prefer to call it, is both genderless and nonhuman-shaped unless it is housing a minute portion of Itself in a human form for the duration of that person’s LIFE.  But the assessment of human-relatedness to anything is called anthropomorphism—assigning human characteristics to animate and inanimate everything.

“Anthropomorphism–Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather.” (Wiki)

***

Now in one sense, this whole subject matter is truly no big deal. So what if that Praying Mantis is doing his Tai Chi dance on that twig under a blazing sun overhead?  Who really cares?

But in a broader sense, if we can’t disrupt our own ingrained perceptual patterns to perceiving the world around us solely within “socially and culturally acceptable” limits, then how will we ever know TRUTH if we actually do see it or hear it?

Perceptual patterns define our lives—it’s how we interpret the world around us; and we have developed and solidified in our minds those patterns of thinking and perceiving—of filtering our awareness of the world that we encounter in a certain way—from a very early age onwards.

So when we are preprogrammed to perceive the world around us by the perceptual restrictions that we unconsciously set for ourselves, then it becomes very hard to breakthrough those old programs and patterns of perception to actually see and hear LIFE as it IS, not as WE ARE, because our current perceptions are being tainted by our past associations and by our prior reactions to previous similar situations.

To see things as they actually ARE without our ingrained or learned bias, is to energetically expand our personal awareness outward to resonate with the world that we explore, but it also requires the ability for us to perceive that new world view without biased pre-judgment or expectation.  Let it be simply what it IS.

And that’s pretty hard to do when you aren’t even aware that you are constantly filtering/comparing/judging all aspects of the world that you perceive as each input source hits your multiple senses.

That makes it even more difficult for us to take that “AS IS” world view and see it more as an objective witness might, rather than as a biased receiver who sensors the exploration input into ‘acceptable’ or ‘unacceptable’ categories for instant consideration or rejection of that situation’s importance to us.  

So maybe we should just let that mantis do his or her thing on that branch without us assigning our biased meaning to it—whatever that thing IS that he or she is doing.

Myopic Creatures

“Humans are myopic creatures full of hubris to a degree that is laughable.” –Daniel

  Amen to that, brother.  Myself included.

This quote was from an email by “Daniel” from Awakentheworld.com about the new film “Samadhi: Part 3”; and it’s a short bit revisited from his encounter with the Seraphim—highest order of angels—next to God.  (If you want to hear it, here’s the site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mfS7V5d_AE&feature=youtu.be )

It’s interesting and worth a listen—and whether you are skeptical or not, that is your choice—but it is his account of what was said during his extremely high-frequency meditation session—where he wakes up to the ‘dimension of BEING’—which is Primordial Awareness (I’ve called it Grand Consciousness).  

I was originally going to write a bit on hearing/watching this video, but once I got past my OWN truckload of hubris, I decided it might be best to give you the option of hearing it for yourself and then making your own interpretations of what he is describing.

I also really enjoyed his explanations in the text below the video, including the statement that we can’t call the Seraphim to us—we can only rise to meet them if we “match their level of resonance.”  

Again, that is what we do when we raise our own vibrational frequency—we “resonate” with higher vibrational situations, beings, events, dimensions, etc.  The higher the energetic vibration that we can hold, the higher in dimensions that we can rise.

Anyway, it’s worth a listen if you are into this subject of transcending our limits of humanness.

Blessings.

Consulting ‘Doctor ME’

I’m still reviewing the Cope Yoga book, and remembering now how substantive this book could be since Stephen Cope was a practicing psychotherapist applying the Yoga Sutra principles to his working-group associations.  Lots to ponder here.  Very deep read.

But as I review the book, I think one of the most prevalent thoughts for me personally is that not only is there great value in contemplative thought itself, but there is also great value in having a more ‘learned mentor’ to guide that thought in previously unexplored directions; which is likely why many ashrams and retreat centers have a resident ‘guru’ as ‘living example of higher spiritual attainment’ and to be a ‘new-thought steerer’ in general—as exploring ‘new thoughts’ breaks old set patterns of thinking and interrupts undesirable behaviors.

I think this was part of the appeal of Eastern philosophies when they first became so popular—they were SO different from the known Western set—far deeper in psychological approach and human behavior understanding.

However, not all of us have that luxury to have a personal guru as a reflective surface allowing us to gently witness our own hidden cracks and imperfections without judgment or condemnation—a guide who can steer us in an unexpected direction that provides us the greatest learning potential, if we open our eyes and our minds to allow it.

Cope’s group had three people: himself, his Kripalu guru in residence, and a veteran student named Rudi who provided the group’s steering of contemplative/self-revealing subject matter; and more importantly, Rudi asked the most penetrating questions for all to honestly consider while the group setting prevented occasional spurts of self-delusion to less-than-honest personal reflections.

Some of us don’t have those learned questioners (like therapists or gurus) in our lives, so we have to plod onwards ourselves in whatever manner that we can.  

My internal ‘therapist’ seems to ask me the toughest questions right as I’m trying to fall asleep.  I sure wish she’d change her office hours, but ‘Dr. ME’ can ask some pretty stinging zingers right as the world around me starts drifting away.

Dr. Me’s clarity and pointed inquiry is equally astounding and annoying because while I’d love to consider my deepest faults and most flagrant emotional weaknesses in the light of day, I’d truly prefer to actually sleep at night rather than tossing around old memories and slights in my head until my eyes leak with tears.  

But I guess Dr. ME knows best how to penetrate my more formidable day-time defenses by inquiring at night with NO distractions; so who needs sleep, I guess, when further self-discovery and enhancing self-awareness are the ultimate goals? 

I’m not sure how valuable Dr. Me’s consultation can be in the long run, but for now she’s fairly cheap by the hour, and the other night when she asked me the standard, “Why are you here?”

I said, “Damned if I know. I don’t usually have to pay others to listen to me—since they usually pay me to talk to them.”

Dr. ME distinctly frowned at that statement, …followed by extensive note-taking in the book on her lap.   

Hmm, I wondered, …did I just state something quotable?     🙂

LIFE Itself IS the Path

“LIFE itself IS the path” 

This post’s title is not a new thought or slogan; but while reading a book review, seeing it stated again today struck me as timely for consolidating my own meandering thoughts.

Because what are we ALL experiencing in some way right now?   LIFE.

This ‘whatever–it-is’ that we are currently enduring or struggling through, is LIFE itself. It’s the very reason WHY we came here to this dimension of collective turmoil and personal character building.  We came to explore the tests and soul-strengthening challenges that this experience called LIFE provides raw ‘Consciousness-Expansion Trainees’—CET’s—that’s YOU and me.

LIFE is like a Boot-Camp for newer souls just learning how to explore and to expand their meager morsels of consciousness provided them at birth for participation in this elaborately-designed testing ground.

“If LIFE is one big test” you might ask, “then can we ever conquer LIFE?”

Well maybe, in a sense. You can conquer your personal fears and learn the daily discipline that LIFE requires for you to succeed (stay alive as long as possible) here in the collective arena.

Although I think more folks are likely asking the opposite question: Can we ever conquer DEATH?  Because that question is foremost in nearly everyone’s mind and drives much of humanity’s most egregious behavior.  And to that I would also say ‘Well maybe, in a sense,’ but that ‘battle won’ designation may not be quite like you perceive it to be at present.

Your physical body may not survive its deadly duel with DEATH, but as energy-beings, you are allowed to keep the consciousness that you have gained here when you move on to other challenges and further training in higher dimensions of existence; because there are other dimensions far higher than this lower-frequency battlefield through which we currently stumble.

Our situation here is similar to what I told those struggling students in my JC Technical Writing class—this is not a ‘one-and-done’ training situation. You must keep learning and retraining for other more advanced work in the future.  

For ALL of us, your current training efforts in this dimension of existence are merely the prerequisite requirements to advancing to more sophisticated consciousness-building challenges that you will eventually face in a higher-consciousness plane.

But WHY is that?  

Because ‘LIFE itself IS the path’ leading into your current exploration of ‘Grand Consciousness’ itself.  (If I’ve confused you with this reference, see my previous post on Deepak Chopra’s “Are We Our Stories?” from Nov 12th, 2020).

So how do you actually ‘find your own truth’?

You follow your own LIFE Path with an open mind and a closed mouth (to actually ‘hear’ what LIFE has to say to you, when you are willing to listen to it).

Not easily done on either count, I might add, but necessary.

Only Be In Silence

Quote shared from Mystic Path to Cosmic Consciousness

“You need not go to heaven to see God;

nor need you speak loud, as if God were far away;

nor need you cry for wings like a dove to fly to Him.

Only be in silence, and you will come upon God within yourself.”

~ Saint Teresa of Avila

I had just spouted my doubt on the historical accuracy of the Bible, and here I am quoting a Catholic Nun who was born in 1515 and died in 1582. But it’s appropriate, because Saint Teresa was controversial in her day for many reasons (many of which I mentioned in my previous post); and I likely first heard of her from one of Caroline Myss’ books because Myss was very into the Catholic mystic known as Saint Teresa of Avila, and I’ve read nearly everything written by Caroline Myss.

Here is Caroline’s take of Saint Teresa’s influence on her own personal life.

(From Myss’ website on Saint Teresa of Avila): “I believe that the divine is everywhere and exists within even the most intimate details of our lives. All that we experience today has its purpose in tomorrow’s events; sometimes, the purpose is not evident for years of tomorrows. Yet, God prepares you for your spiritual journey, no matter how complicated, painful, or demanding it might become. For this reason, patience, trust, and faith must become constants for you; you cannot, and indeed you must not, even attempt to believe you know what is best for you. The divine will reveal its plan for you; you have to be open to receive it. With this bit of advice, let me now share why and how I came to fall in love with Teresa of Avila, whose life’s work with the soul is the foundation of ‘Entering the Castle,’ as well as my personal spiritual journey and practice.” – Caroline Myss   

Myss’ book on this subject is officially called Entering the Castle: Finding the Inner Path to God and Your Soul’s Purpose– (January 1, 2008)

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Some general background on Saint Teresa of Avila (from Wiki):

“Teresa of Ávila, born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus (28 March 1515 – 4 or 15 October 1582)[a], was a Spanish noblewoman who felt called to convent life in the Catholic Church. A Carmelite nun, prominent Spanish mystic, religious reformer, author, theologian of the contemplative life and of mental prayer, she earned the rare distinction of being declared a Doctor of the Church, but not until over four centuries after her death.[b] Active during the Catholic Reformation, she reformed the Carmelite Orders of both women and men.[4] …

…Teresa, who had been a social celebrity in her home province, was dogged by early family losses and ill health. In her mature years, she became the central figure of a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal borne out of an inner conviction and honed by ascetic practice. She was also at the center of deep ecclesiastical controversy as she took on the pervasive laxity in her order against the background of the Protestant reformation sweeping over Europe and the Spanish Inquisition asserting church discipline in her home country. The consequences were to last well beyond her life. One papal legate described her as a ‘restless wanderer, disobedient, and stubborn femina who, under the title of devotion, invented bad doctrines, moving outside the cloister against the rules of the Council of Trent and her prelates; teaching as a master against Saint Paul‘s orders that women should not teach.’[6] … (Special note: St. Paul was actually Saul of Tarsus, the tax collector, a Jewish Pharisee who never met Jesus in person except for his instant conversion on the road to Damascus when Saul said that the spirit of Jesus suddenly appeared before him and ‘showed him the Light’–by temporarily blinding him. Saul did not meet the original disciples of Jesus until after that conversion, although he was present for the martyrdom–the stoning– of St. Stephen–a fancy way of saying that he had attended the killing of St. Stephen and that he had also been a major persecutor of all followers of Jesus prior to his “conversion”. )

…Her written contributions, which include her autobiography, The Life of Teresa of Jesus and her seminal work The Interior Castle, are today an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature. Together with The Way of Perfection, her works form part of the literary canon of Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practice, and continue to attract interest from people both within and outside the Catholic Church….”

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So again, I can say that spiritual inspiration comes in many forms from many places.  And after a recent ‘discussion’ with someone dear to me who was questioning my personal beliefs with:  ‘What are they? …I know you aren’t Christian.  So what is it DO you believe in?’

I can easily point to the Saint Teresa of Avila quote above and say… “THAT!  I believe in THAT.” — heartfelt words spoken by a Catholic Saint.

The Peace of Wild Things

Ecological Consciousness:

“When we speak of Nature it is wrong to forget that we are ourselves a part of Nature.” — Henri Matisse

Amen.

I Believe…

Anytime I elaborate on the subject of “beliefs” I know that I run the risk of offending others, but I truly think we all need to better examine WHY we believe what we do at this point in our lives.

I myself was born and raised in the Heartland of America—Baptized Lutheran as a baby and I sporadically attended that same church in my youth, as well as a Baptist church that was closer to home.

I can’t begin to tell anyone who will listen how much I absolutely hated that forced church attendance of my childhood because those who I met in those two churches were some of the largest hypocrites that I’ve ever encountered in one location for the entire remainder of my life.

Even as a kid I could tell that these Sunday morning “lecturers” and children’s Sunday School teachers were not actually living the tenets of what they were preaching to me; to which I questioned my mother back then as to WHY I had to listen to them.  Her answer was insufficient, but overall she felt that it was her motherly duty to instill some kind of belief system into me and the local churches offered a standard “acceptable version” of belief for our area, even if she had no desire to attend the services herself.

By my teens I had successfully argued on Sunday mornings that “If YOU aren’t going to church, then why should I?”  And she caved to my resistance.

By college I was enthusiastically enrolling in a “Religions of the World” class because I felt there had to be SOME belief that I could get into, even if I hadn’t yet found one. The class was interesting and mind broadening; and I began to see that other paths existed for folks who couldn’t get into the standard local faiths.  But still, …nothing that I read about in the class seemed right for me.  So I just let the “need for belief” subject kind of fade away as I entered my young adulthood, marriage, and the general trials and tribulations of LIFE itself, including facing the eventual mortality of my parents.

When my husband and I moved to Southwest Missouri to a ranch/farm where I spent a lot of time isolated from everyone but nature and the animals that we raised, I began to frequent the local library where I pretty much devoured anything of interest in a short time and began requesting book loans from the larger town in our area. Our librarian was patient and actually eager to help a local rural resident explore all that she had available on any requested subject. 

One day while browsing the local library, Adam Smith’s book Powers of Mind literally fell off the shelf in front of me, and jump-started my interest in ‘all things mind-expanding.’  He offered a reading list of subject matter on consciousness and current trends, and one book led to another until the local librarian was quite sick of seeing me because everything that I wanted was somewhere else in the state library system and she was forced to put in ‘special requests’ for all of them.  

By then I was hooked on exploring and better understanding WHY are we here? What is our purpose for existing? Who am I?  Etc., etc.  So for the next few decades no matter where I lived, I read just about everything I could wade through on beliefs and expanded mental abilities, and about what LIFE was really about to those who ventured beyond the standard belief systems.

I read about various forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism; read about meditation and how best to do it; read about energy healing and psychic abilities; read about shamanism and paganism; and read about how the earliest forms of Christianity branched into different directions with various interpretations of the Bible and even different versions of the Bible. 

That Christian path divergence puzzled me, so I eventually read the entire Bible cover to cover, just to see for myself how I interpreted it. I found the book to be somewhat interesting and confusing, all in one; and I immediately questioned the historical accuracy of the claims made within it.  I mean supposedly it is the “Word of God,” but it appeared to me to be more like a collection of conflicting stories told by many different folks who claimed to speak for God; and who I doubted even more than I had as a child, actually did.

Even the Bible’s God of the Old Testament was not the same as the God of the New Testament, unless HE had a personality transplant.  The Old Testament’s God of vengeance and violence was not the God of Love that Jesus described, so why was that?  Which version of God was the correct one?  Maybe it depended on which church you attended.

What I eventually noticed in all my religious/spiritual explorations was that ‘BELIEF’ itself depended on how willing we were to accept the opinions of others.  And for someone as independent and contrary as I naturally am, placing my faith in someone else’s interpretation of LIFE and the importance of how we interact with it, was not within my capacity.

So I chose my own path and eventually found my own TRUTH, at least as I currently know it.

That is why I strongly encourage others to do the same—find your own version of faith and belief—find your own personal TRUTH that makes the most sense to you.

For me I’ve always found my TRUTH in silence and nature, and even more so by ‘being silent in nature’ and allowing the surrounding world to ‘speak to me’ however it wished to do.  

All that was required of me was to listen to it.  

Beyond the Illusion of Separateness

“A mystic sees beyond the illusion of separateness into the intricate web of life in which all things are expressions of a single Whole. You can call this web ‘God, the Tao, Nature, the Great Spirit, the Infinite Mystery, Mother or Father,’ (B. Fuller often called it “UNIVERSE.”) but it can be known only as Love…” – Joan Borysenko  

Clearly I’m often on the same wave-length as the Tao & Zen folks as this was today’s post.  That’s likely why I follow them, as I do with Nassim Haramein who evidently shares my love for Albert Einstein, Buckminster Fuller, Nikola Tesla, and science in general.  

Or occasionally I will share an Eckhart Tolle utterance (even if I can only aspire to that level of higher awareness).  Today’s is:  “You forgive yourself by realizing that nobody can act beyond their level of consciousness.” – Eckhart Tolle

But overall for MY part, I just want to reassure readers out there that there really are people in this world who share your views who are unity-focused and ‘higher-consciousness’ centered.

With the Joan Borysenko’s quote above I’m trying to remember what of hers I’ve actually read. Likely it was Minding the Body, Mending the Mind, or 7 Paths to God; or an audio recording from a few years back when they (and she) were more popular.

But each author or online poster that I mentioned here offers their personal take on these same subjects of how we are intricately interconnected by that unfathomable web of consciousness that we all share.  And Borysenko goes a bit further in her quote declaring that interconnecting WEB to be “LOVE.”

‘That’s nice,’ you might say.  ‘Sort of sappy nice.’

Well actually she’s probably right to some extent because that feeling of LOVE is a particularly high level of electro-magnetic, light-wave frequency.  Tracking brainwave patterns can reveal what are called ‘Bliss States’ –or Delta Brain Waves for meditators.  “Delta waves are high amplitude neural oscillations with a frequency between 0.5 and 4 hertz. Delta waves, like other brain waves, can be recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) and are usually associated with the deep stage 3 of NREM sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS), and aid in characterizing the depth of sleep.” (wiki) 

Delta Waves are also associated with Bliss States or Ecstasy States.

It is also believed by devout meditators who can actually reach those more-advanced brain-wave states while awake, that they are called the ‘UNION with Grand Consciousness’ connection—the ONENESS connection.  It’s when they can actually tap into God-consciousness and survive to attempt to describe it to others.

The word ‘YOGA’ means ‘UNION,’ so it’s not surprising that many of the greatest yogi adepts were said to have direct connection into the highest consciousness possible that our human bodies can physically handle without frying our brains and neural networks.  (Think I’m kidding?  Read Gopi Krishna’s  Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man where he describes what happens when you have a sudden ‘Kundalini Awakening’ and think/feel like you’ve completely lost your mind.) 

Short quote from his wiki bio:

“The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light…I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider, surrounded by waves of light…I was now all consciousness, without any outline, without any idea of a corporeal appendage, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously conscious and aware of every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction…bathed in light and in a state of exaltation and happiness impossible to describe.”

His biographer recalls: “By his own account, Gopi Krishna’s initial experience triggered a transformative process that lasted for twelve years. During this time, the sensations of light, splendor and joy alternated with – and were often completely overshadowed by – sensations of fire, unbearable heat and bleak depression”  

So as one who has personally ‘been there, done that’ with my own Kundalini Awakening, I offer this as a cautionary tale to others: That who we appear to be on the surface, cannot fathom the depths of our actual potential; and the people who we are capable of evolving into in the near future, is far more limitless than we can even imagine.

So you can believe in LOVE as the Unifying Force of Consciousness—the sappy version of LOVE or the ecstatic, bliss-state, brainwave frequency of LOVE; and you won’t be wrong in doing so.

The Quest for Meaning

As a voracious reader, when the library that I frequent had shut down for the second time due to local Covid 19 outbreaks, it forced me to review some oldies on my own book shelves.  My previous posts on self-realization etc., reminded me that one of my earliest experiences with that subject had to be when I read Paramahansa Yogananda’s  Autobiography of a Yogi.  Loved that book—still do. His quiet, unpretentious personality gently flows from the pages long after his death in 1952.

It’s a very different ‘feel’ from reading Jiddu Krisnamurti or Ramana Maharshi or Swami Muktananda, or even Anandamayi Ma. The subtle energy emitted from reading the words of Yogananda were both soothing and reassuring to me.  The book inspired me to further explorations into the yogic traditions of those previously-mentioned others above.

Through his gentle words recounting his simple and yet miraculous life, he introduced me to his personal journey of self-discovery and his own quest for life’s true meaning.

I can’t say that I understood everything about the Hindu culture or focus, or that I could even begin to comprehend the extreme sacrifice that many personally made to achieve those unbelievable levels of higher consciousness, but I did know that I wanted to learn more about their experiences and HOW they reached those amazing heights of cosmic union and spiritual ecstasy.

This recent remembrance of Yogananda’s early influence led me to the book I’m reviewing at present, which I also enjoyed immensely at the time because it explained a bit of the ‘yogic mystique’ that I had failed to grasp in the other reads—primarily because it was told by a Westerner who was also a practicing psychotherapist teaching at Kripalu Yoga Institute in Massachusetts.  I highly recommend this book:  The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living by Stephen Cope.

From Cope’s book I realized that there are other forms of yoga besides ‘hatha’—the physical body focus on stretching poses. What appealed more so to me was Rāja yoga—or Royal Road of Yoga—the exploration of ‘consciousness’ itself.  Cope explores the metaphoric, symbolic, and literal embodiments of Patanjali’s ‘Yoga Sutras’ as he slowly narrates his own quest for better understanding them.  Here are a few early quotes:

“…Patanjali views every aspect of living as an opportunity for practicing WISDOM. He is concerned with how we think and act, how we breathe, move, sleep, dream, and speak. Every aspect of our motivation, cognition, and behavior is of interest to Patanjali. …”

“….a little bit of study reveals a stunningly clear exposition of the structure of human consciousness, and the path of optimal living.” (xvi-xxviii)

“…Wisdom is a knowledge or understanding that we gain as a result of having seen or perceived the world directly. It is understanding gained through careful examination of direct experiences. Above all, WISDOM is a practical knowledge about how things work—how LIFE works.”

“…All wisdom traditions insist upon a healthy mistrust of other people’s answers—or even the revealed experiences of others. Yoga, at its truest, insists upon not giving us answers but ‘a way’ to find our own answers. …”(xxxi)

“…Shiva (the Transformer) is an embodiment of the central discovery of the Strivers; the world is NOT as it appears to be. Hidden beneath the veil of our ordinary lives lie astonishing potentials of mind and body. … (xxxiii)

***

Anyway, I could go on and on but my main point is that I highly recommend Stephen Cope’s book for his amazing narrative skills on how he LIVED the Yoga Sutras explanations; and how as a practicing psychotherapist he saw the examples playing out all around him while he reached for a greater understanding of YOGA itself.  

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