FINDING YOUR TRUTH

Examining the Roles That We Play

“Authentic human interactions become impossible when you lose yourself in a role.” – Eckhart Tolle

Over the course of our lives we learn many informative techniques to advance our personal lives in one direction or another. We may even choose a role in life often associated with our strong need for personal satisfaction or for our sense of inner fulfillment. Or sometimes we seem to fall naturally into a role that seems most necessary for us to adopt at the time.

That was an inarticulate but politically correct way of saying that we often become a facsimile of whomever we need to be at the time most necessary for us to be that person.

We tend to play roles in life. Sometimes we do it automatically—we mother, we protect, we defend, we humble ourselves before others, we lead, we follow, we pretend, we appease, we often do whatever is required of us at the time, even if we don’t know WHY we are doing it.

So why do we play these roles?

We may do so because we feel that we must play a certain role in that scenario to ‘get along’ with a significant person in our life (spouse, parent, boss, friend), or we may feel a strong inner compulsion to ‘act a certain way’ because we need that other person that we are role-playing for to like us—to accept us—or at least to NOT ostracize us from their apparent influence in our life.

Role-playing became extremely important to us when we were dependent on others to provide for our most basic needs—like when we were children and had no other means of supporting or defending ourselves. Childhood is often when we learn the roles most necessary for our simple survival in a more hostile family environment: good girl—mother’s helper—friend to the lonely—daddy’s little girl—caretaker—confidant.

Or there were worse roles that we had few options in choosing as a child because we were forced to pretend that they were ‘normal’ for our family’s living arrangement back then, like the role of: family scapegoat, primary recipient of a parent’s ridicule, disgust, anger, or even parental sexual frustration.

Sometimes ‘normal’ was a strange word to use for what roles many children were required to adopt to simply survive their childhood, so I try to be very careful when I critique role-playing in general.

While we often think of ‘playing a role’ in life like putting on a different weight coat depending on the weather outside—meaning that you don what is required for your immediate comfort—role-playing can actually be a far deeper ‘need response’ than that, and can have primal childhood roots for that particular role’s development.

But when you become an adult and decide to live more authentically as the person that you have the true potential to be, it helps if you can recognize the previous ‘role-playing’ for what it often was: theatrical attempts to appease or placate, or to appear to be more “likeable” than we think we naturally are; or perhaps role-playing was your primary childhood survival-technique to make it through the day or night with what’s left of your sanity intact.

More enlightened folks can talk about showing ‘greater authenticity’ all that they want (including myself at times), but if there is an existential reason for the role-playing, then there will be deeper issues to address than uncovering a relationship’s more shallow, interactive plasticity.

Role-playing is often about developing some form of extroverted demeanor to gain acceptance by others (or at least to not incur their wrath), while authenticity is to stand strongly in your own skin and say to anyone within earshot that, “I have value in and of myself, with or without your personal approval or acceptance.”

Sounds obvious in a way but for whatever reason, not everyone can easily make that simple statement. Sometimes our inner fear or insecurity is too overpowering to allow us the courage of standing strongly on our own without the need for someone else’s approval.

If a ‘strong sense of self’ wasn’t something that we developed at an early age, then role-playing to counter not having it is often a hard behavioral habit to change, so I’m not condemning anyone or criticizing their manner of behavior if my talking about authenticity feels awkward or too foreign to them. Not at all.

But the hardest aspect of making a core personal change—especially when we’ve been relying on a deeply-evolved behavioral standby that has helped us survive to our current age, is to realize first and foremost that we are ‘falling into a role’ of some sort for whatever reason, whenever we naturally do it.

Self-awareness is only one step toward greater self-understanding.

And self-understanding can lead first to self-acceptance and then to self-empowerment, which often eliminates the need for most role-playing in our lives.

Finding your truth means to better understand who you truly are, and to appreciate yourself for being that remarkable person.

The Amazing Verb Called ‘Bucky’

I am such a fan of R. Buckminster Fuller that whenever I see someone else quote him, I stop whatever I’m doing and read it. This 5ft-2 inch intellectual powerhouse was an ‘American engineer, architect, and futurist who developed the geodesic dome—the only large dome that can be set directly on the ground as a complete structure and the only practical kind of building that has no limiting dimensions (i.e., beyond which the structural strength must be insufficient).’ (quote from Britannica.com )

My first awareness of Buckminster Fuller came as a child when I read a “Reader’s Digest” article on how he had turned his own life around from grief, economic failure, and suffering severe depression to become one of the most influential humans on the planet:

“…Fuller contemplated suicide by drowning in Lake Michigan, so that his family could benefit from a life insurance payment.^[11]
(But instead of jumping into the lake…) …Fuller said that he had experienced a profound incident which would provide direction and purpose for his life. He felt as though he was suspended several feet above the ground enclosed in a white sphere of light. A voice spoke directly to Fuller, and declared:
‘From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.^[12]’
Fuller stated that this experience led to a profound re-examination of his life. He ultimately chose to embark on ‘an experiment, to find what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity’….^[13] “ (Wikipedia)

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Fuller was still living when I was in college for my bachelors degree, and one of my art professors at the time required us to read two of his books: I Seem to be a Verb and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. (The rest I read on my own because by then I was hooked.) So this morning, the Tao & Zen folks actually brought a smile to my face with this re-posting in his words:

Regenerative Cultures

“~The Wisdom of Bucky Fuller~
‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
You cannot change how someone thinks, but you can give them a tool to use which will lead them to think differently.
We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.
If I ran a school, I’d give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what they learned from them.
A problem adequately stated is a problem well on its way to being solved. We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.
Nature is a totally efficient, self-regenerating system. IF we discover the laws that govern this system and live synergistically within them, sustainability will follow and humankind will be a success.
You do not belong to you. You belong to the universe. The significance of you will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to converting all you experience to highest advantage to others. Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.
It is not for me to change you. The question is, how can I be of service to you without diminishing your degrees of freedom?
The minute you begin to do what you really want to do, it’s really a different kind of life.’
Source of Quotes: https://www.azquotes.com/author/5231-R_Buckminster_Fuller ”

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He was my kind of guy, and I really miss him.

The End of Victimization

I was listening this morning to a free promo video on Caroline Myss’ “The Mystical Truths Behind Radical Change”. Pretty sure she has an entire course on the subject (“The Great Transformation”), and I can offer you the Myss promo to view to decide if you might want to learn more: https://product.soundstrue.com/the-great-transformation/free-video/

It seems to be on the power of transformation in our personal and collective lives. And in the promo Caroline states: “Truth is the great change agent in transformation.”

I certainly agree with that. But sometimes getting to or even recognizing TRUTH when you do see or hear it is often hard to do.

So I titled this post with something that she stated in the promo:

“Transformation is consciousness—the power of choice and its consequence….We can no longer see ourselves as victims…we can no longer say we are helpless. We have to recognize the power in every thought and attitude that we have.. …This is the end of victimization.”

As a believer myself in taking responsibility for our personal actions and in taking responsibility for the environment that we create around us (the collective situation) I see tremendous value in freeing ourselves from our sense of victimhood, because I believe that we are only victims when we think of ourselves as powerless and victimized. In truth, we have choices—multitudes of choices that we make throughout every day of our lives. We simply need to realize that for the most part, we are making those choices unconsciously.

Our primary task is to recognize those choices as such before we automatically make them to see if that choice is indeed the best possible choice that we could make at that moment.

Now this takes a lot of self-awareness to instantly recognize when you are being offered “a choice” daily among many alternative options, because getting out of bed in the morning is actually a choice. Eating or not at any time, is a choice. Leaving the house is a choice, etc., etc. Most of those choices we assume are required for us to do, when in truth, we are intentionally choosing them for a reason perhaps known only to our subconscious mind.

Who we hang with, who we talk to, who we amorously pursue—these are all choices that we make. What we do in life in general, how we view our lives, where we put our thoughts and energies—are ALL choices.

Now you could look back at your childhood and say, “Hey, I didn’t have a lot of choice in anything that happened to me way back then that contributed to who I am today,” because someone else made the majority of those decisions for you—for better or worse. And yes, maybe one’s childhood could have been more nurturing and supportive or less truly horrific, but you can’t change that past now. What you can change is how you choose to view it, how you currently move through it, and how you reset your life to no longer consider yourself as ‘a victim’ of it. Those are choices you CAN make.

It is very easy to fall into victimhood, especially when others support you in that role. So your biggest task is to stop thinking of yourself in that manner, and then look for supporters who also share that NEW view of you being ‘strong and powerful’ and capable of protecting/defending yourself in any situation.

Get some help from therapists or positive support groups who encourage you to take more control of your life. Take some classes, change your perspective on life, change who you hang with, try different experiences, get out in nature more, be more independent, break old habits, try a new healthier lifestyle, etc., just DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT than what you normally would do. Change it up—shift your thinking—lighten your energy.

But really be honest with yourself about how you are feeling and what you are thinking. I mean, TRUTH is what you are searching for isn’t it?

Per Caroline Myss:

“Truth is the great change agent in transformation.”

“Transformation is consciousness—the power of choice and its consequence….We can no longer see ourselves as victims…we can no longer say we are helpless. We have to recognize the power in every thought and attitude that we have.. …This is the end of victimization.”

Be you—BE strong—DARE to be powerful!

Because that’s who you truly are.

An Encounter with Reality

So what is ‘reality’ saying to you today?

To me reality is saying ‘spring is finally here and new life is popping up everywhere.’

But if I were in deep meditation, that ‘reality’ might appear quite differently.

This is one of the hardest concepts to consider: that what you perceive to be REALITY is simply that—it’s a PERCEPTION.

And although it may be hard to imagine that it is possible to ‘perceive’ in a completely different way, the act of doing so makes ‘reality’ a matter of your focus on frequency (sound and light waves) reception.

We are naturally beings with built-in multi-sense receivers that inform and awaken us to the various stimuli in our environment; BUT (and it’s a large gluteus maximus at that)—what we are often oblivious to is that we choose our ‘focal points’ around us—we choose what we recognize and acknowledge as ‘the composition of our world’; and we tend to choose that ‘reception input’ unconsciously, like when you’re driving the car after someone else has, you automatically tune that radio dial back to your favorite station because you like what it plays—because it feels comfortable to you.

So when you seriously practice meditation—when you go deeply into silence and serenity—when you go beyond the bells and whistles of this world’s many distractions and attention hijackings, then a new world (dimension) opens up to you for further exploration.

And as long as you are in deep meditation and resonating with exploring that ‘new world’, then your ‘reality’ may seem quite different. In fact it may be SO different that you begin to wonder WHICH reality is the one that you actually occupy, and which is the one that deludes you into believing that you live there?

“Meditation is not evasion. It is a serene encounter with reality.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

So then which reality is REAL; and is the whole point being that ‘REALITY is the entire frequency range of the tuning dial’ that you can adjust at will?

And even more importantly, …WHY IS THAT?

Miracles Everywhere

Ecological Consciousness

“Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.

Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh,
Photo by Tri Setyo Widodo

Climbing the Mountain of Consciousness

From Resonance Science Foundation:

“Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.” – Albert Einstein

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This Einstein quote at Resonance Science Foundation is likely in celebration of the newest theories on states of energy/matter and atomic structure that are flooding the theoretical science communities at present—shifting attitudes and raising awareness on massive scales.

And considering that Einstein was at his peak in the early 20^th century—with his ‘Theory of Relativity’ being nearly 102 years old now; AND since we have just landed two additional Mars rovers (5 total so far) about a week ago, I doubt that even Einstein could predict the massive breakthroughs in physics, astrophysics, engineering, medicine, and most of all in technology; including Artificial Intelligence and robotics that we are currently enjoying.

So as we climb that unfathomable mountain of higher consciousness that looms before us, the world we once assumed that we knew so well becomes an entirely different place primarily because our perspectives have massively shifted to a higher plane of awareness, and we can now see through more enlightened eyes than the majority of us did 100 years ago during the last world-wide pandemic.

We as a species have evolved in knowledge and understanding of the world around us—we have advanced in technological leaps and bounds toward something we cannot even presently comprehend—OUR FUTURE as a human species.

“…It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.”

Yes we have come SO far in a hundred years; and it is only from climbing higher to then peer further below to gain that necessary ‘broader perspective’ on what is happening to us, that we can even begin to comprehend the scope of this mystery called LIFE.

Now for me personally, I love being high in the air; from standing atop the tallest peak in the mountain range to peering out from the swaying gondola of a hot-air balloon sailing silently across the cloud-doted sky. Love it! It’s like walking on clouds (at least until the burner fan kicks in and destroys the silence).

I crave that panoramic view seen from far above the earth’s floor—where mile after mile of rugged territory is revealed in a single awe-inspiring 360-degree head-turn.

Not sure how I came by this trait—that desire for the ‘omniscient perspective’ obtained from extreme height, but it’s very much a part of me. And that’s also how I view this LIFE experience as well. You can’t really see what’s happening to you and to those around you from the ground-level where you are living it. You have to distance yourself from the situation, from the emotional/tumultuous interactions, and see the entire picture of ALL interactions to give LIFE itself proper context.

To do this you have to gain the high-above overview perspective on LIFE to see the entire valley stretched out below you—to see how the multicolored folds of the earth and the twisting, winding rivers that run through her, work together—to see how the gorgeous blue sky embraces the blinding sun by day and at night the sparkling stars; and to suddenly fully realize how the entirety of this magnificent view shows you—reminds you—how truly small you are to the total picture that you are blessedly witnessing.

You are the ant at your feet—the individual grain of sand on the vast white beach of similar bleached silica particles.

You are but a tiny speck of dust in the whirlwind of eternity spinning ever outward toward infinity and beyond.

And even from this enlightened view of how insignificant you truly are, you are indeed VIEWING IT, which makes you SIGNIFICANT. You are witnessing LIFE as it unfolds in all its complexity and enormity—even if you can’t presently comprehend what you are actually seeing.

My main problem is that I want to know why LIFE is this way, and WHY we are the way that we are—incomplete, evolving, and continually tested in the fires of a master steel forger—where we are indiscriminately heated to a more pliable consistency and then pounded out into a new shape for some future use.

Are we to be ‘future plow shears’ or are we to be ‘future swords’?

I guess we’ll know in time.

You Are the Focal Point

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us Universe… He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ~Albert Einstein

“I seem, like everything else, to be a center, a sort of vortex, at which the whole energy of the universe realizes itself. Each one of us, not only human beings but every leaf, every weed, exists in the way it does, only because everything else around it does. The individual and the universe are inseparable.” ~Alan Watts

“People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one’s perception of reality.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it… To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, but a living one… When I have a terrible need of — shall I say the word — religion, then I go out and paint the stars.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

“Practice until you see yourself in the cruelest person on Earth, in the child starving, in the political prisoner. Continue until you recognize yourself in everyone in the supermarket, on the street corner, in a concentration camp, on a leaf, in a dewdrop. Meditate until you see yourself in a speck of dust in a distant galaxy. See and listen with the whole of your being. If you are fully present, the rain of Dharma will water the deepest seeds in your consciousness, and tomorrow, while you are washing the dishes or looking at the blue sky, that seed will spring forth, and love and understanding will appear as a beautiful flower.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“I like to experience the universe as one harmonious whole. Every cell has life. Matter, too, has life; it is energy solidified. The tree outside is life… The whole of nature is life… The basic laws of the universe are simple, but because our senses are limited, we can’t grasp them. There is a pattern in creation.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Learn how to see, realize that everything connects to everything else.”
~Leonardo Da Vinci~

“Stop acting so small. You are the Universe in ecstatic motion.”
~Rumi~

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Above quotes collected from this original posting: Glimpses of a Creative Living Universe, December 14, 2014 by Christopher Chase

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 1^st chakra (root) mainly projects the 1^st energy layer out from the skin, while the 7^th 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)

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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.