The Field of Gratitude

Just minutes after I almost missed my flight to Thunder Bay, where fourteen workshop participants await my arrival, I am compelled to pull out a pad and pen   . . . I am suddenly so full of gratitude.   

It’s not because I accidentally and inexplicably turned off my alarm clock last night and woke up a full hour past the time I had planned, to begin my trek across town to an airport to which I had never been; not because now I had to speed toward Mesa in traffic before sunup; not because I didn't know where to park; not because they refused to check my bag full of writing supplies at the ticket counter because my plane was already boarding; not because I had to pull my bag through security along with my heavily laden computer bag, wearing a heavy ski parka in the Phoenix warmth; not because at security I found an impossibly long line, which I stepped in front of trying not to make any unneeded eye-contact; not because when I handed my ID to the guard he said, “And you stepped in front of all these other waiting people, why?” 

Not because he waived me through anyway, and not because the x-ray and screening line was long and slow, and not because I received a pat-down from an unattractive man that was a little too intimate after I forgot to take off my belt; not because I then ran through the airport with my boot laces untied, holding up my pants, lugging my computer bag and pulling my big green suitcase behind; not because I broke out in a hot sweat beneath my ski parka that I purposely did not pack so I would stay under the weight limit; and definitely not because in mid-stride I heard them call my name over the loudspeaker, perfectly pronounced, "John Deakyne, please report to gate one."  

And not because terminal one just happened to be the one furthest away from where I started; not because in the end I made it to the plane just in time and the stewardess rushed me down the aisle with everyone staring at me with the look that asks, “What’s his story?” and not because after all this I found myself sweating and panting in my proper seat just before the plane backed out of its spot and headed toward Duluth. 

I’m thankful that it all somehow worked out alright when at so many points it could have gone so wrong, but the sense of gratitude seems larger and more encompassing.  I am consciously resting in some divine construction, a matrix of energetic lines and infinite connections and it feels like loving hands are holding and sheltering me.

I am aware of my connection to more and more remarkable souls and I see the circle of my soul family expanding like concentric circles from a stone dropped into still water.  This grid of connection and the corresponding field of gratitude are independent of circumstances and survive even if I oversleep, or make a wrong turn and end up standing in the middle of the parking lot while my plane races down the runway without me.  In that alternate reality everything is still in divine order and the field of gratitude is still available to me, but only if I choose it.  

Everyday there are so many things that could go wrong that don’t, and every unwelcome circumstance adds another thread to the tapestry of our humanity, and every miss-step brings us haltingly closer to the perfection of this human construction.

Upcoming workshops and more about John's work:  http://earthschoolforsouls.com/

What does the Bible Say about the New Age? Really? You Going There?

On the Winter Solstice on December 21^st I noticed how the shortest day of the year and the corresponding longest night created a perfect opening for what is happening now.  We have been so focused on the end of the 4^th World that we might not be entirely ready for what the New Year is bringing.

We are indeed stepping through a profound opening, ready or not.  It has come to me that this period of time corresponds with what some Bible scholars call the “Reign of Christ” mentioned fleetingly in the New Testament book of Revelation, Chapter 20, 4-6.  Many of my soul family are calling in a time that is ruled by a Christ Consciousness, but many traditional Christians will miss this because of their attempt to hang literalism on a highly symbolic document.  I remember my teacher saying, “Literalism is idolatry.”  He meant that it is idol worship to focus on the form instead of on the truth the form is pointing toward.

Remember that the Hebrews largely rejected the idea that Jesus was their messiah because he did not literally appear to them as they imagined he would.  They misread and misunderstood the scriptures just as the literalists do today.  It follows that the True Believer is more easily blinded to revelation because his understanding is clouded by presupposition and limiting beliefs. 

Now is the time for all of us to let go of limitation and confining thought and belief systems so we may receive illumination when it is offered.  Being en-light-en-ed is about being in-formed and lit up from within; feeding and encouraging our inner-flame of truth. 

What happens if we look at the Christian Bible with new eyes?  In the book of Revelation, the bible writer is describing a momentous shift that is already begun and will play itself out in the immediate millennium or two of time.  He is ushering in a New Age.  It is notable to me that he recognizes an event that repeats itself in a varied form; another pattern that re-cycles. 

So we are once again facing the onset of a New Age, a New Earth and another opportunity for a "thousand-year" reign of Christ Consciousness.  Many have read this to mean Jesus would literally return to sit on a physical throne and administer the events of the day.  In the bible writer’s time, that shift was literally administered by the disciples of Jesus and their subordinates.  And honestly, they made a mess of it.  We got the worst of our nature:  murder, persecution and subjugation in the name of Christ.  

Most believers did not realize the promised "return" of the Christ had already occurred in the book of Acts when his followers where anointed with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Since then, Christ has returned to the faithful over and over again.  There is no need to wait, and looking into the sky is futile.  He is reborn from within.  Jesus was always all about the “mysteries”.  It was never going to happen in the way you imagined it would.  Why else would he repeatedly say the truth would only be understood by those who had eyes to see and ears to hear?  Moving into the paradigm of the New Earth requires each of us to develop new ways of seeing and to grow new ears.

This time, the cycle is to be administered not by the True Believers, but by the conscious ones who recognize the Oneness of all creation and are committed to the work of up-leveling the awareness of our collective humanity.  We are on the planet at this time for a most sacred purpose.  The weight of this calling falls to this generation and the next.  Listen for the call.  It will not be a blaring trumpet; this time it will be a “still small voice”.

Tied in with the Bible prophecy about the Thousand Year Reign is the occurrence of The Great Tribulation which many see as preceding the actual Reign of Christ.  Historically, the tribulation referred to in the book of Revelation refers to the time before and after the Crucifixion when the Hebrews suffered greatly under the fierce brutality of Roman rule.

 

Today, in this new time, it refers to all the man-made folly that has led up to this profound opening.  The tribulation is the constructed result of the failure to recognize the sacredness of all life and the necessity of humanity to harmonize itself with the natural rhythms of the planet. 

This period of tribulation has certainly begun and is reaching a tipping point.  It is evidenced by the many natural catastrophes; by the unconscionable wars and mindless brutality with which we are daily bombarded; by the insane machinations of politicians and governments; and by the erosion of common sense, simple kindness, and good will.  The bible-writer frames this hard time as a battle between good and evil; and I do see a struggle between what is good for all and what is good for the few.

Now we may rightfully discern the truth and the goodness of any policy or plan by whether or not it increases the unity of humanity or whether it stands to further separate us one from another.  So here it is:  more unity and connection = good; more separation and division = bad; remembering that “goodness” is another way of saying “God-ness”.

Keep in mind that the author of the Revelation was not so much foretelling the future as he was shining a light on a new and momentous movement.  So it is now.  We are not looking forward; we are in the thick of it, and “the time is at hand”.

More about John's work on his website:  Earth School for Souls

Lord I Feel Like Going Home

I pray for your coming home and for your safe arrival.  Everything we are doing now is about coming home to the truth of our being. 

Much of what we are experiencing seems absolutely new, unprecedented and even frightening as we test the bounds of our imagination and our capabilities.  We are surfing new dimensions; crossing into new worlds; experiencing the ecstasies of laying down our limitations.  Still there is an element of familiarity to it all, or else we would not so willingly take the leap.

This is the age of paradox, so we journey into the unknown only to remember the familiar.  We have passed this way before.  The self-same force that repels so many others, now acts as a powerful magnet upon our soul. 

We could get lost in these ethers . . . in these high places.  But we remember the loving reminders from our teachers to keep our feet upon the earth, even if our heads are in the stars.  And we have each other even when so much of the trip is solitary.  We’ve only to notice the extended hand of our loving brother and sister, and to take it when it is offered.  We have come too far to now reject the gift of fellowship and communion.

I am testing the waters of this New Year to know what steps to take; what to plan; what to allow.  And I am reminded more and more that there are no Shamans here.  The well-worn idea of going to a healer to get fixed is so last year; so last world.  The most we can do as practitioners is hold space and create a platform on which you can heal yourself. 

Maybe this has always been true, but some have employed smoke and mirrors in order to keep you in the illusion, and separate from your own divine nature.  In the past we could not even believe the words of the Master when he said, “It is your faith that has healed you.”  We fixated on the healer instead of the life force energy that flowed from our own finger tips.

Now we come clean.  What we do is no small thing; and the knowledge we employ is no small gift.  But we are the nurse and the midwife; you are your own surgeon.  We create conditions in which you may awaken your inner shaman, your inner guru, your inner teacher, and your inner healer.  We are all called to this for each other.  And there is great peace in realizing that we are not the source, but certainly, we are the channel.

I will set the stage this month for some of you to release the blocks that keep you from freely expressing the words that need to be put down.  I am delighted to have been called to Thunder Bay, Ontario to facilitate a two-day writing retreat at the end of the month and I will offer the first Sedona retreat on the weekend of the 19^th.  If you feel called to Birth Your Book in the profound energies of this New Year, check out our website:  http://earthschoolforsouls.com/the-sedona-wordsmith/

Blessings to you all in the New Year/New Earth!

I Wouldn't Feel So All Alone

It’s hard to be honest with yourself when doing so means you have to look yourself squarely in the face and admit to your personal failings, your weakness, and your lack of enlightenment.  How can it be that after all this struggle; after all this inner-work, after all this living . . . I still carry some of the same challenges I did when I was young?

I console myself with the knowing that at least now I can see the shadow rise up out of the muddy soup that is my unconsciousness.  And I am honest with myself, however much it hurts.

Somehow I hope this is universal.  Somehow I hope we all share this experience, because shared pain seems so much more bearable.  Because I wouldn’t feel so all alone if I thought that sometimes those old tapes about your lack of worth and your “not being good enough” – you know those tapes – I wouldn’t feel so all alone if I thought sometimes they played for you – even though you thought you were all done with that shit.

How many times have I set in the sacred circle and told you that the healing of your mind is for nothing if you don’t also bring that healing into your blood and your bones?  I’m walking evidence of that truth.  So with humility I lay myself down on my journey pallet, or find my way back to the sweat lodge.  These forms are sacred magic and I thank God they have found their way into my practice.

Viva the Negativa

I am feeling into the change of season, noticing that the recent Vernal Equinox has opened the door to the Via Negativa that we find in the work of Matthew Fox.  That might sound dark or even sinister, but it is not.  The season of the Negativa is about the daylight growing shorter up until we reach the shortest day of the year on the Winter Solstice.

 Our awakening includes paying attention to seasonal shifts which are not just about changes in the weather, but also about energetic and vibrational shifts.  Last night we had heavy rain and powerful lightning and thunder.  Before long we will be past the season for lightning storms.

The Lakota call winter “the time between the thunder”; the time when the red willow which has been green all summer changes back to its true color, signaling the time for harvesting the cansasa that we use in the chanumpa – the sacred pipe.

The storm last night also opened a door for the writing workshop I will facilitate today; helping to create space for these authors to go inward and let go of the pieces that are ready for release.

The Via Negativa is an overlay for the season.  It does not mean we will not have sunny days and rebirth and vital active times.  It is the general theme, and as we calibrate our bodies and our minds with the rhythms of the planet we want to make sure we are aware of the call to move inward and to be quiet.

The Negativa is the dark half of the Yin – Yang symbol and this season holds an abundance of mystery and intrigue that I find irresistible.  Indeed, the idea of the dark and mysterious and unfathomable woman is attractive and mesmerizing for many of us.  I also see the convergence of the upward and the downward pointing triangles that unite to form the six pointed star.

I am mindful of the workshop I have scheduled for the end of the month, entitled Dancing with Your Shadow.  I thought it would be fun to dive into the aspect of shadow around the season of Halloween.  Not all of our shadow is scary; there are parts that are bright and tender and comforting that have merely become lost, and now rise to be reclaimed. 

It seems counter-intuitive that we have hidden so much pleasure and enjoyment from ourselves; maybe we felt undeserving of these gifts.  Now we pull these parts out of shadow:  the mischievous and adventurous little boy and the innocent and laughing little girl.  Even the darkest corners of our shadow contain treasure.

Generally there is some strong emotion attached to uncovering our shadow parts.  Our emotions come forward as evidence of our successful journey inward; evidence of the effectiveness of our process.  Bringing our shadow parts into the light of consciousness is a critical part of bringing our spiritual nature more completely into form and the Via Negativa is the ideal environment for this “Shadow Work”.

My friend does not like the word Negativa in describing this season.  But it’s just a word that either assists us or doesn’t.  To me it is the season opposite the sunny positiva.  It is the season that is deeply feminine, and historically some have attached the ideas of evil and the demonic onto the feminine.  Now we are reframing those ideas though remnants of the Dark Ages and the witch hunts remain.

To me this season is moist and warm and comforting like the womb.  It is the time for going in before we are reborn so we must necessarily move into this dark place.  Now we find we are not afraid of the dark and those who hung evil onto the idea of the feminine are exposed as ones who could not face their own feminine nature. 

We Hear You – The Song of the Great Whales

We know that whales and other sea-mammals speak and sing and make sounds.  We have recorded their songs and we have listened to their voices.  We know that they talk to each other; they call their young; they maintain the integrity of the pod – the community.  We know they make sound to find food and to navigate the oceans.  They are utterly dependent on sound and their hearing to survive.

So what happens if their hearing is torn away and their means of communicating, foraging, and navigating is destroyed?  It’s very simple:  They Die.  I remember seeing my first “Save the Whales” bumper sticker in the 1970’s.  Is it possible that forty years later we have utterly failed to save the whales?

It should be common knowledge by now that many, if not most, of the incidences of whales and dolphins beaching themselves is the result of their being bombarded and maimed by sonar and other man-made sounding.  Because these kill-offs have become so common, some have speculated that the sea-mammals are committing suicide; that they no longer want to live in their compromised and polluted environment.  But they are not willingly grounding themselves; the God-given devices that keep them safe are systematically being torn from them.

There is indisputable evidence that the US Navy and some oil companies have effectively killed thousands, probably millions of sea mammals because of their indiscriminate use of sonar and other sounding technologies.  Now, the Navy intends to dramatically increase the frequency of their sonar testing as well as its intensity.  They admit that the death of millions of sea mammals will be a “side-effect”.

Every second-grader who has seen the Disney movie, The Lion King, knows that all living things are connected to each other.  I don’t need to explain that.  We are all connected.  What affects one of us, affects the whole.  We cannot drop a piece of plastic into the ocean without knowing that action may result in the death of a seabird or a fish.  We certainly can’t bombard the ocean with sound without considering all the sentient beings which live in that soup and cannot possibly just stand up out of the water until the deadly wave passes.  Imagine placing your ear on a long metal pipe while someone pounds on the other end with a hammer.

So now, so many decades after someone noticed the whales were in jeopardy, we again want to send our intentions and our hope and our loving energy to calming the sea again.  We want to send the hope of an awakening consciousness to all the agencies and corporations and individuals who must decide whether or not to drop a sound bomb into the ocean. 

We want to save the whales because of the pure sense of awe and admiration we have for them, but we also see that for this time, they are the “canary in the coal mine”, and the loss of one of these gigantic “canaries” surely foretells our own demise. 

My friend, Kim McDermott, has been journeying with the whales for quite some time in her Shamanic Breathwork sessions.  Now she is called to organize a group called, We Hear You  to help raise the consciousness of the collective around this issue.  She has created a new Facebook page to collect links and other important information.  You can expect to see a concerted effort on the part of many of us to send energetic healing to the oceans, protection to the sea mammals, and awakening to the ones who “flip the switches”.  

And Kim is soon to launch a new petition to supplement the one here to collect a sum total of one million signatures to submit to the Department of Fisheries. 

As humans, many of us have lost our sacred connection with the planet.  Now we must restore our relationship and heal the divide that threatens our return to harmony.  As we begin to realize how to bring into form our spiritual nature, it is critical that we now remember how to walk on the planet as if each step were a prayer.

This is a part of our own awakening.  The governments, the countries, the armed services, the corporations, the special interest groups, all these organizations are extensions of ourselves.  They are us.  When we become more conscious we must require all our extensions to become more conscious.  Will it!

* * * * * * * *

You are also invited to share, copy, and distribute this article without permission.  John Berry Deakyne is a shamanic minister in Sedona, AZ, and author of the blog:  On the Road to Find Out, on-line at www.sedonawordsmith.blogspot.com

All Our Essential Paths are Solitary

All our essential paths are solitary.  We only delude ourselves when we believe we have found a traveling companion.  Even if you have been with your mate for what seems like an eternity, if you have truly made a go of it, then you already know that each of you has a particular and specific life-path that must be explored alone.

 Sometimes our lives seem to run parallel with others or with some significant other, but it is important to note that our spiritual journeys will veer off widely, from time to time, from those we have fixed within our physical surroundings. 

Our relationships are always a reflection of our inner life.  And the definition of an unhappy marriage in the physical realm is one that has not been allowed to evolve or dissolve when your spiritual paths have forked into widely divergent directions. 

With all the puffed-up talk about “family values” and the sanctity of marriage in our culture, we must give equal time and honor to the sanctity of separation and divorce.  Whatever dissolution God has ordained, let no man put asunder.  We sin against nature and the Divine whenever we force something to be that was never meant to be or that has run its course.

Yet, a given relationship may allow for the individual strivings of its partners.  The definition of a happy marriage is one that allows each one to travel their own precarious path, and then at the end of the day to find respite and comfort in each others arms.  Maybe that is our fondest dream as we carve out the New Earth.

Still I notice, that the spiritual travelers in my circle, as they age, gravitate more and more toward living alone or with ones with whom they are not intimately connected.  When we no longer couple out of need, or from a sense of lack, or from our wounding we find our desire for companionship also takes different forms.

Time is moving so fast, that when I think about last year’s challenges, they seem very far away.  In that spirit, it seems it has been some time since I feared to draw the card named Solitude which corresponds with the Hermit card . . . so of course it came to me repeatedly.  I understood the spiritual path was solitary for us all, but I wondered if that path would also mirror my physical journey, my life path.

Today, the Solitude card is simply a mirror, and when he comes to me I invariably laugh, and I say to him, “Hello old friend; don’t you think I’ve learned your lesson by now?”   

When I am not afraid of being alone, I notice all the amazing souls I have drawn into my circle of awareness at this time.  I am grateful to NOT be alone, as I journey on the road to find out.

Send Lawyers Guns and Money

Isn’t it time to tell the truth about gun laws in this country?  Isn’t it time to let go of rationales and excuses for maintaining insane rules of behavior and self-destructive ways of thinking? 

And those of us who have taken on the work of dreaming the New Earth into being; don’t we have a responsibility to add our voices to the chorus?  Isn’t it true that we all take part in weaving the fabric of the collective?  What is our contribution to the tapestry?  Prayer?  Meditation?  Heart-centered intentions?  Yes, and might we also add our voice?

It has been said that the number of laws a society makes is directly proportionate to its lack of life-sustaining values.  A society that, by its nature, values life and kindness and generosity does not need so many laws.  How many law libraries do we have in this country to hold all the laws we have made?  Surely with all these thousands, maybe millions of laws we must be very law-full. 

In the movie, K-Pax, when talking to the supposed crazy man about the planet he comes from, the doctor asks, “How do you know right from wrong on your planet if you don’t have any laws?”  Kevin Spacey laughs and says, “Everybody knows right from wrong.”  That’s true . . . we do.

We are a culture that prides itself on being founded on “the rule of law”, and we disdain societies that appear to us to be “law-less”.  What we are proud of is the fact that we cannot police ourselves; we cannot control ourselves; we are not capable of doing the right thing unless there is some threat of punishment for doing the wrong thing.  Yet, while we are waiting for Jesus, we need sensible gun laws.

The problem of gun violence is as much about the prevailing culture in this country as it is about stupid and inadequate gun laws.  We are raising children, who do not have a moral center; who do not respect the life-essence of other humans, animals, plants, rivers and oceans.  We are raising children, who do not have healthy boundaries; who are so diverted and distracted that they do not learn the art of walking with respect upon the planet.  It is remarkable that we don’t have more incidents like Columbine and Aurora.

The fact that the NRA and gun lobby could so effectively persuade the American public that their world-view is not insane is evidence of an all consuming loss of reason and balance in our social interaction.  It is not about politics and it is not about constitutional rights.  It is about reclaiming our brains from admen whose only love is power and money. 

We need to quash without hesitation those who, by rote, repeat the talking points of the gun lobby.  They have sold their brains to the merchants of death and sorely need our compassionate intervention.

Here is one place that is bringing back sanity:  http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/

Your Guide to Presidential Politics . . . No Really

I had a discussion last night with one of my fellow travelers that touched on the topic of “sacred activism”.  We wondered how someone who was on an awakening path might exert change in the collective or on the planet without losing one’s integrity or being sucked into a vortex of destructive energy.   

That brings up thoughts about patriotism and civic duty on the 4^th of July, so here goes:

I don’t know if it matters which of the two major party candidates is elected for US president in November.  Many of my peers have pulled their attention away from the process so they will not feed the energy of or be poisoned by an increasingly toxic and polarizing process. 

Should we just stay out of it and let the whole thing implode, thus hurrying up the inevitable collapse and reconstruction of all our primary institutions?  I’m certainly not going to argue for effecting change from the inside the system using the oh-so-limited tools that have been handed us.

Finally, can I involve myself in this mess without getting dirty?  Is there something here worth being for instead of against, when we have become so acculturated to voting against the one who we believe is the worst of the two?  If that is your only choice, let me make it easy for you, because I have insider information on which one is the worst. 

If this is your calling, you should vote against Mitt Romney.  I don’t even want to go into the reasons and the rationale why; if you can’t see it, there’s no hope for you.

But if you want to vote for something, that’s a longer reach.  Here’s my test.  My teacher, Linda Star Wolf, has made it public on a number of occasions that she would invite President Obama to come in and do a breathwork session with her.  I have no doubt she would offer the same to Governor Romney. 

In a shamanic breathwork journey we go into the core of our being, we release old patterns that have caused us distress and dis-ease, and we reprogram ourselves for greater joy and harmony.  If one of these two men seems to be more likely than the other to accept this generous offer for personal rebirth . . . vote for him.

www.shamanicbreathwork.org

Make All Your Boxes Bio-Degradable

Today I am just back from New Mexico and finding myself again in the red rock and high desert energy of Sedona and Cottonwood.  On these early days of summer the temperature has been in the triple digits for several days.  It’s Hot!

Now there are thunder clouds gathering to the west and I can see the falling of rain in the distance.  We are often teased by these vistas; and in these wide open spaces the thunder heads may fly over or around us and we might receive no respite from the heat.  But today I hear the Hopi’s have done ceremony and called for rain, so now I witness the trees blowing and feel a tangible change in the air pressure and add my hope to their prayers that it will rain.

With or without a change in the weather, I rest in the assurance that our current persistent circumstances are good and exactly what is called for . . . comfortable or not.  At this moment I sit in the air-conditioned comfort of Chai’s coffee house nursing a pomegranate white iced tea – a lovely red pink concoction tinged with just a hint of honey for sweetness.  It is the color of Homer’s “rosy fingered dawn”; morning and the promise of a new beginning.

We are paying attention.  I returned home last night to find that my comfortable and easy living situation is going away at the end of July and I must once again move my wheels and be “on the road to find out”.  I am surprisingly not contracted by this ostensibly “bad” news.  It is clear to me that it is time for me to move – something else and something new is being revealed.  My task is not to make something happen but to be open and receptive and notice when and where the next gift is offered.

I am even more embedded in this posture of “allowing” following our weekend workshop on the topic of “moving out of victim consciousness”.  We had a group of twenty counselors and counseling graduate students at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.  This is the second time we have taught a for-credit class here framing everything with our shamanic and psycho-spiritual approach.  We do not just bring new information and understanding but a different way to look at ourselves and the universe that precipitates measurable awakening moments in ourselves and our students. 

In other words, “We got our minds blown.” 

We spoke a repeated theme over the weekend that said we do not need to become more self-empowered because we are already powerful.  We do not need to try to change our uncomfortable circumstances; we need to appreciate the now moment in which we find ourselves and then allow the gifts and blessings of a benevolent future to be revealed to us, without our manipulation or planning. 

 We do not need to be more powerful; we need to release the limitations that keep us from the awareness of our true personal power that is ever-present and considerable.  This is consistent with the idea that you are as spiritual as you ever need to be; you do not need to try to be more spiritual.  We want to instead focus our energies on becoming more human which means to more perfectly embody our omnipresent spiritual nature in human form. 

Those who outwardly strive to gain worldly power are like hamsters running on a wheel.  They think the accumulation of material wealth and the subjugation and enslavement of others transfers real power to them.  They are sadly mistaken, and their misguided desires become obsessions and addictions that are like a bottomless dark pit of despair.   

On a less sinister level, trying to control our circumstances and manipulate others (even to save them) is an addiction.  The nature of addiction is that we must ever increase the dosage of the addictive substance or thought form in order to maintain a consistent pleasant feeling or effect.  Being successful in controlling and manipulating persons or circumstances then does not make us a more powerful person.  It is just evidence of our victim status because we can never quite get the circumstances of our world to line up to our satisfaction. 

It is my recurring challenge to not be “against” such souls.  My “against-ness” adds more energy to this toxic vortex and so fans the flames and fuels the fire.  It is possible to notice these pockets of “resistance to awakening” without being in judgment against them.  I still hold that the power of discernment is a gift of spirit.  But I do better to love and bless these pieces of shadow and trust that all are on their own path to awakening however slow, arduous, or twisted the way.

Over the weekend we talked briefly about the tomatoes that are chemically engineered to come out square so they can fit into boxes, and we invoked the songwriter, Dan Bern, who said “some people are chemically engineered; they come out square to fit in boxes”.  http://danbern.com/ 

It is useful to admit to the boxes, the belief systems, we have accepted or constructed around ourselves to give the illusion of safety and security.  We will not entirely become “box-free” today, but we will aim to make all our boxes bio-degradable and pray that as needed . . . they will fall away.

WE ARE RISING TOO FAST!

It’s official.  Now is the final phase of the experiment named:  “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  We hold up the case in point of the Christ in the form of Jesus as a living example.  But the Christ does not say, “Hey look at me.”  He says, “Follow me.  What have you been waiting for?  Now is the time for us all to become fully human.” 

To move into this new imagining, this higher vibration, we must release our hold on every last piece of the past that holds us still.  I am hearing from every direction that all the seemingly external phenomena that are bombarding us at this time have come to nudge us, no jolt us out of our comfortable and numbing patterns of self sabotage. 

In truth, every seeming external force is a mirror of the inner world.  The external universe, however vast, is a limited reflection of the unlimited inner Universe.  Our access point to everything divine is within us – so all our flailing around to get out of our bodies and to find direction and salvation outside of our selves has been pointless.  We have been “playing” at being spiritual, caught in a vicious whirlpool of spiritual bypass, when what spirit has desired from the beginning is to become fully embodied.   

This has always been the case – it is an old pattern that needs to be shifted.  If Jesus was against anything, he was against the lawgivers and church leaders; the hypocrisy and corruption he witnessed within his own culture and epitomized by the church, whose leaders controlled every aspect of life at that time.  He roundly criticized them for polishing the outside of the vessel while inside they were full of rot and filth. 

And the disease of spiritual bypass is rampant in the new age community.  In Sedona I am surrounded by seekers who are mesmerized by the flash and the dazzle of spiritual gymnastics instead of embracing the substantial and unglamorous inner-work of truly awakening. 

It has been said before, and I endorse this message, that the most unlikely place to encounter God is in church.  So imagining that we could save ourselves or others by getting ourselves back into church, and the various substitutes for church, has been an exercise in folly and self-deception.  This is compounded by the fundamental shift that has taken place in our own evolution – we must look to the truth that rests within us, that is eminently accessible by going deeper into the core of our being. 

The time of the shaman, and the teacher, and the guru is passed.  We should not expect another to do for us what we must now do for ourselves.  I see so many of my fellow travelers who are stuck in the old paradigm of trying to find the latest teacher and the ultimate savior – I see folks who still go to the medicine man for a cure.   

But now the true shaman doesn’t claim to be one and he/she always directs the seeker back to the source:  the wellspring of truth and healing that waits to be revealed inside the self.  In this new paradigm we have each become our own shaman, our own healer, our own teacher, our own guru. 

Even Jesus reminded his followers that if they experienced healing, it was something in them that caused the transformation.  Yes, he was ahead of his time, and he got himself executed for saying things that now we can say freely.  However long ago that message was delivered, now is the time that was prophesied:  “A new heaven and a new Earth”.

So we acknowledge the phenomenal cosmic coincidences that are occurring within our awareness; that aim to jolt and accelerate our transformation.  I refer to the latest New Moon; the awe-inspiring full solar eclipse I witnessed yesterday out at the Sanctuary at Sedona; the alignment of the moon, the sun, the galactic center with  the planets Jupiter and Mercury as well as the far star system – the Pleiades.  These indicators have come along at this time to point to the same occurrences that are taking place within us.   

One of my teachers has said that many of us are experiencing the physical symptoms of decompression sickness which come when the diver is resurfacing too fast.  Do you get it?  That is what we are doing.  We have gone deep and now we are rising too fast!  We have no choice in the matter but to get used to and flow with these physical and emotional responses. 

I also keep hearing that now is the time to release the deep and enduring patterns we have carried for a long time, maybe for many life-times.  We call these “core issues” and we can no longer afford the luxury of toting around a heavy load of baggage.  I am in this boat with all of you as I let go, and let go, and then let go of letting go. 

It is time to transcend the old patterns that have limited the full expression of who we are in truth.  It is time for each of us to accept our birthright and our inheritance and to become the full expression of a spiritual being in human form.  We are the Word become flesh.