Relationships: How Intimacy Leads to Personal Growth

It seems that couples that allow their partners to safely feel intimate create a relationship that inspires personal growth.  To know if your relationship is one that allows you to safely feel intimate ask yourself if you feel safe becoming emotionally exposed.  When you attempt to no longer hide behind your defenses you allow yourself to be vulnerable.  Yet as we all know, being vulnerable does not come easy. 

Intimate relationships are good for our own personal evolution because they give us clear perspective into our behavior.  Relationships give us opportunities too see how the past, with all of its cumulative experience, has shaped how we relate to our partner today.  Thus relationships become an experience to which we can change the way in which the past may have a hold on us.  We can change the way we relate to the present by tracing the roots of the emotions that surface during times of heightened emotion.  Awareness gives us the power to evolve past old ways of being that no longer serve us.  Awareness gives us control by holding the past accountable for how we react in the now.  Forgiveness is the means that allows us to move on with the control gained through awareness.  When you realize that that you are no longer the impulse that pushes you to act or feel something you are given the power to evolve through those old engrained behaviors and feelings.

A healthy relationship is bound to make you expand on the notions you have about yourself.  It does this by forcing you to break free of your emotional isolation and share your life with another.  This is the essence of intimacy.  We become intimate because with this emotional exchange we make ourselves susceptible to showing our partners our “dark side.” We all enter relationships with emotional baggage.  Nobody is flawless.

As a side note: if you fear reveling yourself to your partner to the degree to which it makes you suppress aspects of yourself…is it a relationship you want to be in?

A healthy relationship allows you to explore your emotional baggage together. The two people in relationship do this by accepting each other how they are.  Yet, this does not mean we stubbornly stay the same, ignoring our partner’s feelings that hope we may want to better ourselves for the sake of a better relationship.  Sincere acceptance of your partner gives your loved one a safe place to observe the “not so good qualities” they may have.  Subsequently, the love you share for each other encourages the two of you to evolve out of the emotional patterns that do not suit you anymore.  This is how a healthy relationship sustains growth and personal evolution.

Yet all good relationships do hit their “roadblocks.” Without clearly communicating to each other there is bound to be incongruence, dissonance, and strife within the relationship.  Often times those relating may be too selfish to look within and take ownership for the reasons that their relationship has become challenged. Complicating the matter, those who act selfishly within the relationship may become defense upon hearing their partner’s criticism.  Furthermore, one or both of the partners may be too afraid to voice their concerns.  Those who are unwilling to voice their concerns may emotionally shut off.  Either way, the relationship is on a course that may lead to its demise.  It is important to realize though that whenever a dissonance arises within a relationship it speaks to an incongruence someone is having in his or her own personal life.

If there is a partner within the relationship that is having a hard time being aware to their partners concerns, this speaks to their inability to be emotionally present within the relationship.  To be emotionally present within a relationship goes hand in hand being emotionally present within.  The relationship is a mirror into yourself.  Yet it is always good to remember that being vulnerable and “showing up” emotionally within the context of a relationship is an act of courage.  It is this act of courage that allows you to shed conscious awareness into the unconscious aspects of self that are getting in the way of a harmonious relationship. 

When unconscious emotional and behavior patters get in the way of the harmony of the relationship it is time for the love that the two people have for each other to support the personal work that can be undertaken.  During difficult times it is important to remember what has brought you to this point.  The meaning is not lost if those who are in relationship can put their ego aside and remember the significance of their partnership and how far it has brought them.  Having this empathy for each other, despite hard times, allows the two of you to communicate again.

Nurturing relationships exemplify patience and care.  These relationships allow partners to illuminate their vulnerabilities to each other.  It allows for the two to propel each other forward by bringing these aspects of egotistical selfishness and or their own fears of being heard into their own conscious awareness.  Love and acceptance propel us then to dismantle these “not so good qualities” and grow into higher aspects of yourself.  Personal growth is achieved independently, but it is healthy and conscious communication that supports this personal growth.

In conclusion, the reward of communicating and being honest not only with your partner, but with yourself, is lasting love.  Love is the outcome when the two of you accept each other for being exactly who you are yet all the while encourage each other to evolve into the people you desire to become. 

Solar Healing & Pineal Gland Activation

Below is an article on the ancient practice of sun gazing.  It was written by Andreas Mortiz.  You can find him on facebook here.  I found this article to be fascinating.  I have begun doing this when I can and I do feel a difference in my general well-being.  *But please take caution.  I recommend you do more research on the practice if you are considering to do this.  The sun can be damaging as we all know.  *Only sungaze from sunrise to one hour after sunrise and from one hour before sunset to sunset. 

The Ancient Practice of Sun Gazing
By Andreas Mortiz

Sun energy is the source that powers the brain. Sunlight enters and leaves the human body most easily and directly through the human eye, provided it isn’t filtered out by colored lenses. The eyes are the portals through which sunlight enters the body.

Sun gazing is an ancient practice that can induce healing of body and mind.

Acting as a photo lens, the human eye is able to break down the entire spectrum of sunlight into the different color rays – a sort of ocular prism. In a camera, the various rays of light react with the chemicals of the film and encode the pictures you take accordingly. Likewise, upon entering the pineal gland in the brain, the different light rays are chemically encoded in the brain and passed on to the organs and systems in the body.

The vital organs of the body are dependent on specific colors of the light spectrum. For kidney cells to function properly, for example, they require red light. Heart cells need yellow light, and liver cells require green light. Light deficiencies in any of the organs and systems of the body can lead to disease. Regular sun gazing can help restore balance and efficiency to all cells in the body.

The pineal gland is one of the most researched glands of the body. Scientists have established that bright light stimulates the production of serotonin and melatonin in the pineal, but there are other neurochemicals produced by the pineal that have more profound and complex effects apart from regulation of moods, sleep, reproductive function and body temperature.

Scientists refer to the pineal gland as the ‘atrophied third eye’. Indeed, it, along with the pituitary, is the third eye chakra or energy center, better referred to as dormant rather than atrophied. According to Max Heindel’s Rosicrucian writings, in the distant past, man was in touch with the inner/outer worlds through an activated pineal and pituitary gland. Considered the most powerful and highest source of ethereal energy available to humans, the third eye has always been important in initiating psychic powers (clairvoyance and seeing auras etc).

To activate the ‘third eye’ and perceive higher dimensions, the pineal and the pituitary must vibrate in unison, which is achieved through meditation or sun gazing. When a correct relationship is established between the personality operating through the pituitary, and the soul operating through the pineal, a magnetic field is created. The pineal can generate its own magnetic field because it contains magnetite. This field can interact with the earth’s magnetic field. The solar wind at dawn, charging the earth’s magnetic field, stimulates the pineal gland. This is why many spiritual teachings claim that the period between 4 and 6 am is the best time to meditate and why sunrise is the best time to sun gaze. At these times, the pineal stimulates the pituitary to secrete Human Growth Hormone. That is why sun gazers often experience rapid nail and hair growth, restoration of hair color, and general rejuvenation. Cleopatra used to place a magnet on her forehead to stimulate the pituitary to restore her youth and good looks. She did not know she already had a magnet in her head.

EAT FRUITS & PLANTS TO GET STORED SUN ENERGY
Fruits and plants have the ability to trap and store sun energy. We get our energy from eating fruits and plants. When we eat fruits & green leafy vegetables, we are eating stored sun power.

The technique of sun gazing demands no more than time and attention, and is very simple. One should gaze at the sun only in the morning or evening hours, about one hour or less after sunrise or before sunset. Look at the rising or setting sun once a day. On the first day, look at the sun in a relaxed manner for a maximum of 10 seconds. On the second day, look at it for 20 seconds, adding about ten seconds every succeeding day. After ten continuous days of sun gazing you will be looking at the sun for about 100 seconds. The eyes can blink or flicker and don’t need to be steady. To receive the main benefits of sun gazing, you need to increase the duration in the above manner until you reach three months. This brings you up to the length of 15 minutes of gazing at a time.

At this stage, the sun energy of the sun’s rays passing through the human eye will be charging the hypothalamus tract – the pathway behind the retina leading to the human brain. As the brain increasingly receives extra power through this pathway, you will find a drastic reduction of mental tension and worries. With access to this additional source of energy, you are likely to develop a more positive mindset and increased self-confidence. If you suffer from anxieties and depression, you will find that these go away. Sadness and depression are known to increase with reduced or lack of exposure to sunlight. With fewer worries and fears, your brain may use the saved and additionally supplied energy for healing and improvement of mental and physical wellbeing.

One of the most frequently reported benefits of regular sun gazing is improvement of eyesight.

Life giving, golden rayed, the eternal watchful eye, called ‘the beginning’ and ‘the ultimate truth’ by wisdom,  The Sun is also the earliest acknowledged doctor of mankind. We have turned to the sun for healing since our very beginnings.

The Emotional Matrix: Don't Forget Your Ego

Without ego I seize to perceive myself.  Without empathy I cease to perceive you.

Some spiritual philosophies speak of the importance of abolishing the ego to create unity and peace.  Other philosophies believe that when we transcend the ego we become liberated.  It seems to me that there is a big difference between abolishing the ego and transcending the ego.

The fact that I even care about writing this post so that others will read it is a matter of ego.  To be human is to have ego.  Ego is the part of self that is responsible for the interpretation of reality and a sense of personal identity.  Without ego we are no longer self-reflective.  To abolish the ego is to abolish the "part of self that is responsible for the interpretation of reality." Abolishing the ego and doing away with "self" not only seems futile, it seems impossible.

To transcend means to go beyond the range or limit of.  So what does it mean to transcend the ego? 

Based on my own perceptual experience it seems that when we feel the reality "outside" of us as if it where an extension of self we experience transcendence.  What do I mean by "outside?"  I speak of any realm of life that is beyond the physical self.  This would include other people, places, and things.  When life, the all inclusive noun, becomes felt as if it where within you you are experiencing transcendence.

At this level of perception I believe that the ego is still there and very much alive.  I feel that at this level the sense of self, the ego, becomes amplified.  In this state we draw energy from the world around us.   We become alive to a greater degree. Our emotional experience is no longer isolated within the walls of our egotistical existence.  We become the world.  Consider the social consequences if we were to feel that we are not just in this world but we are this world...

Lets try not to get this mixed up with the inflated ego.  If my ego were inflated I would be putting myself above you.  I would be judging you and the world around me as inferior to me. The inflated ego is the narcissistic sense of identity that has run rampant in our conventional world.  It seems that it is the inflated ego that keeps us from becoming humbled and having empathy for the world around us.  It is much easier, energetically speaking, to be narcissistic than to be empathic.  Empathy is a psychic muscle.  Learning how to fine tune our ability to feel another and or the world around us takes work.  This is psychic development.

If you want healthier relationships with others, with yourself, and a more meaningful projection of your life, developing your sense of empathy is crucial.  Transcendence then, as I speak of it, is about being humble by allowing yourself to give up the narcissistic relationship you have with yourself.  You can do this by giving energy to others and to the world around you through deed.  The narcissistic self stays alive by absorbing other peoples energy into an isolated sense of self.  The transcendent self grows vibrant through feeling and giving love to the world around you.

Transcendence is that feeling of joy you have when you do for others. Transcendence is that feeling you get when you escape the engrained boundaries of your mind. Transcendence is that feeling you have when you ignite the fire within and live the life you feel passionate about.

You do not need to loose who you are to transcendence into a "higher" reality.  Transcending into a higher reality is a collective phenomena.  Let life unfold as it will.  Why not just do what you can?  Why not just send positive energy to the world around you?

You are a part of the world, a weave within the cosmic fabric of life itself.  When you feel this you have transcended.  And what exactly have you transcended?  Think of it as a snake shedding its skin.  As your transcend you move beyond the old you into a experiential realm where you are more alive and vibrant.  You do not need to concern your self with how to do this.  Just follow the feeling of gratitude.  So why not honor the ego within?  It is the ego, the self, that allows you to feel gratefulness, humbleness, and empathy to begin with.

Do You Want to Create The Life You Love?

You are a participant in the creation of your life.  To what degree do you want to participate?  To what degree do you want to surrender and feel the trust inherent in your heart [a feeling that connects you to creation, to source, to the universe]?

Do you trust life or are you afraid of it?

Witnessing both your relation to both love and fear is integral to understanding the way in which you relate to life.  Do your actions proceed out of love or out of fear?  Do you make choices in your life out of love or out of fear? Are you creating your life out of love or out of fear... essentially this dictates how you will experience your life....

Do you want to make that change in your life or are you a little afraid of what could happen?  Do you want to move to a new city?  Do you want to take part in a new career?  Do you want a fulfilling relationship?

Do you trust that the universe can make this happen for you?  Do you trust that yourself so that you will allow it to happen?  Or are you going to let the same old patterns and ways of life exist because you are a little timid.

This world is your canvas.  What do you want to create for yourself?

Realize...all of your creations are produced by how you project your inner experience onto the world outside of you.  If you trust life and know that it will unfold in your favor, than the universe will protect you and aid you in your evolution in a way that feels good.  Why?  Because when you trust what you are essentially doing is allowing the universe to live through you in the way it knows how to.

The universe [or the movement of creation and the fabric of life as we know it], only wants to produce experience that is divine.  That is all it knows.  Do you think that the heavens were created void of feelings?  Think of this...if there was a feeling associated with the creation of the universe what do you think that feeling would feel like?  If you were witnessing the unfolding of the most cosmic, divine, and dynamic process of creation would you not feel the most blissful sense of awe you have ever felt?

Experiential choice is the product of duality...

Only in our separation from source does duality come into existence, but through this duality we can come to realize that we are our own universes, our own beacons of creation, our own source of divinity...that is if we connect again to this movement of creation through trust.  When you trust you love.  So if you project to the universe love, what do you think it will return for you?

As Neale Donald Walsch said in the Conversation with God Trilogy, "The Universe is a zerox machine.  It will product for you exactly what you feel, think, and create."

If you project to the universe a feeling of love and lead your life through this feeling you will be brought to just the "right" experiences, to the "right" people, and into the "right" environments...

...That is if you believe you should be...Again, to what degree do you want to participate?

I put quotes around right to emphasize the point that you are always "right."  Your life is your subjective creation, but when will the experience of what is "right" for you lead you to lead a life of great awe and adventure, big love and grand experience, and a knowing in your heart that life is here to serve you [and not the other way around].  This is your choice.

When do you want that new career, that new love, that new life!  This is your choice too!


Creation happens in the experience...

Luckily for all of us, understanding this is more than intellectual.  Put down any pressure of trying to solve how to live out of love or out of fear.  Your mind cannot know life in its entirety, so let it relax...  Life is, in many ways, beyond knowing...

"So if life is beyond knowing then how do I act, how do I then create what I want?"

Why not start to feel what it is that you want.  Start with a feeling, not just a thought.  Feel what a "good" life would feel like...then follow the feeling.  You follow the feeling when you bring this feeling into your daily interactions with people, places and things.  The canvas on which you paint your life then becomes drastically influenced by this feeling.  You will then begin to manifest a reality for yourself that is more aligned with the feeling you have as to what a good life should be for yourself.  Can just feel out how you going to create, create, then later think about what you created in retrospect?


Let your thoughts serve your feelings...not the other way around...


Again, all of this serves you only to the degree to which you believe it does.  So essentially why not go within and ask yourself...

Do you want a life lead by love

or

Do you want a life dictated by fear

To not go within you go without...

To come back around to the beginning...Does the love inherent to existence protect you.  Do you trust life?  Do you feel protected?  Does life feel safe to you?

Again, this is all in how you perceive it.  You choose it....but why not choose what you want to experience...



Your life is your own self-fulfilling prophecy.  How do you want this prophecy unfold?

If you feel that the universe is here to aid you in the creation of a loving, peaceful, and abundant life...


than...

You are protected...

Even if the world may be crumbling around you, you are protected...  Why?  Because you know you are!

Find your freedom in surrender.
Find your freedom in trust.

Surrender is a knowing...a knowing that you can trust the process of life.

This "knowing" accompanies the feeling of trust...as in trusting the process of life to unfold as it will...revealing to you your true nature...as it unfolds in each successive moment of the now.

So why not lead this "unfolding of life" through love...as opposed to through the same old timidness and fear that has produced nothing but the same?..?..?

The Emotional Matrix: How Gratefulness Amplifies Your Energy

When we say we have touched someone's life or someone has touched ours it seems to imply that a change occurs in someone's emotional "body. " The change is an acquisition of another's loving and empathic feelings towards you [or you towards them].  The acquisition occurs within your emotional body.  At the most fundamental level of being human there is primal energy exchange that is soulfully nourishing.  We are a part of this exchange whether we are conscious of it or not.  This exchange is relationship.

It is plausible to say, and quantum physics has theoretically proven this,  that everything is in a constant state of energy exchange [everything is in a constant state of relationship].  The more aware we become of this energy exchange and begin to understand how this affects our lives we can use that information to our advantage.  The advantage comes about when we learn how to see how we are all tied to each other, to the earth, and beyond and with that heightened perspective we gain greater mastery over our own lives.

Why?

With this gained perspective you become more able to control the degree to which you are conscious of how this emotional energy matrix affects you and how you affect it.  We gain control by beginning to see how we shape the energy matrix that surrounds us.  This is also how we change the energy that surrounds us into a more positive and soulfully nourishing way.

*Simply, become aware, remind yourself to be grateful of those whom have touched your life, and you simply influence the emotional energy matrix that is your life.

Human feelings are a major conduit for this energy exchange.  The positive influence of another upon your life or vica vera, heightens your receptivity to love, to gratefulness, to compassion, and joy.  When your receptibility for these energies are enhanced and opened you change your life.  It is as simple as that.  Becoming grateful for those whom have touched your life gives you the ability to pass that on.  You just will.  There is nothing you need to do.  With gratefulness in your heart you will just do and feel great things.

Touch someone's life.  Do good for another.  Love another.  You will see that the love become your own.  Let that love become theirs and so on.  Let that love be there for all to share.

Fate or Free Will?

Fate or Free will?  Determinism or Infinitely expressing experience?

Is life as we experience it the unfolding of destiny in the now?

The debate between fate vs free will has been going on since the dawn of civilization.  Do we lead autonomous lives, reconstructing the future through our present day actions?  Or is it possible we lead a life determined by fate and how the heavens decide our future...a divine force that guides us?  The thing about all this is that the person who believes in fate may ask you, "well what guided your actions...was there some feeling guiding them...a feeling that drew you into particular events, experiences, and ways in which to learn?"

"So your saying I am not in control in the way my life turns out?"

Well what would you feel if I told you that both realities, the reality determined by fate and the reality created though free will, could simultaneously occur at the same time?

This question requires us to use more than just our thoughts.  It begs upon us to feel deeply, perceive deeply, understand through feeling deeply.

Here is the beautiful part...only each person can answer this moral question for themselves.  No one can experience another persons experience, fully.  Our inherent autonomy is our greatest gift.

When we cherish that in each other conflict seizes.

Think about it:  What if it is both our destiny and our free will, the will that we were destined to choose with, that got us to even be reflecting upon the answer to this question to begin with....?

Happy New Year!

Tonight we ring out the old and ring in the new. And

more--much more--can change than simply the dates

on the calendar. You can resolve this night to change

your entire life...or any aspect of your self and your

experience that you choose - Neale Donald Walsh

Neale is spot on here.  Realize the choice within.  Realize this is your greatest gift.  Realize that it is the you from within that has the power to implement choice in and of itself.  Isn't it profound that we have the ability of conscious choice to begin with?  The amazing thing about being human is that we have the ability to witness ourselves in action and thus make changes from that awareness.  So why not this upcoming year make choices that lead to a heightened sense of self?  Why not this year choose to be a more joyous person, to become a more loving person, and to become a person that has a greater ability to make manifest the life they really desire?  The thing is when we declare that we have joy to share, love to give, and the power to create the life we want, we declare to creation itself, and inevitability to ourselves, that we are the change we want to see.

Making choices in the now changes the past and the future.  It changes the past by changing influential patterns that have dictated the course of our lives.  Making choices in the now changes the future because it opens your path up to "greater" possibilities.  So go on and choose what "greater" means to you.  This is YOUR life!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Much Love

-Chris

Love and the Holidays

The holidays are a time of coming together with family, lovers, and close friends.  It is a time to celebrate all that we have shared in this experience we call life.  No matter the religious denomination associated with this time of the year it is essentially a time to rejoice and come together. This is a time of sharing space together; of giving and receiving together, and of experiencing the unity that families, lovers, and friends feel together.  This is what makes this time of the year so very important and heartfelt.

Yet for many, it is one of the hardest times of the year.  In this time of almost seemingly forced intimacy, were we feel our emotions and those of our close circle very strongly, we are in a way “forced” to deal with ourselves.  During these times of heightened sensitivity we tend to feel feelings that we may have had kept in-check.  Typically we keep these emotions regulated due to the requirements of everyday living.  We narrow our focus on accomplishing today’s goals, yet all the while we, to varying degrees, diminish the sensitivity we have too our overall emotional experience.  Think about it, how are we to immerse ourselves in our productivity if we are always dwelling in the gut wrenching emotions of life?

It seems to me that life itself is so precious that we often try to suppress our emotions for we feel that “feeling so much” is not a pleasurable experience.

Lets feel this; we all too some conscious degree or not know and feel that life is a temporary experience…we all know that one day we will die and that those whom we love will pass on.  We know on some level, buried deep inside of us, that the experiences we share with our most cherished will somehow vanish into the immense nothingness of the heavens.  In other words...a situation is created by death that allows the human experience to be witnessed in a way beyond our current perception and experiences of the human emotion.  This is what makes relationships meaningful though…There is a” pre-determined” window of opportunity for those relating to the experience of life together…And it is in this fragileness that the human emotion is born.  Through this fragileness we come to know, really know, what love is.

{Our the emotional memories sprinkle across the universe as psychic galactic stardust...the emotional accumulations of our lives spread themselves thin over a space-time continuum that is infinite in scope, meta-physical in nature, and all inclusive.  make themselves manifest in a dimension [heaven], that transcends the physical dimension.}

We look at the cherished pictures of the past, especially during the holiday and wonder…where did these experiences go and what will become of them as they live on in me?  Those glossy prints of ink and paper hold more than the realization of what the past was but they evoke the emotional memory of what those experiences have meant to us…yet more importantly what they still mean to us…

In retrospect, with the knowing of the temporary realization as too what life is…we are brought to bittersweet tears…Yet let me run this by you…it is courageous to feel life with such intensity.  Know this and you will find the bravery within you to stand up to your deepest and most hidden emotions.  You will discover how to do this by respecting the past and allowing yourself to feel the re-processed emotions that “bubble up” from the depths of your psyche.  Honor and respect this bravery within you, for it is your guide and a tremendous source of emotional liberation.  Realize that all the love has the ability to hurt us, but it the courage within that allows us to enjoy and experience love to begin with.  The experience and loss of love is life’s greatest teacher.

We are all brave warriors to face the emotional experiences of this wondrous life.  So go on, be an emotional warrior.  Look into the past, feel it again.  Know that just like the past the future too will some day become a distant memory.  Knowing that life, this present moment, and those whom which we share it wish are precious.  They will not last forever nor will we.  Both the paper photos we cherish and the body in which we reside will one day recycle itself back into the soul of the Earth.  What then are we taught about love, knowing how precious and temporal life is?

Why not take the courageous steps in this present to feel completely what it is that you feel.  If you feel love for another person tell them…It just may be exactly what they needed to hear.  It may be something that does away with all the anger, confusion, and pain.  Yet all in all, being courageous enough to be sensitive to feel life deeply will bring you closer to understanding the grand experience of life.

But what is this all really worth?  Well, in the knowing that life is temporary and precious, in the knowing that your body will someday turn to ash, what will become of the you that does feel so deeply?  Can this than stir within you the curiosity to seek and feel “the you” that is beyond the physical form?  Does this sensitivity to life, this coming to know oneself in your inherently limited physical existence…does it push you to want to feel secure and immortal?  Well, know this…what you feel is something inherently immortal, why?  Because it is a “feeling” that we all feel, that we all have felt for millions of years, and that we will forever feel as life pushes forth.  In this unity of emotion there becomes something seemingly odd about that seemingly “temporal” life…The paradox revealed…we are still left on our knees…forever searching for peace…

To all of those that find themselves reading this.  Thank you.  Enjoy this holiday season and keep those whom you love close.  In respect too the vastness of life, too the bewilderment of life, and too the emotional richness too what life is find a way to feel fully who and what you are…you may just find yourself loving yourself and those important to you a whole lot more…

The Metaphysics of Consciousness: Intro to the Upcoming Book

A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of 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 the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

Intro

Everything is conscious. Consciousness differs though to the degree to which it expresses itself; meaning to what degree is it consciously employed and subsequently made manifest.  Consciousness is employed and thus executed through the conscious force manifesting its will. Consider the movement within the conscious mind of a human to make decisions to bolster his or her life.  Furthermore, seemingly “non conscious” entities of existence exhibit qualities of consciousness because, as we will see, within everything is a creative life driving force that perpetuates its own existence.  Consider the plant that exhibits movement in attempt to sequester as much nutrient and sun from the environment as it can.  Everything is inherently connected when we consider the phenomena that this creative life driving force is the force that sustains all of existence through the perpetuation of the “life platform.”  Consider the movements of celestial bodies, such as the sun, the earth, and the greater cosmos as a whole.  Without the existence and subsequent movement of these celestial bodies life as we know it would not exist.  With all this in mind isn’t it probable then that the celestial bodies that constitute the heavens, in some incomprehensible way [to the degree to which we are currently conscious], become manifest so too allow for the platform too which consciousness came to know itself and thus evolve?  As we will discover life is magical for it is, in totality, beyond our conscious perception.  Yet, that does not mean that we are not striving to consciously evolve to step into and thus become that magic.  We are.  That is the point here…Too expand, and to greater degrees come to know and witness life.

This book is about understanding the relationship of consciousness to life and the varying degrees in which consciousness becomes manifest.  This book is about realizing that the more conscious the conscious individual becomes of consciousness itself a progression takes place.  The more conscious the person become of the “life force” within the more able the person becomes at manifesting a reality to which they desire.  I like to think of this as the expansion and progression of consciousness.  I am eluding to the fact that humans, as they become "evolved" and progress, they become more able to shape reality in a way too which we thought was not possible.  In a sense human consciousness has enabled us to discover and implement many great advances to which seem “unnatural.”  In this it seems as if we have progressed and evolved further than the nature we find around us.  Yet as we go on in this book, we will see that this egoic conception of human consciousness is what has caused us too separate ourselves from nature and thus create a dual state.  The renaissance of human consciousness expansion is about connecting back with the natural wisdom of the Earth.  Pairing archaic wisdom with conventional wisdom is what moving out of duality and into the new era of humanity is all about.  This is what the Ascension that is upon us is all about.

Consciousness, as it is defined today, is defined as 1) the state of being awake and aware of one’s surrounding and 2) the awareness or perception of something by a person.  Both definitions focus on the self-reflective type of consciousness that is found in a human.  Humans have the profound, yet often taken for granted ability, to be aware of their own awareness.  As well as being self-reflective beings we are also are very much “left brain” beings.  Linear reasoning such as logic, rationality, mathematic executions and language functions such as grammar and vocabulary are often times functions of the left hemisphere of the brain.  In contrast, artistic ability, creativity, and sensitivity are often functions of the right hemisphere of the brain.  As far as humans go, consciousness becomes fully integrated when both the left and the right hemispheres of the brain function equally.  This alludes to pairing both archaic and conventional wisdom that I just spoke about.  Yet as it stands currently our society has developed in such a way that conditions us to develop an over reliance on left-brain functioning.  This development has stunted our perceptual awareness in many ways.

Due to social conditioning and reliance on a left-hemisphere type of conscious expression we are, to a degree, cut off from our ability to register another sentient being’s consciousness, sensitivity, and or perception.  We have also, on a collective level, become desensitized to aspects of creation on a grander scale.  The consciousness of a celestial body [i.e. the Earth], or that of the universe as a whole goes un-noticed.  Unlike our ancestors that worshiped and subsequently communicated with other seemingly non-living entities of existence we have become desensitized to this sort of activity.  As we function now, at least on a collective level, we tend not too “register” other aspects of universal, earthly, or sentient consciousness as being self-reflective and or “advanced” in any way.  We either 1) perceive another sentient beings consciousness as inferior [e.g. that dogs are less conscious and aware than humans] or 2) we disregard “non-living” entities as even having the ability to be conscious [i.e. the earth, water, or a forest]. 

What I propose in this book is that consciousness is the all-encompassing energy of creation itself.  Consciousness is this energy that we can not only sense but also realize as our own and thus communicate with it as it extends to realms seemingly beyond us.  Consciousness, the energy that moves evolution, is a phenomenon that exists to infinite degrees.  From the seemingly inert rock, to the seemingly unintentional movement of dark matter, to the deliberate intent of the human being, consciousness is expressing itself.  Therefore when we look at consciousness in this way we expand on the conventional ways in which we define consciousness.

This book will explore consciousness to greater degrees and observe how we can become not only more sensitive to aspects of our own consciousness but also how we can expand our sensitivity of other realms of existence and thus understand the connective force general to life.  In this way we will understand consciousness not only rationally and execute perception from this domain of awareness as we typically do, but we will learn to become more sensitive to consciousness and expand our experiential perception of the “oneness,” and thus execute a life that is more aligned with the greater divine.  When we live our lives more attuned with the movement of consciousness itself we become a human conscious beacon of divine creation itself to infinitely higher degrees.  We become more experientially focused as opposed to just being conceptually focused.  This is how we will partake in consciousness evolution on an individual scale thus facilitating the greater ascension process that is under going at the collective level.  We will witness our connection to the greater divine through our consciousness and thus enable ourselves to live in sync with life.  Instead of living life with all the challenges and turmoil that is often apparent to left-hemisphere dominated living [egoic living], we will discover the ability to step into consciousness itself and thus realize the fact that we are and were always divine, connected, and unified.  Therein lies the key too the human dilemma.  This is how consciousness evolution and the subsequent ascension leads too liberation, freedom, and peace.

Freedom From Ourselves

We all want to know how to be the best version of ourselves.  We want the world outside of us, the world that "happens to us" to be nothing but wonderful.  We all want to be loved.  We all want to be appreciated.  We all want to be a success.  We all want answers.   Essentially, what we are all seeking, to various degrees, is a sense of self that makes us feel complete and subsequently "free."  This desire to be "free," to feel as if we are moving towards settling all the inner and outer desires of our life, is what, we believe, pushes us to become who we desire to be.  But how are we to be "free" if we are always pursuing something?  How are we to be free if we always desire something?  It is only human to desire, right?  It is only human to keep pursuing, right?  Let's look into this...

Our anxieties, our self-incrimination, our self doubt, our feeling of lack all derive from something so simple...

Through the conditioning of our culture we push and push and push to reach some sort of inner and outer achievement, acquisition, or status too where we feel fulfilled.  Our freedom than becomes dependent upon our accomplishments or some specific status we desire to achieve.  We say to ourselves... "I will be a good man, unburdened, when I do such in such"..."I will be a great woman when I find the way to calm my heart."  Freedom, in this state, is contingent upon the success of the goal we seek to accomplish.  Seemingly, we are "more free" from the burden of ourselves, of the inner self that judges, when we can cross off our personal checklist that too which we desire to do, have, or become.  But let us examine the logic in all of this.  If we are trying to work backwards, attempting to negate the desire born from within by accomplishing something...from where do we start?  The answer is that we have been conditioned to believe that we will always have something to which we seek to achieve in order to achieve some "better" status of who we are.  Subsequently, we always feel as if we have something missing in our lives...we will than always feel as if there is some gap between who we are now and who we believe we are to become.

Please be aware...If we are conditioned to find freedom in doing, having, and or becoming...how are we ever to be free?  This game of always having to do, be, or accomplish something is never ending, is it not?  You say you will be free when you attain such and such amount of money in your bank account, you say you will be free when you run off too your piece of land, you say you will be when you find love etc., but the mind that is always chasing freedom in pursuits and accomplishments is simply that...chasing...and is a mind that is always chasing peaceful and at ease? 

{As a side note, can we see how the entire consumer society is based upon this conditioned principle?  Are we not feed, in a conscious sense, a seemingly infinite amount of advertisement that tells us what to desire, tells us how to behave, tells us how to love, how to eat, how to have fun etc.?  We are taught to seek freedom in our indulgences, but how free are we if we are tethered to gratifying something that is in a perpetual state of desire, that something being the conditioned ego?

Where did this sense of indulgence that we feel even come from?  Is this something innately human or is it something that is conditioned into us?  I will leave you to answer that, but question this...would money exist in a "free" society, would "better" and "worse" exist in a free society, would "rich" or "poor" exist in a free society...would war exist in a free society?  Only when we become aware of this conditioning process can we begin to move forward as a society and as individuals.  Well, what is "moving forward" anyway...well, I will leave that for your heart to discover...I digress...}

The individual that does not look into ones own mind to witness the conditioning, is always going to be tethered to some idea or too some notion of having to do something.  The idea we have about ourselves is conditioned into us.  Of course we all display unique temperament, but to what degree is the "John" that we have come know a product of social conditioning?  Are you not more than the "mental box" to which the conditioning keeps you in?

This clinging onto a projected image protects us from actually being with the "what is."  The image propels us into the fantasy world and the world of the ego.  The ego, the idea of oneself or what that idea of oneself is "soon too become," is an illusory energy formation.  When we concentrate on the ego and live from this place we believe we are warding ourselves from misery, loneliness and the like, becuase we believe we are giving our lives some sort of direction, some sort of identity which to follow.  Yes we are giving our lives "direction," but are we even aware of where this "direction" leads us, energetically speaking?

Again, are you aware of the conditioning?  If we are directing ourselves constantly to be attaining more, seeking to become more, seeking to have more of anything, whether it be love, money, sex, or social recognition, etc.,...are we not declaring to ourselves and to the universe that we have a void to fill?

In actuality, the ego, which we believe is guiding us to freedom is actually doing the reverse to us.  It is keeping us tethered to wanting, to desiring, and the like.  The ego wants more of itself...it wants more "me" and will seek this through attempting to satiate its desires.   These ideas of how we should be, what we should do, what we should attain etc., are nothing more than "mind stuff" which projects us into the future and away from the now.  How can there be any freedom when we believe salvation exists in attaining something that is bound to the future?

The ego and the isolation it presupposes is the illusion that leads us to believe and see as fact that we are "islands" amongst each other.  Yes, we are individuals, but we are more than that.  We are both individuals and a collective human race simultaneously [as well as collective living ecosystem which extends to the cosmos and beyond].  Yet, the consumer society and those who benefit most off of it, have a vested interest in keeping the illusion of individualism alive.  Our true nature is that we, as individuals, inhabit an ecosystem, an Earth, that is inherently interconnected.  Each part, whether that part be a single human individual, an ocean, or a chimpanzee in Africa are tied in some way or another.  We do not need science to prove this to ourselves.  The feeling inside knows this truth.  Yet, if we have been cut off from this feeling within through mass conditioning, of which has influenced us to live primarily from the mind and not from sensation, we get lost in the endless abyss of the mind and thus lose sense of this feeling within.

As for the sake of humans, there would be no society without the individual, yet there would be no individual without the society...When we cling onto the ego for individual identification we become unaware of the great connection we all have.  It is this connection, when lost, that we leads us to feel an overwhelming sense of isolation and subsequent fear.  The "I" must compete against each other to secure what the "I" needs.  The elite in control of media [who live solely from fear] have us believing we are "one nation under all" yet, when nations are pinned against one another it becomes, in theory, a global race to the bottom for resource acquisition.

The thing is, if we as countries are competing against one another we are inherently competing against each other as individuals even in our own countries.  The profit motive, the motive which is conditioned into us, is what leads us to believe that war is a "normal" way of life.  We egotistically wave around our nationalistic flags while we have been conditioned to become desensitized to the brutality that all this has all caused.  [And as a side note, do you really think that you were not conditioned to believe that "terrorism" is some real threat to our sovereignty as a nation?  Has the media not attempted to condition us through their relentless campaigns to fear dark skinned bearded men living in caves half way around the world? - seek to see how the media and those who control it have tried relentlessly to keep the ego illusion alive and you in fear].

The struggle we see in ourselves, as well as the world, exists becuase we believe we must compete against another, we must be compared against another.  It is the comparison and judgment of another that leads us to act to fulfill the conditioned desires of the ego.  It is the comparison and judgment of another that leads to us believe that we are indeed actually separate and not inherently connected.

All of our insecurities arise from this separation and we try incessantly to be, do, or accomplish something in order to override this insecurity.  We try to become better than that person, we try to become more cunning, smarter, richer, etc., than the next person.  We try to be "freer" than the next person.  Therefore, if the mind only knows and acts from this separation, from this conditioned sense of self, how can we ever as both individuals and as a collective society ever be free?

What is freedom anyway?  If there is always a desire to become something, to accomplish something, to figure something out etc., is there freedom?  If we are in a perpetual state of trying to uphold the image to which we believe we are can we free?  Are we not limited to the image?, the image being the conditioning of ones life...How are we free if this conditioning attempts to project one forward in their life in a way that keeps our minds in the tomorrows of what we are going to become.  Does this image than, this conditioning than, put borders around oneself, whether those borders be ideological, and such?  If there are borders than around oneself...can you really be free?  Go deeply into that...not with your mind...but with all of you.

Is freedom than the cessation of "having" to do something, "having" to be something, "having" to feel something?

What is it than to be free of desire?  If there is nothing left to be, do or accomplish, we may state that we are no longer human, we are not living...But go within here, and feel this...can the mind really understand what it is to be free?  What is "free" anyway?  Of course the mind can analyze, interpret, and make rational and logical deductions as too what this experience can be like...but how can any attempt to know something of which is beyond mind be understood by mind?

So where do we go from here?

Simply be aware...and see what you discover.  Witness the conditioning mind and how it is simply an accumulation of the past.  Let go of this by allowing yourself to be who you are in this moment without any judgment.  You do this not by trying anything, not by applying any formula, not by seeking any guru or the like...you do it by simply becoming aware.  When you become aware of the process the awareness burns through the unconciousness like a light into the darkness.  When a tought comes up, just be aware of it.  Witness to see if you judge anything, yet do not seek to change this, just be aware.  This takes a diligent mind, a focused mind...but that is what it is to be fully awoken.  Just be you...your awareness is inherently patient.

Know that you needed to become conditioned to know what it is to live beyond your condition so that you may know, on a deep and profound level, how expansive the human experience can be...so you could know what freedom really is.  This is all a part of our soul's journey...mine as well.  You may not find words, ideas, notions, and the like as too what this experience brings to you.  You may not find the "holy grail," you may not find just what you were looking for...but you just might find the feeling that tells you everything!