Rethinking Change

March 24th marks the launch of my YouTube Channel, RETHINKING CHANGE.

Here, I’m sharing with you the link to the Premier video, as well  as the script which appears below.

Rethinking Change Banner

Hello and Welcome to Rethinking Change. I’m Pat West.

So. Let’s start right in with a riddle. Here’s a list of thought leaders in fields like:

  • Finance – Napoleon Hill. Robert Kiyasaki.
  • Science – Gregg Braden.
  • Healing – Joe Dispenza.
  • Energy Work – Donna Eden, Jeffrey Allen.
  • Hypnosis – Marisa Peer.
  • Martial arts — Bruce Lee
  • . . . . the  list goes on

But here’s the question. What do they have in common? By the end of this video, you’ll have the answer to that question, as well as an appreciation for the value Rethinking Change has to offer you  and those you care for.

As a special bonus, at the end, I’ll share with you what the Book of Change has to say about the COVID-19 pandemic. As you’ll come to find out, the I Ching is the foundation of energy medicine and Tai Chi. It’s the missing link we need NOW to survive and thrive in this intense time of extremes. I think you’ll find its message . . very interesting.

You’re probably wondering by now, who I am to be saying all of this. Well, there’s a long version, because I have plenty of stranger-than-fiction stories to share with you in good time. But here’s the short version.

I was trained as a musician. I played piano and various string instruments — guitar, a bit of sitar, but primarily violin. I shared this life-saver in common with my man, Einstein, who was also a violinist. It led me to yoga and to the magical, marvelous I Ching, the Book of Change, which maps the laws of nature, the repeating cycles of change which everyone everywhere share in common. For more than 8,000 years, it’s been used as a decision-making tool by leaders in every walk of life, all over the world. It’s used to bypass danger, optimize opportunities and to maintain balance in the midst of change.

Psychologist Carl Jung wrote an introduction to the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. He taught us to use it as a tool for making the unconscious conscious.

In 1975, I wrote my own version. It still works for me. My idea was, it shouldn’t be so tough . . and it should be made available to everyone. You can find it on Amazon. It’s called The Common Sense Book of Change.

I’ve been growing with the book for over 40 years now, taking it with me through every imaginable situation to understand the dynamics that drive human behavior. It’s become a good friend and mentor. More than once, it’s saved my life. If you want to know more, you can check out my website, rethinking survival.com. You’ll find several related posts. One is “The I Ching and Me.” Another is “How the Common Sense Book of Change (CSBOC) Came To Be.”

In the late 1970s, I earned a Ph.D. in Educational Administration. From writing books to fill the shelves that weren’t there when I needed them, I went on to earn the credential to build schools to fill what I call the fatal knowledge gap in what we’re taught in schools.

Basically, though, what you need to know about me is summed up in my latest book, You Are Already Enough: How Would Your Life CHANGE if you really Believed It? There, I give you my personal Why, How and What.

Basically, though, what you need to know about me is summed up in my latest book, You Are Already Enough: How Would Your Life CHANGE if you really Believed It? There, I give you my personal Why, How and What.

My WHY is to pay forward the extraordinary blessings I’ve received over a lifetime. I experience it as a calling. My HOW has been to write books, blog, give an occasional class, and now, to create content for this YouTube channel. My WHAT, the end result I’m aiming for, is to restore sanity to a badly fractured world, one person at a time.

Okay then. The Book of Change is one self-awareness tool. The second is a spin-off. And here things get even more interesting.

I came to it by applying yoga sutras to Einstein. Take the archetypal Life Wheel that repeats through all cultures and all times, well known to meditators. Then take the variables of Einstein’s formula – M = mass, E = energy, C = light – and plug them into the increasingly deeper levels of the Life Wheel. The result is the Unified Field Theory – including the elusive “consciousness factor.” Einstein had already received it, but for lack of yoga training, he missed it.

02a. Unfied Field Theory

Now. . . . just like the Ching’s repetitive cycle of hexagrams, this quantum pattern of creation also repeats throughout nature, on every scale of magnitude . . . smallest to largest, from atoms to solar systems. It repeats in every cell of our bodies. In Already Enough, I give pictures of this pattern repeating throughout nature and world art.

But what’s important to emphasize here is that this isn’t just an interesting, abstract idea. The formula e=m2 has powerful applications, for destruction – the atomic bomb – as well as creation. We can personalize the Life Wheel to make it real in our own lives. We can use it to assess how we’re doing, to identify what’s missing, decide what we intend to change, and then to plan how to get from here to there. It’s a powerful tool. It can bring us back from an incomplete, fractured lifestyle into full alignment with our true complete nature, the original design of creation.

Here’s just one picture of what wheel-work looks like:

happy face

And here’s my Why, How and What prioritized inside the Life Wheel structure.

My Why, How & What

So. The answer to the riddle I asked at the beginning . . is this. What all those thought leaders share in common is an intuitive fidelity to this basic structure, the quantum reality embodied in the Life Wheel. It explains . . for example. . the effectiveness of Napoleon’s Hill Think and Grow Rich formula. And so on. . . In You Are Already Enough!, I show that, just as Einstein’s formula plugs into the Life Wheel, so do the ideas that get the powerful results each of these thought leaders has achieved.

Before moving on to the COVID-19 section, I briefly want to tell you this. When I was brainstorming for future video content, the list got huge . . . because the Life Wheel truly meets the Occam’s Razor standard of greatest simplicity with maximum inclusiveness.

Once you start rethinking change, seeing how the dynamics expand and contract from the inside out, and how the levels of the Life Wheel link up . . the possibilities become infinite. It’s like, anywhere you focus the laser beam, it illumines the field.

Here’s a short list of potential subjects:

  • The MPI standard – motive, purpose, and intent. (Being aware of what you’re doing and why.)
  • Abundance. Magic. Manifestation. Wealth.
  • Change. Change agents. Affirmative action. Positive Action.
  • Unity. The United States.
  • Conflict. Common sense. The law of Karma. Ethics.
  • Creativity. Intuition. Self-awareness. Self-actualization.
  • Relationships. Empaths and narcissists.
  • Interdependence. Cooperation.
  • Communication. Community. Intentional community.
  • Education. Higher Education. Paradigm shifts. And opportunity.
  • Authority. Inner authority. Conscience.
  • Medicine. Healing. Mindfulness. Meditation.
  • Codes. The Emotion Code. The Healing Code.
  • Stress. The suicide epidemic and its prevention.

So, if you have any preferences among those topics or other related questions you’d like me to address, please comment below and I’ll do my best to respond. And please do take the time to like, share and subscribe, so we can get this urgently needed information out to a badly fractured world that – for lack of it – is in SUCH deep trouble.

Now, here’s the COVID-19 bonus I promised you.

There are many ways to approach the Book of Change. It starts with finding a quiet place and settling down the noisy mind. After deciding on a question, there’s a process for arriving at an answer. I’m saving the technical side for later. Today, I’m going straight to the answer I got on March 14th to this written question: “What advice does the Book of Change have to offer the general public about the COVID-19 pandemic?”

The initial outcome was 14, SELF-POSSESSION. It looks like this:

14 Self-Possession

It seems to me that the general public expects leaders to demonstrate calmness, integrity, and fairness. We want them to give us a clear picture of what’s going on. Deep down, we really want leaders who inspire us.

However, the initial answer was dynamic. It had two changing lines that offer warnings or advice. These combined to result in a different outcome.

The advice from line four is “Do not compete with others. Use your skills to build.” It advises restraint and to avoid careless waste. So I would be concerned that precious time is being wasted, that this crisis is being used BY SOME as a political football, and that it’s possible resources being mobilized might to some extent be misdirected.

The advice from line five reads “When you prove yourself responsible, others will trust you.” The shadow side here is that unless leaders prove themselves trustworthy, people won’t trust them.

But even when there’s restraint and responsibility, the second outcome remains FRUSTRATION. This makes good sense. We have expectations that aren’t always being met. It’s related to the leadership issue, but just as importantly . . . we need to be aware that there’s a lot going on – hidden – behind the scenes. Things aren’t exactly what they seem.

Number 9 reads: External factors you may not even be aware of will cause FRUSTRATION. New projects will not work out now. This cannot be avoided. Arguing will not influence those who could help. Your choice is either to wait patiently or to leave the situation. “

So it seems to me that right now we’re in for a waiting game. Getting emotionally caught up in the upheavals that have been set in motion would be counter-productive. To the extent that worry is a waste of time, refocusing attention . . . rethinking the change going on all around us . . . is a better option.

So, the next question that arises is Where should we turn our attention? For one thing, I would look for the opportunities hidden within current dangers, because it’s a rule of Natural Law that in duality, there are two sides to every coin.

It’s quite possible we’ve been looking in the wrong places for IMPORTANT answers. And that the Book itself is welcoming the pandemic as an opportunity to reintroduce itself as an inspirational way to access the deeper energy and light levels of our Life Wheels for a better understanding what’s truly going on – within ourselves . . . as well as in the world around us.

NOW this opens WIDE the door to a whole new world. I will continue this thread in my next video, which I’m calling “Blessings in Disguise.”

So, here’s what you can expect from now on. In each Thursday video, I’ll balance discussion with a hands-on reading from different versions of the Book of Change. The plan is to illumine key issues in terms of the Life Wheel pattern, supported by readings to make the Book of Change increasingly more familiar.

Again. Please comment below. Like, share and subscribe. Hit the bell to be notified each time I publish a new video. And I’ll see you again next time. Until then, do take good care of yourselves.

Invitation To Simon

Last night (12-16-19), reading through Simon Sinek’s recently published The Infinite Game gave me the hope, even confidence, that he has both the nobility of soul and common sense to welcome and actually champion my complimentary book, You Are Already Enough! How Would Your Life CHANGE If You Really Believed It?

I’m extending an open hand to him, as well as to James P. Carse, whose Finite and Infinite Games inspired Simon’s book. This is how I expressed the invitation in emails sent earlier today:

Hi Simon and Mighty Team! The archetypal Life Wheel (Golden Circle) is at the heart of my work. To your vision I contribute yoga sutras, quantum theory and (YES) the intuited Unified Field Theory (consciousness factor included) which Einstein already had, though didn’t know it. Balanced with your work, mine has the potential to alter the direction of history in a positive direction. I am not on Facebook. So I will post a blog – Invitation to Simon – on my website – https://RethinkingSurvival.com – with details. It’s not a rival approach, but rather an urgently necessary compliment in need of champions! All best. Pat West

Everyone is welcome to check out the detailed description of the Life Wheel offered Here.

However, below, I will let a few of variations of the Life Wheel stimulate your imaginations. Hint: The positive applications and benefits of accepting it whole were foreseen by Buckminster Fuller.

Here, for example, is the Life Wheel applied to unified Cooperation versus superficial Competition. It pictures the Why, How and What levels of the Golden Circle as well as their equivalents expressed as the variables of Einstein’s formula: mass, energy and light.

Survival

In that picture, I refer to the integrated, Unified Field Theory as our Hope for the Future. That is no small or empty claim.

Another variation places yogic energy centers within the quantum field of experience. The lowest centers correspond with the physical body, the m = mass level of the Wheel. The middle centers fit within the e = energy level. They have to do with e-motions. The heart. As you go higher, the throat center correlates with verbal intelligence. Going higher still along the scale towards the c = light level is intuition.

10. Energy Centers within Life Wheel

Energy center distinctions are important. Every level of perception plays an important part in overall awareness. However, intuition is of a higher order than a gut feeling. Enlightenment is qualitatively different from heart-felt desires.

A final suggestive image pictures what happens when empirical science rules out the inner levels of experience – those which can’t be observed, measured, and quantified. We’re left experiencing our lives as a hollow, empty shell.

Feelings and conscience don’t cease to exist, however. Rather, they’re driven underground. I call the dynamic “fracture.” In The Infinite Game, Simon describes the consequences of fractures as splits, and observes how the dynamic ruins business organizations.

14. Fractures & Epidemics

So here’s my invitation. For the future well-being of all, let’s join forces to tip the balance in favor of cooperation over competition, to restore wholeness and fulfillment over fractured self-destructiveness.

Hope for the Future

My life quest started with a heart-felt question. A poem, actually.

Because in early teen years, I felt a growing, uneasy sense of danger. I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.

But something sure wasn’t right.

So I put ink pen to paper and wrote:

Poem

Since then, bit by bit, the Universe has answered my soul call.

I’m moved to share my story because, as the world becomes increasingly more complicated and dangerous, more and more of us are feeling that angst.

The time is ripe and ready for the answers I was given.

This book is my way of paying forward what gave me help and peace of mind. If what I’ve been given to share does the same for you, my journey will be fulfilled.

Long story short, my searchings led to this answer. The world is suffering from a fatal knowledge deficit. The limited and limiting rules of empirical science cut us off from who we truly are. Public education alienates us from our inborn native power.

No matter how much we feed the illusion of lack with drug, alcohol, food, sex and violence addictions, we’re never satisfied. We can’t be.

Because we’re looking in the wrong place to fill the deepest, universal needs everyone everywhere shares in common.

We’re starving for lack of wholeness. Most of us suffer terribly from the illusion of being cut off from Source.

We’ve been misled into believing that we’re not enough. We’re not smart enough, good enough, rich enough, attractive or lovable enough.

Nothing on the surface of the Life Wheel can satisfy that gnawing sense of emptiness and loneliness. No amount of external input can help.

However, given new and better information, negative beliefs can be changed.

In truth, we’re already okay in a way that can’t be measured or quantified. It’s simply how we were made. We’re inherently whole and complete.

“God don’t make no junk.”

Know Where To Look - sized

When we become aware of who we truly are, always were and always will be, we reconnect with our original, true identity. We come to Really Believe we were born already enough. At our central, unalienable core, we are divinely perfect.

When we truly believe and act on that inner awareness, then no one can ever again sell us on the lie that we’re not okay, not enough. It’s simply not possible. And our lives change dramatically for the better.

* * *

This excerpt comes from the Introduction of You Are Already ENOUGH! How Would Your Life CHANGE If You Really Believed It?

It’s the perfect gift of hope for the new year and decade. Now available on amazon.com.

Bucky Foresaw This

A prerecorded radio interview where I answer questions about You Are Already Enough will be aired on BBS radio on Wednesday, December 18th at 3:00 EST. It was fun. Take a listen!

Because the hosts, Ayay and April Matta, like stories, I told them my favorite from the book.

Did you know that Einstein and Buckminster Fuller actually met?

Here’s how it happened.

In 1936, Bucky dedicated three chapters of an upcoming book to Einstein’s formula, e = mc2. But the publisher at Lippincott of Philadelphia would have none of it.

“Only nine people in the world understand Einstein,” he was told. “And you aren’t on the list.”

But Bucky wasn’t phased. “Ask Einstein whether I’m right,” he challenged his publisher. “Send him a copy of my chapters and let him decide.”

Einstein was contacted.

Six months later, Bucky got a phone call from New York.

Einstein not only confirmed that Fuller understood his work very well, but asked for a meeting.

In his book, Bucky expressed his certainty that the abstract physics formula e = mc2 had many practical future applications.

Einstein was surprised and doubted it. He said, “Young man, you amaze me. I cannot conceive of anything I have ever done having the slightest practical application.”

But a year and a half later, Hahn and Stressemann discovered theoretical fission. President Roosevelt authorized $85 billion to fund the Manhattan project. And, much to his long-term regret, Einstein was drafted by the U.S. military to collaborate in designing an atomic bomb.

bomb sized

But that’s not where the story ends.

By integrating the wisdom of Yoga Sutras with quantum physics, we now have Einstein’s intuited Unified Field Theory, with the “consciousness factor” included.

It opens up a broad field of positive applications of that formula, similar to what Bucky foresaw. Their positive potential is more than powerful enough to off-set the destruction of Japanese lives at the end of WWII.

02a. Unfied Field Theory

The Life Wheel embodies the secret of the Creation itself, the extension from light to word to matter as well as the cyclical process of return to Source. Alpha-Omega.

Napoleon Hill and his followers tapped into this secret. Calling it “The Law of Attraction,” they’ve used it to manifest abundance and prosperity.

Napoleon Hill

If you’d like too know the rest of the story, You Are Already ENOUGH! How Would Your Life Change If You Really Believed It? is now available on amazon.

It’s the perfect gift of hope for the Holiday Season.

Redeeming Einstein

After my affinity with Einstein came up at a recent lunch date, the post dedicated to Dr. Joe Dispenza morphed. The new title reflects that change, but the promised subjects of Creativity and Genius fit in perfectly. I promise.

At the Sportman’s Bar in Muscoda, I was telling Courtney, a friendly banker, about my early fascination with Einstein. He was a violinist, as was I. The violin is an instrument that mirrors human anatomy. Names given to its parts reflect this – the neck, back, belly and spine. I grew up thinking of myself as an instrument of consciousness; tuning that instrument has been a life-long quest. And I was certain Einstein resonated with the instrument, that his famous formula reflected this mindset.

The conversation with Courtney went from meditation, to energy centers, to mental metabolism. She intuitively understood what I was saying. It wasn’t all that complicated, I told her. Many teachers express the same basics, but in different ways.

Then it clicked on me. I said, “The greatest, most important ideas can be stated clearly. Simply.”

I was thinking of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. It perfectly meets Occam’s razor standard of maximum inclusiveness with greatest simplicity.

So I opened to the blank side of a page and sketched the picture of The Unified Field Theory for her. He didn’t recognize what he’d been given, I said, because his thinking was linear. He lacked yoga training and the concept of concentric circles unified around a central core, linked by an infinity sign:

Unified Field Theory

This is how Creativity and Genius are explained, as well as our ability to access them through the quantum field during profound meditation.

The inward path leads towards stillness. Linking with the Universal Mind, one taps into the mind of the Creator and takes a sip of that creativity. The return, outward path manifests what was received in silence. That expression is recognized as a work of genius.

Here’s a modification of the basic Wheel, which to me looks strikingly like a flower:

Wisdom Overcomes Fear

The left-hand side represents the materialist mindset of empirical science. That’s the surface, m = mass level of the Life Wheel. Only what’s observable and measurable is allowed in this reality. The middle, e = energy level associated with emotions and subconscious programming as well as the innermost levels of light and Source are taboo. Ruled out. Which is why Einstein missed it.

Whereas the right-hand side represents the complete experience of a creative, holistic worldview. All the levels are allowed, linked, prioritized and in harmonious, infinite exchange. This is the reality paradigm acknowledged by the ancients.

Now, though by cultural conditioning, Einstein was cut off from a deliberate, consistent experience of wholeness, through music he had flashes of in-sight. When he got stuck, he’d take out his fiddle. The genius of Mozart relaxed and opened his mind. He honored those rare and precious flashes of intuition. He freely admitted that the famous formula came from inspiration, not reason.

I told Courtney how dearly I want this Unified Field Theory with all its implications and applications to reach the general public. And that I recognize the “three amigos” (Joe Dispenza, Gregg Braden and Bruce Lipton) as the ones best qualified to make this happen: their work resonates in wonderfully synchronous ways with the wisdom of the Universal Avatar whom I served.

I owe it to Einstein, I told her, to complete his work. I can only imagine the grief and regret — the absolute horror — he felt when when his work was used to destroy life.

Along parallel lines, working in the corporate world instilled in Gregg Braden a foreboding of annihilation so powerful that he changed careers, in essence to honor Einstein’s warning:

“Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison [of illusory separateness] by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. . . . We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

To redeem the catastrophic misuse of Einstein’s work, the  opposite and equal, unifying and creative uses of his formula must become universally well-known.  

We owe it to Einstein and to ourselves to include this simple, elegant explanation of how meditation works, as well as its potential risks, when teaching others.

And I’ll give you another picture, in OA’s honor, because he was closely aligned with Christ and deeply deplored rampant abuse of biblical teachings. Just as OA was so far beyond human understanding that those who loved him could only accept and gratefully follow him, he told us that the original disciples of Jesus could barely fathom him.

One of the later teachers (forgive me for not doing a Bible search) . . . it was probably Paul . . . likened Christ’s essence to the matrix. That’s the exact word. And this is how I pictured it in Life Wheel context:

Christ Broadcasts

This image likewise suggests the possibility of rebirth in the same lifetime open to meditators with the self-honesty, discipline and grit to overcome limitations of the past.

For the sake of the message, please forgive imperfect presentation. These images were created early on, while I was still teaching myself the basics of blogging and photo-shopping.

But they suffice to give an inkling of how, as old paradigms no longer serve, we can return to this model of creation to envision future sciences that will serve us better . . . new approaches to healing, education, law, community, governance, etc. etc.

Given the opportunity, I would gladly participate in this work. If a more hospitable work environment and resources were made available, there’s so much that could be accomplished. In any case, I invite the three amigos to OWN the UFT. Modify it in as many creative ways as possible. Disseminate it . . . “for the good of all.”

So be it.

Angel Calling

Rethinking SURVIVAL

Today’s post is written with a wink and a nod towards the venerable Bruce Lipton, who confirmed through science what the ancients earlier believed about our eternal spirit.

I’m winking because I totally empathize with the frustration you experienced, being ahead of your times, virtually unheard for decades. The good news is, however long it took, the public is finally getting there.

Being in my 74th year, I too have waited a long time, the patient custodian of work with the potential to alter the outcomes of our extreme times. This work augments yours.

I’m nodding towards you here, thinking perhaps getting your attention could make a difference in whether this vitally important work finally sees the light of day.

The stakes could not be higher, so here’s my best shot. But not to worry. I’ll keep it simple and interesting, so the taste of this sample leaves you wanting more.

My point has three parts:

  • Part One describes your discovery and how it validates ancient wisdom – in particular, Lao Tze.
  • Part Two looks forward towards the work I could bring to the table. It complements both empirical science and ancient wisdom – in particular, the Life Wheel which embodies Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. (Yes, though unawares, he had, in fact, received it.)
  • Part Three looks at apparently contradictory definitions of “survival.” I place them in the context of the Life Wheel, the better to confirm that part of us which never dies, and, further, to suggest how best to use that knowledge to regenerate ourselves and in the process, create a better future.

Phoenix - sized

Part One. Here, in your own words, transcribed from a 2015 Youtube video, “A Message of Love,” is the story of your transformational discovery:

The most profound teachers I ever sat before . . . were so magnificent that I can’t fully put [their lessons] into words. Who were those teachers? They were the cells that I was working on in a petri dish. Talking to them. Watching them, day-by-day. Seeing how they lived. And then opening to the message.

That message?

They showed me from my point of view and my reference to life, that there was something called “spirituality” that I didn’t know existed. . . . And the moment I saw the mechanics of how a signal from the universe comes into my body-suit, my virtual reality suit. . . There was this instant of recognition. I said, “Oh my God! I can’t die!”

The result:

It was an OWNING of spirit. . . And the moment I owned it, a weight I never even knew I was carrying around . . . whoosh . . . disappeared. Because I became free for the first time to recognize I’m here for something other than my [mundane] life. I’m going to own who I AM. I’m a spirit that has come to this planet to experience and to create and to manifest heaven on earth.. . It’s an understanding that it’s all driven by love.

Now, in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tze repeatedly confirms what you experienced as our inherent immortality. For example, Passage 16 describes the creative process:

16 quote

Conscious life continues on, rooted in a reality larger than a single lifetime. Passage 54 tells us:

54 quote

Passage 33 urges us to be steadfast in our experience of eternal life:

33 quote

Even further, when meditators intentionally pierce the veil of illusion, traveling back through and beyond time and space, they are, as Dr. Joe Dispenza puts it, “reborn in the same life time.”

Or, in your words:

I now have two lives. I have previous learning life. Struggle, anger, control, trying to fix everything. And I have post experience. A calmness. An understanding that it’s all driven by love. Even if other people can’t see through their filters of criticism, they’re still driven by love. Every one of you is a piece of all that IS. Every one of you!

The first Passage from my version, Two Sides of a Coin, gives words to the way ancients experienced travel beyond time:01

Tai Chi Tu

Part Two. Now, how do we identify and connect with that unchanging source, the “unified center achieved in stillness” of which Lao Tze speaks? Where is it located? Within us? Outside and all around us? Both?

To quote myself:

In working with wisdom traditions, I’ve become certain that each is striving to express a particular aspect of a single, unnameable Truth. Further, each is a mosaic piece of a larger picture. When the pieces are put together, the sum is greater than its parts.

The Positive Paradigm of Change adapted from the Life Wheel is that larger picture. It draws from wisdom traditions, both East and West. It is consistent with biblical teachings and the essence of I Ching philosophy. It is yoga-compatible. In addition, it’s equally compatible with modern science.

In Rethinking Survival, the Positive Paradigm of Change is described as:

. . . . a new, inclusive reality map, one people worldwide can easily comprehend and agree upon. It is equally compatible with scriptures and science, bridging the gap between them. It fulfills Einstein’s intuited search for the Unified Field Theory, picturing how all parts of creation are related, interwoven and interdependent.

Working with the Positive Paradigm empowers the “substantially new manner of thinking,” which, Einstein said, is necessary “if mankind is to survive.”

It looks like this:

Unified Field Theory

The Positive Paradigm wheels-within-wheels model consists of concentric circles around a common center. It places the three variables of Albert Einstein’s famous formula, e = mc2 (energy, mass and light) in a two-directional, infinite continuum.

This Synthesis Wheel mirrors the microcosmic structure of atoms as well as the macrocosmic structure of planetary systems. On the largest scale of magnitude, it reflects the in- and out-breaths of perpetually expanding and contracting universes.

This familiar structure repeats smallest to largest in the patterns of nature, from snow flakes and intricate flowers to spiders’ webs and sea shells. Similar patterns repeat worldwide in the art of every culture — including the prayer wheels of Native Americans, the colored sand mandalas of Tibetan Buddhists, the stained glass windows of European cathedrals and the intricate geometrical patterns covering Muslim mosques. They offer proof of the universal awareness of a central inner reality, of an inner structure common to all humanity, and to a continuity of experience deeper than individual lives or transitory cultures.

Elsewhere, I’ve described its value thusly:

This Wheel of Change is a paradigm, meaning a worldview. It offers a positive alternative to the prevailing, dysfunctional paradigms which cause so much misery. It is an inclusive reality map that accords with the way life truly is, showing the full spectrum of human potentials. It explains how the world works, how the individual fits into it, and what is required to truly survive.

Unlike exclusively materialistic, atheistic, hedonist or religionist paradigms, all levels of experience are present, and in balanced, aligned relationship with each other. Nothing is missing. Nothing is out of place.

This paradigm pictures an elegantly simple yet complete reality map that meets the standard of Occam’s razor: maximum inclusiveness with greatest simplicity.

I explain the levels, with this caveat:

Yoga scriptures correlate the three levels of the Wheel with three different states of consciousness. Most of us experience the states of waking, sleep and dreamless sleep separately. However, it is possible to experience the entire continuum simultaneously while remaining fully conscious.

In the terms of modern brain science, this is accomplished by not only integrating functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, but by simultaneously coordinating the full span of vibrational brain wave frequencies from fastest (beta) to slowest (delta). The fully enlightened sage’s experience of linking the levels is called “turyia.” In that state, a highly accomplished being is said to be “here and there at the same time.”

The concentric circles aren’t literally separate and discrete. Rather, they are a continuum along the infinite spectrum of creation. Within each layer are numerous distinctions verified only by direct experience. For the sake of the following discussion, however, the three levels are described as if discrete, starting from the surface of the Wheel and moving inwards.

And with that said, here are the three states:

m = mass. The outer rim of the circle is the realm of the material, manifested world of creation. This level is the abode of empirical science which measures tangible, measurable things. It is the plane of duality, the fluctuating ebb and flow of mortal life, the ups and downs of daily experience.

It is the realm into which public school education too often squeezes and flattens children. This is the level of which Einstein said, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

Those focused excessively here are unduly attached to material possessions as well as to money, social status and institutional power. Here appearances are more important than substance. Saving face replaces authentic virtue.

Paradoxically, out of balance, abundance on the material plane seems to foster an insatiable sense of lack. Limited connection with the center breeds insecurities and greed. The infinite variations on the same eternal forms are misconstrued as grounds for cultural conflict and competition for illusory supremacy.

When people live primarily on the surface, with the middle (primarily “unconscious”) level clogged and in conflict, systems break down. Attempting to fix problems caused by this inner turmoil at the superficial level can not achieve any lasting, qualitative improvement.

e = energy. Much ignorance, misinformation and confusion surrounds the energy level of the Wheel. The state of chaos into which the world has degenerated attests to this deficiency, as well as the urgent need to correct it.

The middle level is the domain of Natural Law mapped in the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change. These changes are the energetic underpinnings of the dynamic, physical world, experienced as the recurring cycles of seasonal change, as well as humans cycles of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

The middle layer is the realm of less tangible but still measurable states of energy, including electricity. More subtly, it is the chi, ki or prana described in Asian traditions as the life force which animates all living beings. In Greek and Christian contexts it correlates with the breath, the psyche.

These subtle energies influence internal [most often ‘unconscious’] psychological states and drive external human behavior, which in turn affects social relationships. A clear understanding of these dynamics is essential to personal survival.

Now, as you’ll recall, I earlier asked, “How do we identify and connect with that unchanging source, the “unified center achieved in stillness” of which Lao Tze speaks? Where is it located?”

The answer rests deep within the levels of “Light” and “Source of Light” at the central hub of the Wheel:

c = light. The hub of the wheel, the Source of Light, is innermost state of being. It is silent yet fertile, that from which all forms emanate and to which all return. It is the alpha and omega, the ultimate and exclusive source of infinite light and power.

Merging with this all-encompassing source of consciousness is what scriptures refer to, quite literally, as “enlightenment.”

The deepest center is the original seed of life from which creative solutions and new beginnings emerge in answer to the prayers and sincere efforts of those who hear and do. It’s the unfailing source, deeper than ephemeral fears, which gives survivors the inner strength to withstand the sudden shocks and catastrophic changes of Titanic times.

The experience of light is described with worlds like inspiration, intuition or guidance.

Unlike the levels of mass and energy, which can be described at length from experience, the center of light is best honored in silence. Or at least as few words as possible.

0 Hush

Here’s just one example of the myriad ways the Life Wheel is adapted to picture deep understanding. It plugs Passage One into the levels of the Wheel, depicting Lao Tze’s travel away from previous life learning – struggle, anger and control on the outer rim of the Life Wheel – towards the innermost, post-experience of supreme calm.

Inward-pointing arrows trace the path of release; outward-pointing arrows point towards physical manifestation. In the words of the biblical God of Moses, this repetitive, full-circle dynamic is spoken as a command: “Return unto me and I return unto you.”

II-8 rev

Way cool, huh!

Part Three. At the outset, I promised to look at apparently contradictory definitions of “survival” by placing them in Life Wheel context. Briefly, it’s important to rescue the word from the negative context of stress. Survival emotions are counterproductive. However, survival also means to continue to exist through dangerous situations, to live when death seemed imminent. It can be associated with being alive and enduring. Viable ancient customs and beliefs, for example, are said to survive through the ages.

The ongoing concern of this website, RethinkingSurvival.com is based on this premise:

Human survival, Einstein warned us, can no longer be taken for granted. Tipping the scales of history in favor of survival depends on freeing ourselves from the mental prison of limited, delusional thinking.

Again, quoting myself:

Chances of success in life are slim to none without an accurate reality map. It’s imperative to have a complete picture of your potentials along with a correct understanding of the world around you, and what’s required to survive in that world. Basing decisions on a worldview that’s distorted, incomplete or otherwise out of synch with the way things really are seriously diminishes chances of survival. In times as dangerous as these, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re operating on complete and correct information.

To the point, just briefly, I’ll introduce the Fifth Axiom derived from the Positive Paradigm. “History Is Neither Progressive or Linear, Nor can Human Survival Be Taken for Granted.”

The final Corollary E: An apparent death sentence makes time remaining all the more precious. In biblical terms, awareness of impending disaster is motive and opportunity to repent (meaning to change one’s heart and ways), and to atone (meaning to realign – be ‘at one’ – with the center), using the gift of whatever time is left gratefully, wisely and well.

Some will actually defy medical/historical prognosis and survive to carry on, whether it be here, in other dimensions or even different universes. (Science fiction fans of TV’s two-hearted, regenerating time traveler Dr. Who are well-acquainted with these possibilities.)

CONCLUSION

Bruce, your time has arrived. You get to travel the world, sharing your insights. I’d love to do the same. But mine has yet to come. The I Ching, the super-ancient foundation of Lao Tze’s wisdom, has yet to be reintroduced, refurbished, for survivors who urgently need access to the cosmic clock. Its 64 hexagrams (does that non-coincidental number make you think of DNA?! ), and each of the six-level AC-DC, binary-digital constructs are a short-hand representing the dynamic interactions amongst the six primary energy centers. . . tons of information is stored here like buried treasure to be recovered through diligent re-search. (Understatement.)

But, just maybe, my reaching out to a fellow early-adaptive thinker might change that. After all, within the quantum field of God, all things are possible!

N.B. I’ve already written a post for your compadre, Gregg Braden. On the drawing board is another, on Creativity and Genius, favorite words of another amigo, Joe Dispenza. So is a final one, The Universal Pattern.

Ripples in Time

 

 

Invitation to Gregg Braden

Dear Gregg,

Repeatedly, I find myself astonished at how closely our wisdom quests have run parallel. It is as if we were spiritual twins, the same but, at the same time, compliments. That is to say, just as you have traveled to places I haven’t been, my work fills in blanks where yours has left you with unanswered questions.

I addressed one of your questions in an earlier post:

Physicists throughout the world are struggling to build a new story of you, me, our creation and the beginning of our universe, because the old story is no longer working. Science has been struggling to come up with a Unified Field Theory.

You continued:

They cannot find that unified field because their thinking  . . is incomplete. The piece they’ve left out is consciousness. (37:20) Traditionally, scientists have been reluctant or resistant to include consciousness in the Unified Theory.

I’ve supplied that missing piece, placing the variables of Einstein’s theory within the concentric circles of the Life Wheel which has appeared in sacred art throughout the world for thousands of years. The result is the Unified Field Theory Einstein already had, but missed. It is consistent with Yoga Sutras and the Old Testament as well as with quantum physics. It embodies the timeless secret of creation.

Unified Field Theory

Even more exciting, this model can be activated and personalized in countless ways to picture the fractures and distortions we bring to our personal and organizational lives. Creating new Life Wheels becomes a means for designing intentional futures, ones aligned with original wholeness.

The second, related question you posed was this:

If I came to this world from another world and I could ask one question . . . I would ask, What is the one thing that we have in this world that would wake us up and remind us that we’re a family, that we are more than the differences that have separated us in the past and that we are too precious to kill ourselves in war? What is the one thing that could be awakened in this lifetime and shared with every human on the face of the earth that will remind them of that truth?

Your question resonates with the ancient one posed in the Manduka Upanishad, “What is that, knowing which, all else is known?”

Here, in the form of a picture worth a thousand words, is my response. It speaks to yet another, similar question from Joseph Campbell (popular student of comparative world religions):

We don’t have a mythology for people recognizing the humanity of a person on the other side of the hemisphere. I’ve often wondered if some of the notions coming out of quantum physics, quantum interconnectedness, don’t express that.

This picture modifies the concentric circles of Albert Einstein’s Unified Field Theory, placing his beloved compass (seed of compass-ion) at the heart of the Life Wheel, honoring his well-known warning:

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 . . . 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. . We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. [emphasis added]

circle compass of compassion

Now, Gregg, what we share in common is a profound, even urgent sense that at this time in history, the mosaic pieces scattered throughout various wisdom traditions must be recovered and integrated, the better to survive and prevail through the testing times that lie before us.

A major contribution I make to your work is my enduring respect for the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change . . . a subject aptly suited to this time of rapidly accelerating change. It is the ancient of ancients, predating even the Sanskrit Vedas. It informed the understandings which resulted in my Life Wheel work, which Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras serve to confirm.

As written:

This is a book that truly belongs to the world. It transcends, in its essence, the limitations of time and space. Used correctly, as intended, it leads the ordinary mind towards experiences of self-awareness and transformative transcendence.

Further:

The Book of Change combines the best of many worlds. On the one hand, it is pure logic and math. Its binary-digital code long predates both Leibniz’s calculus and computer science.

On the other hand, it leads inwards, serving to link the material world of physical experience (empirical science) with its ultimate source (the realm of con-science).

Working with it, one starts in immediate, practical experience, with the option to travel to the opposite end of the reality scale, merging with the mystical. This interactive book, regarded by some as magical, depends on the phenomena of synchronicity to link person, time and events in the decision-making process.

In The Ultimate Gatekeeper, I supplied preliminary hints.

The extraordinary value of the I Ching is that it reveals the secrets of dynamic Natural Law. Working with its changes opens access to the middle level of the Life Wheel, the “e = energy” layer of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory.

Further:

Unfortunately, the middle level is too often clogged with painful memories, negative emotions and repressed, socially taboo urges. It becomes a barrier to deeper knowing . . . .

For eight thousand years and counting, the Book of Change has served as an indispensable tool for resolving this dilemma. Used as intended, it can restore the unnecessarily “unconscious” to conscious awareness, opening levels of potential so they can be aligned and unified. . . .

To the extent that the Natural Law of energy dynamics remains a blind spot in the prevailing, linear and exclusively empirical paradigm, we are left powerless to move beyond the surface level of experience.. . .

Making this compendium of Natural Law — the premier leadership training and decision-making manual in China for thousands of years — widely accessible now is necessary in order to fill in this fatal knowledge gap.

It also suggests how and why meditative practices can “upgrade” DNA:

The 64 changes of the Book of Change have been correlated with the 64 basic strands of DNA. Nor is it coincidence that Chinese ideogram for I Ching bears a striking resemblance to the double helix of DNA.

side by side

In Stay Alert to Cosmic Patterns, I described benefits of working with the Book of Change:

For ordinary mortals (like me), who aren’t always present and clear, the discipline of settling down the physical body and quieting the mind is a great help. Then, the practice of carefully defining the immediate situation leads to the formulation of coherent questions. In this higher, open and receptive frequency of mind, magic can happen. You bridge the gap between now and the future. It’s experienced as a synchronous connection between yourself and timeless wisdom – call it intuition or angelic guidance, as you will.

In Self-Awareness Tools for Empaths, I offered this perspective:

The text has a long history. In the last century, psychologist Carl Jung picked up on it. In his introduction to the first genuinely useful English translation, Jung coined the term “synchronicity” to explain its power – precipitating seemingly magical and awesome non-local connections of understanding, insight, and awareness.

This affect may be due to the similarity between the opening and closing lines of the 64 hexagrams and the geometric patterns seen by meditators in deep trance. (Dr. Joe Dispenza is a fan of synchronisities. He tells students, as they grow in their meditative practice, to look for confirming synchronisities to appear in their lives.)

Tai Chi Tu

Now, I have followed your work for many years. Why have I chosen to contact you only now? . . . .  the date September 28, 2019 is a pivotal one. I quote at length to explain.

Right now we are experiencing significant energy shifts. Many of us are integrating significant energy changes at every level of being. A major contributing factor is the Schumann resonance. It represents the frequency of the Earth’s electromagnetic field, usually measured at around 7.83 Hertz.

It has had very few major variations since the 1950s. However, since June of 2014 [not coincidentally the year I published the RethinkingSurvival website] there have been many changes in the Schumann resonance. The vibration of what is essentially the Earth’s heartbeat has been accelerating. Just this past week, the frequency reached up to 99 Hertz. That’s a huge leap.

As human beings we have our own frequencies relative to our own electromagnetic fields and naturally attune our frequency to that of the Earth’s heartbeat.

The Earth’s frequency has a significant impact on how we feel, particularly physically affecting our brain waves and nervous systems. And we know that what changes in the body changes also in the mind and the spirit.

The Earth is undergoing a major change and human spiritual collective consciousness is changing right along with it. This vibration, this cosmic music, is working to heal us as a collective, in part by flushing out stored emotional memories, most especially traumatic thinking and behavioral patterning.

Once we have cleared out the past negative patterns, our consciousness, as well as our bodies and souls, will naturally be able to follow and match the cosmic metronome in a harmonious, unified manner.

The higher purpose and meaning of this is UNITY. We are growing into greater awareness of our unity with all.

Phoenix - sized

 

To Save the World, First Save Yourself

The implications of teen climate activist Greta Thunberg’s UN speech are at the heart of this post.

“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, ” she warns. She’s probably right, but for all the wrong reasons. In fact, OA confirmed predictions of a pending Near Extinction Level Crisis (NELC) in posts to his short-lived website, appropriately called OldAvatar.com. 

But, what about all the wrong reasons?

Well, let’s see. Of all the looming natural and human disasters competing to destroy the planet, where do her specific fears fit in (if at all)? Could it be they are an intentional distraction from valid, urgent issues? Can the United Nations fix any of the very real dangers (or is it part of the problem)?

And how plausible is it that an autistic 16-year old pawn, coached by handlers, reading a scripted message, gets to lecture a gathering of world leaders with an angry, guilt-ladened message: “We will never forgive you.” (A moot point if we’re going extinct.)

Not to mention that there’s a whole lot of virtue signaling going on, meaning that behind the front of an undeniably worthy cause with which we all must agree (saving the planet for the sake of future generations), not-so-hidden agendas combined with the toxicity of her presentation skew the message.

Despite the implied unity in the organization’s handle, United Nations, it seems to me that this drama is pushing yet another fracture onto the world stage. The future generation is being pitted against its elders.

Yuppers. All the ingredients of big trouble brewing. What to do about it?

Let me switch gears for a moment. I’ll get back to this in good time.

blessing tap sized.

Now, OA’s way of showing me affection was to gently tap the center of my forehead. This blessing always made me smile, received as a kindly reminder to focus. “Get smart.” “Remember who you are.”

When we spoke of commitment, he tapped my heart. His formula was Head + Heart = YES.

And so it was. And IS.

I believe Dr. Joe Dispenza, Gregg Braden and folks at the HeartMath Institute would call this balanced unity of spirit “head-heart congruence.” It is the foundation of inner wholeness and resilience, the key qualities they recommend for thriving in this polarized “time of extremes.”

Head-Heart Congruence

Expressed another way, this modification of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory expresses inward unity as it extends outwards through the quantum field, informing all relationships. The seven levels of being are aligned, activated, in synch and in balance.

Wheel2

Here’s how the Book of Change sees Unity:

IC 8 UNITY.jpg

Further, Essay 60 on Unity brings both inner unity and doubts regarding the United Nations into focus:

I have always felt that one of the simplest and most apt metaphors for an organization as complex as the United Nations is the Rorschach inkblot test. What one person sees as the hope of a world free of war, famine, poverty, and disease, another interprets as a global boondoggle comprised of uncaring civil servants threatening the cherished concept of state sovereignty. — James Holtje, Divided It Stands: Can the United Nations Work

In contrast, it quotes Martin Luther King, Jr.:

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Another quote focuses on the unity of creative genius:

The scientist or the artist takes two facts or experiences which we separate; he finds in them a likeness which had not been seen before: and he creates a unity by showing the likeness. . . . All science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses. — Jacob Bronowski, quoted by Todd Siler in Think Like a Genius

Essay 60 continues:

Effective, consistent action depends on an integrated concept of self and a comfortable relationship of each part with the whole. Therefore, thinking carefully about what unity means — as well as what it doesn’t — is a necessary prelude to ultimate success in life.

It points out the benefit of harmonizing practices like those taught by Dr. Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden:

The motive, the “why” of psychologies and meditative practices is the same: to unify fragmented, antagonistic functions of mind, personality and behavior. The purpose, the “what” they plan to accomplish ranges from personal self-mastery to inner peace and/or functional relationships.

. . . Once one is focused and all the facets of inner energy are coordinated by a single-minded purpose, the pieces of life’s mosaic fall into place, forming a coherent picture.

It also places unity within the larger context of the Life Wheel:

External diversity complements inner unity. The core of life’s concentric circles, like the hub of a wheel, remains still as the outer rim revolves, constantly changing and in motion. Meridians, like spokes of a wheel, link center to surface, connecting and organizing the wheel of life in a dynamic unity.

And concludes with this warning:

Regimentation and conformance are perversions of unity. Though nature flourishes in diversity, and like snowflakes, each individual is a unique variation of its kind, in extreme social contexts variations are suppressed and punished. While this unnatural state might be appropriate to unnatural situations like war, it’s antithetical to personal well-being.

In this context, we have the picture of a fragmented Life Wheel, which may well be the greatest collective danger facing our planet right now. Pretty scary stuff, if you ask me. Reminds me of the bad old Hitler days. We don’t need a repeat of that, thank you anyway.

Disunity

So, where’s the hope? Is there an antidote?

Healers of all persuasions agree: it depends upon each of us restoring unity within. For people content to remain fractured within themselves, in denial of unredeemed personal problems and fiercely committed to saving face at all costs, are in no position to save the world. As Covey said, “First things first.” As the ancients taught, “Physician heal thyself.”

Only by achieving at least a modicum of wholeness, by being committed to the effort to restore head and heart coherence, can we have a unifying affect upon the world around us.

Saving the world, one person at a time, must start with having the courage to be Self-Aware; to have the common sense not to be taken in and over by propagandists; to live true to the true science: Conscience.

Because, in quantum reality, the butterfly effects of self-healing are immeasurable. Each personal victory, however small, has a ripple effect across time and space, changing future outcomes for the better. This (not legislation or political posturing) is how we give genuine hope to future generations.

And so it IS.

Phoenix - sized

Stay Alert To Cosmic Patterns

Ripples in Time

“Be here and now.” This is the yogi’s mantra.

“Be still and know I Am God.” This is the Bible’s instruction.

In the Secret Universal Mind Meditation, Kelley Howell intones, “I am one with God. I am one with God’s plan.”

What do seers attuned to the Universal Mind tell us about that plan for the future?

Dr. Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden describe this as a time of extremes. Dr. Joe understands that there’s some chaos coming. Gregg goes further. He says, not only do world teachings concur in predicting an end to the world as we know it. But further, the world leaders he speaks with consistently express surprise at how quickly this change is coming upon us.

The spiritual brothers agree that cultivating inner wholeness and resilience is the best possible way to prepare for future challenges.

Both are intentionally building an international community of like-minded souls, people committed to overcoming their personal pasts and the “old” paradigm of separation and competition. In so doing, one person at a time, their students are beginning to manifest at home and at work the “new” paradigm of unity and cooperation.

Now, that’s all well and good. It’s very important. As far as it goes.

But they’re leap-frogging over the chaos part.

Once we achieve that inner wholeness, see beyond the veil, as Dr. Joe puts it, how can each of know where we are in time, what to do NOW, and how to prepare for the “unknown” bearing down upon us?

Those who are called to serve operate on a finely tuned sense of timing, as if they have an inner radar attuned to the future. As earlier written:

Some people experience this inner knowing as a sense of personal destiny or keen sensitivity to the zeitgeist direction of the times.

Faith guides our feet, not only towards good fortune, but away from danger. For example. in the New Testament, Joseph, husband of Mary and protector of Jesus, accepted the mother and her child on faith.

And when King Herod, intent on killing new born males to thwart the prophecy of his downfall, Joseph “knew” it was time to escape from Jerusalem to save the infant’s life. He also knew when danger had passed, and it was time to return the boy to his homeland.

When you want to know what time it is now, and what to do, working with a wisdom tool like the Book of Change is an invaluable help. For, Among other things, the I Ching works like a cosmic clock, telling us the time.

mechanical clock

For ordinary mortals (like me), who aren’t always fully present and clear, the discipline of settling down the physical body and quieting the mind is a great help. Then, the practice of carefully defining the immediate situation leads to the formulation of coherent questions. In this higher, open and receptive state of mind, magic can happen. You bridge the gap between now and the future. It’s experienced as a synchronous connection between yourself and timeless wisdom – call it intuition or angelic guidance, as you will.

The Book of Change puts its users in touch with the patterned, pulsating, alternating rhythms of life. It connects them with inner knowing that anticipates approaching changes, the better to prepare for what is to come.

One reading repeatedly received underscores the importance of cultivating inner wholeness and resilience:

51 Shock
This advice is consistent with examples from scripture. In the Old Testament, Noah was called to build an arc. Joseph in Egypt explained the deeper meaning of Pharoah’s prophetic dreams. He warned that years of plenty should be used to store grain to survive through future years of famine.

In essence, that’s what today’s preppers are doing in advance of foreseen chaos coming down the pike at an alarming rate.

OA had a lot to say about this. Specifically, he advocated building intentional communities of like-minded souls as a bulwark against future chaos. Not just internet networks of like-minded souls, but physical, propertied, nitty gritty communities of committed, organized co-workers like the ones Pastor Joe Fox and James Wesley Rawles support.

For this isn’t the first time in repeating cycles of history we’ve arrived at this point. And in the past, under similar circumstances, survivors were those prepared to prevail during tough times.

For example, in The Age of Heretics, Charles Krone observed that in the dark ages, when chaos enveloped the civilized European world, monasteries appeared as islands of purposeful community — centers of learning, healing, hospitality and mutual protection. Similarly, monasteries of refuge from barbarism (think Shaolin) appeared in Asian lands during harsh historical times.

Now, then. Even more fundamentally, leaders equipped to oversee a safe transition though chaotic times will operate on a complete and correct paradigm. Understanding the multidimensional fabric of reality embodied in the Life Wheel, they will well understand how and why wisdom traditions including the Book of Change are instrumental to making future plans.

As it stands, current world leaders who operate from incomplete, extreme and dysfunctional paradigms continue to make decisions that endanger humanity. And as Einstein warned us, the stakes could not be higher. We’re at a crossroads of civilization. Human survival can no longer be taken for granted. We either change the way we think or go extinct.

Einstein home page

The way out of current madness must begin with restoring a complete and correct paradigm, one that is consistent with both the world’s great religions and with modern physics. That is, in effect, what Joe Dispenza, Gregg Braden, and in my own humble way, I have been deliberately working to do.

But the clock is ticking. Time is precious, and not to be wasted with petty conflicts and misunderstandings. Which side are you on? Which future do you choose?

And, if you agree, please share.

11th hour

Good Intentions Are Not Enough

I’m just now beginning to appreciate the depth and wisdom of OA’s early advice. “When dealing with humans,” he warned, “stay on the surface.”

What did he mean, and why is it the necessary and prudent thing to do? I don’t think he meant for me to be superficial, but rather to be ware of what lies beneath the surface images others project.

Because the unredeemed human condition is fractured. Beneath the superficial mask of good intentions, in most of us there festers an energy body riddled by the full spectrum of unconscious negative emotions: insecurity, hatred, rage, aggression, hostility, hopelessness, powerlessness, depression, guilt and shame. Fractures

Sadly, despite the best of good intentions, uninformed humans seem powerless to bring about the positive changes they want for their lives. Dr. Joe Dispenza tells us why:

Much of the programming in the subconscious mind was impressed on our early childhood minds when we lived in the non-verbal theta brain-wave state. And by the time we are 35 years old:

. . . 95% of who you are is a set of memorized behaviors and emotional reactions, beliefs and perceptions that function just like a subconscious computer program.

So when people initiate change, in effect they’re pitting the puny 5% of the conscious mind against the overwhelming 95% of what has been stored away unawares, embedded in the energy centers and internal organs. With even the slightest lapse of conscious attention, the preponderance of subliminal programming kicks in, hijacking the conscious mind.

Worse, as R.D. Laing described in Knots, the final hypnotic command in our programming is to forget that we’ve been hypnotized. We have been forbidden to be aware that we’ve been violated and abused, of what we’re doing and why, which makes positive change virtually impossible.

Now, the good news is that, thanks to the profound and uplifting work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, there’s a way out of this madness. You have to dearly want out. But when the time is right, when you’re totally ready and willing to do the work to create a better future, all things are possible. The testimonies of students who have experienced miraculous healings and personal transformations give abundant proof.

Here’s how.

Dr. Joe has translated yogic meditative practices which purify and uplift the energy centers into an understandable, practical, science-based method. His books speak to the critical, doubting rational mind. He explains in terms of physics, cutting edge research and medicine, supported by diagrams, photos and case histories. He details all that is possible, how and why.

Then, his meditation CDs make it happen. They talk to the subconscious mind which needs to be activated and reprogrammed to match one’s conscious intentions. The accompanying music in these CDs resonates with and stimulates the energy centers. It is a powerful component in the transformative process. This is because, as you go deeper and slower into the brain-wave states, you’re accessing the theta level of awareness where childhood wounds and confusions are stored, as are later traumas. It looks like this:

Heal fractures

Until very recently, the sciences which train us to access and harness the energies of the middle level of the Life Wheel were the missing link in our knowledge banks. Without this knowledge, even with the best of intentions, we go terribly wrong and are baffled as to why. When we operate from an incomplete paradigm and lack the tools to complete our lives, we’re operating blind. We can’t identify the place where things are messed up. Worse, we don’t know how to return to a positive path.

But now the Unified Field Theory and quantum healing tools are available. Dr. Joe explains:

We know that when people begin to unmemorize those emotional states, they lower the volume on the emotion that’s signaling the gene in the wrong way. And if the emotion is a record of the past, the moment the person overcomes that emotion, they’re free now to create a new future and, according to the religious model, they’re born again in the same life.

So now it’s up to you. What are your priorities? Are you willing to take the time and make the effort to heal your fractured life and create a better future? Can you afford not to?

Angel Calling

Leadership NOW

flock

In 1983, during “getting to know you” conversations with OA (the one we respectfully called Old Avatar), he offered a choice between two avenues of service. The first was to teach, encourage and, if necessary, provide assistance. The second was to protect the innocent and those in need – to have their backs in the ongoing, multidimensional war between good and evil.

The precise technical terms he used went over my head, but I got it that he was a “universal avatar.” This is just one of his universes. (Yes indeed. Truth is sometimes way stranger than fiction.) As such, he could instruct along whatever path we chose – be it teacher, healer or spiritual warrior. His spirit was so vast and all-encompassing that anyone who sincerely asked in their hearts for wisdom could tap into his universal mind.

This isn’t to say he was without his personal ways. Though displaying genius in everything he touched, he was modest and unassuming. And great fun. He had a knack for bringing out the best in people. For about ten years during the 1990s, he focused his computer skills into building a karaoke business. Using his sound systems, even the most shy and unskilled singer magically sounded like a rock star. He used music to build community. “Clapping 101.” Encourage and support your buddies!

At the same time, on a deeper level, OA was continuously broadcasting information in all directions, throughout all time and space. Anyone open to wisdom picked up on his “thoughts.” The proof was everywhere. To me, it seemed miraculous. When he needed a better, faster computer, for example, exactly what he had “in mind” would “suddenly” appear on the market.

Many of his ideas, word for word, started to echo in the teachings of popular thought leaders. Whoever heard and followed through on his messages, he accepted his family.

Kelley Howell is surely his sister. She produces meditative tapes and CDs true to his message. One is actually called The Secret Universal Mind Meditation. OA gave me this CD, encouraging me to benefit from its use. In the rough times since his passing, I return to it often.

Another Healing Meditation available on YouTube is “ highly recommended by doctors and offered to patients at America’s most prestigious cancer treatment hospitals.”

Here is its description on amazon.com:

. . . blissful states of reverie . . . enhance immune function and activate the body’s natural healing abilities. In this quantum state of renewal, your body triggers its own powerful bio-chemicals to heal illness and cure disease. [my emphasis]

She begins with these basic facts:

Fact 1: Your body can manufacture and administer the precise balance of neurochemicals that can reverse illness and cure disease. Your body possesses the innate capacity to heal itself.

Fact 2: Science has proven, beyond doubt, that the contents of our thoughts and emotions directly and immediately influence our biochemistry.

Fact 3: You can consciously influence and direct the body’s output of healthy chemical information through meditation and visualization techniques.

Howell works in a yin, relaxation mode. Dr. Joe Dispenza repeats the same healing message in more yang, energetic meditation CDs like Blessing the Energy Centers and Walking Meditation. Both approaches use advanced sound technologies, as did OA, to amplify the affect of their words.

Now, Dr. Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden are two of OA’s true brothers. Both are reformulating the timeless teachings. as I have also been given to do, free of the alienating overlay of corrupted abuse. Each is expanding the meaning of “science” (which simply means “with knowledge”) to include the full spectrum of not only empirical methods but also the deeper, introspective ones.

Since OA’s recent passing, I’m just now getting acquainted their work. In astonishing, synchronistic ways, each has been creating public readiness for the complimentary work I bring to the table.

For example, in a conversation in London back in 2015, the two discussed leadership, healing and physics. They intended to “paint a holistic picture of the nature of human consciousness and the potential for development.”

Gregg Braden said:

Physicists throughout the world are struggling to build a new story of you, me, our creation and the beginning of our universe, because the old story is no longer working. Science has been struggling to come up with a Unified Field Theory.

And continued:

They cannot find that unified field because their thinking . . . is incomplete. The piece they’ve left out is consciousness. (37:20) Traditionally, scientists have been reluctant or resistant to include consciousness in the Unified Theory.

I’ve supplied that missing piece, placing the variables of Einstein’s theory within the concentric circles of the Life Wheel which has appeared in sacred art throughout the world for thousands of years. The result is the Unified Field Theory Einstein already had, but missed. It is consistent with the Yoga Sutras and the Old Testament as well as with quantum physics.

PPoC

Even more exciting, this static model can be activated and personalized in countless ways to picture the fractures and distortions we bring to our personal and organizational lives. Creating new Life Wheels becomes a means for designing a better future more in alignment with original wholeness.

I will use, as an example, Braden’s observation made early in the London discussion. As previously described in Rethinking LEADERSHIP:

Gregg Branden remarked that he finds the shift towards the quantum awareness needed to create a better future MOST in the general population. Where he sees it LEAST is in the leadership of our nations.

Now, why is this? It can be pictured in terms of fragmentation and distortions of the Life Wheel. As also mentioned in that post, world leaders focus primarily at the third, solar plexus level of consciousness. To the extent they are out of touch with higher levels – disrespect or even deny the existence of love or conscience – they (and the rest of us) are in deep trouble.

People who operate primarily at the third energy center level, especially when they live an unexamined life plagued by unresolved personal issues, dominate the leadership field. Narcissism is being pinpointed by an increasing number of observers as a growing epidemic, particularly in the political area. This is probably another way of describing distorted third chaka dominance.

I pictured fractures between outer and inner life, appearances, emotions and capacity for introspection in a 2014 post, How Bad People Become Leaders. It was written in response to this question:

It seems many leadership models characterize leadership as a universal good . . [but] it’s hard to give much credence to any model that can’t explain how ‘bad people’ become leaders. What thoughts do you have on this?

I responded:

A “scientific” leadership selection process takes into account only that which is measurable, for example academic IQ. Intangibles like the presence or absence of cultivated Emotional Intelligence (street smarts) fly under the radar, as do ethical intelligence, creativity and a capacity for visionary insight.

Further:

When selectors judge only by appearances, it’s easy to deceive them. As Lincoln said, “You can fool all of the people some of some of the time, and some of the people all of the time.” Those are pretty good odds for an ambitious con artist.

I offered a picture of levels out of synch:

In a second variation, all levels of the Wheel are operational, but they operate intermittently and out of synch, each disassociated from the others. The smallest circle which represents Conscience floats outside, detached from daily experience.

Stress

On one side of the continuum, this is the picture of a hypocrite, a person who operates on one standard with close family, but on another with strangers or at work. It represents someone who presents one image to the public, but acts quite differently when others aren’t looking.

Hitler is a familiar example on the far opposite extreme. This is the picture of evil, meaning anti-life: intentionally shattering and fragmenting the creative pattern. In Positive Paradigm context, the intentions and actions of any person (or group) that destroys its own and/or threatens to annihilate enemy groups, devoid of respect for the inherent sanctity of life, are defined as evil.

The empirical science paradigm has no language or structure for recognizing such malfunctions. In contrast, the Unified Field Theory’s Life Wheel can diagnose inner dynamics. Use it to identify “bad people” and prevent them from being given leadership roles.

Put the other way, this holistic model of human potential gives us the means to understand the possibility of and therefore recreate today, the leadership ideal of Plato’s philosopher king, or to train the healer-warrior-king in-one embodied in the Old Testament’s King David.

hand up

Both Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden contrast the old, dysfunctional competition model of leadership with the cooperative model of the future . . . our hope for survival.

At that same 2015 conference, Dr. Joe said:

We have to go after this change in the world from a different level of mind. We have to really begin to unify and the ingredient that creates that UNITY is these elevated emotions called care and kindness and love and cooperation and WHOLENESS. These are the things we should be cultivating on a moment-to-moment basis.

There you go. Heal fractures. Restore wholeness to our personal Life Wheels.

He continued:

If you begin to tap into your own potential, into your own resources, it’s going to diminish your need for things external to you. Now all of the sudden, companies and organizations that are looking for consumerism – that’s how they make a profit – are no longer going to get what they need because you’re less controlled or seduced by the conditions in your environment.

I understand that what’s coming down the pike is that there will be some chaos. But I’m also really excited. And I think that all of us on some level have negotiated to be here.

I also believe on another level that in my experience of witnessing common people doing the uncommon, of healing themselves and changing their lives and creating miraculous experiences, that we all have the resources and the ability to do that.

I’ll let OA have the last word on that one. I think he would say, “We’ll see.” Because the hidden elephant in the room, which neither of OA’s brothers-in-spirit address is the ongoing, multidimensional war between good and evil. They have chosen the easier of his two avenues of service.

Few indeed have the courage and will to embrace the second, more difficult option. BUT, as OA warned, in addition to cooperation and healing, in balance, we urgently need spiritual warriors competent to protect us as we advance into the better future that his brothers envision.

Angel Calling

Rethinking LEADERSHIP

hand up

In speaking with Dr. Joe Dispenza, Gregg Branden remarked that he finds the shift towards the quantum awareness needed to create a better future most in the general population. Where he sees it least is in the leadership of our nations. His experience underscores my grave concern with what I’ve called the “international leadership deficit.”

It sketching a post called Leadership NOW, I recalled a relevant essay on Leaders. It will do for starters as an introduction to what will follow.

Here goes:

flock

ESSAY 4. LEADERS

Powerful individuals never show their strength, yet others listen to them because they seem to know. They radiate knowledge, but it is an intuitive knowing that comes from a direct understanding and experience with the ways of nature. — R.L. Wing, The Tao of Power

When it comes to answering the big questions such as what is going to happen to the world as a whole in five or ten years’ time, or even half-a-century hence, we are even more keen to find out what is likely to happen. For it will inevitably affect not merely our own future, but that of our children and grandchildren too. . . Fortunately, it is here that the world’s great seers and sages come to our rescue. — Peter Lemesurier, Nostradamus: The Final Reckoning

It is extremely valuable to train the mind to stand apart and examine its own program. . . Training without such education narrows and closes the mind so that the assumptions underlying the training are never examined. That’s why it is so valuable to read broadly and expose yourself to great minds. — Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

THE FRONT

According to Webster’s, “to lead” is to show the way, or direct the course by going before. To lead can mean to direct, guide, or cause to follow.

By extension, a leader is a person or thing that leads by directing, commanding or guiding as the head of a group or activity. In music, the leader is the conductor, who occasionally turns the lead over to soloists.

By definition, there are many kinds of leaders at every level of society. The scope of their responsibilities may be great or small. Followers can number from one to a multitude.

The native and institutional power any individual brings to a leadership role varies vastly. So also does the effect on others, either positive or negative. Leadership is not a fixed or absolute quality. Most of us act as leaders at one time or another, in one capacity or another. Most of us are leaders in some contexts, while followers in others.

Parents or caretakers who raise us are our primary role models. Next come teachers, who along with parents prepare us to live in the world and mold our early beliefs. Depending on their capacity for benevolence, they sow the seeds of trust or cynicism. Whether they feed or starve, honor or manipulate childish yearnings for acceptance and approval shapes our early years. The push/pull of positive/negative experiences later reflects in the quality of leadership we bring as adults to relationships and organizations.

Just as the seven energy centers influence conscious evolution, there are leaders who focus on each of these levels:

  • At the base chakra level, leaders take responsibility for the everyday maintenance of our infrastructure, keeping the roads in repair, the streets safe, the electricity running, and stores stocked.

  • At the second sacral level, they nurse, instruct and protect the young, the infirm, and those in need.

  • At the third solar level, leaders command our armies, negotiate union contracts and run for public office.

  • At the fourth heart center, leaders preach in the halls of worship, counsel those who seek solace and act as the peacemakers of the world.

  • Leaders at the fifth throat center open and expand the boundaries of knowledge, helping us define our ideas and ideals.

  • At the sixth, they serve as receivers of wisdom and transmitters of warnings about the future.

Wisdom traditions teach us to respect those more highly evolved than ourselves. They also hold those blessed with natural gifts and material abundance to a high level of accountability. It’s their responsibility to use their gifts to protect and uplift those they serve to the very best of their ability.

The immature look to more experienced teachers for guidance. But when we come of age, it is no longer appropriate to allow others to dictate our behavior. Ultimately, we must be led by the timeless, inner radar which informs us now as surely as it guided those willing and able to listen to stillness in ages past.

THE BACK

The positive complement of leaders are willing and worthy followers. Following implies loyalty, humility, sincerity and competence to comply with leaders’ decisions. The benefits of following include the opportunity to learn from those who know more and to share in projects they initiate for the common good.

The dark flip-side of leadership is coercion. Tyrants elevate themselves over others using psychological manipulation, intimidation and brute force. They inhibit and consume energy, discouraging free expression and growth. They can enforce the illusion of social cohesion, but cannot command love or loyalty.

Rethinking AUTHORITY

A conversation between Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden touched on the challenges of increasingly dangerous, polarizing times and what I’ve described as the leadership deficit.

Authority, they observed, is shifting.

I agree.

As prelude to a deeper look into what this means for us, I’m posting here a 2000 essay which explores the full-spectrum potential of the authority-word. Although my writing style has evolved since then, the substance remains well worth your attention.

King

ESSAY 7. AUTHORITY

Christ was one of the greatest mystics of all time. He knew everything that has been ever said in the Eastern traditions. When Moses asked God, who are you? God said, I AM that I AM. Christ in the Gospel of John says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The very word Abraham comes from the Eastern word Brahman, which means the primordial being. . . So when you start looking, as paleo-linguistic anthropologists do, at the common roots of the various religions and traditions, you find that it’s all universal. Truth has to be universal. It can’t be your domain or my domain. — Deepak Chopra, transcript, Larry King Live

Those who are adept in social intelligence can connect with people quite smoothly, be astute in reading their reactions and feelings, lead and organize, and handle the disputes that are bound to flare up in any human activity. They are the natural leaders, the people who can express the unspoken collective sentiment and articulate it so as to guide the group toward its goals. — Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence

Archibald Garrod risked a conjecture that would reveal him to be a man far ahead of his time, somebody who had all but unknowingly put his finger on the answer to the greatest biological mystery of all time: what is a gene? Indeed, so brilliant was his understanding of the gene that he would be long dead before anybody got the point of what he was saying. — Matt Ridley, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

THE FRONT

Definitions of authority span the Life Wheel continuum from mundane to sublime. We therefore get meanings mixed up and speak at cross-purposes. The ancient derivation refers to the Creator, the author. In English, the meaning shifts to the power or right to give commands, enforce obedience, take action or make final decisions.

It changes again to mean the power delegated to another. Further diminished, it becomes a quote supporting an opinion or action. In government, authority refers to those with the power or right to enforce orders and laws. It can also mean an expert, someone with knowledge in a specialized field whose opinion is reliable. Lastly, authority means assurance coming from personal experience.

It’s important to know what standard justifies each type of authority. Which authorities may legitimately exercise what kinds of influence, and by what right?

Traditionally, biological parents, the first authors of our physical form, are the original human authorities, taking responsibility for instilling values and governing childish behavior. After coming of age at 18, however, each adult is responsible for choosing which authorities to accept and follow. For the fortunate, bonds of gratitude, affection and mutual support sustain family ties.

In addition, however, we begin to look to other authorities for education, leadership and support. Communities grounded in commitment to common beliefs, goals and friendship can enlarge or replace family circles. Command of a particular subject qualifies the expert.

In the United States and other democratic countries, popular vote gives legislators authority to write laws. In bureaucratic military and government agencies, as well as in private corporations, rank — regardless of character or motives — legitimizes power over subordinates.

Deeper than credentials and social sanctions, however, is the inner authority called conscience which is deliberately invoked by working with the I Ching. It’s the innate sense of timing within each of us. It warns when and how to act and when to keep still, when to seize and run with opportunity and when to side-step danger.

In sages, authority is the fruit of self-discipline and direct experience. As Daniel Goleman suggests, “natural” leaders possess a cultivated knack for knowing what others need along with the ability to effectively coordinate individual gifts to meet group goals.

The gift for insight doesn’t, however, translate automatically into leadership ability. Those like Archibald Garrod – brilliant but lacking the communication skills to help their neighbors “get from here to there” – may inspire admiration.

But it takes a true teacher to bring the next generation of followers along. This requires a marriage of words, competence and consistent action, the ability to speak with clarity and live according to one’s beliefs. Christ is the ultimate example of such a teacher.

Most of us cherish the memories of authority figures whose lives have touched and improved our own — respected leaders whose accomplishments, example and encouragement have inspired us to honor and lovingly live the law.

THE BACK

The flip-side of authority is unauthorized abuse of power. To the extent those with delegated decision-making power are unqualified by inner experience to represent the ultimate author, the true spirit of authority is violated.

The murderous MacBeths in Shakespeare’s play are a famous example of tragic lust for power. Misled by dark-side mediums into violating the code of hospitality, they kill the sleeping king within their castle walls to usurp his throne. In so doing, they bring down both the kingdom and themselves.

Authority and responsibility are necessarily linked. When power is sought and used without genuine regard for the intrinsic value and practical interests of those governed, a divine as well as secular trust is violated. The scales of justice are knocked off balance, and misfortune for all concerned ensues.

 

What about Love?

Love is the heart of life. Naturally, life-long, I’ve sought to understand what on earth (and in heaven) the love-word means.

I’ve already posted earlier thoughts. For example, in Rethinking LOVE I wrote:

Love is the ultimate mystery. It sparks and keeps the life process going, more to be accepted and honored than psychoanalyzed. Plato described seven stages of love. Each is a rung on an evolutionary ladder which leads from a child’s love for parents, to erotic love, to friendship, and eventually the pinnacle of divine connection. These seven stages correlate exactly with the seven energy centers of yoga anatomy.

In I Want To Know What Love IS (& Isn’t), I wrote:

There was a time when, wherever I’d go, the popular Foreigner tune “I Want To Know What Love Is” was playing in the background. I shopped to it at Woodman’s grocery store. At Gold’s gym, I showered and dressed to the sound of the same music. While I waited in line at the local Subway for my six inch sandwich on honey-oat bread with tuna, provolone cheese and veggies . . . again, the same song.

I wanna know what love is.
I want you to show me.
I wanna feel what love is.
I know you can show me.

If it wasn’t that, then it was the Jennings/Winwood song, “Higher Love.”

Think about it: There must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above.
Without it, life is wasted time.
Worlds are turning and we’re just hanging on.

We walk blind, we try to see,
Falling behind in what could be.

I took it as a cosmic hint. Pay attention to this universal need, and the ways we sing about our searchings.

Attempting to comprehend how people can possibly apply the same love-word to such a broad range of contradictory behaviors, I located what I’ve experienced within the spectrum of energy centers. Plugged in to the Life Wheel of Einstein’s intuited Unified Field Theory, with the crowning pinnacle being Divine Connection (Higher Love), it looks like this:

 

LoveLadder.sized

You might find it useful to know a bit about the personal experiences that led to this understanding. I count five significant love relationships, each a stepping stone to the next.

First there was Beecher. I was a high school senior. He had already graduated college as a physics major and worked at a prestigious research firm. He had plenty of money to spend on fun dates, a fancy sports car, and a suave manner about him. He found me fascinating, which I found flattering. Near the end of the school year, after I’d already been accepted at Oberlin, the college of my dreams, he asked me to marry him. I didn’t need time to think about it. I told him flat out never to ask again. I had an inner sense of destiny — of an as-yet unknown calling. Forfeiting college for an early marriage wasn’t it. That was easy.

Within the Life Wheel, this experience fell on the positive side, primarily on the material level. Kindness and consideration were present, though not its focus. Encouragement was lacking, nor did I feel protected. The possibility of higher love never occurred to either of us.

Second was David. From the start, I was stuck on his name. My hero grandfather, beloved younger brother and two cousins were all named David. It was the name of my idealized biblical figure, King David, who combined the aspects of healer-warrior-king all-in-one.

This David, a dazzlingly gifted pianist and conductor, came into my life during my Freshman year at Oberlin. He was a blond, lion-maned, flamboyant Leo. I was his compliment, a gentle and quiet brunette — a Jungian “dark” Leo. We set each other off like fire-works. He courted me with red roses, music and poetry. We adored each other.

Sadly, he was damaged by childhood abuse, seemingly beyond repair. I met him at the time of a prior girlfriend’s horrifically hurtful suicide. Then a scheming female got her hooks into him. She seduced him into a marriage which he instantly regretted. But I would not take him back.

There was an element of fate at work. Even after college, David kept reappearing. He instinctively found ways to locate me, and always at a vulnerable time of transition.

I agonized on and off again through many twists and turns over the span of more than twenty years. Only through repeated self-analysis did I come to recognize the power he held over me, the lessons to be learned, and finally get free for good. In essence, I had projected all my gifts onto him. The lesson was to take back my power, and however modestly, own in myself the virtues I saw in him.

Within the Life Wheel, despite its emotional highs, this experience fit predominantly on the left, negative side — a mix of romance, sentimentality and violent possessiveness.

Third was George. He came into my life after David’s marriage. It was a rebound swing to the opposite extreme. He was balding, bland, and boring. He offered stability. Although we talked about love and marriage, there was no spark. The major up-side for me was that his presence in my life kept my parents off my back. They liked him.

It ended when I was awarded a NDEA Title III Fellowship to complete a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I phoned him up with the news, ecstatic. He broke up with me on the spot, saying it meant I was smarter than him, which he couldn’t bear. After initial shock came relief. No great loss.

Within the Life Wheel, security-based love was focused on the material outermost rim though, to his credit, he was always kind to me.

The greatest disappointment from George-time came from a conversation with Mom a few months after the break-up. She commented that she hadn’t heard much about him lately. I told her why. She actually sneered. “Good for him,” she said. “Serves you right.”

That relationship didn’t even register on the chart. Though she went through the motions, her heart wasn’t in it. Was her harshness a factor in my father’s suicide? I was only six at the time, so only God knows for sure. My ultimate solution to that loss: turning to God, as Christ did, as my true Father.

Fourth was Swami Rama. The training in yoga science and philosophy was invaluable. However, he wasn’t what he seemed. The world saw a highly accomplished performer. But behind the mask of a celibate holy man. he was a serial rapist, financial con artist and ruthless deceiver — living proof of the maxim, “The larger front, the larger back.” For too long, he got away with abusing energy sciences to exploit unsuspecting students. Bottom line: I learned valuable, undoubtedly necessary life lessons and was then released to move on.

Where would I place this experience within the Life Wheel? Despite the swami’s seductive promises of love and help, it registered exclusively on the left-hand side, fluctuating between lust, domination, lies and oppression.

Fifth. By comparison, earlier relationships heightened my appreciation of OA. No status and adventure. No flaming, heart-breaking romance. No social stability. No two-faced “spirituality.” He was the real deal. Magical – full of healing, wisdom, wacky humor and an incredible, unearthly sweetness. He too loved God as his Father and, like the good angels, acknowledged Christ as his lord and master.

OA breathed a natural genius into whatever he touched. Some praised his incredible memory, but I suspect he was dipping into akashic records with the same intelligence he applied to physical computers, instantly retrieving whatever information he called forth. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel that such a soul ever walked this earth, much less that I was allowed the opportunity to make his last days easier.

His influence spanned the entire field, on the right-hand, positive side of the Life Wheel. As I told Old Avatar, in him I’d won the lottery of life. He knew and showed us what Higher Love IS.

Angel Calling

 

Rethinking LOVE

Tonight, September 4th, when I looked for prior posts on the subject of love, I found that one of them had been published elsewhere and wasn’t available on my website. I’m correcting that oversight to complete the record. It started this way:

“This post is for Tony iWiz of Ozzi and Mark Henry Smith. Tony had the courage to post an article Men in LOVE, asking Is It Real or Mother’s Love. Marko posed his questions about truth and love in his comments to TIME for a FRESH START.

“I’ll hassle Tony from a woman’s point of view on his post. But since love is a human thing, not just a guy or gal issue, I decided, in addition, to post an essay from the collection written in the year 2000.”

Rose

ESSAY 38. LOVE

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. – Moses, Deuteronomy 6:4-5

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. . .This is my commandment. That ye love one another, as I have loved you. — Jesus Christ in St. John, The New Testament

In Taoism, we say the heart is the seat of love, compassion, joy and happiness. This is what people are looking for. But they are looking outside. We don’t know that joy and happiness is seated INSIDE our heart. We’re running around the whole world. Going to the amusement park, night club, theaters, all kinds of places in search of happiness, peace, joy. But the peace, joy and happiness are within us. — Mantak Chia, The Inner Smile

THE FRONT

Roots of love mean to be fond, or to desire. Webster’s first definition is a deep and tender feeling of affection for, or attachment to. It can be an expression of one’s affection. It can mean a feeling of brotherhood and good will towards other people. It can be strong liking for or interest in something (a love of music). It’s a strong, usually passionate affection, partly based on sexual attraction. In theology, love refers to God’s tender regard for mankind, or mankind’s desire for God as the supreme good.

Love is the ultimate mystery. It sparks and keeps the life process going, more to be accepted and honored than psychoanalyzed. Plato described seven stages of love. Each is a rung on an evolutionary ladder which leads from a child’s love for parents, to erotic love, to friendship, and eventually the pinnacle of divine connection. These seven steps correlate exactly with the seven energy centers of yoga anatomy.

Plato traces the attraction between males and females to jealous gods who severed a complete, content person in half at the navel. Ever since, each part has chased after the other, longing to become whole again. Unfortunately, rather than seeking to integrate male and female energies internally, most Westerners persist in externalizing this desire for reunion.

In contrast, I Ching-related healing arts provide methods for restoring inner wholeness, attaining the ultimate level of Platonic love. The new law Christ taught fulfills the law of Moses.

Further, the Old Testament command to unify the three levels of soul, heart and might into a single-minded love of One God resonates with yogic practices which coordinate upper, middle and lower tan tiens, the Chinese equivalent of Sanskrit energy centers.

These methods give people of every faith practical means for actualizing their religious ideals. Put another way, only by integrating and harmonizing the levels of mind, body and emotions can love of God be actualized and the universal law be fulfilled.

Healing gender, race and religious splits calls for fluency in the complete energy spectrum of love. Even in grimmest times, love is the omnipresent, underlying bedrock. In Rocky IV, for example, Sylvester Stallione scripted an I Ching-worthy East-West reconciliation of opposite cultures. A nature-trained David not only defeats a technology-mutant Goliath with love and relentless grit. He wins the hearts of a hostile crowd. His victory message to international TV viewers: “If I can change, and you can change, we all can change.”

Those who turn love into a commodity exploit what people out of touch with their true selves crave most. There’s a push-pull between those greedy to get what they’ve been fooled into thinking they lack and those who exploit this misconception.

The ultimate Tai Chi push is to persuade someone they’re incomplete and not-okay. Further, you’ve got a life-changing product that can fix them. If they buy it, do what you say, turn over their power and money, you will transform them, make them okay.

Those grounded in reality, however, know better.

The question then arises, what happens when one becomes focused and centered. Does all interest in the external world and motive to accomplish cease? Actually, it’s the opposite. As one becomes more secure from within, fear-built barriers come down. New, more authentic motives arise to replace artificial desires. As one pares away the illusion of need, the native impulse to serve with generous compassion arises.

THE BACK

Hate is the opposite of love. Where love grows upwards from childish attachment through degrees of maturity to altruism, hate descends to the depths of destruction. It obliterates connections, shatters hope, and in the end destroys those it consumes.

Fear-based insecurities generate a host of love perversions. Possessiveness, envy, jealousy and rivalry are variations on the theme of illusory insufficiency. In all cases, it’s the result of looking outside for what can neither be bought nor stolen, as love is the timeless, abiding state of one’s innermost life.