While polishing your technique you should never stick out your chest or stomach either when fighting or practicing. It stiffens your body and makes your movements awkward. As a result, you are losing control over your body. While practicing always make sure to keep your back bent outward and chest incurved. This is the right sign to distinguish between Kung Fu masters and Kung Fu athletes.

2. Despite the fact that the back should be a bit bent outward, you have to maintain the body centrality; by no means should the body be bent too much. Otherwise it will lose the balance, which can result in loss of equilibrium and steadiness, and make the outgoing energy weak. The back and pelvis must be in the same plane.

3. Bending your head down in fight is like blindfolding yourself, since with your head down you cannot fully control all the actions of your enemy. Moreover, it can lead you to losing the balance.

4. During the fight, your waist should be down. If it is not, it makes Qi to go upward and accumulate in the chest. This accumulation of Qi in the chest causes you to lose the steadiness; your movements will immediately become clumsy and awkward. A man with his Qi in lower Dan Tian can be compared to a weeble wobble, since it is virtually impossible to throw him down on the ground. Now, consider moving the load in the lower part of the weeble wobble upward; the slightest push would overturn the weeble wobble.

5. The hand is rounded in elbow and wrist.

6. Practicing, always make sure to perform movements correctly. Otherwise, you would get bad habits, which is rather harmful than advantageous. Mastering new techniques, you should always act without haste; only when you have repeated movements correctly many times, you can consider increasing speed and strength.

7. It is not good performing already learnt techniques with negligence, so-so, since it is hardly of any use. Performing already mastered techniques you need to fully use your consciousness, i.e., using consciousness (Yi) send your energy Qi to the section of the body engaged in this technique. For example, kicking with your heel the moment the heel touches the enemy (target) you need to fully focus on throwing the energy through the heel.

8. Inside yourself, you should work out your mind, spirit, consciousness and Qi until they join together. Only when this happens you will be able to send your Qi anywhere at your wish.

9. The key to mastering is in everyday work at the thing neither master not disciple can do without, namely polishing the basic technique.

Supposedly, all the answers to life’s riddles are right in front of us—in our own “backyard.”  I believe they reside in our nature.  If we could simply stop resisting who we are, we might just discover the combination lock that liberates our soul from its prison of repression.  One’s nature is a quality of being and expression—an intrinsic response to our existence.  The nature of a butterfly is vitally different from the nature of a snake.  Both are being true to themselves and couldn’t trade places if they tried. Yet we humans attempt to homogenize ourselves and swap natures as if they were costumes.  But, more than just an outfit, our natures are built into the very fabric of our being.  Consequently, it’s really painful when we deny our nature and attempt to live a life counter to our core.

            We often spend years trying to override our nature. We think that someone else’s nature is more desirable and try on their essence like clothing that’s the wrong size and style. We put ourselves through contortions to fit into that attire because supposedly it’s better than our natural self. To walk a path contrary to our nature only leads to unhappiness and struggle because we’re out of synch with ourselves.  We give others the power to judge our nature which erodes self-esteem.  

            Our nature is designed to be the optimum channel for the soul’s expression in this lifetime. So it must celebrated.  Otherwise we live a life of censorship—our natural tendencies locked in a straightjacket that suffocates the psyche.  We can’t obliterate our fundamental nature. 

            I’ve had many dogs, each of them with an individualized nature, even though they’re all the same breed.  Their particular spark of Divinity in this lifetime carries its own signature, not generic to the breed. Similarly, siblings may come from the same family but each have strikingly different “natural” responses to their upbringing.  We’re not meant to be homogenized. It’s not self-loving to fight one’s nature. The mandates of the tribe that lump us together and override the very flavor and spice we individually bring to the human soup must be overthrown by the commitment to honor our individualized nature. 

               It’s in my nature to talk to people, serve, philosophize, dig deep, theorize, obsess over astrology and metaphysics, hunger for the truth and be fascinated with the process of transformation. It’s also in my nature to need lots of fun time, be a homebody, play outside,  be intense—futuristic— sensitive—analytical, play music, crave animal companions, be a moonstruck night owl under the magic of the stars and to desire change.  I’ve often fantasized about leaving my counseling work to do something completely different, like run a B&B, a coffee shop, an import business, a theater company. In attempts to abandon my nature, these fantasies have filled me with wonderment. What would it be like to trade in my texture for another kind of fabric—a different quality of life?  But endeavors to reject my nature and follow the lure of these daydreams inevitably result in a dead-end feeling—as if I had just stepped out of my body and was trying to replace it for another.  I end up surrendering these prospects to an acceptance of who I am and what I came here to do.  There truly is no other course.

              I’ve always admired people who get up at 6 am, are competitive in sports, scientific, physically handy,  savvy in cities, introverted enough to spend long hours alone without craving companionship, mellow …all the qualities that aren’t me.  Then I remember the importance of honoring my true nature—to see the way that it shapes my life as a gift—not an obstacle.  I’m grateful for who I am. 

             Are you being true to your nature? Are other characteristics of being seductive to you? Can you accept who you are— what you came here to do? What qualities naturally emanate from you? Are you introverted, extroverted, upbeat, serious, a risk-taker, relaxed, ambitious, laid-back, funny, sweet, probing, active, passive, steady, bouncy, wild, conservative, wacky, scientific, artful, boisterous, pensive, silly, talkative? There are endless nuances of being that shape the human condition. Individually we reap the rewards of color, form and expression when we employ our natural inclinations to direct our soul’s essence  

             How do we discern the difference between our true nature vs. protective characteristics acquired as compensation for wounds? Perhaps we learned to put on a happy face as a child because we were taught to bury our pain.  So we became a jokester. Others perceived us as light and playful. But maybe our true nature is sensitive, deep and serious. 

            We need to explore the energetic feeling accompanying what we assume is our nature.  If the energy is forced or heavy, coupled with internal emptiness, pain or longing, then we’re probably caught in a synthetic nature created by our psyche’s defense structure for emotional/spiritual survival — compensation for not feeling loved for who we are.  All judgmental programming of our disposition must be released in order to unearth and heal the wounds beneath this artificial nature. We’re aligned with our essence when the energy is strong, focused, clear, uplifting, affirming—with just the right “click” that declares our natural groove.  

            We each have an individually appointed Divine nature that is a playground for exploration, creativity and augmentation.  When we allow our nature to inform us of our path, we then live a life that is spiritually authentic.  The Universe then responds in gratitude for our willingness to embrace the quality of our essence with increased opportunities, ease and joy-filled showers of support. 

             The Tibetan’s golden, loving, wise, playful nature radiates in all directions as he teaches:

            Human nature is a composite of millions of threads of light woven into an overall matrix. Each individual carries one of these exquisite threads—a golden strand of uniqueness that must be honored through full embodiment.  Everyone has a particular nature that is specifically endowed with a quality of energy, light, love and sound to represent the soul’s special expression for this lifetime.  Although self changes throughout life’s journey, this unique, precious, differentiated nature endures in its essential quality. 

            Humankind is working hard to prevent the extinction of various animal species.  Likewise, the Masters are dedicated to forestalling the possible extinction of certain temperaments, manifest by humankind, that are integral to the Divine Design. Consequently, everyone has a responsibility to openheartedly embody their essential nature, strongly establishing its place within the patchwork quilt of the human condition. If self fights his/her nature, then it starves/atrophies and is in danger of becoming extinct. Without that one exquisite thread, integral to the Divine Plan, humanity’s great tapestry unravels.  It’s imperative to preserve and strengthen self’s particular nature.  Self is the only one who can guarantee its continued existence.

            Perhaps the soul has painfully endured the starvation of many lifetimes imprisoned within an imposed false nature.  This resulted in the loss of deep spiritual connection that fostered a blindness to the exquisite uniqueness of the soul’s timber and its importance in the orchestral symphony.  Then the soul’s distinctive quality of sound could not be heard.

              Everything that you want from others is an extension of your own nature. Don’t ask others to embody your tone. It’s impossible to really know self when you project who you are onto others.  Take back the pieces of your makeup by erasing all the external obligations about the way you’re supposed to be. Then quietly allow self to listen, see and feel the inherent quality of energy that holds your personal Stamp of Divinity. Follow the mystical path of your uniquely individualized cast and its tremendous impact on the overall human composite.

            Sound the Divine Chord intrinsic to self’s being. Self’s essential nature rings like a bell. It cannot be negated. Explore all of its evolving facets.  Persist into the heart of the magnificent quintessence that is self’s Soul Autograph. With full commitment, create an external life that carries this nature forth through the earthly world. 

            To unequivocally embrace one’s nature leads to profound inner peace.  Claim it! Probe its bottomless pith. Expand through it. Artistically portray it in daily life. The natural path of alignment with self’s Divine Texture magnetizes happiness, spaciousness, freedom from judgment, unconditional love and the generosity of spirit that gives everyone the permission and  inspiration to bask in their exceptional being.

 

copyright©2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

We’re plunging headlong into phenomenal change. Excitement about the new frontier in consciousness, with its promise of expanded awareness, collides with deep internal pulls to the familiar. We automatically repeat the same old story about who we are and how life is supposed to be.  Emotional responses to that narrative wash over us in a comforting way, even though they perpetuate habitual flows of pain and misery.  

            Where our mind goes, reality flows.  I recently watched the film, The Secret, which increased my awareness of the need to monitor the emotional pool that sustains our prevalent perception of self (based on past experience). It’s now important to disallow that “pool” to be the filter through which we create reality. The film describes the power of the Law of Attraction. It teaches us to train our mind to hold the description of what we want and to couple this mental out-picturing with the emotional fulfillment of actually living these realized desires. Although metaphysical laws of manifestation are simple to understand, they’re challenging to apply.

            Vigorously potent frequencies blasted our planet on October 17th, 2006 to create an efficacious portal of manifestation. These energies magnified everyone’s thoughts. People encouraged each other to harness the mind into full focus for world peace, as well as personal happiness and prosperity, during this cosmic shower of energetic augmentation.

            Determined to be a good torch bearer, I dutifully sustained positive thinking, complete with its joy-filled emotional counterpart, for two entire days.  Wow, what a workout! My usual negative conditioning clawed at the outskirts of the wave of positivity that I determinedly held for 48 hours. How I longed to return to my customary way of thinking: fearing the worst, worrying about everything, wishing things were different while assuming that this is the way it will always be. My emotional body pressed against the newly-established levies of positivity, determined to flood me with its typical putrid sea of depression, frustration and resignation. Many of us live in those afflicted waters, with only occasional excursions into the fresh ocean of joy, happiness, contentment, inner peace and trust. I breathed a sigh of relief at the close of those two days.  Satisfied that I had done my part to contribute to the new consciousness for world peace and collective happiness, I eagerly returned to the lazy zone of my normal expectations—glad that I didn’t have to make the big effort (exercise the spiritual muscles) to hold the focus required to consciously practice the Law of Attraction on an ongoing basis.

            To make the shift in consciousness, we must release attachment to human pathos and forsake our personal/collective melodrama.  Like Lot’s wife, we dare not look back at the wasteland of our human experience so as not to be frozen in the entrainment—the poignancy of the human theater—the archetypal Greek drama.  We are cosmically mandated to describe a new reality that proclaims full self-actualization rather than be skewered to the rotten meat of the past.

            What we broadcast returns to us. To authentically represent the soul we must proclaim life to be a wondrous experience instead of allowing negative expectations to refuel our never-ending grade B movie.   We’re often trapped in the story (deeply ingrained in the unconscious) that describes the way we perceived childhood difficulties.  Mental patterns and emotional circuitry, crosshatched with false beliefs, relive these sentiments.  Childhood is a composite of karmic patterns requiring resolution.  Detachment from the magnetics within this karma break the fascination with the melodrama that maintains stagnation and victimhood—is necessary to create the reality we desire. 

            Don’t look back—but don’t repress!  We need to dig into the psyche to uncover and lance the boils of our afflictions.  We must brave the terrain of self-examination in order to chart the mystery of our being. To leave the numb zone of the repressed self, it’s a necessity to tell our story. Then the feelings connected to the initial wounding that fragmented our birthright of wholeness can be re-experienced. Contact with our emotional past is essential. Like physical wounds— if we can’t touch them, we can’t cure them. 

            However, there’s a fine line between reliving the past to restore injured parts of ourselves vs. recreating, through the Law of Attraction, the very pain we wish to remedy. The shadow of psychotherapy is activated through excessive repetition of the story of the damaged self which ironically reenergizes wounds.  Feeling like a broken record, we wonder why we can’t change.  Although we want to honor the journey with all of its travails, need we savor every last morsel of misery before letting it go? The exquisite timing of the psyche naturally brings us to the next level of unfoldment when we’ve brought compassionate healing to all the unconscious trapped feelings from childhood issues. Then our wisest move is to let go and not look back. 

            Inventory of the wounds/patterns that no longer need review is a requirement to avoid the humiliating dynamic of being entrenched in patterns that are outworn, like being held back a grade in elementary school. Finally fed up with the tediousness of regurgitating the same old tale of woe, we decide to pioneer the unknown—the truth of who we are becoming. 

            So much more than the outcome of our past, we’re born anew each day with the opportunity to start fresh in our thinking/feeling.  Once we’ve consciously integrated the buried/unhealed parts of ourselves, the past can be released. Every moment is a choice to look back or forward.  That choice, intensely powerful, unfolds our life.  What joy to leave it all behind and face the fresh horizon with the wonder that promises days of delight, bliss and fruition. 

            The Tibetan applauds my commitment to discontinue recycling the same old garbage. He teaches:

            Yes, it’s time for humankind to realize the powerful combination of the mind aligned with emotions. When students couple negative thinking with the resulting emotional counterpart to these pessimistic expectations— frustration, disappointment, resignation, unhappiness— they inevitably create wretched experiences. Of course humankind has no conscious desire to make life miserable.  It’s simply caught in the sticky, stagnant comfort of mental habits, outmoded programming. 

            The wheel of repetition’s safety zone competes with the deeper impulse to evolve. The soul craves the “risk” of opening to the grand potential of living a life that is beyond one’s wildest dreams. A leap of faith is required to truly believe self-actualization is a probable outcome in this lifetime. The large-scale arena of a self-realized existence is prodigiously far-reaching—llike the Divine Mind — infinite in nature and often terrifying to the wounded ego which would rather hide in the mire of habitual thoughts/feelings than release its control.  Attempts to keep life small, manageable, predictable lead students to shortchange their possibilities by chronically repeating the same mental narrative. The emotional body flows in response to these habitual mental grooves. 

            Fearful of being overwhelmed by the vastness of who they are, students block out the Sea of Magnificence.  They underrate their creative prerogative by assuming they’re victims of an unbending karma. But karma, highly alterable, transforms when one’s mindset changes.  Humankind must take responsibility to create the reality it wants—nothing less. The moment one’s fascination and identification with a fixed karmic pattern ends, the mind and emotions are liberated to support a brand new reality.

            Leave all “baggage” at the shoreline of the Sea of Magnitude. Use discipline and vigilance to look forward toward the horizon of the emerging consciousness. Resist the stale seduction of the historical magnets that captivate the lower mind and imprison the imagination.  Break the emotional habits that wash away the potency of one’s creative channel. These obsolete heavy waters no longer cleanse the soul or quench the thirst of the spirit.  

            The emerging consciousness appears to be a strange, exciting, foreign realm that feels unnervingly spacious. Humankind may feel awkward, uncomfortable, uncertain in this new terrain. Students may be deeply disoriented and somewhat shocked at the presence of the unfathomable reality that lies beyond the tiny island of familiar mental and emotional patterns based on the old story of self. Although it’s a relief to escape into comforting patterns of limiting expectations, to live in the refuge of automatic thinking is untenable at this time of massive evolution. 

            Start to enjoy the rewards of mental strength that develop from purifying old thinking. Bask in the calm sweet waters that flow forth after cleansing the heavy emotional charges connected to the adversity within one’s story.  Soon this new terrain becomes well-established— an original framework of thought patterns structuring amazing manifestation buoyed by a refined emotional response based in joy, fulfillment and peace.  

            Daily unshackle self from the old story.  Dare to dwell in the openness of the unprogrammed self.  Write down the new story. Feel its impact of gratification. From moment to moment remember to shift thought patterns into a positive framework that carries energetic momentum and opens a new angle of perception/experience. Notice where self has already stopped looking back at obsolete stories and realize how liberating it is to truly disencumber the spirit from the confines of the past. Humankind, flooded with Light by the bright Ray of Possibility, actualizes its destiny of mastery of the Law of Attraction and creates a resplendent New World.

Copyright© 2007, School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

Are you truly generous?  Or, do you give yourself and others “just enough”—not a scrap more? Do attempts to be frugal make you tightfisted?  Where do you stand on the polarity of generosity vs. stinginess?

            Fear of scarcity makes us stingy.  So we scrimp through life, not only pinching pennies but also weighing how much love, enjoyment, reward, free time, pleasure, relaxation, personal space and attention to give ourselves, as if these were extras in life and not the main meal.  We believe: “I couldn’t possibly give that to myself—or I’d have to really earn it by depriving myself in other ways.”  Must our self-generosity be balanced by deprivation?  We’re so afraid of getting carried away.   Strictness with ourselves, which also affects others, reflects fear of losing control of our wants/hungers. Convinced that generosity is dangerous, we dole out life in a measured fashion that eventually becomes iron fisted. 

            We assume that generosity might drain our resources. Actually, it’s enlivening.  A lifetime of stinginess shrinks our world, tightens the heart and fills the belly with fear-limiting all possibilities. The generous YES that is our Divinity hardens into a constipated cement block in the soul as Source’s bounty atrophies into crumbs.

            Spirit is generous. There’s no end to growth opportunities—the chance to start over again and again—to regenerate—to profoundly open up and overflow with love — to fill with a passion to serve others—to learn to treasure ourselves with a commitment to have everything that life has to offer.  Spirit is infinite.  It demonstrates that Source is Generosity in Action and Being. 

            How did the human race become so stingy?  Stinginess is learned, based on fear of not-enoughness. We assume that life is made of sacrifices that purify us enough to be worthy of our Source—as if there’s something fundamentally wrong with us that needs to be absolved by withholding from ourselves. 

            Generosity is natural to our spirit and consequently can’t be repressed. It will simply leak out, but in unhealthy ways that spoil us and starve the soul.  Natural generosity becomes convoluted.  Ironically, the best way that we can measure appropriate giving to ourselves and others is to accept our innate generosity and allow spirit, in its infinite wisdom, to open the throttle of Divine Flow that guide us to become Vessels of Outpouring. 

            Could you spare it?  We try to talk people down rather than meet their price (financially, emotionally, mentally) much less leave a big tip.  Stinginess is contagious.  When others are stingy with us, we match them. Then everyone is cheap. We become shabby representatives of spirit and pull in the reins—not letting ourselves be the “bigger” person. Not wanting to be taken advantage of, if others don’t appreciate our generosity we contract into ungiving.  But generosity can’t hurt us when it flows from our spirit. It only expands our being. 

            Stinginess crimps energy, narrows experience, shrinks vision, blocks potential and closes the doors of life.  Spirit is boundless. So why curb ourselves?  We haven’t begun to tap its limitlessness.  The magnitude of possibility peaks in to get our attention when we least expect it.  Our first response is to shrink it–constraining the generosity of optimism, excitement, positivity. 

            Sometimes we’re generous with ourselves in pointless or unhealthy ways  but are stingy with our soul.  Acquiring too many clothes or eating extra desserts is only surface generosity and doesn’t take the place of leaving a repressive job or marriage, taking risks to follow a vision, allocating precious time for creativity.  Then on our death bed we lament about the lack of generosity toward ourselves.  After all, we can’t take it with us—not just money—but time well spent, people well loved, self well expressed, a life lived in the spirit of Source’s exuberant bounty. 

              I expect to be given what is owed me, but nothing more, and am often startled to receive generosity from others.  I forget to think outside the box of our economic orientation which blinds me to the huge ocean of “extra” available to everyone.  What would it be like to represent our Divinity by living in the Zone of Extra?

              Generous people must be more advanced than the rest of us scrooges!  To be around them makes me feel bathed in bounty and reassured that there is nothing wrong with my needs/desires.  Fearlessly openhanded, they aren’t afraid to fully give because they know there’s a lot more where that came from.  They tap into and unsparingly share the true nature of spirit. They don’t hesitate to show how much love they feel and flood recognition for all gifts received from loved ones.  They’re affectionate—not stingy with touch.  They gush gobs of enthusiasm and encouragement to embolden others to take risks.  They don’t pop bubbles.  They shower people with attention—sincere interest.  They leave big tips, delighted to give back to all who serve them.  They think big because to be magnanimous is to embody magnitude.

            An open heart is the wellspring of all generosity.  If  Source was as miserly with us as we are with ourselves, our world would be barren. There would be only meager scraps of opportunity to evolve, not enough time to progress, no turning points, no serendipity, grace, inspiration, insight, guidance or support—absolutely no way to manifest our dreams. 

            Generosity of spirit keeps the heart soft and healthy and buoyantly elevates us as we throw away our tit-for-tat measuring tools and become giving fools—w ildly bestowing unstinted plenty to ourselves and others. We remember that Source spoils It’s creation with Divine Indulgence—a crowning generosity that parts the seas.

            When in channel I bathe in the profound generosity of the Tibetan. His exquisite spirit never measures love but rather just lets it cascade, glowing like liquid gold. He teaches:

           Humankind is challenged to respond to every situation with uncommon love—to go the extra mile in their outpouring.  Unqualified generosity to self fosters a new life that demonstrates there’s always enough—never scarcity, diminishment or negation on any level. Then, fully honored, self is never invisible or placed second.

            But humankind is not used to generosity. Students have experienced countless lifetimes of austerity, learned to do without, to not dare ask for too much and to expect minimal benevolence.  But, Source never decreed this constriction. The earth plane was created to demonstrate Generosity of Spirit in form—so physically magnificent and abundant in its profound beauty that humanity, awed by this lavish gift, would automatically embody generosity.  

              Attachment to the illusion of separation neutralizes generosity and fosters the belief that Source is narrow hearted.  Therefore, humankind perceives no greater model for generosity.  Stinginess with self attracts selfish people and fuels fears of not-enoughness.  This illusion causes people to only give so much, squirreling away their own private supply of energy.   Then generosity from others is threatening because it implies that more will be asked of self. It’s painful to hoard one’s soul.

              Lack of generosity with self makes it impossible to be ungrudging toward others.  To give to others while being tightfisted with self is only a martyrdom that retards the soul’s growth — just as giving from a sense of obligation is not true generosity. The soul evolves from full communion with Source’s 100% attitude of altruism.

            Rather than be generous in only a few ways, embody an overflowing great heartedness in ALL ways, always starting with self. Give in spades—offering oceans of helpful thoughts, feelings and energy. Don’t worry about giving too much to self or others. 

            Many struggle with the false belief, “It’s spiritually correct to be humble and only take a little piece of life for myself. I don’t dare give myself everything—It’s too much—I don’t deserve it.”  This measured allotment modulates the flow of energy in the chakras into a controlled format that the ego assumes is just enough.  The chakras constrict. Reception is blocked and the soul starves.

            Indulge in generosity to the point of intoxication.  Mirror Source’s mighty giving.  Dare to give that extra piece. Self-generosity insures a bountiful flow to others, free from embarrassment.  The emerging consciousness is a generous expression of Source’s love—a natural state of delight, bounty and profuseness.  Get used to being showered with gifts from all beings.

            All inventions, primed for manifestation from the etheric plane, can only be unlocked by the Spirit of Generosity. Because humankind assumes it must trudge through life in a mingy manner, given only what it needs and nothing more, stinginess is its creative reference point when exploring new solutions to global concerns.  However, only the mysterious unfoldment of the emerging consciousness holds the recipes for the new world—a dimension whose keynote expression is generosity.   Accept this premise when bushwhacking alternative resources for life on earth. It’s not about taking a small piece here and there to get through. The revolution in consciousness carries the expectation of Source’s generous response to the call from Its earthly offspring.    Tremendous resources are waiting, to be drawn in by generous souls. Then everyone’s mind opens to comprehend what discoveries are possible and humanity is inspired to walk an unselfish, freehanded path bursting with Love.

copyright©2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

Are you truly generous?  Or, do you give yourself and others “just enough”—not a scrap more? Do attempts to be frugal make you tightfisted?  Where do you stand on the polarity of generosity vs. stinginess?

            Fear of scarcity makes us stingy.  So we scrimp through life, not only pinching pennies but also weighing how much love, enjoyment, reward, free time, pleasure, relaxation, personal space and attention to give ourselves, as if these were extras in life and not the main meal.  We believe: “I couldn’t possibly give that to myself—or I’d have to really earn it by depriving myself in other ways.”  Must our self-generosity be balanced by deprivation?  We’re so afraid of getting carried away.   Strictness with ourselves, which also affects others, reflects fear of losing control of our wants/hungers. Convinced that generosity is dangerous, we dole out life in a measured fashion that eventually becomes iron fisted. 

            We assume that generosity might drain our resources. Actually, it’s enlivening.  A lifetime of stinginess shrinks our world, tightens the heart and fills the belly with fear-limiting all possibilities. The generous YES that is our Divinity hardens into a constipated cement block in the soul as Source’s bounty atrophies into crumbs.

            Spirit is generous. There’s no end to growth opportunities—the chance to start over again and again—to regenerate—to profoundly open up and overflow with love — to fill with a passion to serve others—to learn to treasure ourselves with a commitment to have everything that life has to offer.  Spirit is infinite.  It demonstrates that Source is Generosity in Action and Being. 

            How did the human race become so stingy?  Stinginess is learned, based on fear of not-enoughness. We assume that life is made of sacrifices that purify us enough to be worthy of our Source—as if there’s something fundamentally wrong with us that needs to be absolved by withholding from ourselves. 

            Generosity is natural to our spirit and consequently can’t be repressed. It will simply leak out, but in unhealthy ways that spoil us and starve the soul.  Natural generosity becomes convoluted.  Ironically, the best way that we can measure appropriate giving to ourselves and others is to accept our innate generosity and allow spirit, in its infinite wisdom, to open the throttle of Divine Flow that guide us to become Vessels of Outpouring. 

            Could you spare it?  We try to talk people down rather than meet their price (financially, emotionally, mentally) much less leave a big tip.  Stinginess is contagious.  When others are stingy with us, we match them. Then everyone is cheap. We become shabby representatives of spirit and pull in the reins—not letting ourselves be the “bigger” person. Not wanting to be taken advantage of, if others don’t appreciate our generosity we contract into ungiving.  But generosity can’t hurt us when it flows from our spirit. It only expands our being. 

            Stinginess crimps energy, narrows experience, shrinks vision, blocks potential and closes the doors of life.  Spirit is boundless. So why curb ourselves?  We haven’t begun to tap its limitlessness.  The magnitude of possibility peaks in to get our attention when we least expect it.  Our first response is to shrink it–constraining the generosity of optimism, excitement, positivity. 

            Sometimes we’re generous with ourselves in pointless or unhealthy ways  but are stingy with our soul.  Acquiring too many clothes or eating extra desserts is only surface generosity and doesn’t take the place of leaving a repressive job or marriage, taking risks to follow a vision, allocating precious time for creativity.  Then on our death bed we lament about the lack of generosity toward ourselves.  After all, we can’t take it with us—not just money—but time well spent, people well loved, self well expressed, a life lived in the spirit of Source’s exuberant bounty. 

              I expect to be given what is owed me, but nothing more, and am often startled to receive generosity from others.  I forget to think outside the box of our economic orientation which blinds me to the huge ocean of “extra” available to everyone.  What would it be like to represent our Divinity by living in the Zone of Extra?

              Generous people must be more advanced than the rest of us scrooges!  To be around them makes me feel bathed in bounty and reassured that there is nothing wrong with my needs/desires.  Fearlessly openhanded, they aren’t afraid to fully give because they know there’s a lot more where that came from.  They tap into and unsparingly share the true nature of spirit. They don’t hesitate to show how much love they feel and flood recognition for all gifts received from loved ones.  They’re affectionate—not stingy with touch.  They gush gobs of enthusiasm and encouragement to embolden others to take risks.  They don’t pop bubbles.  They shower people with attention—sincere interest.  They leave big tips, delighted to give back to all who serve them.  They think big because to be magnanimous is to embody magnitude.

            An open heart is the wellspring of all generosity.  If  Source was as miserly with us as we are with ourselves, our world would be barren. There would be only meager scraps of opportunity to evolve, not enough time to progress, no turning points, no serendipity, grace, inspiration, insight, guidance or support—absolutely no way to manifest our dreams. 

            Generosity of spirit keeps the heart soft and healthy and buoyantly elevates us as we throw away our tit-for-tat measuring tools and become giving fools—w ildly bestowing unstinted plenty to ourselves and others. We remember that Source spoils It’s creation with Divine Indulgence—a crowning generosity that parts the seas.

            When in channel I bathe in the profound generosity of the Tibetan. His exquisite spirit never measures love but rather just lets it cascade, glowing like liquid gold. He teaches:

           Humankind is challenged to respond to every situation with uncommon love—to go the extra mile in their outpouring.  Unqualified generosity to self fosters a new life that demonstrates there’s always enough—never scarcity, diminishment or negation on any level. Then, fully honored, self is never invisible or placed second.

            But humankind is not used to generosity. Students have experienced countless lifetimes of austerity, learned to do without, to not dare ask for too much and to expect minimal benevolence.  But, Source never decreed this constriction. The earth plane was created to demonstrate Generosity of Spirit in form—so physically magnificent and abundant in its profound beauty that humanity, awed by this lavish gift, would automatically embody generosity.  

              Attachment to the illusion of separation neutralizes generosity and fosters the belief that Source is narrow hearted.  Therefore, humankind perceives no greater model for generosity.  Stinginess with self attracts selfish people and fuels fears of not-enoughness.  This illusion causes people to only give so much, squirreling away their own private supply of energy.   Then generosity from others is threatening because it implies that more will be asked of self. It’s painful to hoard one’s soul.

              Lack of generosity with self makes it impossible to be ungrudging toward others.  To give to others while being tightfisted with self is only a martyrdom that retards the soul’s growth — just as giving from a sense of obligation is not true generosity. The soul evolves from full communion with Source’s 100% attitude of altruism.

            Rather than be generous in only a few ways, embody an overflowing great heartedness in ALL ways, always starting with self. Give in spades—offering oceans of helpful thoughts, feelings and energy. Don’t worry about giving too much to self or others. 

            Many struggle with the false belief, “It’s spiritually correct to be humble and only take a little piece of life for myself. I don’t dare give myself everything—It’s too much—I don’t deserve it.”  This measured allotment modulates the flow of energy in the chakras into a controlled format that the ego assumes is just enough.  The chakras constrict. Reception is blocked and the soul starves.

            Indulge in generosity to the point of intoxication.  Mirror Source’s mighty giving.  Dare to give that extra piece. Self-generosity insures a bountiful flow to others, free from embarrassment.  The emerging consciousness is a generous expression of Source’s love—a natural state of delight, bounty and profuseness.  Get used to being showered with gifts from all beings.

            All inventions, primed for manifestation from the etheric plane, can only be unlocked by the Spirit of Generosity. Because humankind assumes it must trudge through life in a mingy manner, given only what it needs and nothing more, stinginess is its creative reference point when exploring new solutions to global concerns.  However, only the mysterious unfoldment of the emerging consciousness holds the recipes for the new world—a dimension whose keynote expression is generosity.   Accept this premise when bushwhacking alternative resources for life on earth. It’s not about taking a small piece here and there to get through. The revolution in consciousness carries the expectation of Source’s generous response to the call from Its earthly offspring.    Tremendous resources are waiting, to be drawn in by generous souls. Then everyone’s mind opens to comprehend what discoveries are possible and humanity is inspired to walk an unselfish, freehanded path bursting with Love.

copyright©2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

We all have to leave the tribe in order to discard obsolete ways of being, thinking, feeling—even loving. Does that mean we have to turn our back on all the key influences of our formation?  Identified as distinct individuals, we may not realize the depth of the tribe’s imprint on our psyche. It subliminally directs and shapes our lives. To leave the tribe, we must release attachment to the security of homogenized consciousness and forfeit the comfort zone of approval from others—daring to be original/innovative and to voice our difference. 

            How many of us do things a certain way just because this is how it’s always been done?  We don’t question the relevance of these customs which enslaves us to life patterns and attitudes that may not reflect our individual truth. Deeply conditioned, it’s difficult to register the level of self-betrayal that results from making choices within the narrow box of rote societal/familial grooves. How sad that the price of admission to the tribe is the loss of our uniqueness.

            Why assume that we’re all cut from the same mold and therefore should be made indistinguishable by the tribe’s generic expectations?  Unification doesn’t mean homogenization. Our shared human essence, ultimately one body/mind/soul, differentiates into diverse pathways designed to enhance our unique soul’s journey.

            Astrologers indicate that in 2008 Pluto, the planet of transformation enters the sign of Capricorn. This passage energizes humanity’s withdrawal from all arenas of societal obsolescence. Through the process of death and rebirth, Pluto annihilates everything that blocks evolution and then regenerates a completely new order.  Capricorn rules societal structures, authorities, worldly power and the cornerstones of society mandated to be upheld by its citizens.  Pluto’s 16 year journey through Capricorn will demolish all outdated systems—medical, educational, legal, economic, political, familial—in order to birth new customs, mores, laws.  This will pave the way for the emerging spiritual renaissance which necessitates advanced societal/familial structures. The tribe will be scrutinized, regardless of dominion, for its ability to serve this emerging consciousness.  As we sense this new energy flooding our world, changing us in ways that make it impossible to be responsible to the tribe’s traditional orientation, we’ll have to find the courage to break free.  

            Yes, we’re excited about the prospect of the New Age. But, how far do we take this revolution in consciousness, as an all-encompassing metamorphosis tears us away from the roots of our tribe and demands that we stand, seemingly alone, in our truth?  Are you ready to turn your back on the societal/familial framework that validates your life?  In what areas do you dare to stand in your authentic self when it differs from the commonplace?   Do you assume that your community will not understand—reject and judge—when you embody a new consciousness that ejects you from the tribal mind into a unique realm of perception? 

            Beware! It’s dangerous to leave the tribe! In early evolution our survival was only possible within a tribal context. Traditional lineages, threatened by independent thought, discourage genius and its innate inclination toward unregimented attitudes, imagination and creativity. Our natural loyalty to the blood family, community or greater society that has brought us life, context, support, nourishment, safety and connection binds us to honor those who have paved the way and reduced our learning curve through their accomplishments and authority.  We bow to them in gratitude and naturally comply with their dictates. 

            NOW our survival depends on breaking from the tribe to discover who we are and what gift we came to offer at this profound evolutionary juncture.  Ejected from tribal security, we face the crisis of great CHANGE and cannot fall back into an embrace with tradition.  Society is destined to reorganize itself to become the rightful container of spiritual values and expanded consciousness. Internal authority and intuition constitute the new compass for societal directives. Then we can return to a tribe that gratefully accepts our innovative spirit, expanded perspective and originality that ushers in the new and miraculous.

            As much anyone, I want to be included, loved, accepted.  To fit in, I’ve trimmed the edges of my uniqueness to homogenize down. The need to heal karmic wounds of isolation and exile reinforces my willingness to respond to the appropriate cues that society has implanted, like a microchip, into my psyche. These compromises have offered me a life of sweet context leaving me reluctant to rock the boat of community safety that has supported my existence for 58 years. 

            However, the call of the relentless wild energy of awakening forces me to examine how I lose myself in the tribe—alienated from self in order to be a part of others as I stray from the austere path of individualization. To ignore today’s evolutionary pressure would betray my greater tribe—the family of Divine Beings who illuminate the path, soothe my soul, faithfully support my karmic contract and to whom I’ve pledged undying love and devotion. So I transfer loyalties to my Cosmic Kin, as must we all, in order to live in a fresh way that helps society release its stagnant archaic drag.  I muster the courage to scrutinize any co-dependence on my familiar community and dare to question every last bit of capitulation that would block my new consciousness and the right to live life true to self.

            The New Age is based on groups of distinct individuals who aren’t afraid to speak and live their truth. Our lives are vehicles of discovery and experimentation. We are our own awakeners and gurus and must liberate ourselves from the magnetics of societal/ familial dictates.   Established consensus reality will fade like a distant dream as the infusion of new thought and wisdom floods the collective consciousness with Light and describes the new paradigm of fellowship.

            The Tibetan applauds this revolution and teaches:

            All groups, based on values carried by divisions of humanity identified through certain customs/mores, are evolving into full union with each other. Dominant tribal thought patterns that mold the lives of its community are ending. The disintegration of traditional structures will give way to a new tribe—the global society of all human beings unified in their spiritual essence. 

            The glue that holds the tribe together looses energy as each individual withdraws attachment to the clan and unleashes his/her unique creative imperative. The impact of the tribe atrophies from lack of adherence by its members. Everyone is mandated to release archaic dictates irrelevant to the emerging consciousness. Each individual must examine their areas of greatest attachment to the tribe—usually arenas where self lacks confidence, as if the tribe knows better than one’s soul. Attempts to take refuge in the comfort zone of the tribal container will only frustrate the soul’s efforts to evolve beyond the constraints of obsolete structures.                          

  Now is the time to implement the revolution that withdraws power from tribal illusions based on historic conclusions that made sense hundreds of years ago. All souls, prepared for this time of birth, are magnetized forward away from the past. To refuse the call of the soul, however unnerving its message, would betray self’s divine purpose—a mission designed to dismantle constructs based on duality, separation, fear, scarcity and victimhood. Any tribes that still base their way of life on this demoded matrix must be challenged. 

            Question the beliefs of the tribe and its predescribed formulas for living. Find the courage to live a life that reflects self’s unique soul response to this present moment. This is how the fabric of society begins to reorganize itself to house the expanding consciousness that ushers in the New Cosmic Day on planet earth.

            “A superior tribe, the Cosmic Family, awaits with open arms to receive each individual soul.  All beings in this Divine Clan are applauded for acts of power, genius, individuality, open-mindedness, improvisation, experimentation and CHANGE! Do not fear being left out in the cold when leaving the old tribe.  Ironically, its insular nature blocked the true warmth of connection that emanates within the Universal Family where everyone thrives and is accepted for exactly who they are—with no strings attached. 

            “The power of the tribe stems from the illusion that without its safety net, self would perish—isolated, lost, unsupported. But the greater safety net of unification inherent in all beings naturally reconfigures a new human dynasty that breaks through the illusion that loyalty to a group of people and/or a system of thinking is necessary to survive and be loved. True power doesn’t reside with the tribe but rather with the contribution of each individual, fully self-realized, to the innate oneness within the group. The new tribe—receptive, flexible, open—gathers a transformed family filled with special, magnificent individuals as the intergalactic family rejoices to receive its brothers and sisters, youth and elders, infants and ancient ones to gather around a Heart-filled Hearth where All dwell in deep communion and freedom.

copyright©2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved.

Our world is riddled with terrorists. These masters of fear are a small percentage of the population who intimidate the masses. They tyrannize through unpredictable, indecipherable patterns of attack on innocent people.  They keep us on the edge of our seat, looking over our shoulder, fearful of populated areas, distrustful of anyone else who crosses our path. They willingly sacrifice their existence for a cause/ideology that is larger than life. Blind absolutism supposedly justifies their destruction of anyone they deem the enemy.  Like a cancer, their presence unremittingly eats away at our collective effort to be in a state of true planetary health — harmonious unity. Their divisive attacks fragment the global community, perpetrate humanity’s history of separation and block our birthright of wholeness.  

            It’s easy to condemn terrorists’ “evil” actions.  But how many of us take responsibility for the climate in our collective unconscious that hatches such “monsters?”  After all, our outer world is created by the internal political environment in our psyche.  Why do we harbor inner terrorists? 

            We all have internal “voices” that eat away at our inner peace and deep sense of security. Like terrorists, they pose a constant threat to our well-being. Lurking in the shadows, these inner terrorists are slippery—difficult to confront with the rational mind. Just when we assume that all is well, they torment us with uneasiness.  Blindly entrenched in perceptions slanted toward everything harmful, adverse and malefic, their false beliefs counter the truth of who we really are. 

            Inner terrorists arrest our optimism when we dare to grow and expand. Their extremist credo is:  life is dangerous, someone is out to get us, we’ll be hated if we flourish, something horrible is going to happen. They compel us to shore up munitions, defensive postures, in preparation for inevitable attacks.  Their threats drive us into hiding our authenticity. 

            Inner terrorists represent a very small part of our being. Yet they overwhelm us through the tyranny of terror. This feeds the illusion that they have total power—as if they  could actually destroy our world, soul and spirit. Broadcasting hatred, they generate a self-condemnation that imprisons our perspective. Their fanaticism, like a one-track mind that blocks out greater realties, augers into our tender soul to spawn powerful distortions of danger that clamp us in a vice-grip of self-torture. We feel helpless in the face of their particular brand of mental torment.

            We often hire our own gang of terrorists—people who make our stomach churn into a knot when they walk into the room.  We dread their demands, anger, judgments.  They are precise dramatizations of our inner terrorists and the power we relinquish to that part of ourselves—as if we deserve to be molested and abused. Sadly, we’ve all unconsciously agreed that paranoia and oppression is normal on the earth plane. Our childhood karma brought terrorists in the form of parents, teachers, siblings, peers. They seemed so big and scary. We carry this terror forward into adult relationships with people who push our buttons. 

            It’s impossible to quietly meditate in areas bombarded by terrorist attacks. Likewise, it’s just as daunting to let go, trust and deeply surrender to the Divine Flow when inner terrorists are making sneak assaults on our well-being, violating internal peace-zones. With no hope of a truce, we can’t rest easy. Every moment is haunted with life-negating menacing intimations so convincing that we bolt out of bed in the middle of the night riddled by their “gunshots and bombs” of fear. Fear pistols, fired every time they browbeat us with despotic beliefs, stimulate anticipation of the worst to ripple through the psyche. The din of their machine gun thoughts in our unconscious keep us primed for fight or flight.  This adrenaline state prevents us from sinking deep into our tummy, the chi center. But it’s our birthright to dwell lightheartedly in the big round belly of the Laughing Buddha.  

            Its foolish to assume that we can attain true inner “homeland security” by using precious energy to shore up vigilance.  We empower inner terrorists through our denial of their presence. Desperate for serenity, we override their bludgeoning impact by sweeping their threats under the rug.  We must stop running from ourselves and confront this internal battleground. The karmic origins of terror, deeply buried in the unconscious, are hard for the ego to identify.  The inner terrorists make deposits in the fundamental fear bank whose matrix is encoded in our cells.

            Currently, accelerating energies bless us with a powerful surge throughout the soul body that kicks up this original pattern of foreboding and panic. All unresolved past life anxiety is spiking—a field day for inner terrorists who reference the past, however subliminal, as prophecy for the future. If we listen to their messages during this acute cleansing and transformation, we’ll be paralyzed in horror. But if we muster up the courage to objectively face the inner terrorist, we can uncover the core negative programming in the human condition. Then we have the CHOICE to disbelieve ancient brainwashing and break from this tyranny in the soul at long last, especially as we renounce all polarization and refuse to give power to anything other than our ultimate truth.

            My inner terrorists strike when I’m open, undefended, relaxed with a deep sense of well-being or stretching out into internal/external uncharted territory.  They gun down my sense of possibility with admonitions of:  “You are not safe anytime or anywhere.” “Don’t get too comfortable.” “Don’t trust.” I can only surrender to this onslaught while maintaining the perspective that my life is filled with blessings and opportunity.  Inner terrorists aren’t the only surprise visitors—so too are the ambassadors of Universal Goodness and Divine Love who reside within me as well. I don’t expect the Armies of Light to do battle with my inner terrorists.  Instead, I work to transmute their toxicity of hate/fear into a state of precious vulnerability, acceptance, trust and faith.  I know it’s not our spiritual legacy to be terrorized.  We’re designed as beings of flowing, loving energy who embrace life unconditionally. 

           The Tibetan, offering a Cosmic Healing Balm to reinstate a deep sense of safety, teaches:

          Humankind is in the process of an enormous evolutionary leap of faith. This metamorphosis blasts open soul terrain that stores the deepest memories of trauma. The cleansing of this material as it moves through the ‘bloodstream’ of the collective unconscious is felt subliminally by everyone. 

            Humankind specializes in scaring itself to death. This Reign of Terror is based on the illusion that there’s actually something to fear! The rigors of evolution have certainly brought great human drama to the earthly plane. But ultimately no soul has ever been permanently damaged or destroyed. Transformation and healing, initiated in the Spirit of Love, have always been the Prime Objective of all karmic pathways.

            The current horror of terrorism on the planet represents the final purging of humankind’s fear-based reality.  Terrorists seize power by propagating panic. This exhibits humankind’s willingness to defer to the aberrations and contrivances of the lower mind, thereby entrenching itself in nightmarish images that pervert and warp their perception of Source’s true nature. 

            What would it be like if humankind interpreted all of its earthly challenges to be a loving offering to the soul?  Instead people still hold beliefs in a judgmental, punitive God who penalizes, avenges, scourges and castigates through tests of suffering, affliction, hardship — as if that’s the only way for the soul to grow. This God disdains its offspring by exiling them from the eternal heavenly garden through imprisonment on a hellish earthly plane for which humankind has to pay dues of misery. Why wouldn’t people feel that someone is out to get them when their own Source can’t be trusted. 

            This distorted perception of Divinity, a perversion of the Divine Plan, generates a massive swamp of terror that disrupts the intergalactic family.  This lack of trust creates fissures in humankind’s emotional body, like ruptures in the skin that never heal, which attract lower astral energy based in the illusion of lovelessness. Humankind is forever on the run from itself.

It’s time to rout out the roots of this foolish distortion and comprehend Source’s fundamental nature—LOVE. Humanity’s only true path is a mutual endorsement of potential, cohesiveness, cooperation, Oneness. 

            Terror thrives on isolation and division. Dare to experience true communion with each other, supported by a deep embrace with Source. Then the nightmares that feed inner terrorists will fade like a passing moment of madness—a final release of distortion. 

            Humankind is verging on a new consciousness based in Mutuality.  Many allow inner terrorists to rule because the ego feeds on the “dread drama.”  But the fierce tsunami wave of Source’s Love usurps the ego’s need for control and washes self onto the Beach of Bliss.  Invite inner terrorists out from the shadows into Divine Light and examine their essence. Self will find nothing more than a tender aspect of the soul desperate for connection and acceptance. Shower this aspect of self with Love and open to the glorious New World of Trust and Kinship for All.

            Copyright© 2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

However, we’re very sensitive to the past and its lies about limitations, unworthiness, isolation and failure. The smallest contamination of doubt can throw us off the path we have so dearly fought to explore.  Many of us haven’t yet enjoyed the self-proving on a soul level that brings rock-hard conviction about our place in the Universe and its inevitable rewards.  We’re teeter-tottering on the edge, praying that somehow our soul’s journey during this harrowing initiation on planet earth will be blessed with solidity, support, fulfillment and advancement. Like delicate rose petals in the wind, we’re vulnerable to the slaying effect of disbelief. We crumble in a heap of impossibility, feeling like fools for daring to believe that more is possible—and that we are more. 

            We must fight very hard to ward off the despair of doubt in order to give ourselves a chance to pierce the veils of illusions and see the truth once and for all. What a sensitive razor’s edge this is as we struggle to suspend uncertainty while traversing the Chasm of Change.  Like a mother bear fiercely protecting her cubs, we must vigilantly safeguard ourselves from the subversive doubt that fills the head with malefic suspicion that kills the spirit and the right to soar.

            Self -doubt feeds on the mistrust of our vision, understanding and progress. When we disbelieve our knowing, we project doubt—unwilling to trust others. Then we start to doubt the Divine Plan— “There is no such thing.”  We discredit the Masters—“They’re not really out there helping us.” which ironically makes it impossible for them to bolster and champion us with their devotion.  Finally, we doubt Source Itself—“There is no Greater Being who loves us.”  Doubt relentlessly grows like a cancer that eats away determination, undermines efforts, weakens persistence, shrinks reality and prevents world evolution because we can’t receive help from the Masters or assist others.  

            Doubt returns us to the beginning when we unbelieve our transformation. In spite of improvements, we doubt our headway which forces us to start all over again. This prevents us from gaining the momentum needed to take a leap of faith—to go the distance in our creativity, accomplishments, relationships, fulfillment of karma and self-realization.

            Whenever I doubt myself, I’m sending a message to the Universe that my hopes and dreams won’t be fulfilled. I can only imagine how many opportunities have been blocked by this attitude. Disfaith postpones happiness.  The doubt that good things can really happen energizes that reality. Doubt says NO to greater possibilities. Why not conclude with, “I don’t know” or “maybe” than “I doubt it.”  Sustaining doubt takes tremendous energy because it counters the natural possibility of our being. Doubtfulness, stifling our approach to life by dimming vibrancy, steals the life force we need to bring Technicolor to our experience. 

            Doubt interrupts action. If  I succumb to hesitation when readying to make a leap of faith,  I’m stopped dead in my tracks as the heavy undertow of doubt blankets my initiative. When riddled with doubt, I’m drowning in fear desperately trying to protect myself from falling on my face. The tyranny of dubiosity forestalls flight, either preventing me from leaving the edge at all or stopping me midstream as it pulls the plug on the fuel needed to land safely on the new horizon. I’m left to crash and burn simply because I let doubt get the better of me.

              Doubt is nothing but lies developed to imprison us in stagnancy that say we’re not on the path. It prevents us from even climbing the mountain, insisting that we aren’t up to the challenges of the ascent. Doubt interrupts the focus needed to sustain intention. Affirmations are useless if the underpinnings of our requests are riddled with reserve. Dubiosity prevents us from being fully committed. 

            Doubt inhibits the imagination and veils the 3rd eye.  If we don’t allow ourselves to believe in visions, our inner vantage point dims with a film, like a dirty windshield, that obscures the clarity needed to confidently step forward into the mystery. Without the vibrancy of the “high beams” of crystalline inner vision, doubt wins the battle against evolution as it obscures the Divine Map that guides us out of the narrow box of limitation. The longer we’re imprisoned in the box, the more doubt prevails. 

            Doubt doesn’t make us stronger because we have to push through its walls in order to validate our truth. Rather, fostering the notion that nothing is really possible, dubiosity weakens us through energy drain and discouragement. It promotes paranoia, debilitates trust and creates a bleak world that reeks of depression because it’s the ultimate generator of dead-end experiences. The enemy of surprise, grace, opportunity and mystery, doubt is heavy, boring, pessimistic—a flimsy protection against the open innocence to which we long to return.            

            We must employ spiritual will to hold steady without capitulating to the relentless sirens of doubt that pierce inner peace. Amazingly, if we could just use the discipline to withdraw energy from doubt, stopping it like a bad habit, our evolution would progress ten fold without any additional effort.  Doubt is that powerful. 

            What would it be like to live without a doubt about our Divine Destiny, rights, potential, place in the Universe, intelligence, creativity, worthiness and lovability? How light, vital and confident we’d feel with total energy available to buttress our convictions and sail forward unencumbered by the wall of doubt that poisons our deepest knowing. We’d receive much more energy from the Higher Planes, heal quicker, enjoy greater success and experience wealth on all levels as we assumed our rightful place as spiritual beings who no longer doubt their true essence. 

            The Tibetan sweeps away cobwebs of doubt with a golden broom and teaches:

            Healthy questioning is a most useful tool to keep the feet on the ground while practicing conviction.  Before leaps of faith, use scrutiny to uncover shadow pieces. However, doubt, injurious to the energy body, is the opposite of placing trust in the mystery. 

            Students often doubt their tremendous progress. When unfolding powerful visions from the 3rd eye reveal that the veils are burning away, self, initially impressed and excited, steps back from this betterment. Students foster layers of doubt about their advancement as a form of protection from ego inflation, grandiosity, and arrogance. 

            All attachment to doubt must be released in order to be fully present. Doubt generates inefficiency and exhaustion by elongating the enlightenment process. It slows down one’s integration into the new paradigm.  Resistance produces barricades of doubt. Doubt, a bridge to the past, says: “I’ve never experienced this level, seen these visions, expanded in wisdom, known real love or inner peace. Therefore this new consciousness can’t be true.” Humankind is astounded and frightened when touching its potential. It drops this new perspective like a hot potato by taking refuge in doubt, shutting the door with: “This can’t be possible.”   

            Students, distrusting the ease factor that accompanies the new consciousness, doubt the facility of their opening and the spontaneous revelations effortlessly pouring forth. Humankind believes that the path is an endlessly arduous journey up a steep mountain filled with avalanches—nothing untroublesome about liberation! Blankets of doubt are generated that extinguish this gift of ease (the lubricant of the birthing process) and reinforce the familiar rough terrain known for lifetimes.

            Please acclimate to the speed of self’s unfoldment. Embrace the ease factor. It’s essential for this birth process. Otherwise, labor goes on and on as self doubts the progress and returns to the beginning of the contractions. Doubt negates the rewards of hard work as well as all the good things that might unfold which reinforces the false belief that self is not entitled to the realm of magnitude. 

            When eagerly beginning to run a race, hoping for record speed, the last thing self wants is to be blocked by someone who says that he/she isn’t up to the challenge. This causes self to pause, disoriented, and take a moment to realign and return to the endeavor. If people repeatedly interrupt the race to discredit self’s potential, then he/she loses center, succumbing to these obstacles of doubt that become lodged in the unconscious. Eventually doubt creates reality and self is out of the race, destroyed by chronic uncertainty.   

              Release doubt unconditionally! No need to analyze—It’s all based on illusion. Simply let it go by remembering that doubt poisons the soul and spirit. When all doubt, suspicion, uneasiness and disfaith are renounced, self is free to fly up the mountain— filled with questions, scrutiny, observations and wondering—and light as a feather on the Magic Carpet of Certitude that carries the soul’s wisdom into fruition. 

copyright© 2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

However, we’re very sensitive to the past and its lies about limitations, unworthiness, isolation and failure. The smallest contamination of doubt can throw us off the path we have so dearly fought to explore.  Many of us haven’t yet enjoyed the self-proving on a soul level that brings rock-hard conviction about our place in the Universe and its inevitable rewards.  We’re teeter-tottering on the edge, praying that somehow our soul’s journey during this harrowing initiation on planet earth will be blessed with solidity, support, fulfillment and advancement. Like delicate rose petals in the wind, we’re vulnerable to the slaying effect of disbelief. We crumble in a heap of impossibility, feeling like fools for daring to believe that more is possible—and that we are more. 

            We must fight very hard to ward off the despair of doubt in order to give ourselves a chance to pierce the veils of illusions and see the truth once and for all. What a sensitive razor’s edge this is as we struggle to suspend uncertainty while traversing the Chasm of Change.  Like a mother bear fiercely protecting her cubs, we must vigilantly safeguard ourselves from the subversive doubt that fills the head with malefic suspicion that kills the spirit and the right to soar.

            Self -doubt feeds on the mistrust of our vision, understanding and progress. When we disbelieve our knowing, we project doubt—unwilling to trust others. Then we start to doubt the Divine Plan— “There is no such thing.”  We discredit the Masters—“They’re not really out there helping us.” which ironically makes it impossible for them to bolster and champion us with their devotion.  Finally, we doubt Source Itself—“There is no Greater Being who loves us.”  Doubt relentlessly grows like a cancer that eats away determination, undermines efforts, weakens persistence, shrinks reality and prevents world evolution because we can’t receive help from the Masters or assist others.  

            Doubt returns us to the beginning when we unbelieve our transformation. In spite of improvements, we doubt our headway which forces us to start all over again. This prevents us from gaining the momentum needed to take a leap of faith—to go the distance in our creativity, accomplishments, relationships, fulfillment of karma and self-realization.

            Whenever I doubt myself, I’m sending a message to the Universe that my hopes and dreams won’t be fulfilled. I can only imagine how many opportunities have been blocked by this attitude. Disfaith postpones happiness.  The doubt that good things can really happen energizes that reality. Doubt says NO to greater possibilities. Why not conclude with, “I don’t know” or “maybe” than “I doubt it.”  Sustaining doubt takes tremendous energy because it counters the natural possibility of our being. Doubtfulness, stifling our approach to life by dimming vibrancy, steals the life force we need to bring Technicolor to our experience. 

            Doubt interrupts action. If  I succumb to hesitation when readying to make a leap of faith,  I’m stopped dead in my tracks as the heavy undertow of doubt blankets my initiative. When riddled with doubt, I’m drowning in fear desperately trying to protect myself from falling on my face. The tyranny of dubiosity forestalls flight, either preventing me from leaving the edge at all or stopping me midstream as it pulls the plug on the fuel needed to land safely on the new horizon. I’m left to crash and burn simply because I let doubt get the better of me.

              Doubt is nothing but lies developed to imprison us in stagnancy that say we’re not on the path. It prevents us from even climbing the mountain, insisting that we aren’t up to the challenges of the ascent. Doubt interrupts the focus needed to sustain intention. Affirmations are useless if the underpinnings of our requests are riddled with reserve. Dubiosity prevents us from being fully committed. 

            Doubt inhibits the imagination and veils the 3rd eye.  If we don’t allow ourselves to believe in visions, our inner vantage point dims with a film, like a dirty windshield, that obscures the clarity needed to confidently step forward into the mystery. Without the vibrancy of the “high beams” of crystalline inner vision, doubt wins the battle against evolution as it obscures the Divine Map that guides us out of the narrow box of limitation. The longer we’re imprisoned in the box, the more doubt prevails. 

            Doubt doesn’t make us stronger because we have to push through its walls in order to validate our truth. Rather, fostering the notion that nothing is really possible, dubiosity weakens us through energy drain and discouragement. It promotes paranoia, debilitates trust and creates a bleak world that reeks of depression because it’s the ultimate generator of dead-end experiences. The enemy of surprise, grace, opportunity and mystery, doubt is heavy, boring, pessimistic—a flimsy protection against the open innocence to which we long to return.            

            We must employ spiritual will to hold steady without capitulating to the relentless sirens of doubt that pierce inner peace. Amazingly, if we could just use the discipline to withdraw energy from doubt, stopping it like a bad habit, our evolution would progress ten fold without any additional effort.  Doubt is that powerful. 

            What would it be like to live without a doubt about our Divine Destiny, rights, potential, place in the Universe, intelligence, creativity, worthiness and lovability? How light, vital and confident we’d feel with total energy available to buttress our convictions and sail forward unencumbered by the wall of doubt that poisons our deepest knowing. We’d receive much more energy from the Higher Planes, heal quicker, enjoy greater success and experience wealth on all levels as we assumed our rightful place as spiritual beings who no longer doubt their true essence. 

            The Tibetan sweeps away cobwebs of doubt with a golden broom and teaches:

            Healthy questioning is a most useful tool to keep the feet on the ground while practicing conviction.  Before leaps of faith, use scrutiny to uncover shadow pieces. However, doubt, injurious to the energy body, is the opposite of placing trust in the mystery. 

            Students often doubt their tremendous progress. When unfolding powerful visions from the 3rd eye reveal that the veils are burning away, self, initially impressed and excited, steps back from this betterment. Students foster layers of doubt about their advancement as a form of protection from ego inflation, grandiosity, and arrogance. 

            All attachment to doubt must be released in order to be fully present. Doubt generates inefficiency and exhaustion by elongating the enlightenment process. It slows down one’s integration into the new paradigm.  Resistance produces barricades of doubt. Doubt, a bridge to the past, says: “I’ve never experienced this level, seen these visions, expanded in wisdom, known real love or inner peace. Therefore this new consciousness can’t be true.” Humankind is astounded and frightened when touching its potential. It drops this new perspective like a hot potato by taking refuge in doubt, shutting the door with: “This can’t be possible.”   

            Students, distrusting the ease factor that accompanies the new consciousness, doubt the facility of their opening and the spontaneous revelations effortlessly pouring forth. Humankind believes that the path is an endlessly arduous journey up a steep mountain filled with avalanches—nothing untroublesome about liberation! Blankets of doubt are generated that extinguish this gift of ease (the lubricant of the birthing process) and reinforce the familiar rough terrain known for lifetimes.

            Please acclimate to the speed of self’s unfoldment. Embrace the ease factor. It’s essential for this birth process. Otherwise, labor goes on and on as self doubts the progress and returns to the beginning of the contractions. Doubt negates the rewards of hard work as well as all the good things that might unfold which reinforces the false belief that self is not entitled to the realm of magnitude. 

            When eagerly beginning to run a race, hoping for record speed, the last thing self wants is to be blocked by someone who says that he/she isn’t up to the challenge. This causes self to pause, disoriented, and take a moment to realign and return to the endeavor. If people repeatedly interrupt the race to discredit self’s potential, then he/she loses center, succumbing to these obstacles of doubt that become lodged in the unconscious. Eventually doubt creates reality and self is out of the race, destroyed by chronic uncertainty.   

              Release doubt unconditionally! No need to analyze—It’s all based on illusion. Simply let it go by remembering that doubt poisons the soul and spirit. When all doubt, suspicion, uneasiness and disfaith are renounced, self is free to fly up the mountain— filled with questions, scrutiny, observations and wondering—and light as a feather on the Magic Carpet of Certitude that carries the soul’s wisdom into fruition. 

copyright© 2007 School of the Golden Discs, all rights reserved

The Tibetans and shamans call them the Hungry Ghosts. We all know them quite well—too well! They are the voices of undoing—the “sirens” from Odysseus’ journey who would seduce us off course on our journey homeward. They are the demons who surface when we suddenly awaken in the middle of the night filled with doubts and fears. They are the nagging worries like flies buzzing around our mental bodies looking for sticky places to land. They are powerful and convincing, tempting us into believing that we can’t grow, heal, transform, change, or awaken. They feed off our negativity like turkey vultures feeding off dead carcasses. They would devour all of our positive energy if given half a chance. They are on the job twenty-four hours a day, always on the alert for times of vulnerability that create openings in our auric body like invitations to “set up shop,” distributing fearful messages. They are like gnats or black flies so small that even the finest screen mesh can’t filter them out of our energetic reality.

We often don’t realize we have been bitten by them until the damage is already done. When we awake in the morning depressed and discouraged—thinking that our life is a joke—they have left their mark, just as if we were covered with minute bee stings leaving us swollen, toxic and hurting. Perhaps Source created the nasty bites of insects to mirror the energetic impact of the hungry ghosts on our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.

Some of us try to pretend they are not there. The oblivious innocents merrily go through the woods of life with no bug spray, assuming they are invulnerable to the swarms of energies hungry to dine on the human spirit—devouring its light as quickly as possible. These people are quickly brought to their knees, undone in their optimism. Here comes the spiritual crisis: “What kind of God would create a reality like this? Surely this God does not love us.” The hungry ghosts love this kind of thinking. For them it is food for a week as they whisper to us that we can’t possibly know our divinity.

‘The hungry ghosts are particularly activated when we make a conscious commitment to transform or heal an aspect of our souls, especially if our intentions are heightened through ritual. Bringing out the heavy artillery, they are ready to battle our determination to liberate ourselves. Working with the magnetism between the positive and negative poles is required to master duality.

Gathering the positive force needed for self-healing simultaneously activates the opposite pole. This activation sounds an alarm in our energy body as the ghosts close in, ready for the kill. They would destroy our inspiration: “How ridiculous to think that life could be so good. Who do you think you are to dare to consider enlightenment? Remember the pain that you have suffered? Don’t think that it could possibly stop because you are doing some stupid ritual or saying some sniveling prayer. Get real! This is all there is. If you try to make it better it will just get worse—better to leave well enough alone. Let your fears make your decisions.”

Intentions to grow heighten vulnerability as we momentarily allow our vision to reflect our true potential, invoking the challenge to let go of our familiar self-limiting parameters. Releasing the known pushes us to the edge of the cliff, teetering on the brink of our faith, daring to believe for one moment that more could be possible. Into this delicate space the hungry ghosts swarm, trying to distract us as they bite at our convictions and visions. If they succeed, we are thrown off balance and fall into the abyss of our illusions. They win, we lose.

‘The Tibetan smiles at my melodrama around the “Forces of Undoing.” He challenges me to open to the possibility that the hungry ghosts might have a divine mission. At first all that I can think of is that their only purpose is to make us miserable. Djwhal Khul laughs, reminding me about the two different kinds of faith. The first springs from life filled with joy and opportunity. It is easy to have faith when all is well. The challenge is to hold steady with one’s faith when life starts throwing major obstacles in our path. The second faith is hard earned through inner strength and persistence. If we can sustain faith when our external reality seems to make a mockery of our ideals, then we are truly rooted in our faith.

That’s where the hungry ghosts come in—to tempt, torment, ridicule, and undermine our faith. If we can survive their attacks and remain centered and aligned, we are truly strong in our spiritual body. This spiritual conviction makes it possible for us to allow the physical, emotional and mental bodies to go through whatever intensity is integral to the transformational process.

Ironically, the hungry ghosts are really spiritual coaches in disguise. Just like strict drill sergeants in boot camp, their job is to toughen us up, whether we like it or not. All of our fluff is stripped from us. Although believing we never signed up for this tyranny, deep in our souls we can sense the rightness of the overall process. We cannot possibly bushwhack the cutting edge of our magnitude if our core star (our soul’s center) is not strong enough. Still breathing after an onslaught from the hungry ghosts indicates we are all ready for action—the action that sweeps us through the gateway into the fifth dimension. So, let us welcome these messengers of the negative pole as they create the very resistance that propels us into our divine destiny.

As a psychologist I am keenly aware of the alchemical cycle of transformation. Initially when metal is alchemized into gold there is the blackening stage. Emotionally and spiritually the blackening phase demands a journey to the underworld resulting in a dismemberment process. This is not a physical, but a psychic dismemberment. We leave the world of order, certainty and knowing, and fall into the vortex of chaos, not-knowing and fragmentation. This is a necessary part of the alchemical process of breaking down old forms. At this point the hungry ghosts lunge forward, eager to pick apart our certainties as they introduce doubt, disturbance, fear, bewilderment and judgment.

While intellectually I understand all of this, when the hungry ghosts come after me, I’ll run faster than anyone to get away from them. Of course, they always catch me, shrieking in delight at my dismay. As they pull me apart I wail at my predicament, losing all sight of my overall process. Rarely, when particularly centered, I manage to faintly remember that this is a very necessary part of the process. However, it is hard to be comforted by that thought when the experience becomes painful and discouraging. Sometimes I try to block out the process until it is over, struggling to invoke “psychic anesthesia.” But that doesn’t work. We can’t sleep through the hungry ghosts. They are just too noisy. They demand interaction. Attempting to push them away just makes them stronger. Surrender is the answer—surrender with awareness.

Oh how mature we have to be to hold this perspective, allowing ourselves to be momentarily devoured by our karmic past. In the long run it’s easier to be mature than to throw a temper tantrum which only wastes the precious energy needed to survive the alchemical fire. Memories of past skirmishes with these ghostly devils help me to “hang on” during this process. I have survived and flourished in spite of their history of relentlessness. In my twenties I could not name this process, feeling at the mercy of these potent adversaries. Bringing me to my knees, I would cry, rage and wonder whether life was worth living, thinking that it would always be this bad. I believed every lie the ghosts told me. Caught in a place of inadequacy and failure, I would let them win—postponing” my transformation. However, even in those dark nights, the subtle voice of guidance emerged telling me that eventually I would have the strength to go forward, allowing my true self to flourish.

Over time I have learned to recognize the usual insults and criticisms of my personal hungry ghosts. They always say the same thing. This allows me some measure of perspective to keep going. Every time I dare to be more than I have been, the hungry ghosts will immediately spring forth, undermining my positive outlook. I try to remember to breathe. They have never been able to completely take away my breath. Physical movement helps. A moving target is harder for them to attach to—tai chi, chi gong, yoga, walks—whatever it takes to keep the energy circulating. The more the energy moves, the quicker this process is completed.

‘It helps to remember that birth resides within death, and so too does gold reside within the blackening. Patience is essential. Eventually the clouds part and the sun shines again. Hungry ghosts don’t like the sunshine, especially when it radiates out from the soul. I now trust that my natural light will burn away the veils the “ghosts” tell me are real. So, I surrender, ego unwilling, to this spectacular process reminding myself that transformation is possible for all beings—no, not possible—probable. The gold within always emerges victorious.”

Copyright© 2002 Soul Searching with Djwhal Khul, the Tibetan