Why “self realization” is not an “altered state”

As the movement toward clarity, awareness and consciousness gains a wave of momentum (again) I have noticed an old well worn path presenting itself anew.  

The equation with awareness to being ‘altered.’  

Now, I know it can feel like that sometimes. As we clear pathways and connect to something both bigger than us and at the same time, more intimate within us, we start to feel a kind of “high”.  The tendency is then to use that feeling of “highness” as a litmus test to seek out specific practices, events or modalities.   But I might suggest that this has the potential to lead us astray.  

The truth is our normal, everyday state of being IS a form of “high”.  It is resting in the the eternal bliss. We are divine beings having a human experience.  And within this truth lies another truth, when we honestly experience this natural expanded state (enlightenment?) we understand just how normal and accessible it is and the processes which externally seek to create a “high” suddenly feel forced, unnecessary and potentially misleading.  

We do not require any kind of hallucinogen or psychedelic experience in order to connect us to our consciousness.  In fact, it gets complicated when using pathways created somewhat artificially as we can mistake the end result for the personal journey. And make no mistake, the journey to aligned living is filled with both valleys and peaks, is challenging, requires commitment and time as well as guidance and community.  In other words:  there is no fast track without consequences.   

To be clear, in a ceremonial setting we may naturally enter an altered state with the guidance of someone who understands how to both open and close that space (this is both RARE and critical). And we may use tools to assist this process.  However, we do so in order to receive information that then gets translated into our day to day life.  It there is no translation, if we simply hop from experience to experience looking for the next cool thing, becoming dependent on external tools,  and go back to same old same old afterwards, we miss the point of integration.  

And without integration, there is no forward progress either individually or collectively.  And without progress we repeat the same patterns over and over again, perhaps moving forward nonetheless, but at a pace that creates more suffering, distraction and difficulty along the way.  

Sound familiar?

Self realization is not a psychedelic trip (not at all to dismiss psychedelics)

We’ve been down this road before.  

You know that feeling when you just know for sure what you need to do?  Perhaps you have clarity around how to resolve a situation at work?  Or maybe you suddenly have insight into a change you need to make in your schedule? And you just … KNOW.   Its as clear as day. Obvious as the nose in front of your face. Like its been there all along and you are finally seeing it.  

Thats the quality of self realization.  Its been there all along.  Its not new.  Its not even an “aha”.  Its more of an “oooooh.”  And rather than high/super/buzzed/powerful, you feel solid, comfortable, at peace, calm, ready and wonderfully happy.   

I believe we all have our own path, and our paths are as beautifully varied, colorful, non-linear  and complex as we are.  And we also need to share our paths, to look out for each other and to offer our perspective. 

Today I offer you mine.

Peace
Jeneen

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Friday, May 26, 2017

Energy Musings.  Here. Now.

Today!

The last post I wrote, was about dis-connecting.  In that time, I have reluctantly been forced to dis-connect from social media and the swirl of life & people that it brings.  Through this process, I have noticed so much.  Here are some of my current observations and understandings (to be continued).

1.  Social Media is totally addictive.  It doesn’t matter if you are simply a “lurker”, post every day or use it only for your “business”.  Its important to remember the addictive quality of these outlets.  Some of us are better at navigating “addictions” than others.  You know your Nature.  Pay attention.
2. Social Media is a distraction to your work & your discernment.  It doesn’t matter if you are simply a “lurker”, post every day or use it only for your “business”.  Its important to remember the distractive quality of these outlets.  Some of us are better at navigating “distractions” than others.  You know your Nature.  Pay attention.
3. Social Media fills the empty spaces in you (making you feel either good, bad, angry, motivated, etc) instead of YOU filling them consciously yourself.  This is a bad idea.  Period.
4. Social Media has an energetic long term impact that is hard to disentangle from once you are in it on any level.  It becomes impossible even to see.
5. Social Media emphasizes comparison to others thereby making it increasingly difficult for self awareness to blossom authentically.  We are in deep danger of having this collective work of our conscious evolution being thwarted in this manner.  There’s research on this (framed as depression and anxiety as related to social media) gathering out there.  Look at it. This means you.
6. Be aware of the lurkers, the unseen and unknown, entities on social media tracking and following you.  I’m talking energetically here again, as I know there are safeguards in place and information accessible to help you protect yourself from more ‘tangible’ hackers and predators.  The unseen world is far less understood .
7. Be aware of yours/others resistance to looking at, considering or admitting any of the above as it pertains to you. There is a vast culture of denial around social media pitfalls and the aspects of it that are unhealthy.  We are the opposite of “risk-averse” when it comes to technology, the internet and social media.  People think they can self-regulate and navigate this virtual world in a conscious way but I have not seen much evidence of that yet.

 

Theres so much more I could add.  And I just might come back to this topic, because it feels incredibly important to me right now.  I’ve been feeling a huge hole, a vast leak, in our collective energetic field.  Right now, I’m registering that as social media (more specifically Facebook).

For now, the questions I am asking myself are this:  what do I want to be a part of? what do I want to contribute to long term to this society and this world I belong to?  how can I best contribute my time and energy to create the kind of evolution I believe in?

Its OK to go against the grain. Its OK to not buy in to what “everyone else is doing”.    Its OK to question, to be critical, to challenge, and to wonder:  in the name of progress, are we stepping into patterns and places that will support or destroy (either physically, emotionally, spiritually or energetically) us in the long run? In fact, its our work to ask these questions.

peace.

Word of the Day:  Luddite.  (from Wikipedia: The Luddites were a group of English textile workers and weavers in the 19th century who destroyed weaving machinery as a form of protest. The group was protesting the use of machinery in a “fraudulent and deceitful manner” to get around standard labour practices.^[1]Luddites feared that the time spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste as machines would replace their role in the industry.^[2]It is a misconception that the Luddites protested against the machinery itself in an attempt to halt progress of technology. However, the term has come to mean one opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general.^[3] The Luddite movement began in Nottingham and culminated in a region-wide rebellion that lasted from 1811 to 1816. Mill owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was brutally suppressed with military force.)

Song of the Day:  People Have the Power by Patti Smith