This is one in a series of posts with brief notes on healing, awakening, and personal things. These are more spontaneous and less comprehensive than the regular articles. Some may be a little rantish. And some may be made into a regular article in time.
NORMALIZING BELIEF MAKES US LEAVE REALITY MORE EASILY
When we normalize belief, we normalize leaving reality. We normalize saying that my opinion is as valid as yours, even if I know next to nothing about something and you are a scientist who have devoted your life to studying it.
We in the western world live in a Christian culture, and this is a culture where belief and faith is normalized.
In Christianity, we are asked to believe what someone tells us without having the ability to check it for ourselves. We are asked to take things on faith. And this belief and faith is praised and encouraged.
From there, it’s a small step to do the same in other areas of life.
A clear sign of this is that it’s common to use the word belief outside of religion, even when the topic is clearly something that belongs to science and not opinion or belief, or it belongs to expert advice and not opinions of random non-experts.
For instance, someone asked me do you believe in climate change? It’s not a matter of belief. It’s a matter of science, and just about all climate scientists – people who have devoted their lives to study it – agree on. It’s happening and it’s created by human fossil fuel consumption.
Another example is the question do you believe in UFOs? It’s phrased as if it’s a matter of belief, as if our belief somehow is important or relevant. In reality, UFOs are a question for science – or experience – and what we personally think or hope or fear or imagine is irrelevant. (Unless we take a psychological and sociological perspective, in which case it’s an interesting question.)
Would we see this era of conspiracy theories and fake news if Christianity hadn’t taught us to abandon rational thinking and instead believe? I am not sure. I can’t help wondering if it plays a role.
ICEBERG OF THOUGHT
There are levels of thought in terms of how aware we are of them.
Some thoughts are conscious verbal self-talk. These are the tip of the iceberg.
Some thoughts are words and yet more hidden. It can take some exploration to find them.
And some thoughts are images, and many of these are also invisible to us until we start exploring them.
Most of the thoughts that color – or create – our perceptions, experiences, and choices are mostly invisible to us. They make up our unquestioned assumptions about ourselves, others, situations, and life in general.
These invisible thoughts are only invisible to us as long as we are not aware of them. So how do we bring awareness to these thoughts? The most straight forward is some form of inquiry.
For instance, the Judge Your Neighbor worksheet in The Work of Byron Katie, and also by going through the four questions and the turnarounds. By going through the Living Inquiries. Or some other form of questions or inquiry.
[made into a longer regular article]
PLEASING-PATTERN
When we are in the habit of pleasing others, a lot happens.
We set our own honesty and needs aside and may get disappointed, bitter, and secretly angry at ourselves, others, and life.
We may expect others to please us, and get upset when it doesn’t happen.
And we may please our own hangups and issues. We appease them instead of using tough love, exposing them to the truth, and cutting through them.
Pleasing others tends to be a pervasive pattern with a lot of – as we see when we look a bit closer – undesirable consequences.
Thanks to my partner for this insight and reminder!
August 1, 2020
OUR GIFT TO THE UNIVERSE
In an online Vortex Healing class yesterday, the teacher mentioned human delusion and half-jokingly called it our gift to the universe.
It’s of course a bit funny, and yet there is some truth to it.
Any being’s gift to the universe is its unique way of experiencing existence.
Through us, the universe gets to experience itself through the creativity of the human mind, which includes taking thoughts as true and creating delusion for itself.
Said another way, this is how the One gets to experience itself as separate, or love gets to experience itself as not-love, or clarity as confusion, or consciousness as matter.
And although it may be difficult for us to see how this is a gift, in the bigger picture it’s an amazing accomplishment and contribution, and it is – fortunately – local and temporary.
BYPASSING IS A FORM OF INDULGING
Spiritual bypassing refers to using spirituality or awakening to avoid our human messiness, issues, and pain. It’s normal, understandable, and also a common and useful phase in the awakening process.
An interesting part of spiritual bypassing is that it’s a form of indulging in our issues, and specifically our fear of our human messiness. We fear our human messiness and pain, and react to this fear by using spirituality to try to avoid it.
The upside of spiritual bypassing is that we can get more familiar with the awakeness without so much of the human messiness. It won’t last since the messiness also wants to join in and benefit from the awakening, so it comes up to be seen, felt, loved, recognized as the divine, and awaken. The downside – which is really an upside since it encourages us to notice what’s going on – is that the messiness and our issues are still here and they color our perception and life even as we try to bypass them.
I rarely use the term “spiritual bypassing” since it is often used with some judgment attached to it, but it came up earlier today so I thought I would mention this briefly here.
THE UPSIDE OF SPIRITUAL BYPASSING
Spiritual bypassing means to use spirituality – ideas from spirituality or awakening – to avoid our human messiness, pain, and confusion.
Spiritual bypassing can be a very helpful phase or aspect of our awakening process. It helps us get more familiar with what we are while setting aside the messiness of who we are.
In the longer run, it doesn’t work since who we are – with all its pain and confusion and bubbles of separation consciousness – wants to join in the awakening. Life wants these parts of us to awaken as well. So they come up to be seen, acknowledged, met, listened to, understood, loved, and recognized as the divine.
This is why judgment about spiritual bypassing doesn’t really make sense. It’s a natural part of the process, and it can be very helpful and even necessary in a certain phase of the awakening process.
BYPASSING IN GENERAL
Spiritual bypassing is one variation of the general bypassing almost all humans live with, and I am no exception.
In this wider sense of the word, it just means setting aside parts of our human messiness. We do it all the time. Sometimes, we do it in order to avoid something that’s unpleasant. Other times, it’s just happening because it’s impossible for us to deal with all our human messiness at once.
NO BUTTONS PUSHED IN MONASTIC SETTING?
In an online Vortex Healing class today, the teacher talked about monastic living as not triggering us as much as secular life. I have heard this from others and always wonder where they experienced this type of monastic living. (Probably nowhere!)
In my experience, monastic living triggers as much as any a regular secular life. If not more since we live with the same people 24/7 and can’t so easily escape.
Even solitary life brings up a lot of issues as I notice when I am by myself at the cabin. I cannot escape myself so easily.
So the notion of monastic living somehow being pristine or peaceful or free of triggered is misguided and, most likely, created by people who have never experienced it.
If monastic living was like their fantasy, it would be far more popular!
[made into a regular article, slightly modified]
AUGUST 2, 2020
DREAM: TAMING A TIGER
[made into regular article]
ANGER -> FEAR: GOING BEHIND SURFACE MANIFESTATIONS
I gave a brief Vortex Healing session to someone a couple of days ago. She wanted to work on anger and mentioned that she probably have to work on it for the rest of her life.
As I started channeling and tuning into her system, my attention almost immediately went to the fear behind the anger. It seemed that the anger was a reaction to the fear, it was her mind’s way to protect her against the fear and what it means to her. (Of course, my bias is to look for the fear behind any reactivity.)
I could sense that she wasn’t very aware of this fear and hadn’t explored or worked on it for herself. When I talked with her after, this was confirmed and it seemed she had a kind of light-bulb moment. Of course, it’s up to her what she does with it and if she wants to explore this. She may or may not be ready for it, and either is fine. We all have our own timing. (And there may be another approach that works better for her.)
This mini-session was a reminder for me as well. I have sound sensitivity, misophonia, and a reaction to noise, and I realize I have done the same when it comes to this issue. I have mostly focused on the noise issue itself instead of the fear behind it. Over the last couple of days, I have dropped into that fear more and it’s been very interesting and feels like the beginning of a deeper shift.
REPHRASING SO IT WORKS FOR US
In my current online Vortex Healing class, the teacher asked us to breathe in the divine and notice how it reaches all the cells in our body. This is not only a visualization or imagination but a noticing of something that actually happens.
For me, this was a bit confusing at first since it’s all already the divine. How is this different from how it already is?
So in the first session, I reworded it a bit for myself. I connected with the awakeness in the breath and the awakeness going into each cell waking them all up. The divine in the form of each cell wakes up to itself as the divine.
In the following sessions, I found another way to do this. I notice all as the divine, the breath as one particular form of the divine going into the body, and each cell receiving it. In addition, I saw how each cell wakes up to itself as the divine. (Which it already is.)
This is something I often do when I receive instructions like this. I aim to do it as closely as possible to how they phrase it, because if I change everything to something already familiar to me I risk missing out of something. And yet, sometimes, I need to rephrase it slightly so it makes more sense to me.
PRACTICES THAT ASSUME SEPARATION VS PRACTICES THAT ARE MORE UNIVERSALLY HELPFUL
Some spiritual practices assume separation. They assume the practitioner operate from a place of separation. These practices can be helpful at a particular phase in the awakening process but they are not useful throughout the whole process.
Other practices are more universally helpful. For instance, inquiry helps us wake up and wake up parts of us, and they also support embodiment and living from this awakeness. The same goes for heart-centered practices like ho’oponopono and tonglen. And basic meditation practices of noticing and allowing what’s here.
INFLUX OF LIGHT & THE DARK NIGHT
There are many types of dark nights. One is where the awakening process brings up what in us is still stuck in separation consciousness so this can heal, be more aligned with reality, and wake up. It’s an essential part of the awakening and embodiment process.
During this phase, we can feel overwhelmed, confused, and swamped by all that’s surfacing. To us, it tends to feel like a very dark phase.
As Evelyn Underhill points out in her Dark Night of the Soul chapter in Mysticism, what’s actually happening is that there is a large influx of light, this pushes the metaphorical darkness in us to the surface and that’s what catches our attention. It can be difficult or impossible to notice or be aware of the light in our system.
In my case, since I can see energies, I noticed that my system was full of light even during the darkest parts of this process, and I have seen the same in others. Still, that was a meager comfort at the time.
[made into a regular article, slightly modified]
FOCUS ON PASSING EXPERIENCES
I have been in online Vortex Healing classes recently, and notice many shares from the participants focus on fleeting experiences. It’s understandable, and yet, they are not very important. We always have all sorts of experiences. What’s more important are insights and more stable shifts. And that emphasis tends to come with experience.
I want to add a few more things: Early in our process, we tend to be more focused on fleeting experiences, and later on we tend to be more focused on insights and more lasting shifts. And it can be valuable to pay attention to fleeting experiences. They can help us have some insights into the process, ourselves, and how we relate to our experiences.
AUGUST 3, 2020
GOD IS PRIMARY
[made into regular article]
WHAT WE LOOK AT LOOK BACK AT US
[made into regular article]
AUGUST 4, 2020
CENTER OF GRAVITY SHIFTING INTO BIG MIND & FEARS COMING UP
[made into regular article]
AUGUST 5, 2020
THAT’S NOT WHO YOU ARE
All those identities you have, that’s not who or what you are
– paraphrased from a friend of mine (PG)
What he actually said was, and that’s not who you are in response to someone mentioning an identity they had for themselves.
In what way is our identities not who or what we are?
It’s not who we are, as a human being, because we are so much more than that. Any identity is very small compared to the richness and fullness of who we are. Even all our identities combined are small compared with the richness and fullness of who we are.
As what we are, we are capacity for the world as it appears to us. Any identity and what it refers to happens within and as what we are. They can, at most point to something. We are not the identity or any or all of the associations we have around that identity.
As respectively who and what we are, we are different from and more than any identity. We are also less than any identity since any identity comes from the addition layer of thoughts, it comes from an overlay of thoughts.
[made into a regular article in a slightly edited form]
SEPARATION CONSCIOUSNESS, THAT TOO IS THE DIVINE
Separation consciousness is also the divine. Its true nature is the same as the true nature of everything.
When we see this, we may find that our relationship to separation consciousness – in ourselves or bubbles in us, and in others and in the world – is different.
To the extent we realize it and take it in, it can be very freeing. We don’t have to struggle with separation consciousness. We can just recognize it for what it is: temporary confusion that creates pain and suffering, and a flavor of the divine. The nature of separation consciousness is the nature of everything.
It doesn’t change the separation consciousness itself. We are just noticing what’s already there. And yet it changes how we relate to it. And that can make a big difference. We can relate to it less from reactivity, defensiveness, and wanting to make it go away or change it. And more from recognition, patience, kindness, and decisive action when that’s called for.
AUGUST 9, 2020
GOD: AN AUTHOR WITH PEN NAMES
I had a conversation with my partner this morning about
THE HEALING IMPULSE IN ANY IMPULSE
a healing impulse, can get hijacked, be more destructive, needs guidance and support to be constructive
THE UPSIDE OF BEING AVERAGE
[made into regular article]
ENERGY THIEVES
––––––– IN PROGRESS –––––––
WANTING TO KNOW THE FUTURE
FOMO
DISSOLVING AND LOSING MY BEARINGS
FORMS OF LOVE
THE UPSIDE OF ORDINARY STATES ON A SPIRITUAL PATH
WHAT DOES EMBODIMENT MEAN?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF UFOS
[deny, cling to, projections, scientific approach, universe story, BM]
OWN INQUIRY: THEY SHOULDN’T PUNISH PEOPLE
S1: They shouldn’t punish people.
S2: They are punishing people.
TOO SENSITIVE?
TRAUMA INFORMED RELATIONSHIP
ALLOWING WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD TO WORK ON ME
IDEALIZING AWAKENING, SPIRITUAL TEACHERS ETC.
[idealize, fall in love with an image, bound to be disappointed + internally the other side comes up eventually]
–––––– DRAFTS ––––––
WHEN A RELIGION ASKS US TO BELIEVE, IT NORMALIZES LEAVING REALITY
If a religion asks people to believe, it’s likely that this makes belief in general more acceptable and normal, even in other areas of life.
In Christianity, people are typically asked to believe something they cannot check for themselves. They are asked to take things on faith. And from there, it’s a small step to do the same in other areas of life.
A clear sign of this is that it’s common to use the word belief in the western culture even outside of religion, and even when it’s a topic that belongs to science and not belief.
One example of this is the question: do you believe in UFOs? It’s phrased as if it’s a matter of belief, or as if our belief somehow is important or relevant. In reality, UFOs are a question for science and what we personally think or hope or fear or imagine is irrelevant. (Unless we take a psychological and sociological perspective.)
Would we see this era of conspiracy theories and fake news if Christianity hadn’t taught us to abandon rational thinking and instead believe? I am not sure. I can’t help wondering if it plays a role.
…..
NORMALIZING BELIEF MAKES US LEAVE REALITY MORE EASILY
When we normalize belief, we normalize leaving reality. We normalize saying that my opinion is as valid as yours, even if I know next to nothing about something and you are a scientist who have devoted your life to studying it.
We in the western world live in a Christian culture, and this is a culture where belief and faith is normalized.
In Christianity, we are asked to believe what someone tells us without having the ability to check it for ourselves. We are asked to take things on faith. And this belief and faith is praised and seen as a good thing.
From there, it’s a small step to do the same in other areas of life.
A clear sign of this is that it’s common to use the word belief outside of religion, even when the topic is clearly something that belongs to science and not opinion or belief.
One example of this is the question: do you believe in UFOs? It’s phrased as if it’s a matter of belief, or as if our belief somehow is important or relevant. In reality, UFOs are a question for science and what we personally think or hope or fear or imagine is irrelevant. (Unless we take a psychological and sociological perspective.)
Would we see this era of conspiracy theories and fake news if Christianity hadn’t taught us to abandon rational thinking and instead believe? I am not sure. I can’t help wondering if it plays a role.
….
I can’t help wondering if not Christianity, with its emphasis on belief and faith, has played a role in the current epidemic of conspiracy theories and irrational views that we see today.
….
….
I don’t use the term “spiritual bypassing” much, perhaps because it comes with a connotation of judgment for me.
“In reality, UFOs are a question for science”… or experience. Once you’ve had the experience, no other evidence holds the same weight.
Yes, thank you! Very good point.