Wind of the Soul » Interpreting Reality

Free Your Mind

John Wolfe — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:58:08 +0000

There are currently 106 blog posts contained at Wind of the Soul. The majority of these are devoted to encouraging the individual to follow their inner-wisdom, explore their creative passion, break free from the ranks of limiting social concepts/expectations and be wary of chasing external “happiness.” While I usually don’t post videos, I was so moved by this three minute and thirty second clip, I wanted to share it. In his 1999 speech, Terence McKenna captured the majority of my thoughts and feelings in the most concise and rapid manner I’ve ever witnessed.

Terence was a poetic genius and wordsmith who consistently stretched the concepts and paradigms of reality. Though he’s passed on, I’m sure his consciousness continues the journey down the rabbit hole, freeing more minds as he goes.

Whether you agree or disagree with McKenna (or me for that matter), the material is thought provoking and causes us to take a step back and examine our existence. Once we stop exploring; stop questioning; stop examining – that’s when we are in trouble.

I can’t vouch for the website featured at the end of the clip, as I’ve never been there, nor have I ordered any of their products.

This video can also be accessed by visiting the You Tube page.

Posts Related to Free Your Mind

Shaking off Social Pressure to Achieve Self Actualization
Blazing Your Own Trail
Blazing Your Own Trail: the Techniques Part I
Intentionally Reclaiming Our Power
Evoking Change Through Uplifting Action

The Thrill of Being Physically Focused

John Wolfe — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:13:11 +0000

A Wind of the Soul visitor sent me a great email just a few days ago. He had listened to my law of attraction podcast and was specifically interested in the segment where I discussed receiving two pennies through seemingly mystical means. In his letter, he asked if I fully believed in my abilities to manifest financial wealth and abundance, without the need to take any physical action. He also was curious to know whether or not I was capable of realizing my true power and if so, why I would choose to continue pursuing my online businesses for bringing in income, if I indeed was in tune with my capabilities?

I love all of the feedback I receive from my visitors, but I truly appreciate it when someone asks probing questions, such as these. I’m not at all offended or put off by such questions, as they help me to consider new ways of looking at the subjects I frequently discuss. They also provide me with some insight into what my visitors are taking away from and bringing to my blog posts and podcasts.

In honestly answering his questions, I stated I do not believe enough in my power of instantaneous materialization to remove the need for taking all physical action. Over time, I have developed a belief in a balance and a synergy between my thoughts and my required actions for manifesting those thoughts.

However, I do believe there is a small amount of people, on this planet, which have the ability to materialize (any and all) items from thin air. They’ve either developed and honed this ability or never were taught to associate materialization with action, hence their lack of requirement for doing so. There are numerous accounts of such individuals residing in remote locations of the globe. While some may in fact be fraudulent claims, I do believe the ability honestly exists in some. My encounter with the very strange appearance of two pennies does provide me with a small glimpse into this phenomenon; while helping me to grasp its validity.

The irony in all of this – even if I awoke tomorrow with the complete ability to instantaneously materialize any object I chose (including money), from thin air; I wouldn’t stop taking physical action regarding my income generating pursuits. This is primarily due to the fact I so thoroughly enjoy everything I do, that I would do it all for free, but it is also because I believe we are residing in a physically based environment for a reason.

At least, during this point in our spiritual awareness, most of us are meant to be a part of the cause and effect link between thought, action and manifestation. To initially create with our minds and then allow our bodies to follow suit, bringing forth what we mentally conceive, is so thrilling and joyously satisfying. I believe it is a large part of why source chooses to experience itself through us in this specific plane of existence. Just because some appear to be capable of “overcoming” physical action does not mean they are more spiritually advanced than others who have not.

There are plenty of non-physical planes where the energy of all that is can consistently experience instantaneous manifestations of thought forms, minus any physical action. But to be in this physical place, at this moment, where our actions count for so much, is no accident. I know some believe this “level” of existence is some sort of practice arena in which we are meant to hone our abilities of manifestation. It’s often believed the earth plane is for those that aren’t yet responsible enough to exist in pure thought environments.

Where this line of thinking emerges from, I am not sure. But I am certain every single one of us transitions, immediately after this physical experience, into pure thought environments anyway. So, why do we all suddenly attain this so called worthiness after we pass on, yet it wasn’t granted to us while we are physically focused?

I view our spiritual existence slightly differently. I don’t believe the Universe is set up with levels of reward or punishment that are independent from us. I believe we are all equally gifted creators, because we are THE creator, no matter what plane of being we are occupying in the moment of now. Our experiences are simply that. They are not about achieving a specific degree of responsible behavior, to be rewarded by advancing to the “head of the class” in future dimensions.

I believe those types of ideas are conceived from the human mind, where we fret over competition and status. We are meant to create and emotionally experience our creations from our current standpoint (no matter where that may be), not devise means for achieving levels of advancement. All of our experiences and the environment we occupy, in this moment, represent the resources we draw upon for creation. Physical manipulation of energy happens to be one of those resources. We are where we are for a reason and I feel that reason is to experience a physical vehicle and all of its physically creative capabilities.

So, where does this leave me concerning the meaning of the two pennies? I believe they were providing a glimpse into how powerful our intentions can be and they were a representation of my consistent thoughts of abundance.

Are we completely dependent upon physical action to provide financial stability or anything else for that matter in the physical Universe? Maybe not- maybe mass consciousness will eventually know how to perform instantaneous materializations, at a grand scale, even in the physically based Universe. But imagine what we would be missing if we could choose to eliminate a large portion of physicality from the physical world. I believe that would be defeating the purpose of being here in the first place.

Once again, I want to thank the individual for sending their email. In this post, I was not at all making light of their questions or trying to retaliate. Rather, their questions stimulated something deeper within me which I felt compelled to write about. For that I’m extremely appreciative. Their email provided me with another angle for viewing my own physicality and honoring it in a way I frequently neglect.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Understanding Death through Consciously Living Life

John Wolfe — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:35:08 +0000

I just found out a recent acquaintance of mine passed away. We weren’t friends. We actually spoke only briefly a couple of times. But the fact our last conversation occurred a few days prior to her passing is what prompted me to write today’s entry. It never ceases to amaze me how our consciousness can be physically focused one minute and then “gone” the next. I suppose no matter my state of comprehension, regarding the subject of death, I will always be taken aback at that one simple realization.

Many years ago, I spent a lot of time pondering over whether or not we even survive the process of dying. After much soul searching and exploration into the subject, including my own personal experiences with astral projection, I came to the conclusion that a form of our awareness does continue on. Just what that form may consist of and if it’s indeed eternal with regards to our individual personality, I can’t say for certain.

In fact, I don’t believe anyone can ever unequivocally answer those questions from their current physical position, no matter how spiritual, psychic they are, or “who” they may be capable of channeling. Thankfully, developing a broader perspective and a deeper, more conscious understanding does not hinge on the necessity of being able to completely answer those questions. I believe our own inner knowledge may eventually negate the need to find those answers anyway, but that is something I’m still discovering.

Now, I don’t concern myself with these topics because I’m fearful of losing my identity when death washes over me. Rather, I do it because I’m intrigued with the mystery and am interested in trying to obtain some form of deeper understanding, if possible. This is why I continue to conduct my own experiments into altered states of consciousness. These states allow me to have a better appreciation for consciousness itself, as well as providing me with the ability to find new interpretations on our existence.

I believe our best method for not only trying to understand death, but to also release much of our fears associated with it, is through exploring and utilizing wider aspects of consciousness. Consciousness appears to be the only constant, whether we’re physically focused or not. If anything can provide us with some form of insight into the afterlife, it would have to be the further development of our own awareness of the here and now.

In my opinion, that specific form of awareness is not typically developed through ordinary interactions and so called social obligations, such as going to school, to work, shopping, dining out or watching television. While we are (somewhat) active in those situations and we may even be learning something new, we are usually utilizing rudimentary levels of our conscious abilities. It’s these cursory levels scientists are referring to when they speak of human kind only using ten percent of their brain potential.

In scientific pursuits there has to be something quantifiable and measurable. Scientists can’t measure or test for the source of consciousness so they don’t give it any attention, but they can measure the manner in which the brain fires and at what capacity. Since I tend to view the brain as the link up between the body and soul, as opposed to seeing it as the source of consciousness; I believe we can take these scientific findings and apply them to that which is metaphysical. In other words, as most of us are going through the typical, average, ordinary motions of our lives, we are only tapping into and allowing a fraction (10%) of our soulful consciousness to flow.

Here’s the thing, though: despite how it may feel, there are no typical, average moments in life. It’s not the fault of the tasks we undertake or what’s happening in each second that causes us to utilize less than ninety percent of our potential. Instead, I believe it’s the way we consciously (or unconsciously) process the moments in which those events are occurring.

We have been trained and programmed to view our experiences through an extremely narrow lens. The narrower the lens is, the smaller the percentage of consciousness that’s being utilized. This has little to do with intelligence. Someone can be highly intelligent, but still employ very little of their potential for conscious expansion.

When I initially decided to write this post, I considered stating more of my opinions about what may be waiting for us once we cross over. In fact, I actually wrote two pages pertaining to my ideas regarding the after life, but I decided to erase them. When I started writing this entry for a second time, I began using the process I’m encouraging in this post.

I made a conscious decision to try and employ more than the ten percent my opinions (as seen through my narrow lens) would have afforded. My impressions and ideas about something as enigmatic as what awaits us beyond death will do very little to help you find your own answers. In striving to empower you, the reader, by speaking of methods to enhance and expand upon the way you interpret each moment of your life experience; I feel I’m utilizing a larger portion of my conscious abilities. I believe the best way to understand death is to more clearly and presently experience life, instead of barely thinking and acting from automation or rote. Blindly following other people’s interpretations of life, as well as death, is what places so many of us in primarily an “unconscious,” disconnected state throughout our lives.

So, what does an enhanced, conscious clarity of physical existence have to do with better understanding death? As we continue walking around in a daze about our role in life and who we are, we stifle our emotions and become disconnected from feeling our feelings and actions. We eventually shut down deeper modes of understanding and limit our perceptions. As our perceptions become more and more dulled, it’s natural to transfer those same limiting views over to our ideas concerning death. If we are already living a stifled form of life, there’s no way we can have a broader more aware take on the mortality of our physical vehicles. This is why the statement: “many people have died years before they’re actually buried” is so true.

To become fully aware throughout your day; seeing events and experiences through “new” eyes and finding ways to think and feel that have quite possibly never been accessed before is the most empowered form of living. I believe this in turn helps us to become more empowered in our views on death and dying.

If we have the ability to truly feel what our consciousness is (it’s definitely not automation) and what’s it’s capable of, then we will know it is impossible for something so immense to be snuffed out when we pass on. As we begin to see our unlimited potential unfold while we are seizing not only the day, but each moment of it, it becomes easier to grasp how that which flows through us will always continue on in some way and in some form.

I have written several articles contained here at Wind of the Soul which go into great detail regarding techniques for becoming more consciously aware and present. Several of these can be accessed through the links in the related posts section.

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Maintaining Perspective amidst Spiritual Pursuits

John Wolfe — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:28:51 +0000

The idea of maintaining proper perspective is vitally important along any spiritual path. Exploring our inner nature without paying close attention to the alterations which may be occurring to our perceptions can be problematic. These alterations can aid us immensely; taking our conscious awareness into new states of mind and being which enhance our physical lives.

However, when we allow these same alterations to consistently take us away from a balanced center, they have the potential for being detrimental. It’s similar to having access to a hammer- if properly employed (along with many other tools and supplies); it can construct a beautiful home. Yet, if we turn around and wield it improperly, that same hammer is capable of destruction.

Coming to a better understanding of our spiritual nature, even from a very mystical point of view, is about positively augmenting our lives. It’s about enriching who we are internally and then projecting that enrichment outward as it blends with our external experience.

While these forms of enrichment and their specific details are unique to each person (and no one can tell anyone else how they should experience this); relatively speaking, they will always be uplifting. They should only increase the joy in our physical lives; never detract from it.

My ideas regarding spirituality most definitely encompass mystical philosophies and experiences, yet for me, it’s imperative I find a way to incorporate that knowledge in a grounded manner. While attaching physical labels to such experiences never does them justice; trying to keep one foot in both “worlds”, or worse- both feet solely in that world, doesn’t cut it either. I feel I want to find a way to acknowledge and learn from things like my own out of body experiences and altered states of consciousness, yet practically apply what I learned “there”, back here, in my real life.

Many individuals are living a life of escapism through their so called spiritual endeavors. They’ve convinced themselves spirituality is about following dogmatic practices or seeing through social constructs, all for the purpose of eventually being rescued from this world. Many even claim to have received channeled messages informing them of the exact date and time this will occur. The “rescue me” mentality breeds a detachment from physical reality. The purpose of this post is not to judge their actions, but to illustrate a shifting of that metaphorical hammer from constructive to destructive.

Spirituality is about seeing through constructs (social or otherwise) and understanding why those constructs are there in the first place. However, it’s not about educating ourselves for the reward of being removed from physical life by some religious deity, super “entity”, or supposed enlightened extraterrestrial civilization. It’s about seeing through the veil to enrich our physical lives, right here and now. The sooner we quit trying to escape our perceived problems, whether physically or metaphysically and we actively start working our way toward our own emotional/psychological “salvation”, the better.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t other intelligent civilizations throughout the Universe or religious avatars residing a dimensional shift away. I’m saying some people have a tendency, once they begin experiencing metaphysical or mystical encounters (or believing in the experiences of others), to lose touch with their center.

There is absolute legitimacy to mystical experiences, but that legitimacy resides in another “place” or as Jane Roberts called it- “an inner order of events.” And often times, this inner order cannot be literally translated into our outer physical circumstances. Some force the issue anyway, never realizing the potential problems associated with doing so. As they try to overlay it entirely on the physical structure, they can begin losing rational semblance of physical perception.

In my opinion, spirituality should never stunt any area of our lives and it’s definitely not an either or thing- meaning were either spiritual beings or physical humans. I believe we’re both, simultaneously, and because of this it’s important to find a way to merge the two while keeping our feet on the ground.

It is definitely a delicate balance, but for all intents and purposes, I feel, spirituality should always lean toward a more practical application in our lives. Spiritual growth is about staying open, along with exploring and intelligently applying what we’ve learned, but it’s also about always maintaining and enhancing the connection to our physical life experience, while we still have it.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Releasing Attachments to Judgmental Labels

John Wolfe — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:53:57 +0000

A large portion of our personal interpretation, concerning reality, stems from our willingness to slap labels on experiences. Admittedly, it’s extremely difficult to not label items, events and other people, when we consider our entire means for communicating is dependent upon descriptive terms and phrases.

But, we can begin to make a conscious effort, in the language we choose, to rearrange the stamps and marks of identification which are slung around on a routine basis. Even more importantly, we can begin to internally release our attachment and affinity for casting a very specific type of label: the label of judgment.

While there are many forms of judgmental labels, the specific ones I’ll be focusing on in this post are those of right and wrong. We are immediately brought up with the idea that doing the right thing will continue to garner “love” from those in positions of authority i.e. parents, teachers, mentors, relatives, the community, law enforcement, etc. And of course, conversely, we have it drilled into us that doing the wrong thing will bring just the opposite.

The majority of parents and caregivers in no way feel they are literally taking their love away when a child behaves in a manner that’s deemed poorly or unacceptable. However, when parents immediately begin placing conditions upon their responses to children’s behavior, they are in fact placing conditions upon their loving responses toward those children as well.

In other words, do “X” activity and mommy/daddy will be so happy that she’ll/he’ll sing your praises from the rooftops. Do “Y” activity and you will make daddy/mommy very angry and forced to punish you. This, in a sense, is placing conditions on the loving emotions parents are willing to express at certain times. Most would have a tendency to deny it, but it’s extremely difficult to find the emotion of love when you’re fuming mad.

Because of this, children begin to see a trend in the emotional frailty of their parents. As they are constantly reminded of the correlation between their behavior and their parents’ responses, they begin to identify and attach heavily to the labels of doing right and doing wrong or being good and being bad.

Children also begin to believe it’s appropriate (through watching adult behavior) to place conditions on their own responses to their surroundings. Often times, when they encounter something that doesn’t appease them, they have a melt down. Hence, children have tantrums when adults say no and adults have their own emotional tantrums when the kids act up. It’s a learned cycle.

I’m not insinuating we should remove discipline from a child’s environment. I am suggesting we need to find ways to not make the distinction so extremely obvious when children displease us, compared to when they make us happy. It’s this extreme distinction that pounds labeling and the idea of conditional responses to specific behavior into a child’s head.

This doesn’t mean we should ignore our own emotional responses as adults either. It only means we need to do a better job of relaxing and releasing the need to express them so drastically and dramatically. It also means we need to find a balance when disciplining children, especially in the language we use, which is typically filled with words of comparison and judgment. It’s the continued emphasis on labeling that can set some children up for self-esteem issues, ideas of inappropriateness, guilt, chronic fear of failure, the inability to have their own healthy relationships, and plenty more.

Now, why is it so important to identify triggers like these from our own childhood? One, so we can make a difference for future generations and two, so we can understand how to put an end to this learned behavior within ourselves.

On a metaphysical level, I maintain the Universe isn’t making judgments or keeping score over what’s right and what’s wrong. These concepts are all drummed up in the human brain and perpetuated generation after generation. Events are not right or wrong, good or bad. At a deeper level, they just are. By stating that last sentence, I’m certainly not advocating that people lead a life of crime anymore than I’m advocating violent behavior towards others.

I believe once we are capable of reaching a level of understanding how the concepts of right and wrong have been blown so extremely out of proportion, we are already far better prepared to know how to treat others anyway. Someone who is in a position of deep introspection and contemplation has reached a place in their lives where they understand this. They realize their actions have a more advantageous effect when they are geared towards helping rather than harming. They ponder this information only because they are interested in pushing the envelope on the currently accepted ideas pertaining to life’s meanings.

Personally, I don’t lead a life of crime, not because it’s deemed wrong and I might go to jail, nor do I harm people, not because that’s deemed wrong and I might go to “hell.” I don’t do those things because they aren’t congruent with my inner knowledge and my inner desire to help others. I realize I have choices and options and I simply choose to try and lead a life of helping instead of harming. However, many people are in the dark about their options and feel that harming others is the only way to find their power. This doesn’t make it wrong. It only makes it different.

I know this probably sounds like a bizarre stance to take, but it’s all about exercising our ability to try and see beyond the confined ideas of existence, which have been forced down our throats. It’s this very forcing of labels, ideas and situations, onto us, that lead some towards a life of crime. Instead of going inward and finding their power amidst the stillness of their consciousness, they lose their awareness and rebel externally.

As we come to realize we are the source of all things expressing itself through this environment and we also understand we are the creators of our life experience, labels like right and wrong seem rather silly. How could universal source energy (the only thing that truly exists) ever commit something wrong against itself?

This is similar to the concept I addressed in my post “Life Lessons?”. If we are the god source energy and we create our reality every second of our lives (and I believe we do), then how could we ever be here to learn lessons? The only “lesson”, if you want to call it that, which we are here to learn or remember, is who we are and what we are truly capable of doing.

The problem in all of this is that most don’t realize they are god source energy. From that one falsehood stem a thousand more. Yet, they are all based on the original falsehood: that we are not of that which created this entire Universe. This is the very reason I don’t believe there is an ultimate right or wrong, a heaven and hell, or things like sin and karmic debt (not in the strictest sense of the word). These ideas were concocted by individuals that thought they were somehow separate from one another and separate from a deity that was purported to exist at a level far beyond their reach or comprehension.

If others choose to believe in sin, the devil, harsh karmic justice that follows us from one lifetime to the next, and what have you, I completely respect that. Due to our ability to create our own reality, they may very well find variations on those themes popping up in their life experiences, both here, and waiting for them on the other side. However, I choose to try and unfetter my beliefs, as much as possible, to allow my understanding to expand beyond limiting thoughts and concepts. I know there are worlds of existences, waiting out there, which extend outside our most limiting, ingrained thoughts.

Now, I will admit, I do still find myself labeling and judging some things as right or wrong, but the nice thing, these days, is that I catch myself midsentence and realize what I’m doing. As I make more of a conscious effort to relax the need to do so, the portion of my brain, which identifies with these labels, begins to feel the need to engage less and less.

In writing this post, I can see the glaring issues staring at me. If I’m saying that all things simply are and there’s no ultimate right or wrong, then how can I also say labeling and critiquing are undesirable activities? Isn’t that, in and of itself, a judgment call?

Therein resides the “problem” with philosophizing about our existence and the ideas that we are responsible for every aspect of our lives. However, we must be willing to take those steps outside all conventional “wisdom,” or else we are doomed to stay inside the box for eternity.

I realize, at the physical level of existence, it’s not easy to see things which seem unjust and horrible and not attach severe labels of criticism. We all do it, but the more we can direct our attention toward the idea that things simply are, as opposed to focusing on the idea bad things exist, the less we will find “atrocious” events in our midst. It’s ok to have a range of emotional responses to experiences and it’s also ok to view things as good and bad, but we must make a conscious effort to realize a large portion of our responses are programmed and conditioned.

The more open we are to this realization and the more we continue to work on deprogramming ourselves/working with our emotions, the better for us and our children. By continuing to fill children’s heads with labels and critiques, we stifle their open minded, awe-inspiring, creative abilities. And it’s never too late to regain all of those abilities within ourselves as well.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Recognizing Opportunities for Expansion

John Wolfe — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:45:04 +0000

For years, musicians, in different genres, have touched on the sentiment of today’s post regarding our perspective and how it pertains to opportunity. Two songs come immediately to mind: The rock anthem- You Can’t Always Get What You Want, by the Rolling Stones and the country classic- Unanswered Prayers, by Garth Brooks.

Of course, the Stones were singing about the concept that we don’t always receive everything we desire, but through our continued efforts, we can receive exactly what we need. Garth on the other hand, was referencing the idea that the god source energy provides its most amazing gifts, to us, by not granting certain prayers. However, it’s only in hindsight that we can understand and appreciate this.

Now, I don’t agree with the portion of these two songs that indicates we are unable to have or achieve certain things, whether by our own accord or due to a supposed intervention by source energy. It’s simply a matter of how we pursue our dreams (both through our thoughts and actions), and how willing we are to allow an adjustment of the means for them to manifest in our reality, which determines the outcome.

While we are in pursuit of certain dreams or goals, we can stumble onto some of the most treasured gems of opportunity and possibility. These opportunities could not have presented themselves, if we had not been pursuing our initial desires in the first place. And, they may very well serve as a new and “improved” route for continuing to thrust us forward, regarding our interests.

These paths, which may appear to be alternate to our initial plans, are the Universe’s way of handing us what we were originally wanting; only in a manner which is more appropriate for the achievement of all we desire. You see, I like to take songs like the ones mentioned above and interpret them differently than the way the song writers might have originally intended.

In the case of Unanswered Prayers, the main character had been setting forth the desire to have a great relationship and settle down with his high school sweetheart, but he was disappointed by the fact they failed to marry. Years later, he and the woman who eventually became his wife, run into his old flame at their alma mater’s football game. Bumping into her causes him to reflect on the idea god failed to answer his prayers during high school. Yet, he’s appreciative of this because his old girlfriend no longer behaved the way he remembered.

However, if we look a little closer, I believe his prayers were answered. They weren’t ignored at all. They were delivered to him, only in the guise of someone slightly different than the woman he initially assumed would fill the role. The character made his intentions clear (in this case through prayer) and took action by pursuing a relationship of his dreams. Along the way, certain opportunities presented themselves. And while he didn’t end up with his high school sweetheart, he still received his original intention for a meaningful, happy relationship.

Of course, this is just a song, but creative endeavors like song writing and singing, similar to writing and storytelling, provide the means to get in touch with our core beliefs. This is especially true if we find ourselves identifying heavily with the characters involved, whether we are the writer, listener or reader. We must examine those beliefs in order to understand the direction our lives are taking and what we are receiving.

For example, looking at alternate circumstances as an opportunity instead of a problem typically requires some distance between our initial intentions and the current crossroads we may be facing. We often have to take a new path and try it before we can fully appreciate its benefits. Only when we look back, can we reflect upon where we’ve been and the process it created, thus leading us to an even more advantageous point in our life experience.

The more consistently we can adopt and foster the view of alternate paths being opportunities instead of something dreadful, the more our lives will continue taking shape in a manner which resembles our initial intentions. Occasionally we must be willing to slightly remodel the means for achieving our desires, based upon our own expansion/evolution and what’s finding its way to us. Without this flexibility we may close ourselves off to some amazing experiences that can provide more expansive results than what we are currently achieving.

By continuing to set forth our intentions, establishing our true purpose, and taking actions which are in alignment with these; we will find a multitude of opportunities presenting themselves. This doesn’t mean we have to jump on board each and every one of them. Nor does it mean by taking any one them we have forsaken our original dream. It only means we are on the right path (for ourselves) and the Universe is acknowledging this by reflecting these opportunities in our experiences. It also means the original dream has reached such a point of expansion (right alongside our own personal expansion) that it too must go through some growth to continue keeping up with our new state of being.

So, don’t thank god for unanswered prayers, instead thank god, or source, or the Universe, or whatever you feel fuels your awareness, for manifestations that have been tailored to the individual you continue to become. As you shift and broaden your view point, you will recognize that when you get what you need, you’re really getting what you wanted all along.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Ineffable States of Enlightenment

John Wolfe — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:10:53 +0000

“A fly wanders back and forth through the air, then lands on the window pane. It launches itself, flies for two feet, then lands on the glass again. It continues to walk around, on the glass, never finding the exit.

“It doesn’t know that there is an opening in the window just a few feet away. You and I can see the opening because we have the big picture. If only the fly would un-limit itself, get the bigger picture, and allow itself the freedom and perspective to fly higher, it could rise above it all and be free.

“Instead, it is content to wander aimlessly. Now I tell you: You are that fly. You know the way out. But You Choose to Ignore it.” – excerpted from Lessons Out of the Body, by Robert Peterson

In my last post I discussed the concept of letting go and how I’m learning to apply it in a very specific area of my life. However, I’ve also come to realize letting go, in other areas, can lead to some of the most profound experiences of our lives. If we could learn to release our over attachment to beliefs, circumstances and ideas, we could expand our perspectives immensely. It’s this expansion of perspective that will continue to prevent us from stagnating in every experience of consciousness we encounter.

I used Robert Peterson’s quote, pertaining to the fly, to illustrate how we are always just a short distance away from entering into a brand new state of ever unfolding enlightenment. The fly quickly becomes accustomed to only seeing what’s right directly in front of it. Even though the exit exists just a few feet away, it often chooses the bondage of what’s familiar over a journey into more expansive experiences.

Are any of us really that different than the fly crawling around on a pane of glass, always missing the obvious? We gravitate towards appealing ideas and beliefs out of habit and fear; hoping for something, anything to provide salvation. Often times, our determination to make that form of salvation the only way enchains us in shackles that bind, limit and define us for the rest of our lives. Those self limiting concepts can prevent us from finding our own individual opening in the window.

There’s not one set of teachings: religious, spiritual, new age, channeled, self help, personal development, or otherwise that will ever have all of the answers. Every one of them, if you’re not aware, can eventually trap you right back on the window pane. As you’re lulled into believing you’ve finally arrived at THE one truth, you’ll continue to miss the opening that’s waiting just beyond your own limiting beliefs. Our perspective is forever expanding, if we’d only choose to see it that way.

It’s for this reason I stated there is no truth and truth is all there is, in my post Discovering the Truths of Your Existence. By this statement I meant that there’s no ultimate truth out there because your personal truth is all that exists. We each continue to define ourselves based upon this, yet we simultaneously expect the world around us to behave according to our standards of that truth. And each individual aspect of consciousness within the world is reacting to its own version.

People are quick to argue (and a lot worse) over which religion is right or which philosophy or self-help guru has the correct angle. The problem with this line of thinking is simple: none of them can ever be eternally correct. They will all have bits of truth residing within, but just as soon as we assume any one is the be all end all, we have again lost sight of the open window. And the more vehemently we cling to that idea as the only truth in life, the further away from the opening we continue to crawl; turning our back on the way out.

Our beliefs not only shape and limit our experiences in this physical plane of existence, but they may very well do the same once we shift our focus into the nonphysical. In Robert Monroe’s book Far Journeys, he spoke about how our expectations and beliefs create the locations we encounter once we pass into the nonphysical.

During his out of body journeys, on the astral plane, Monroe encountered what he called belief systems, full of souls, which were set up according to religious affiliation and denomination. These souls had already crossed over, yet they had built entire communities on the astral that resembled their physical counterparts. They would attend church along with other “earthly” activities. Some were even still waiting for Christ to meet them when they died, despite the fact they were already dead!

Monroe would do his best to try and coax them out of their belief systems. His intentions were to show that there were more amazing environments (since he had witnessed some of them) beyond their self imposed restrictive communities. The only limit to these other amazing, expansive environments was their own ability to fathom the potentials and possibilities. Some came along with him and others reluctantly stayed behind, turning their back, once again, on the opening in the window.

Obviously, I can’t write about there not being an ultimate external truth and then say for certain Monroe’s experiences were the definitive answer pertaining to the afterlife. However, I believe his experiences do provide us with another clue in our journey. We must use all of the teachings that are available to us as stepping stones towards finding our inner version of truth. And know that even this truth continues to expand and change because that’s the nature of consciousness and this entire Universe.

While I feel our physical environment is loaded with many excellent teachings and teachers; each one is only capable of delivering their truth that is currently stemming from their present perspective in the moment of now. Yet the next moment of now is not the same as the previous one because everything has expanded once again, due to the nature of consciousness. If the Universe, both its physical and nonphysical equivalents, continues to expand, then what are the odds that only one set of teachings, religious or otherwise, is the only universal truth out there?

I’m not suggesting we should cease broadening our horizons through exploring spiritual teachings, philosophies and religions. I’m suggesting we take those teachings for what they’re worth and remember they may have some valid application based upon our current state of awareness only. And as we continue to expand, those same teachings may eventually serve to limit us. Just imagine, since you started reading this sentence the Universe has expanded and subtly changed and it will do so again by the time you come to the period at the end of this paragraph.

The Universe does not stand still, nor does consciousness. If both were stagnant, then perhaps one set of teachings would suffice forever, but that’s not the case. As this conscious Universe continues to expand, teachings from two days ago and even two thousand years ago cannot consistently apply to the farthest reaches of our physical and nonphysical awareness, in this new, present moment of unexplored existence.

Step on the stones of those teachings that have been previously laid before you and continue stepping without hesitation. Pass easily and freely through each new opening in the window panes of your life. As you reach uncharted waters, consistently go within to allow your own present truth to shine forth, moving you beyond the next and the next; always understanding the experience will never cease to change and expand. And always knowing that is exactly how it’s meant to be.

Let go, allowing yourself to flow freely toward your ever developing, ineffable state of enlightenment. For this is not a destination of achievement; it’s a state of forever becoming.

If you’re interested in learning more about Robert Peterson, along with his spiritual insights and experiences out of the body, I highly recommend visiting his website. Both of his books can be found there, free of charge.

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Self Truths – Part 2: As I See it

John Wolfe — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:54:11 +0000

In my post Universal Law of Reciprocation, I related a summary of an article that was written by Bill Phillips. In today’s entry, I wanted to once again reference Bill and a writing exercise he employed in his old Muscle Media magazine. It appeared in the editorial section of the March 2000 issue and was titled “As I See It.”

Bill created a list of eighty four items that all began with how he saw things. His list addressed the topics of fitness, health, self development and some spiritual philosophies. I’ve always admired that writing exercise and decided to create my own list of thirty six items, listed in no particular order. I thought it would fit in perfectly as an entry in my Self Truths series.

So here it is, in Wind of the Soul style:

1. As I see it… when we set out to uplift others, we can’t help but lift ourselves up in the process.

2. Life is a journey that’s embarked upon for the experience, joy, and the use of our creative abilities.

3. We live more than once.

4. We’re never truly separated from those that have passed on before us.

5. Love is all that exists, but we’ve convinced ourselves otherwise.

6. The physical world is symbolically comprised of our inner feelings and beliefs.

7. The gates to heaven and hell exist in the same place; the only place they’ve ever existed— within. We’re the only ones responsible for withholding the joys of the former and condemning ourselves to the latter.

8. We’re pure energy swimming in an even larger sea of energy.

9. When we follow our bliss, we’re unstoppable.

10. We have the power to heal ourselves.

11. Our emotions should not be ignored. They should be cultivated and tuned like a fine instrument.

12. We can’t be of benefit to others from a place of minding their business.

13. We’ve only scratched the surface on the potential of our abilities.

14. We’re on the edge of a large shift in human awareness.

15. Altered states (meditation) and inner journeys (dreams, OBE’s, etc.) teach us more about reality and truth than all of our time spent in grammar school, high school, college, and work combined.

16. We’ve allowed ourselves to be bullied, by the sociological institutions, into forsaking inner knowledge, negating our own truths, and relinquishing our power.

17. The law of attraction sorts out everything.

18. Death is an amazing transitional experience into new worlds of being.

19. We should spend more time listening to young children and absorbing their wisdom. They believe in their dreams and know anything is possible. It’s only when an adult teaches them they can’t, often enough, that they start believing it.

20. Other people’s judgments of us mean nothing. The judgment of ourselves means everything.

21. If we set our sights on what we desire, maintain enthusiasm and a consistent direction of physical action toward it; the Universe will deliver it in full- no ifs, ands or buts.

22. Each one of us is god/goddess expressing itself at this level of reality.

23. The more often we take a few brief moments to appreciate, the more often we open ourselves up to receiving even more amazing experiences.

24. No one ever made it to where they wanted to be by complaining and focusing on what’s currently going wrong.

25. We’re over dependent on journeying toward material things to make us happy and under dependent on journeying toward our happiness as a means for uncoupling it from material things.

26. One of the most brilliant phrases ever uttered was, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

27. The more often we can tune out all distractions and focus on our current moment and the subtleties within it, the more often we will achieve a greater comprehension of our life experience.

28. Our past resentments must be forgiven and wiped clean if we hope to move into a brighter, healthier future.

29. Animals, like young children, are some of the best teachers on this planet.

30. There’s no difference between all of us and the most famous spiritual avatars throughout history- other than they fully remembered and embraced their greatness, minus any doubts.

31. The big bang was not the beginning of consciousness.

32. The Universe is teaming with life, both physically focused and non-physically focused.

33. We must learn to aim our attention instead of aiming our guns. The deliberate shift in where we place, or aim our thoughts is powerful enough to circumvent the use of violence, permanently; if we would only begin utilizing it as a mass consciousness.

34. When I look back on my past, I realize the people I understood the least, often possessed great gems of truth, but I wasn’t ready to recognize them.

35. We each have our own life flow. The more we fight its natural current the more of an imbalance we create for ourselves.

36. It’s never too late to make peace with someone; even if they are no longer in your life. Find the feeling place and direct it toward them. We often believe everything has to be done face to face, but that’s not the case in a Universe which is stemming from our own inner awareness.

I hope you enjoyed this portion of my list. I’ll be back with more in an upcoming entry. Please feel free to contribute your own, As I see it list in the comments below. I’d love to post them.

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8 Tips for Achieving a More Secure, Peaceful State of Mind

John Wolfe — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:32:26 +0000

The road to self actualization and inner peace is not easily achieved without our desire to consistently work toward change. The conceptual state of being peaceful and secure in one’s self is often idealized, but when it comes to practicing the steps, we easily default back to our ingrained habits. When we become serious about changing these old patterns via our modes of thought, we’re provided with a way for re-wiring our brain’s processes.

The brain serves as the intermediary or go-between for our source self and this physical vehicle. It can either impede or accentuate who we naturally are. And it’s through intentionally re-wiring the “go-between” that we achieve a more consistent state of happiness, allowing our uplink with source energy to flow freely.

Inner joy resides at the heart of tapping into our abilities for being the deliberate creators of what we want to experience. Without finding this joy, through our own peace and security, we will lack the stability required for getting beyond the fear that prevents us from achieving what we desire. Take the journey to find the peace. Discover the happiness, and psychologically assume your place among your castles in the clouds; only then will you be capable of moving into them in your reality.

It all starts with achieving a more secure, peaceful state of mind:

1. Release the need to measure up to the expectations of others. To fully embrace this, you must also quit setting forth your own expectations for others to measure up to.

2. Never depend on someone else to fulfill you or make you whole. Appreciate all of the amazing things others can bring to your life, but don’t depend on them for creating your happiness.

3. Maintain proper perspective about the castles (I mentioned earlier) you want to create. See them as a part of the journey, not the means to the end of your unhappiness. Material items can be wonderful things, but they have as much permanence as the body you’re currently leasing. Wealthy estates come and go- peaceful, happy states of being last forever- if you make them your priority.

4. Appreciate beauty, but learn to broaden your horizons of its definition. For only when you can begin to change your pre-conceived notions of what’s considered beautiful will you accept your own “flaws” and apparent “shortcomings.” The more time we spend looking down on those around us, nit picking and pinpointing their supposed issues- the more we separate ourselves from our own self-realized, secure state of awareness. We must cease the futile approach of romancing a single standard of beauty and ridiculing those people or things which do not meet it. Consistently insulting and judging the external symbols in our life does nothing for removing our own insecurities. It only continues to promote them.

5. Devote more of your time to creative pursuits that elicit your passion and reinforce the deeper meanings you’re tuning into. Tapping into creative outlets is an amazing way for releasing worrisome thoughts and quieting the brain’s chatter. These pursuits open the channel between you and your source self.

6. Find a way to give the benefit of the doubt as often as possible. The more often we let others off the hook, the more often we will allow ourselves the same forgiveness. Remember, everything we see manifest, in our external reality, stems from a deeper feeling place inside of us- so within, so without. I always say, “Life’s not happening to us, we’re happening to it.” This entire Universe, including our place in it, is functioning for our purpose. What that is, is open to our own individual interpretation. Don’t let your reality be consistently defined by your own inner tumultuous thoughts about yourself or others.

7. Release the need to control every detail of your life. Trust in the divine nature of your inner-self to carry you toward the rendezvous points that will positively enrich your current experience. This doesn’t mean you should stop taking action, it means you begin listening for the guided direction prior to acting. Relax into the natural flow and your source guidance will come. Those that fight their own nature have no control over their experiences. Those that surrender become the masters of their personal Universe.

8. Breathe deeply and appreciate the unique, magnificent aspects of who you are. Take the time to ponder the significance of your self. Marvel at the complexity of your mind, body and spirit. No where else in this entire solar system exists another being identical to you. You are an amazing creation capable of sculpting and molding other unique, amazing creations. Reflect back on #4, and if you’ve yet to do it, use it to discover your own beauty.

I hope you found some useful information in these tips. I’m working on fully assimilating several of them within myself. As I continue to consistently pursue the implementation of these ideas in my life, I’ve noticed some major positive changes.

Once again, I’ve found the best way for doing this is to become aware, right in the moment of now. As something is unfolding, if I don’t care for my reaction, I take a step back and feel for the information in these ideas.

We have to consistently pay attention to how our brain processes our experiences, if we find our reactions undesirable. It’s extremely important we catch ourselves in the moment. Even if we are unsuccessful in making a change for the better right away- the sheer act of becoming consciously aware is a huge step in the right direction.

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Altered States of Consciousness & Aspects of Awareness

John Wolfe — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:07:17 +0000

In my last post I discussed methods for taking an inner journey to discover your own personal truths. One of the methods mentioned for achieving this was using altered states of consciousness. When I refer to altered states, I’m not talking about taking the route Terence McKenna often employed for getting there.

I think the use of psychotropic agents is one of many methods for achieving legitimate altered states; however I’m concerned with having a more intentional, whole, fluid, and intact experience. I want to be completely aware of what’s occurring during the altered state and I want to have full recall of it after the fact; something that drugs may not always grant us. I’ve just never been into hallucinogens (or any other drugs for that matter) and choose to rely on deep meditation as my method for obtaining results. I don’t personally endorse the use of such agents. But I believe we can’t discuss the expansion of our consciousness without at least addressing the fact they play a prominent role in many experiences.

As an aside to what I just wrote- I think Terence McKenna was a fascinating person with awesome insights into existence. If you’re not familiar with his philosophies, I highly recommend doing a search for him on YouTube.

Now, what does it mean to achieve altered states of consciousness or perception?

In the loosest sense, it means to encounter other interpretations or translations of being than that which we typically associate with. It pertains to taking our consciousness and expanding it beyond the boundaries we primarily use for seeing, feeling, touching, thinking, and maneuvering. These altered states can occur within the context of our physical experiences or they can take place in other “worlds.”

An example of an interesting altered state occurring amidst seemingly ordinary physical perceptions would be the story I related about the hole, comprised of static, opening up in my bedroom ceiling. Even though I knew the hole wasn’t there in terms of my physical reality, there was a part of me that realized it did exist in another state, nonetheless.

An example of an altered state occurring in other worlds would be the out of body experience (OBE). Despite the terminology and description of OBE’s occurring out of the body, I’ve encountered information during projections which indicates they are actually a journey inward, further into consciousness or the inner-self I was referring to in Discovering the Truths of Your Existence.

The interesting thing about the experience with my bedroom ceiling was that it occurred immediately after an OBE, so there seems to be some residual lingering effects of traversing my inner nature, which applied itself to my physical environment after the fact. This is why I believe inducing altered states can have a profound impact upon our physical experiences, providing the opportunity for us to look out upon the physical world with a different set of interpreters.

Another example of this lingering effect took place a couple of weeks ago, after opening my eyes, during the initial stages of an afternoon out of body experience. I decided to check out the ceiling in my bedroom during the vibrational state that occurs prior to full detachment. I opened my physical eyes and allowed my vision to sharpen. I then focused on the ceiling light directly over my bed. I could still feel the waves of vibrations pouring through me and the light proceeded to take on these vibrations. It appeared partially solid and partially wave like. It was shaking at a dizzying rate.

I don’t believe OBE vibrations are a physical phenomenon which is affecting the body. I feel they are indications of our focus shifting into a “purer” state of awareness. I don’t think the light was shaking because my body was shaking; because it wasn’t. I believe I was interpreting the object from a state of awareness in between the wave frequency and particle pattern forming tendency of the object. It was as if it was moving in and out of my reality, from wave to particle and back again.

Now, these altered states of interpretation don’t just take place before or after an OBE. In my post If Walls Could Talk, I related some strange empathic experiences that seemed to be brought on from the dream state. I’ve had a reoccurring dream for years that crops up every so often. The contents of the dream are almost always wiped from my memory, despite always waking up in the middle of it. However, I know it’s the same dream because of the feeling it evokes as soon as I wake up.

Each and every time (after waking up) my normally familiar environment takes on a skewed, twisted impression. I feel as if the pre-dream me that’s become accustomed to viewing my world was only a portion of myself. After waking, it seems as if the post dream me is now entering into a strange foreign world where my previous perceptions were somehow invalid, at least in relation to the “me” that’s now awakened into them. The only way I can describe this scenario is in terms of using something visual. It feels as if I’ve awoken in an M.C. Escher drawing- not in a visually literal manner of course, but figuratively and emotionally speaking.

My home and surroundings have the usual, familiar and recognizable visual qualities, yet it feels like the “me” that’s normally living in this environment has taken a back seat. I feel as if someone else (another portion of me) has emerged and is trying to assimilate into the role the old me was playing the part of. This is why I can still recognize my surroundings, but there is a simultaneous foreign feeling that also emerges.

Accompanying these foreign feelings are strong impressions of emotion. I seem to be super sensitive and have a heightened awareness of emotion in my surroundings during these experiences. Depending upon the intensity, I usually feel assimilated back into my normal self within a few hours to days.

It’s a very bizarre dual experience with lingering effects. But I do appreciate it because it’s helped me tap into the awareness that we can become comfortable in our repetitive interpretations of our experiences. When these events come along and shake things up, I realize there are an infinite number of channels and ways of perceiving. It also suggests we may have multiple perceivers slightly shifting into and out of our experience (sometimes without our even knowing it). This brings me to a great theory on what may be causing these occurrences.

Aspects of Awareness

Jane Roberts (of The Seth Material) introduced Aspect Psychology in her book, Adventures In Consciousness. This concept addresses the idea that our source self is similar to a giant radio station sending out multiple signals – each one representing a frequency intended for a different personality.

The signals are received by these personalities that are focused upon innumerable forms of varying dimensional realities. The specific focus personality we identify with is only one of many of these selves existing simultaneously throughout the broad spectrum of different planes of focus. Jane suggests each specific focus personality ordinarily receives one main signal, but by turning its abilities of perception off its home station, it can pick up on other realities and/or the other personality perceivers of those realities.

This means the aspect of awareness that’s reading this text is your focus personality in this form of reality, yet your source consciousness has many other focus personalities existing simultaneously throughout the broad spectrum of other realities. It also means if we “change the station” a bit, our focus personality may be slightly overridden by another channel; which is what I believe is happening to me during my dream triggers.

When I awaken, it’s almost as if I perceive two separate radio signals vying for the same spot on the dial. Both are audible and both belong to me (the source me), yet one is not usually focused upon my current version of reality and the other one is- hence the similar yet simultaneous foreign feeling associated with interacting in my present surroundings.

This may also indicate that another of my source’s aspect personalities is having a similar experience to the one I’m having at that exact same moment. We are both crowding the specific focus personality’s position on the hypothetical radio dial in each respective version of our separate realities. However, because the physical designation of John Wolfe is my specific primary focus in this dimension, I will almost always (at least until I pass on) interpret this effect through my current physical vehicle and interpretation of reality.

I believe we may encounter experiences, to greater or lesser degrees, of this phenomenon throughout our life. There are probably many instances and circumstances in which a bleed through among multiple focus personalities occurs. How often have we said or done things which seem extremely out of the ordinary and uncharacteristically like ourselves?

If the situation is extremely pronounced we can sometimes tap into a quick feeling of “observer and actor”; in which it feels like we are removed from the scenario and are witnessing our “actor-self” performing out of character. Aspects of the focus personality you identify with (as you) could also be crossing over into the other personalities’ realities as well.

Jane’s theory of Aspect Psychology also does an excellent job of explaining the mysteries of reincarnation and why the current moment of now is all that has ever existed. If we only truly exist in the moment of now, then how could we be incarnating chronologically? By understanding our source consciousness projects its awareness, from a timeless state, into multiple personalities that only appear to be moving through chronological and sequential sequences; we can develop a new understanding of past and future lives.

The problem with most interpretations on reincarnation is they ignore the fact that time ceases to be once we move beyond this plane of existence. Of course, the reason for this is still based in the premise that we are incarnating to resolve karmic debts. We have to disregard that dogmatic new age approach to be able to embrace a more powerful and logical explanation of human consciousness.

Using the idea of personality aspects, we can understand how we are living all of our lives simultaneously through each individual personality. This opens the door to understanding that we could also be living our future lives simultaneously as well. Each aspect of awareness is always being launched from the present powerful moment of now.

The aspect theory doesn’t negate the fact we still have full control over our life experience. We aren’t completely aware of the other aspect personalities due to compartmentalization. And even though there is always the potential for slight seepage into our experience, we still have free will and full rein over the development and evolution of our focus self. The only area I see this being an issue is with certain situations where the focus personality has seemingly lost its ability to sector off and compartmentalize the other aspects.

This leads us to the concept of multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia. Aspect Psychology could go a long way in helping us to better understand these misunderstood “disorders.” It’s quite possible that the only difference between people that are considered “normal” and those considered schizophrenic or suffering from multiple personalities is the ability or lack thereof to compartmentalize the information.

Maybe the seepage of information is in extreme overdrive in certain individuals. For some reason, their specific focus personality’s radio station is picking up many other frequencies, almost all of the time. In fact, the tendency is so strong at times; it actually cancels out the main focus personality all together and picks up another station entirely. For people that are that sensitive, it then becomes a case of confusing their reality with the realities of other aspect personalities.

Achieving altered states and recognizing aspects of our awareness provides a glimpse into the multidimensional abilities of consciousness and our psyche. Without delving into studying these events and phenomena, the psychological mapping and understanding of human awareness is incomplete.

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Discovering the Truths of Your Existence

John Wolfe — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:56:52 +0000

You will never find the ultimate truths, pertaining to your existence, in a church, mosque or synagogue. Nor will they ever be located between the pages of a book or in the prose of this blog, or any other. They cannot be gleaned from the speeches of our greatest orators, motivational gurus, religious leaders or philosophers. They’ll never be discovered in scientific experiments. And you won’t even find them amidst the multitude of hectic external experiences you encounter during the course of your life. Just as soon as you believe you have it all figured out, based strictly upon any of the preceding methods, you’ll realize (if you’re paying attention) that the answers have eluded you once again.

This is the essence of interacting in what appears to be an outwardly focused version of reality and it’s the price you pay for primarily depending upon the ever changing nature of the physical landscape. There’s only one location in which the coming and going of the tides never makes an impact, and that’s within you. While your inner-self benefits completely and expands exponentially from that which you are experientially living, its ultimate truth about who and what you are will never, ever change.

Physical locations, people, literature, the scientific method, and events may contain portions of truth (more precisely- portions of someone else’s truth), along with the potential for inspiring you to journey inward; finding the answers to the mysteries of your own life. However, none of them combined could ever unravel your specific personal truths. For these are unique to you and cannot be found through external searches.

While I still occasionally find myself overlaying my inner personal experiences, onto others I interact with, I try and keep the perspective that my words are only tiny sparks of light (hopefully). These sparks represent my own evolution discovered during internal excursions and the resulting physical experiences which have come forth after the fact; however they could never substitute for your own inner journeys. I cannot pretend to ever know the nature of your personal reality or better said- what’s stemming from the multi-layers of your individual portion of the unified consciousness.

Now, if we are interacting in one unified sea of consciousness, then how can I say there isn’t an ultimate truth which applies to us all? I say this for the same reason we can safely state that there is only one conscious source of awareness, yet we somehow perceive ourselves as being separate. If there’s anything I’ve learned about digging into our spiritual origins, it’s that everything seems paradoxical. The more layers we peel away of the onion, the more we realize there’s nothing (no-thing) residing at its core and everything residing at its core. They can exist simultaneously. The ultimate truth is: there is no truth, yet truth is all there is. It depends upon your methods for obtaining it and more precisely where you obtain it from.

You must be able to fully release your attachments of what you perceive as truth based on your interactions in this classical version of the world; removing the scales from your eyes, before you can begin to know what it is to encounter your own ultimate truth. The process commences as soon as you come to understand that all things in this external version of reality are constantly being influenced by the physical vehicles we are utilizing; this includes our physical bodies.

Everything is filtered through our five senses prior to becoming a thing, word, deed, etc. in this plane of existence. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the way in which it’s intended to occur. This process is great as long as we don’t begin to confuse everyone else’s interpretation of the external universal reality with our internal personal truths. This external reality is only a symbolic representation of the deeper truths within each of us. But it is specific to our personal filters. To find the source of these symbols we must traverse the landscape of our own inner reality.

To perform this task, you need no one and no-thing. All that’s required is the same item you’ve carried with you for your entire life experience- your conscious awareness. It’s this understanding which has the potential to topple every religion, philosophy, self-help product, psychoanalysis session, and “ism” humankind has ever known. The reason this hasn’t caused the collapse of those institutions, to date, is because the majority of humankind insists its power exists external from its own inner nature. We continue to reinforce this belief system in the minds of each successive generation. Even if we do instill in our children the knowledge that they can be, do, or have anything, through our words, our actions rarely follow suit. We’re providing empty affirmations at best.

And what strikes an even more devastating blow is the fact many people aren’t even consciously aware they have a vast inner nature. They relinquished that knowledge long ago, trading it in for an opportunity to tune out.

Living in this manner would be similar to noticing a wet spot appearing on our kitchen wall and not doing anything about it. Day after day we continue to observe the spot growing larger until eventually accepting the idea that it must be natural for walls to secrete moisture. Instead of finding a way to get behind that wall and discover the source of the leak, we incorporate concepts and ideas that explain it away.

The senses convince us that we are maneuvering through a Universe of physical matter. Yet, the vibrating waves of energy we perceive as dense physical substances are actually collapsing into particles of matter because of our repetitive tendencies of observation. They pass through the many processing screens we have adopted based upon our past experiences, until taking on the shapes and forms we call our external life. We must get behind the wall of our life if we’re ever to discover the source for the “water” that’s leaking its way to the surface of our experience. How do we do this?

Our best option is to use the doors our inner-self has purposely provided for us. They’ve been there all along, but we have to consciously choose when and where we’ll step through. It may sound corny, but it’s a lot like Dorothy, in “The Wizard of Oz.” She always had the power, but never consciously acknowledged it.

She spent her entire experience in Oz looking for someone that she believed could deliver her from her perceived predicament, when ultimately she was her own savior. Upon understanding this, she journeyed within to find the way back to her truths. Corny or not, I believe some of Hollywood’s most successful films have resonated with the public because they struck a chord at a subconscious level. They too are using symbols to reveal the means, residing in each of us, for obtaining the ultimate truths about our existence. It’s quite possible the authors and screen writers never consciously recognized this as they were creating their masterpieces, then again, maybe they did.

The way we step through those doors is by utilizing many of the methods I’ve been discussing in my past posts: being present and aware, recognizing our power resides in the now, releasing and forgiving our past, understanding change is an inevitable part of the journey, reclaiming our power, striving for balance, working with our emotions, meditating, and achieving altered states of consciousness (I’ll include a link to the posts these methods can be found in, at the bottom of this entry).

While many of these techniques may sound like they address the external physical experiences, they actually provide a way for us to take a step back from the physical and see our interactions in a different light. They provide the means for us to process the information but not necessarily attach to it and identify with it in a way that convolutes our views. And by meditating and achieving altered states through our meditations, we can tune in to our ever consistent, stable self and obtain guidance and awareness about the true nature of who we are.

Even though I write frequently about spiritual empowerment, I have to admit I do not have the answers for explaining your personal nature. I do feel I provide some tools for helping you to obtain your own answers. I believe this same line of thought holds true for anything else we come across, whether it’s a book, person, religion, experience or whatever. These external things may be of great benefit in terms of providing tools, but they can never give you your own answers. It’s up to you to take that inner journey for yourself.

I’m not suggesting we ignore our external experiences, for that would defeat the purpose of why we initially made the choice to focus within this physical environment; we can’t simply deny our external reality. Instead, we must learn to see through the veil of the exterior by pulling back the curtain and traversing our inner nature. This is the only way we will ever know ourselves and discover our own truths.

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Stepping Into the Awareness of Now

John Wolfe — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:21:01 +0000

Have you ever pondered the significance of the mile markers, billboards, sign posts, and scenery along your daily drive? I’m talking about a deeper significance a little further below the surface. For most of us these things just blend into the periphery, becoming an ever increasing blur of shapes and colors as we’ve grown accustomed to their presence.

We stare out the windshield while our mind wades through a ton of minutia: thinking about what we did yesterday, last week, last year, and what we’ll be doing today, tomorrow, and next month without paying much attention to what’s whizzing by either side of our vehicle. Yet, what’s whizzing by us is the very reason we perceive ourselves capable of arriving at the destination we’re en route to reach.

Those trees, bushes, advertisements, pedestrians, and signage serve as points of reference. Of course, we get to where we’re going through our own inertia; however without those reference points dotting the landscape we would have no awareness of whether or not our movement was taking us anywhere and our arrival at our destination would be impossible to detect.

Just like the items that are providing the references for our journey along the highway, our past and future experiences provide reference points for our life’s journey. Unlike the points along the roadside however, most of us spend a great amount of time paying far too much attention to past events and pondering our future. We seem to get caught up in the trance of our own mind, hundreds if not thousands of times each day.

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t acknowledge the past, nor am I suggesting we must disregard the future. I’m pointing to the fact we have a tendency for consistently neglecting the present; missing the understanding that all of our creative power and abilities lie in the moment of now. To grasp why this is so important, I think it’s necessary to deconstruct some concepts we have about time and the powerful hold it seems to have over us.

Where do the past and future actually exist? Where has either of these reference points ever truly existed? There’s only one place- within our mind. With regards to the past, you might be saying to yourself, “I was there. I distinctly remember the specific event unfolding. You can’t tell me it was all in my mind.” Of course you were there as it unfolded, but where is there in this present moment? How are you accessing it? You’re accessing it with your thoughts and you’re doing it in the only moment you’ve ever been able to exist within- the moment of now.

We have a tendency to strongly associate with our past because it serves as a means for internally validating and verifying who we are and where we’ve come from. But if we would sit still for a moment and let our minds quiet, we could feel that our past has never been the solid structure we’ve built it up to be. And while the future is definitely being influenced by our current thoughts and feelings, we still must be present in our moment of now as it’s our only vehicle for accessing that next future moment of now.

What I’m suggesting is that we’ve never had a past or a future in the truest sense of the words. All we’ve ever had and all we’ll ever have is the current moment in which we are aware for the sake of being aware. Our life is not one event placed in front of another and another and so on. Instead, it only exists right now and that’s all it will ever be.

Our brains do a clever job of piecing together all of the points of reference we consider to be our life experience. The brain processes millions of bits of information every second, yet we’re only capable of consciously tuning into an extremely small percentage of those bits. And even then we allow ourselves to become distracted from our present point of awareness. This little three pound organ has been wired in such a way to convince us of the legitimacy of a sequential physical experience, just as the roadside scenery indicates to us we are moving along the interstate.

We actually exist (at a deeper level of reality) in a suspended state of now, which is our true source state of being, but we’ve concocted processes and concepts like time and matter to convince us there are multiple reference points existing all around us. This is done to convey movement and progression in a sequential, linear, measurable manner; however we attach a seriousness and consequences to this progression which mean very little in relation to who and what we truly are. While all of these things are important elements for interacting within a physically based plane of existence, it’s important to keep our perspective about our true state of awareness.

If we lose sight of where our creative power resides, our lives can quite easily spiral out of control. We can see evidence of this based upon how often we lack being completely present in the now experience. A large portion of our population goes through the motions each day, yet is only focusing upon the present moment with a very small fraction of their energy and awareness. They are extremely fragmented and fractured during the entire course of their lives.

This isn’t a horrible realization or revelation to reach; on the contrary, it can serve as a vital tool for our empowerment. One of the leading causes, if not the leading cause of stress and dysfunction to the body is what I call runaway mind syndrome.

Runaway mind syndrome affects 99% of the population. This “syndrome” leads to consistent, anxious, stressful responses within the brain and the body responds in kind. This is the extreme opposite of full present awareness. I believe there is not a single disease (or dis—ease) on this planet that doesn’t stem, at a deeper level, from consistent exposure to the body’s responses to the stress brought on by the runaway mind.

Our doctors and scientists have fashioned fancy labels and names for the multitude of diseases they have encountered. These illnesses only continue to grow more plentiful because we continue to ignore the deeper causes in lieu of treating the surface symptoms. The irony in all of this is there are more disease labels now than ever, despite medical and medicinal advancements. However, they all stem from the same place and the same root cause.

There may be some who would argue the concept that we each hold the key to our own health on the basis of babies being born with seemingly irreversible illnesses. The only problem with that argument is our culture has yet to fully uncover and acknowledge the energetic imprint a child can encounter as it progresses through the gestation period.

The baby is constantly receiving information at a subtler level from its mother, via her emotions, attitudes and outlook on everything, along with the environment they’re both consistently being exposed to (even though the baby’s still in the womb). We often envision the womb as safe, but it can actually be rather severe if the child is consistently exposed to anger, rage, depression, sadness and fear. Imagine being completely isolated for nine months with access only to (primarily) one person’s ‘round the clock haphazard emotional feedback.

A mother who consistently denies the power in her moment of now and focuses upon the injustices of her past, in turn creating more of the same for her future, is doing an unborn child a great disservice (not to mention what she’s doing to herself). Even if the child does not have visible signs of illness at birth, the baby’s own thought patterns and interpretations have already been shaped, to a certain extent, by consistent exposure. We always warn expectant mothers not to drink and smoke, but we completely ignore advising them about the psychological and emotional states they are imposing upon their unborn children.

Now, I’d like to discuss a technique I use to help relieve the run away mind syndrome and minimize the onslaught of the stressful responses it elicits:

Rarely do I suggest actual exercises for my readers to follow, but I believe so strongly in the information I’ve related in this post that I feel a short exercise to help validate the above points will be extremely worthwhile and well worth the application.

Take a few minutes, sometime today or tonight and focus upon the intention to bring your mind as close to a point of complete stillness as possible. Turn off all electronic devices and isolate yourself from any distractions. Get into a relaxed position, either seated or lying down. Close your eyes and breathe deep full breaths, really feeling the diaphragm extending and contracting. You’ll know you’re fully relaxed when your limbs appear to be like dead weight. If you’ve never meditated before, give yourself some time and maybe a few practice sessions to reach this fully relaxed state.

Feel yourself journeying deeper within your awareness. Release your mind’s attachment to controlling your experience and let your higher nature take over. After you have achieved this state (don’t worry you’ll recognize it) you’ll understand what it means to not only connect with your true essence but to also focus all of your awareness into the now. You’ll have a taste for what it feels like to be at one in your present moment.

This exercise doesn’t take very long and it’s not a tough “discipline” to master. It’s sort of like re-discovering something we’ve always known how to do. If you practice it everyday it becomes easier to adapt into your active states.

For instance, if I’m feeling anxious or find my mind rambling and worrying during the day, I recall what it feels like to journey within during my meditation. I become consciously aware of my breathing and feel myself slowing down in the moment. I try and reach a heightened state of observation for whatever is happening, paying close attention to every detail and sensation within the present situation. This lessens the doubt, worry or fear and I become more present. I’m still working at it, but I am noticing progress with consistent practice.

There are other means besides meditation for reaching a state of oneness in the now and they are usually described as peak experiences. These occur when our passion and exhilaration for an experience is flowing strongly. During the event we become so consumed with our involvement that we essentially reach what feels like the suspended state of now I mentioned earlier.

We shut everything out except what’s transpiring in the present moment, thus rendering the chatty mind idle. This can happen during activities which elicit our joy as well as during some forms of exhilarating physical exercise. This is one of the reasons I always speak about following our passions in life.

Before ending this post I would again like to reiterate that I’m not suggesting we should never access memories from the past or think about our future. That would go against everything I’ve written in many of my past posts. The ideas in this entry serve as another piece of the puzzle for establishing the full awareness of the power which resides in each of us.

These concepts can be nicely merged with the previous information I’ve written about creating our reality. If we can’t eventually quiet our minds and find peace within ourselves (even on a semi-consistent basis) we will have an extremely difficult time in manifesting the life experiences we truly desire. This is due to a lack of understanding just how often our minds are in overdrive pertaining to negative concepts and ideas.

If you’ve been struggling with the previous philosophies I’ve discussed concerning our thoughts creating our reality or if you’ve watched films like The Secret and haven’t had a lot of success, you may want to try implementing the above techniques.

Even though I’ve had some success with the intentional creation of my reality, I still have many issues pertaining to the run away mind syndrome. With conscious, consistent application of the techniques, especially during stress filled situations, I’ve already noticed a positive difference in both my responses and my awareness.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Eternally Expansive Consciousness

John Wolfe — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:13:41 +0000

There’s a firmly seated idea within the human mind that death and the afterlife provide a permanent respite from active awareness. This holds just as true for believers as it does for non-believers in the survival of consciousness beyond the death transition. Whether viewed as a reward from the almighty to sit on a cloud and play a harp for eternity or as a means for taking the fast track into oblivion; death has somehow been equated with the end of our expansiveness.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise however, since most people shun their expansive nature during the course of their physical experience. Many assume they did their duty by playing the game of life and after they die it’s time to either turn the keys over to “whoever’s running the show” or else cease to be altogether.

The thing is- we don’t get off the hook that easy, but I have a feeling you already knew I was going to say that.

If we probe deeper into the amazingly creative energy which has the potential to fully flow through us, fueling our every experience (if we would only let it), then we find an adventurous, thrill seeking, conscious being. Most of us are so unaware of what is itching to pour through us during every second of every day that we take our lack luster view on reality along with our concepts of separation/isolation and transfer them over to the death experience as well.

Even if we feel we are going to be rewarded when we get to heaven or wherever it is we believe we are going, we still assume it all pretty much ends right there. We’ll be reunited with our loved ones and then the creator, who we believe is separate from ourselves, hands us all the answers to the mysteries of life and that’s it, we’re done.

That concept is extremely boring, lackadaisical and unimaginative. I’m not trying to belittle our reunion with loved ones and I know it sounds like I’m being judgmental here, but it’s only to illustrate a point of how limited a view we have on existence and our source of being.

Do we really think the very energy that created this entire Universe; the very energy that fuels our awareness (to whatever extent we are letting it) would end a major production, like each of our lives, on such a pathetic and limp note? Even Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Hollywood could come up with something far more entertaining than that. This adventure never ends because the Universe and our place in it never cease to expand.

I know there are theories out there that postulate our goal is to cease continuing to incarnate and to permanently rejoin the single minded source energy awareness for eternity. Yet, I can’t find anything in concepts like that which resonates with me. It’s not that I don’t feel that would be a beautiful thing, but I think those concepts short change our expansive powers, cheating us from experiencing how far we (as source) can push the boundaries and limits on our creativity.

What I’m speaking of has tentacles which reach far beyond physical incarnations. I’m talking about the potential for billions of other forms of existences to spring forth which haven’t been thought into being yet within the mind of consciousness. Each time we move into, out of, and between life experiences, the Universe (physical and non-physical) is our oyster.

We have no desire to stay stationary for long and we certainly aren’t going to nod off into non-existence. Likewise, we would not be happy sitting idle without exercising our constant unquenchable desire to create, whether we’re sculpting other dimensional existences from non-physical or finger painting again in kindergarten- creation is creation is expansive experience, and we exist to do just that.

If that were not the case then human beings never would have evolved beyond a few single celled organisms within the primordial ooze. We never would have had the potential to think and bring those thoughts to physical fruition through the amazing journey of the creative process. We never would have had the ability to procreate other human beings through the expansive creative process of the sexual experience. All signs point to the fact we are here to create and to let source energy vicariously experience our creations through these physical vehicles. And when we return fully into non-physical awareness we will continue to masterfully create as the expansive cycle continues.

The physical plane of existence is just one of our many stops along the way. We may incarnate in this environment for as long as we choose, or move beyond it after just a few lifetimes. I don’t believe there is an ultimate state of nirvana, aside from the journey and the experience itself.

At some point, in some far off distant version of reality, we may evolve beyond using the physical plane; however we will never reach a point of culmination where we fail to extend our creative minds. There’s always another realm, another potential of thought and another amazingly expansive creative process to experience. So is the mind of god/source/all that is.

If we are creative expansive beings, why don’t we come with a built in program reminding us of such as soon as we hit the ground in the Earth environment? Because we are creative beings, we have free will, but it’s up to us to find our power. No one can show us that fully except for ourselves. To be externally shown that would defeat the purpose of our having the ability to create as we choose. We must take the journey through the creative process (creating elements we like and dislike) to understand how much power we have and to better understand what we would rather experience. If we don’t know what a negative feeling feels like (within our physical self), then how could we ever understand our potential for incredible joy?

Let’s say we did come with a built in program that told us how to create our life from day one. That would be similar to someone taking an art class to become an excellent oil painter, but their instructor insists on painting their paintings for them or tells them they can only paint whatever the instructor dictates, forever.

Our physical bodies represent the painter and source is the instructor that helps guide us when we allow it to. We’re given a blank canvass when we enter into this “class” to work with as we choose. We can either listen to the instructor for the entire length of the class or not, it’s up to us. However, we may eventually realize that when we do listen our paintings develop much quicker than when we try to go it “alone.”

They become even more pleasing and beautiful as we continue to interact with the instructor and become one with its guidance. The instructor will never dictate what we are to paint, but it will give us indications and techniques, as we go along, for how to create paintings which are more pleasing to us.

Now, let’s take another extreme example, one we would have to work with if we believe in destiny. Let’s say our life was already created for us and we had no input or bearing on it one way or the other. We just came forth and lived it. That takes us right back to my example of dying, going into the afterlife, and then resting in the corner somewhere for eternity.
Source flows through us to enjoy our creative expansive experiences. We make the decisions and we create as we go. Source doesn’t sit back and phone this all in; it comes along for the ride and is thrilled by it.

We are our bodies, but we are also the source energy which fuels these vehicles. If our entire life was pre-destined it would totally stifle and defeat the creative purpose of our source energy as well as the ability of our physical selves to enjoy the sensory input of our creations.

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Q & A: Can Willpower Supersede Universal Law?

John Wolfe — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:03:30 +0000

Question: I’ve always been interested in whether or not our will has the potential to overcome universal laws like gravity?

Answer: That’s an excellent question. It’s one I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about as well. All of the scientific literature refers to gravity as a universal law. However, science (outside of some forms of the new physics) still refuses to acknowledge out of body experiences (OBE), near death experiences (NDE) and the dream world as legitimate encounters in which consciousness is interacting in other realities and environments. Despite this “oversight” by the scientific community, hundreds of thousands of people continue to embark upon these experiences via altered and expanded forms of consciousness, which cannot be explained away as elements of overactive imaginations.

I mention these other states of consciousness because they are the best tools we have for providing us with a picture of what other dimensional existences within our Universe look and feel like. Now anyone who has had a NDE, OBE or who has experienced flight during dream sequences can tell you gravity does not apply to these environments (it can, but it doesn’t have to). The locations in which these experiences occur are not removed from the Universe. While they obviously aren’t occurring in what we think of as the physical plane of existence, they are still taking place within aspects of our Universe.

Because of this, we can honestly say gravity is not a “universal” law which applies to all states of consciousness. It’s a law that applies to the physical place holder we use for consciousness and to the physical portion of our Universe. However, the physical portion makes up an extremely small percentage of the entire mass of the Universe itself. In other words, there appear to be more subtle energy environments out there (which may constitute where we go after death, during astral projection and dreams etc.) than there are physically substantial ones.

Next, we have to ask ourselves, why then does gravity appear to apply to the portion of the Universe where we spend the majority of our time focusing on these physical bodies? Again we can to look to the subtler energy environments within our Universe to answer that question. The subtler environments appear to be, to a certain extent, the source for what we see taking shape here in the physical plane. All material things bubble up to the surface of this denser portion of the Universe, out of what some people refer to as the un-manifest or as physicist David Bohm called the implicate order.

Ask any astral traveler and they’ll tell you there appears to be an almost exact energy duplicate (of the physical plane) present, which they enter into upon projecting. The further into the subtler environments they travel, the more this duplicate fades, sort of like an echo effect. I’ve had astral experiences where I’ve felt myself pulled through wormhole type structures that cease to have any form of material objects present when I exit out the other side. I interpret these events as signifying movement into other subtler forms of dimensional existences, which are even further removed (in thought, not in actual distance) from the physical portion of the Universe.

If our consensual agreement upon material objects, how they look, act and behave in this plane, continues on in some subtler planes, until eventually fading out, then that provides a clue. The initial agreement or thought consensus that makes up the rules and laws for this physical Universe is stemming from deeper levels of our consciousness. If laws like gravity are only in place due to highly intended thought processes which have been projected for eons, then that means gravity is obviously a pretty permanent fixture.

However, I don’t believe it’s impossible to override or else it would exist throughout all other dimensional layers of the Universe. The sheer fact gravity can fade from existence as we traverse the subtle realms means it doesn’t have true universal effect. But we can’t expect it to ever be overridden on a grand scale in the physical portion of the Universe. After all, the thought premise of gravity is what keeps this planet, we call home, fully functional along with every other stellar body and planet throughout our galaxy and the billions of others.

If we can begin to see gravity as nothing more than a manifestational representation of prolonged consensual thought, then that may change how we relate to it on an individual level. I believe a great example of someone who was able to understand gravity was nothing more than a construct of consistent thought was Christ.

My readers know I’m not a Christian, but I do feel there is validity to many of the stories of Christ’s “miracles.” Unfortunately they’ve been interpreted and re-interpreted in ways which have removed their true meaning, ultimately robbing people from understanding the power which lies dormant in all of us. Jesus’ message, as stated in the bible, was, “Ye Are Gods.” He then went on to perform tasks to prove this.

His message was to show what is possible if we tap into the god source power within us. He was not performing these abilities to be worshipped or show he was thee son of god, but rather to show we are all the son/daughter of god because each of us is god expressing itself through physical form.

One of his feats was the ability to walk on water. I believe this is a testament of his knowledge that physical laws are tools we can use to our advantage or suspend for a time being, based upon our ability to see through the veil of thought constructs. Now, whether he walked on water by altering gravity or by altering the water is not clear and probably wasn’t even important, but he still overrode physical concepts which most of us take for granted as being unchangeable.

I believe he did this through a deeper understanding of reality and the sheer knowledge that all things must bend to his (our) will. This wasn’t stemming from a place of dominance or a maniacal desire for control, but rather from a place of knowledge that all things (even in the physical environment) are responsive to our intentions.

The point is that gravity is merely another intention which has been set in place for so long most people don’t believe it’s possible to supersede it. I don’t even think Christ believed it. He bypassed belief and moved right into imagining, knowing and expecting (as I spoke of in my last post) his ability to impress, upon the slate of reality, his own desires.

The physical world is a beautiful, consistent and somewhat stubborn place, but it, like all other environments, sprung forth from highly focused thought and expectation. If we accept our role as the creators we are, tune our awareness to belief and eventually move beyond into knowing and expectation, then we too can alter any portion of our physical experience, including our body’s response to gravity.

As I sit here writing this post I can honestly say I’ve yet to overcome gravity (here in the physical plane), however it’s not something I’m actively pursuing. To overcome a consensual thought construct like gravity, our will and desire has to be tuned to a heat beyond white hot. Remember, each of us and all the other billions of lives which have focused their existence in this physical Universe have continued to reinforce the idea of gravity for centuries. The sheer power of group focus makes a rule (I like that word better than law) like gravity much more pronounced in its effect, however that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to override, even if just for a brief instance.

At this point you may be thinking, “Well doesn’t he always speak about the universal law of attraction? Does that mean we can overcome it as well?”

A lot of people, when they speak about the law of attraction, like to also mention the law of gravity as an example of the permanence of universal law. I believe the law of attraction (LOA) is probably getting a raw deal by always being referred to as a law and by getting grouped in with gravity. It’s more of a piece of the tapestry which is so interwoven into the fabric of consciousness there’s no escaping it. It’s beyond a law or a rule. It’s as much a part of us as our awareness is and it’s just as infinite. This is why I always refer to it by several different phrases, such as: intentionally creating our reality and deliberate creation. I do this because it prevents us from locking onto a single minded limiting concept of what it is.

As far as someone overcoming it- I would say the average individual believes they are overcoming it everyday whether they realize it or not- and guess what? They are overcoming it (at least it appears that way), through the act of denying their power. They believe life is something that’s happening to them, and so it does. They don’t realize they are the ones who are happening to life even in the middle of their denial.

This fact alone illustrates how powerful our belief and expectation is in influencing our life experience. People are so expectant of the idea they lack power that they consistently continue to manifest a life which is devoid of it. They expect that outcome as strongly as Christ expected he could walk on water. This is why the LOA is beyond law.

A law can be broken through our expectant desire. There’s no escaping our input in the creation of our reality, whether we believe in the idea or not because it fundamentally pulses through every part of our awareness and at every level of consciousness.

And that does it for this question and answer installment. I would like to thank the individual that sent in this great question. If you have any metaphysical, self-help or spiritual development type questions you would like to see addressed, feel free to contact me. As always, your name will be kept private unless you request otherwise.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Items Materializing from Thin Air

John Wolfe — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:52:00 +0000

I answered two email questions recently in Q & A: Law of Attraction & Manifestation, pertaining to my own success with consciously applying the law of attraction and with my own abilities for manifesting. Since answering those questions I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences I’d like to share.

While there doesn’t seem to be anything mystical about finding coins laying on the ground— something a little more intriguing is afoot when they begin actively finding us. I underlined actively because that’s the best way I can describe how two pennies made their presence known to me within the last three weeks.

The first occurred while I was standing at the sink in my kitchen. My mom and I had stopped by my place after running some errands earlier in the day. She was in the living room with her back turned to the kitchen and I had just reached for the towel to dry my hands. While drying them I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, something rolling across the floor on edge (like a wheel) towards me. I then felt and saw it bounce off of my shoe, sort of sputter around and fall flat a few inches from my right foot. I looked down and that’s when I realized it was a penny.

Now, neither one of us made any movement that could have caused the coin to roll in my direction. In fact, my mom was standing perfectly still while I was gently drying my hands on the towel. The towel always hangs loose from an exposed rack and nothing fell from it. I wasn’t carrying any loose change in my pockets at all that day either. The coin rolled towards me from the opposite end of the kitchen. There’s no shelving or items it could have fallen from in that part of the kitchen- only a wall and a closed window. When I first noticed the movement it was at least three or four feet away from me.

If it had fallen off of me or out of the towel it would have dropped down flat and made a sound as it hit the floor. There was no sound whatsoever signaling the penny was being moved or dropped and everything was perfectly silent in the house when it began rolling.

Even if it had dropped or managed to roll from a source on or near me, it would have been leaving my general direction, not coming towards me from several feet away. My mom and I were the only ones in the house and neither of us budged an inch between the time I washed and began drying my hands.

I don’t leave loose change laying around on the kitchen floor, so apparently it not only moved by its own accord, it also either manifested out of nothing or was somehow transported from my room (where I do keep change) to the kitchen, prior to rolling on its edge across the linoleum. My mom witnessed it occurring from her vantage point as well. Although she had her back turned to the kitchen she noticed the penny, from the corner of her eye, rolling behind and past her.

While this event was strange, I didn’t give it a lot of thought until about a week or two later, when the second coin made its appearance. It was a Sunday morning, this time at my parents’ house, and my dad and I were doing some yard work. He had been using a pair of gloves to pick up branches and leaves for the entire hour and a half we were in the yard. There was one last pile to pick up and I borrowed the gloves he was using to finish the clean up. I had already placed a few handfuls of brush into the previously empty trash bag, when I noticed something metallic against my right thumb. I took the glove off carefully and found a penny balancing on the end of my thumb.

Of course, my mind instantly flashed back to the kitchen incident, but I wanted to know what my dad’s experiences were while wearing the gloves before I jumped to any conclusions. After speaking with him, he swore he didn’t feel anything while wearing them nor did he place the coin inside. The gloves are almost brand new (the lining’s not torn) and his hands are larger than mine, so he would have been more aware if something had been “stuck” to the fingertip. He also put them on and took them off several times throughout the morning. If something had been inside them, it would have easily fallen out during these instances.

The most interesting thing about the coin’s appearance was the fact I had been wearing the gloves for several minutes prior to it showing up. I never felt anything sliding up or down inside them during all my hand movements. And I didn’t dip my hand into anything where a penny would have fallen into the gloves either.

In one instance it wasn’t there and in the next it was. All I can recall, when I became aware of it, was the sensation of it “automatically” balancing itself on my thumb. It didn’t feel as if it materialized from within my thumb nor did it feel like it fell against it. It just simply was there.
Since this occurred, I’ve intentionally stuck a penny in many locations within the same glove (including the thumb) and it’s easily felt, immediately after placing my hand inside, each and every time.

Both of these instances separately could be forgotten, but the sheer fact they happened to me within a week or two of one another places more importance on their occurrence. I’ve looked for logical explanations in terms of them being caused by something in my surroundings. However, the likelihood of this being the case is very slim when I take into consideration the circumstances in both events. I wouldn’t even mention these occurrences if they had shown up in the “usual” way we find loose change, but the strange means for their appearance is what intrigues me. If their manifestations are not due to “normal” channels and events and I believe they aren’t, then what could be responsible and why?

I feel these experiences are connected to the deliberate intentions I’ve been setting forth for quite some time. While I’ve mentioned I’m not overly concerned or obsessed with financial gain, I do focus upon abundance in general in all the positive aspects of my life, including finances. I focus upon these ideas and images during meditation, while daydreaming or even when I have stray thoughts. I place strong desirable emotion behind these thoughts and focus. I believe these pennies were signs and signals being triggered from a deeper level of awareness within the field of consciousness.

I don’t think the value of the coins was significant in terms of the amount, but rather it was more symbolic in terms of signifying an upswing in overall financial abundance. I read a post a while back titled: How Intentions Manifest at www.stevepavlina.com where Steve discussed the Universe’s ability to give him validating signals he calls Alpha Reflections. When an intention he set forth has been received and taken hold, he encounters a synchronistic experience which is directly related to his recent intentions. I believe my experiences were similar to this but in an extremely mystical way. These pennies were rolled and “handed” to me to indicate my intentions for monetary abundance had been received and taken hold.

Now someone might say, “Well, if that’s the case, then why didn’t the pennies materialize right in front of your eyes or in your hand sans the glove?” I feel they came to me in a way I could accept but also recognize as still being special, so I would understand the deeper meaning behind their appearance. Even though I’m extremely open minded and am constantly, actively working to expand my thoughts and awareness- I probably am still not yet able to see full, instant manifestation in front of my eyes. I may have some ingrained residual limiting concepts preventing this from occurring. These two instances were the most mystical means in which the coins could come into my experience at this point in my life.

Most of our deliberate creations come forth through doors the Universe subtly opens based upon momentum of our thoughts and actions. However, I believe my experiences illustrate our potential for manifesting in an even more obvious mystical, metaphysical manner.

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Remote Viewing: a Tool for Altering the Past?

John Wolfe — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:34:33 +0000

Ever since encountering my first conscious out of body experience, I’ve been fascinated with any subject matter that’s closely related to astral projection. Perhaps, there’s no closer familial bond between relative metaphysical topics than the one shared by OBEs and remote viewing.

Remote viewing is a process that consists of a viewer receiving images and impressions about a remote location, which is usually called a target. The entire process is believed to be outside the boundaries of time and space, so the viewers are actually seeing real events as they develop in real time. Adepts at the process are so highly capable, they can tune into any location, person or object. Essentially, remote viewing is a technique that utilizes many aspects of extra sensory perception (ESP) to peer into distant ongoing events, whether they are from the past, present or future.

Controlled remote viewing experiments are always conducted “blindly”- meaning the remote viewers are not given any access (up front) to the target they will be zeroing in on. Targets are usually chosen randomly by the control of the experiment and viewers proceed to sketch and provide descriptions about the selected item or event, based upon their inner perceptions and feelings.

Can Remote Viewing Prevent a Death on the Titanic?
A few years ago, I came across an extremely fascinating article titled Affecting Time at hrvg.org, which discussed a remote viewing group and their project for turning the tides on a profoundly historic event. The group is engaging in a highly specialized version of remote viewing, called remote influencing or R.I. Remote influencing is considered to be a full on altered state that occurs within the remote viewing experience. In R.I., the viewer is no longer viewing in a slightly removed manner, while sketching and providing descriptions- they are actually completely present and submerged in the events, which are transpiring at the target location.

This group has been participating in an on-going R.I. project involving the sinking of the Titanic. They are specifically focusing on the events surrounding the death of a six year old girl named Ebba Andersson. Ebba and her family were among many of the victims that were locked below decks by gates preventing the “lower class” passengers from reaching the life boats.

The article mentions that Ebba was able to squeeze through the gated barrier, but ultimately took a wrong turn while trying to make her way through the lower deck passages. It doesn’t mention how the information regarding Ebba’s escape and the exact data surrounding her death were obtained. But based upon the specific attention to detail and taking into consideration the pandemonium that would have been occurring that night- it’s easy to gather these details were probably witnessed by the remote viewers, rather than through historical accounts.

The whole purpose of retracing Ebba’s every move is to determine the key points that led to her death. In doing so, the viewers are interested in initiating some form of recourse for trying to aid or even save the little girl. The article goes on to state that many things are being taken into consideration including: ethical observations, psychological outcomes, and paradoxical occurrences surrounding time and the result this deviation could create, just to name a few.

Here’s an excerpt explaining how the viewers would actually interact with Ebba, if the experiment is taken to fruition:

“If R.I. is possible its’ effect will surely be one of the sensory and not one of mind control or a voice from the beyond. The effect will be received and processed by the intended target as sensory data processed through its subconscious to the primary awareness. It is not likely that a viewer could demonstrate enough presence to actually control something as robust as a small child amidst the panic aboard the Titanic. It is far more likely that the viewer might be able to generate an urge or an inclination of direction.”

I have yet to find an update regarding this experiment, but I am always on the lookout for any new information about its outcome. I suppose if something like this ever worked then we would have to consider what its effect upon history would be. Even something that may seem small (like saving a child who was “supposed” to die) relative to larger events in history, would have to have a tremendous impact upon time and space. Altering an event like this could possibly spawn an alternate parallel reality in which Emma physically survived and went about her life, while in our present version of reality it would still be accepted that she had indeed passed away on April 14, 1912.

Experiments of this nature have much to teach us about how flimsy the veil of time is. Whether or not the viewers actually decide to alter Emma’s path or not, the fact that historic events are constantly being played out causes me to take pause. It’s fascinating to know that there are ways to access any event and it’s never truly outside of our reach. It may be outside our grasp without the willingness or understanding of how to invoke the protocol for accessing it, but that doesn’t change the fact that everything we did yesterday is fully accessible to those who have discovered how to see it and quite possibly alter it.

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Illusions

John Wolfe — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:16:39 +0000

“Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.”

The quotes I’ve included, throughout this post, are from a very inspiring book called Illusions, which I just finished reading. The author, Richard Bach, uses a fictional backdrop to bring forth some amazing metaphysical teachings. Richard appears as himself in the story during a Midwestern summer, in which he’s selling joy rides in an old biplane. He flies from town to town, providing his service, until he runs across a most unusual stranger, named Don, who’s engaging in the same form of employment.

Richard befriends the man, albeit cautiously, and is exposed to Don’s wisdom and insights about life and its meaning. Together they embark on a journey of flight, soaring through both sky and mind as Richard masters his “fate” and Don comes to terms with the idea that there may be no escaping his own. Illusions teaches: equality, freedom of choice to do what we want to do, the fact we are the masters of our own lives, seeing beyond the illusory quality of mass consciousness’ accepted version of reality, the power of imagination, and making peace with the death transition.

“The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.”

The majority of Richard Bach’s body of work (including Illusions) has been around for nearly three decades, but I’ve only found my way to these great works very recently. There have been three separate occasions, in the last four months, pointing me toward Illusions, either directly or indirectly- once I start receiving that many hints, I act on them.

And while I’m not big on aviation, I resonated with the beautiful messages this book provides and was very pleased I pursued it. I’m already looking forward to reading Jonathon Livingston Seagull (Bach’s first book) next.

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed, it feels an impulsion…this is the place to go now.

“But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough
to see beyond horizons.”

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My Astral Experience With a Tribal Shaman

John Wolfe — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:07:21 +0000

My last post introduced a small portion of information about shamanic practices. In always striving for there to be a method to my madness, throughout all of my blog posts, I like to lay some initial groundwork prior to getting a little weird… and so, it’s once again time for the weird.

About three years ago, while experiencing a major influx of intentional and unintentional out of body experiences (OBE), I had one of my most fascinating encounters. It occurred prior to drifting off to sleep, as I slowly entered into the state I like to call the twilight zone. Its technical name is the hypnagogic state, but the twilight zone sounds a lot cooler.

This is where we tiptoe between the waking world and the dreamscape. At certain times I have been able to enter this state while retaining full consciousness, without falling victim to the unconscious sleep state, and that’s what was occurring on this particular occasion. It’s slightly similar to becoming fully lucid, in the midst of a dream, minus all the amazing dream landscapes and scenarios.

After spending an indeterminate amount of time suspended within the twilight zone (without once falling asleep), I felt the familiar sensations and symptoms of an astral projection coming on. Upon fully projecting, I found myself immediately experiencing inner motion and a rush of energy, as if something was drawing me to a very specific location.

Within an instant I was viewing landscape that appeared (to me) to be the American Great Plains (I live in the desert southwest), just as bright and vivid as if I was standing there, seeing it with my physical eyes and body. Again there was a feeling of inner motion and I found myself “pulled” inside a hut, which was seated on the same plains.

The inner portion of the hut looked like a movie set from a very high budget Hollywood western- the type where no expense has been spared to convince the audience of its authenticity, only I didn’t see any cameras, sound men, or directors. The hut was decked out in hides, skins, drums, rattles, and all sorts of paraphernalia and tools involving elements of nature. As I felt myself scanning the room and absorbing the feel and essence of my intense surroundings, I noticed a Native American woman- actually her sex was difficult to determine by appearance, I was only able to feel and intuitively know she was female- sitting with her eyes closed.

In front of her an extremely low fire burned; while a combination of light and dark smoke wafted before her face, then exited up through a raggedy opening in the dwelling. It was obvious the fire was not for warmth, but for a mystical process she was in the midst of conducting. I glanced toward the entrance of the hut and was amazed at the continued clarity of what I was witnessing- the afternoon sun was streaming through the half opened doorway and I could see particles of dust flitting in and out of its light.

Next, she began to rhythmically go to work on one of her instruments, as a combination of drumming and haunting chants filled the hut. I “stood there” completely mesmerized by her process. At this point in time, I had become fairly accustomed to having OBEs, but I had yet to have an encounter, of this magnitude, during an experience. The sights, sounds, and scenery were as authentic as anything I have ever seen, heard or experienced with my physical senses, if not more so.

As I became more and more mesmerized by her process, I felt myself growing lighter and more off balance, until I “fell” against the wall of the hut, passing right on through to the other side. I then dropped into an endless void until I hit, with what seemed like a thud, against my bed- it was at that moment that I again merged with my physical awareness and the experience was over- save for one thing: her chanting was now echoing through my ears and its sound was deeply etched into my mind. To this day I can still hear it.

I opened my eyes, completely blown away by what I had just witnessed. In fact, there are no words that can express how awesome this experience was. As I laid there, strong impressions began washing over me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was responsible for drawing me to her location, considering I found her, upon my arrival, in the midst of meditating.

OBEs usually unfold in a way that reflect what is dominant in our thoughts and emotions, yet I had no conscious awareness of anything that would make me a match to an environment, which contained this woman’s experiences. So, it seemed that her trance like state, which was occurring simultaneously (there really is no such thing as time) to my own, drew me to her. But the strongest of feelings and sensations, I received, was that she was actually an aspect of myself- whether you want to call it a past life, parallel reality or simultaneous interdimensional existence, she was me and I was her. I just knew it.

A few weeks later, I was relating the experience to a friend of mine (who is pretty sensitive and intuitive) but before I could give her my feelings and impressions about why the encounter occurred, she immediately stated there was a strong connection and bond between this tribal shaman and myself, indicating that we were indeed the same person. I also did a little research, after the experience, because I didn’t even believe women were shamans among most native tribes- thinking this may throw a monkey wrench into my whole experience. It turned out that women actually played a very prominent role in shamanistic type work, among some tribes, on the American Great Plains.

I haven’t reconnected with her since my last experience, but I’ll never forget how amazing and vibrant my initial encounter was. It’s phenomenal experiences like these that keep me hungry to continue exploring the metaphysical.

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The Shamanic Tradition

John Wolfe — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:07:04 +0000

When discussing life altering mystical and metaphysical practices, I often find myself coming back to many ancient (nameless) teachers that have been associated with understanding this wisdom for thousands and thousands of years. Tribal peoples, isolated from the influences of the rest of the world, had to rely heavily upon their natural instincts and the exploration of their inner awareness and knowledge.

In doing so, they tapped into the type of universal energy and power that I enjoy discussing and exploring, both in this blog and my personal life. Because of isolation and the time frame in which they lived, they were afforded the perfect opportunity for the development and attunement to the deeper subtleties of existence.

Many times this power, knowledge, and attunement were further expanded upon through encounters with individuals in their tribe, known as shamans. While tribal shamans are usually thought of as sorcerers, medicine men, witch doctors, and healers; a large portion of their responsibilities and talents resided in shape shifting physical aspects of reality, journeying into altered states of consciousness and opening passageways into subtler realms.

These realms were said to contain the spirit world and even alternate forms of our current reality. Often times (but not always) these experiences occurred through the use of hallucinogens and psychotropic agents, usually from regional plant life.

One of the most well known, modern day interpretations of shamanism has fascinated me for a number of years. The accounts can be found in four books, written by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda, containing the tales of his personal encounters with a Yaqui Indian shaman, named Don Juan.

Under Don Juan’s tutelage, Castaneda journeyed through altered states of consciousness, into other worldly adventures, and engaged in banter and dialogue with Don Juan that challenged Carlos’ interpretation and views on reality. The Castaneda adventures interest me because Carlos was presented with opportunities for breaking the mold, so to speak, when it came to the objective interpretation of reality.

His individual experiences showed it is possible to expand beyond the massive conditioning we all receive, pushing the limits until reality gives way; illustrating its actual subjective nature. Over the years, many have criticized Castaneda because he never felt the need to present “proof” for the legitimacy of his experiences, along with the fact that these experiences were inspired through the ingestion of plants and concoctions derived from psychotropic plant life.

I don’t feel Carlos’ apparent lack of substantiating evidence or the fact that many of his journeys were “vegetationally” induced should cause his work to be dismissed however. I’m not really certain how critics expected him to produce physical evidence to validate his experiences when he was traveling further into his own inner consciousness.

That would be like someone asking me to prove my out of body experiences. While you can prove what you are witnessing, in the physical world, while out of body- primarily OBEs are about a knowing and sensing. I can teach others how to have similar experiences, so they too can feel it and know it, but I cannot impart words that would prove anything, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to most skeptics.

And on the drug front: hallucinogenic drugs, in modern times, are fully blamed for the experiences that are brought forth within the user; however I don’t believe drugs create the experience. Dismissing the experience as strictly pharmacological detracts from the benefit of the journeys they help invoke. Now, I’m not at all encouraging the use of such agents and I fully understand they are considered illegal. I’m only mentioning them because anytime someone has a reality altering experience, while using these substances; the entire experience is immediately discarded and considered invalid.

I feel hallucinogens allow the user to tear down the walls of habitually restrictive beliefs, but they don’t create or cause the experience. I believe these drugs unbind the consciousness from our human imposed limitations, opening an immediate portal for our awareness to then create the experience in whatever way we choose.

We have been quick to label these types of drugs as bad because the idea is that the drug is what’s making people “flip out.” Hallucinogenic drugs only loosen the chokehold on our current concepts of reality, because reality is exactly that- a concept that we continue to habitually think into being. The people that flip out are the ones creating the experience, not the drug.

Now, to counter the assumption that shamans are nothing more than drug pushers, I’d like to point to an interesting account, from the book: The Holographic Universe, which pertains to biologist, Lyall Watson.

Watson was conducting a study on the phenomenon of psychokinesis or the ability to alter physical matter. He journeyed to Indonesia where he witnessed amazing feats by a powerful young lady named Tia. Tia was known for her shamanic like abilities to alter physical reality without the use or aid of drugs.

Watson happened upon her while she was talking with a young girl near a grove of kenari trees. Although Watson viewed the interaction at a slight distance, he could tell Tia was passionately trying to explain something to the child, who apparently was not comprehending the lesson.

Tia began pointing at the grove of trees and subtly dancing around them. Within a few seconds of her movements, the entire grove completely disappeared from sight. After a short time she brought the grove back into physical existence, continuing her feat again and again. According to Watson, “One moment Tia danced in a grove of shady kenari; the next she was standing alone in the hard, bright light of the sun.” You can read more about Watson’s study in The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot.

There are endless documented accounts, such as the one above, that have been witnessed by many qualified scientists. And while the shamanic tradition may seem like something from a bygone era, it’s actually still very much alive among many cultures. Tia and Don Juan are just a couple of documented examples of modern day shamanism and their abilities to influence all aspects of reality. I approach the talents and abilities of people like Tia, as I do all things in life- if they (shamans) are able to do it, then why can’t you or I?

I’d like to close this post with a quote from Carlos Castaneda, which is a reflection of the wisdom he gained during his time with Don Juan. While it’s simple, I believe its meaning is extremely powerful, illustrating the core teachings of the shamanic tradition, and pointing to the fact we create our own reality, each and every day.

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” – Carlos Castaneda

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Our Conscious Origin

John Wolfe — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:20:59 +0000

I’ve recently been discussing ways in which we have access to empowering ourselves through our own innate mystical means. When I say we, I most definitely include myself because I’m always working through releasing worrisome, fearful, anxious emotions. I’ve come to the realization I was making it a habit to stay hung in undesirable emotional states far too often. Staying in those states was not only extremely counter productive and counter creative (from the manner I truly desired); over time it was taking its toll on my self esteem, and confidence, pulling me away from my center.

There is a positive aspect to my past negative emotional states, however- they allowed me to more clearly define exactly what I desire in life. It’s through this clarity that I feel I have a much sharper image of where my life is headed. I now realize when I experience undesirable emotions; the issue that’s bringing them forth needs to be resolved- within myself. As I find ways to internally resolve those issues, my external life experience moves smoother and my reality begins to take shape in a manner I find more desirable.

While it may seem all well and good for me to talk about working with our emotions to help positively affect our reality, the point may be moot if I’m not touching on why our emotions are so critical for this process to work in the first place. And that’s the focus of today’s entry: why our reality and the experiences we have within it are dependent upon our predominant emotional states.

Picture it: (trying to do my best Sophia impression from the Golden Girls ) You wake at sunup and quietly step out the back door of your home. The brisk morning air feels exhilarating against your skin as your bare feet find their way through the soft, slightly damp grass. Water droplets, from last night’s rain, glisten on the leaves of the garden plant life- magnifying their textures.

Morning songbirds sing out their praise for the new day, deep within the grove of trees a few yards from your home. Standing there, your mind quiets and you lose yourself in joy and appreciation for the moment. The glorious rays of the sun are now ascending the mountainous peaks in the distance.

As your chest rises and falls with each fresh breath, tears begin to stream down your face. You’re suddenly overcome by a deep sense of connection to all things and an amazing awareness of well being and harmony. It feels as if you are being tuned, like an instrument from within- higher and higher until it seems you could burst.

Welling up from deep inside your abdomen, climbing into your chest and head, spilling over into the landscape, it pours forth. It’s in this moment you detect an extraordinary inner sensing and immediate knowledge of who and what you truly are.

The who and what (mentioned in the above block of text) is the key to understanding why our emotions are so important in creating our reality. The who and what is the originator of consciousness itself. The individual in my story has experienced an encounter with the true power that flows through all of us and that is all of us.

She/He experienced it in a relaxed, appreciative, quiet moment, not during a moment of worry, fear or doubt. We have the potential for developing our own reality, and we have been accomplishing this process each and every day of our lives.

But it takes an inner knowing that each one of us is the originator of consciousness to truly be able to tap fully into our intentional creative power and abilities. If we believe that we are some type of underling that is unworthy of our true wants and desires, then our life experience will reflect this attitude and belief.

When we start to understand that we are the judge, jury and executioner of our life experience, then we start taking our own power back. This originator of consciousness (you, me, all of us) isn’t going to shout out to us that we are doing something wrong- because there is no wrong. There is simply creation, for better or worse (depending upon our human interpretations of it).

And the more we focus on our predominant interpretations of it (through our emotional attitude), the more of it we continue to receive. While we may never hear a voice telling us we are doing it wrong, many of us will start to pick up context clues, along the way, helping us realize we can make it much more enjoyable and much easier on ourselves.

Some people may argue that most of us do hear an inner voice or our conscience informing us we are wrong about something. I believe this comes from the fidgety, human brain, and not from a true place of relaxed allowing. My example of the individual in their backyard provides a stark contrast, showing the difference between someone who’s judging themselves and someone who’s relaxed and allowing within the moment.

If we are accustomed to believing that our actions need to be structured in a specific way to be right or correct, then we are going to receive the impression that we are doing something bad when those actions go outside that structure.

I’m not advising anyone to do things that they believe are bad- I’m illustrating the point that the human brain (through conditioning) creates the ideas of good and bad. We live in a society where things are deemed appropriate or inappropriate all the time, but again this is through conditioning, social structures and mores, not because a creator (that’s commonly believed to exist external from ourselves) deems them so.

So, what exactly is this originator of consciousness I keep speaking about and what are its guidelines or conditions for living life? The originator of consciousness has been called many things by many people since time and memoriam: God, Allah, YahWeh, and Krishna, just to name a few, but names and stories could never do it justice.

You are the only one that can fully know it and come to understand who and what it is because its consciousness is unique within each one of us. I would never pretend to know what it is for anyone outside of myself. I’m only suggesting ways in which each of us can get to know it better through our own inner awareness.

I believe that the only conditions and guidelines for life, that it “requires”, are: to experience it and joyfully appreciate it. That may sound extremely simple and not very profound, but again humankind has been trying to over-complicate every aspect of life (especially God) for thousands of years; sometimes the simplest interpretation is the most concise.

We are the physical equivalent or physical interpretation of source consciousness. We are an expression of it. Source consciousness chooses to experience itself in many forms and manners- the human experience being one of them.

The originator of consciousness created us, yet we are also it. It gave itself (us) the ability to create in the same manner it creates, to continue perpetuating the creative experience. We are free to create in whatever way we feel necessary and are doing it on a consistent basis, even if we are unaware of it. When we experience undesirable emotional states and physical experiences we become more aware of what would feel far more desirable for us to experience. And every time we experience anything, whether we deem it appropriate for our life or not, we are adding to the original intention that we set forth to begin with- to simply have the creative experience.

The emotions are the sculpting tool and paintbrush that we have given ourselves to create in this physical environment. We apply paint to the canvas and clay to the sculpture each and every time we experience strong emotional surges within ourselves. The emotions and feelings are truly the tool of god (us). I feel this is why our reality and the experiences we have within it are dependent upon our predominant emotional states.

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Mental Illness & the Metaphysical

John Wolfe — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:01:16 +0000

We live in a society full of labels and people who are far too eager to attach those labels. Anything or anyone that takes on certain characteristics is usually lassoed, hog tied and branded before they get very far out of the starting gate. For many, it begins as soon as their first ultra sound images are taken, while still in their mother’s womb- in this case they haven’t even made it out of the starting gate yet! If the doctor finds any apparent abnormality, the baby is immediately labeled with a condition, which may or may not affect them psychologically (for the rest of their lives), depending upon the mindset of the child and its parental and peer environments.

A great example of the refusal of negative labeling can be found in the classic book, Think and Grow Rich (you can find free PDF files of the book online by doing a search), by Napoleon Hill. Napoleon’s son, Blair, was born mute and deaf, without any of the proper auditory anatomy to allow him to comprehend sound. Doctors warned Napoleon and his wife that their son would never hear or speak.

Not once did Napoleon ever let Blair believe he was different from anyone else. He instilled in him that he was perfect and had faith and knew that he would one day hear and speak. Napoleon never doubted his son, nor did he treat him any different because of his perceived disability. Blair went on to astound doctors by not only hearing and speaking, but by becoming a teacher and advocate for others with perceived hearing disabilities- instilling in them the same mindset which his father had instilled in him.

While a person’s physical differences are usually easy targets for negative labeling, there’s a more subtle area where we are just as guilty- the issue of mental illness. When it comes to mental illness, we not only judge, but also sell the individual extremely short, by assuming they are incompetent, unbalanced and dangerous. When we’re not harshly judging and assuming, then we are usually cracking jokes at their expense. While there has been some advancement, in recent years, to help the public better understand mental illness- I feel that we still are stigmatizing the subject.

What if someone, with a form of what society calls mental illness, is not suffering from a medical condition, but instead is living a reality that is tuned slightly different than most? What if their perceived issues and symptoms are only occurring because they have capabilities which extend outside of what most people and medical doctors consider acceptable for society’s view on reality?

This may not apply to all conditions, but it could explain why some hear and communicate with voices that most of us are incapable of discerning. If we hear someone talking or carrying on conversations with themselves or with something that appears to not be there, then we say things like, “Look at her, she’s in her own little world, oblivious to reality.”

Yet, we don’t let the contradiction of our comments sink in. She may very well be in her own little world, but she’s not at all oblivious to reality- maybe she’s oblivious to each of our individual versions of it, but she is actually quite present and lucid within her own version. Does that mean she is ill or unbalanced? No, only more aware than others.

It is said that people with different forms of mental illness can be quite delusional; seemingly interacting in fantasy scenarios and lifestyles, especially those that are diagnosed with schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. I believe these are great examples of people who may be tapping into alternate forms of reality, whether it’s right here or a dimensional shift away. There very well may be something happening within the filtering system of their consciousness, which allows them to be present in more than one version of existence.

In the case of an individual with multiple personality disorder, they could be demonstrating how easily our consciousness (not just the mind) can express different roles within the same body. The amazing thing about many of these individuals is when one personality is suffering from a malady and then another personality takes over; the malady instantly disappears from the physical body. Cases such as this, point to the fact we have immense control over our bodies and our reality, if we can just learn to tap into that power and potential.

Imagine living your whole life with the label of being mentally ill, and the negative connotations that unfortunately accompany that label, yet all along you may have actually been a visionary and a sensitive individual, tuning into what others cannot see or hear.

My theories may or may not paint an accurate picture of what’s occurring within the consciousness of an individual who has been diagnosed with the above conditions. But this alternative explanation is one that should be taken more seriously; unfortunately it would take a paradigm shift of massive proportions within the scientific and psychological communities for this to be embraced. Fortunately though, each one of us has the capability within ourselves to shift our awareness and how we choose to view others, in spite of the sociologically accepted norm.

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Techniques for Achieving an OBE

John Wolfe — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 22:51:34 +0000

This entry is designed to provide simple tips and techniques for helping anyone who’s interested in achieving an out of body experience (OBE). If you are unaware of what astral projection is or what occurs during the process, you may want to read my “Experiences Out of the Body” Part 1 & Part 2 posts. While much has been written about this very subject matter- I want to share the specific techniques that have helped me to continually project my consciousness away from the physical body

Many people find that achieving an OBE is easiest during the first few moments after, or immediately prior to falling asleep at night. These circumstances place you in a perfectly relaxed state that is conducive to projecting your consciousness. Meditation is another option which provides a gateway to astral projection. When you reach deep levels within your meditation you are achieving a similar state of relaxation that occurs prior to sleep. I have had success with both of these methods and a few others, but for the purpose of this article I want to focus on meditation and the initial moments before drifting off to sleep.

The key is to reach the point in which your body is essentially asleep and your mind’s awake, but still. The body will be frozen solid while the mind feels slightly numb, yet aware. This is the moment in which you are deactivating the physical experience from your focal point and allowing your consciousness to shift into a different state of awareness.

Many people refer to this moment as the twilight zone or as the still point, though it’s not usually a fleeting instance like the second name implies. The still point can last for quite some time as you weave in and out of its trance like feel. It’s unmistakable when you achieve it, but it can escape you if you become overly relaxed (fully falling asleep) or tense up (allowing fear to come into your mind).

Let’s go through a few techniques that will give you an opportunity to practice reaching this state. As you continue to go there you will become more adept at using it to launch into a full projection of your consciousness.

The first strategy is to utilize meditation to acclimate yourself with reaching the desired still point. While you don’t have to meditate to achieve an OBE (most people actually find meditation to be one of the more difficult routes), meditation will help you to better understand the whole mind awake, body asleep sensation. Once you become fully aware of this sensation you will be better equipped to recognize it as you fall asleep at night.

Everyone has had an experience with the twilight zone state, but most do not understand what can occur if you hold slightly to your awareness and not allow it to fully enter the sleep state with the physical body. Most people have not “trained” themselves to override the impulse to doze off when they enter the still point, or when they enter the Twilight Zone- “You’re traveling through another dimension- a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind! do do do do , do do do do”
- Sorry I couldn’t resist getting a little Rod Serling on you. OK, back to our meditation techniques:

A) Meditation should be as relaxing and as free as possible. You don’t have to sit upright with your legs crossed or in some other funky position. You want to position yourself in a manner that feels natural and comfortable for you. I prefer lying in my bed, on my back, but you can just as easily use a reclining chair. If you do want to try more of a yoga style, then go for it. The bottom line is to approach it in a manner that will allow you to fully relax.

B) Rid your environment of any interruptions. Turn the ringer off on the phone and make sure no one will disturb your session. It’s pretty difficult to become familiar with the twilight zone when someone is blasting the radio or TV in another part of the house.

C) Wear loose clothing. The tighter your clothes, the more distracted you may be. Tight clothes can keep you constantly aware of your physical body. Remember, you want to take as much focus off of your physical environment (including your body) as possible. If it’s winter time then be sure to have a blanket handy to keep you warm. As you continue to relax, your body temperature will drop.

D) Once you get into position, begin breathing through your nose and out your mouth- really focus on using your diaphragm to power your breathing- avoid short choppy breaths. The key initially, is to stay somewhat consistent with your breathing style to facilitate your relaxation. As you relax, your breathing may become more shallow- which is fine. You also may resort to mouth breathing or strictly breathing through your nose as you reach even deeper levels of relaxation- this too is ok.

E) Many people become overly concerned with eradicating any stray thoughts from their mind during meditation. The more you focus on the attempt to control your thoughts, the more attentive you stay to them- again defeating the purpose of releasing focus from your physical body and from your physical environment.

Relax about any stray thoughts that enter your mind. Continue to focus on your breathing and just allow your thoughts to come and go without any emotional attachment to them. In doing this, you will be propelled into deeper and deeper states of relaxation. Once there, your thoughts will automatically take on less and less importance and will eventually cease to flow almost entirely. The key is to resist the temptation to exert control over the experience. Meditation and astral projection are about getting out of the way, so your consciousness can be what it truly is.

F) Do not concern yourself with setting any time limit on your meditation. For our purposes it’s important to again flow with the experience. If at first you are only able to sit still for five minutes- then do that. The more you practice and allow, the longer your meditative states will last. Remember you’re not necessarily meditating to have an OBE, if it happens during your meditation- that’s fantastic!

The goal here is to reach altered levels of awareness that are similar to the still point I described above. The more you familiarize yourself with this still point or twilight zone, the more you will recognize its occurrence as you are falling asleep at bedtime (which again is usually the easiest time for most people to project).

The reason most people do not achieve astral projection during meditation is because they are not as relaxed as when they enter the sleep state. But I think it’s important to familiarize yourself with reaching as close to the still point as possible during meditation, so you will not sleep through it when it happens at bedtime.
After practicing with meditation for several days to weeks, your awareness will be so much more in tune with the outer edges of the twilight zone that you will actually recognize it (while you are drifting off to sleep) and can retain/regain awareness as you travel through it.

Now, let’s talk a little about recognizing the still point and some tips for using this point as a way to launch into an out of body experience. The techniques in the remainder of this article can be used during meditation or when you are falling asleep.

The Still Point: The still point feels extremely misty and somewhat dreamlike for lack of better words to describe it. You are not usually dreaming during it because you are not fully asleep, but rather you are losing yourself in it, similar to what happens during non-lucid dreams, yet there is no dream sequence unfolding. You also are aware, but at the same time you aren’t all that aware either. You’re pretty much straddling the fence between waking consciousness and the dream world. I know it sounds very cryptic but its one of those things that doesn’t translate well into words. The best advice I can give is- try it. Once you have entered that state and retained consciousness, there’s no mistaking it for anything else.

Feeling for Your Awareness in the Still Point: As you fumble around for some semblance of awareness in this dreamlike environment (minus the dreamscape) you have to be somewhat careful not to startle yourself, so that you don’t pull out of the still point. I believe there are varying degrees in the twilight zone that you can practice your astral projection from.

While you reach for awareness you may slightly disturb the still point. But if you are careful in your approach, you can still remain in the moment without destroying the continuity of the experience. It’s similar to feeling your way around an unfamiliar, unlit room late at night. You’re cruising along and all of a sudden you stub your toe on a piece of furniture that you didn’t realize was there. Do your best to find yourself and your way around without stubbing your toe!

Once you have done this, you are in prime territory for working on having a conscious OBE, since your physical body is essentially asleep. Robert Peterson, the author of Out of Body Experiences, described this point as analogous to a fishing cork floating on the water. As you start to drift off and your cork goes below the surface, you want to be careful not to jerk the line too hard or you’ll miss the fish. When you reach this stage you have accomplished the goal of mind awake/body asleep.

Using Visualization: This is now the time that I begin to use visualization techniques to aid in my projection. One of my favorites is to envision myself on a roller coaster. I do my best to feel each and every turn, drop and loop. This visualization creates the sensation of motion and from our current perspective in the still point; we pretty much have no body capable of detecting physical motion, since it’s technically asleep. Though you are still loosely connected to your physical body- you’re sending the message that you wish to experience these sensations. The more you can feel these sensations, the more momentum you will build up in detaching fully from the body.

It’s around this time that I will also try and locate a way in which to slightly move my eyes (with my eyelids still closed). I say try, because depending on how deep into the still point I am, this can be fairly impossible to accomplish. When I can locate a means for doing this I usually roll them somewhat cross-eyed and up, as if I’m trying to point them at mid-eyebrow level. I know this sounds really strange, but this too creates an inner feeling of motion for me.

Many people believe this action stimulates the third eye location- which is a chakra point found in eastern cultures. I’m not sure if it’s causing stimulation to this region, but it does create a sense of inner motion that’s important for achieving full detachment from the physical. I usually will repeat the eye roll a few times as I continue feeling the sensations of my roller coaster ride.

There are many other techniques that other people use, such as: the roll out, and the wire. I believe the roll out was started by Robert Monroe, who is the author of the Journeys trilogy: Journeys Out of the Body, Far Journeys, and Ultimate Journey.

It essentially utilizes a rolling motion that can be used when you are in the still point. You’re not literally rolling of course; you are just mimicking the sensation. The method I call the wire (which is probably not its original name) is credited to Robert Peterson. It involves the visualization of a wire or string that’s attached to a point somewhere near your forehead (possibly the third eye point again), which pulls you from your body. Both of these methods are used to create that same inner sense of motion that my techniques create. The feeling of motion (most of the time) is vital to engaging a conscious projection. Try some of your own visualization methods that feel right for you and that create a sense of motion.

Sensations and “Symptoms”: If you are already somewhat familiar with OBEs or have read my blog posts discussing my experiences, then you are aware that many strange symptoms and sensations will accompany this shift in your consciousness. As you start to apply some of the techniques mentioned above, while you are in the still point, then you will begin to notice accompanying sensations like: ears ringing and roaring, your entire body vibrating and shaking, cold “breaths” of air being “blown” onto key points of your skin, voices saying your name and many more.

In fact, these sensations can even happen prior to your visualization. In the world of astral projection there are similarities amongst every experience, but none are usually exactly identical. It’s important that you allow these symptoms to play out. They are fleeting and are indicators that you have basically initiated the countdown sequence to a full astral projection.

You’re probably wondering, “What is causing all of those things?” That’s a good question. To explore it fully could be an entire article in and of itself. Basically, you are tapping into a flow of energy that’s not your typical way of being or operating during everyday physical moments. You are connecting with a pure energy flow that has amazing potential. This flow is not usually brought into being (for most people) while they are physically focused.

Now, it may sound contradictory to be in a state of mind awake/body asleep, yet I’m telling you that your physical body feels these sensations. I know it sounds weird, but that’s exactly how it happens. When you reach the still point, your limbs are completely frozen and you cannot move them, yet you can still feel cold blasts of air at key points. I wouldn’t believe it myself if this hadn’t happened to me many times.

After a short period of time, these sensations will dissipate and you will begin to perceive an even further shift in your consciousness. At times you may even experience a fading away of your conscious self; very similar to what I described in Experiences Out of the Body Part 1 & Part 2

You may also find yourself experiencing incredible sensations of falling and expanding from some point of consciousness that has very little in common with your physical body. You’ll notice that these sensations are far beyond anything you have ever felt through your physical awareness. If you can release your fear and continue to allow the experience to develop, you will become aware that you have an instinctive way of perceiving your new environment.

It’s different than seeing with your eyes. It’s more about awareness and a sensing than it is visually seeing. Your new environment is typically an energetic blueprint of the very room you are having the out of body experience in. This environment is extremely sensitive to your thoughts. In fact, I believe that it’s this environment in which all things originate, prior to making themselves known in our physical plane.

From here, the sky is truly the limit and the world’s your oyster, quite literally. I have not been as successful as many out of body travelers when it comes to visiting other locations, besides my house (on the astral plane). However I’ve had some amazing experiences in deeper environments, into the astral, that I plan on sharing in future blog posts. I also will be blogging about some validation experiences I have had, which point to the fact that OBEs are more than just fantasy and dreams.

In my next out of body experience entry I will be discussing ways to release your fear (if you have any) about astral projection and further tips for traveling the astral plane and reaching out to environments besides your home. I hope you try some of the techniques I’ve covered in this article. If they work for you or if you have any further questions, then feel free to contact me and share your experiences.

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