Wind of the Soul

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.
(Read the rest of Understanding Death through Consciously Living Life…)

Question: Hi, I’ve been learning a lot about the idea that we create our reality. If this is true, then does it mean we’ve created all of the bad things in our world too? I don’t understand the issues of politics, crime, war, death, destruction and so on. Did I contribute to the creation of those things? And if so, how am I responsible? I’m not attacking, I’m just asking–if we create our own reality then wouldn’t that include our world at the global scale as well? I never want war or crime or bad doings, but they seem to be growing. How did I create them? Thank you in advance for your answer. By the way, I like your site a lot. - Jessica

Answer: Jessica, thank you. I appreciate probing questions like yours. I believe the external world, we call reality, is a reflection of both our individual point of focus and the collective focus of mass consciousness. But the mass collective consciousness definitely has a stronger ability for influencing global issues (at a faster rate) than our individual point within that consciousness does.

I have written a few older blog posts where I touched on the fact that we are indeed responsible for all of what we observe around us. The beauty in that (I know it may seem almost impossible to find beauty in many of the things in our world) is if we are capable of creating undesirable manifestations then imagine the amazing potential for what we could be creating.
(Read the rest of Q & A: Does the Individual Create Mass Corruption in the World?…)

Over the years, as I have worked to explore my total-self, I’ve discovered an occasional tendency to try and ignore or hide certain emotions and experiences. If something didn’t feel “proper” or if it didn’t seem to fit into a so called sublime spiritual state of being, then I found the need to repress or ignore it. And when I wasn’t forcing it back into the abyss where it came from, then I was feeling guilt or shame for thinking the thoughts and for taking the specific actions related to the thoughts.

For me, coming into a better understanding of my spiritual side has been amazing; however, it has also caused me to place a lot of undue, unnecessary stress and pressure upon myself. I think anyone that’s engaged in self-exploration and growth will eventually encounter some form of self-condemnation or judgment. As we tune into what we feel is a more aware, connected, conscientious state, it’s not uncommon to hold ourselves to an even higher standard than ever before regarding our past and present emotional responses and actions.
(Read the rest of Honoring Your Emotions & Experiences…)

As we come in contact with our real values and begin to recognize what truly matters, to us in life, we may find ourselves questioning things like materialism and wealth. There’s little doubt why those in pursuit of their own truths become disenchanted with the ideologies found in capitalistic societies. Consumerism and gluttony are encouraged from the time we are old enough to comprehend words and sentences.

As small children we were completely inundated by these concepts; from the television to the playground. And even if we lived in a household which heavily monitored how we spent our time; we were quickly brought up to speed once we enrolled in the public school system. These “lessons” always managed to find us by way of peer pressure, judgment and downright cruelty.
(Read the rest of Abundance or Scarcity?…)

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.
(Read the rest of Maintaining Perspective amidst Spiritual Pursuits…)