Psycho-Spiritual Practices

The meaning of life is to evolve, expand and grow into the fullest realization who you are. If every waking breath is used for self examination, learning and growing through close observation, then your life is indeed the spiritual practice of coming to know yourself as both fully human and fully divine. The enlightened state is to see, accept and love it all.

In the moments when we can be the observer, without judgment, and yet still use our awareness to transform our lives, are the moments of enlightenment.

In the beginning they come occasionally but with practice we re-member to observe. Re-membering is reconnection, instead of living in a split off state.

It is this observation of seeing the splits and fragmentations, the constrictions and prisons we live in, that is indeed an awakening and realization. Eventually the truest revelation of yourself as the observer, one with Spirit, (Consciousness) that loves and accepts every aspect of every stage of your journey, will happen, through grace. You put in the effort and hard work of practice, and the final revelation is through Grace. And so, it is through the great Work of your life and through Grace, revelation occurs. It is indeed a human and god relationship and joint effort.

Intentionally practicing to be the observer and being fully aware of everything that arises within ones experience, with non-judgment, is the practice of meditation. As humans we have preferences as to what is easier to observe and how to observe.

Some people find it easiest to sit quietly and observe their thoughts, emotions, needs and defenses. Others find it easier to do this actively through yoga, walking, running. etc. Others find it easier to start with the observation of what happens in relationships. Some people find that emotions and needs are the doorway into a deeper understanding. There are as many ways to observe oneself in relationship to the world as there are people on the planet. Every way is valid. Every practice is valid. The core of them all is self-observation without judgment, leading to organic and radical transformation. However, it is important to choose practices that address development emotionally, intellectually, physically, and relationally. Developing in just one area of being does not lead to full integration of all aspects of our being. We can be very intellectually advanced in our understanding but fail to apply it to our lives if we are unaware of our feeling-memory states. The shadow work of what is unaware and unexamined cannot be neglected.

However, below are some practices in self-observation that have been helpful for me. As you reflect on your inner world, you will find other practices that are specifically helpful to you. However, perhaps one of these practices provide a beginning focus and a way of helping you be more self observant. Our way of practicing can change over time. Different developmental stages and states require different practices to reach different milestones.

God of Infinite Knowing and Ultimate and Absolute Truth,

Help us let go of our notions of weakness, so that we may act Powerfully,

our ideas of inadequacy, so that we may fulfill our potential,

our judgments that limit so that we can can fly free,

Make it easy for us to

reject what is ugly in our minds that we may walk in Beauty,

surrender dark unconscious fears and needs

for the light of your all accepting and loving embrace,

question every belief to which we cling, so that we may live in Truth

give up our learned dualities, so that we may come to know union

and lean into the essence of everything around us.

Assist us in realizing that there is not

the sacred and the profane,

the earthly and the heavenly,

the sinners and the saved

but to know your Holy Intelligence and Presence,

infusing and infused into everything.

Let us come to know our bodies as our soul’s sacred vessels,

instruments through which your truth sings, laughs, labors and loves,

reconciles, bridges and heals,

Help us become the yes through which you can see,

the mind through which you meditate,

the hands through which you touch,

and to know our bodies as the materialization of divine energy, truth and love.

In silence,

before words,

we come to you,

to know you...

“In ignorance, I am something; in understanding, I am nothing; in love, I am everything.”

~Rupert Spira

Sitting meditation is probably the most difficult way of observing yourself, and is also the most fraught with misunderstanding and spiritual dangers.

Meditation is about being immediately present to your own inner condition and experience, with complete acceptance and non-judgment. And it is the inner condition of suffering that has to be witnessed first and foremost. This is a practice that should be occurring all day, every day, no matter what you are doing or not doing. It should be a way of life. Until it is, we practice and maybe even set aside a specific time to do so. In order to pay attention to our suffering we need to define what this is. For more, click here…

“Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.” ~Gurdjieff

In reading the instruction on sitting meditation, I referred to the first task as being, observing ego functioning. Below is a map for how to do that, and observe and analyze yourself when you are in an activated state, that can be internalized for self reflection. It is important to understand that what is referred to as Ego, is merely a function that arises within who you are, which is always soul - or one drop of eternal Love and Truth in form.

Meditation is the practice of learning to observe what is occurring internally with compassion, so that there is an observer and that which is observed.

In the beginning, what is observed is mostly the endless, exhausting cycles and habitual patterns of thinking and feeling that keep you in a state of vigilance toward the outside world. The mind's dualistic thinking creates fear and keeps you tense and ready for action of some kind, either fight or flight, in order to protect you from perceived threats (even when there is no realistic threat). The function of the ego can be summed up as:

A (activating event in external environment where a need is perceived to not be met) triggers an internal

B (belief, thought, self-talk) that activates an emotional state

C (consequence is a feeling or feelings) leading to a compulsion to action or inaction

D (defense of fight or flight/freeze) is highly sophisticated in the human animal

In this state, the body is always tense to some degree… the only time deep relaxation occurs is when asleep.

For more, click here

All language is the fragmentation of primordial sounds or vibrations into discrete parts, so that meaning and dynamics can be expressed in specifics and details. Words (language) are the building blocks of the blueprint (vibration) that is created from the infinite Source of Silence.

Consider the primordial sound of the sea, the sound in the uterus for a baby surrounded by the “sea.” Shhh….. shhh….. we say it to soothe and to quieten when there is agitation, knowing instinctually that this sound is the very meaning of calm and silence… the sound of silence and stillness. Breathing out is a shhh… sound, if we allow it to be - the air being expelled as shhh… to a still, quiet moment before the next inhale…. shhh leads to the pause between - the god in the gap - between each out and in breath. It brings us to the eternal before we re-engage the temporal and finite of time and space.

The next time you feel anxious, agitated, and distracted, or are in pain, take a moment to bring the focus of your Silence and the first primordial sound emanating from the silence to your fearful and agitated state…. not to get rid of it, not to soothe it but for the infinite to be in relationship with the finite. Hold your distress as you would a small baby. Breathe in deeply and very slowly. Exhale in a measured, slow way, verbalizing the sound shhh…. shhhh…shhhh… continue to do this until you feel the physical relaxation of your agitation and tension into the vastness of your Shhh… emanating from the Silence of your Being.

At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time. We know that every particle in the physical universe takes its characteristics from the pitch and pattern and overtones of its frequencies, its singing. Before we make music, music makes us.

Since the one thing we can say about fundamental matter is, that it is vibrating. And since all vibrations are theoretically sound, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that the universe is music and should be perceived as such.

~Joachim Ernst-Berendt

Try sinking into the vibrations of primordial sounds, through silence, sinking and submission, and singing the vibrations underlying language. Just see what happens…

“Global harmony is only the reflection of humankind's internal harmony.” ~Abhijit Naskar, Fabric of Humanity

There is no doubt, great merit is sitting quietly following all the instructions of posture and breath that are given in all the religious traditions. Doing a daily practice is important in teaching discipline, in an undisciplined world. Routine and rituals of discipline need to then be extended to the external world of action too. If you are able to sit for 10 minutes every morning, then perhaps you are able to also make your bed regularly, do your laundry, fold and pack it away regularly, and so on. If this is not occurring, then clearly your sitting practice is not resulting in any results. Why do I say that? Because if you are not living a disciplined life in action, then clearly you are not examining the fears, resistance, hurt, shame, pain and issues that are getting in the way of doing so. For example, if you resist making your bed every morning, turning the eye inward in meditative practice means asking the question “Why?” (And, because, I don’t want to, is not an answer… the question still remains, Why?)

For more … Read here

Heart Meditation /Prayer

Universal Source of my being within,

Help me always to remember that

I am

• the great Heart of compassion

connected to you,

• the Infinite Spirit of Love.

I vow today and always,

To enfold past suffering

that emerges in the moment

into my eternal and ever present heart.

To bring all shame and hurt

• into the warm and loving embrace of my heart

To bring the courage of my heart to my fear

To find the wisdom of my heart to correct false understandings

And the discipline of my will

• To be in alignment with my heart in all decisions and choices

Help me remember that this is my work to do

so that I do not expect others

To meet my needs,

hold my feelings,

correct my beliefs or

discipline my behavior.

© Lyndall Johnson

Transpersonal psychology “is concerned with the study of humanity’s highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual and transcendent states of consciousness.”

~Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Transpersonal Psychology explores self-transcendence, a sense of self-identity that is deeper, higher, broader, and more unified with the whole. The root of the term, transpersonal, or literally “beyond the mask,” refers to this self-transcendence. While this self-transcendence recognizes the value of the personal, it also sees non-duality and the transpersonal as the more fundamental ground of being and consciousness itself, which gives rise to the specific and personal.

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.” ~Rumi

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you, But sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” ~Rumi

When our focus is only on the daily grind of life, the mundane and habitual patterns of defense, we are slowly dying internally in our soul. There is an old Native American story that is instructive as to the importance of paying attention to the natural life of the soul, that is always, infinitely at play, creating, from a place of joy, peace and love as opposed to the distractions of the defenses that continually warn us to achieve, to please people, to be perfect, or to get away from suffering through addictive pursuits. In the beginning when you engage in these practices, the ego will protest about “wasting time,” the dangers of “getting nothing done,” that you will be judged by others, and on and on. So now we can combine the practice of meditation with the practices of “wasting time.” and learn to feed the soul instead of leading defended and superficial lives. There is an old Native American story that goes like this…. for more….. click here

Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do. ~ Emmanuel Swedenborg

Several years ago, my best friend died of Aids. She had discovered her diagnosis days before her husband died of Aids. At that time back in the late 80’s, no-one suspected that he had Aids and it was only when he was inexplicably unconscious and near death that they finally tested him, and then Linda.

For many years Linda was too afraid of people’s judgments to tell anyone that she had Aids - even her own family. Her husband, a successful foreign journalist, never knew he had passed on the dreaded virus to his young bride. Linda believed he had contracted the disease while on assignment in another country where he had needed a blood transfusion, but she could never be sure. For more… read here

“When the deluded in a mirror look They see a face, not a reflection. So the mind that has truth denied Relies on that which is not true. “ ~The Royal Song of Sarah

For more … Read here

“If religion means primarily God-consciousness, or the realization of God both within and without, and secondarily a body of beliefs, tenets and dogmas, then, strictly speaking, there is but one religion in the world, for there is but one God.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

Remember that all maps, dogmas, and teachings are interpreted through the stage of development and state of consciousness of the writer. This is not THE word of God, but an interpretation to be studied against the deep inner knowledge of your own consciousness. It something doesn’t make sense to you, work with it until you find a way that it makes sense to you. In studying all religions and systems, maps of consciousness and dogmas, find the underlying principles that hold true throughout - then you will see that all are pointing the same way towards the same outcome. When you see past differences and start recognizing similarities, you are closer to the truth of all sacred texts and maps

For more … Read here

Helping or enabling?

Giving or Taking?

selfish 1: Concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself: seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others 2: arising from concern with one’s own welfare or advantage in disregard of others.

Definition

According to the above definition, selfish means that I disregard other people in making decisions and make decisions based exclusively on what I want or need. Whenever we do this we run the risk of controlling and manipulating others to get what we want which results in perpetrating abuse or disrespect against another person. It means putting ourselves in a one-up position over another. It destroys equality and mutuality and the possibility of intimacy and connectedness. It creates fear and shame and perpetuates fear and shame for both parties.

For more … Read here

“When you stop being used by dependent people and when you stop using others to get unaware needs met, you will find that there are many sacrifices and losses. This is the true meaning of sacrificial love.” ~Lyndall Johnson

“Only yesterday I was no different than them, yet I was saved. I am explaining to you the way of life of a people who say every sort of wicked thing about me because I sacrificed their friendship to gain my own soul. I left the dark paths of their duplicity and turned my eyes toward the light where there is salvation, truth, and justice. They have exiled me now from their society, yet I am content. Mankind only exiles the one whose large spirit rebels against injustice and tyranny. He who does not prefer exile to servility is not free in the true and necessary sense of freedom.” ~Kahlil Gibran

“From the viewpoint of absolute truth, what we feel and experience in our ordinary daily life is all delusion. Of all the various delusions, the sense of discrimination between oneself and others is the worst form, as it creates nothing but unpleasant.” Dalai Lama

I had one lonely guppy left in my fish tank. He was clearly a survivor.

I had put some lettuce leaves on the surface of the tank because the guppies loved to eat them but this time, a few hours after putting them in the tank, all the fish died... there was only one hardy little fish left. He had a beautiful, bright red tail and fins.

For more … Read here

The Mind Is Like A Wild Elephant

The Seeker and Shaman Woman were reviewing the events of the day,

“I know that worrying makes my life hell, Shaman Woman,” said the Seeker. “But why can I not control my mind?”

“Your mind is like a wild elephant you must master,” said the Shaman as she handed the Seeker his tea. “When you tether the elephant, it flaps its ears, slaps its tail, and tries to run away.”

“That’s just what my mind does. It runs wild whenever I try to control it,” the Seeker said excitedly. “What should I do when it runs away, Shaman Woman?”

“Don’t scold the elephant for running,” answered the Shaman, “simply grab the chain and pull it back. Again and again the elephant will run away - and again and again you must pull it back. Eventually, the elephant will be tamed when it learns that you are the master.”

“Then will my wild mind obey me?” the Seeker asked.

“Then you will have great power,” the Shaman replied, “because, once tamed, both elephants and minds will work for you.

~Dr. Beverly Potter, The Worrywart’s Companion

It is very hard to let go of the obsessive ruminating of the intellect that is always seeking to find blame for something bad and wrong. This is because of the old idea that if we could just discover what is wrong by finding who or what is to blame for our feelings, it will help us find solutions and make decisions that give the illusion of control over those feelings of fear and shame.

2:00 am, and getting stuck in berating ourselves or someone else for having done “something” offensive, or in worrying about something that might or might not ever happen and that would make us feel fear, shame, or helplessness, even if we could foresee the future and control it, is a miserable plight to be in.

First, we must be in relationship with the age of the wild elephant (small child) who wants to run from feelings. Stay with the feelings, thoughts, needs, and memories, and see how the present is linked to old beliefs born of childhood abuse, neglect, trauma, and shaming. Remind yourself that you have different resources now, as an adult, than when you were a child. We must learn to tame the automatic beliefs and actions of small children who had no resources. How do we do this? When you were an unaware child, no one was there to:

• tell you the truth,
• hold you with compassion,
• listen to your feelings,
• meet your emotional needs,
• or care that they had just shamed and hurt you

Now you are there for your younger self, and you must remember this. You are now the elephant tamer. Just recognizing and accepting the memory state you are experiencing calms the elephant/child. Your presence is a soothing balm of reassurance, presence, and care.

If you are ruminating about something you did that was shaming or hurtful to someone, resolve to speak about it and do the necessary repair work. Taking full responsibility is immediately calming.

Until this work or relationship is done, meditation—watching thoughts and letting them gently float away like clouds—does not work. These are times when discipline is required. The mind has to be tamed and calmed, and well-established practices such as reciting rote prayers, mantras, or the rosary are very helpful. The mind needs something to chew on, and it is better to give it something holy and transcendent to attend to rather than allow it to gnaw on the repetitive, cyclical thoughts of “I should have,” “he/she should have,” “what if,” “if only,” “What’s wrong with me/him/her?” and all the other judgments and criticisms of the fear-based mind. This discipline says clearly, “No, we are not going to dwell on a memory state of how bad you are, or how bad someone else is.” This is a loving message that is firm in its resolve.

Of course, it is no good repeating the holy words of a saint by rote while the mind wanders off to one side, doing its unruly, unmanageable thinking. All attention must be brought to bear on the words and meaning of the prayer beads, prayer, mantra, or chant. If you find your attention sinking into the nether regions of dark thoughts, gently bring it back to the words of prayer and do not judge yourself. Making this a daily practice will make you far more proficient when you face a particularly difficult challenge.

If all else fails, get up. My mother would say, “scrub the kitchen floor.” She is right. Move, work, write, journal, clean ... do not give power to the fearful midnight whisperings of the dark. Do not indulge something you recognize as irrational, have examined carefully, are aware of, and cannot do anything about.

EXERCISE: Go out half an hour before “sunset” at a time when Venus is low on the horizon.

It is helpful if another planet is also visible, such as Jupiter or Mars, but that is not necessary. A last ingredient for this process is a child. (If you can manage to bring along a child, she will probably get there first, and her glow of discovery will assist you in making your own advance.)

Begin by focusing your attention on Venus, and as you do so, keep the model of the solar system in mind as a way of organizing your experience. So, either by speaking out loud or by considering the situation in your thoughts, review the basic facts: Venus is 67 million miles from the Sun, about a third closer than the Earth, which is 93 million miles from the Sun. And there, higher up in my field of vision, is Jupiter, 480 million miles from the Sun. Neptune is 2.8 billion miles. All three of us are moving in a single plane around the Sun; And so forth. The actual numbers are not even necessary here. What needs to be kept in mind is the simple fact that we are dealing with great distances, and that concerning the three planets, Venus is closest to the Sun, then Earth, then Jupiter, and all three move in a plane about the Sun.

Simply by focusing on the experience and viewing it through the theoretical model of the solar system’s form, there comes a wonderful moment when you enter into it all at once: You feel, in an experiential, imaginative, and direct way, the Earth slowly turning away from the Sun. You have a sense of the plane in which the planets move, and even a beginning recognition of the great distance to Venus. You will also feel, and perhaps for the first time in your life, the immensity of the Earth as it rolls away from the great Sun. It happens in a flash. As a single surprising shudder passes through you and you realize you are standing on the back of something like a cosmic whale, one that is slowly rotating its great bulk on the surface of an unseen ocean. ~Brian Swimme, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos

How many children live in places where they cannot see the horizon? What is the effect? What does this quote tell us about education today? What are the implications of a one-sided intellectual understanding without the numinous experience of the heart? How do you have faulty perceptions and therefore draw faulty conclusions?

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine Saint-Exupéry

The sun is one million times the size of the Earth, and the Earth is whipped around the sun by the sun's power.

• Mercury: average distance 58 million km (36 million miles)
• Venus: average distance 108 million km (67 million miles)
• Earth: average distance 149.6 million km (93 million miles)
• Mars: average distance 228 million km (142 million miles)
• Jupiter: average distance 778.5 million km (484 million miles)
• Saturn: average distance 1.43 billion km (891 million miles)
• Uranus: average distance 2.88 billion km (1.79 billion miles)
• Neptune: average distance 4.5 billion km (2.8 billion miles)

Write a statement of change – what are you willing to let go of and what are you going to incorporate as a new practice?

Wisdom without compassion is not the whole truth…. Wisdom is one side of the Truth - the other is Compassion. There is no wisdom without compassion, and there is no compassion without wisdom. Wisdom is the feminine face of God in the world; Compassion is the masculine face of God in the world. Integrating these two energies - being able to be both Wise and Compassionate - brings about a new state of consciousness; it is the birth of the child of God. It is the beginning - it is the Word/Truth made flesh - incarnated. It is Christ Consciousness or Buddha nature.

EXERCISE: Consider for a few moments an “issue” that has come up for you recently…. a small one…. This is only for practice. Something external to you triggered an internal response. Answer these questions for yourself.

What was the trigger? What did you feel? Can you get to the fear and shame behind what you felt? What self-talk was activated in you? Self-anger or other anger? What need was not met for you? Can you feel compassion for the child you were? What would you typically do with this emotion? What can you do differently next time to purify your soul? What would Mary, Jesus, the Buddha, Lord Krishna, or Athena have done with their god-like qualities of compassion and wisdom?

Charles Eisenstein, July 30, 2026

In Sanskrit, Tara means something like “She who ferries across.” The best-known Tara in Tibetan Buddhism is Green Tara, who embodies compassion in action, awakened action. Hinduism also has a Tara: a fierce transformer. Meanwhile, various New Age mythologies conceive of Tara as a higher-dimensional Earth, Gaia at a higher octave.

I don’t mean to be dismissive by calling any of this a “mythology.” Myths are vehicles for truth, whether literal or not.

Some years ago, I began sharing the following story, titled The Courtship of Tara. I was only vaguely aware of Tara’s role in various mythologies. The name just came to me. The water rises from many springs.

The Courtship of Tara

The World-man is the collective being of all humanity in its masculine aspect, the oversoul of mankind. He is a vast and magnificent being; every man who ever lived is one of his cells.

Once, not too long ago, he was full of vigor and zest, eager to create and to build bigger, higher, better, and more, oblivious to the consequences. But recently he has looked upon the body of the earth, his mother, Mother Gaia, and his stirrings of unease have turned to grief and alarm. It is apparent that Mother Gaia is very ill.

One day, the World-man goes to Mother Gaia and says, “Mother, you are not well. I am afraid for you. I believe I have taken too much, too recklessly. Tell me what I can do.”

She replies, “I am not just sick; I am dying. When I die, when my animating spirit departs the world, life systems on Earth will collapse. The whales will die. The fish will die. The oceans will die. The forests, the frogs, the insects, all will perish. All but you, humanity. You will not die, but you will be alone, my son, alone in your climate-controlled cities, eating lab-grown food, with only digital simulations of the life you have destroyed.”

“That’s terrible! Oh, Mother, is there no hope? I will try to do better. I will do less harm. I will leave a lighter footprint. I will pursue sustainable growth. How about that?”

“It is too late for that, far too late,” says Mother Gaia. “I am dying.”

“No! Let me die instead. Earth will be better off without me. I’ll erase civilization. I’ll go back to being hunter-gatherers. I’ll go extinct so life can thrive.”

Anger flashes in Mother Gaia’s eyes. “Do you think I birthed you for no reason? Do you think you were my big mistake? Do you think I want you to remain a child, or even to die? No. Every gift I have given you, your abilities of hand and mind, and all the materials for civilization, have a purpose. You will know what that is when you come of age and marry.”

“You see, another feminine spirit desires to animate Earth. Her name is Tara. If she comes, Earth will blossom in a profusion of life and beauty greater than you have ever known, even in your childhood. And the good news is: Tara is already in love with you. For she will not be your mother as I am, but your lover, your partner. Together you will create much beauty and spread it through the cosmos.”

“Wonderful!” exclaims the World-man. “When is the wedding?”

“Not so fast,” says Gaia. “She is in love with you, but she is not convinced you are ready or qualified to be her consort. You will have to woo her to win her consent. You must show her that you love her, too.”

“How do I do that?”

“With gifts. You must bring her gifts of courtship. You must bring her gifts that demonstrate your love for life (for she is the spirit of life) and your sincerity in your desire to serve life. Only then will she consent to give you her hand.”

Gaia explains, “Every act any human being does in service to life and beauty lands as a gift in Tara’s lap. Even if no other human admires or acknowledges those acts, Tara does. She sees them and receives them. Any gift to life—human or otherwise—is a gift to Tara, and the braver and more beautiful the gift, the more it will move her. She will approach you, step by step, and as she does, earth will burst into new abundance.”

“Yes!” says the World-man. “How much time do I have before I start?”

“There is no more time. You have to start now. You see, my son, I am soon slipping into a coma from which I will never awaken. Already, the indigenous people speak of the spirits fleeing the sacred rivers and forests. Already, the dying is accelerating. My life systems will fail one by one, and if your courtship is not successful before the last one fails, you will no longer have any life to give. You will have chosen another path.”

“I will begin the courtship now,” says the World-man.

The World-man gazes once more into his mother’s fading eyes. He kisses her hand and whispers goodbye.

Leaving her side, he visits every person on earth. Can you feel him now, urging you to make courtship gifts for Tara? Can you feel his ardor?

Tara is present too. Can you feel her hopeful gaze?

Spirituality is the relational component of lived experience. ~Katherine Zappone

Spirituality is the aspect of human existence that explores the subtle forces of energy in and around us and reveals our profound interconnectedness. ~Charlene Spretnak

Because of our amnesia and the consequent betrayal of our true identity, we have become, to ourselves, to each other, and to our world, a bunch of commodities, objectified, mechanistic entities that ferociously compete for the ever-depleting resources of our world, a world we have also excessively turned into yet another commodity to be exploited and consumerized. ~Diarmuid O'Murchu

If we can rape, plunder, burn, slash, cut, mutilate, destroy, torture, murder, tame, poison, harness, and exploit the sons and daughters of the earth - or if we allow this to happen - or if we do this kind of violence to ourselves - then what can we do to the mother and all her species - the earth herself? The way in which we treat ourselves is how we project the same attitude onto all people and species. The way we treat others and other species, indicates how we treat ourselves.

What does this mean for men and their masculine and feminine energies? What does this mean for women and their masculine and feminine energies? What is this doing to our souls? What does this mean for our future?

The Body and the Earth are One - As above, so below; as within, so without.

Lack of love and acceptance of yourself is projected onto others and the planet, and the extent to which you hate your body is the extent to which you will harm the earth.

Our personal wounds and the World Wound are not separate. ~Joan Halifax

Is there something about your body that you hate, judge, or criticize? How did you learn to hate this aspect of yourself? Have you tried to destroy this part of yourself? Do you abuse, neglect, or ignore your body? How? How do you try to camouflage, change, rectify, or beautify what you consider ugly? How do you fail to nurture and tend your body? How do you rejuvenate, refresh, and replenish your body? Or do you deplete your body and expect more and more of it? Do you fill your body with junk? Do you judge other people’s bodies? Do you compare your body to others’? What insights do you have into why you would do this to your body? Do you regard your body as a sacred temple? How do you desecrate the temple? How do you desecrate the temple of the goddess – creation herself? Does your body betray you when you get sick, or have you, in fact, betrayed your body? Consider all these questions in the light of what we are doing to the planet - name all the ways in which your choices are contributing to leaving a deleterious imprint on the environment.

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. ~Matthew 18:12

Can you commit to finding the lost sheep inside of yourself, with love and happiness, not judgment and rage?

To my clients in love and gratitude - for the gift of trust and privilege of sharing - as you seek the lost parts of yourselves and redeem them to the fullness of life - life abundant and joyful. Thanksgiving 2004

These are all terms that refer to the spiritual practice of first recognizing the fear-based motives that govern behavior at the level of ego functioning, learning to tame fear, and living a more expansive life as the love we intrinsically are.

Spiritual Practice of Dying to the small self (ego)

Notice how an External Event (A) Activating event triggers a Belief (B) - an internal dualistic judgment about self or other - and how this leads to a consequence (C) of emotion - either fear, shame or anger - which leads to the want/desire/compulsion/temptation to defend (D) against the emotion either by controlling the emotion through some action related to self (e.g. try hard to be perfect) or related to the other (make them be the way you want them to be - power and control tactics).

Notice all of this about yourself with complete honesty, acceptance, empathy, patience, kindness, and humor. All this evolved as a child before you had any awareness of it happening.

Shaming yourself or denying that this happens inside of you are ways of avoiding responsibility now.

Dying to ego is essentially having the courage to be aware of how most behavior is rooted in fear, judgment, and need in a relaxed and accepting way. Without further judgment, the entire inner transaction can be released, transformed, and new options present themselves.

Small Self/Ego

Ego is a function of the physical body in the service of physical survival and in perception as worthy in physical form. Intellect is the function of thinking in duality - black and white thinking, which leads to judgment. Emotion - namely fear - is created by an unmet universal soul need (for love, belonging, safety, etc). Most people’s worst fear after the fear of survival is to feel shame and badness - i.e., when one’s need to be valued is not met. This is a death experience to one’s true nature, which is, in essence, love and of absolute value. Emotion and dualistic interpretation lead to a Want - a want or desire to control the feeling or overpower what is erroneously thought to be the origin of the feeling (another person)... not to be confused with needs. All power and control (fight or flight, animal instinct) is Defensive functioning - in the service of unconscious dual thought, fear and shame and survival, either in form or in integrity (worth).

In the traditional Christian mythic language of this same map: Intellect corresponds to the Devil (the forked tongue of the snake representing duality of thought, the tree of knowledge); Emotion corresponds to Hell (‘die of shame’ - leave the paradise of Love/Truth); Unaware need and compulsion corresponds to Temptation (the need to protect, cover up, survive in form); and Defensive functioning corresponds to Sin (the wheel of fate, karmic consequences - pain in childbirth, labor in fields, etc.).

© Lyndall Johnson 2002

If you think you “know” something, you have stopped enquiring and learning. Don’t believe a thing you’ve been taught. If a belief or thought is not consistent with the Law of Love, it is a lie – at best, a relative truth. Learn to be endlessly curious and ask what everything means, internally and externally. Meaning is deeper than thinking – seek the meaning of everything you encounter, within and without. ~Lyndall Johnson

“As you ask so shall you be.” ~Matthew 7:7

So I say to you: Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you, because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened. ~Matthew 7:7-11

“Look for the answer inside your question.” ~Rumi

Whenever we say “I know it,” we no longer want to struggle with other ways of seeing it. But the way we once saw it may not be the way it is now. Certainly, the way something is now does not determine that it will always be that way, because we are, all of us, on a journey whose ultimate destination is unknown. ~Carl Hammerschlag

“Always the beautiful answer. Who asks a more beautiful question?” ~ee cummings

How did you learn to fear learning? How were you shamed for asking questions? How did you get into trouble for investigating, exploring, wanting to find out things? Did you, as a little Curious George, have a man in a yellow hat to help you and encourage you to keep being curious? When did your curiosity turn to boredom? When did you stop finding answers within and give your authority away to others? How often do you say “I know?” Can you eliminate this from your vocabulary and replace it with a question?

The function of the ego is to think dualistically and relatively. This function supports survival and growth by breaking reality into its component parts. As such, it represents only partial and limited realities - facts, comparisons, divisions, dichotomies. The intellect dissects, dismembers, divides ... the opposite of the soul's desire to return to Oneness, Unity, and wholeness. The Mandala is a symbol of this wholeness, and so working with mandalas creatively is a way to access and broaden awareness and perspective and to integrate opposites.

Jung says, “Mandalas are all based on the squaring of a circle. Their basic motif is the premonition of a center of personality, a kind of central point within the psyche, to which everything is related, by which everything is arranged, and which is itself a source of energy. The energy of the central point is manifested in the almost irresistible compulsion and urge to become what one is, just as every organism is driven to assume the form that is characteristic of its nature, no matter what the circumstances. This center is not felt or thought of as the ego but, if one may so express it, as the Self. Although the center is represented by an innermost point, it is surrounded by a periphery containing everything that belongs to the self—the paired opposites that make up the total personality. This totality comprises consciousness first of all, then the personal unconscious, and finally an indefinitely large segment of the collective unconscious whose archetypes are common to all mankind........... I had to abandon the idea of the ego's superordinate position. ... I saw that everything, all the paths I had been following and all the steps I had taken, led back to a single point -- the midpoint. It became increasingly clear to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation. ... I knew that by finding the mandala as an expression of the self, I had attained what was for me the ultimate.”

Start noticing the dichotomous ways you think. While discerning differences is essential to awareness, safety, and growth, it is also a small step from discernment to judgment and judgmentalism, rejection, splitting, disowning, and dissociation.

Do you see yourself and others as good or bad, right or wrong, male or female, critical or accepting? Create a mandala from a dichotomy you struggle with. This means embracing both/and (paradoxically) instead of either/or. Remember, there is nothing that is not you.

Start noticing mandalas in nature and the beauty they create. For example, if asked to create a mandala of your Self and you had not integrated the idea of masculine or feminine energies into your psyche, you might create one with images of only one gender.

Why is the owl a symbol of wisdom?

What is it?

Synthesis and transcendence of body, intellect, and emotion. Immediate comprehension of the truth as it essentially exists, without reasoning or logic. A function of the soul - that which exists outside of time and space and is therefore infinite, that entices us to know what, at a deep level, we already know. Compassionate observer - non-emotional and non-judgmental. Mind more expansive and not consumed by fear or shame. An irresistible force of consciousness that propels one into sacred service. ~Adapted from Christine Page

“Knowledge of the heart” or “insight” about the spiritual nature of the cosmos. The Greek word "gnosis" which literally means "knowledge." However, the English words "Insight" and "enlightenment" capture more of the meaning of "gnosis." Gnosticism is not factual, intellectual, rational knowledge, such as is involved in mathematics and physics; that would have been more accurately represented by the Greek word "episteme." Rather, Gnosticism involves the relational or experiential knowledge of God and of the divine or spiritual nature within us.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be yourself. ~Alan Alda

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. ~Albert Einstein

• Start noticing how often you ignore the still voice of knowing, or a gut feeling, in favor of the intellect's rationalizations, which are always in service of some fear or need you have. How often do you override what you know, only to see in retrospect that you knew the truth all along? We all know what is “right,” “just,” “kind,” “loving,” “truthful,” but choose differently because one voice is louder than the other. Start just noticing this in yourself.
• The logic and rational, dualistic function of thinking is very limited and constricted. The wisdom and knowing of yourself (soul) that is connected to Universal Mind is more expansive, integrative, and sees the both/and in all situations, instead of the black-and-white thinking that is a function of the brain that discerns duality in order to determine lower-order needs of safety and belonging, acceptance, and validation by the culture. Wisdom is only possible once we can meet these lower-order needs for ourselves instead of depending on others, which frees up the mind to expand into integrative and transcendent knowing. Notice in yourself when you are being judgmental (either/or thinking) and see if you can expand and deepen your understanding of yourself and the other person, and all people.